I was in Ireland on a work-study program. I worked in a cool coffee shop. The owner was very nice. There were more employees than he needed, but he kept all of us on even though we screwed around a lot. We were talking about place names, and his daughter told me that “twain” means “island.” Then she paused and said, “Wait. Ireland’s an island, so why’s it called Ireland?” I said, “I think it’s named after a river.” The owner’s wife nodded and pointed to a map she was drawing in pencil on a piece of paper. It showed all the rivers in Ireland.

She asked me to go pick something up at a friend’s cabin and drop off a DVD of Planet of the Apes she was lending him. The owner turned to one of the employees and said, “That’s the cabin you’ll be living at over the summer.” The employee looked excited. I took the van and drove to the remote village where the friend lived. When I got there he asked if I’d brought Planet of the Apes. I realized I’d forgotten it. I apologized profusely and offered to go buy a copy somewhere. He said not to worry about it, but I could tell he was disappointed and annoyed. It didn’t look like there was much to do in the village, so getting a new movie to watch was probably a big deal. We loaded a wooden bike into the van, and he went back inside. I went in to use the bathroom and met his wife on the way out. She was making all kinds of candy and baked goods in the kitchen. They looked really good, but I knew I didn’t deserve any because I had forgotten the movie. God damn it, I still feel bad about that.