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The West Wing
"Turning Point"
Notes: Since Dr. Free Ride's real
name has never been mentioned on the show I made it up for story purposes. I also guestimated on the timeline figuring that
Dr. Free Ride left Donna during the summer of 1996.
The song used in this story is "There is no Arizona" By Jamie O'Neal
no copyright infringement is intended.
Memorial Day weekend
1996
off campus housing, University of Wisconsin
at Madison
Donna Moss sat curled up on the far corner of a blue sofa staring out the window. A two-page letter was
crumpled in her hands.
/He promised her a new and better life, out in Arizona.
Underneath the blue, never ending
sky, swore that he was gonna....
Get things in order, he'd send for her.
When he left her behind it never crossed her
mind
There is no Arizona, no Painted Desert, no Sedona.
If there was a Grand Canyon she could fill it up with
the
lies he told her.
But they don't exist, these dreams he's sold her,
She'll wake up and find there is no Arizona./
She
had come home the night before from her second job around midnight. Instead of finding Calvin asleep on the sofa with the
tv on like she had so many nights before she had found the apartment they shared dark and empty.
/She got a postcard
with no return address, postmarked Tombstone.
That said, "I don't know where I'm going next, when I do I'll let you
know."
May,
June, July....she won-ders why,
She's still waiting, she keeps waiting
There is no Arizona, no Painted Desert, no
Sedona.
If there was a Grand Canyon she could fill it up with
the lies he told her.
But they don't exist, these dreams
he's sold her,
She'll wake up and find there is no Arizona./
Donna looked away from the window and down at the paper
crumpled between her hands. The paper was tearstained in spots, her tears not his. She thought she had found her knight in
shining armor. She thought she had found her true love. The one she would spend the rest of her happily ever life with.
Exhausted
from the events of the day Donna laid her head against the arm of the sofa and fell asleep.
/Each day the sun sets
into the west, her heart
sinks lower in her chest.
And friends keep asking when she's going
Finally she tells them,
" Don't you know/
Two days later Donna had packed the last box. Or at least the last box she could shove into her tiny
car. Her neighbor Amanda Grey placed a hand on her shoulder as Donna shut the trunk.
"Donna, this is....."
Donna
smiled bitter sweetly as she looked past her friend to the apartment building. "Crazy, I know."
"You can stay with
me as long as you need to, you know that."Amanda replied as they walked around to the driver's door.
"He tossed it
all away, Amanda.....like it meant nothing. I have to do something for myself."
"I can understand that."The brown haired
girl replied quietly. "But New Hampshire? There's nothing there."
Donna squared her shoulders as she opened the car
door. "There's the 'Bartlet for America' campaign office."
"Donna, you don't even know if they'll hire you...."
"I
have to take a chance on something."Donna replied softly fighting to keep the tears at bay.
"You're determined to do
this aren't you?"Amanda asked with a shake of her head.
"I have to, there's nothing left for me here. Calvin took it
all."Donna whispered as she took a last look back at the campus. To think she had dropped out of college for him.
"Call
me if you need anything no matter what time."Amanda pleaded as Donna closed the car door and started the engine.
"I
will. "Donna promised as she threw the car into drive.
/There is no Arizona, no Painted Desert, no Sedona.
If there
was a Grand Canyon she could fill it up with
the lies he told her.
But they don't exist, these dreams he's sold her,
She'll
wake up and find there is no Arizona./
He promised her a new and better life...........out in Arizona./
As Donna
hung up the phone she turned and saw a brown haired man standing in the office doorway.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"Who
are you?"
"I'm Donna Moss, who are you?"
"I'm Josh Lyman."
"Ah."
"Yes."
"I'm your new assistant."
"Did
I have an old assistant?"
end
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