I Remember It All

Chapter 1-3

“Whoa! You remember all of that?”

“It was just last week.”

“Do you remember what you did a month ago last Wednesday?”

I thought for a moment. “The eleventh of March? I was in San Francisco at the sci-fi con. I lectured in the early afternoon. There were a lot more questions than usual. Everyone wanted to know about Wol. Right before that they served a very nice chicken salad for lunch. I may have eaten too much because I had a little indigestion when I was speaking. Luckily, it went away. That night I signed thirty-four autographs.”

“Wait…tell me again who Wol is.”

“He’s the little guy that lives in the tree outside my house. Some people would call him an owl but he’s not particularly fond of that appellation. He’s the one who gave me all the information about his home planet that I used in my last book.”

“All right. I remember now. Okay, and what did you do the week before that?”

Again, I thought back. “I was reading through the editor’s proofs on my next book. Oh! And that was the day Wol complained to me all evening that he might have to go home to his own planet, unless he found a good reason to convince them to let him stay here.”

“You remember everything? Where were you when you found out there was no Santa Claus?”

“There’s no Santa Claus?” I gasped. “What happened to him?”

Darlene looked like she didn’t know whether to think I still believed in Santa or if I was joking with her.

“I know the truth about Santa Claus,” I assured her. “There are too many impostors in all the stores. I was ten and it was the night before Christmas. My mother and father were arranging gifts down under the tree and I walked in and found them. They tried to tell me that Santa was so hurried, he’d asked them to arrange everything for him.” I stopped to chuckle over that memory. “I knew they were lying. I didn’t think Santa would have transported his gifts in Macy’s and Walmart’s bags. I guess it was a very somber Christmas for me. I was happy with the gifts but my whole belief system was shattered. I mean, if there was no Santa Claus, who were they going to nix next? The Easter Bunny?”

Darlene and I laughed with each other.

“What presents did you get that year?”

I thought back. “A pair of boots, a special monopoly game that I’d asked for, some shampoo products, an electronic writing notepad, and my favorite chocolates. Oh, and a new ski jacket.”

“Joan Howell, you are phenomenal. Most people can’t remember what they did yesterday, never mind last week, two months ago, and definitely not thirty years ago, unless it was a major or traumatic event.”

“You don’t think finding out that Santa was a sham was a traumatic event!” She laughed at me.

“Oh,” Darlene said, “people can probably remember something like they got a gorgeous new coat that they loved and wore every day, but they forget the smaller things.”

“I can’t always remember right away, but if I think about it and link it to some other thing near it, I can pull it right up.”

“And you can remember how many eggs you gave away on a specific day?”

“Sure! It shouldn’t be a hassle. Well, if I don’t remember, I expect Tony might.”

“Who’s Tony?”

“He’s the high school kid down the street. He takes care of my place when I’m not there.”

“He takes care of all your animals?”

“He gets on really well with them. The three donkeys; Gudi and her two wives, seem to adore him. Sometimes they won’t give me the time of day, but they always come running over when he visits. Beau likes him a lot, too. They’ll sit and talk all afternoon sometimes.”

“Does he remember everything?”

“No, but he remembers a lot. And he and Beau have a very solid friendship.”

“Do you pay him?”

I looked at her surprised. “Beau?” Beau was a buffalo. Why would he need money? He didn’t even have pockets to keep it in and he never wanted to go shopping with me, either.

“No, Tony.”

That made more sense. “Most of the time. I don’t want him to think I’m using him just because he lives close.”

“Then you can put that on your calendar, too.”

“Good grief! I may as well own a corporation!”

“You do, in reality, albeit a small one. You have an employee and a product. Even though you don’t sell it to get money, your product does have a value when given to a non-profit, like the Food Bank. What you pay Tony can be considered expenses. What you feed your chickens can be written off, as well. We should go through all your receipts from last year, again, too.”

“Oh,” I said. I looked away from her as I sucked through my teeth. “I thought we were done with them.”

“You didn’t throw them away, did you?”

“No! But Beau wanted to understand them, so I left them in his house. He’s probably digested them by now.”

“Well…” Darlene took a deep breath. “See what’s left. You should save receipts for seven years.”

“Seven? That’s a Lucas number.” Lucas series of numbers started one, three, four, seven, eleven, eighteen, twenty-nine, and so forth.

“Will that be a problem for you?”

“Uh…no…no, But I’ll have to write it down, and leave notes for myself to remember it.” I seldom thought in Lucas. I operated on the Fibonacci series: one, two, three, five, eight, thirteen, twenty-one, thirty-four, etc. etc. etc.

“Well, then, save them for eight years.” Darlene sat back to take a breath. “It’s better to have them too long, than throw them out before you should, while you still may need them.”

“Eight years? I can?”

“Of course.”

“That will be easier.” I stuffed the last bite of egg into my mouth.