October 4, 2018 • 53 mins
Rob remembers breaking his arm as a kid. But the rest of his family says it never happened. Did he break his arm? The answer will determine Rob’s sanity.
Credits
Heavyweight is hosted and produced by Jonathan Goldstein.
This episode was also produced by Kalila Holt, Peter Bresnan, and Stevie Lane.
Editing by Jorge Just, with additional editing by Alex Blumberg.
Special thanks to Emily Condon, Phia Bennin, BA Parker, Matthew Nelson, Sandra Corddry, Maximum Fun, and Jackie Cohen.
The show was mixed by Bobby Lord.
Music by Christine Fellows and Bobby Lord, with additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, Michael Hearst, and Hew Time. Our theme song is by The Weakerthans courtesy of Epitaph Records, and our ad music is by Haley Shaw.
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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hello, what are your top three interests?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Did you say, what are my top three interests?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Is a job interview?
Speaker 1 (00:15):
No, I was just what's so funny?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Why?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I just want to get to know you.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Better after forty years?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You want to give me your What's your top interest?
Speaker 5 (00:27):
Probably my kids?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Children in general?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Children? Would you say, would you say couscous? I would
not say you really like cuscus? No, I wouldn't, But
I mean, so your children number one? Number two A
close second is couscous? And what's three?
Speaker 4 (00:44):
What do you tell me?
Speaker 6 (00:44):
What? What do you just tell me?
Speaker 7 (00:46):
Where number three is?
Speaker 6 (00:48):
Go ahead?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
What is my number?
Speaker 6 (00:49):
Three?
Speaker 8 (00:50):
Mmmmm?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hanging up on me? Boom boom. Start the show from
Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight Today's episode.
Rob my friend, Rob Cordrey is a famous actor and
(01:24):
the fact you think I'm resentful is ridiculous. No, I'm
afraid that says more about you than it does about me.
I guess you could say Robert and I have both
done pretty well. He works with famous movie stars like
Dwayne the Rock Johnson, and I work with famous podcast
editors like Jorge the Rock Collection Just and Boyd does
(01:47):
he have a lot of amethyst. Rob was a correspondent
on the Daily Show and stars in film franchises like
Hot Tubs, Time Machine one and two. An I star
in Heavyweight, the podcast you're listening to right now. So
good for Rob and good for me. I don't even
(02:09):
know why we're still talking about this, because, after all,
it wasn't Dwyane Johnson who Rob recently approached with a
unique problem.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
It was me.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Aside from a pocket full of nogi's and karate chops,
I guess there wasn't a thing the Great the Rock
could do for Robert. Rob is more your showbiz name, right,
but it's also my name.
Speaker 9 (02:33):
It is, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Because of showbiz opportunities, Rob can't leave Hollywood. So he
phones me from a studio in la Hey.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Come and start whenever you want, and we'll just keep rolling.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Once his studio operator Laura gets us rolling, Rob tells
me his tale of woe. It all began with his daughter, Sloan.
Speaker 10 (02:56):
My daughter is eleven and she tripped over a log
and broke her arm.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Sloan was at school and she tripped over a log
and fell, which was exactly how I broke my arm
when I was a kid. When Rob was around his
daughter's age, he was out in the woods with his
boy scout Troop, and he also tripped over a log
(03:24):
and broke his arm exactly like Sloane. Did you tell
her this story about how when you were a kid,
the same thing had happened to you.
Speaker 9 (03:32):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 10 (03:34):
Every connection I make with her I kind of cherish,
and I thought there was just a funny one that
we broke our arms in the same exact way. So
she went and got a cast, and I forwarded the picture.
It was this adorable picture of my daughter and her
purple cast, and I sent the picture to my family.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Rob texted the folk to his brother, his sister, his mother,
and his father, and so a text thread began. Do
you have the texts on you?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I do?
Speaker 9 (04:10):
I think I do. Yeah, it might take me a
second to find sure.
Speaker 10 (04:12):
Yeah, okay, is this it's I'm just trying to find
the beginning.
Speaker 9 (04:19):
It's so long.
Speaker 10 (04:22):
There's a lot about my daughter here, a lot of
ah man, that poor little girl, and so forth.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
When the family asked how Sloan had broken her arm,
Rob excitedly told them about the weird coincidence, and that's
when Rob's troubles began.
Speaker 10 (04:39):
My mother immediately shot back, you never broke your arm.
My mother said, I do not remember that at all. Laura,
do you remember that? Because my sister is the keeper
of memories.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
In a family, each member has their role the thing
that the finds them. Laura's role is keeper of memories.
And immediately she texted.
Speaker 9 (05:06):
Back, don't recall any of this.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
A second later, Rob's father weighed in with ridicule.
Speaker 10 (05:13):
Was that the camping trip where you broke your arm
and it healed over night? Rob shot back, I had
a cast four weeks exclamation point.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Next, Rob's younger brother, Nate, chimed in.
Speaker 10 (05:26):
Oh boy, here we go another I broke my arm.
I broke my arm story. Look, I'm the broken arm guy.
That's my role in a family. Those agreed upon rolls
are reinforced through agreed upon stories. Rob says, the Corderies
have about a half a dozen chestnuts that get told
over and over. One of the biggies is about young
(05:49):
Nate and how he broke his arm twice. Rob's mom
is quick to confirm that's true, you are the broken arm.
But I'm just reading this for baby him. She my
mother can't type worth a crap, and then she wrote
right after that broken arm, guy, I don't have my
glasses on. I was texting with them for about an
(06:18):
hour afterwards. And everyone in my family swears that I
never broke my arm.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
This in spite of Rob's absolute certainty that he did
break his arm.
Speaker 9 (06:32):
It really it made me angry. It's very invalidating.
Speaker 10 (06:36):
I felt like, you know, my mother didn't remember this experience,
this this that her son was in pain and had
to be taken to the hospital and was and was
in a cast and for a long time, you know,
And I think I felt, I don't know, for gotten.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Rob has crystal clear memories of the day it happened.
Speaker 10 (07:08):
I was on a camp out my troop. My boy
Scout troop would go on a camping trip one weekend
out of every month.
Speaker 9 (07:18):
It was the fall, so.
Speaker 10 (07:19):
I assumed we were in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was dark,
and I was standing on a log, sort of a
log that you would sit on in front of a campfire,
and it was rolling. I was rolling it, and I
think maybe I was just trying to make people laugh.
And I fell and knew immediately that I had broken
(07:41):
my arm. I've never felt that kind of pain.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
One of the adults on the trip, an old friend
of the family named Don Smith, took Rob to the
hospital where he was fitted with a cast. Afterwards, mister
Smith brought Rob back to the campground, and that night
Rob slept in the back of a pickup while mister
Smith's left up front behind the wheel of the truck.
Speaker 10 (08:03):
And I remember waking up and being in such pain,
and I think I waited there for it felt like
the longest time that I was just laboring over waking
him up.
Speaker 9 (08:14):
I felt so bad waking him up.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Eventually, the pain became so severe that Rob had no
choice but to rouse mister Smith for a painkiller. I
asked him what else He remembers the way it smelled
the cast.
Speaker 10 (08:30):
Yeah, I mean, you know, your your arms covered up
in plaster for five to seven weeks, and so you know,
it smells like a gym locker that hasn't been cleaned
in five to seven weeks. And I remember liking the smell,
that's the weird part. And getting it off. I remember
getting it off. I remember getting the cast off, and
(08:54):
it smelled terrible, of course, but good to me. I
just pretended that it smelled awful while I was drinking it,
and my arm had just withered to nothing. It looked
like a different person's arm. I can't be making that
up right.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Rob fired off a series of texts to his family,
recounting those memories in exhaustive detail, the camp out, mister Smith,
the cast. When he finished, his mom was the first
to text back.
Speaker 10 (09:25):
I'm afraid you were hallucinating, sweetie.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Rob tried to laugh it off, but he couldn't stop
thinking about it. That evening, Rob shared his frustration with
his wife.
Speaker 10 (09:40):
And she patiently listened to the texts, and afterwards she
smiled and she said, I'm on your family's side.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Gently, his wife reminded him that he's kind of absent minded.
He doesn't always have the memory. Also, in their sixteen
years of marriage, Rob had never once mentioned a broken arm.
Maybe Rob's mom was right, Maybe he was hallucinating.
Speaker 10 (10:12):
Either I'm telling the truth, Jonathan, or I'm completely insane.
And it could be that I'm insane.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Is Rob insane? Or had he really broken his arm?
I was going to find out, but before setting forth
on something like this, I need a call to arms,
something to stir my inards.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
Good.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So we're going to do this. I'm going to do it.
Speaker 9 (10:36):
Yeah good.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
My innerds remain unstirred, so I'm going to get right
on this.
Speaker 11 (10:44):
All right.
Speaker 9 (10:44):
Great.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
But just when I think that Rob will never give
my inards the stirring they need.
Speaker 9 (10:51):
Hey, Jonathan, Yes, go get him, you son of a bitch.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
That's what I was good for. Yeah, that was good.
Speaker 9 (10:58):
That's good.
Speaker 10 (10:59):
I was going to say to that or get those bastards,
but I'd have felt weird call my family bastards.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
After the break, questioning some dirty, rotten bastards.
Speaker 9 (11:09):
All right, great, all right, I love you very much.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Oh, thank you, thank you? Right back at you there.
Speaker 9 (11:15):
I want you to say it.
Speaker 11 (11:16):
I love you.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (11:17):
So what.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I just you know, hello, ullo.
Speaker 9 (11:24):
Yeah, I'm still here.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So Laura is there as well.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, you dropped out a little bit there, Jonathan.
Speaker 12 (11:30):
Oh you should repeat what you said.
Speaker 8 (11:31):
That'd be great.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
Rob.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Is Rob still there here?
Speaker 9 (11:34):
I'm still here?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, we're both here.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I think there's one little section.
Speaker 12 (11:37):
Where you dropped out of it.
Speaker 9 (11:39):
I think you know what section that was, Jonathan.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I was just I was just asking if you were
if you were still can you hear me?
Speaker 6 (11:46):
Laura Hello, Hi.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Is this Robin?
Speaker 7 (12:06):
It is Hello?
Speaker 6 (12:08):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Is this Laura? It is Nate? Yes, mister Cordy, Yes,
is this an okay time to talk? My search for
the truth begins with the Quardrees. Rob's brother Nate. I'm
comfortably sitting in a chair, his sister Laura right now.
Speaker 7 (12:22):
We're in Disney World, his mother Robin, I'm.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
In my car in front of a post.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Office, and his father, Steve, I'm in Florida. What makes
them all so certain that Rob never broke his arm?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
No one in the family can remember it.
Speaker 7 (12:38):
His own mother, no broken arms for Rob, his own father.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I certainly don't remember coming back in the cab.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
If there's anyone's memory in the family that I would trust,
it would be Lauren.
Speaker 12 (12:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (12:49):
I don't think it happened. I typically remember everything from
every situation in the family, so.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
And you've not been long before.
Speaker 8 (13:01):
No.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
My first thought is that maybe around the time Rob
broke his arm, something traumatic happened in the Cordery's home life,
something that might have overshadowed the accidents and thus erased
it from the collective memory. The death of a grandparent perhaps,
or a house fire.
Speaker 7 (13:19):
No, nothing, Well, we got cable one summer, so that
kind of derailed the entire neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
What about Rob's distinct memory of that first night in
a cast? I asked them sleeping in the back of
a pickup truck.
Speaker 13 (13:42):
Mister Smith never owned a pickup, and we knew the
Smith's a long time.
Speaker 12 (13:47):
It lived across the street Funtains for a number of years,
never had a pickup.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Mister Smith has since died, so I can't turn to
him for confirmation about the truck. But it isn't just
the pickup that's suspended, it's the hospital too. Rob claims
he got his cast at the Jordan Hospital. Rob's mom
was a nurse with strong opinions, and she says the
Jordan hospital was a quote snake pit. She'd be damned
(14:15):
if she allowed any member of the quadry Klan to
set foot in that hospital. Shaped Butcher's College, there were
strict orders.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
If any of my kids get hurt, do not take
them to that hospital.
Speaker 13 (14:29):
Go to the Jordan hospital.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
That would never happen. He said. He went to Jordan.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Hospital in his make belief pickup, and most damning of all,
I broke my arm twice.
Speaker 13 (14:41):
The only one that I remember having a cast on
his arm.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Was his younger brother, Maids, my younger brother.
Speaker 7 (14:47):
Nate broke his arm, broke.
Speaker 14 (14:49):
His arm twice.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I had to be in traction with in traction for
two weeks, two weeks, for fourteen days.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
So the quderies aren't just a bunch of broken arm deniers.
They all remember when Nate's arm broke, and who broke it.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
That was running out of the family room onto the
back patio, and it was it was concrete, and I
ran and I tripped and I fell and I broke
my arm. And for all of the for my entire
adult life, I had thought that my shoelaces were untied.
(15:25):
That is not the truth. Many years later, Rob said,
you know, it wasn't your shoelace.
Speaker 12 (15:34):
I tripped you.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
He stepped on my shoelace. He was behind the door,
and I was like, hold on, hold on, you tripped me.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Rob didn't bring up any of this.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Oh what a surprise.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
According to Nate, Rob's false memory stems from guilt. Laura agrees,
saying that seeing Nate in traction was traumatic for Rob.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
So I don't know if he's feeling responsible. So now
he's trying to make up for it by saying, well,
I also broke my arm.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
But Rob's visceral memories, the smell of the cast, the
sight of the withered arm. How could he have just
invented such concrete details.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
He was with Nate when Nate has his.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Cast removed, and he remembers the smell of Nate's cast.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
I remember the smell of Nate's cast. So he took
it off. His arm was like yellow, and it looks
like it was like molting. It was nasty and it
smelled so bad.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
I asked Laura if she would describe the odor as
reminiscent of, say, a Jim Locker, and Laura says, yes, exactly,
a Jim Locker.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I think he might have tried to steal my memory.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Even if you're famous, you shouldn't go around stealing people's memories.
Speaker 12 (17:21):
Hello, Jonathan, Hi.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
How are you? After speaking with the Cordrees, I decide
that I no longer believe Rob. It isn't like I
think he's lying. It's more like I think he's insane.
So I need to tread carefully. So I wanted I
was calling me because I wanted to report back to
(17:43):
you on some of my findings. I can't wait easy,
does it Johnny boy? Okay, well, I don't know that
it's looking great. So for one thing, I spoke to
your dad. Yeah, and he said that Don Smith, the
(18:07):
Scout leader, doesn't even own a pickup truck.
Speaker 12 (18:12):
Oh, he would never He would never have owned a
pickup truck.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
No, he's not that kind of guy.
Speaker 12 (18:16):
I'm not sure if it was his.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
As Rob flounders for an excuse, I try my best
to understand the logic of his deranged mind. Don Smith
might have like found a pickup truck that wasn't his,
that you guys slept in together.
Speaker 12 (18:30):
Yeah, yeh, I assume, like whoever had the most comfortable
vehicle to sleep.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
But what about the snake ridden Jordan hospital?
Speaker 9 (18:40):
I ask?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
His mom swears that she'd written on his medical form
that he was never to go there, but Rob brushes
that off with another half baked excuse. It was so
late at night. He says, she probably didn't think it
was worth making the trip to take her wounded son elsewhere.
Speaker 12 (18:57):
You know, she's already in her robe. Her stories and
drinking dia coke and smoking.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Rob's explanations were becoming increasingly far fetched. But he was
sticking to his story. I had no choice but to
bring out the big guns. The other thing that you
failed to mention to me. According to your family, you
were responsible for Nate's broken arm. Oh no, Rob says,
(19:28):
Nate's arm is something he still feels bad about, which
is why he doesn't like bringing it up. So I
turned to the one piece of evidence I know Rob
can't deny. When Laura, keeper of Memories, told me about
nate broken arm guy getting his cast removed, her description
was suspiciously familiar. She mentioned Nate's withered arm and how
(19:52):
it smelled like a gym locker, which is.
Speaker 12 (19:55):
Exactly my story. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
So, I mean there's being forgetful and then there's completely
fabricating like reality. I mean that that's Yeah.
Speaker 12 (20:13):
It's made me, I don't know, it's made me.
Speaker 8 (20:18):
Kind of look back at my entire life and realize
that I don't remember a lot, and it makes me
very sad.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
It's finally beginning to sink in maybe Rob didn't break
his arm. Before we get off the phone, Rob asks
me if in spite of all this, I'll keep digging
a little longer, and I promise him I will. I'll
reach out to you when I have something new.
Speaker 12 (20:53):
Great and Jonathan, Yes, I love you very very much.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I hear you, buddy, and you know what what, I'm
in a crowded area.
Speaker 9 (21:15):
Hello.
Speaker 12 (21:17):
Yes, my name is David Orcott. You had called him
up the message.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
After reaching out to several of Rob's childhood friends who
remembered nothing about a broken arm, I eventually hear back
from David Orcott. David and Rob were in the Boy
Scouts together, and Rob recalls them taking a group of
girl Scouts on a hike during the autumn of his
broken arm. I filled David in on the alleged broken
arm and all the holes in Rob's story. Every single
(21:43):
person in his family said, what, you're crazy. You never
broke your arm, and they were quite positive of this.
But he is quite positive himself that he did break
his arm and even has like, sorry.
Speaker 12 (22:01):
He did break his arm. I've got a picture of
him with a broken arm. They need the picture.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, this is crazy. Do you still have this photograph? Oh?
Speaker 6 (22:18):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Well, you're the first person that I've spoken to who's
confirmed this. This is kind of amazing.
Speaker 12 (22:25):
The only reason is I believe I have a scrap
book that that picture's in there.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 12 (22:33):
I could check that tonight and verify it if you want,
and then if you need a scan copy or scan
of it, we could do something along those lines. It
won't be a problem.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Maybe Rob wasn't as insane as you people thought. Sorry, folks,
but according to the Gimlet Media Employee Handbook, when you've
got this much dramatic tension in a story, you have
to amp it up with a plethor of advertisements.
Speaker 9 (23:02):
So take a.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Bathroom break and fix yourself a snack, not at the
same time, of course, and I'll catch you on the
b side as promised. A couple days later, I received
the photo from David Orcott. Rob's on vacation in Hawaii,
(23:23):
a paradise island populated by celebs like Tom Selleck and
Don Ho. But I just can't wait to share the news. Plus,
I've never talked to anyone in Hawaii before. Hawaii. Are
you in Hawaii right now?
Speaker 12 (23:39):
I am. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Once Rob's done bragging, I tell him I have something
to share. Okay, here we go. I'm texting it to
you right now. It should be on its way.
Speaker 12 (23:56):
I just got a text from Jonathan Goldstein that image.
Speaker 15 (24:03):
Whoa.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
The photo looks like it was shot on a nineteen
eighties in Stematic. In the foreground is a group of
girl scouts sitting on a ledge and behind them there's.
Speaker 12 (24:14):
Me in the back row with a broken arm.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
The picture is pretty grainy, but you can see a
rob like boy looking little for his age compared to
his friend David, who stands beside him. Rob's arm is
covered in something big and white. Is it just like
he remembered it with it?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yes?
Speaker 12 (24:36):
Yes, with a huge, huge cast and look and not
looking happy either.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Armed with this? I mean, what can they possibly say?
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I don't know.
Speaker 12 (24:49):
I almost feel bad for them.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Evidence in hand. Rob organizes a conference call with the
whole Cordery clan and to best enjoy the moment, he
also writes a victory speech. I'm very proud of it.
Do you need to practice it? Yes, let's hear it.
Speaker 12 (25:08):
I can't imagine what you're all feeling right now. How
would I react if I had forgotten that my son
or brother spent five to six lonely weeks of recovery
shoved into a cast so bulky, so glaringly white. It
would not.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Surprise me if strangers who at the time had been
cursed to catch a glimpse of me lugging that albatross
around still jolt awake at night, screaming. Man, that kid
sure did have a broken arm.
Speaker 12 (25:39):
I'll never forget. It was a big cast. Your son,
your brother, will always be here to remind you that
when I was a kid, I definitely definitely out a
doubt broke my arm.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
That's beautiful, understated, but beautiful.
Speaker 16 (26:03):
All right.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
So you know what, why don't we call into this
conference line just so we'll be on the line before
they will, so we could greet them. Okay, just like
in those movies, you know what I mean, We're like
someone walks into the room and then the person with
the evidence is sitting calmly, cross legging in an armchair. Hello, family,
glad you can make it.
Speaker 12 (26:21):
Please make yourself comfortable.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Okay. So I'll call in and you're gonna call in
as well.
Speaker 11 (26:26):
Right, I'm going to call in, yeah, in one in
one minute, okay, joining conference now?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Hello, Hey Jonathan, you have Nate so far?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Oh h oh, Hi Nate. I was I was hoping
to get in here before everybody.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Mama code is here.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Hi, Hi, Hi, It's Lara.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Oh hi, how are you, Laura. It's so nice that
you're all here. I just got off the phone with
your brother Rob.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Your hell.
Speaker 12 (27:21):
Oh no, you beat us, We all beat you. Everybody's there.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah. We were one minute into Rob's victory conference call,
and already his family was ruining his moment. I can
tell Rob needs a minute to collect himself to get
back into that Aloha state of mind. So, taking my
cues from a Southern lawyer and a Hannah Barbara cartoon
possibly portrayed by a large rooster wearing suspenders, I take
(27:50):
the stage. The reason I've I've brought everyone here together
is because I've uncovered a piece of evidence that I
think might very well be definitive. In homage to the
original text message thread that started this whole thing, I
group text the photo of Rob to the whole family.
Speaker 9 (28:12):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
I'm about to hit send you all set mm hmm, Okay,
here we go. I just sent it.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
There's a moment of silence as everyone studies the photo.
I worry that maybe it isn't clear enough that the
Corderies will contest it's even a picture of Rob, But then.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Does look like Robert in a caf it does.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
With Rob's identity confirmed, I give it two shakes of
a lamb's tail for the apologies to start rolling in,
so Rob can put this whole business behind him and
enjoy his two o'clock hula dancing class with a free
and easy mind. But two shakes of a lamb's tail
becomes three shakes and then four shakes. So do you
(29:06):
all like believe now, like definitively, that Rob was right
and you guys were wrong?
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I don't know how Dad and I and Laura and
they could not remember this?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Again, A hush falls over the conference call. How could
they not remember?
Speaker 16 (29:30):
It?
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Just didn't make sense unless I think.
Speaker 13 (29:34):
That was the camp out that they were practicing first
aid and they were using robins they getting big on
how when they broke an arm.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
With that, the floodgates are open and everyone begins forwarding
a theory.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
It does vaguely look like a pretend cast because of it,
like an Adobe photoshow.
Speaker 13 (29:56):
Maybe you just wore that cast when you were away
from a health Oh right, we thought it.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
From here, all of the Corderie small theories converge into
one grand theory, which they trumpet in much the way
villagers in a Broadway musical.
Speaker 7 (30:18):
Might it kind of looks like a sling phone, Not really.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
It does look like a sling.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Yeah, that's what you're saying, is a sling. So maybe sprained.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
It was some sprain or that's what it was. Yeah, okay,
I say if it was a sprain, then why wouldn't
you just remember a sprain?
Speaker 3 (30:40):
A sprain is not that memorable, just doesn't just doesn't
look right. The sprain in a sling that big.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Right, So then it can't be a sprain. It has
to be a broken arm now.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
But there would still be an enormous cast on a small, slight.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Boy in the face of the evidence. I wonder if
Rob's family is clinging to this whole sprain thing because
they just feel bad for not remembering. Do you think
it's a denial out of guilt, you, guys.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
I don't feel guilty.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I will say that my memory is imperfect and it's
altogether likely that you did break.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Your arm, just just likely, not one hundred percent though
I do have zero memory of it. But what about
even seeing the photographic evidence.
Speaker 7 (31:36):
I I'm not one hundred percent convinced, because nobody remembers it.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
In this way, we go around and around. Since no
one remembers it, then it didn't happen. And if it
didn't happen, how could anyone remember it? And all the
while Rob is silent. I imagine him on the other
end of the line, seated alone at a luau table,
sadly picking the weeds from his grass skirt and taking
(32:06):
sad slow SIPs from one of those drinks that come
in a flaming pineapple, the kind famous people are forever
throwing at the paparazzi. Suddenly Rob lets his frustration be known.
Speaker 12 (32:19):
I cannot believe that you guys are working this hard
to not believe that I broke my arm.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I did not expect this.
Speaker 12 (32:32):
I did not expect this reaction.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
It seems it's going to take more than an old
photograph to change the Quderi's cemented version of history, and
it's going to take the Cordery's belief in Rob to
make him feel sane again. So I asked the family
what they'll need to accept that Rob broke his arm?
Speaker 13 (32:50):
Well, where's the medical records?
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Then I would believe it.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Yeah, of course, Yeah, of course, of course. And if
we're able to present medical records attesting to the fact
that Rob broke his arm. Would they then all apologize.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
To Rob if this is all true, if he deserves
an apology, I would apologize.
Speaker 7 (33:09):
Yeah, I would definitely apologize.
Speaker 5 (33:12):
I would feel terrible.
Speaker 12 (33:13):
Absolutely, Yes, yes, I'll.
Speaker 13 (33:15):
Be the first to stand up.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
But do you think that's going to happen.
Speaker 12 (33:20):
No, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
I don't know if this is the time to bring
up the speech.
Speaker 12 (33:33):
But I mean, yeah, I wrote a speech. I wrote
a victory speech.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
In spite of everything. I knew that Rob was proud
of that speech, and since he'd already written it, I
figured he might as well read it.
Speaker 15 (33:48):
So I cannot go Actually, oh, I'll start again. I
can't imagine what you're all feeling right now.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
How would I react by and forgotten? The corderies want
written proof? But do hospitals even keep records from so
long ago, let alone a snake pit like the Jordan Hospital.
Since Rob can't be expected to interrupt this Hawaiian holiday
(34:21):
with the trivial business of procuring paperwork, I decide to
handle it myself. And who better to help me handle
it myself than someone else? And who better is someone
else than an actual doctor, Jackie.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
I'm just walking home from work.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
I'm actually not far from your old apartment.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Oh really, can you check if I have any mail
for Let's get right to it. I explained to Jackie
that a friend of mine, a famous friend who for
his own privacy I'd rather not name, was in need
of medical records. They were probably like easily over thirty
years ago. Do you think they would still exist, Well, it.
Speaker 7 (35:06):
Depends, but they might either get rid of them or
they might have gone into deep storage, but they may
have a record as a doctor.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Would you be able to get the records out of
deep storage?
Speaker 7 (35:14):
Nobody can request them himself.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
He doesn't need me.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Well, first of all, he's a very busy man. Did
I mention that he is?
Speaker 2 (35:20):
I'm not busy?
Speaker 12 (35:20):
Right.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
This isn't going at all the way I'd hoped. Instead
of offering help, Jackie is offering jealousy of Rob. I
explained that she's being ridiculous, that she's also my friend,
but that Rob just has VIP needs the needs of
a very importure.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Let me reiterate what I already said to you.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Would I say, yeah, you said you too bad?
Speaker 7 (35:45):
You said your famous friend what can your famous friend
do for himself?
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Hey, you said that he could phone up and he could.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Find out he can get them himself, Yet you need
his signature on a piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
In the midst of tearing me a new bee hole,
Jackie runs into a friend of hers named Jeremy. I'd
never heard this tone in her voice before. Could it
be that an unplanned social encounter with a friend was
making Jackie happy?
Speaker 16 (36:17):
Don't tell you, Oh, it's.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
So good to say hi to Jeremy.
Speaker 8 (36:32):
Medical records.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
This is Karen.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
How can I help you?
Speaker 8 (36:35):
Hi?
Speaker 6 (36:35):
There?
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I have a question. When I explained to Karen when
I'm after, I expect her to say something like medical
records from the nineteen eighties. Dude, this is the Jordan Hospital.
I'm performing open heart surgery with a spatula as we speak,
and I'm the mother f and switchboard operator. But to
my surprise, we do have records that go that far back.
(37:05):
We have a copy service correspondence team and if they're
able to find anything, lots of times they're on microfiche,
then they can reach out. Okay, thank you so much, Okay,
good luck, thank you, Okay, bye bye bye bye. I
don't know my experience with the Jordan Hospital has been wonderful.
(37:25):
For the next seven to ten business days. I wait,
but something. You don't have to wait for his deals,
because here they are deals, deals, deals. An envelope arrives
(37:48):
to my office. What's that, asks Gimlet CEO and founder
Alex Bloomberg. A letter, I say, A letter? He repeats,
what are you five billion years old? I only use Snapchat,
wheat Chat, Kick, slack, poke in vox. Well do you
(38:09):
use email? I ask, because I've sent you a half
a dozen of them about renewing my son's health insurance.
He swallowed a penny over the weekend, and my words
are interrupted by the sound of Alex's fitbit, which has
begun emitting a terrifying series of beeps and whistles. Alex
shushes me as he studies his wrist and then, leaping
(38:31):
into the air, cries boo yah. He then walks away
performing tai Chi poses, and I tear open the envelope.
Inside is a single sheet of paper. At the top
it reads the Jordan Hospital Emergency Department. But as for
(38:52):
the rest of the sheep, I can't make out a word.
It's filled from top to bottom with doctor jargon written
in doctor hana, and so who better to translate than
an actual doctor? Jackie, I got a second.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
Inside my turtle neck?
Speaker 4 (39:11):
Is that okay?
Speaker 1 (39:11):
You're wearing a turtleneck?
Speaker 5 (39:13):
Yeah, it's nice about a turtle neck? Is that has
no arms?
Speaker 1 (39:17):
So it's just a neck.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Rather than risk another dust up by suggesting Jackie might
not be wearing a turtleneck at all, but rather a
neck brace, I instead text her the records so she
can take a look.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
I can't.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
I can't do that while I'm driving.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Can you pull over to the side of the road,
to the shoulder of the road.
Speaker 7 (39:37):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
You cut out there for a second. Did you say yes?
Speaker 5 (39:40):
I said absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
You cut out again?
Speaker 15 (39:42):
Did you are?
Speaker 1 (39:43):
You're pulling over?
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Stop telling me I cut out.
Speaker 7 (39:45):
I did not cut out, and I'm not pulling over.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
I think you cut out again, So you're pulling over? Okay.
So did you look at what I sent you?
Speaker 12 (39:58):
No?
Speaker 2 (39:58):
I didn't look at what I'm I'm on the highway, John, John,
I'm on the highway.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Just dart your eyes between the windshield and the papers
that I just sent you. No, Because Jackie's neck brace
seems to be constricting the flow of kindness from her
heart to her mouth. I decide to just read to
her what little I can make out. It was an
exam med Richard's forty ugh Like, where does it say
(40:25):
if he just broke his arm? FX of right distroll
rady radius FX.
Speaker 7 (40:32):
Means fracture of dystole radius.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
FX means fractured. Yeah, so he fractured his arm. Yep,
so is that the same thing as breaking? Yes, so
he broke his arm.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
He broke his arm?
Speaker 4 (40:46):
Looks like it.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
This confirms he broke his arm.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Wonderful?
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Are we done?
Speaker 1 (40:58):
In high spirits? I get Rob, who's just returned from
another vacation back on the phone. Welcome back from Fiji.
Speaker 12 (41:05):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Everything must seem like sort of like in black and white.
Speaker 4 (41:09):
Now Fiji is not all.
Speaker 12 (41:11):
It sounds more exotic than it is.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
When Rob's done bragging, I tell him I have some
news I wanted to share with you. The er report cool.
Speaker 12 (41:26):
I'm nervous. It's because because if it's because if I
didn't break my arm, then I mean I got to
shut everything down and live in therapy.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
You broke your arm? I did you did? Yeah?
Speaker 12 (41:46):
Of course I did I know.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Joining conference. Now, an impromptu family conference call is arranged.
Eight is traveling and unable to make it, but we
get everyone else on the line. Any last minute predictions
anybody wants to make. Don't think there's a record of it,
anybody else.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
I'm thinking a screen.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Well, according to the hospital report, Rob broke his arm.
Speaker 15 (42:23):
Wow, gourd, you're kidding.
Speaker 7 (42:27):
No, what did the hospital record say?
Speaker 1 (42:31):
I texted over and since Rob's mom is a nurse,
she decodes the report for the rest of the family.
Speaker 5 (42:38):
Okay, complained of pain, swelling, risk, tripped over, log landing
on wrist.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
It was just as Rob had said, right, risk.
Speaker 5 (42:47):
Distal forearm, the fracture distal radio. Wow, my full apologies, Robert.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
The medical report has done the job.
Speaker 13 (43:02):
I am sorry that I don't remember this incident at all.
I mean, I remember a lot of other incidentss, but yeah,
this one I don't remember it. But that doesn't mean
that it didn't happen.
Speaker 5 (43:16):
You've got me in two years, and I believe you.
Speaker 12 (43:21):
Nothing to be in tears over.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
As his family begins to apologize, Rob begins to backpedal.
Speaker 12 (43:28):
I can't imagine making you apologize for this but like
I could do that. No, this is I'm just it
just makes me uncomfortable. I think it's kind of understandable
that a group of four people would forget something like
this because it was it was fairly trivial.
Speaker 5 (43:49):
No, I disagree. I this was not trivial. It wasn't
a little thing. You broke your arm and I have
absolutely no memory of it. That makes me crazy.
Speaker 13 (44:04):
That kind of makes me feel bad that as a parent,
I don't remember it.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
With Rob's broken arm confirmed, his parents go from doubting
their son to doubting themselves. What kind of parents were they?
All the agreed upon rolls are called into question. How
can Laura be the keeper of memories if she failed
to keep this memory? And Nate, how can he be
the broken arm guy if now there's some other broken
(44:32):
arm guy. This is the moment when Rob should be
delivering his victory speech. In its entirety, he should be
saying I told you so in a sing songy voice
that is sickening to everyone. He should be gloating. But
(44:53):
there's something about his family's remorse that feels worse than
their disbelief. So instead, Rob tries to diffuse the situation
by joking around no, no, no, I don't listen.
Speaker 12 (45:05):
You weren't there for it. You probably had to write
me a note to get out of zet, which was great.
That's probably here at the extent that you're involved.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
To reassure them, Rob falls back on the old Qudrey
family chestnuts.
Speaker 12 (45:19):
I can think back to seeing little Nate in traction
in the hospital, and even today can probably cry over it.
That's that's that's memorable.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
And just like that, things begin to snap back into
place once again. Nate is the broken arm guy. And Laura, I.
Speaker 7 (45:40):
Mean, I'm surprised that I don't remember it because I
remember stupid things like what color sneakers I had.
Speaker 13 (45:48):
And I remember one day we went for dinner or
lunch at either Burger King of McDonald's, and Laura found
ten dollars under the table.
Speaker 6 (45:57):
It was Brigham's.
Speaker 13 (45:59):
See I remember this, Yeah, I remember.
Speaker 6 (46:02):
Where we were sitting.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
And just like that, once again, Laura is the keeper
of memories. After everyone gets off the phone, I stay
on with Rob. The calls left him feeling kind of bad,
especially for his mom. Before we'd all signed off, she
(46:25):
apologized yet again, despite Rob's reassurance, she was still feeling
guilty and unsettled by your lack of memory.
Speaker 6 (46:34):
Hi, this is Robin.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
I can't take your call.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
Right now, so Rob and I give her a call
to check back in, but she isn't picking up.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
Thanks for calling.
Speaker 12 (46:43):
Hi, Mom, it's Robert William. My friend Jonathan's here. Hi,
and I love you.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Oh, I love you. Oh sorry, I.
Speaker 12 (46:52):
Was talking to my mother that time, Jonathan.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
Eventually, my friend Jackie did read Rob's medical report, and
then she texted me. This is notable for two reasons.
One Jackie never texts me, and two she began the
text by saying, I read the report, and truthfully, the
most interesting part was the remark that the patient was pleasant.
Speaker 12 (47:19):
Oh well, that's very nice.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
And she goes on to say in an er setting,
no one would ever bother writing that.
Speaker 12 (47:28):
Oh man, I remember getting along with the doctor and
him saying that.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
I was a champ.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
I just swallowed your pain.
Speaker 4 (47:45):
Always.
Speaker 12 (47:49):
I took great pride in being a champ.
Speaker 8 (47:53):
In the er.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Rob was pleasant in the pickup truck. He didn't want
to bother anyone for a painkiller. A couple weeks later,
and he was leading girl scouts on a hike and
ultimately maybe that's why no one remembers Rob breaking his arm,
because whether it was a big deal or not, he
acted like it wasn't. Rob liked being a champ, and
(48:15):
he still likes being a champ, making people laugh, joking
things off. So it was no surprise that when I
asked the Quderies what Rob's role in the family was,
they all said the same thing.
Speaker 7 (48:28):
He's the funny guy.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
He was funny, he was the funny one.
Speaker 3 (48:30):
He always started sayings at the dinner table.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Rob isn't an insult comic. The joke's always on him,
the jokes always to make everyone else feel better. You're pleasant,
I'm good, I am. I hope you feel good about that.
Speaker 12 (48:47):
I do. I actually do. I ho hope that that's
what people say about me.
Speaker 14 (48:58):
He is really funny and caring and sweet, and I
love the soft side of him.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
This is Sloane Rob's little girl who broke her arm,
whose picture in a big purple cast set this whole
thing off in the first place.
Speaker 14 (49:16):
He doesn't really have a hard slot, and he's someone
who you can always go to and he's not gonna
yell at you or tell you like that you did
something wrong.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
After Sloane broke her arm, Rob told her the story
of how he had also broken his arm on a log,
how he was rolling on top of it to make
his friends laugh.
Speaker 14 (49:41):
Anyway, it was just comforting to know that, like, I
wasn't the only one who tripped over a tree, because
that's embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (49:50):
Rob told me that when no one in his family
believed him, not his mother, father, sister, or brother, not
even his wife, there was one person who did.
Speaker 14 (50:00):
Yeah, I did. I just felt like he was telling
the truth. He was very frustrated that no one believed him,
so I wanted to be nice to him too.
Speaker 1 (50:16):
In Rob's new family, everyone is still growing into their roles.
So for now, Sloan is the bookworm, her little sister
Marlowe is the rocker, always playing her electric guitar. And Rob,
to them, isn't the funny one or even the famous one.
He's the soft one, the sweet and caring one.
Speaker 12 (50:39):
Thank you, Jonathan, Thank you Rob, and hey John, Johnny. Yeah,
I love you very much.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
I love you Rob.
Speaker 6 (50:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (50:55):
Okay, good bye, okay, bye bye.
Speaker 16 (51:11):
Now that the Fernitures return to its goodwill home, Now
that the last month's rent is skiming with the damage
the bottle. Take this moment to deserve, if we meant it,
(51:32):
if we talk, we felt around from far too, from.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
Things that accidentally. Heavyweight is hosted and produced by me
Jonathan Goldstein, along with Khalila Holt, Peter Bresnan, and Stevie Lane.
The show is edited by Jorge Just, with additional editing
by Alex Bloomberg. Special thanks to Emily Khn and Fia Bennen,
(52:01):
Ba Parker, Matthew Nelson, Sandra Cordery, and Jackie Cohen. Thanks
to to our friends at Maximum Fun, with whom we
had the maximum amount of fun. Bobby Lord mixed the
episode with music by Christine Fellows Blue Dot Sessions and
with his very own music by he himself, Bobby Lord,
don't laugh when I'm doing the credits. Additional music credits
(52:24):
can be found on our website, gimblitmedia dot com slash Heavyweight.
Our theme song is by the Weakerlands courtesy of Epitaph Records,
and our ad music is by Hailey Shaw. Follow us
on Twitter at Heavyweight or email us at Heavyweight at
gimbltmedia dot com. We'll have a brand new episode next
week
Hello, what are your top three interests?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Did you say, what are my top three interests?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Is a job interview?
Speaker 1 (00:15):
No, I was just what's so funny?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Why?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I just want to get to know you.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Better after forty years?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You want to give me your What's your top interest?
Speaker 5 (00:27):
Probably my kids?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Children in general?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Children? Would you say, would you say couscous? I would
not say you really like cuscus? No, I wouldn't, But
I mean, so your children number one? Number two A
close second is couscous? And what's three?
Speaker 4 (00:44):
What do you tell me?
Speaker 6 (00:44):
What? What do you just tell me?
Speaker 7 (00:46):
Where number three is?
Speaker 6 (00:48):
Go ahead?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
What is my number?
Speaker 6 (00:49):
Three?
Speaker 8 (00:50):
Mmmmm?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hanging up on me? Boom boom. Start the show from
Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight Today's episode.
Rob my friend, Rob Cordrey is a famous actor and
(01:24):
the fact you think I'm resentful is ridiculous. No, I'm
afraid that says more about you than it does about me.
I guess you could say Robert and I have both
done pretty well. He works with famous movie stars like
Dwayne the Rock Johnson, and I work with famous podcast
editors like Jorge the Rock Collection Just and Boyd does
(01:47):
he have a lot of amethyst. Rob was a correspondent
on the Daily Show and stars in film franchises like
Hot Tubs, Time Machine one and two. An I star
in Heavyweight, the podcast you're listening to right now. So
good for Rob and good for me. I don't even
(02:09):
know why we're still talking about this, because, after all,
it wasn't Dwyane Johnson who Rob recently approached with a
unique problem.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
It was me.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Aside from a pocket full of nogi's and karate chops,
I guess there wasn't a thing the Great the Rock
could do for Robert. Rob is more your showbiz name, right,
but it's also my name.
Speaker 9 (02:33):
It is, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Because of showbiz opportunities, Rob can't leave Hollywood. So he
phones me from a studio in la Hey.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Come and start whenever you want, and we'll just keep rolling.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Once his studio operator Laura gets us rolling, Rob tells
me his tale of woe. It all began with his daughter, Sloan.
Speaker 10 (02:56):
My daughter is eleven and she tripped over a log
and broke her arm.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Sloan was at school and she tripped over a log
and fell, which was exactly how I broke my arm
when I was a kid. When Rob was around his
daughter's age, he was out in the woods with his
boy scout Troop, and he also tripped over a log
(03:24):
and broke his arm exactly like Sloane. Did you tell
her this story about how when you were a kid,
the same thing had happened to you.
Speaker 9 (03:32):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 10 (03:34):
Every connection I make with her I kind of cherish,
and I thought there was just a funny one that
we broke our arms in the same exact way. So
she went and got a cast, and I forwarded the picture.
It was this adorable picture of my daughter and her
purple cast, and I sent the picture to my family.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Rob texted the folk to his brother, his sister, his mother,
and his father, and so a text thread began. Do
you have the texts on you?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I do?
Speaker 9 (04:10):
I think I do. Yeah, it might take me a
second to find sure.
Speaker 10 (04:12):
Yeah, okay, is this it's I'm just trying to find
the beginning.
Speaker 9 (04:19):
It's so long.
Speaker 10 (04:22):
There's a lot about my daughter here, a lot of
ah man, that poor little girl, and so forth.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
When the family asked how Sloan had broken her arm,
Rob excitedly told them about the weird coincidence, and that's
when Rob's troubles began.
Speaker 10 (04:39):
My mother immediately shot back, you never broke your arm.
My mother said, I do not remember that at all. Laura,
do you remember that? Because my sister is the keeper
of memories.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
In a family, each member has their role the thing
that the finds them. Laura's role is keeper of memories.
And immediately she texted.
Speaker 9 (05:06):
Back, don't recall any of this.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
A second later, Rob's father weighed in with ridicule.
Speaker 10 (05:13):
Was that the camping trip where you broke your arm
and it healed over night? Rob shot back, I had
a cast four weeks exclamation point.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Next, Rob's younger brother, Nate, chimed in.
Speaker 10 (05:26):
Oh boy, here we go another I broke my arm.
I broke my arm story. Look, I'm the broken arm guy.
That's my role in a family. Those agreed upon rolls
are reinforced through agreed upon stories. Rob says, the Corderies
have about a half a dozen chestnuts that get told
over and over. One of the biggies is about young
(05:49):
Nate and how he broke his arm twice. Rob's mom
is quick to confirm that's true, you are the broken arm.
But I'm just reading this for baby him. She my
mother can't type worth a crap, and then she wrote
right after that broken arm, guy, I don't have my
glasses on. I was texting with them for about an
(06:18):
hour afterwards. And everyone in my family swears that I
never broke my arm.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
This in spite of Rob's absolute certainty that he did
break his arm.
Speaker 9 (06:32):
It really it made me angry. It's very invalidating.
Speaker 10 (06:36):
I felt like, you know, my mother didn't remember this experience,
this this that her son was in pain and had
to be taken to the hospital and was and was
in a cast and for a long time, you know,
And I think I felt, I don't know, for gotten.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Rob has crystal clear memories of the day it happened.
Speaker 10 (07:08):
I was on a camp out my troop. My boy
Scout troop would go on a camping trip one weekend
out of every month.
Speaker 9 (07:18):
It was the fall, so.
Speaker 10 (07:19):
I assumed we were in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was dark,
and I was standing on a log, sort of a
log that you would sit on in front of a campfire,
and it was rolling. I was rolling it, and I
think maybe I was just trying to make people laugh.
And I fell and knew immediately that I had broken
(07:41):
my arm. I've never felt that kind of pain.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
One of the adults on the trip, an old friend
of the family named Don Smith, took Rob to the
hospital where he was fitted with a cast. Afterwards, mister
Smith brought Rob back to the campground, and that night
Rob slept in the back of a pickup while mister
Smith's left up front behind the wheel of the truck.
Speaker 10 (08:03):
And I remember waking up and being in such pain,
and I think I waited there for it felt like
the longest time that I was just laboring over waking
him up.
Speaker 9 (08:14):
I felt so bad waking him up.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Eventually, the pain became so severe that Rob had no
choice but to rouse mister Smith for a painkiller. I
asked him what else He remembers the way it smelled
the cast.
Speaker 10 (08:30):
Yeah, I mean, you know, your your arms covered up
in plaster for five to seven weeks, and so you know,
it smells like a gym locker that hasn't been cleaned
in five to seven weeks. And I remember liking the smell,
that's the weird part. And getting it off. I remember
getting it off. I remember getting the cast off, and
(08:54):
it smelled terrible, of course, but good to me. I
just pretended that it smelled awful while I was drinking it,
and my arm had just withered to nothing. It looked
like a different person's arm. I can't be making that
up right.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Rob fired off a series of texts to his family,
recounting those memories in exhaustive detail, the camp out, mister Smith,
the cast. When he finished, his mom was the first
to text back.
Speaker 10 (09:25):
I'm afraid you were hallucinating, sweetie.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Rob tried to laugh it off, but he couldn't stop
thinking about it. That evening, Rob shared his frustration with
his wife.
Speaker 10 (09:40):
And she patiently listened to the texts, and afterwards she
smiled and she said, I'm on your family's side.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Gently, his wife reminded him that he's kind of absent minded.
He doesn't always have the memory. Also, in their sixteen
years of marriage, Rob had never once mentioned a broken arm.
Maybe Rob's mom was right, Maybe he was hallucinating.
Speaker 10 (10:12):
Either I'm telling the truth, Jonathan, or I'm completely insane.
And it could be that I'm insane.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Is Rob insane? Or had he really broken his arm?
I was going to find out, but before setting forth
on something like this, I need a call to arms,
something to stir my inards.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
Good.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So we're going to do this. I'm going to do it.
Speaker 9 (10:36):
Yeah good.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
My innerds remain unstirred, so I'm going to get right
on this.
Speaker 11 (10:44):
All right.
Speaker 9 (10:44):
Great.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
But just when I think that Rob will never give
my inards the stirring they need.
Speaker 9 (10:51):
Hey, Jonathan, Yes, go get him, you son of a bitch.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
That's what I was good for. Yeah, that was good.
Speaker 9 (10:58):
That's good.
Speaker 10 (10:59):
I was going to say to that or get those bastards,
but I'd have felt weird call my family bastards.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
After the break, questioning some dirty, rotten bastards.
Speaker 9 (11:09):
All right, great, all right, I love you very much.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Oh, thank you, thank you? Right back at you there.
Speaker 9 (11:15):
I want you to say it.
Speaker 11 (11:16):
I love you.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (11:17):
So what.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I just you know, hello, ullo.
Speaker 9 (11:24):
Yeah, I'm still here.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So Laura is there as well.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, you dropped out a little bit there, Jonathan.
Speaker 12 (11:30):
Oh you should repeat what you said.
Speaker 8 (11:31):
That'd be great.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
Rob.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Is Rob still there here?
Speaker 9 (11:34):
I'm still here?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, we're both here.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I think there's one little section.
Speaker 12 (11:37):
Where you dropped out of it.
Speaker 9 (11:39):
I think you know what section that was, Jonathan.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I was just I was just asking if you were
if you were still can you hear me?
Speaker 6 (11:46):
Laura Hello, Hi.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Is this Robin?
Speaker 7 (12:06):
It is Hello?
Speaker 6 (12:08):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Is this Laura? It is Nate? Yes, mister Cordy, Yes,
is this an okay time to talk? My search for
the truth begins with the Quardrees. Rob's brother Nate. I'm
comfortably sitting in a chair, his sister Laura right now.
Speaker 7 (12:22):
We're in Disney World, his mother Robin, I'm.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
In my car in front of a post.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Office, and his father, Steve, I'm in Florida. What makes
them all so certain that Rob never broke his arm?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
No one in the family can remember it.
Speaker 7 (12:38):
His own mother, no broken arms for Rob, his own father.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I certainly don't remember coming back in the cab.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
If there's anyone's memory in the family that I would trust,
it would be Lauren.
Speaker 12 (12:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (12:49):
I don't think it happened. I typically remember everything from
every situation in the family, so.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
And you've not been long before.
Speaker 8 (13:01):
No.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
My first thought is that maybe around the time Rob
broke his arm, something traumatic happened in the Cordery's home life,
something that might have overshadowed the accidents and thus erased
it from the collective memory. The death of a grandparent perhaps,
or a house fire.
Speaker 7 (13:19):
No, nothing, Well, we got cable one summer, so that
kind of derailed the entire neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
What about Rob's distinct memory of that first night in
a cast? I asked them sleeping in the back of
a pickup truck.
Speaker 13 (13:42):
Mister Smith never owned a pickup, and we knew the
Smith's a long time.
Speaker 12 (13:47):
It lived across the street Funtains for a number of years,
never had a pickup.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Mister Smith has since died, so I can't turn to
him for confirmation about the truck. But it isn't just
the pickup that's suspended, it's the hospital too. Rob claims
he got his cast at the Jordan Hospital. Rob's mom
was a nurse with strong opinions, and she says the
Jordan hospital was a quote snake pit. She'd be damned
(14:15):
if she allowed any member of the quadry Klan to
set foot in that hospital. Shaped Butcher's College, there were
strict orders.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
If any of my kids get hurt, do not take
them to that hospital.
Speaker 13 (14:29):
Go to the Jordan hospital.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
That would never happen. He said. He went to Jordan.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Hospital in his make belief pickup, and most damning of all,
I broke my arm twice.
Speaker 13 (14:41):
The only one that I remember having a cast on
his arm.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Was his younger brother, Maids, my younger brother.
Speaker 7 (14:47):
Nate broke his arm, broke.
Speaker 14 (14:49):
His arm twice.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I had to be in traction with in traction for
two weeks, two weeks, for fourteen days.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
So the quderies aren't just a bunch of broken arm deniers.
They all remember when Nate's arm broke, and who broke it.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
That was running out of the family room onto the
back patio, and it was it was concrete, and I
ran and I tripped and I fell and I broke
my arm. And for all of the for my entire
adult life, I had thought that my shoelaces were untied.
(15:25):
That is not the truth. Many years later, Rob said,
you know, it wasn't your shoelace.
Speaker 12 (15:34):
I tripped you.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
He stepped on my shoelace. He was behind the door,
and I was like, hold on, hold on, you tripped me.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Rob didn't bring up any of this.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Oh what a surprise.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
According to Nate, Rob's false memory stems from guilt. Laura agrees,
saying that seeing Nate in traction was traumatic for Rob.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
So I don't know if he's feeling responsible. So now
he's trying to make up for it by saying, well,
I also broke my arm.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
But Rob's visceral memories, the smell of the cast, the
sight of the withered arm. How could he have just
invented such concrete details.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
He was with Nate when Nate has his.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Cast removed, and he remembers the smell of Nate's cast.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
I remember the smell of Nate's cast. So he took
it off. His arm was like yellow, and it looks
like it was like molting. It was nasty and it
smelled so bad.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
I asked Laura if she would describe the odor as
reminiscent of, say, a Jim Locker, and Laura says, yes, exactly,
a Jim Locker.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I think he might have tried to steal my memory.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Even if you're famous, you shouldn't go around stealing people's memories.
Speaker 12 (17:21):
Hello, Jonathan, Hi.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
How are you? After speaking with the Cordrees, I decide
that I no longer believe Rob. It isn't like I
think he's lying. It's more like I think he's insane.
So I need to tread carefully. So I wanted I
was calling me because I wanted to report back to
(17:43):
you on some of my findings. I can't wait easy,
does it Johnny boy? Okay, well, I don't know that
it's looking great. So for one thing, I spoke to
your dad. Yeah, and he said that Don Smith, the
(18:07):
Scout leader, doesn't even own a pickup truck.
Speaker 12 (18:12):
Oh, he would never He would never have owned a
pickup truck.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
No, he's not that kind of guy.
Speaker 12 (18:16):
I'm not sure if it was his.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
As Rob flounders for an excuse, I try my best
to understand the logic of his deranged mind. Don Smith
might have like found a pickup truck that wasn't his,
that you guys slept in together.
Speaker 12 (18:30):
Yeah, yeh, I assume, like whoever had the most comfortable
vehicle to sleep.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
But what about the snake ridden Jordan hospital?
Speaker 9 (18:40):
I ask?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
His mom swears that she'd written on his medical form
that he was never to go there, but Rob brushes
that off with another half baked excuse. It was so
late at night. He says, she probably didn't think it
was worth making the trip to take her wounded son elsewhere.
Speaker 12 (18:57):
You know, she's already in her robe. Her stories and
drinking dia coke and smoking.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Rob's explanations were becoming increasingly far fetched. But he was
sticking to his story. I had no choice but to
bring out the big guns. The other thing that you
failed to mention to me. According to your family, you
were responsible for Nate's broken arm. Oh no, Rob says,
(19:28):
Nate's arm is something he still feels bad about, which
is why he doesn't like bringing it up. So I
turned to the one piece of evidence I know Rob
can't deny. When Laura, keeper of Memories, told me about
nate broken arm guy getting his cast removed, her description
was suspiciously familiar. She mentioned Nate's withered arm and how
(19:52):
it smelled like a gym locker, which is.
Speaker 12 (19:55):
Exactly my story. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
So, I mean there's being forgetful and then there's completely
fabricating like reality. I mean that that's Yeah.
Speaker 12 (20:13):
It's made me, I don't know, it's made me.
Speaker 8 (20:18):
Kind of look back at my entire life and realize
that I don't remember a lot, and it makes me
very sad.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
It's finally beginning to sink in maybe Rob didn't break
his arm. Before we get off the phone, Rob asks
me if in spite of all this, I'll keep digging
a little longer, and I promise him I will. I'll
reach out to you when I have something new.
Speaker 12 (20:53):
Great and Jonathan, Yes, I love you very very much.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I hear you, buddy, and you know what what, I'm
in a crowded area.
Speaker 9 (21:15):
Hello.
Speaker 12 (21:17):
Yes, my name is David Orcott. You had called him
up the message.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
After reaching out to several of Rob's childhood friends who
remembered nothing about a broken arm, I eventually hear back
from David Orcott. David and Rob were in the Boy
Scouts together, and Rob recalls them taking a group of
girl Scouts on a hike during the autumn of his
broken arm. I filled David in on the alleged broken
arm and all the holes in Rob's story. Every single
(21:43):
person in his family said, what, you're crazy. You never
broke your arm, and they were quite positive of this.
But he is quite positive himself that he did break
his arm and even has like, sorry.
Speaker 12 (22:01):
He did break his arm. I've got a picture of
him with a broken arm. They need the picture.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, this is crazy. Do you still have this photograph? Oh?
Speaker 6 (22:18):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Well, you're the first person that I've spoken to who's
confirmed this. This is kind of amazing.
Speaker 12 (22:25):
The only reason is I believe I have a scrap
book that that picture's in there.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 12 (22:33):
I could check that tonight and verify it if you want,
and then if you need a scan copy or scan
of it, we could do something along those lines. It
won't be a problem.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Maybe Rob wasn't as insane as you people thought. Sorry, folks,
but according to the Gimlet Media Employee Handbook, when you've
got this much dramatic tension in a story, you have
to amp it up with a plethor of advertisements.
Speaker 9 (23:02):
So take a.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Bathroom break and fix yourself a snack, not at the
same time, of course, and I'll catch you on the
b side as promised. A couple days later, I received
the photo from David Orcott. Rob's on vacation in Hawaii,
(23:23):
a paradise island populated by celebs like Tom Selleck and
Don Ho. But I just can't wait to share the news. Plus,
I've never talked to anyone in Hawaii before. Hawaii. Are
you in Hawaii right now?
Speaker 12 (23:39):
I am. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Once Rob's done bragging, I tell him I have something
to share. Okay, here we go. I'm texting it to
you right now. It should be on its way.
Speaker 12 (23:56):
I just got a text from Jonathan Goldstein that image.
Speaker 15 (24:03):
Whoa.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
The photo looks like it was shot on a nineteen
eighties in Stematic. In the foreground is a group of
girl scouts sitting on a ledge and behind them there's.
Speaker 12 (24:14):
Me in the back row with a broken arm.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
The picture is pretty grainy, but you can see a
rob like boy looking little for his age compared to
his friend David, who stands beside him. Rob's arm is
covered in something big and white. Is it just like
he remembered it with it?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yes?
Speaker 12 (24:36):
Yes, with a huge, huge cast and look and not
looking happy either.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Armed with this? I mean, what can they possibly say?
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I don't know.
Speaker 12 (24:49):
I almost feel bad for them.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Evidence in hand. Rob organizes a conference call with the
whole Cordery clan and to best enjoy the moment, he
also writes a victory speech. I'm very proud of it.
Do you need to practice it? Yes, let's hear it.
Speaker 12 (25:08):
I can't imagine what you're all feeling right now. How
would I react if I had forgotten that my son
or brother spent five to six lonely weeks of recovery
shoved into a cast so bulky, so glaringly white. It
would not.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Surprise me if strangers who at the time had been
cursed to catch a glimpse of me lugging that albatross
around still jolt awake at night, screaming. Man, that kid
sure did have a broken arm.
Speaker 12 (25:39):
I'll never forget. It was a big cast. Your son,
your brother, will always be here to remind you that
when I was a kid, I definitely definitely out a
doubt broke my arm.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
That's beautiful, understated, but beautiful.
Speaker 16 (26:03):
All right.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
So you know what, why don't we call into this
conference line just so we'll be on the line before
they will, so we could greet them. Okay, just like
in those movies, you know what I mean, We're like
someone walks into the room and then the person with
the evidence is sitting calmly, cross legging in an armchair. Hello, family,
glad you can make it.
Speaker 12 (26:21):
Please make yourself comfortable.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Okay. So I'll call in and you're gonna call in
as well.
Speaker 11 (26:26):
Right, I'm going to call in, yeah, in one in
one minute, okay, joining conference now?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Hello, Hey Jonathan, you have Nate so far?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Oh h oh, Hi Nate. I was I was hoping
to get in here before everybody.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Mama code is here.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Hi, Hi, Hi, It's Lara.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Oh hi, how are you, Laura. It's so nice that
you're all here. I just got off the phone with
your brother Rob.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Your hell.
Speaker 12 (27:21):
Oh no, you beat us, We all beat you. Everybody's there.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah. We were one minute into Rob's victory conference call,
and already his family was ruining his moment. I can
tell Rob needs a minute to collect himself to get
back into that Aloha state of mind. So, taking my
cues from a Southern lawyer and a Hannah Barbara cartoon
possibly portrayed by a large rooster wearing suspenders, I take
(27:50):
the stage. The reason I've I've brought everyone here together
is because I've uncovered a piece of evidence that I
think might very well be definitive. In homage to the
original text message thread that started this whole thing, I
group text the photo of Rob to the whole family.
Speaker 9 (28:12):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
I'm about to hit send you all set mm hmm, Okay,
here we go. I just sent it.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
There's a moment of silence as everyone studies the photo.
I worry that maybe it isn't clear enough that the
Corderies will contest it's even a picture of Rob, But then.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Does look like Robert in a caf it does.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
With Rob's identity confirmed, I give it two shakes of
a lamb's tail for the apologies to start rolling in,
so Rob can put this whole business behind him and
enjoy his two o'clock hula dancing class with a free
and easy mind. But two shakes of a lamb's tail
becomes three shakes and then four shakes. So do you
(29:06):
all like believe now, like definitively, that Rob was right
and you guys were wrong?
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I don't know how Dad and I and Laura and
they could not remember this?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Again, A hush falls over the conference call. How could
they not remember?
Speaker 16 (29:30):
It?
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Just didn't make sense unless I think.
Speaker 13 (29:34):
That was the camp out that they were practicing first
aid and they were using robins they getting big on
how when they broke an arm.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
With that, the floodgates are open and everyone begins forwarding
a theory.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
It does vaguely look like a pretend cast because of it,
like an Adobe photoshow.
Speaker 13 (29:56):
Maybe you just wore that cast when you were away
from a health Oh right, we thought it.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
From here, all of the Corderie small theories converge into
one grand theory, which they trumpet in much the way
villagers in a Broadway musical.
Speaker 7 (30:18):
Might it kind of looks like a sling phone, Not really.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
It does look like a sling.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Yeah, that's what you're saying, is a sling. So maybe sprained.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
It was some sprain or that's what it was. Yeah, okay,
I say if it was a sprain, then why wouldn't
you just remember a sprain?
Speaker 3 (30:40):
A sprain is not that memorable, just doesn't just doesn't
look right. The sprain in a sling that big.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Right, So then it can't be a sprain. It has
to be a broken arm now.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
But there would still be an enormous cast on a small, slight.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Boy in the face of the evidence. I wonder if
Rob's family is clinging to this whole sprain thing because
they just feel bad for not remembering. Do you think
it's a denial out of guilt, you, guys.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
I don't feel guilty.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I will say that my memory is imperfect and it's
altogether likely that you did break.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Your arm, just just likely, not one hundred percent though
I do have zero memory of it. But what about
even seeing the photographic evidence.
Speaker 7 (31:36):
I I'm not one hundred percent convinced, because nobody remembers it.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
In this way, we go around and around. Since no
one remembers it, then it didn't happen. And if it
didn't happen, how could anyone remember it? And all the
while Rob is silent. I imagine him on the other
end of the line, seated alone at a luau table,
sadly picking the weeds from his grass skirt and taking
(32:06):
sad slow SIPs from one of those drinks that come
in a flaming pineapple, the kind famous people are forever
throwing at the paparazzi. Suddenly Rob lets his frustration be known.
Speaker 12 (32:19):
I cannot believe that you guys are working this hard
to not believe that I broke my arm.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I did not expect this.
Speaker 12 (32:32):
I did not expect this reaction.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
It seems it's going to take more than an old
photograph to change the Quderi's cemented version of history, and
it's going to take the Cordery's belief in Rob to
make him feel sane again. So I asked the family
what they'll need to accept that Rob broke his arm?
Speaker 13 (32:50):
Well, where's the medical records?
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Then I would believe it.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Yeah, of course, Yeah, of course, of course. And if
we're able to present medical records attesting to the fact
that Rob broke his arm. Would they then all apologize.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
To Rob if this is all true, if he deserves
an apology, I would apologize.
Speaker 7 (33:09):
Yeah, I would definitely apologize.
Speaker 5 (33:12):
I would feel terrible.
Speaker 12 (33:13):
Absolutely, Yes, yes, I'll.
Speaker 13 (33:15):
Be the first to stand up.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
But do you think that's going to happen.
Speaker 12 (33:20):
No, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
I don't know if this is the time to bring
up the speech.
Speaker 12 (33:33):
But I mean, yeah, I wrote a speech. I wrote
a victory speech.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
In spite of everything. I knew that Rob was proud
of that speech, and since he'd already written it, I
figured he might as well read it.
Speaker 15 (33:48):
So I cannot go Actually, oh, I'll start again. I
can't imagine what you're all feeling right now.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
How would I react by and forgotten? The corderies want
written proof? But do hospitals even keep records from so
long ago, let alone a snake pit like the Jordan Hospital.
Since Rob can't be expected to interrupt this Hawaiian holiday
(34:21):
with the trivial business of procuring paperwork, I decide to
handle it myself. And who better to help me handle
it myself than someone else? And who better is someone
else than an actual doctor, Jackie.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
I'm just walking home from work.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
I'm actually not far from your old apartment.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Oh really, can you check if I have any mail
for Let's get right to it. I explained to Jackie
that a friend of mine, a famous friend who for
his own privacy I'd rather not name, was in need
of medical records. They were probably like easily over thirty
years ago. Do you think they would still exist, Well, it.
Speaker 7 (35:06):
Depends, but they might either get rid of them or
they might have gone into deep storage, but they may
have a record as a doctor.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Would you be able to get the records out of
deep storage?
Speaker 7 (35:14):
Nobody can request them himself.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
He doesn't need me.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Well, first of all, he's a very busy man. Did
I mention that he is?
Speaker 2 (35:20):
I'm not busy?
Speaker 12 (35:20):
Right.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
This isn't going at all the way I'd hoped. Instead
of offering help, Jackie is offering jealousy of Rob. I
explained that she's being ridiculous, that she's also my friend,
but that Rob just has VIP needs the needs of
a very importure.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Let me reiterate what I already said to you.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Would I say, yeah, you said you too bad?
Speaker 7 (35:45):
You said your famous friend what can your famous friend
do for himself?
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Hey, you said that he could phone up and he could.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Find out he can get them himself, Yet you need
his signature on a piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
In the midst of tearing me a new bee hole,
Jackie runs into a friend of hers named Jeremy. I'd
never heard this tone in her voice before. Could it
be that an unplanned social encounter with a friend was
making Jackie happy?
Speaker 16 (36:17):
Don't tell you, Oh, it's.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
So good to say hi to Jeremy.
Speaker 8 (36:32):
Medical records.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
This is Karen.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
How can I help you?
Speaker 8 (36:35):
Hi?
Speaker 6 (36:35):
There?
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I have a question. When I explained to Karen when
I'm after, I expect her to say something like medical
records from the nineteen eighties. Dude, this is the Jordan Hospital.
I'm performing open heart surgery with a spatula as we speak,
and I'm the mother f and switchboard operator. But to
my surprise, we do have records that go that far back.
(37:05):
We have a copy service correspondence team and if they're
able to find anything, lots of times they're on microfiche,
then they can reach out. Okay, thank you so much, Okay,
good luck, thank you, Okay, bye bye bye bye. I
don't know my experience with the Jordan Hospital has been wonderful.
(37:25):
For the next seven to ten business days. I wait,
but something. You don't have to wait for his deals,
because here they are deals, deals, deals. An envelope arrives
(37:48):
to my office. What's that, asks Gimlet CEO and founder
Alex Bloomberg. A letter, I say, A letter? He repeats,
what are you five billion years old? I only use Snapchat,
wheat Chat, Kick, slack, poke in vox. Well do you
(38:09):
use email? I ask, because I've sent you a half
a dozen of them about renewing my son's health insurance.
He swallowed a penny over the weekend, and my words
are interrupted by the sound of Alex's fitbit, which has
begun emitting a terrifying series of beeps and whistles. Alex
shushes me as he studies his wrist and then, leaping
(38:31):
into the air, cries boo yah. He then walks away
performing tai Chi poses, and I tear open the envelope.
Inside is a single sheet of paper. At the top
it reads the Jordan Hospital Emergency Department. But as for
(38:52):
the rest of the sheep, I can't make out a word.
It's filled from top to bottom with doctor jargon written
in doctor hana, and so who better to translate than
an actual doctor? Jackie, I got a second.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
Inside my turtle neck?
Speaker 4 (39:11):
Is that okay?
Speaker 1 (39:11):
You're wearing a turtleneck?
Speaker 5 (39:13):
Yeah, it's nice about a turtle neck? Is that has
no arms?
Speaker 1 (39:17):
So it's just a neck.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Rather than risk another dust up by suggesting Jackie might
not be wearing a turtleneck at all, but rather a
neck brace, I instead text her the records so she
can take a look.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
I can't.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
I can't do that while I'm driving.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Can you pull over to the side of the road,
to the shoulder of the road.
Speaker 7 (39:37):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
You cut out there for a second. Did you say yes?
Speaker 5 (39:40):
I said absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
You cut out again?
Speaker 15 (39:42):
Did you are?
Speaker 1 (39:43):
You're pulling over?
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Stop telling me I cut out.
Speaker 7 (39:45):
I did not cut out, and I'm not pulling over.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
I think you cut out again, So you're pulling over? Okay.
So did you look at what I sent you?
Speaker 12 (39:58):
No?
Speaker 2 (39:58):
I didn't look at what I'm I'm on the highway, John, John,
I'm on the highway.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Just dart your eyes between the windshield and the papers
that I just sent you. No, Because Jackie's neck brace
seems to be constricting the flow of kindness from her
heart to her mouth. I decide to just read to
her what little I can make out. It was an
exam med Richard's forty ugh Like, where does it say
(40:25):
if he just broke his arm? FX of right distroll
rady radius FX.
Speaker 7 (40:32):
Means fracture of dystole radius.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
FX means fractured. Yeah, so he fractured his arm. Yep,
so is that the same thing as breaking? Yes, so
he broke his arm.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
He broke his arm?
Speaker 4 (40:46):
Looks like it.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
This confirms he broke his arm.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Wonderful?
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Are we done?
Speaker 1 (40:58):
In high spirits? I get Rob, who's just returned from
another vacation back on the phone. Welcome back from Fiji.
Speaker 12 (41:05):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Everything must seem like sort of like in black and white.
Speaker 4 (41:09):
Now Fiji is not all.
Speaker 12 (41:11):
It sounds more exotic than it is.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
When Rob's done bragging, I tell him I have some
news I wanted to share with you. The er report cool.
Speaker 12 (41:26):
I'm nervous. It's because because if it's because if I
didn't break my arm, then I mean I got to
shut everything down and live in therapy.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
You broke your arm? I did you did? Yeah?
Speaker 12 (41:46):
Of course I did I know.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Joining conference. Now, an impromptu family conference call is arranged.
Eight is traveling and unable to make it, but we
get everyone else on the line. Any last minute predictions
anybody wants to make. Don't think there's a record of it,
anybody else.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
I'm thinking a screen.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Well, according to the hospital report, Rob broke his arm.
Speaker 15 (42:23):
Wow, gourd, you're kidding.
Speaker 7 (42:27):
No, what did the hospital record say?
Speaker 1 (42:31):
I texted over and since Rob's mom is a nurse,
she decodes the report for the rest of the family.
Speaker 5 (42:38):
Okay, complained of pain, swelling, risk, tripped over, log landing
on wrist.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
It was just as Rob had said, right, risk.
Speaker 5 (42:47):
Distal forearm, the fracture distal radio. Wow, my full apologies, Robert.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
The medical report has done the job.
Speaker 13 (43:02):
I am sorry that I don't remember this incident at all.
I mean, I remember a lot of other incidentss, but yeah,
this one I don't remember it. But that doesn't mean
that it didn't happen.
Speaker 5 (43:16):
You've got me in two years, and I believe you.
Speaker 12 (43:21):
Nothing to be in tears over.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
As his family begins to apologize, Rob begins to backpedal.
Speaker 12 (43:28):
I can't imagine making you apologize for this but like
I could do that. No, this is I'm just it
just makes me uncomfortable. I think it's kind of understandable
that a group of four people would forget something like
this because it was it was fairly trivial.
Speaker 5 (43:49):
No, I disagree. I this was not trivial. It wasn't
a little thing. You broke your arm and I have
absolutely no memory of it. That makes me crazy.
Speaker 13 (44:04):
That kind of makes me feel bad that as a parent,
I don't remember it.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
With Rob's broken arm confirmed, his parents go from doubting
their son to doubting themselves. What kind of parents were they?
All the agreed upon rolls are called into question. How
can Laura be the keeper of memories if she failed
to keep this memory? And Nate, how can he be
the broken arm guy if now there's some other broken
(44:32):
arm guy. This is the moment when Rob should be
delivering his victory speech. In its entirety, he should be
saying I told you so in a sing songy voice
that is sickening to everyone. He should be gloating. But
(44:53):
there's something about his family's remorse that feels worse than
their disbelief. So instead, Rob tries to diffuse the situation
by joking around no, no, no, I don't listen.
Speaker 12 (45:05):
You weren't there for it. You probably had to write
me a note to get out of zet, which was great.
That's probably here at the extent that you're involved.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
To reassure them, Rob falls back on the old Qudrey
family chestnuts.
Speaker 12 (45:19):
I can think back to seeing little Nate in traction
in the hospital, and even today can probably cry over it.
That's that's that's memorable.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
And just like that, things begin to snap back into
place once again. Nate is the broken arm guy. And Laura, I.
Speaker 7 (45:40):
Mean, I'm surprised that I don't remember it because I
remember stupid things like what color sneakers I had.
Speaker 13 (45:48):
And I remember one day we went for dinner or
lunch at either Burger King of McDonald's, and Laura found
ten dollars under the table.
Speaker 6 (45:57):
It was Brigham's.
Speaker 13 (45:59):
See I remember this, Yeah, I remember.
Speaker 6 (46:02):
Where we were sitting.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
And just like that, once again, Laura is the keeper
of memories. After everyone gets off the phone, I stay
on with Rob. The calls left him feeling kind of bad,
especially for his mom. Before we'd all signed off, she
(46:25):
apologized yet again, despite Rob's reassurance, she was still feeling
guilty and unsettled by your lack of memory.
Speaker 6 (46:34):
Hi, this is Robin.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
I can't take your call.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
Right now, so Rob and I give her a call
to check back in, but she isn't picking up.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
Thanks for calling.
Speaker 12 (46:43):
Hi, Mom, it's Robert William. My friend Jonathan's here. Hi,
and I love you.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Oh, I love you. Oh sorry, I.
Speaker 12 (46:52):
Was talking to my mother that time, Jonathan.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
Eventually, my friend Jackie did read Rob's medical report, and
then she texted me. This is notable for two reasons.
One Jackie never texts me, and two she began the
text by saying, I read the report, and truthfully, the
most interesting part was the remark that the patient was pleasant.
Speaker 12 (47:19):
Oh well, that's very nice.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
And she goes on to say in an er setting,
no one would ever bother writing that.
Speaker 12 (47:28):
Oh man, I remember getting along with the doctor and
him saying that.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
I was a champ.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
I just swallowed your pain.
Speaker 4 (47:45):
Always.
Speaker 12 (47:49):
I took great pride in being a champ.
Speaker 8 (47:53):
In the er.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Rob was pleasant in the pickup truck. He didn't want
to bother anyone for a painkiller. A couple weeks later,
and he was leading girl scouts on a hike and
ultimately maybe that's why no one remembers Rob breaking his arm,
because whether it was a big deal or not, he
acted like it wasn't. Rob liked being a champ, and
(48:15):
he still likes being a champ, making people laugh, joking
things off. So it was no surprise that when I
asked the Quderies what Rob's role in the family was,
they all said the same thing.
Speaker 7 (48:28):
He's the funny guy.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
He was funny, he was the funny one.
Speaker 3 (48:30):
He always started sayings at the dinner table.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Rob isn't an insult comic. The joke's always on him,
the jokes always to make everyone else feel better. You're pleasant,
I'm good, I am. I hope you feel good about that.
Speaker 12 (48:47):
I do. I actually do. I ho hope that that's
what people say about me.
Speaker 14 (48:58):
He is really funny and caring and sweet, and I
love the soft side of him.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
This is Sloane Rob's little girl who broke her arm,
whose picture in a big purple cast set this whole
thing off in the first place.
Speaker 14 (49:16):
He doesn't really have a hard slot, and he's someone
who you can always go to and he's not gonna
yell at you or tell you like that you did
something wrong.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
After Sloane broke her arm, Rob told her the story
of how he had also broken his arm on a log,
how he was rolling on top of it to make
his friends laugh.
Speaker 14 (49:41):
Anyway, it was just comforting to know that, like, I
wasn't the only one who tripped over a tree, because
that's embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (49:50):
Rob told me that when no one in his family
believed him, not his mother, father, sister, or brother, not
even his wife, there was one person who did.
Speaker 14 (50:00):
Yeah, I did. I just felt like he was telling
the truth. He was very frustrated that no one believed him,
so I wanted to be nice to him too.
Speaker 1 (50:16):
In Rob's new family, everyone is still growing into their roles.
So for now, Sloan is the bookworm, her little sister
Marlowe is the rocker, always playing her electric guitar. And Rob,
to them, isn't the funny one or even the famous one.
He's the soft one, the sweet and caring one.
Speaker 12 (50:39):
Thank you, Jonathan, Thank you Rob, and hey John, Johnny. Yeah,
I love you very much.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
I love you Rob.
Speaker 6 (50:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (50:55):
Okay, good bye, okay, bye bye.
Speaker 16 (51:11):
Now that the Fernitures return to its goodwill home, Now
that the last month's rent is skiming with the damage
the bottle. Take this moment to deserve, if we meant it,
(51:32):
if we talk, we felt around from far too, from.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
Things that accidentally. Heavyweight is hosted and produced by me
Jonathan Goldstein, along with Khalila Holt, Peter Bresnan, and Stevie Lane.
The show is edited by Jorge Just, with additional editing
by Alex Bloomberg. Special thanks to Emily Khn and Fia Bennen,
(52:01):
Ba Parker, Matthew Nelson, Sandra Cordery, and Jackie Cohen. Thanks
to to our friends at Maximum Fun, with whom we
had the maximum amount of fun. Bobby Lord mixed the
episode with music by Christine Fellows Blue Dot Sessions and
with his very own music by he himself, Bobby Lord,
don't laugh when I'm doing the credits. Additional music credits
(52:24):
can be found on our website, gimblitmedia dot com slash Heavyweight.
Our theme song is by the Weakerlands courtesy of Epitaph Records,
and our ad music is by Hailey Shaw. Follow us
on Twitter at Heavyweight or email us at Heavyweight at
gimbltmedia dot com. We'll have a brand new episode next
week
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