Bob

Four layers of pencil

There are four layers of pencil on the card Bob Harker uses to cover an old ring on the shelf beside his plate. One reads Bob. Another started Highland and lasted about as far as the H. The other two are long enough for somebody calling through a speaker to confuse an instruction with an introduction. Bob fills in returns tickets at a hardware wholesaler and likes writing a lot of information in a small place. He discovered the name had grown out of habit on the afternoon a paddock hand called it twice and the second time Travis asked him where he thought their driver had gone.

They signed in again. Travis waited for him to write whatever he thought would fit and Bob printed the three letters he'd answered to since his mum first shouted upstairs that dinner was getting cold. The long names have survived as deep scratches. Jerry Manifolds found the fourth one by holding the sheet sideways and still couldn't tell which part was meant to be a type of bird.

Rules for returns

The first time Bob earned the keys to the returns cage, he let a box of outside hinges through with screws that only worked indoors. His manager offered to do the next shipment himself. Bob asked to do it again with the same man beside him. He finds out what he did much faster when he has to say it aloud to somebody he knows. He was capable of being this frank about his paid job for years before he could even tell Travis he wanted to take out his Toyota 1982 Supra. His aunt had given the Toyota a space in her shed until he could use it. She assumed he didn't like driving and was keeping it for someone else.

Travis heard the way he talked about a late turn on a closed course and gave him the keys to move his car off the practice ramp. Bob came back to ask about the next weekend because he didn't want Travis to think it was only a favor.

The small move

Ask Bob what he changed between runs and he may say nothing. If you saw them both, you'll dislike the answer. He will have tried to find the same position in two turns, then waited to make one input somewhere he could see it clearly. It doesn't help that the part people want to ask about is the first steady movement, which took him years to pick up. He's far more interested in a second move he still makes late. Travis talks through his decisions when he's tense. It gives Bob time to work out how much of a question he can tolerate asking by the time his friend reaches the end of a sentence.

They've made a deal for the next session. Travis gets the camera first and Bob gets to try something with a lower marker where he can tell when his second movement is needed. Bob isn't allowed to say it felt routine unless he can point to the change. They still haven't chosen whose turn it will be to get sandwiches.

The return window closes

Bob's aunt asked for a photograph when she heard the car could leave the shed. He took a picture with the Toyota at the paddock, so tight that there is no proof he went with it. She wants one where there might be somebody to recognize. Bob has turned the old card over and put it in his jacket. His hand can reach it when he finishes a run.