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Where do flies go when it rains?


The announcement was made on a Friday evening, which Lucy thought was particularly short-sighted since no one would be able to make any changes over the weekend anyway.  Why not just wait until Monday? 

When the announcement was made, Lucy had been out walking so her husband informed her when she got home.  “At least the weather is still on our side”, he’d said optimistically.  Lucy had only nodded as she pulled off her fatigued walking boots and dusted the stray pine needles from her jumper.  “I didn’t see anyone in the forest today”, she added.

That evening, she had changed into her favourite comfy trousers and sat with her husband in front of the fire. 

“What are you reading?”.

“Diary of a plague year”, she had giggled.

The next announcement followed on Tuesday, which Lucy half-cursorily noticed before returning her focus to the tired late afternoon sunshine reflecting off the mirror.  Her gaze drifted to her resting walking boots and she dusted a stray feather off her trousers that, she deduced, must have come from the pillows they’d bought last month.

That evening, she changed into her pyjamas and crawled into bed.

“What are you reading”

“Love in the Time of Cholera”, she answered back with a half-hearted smile.

The next announcement came with the rain, so Lucy barely noticed.  She stared enviously at the heavy drops winding their way down the glass.  She didn’t even see the spider that scuttled over her dusty walking boots or the leftover crumbs that had fallen on her trousers.

That evening, as she lay in the disheveled bed, her husband asked, “what are you reading”.

“The Time Machine”, she whispered.

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