Star Trek

 (written at a previous date)

    Dear Harriet Walter,

    One of my favorite things to do is as follows:

    Step 1: Go over to my best friend's house.
    Step 2: Watch an episode of the original Star Trek series with her (she's seen almost all of those) and/or her sister and/or my sister as well.
    Step 3: Come home and, when I next see my mom that evening, say to her, "So we watched an episode of Star Trek at Best Friend's."
    Step 4: Mom always, always says "Oh yeah? Which one?"
    Step 5: Fail to remember the episode title and summarize the episode in the absolute sparest, vaguest terms I can think of. (Such as "Like, there were alien shenanigans and Kirk and Spock went back in time and there was this girl," or "There was this alternate universe and Spock had, like, a goatee.")
    Step 6: See how long it takes her to figure out which episode I'm talking about and declare the episode title. (She was a huge Trekkie back in the day. Huuuuuge.)

    The last time I did this, the conversation was like

    Me: So we watched an episode of Star Trek over at Best Friend's.
    Mom: Oh yeah? Which one?
    Me: Umm, I dunno what it was called*, but they were, like, abducted, and then there was this guy in a silly coat.
    [three seconds pass]
    Mom: TRELANE
    Me: Yeah that was it

    I love what a nerd my mother was in her youth.

*This is honest. I hadn't been paying attention at the beginning of the episode due to knitting difficuties.