‘Do you have a moment,’ the man asked, and I thought he was trying to sell me an ideology, which I thought was strange, because we were standing in the middle of the heath. It turned out that I had to wait a while, because his son had to go mountain biking down a hill. The mother was downstairs filming. Sure enough, he cycled and everything went well.
‘Core memory created!’ cried the father. The term ‘core memory’ comes from the Pixar film inside out; it is an important moment from your childhood that you remember clearly. For example, that you cycled down a hill on your new bicycle – only of course you cannot force what remains clear. Perhaps the moment the boy dropped the Brinta on the dog turns out to be much more important.
I honestly don’t know if the father meant ‘core memory created’ seriously or ironically. Or that it had once started ironically but had now become serious.