The Shine Journal - The Light Left Behind

Journeys Through Grief

 

A Radically Condensed History of a Collegiate Romance

by

Mark Christian Inchoco

 

They met in Survey of American Literature. Their professor, an eminent scholar on James, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway, was absent. After class, they walked to the local coffee house, and sat at a table alongside the window. Many people passed by the window, but few stopped in.

They dug the Beats, she more than him, and were very agreeable. Their legs touched. He apologized as he smoothed his hair back; eyes closed momentarily. She smiled at him. Then she looked outside through the window. They spied a blind person walking towards the curb at the busy street’s end.  Without tapping the edge, the person turned safely.

He looked at his classmate again. Her eyes were clear blue; the lips pink. The table vibrated. She looked down at her cell phone and pressed ok.

–I must get going, she said.
–Ok, he said, but we should do this again sometime.
–I think so too, she said.


Motivation:  I met a girl in class who I liked, but never came out of it. Then, I realized that this was a common theme in American literature. Works that came to my mind were "Daisy Miller," "The Sun Also Rises," "The Great Gatsby," etc. Coincidentally, "Gatsby" and "Daisy Miller" both share the similar female love interest's name of "Daisy." So I wanted to  immortalize my "Daisy" because we all have someone at one point in our life like her.

Bio: Mark Christian Inchoco is an undergraduate at Temple University as an English major. He moonlights as a on-air classical host for WKDU 91.7FM as well as performs in the hip-hop outfit, Slick Mantra. Mark plans to become a college professor.

Editor: Pamela Tyree Griffin

Click button at right to get in touch.

Send to a friend

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook