Near Love Stories
by J. B. Hogan

"You won't come with me to Inter-Caribbean?" he asked, stepping behind Maggie briefly to let a group of teachers go by.

"I'm going to spend some time at home."

"Right after you graduate?"

"Yes."

"Couldn't you come up before you go?" Maggie looked at Charles but didn't say anything. "I suppose not," he conceded.

"I want to go to home and visit my family before I make up my mind about grad school."

"You'll have to decide pretty fast if you're going to get in anywhere by fall."

"Yes I know. I'm perfectly aware of that."

Charles elected not to react to what he perceived as Maggie's latest bait. Over the last months she had matched her moments of indifference with episodes of combativeness. Charles knew they were in trouble but they had once had such a good relationship he was reluctant to unilaterally break it off.

He felt he had come to know Maggie pretty well over the last sixteen months or so they had been together. At her best she was kind, loving, and fun. They enjoyed the same kinds of movies, dined regularly at many of San Sebastian's small and inexpensive restaurants, and went out dancing at least one night most every weekend. Maggie was affectionate and bright, a real catch for the right guy. But more and more lately Charles felt that perhaps he was not that guy - that maybe no guy could be.

There was something about Maggie, though, a melancholy whose source Charles could only guess at. Maybe it was being Barbadian, he considered. Maybe it was just a clash of cultures - his mostly North American one, with her Barbadian upbringing, very British and all. And then both of those cultures crashing into the post-colonial Spanish world of Boca Tierra. He wasn't really very sure.

Charles, attentive and quiet now, was almost certainly not the answer for Maggie. He was a fine young man, worthy of her affection, but Maggie was just not quite sure he could be what she wanted or not. As they walked along, she casually reached out and took his hand. He looked over at her in the soft light.

"Want to pick up something and go back to your place?" he asked.

"Sure," she said. "I guess so. Okay."

*    *    *

Charles's day-long orientation visit to Inter-Caribbean went well. The graduate advisor, a Dr. Vega, was amiable and helpful, and the other teaching assistants engaging and friendly. The morning sped by as Charles and his fellow incoming TAs were greeted with a series of brief introductory mini-lectures on their duties and responsibilities at I-C and then they were hustled around campus to familiarize them with the student union, the library, and other facilities on the rapidly growing, out-island college.