We’re travelling again this week, so my usual routine is off-kilter.  Normally I write the draft for my posts on Monday, but Monday night rolled around and I hadn’t gotten to it yet.  So I said to Hubby, “Tomorrow morning I need to write a draft first thing.”

And he replied, “Ah, leave it.  You can pull it together in a few minutes tomorrow night.”

So I suggested that maybe he’d like to write today’s post for me if he thought it was such a quick and easy task.

“That’s a great idea,” says he.  “Then I can tell everybody how I do all the research for every single one of your books…”

At which point we both burst out laughing and I inquired, “And what colour is the sky in your world?”

Hubby is my go-to guru for the latest weapons and network information, and my trusted sounding board for plausibility whenever I invent new technology.  He’s also my first beta reader, unerringly sniffing out inconsistencies in voice and narrative.  But “doing all the research” may be an ever-so-teeny-tiny exaggeration.  The sky in his world is definitely a different colour than mine.

For instance, in Hubby’s fantasy world:

• Garlic does not exist, and any attempt to create it or anything that resembles it is punishable by full immersion in a vat of Listerine.
• There are no speed limits on any road.
• Raisins are not allowed in butter tarts or cinnamon buns.
• All mechanical devices are assembled using only common, currently available tools and fasteners.
• The outside temperature never dips below freezing or rises above 25C/77F. Special exceptions are made for ski hills, which are permitted to maintain a temperature no lower than -5C/23F.

While in my fantasy world:

• Mosquitos, ticks, and other blood-sucking, disease-bearing creatures do not exist.
• Our skin is immune to sunburn and cancer.
• Our bodies select whatever nutrition they need from anything we eat, and flag everything else through the system as ‘recreational calories, not to be absorbed’.
• Teleporters exist: handy-dandy booths all over the world so we can instantly pop in wherever we want and go home when we’re done.
• Salespeople who lie to their customers choke on their tongues and die, and go immediately and directly to hell. (No, I’m still not over my car-shopping experience; why do you ask?)
• Come to think of it, that last one applies to anybody in a position of authority who lies. Gonna be a whole lotta chokin’ goin’ on…

Anyway, I’m hoping Hubby will allow me a special dispensation to exist in his world, but that might be asking too much.  He may decide to prohibit me and my garlic-breath entirely, and just pop over to visit in my world instead.  But as long as he’s still my Hubby, it’s all good – we’ll enjoy the sky in our own little world whatever colour it may be!

What are the rules in your fantasy world?

P.S. My internet access is sporadic today so I might be a little slower than usual responding to comments, but I’ll check in whenever I can.  ‘Talk’ to you soon!

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New discussion over at the Virtual Backyard Book Club:  Found any ‘Easter Eggs’?  Click here to have your say!