Benchwarmer

He’d been sitting on the sidelines, warming the bench, waiting, for almost seventy years. The winds of Time chilled him to the bone, and all he had to keep him warm were his memories, which got a little older and a little colder each day.He wasn’t an imposing figure. There were days he looked like Humpty Dumpty before the fall, and days he looked more like a Teddy Bear. It didn’t make any difference to him. He had never seen a mirror, nor did he care to.He could have chosen any name he wanted, but he stuck with Mr. Paloobi, for reasons only one other person would understand.A short story by Mike Resnick with Lezli RobinIt happened on the last day that he was called forth from the limbo where he was born, where he existed now until he was needed again. It was a day filled with the same promise as the day before, the same exciting horizon to be approached, the same challenges, and the same goals. But there was one thing that was not the same.