Pun Intended

About 6 or 8 years ago, Fred hurt his back picking up a box of copy paper. He was off work for 6 weeks and then took a daily medication until he & Sigred left Canada. When they arrived in Cuenca, he figures because they were so high up in the Andes and there's less of a gravity effect, Fred's back stopped bothering him and he stopped taking the medication for 3 years.

Several months ago, Sigred wanted to get their rugs cleaned. They had to move the couch etc. off the rugs and the cleaning people came and picked them up and then delivered them back 8 days later all wrapped in plastic and smelling fresh & looking perfectly clean. For 1 large rug, 1 medium rug and 2 smaller rugs, it cost $30. Can't beat that. Sigred quipped it took 8 days because they took them down to the river to wash them and then it took that long for them to dry. In fact, what they did is unknown. In any case, after Fred helped Sigred push the couch off the front room rug, the next day his back started hurting him again.

He complained about it for 2 months before Sigred convinced him to go to the Doctor. The Doctor gave him medication that didn't really help and as an added extra bonus, caused him to have diarrhea. He couldn't leave the apartment for 10 days. When Sigred again convinced him to go back to the Doctor, he was given a different medication which turned out to be the same one he'd been taking in Canada. It seemed to help and as an extra added bonus, did not give him diarrhea. Ten days later, he went back to the Doctor and got a prescription for 30 days. The Doctor also advised him to go to the Baños hot springs (about 30 minutes away from where they live) and sit in front of the hot jets for a couple hours once a week. There are mineral waters at Baños and between the heat, the jets, the minerals and the water weightlessness, the Doctor figured it would help.

When they first moved to Ecuador, which as we all know, is just about smack dab on the equator, Sigred & Fred both sort of figured they'd have a dark tan all the time. That didn't happen. When they go to the Coast on a holiday, where it's much lower and much hotter, they get sunburned. In Cuenca, high in the Andes, Sigred's feet get a light tan (as she doesn't wear socks) and that's just about all the tan either of them gets. People have actually asked what Sigred does to stay so light skinned. Sigred replies with a shrug but figures it's that Norwegian gene from some not so distance ancestors. Both Fred & Sigred wore hats for the first 4 months months they were in Cuenca, but stopped after that. Only "tourists" wear hats.

So, off they went to the hot springs, found out it's hotter if you go on Thursday, as they clean the pool on Tuesday and it doesn't totally warm up until Thursday. Nevertheless, they found it nice to float around and Fred did feel it was helping his sciatica somewhat.

They came home and dealt with workmen tramping into and out of the apartment because their TV cable wasn't working and there was a leak in the apartment below them that required some patching on their balcony. It was a bit discombobulating but eventually the workmen were gone, Fred's back felt a tad better and after dinner Sigred went off for her bath to get the chlorine out of her hair. She was more than ready to feel clean and then cozy down on the couch and watch TV for awhile.

Sigred advised Fred "It's been a day!"
Fred agreed.

Sigred went to the bedroom, took off her clothes, went to the bathroom and momentarily looked in the bathroom mirror.

"Holy Cow!" she shouted.

Fred came running. (See -- his back was feeling better.)

The whole top half of Sigred's chest was pinkly shining with a "not quite" sunburn, but something that would definitely turn into a darkish tan.

(Aside: A day or two later Sigred also noticed

that the pinkly shining skin portion on her chest

was much deeper, went further down her body,

than it had when she was a lass.

i.e. Her boobs folks, were much much lower.)

"Go figure" Sigred mused.
The top half of Fred's body turned out to be pretty pink too.

Before they went to the hot springs, Fred and Sigred were talking about her bathing suit, as Sigred had tried it on just to make sure it still looked reasonably decent. Fred assured her (he loves Sigred) that she looked ravishing. It then occurred to Sigred that her bathing suit was something over 25 years old. She had bought it just after the birth of her second daughter, when she had come to the realization that the time for her and a teeny weeny bikini had passed.

Between the trying on of her bathing suit & the actual going to the hot springs, Fred & Sigred had gone to a social gathering. Sigred was sitting on a couch, in a large room, with maybe 40 or 80 people milling about and was recounting the story of her 25+ year old bathing suit to the woman sitting next to her. The woman, a very nice and kind lady, commented thus: "It's a compliment to you really, that it'd still fit."

Sigred smiled (you know that very small smile) and told the very nice lady: "They stretch you know."

The lady laughed. Sigred laughed with her.

Go figure again!

And therein lies the pun.

Contemplation