Of course, your girlfriend wanted to know who the woman was and, without having to lie, you answered: “I don’t know that woman from Adam’s off ox.” But in the darkened cinema you couldn’t get Akané out of your head, could you? You racked your brains, but still couldn’t remember.

How was it that someone as pretty as Akané could end up being so thoroughly erased from my mind?

Because, Peadar, in those days when you weren’t three sheets to the wind, you were invariably four, is how. Embarrassing, isn’t it?

“You can say that again.”

“What?” your girlfriend turns to you and asks.

“Nothing, nothing.”