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Irene and I each had a picture frame hanging from our walls that, while slightly different, each depicted a couple of birds on a tree branch. As Irene’s hung on her wall on the left side I would normally remove it before starting to play soccer inside and hang it back up afterwards. On one occasion in which I forgot to do so, one of my crosses landed on the frame, knocking it off its nail and sending it crashing to the ground. As I cleaned up all the broken glass I realized that I probably would need to give her an explanation that in all likelihood would result in her keeping her bedroom door locked and thus put an end to my soccer games. As a result I retrieved my own bird frame from my room and hung it on her wall instead. I then took her frame and placed it under where it would have hung in my room. Later I would claim to have discovered it there and concluded that it must have fallen at some point. Although the birds in the two frames were different kinds and colors, Irene never seemed to notice the switch.


 

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