night time Is the right time

My son and his girlfriend went away this weekend. Prior to making these plans, he called to ask if my wife and I could feed his cat while he is away. Of course, we explained, we'd be happy to feed his cat while he is away. We have done this before. I go to his home in South Philadelphia on my way home for work. I navigate the congested streets until I find a parking space. I greet little Cecil with a friendly pat on the head (that's me patting his head, not the other way around). I fill his bowl with fresh water and then scoop the previously-instructed amount of kibble into his food bowl. Cecil impatiently winds his way in and around my feet until I place the filled bowl onto his special placemat and he begins to eat, munching and crunching those little nuggets with teeth that are usually reserved for biting my wrist when he's had enough of my affection. This little exercise in repeated several times during the weekend, as Cecil requires two feedings a day as per the established Rules of Cat. On the other days, the starting point is our house, located in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia and a forty minute drive to South Philly. But, honestly, we don't mind. We like Cecil. (By the way, if you haven't already concluded, Cecil is the cat, not our son. We like him, too.)

However, on this particular weekend, I saw that we had previous plans to attend a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday morning at 9 AM. Logistically, this would be tricky. The service was at a synagogue that is further north from our house and — for those of you following along so far — north is the opposite direction from south... as in South Philadelphia. I thought for a minute. "No problem!," I said to no one in particular, "I'll just feed Cecil before the Bat Mitzvah."

Now — once again, I hope you've been paying attention — this would require waking up very early on Saturday morning, driving forty minutes, feeding the cat, driving forty minutes back and getting home with time to get dressed and go to the Bat Mitzvah. I would do it. Happily.

I woke up Saturday morning at 5 AM, the time I usually wake up to go to work during the week. However, during the week, I watch a little TV. I eat breakfast and have a cup of coffee. I post my daily celebrity death anniversaries on Facebook (like most people do). and then, I leave for work. On this particular Saturday, I hopped out of bed, got dressed and was out the door in less than ten minutes.

I fully expected to be the only car on the road. Of course, I was not. To tell the truth, I was actually surprised by how many cars and people were just out and about on Saturday morning — two hours before sunrise! As a matter of fact, when I got into my car, I could see a car parked stopped at the end of my street with its hazard lights flashing! At five in the morning! 

By the time I got out to the main thoroughfare that leads into and crossed the Philadelphia city boundary, I passed a number of cars. I don't know why this surprised me, but it did. I know why I was out at this ungodly hour, but I was sure not everyone was out on a little jaunt to feed their son's cat. As I approached Broad Street, I saw more cars. Not as many as one would see during an average daily commute to work, but more that you'd expect to see on a weekend morning, early enough that the only illumination is provided by street lights. I was also intrigued by the amount of pedestrians just wandering the sidewalks of Broad Street, as well as the number of customers queued up at the counter of a 24-hour Dunkin Donuts. That place rarely has customers at 4 in the afternoon.

I made my way to I-76 for a high-speed ride to South Philadelphia, rather than a long, drawn-out trip all the way down Broad Street, where a newly-enforced 25 miles-per-hour speed limit makes the drive take  f   o   r   e   v   e   r. 

I-76 was no different. At any given time during the day and evening, I-76 — known as the infamous Schuylkill Expressway — is notorious for becoming a parking lot for no discernable reason. Sometimes the culprit in an exorbitant amount of cars converging at the same time to make opening kick-off of an Eagles game or to catch the opening act of a big concert at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. But, a 5 in the morning...? On a Saturday...? Doesn't anybody sleep in on weekends? I know I usually do (when I'm not on cat feeding duty).

When I got to my son's neighborhood, I had to drive around for a longer-than-usual time. I understood that finding an empty on-street parking space would be difficult, as most everybody would be asleep with their cars occupying the space they claimed the previous night. I spotted a space a little further than I would have preferred, but I was in no position to be choosy. Somewhere nearby there was a cat who was probably checking his watch and restlessly tapping his paw as he anticipated my arrival. I parked, locked my car and began the longer-than-usual walk to my son's house. Once again, I was astonished by how many people I passed out on the street  — out and awake and doing stuff. A guy sitting in his car, scrolling through his phone. A woman holding an umbrella, strolling up Snyder Avenue. Someone else giving up a better parking space than the one I found.

I don't know why I am surprised by what goes on in the world while I am asleep. I sure it's not as bad and malevolent as the goings-on depicted in the 1985 Martin Scorsese comedy After Hours. That was just a silly movie. But, sometimes, I'm not so sure.

In the meantime, I'm going back to bed.

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