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When I first met Joe he would often pretend he was someone else on the phone when he called me just to be silly. It was funny for a while because it was part of who he was, always this wacky, happy guy.

Then he kept doing it.

For years.

And years.

And years.

And years!

He seriously did this for as long as I knew him. He'd call and obviously I always knew it was him (we were way, way, WAY past him being able to fool me and he had stopped trying really.) He would use the same crazy voice and way of talking EVERY TIME. Sometimes I'd just let him babble on about whatever nutty thing he was in the mood to talk about...pretend he was the phone company guy....pretend he was selling paper....pretend he was looking to buy bird food....whatever. I'd hold the phone and barely pay attention until he was done and we could get onto our normal conversation. Other times I'd tell him to stop and we'd resume normal conversation faster. I'd say to him "Joe, you've been doing this for YEARS. Doesn't it get old for you?" but of course it never did.

I swear if he could call me from wherever he is now, he'd pretend he was someone else, probably claiming he saw me steal his pet rooster or some crazy thing like that.
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