The Slice: Leaning over to say goodbye

Visited outside with my neighbor the other day.

She brought up something I’ve known was coming. But somehow I hoped I would never hear it.

Her elderly gray tabby, referred to in this column countless times over the years as “my neighbor’s cat,” is not doing well.

So it’s time. Maybe not today. Perhaps not tomorrow. But soon.

Chloe, making a rare outdoors appearance, paid no attention to our somber conversation.

The once feisty feline slowly crossed our lawns and soaked in some sun.

Chloe let my wife and I pat her on the head and pronounce her good. That used to be debatable. But not this day.

I thought of an exchange near the end of “Dances With Wolves,” which I’ve watched many times.

Kicking Bird: “We’ve come far, you and me.”

Lieutenant Dunbar: “I will not forget you.”

No, I won’t.

Slice answer: “My ‘roll out of bed’ outfit sees little change from day to day when my boyfriend is overseas, as he is now,” wrote Rachel Inman. “I find that wearing my USAF sweatpants (and sweatshirt when it’s cold, as it often is here) help me feel close to him. I’m a neonatal ICU nurse, and on work days I change almost immediately into the first set of scrubs I can find. Which are like daytime pajamas.”

And of course, we all know what daytime pajamas are in Spokane. That’s right. In certain circles, they are known as “Going to the grocery store” apparel.

Roadside attractions: Bill Stanley had an idea.

“Have you done a ‘Things I’ve seen on the freeway’ piece? I thought of The Slice Monday as I was traveling east on I-90. First I spotted a metal green rake, followed soon after by a loaf of bread still in the store wrapper.

“The next day I saw the rake again and immediately thought to now look for the bread and, sure enough, there it was.”

The moral of the story? If something makes you think of The Slice, it’s good when it’s not roadkill.

Compatibility might be an issue: Mildred Scheel reports that her nephew Ben and his wife Melanie just welcomed the arrival of a baby girl. The child, Peyton Campbell, joins big sister MaKenna.

The children’s mother noted that the family now has a PC and a Mac.

Today’s Slice question: What makes you feel old?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Carl Eklund, Cathy Kraus and others got Thursday’s Mungo Jerry reference. (Mungo Jerry was a band that had an early ’70s hit with “In the Summertime.”)