Memory or the lack thereof

J and I had mumpfed down salads with mountain herbs, macaroni and cheese and rösti at our favourite Valais chalet restaurant.

We were waiting for our desserts, blueberry tarte on a chocolate-lined crust and fig tiramisu, when I asked THE QUESTION: "Do you remember the name of the Calista Flockhart character on Brothers and Sisters."

I saw the I-would-have-if-you-hadn't-asked expression on J's face.

"Ally?"

"That was Ally McBeal," I said.

"Something with a y. Sally, Fally, Dally . . ." J. looked a bit desperate.

We rattled all the other names of the characters: Nora, Sarah, Scotty, Rebecca, Holly, Seth no Saul, Kevin, Tommy . . . although we struggled with the kids, Cooper and Paige.

To make ourselves feel better we named the characters on How I Met Your Mother. Ted, Marshall, Robin and Bonnie.

"Bonnie?" J had raised a eyebrow.

"BaRney," I said. "You know I speak Bostonian and have no need for the letter 'r'.

We couldn't take too much pleasure at that memory feat. We'd watched an episode the night before.

To walk off the meal we followed the gurgling brook into the woods before heading home. Names were bouncing in our heads: Stephanie, Desdemona, Cleopatra...nothing that might be possible.

We took the long way home over the narrow (I say treacherous) mountain roads. We had no trouble remembering that last year at this time we'd stopped to take photos of snow-covered trees and my total lack of ability to hit a target with a snowball. This year the trees are late changing colours.

As soon as we got in the chalet's door, I fired up the computer.

www.imdb.com
Brothers and Sisters
Cast

Ahhhhhhhhh. J sank into the chair opposite me. I thought I'd give her a clue and held my fingers down moving them back and forth against my thumb as if I were calling a cat.

"Dog?" J said.

I mimed a cat washing her face. Only when I called in a cooing tone, "Here . . . " did J say with obvious relief "KITTY!!!!!!!!!!"

She suggested I might not be good at playing, playing, playing . . .

"Charades," I filled in the gap.

This morning in the Sunday paper is an article: "Les trous de mémoire sont le plus souvent sans gravité" or memory lapses are usually harmless."

That is good to know.