David

I met David when we were both in the 10th grade, at a high school that seemed to draw the broken hearted. Most of the students were brilliant, but each had their own story about what had brought them to our high school. They came from all over the city, and represented the city in their diversity.

The first time I saw David was in the middle of the school year, he was new after transferring from another high school. He was sitting in an empty class room, by a window, with the sun shining on him, and I knew from that moment that we would be life long friends.

David was slight in stature, with huge green eyes and light brown hair down to his shoulders. I tend to befriend handsome men, I blame it on being a Libra. Anysuperficial, David, who never at anytime was called "Dave", was one of the sweetest looking boys, aura and all, that I had ever laid eyes on.

He was not what you would call out going, but most of his friends at school were women. Woman loved David and he was never without a date. But under all that window dressing was one of the most complicated souls I had ever encountered and it absolutely intrigued me.

It was different between me and David, and we both knew it, and we both valued it. That's where I learned how to be good friends with men and is the basis of most of the relationships I've had since. He once told me, when referring to my reluctance to allow men to get too close to me, that the Rolling Stones song "Ruby Tuesday", was really written about me, and that it would always make him think of me. Now, when I hear that song, it makes me think of him.

We spent a huge amount of time together over the next decade. David was an intellectual, which made him great company for me. I would go over to his place, or he would come over to my mothers, and we would bake, and pick at eachothers brains, and listen to music. We made fudge, cakes, cookies, and he introduced me to all the music that would guide my taste thereafter. He was very cultured, loved art, and loved to analyze things. My kind of guy.

I realized after knowing him for a while that he was really kinda sad. So beautiful, yet so sad, and I always wanted to protect him. I used to tell him that I was going to make him a t-shirt that said "still waters run deep" and make him wear it. On a cerebral level, boyfriend had it going on.

When I was 17, I moved out of my mothers place and into one of Davids places. He bought beautiful old buildings and rehabbed them. He was just finishing one in Clifton, at 333 Fosdick, (teehee, I only put that there so I could say "dick"), and charged me barely any rent.

He was still doing work on the upper floors, but I didn't mind, until this one day. I was in the kitchen, with my two cats watching as I tried to get the garbage bag out of the can to empty it. Suddenly, POOOFFF, right out of the middle of the garbage this huge grey rat jumps out and runs down my leg into the wall, while the cats just sat there and looked at me. I can feel those little claws running down my leg to this day. The exterminator came the next day. Other than that, it was one of my favorite apartments ever.

That summer, David's parents paid for him to go to India. He was gone a really long time and I missed him very much. When he finally got home, he told me it was a very strange trip. He had loved Nepal, but had gotten very sick in India. He never told me the exact story of that summer, but I know he was never the same after it.

While he was in India, he had gotten addicted to a certain substance, and pretty much got lost and stranded in India for three months. His parents didn't even know where he was. Something happened, and he got arrested, and his parents had to ask the American Consulate to step in and get David out. After that, I always thought of him as being spiritually fragile, and more tortured than before.

After a few years, I moved out to live with my boyfriend. David had began dating a friend we both knew from high school. Her name was Angie and she looked like an angel, small in stature, sky blue eyes, blonde shiny hair. Angie had had heart surgery when she was a little girl, and her skin was very pale and beautiful like porcelain. She was physically fragile, but spiritually very strong.

We must have been around 20ish when they fell in love, and after several years they got married. They were living on a farm in Kentucky, with their animals that both of them loved, basically living out the romantic dream we all chase and sometimes never catch. I was happy for both of them, but also relieved because he was in great hands and I wouldn't worry about him as much.

One morning, Angie and David are sitting in the kitchen. David told me later that he looked over at her and she was kneeling down petting and talking to their new puppy. She looked up and looked him straight in the eyes, and died. Just like that. Her heart gave out and she was gone.

David, needless to say, was absolutely heart broken. At that time, I was absorbed with my own life, having children and being sick, so we didn't speak often. I just figured we would pick up where we left off like we always did. Shortly after that, I heard from another friend of his that he was dating another woman and seemed to be doing OK.

A couple of years ago, I was at a technical trade show at Convention Center. I ran into an old friend of David's, whom I remembered but never knew very well. The first thing I asked him was "where the hell is David" because I had been looking for him for a few years but couldn't find him.

His friend, Carl, says to me "Oh, you must not have heard, David died last year." When they found him, he had bled to death sitting in his chair from a self inflicted wound. That broke my heart. His friends said they had worried about it happening because he had been in so much pain and grief after Angie died. I wish I would have been there for him because I know it would have made a difference. Not a day has gone by since that I haven't thought of him.