Because she didn't have a piece of paper handy, Mary mentally repeated the long-distance phone number over andover. Mary was trying to keep the information in:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Mary is trying to keep the phone number in her memory for a short period of time until she can write it down or dial it. This refers to short-term memory, which has limited capacity and duration.

Because She Didn't Have a Piece of Paper Handy, Mary