With friends like this...

I've got a rather strange group of friends. I wrote about J. in the previous post, but, something that I read earlier today reminded me of my friend Otto.

I met Otto at camp years ago. As a matter of fact, it was the first year for both of us. We were both a couple of long haired and bearded guys, and we had a pretty bizarre take on things. We even did a few things that were groundbreaking at the time and we're still using them in the program now some 17 years later.

But, it was some of the things Otto did away from camp that I really remember him for. At the time, Otto was living down the road from me in Fargo. He lived on the third floor of an apartment building. He had another good friend that lived on the first floor who was a philosophy and religion major. Often, the building would be visited by members of various religious groups that are often labeled as cults. Otto's friend would invite them in and talk with them, arguing the ideas and dogma, then would say, "Well, I'm not interested in joining your organization at the time, however, I have a friend upstairs that might be." The guy would give them Otto's apartment number, send them on their way, then call Otto and tell him they were coming.

I should tell you that Otto's hair came down to his waist. He had and has a goatee. He's about 5'7" and around 230 pounds. After getting the call, Otto would wait at the door for them. When they'd ring the doorbell, he'd fling the door open and spread his arms wide and yell in a rapturous voice "Take me, sweet Jesus, take me!"

Did I mention that he would do this in the nude?

It didn't take long before the various groups quit coming around.

One weekend we were off from camp, and were driving around. Otto was riding shotgun, and suddenly yells at me to stop the car. I pull over on the shoulder and he jumps out and runs into the woods. Now, this is of course after we'd had a few beers, so I thought he was going out to get rid of the beer. Instead, he returns with two short sticks.

"Otto, what the hell...?" I asked, getting out of the car and watching him as he came up the ditch. I watched as he walked over to a road killed raccoon that was fat with bloat, and he flipped him the raccoon up onto his feet. The grimace on the raccoon's dead face caused us both to roll with laughter. What was even more funny to us was the fact that the raccoon stayed that way for at least three days before the carrion eaters finally took him away from the roadside.

The last year Otto worked, we were cabin partners. That meant that we were responsible for taking care of a bunch of kids. One of the highlights of that summer, though, came when one night at a staff party. Otto and I were told that we needed to come up with something for the rest of the staff, something to 'entertain' them. We're both big fans of Bob Dylan, and so, we decided to sing one of our camp songs a la Dylan. So, that night, we got to the party, and it came our time, and we stood up and put on our Wayfarer's. At that point, we we knocked everyone dead. We sang our hearts out, and everyone that wasn't in shock, laughed. Now, when we have reunions, Otto and I are asked for an encore.

I was one of the groomsmen at his wedding. We had a blast, especially right before the dance started when all the people from camp gathered around him and his new bride and toasted them with shots of Aquavit. We ended up doing this about six times, making sure that we got it right. Oy. Afterwards, Otto and I grabbed the microphone and started singing. Hey, we thought it was funny, as did all of the Norwegians.

I get to see Otto from time to time now, especially at camp reunion stuff, and we typically end up singing together. Yeah, we still enjoy ourselves.

Even if no one else appreciates us. *grin*