Summertime Series - People Are Strange Part 2 of 4

"People are strange, when you're a stranger, Faces look ugly when you're alone. Women seem wicked, when you're unwanted, Streets are uneven, when you're down" The Doors from "People are Strange"

The nurse wouldn't give me any meds until I told her more about my Minnesota adventure. In order to achieve the blissful high of my pills, I relented.

I had arrived in the land of Norwegians and Hot Dish ( a casserole concoction made in a large Pyrex casserole dish, its ingredients are still a mystery to me) as the green of spring had taken hold. My first days were of acclimation and pinball. There was a great golf themed machine at the Cormorant Pub, they had a good burger basket (burger and tots) as well. The dialect was baffling, ya, the pace was relaxing, oh ya, the water in Lake Sally still pretty cool, oh goodness ya. Being that the cabin was on the lake getting my wayward luggage delivered was a chore. We ultimately had to go pick up my bags at a boat repair shop, a small price to pay for a change of unmentionables.

One night, in my second week there, the happy couple had themselves a tiff. For the sake of everyones sanity and their privacy I decided that it was high time( hee-hee high time) I checked out the Hotel Shoreham. The name is a bit of a misnomer as the Hotel isn't really a hotel, not anymore. It was at the turn of the century, like 1908, but now it was a restaurant and bar with a kick ass pizza shack across a small fenced in quad. I headed in and took a seat at the bar. There I met Tom, he was a different guy in a really sweet yet kind of creepy way. As I downed mad quantities of Captain and Coke we talked and I was informed that the Hotel needed a bouncer for the season. The next morning I met with Rick, the owner, I was hired, and offered a room in a cabin on the Hotel property, leaving Dave and Julie alone and to their bickering.

The cabin was located conveniently between the beer cooler and the "Love Shack", a small one room cabin that was the residence of the cook, Travis, and his dog, Duncan. We became friends over many a night of drinking cheap beer and listening to Tool. Also a new pal was Jeff, he was a bartender at the Hotel, but he doesn't factor in to this til later. As Travis and I bonded over barley and hops, he introduced me to XXXX beer, a butter ale that is as smooth as Alicia Keys complexion, two other key components to my summer were also introduced. Angie and my Cari. Being fresh off the scar of Michelleworld, I have no idea how I fell for Cari like a bag of bricks being thrown from a high rise. Bust she was not feeling the same way, a theme for me, so I started my pathetic attempt at wooing her.

For the next few months we was like peas and carrots. We drank, God did we drink, we camped, we boated, we fished, and I did my best to woo my Norwegian strumpet. I did this by almost never leaving my cabin, playing enough Sega to give me a blister on my thumb the size of a Kiwi. The thing about Minnesotans is that they are cooped up all winter so when it hits 60 they are constantly outside. Being from Los Angeles, nice weather didn't mean bull crap to me, just another day. But someone, I was getting somewhere with Cari. I have no idea if she just felt bad for me, or was trying to coax me out of the house, but on day in late June we kissed. Little did I know that the biggest holiday of the summer was about to break me in pieces. The day is legendary in Detroit Lakes, and nothing you can do can prepare you for the 4th of July.

Ever crush on someone and had it become something more? Are you enjoying this story?

Dixie Cup of Love: Travis, Jeff, Angie, and Cari.

Tomorrow: The 4th of July