(What's a Lostop? Click here!)
I first met Lorz during Pre-registration at Eastern New Mexico University the summer before I started college. She was from Albuquerque, where she went to West Mesa High School. She was a Theatre major. Her surname was Hispanic, but she didn't look at all like the Hispanic girls I had gone to school with in Artesia. Her complexion was rather light. I never saw her parents, so I have no way of knowing for certain if she is mixed, but she probably is.
The best way to describe Lorz is to compare her to Cameron Diaz' character in "There's Something about Mary." Lorz was the kind of girl I felt like I had a shot at, even though she was out of my league. Come to find out, there were a lot of other guys on campus who felt that way about her, and they were all geeks like me.
One example is this incident I witnessed in the Theatre lobby one time. She was sitting in one of the chairs. There was this guy (not a student) who appeared to be waiting for an appointment with the head of the Theatre Department. Lorz started up a conversation with him. She started reading him some of her poetry. The guy appeared to be growing interested in her. After one poem, she said, "As you can tell, I'm really in love." The expression on his face slowly evolved into a s***-eating grin when he realized that she wasn't really trying to get him to like her.
After Pre-registration, I spent the rest of the summer looking forward to seeing Lorz again. I imagined the two of us being a couple on campus and meeting other couples in the same circles. That was one aspect of college I was looking forward to that I never got to experience.
I saw Lorz again on campus in the few days before classes started. She came with her boyfriend. He looked to be about 30 years old. He had long, blond, unkempt hair and a beard and moustache to match. He also ran around everywhere without his shirt on. While Lorz would hang out with everybody, he just stood there and kind of stared all the guys down. I wondered why she would get involved with someone like this, but accepted that my fantasies of us being romantically involved were not going to become realized any time soon.
After classes started, I never saw that boyfriend again, but I never heard her say anything about him. It didn't matter, because she had appeared to have already moved on to her next boyfriend. This was a pattern and it always appeared like the guys she got involved with didn't go to school at ENMU.
My sophomore year, we were both in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." During warm-ups before rehearsal started, the "coach" told everyone to choose a partner and hold hands. Before I even had a chance to even think about who I was going to try to pair up with, Lorz grabbed my hand. Everyone in the cast then engaged in a game of "tag." We ran all over the stage and managed to keep from being "it." When we were done, my hand was ALL sweaty. I hadn't felt that since I held hands with Roz. Lorz noted how wet my hand was and said so very loudly. It was a big thrill for me, but ultimately embarassing.
The remainder of the semester, we would frequently run into each other at the cafeteria and eat breakfast together. She typically would talk about problems with her boyfriend. I never had any solutions. Mostly the problems centered around the boyfriend not always being available when she wanted to see him. There were only certain times that they could get together. I would just sit there and hope she would say something like, "...so I broke up with him." That just never happened.
Also, during this time, she was working backstage on the Theatre department's production of "The Elephant Man" and was at rehearsals. I designed the lighting and would be at rehearsals from time to time. When we were there together, I would give her a ride to her boyfriend's house. For some reason, he was never able to come get her. But I really didn't mind. It just meant I got to spend more time with her.
One morning at breakfast, she said, "I have something to tell you. I'm a little pregnant." I was shocked. I couldn't believe she said "a little pregnant." THERE'S NO SUCH THING! You're either pregnant or you're not. You can't be a "little" pregnant. That's like being a "little" dead.
She decided to give the baby up for adoption, because it seemed like the father didn't want anything to do with it. We didn't hang out much after she told me about the pregnancy. There was one time during the spring semester that I gave her a ride to her boyfriend's house. She was just quiet during the entire drive. I watched her slowly walk up the steps to the trailer, knock on the door and be let in. I never saw who the boyfriend was.
I did not attend the summer 1984 session at ENMU. I was at home in Artesia almost the whole summer, so I was really out of the loop on everything that was going on with everyone. When I came back to school, someone told me that Lorz went into labor and the baby was stillborn. That was devastating news. I didn't know what I would say to Lorz when I saw her next.
But that day did arrive. And a lot more happened after that. I'll go into more detail tomorrow, including what qualifies her for "Lostop" status.
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