Bob is cheap.

If Bob could buy used floss he will.  He did not grow up poor, and as a kid he never went hungry.

Bob’s frugality started when he was given a piggy bank as a child.  The first time he dropped a few coins into that piggy bank, and he heard the sound coins make when they fall over each other, some circuit in his brain closed, then fused, and from that day forward he saved every penny he had.  ‘Pay yourself first’ was the first rule of life Bob adopted.

Bob soon learned about depreciation.  He realized that new things command a high price, but once used will almost never fetch that same price again.  This became another of Bob’s rules of life, ‘Never buy new’.

Bob was a good student, but decided against college.  He wanted to own and operate a secondhand store.  ‘Never risk your own money’ was another of Bob’s rules.  Unfortunately if he wanted to own a business he had no choice but to take the risk and use his savings, because no bank would give him a loan.

With his dad’s help Bob started his first business in the cheapest storefront they could find.  Bob was a natural businessman.  He bought and traded anything and everything, and soon turned a handsome profit.

As the years passed the business grew, and Bob bought the building.  ‘Never rent what you can own’ was added to the ever growing list of rules Bob lived his life by.

Since his wife left him, he lives alone above his store, his apartment filled with stuff from his store.

The recliner showed up on a Tuesday in a truckload of stuff bought from an estate sale.  It was upholstered in brown leather, well worn, but without damage.  Bob gave it a test recline and it was the most comfortable place he ever parked his butt.  After it got cleaned up and wiped down with a leather restorer it went to his apartment.

Every morning before opening the store Bob enjoys quiet time. He always gets up at five am, no matter what time he went to bed. Those few hours in the morning, enjoying a cup of coffee, watching the local news while catching up on world events online, was the best time of day by far. Bob savored the quiet aloneness of it, preparing himself for the noise and demands this day will bring.

Last night after dinner Bob used the recliner. Because it was just divinely comfortable, Bob fell asleep.  He woke the next morning feeling fantastic, like a younger man. It was seven thirty. He overslept!

He rush to get ready to go downstairs and start his day. He feels slightly annoyed because he slept through his quiet time, and he hates being rushed. He feels so rested and ready for the day that he ignores this break in routine. ‘Establish a routine and stick to it’. Another of Bob’s rules to live by.

Thirty minutes later as Bob descended into his kingdom of pre loved things, he had the strangest feeling of Deja-vu. The song playing on Karens radio is the same song that played yesterday. It actually was ‘Yesterday’, by the Beatles, one of his favorites.

Karen came out of the back office, sipping coffee from a mug. It said ‘Worlds best lover’ in big red letters on the side. Someone used to be that lover, and when not that anymore, the mug found its way to Bob’s store. Karen was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She always wears snug jeans and T-shirts, showing off her pleasing form. At fifty something she still looks fantastic. The T-shirt has a big blue peace sign on it. Bob is sure Karen wore that same T-shirt yesterday.

’Morning sunshine’, Karen has a pleasing, melodious voice, ‘Trucks on its way. Should be here at nine. Scooter messaged earlier. Picked up a good load from some estate sale’. Scooter is Karen’s husband and manservant. She owns him, all two hundred and fifty pounds of man bear that he is. He towers over Karen, but when they are together you notice her first.

Bob is confused, they got the estate sale stuff yesterday. He knows this, he has the recliner upstairs to prove it.

’You ok hon? You look a little lost. Slept ok?’, Karen enquires between little sips of her coffee, watching him intently.

Bob gathers himself, gives himself a mental slap. ‘Yeah! Fine. Morning!’. He turns back to the stairs, ‘be right back, forgot something’. He rushes upstairs.

The recliner is still there. He gives the recliner one last look, walks over, and actually pokes it with a finger. Yep, it’s here alright, he thinks to himself before heading back downstairs. Maybe there was a second sale that he forgot about.

There was not. Scooter showed up wearing a matching peace sign T-shirt. The same as yesterday! Bob is absolutely convinced that Karen and Scooter wore these exact shirts yesterday. Sometimes they get boxes of the same stuff, and the three of them can, and do, buy things at cost that might not sell fast. They must have claimed a box of shirts.

Bob takes pride in taking inventory of newly arriving stock, and except for the recliner, every item from the truck is the same as yesterday. The stuff from yesterday is not in the store, Bob checked, it just arrived now for the first time. His confusion grows. Scooter noticed, ‘You good boss?’, he rumbles in that deep voice of his. Bob always thought Scooter’s voice had so much bass because of that barrel chest of his.

’Huh?’, Bob mumbles, then return to the here and now. ‘Yeah, fine, yeah. Excuse me for a bit. Be right back’. Bob goes back upstairs. Karen and Scooter watch him go, then look at each other. She raises her eyebrows and Scooter shrugs his massive shoulders.

The recliner is still there. Bob turns the television on, pulls up the channel list and when he sees the date, sits down hard on the floor. Fuck, it is yesterday. He flips through the familiar programs scheduled for Tuesday. It is true. Today is the previous day.

Bob sits there on the ground next to the recliner, thinking. How is it possible that he can live the same day over, while remembering everything from the day before. It’s like that movie Groundhog Day. Oh Jesus, he hopes not!

Bob has a good brain. He shoves his concern and incredulity out of the way and look at the situation again. Yesterday ended like any other day. He closed up shop, came upstairs, cooked a simple meal, then settled on the recliner to watch Wheel of Fortune. He dozed off and overslept right back into yesterday. Bob turns and looks at the only thing that is odd, the recliner that showed up yesterday, but not again today, when yesterday replays.

Bob formulates a set of experiments, he will go downstairs and relive yesterday, then sleep in the chair tonight and see if Tuesday repeats. Then he will relive Tuesday again and sleep in his bed, hoping to get a new day.

Bob feels better, he has a plan. ‘Always have a plan, then stick to it’ is another of Bob’s rules.

Bob sleeps on the recliner for a second time that Tuesday  He woke the next morning feeling fantastic, like a younger man. It was seven thirty. He overslept! Bob stops in his tracks when he is overcome with an even stronger feeling of deja vu than yesterday, or today, whatever! He turns the television on, and by god it is Tuesday again.

He goes downstairs to the Beatles singing Yesterday, and beautiful Karen looking suspiciously at him over her cup of coffee while telling him about Scooter being inbound with the load from the estate sale.

‘You feeling ok, hon?’, Karen asks with genuine concern in her voice. ‘Uhh, no, I’m not ok. Feeling poorly. Can you run the shop today please, I’m going back to bed’, Bob asks weakly. Karen nods, ‘Of course dear. Need anything?’. Bob shakes his head, thanks Karen and heads back upstairs. He takes some sleep medicine his wife left behind, he needs to sleep now! He must know if the repeating Tuesday is linked to the recliner or not.

Bob’s five o’clock alarm wakes him. He is wide awake almost immediately, rush out of bed to the television. ‘Please be tomorrow, please, please, please’, Bob repeats to himself as the television turns on and shows that it is Wednesday. For the second time that week Bob sits down hard on the floor.

Bob has a great mind. He resolves to pay close attention to the happenings of this beautiful Wednesday, then sleep in the recliner to confirm that it is the thing that repeats days, then sleep in his bed to be totally sure he knows how this work.

Bob it’s starting to feel excited. All he has to do if find the perfect day, the best day of his life, and then repeat it for as long as he wants.

Bob whistles throughout the day, happy and full of jokes. Making mental notes on all that happens. That night he sleeps on the recliner, it really is way more comfortable than his bed. Bob is almost giddy with excitement as he experiences Wednesday for the second time, delighted to see how things happen almost exactly the same as the previous day. The only variable being him, causing some scenes to play out slightly different in response to him.

The experiments confirms the events that make days repeat or not. Sleep on his bed and time advances, sleep on the recliner and yesterday repeats.

Bob sets out to experience the perfect day. He is very critical of each passing day, always finding something wrong, holding out hope that tomorrow will be better.

Time pass. Scooter dies unexpectedly in an automobile accident, on his way to pick up furniture from an auction. Bob repeats that day a number of times, every time stopping Scooter from driving the truck. Every time Scooter dies anyway from something else. Every repeated day breaking Karen’s heart all over again, and making Bob more frantic to save his friend.

Eventually he gives up. Seeing Karen’s reaction every time her husband dies is just to awful. Bob allows time to advance. Karen quits her longtime job, bids Bob farewell and moves away, closer to her family.

Bob becomes depressed. He blames himself for how things turned out. If only he was not so critical and picked a day to relive before Scooter’s death things would be fine, just like it used to be. Bob avoids the recliner, there is no way he wants to relive any of these recent days. He will wait for better days, then use it.

Time passes, like it tends to do while we make other plans, and Bob has a heart attack. The first responders thinks he is delirious when he asks to be put on his recliner, and loads him into the ambulance instead, where he dies.

Bob’s inventory is sold at public auction. The recliner is sold as part of a batch of living room furniture, and trucked away to another second hand store, to be sold to some other time traveller.

One can only hope that they realize that there is no day like today.

Today is the only day you have. The best day! The only day!

Tomorrow is uncertain. And yesterday? Well yesterday is known and can be today again if you are not greedy, and just enjoy what you have and know.

Have a great day!

Today.