venta

So. ChrisC and I both recognise that modern relationships are fraught with potential difficulties. A whole gamut of things can go wrong (at least if you read supermarket magazines): arguing, infidelity, financial wrangles, or just drifting apart. Or one person being stolen away by aliens and replaced with an indistinguishable replica.

OK, maybe not aliens. Maybe some supernatural force. Or plain old technology (you've seen Face/Off, right?)

Accordingly, any sensible couple has sorted out A Question. You know, the one to which only the other person will know the answer. Just in case you're fearing that you're dealing with an evil doppelganger, a creature from beyond Alpha Centauri wearing a body suit, or your arch-enemy with a really, really good mask.

Of course, the main worry is that you won't be fearing it. The doppelganger/Alpha Centauran/arch-enemy is sitting next to you tucking in to his (or her) cornflakes of a morning, and you're carrying on, blissfully oblivious, without a care in the world.

It is, therefore, clearly sensible to spring this question at random intervals. Just to be on the safe side, you understand.

On some spurious pretext, I announced my intention yesterday evening of verifying ChrisC's identity when disaster struck: I realised I'd actually forgotten The Question. ChrisC cautiously moved his chair a few inches away from me and announced his intention of checking my identity forthwith.

Second disaster of the evening: once he'd asked, I recognised The Question. But I'd totally forgotten The Answer. It's a good question, by the way. One to which (I'd hazard) it's nigh-impossible to guess the answer if you don't know it.

As I discovered, when my highly-plausible answer was denied. ChrisC shifted his chair further away, and looked a bit concerned.

Fortunately, he's quite a nice chap and rather than staking me through the heart or attempting to tear my face off, he took me out for a curry. On reflection, maybe I should have ordered a known favourite rather than branching out and choosing something I'd never eaten before (vegetable dhansak, since you ask). He even told me The Answer (surely a grave mistake in the circumstances, suggesting he doesn't mind life with a golem so long as it continues to provide cake at approximately the same rate).

Anyway, I seem to have got away with it. But I'm facing a very real problem: it seems, to me, highly likely that I've been stolen and replaced with a near-indistinguishable alien replica. I'm pretty sure this happened to