Right Under My Nose
Jennifer Rivera
Com 300
I hadn’t talked to Katie Rodgers since September of sophomore year, when she
suddenly moved to Havertown, PA. I met Katie the first day of high school in Mr. Zucresky’s English class (or "Mr. Zucrusty" as we later nicknamed him) the longestclass, seventh period. Katie and I chatted. We competed to see who knew the most vocabulary words on the list we received each week.
Once she moved away, it became harder and harder to stay in touch. The first few months after she moved away we chatted over the phone and e-mailed back and forth, but slowly, the mundane, quotidian obstacles formed too large a feat. Time passed and I often thought about calling Katie, but never had an excuse, or a reason to shed my fear of embarrassment until now.
I still had Katie’s cell phone number and address which I thought would be useful, but they weren’t. Her number had changed and she was now unlisted. Since I didn’t plan on driving to her house and making the situation any more awkward, I used the address to do a reverse search. I used www.anywho.com, www.addresses.com, www.cindyslist.com, www.whitepages.com among a few others, but my efforts were fruitless.
After hours of frustration and failed attempts, I resorted to a much more old fashioned way of finding Katie. I instant messaged and called a few other people from high school that I had stayed in touch with. I briefly explained the motive behind this search (to avoid any judgmental thoughts or comments) and went on to ask if they knew anything about my estranged friend’s whereabouts.
Finally, I stumbled upon Joe Parson and struck gold. He quickly game me an
updated telephone number. On Saturday afternoon, I calmed my nerves and dialed. I was somewhat relieved when I got a voicemail. It gave me a real opportunity to explain myself, uninterrupted. As I hung up the phone I began to get nervous she wouldn’t call back. But Sunday afternoon she finally called back.
Katie was surprised I called and sounded happy to hear from me. She had lots of questions about my life as well. Her curiosity made the situation less awkward. It was less of an interview and more of a reciprocal update.
Rather than going straight to college she took a few years off to decide what she wanted to do. She took a couple of odd jobs at restaurants, and retail stores,
even became an EMT before finding her true love: the culinary arts. Katie is a student at the Art Institute of Philadelphia and is studying to be a pastry chef. She lives in center city, just block away from Drexel campus.
I was astonished we had never run into each other, since I often find myself in center city and sometimes walk by the Art Institute buildings. Since our telephone conversation we have decided to meet for coffee next weekend and try to catch up.
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