The Path Less Trodden by Dante Tremere Written May 28, 2007 to Jane Lane Brooke Dear Jane, I was walking downtown today and guess who I saw? It was Kevin and Brittany from Lawndale. You know, after Kazhakstan in 2004, I thought that I would not see any of our old classmates. I mean, I didn’t think I would see anyone again, the way they were just shipping people off to fight in Kazhakstan. That was pretty scary. I mean, you heard the people talk about Vietnam and the Gulf war, and you would just laugh it off, but then we have to go way over to some country to fight over some weapons sites, and kill people you can’t prove are bad. Anyway, Kevin and Brittany were doing fine, expecting their second child in the fall. They mentioned Upchuck, now Charles Rottheimer working for some weapons company. I think they were the ones who manufactured the Orbital Particle Beam Offense/Defense System that we used in Kazhakstan. His marriage to Andrea (that Goth poet girl that was always drinking) really seems to have changed him, I heard he is on his way up. Then they asked about Trent and I. It seems not everyone knows (or accepts) the fact that he was killed over in Kazhakstan. I just don’t know. Maybe I loved him... sometimes I cry thinking about the way our youth fell apart. I also spoke to Quinn on the phone. She is doing okay after her crash last year... you know, I was scared I might actually lose her just like I lost Dad when those fundamentalists bombed the building he was in, just before the war started. Mom never really recovered from that you know. Sometimes I visit her up in Shady Groves. They seem to be treating her well, I guess. But she doesn’t say much. It just kills me to think how everything went wrong. First Jesse dying of that drug overdose, then Dad dying, then Mom going insane, then the war, then Trent dying, and Quinn’s accident, and that girl from the fashion club- what was her name? The one with the deep voice- getting involved in that scandal with the President as a White House intern. At least Michael MacKenzie got out allright. I was pretty happy for him when he went to teach at Harvard and took Jodie with him. Sometimes I think of those two boys I told you about- Beavis and Butt-head- and how stupid they seemed to everyone. But now, I almost envy them because they were so oblivious to everything that was going on; just living in their own private world of ignorance and bliss. They were lucky. How is your art career going? How do the people like your exhibit at the National Gallery in Washington? And how is your husband, Tom? Is he doing well with his writing job? You know, I bought a copy of his last book- A Study of South Park and Its Effect on Generation X. There were some interesting points. Come on over and visit me some time in Baltimore. Yeah, it’s got its bad points, but it’s slightly more tolerable than Lawndale- especially after that meltdown in 2002. I don’t think anyone will be able to forget that for a long time. Sincerely, Daria Morgendorffer THE END