Review: Don't Be Late
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 18, 2014
If you ever wondered what the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland would be like if he were human, look no farther than Charlie Hoag, the protagonist of Vincent Hobbes' clever short story, "The Hour of the Time."Like the Rabbit, Charlie wants to be sure he isn't late for a very important date. He's a 30ish short, annoying nobody with no friends and no social life. His only passion is punctuality. And this day is the most important date of his life, an event for which he received a summons to report downtown at 9:00 sharp. When he arrives, after a few nailbiting moments fighting rush hour traffic and trying to find a parking spot, Charlie wants everyone to know that he was on time.The story is only 15 pages, so there's not a lot of space for clever plotting or fully nuanced character development. Instead, author Hobbes makes masterful use of the few words he uses, establishing Charlie's character quirks early and often. At first glance, it might seem that Hobbes goes overboard in describing Charlie's fixation with punctuality, but the sheer volume of repetition of Charlie's declarations that he actually arrived three minutes early succeed in getting readers annoyed with Charlie, who is pretty clearly an annoying little guy. There's a twist ending here, but most readers will probably figure it out fairly early in the story. Perhaps surprisingly to some, figuring out the ending will not diminish most people's enjoyment of the story. Actually, this is one story that works even better if readers suspect what's going to happen.Stories this short are rarely great literature and this is no exception. However, it's a very well constructed story, with a setup that lasts just long enough to give readers all the details they need and pique their interest in learning how it will be resolved. Although I'm always leery of giving a short story that you have to pay for a really high review, this story is apparently being offered for free on a long term basis (I received it for free and it appears to have remained so for a while). As a free story, it's an easy recommendation; if you have to pay, you'll have to decide whether a clever story like this is worth a dollar. In any case, it's a very well constructed story with an unusual, memorable main character. Unlike Charlie however, you might want to take some time to enjoy this story.