
DATE: Wednesday, April 2, 1997              TAG: 9704020035

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Larry Maddry 

                                            LENGTH:   94 lines

STORY OF A RELATIONSHIP BEGUN ON THE INTERNET HAS A HAPPY ENDING

THE NEWS MEDIA are quick to report the violent end of a relationship that began with two people messaging each other on computers.

But good things happening to folks looking for companionship on the Internet are rarely reported.

Those little revealing messages fired back and forth between people, sometimes separated by an ocean or continent, are an interesting phenomenon of our times.

And when the relationships click like computer keyboard keys, they make pleasant little stories in the hands of the right person.

My friend Jack Armistead wrote such a story, recently, for The Downtowner. Jack is publisher and editor of that newspaper, which will celebrate its ninth year in June. Just about everyone in Norfolk knows him for his soft smile, easygoing manner and his support of charitable causes.

Jack is, to use an overworked but underestimated tribute, a nice guy. In his story he told how a conversation that began in a ``chat room'' on the Internet took him on his first train ride in more than 20 years. And toward a rendezvous with a woman he'd never met.

Her name is Patricia. She lives in Illinois.

``I'd only been online with America Online for about an hour when we met,'' he said, when I asked him to tell me more. Jack had been surfing and ran across a site called Astronet, where people interested in astrology and signs discuss those subjects.

He thought Patricia's comments were interesting, so he checked her profile.

``On AOL everyone has a profile that tells what they do and what their interests are,'' he said.

Most of her interest were in the arts.

She sent him an instant message, a kind of ``how are you?'' greeting.

``Her comments were offbeat and humorous,'' he said. They began to message each other every night for a month.

He said the two, both single, decided to meet in Washington, D.C., in January. ``Patricia had never been to D.C. before and was interested in everything there.''

Jack took the Amtrak train from Newport News and Patricia flew from St. Louis, both agreeing to meet at the site outside Union Station where cabs pulled up to the curb.

``We both arranged to have rooms at the same hotel, separately natch. We were to meet at Union Station at 3 p.m.,'' he said. ``And if there was a foul-up, we could meet later at the hotel.''

Jack was in the station by 2:30. He got nervous about meeting the stranger named Patricia and went into a station bar for a beer.

I asked him how he was going to identify Patricia when she showed up. ``She told me she'd be wearing a leather coat and a turquoise suit,'' he said.

At about 2:45 p.m. he was still sitting at the bar when a woman wearing a leather coat walked in.

``I want you to understand that I don't want to insult fat people but the woman in the leather coat weighed at least 500 pounds,'' he said. ``And she was looking around as though she was meeting someone.''

He had never thought to ask Patricia how much she weighed, he realized. He thought if the heavyset woman asked if he were Jack Armistead, he'd pretend he didn't know himself. Minutes later, the fat woman in the coat walked out the door.

At about 3 p.m. he walked outside the station to the place where cabs queued up. He stayed for an hour. . . but no Patricia.

So he went back to the hotel where he was already registered. ``When I got to the hotel desk, I was told Patricia had already checked in.''

He got on the elevator and knocked on her door.

``She was attractive, friendly and just what I thought she'd be like,'' he said.

They hugged. They had been communicating every night for more than a month and hit it off in person the same way they had in their messages.

They decided to dine in the restaurant-bar of the hotel. After dinner they had a drink at the bar, striking up a conversation with the likable bartender.

The bartender was surprised when they told him they had met on the Internet.

``Lady, don't you know there are murderers and perverts in this world?'' he asked.

It was a good question, both conceded. Jack said he had mailed her references and had others write her on his behalf. And he sent her a copy of his newspaper.

``She did some checking on her own,'' he noted.

The next day the two enjoyed Washington together: touristy things like The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian.

``We stayed up half the night talking,'' he said. They both had tears in their eyes the next day when they parted.

He said they are still in touch via their computers.

``I've found a real good friend and a traveling companion,'' he said.

Jack said people should be cautious when dealing with strangers, but believes it's a mistake to lose faith in people.

Guess he's right. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Beth Bergman/The Virginian-Pilot

Jack Armistead struck up a conversation with a woman on the

Internet, and wrote about his experience.