doom.
âI hate to miss my exercise, though. The wedding is only a few months away.â
âDo something on the Wii, then. Exercise indoors.â
âOh, now thatâs a good plan.â
Iâd been walking every day since my sister announced she was getting married and wanted me, her older sister, to be a bridesmaid. It had sent me into a spiral of panic, worried I would look more like the wedding cake than the cake itself, or Iâd be the size of the other two bridesmaids put together.
So I decided to lose some weight by walking every day and attempting to eat right. The walking was pleasant when I started in the early autumn sun, the crunching of crisp leaves and the scent of bonfires and nature on the air. By the time Christmas arrived it was less pleasant, though I did enjoy walking in the cool crisp snow, the only sound the crunch of my boots, the world a soft blanket of white around me.
I was ready for winter to be over, though. We were securely into the new year but not quite deep enough to be seeing signs of spring, and the incessant rain got me down. Iâd come back in from my walks cold, wet and grumpy. I couldnât face it again.
The Wii had been a Christmas present for the lads, Jake and Charlie, who had played nicely with it so far. Theyâd have a remote each and sometimes theyâd play racing games and other times theyâd be up and bopping to music. Iâd watched them several times but never felt the urge to join in. The little men were in bed and sound asleep, both ready for another busy day at infant school the next morning, so it was all mine.
The first challenge was switching the damn thing on.
âItâs the long, thin button on the front.â My husbandâs calm and slightly amused voice carried from behind his laptop.
âThank you dear, Iâve got it.â I smiled triumphantly. Nothing happened on the TV screen even though the little light on the game box thing turned green.
âHang on, I need to change the TV channel.â
Again, Ian came to my rescue. He did it a lot; weâd been married for ten years and heâd always been my geek in holographic armor. We met in a music store. He was playing on one of those daft games; I was looking for the latest Take That album and not looking where I was going. I backed into him, he yelled at me for getting him killed and from there love blossomed.
âUrgh, Ian, I donât know what Iâm doing here,â I finally admitted. âCan you help me?â
He sighed a little impatiently, still engrossed in his computer screen.
âPlease?â I added, with a cute pout and one of those looks, the ones Iâd always used to get my way.
âOh, go on then,â he sighed. âWhat do you want to play?â
âThat dancey one the boys bop about to.â
âWell, you grab it off the side. Iâll just finish up in my game.â
I looked through the plastic packs until I found one that had the word dance on it.
âGot it,â I crowed, âWhat now?â
Ian put down his laptop and shook his head.
âYouâre going to have to join us in the computer age sooner or later, dear,â he chuckled and took the game out of my hand.
âWell, I can Google, what else do I need?â I was very good at Googling in fact. Iâd got many bargains online, cheap shoes and bags for me and the weird geekery stuff all my boys, including my husband, liked to receive for birthdays and Christmas and such. âIâve got you for all the other stuff.â
Ian laughed and bent to put the game in the machine. He also picked the remotes up from their position beside the box and passed one to me.
âSlip it around your right wrist and tighten the strap,â he said, âthen Iâll get you started.â
âDonât you want to play?â It had just hit me how daft Iâd look prancing around the living room. I didnât want Ian