The Slice We Can Always Lie And Say We’re Naked

Cheney’s Lore Banks is curious about something.

“Why is it that if I happen to be home and naked, if the phone rings, I hurry and grab a robe? For some reason, I can’t answer the phone in the nude. Anyone else like me?”

Another skunk story: When Spokane’s Nancy Squires was growing up on a ranch in Wyoming, her father once removed the scent sacks from some baby skunks and allowed the kids to treat the animals as family pets. “My skunk, Pepe Le Pew, lived with me the entire next year,” she wrote. “He slept under my bed during the day and roamed the house at night. They aren’t the type of pets I’d recommend because they can have a temper. Pepe would bite anyone who put their hand under my bed, except for me.”

Kid stuff: Doris Aiello said something to a certain 4-year-old about the whole kit ‘n’ caboodle. Later the kid asked if the Kitten Caboodle knew the Cat in the Hat.

Charge it: More than 70 percent of American dentists now accept payment by credit card, according to the American Dental Association.

“You’ll put your eye out” nostalgia: Is it our imagination or did long plastic pea-shooters really produce a muzzle velocity similar to that of a high-powered rifle? And do you remember toy slingshots?

Add Jean Taylor: To the list of those defending the comic strip Nancy.

Thanks: For all the entries in our Seven Words of Summer Contest. Stay tuned.

Speaking of having readers do the heavy lifting: Yes, of course, we want parents to pass along kids’ letters from camp again this summer. We’ll take artwork, too.

Today’s Slice question: When your company fires or demotes someone, does the language of the subsequent bulletin-board announcement come anywhere near the truth in characterizing what actually happened? (If your answer is “What announcement?” say no more.)

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