F2: My Evil Twin

Welcome again to Friday's Feast. Today I'll be talking about how I got two separate free scoops of ice cream for my birthday. If you don't know what Friday's Feast is all about, please read the Friday's Feast page for a more detailed explanation. If you want to join in on the feast— be sure to leave a comment and include the URL to your post so I and others can know of your contribution.

Participants in this weeks Feast are as follows:

• Lorie @ Be Different…Act Normal
  This was the post that inspired this one to begin with.
• Mama Badger @ out of the boondocks and into the burbs…
  A great take on different ice cream places and flavors.

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When I was little, my parents signed me up to get a free scoop of ice cream on my birthday from Baskin Robbins. With this birthday club membership they send you a postcard sometime before your birthday so that you can present it at participating Baskin Robbins shops and get your free ice cream.

After we moved we noticed that we started getting two post cards… one addressed to Chris, and the other addressed to Orris. My parents and I all knew that it was a computer glitch (even though in those days the computers were the size of your living room)— but who would want to correct this and deprive your child of a second free scoop. Since both postcards had the same birthday on them it would appear that I now have an identical twin brother named Orris— thus Orris was born.

My evil twin, bad weather friend
He always wants to start when I want to begin
It scares me so, like I scare myself
with that book of Nostradamus up upon my shelf ¹

We cut a hole in the ceiling upstairs so that we could access the attic in order to blow insulation into it. Since I was the smallest in the family I was able to squeeze through the hole and help get the insulation into the far reaches of the attic (please don't call to report child labor violations… I believe I volunteered for this job). My parents joked that since we only saw Orris around his birthday that we kept him in the attic and only let him out to get his free scoop (please don't call the Department of Children and Family Services either— we all know he's not real… right… RIGHT?!!). All the same… I would think that someone would get awfully cranky if they were locked up in an attic most of the year— only to be let out to get one scoop of ice cream.

I know he looks like me
Hates work like me
and walks like me
He's even got a twin like me ²

If any of you are familiar with my post about my nicknames, I typically accept a nickname if it is used by more than one person— Orris is no exception. My parents jokingly called me Orris after they got the postcard in the mail. Due to Orris being my "Evil Twin"— whenever I am acting mean or rude, my wife calls me on it and says: "OK Orris…" to which I must realize that I am not acting appropriately and need to apologize for my actions.

Unfortunately by the time I reached the age of twelve I got my last postcard and never got any more. I do not think that my parents had the foresight to save one as actual proof of the hilarious oversight by the ice cream company, so all that remains of Orris is the memories of his existance.

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^{1, 2} Excerpts from the They Might Be Giants song: "My Evil Twin" from the album Apollo 18.

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Next weeks topic is Pot Luck. For next week, there is no "real" topic, so feel free to link up with anything. It doesn't have to be something related to Pot Luck— just something related to food, eating and/or drinking. The nice thing about this topic is that you do not have to have something prepared ahead of time. Even if you have already posted something in the past— your links are always welcome. If you know of someone else who has a post, ask them to submit their link as well. I am planning on just posting what everybody submits to me and nothing else. So… if you have anything that relates to this topic, be sure to leave a comment and include the URL so I can include you in next weeks feast.

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