Chapter 1

There was nothing unusual about Robert and Anna or their relashinship. They grew up at opposite sides of town, went to different schools, but we're the same age.
They met at a disco in the city. He walked her to her bus, then realised it was the same bus as his.
Robert was an electrical engineer. Anna was an office clerk.
During their courtship, they had dates at the cinema, discos, restaurants, cafes. They went for walks in the park, visited museums and art galleries. Nothing unusual at all.
They did not live together before they married. They married in church, honeymooned skiing in Norway. Unfortunately, their brand new bungalow was not ready for them moving in. Robert moved in with Anna... and her parents for several months until it was ready.
So it was not until then when they were finally alone when they learned exactly what their partner was like.

Both of them were slim with reasonable levels of fitness. They were used to walking everywhere, or catching the bus. They did not go to the gym, it never occurred to them. Robert had a bicycle and cycled to work and played football on a Sunday afternoon with his mates.
Anna was a late riser. She was always slow and sluggish in the mornings, found it difficult to get up for work on time, but she could stay up until midnight easily. Robert was the opposite. He woke up early, got to work early or on time, but struggled to stay awake beyond ten o'clock at night.
On their first morning together, Robert woke up early as usual, he went downstairs in his pyjamas. He started to make breakfast for them both, put the rubbish out, opened the curtains, tidied up, then took a tray of food through to his sleeping wife.
He put the tray down on the dresser, woke her with a kiss and passed over a mug of coffee. Then he grabbed the tray and got back into bed next to her.
Breakfast was nothing startling. Coffee was how she liked it... not too strong with milk and sugar. His was strong and black with no sugar.
There was cereal with milk. Just cornflakes, nothing fancy, with whole milk and sugar. He had the same. It never occurred to him to use semiskimmed. Whole milk had a better taste anyway. Someone had given him skimmed milk once. Ugh! It was like water!
He'd also made two slices of toast each, with butter and jam. It was what he was used to. It was what his mother made for an everyday breakfast. He'd never used low fat spread and you couldn't have toast without jam on.
Anna ate slowly, uncomplaining, still half asleep, while Robert told her the news of the day from the radio.
After breakfast, Anna was still tired. She lay back down and rolled over to go back to sleep.
Meanwhile, Robert shaved, had a shower, got dressed, tidied up the breakfast dishes and did the washing up.
He unpacked some of the stuff still left in boxes and put them away while he listened to the radio and sang cheerfully.
Two hours later, Anna finally got up, washed and dressed to join him for a cup of coffee and a biscuit.
After coffee, she cleared away the empty boxes, moved some of the things in the cupboards he'd put away to where she wanted them and got out the vacuum while he prepared a vegetable broth for them. He made it the way his mother did, in a pan. He chopped the vegetables first, sweated them with plenty of oil, then added stock, boiled and simmered until the vegetables were nearly cooked, then he added ham and beans. He had a go of making suet dumplings, cooked in the oven first and then on the top of the soup so that they were soft on the bottom, crisp on top. He served the soup with two slices of bread and butter. Followed by tea and two plain biscuits.
She found the soup delicious. She kissed him for being such a kind and considerate husband. Today was a Saturday. She needed new shoes for work, so she was going to head off into town shopping. Shoe shopping did not appeal to Robert. He elected to stay at home and unpack some more boxes.

Robert had no idea what time she would be home. He expected it would be when the final score results came up on the telly. He did not want to be busy when that came on. So he prepared dinner beforehand. He had a go at making shortcrust pastry from the be-ro book and made a corned beef pie. There was pastry left over, so he chopped some apples and made a small apple pie for his wife for dessert. There was not enough to make a big tart or a sweet pie for both of them. It didn't matter. Anna was his wife and he loved her. She deserved it. He would make do with a cup of tea and a biscuit.
Robert had dozed off on the settee by the time Anna came home, after six and empty handed. She explained how she'd tried on so many shoes, then decided her feet were too hot to try on any more, so she'd started looking for a birthday present for a friend who was twenty five next month.
As she talked, Robert heated up his savoury pie and finished cooking the vegetables. In a matter of minutes, she had her dinner in front of her, served with a kiss.
She smiled. She was hungry. She'd completely forgotten about dinner! It was a good job Robert was keeping her on track!