“What on earth? This is…” She did not finish her sentence. Just started laughing and kept pointing at the cactus plant they had stolen the night before from the restaurant. It was one of those… encounters, something they kept doing since they discovered sex. They were never a couple, except once a year when they spent a whole day with each other talking, walking, eating, drinking, laughing and having sex. They noticed the cacti in the restaurant years ago already, their healthy color, their sharp thorns. It took them a couple of wine bottles and the new waiter, bored on the job, to muster the courage to finally steal one of them. They could not leave it in her car as planned - it was already winter and the cold would kill it, so they took it up in their hotel room.
He lowered his head towards the plant, close enough to read on the side of the pot: Made in China. He should’ve known - his wife has one exactly like that in her office, right next to the framed picture of their sons.
“Will bring it back to them next year then!”, he said and started laughing too.