meredith , you see , really knew the authentic facts on a lot of arizonas famous people , including , it seemed , half-people , half-cows ; she was sort of a walking repository of fascinating information about the city and the state ; i could never match her for all the things she knew , but i was shocked years later when she couldnt repeat any of these interesting facts , and yet i recalled most of them , even the most trivial details of the stories , by heart .