Nicest day of the year so far very hot and we sat out in the garden until the sun got too strong and we had to move to the shady veranda. Brian started as he won it last time wrote a mysterious unidentified footprints that led a merry chase. Sheila's involved the Chelsea Flower show. Pat poor old Tom with a sore head. Sue youngest daughter. Joan recounted our nature watch. My story where I say I'm no hypochondriac. John dived into the underworld filled with gangsters. Ann about the ending of the world for some Romans. Sally a wife becomes aware of infidelity and plans revenge.Next month "were few"
Rosemary won with
COULD NOT IDENTIFY
Mary's heart sank as her husband John said "That was Mum on the phone. She's had the 'flu but is still feeling very weak and shaky. I'm sorry love, but I think we really ought to go and spend Christmas with her as she's asked, and help her all we can to get properly well." Mary knew there was no point in arguing. After all it DID make sense to go as John said, but she knew that whatever help SHE tried to give would either be refused point blank or soundly criticised by her dear mother-in-law as not good enough!
Right from the moment 20-odd years ago when John had taken her home to meet his parents, his mother had made it crystal clear that she didn't like or approve of Mary one little bit. John had tried to reassure Mary that his mother had never approved of ANY of his girlfriends, but that beloved HER and was determined to marry her whatever his mother thought or said.
Over the years his mother's animosity, outspoken criticism and downright nastiness had continued, but for John's sake Mary had bitten her tongue and put up with it, despite the deep hurt it caused her. It would have been easy to shrug it off as the typical mother-in-law joke so often used by stand-up comics to raise a laugh. But it was no laughing matter to live with the painful situation year after year.
Even though John's work had taken them to live in another part of the country, his mother had continually demanded John's time and frequent visits for the flimsiest of reasons, and now she was obviously determined to ruin the plans they'd made to spend Christmas with friends. Although Mary was dreading it, she agreed that it was right for them to go and do whatever they could to help John's mother recover from the 'flu. But when they arrived they were surprised to find the patient perfectly fit and well, full of beans, and as cantankerous towards Mary as ever!
On Christmas day it self Mary expected to be forced to eat Christmas pudding which John's mother knew she disliked, yet even so delighted in piling it onto Mary's dish and watching her struggle to eat it. BUT NO! To her amazement John's mother said "I know you don't like Christmas pudding dear, so I've made you a special chocolate mousse. And I've laced it with brandy, because you won't be having the brandy sauce."
Mary thoroughly enjoyed the dark chocolate mousse, VERY generously laced with brandy, and something else which she could not identify. But just a few days later when the pathologist was conducting Mary's autopsy, HE found that he COULD and DID identify that extra ingredient in the mousse as the lethal poison which had killed Mary!
