"Leaving This Island Place" is Austin Clarke's short story about a young man whose imminent departure from his native Barbados to attend college in Canada stirs up feelings of regret, fear and relief.

A young man stares at the parish almshouse across the road from the cricket field, where he is playing on a hot afternoon. The young man can see faces staring out of the windows of the almshouse and searches for the face of his father, knowing that his father would never again enjoy a sunny day himself.

The young man, who is the narrator of the story, thinks that it is not cricket that reminds him of his father on this day, but rather the fact that the young man is leaving the island. The young man approaches the almshouse and hesitantly enters the disease and dirt-ridden facility to bid farewell to...