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The Slice: Dad spreads the dreaded 9-month bug
A smart little girl was explaining human reproduction.
It seems the mommy has the egg inside her. And the daddy has the virus.
The girl’s mother, who dubbed this the “birds and the bugs” theory of conception, noted that the child is fascinated by all things microbial and might possibly have gotten confused.
Or perhaps the kid misunderstands the expression “went viral.”
You get what you need: Wayne Sanders worked at the Onion bar and grill for six years, starting in 1979. He remembers a time when tickets to a Rolling Stones concert in Seattle or Portland were on sale there at the Spokane restaurant.
“How or why this was able to happen, I have no idea,” he wrote.
He wonders if anyone remembers buying a ticket or the T-shirt that came with it.
Timing is everything: About 40 years ago, when her circumstances were altogether different, Jeannie Maki was in a hospital in Spokane as a result of domestic violence that almost killed her.
“I looked pretty bad and didn’t really care,” she wrote.
She was behind a screen in a room with no windows. She had lost track of night and day.
“One day, I was finally feeling better and was able to comb out my hair and wash my face a little bit.”
A newspaper delivery boy who went from room to room appeared. “He popped around the screen and then stepped back. Then he popped around again, came into the room and said, “I wasn’t sure it was you. You sure look better today. Want to buy a paper?”
Maki cherishes that natural, unrehearsed moment.
“I never got to thank him for the compliment that meant more to me than anything. He made my day. He made it worth living again.”
Yes, she bought a paper.
Sometimes, if despair has started to loosen its grip, there’s nothing like a small dose of simple human decency to revive one’s spirit.
“God bless that paper boy, wherever he may be. I hope he has a good life. Over the years memories have faded of that awful time, but I have never forgotten him.”
Today’s Slice question: At what age was your life defined by possibility?