My husband was just coming out of anaesthesia after a series of tests in the hospital, and I was sitting at his bedside.

His eyes fluttered open, and he murmured, “You’re beautiful.”

Flattered, I continued my vigil while he drifted back to sleep.

Later he woke up and said, “You’re cute.”

“What happened to ‘beautiful’?” I asked him.

“The drugs are wearing off,” he replied.