![Monika Balciuniene](https://quadrant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Monika-Balciuniene.jpg)
Respite
Jack and Judy had been married for fifty-seven years and, apart from a few minor marital bumps along the way, it had gone pretty well. That is until about a year ago when things began falling apart.
Jack started asking questions and very often the same ones. Take today for instance, as they sat together in the kitchen over a late breakfast.
“Where am I?” Jack asked.
“You’re here with me, darling, having breakfast,” said Judy. “We’ve been here for fifty-seven years. Same house in Bright Street.”
“Who put me here?”
“We put ourselves here, my love. First house we looked at. We both liked it. Been here ever since.”
“And where am I?” Jack gazed round the room, his eyes pausing on a photo of two smiling children in school uniforms.
“You’re with me, darling. Your boring old wife.”
“Who put me here?”
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Judy said, pushing back her chair and heading down the hall and out into the garden. She leant against the red brick…
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