My Buddy Dick #1

Back in the 60's I worked second shift at Fisher Body in Pontiac. This shift would get off at 11pm and on many nights my buddy Dick and I would head from the shop directly to the lake and fish until dawn. If I knew ahead of time I already had my canoe tied to the roof of my old Rambler station wagon and we would head for the lake.

Dick was one of the few guys that I knew that would go fishing at the drop of a hat and this worked out great. Many times it was just that. We would go out for lunch and if it was a beautiful warm night, with lots of stars ,it would get us to thinking. Maybe nothing would be said at the time but buy 10pm one of us would be hunting up the other to see if the other was able to make it that night. Many hours of overtime was turned down for a night of fishing.

I just loved fishing at night. It is so peaceful on a quiet night and it makes you want to whisper. Getting Dick to whisper is nothing but a miracle. He is a short, stocky feller and as many of that type are, he is a type "A" personality. Man if he is in a group of 10, as short as he is , he stood out.

Dick is one heck of a BSer too. He would tell a story, a story that I experienced along with him and it would not even resemble the actual event. The thing was, that dang fool would expect me to swear he was right. Afterword's, if I told him he was BS'n, he would argue with ME and I was right there at the time. That boy would lie when the truth would benefit him!

Along with loud, he was foul mouthed. SO am I but I use a little common sense but not Dick. We would be out on a completely still night, with not a sound but the croaking of the Bullfrogs and buzzing of skeeters. You know, one of those nights that it was just good setting out there and watching the stars. I would always get a kick out of watching bats, diving and swooping for bugs. I was always in the rear of the canoe and of course Dick was in the front Duh! We would usually be tossing jitterbug lures. For those that don't know, they are an old standby lure and have been on the market for many years.

They are a floating lure and when it is retrieved you can hear the plop-plop-plop-plop or their approach. It can become rather mesmerizing after a while. It gives one a chance to just think and relax. Cast, plop, plop, plop, plop. Very relaxing! That is until Dick gets a strike.

All hell breaks loose then. I am day dreaming or maybe I should say night dreaming and Dick gets a surface strike. Now that fish does not have to be a big one, all it has to do is be a fish and Dick starts a screaming!! "Wholly Sh*t!! You see the size of that ^%$&*#*? That Was the biggest #*@^&$%# in the whole G*&^%$#% lake!! Did you see it?" All at the top of his lungs! I would want to kill the sucker and kept trying to calm him down but when he was excited the only way to settle him down was to kill him I reckon. I wasn’t gonna kill him.

It would really pizz me off and I let him know. I asked him how the hell he would like to live on a lake and have that kind of thing going on in the middle of the lake. On nights like that the sound would carry from one end of the lake to the other. Back then everyone did not have air conditioning either. I would rip into him and he would say I was being silly that nobody could hear him but I told him that I would fish alone if he kept up that crap. It didn’t do any good.

Dick was a good friend. He was nuts but a good friend. He was about 5ft 5 and stocky. If he was two inches shorter he would have been a perfect sphere. He had little blocky hands with fingers about two inches long, it seemed, One of the silly things he liked to do is challenge people to finger twisting. Now nobody but a dang fool even knows what finger twisting is but he would always find some dang fool to take him up on it, especially if beer was involved.

What you do is face each other, with arm outstretched and with a fist and gesturing finger extended. Dick and the dang fool that would take him up on it, he was such a little sucker anyone would, except me that is. They would lock fingers and with straight arms would try to twist the other guys finger off. Don’t that sound like fun?? Dick could beat anyone. He was strong and had those little stubby hands and was unbeatable.

One Monday afternoon I saw him at work. His hand was bandaged and I asked what had happened. He sheepishly said that he had been in a bar up north and challenged the biggest sissy in the place. I asked what had happened and he just said when it was over, his finger was looking at the ceiling and his palm was facing down. I laughed and asked what the did then and said bought the beer. Hahahahahh

I was at a party at his house one time and there were a bunch of crazy suckers there. There was a big Mexican there and Dick and the Mexican got in a friendly argument about who could eat the hottest food. There was a lot of friendly yelling going on and Dick finally jumped in his car and headed out. He was soon back with two jars of hot peppers! Now I don’t know what kind they were but they were HOT.

He gave one to the Mexican, I can not remember his name, and popped the lid on the other. His wife, Kathy, was a sweetheart. She was as cute as a bug and just as sweet. She told Dick that he should calm down, “You know what happened the last time you did this” she said. I don’t know what the hell happened but it didn’t seem to deter Dick a bit.

Common sissy, lets see what you got, says Dick. The two of them, with the rest of us pushing for room, headed for the picnic table to get comfortable for the challenge.

Now you gotta realize that Dick was not a drinker. He might have a beer occasionally but he did this kind of stuff because he was nuts. It didn’t take beer.

The sat down facing each other, with the rest of us gathered around. Hoping Dick would get his comeupins. This Mexican was from the old country and loved hot stuff.

Well those two started a chucking hot peppers down and it was enough to make you sick. I don’t remember if they chewed them or not but when it was over it was a dang tie, or close to one. Dick started squalling that he had won and everyone laughed at him. You just gotta laugh when Dick is around. The Mexican said he had won. I could not see that either had won because they were both full of hot peppers.

Dick yelled, reaching for his pepper jar, “Lets see who can chug the juice first!” and tipped it up and started gulping it down. That did it. The Mexican said he was nuts and dumped his juice. Dick sat there grinning like a possum eating crap. He was satisfied that he had won. He would compete in anything.

Later that night Dick and Kathy got in a shaving and whipped cream fight. In that dang house. The were like kids a laughing and carrying on and the house was trashed. There was whipped cream all over the walls but it didn’t seem to bother them.

This story was meant to be a fishing story but it has run too long now. I will stop it here and work on the next part later. Dick and I spent a lot of time together fishing. He was a ball and I have many story’s I could tell and a few that I can not.

Until next time