Page 97 of How to Honeymoon Alone

There’s complete silence from the driver’s seat.

“Come on,” I say. “The movie about the little pig who herds sheep?”

“I remember it. Vaguely. I think my sister and I watched that like two decades ago,” he says and shakes his head. “Forty-eight piglets? That seems… excessive.”

“Well, the piglets grew so fast they were too big for the role after like a week.”

He snorts. “Wow.”

“Yeah. Your turn.”

“I don’t have random pig facts up my sleeve,” says the thirty-two-year-old serious lawyer from Chicago. “Just so you know.”

“I promise I’ll hide my disappointment.”

“Thank you,” he says. “Fine. So, you know the moon landing?”

“I have heard of it,” I say.

“Glad to hear our education system didn’t fail you. Right, well, two men went down to the moon. The third stayed in orbit.”

“Michael Collins?”

Phillip shoots me a look. “Yeah, that’s right. You know this?”

“Maybe? But keep going. Also, you’re definitely a science documentary nerd.”

“He spent hours alone in orbit. And every time he flew around the far side of the moon, his radio contact with Earth was cut off. He couldn’t evenseeit. He was later called the ‘loneliest man in history’ because for forty-seven minutes of each lunar rotation, he was the farthest person from Earth and more alone than anyone who has ever lived. It was just him and outer space.”

I shiver. “Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think about that a lot?”

“What’s a lot?” Phillip asks with a half laugh. “That level of complete solitude sounds appealing, sometimes.”

“I can’t even picture it.”

“Very few of us can, I think. Your turn.”

“Well… the King of England owns all swans in the country.”

“He does?”

“Technically speaking, yeah. So if you ever thought of poaching one, look out.”

“There go my summer plans.”

“I know, it’s a real bummer.”

He slows down at an intersection, and I have to remember to guide us. It’s a solid five minutes before the game can resume, with the course corrected.

“I’ve noticed,” he says, “that all your facts are animal-related.”

“Well, we’re headed to a wildlife center, so it’s fitting.”

“I should step it up. So… okay. You asked for random facts, right?”

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