by Deborah Allan

Created on: September 23, 2009   Last Updated: September 29, 2009

Dana:

It's funny how you forget someone until one morning you're reading the obituaries, and you see a name. A familiar name. A name that you once knew very well, but over the years, it seems, has become nothing more than a memory. That's what happened to me last week.

I was sitting down to a hearty breakfast of corn pops and orange juice, and decided to read the paper I picked up on my way home the night before. I don't usually read the newspaper, but something clicked in my brain the night before, and I thought I should keep up to date in the ever changing world around me. Nothing really caught my eye, aside from the article about the high school across town being torn down, and a new high school would be built in its place. I guess that's the biggest news I've heard in a long time. The obituary page, not being one that I read often, did catch my attention, as I saw the very first name on that page. Dana Roberts. My ex-roommate in college, and my best friend at the time. We hadn't spoken in years, as people tend to do when we leave college and go out on our own. We lost phone numbers and e-mail addresses, and even her parents moved, so I had a good excuse I thought, knowing that one day we would meet again. I did not expect it to be at her funeral.

Shock overwhelmed me. I could not believe that Dana was dead. She was so popular, so pretty, and so outgoing. She was student council president at our college, threw benefit after benefit to raise the most money that year, than the history of the college. She had so many friends, and boyfriends, and knew exactly where she was going to work, live and the kind of guy she was going to marry. She even knew she wanted kids, and had their names picked out. Could this be the same Dana Roberts?

My mind raced, as I thought of the last time we saw each other. It was difficult, because we had a fight that day, over something very petty indeed. As I stated earlier, we were roommates in college, and we shared everything, rent, groceries, phone bill, and when we graduated, I was having a very difficult time finding a job. Student loans only last for so long, and I needed help. Dana, on the other hand, had gotten hired three days before we graduated, and had a steady income. So, when rent day came the same day as the phone bill was due, Dana made it very clear that she would pay both, but my share was due in two days. Two days? How would that ever be possible. It was Friday, and Dana went to spend the weekend with her boyfriend.

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