Switcheroo

By Olivia Goldsmith

Sylvie knew that her husband was spending a lot more time at work. What she didn't know, yet, was that it wasn't work that was detaining Bob, it was a younger version of herself. After her suspicions became aroused when neighbors reported seeing her and Bob together in places where she knew she had not been, a little snooping in Bob's desk revealed several incriminating receipts, receipts she was able to use to track down her rival. A rival that looked enough like Sylvie herself that it was like looking at herself only ten years younger and several pounds lighter.
This younger woman, Marla, was getting all the affection from Bob that Sylvie herself craved. And although her first impulse was to leave Bob, upon reflection and after meeting Marla and liking her, Sylvie came up with an improbable scheme. With the help of a plastic surgeon, a hair dresser, and several weeks of diet and exercise, Sylvie would switch places with Marla. She would become Marla and be Bob's lover and Marla would gain some weight, die her hair and become Sylvie and get to be the wife that she yearned to be. And maybe Bob would learn something in the process too.

This was a silly story and not in a good way. The idea that a few pounds, a face lift and a new hairdo would fool not only her husband but her two grown kids is just silly. The first time she and Bob had sex wouldn't he immediately tumble to the fact that he was boinking his old wife and not his young mistress? I just couldn't buy the whole premise and that spoiled the story for me. Also, Marla discovers that marriage to Bob isn't quite what she thought it would be in that all his spare time is spent with his mistress, who is really Sylvie. Like that would really matter to a woman who sees nothing wrong with dating married men because they are proven to be the marrying kind. Bob is her sugar daddy, leasing her a condo and a BMW, and buying her jewelry and taking her on expensive vacations. Once she got into that big, fancy house of his you'd have to blast her out with dynamite. I just didn't find the story at all believable, especially the unlikely happy ending. Forgive and forget? No way!