The Slice: Bubbles will get you out of jam

Tomas Lynch was stuck in a road-construction traffic jam.

“Waiting for the SUVs to tiptoe across Third Avenue,” he said.

He wasn’t in a great mood.

Then he saw something that changed everything. It came from the minivan in front of him.

“A child undaunted by the delay was happily blowing bubbles out of the window and sunroof,” he said. “I was instantly put in a more relaxed state.”

Lynch thinks maybe everybody ought to carry those bubble-blowing bottles and wands, for just such occasions.

“Which gets the edge: “Ironman” the triathlon or “Ironman” the comic book superhero?

Best secret identity? Edge goes to the superhero. (Angst-ridden playboy industrialist Tony Stark was a hoot.)

Best enemies? Edge goes to the superhero. (His foes had powers far more interesting than the ability to write crabby letters to the editor.)

“Favorite 2005 Spokane Indians promotion: Win-A-Makeover Night, July 13.

Nothing says “It’s time for a new look” quite like minor league baseball.

“This might have been a record: “On Thursday, the last day of school for District 81, at 3:30, my eighth-grade daughter announced that she was bored and there was nothing to do,” wrote Nancye Hensz.

“What a man would learn from spending an hour in the cosmetics department at Nordstrom: “He would learn that at a certain counter (Lancome) there is a very helpful and very beautiful young lady who just happens to be my granddaughter,” wrote Dinah Widmer.

“When children sound a bit too much like commercials: Marian Ortiz’s 5-year-old daughter, Michele, tried to get her mom to buy a certain cereal. Her pitch? “Kids like it, and parents like it, too!”

“When breeding violates the laws of nature: A classified ad in a Brand X publication caught Gratia Griffith’s eye last weekend. It read, in part, “FREE adorable part person kittens….”

You know, that would be more scary than cute.

“Slice answer: Tara Leininger said she gets blindsided all the time by requests that she say grace. Of course, that’s not really a shock as she is a church pastor.

“People are Swell Department: A woman climbed out of a minivan and was in the process of stealing flowers from in front of Keith and Shannon Miller’s business in Kettle Falls.

Then the landscaping thief realized the plants were made of silk. So she tossed them to the ground and left.

“Just for the record: I own quite a few Hawaiian shirts myself. They’re fine garments.

I just don’t think they should be used to facilitate denial.

“Today’s Slice question: Around here, an old car sitting in a garage or yard awaiting the day when the owner has enough dough to restore it is most apt to be what make?