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The Slice: Be thinking of your home’s place in history

It’s always good to think ahead.

So on the chance that Spokane tourism officials will one day want to turn your house or apartment into a museum dedicated to telling the story of your amazing life (or at least the “Spokane years” part of it), you might want to hang onto items that could eventually be regarded as important artifacts.

You know, like at the Bing Crosby house near Gonzaga University.

So, you might ask, what items exactly? Well, use your imagination. Visualize the sealed-in-plexiglass displays.

“This is the television remote Fred used for years, until that fateful day in 2017 when he had the idea that changed life as we know it.”

You know, pieces that help tell the story.

“This seemingly toxic reclining chair is where Bob spent several million hours in the years leading up to the unexpected breakthrough that made Spokane ‘The Future City.’ ”

Some exhibits could be interactive.

“Press here to hear the historic phone message Caitlin left for Madison on Oct. 6, 2017, proposing a musical partnership that would soon rock the world.”

Everybody loves the back-story explaining the circumstances of an invention.

“This is the actual work bench from Phil’s Hillyard garage. It’s where his cat, Mr. Darcy, knocked over Phil’s coffee mug and inadvertently inspired the idea that would make the internal combustion engine obsolete within a year.”

Some exhibits might be nothing less than inspirational.

“From this vantage, you can see where Kathryn’s garden was in the fall of 2017. It’s here where she cultivated the plants that would be used to eradicate cancer. The scarecrow wearing the Bloomsday T-shirt is just as it was at the time.”

Perhaps your story might be about a consumer product revolution.

“This is the Peaceful Valley kitchen where Ed concocted his first batch of Happy Juice in 2017 and set the wheels in motion for Spokane becoming the unrivaled euphoria beverage capital of the world.”

Or maybe the world changed in a Spokane basement.

“This is the ratty futon Ethan sat on in his parents’ South Hill basement when, as he smoked marijuana and argued with his girlfriend Nevaeh, visitors from the planet Schnizzlecon first contacted him.”

You never know. Stranger things have happened.

Well, perhaps not much stranger.

Today’s Slice question: Where in our area do women walking alone get hassled most often?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Visitors from other countries must be baffled when they hear Americans refer to the “World Series.”

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