The Slice: Wise 5-year-old knows when to stick his neck out

Sometimes children have to gently break it to their elders that the old folks are confused.

Earlier this summer, Spokane’s Lisa Hussey noticed a baby deer in the yard. You know, with spots and all. So she brought her 5-year-old grandson, Xander, to the window to watch.

“Deer are not uncommon in our area, but you don’t see the tiny ones often,” she wrote.

The little boy got quiet. “Unusually quiet,” said his grandmother.

Then he spoke up. “Gramma, that’s not a baby deer. It’s a giraffe.”

Live and learn.

Slice answer: “I am 68 years old so, of course, I remember not eating meat on Friday and wearing a hat to Mass,” wrote Marilyn Daniels of Spokane Valley. “Fridays at our house were clam chowder days. My mom made the most wonderful chowder, the really thick kind you ate with a fork. I loved it. But, as I got older, I realized mom always put pieces of bacon in the chowder. One time I asked her about it – wasn’t bacon considered meat?

“She lightly dismissed me with her answer, ‘That doesn’t count.’

“She was my mom, after all, so that answer was good enough for me.”

If you had a charitable foundation: Steve and Karen Heaps, along with fellow Shadle Park grad Jon Barstad, actually do have one. Named for biology teacher/coach Joseph Heslin, it helps fund the college education of students intending to major in biology or education.

Pat Bopray would like to set up a grant program to help girls who want to play volleyball overcome obstacles of one sort or another.

Ann Echegoyen wishes she could help connect children and adults with books that reveal why reading can be a life-compass and a thrill.

Getting called to the principal’s office: “When I was in seventh grade (in Colorado), I got to spend almost a whole year in the principal’s office,” wrote Sandpoint’s Dana Williams.

It all started with getting on the wrong side of her Spanish teacher. But it evolved into her becoming the principal’s unofficial assistant. “It ended up being a pretty fun experience.”

Today’s Slice question: Could you punt a football?