What's in a name

This morning, Ricardo, our waiter, kept track of us by name. Lu became, forevermore, “Hello, Mary Lou, Goodbye Heart,” accompanied by Ricardo not-Nelson, with Spanish accent, embedding the song in our minds for the rest of the day. Ha! Now try to get the tune out of your head!

The two couples were Jerry and “Jerry’s wife” and Jesse and “Jesse’s wife.” Lola threatened to stab Ricardo in the leg with a fork. Sharon just laughed. I began calling Jerry Lola’s husband just to keep things even.

Karen, he renamed Carmen and she immediately became dark and sultry. When I said m...