I couldn't wait to get out the city. As a matter of fact it is the first vacation I have had in years. I am just going to relax on the beach by myself. Living in Chicago, one apartment on top of the other makes you long for a little elbow room and some peace and quiet. That's why I plan on going to Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I have heard that it's quiet, undeveloped and not touristy at all. I have covered some major stories for the paper in the last four years. I have covered politics, mob hits, striking sanitation workers to name a few of my most recent articles. I work for a paper called the Sentinel. The paper is one of the largest in Chicago. It is also one of the most forward thinking papers I have ever been around. I do a lot of Internet posting, blogging and the like. It has increased circulation, but for me it's like doing two jobs and I am overdue for a long relaxing vacation. I was looking forward not only to my time on the isolated beaches of the Outer Banks, but also to spending some time with my friend Michelle.

What better time to catch up than during a long drive. I had rented a house on the beach. It looked beautiful. It is right next to a lighthouse and the beach looked very natural with long patches of sea oats that you always see in the brochures. Michelle and I had been friends in high school and recently rediscovered each other through social media. I guess that we are both in the same boat. Both of us are late 20s and unmarried. I have had a few boyfriends over the years since high school, some serious and some casual. I assume it had been same way for Michelle. In high school, she was what people called an ugly duckling. She seemed tall and awkward with bad hair. She was athletic, playing both basketball and volleyball. Maybe that's why her hair was bad because she was always sweating. Looking back, we must have been quite a twosome, both of us skinny, with glasses and polite manners. Even though Michelle was a jock and I was not, we were both geeks. I could count on seeing her every day at school in my honors classes.

Something that I am embarrassed about and I'm sure she is too, neither of us had ever been on a vacation without our families. That was a main topic of conversation for about the first 300 miles. We spent time laughing at what dorks we were in high school. While some of our classmates were spending time at Daytona Beach, or San Padre Island over spring break the two of us were going to English camp or some other bullshit like that. I guess it paid off in the long run. I have received numerous awards for my article and Michelle is a successful ad executive earning not only a lot of money but her share of Clio awards. We wanted this trip to be special as I believe we have both earned it. That's why I rented a convertible for the trip, to really live it up. I looked in the rear view mirror and for the first time since I broke up with Alex I felt good about myself and why shouldn't I. Michelle's blonde hair was whipping around her dark sunglasses and my brown hair was doing the same, we actually look like a couple of movie stars as we paid the last toll on the West Virginia Turnpike. I guess that Michelle was not the only "ugly duckling." I had been referred to that many times during my youth and I hated it. Michelle grew out of her awkward phase to become a beautiful leggy blonde. I'm sure she has had a little help from her hairdresser with the color but she looks great. I am nowhere near 5 foot 10 inches like my friend Shelley, but I have recently lost a little weight and have been told by men that I look great. I have always considered myself to be more cute than pretty. If we wanted to meet men on this trip we would not be going to this type secluded beach area. Our plan is to relax and recharge with some trashy romance novels and get some of that southern sun that eludes us for all but one month a year in Chicago.

"So Stacy, how did you break it off with Alex," Shelley asked?

"Wow, have you been holding that in the entire trip?"

"Sort of, yeah. I knew when I broke up with Calvin that I cried for days. Was it the same for you?"

"First of all Calvin was a hell of a lot better looking than Alex. It was weird, the last time we were together I just didn't feel it anymore."

"You mean the earth didn't move, so you dumped him?"

"No," I laughed, "he would come over after work and if I wasn't there to serve him, he would be all pissed off. We would get into a fight, well an argument that elevated to a fight within five minutes of walking through the door. I mean it's great that he works construction and is finished by 3 o'clock, but I don't. My hours depend on what's making news and when a news-maker is available, not when some horn sounds. I have to be flexible to succeed at my job. Not just lay a straight edge over a bunch of concrete."

Shelley sat quietly for a moment and then asked, "Did you say that?"

"I don't know, probably. I can't remember we have had this argument so many times, I'm sure I did once. It doesn't matter anyhow I was just with everything he was saying. You know, I just got sick of it."

"Did you really think that Calvin was better looking, Stacy? I don't know, Alex had all those muscles and was so tan from working outside and you two looked so cute together."

That was about all the ex-boyfriend talk for me so I decided to turn the tables on my friend.

"Wait a minute, you and Calvin made a great couple. You're both tall and slender. What happened?"

Shelley made a disgusted face and wrinkled her nose. She shrugged her shoulders and answered, "He was gay."

I almost drove the Oldsmobile convertible into the ditch with surprise. I lifted my sunglasses and raised my eyebrows at my friend.

"Really," I managed to spit out, "did he tell you or worse did you catch him?"

"It was kind of a shock to me. Whatever ... that is what this trip is about. Oh men!!"

We continued talking girl talk all the way across the state of North Carolina. It felt longer than it looked on the map, but I made the best of the scenery. The broad leaf tobacco fields were impressive and something we don't see back home. I was surprised at how poor the area looked. However there was always a large, Southern mansion that set back from the road, usually hidden by a large willow tree.

"Do you think that is where the slaves lived?"

"If so that would have been awful. Having that big mansion in the background, you and your family are doing the work and then you come home to a cement block home with a dirt floor, while they sit on the porch drinking lemonade. It would be enough to really make you hate."

I certainly agreed with Shelley but I really didn't want to get into a full-blown discussion about race relations in America. I have witnessed prejudices of all kind in my reporting work, black/white, yellow/red yellow/white, hate is not colorblind for any culture. I should know not only because of my work, but because my cousin was briefly married to a black man and my uncle was outraged to say the least. I never understood why. I mean, she met the man on the college debate team. He was the most polite man she had ever brought around. He was from a good family, with a nice upbringing and they spoiled it for her by righting this guy until they broke up.

"What are you thinking about Stacy?"

I was thinking about a lot of things. I wondered why people were the way they are. I wondered where the hatred came from and if it could...