Procrastination and Barry a Short Story

July 14, 2019

Procrastination and Barry a Short Story

Procrastination and Barry

by RJ Myrchak

Barry had put off joining the space academy for far too long. At 35, most people his age had already been 10 years into their careers, but Barry kept delaying, until he was finally coaxed into joining the academy by his friends.

Even showing up for class seemed to be a chore for Barry. He was aware that class started at 8 am sharp, and he knew that he needed 45 minutes to get ready, which included taking a shower, going for a number two, brushing his teeth, getting dressed, quickly eating breakfast ( although not always in this order) then racing in a panic to get into the transport tube, that would take him to the academy, which took at least 25 minutes. Then, once at the academy, he would get himself a large coffee from the surly robot vending machine in the cafeteria, exchange rude comments with the robot for a few minutes, then quickly run to class, making it right on time or a couple minutes late everyday, much to the disappointment of his fellow classmates and teachers who were usually 15-20 minutes early to class everyday. But, no one would say anything, because Barry was a nice guy, and always had a long drawn out funny story as to why he was late everyday.

Lunch was a big deal for Barry everyday at the cafeteria. He could never seem to make up his mind what to eat, and when he finally did, everyone was already half way eating their lunch. Barry would start eating, then tell a few stories, show people on his phone some funny posts he found. By the time Barry "finished lunch" he would get back to class 5-10 minutes late, and then there was a few others that liked hanging around with Barry, so they were late as well. But, Barry was a nice guy and everyone liked him so it was tolerated.

Class projects were assigned to groups of four or five students, and would take a few weeks for each student in each group to finish their portion of the project. Everyone always wanted Barry in their group. He always lit up the room when he entered, making everyone smile, and he would always tell the funniest jokes. It was a little concerning that every group project that Barry was involved with always was delayed, sometimes by weeks. Barry's portion of the group project never seemed to get done, and eventually someone else in the group would take it upon themselves to finish Barry's work. Barry would always make sure he was around to take credit for these projects as well. Everyone in the group would just shrug it off, because after all, Barry was a nice guy, and he was probably just working to the best of his abilities, plus he was fun to be around.

Finally it was final test day, and groups of people would be sitting at round tables doing their exam. Everyone was supposed to do their own exam and not look off each other for the answers, but Barry, (arriving 15 minutes late on test day) asked for answers for every question, and people wanted to help him out because Barry was such a nice guy.

Everyone who graduated would be automatically employed with Galactic Fleet Services, a service that shipped much needed supplies to various space stations around the galaxy. Barry, was thought to be a good candidate for a captain, as he seemed to have left a good impression at the interview process,(even though he arrived a little late) where everyone had a good laugh at his jokes, and it was determined that Barry was an all around good guy.

Barry was given a cargo ship, and a crew of two that would serve under his command. Captain Barry's first mission was to deliver critical supplies needed for an spacecraft orbiting around the mining planet NP-113. Timing was critical, because the spacecraft command center orbiting the planet was running low on oxygen filters, food and water. The cargo ship was loaded with supplies and Captain Barry and his crew blasted off towards NP-113. As the craft got close to NP-113 there was a notification alerting the crew of the cargo ship of a small Space Lane Diner a little off course that apparently served the best barbecued ribs in the galaxy, plus it was half priced, and it came with a free beer. This was too much for Barry to ignore. Barry' crew, Steve and Dan expressed there deep concern that maybe the cargo should be delivered first, then get ribs and beer later. Barry explained to his crew that there was plenty of time for the delivery after lunch, plus he expressed his own deep concern that the Diner may be out of ribs and beer if they arrive too late after lunch. Steve and Dan agreed that Barry was an awesome Captain and a good guy, and had to admit that they were also feeling a bit peckish.

They speed across the galaxy at light speed, and after 3 hours they arrived at the diner. And yes, it was awesome. Ribs were succulent, barbecued to perfection, and the free beer was the best (mostly because it was free). Barry took a long time to decide what kind of free beer he wanted with his ribs but that was Barry. The staff at the diner instantly took a liking to Barry after he told some jokes, complimented the staff on the excellent meal, and even left a generous tip. Barry was a hell of a nice guy.

After spending a hour at the diner, it was time to go, after all, timing was critical. Barry and his crew sped back at light speed only stopping twice on the way back, once at a convenience store to get some floss because Barry had something stuck in his teeth ( probably some ribs) . And one more time to pick up antacids at the same store half an hour later after everyone suddenly had heartburn. (maybe those ribs weren't the best in the galaxy after all). Barry was sure a nice guy to turn around and go all the way back to pickup those antacids.

The cargo ship finally made it to NP-113 and docked with the spacecraft command center. No one seemed to be around. Barry, Steve and Dan unloaded the much needed supplies. Expecting to meet someone, they headed to the ships bridge, opened the door and gasped to the horror they had found.

It appears that the command center's crew Captain John, Matt and Parker all had starved to death waiting for their precious supplies. Captain John was a really nice guy but was notorious for waiting until the last moment to do things, no matter how critical. Did he not realize it would of taken at least 30 days for the re-supply message to reach Galactic Fleet Services because of the distance? How could of this happened?

Barry shook his head in disbelief and said, "This is what procrastination will get you!"
#shortstories #flashfiction