The Man the World Forgot

He lived up to the name they gave him. Rip Van Winkle, that was what they used to call him. No one really knew what his real name was. He could fall a sleep a drop of hat. For sleep was important to him, but no way was he lazy as his namesake.

An inventor by profession, he lived a life of a recluse, interacting with no one, save for his assistant Igor.  He was seldomely seen, unless when he wanted to register any patent. He relied on Igor for the rest of his requirements.

Now Rip had invented a sleeping pod, in which he slept every night, with Igor’s help, of course. And who would also wake him the next morning. 

One day, when rain poured heavily, Rip decided to go into his sleeping pod a little early, cause he hated the thundering and lightning and the patter of the rain. He knew that Igor would wake him the next morning.

Due to the incessant rains, the level of the river, that flowed by the town, rose dangerously high. To prevent it from being washed out, the whole town had to be evacuated. Every member of the town were accounted.

Now the  town totally forgot about poor Rip. Not even Igor, remembered to rescue him. So Rip continued to sleep in his pod.

The river raged through the town, levelling everything in its path, except for Rip’s place. So while everything else was destroyed, it left Rips place safe and sound.

The whole town was was grateful to be saved, but they still continued to forget about  Rip. 

Minutes turned to hours, hours to days, days to months, months to year, years turned into decades. Everyone totally forgot about poor Rip, even Igor. He lay asleep in his pod, totally undisturbed.

Decades later, people returned to the now abandoned town. They rummaged through the wreckage to see if anything to could be salvaged. During one of their rummage, they came across Rips pod and managed to finally wake him up.

These people were descendants of the town’s people. Since their forefathers had totally forgotten about poor Rip, they had no knowledge of him either.

He was totally startled to see these faces. He asked for Igor, but they had no idea who. They managed to clothe him and take him to the place where they settled. They searched for any mention of him in their records, but they could find any mention of him. Nor could they find anyone by the name of Igor! It was like the world had forgotten about him.

They put out ads about him in the local newspaper, hoping someone would come forth with some information. But days went by, and no one came.

Finally, one day, a very old man came to them. When they brought Rip to him, he recognised the features, but knew it was not Igor. 

The old man looked at him up and down, in total amazement. When looked him thoroughly, he smiled. He couldn’t believe his eyes. So stories were indeed true!

He narrated how his father’s grandfather used to tell him stories of his master who lay sleeping in a pod, who the entire town and the world had forgotten, even his father’s grandfather, who’s Nickname was Igor!