Jennifer

She was in her mid-twenties, but looked seventeen. Blonde, fragile features, chirpy voice, pretty young woman. Studied acting at Rutgers. I met her at a local community theater. Asked her to perform a few of my monologues for a workshop and she agreed. She was just about perfect in each of the three she did. Before another show, I met her mom outside, and she also looked much younger than her age. She'd flown in from the west coast.
After that show, I saw them interact backstage and there seemed to be the kind of friction evident when a mother and daughter are close, perhaps too close. Jennifer told me she had a problem with sugar. Maybe she was pre-diabetic. I didn't press the issue.
Over the next couple of years I saw her in more productions--Off Off Broadway, community theater. She decided to apply for admission various places for an MFA and I sent her letters of recommendation. Faith Ford was her favorite actress. There was a benefit for a theater group she was starting. She seemed nervous around people. After one show, they had to drag her out to meet the audience. I recall she peeked out from backstage at another play, saw me, and scurried back behind the curtains.
Something wasn't right about Jennifer. I remember she told me she had to take a bus back to NY late at night all by herself when performing in NJ. She sounded like a middle school student. Fragile.
Recently, I tried emailing her and it bounced back. I hope nothing happened to her. She would be in her early thirties now. No Facebook page that I could find. There are some people you lose track of who haunt you. Jennifer is one of them for me. Maybe she moved back to Oregon. Became a teacher, married and lived happily ever after.
Or maybe whatever problems she had, finally overcame her.