Mr. Cool’S Feet Held To The Fire

Readers might recall that last Friday’s Slice dealt with a Mr. Cool honking at women downtown.

We noted that the women regarded him as a troglodyte.

Anyway, a few days later, a letter attached to a photocopy of that column arrived from Mike Cool.

“Dear Slice Person,

“My wife confronted me with the enclosed Slice section from Friday and demanded to know why I was downtown honking at young women,” wrote Mr. Cool, a service manager for Culligan Soft Water Service. “After denying any wrongdoing, I explained that this might be an example of poetic license. Upon determining she was not going to let me off that easily, I pointed out that the key word in the article was `self-styled’ and how did she explain that?

“Faster than a flock of buzzards would descend on the Seattle Mariners pitching staff, she pointed out: 1. I only think of myself.

“2. I have no style.

“3. My last name is Cool.

“After getting as much mileage out of this as possible, she admitted to knowing all along that your `Mr. Cool’ was an adjective and not a noun. Even though this is over, I am concerned that my wife has continued to refer to me as `Trog.’

“Sincerely,

“Mike Cool”

* Today’s snapshot: In the matter of coming up with a perfect sign to place at entrances to Spokane, Tomas Lynch reminded us that this didn’t always require fantasy. He sent a snapshot taken of a sign pairing that used to exist on the South Hill (see The Slice, Oct. 3, 1995).

“I felt compelled to photograph this sign to prove to my friends on the outside that you can drive here, you just can’t stop,” wrote Lynch.

* That’s the thing about being silent: A reader smiled to himself the other day while listening to the radio and hearing a local woman offer an opinion during a public affairs show. She said she felt confident most people agreed with her position on a certain issue. The problem, she explained, was that we just don’t hear from the Silent Majority.

* Slice answers: We heard from a reader who said never mind about creative uses for those plastic newspaper bags. He’d be happy, he said, if his carrier just put his paper in one in the first place.

And our question about theme songs for shoveling after the plow has dumped snow in the driveway prompted several readers to report that they hadn’t seen a plow on their streets in years.

* Today’s Slice question: A little candy Valentine stamped with a message saluting romance Spokane-style would say what?