The Slice Passer-By Leaves A Note And Brightens The Day

The little things matter.

Merle Halsted walked up to his 1965 Ford pickup parked outside a big North Side store and found a note on the windshield.

“Sir, your seat belt is hanging out the pass. door. You might want to get it in. It’s hanging on the ground. Have a good day!”

Said Halsted: “I am 76 years of age and still marvel at how kind we can be to one another.”

Modesty capital of the world: Some cities have self-impressed civic slogans and nicknames. Take Seattle. “The Emerald City.” Please.

Anyway, a friend was in nearby Milton-Freewater, Ore. And he couldn’t help but admire the no-nonsense declaration adorning the sign greeting visitors heading into town: “Home of low-cost utilities.”

Way to keep hype under control.

Nocturnal overtime: A waitress told us she sometimes has dreams about things such as forgetting to bring a diner a beverage. What are your workplace dreams like?

Inland Northwest “humor”: Hayden Lake’s Keith Richardson passed along the following Q-and-A.

“Ephrata big bad wolf?”

“Odessa little bit.”

Whiff of spring: Dan Sackett refers to the skunk as “the South Hill’s unofficial state animal.”

Sound byte: Taryn Moorhead, 5, was in a used book store when she came across a children’s paperback from another era. On its cover, there was an illustrated promotion aimed at getting kids to order a 45 rpm record that tied in with the book. “Look grandma,” said Taryn. “You can even get a CD-ROM with it.”

Slice answers: A woman who said she met her husband on one assured us that not all elevator talk is boring.

And a reader who always sees people up there sitting right next to one another guessed Stevens County is home to the highest percentage of vehicles with bench seats.

This kid remembers the weekdays by calling his thumb “Monday”: After getting his little finger caught in the door, 6-year-old Ricky Sullivan told his grandmother that he had smashed his “Friday finger.”

Warm-up question: Does anyone around here really carpool?

Today’s Slice question: What Inland Northwest parent can claim to have done the region’s all-time most ineffective job of explaining the facts of life to a child?

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Drawing

MEMO: The Slice appears Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098. The owners of the lost Spokane River snapshots mentioned Monday have been found.