Last week, our first destination in Key West was to visit “Robert the Doll” at the Museum @ East Martello. Robert is 105 years old and began his life as a doll belonging to young Gene Otto, who blamed Robert for every” misdeed, treachery and mischief.” We were told as we entered the museum that we must ask Robert for permission to photograph him, otherwise bad things could happen to our camera/digital image.
When we arrived at the display, the wall nearby was full of letters from previous visitors, most detailing things that went awry after their visit.
My sister and I were very polite and asked for his permission. I figure he granted it with his silence. We had no problem taking the pictures (there are stories of malfunctioning equipment and blurring images). But my brother-in-law scoffed at the whole affair and mocked Robert. I didn’t hear about this until afterward, or I would have made him apologize. You may not know this about me, but I am superstitious about this sort of thing.
So, I figured I was on good terms with Robert. Imagine my surprise when odd things began to occur a few days later. First my engine light came on in the CRV, followed by the engine stalling out as I sat in a long line of traffic on Rt. 1 in the Keys. When I went scuba diving, my weight belt suddently fell off my waist and dropped 40 feet to the bottom of the ocean. Then, mysteriously, my laptop shutdown when I went to battery power and blew out my profile settings (still not fixed at this writing). Once home, I turned on two different light fixtures, only to have the light bulbs blow out. And finally, the battery on my cell phone shut down even thought it usually runs for over a day. I sit here afraid to touch anything else! Not only because of what else might go south, but because I’ve already established a bad luck reputation at work after sharing my sad tale. When a colleague’s IPhone wouldn’t display, she immediately asked if I had touched it!
I have found that Robert has stayed up with the times, having his own blog (although it’s a bit dated – what’s the deal with that, Robert?). So perhaps I can send him a link to this posting and ask his forgiveness so I can return things to normal around here!
You know I was joking, right? ;)
I sent a link of this post to Robert and received a return email from his webmaster who placed a link on the http://www.robertthedoll.org site. So I think Robert and I are on good terms now, in fact his webmaster said he hopes I return soon.
Guess what? Tim was able to repair my computer and none of my data is lost after all. Then when I drove home this evening, I saw that the engine light is now off and the car is running fine!
My advice? Stay on Robert’s good side.
I still say Robert looks like a little turd. Bring it on Robert, if you’ve got a hair on your ass.
Biffin Cardoza