What if you were allergic to the touch of the colour blue?

Sophie's parents learned early on that their daughter couldn't bear the touch of blue. Ordinarily young girls are showered in pink. However Sophie's mum suffered from a severe allergy to red and yellow. She was so sensitive that even colours composed of red or yellow would cause her skin to break out.

Poor Sophie was born in a house all decorated in blue. She was six months old when the allergy first asserted itself. Lying on her blue blanket, wearing her blue dress, baby Sophie began to scream when the itching started. Mum was bewildered. She quickly got Sophie out of her dress only to realise she was wearing blue herself.

Luckily their house had a grey linoleum floor. She put Sophie down and called the doctor, tears streaming down her face. Everything turned out all right. But Sophie's parents had to redecorate and reinvent their wardrobes.

They went from living blue to a life of black, white and grey. But every child needs colourful things to play with. So Sophie's mum bought herself a stack of gloves in order to handle her daughter's toys.

And so it was that Sophie grew up with her room a tiny island of colours amidst a black and white household. For all its strangeness, it didn't seem to bother her much. When she set off for college she was as optimistic as any of her peers.

Dating proved to be a challenge though. She often found herself saying things like 'I'm allergic to the touch of blue, so if you could just, avoid wearing that colour that'd be great.' She felt like a right idiot every time it came up.

But without it, her dates would invariably show up with blue clothing. Sophie would then spend the entire evening trying to keep her distance. Of course once she had told them, they wanted to discuss it.

One time she went out with Mark, a second year psychology student. During dinner, he'd asked: “Have you ever considered your allergy may be a subconscious rebellion against your mother's need to own and dictate your life?” Somehow Sophie had managed to get through the rest of the evening. When she got home, she called her friend Joycelyn who laughed and dubbed Sophie the colour rebel.

Then there was the time when she was seeing Tom, who studied political sciences. Tom had a passion for Remodelling Society. He took her to a squatters party. Sophie tried to make conversation with his friends asking them if they were also remodelling society.

But she got lectured by one of the girls: “Society desperately needs us you know, I mean look at you! It's obvious you've been brainwashed into wearing pinks and pastels.” Jocelyn had laughed so hard she'd almost wet herself. Sophie was glad at least someone was having fun. She pushed aside the idea that her love life was a joke and carried on.

She couldn't remember when or where she'd met Adam. It seemed he had materialised out of thin air during a party. Yet they already knew each other by their first names so it clearly wasn't the day they'd met. It was however, the first time they talked together at length.

Sophie was so pleased when Adam asked her out she blushed. Even the 'no-blue' warning didn't seem as lame as before.

They went strolling along the old harbour when he turned to her and said: “Can you go swimming when the water looks blue? Because technically it isn't really blue?” Sophie told him how large expanses of blue made her feel uncomfortable.

Adam sighed: “So tropical beaches aren't for you... Unless, you go swimming at sunset. It'd be all orange and red first and then the sea would turn black as the night. I bet you'd be just fine”, and he looked at Sophie in a way that made her spine tingle.