There’s a guy I run into sometimes who knows my name and a bit about my background, but I can never remember anything about him. When some personal detail about him comes up in the course of a conversation, I forget it immediately. I guess it’s pretty cruel and self-centered.
I don’t remember who he is or how we met. I’ve forgotten his name every time that he’s mentioned it. I wasn’t even able to recognize him by sight for the longest time. When he’d run into me, it would take a few seconds before his uninflected nasal voice would trigger the memory of the man I couldn’t remember.
I asked him to remind me how we met, and he told met that we had run into each other a lot when I used to walk up Some Street on my way home, back when I lived Someplace. I had lived on the street that he’d mentioned, but I couldn’t remember talking to him then; and now I can’t even remember which street he’d mentioned or where I was living at the time.
I’ve finally memorized his face. I recognize him when he turns up, but only as the man that I don’t recognize.
What an excellent superpower to have… think of all the impunitable havoc an unmemorable man could wreak!
So with just the mearest notion of a superpower and you’ll line up immediately with the super villains. Interesting.