*She Just Blacked Out, Is All

CATEGORY: A Day in The Life

EPILOG BEFORE THE FACT: I did not renew my contract with this organization after the following incident.

One of my jobs as manager of a private university dormitory is to distribute mail. I notice Alison hasn't picked up her mail for several days, and it occurs to me I haven't seen her lately. I go to her room and find only her roommate Jody there.

Jody mumbles something and slinks past me. My voice pursues her down the hall. Jody! Please tell me where she is.

Reluctantly, Jody turns back to me and says, If you must know, she's in the hospital. But don't worry, she's fine now.

I'm always the last to know these things. Parents hire me to manage young women who refuse to be managed. I refuse to be in this position much longer.

I don't take their attitude personality. I represent authority, and they thought college meant being beyond authority. They don't yet know they will meet with authority throughout their lives. You got to serve somebody, Bob Dylan says. I'm just the first somebody they meet after they thought they were through with all that.

So Alison is in the hospital and her friends have formed a conspiracy to keep me and her parents from knowing. Legally, neither the parents nor I have any rights in this matter.

I don't even bother to ask Jody whether it's alcohol related.

You think it's alcohol related, Jody says. It really isn't.

I don't say anything and suddenly, Jody's talking: She just blacked out, is all. At a fraternity party. The stupid security guards forced the guys to call an ambulance. She's fine. She just blacked out, is all. She just got alcohol poisoning, is all. But that's not alcohol related. It's horrible, forcing her to go to a hospital when she didn't even know what they were doing because she was blacked out.

Jody's too-skinny frame shakes with indignation.

I look at the bulletin board, across from Alison and Jody's room. It has colorful posters with all the important information about alcohol poisoning, eating disorders, signs of bi-polar disorder. I'm sure nobody reads them.

Can I go now, please, Jody asks, torn between manners and her desire to be free of me.

I have only a few seconds to say something meaningful that might penetrate her denial of reality.

Death, Jody.

I choose my words carefully.

Death. Alcohol poisoning can lead to death. Alison might have died if she hadn't been taken to a hospital in time.

Whatever, Jody replies.

I hold her eyes with a steady gaze. And it makes me feel better now, because I can see she looks frightened. She just can't admit it to me.

Whatever.