Calgary, April 2023
My wife told me that my stories about John and Mary, which I enjoy writing so much, don’t have any deep meaning. “They are just for laughs. You should write something more serious,” she said. Therefore, I wrote two serious stories, one about the Chinese naval expeditions and the other about oil companies and global warming. But I miss my friends John and Mary, and at night, when I am in bed, I think about them. How are they? Are they happy? Was I too hard on John making him a fool? Is he mad at me?
One night, when I was already half asleep, suddenly I heard the phone ringing. I picked it up and a male voice greeted me. “Hello Ivo, how are you?”
“Whom am I talking to?”
“I am John from your stories. I was thinking about you and decided to give you a call.”
“This is interesting, I was thinking about you too. How are you?”
“Good. Mary and I read your last story, we liked it, and as a reward we would like to invite you for a dinner. Will you come?”
“Sure, when?”
“Right now.”
“Right now? Isn’t it too late?”
“No, we live close by. You will be here in no time.”
When I came, they were happy to see me and Mary prepared shish kebab, my favorite food.
“I know you like it,” she said.
We had a nice, relaxing dinner and I asked them about their holiday. The one where they almost locked in their car keys.
“It was bit tense at the beginning, but then it was nice. We enjoyed it,” said John.
“What I want to know is how are you now? It was supposed to be a make up holiday after your marriage upheavals.”
“We are OK,” said Mary. “But I think John cannot forget about his Diana.”
“She wasn’t my Diana! I never had any affair with her. We only wanted to save the world. Unlike you, who had an affair without any noble purpose.”
“That is true, we didn’t have any noble purpose, we just had fun. I don’t know how much fun you had with Diana, but I know for sure you didn’t save the world.”
“At least we tried!”
“And failed.”
“That is enough!” I yelled. “I sent you for holidays to be happy together, not to argue again as soon as you returned home. After all, I invented you and you will do as I say. So, stop arguing and give each other a nice long kiss!”
They did that, they had no choice. But then Mary surprised me. She let go of John, came to me, and pressed her lips against mine. I didn’t expect that, it was sudden. I open my eyes and saw my wife lying beside me, giving me a nice, long kiss.