Leaning against the door frame, a husband asks his wife, “Do you remember the lily pond?”
“You dressed up as a prince, disguised as a frog,” she says, searching for crumbs on the cleaned kitchen worktop. Satisfied, she wrings out the cloth, imagining it’s his neck, and continues, “But this is the real world: bills, jobs, the baby screaming at 2am, shopping, cooking and cleaning. Where’s my fairy tale now?”
“In between it all,” he says, sliding two tickets across the sparkling surface, “In postcards, bonuses, chocolate, new shoes, and dancing!”
Two invitations to the Charity Ball lie between them.