Mick spent every evening doing spot-the-difference puzzles. He could find a missing button or a moved flower in seconds.
His wife bought new curtains, changed the rug and moved the sofa. He noticed nothing.
She put down his puzzle book and asked him to find three changes in their sitting room.
Mick asked for one thing before he started….
Mick bought a large book of picture puzzles to keep his mind sharp.
His wife, Helen, said she would settle for him remembering to buy milk.
That used a different part of the brain, he explained.
Every evening, he sat with a pencil and compared pairs of drawings. A hat had lost its feather. A window had grown a flowerpot. A dog had one extra patch.
He circled each change with great care.
Helen said he could be useful when they next decorated.
Mick said the hard ones were all about observation.
On Monday, new curtains arrived. Helen took down the old brown pair and hung blue ones.
Mick came home, sat in his usual place and found a missing chimney in a drawing of a farm.
Helen asked whether the room looked brighter.
He suggested switching on the lamp.
On Wednesday, she replaced the faded rug with a red one. Mick walked over it twice to find his pencil sharpener.
On Friday, their son helped move the sofa to the opposite wall.
Mick stopped in the doorway that evening.
Helen waited.
Where’s the remote?
On the sofa.
He found it and sat down.
After dinner, Mick completed a particularly difficult puzzle. The artist had changed a clock hand by two minutes.
He showed Helen.
Most people would miss that.
I believe you, she said.
He turned to the answer page. All twelve circles were correct.
Helen took the book and laid it on the table.
Let’s try a real one.
She stood him in the sitting-room doorway. The curtains were blue, the rug was red and his chair faced a wall where the television used to be.
Three things in this room have changed this week. Tell me what they are.
Mick studied the room. He adjusted his glasses. He stepped forward, then back.
Helen folded her arms.
You just found a missing button the size of a full stop. Surely you can manage a whole room.
Mick nodded confidently.
Of course. Where’s the other picture?
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