Spikejj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that while the keeper is constantly at a loss to control the machinations of his mind, Sunday was a particularly eventful day as he spent most of it trying to recall the name of the famously outrageous orchestra leader from his youth.
The situation recalled the circumstance of some time ago when, for a long time, the keeper could not—from one attempt to the next, remember Pete Fountain. He would use reminders to remember Pete’s name and the next day it would be gone. This went on until the keeper wrote “Pete Fountain” on a piece of paper and pinned it to the wall.
Then came Sunday with its blank space in the keeper’s mind where that orchestra leader’s name should have been. For most of the day, the name was on the verge of popping into the keeper’s consciousness, and then it would slip away like a puff of smoke, and the keeper would wonder just where he was on the aging-memory-decline scale.
After several failed attempts to get Google help, the keeper gave up, and relaxed with a pre-dinner drink; and suddenly, inexplicably, there it was: “SPIKE JONES and the City Slickers.”
The day-long successful memory feat buoyed the keeper’s spirits to the point that he turned the volume up when he imposed some Spike Jones “music” on Phyllis as she made dinner. Being a tolerant sort, she did not complain. The keeper plans to reward her with some New Orleans jazz by Pete Fountain.
