It's a Wonderful Life Worth Living
Would the world have been a better place if he had never been born? That was the question Bobby asked himself.
A/N This is my version of 'It's a Wonderful Life' Bobby Goren style. Some of the events are from the show itself, others are made up, and some are combined.
None of these characters belong to me.
Christmas time in New York City, in the year 2008 was an exciting, happy place. There was the shopping and the shoppers looking for that elusive perfect gift; the beautifully decorated store windows, full of the smudgy fingerprints of the little children who watched in wonder at the animations of Rudolph and the elves. There were Christmas trees and lights and decorations everywhere. And all over the brightly lit city a light snow was falling.
Way above the city, higher than the clouds, the saints and the angels watched this beautiful scene. They always watched over the city, and at Christmas time they were especially vigilant. While Christmas for most people was a happy time, for a few others it was vastly different. These were the exceptions, some who needed a little help, and some who needed a lot more. But right now the Heavens were concerned about the one man who needed it most—Robert Goren. Recently there had been a lot of prayers being sent to heaven on his behalf.
In the nighttime sky, the saints and the angels discussed the man slowly walking through the streets, with not even a destination in mind. St. Peter pointed him out. "Well, there he is, Jacob, your new charge, Robert 'Bobby' Goren, detective extraordinaire—a man who doesn't think his life is worth living."
Jacob didn't understand. "Well, if he's so extraordinary, why does he think his life is so worthless? And why am I…? Oh no! He's not thinking…"
"I'm afraid so. He's a thinker, Jacob," Peter explained, "sometimes a little too much. He's also a good man. This man has had a lot of pain in his life. He just doesn't want any more pain. He's trying to figure it all out, but he just keeps coming back to the same thing."
"And he needs our help? My help? I…I'm not sure I'm ready…saving a man's life…this is a big task."
"I have confidence in you, Jacob. This is your big opportunity."
"Of course…I…I just hope I'm up to it. So what happened to him anyway?"
"It's a long story, Jacob, one that started way before he was even born, when his parents each sought comfort from others and his mother took up with a serial killer—"
"Why? Why would anyone take up with a serial killer?" Jacob was totally perplexed.
"The 'why' isn't important, the point is, she did. And out of that pairing came her second son, Bobby."
"Jeez, tough start in life."
"Yes, it was. Young Bobby didn't realize it, of course, until, well, just recently. But the man he thought of as his father realized it. And treated him accordingly, different than his other son."
Jacob winced, and Peter went on. "And his mother was sick, a disease of the mind that couldn't be cured in those days. If she wasn't screaming to get the demons out of him, he was scared to death of the demons in her. She would alternately beat him, scare him, or embarrass him, often at the same time. And as bad as he hated the beatings his mother gave him, he hated his father's apathy towards him even more. He wouldn't give young Bobby the time of day. It was so bad that Bobby often did things on purpose to anger his father, just to get a beating. It was his only way to get his father's attention."
"Wow! And he turned out to be a good man? After that start?"
"That's the strange part," Peter said, a bit of wonder in his own voice. "Oddly enough, it seems that most of the troubles this man got himself into throughout his life have been the result of his trying to help others; this man is one of the kindest, gentlest, most decent men—"
"Which is why we—I—have to help him!" Jacob concluded.
"Exactly!" Peter said proudly. "You'll get it right yet, Jacob. What you are going to do is show Bobby just what the world would have been like if he had never been born. First I'll show you a few pages from Bobby's life. Remember them, they will be important. And then you'll begin."
tbc