These should work now!

The Rubber Band Chain


Sometimes, things have to change.
Ryan hated to think about this, but he knew it was true.
He hadn't treated his new desk any differently than his old desk; it remained essentially empty. He hadn't even bothered to open some of the drawers. Ryan hated that feeling of being tied down. He had realized, however, that things have to change, and even though he disliked filling his desk, it vexed him even more to have a cluttered surface. So, heaving a sigh, he gathered up a stack of papers that Michael had unceremoniously slapped onto his desk, and opened the large filing drawer at the bottom.
"What. Is. This."
Jim looked up from his desk, curious.
"Huh?"
"What is this?", Ryan repeated, staring down into the drawer. Jim rolled his chair around, and peered down with Ryan.
"Oh"
Inside the drawer lay a mass of tangled and twisted rubber bands, almost spilling over the corners.
"That", Jim said in slight wonder, "Is my rubber band chain"
Jim hadn't seen it in years, and it had slipped completely from his memory. He had started making it within his first few weeks at Dunder Mifflin, when he first truly realized how depressingly dull his job would be. It was a way to pass the time; he would add a new link every few days.
Jim wasn't entirely sure why he did it; he had no plans to use it for anything. It had just been cathartic for some reason, and he added to it over the course of his first few years at the office.
Ryan was staring down at the tangled mass with a look of thinly veiled disgust, and Jim snapped back to the present.
"I'll take that for you", he said, reaching down and scooping the mess out of the drawer.
"You're keeping that?" Ryan asked incredulously, picking some stray rubber bands out of the desk and dropping them on top of the pile spilling over Jim's arms.
"Yeah". He nodded quickly, and rolled back to his desk as Ryan placed the papers in the emptied drawer.
"Wow. What's that supposed to be?"
Jim looked up. Pam was sitting at reception, gazing at the tangled chain with interest.
"Rubber band chain", he said simply, proffering the dangling mass.
"Oh. That doesn't look familiar..."
Jim smiled. "Yeah, I don't believe you two have met. I started making it when I first got here...you know, something to do. I uh, actually forgot about it after..." he paused. "After a while".
"So, what are you going to do with it?"
Jim opened his empty file drawer and poured the hopeless chain into it.
"Oh, man...I don't know. I could weave it together and make some sort of little trampoline. Maybe set up a spider web maze in the break room...make people go through it to get their lunch. I could, uh...shoot Dwight's bobble heads off the roof.."
Pam laughed appreciatively as Jim smiled and turned back to his desk, sliding the drawer shut. He knew, of course, that he wouldn't do any of these things, and it wasn't just because the chain was far too tangled to be of any use.

It was just another way to pass the time.

Current Mood: blah