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Why did she do it? A Boy. A Girl. An Arsenal.By Rick Horowitz They'll be talking "big picture" for a while. In fact, they've already started. The last of the Littleton funerals hadn't even run its course before every network anchor, talk-show host, politician, lobbyist, commentator and columnist in this great wired world of ours (present company included) commenced weighing in on the larger significance of the whole gruesome event. Even as we speak -- and speak, and speak -- there isn't a microphone or keyboard in the land that isn't being battered into semi-coherence by nonstop ruminations on "What It All Means." And don't forget your ordinary citizens. They've got their opinions, too, of course, and they haven't been shy about sharing them, in gatherings large and small. Do you like town meetings? You're in luck. Get ready for lots of town meetings. That's not what interests me today, though -- great societal implications and such. What interests me today is one small slice of this particular rotten melon: What did he say to her? The "he" in question being Dylan Klebold, one half (or so the current evidence suggests) of the murderous pair who blasted their way into infamy in the halls of Columbine. The "her" in question being Robyn Anderson, who helped supply the firepower. That's according to the authorities, at least. They've interviewed Robyn Anderson, who was Dylan Klebold's girlfriend, who just a couple of weeks -- and too many lifetimes -- ago was Dylan Klebold's date for the prom. And now they're saying that Robyn Anderson bought three of the four guns Klebold and his friend Eric Harris used in their deadly spree. Two shotguns and a rifle, they say; Robyn Anderson bought them last fall, after she turned 18. Dylan Klebold was only 17; he couldn't legally buy a gun. But Robyn Anderson could -- and did, the authorities say. Three guns. And what I want to know is: What did he say to her? What did Dylan Klebold say to Robyn Anderson to get her to buy two shotguns and a rifle? It's not -- we can agree on this, can't we? -- the ordinary, standard-issue boyfriend-girlfriend shopping trip: a sweater for him, a necklace for her. It's not books or CDs or computer gear, or even a special photograph in a special frame. It's two shotguns and a rifle. Did he charm her? Maybe he smiled his best shy smile, flashed some impossible-to-resist aw-shucks grin, and allowed as how the one thing in this world he really had his heart set on -- aside from Robyn herself, of course -- was his very own arsenal. She'd have wanted to please him. If that's all it took... Did he tease her? "You think you're so cool, being 18 and all" -- that's how he might have put it. "What can you do that I can't do?" She'd have wanted to show him, show him that hanging with an older woman had certain advantages. Gun shows, for instance -- she could do things at gun shows he couldn't do for himself, things those younger girls certainly couldn't do for him. Stick with me, boy. Maybe he dared her. Maybe he told her she didn't have guts enough to buy a gun, and a second gun, and a third gun. Nobody wants to look gutless, especially not in front of some special someone. Who cares if she's nervous? She'll do it! Or maybe he threatened her. "If you don't buy me those guns," he might have said, "I'll break up with you" -- or worse. It would have been hard to turn him down under those circumstances, wouldn't it? She'd have done what he told her to do, more than likely -- done it and kept quiet about it. Of course, there's always the chance that Dylan Klebold didn't have to charm or tease or dare or threaten her at all. That he tried to buy the guns himself. That some dealer told him he wasn't old enough. That Robyn Anderson, ID at the ready, came riding to the rescue all on her own. It's the kind of thing a girl would do for her guy, isn't it? I'd sure like to know which one it was -- just how it was that Robyn Anderson came to buy two shotguns and a rifle last fall, two shotguns and a rifle that wound up hidden under two black trench coats this spring. And I guess I'd like to know one other thing. Didn't she have a clue? Posted
4/30/99. Spread the word -- fresh stuff right here twice
weekly!
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