I was once again being admonished for forgetting to do something.
For a moment I felt like a schoolboy receiving a severe ticking-off for forgetting my homework.
I shuffled my feet.
"Well?"
"Well what?" I said, the pause now well and truly over and my state of confusion deepening.
"God give me strength!" came the reply. "What are you going to do about it?"
It was one of those admonishments that let's you know you have done (or not done) something, thereby causing your 'other half' great displeasure, but without actually giving you that key piece of information that let's you know exactly what it was that you did, or didn't, do.
I was tired after a long day in the workshop with a client and was not up for a fight of any kind.
"What do you suggest I do?" I asked, hoping desperately for a hint.
"Oh for goodness sake!"
There was another pause, then a pause that appeared pregnant and then, finally, that pop of a baby pause.
I was in the wrong but didn't know in which 'wrong' I was neck deep in.
There was nothing else to do.
So I body-popped!
This ain't me!
For the first time in my life, I body-popped!
God knows what I looked like as I did it. I don't even know if I did it right.
But the mood of She Who Must Be Obeyed lightened. A confused expression passed over her face, quickly followed by giggles then raucous laughter. Tears streamed down her face as she laughed until it hurt.
She never told me what I'd done wrong ... and I'm not going to ask either.