Sometimes, It's Not Sunny in Philadelphia

Story Sent in by Ethel:

John and I had already been out together a few times. He owned a duplex with a back deck that had a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. He asked me over to his place for midnight drinks, and said that we could sit in lounge chairs, talk, and watch the sun come up. It sounded great, and so I packed a small bag for my little overnight at his place and drove over with high expectations.

It started out great. We had a couple glasses of wine each, talked about our various creative projects, past experiences, and so on. It was great, at first.

As I had a feeling I would, though, I nodded off after a couple of hours. He poked me and said, "Hey. Don't fall asleep."

"Sorry," I muttered, then did my best to carry a conversation. Still, it was to no avail. I zonked out again, and again he roused me.

"Don't fall asleep. You said you'd stay awake to watch the sunrise."

"Mmmm," I said, or something probably similar. That's the last thing I remember until the morning. When I woke, it was cold, I was shivering, the sun was up, and John was nowhere to be found.

I stood, stretched, and made for his back door, thinking he was inside. It was locked. I knocked on it, called out for him, and waited on the deck as the birds chirped away. I knocked again, and there was no answer. I called him on my phone, thinking that maybe he had gone out to grab something for breakfast. No answer. My bag was inside his house. I knocked again.

The door swung open, and a very angry John stood there. "What the hell do you want?" he asked.

I said, "What's wrong?"

He laughed. "Oh, nothing. You just promised to stay awake to watch the sunrise with me. Here," he said, throwing me my bag, "This is all you wanted. Good luck out there." He slammed the door shut. Confused, sad, but ultimately relieved, I went home.


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Why are so many Americans single? Here's a well-researched New Yorker review of Dr. Eric Klinenberg's book, Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone.