Disclaimer: Not mine, song's not mine either. Don't sue, I have no money.
Author's Note: 10th in my POV series. This one's Donna.
Archive: Sure, just tell me.
Feedback: Makes me very, very happy.
Spoilers: In the Shadow of Two Gunmen
In My Little Town, I grew up believing
God keeps His eye on us all.
And he used to lean upon me as I pledged allegiance to the Wall.
I finish throwing things into my suitcase and hurry through Dan's apartment. I need to be gone before he comes back. I've had enough. I dropped out of school to support him and now he's decided that now is not the right time for us to get married. I'm beginning to suspect there never will be a right time. I turn off the television set as they talk about Presidential candidate Josiah Bartlet. I'm leaving and going to New Hampshire to find something new. I drop my engagement ring on the table in the foyer as I open the door.
Lord, I recall, in My Little Town,
Comin' home after school, flyin' my bike past the gates of the factories,
My mom doin' the laundry, hangin' out shirts in the dirty breeze.
And after it rains there's a rainbow and all of the colors are black.
It's not that the colors aren't there, it's just imagination they lack.
I remember what my mom had said when I told her my plans. "But Donnatella, Dan's going to be a doctor, you'd be taken care of. Why can't you be satisfied with that?" She doesn't understand that that's just not enough. I refuse to settle for something that's simply not enough. She offered to let me move back in with her and my father, but there's no way that's going to happen.
Everything's the same back in My Little Town,
My Little Town, My Little Town.
I've been here in Wisconsin too long. There's nothing here and I need to get out and go somewhere where what I do actually means something. A presidential campaign seems as good a place as any.
Nothin' but the dead and dyin' back in My Little Town.
Nothin' but the dead and dyin' back in My Little Town.
As I sit in the train station waiting for Number 35, my cell phone rings. The display shows me the name of the person calling. Dan. I turn it off as I board.
In My Little Town, I never meant nothin',
I was just my father's son. Mmm.
Savin' my money, dreamin' of glory,
Twitchin' like a finger on the trigger of a gun.
I look out the window as my hometown flies by. As we leave, I feel an incredible amount of freedom. All my life I've been little Donnatella Moss, the youngest of seven, the girl who was always just a little different and never quite good enough. There's got to be something more. And I'm going to find it.
Leavin' nothin' but the dead and dying back in My Little Town.
When the train finally reaches New Hampshire, I disembark. It's still a two hour bus ride to Manchester. I turn my phone back on to check the messages. Four from Dan and three from my mother. I erase them without listening to them.
Nothin' but the dead and dyin' back in My Little Town.
Nothin' but the dead and dyin' back in My Little Town.
I can't believe I just did that. I sat in a random person's desk and managed to get myself brought on as his assistant. I smile. I am now Joshua Lyman's assistant. I get to work, turning my phone off again when it shows that Dan is still trying to reach me. I don't need him anymore.
Nothin' but the dead and dyin' back in My Little Town.
Nothin' but the dead and dyin' back in My Little Town.
Finis
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