"Buried" Words

       Waiting for some family goodbyes at our hotel room, I had flopped backwards onto the King-size bed to surrender to the tiredness of the trip.  Arms, legs, and body in full mattress contact, as wife Connie came by, I said, "This is my catafalque."

        I had never used the word before.  But all it needed was the physical experience of being laid out lifeless to activate an inert part of my vocabulary.   Perhaps it's analogous to a computer's "finder":  give it the right "hint" and it pulls up what one has forgotten.