One of a Kind

by JaHarre


Best Day Ever (Revised)

“HOLY CRAP!!!! I’m late!”

I had 35 minutes to make it to campus to set up for my presentation and I had just woken up. I set another geniuses book of world records (breaking my previous one of 2.3 seconds) for getting dressed and brushing my teeth (a shower will have to wait). Then after applying generous amounts of deodorant, I mentally reviewed my check list.

'Computer, projector, wallet, keys, iphone, pocket knife and power cords for all of this. Let’s see, check, check and check.'

I sprinted through the rain to the bus stop and made it just as the bus pulled up. Good, now I have a 30 minute bus ride to fully wake up and review just what my presentation is on.

Before I continue with this story let me tell you about myself a bit. I am a Mechanical engineering student at Clemson University (GO TIGERS!!!). I have a presentation to give in a little over three hours on robotics, a topic I absolutely love by the way, and my professor really set the bar high on this one.

We were split into groups and each group had 3 members and we had to design, build, and program a robot that mimicked human motion.

Bob, Jimmy and I (my partners in crime and my best friends) chose the hands and forearms.

We had them working with wireless sensors attached to these gloves that went half way up your arm. When you moved, they mimicked your motion, so we had this smart idea to give the presentation and then demonstrate them playing a key board. I drew the short straw so I had to actually give the power point that we had prepared, hence the projector. The other two get to set up and play with uh… I mean, give the demonstration.

'Oh great I finally made it.' I sighed as I stepped off the bus in front of the campus. There was one of my partners waiting for me already.

“Oh boy… ya'll look like ya got run'nd ov'r by a truck.”

______________________________________________________________________

This is Jimmy. By far the most redneck of the group. He loves to hunt, fish and has a different gun for every day of the week, and his momma fries some of the best chicken I've ever had. But don't let his down home southern drawl and mannerisms fool ya, He is a genius, especially when it comes to electrical circuits (both analog and digital). He is the only reason I passed my electrical classes and then some.

______________________________________________________________________

“Well hello to you too, now help me get this to class and out of the rain and then we'll go unload your truck"

As we walked, we talked a bit more about how we wanted the presentation to go. Its a good thing we got there 3 hours before the presentation was due. Because when ever anything this important happens, Murphey steps in.

"Hey, You seen Bobby yet?” I asked

“Nah, he ain't shown up yet and he hasn’t called so I gue…” at that exact moment both our phones go off with a new text message.

Sorry guies. Cat mak it. In hospital now. @ppindex burst last knight. Key bord and mountin stand in my apt. roomate is hom. Tell Dr. Hartwell sory. God luk!

Jimmy and I look back at each other with a worried glance. Normally Bobby's texts are all neat and typed with the utmost care. The fact that it was this garbled mess gave some credit to his message as well as stating that he is doped up on something pretty strong.

_______________________________________________________________

Bobby was more or less the geek of the group. He isn't the socially awkward, can't get a date, sits in front of a computer all day, type of geek. He... well scratch that last one. He does like to sit in front of a computer all day. Jimmy and I have had to hide his from him a couple of times... It was not a pretty site.

He is always up on the latest software and gadgets and has some incredible contacts in that field, and he can write code and program like nobody's business. He wrote the software for our robot and then trained Jimmy and me in how to use it as well as giving us copies of the program and software for it.

The man could be the next Bill Gates! The only reason he is even taking Mechanical Eng. as his major is because he, and I quote "needed a challenge". He also likes hooking us up with some of the most cutting edge tech for cheap, which I'll never complain about. He is the one who made it so Jimmy and I could pass the programing portion of our classes. (yea... you take a lot of random classes as an engineer)

All three of us had been friends since sophomore year. We kept getting in the same classes together and had done a lot of projects together over the years. We were the three amigos.

_________________________________________________________

“Soooooooo....Whada we do now?!”

“Hmmmm.....Ok Jimmy, you’re the one with a car so go to his apartment and get the stuff. I’ll stay here and continue setting up and beg Dr. Hartwell to give us more time.”

“Right, I’ll be back in fifteen.”

After explaining the situation to him and showing the text from Bobby, Dr. Hartwell moved our group to last, and agreed to give all of us full credit for what we earned as it was no one’s fault for Bobby’s condition.

I sprinted back to our stuff and immediately began hooking up the remote and receiver for the arms. I was almost finished when Jimmy made it back.

“Well, his roommate confirm'd that he took Bobby tuh the hospital at four this mornin. So hows it commin?”

“Great, we just need to hook up one of our computers and start up the program and do a calibration test and we're all set.”

“Awesome, let’s do this.”

We worked like mad men. While getting the interface set up for the arms and testing them one more time, we noticed that we had a minor flaw. Neither of us knew how to play a key board. That was Bobby’s part.

“Great, now whada we do?” Jimmy asked.

“Weeeee’ll…. we’ll improvise, ya know, ask for a volunteer or something.”

It wasn't long before it was our turn.

_________________________________________________________________

(20 minutes after the presentations were over)

“Yeah!!!!! That was unbelievable! Did you see their faces?” We congratulated ourselves as we packed up our stuff.

“Ah know! Carter’s group looked like they just ate a mouthful of shi…”

“Boys!” Dr. Hartwell called after us.

“Yes sir?”

“Yes sir?”

“May I speak with you in my office before you leave please?”

You know those times after a test that you feel you aced it and you go out and start celebrating and drinking it up with your buddies? Only to find out that you actually failed it miserably, and your stomach feels like its going to fall through the floor?

Yeah, I was getting that feeling right about now.

As we walked behind Dr. Hartwell, I looked over at Jim and saw he was feeling the same as me. Sometimes this professor can be a real hard ass. When we entered his office, we saw that there were two other people in the room. All three of them (including professor Hartwell) had on that same stern face that gave away nothing.

'Man, do these people all play poker together or do they practice that look in the mirror every morning?'

“Boys. I would like to introduce you to a couple of friends of mine. This is Dr. Kimball MD.” He pointed to a middle aged man about six feet tall with hair graying at the temples.

“And this is Mr. Konishi vice president of Samurai Pharmaceuticals.” He then indicated a slightly younger Japanese man about five foot eight with very dark hair.

After shaking their hands we began to realize that this was no ordinary ‘you failed’ kinda talk

“They were in the class room when you gave your presentation.”

“Yes, we were very impressed with your presentation” Dr. Kimball stated still with that same stupid poker face.

“Tell me, what will you gentlemen be doing after you graduate in two weeks?” Mr. Konishi asked.

“I have a couple of job interviews out west, but no solid plans sir.” I said.

“No set plans for me either.” Jimmy replied “We can’t speak for Bobby.”

At this, all three men smiled. That completely threw me for a loop.

“The reason I ask is this, I would like to hire you." Mr Konishi said, "All three of you. You would start out at 75k with full benefits.”

“That’s extremely generous of you sir but may I ask, doing what, sir?” I said.

“You three would be working with me and a hand full of other doctors and engineers to create the first robotic prosthetic limbs.” Said Dr. Kimball. “We were looking for a few good ‘young’ engineers for fresh ideas. That was one of the reasons we asked our friend Dr. Hartwell to form a semester project like this. You three are the best we’ve seen.”

'Man I love my life right now!'

_________________________________________________________________

(An hour or so later at the hospital)

“…. so, that’s what happened.” I said.

“Sweet! We passed our class and got jobs and I...... have a gorgeous nurse. Well Hellllooooo Nurse!” Bobby belted out while slurring his words. He was still a little loopy from the meds.

“ Yea yea, rub it in. Oh, an they wanted ya to call'em as soon as ya get out ah here for a phone interview. Ya promise to do that?” Jimmy asked as he handed him the business card.

“Cross my hart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Bobby exclaimed.

Jimmy and I gave each other a confused look as we were wondering if our friend was doped up on something other than what the hospital gave him.

“What was that look for guys?”

“Are you really a three year old and you didn't tell us man? That sounds like something my little niece would say and she’s five.” I stated.

“No, that’s something Pinkie Pie would say”

Now we were really confused.

“Whooo..die pie?”

“Pinkie pie. My favorite of the mane six.”

“Ok now I’m scared to ask but what is the main six and are you sure they don’t have your morphine drip on too high?”

“It’s a cartoon show. My little Ponies.”

“…”

“…”

“You serious?”

“Yea”

Hahahahahahahahahaahahahahaha!

"Come on guys! Its a great show?"

“Do you..ha.. have your..ha.. wallet around?” I asked.

“Yea its sitting over there. Why?”

“cause I’m going to have to take your man card” I replied as I was looking through his wallet.

Jimmy and I continued laughing at him.

“Hey! Its not that bad of a show. In fact most of the fans aren’t little or girls.”

He explains about this fairy tale land of ponies where these six friends are the elements of harmony that defeat the evil in the land though the process of learning about the power of friendship. He talked about all the creatures. How pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, diamond dogs, griffins, and dragons are the main species in the land, and something called a manticore that resembles a lion scorpion thing with wings or something.

By this time Jimmy and I could barely even breathe much less talk as we were rolling on the floor laughing. A nurse came by and told us to keep it down. Anyway, despite his choice of cartoon shows, we just love to tease Bobby cause it’s so much fun and he takes it so well as well as making it to easy.

“Oh well, we better get goin. Looks like the weather’s getting bad” I gasp as I try to catch my breath.

“Yea, I have to go to Stumphouse mountain to meet some buddies of mine. Wanna come?” Jimmy asks.

“Sure, better get there and back before that storm really hits.”

“Lets go then, see ya Bobby”

“See ya Bobby”

Bobby just waved at us as the ‘gorgeous’ nurse came in and gave him his meds.

As we headed deeper in to the mountains, the rain started coming down in sheets.

“So who are we meeting?” I ask.

“An ol' high school buddy of mine. He was in the area so we wanted to meet up one more time before I graduate. We had planed on hikin but it looks like that’s out'ah the equation.”

As we continued up the mountain the rain came even harder. Jim’s old Toyota 4runner was having a hard time keeping traction as we crawled up the road. 'Man when was the last time he changed his tires?'

We saw people pulled over on the side of the road with their flashers on to wait it out. The biggest problem with the rain is we have had so much of it lately. The ground couldn’t absorb much more. Dark rivulets of mud started to mix in with the rivers of water on the road.

Luckily we made to Stumphouse tunnel without being washed away. Jimmy’s buddy was actually still there waiting for us.

“He said he tried tuh call us but the storm messed up his signal” Jimmy explained when he made it back to the car. “He said that he’s in the area for a few more days so we can catch him later.”

“Nice,” I said “lets see if this old beater of yours can get us down without killing us.”

“You got it.”

The road was even worse going down the mountain than it was coming up, and the old car was having a dickens of a time staying on the slick mud covered road.

'Wait! Mud covered?'

Just as I saw the signs, I yelled “Jimmy look out!”

Right then a wave of mud and water hit us from the driver's side. I felt the bottom give out from underneath us and the whole world turned upside down and then … nothing.