Recreating Kate, Vol. 1

After an exhausting day of unpacking, organizing and decorating, Kate laid on the scratchy beige carpet in her new one-room apartment. Her animal friends were lined up in single-file looking at her. From left to right and standing at attention were Bob the dog, Teddy B., the nameless stuffed lizard and Sandy Bear.“I need a nap!” she said to them. She scooted a pillow under her head and closed her eyes. Outside, it was getting dark and she could hear the shouts and laughter of the twenty-somethings walking the streets, roaming from bar to bar as she and her friends had done so many times. As she thought of those days, now seeming like distant memories, she let out a heavy breath and whimpered softly. A tear fell onto her blue pillowcase and she quickly wiped her eye. She had cried so much in the past week, she wondered how much a person could cry before becoming critically dehydrated.

“Crying was not part of this evening’s agenda,” she sternly said to herself. Not that there was an agenda…the thought finished in her head. She wiped her other eye as a straggler poked its way out of her tear duct. As Kate pushed herself to her knees, she realized that crying would be the only item on the evening’s agenda if she didn’t get out of the apartment and try to make a new friend.“It’ll be fun, right?” she asked Sandy Bear. Sandy just continued to stare at her with her googly eyes and sewn-on smile. Kate was used to Sandy’s quiet disposition. “I’m glad you agree,” she said with a smile, and headed to the bathroom to get ready for her first night out in her new city. -Jenny Dugger

Question for the reader: If you ran into a person who had just moved here and was out and about on their first night out in the new city of Philly, what nightlife spots would you recommend?