Bob sat in his chair looking for the sunrise. He stared out the window, just waiting for the faint light to appear on the horizon. He glanced at the clock. It should be coming up by now. Maybe there are clouds blocking the weak early morning light. He waited.
Bob waited in that chair for another 2 hours, but the sun never showed itself. He began to imagine the worst. What if the sun went out? What if the sun never did shine again? Suddenly feeling colder, he stood up, grabbed an afghan and wrapped it around his shoulders, then began to pace the floor. For several days, the news had heralded the coming of massive sun spot activity, but no one had predicted the sun would stop shining. Bob’s heart was beating so fast and hard that he could feel it throbbing in his temples.
Most days, Bob worked the evening shift, getting home just a few hours before daylight. Typically, he would come home, eat a snack, then sit in his chair and read for a bit. When the sun started coming up, he would go to bed. Now, as he waited for the sunrise that didn’t happen, he was beginning to realize it would all be night shift from this point on. What he didn’t realize is that he had fallen asleep in his chair shortly before dawn, and slept the entire day away. It wasn’t 8AM. It was 8PM, and the sun was faithfully shining on the other side of the earth. Bob just had to wait a while longer, and the sun would shine on him again. For a brief few moments, he would be ecstatically happy . . . until he realized that he would have to call and explain why he missed a day of work.