Chronicles Continued….Part III

Chapter 1:  Otto gets some oats

Gunter and Wine mistress had their lad.  He was a fine little chap.  The moment he came to life, which was at 10:00pm sharp, and sharply from the belly with 9 pounds and 4 ounces of surly black haired beastliness Gunter recognized one of his dreams had come to fruition. 

The boy sat in Gunter’s arms and in his miniature bed all night long.  Gunter had known his brothers, Johan and Heinrich as babies but never had the responsibility been placed so firmly in his soft hands.  Otto woke from his slumber approximately 5 hours after being born and threw a fit right on Gunter’s lap stomping right, left, right left up and down and staring down his father like Gunter was the devil incarnate for not having the ability to feed him on the spot or pluck the stuffed up nose.  Eyes wide; the Cherokee/German barbarian was already hell on earth, ready to run.

Chapter 2:  Fast Forward some months

Otto survived his first 17 months in style.  He did not get sick, save for his first several weeks of pre-school.  He survived numerous plane trips.  A delayed layover in Philadelphia where the luggage cabined back to Palm Beach International and mom and dad picked up one of many rental cars and a hotel on their own dime and diapers and a precarious voyage back to Florida.  They survived Hurricane Wilma by sitting in the laundry room of their 2 story McMansion while they thought the roof would blow off.  Gunter even stood in front of the sliders that were shuttered pushing back on them as they bowed in from the fierce wind and they went without power for the week following.

Baby Otto didn’t know from nothing.  For him it was peaches and cream as Gunter bounced into private brokerage and 8 months later back out into low payout high gross banking brokerage.  The initial bonus gave scrapped them together enough for a down payment on their dream home in Boynton Beach very close to Gunter’s office.  Wine Mistress became a banker and Otto started his straight-A career in toddler-care among his own kind.

Their new home had a pool, screened in and very private.  Gunter sought to reduce his high blood pressure through less wine, less vodka, less beer, less stress, more swimming and a reduction of a couple pounds.  None of that helped as Dr. Smith put him on blood pressure medication anyway.

Shorty the dog lost some weight, too.  Gunter’s friend Jackson even began calling her Shorty “The Smidge” from her weight-loss.  Gunter hardly noticed, but the neighbor’s 16 year old daughter walked Shorty twice a week for 5 bucks a pop for about 5 minutes per walk by Gunter’s estimation but apparently that and the dog door to the side yard were paying dividends (not to mention Gunter’s near-starvation tactics due to “Veterinarian’s Orders regarding Corgi Obesity”).

Gunter focused on everything and nothing at all as usual.  It was football season.  The fall has a strange effect on people in that they forget about all the bad news on the television.  Wine Mistress was focusing on her job.  She had just opened 9 new checking accounts on a Friday and Otto was coming into his own with his new concept.  The “Go Concept”.  Gunter would grab a mini football and yell, “Ready, Set, GO!” and Otto would run his little 30 pound torso from the love seat directly to the front door as quickly as he could and turn around and await the errant pass from dad and happily pick it up and run it back for another “Go”.  Even more fun that for Baby Otto was to get chased by Gunter around the circumference of the house.  After they made it from the foyer to the dining room to, and right about the kitchen running counter-clockwise Otto would shriek with terror and delight, sometimes with his “nigh-night” in his mouth. 

Every night, from 6 till 8 o’clock, bedtime, was playtime.  After he started school and became a little student Otto began to marvel in books.  He was relentless with his books, bringing them to mommy and daddy to read over and over again.  Especially, the one about he little boy and his stuffed animal that was the mascot of Gunter’s favorite college football team.