Duality (II/III)

Archibald Sharps and Maximilian Green first met each-other in college; a small college, somewhere in the northeast. Archie was majoring in English; Maxie, in civic engineering. Roomed with each-other in Maxie's sophomore year (Archie having just entered the school), they were forced by proximity to interact sociably, if not by shared interests. In the first month, they had a dozen furious arguments, over such diverse topics as religion and dirty laundry; and, as time passed and they grew somewhat friendlier, these arguments did not diminish in number. To the contrary, they increased; and their subjects shifted, focusing on matters of government policy, ethics, the environment. Theirs were the youthful ideals of which the collegiate youth seems ever to possess; Archie and Maxie were ever certain of their rectitude. And yet, as the years passed (and, it should be noted, Archie switched his major into political science), they managed to find some common ground; a foundation upon which their debate-filled friendship might rest steady.

Archie and Maxie spent three years at the same college, until Maxie graduated and went on to grad school. A year later, Archie graduated with equal distinction, and was quickly hired as a political consultant in D.C.. They stayed in contact, but, as tends to happen with too many college friendships, their contact diminished over time, as friendship founded in shared circumstance and beliefs diminished equally with such. Maxie, from the tone of Archie's letters and his knowledge of Archie's employers, feared a corruption of Archie's principles; Archie, similarly, suspected that Maxie (in his engineering grad-school) had adopted a rigid, uncompromising attitude, utterly invalidating their arguments. The letter that Maxie received upon gaining his Masters was the last he would hear from Archie for five years.