The Slice: Flying luggage leads to emergency room trip

Let’s start with a summer-vacation story of suitcases flying off the roof of a car.

“Yes, luggage does come loose,” wrote Barb Mayfield from up in Newport, Wash.

Back in the ‘60s, her family was on a road trip near the Grand Canyon.

“One of us kids noticed a strap flapping against the window of the station wagon. When my dad looked in the rearview mirror, there was most of our luggage, strewn behind us like a trail of bread crumbs.”

It gets worse.

“He slowed down and my mother, thinking he was stopping, began to step out. Lo and behold, he was actually starting a U-turn, thereby dragging my mother by her knee around the turn.”

Ouch.

“After reloading the luggage, we proceeded to the local ER so my mother could get her knee tended to. As you can well imagine, the remainder of that trip was not the most pleasant vacation.”

“To a T: At least one Slice reader can’t stand it when broadcasters pronounce “90s” as “ninedees.”

“Larger than life: Anne Harris encountered two little girls in the store where she works. They were with a man who appeared to be their father. Both kids wore “Pirates of the Caribbean” scarves.

Harris asked them if they liked Johnny Depp.

That produced blank expressions.

“Jack Sparrow,” said their dad.

Him, they knew.

As they walked away, one of the girls asked the dad who in the heck Johnny Depp was.

“Speaking of Johnny Depp: What did you think of him when you met him while he was in Spokane filming “Benny & Joon” a hundred years ago?

“Speaking of movies: Slice reader Wayne Pomerleau shared his list of the all-time best Westerns.

1) “Shane.” 2) “High Noon.” 3) “Stagecoach.” 4. “The Magnificent Seven.” 5) “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” 6) “3:10 to Yuma.” 7) “The Professionals.” 8) “Silverado.” 9) “The Searchers.” 10) “Red River.”

“Slice answer (crossing paths with someone who would wind up in the news): During World War II, Katherine Chew worked in Washington, D.C., for an administrator in the U.S. Navy. One officer she routinely encountered was Hyman Rickover, who would one day be known as “the Father of the Nuclear Navy.”

“He always offered me his seat whenever we happened to ride the same crowded bus to work,” wrote Chew.

“Today’s Slice question: After being away for a while, what did you notice about Spokane when you came back?