Mike Walton was very forgetful.

“You’d forget your head if it weren’t attached to your shoulders!” his wife, Janet, had sighed that morning, flinging her hands up in exasperation, after he’d forgotten half the items on the shopping list she’d given him.

Now, on his way back to the grocery store, he paused to read a large poster in the local bookstore window.

“Ashton Wade, memory champion”, said the poster, “will be visiting us today to promote his new book ‘Forget Your Forgetfulness’ and share some tips to improve your memory.”

Well, this might be helpful, thought Mike, as he turned and went in, forgetting all about the grocery shopping.

Ashton Wade was sitting on a dais with three other people, one of whom was rattling off what seemed to be a list of names and dates. It seemed to be some sort of memory testing exercise.

Mike quietly took a seat among the audience.

The exercise soon drew to a close, and the memory champ smiled and turned towards the audience, bowing his head to a round of applause.

“You see”, said Mr. Wade, a smart young man with bright eyes, “the trick to remember anything is to connect the word to a picture in your mind. The more ridiculous the picture, the easier it is to remember. Let’s try it. We’ll go around the room, and I want each of you to introduce yourself with a ridiculous sort of image that rhymes with your name. Let’s begin at that corner”, he said, pointing at Mike.

Mike stood up awkwardly and said, “Well, I’m Mike, and, umm, well… I like riding a bike.”

Everyone laughed.

He sat down and one by one the others introduced themselves.

There was John, an actor, riding in a tractor, Anna, in a bright yellow bandana, while Tess vigorously nodded her head yes; Rose who didn’t like her big nose, Brian riding a lion, and Bea, sailing out to sea.

Ha! Mike thought. What a super trick! He’d remembered all their names!

Well, wasn’t this something! He could use this trick to remember the names of people he’d meet at Janet’s office party, or even for his grocery lists. He’d never be forgetful again!

He couldn’t wait to see the look on Janet’s face when he told her all about it!

——————–

On his way out, he stopped to order a coffee at the bookstore cafe.

“Hi there!”, smiled the barista. “What can I get you today?”

“A large coffee, to go, please”, he smiled back.

“Sure!” She picked up a disposable cup and lifted her pen to it.

“Your name, sir?”

“What?”

“Your name?”

He stared at the girl, blankly.

In his mind, a slideshow began to play.

A lion, with a yellow bandana? A farmer with an enormous nose? A sailboat nodding yes?

That didn’t make any sense!

He stared down at the ground. What was the question? Ah yes, his name. What was it?

He looked up again and saw the barista staring at him quizzically, her pen hovering in mid-air.

“You’re not going to believe this”, he began, sheepishly.

And then, in a flash, it came to him!

Riding a bike!

“It’s Mike”, he said, almost shouting! “Mike!”

“Okay”, she said slowly, giving him an odd look as she wrote down his name.

He stood, shaking his head in disbelief!

No, he decided as he left the bookstore, he wouldn’t tell Janet about today’s adventure after all. She would never let him live this down!