{"id":35590,"date":"2025-12-26T09:18:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T14:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=35590"},"modified":"2025-12-26T09:18:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T14:18:42","slug":"i-am-very-sorry-sir-said-bob-i-am-behind-my-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/26\/i-am-very-sorry-sir-said-bob-i-am-behind-my-time\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am Very Sorry, Sir, Said Bob. \u00a0I Am Behind My Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cBut he was early at the office next morning. Oh, he was early there. If he could only be there first, and catch Bob Cratchit coming late! That was the thing he had set his heart upon.\u00a0 And he did it; yes, he did! The clock struck nine. No Bob. A quarter past. No Bob. He was full eighteen minutes and a half behind his time. Scrooge sat with his door wide open, that he might see him come into the Tank.\u00a0 His hat was off, before he opened the door; his comforter too. He was on his stool in a jiffy; driving away with his pen, as if he were trying to overtake nine o’clock.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Hallo!” growled Scrooge, in his accustomed voice, as near as he could feign it. “What do you mean by coming here at this time of day?”\u00a0 “I am very sorry, sir,” said Bob. “I am behind my time.”\u00a0 “You are?” repeated Scrooge. “Yes. I think you are.\u00a0 Step this way, sir, if you please.”\u00a0 “It’s only once a year, sir,” pleaded Bob, appearing from the Tank. “It shall not be repeated. I was making rather merry yesterday, sir.”<\/em>\u00a0 “Now, I’ll tell you what, my friend,” said Scrooge, “I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore,” he continued, leaping from his stool, and giving Bob such a dig in the waistcoat that he staggered back into the Tank again; “and therefore I am about to raise your salary!”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bob trembled, and got a little nearer to the ruler. He had a momentary idea of knocking Scrooge down with it,<\/strong><\/p>\n

holding him, and calling to the people in the court for help and a strait-waistcoat.\u00a0 “A merry Christmas, Bob!” said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!”\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like poor Mr. Cratchit I was making rather merry last night at Christmas and just didn\u2019t have the time or the mental clarity to write my post in time for the 5 a.m. deadline.\u00a0 So with Bob as my exemplar I\u2019ll plead, \u201cI am very sorry.\u00a0 I am behind my time.\u00a0 It’s only once a year.\u00a0 It shall not be repeated. I was making rather merry yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

And I was.\u00a0 Camera Girl outdid herself in providing enormous quantities of delicious food and ridiculously rich desserts.\u00a0 I probably gained five pounds in a single day and will have to fast for a week to return my system to equilibrium.\u00a0 But it was a gathering of my descendants and it was merry.\u00a0 And in imitation of Dickens I\u2019ll say,<\/p>\n

\u201cGod bless Us, Every One!<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n