Date: 	Monday, November 16, 1998 12:41:54PM
Subj: 	 Fran

I just got back from a couple days' vacation to find Carol's
message on my machine, telling me about Fran. I stood there 
staring at the phone, momentarily unable to believe what I'd 
just heard. I knew Fran was ill--I knew she was very ill, of
course. But I guess I always thought that she would get through 
this. 

Fran was a dear friend, a friend I am going to miss greatly. 
She was one of the few people in the world who really  understood 
me--and I value those sorts of friends highly because they're so 
rare. It is to my tremendous regret that I was not as diligent
as I should have been about keeping in contact with her in the past few
months--I sent her e-mail, but did not call or write. I hope that 
she will forgive me for being so preoccupied with the rest of life 
that I didn't take a few moments to make a phone call. As it was, I 
sent her a card only a couple of weeks ago, a silly card in which I apologized
for my lack of contact, brought her up to date about what was going on
with me, and asked her how she was doing. I don't think she got a chance 
to see that card, and that makes me sad. 

We talked about Swamp Thing, sure. That was the thing that brought us
together in the first place, back when it was just me and Carol and 
Fran, and Fran was still writing to us from an internet pub that made 
it tough to get in touch with her. We did, though. From the beginning 
she was funny, witty, and--wonder of wonders, interested in the same 
things I was! She loved Dr. Arcane. She played fantasy roleplaying games.
She liked handsome young heroes with evil streaks and even more handsome
young villains with even deeper evil streaks. She liked to write 
stories! (And she was damned good at it too...she wrote some of the 
most wonderful Swampy fanfic I've ever had the pleasure to read.)  
We spent countless emails discussing not only Swamp Thing
but our own characters and our attachments to them, the world in
general, Frasier (we both like Niles), life, the universe, and everything. 
Even though I'd never met her, I felt like she had been a friend for 
years. Never mind that she was in England and I was in California. That 
didn't matter.

Then, last year, I finally got the chance to meet her in person. 
Dan (my spouse) and I took a trip to England, and you can be sure that 
Kedleston Road in Leeds was one of our most anticipated destinations. 
We didn't get to meet her mom or her sister (they were in Scotland at 
the time) but we did get to meet her lovely cat Homer (she had another,
but I've forgotten his name and he stayed well away from us) and her
equally lovely dog Kali (she of the chew fetish).  I gave Fran a 
Beanie Baby dragon and a Swampy tape...she showed me her beautiful 
artwork. We spent all next day with her, playing Marvel Super Heroes 
(Dan ran it--she played her favorite character, Raven, and I mine, 
Alexander. They went to Hell. It was a blast.) She took us to the local 
pub and explained to Dan what "black pudding" really was (he nearly 
gagged--the look on his face was priceless). We didn't want to leave, 
because we were having so much fun.  When we drove away, on to our 
next destination, it was with the anticipation that we would
see her again. She was coming to the US in February, she told us. 
We made tentative plans to go back East and meet up with her and Carol.

Sadly, it wasn't to be. We continued to exchange e-mails; she read my
stories, and I read hers. She even provided the name for the big
bad corporation in my Shadowrun novel. But then the e-mails started 
coming slower, followed by a call from Carol that Fran wasn't doing 
well. I sent her more e-mails, but there was no answer. This often happened, 
though--Fran got busy and took awhile to answer, so I wasn't too
worried. I knew she would be fine. She always was.

But she wasn't, this time. Fran, I know you're up there, looking down
and laughing at me for worrying so much (well, you're probably having 
too much fun to be paying attention to me, but that's cool--I'll see 
you one day and then I can tell you I'm sorry in person.)  I'll miss 
you, my friend. I'm not going to get all soft and sentimental
because I know you would hate that. Let me just say this--it isn't over.
This is nothing but a brief parting, and one of these days we're all going 
to be back together again, talking about Dr. Arcane and writing stories 
and all that other stuff that we shared.  Hey--I'll have to see you 
again, 'cuz I still owe you a story! :)

Love you, Fran.

--Robyn, aka Rat...SPSetc&FF

"Suddenly --
You were gone
From all the lives
You left your mark upon..."
	--Rush, "Afterimage"