"I have a theory that children remember
two things-- when you weren't there and when
they threw up." Nora Ephron
Marlo, if given the chance, really enjoys telling everyone-- and anyone-- about this time she threw up into my hands in a candy store. I thought it was just the wrapper she was trying to ingest along with the piece of candy she snatched off the shelf and popped into her mouth before I could stop her. I remember thinking, "Well, that will teach her!" Turns out I'm an asshole and it was actually a stomach bug that lasted for the next two days.
She recalls it with such vivid memory you'd think that it happened last week. No. It happened over two years ago in Brooklyn. Oddly enough, when she tells strangers about the time she threw up as they inch their way away from her, she leaves that tiny bit of vital information out.
But, hey! At least she remembers that I was the one there catching her throw up, right?!