James flicked through the film channel menu, tapping away on the remote control. He gave his wife Clare a glance.

‘If you see anything you fancy watching, shout out.’

Clare nodded, staring at the television screen, her chin in her hand in complete boredom. They scrolled through the on-screen menu, searching for a film to watch, something, anything. Their film nights used to be the highlight of the week but these days they struggled to find a decent film to hold their interest. James pointed with the remote, hovering over an early 90s gangster movie. Clare shook her head. James rolled his eyes, and continued scrolling.

‘What about this?’ he asked.

‘We’ve seen it a dozen times.’

‘What are we going to watch? It’s not film night without a film.’

They settled on a film from the mid-2000s about a robbery in a casino. James tried to concentrate on the film, despite knowing almost all the dialogue off by heart. He tried to hide his boredom, hoping that Clare was finding the film more enjoyable than he was. As the film reached its climax, and the heroes managed to pull off the heist, James glanced over to see Clare was on her mobile phone. She was swiping away on her social media apps.

‘Are you watching this?’ he asked.

‘Sort of.’ she said, half looking up.

James shook his head, and watched the film, as the robbers made their escape avoiding both the police, and the gangsters who ran the casino. A question occurred to him, as he watched the film. When had life become so boring, so mundane? He grabbed himself another beer from the fridge. He popped the can open and took a long swig, hoping the beer would help sort his head out.

A few days later, he sent Clare a text message at lunchtime to see if she fancied going out for a meal that evening. The reply came in moments later, We have mince in the fridge for a chilli. James sighed, the tedium of the failed film night still fresh in his mind. He replied saying, Forget about the mince, we deserve a night out. As he was leaving work, he gave Clare a call to discuss where they should eat. They opted for a new gastro-pub place that opened up recently. The place had been getting a lot of great reviews and a lot of their friends had eaten there. James booked a table for two for eight o’clock.

Having showered and dressed and sprayed themselves in aftershave and perfume, they headed to the bar-restaurant. They were shown through the busy restaurant to their table. A nice little table for two. They ordered a couple of pints of beer. When the waiter brought their drinks, he handed them a menu, saying he’ll be back in a moment to take their order. James took a swig of cold lager before looking at the menu. He scanned the list of dishes. Nothing screamed out at him. He was sure the food was lovely but the dishes listed were just the standard. The header described the food as the pub classics, but James couldn’t help thinking it was the same old cuisine. Fish and chips, steak pie, scampi. He sighed. He glanced at Clare over the top of the menu.

‘What are you having?’ she asked.

‘I’m not sure what I fancy.’

‘When we first came here, you said you never wanted to eat anywhere else.’

‘That first time was something else, though, wasn’t it? That steak pie was amazing, and the range of beers. I was staggering when I left.’

James recalled the first time they’d tried this place, just over five years ago. They had been blown away by the quality of the food, the vibe of the pub. The place had it all. And the selection of draft beer was so good. But now, after all this time, after a lot of meals and drinks in the pub, he found he had grown bored with it. He could, he thought, repeat the entire menu from memory.

When the waiter returned to see if they were ready to order, James shrugged.

‘I’ll just have the burger.’ he said.

Clare ordered the scampi, mustering up about as much excitement as James had managed.

Again, he wondered quite when life have become so dull, so stale, so boring. Was this it? For the rest of their days were they to repeat the drudgery? Were they doomed to see out their lives, going through the motions? Even fun things like holidays were getting tedious, there was only so many times you could go to Tenerife before you felt like screaming. Maybe he was over-thinking things. Maybe life did get regular and routine as you got older. In fact, he didn’t think he could handle his crazy days of his youth again. As bland and predictable as this evening out was, it was preferable to those crazy nights out of his youth, where going out into town with your mates was like climbing on a roller coaster. You just had to go with it, hang on, regardless of how wild the night got. But surely there was a middle ground. Surely, life didn’t have to get so routine and mundane. He glanced over at a group of people in their early twenties. They were finishing their brightly-coloured drinks and putting their coats on, he over-heard that their taxi was outside to take them into the city-centre. He and Clare were headed home after here, for a cup of tea and then bed. He shook his head, trying to snap himself out of the fugue. Maybe everyone went through this as they got older, as life went on.

As the weeks went by, he hoped his spirits would lift over time. Hopefully he would settle down and he would return to his normal content self.

On the way home one evening, bored to tears, the evening of pasta Bolognese followed by rubbish television stretching out ahead, an advert came on the car radio. The commercial seemed to be speaking directly to him.

Are things in life boring you? Wish you could do it again for the first time? Now you can!

The advert described how, using their revolutionary new product, you could experience things you’ve already done, as though it was the first time. It went on to list examples of how the device could help. You could go to your favourite football ground as though it was the first time. Relive the rush of stepping out onto the terraces and hear the roar of the crowd as though it was your first game. You could relive anything and everything you wanted, with their safe and easy-to-use product.

After they’d eaten the usual Tuesday night pasta, James grabbed his tablet computer and searched online for the product. The item was a small piece that you put in your ear. It connected to your memory and you could select which memory you wanted to delete. The example given was flying in an aeroplane. You could, like deleting an email, for example, wipe certain things from your memory, thereby freeing up the user to experience things all over again.

He budged up next to Clare on the sofa, waving the tablet in front of her.

‘Have you seen this? It could be the answer.’ he said.

‘The answer to what?’

‘We need to liven things up. We’re stuck in a rut. We’re boring ourselves, doing the same things every week.’

‘What do you suggest?’ she asked. ‘Do you want to take up snowboarding or rock climbing? I think you’re a bit old for the skate-park, though, love.’

‘That’s my point. This device will make our everyday lives seem fresh and exciting.’

‘I’m not sure we should be messing around with things like that.’

‘How about we try it? We can start small. That chippy on Pleasant Crescent. We can try that as if it’s the first time.’

‘Fine, but if I don’t like it-’

‘If you don’t like it, we’ll box it up and send it right back. They say there’s a thirty-day trial period.’

Clare said nothing.

‘Are you actually happy with life, right now? You’re telling me you’re not bored? This could be just what we’re looking for.’

‘If I change my mind, we’ll stop it.’

‘Yes, of course.’

Clare nodded. James squeezed her hand tightly, hoping this new product would help them out.

It was Saturday afternoon when the knock at the door came. He signed for the small package and went through to Clare in the living room. He held the package out in from of him, smiling. Clare glanced from him to the box, gnawing anxiously on a thumbnail. James carefully opened the box. There were two grey ear-pieces. They looked like they could be either hearing aids or earphones. Perching on the edge of the sofa, James read the instructions. As the advertisement had suggested, it did seem easy to use.

‘Are you ready?’

‘You can go first.’ she insisted.

James popped the ear-piece into place. There was a high-pitch whining sound that reminded him of the old dial-up internet connection. And then the word Connected appeared in front of him, and also announced in a formal robotic voice.

‘What should I start with first?’ he asked.

He looked around the room, searching for something to remove from his memory so he could experience it for the first time once again. He grabbed a bar of chocolate from a kitchen drawer, and stared at it.

‘Delete chocolate.’ he said.

The voice announced, deleting chocolate, followed by a beeping sound. James reeled, as if waking from a dream. He stared at the bar of chocolate in his hands, while Clare looked on in amazement and trepidation.

‘What is it?’ James asked, studying the packet.

‘You really don’t know? You’re not playing with me?’

‘Chocolate?’ James read from the wrapper before tearing it open and breaking off a square of the milk chocolate.

He smelled it, inquisitively, before popping it into his mouth.

‘Oh my goodness, that’s amazing.’ he grinned. ‘Why have we never had this before?’

‘We have, you’ve just deleted the memory, using the earbud thing.’

‘Oh right.’ He shook his head. ‘This chocolate is just wonderful.’

He broke off another piece, and again enthused over the newly discovered treat.

Clare crossed and put the kettle on. She needed a cup of tea. As she waited for the kettle to boil, she watched her husband carefully, looking for any change. Was there any change? Were there any side-effects? He seemed to be his usual-self, was acting and talking in the same way. They drank their mugs of tea, and watched rubbish television. Every now and then, Clare would glance at him, checking again that he was okay. James caught her watching him, asking if she was okay. She nodded and patted him gently on the thigh.

Later that afternoon, Clare joined him in using the new product. James studied his wife, as she pushed the earbud into position. James detailed exactly what was about to happen, talking in a calm, soothing voice. Once the device was in place, he explained, all they had to do now, was decide what thing they should delete from their memory so they could try it again for the first time.

‘Well,’ she smiled. ‘it’s coming up to Saturday night. Fancy trying Indian food?’

‘Like your thinking.’ James laughed.

They took the menu for the Eastern Tandoori, their favourite Indian restaurant, from the drawer. James went first, instructing the product to delete Indian food. The electronic voice declared, deleting Indian food, and there came the beeping sound. As soon as that was done, with a look of anxiety on her face, Clare did the same. A split-second later, the stared at the menu in wonder.

‘Look at all this.’ said Clare. ‘Rogan Josh? Chicken tikka Balti? It all sounds so exotic.’

‘Doesn’t it? I think I’ll go for the Madras. Can’t wait to try it.’

They chose a few side dishes, Bombay potatoes, and pilau rice. James called up and placed the order, reading out the list of unfamiliar dishes.

‘Would you like any naan?’ the guy asked.

Unsure quite what that was, James said sure, why not?

‘My address is-’

‘That’s fine. Your phone number is on the system.’

As he hung up, wondering quite how they had his details, he rubbed his hands together, his mouth watering in anticipation.

Forty minutes later, the delivery driver knocked on their door. He handed over a brown paper bag crammed with foil pots of food. James and Clare unpacked the food on the kitchen table, staring in wonder.

‘It all looks so exotic, the aroma of all the spices, the coriander. It feels like we’ve gone to another country.’ said Clare.

James tore open a paper-bag, pulling out the flat oven-baked bread.

‘Look at the bread. They call it naan, apparently.’

Clare ripped off a small strip of naan and chewed it slowly.

‘This is amazing.’

After they’d eaten, they both agreed they had never tasted food like it.

A while later, as they drank bottled lager in front of the television, James enthused to Clare about the product.

‘We will have had curries before.’ He started. ‘It’s just we don’t remember having it. It’s all down to the device.’

‘This really could change things for us, couldn’t it?’

‘I really think so.’

Over the next few days, James and Clare drew up a list of things to try re-experiencing. The list was long and varied. One of the things at the top of the list was holidaying in Majorca. They’d stayed in the resort of Santa Ringo dozens of times over the years. They couldn’t wait to try the island as though they’d never visited before.

One afternoon at the office, while busily working at his desk, it occurred to him that, using the product, they could listen to bands and albums for the first time all over again. He couldn’t wait to listen to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon like he’d never heard it before. As it was, he knew every pulse of the classic prog-rock album. He imagined himself, staring at the prism on the cover and wondering what saucerful of secrets the album held. That could be a way to spend the evening. He must mention it to Clare when he got home.

As he was leaving the office, his mobile phone pinged. The message said that there was a problem with the product and they were to return the device to the manufacturer. They would be fully reimbursed within two weeks. Oh well, James thought, it was full while it lasted.

He pulled up on the drive, parking up next to his wife’s car. Unless the traffic was really bad, Clare usually beat him home. They would usually cook their evening meal together, with James adding spices to whatever dish they were cooking. He let himself in the front door and headed for the kitchen. He tossed his keys on the kitchen table.

Clare span around from the oven, screaming and waving her hands in terror, staring at him, eyes wide.

‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ James asked.

‘Who are you and what are you doing in my house?’

By Chris Platt

From: United Kingdom