A small intro to the 'nut house' residents.

Once upon a time there was a boring housewife called Marie. Marie was not a very nice person and therefore had no friends. Her only ally in life was her brother, James who was similarly socially bankrupt. Because of their lack of social engagements James and Marie had too much time on their hands and had taken to making up their own stories and acting them out. James became so embroiled in the make believe world that he had become convinced that he was, in fact a spy and had begun to go everywhere with a notebook and mini camera in his pocket. He had even begun to record phone calls to his house in a surreptitious manner.

One of James and Marie's favourite games was to try to convince as many people as possible that they were being victimised by their siblings. The siblings had long since tired of this silly and slightly unhinged game and consequently gave the pair a wide berth. They were rarely concerned about the effects of this story-telling as they knew that James and Marie did not have enough brain cells between them to keep up with all their inventions and so frequently tripped themselves up or contradicted themselves so noone really paid them any heed. Most people merely listened politely and then went on their way - often shaking their heads at the bizarre duo and sometimes commiserating with the siblings for all that they had to endure.

I, for one, dear readers always wondered why James never told the story of how he came to leave his job as a security guard. I myself might never have known the truth but for having a couple of acquaintances who are themselves security guards, but that readers is a story for another time ....



The characters in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.