#rob jr

ROB

first

ROB: Course my wife started to get dissatisfied, I was away a while.

last

ROB: … It’s been a real honour drivin’ with you Miss Sharma.

APOLLO

first

APOLLO: I've come out of Chicago. Took three days hard driving.

last

APOLLO: Oh god. Rob! ROB!!

CLYDE

firsy

CLYDE: We would have gotten here sooner we had to drop by to get some blankets. Pleasure to meet you ma'am.

last

CLYDE: I hope so too. Thank you for coming with me, I know it’s late.

LILITH AND EVE

first (joint)

LILITH: We have a friend there, he's been seeing some-

EVE: -He's a seismologist

LILITH: Yeah and he's been recording readings over the years that show subterranean movement. Predictable movement.

EVE: We're going to see him in July, but we could work it around you if you're free.

last (eve)

EVE: I.. love you. I love y… you Jen.

last (lilith)

LILITH: I wish we could have been friends for longer.

ACE

first

ACE: It's my car. What am I meant to do,? It's my car.

last

ACE: Rob, what do I do?! Rob?!

MARJORIE

first

GREYWOMAN: Lambs at the gate. Hoping for something better than clover when all they find are things worse than slaughter.

last

MARJORIE: And what do I do now? What- What do I do?!

BONNIE

first

BONNIE: Well OK I suppose we should get back on the road then… if everyone’s ready.

last

BONNIE: I love you very much Martin. You’re always welcome.

THE HITCHHIKER

First

HITCHHIKER: Not much in the way of seating back here huh!

last

HITCHHIKER: I can tell you everything you want to know. Even the things you never knew about yourself. Even the thoughts you didn’t know you were thinking… those little critters, all the way at the back.

BLUEJAY

first

BLUEJAY: I’m tired.

last

BLUEJAY: I was ri… I was-

CHUCK GREENWALD

first

CHUCK: That was “Sister Moon” by Leslie Estrada, another song to calm you folks down as we head into the evening. It’s Chuck Greenwald and I’m with you till the witching hour.

last

CHUCK: They’re going to hurt now.

ROB JR/BOBBY

first

last

ALICE (SPOKEN)

first

AS: For work?

last

AS: I’m still not certain I trust you.

ALICE (WRITTEN)

first

They say great stories happen to those who can tell them. Robert J. Guthard is an exception to that rule. As I sit at his table, sip his coffee and listen to him recount the past 65 years it sounds like he's reading off a shopping list. Every event, his first job, his second wedding, his third divorce, none of them receive more than one or two sentences. Rob plows through the years, the curt, dispassionate curator of his own personal history. Yet the story itself is so fascinating, so rich with moments and so wildly meandering that it somehow stands on its own merits.

last

I’m going to take a drive. Take a left, then the next possible road on the right, then the next possible left. I will repeat the process ad infinitum, until I wind up somewhere new.

And from there I’ll keep driving, beyond worlds, beyond time, beyond the bounds of my imagining. To a place where the lake runs dry, where the broken moon drifts away, and the stars disappear in the rear view.