Pillars of Sand

John Smith had lived his life according to everyone else's expectations, excelling in academics at University and marrying a blonde California dream girl. It only took a year before she insulted his friends and moved back to California. John toiled on at the University, chasing a professorship until he realized he was being passed over, so at the limit of his patience he took a sabbatical in Athens to study and teach philosophy. When he moved to a Greek island, the simple life captured him so he stayed on, but the gnawing disappointment of his failed University career turned him into one of the village drunks.