Jane

It was a beautiful bright sunny day and Otto felt like taking his old soft tail Harley-Davidson for a cruise. Everybody was outside today just enjoying the nice weather, and Otto was people watching left and right as he cruised down streets at a casual speed. He was especially noticing lots of happy couples together, as well as families with young children. It brought back memories  for Otto that seemed like lifetimes ago to him now.

First he was reminded of his old girlfriend, Jane. As much as Otto tried to forget about her, he couldn't help but think of her every once in a while. He had feelings for Jane that seemed unlike anything he had ever felt before. Even when he was with her and he first discovered those feelings, he had trouble putting them into words. But Otto knew what he felt was real and that the feelings were something very special--they seemed to be ingrained in his memory forever, how could they not be? Jane was the most amazing person Otto had ever met, he just felt so instinctively connected with her. He understood everything about her, and she understood him the same way. Otto and Jane had this common understanding of each other without really even striving for it. Otto was pretty certain that he truly loved Jane and he had a good feeling that she felt the same way about him. Otto and Jane spent two short but wonderful years together when they were in high school, and when Otto was 17 and Jane was 16, her parents moved her family to Ghana. Her parents were doctors on a mission to provide medical aid to thousands of children suffering from malaria there, so at least her reason for leaving was somewhat understandable for Otto.

He figured she would move back in a few years when she became independent from her parents, but she never did. Otto knew that Jane had an insuppressible free willed spirit so there was nothing he could really do to make her come back. Jane just loved to adventure and experience new things all the time, so Otto figured that's what she was doing. He never knew where she went from Ghana or if she ever left. He had no way of getting in touch with her, and so all he could ever do is wait. Jane often expressed disgust for politics and culture in America, so Otto doubted her ever coming back. He wanted so bad just to be with her anywhere in this world. It killed him to think that he was missing out on life with her, but he always kept the thought of them reuniting one day in the back of his mind. He thought about seeing her again like it was something that he knew would actually happen one day. In this strange and puzzling world, it was hard for Otto to find ideas he could truely believe in, but the idea of him and Jane and love was definatley one of them.

As Otto continued to cruise the streets in his Harley, he ran through all the memories he had of Jane in his head. With the wind in his face he reminisced on moments with Jane. He remembered the dumb arguements they would have sometimes and thought about all the things he could have done better. Then he thought about all the times they had made love. He remembered all the times in his bed and all the times in her bed, and that one time on the lakeshore when they laid on the sand and looked up at the stars all night. He remebered the jokes they shared, and the engaging conversations they could have about almost anything. He just remebered the positive things, which seemed to outweigh the negatives by far. With a smile on his face Otto squeezed the clutch and threw the throtle back on his Harley and took off down an empty road. He had no idea where this road would take him, but he didn't care, Otto was just enjoying the ride and the present moment he was in.

Mugged

The sun was just beginning to rise on a cool March morning, and Otto was making his way home, still feeling a little drunk, after just being released from the police station. The night before a police officer saw Otto running down Sunset terrace at about 3 A.M. extremely intoxicated and howling loudly like a werewolf. Otto had been up all night drinking heavily with his friend Scott. The officer wasn't sure if Otto would be a threat or not, so he just played it safe and took Otto to the station to sober up in the holding cell. By about 6:45 they figured he was good to go, even though Otto was still feeling buzzed but could at least speak coherently now. Otto was completely exhausted from the alcohol and lack of sleep. He wanted to get to his bed as soon as possible, so he cut through behind the Sawmill Theater.

Just as Otto rounded the corner of the theater, he came upon a homeless encampment in between the shed and the theater. Three rough-looking men quickly hopped up and surrounded Otto. "We want everything you got", one said as he flicked open a switchblade knife by his side. "That's right, everything! Now empty your pockets and give me your jacket and boots", another one said. "Alright fine, here you go, take it all", Otto said agitated but calmly. All he had in his pockets anyway was a lighter, some gum, and two dollars, so he wasn't too upset. He was more upset about it taking up time that could be spent in his bed.

In any other circumstances Otto probably would have put up more of a fight, but he just didn’t have it in him at the moment. As the homeless men quickly gathered their few belongings and scurried off, Otto felt pity for the men. He thought about how much better his quality of life was compared to theirs, which was fairly new to Otto because usually he preoccupied his mind with how much better other people’s lives were compared to his. So in the end, being mugged turned out not to be such a bad experience for Otto after all. From that point on, whenever Otto was feeling down on his life, he just thought about those homeless men who desperately robbed him of his lighter, gum, and two bucks and just laughed.