Treble Study
Copyright (c) 1999
by Scott Weisman

First impressions with Treble do not mean a thing. When I first met
her, I thought she was quiet, shy, withdrawn, clearly (even obviously)
uncomfortable, and also a bit cuddly. But then, so was I (minus the
cuddly part). I thought her even more naive than I, and so had the odd
effect of making me uncomfortable.

But as was said, first impressions with her are meaningless. Soon
after she started writing (in mid-Fall 87, just before the reunion),
she went with Simon to see The Pricess Bride, along with Gilrael and
Stargazer. They arrived early. When Gil finally arrived, she
surreptitiously asked if I wanted to go on a mission before the flick.
Sure, I said. What I really meant was of course. Off we went, with
Treble in tow. In Gil's beat-up, late-70's model car, we settled in
and lit up. She passed to me, each of us taking in turn deep lungfulls
of killer Humboldt. As a purely courteous gesture, I offered the joint
on to Treble, fully expecting a refusal. But she was not to comply
with such expectations, took the joint, and proceeded to get stoned
also. Gil had come to the same conclusion as me. We shifted nervously
in our seats while staring at each other trying to figure out where we
went wrong in our appraisal and just shrugged our shoulders. We
couldn't make heads or tails of the chick in the back seat.

Treble was an accomplished and very gifted writer, with a quick mind
and razor-sharp wit. She also had the ultimate poker face and an
edearingly sweet personality. You couldn't help but like her.

Still, there was an element of truth in those first impressions.
Treble lacked, as it were, any street smarts even in the most literal
sense of the term. She had absolutely no sense of direction and
admitted as much. She would ask for directions over and over to the
local supermarket. The best was when she asked which way to take the
freeway...to Mexico. There were other subtle ways this naivete
presented itself.

For the culmination of the "Wilderness and Human Values" class (CI
20), one of the most popular at the university, students are required
to participate in a weeklong backpack expedition. In an obvious
attempt to keep menu planning simple, she calculated how many meals
she would need, performed a few arithmetic operations, and proceeded
to make one hell of a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I
couldn't stop laughing when I saw that.

You must be wondering what happened. Well, she really did take those
sandwiches on the trip. Her camping partners were astonished and
wildly amused, but they gave her lots of understanding and sympathy.
Between everyone, they managed to provide enough food for her for the
entire week. But that didn't stop them from laughing.

I dreaded the day she got her license and car. They weren't
simultaneous, but they were very close. The instant she passed the
1000 mile mark on the odometer, all bets were off. She went from a
law-abiding and tame 55-60 to a menacing and scary (this is Treble,
remember) 80-85, in a tiny, barebones Hyundai Excel.