Swapping Minds

(for Vanessa) Melissa and I were sitting by the little lake in Green Park in London playing “swapping minds.” It’s an old game that came down from the Lowlands. It was a fine day so we had brought a little picnic. Melissa makes wonderful pâté, as good as anything from Fortnum & Masson. Yummy. And we had a half bottle of Chardonnay between us. Here is how the game of “swapping minds” goes. It’s not a child’s game, it’s very intellectual, or should I say psychological. Just imagine Melissa and I are talking. She says something to me, “James why are you always so arrogant?” But, obviously that’s not what she is thinking. To answer her I must try to imagine what she was thinking when she asked that. I must swap minds with her. I ventured the following: “Melissa, you have the most lovely white skin in England, you must be careful not to get sunburned. Melissa:“James, why do you pretend you are Scots when you’re really of Irish descent?” James:“Melissa, are you remembering the handsome Russian boy you met in the Hermitage on your trip to Russia and he took you to have an ice cream with him?” Melissa:“James, did the other boys in school tease you because you were so bad at games?” James:“Do you really love me or are you just flirting?” Melissa:“I’m sorry, James, but the response is in your mind, not in mine.” That was the end of the “swapping game” for that day, and such a happy day it was, there in Green Park, watching the ducks on the pond.