The meeting

I met Evelyn Eden in college. We were both seniors and both graduating that spring.

I didn't know what to think of Evelyn the first time we met. We were both in line at the college coffee shop. It was midterms and I assumed everyone in line was there to get a jolt of caffeine to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to cram. Evelyn was behind me in line. We appeared to by the same height and had the same build - slender and athletic. She had mousy brown hair, cut very short. She wore a white sweater with blue jeans. They were not expensive clothes rather ones you would buy at the local Target - cheap, but nice. I made eye contact with her, smiled and said "hi." She looked at me (she had piercing blue eyes) but did not smile or return the "hi.". At first, I was taken back. "How rude," I thought to myself. I have always followed my own rule upon meeting someone for the first time: if my friendliness was not returned the first time, I would not make a second effort. I suppose that is snobbish of me, but I figured the ball was in their court to return the friendly favor. And yet, something about Evelyn made me want to talk to her more. She certainly was not in my class of friends, not that I, or any of my friends were stuck up snobs (maybe I was one?), but we loved to have fun and laugh and we ALL talked incessantly. There seemed to be nothing "fun" about Evelyn. Perhaps that aloofness offered some mystery to my inquisitive nature. I loved a good mystery. Who was she? What was she like? What did she like? Yes, indeed she was an enigma.