Bob - the Business Ninja

“Bob - the Business Ninja” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Aidan Bimbrahw, Pathways School, Gurgaon, India.

Bob - the Business Ninja

New York, Time Square, Marauder Industries building, July 19, 2198

“We are here to commemorate the career of Mr. John Smith, the founder and CEO of Marauder Industries.” A man in a green suit said.

Many people clapped.

As he finished his speech he mentioned to everyone “The new CEO will be his son, Mr. Samuel Smith. We Hope Mr. John will have fun after his retirement. Farewell, Sir.”

More people clapped. One person hooted loudly.

“Thank you, Thank you. I have had a great experience working with everyone here. Except for you, Raphael. You’re an idiot” John said. Many people laughed. “I have created lots of memories with you. But at the age of 60, it’s time to retire. Goodbye everyone!” People clapped. Some cried. “Oh, before I leave” John said quickly. “Raphael, you’re fired. Goodbye!”

As John was going home with his wife, Nina, in his shiny, new Cadillac, he thought about what he would do after this. Let’s face it, retirement isn’t exactly a golden age for fun.

“Honey, what do you think I should do after my retirement?” John asked Nina.

“Go on a vacation, have fun! You deserve it after 40 years of hard work.” Nina replied

John didn’t want to go on a vacation. Being the world’s largest business tycoon, he had been everywhere. Plus, he got bad gas when he flew in his private jet. Anyway, he wanted to do something that would change the state of New York. He constantly thought of what he could do. He would need to get to his home office and brainstorm.

New York, Smith residency, Smith road, 2198

After entering his home with a facial recognition and biological scan, John went to his home office.

“Catrina” he called for his personal artificial intelligence assistant. “What is the worst federal crime in this decade and how high is it going up each day?”

“Ripping people off, and it increases every day by 10 percent.” replied Catrina

“I’ve got a plan” John thought.

He was going to be a superhero, but not just any ordinary superhero. He wanted to be one that stops the worst federal crimes - rip-offs and cheating.

He came up with an idea. Every night he would sneak out and throw the criminals in jail for what they did.

4 hours later….

“I haven’t got it” John now said.

“Sir,” Catrina said, “You should probably go to bed”

“Good night” John replied and started to snore.

“Sweet dreams, sir” Catrina replied.

Suddenly John started to mumble something.

“Order, Order, black ninja spandex suit. Briefcase, jet power.” He slowly mumbled.

“Of course, sir” Catrina said.

The next morning, John heard the door ring while he was drinking his coffee.

When he opened the door, he saw a package at his doorstep.

“Interesting” he said, “wasn’t expecting anything”.

He went to his home office and opened the box at once.

He was surprised to see a black ninja spandex and a briefcase which was hovering in the air.

“This must be what I was doing yesterday, then.” he said.

“Well, I’ll see how it goes tonight then” John said, with not much confidence

Every night he would sneak out without fail and do New York a favour. His wife Nina still did not know about this, and his son, Samuel was still working hard and carrying out the business. He used a homemade arsenal of weapons in crime fighting. He used business cards as shuriken’s and used his ballpoint pens for hand-to-hand combat. He would also use his bulletproof briefcase to smack people.

And the rest is history. He started to fight crime and throw the criminals in jail, one by one. Crime had started decreasing, and John, who was now deemed ‘Bob - the Business Ninja’ by the people of New York, was doing what he enjoyed.