The Slice: Watch me pull out a rabbit out … nevermind

Looking back, I sort of wish I had gone for it.

But I chickened out.

On Bloomsday Sunday, my wife and I were out at Spokane International Airport waiting to board a Delta flight.

Two airline employees staffed the check-in counter at the gate. One was a woman I would want to hire if I ran a business. She was fast and friendly. I complimented her on the multiple rings she wore.

She had an appealing Russian accent. And at some point, while waiting to board the plane, I started mulling the possibility of asking her to say, “It’s curtains for moose and squirrel.”

I rationalized my failure to make this request by telling myself she probably did not grow up watching American TV and, in any case, was too young to know about “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.”

Besides, the gate area was busy and the utter absurdity of my idea was not lost on me.

Most importantly, I didn’t want to offend her by appearing to regard her ethnicity as comical.

So I never asked. And we boarded. Then we all got off and the flight was cancelled. Mechanical problems.

Curtains for itinerary and playful mood.

Slice answers: “As a kid growing up in Connecticut, my parents would frequently gather their friends for summertime barbecues,” wrote Jon Hoyt. “The kids would be given glass jars to run around with and see who could catch the most fireflies, thereby freeing the adults to carry on their activities unmolested by bored, tired, cranky children.

“I think it would be a boon to the Inland Northwest if we had fireflies here. Although I wonder how many parents today would let their kids run around with glass jars.”

Niles Schomburg is another who would welcome lightning bugs. “I’ve never seen one,” he wrote. “The nearest thing I’ve ever seen is small twinkling lights at Seattle Center once. Wouldn’t it be lovely to see such gracious glory provided free of charge, or effort, by generous nature?”

Today’s Slice question: How many of the Ten Commandments could you recite?