It’s amazing how they’ve kept that youthful look

Maybe it’s never too late to put out the willkommen mat.

“They’re back!” wrote Heather Lester after seeing a hauntingly familiar advertisement in the S-R seeking hosts for foreign exchange students.

The photos of the two happy teens in the ad have been around for years.

In fact, Lester and her husband figure “Hanna from Norway” and “Klaus from Germany” must be in their 40s by now.

But if they still need a place to stay …

“Our son has left home and is married and we have an extra room,” she wrote.

Why not? For all we know, Hanna and Klaus have had some rough times over the years. Maybe Hanna struggled through a series of unsatisfying relationships with emotionally stunted men before marrying a guy who then drowned in a fjord. Perhaps Klaus gambled unsuccessfully on soccer and then lost his job at the BMW plant because he kept showing up for work reeking of schnapps.

Maybe both of our Euro friends could really use a little Spokane hospitality right about now.

•Possible corporate naming rights for the Intermodal Center: John A. Osborne had an idea.

“How about a great travel accessory used by many people around the world? Ta da…The Imodium Intermodal Corporate Center, or the IICC for short (rhymes with ‘ick.’) “

Laura Nonnenmacher suggested Zip Trip might be the perfect corporate sponsor for a transportation depot.

Dana Freeborn liked the sound of MySpace Station.

And Bob Briggs mentioned the Department of Homeland Security as the train/bus center’s potential sponsor. He even thought of the perfect slogan: “Get down – stay on the ground.”

•Slice cinema field trip update: I haven’t forgotten about taking a couple of kids to the movies. (Thanks to all the parents who volunteered their children.) But I’m still waiting for the new “Lassie” to come here.

I don’t know much about film distribution. But I suspect an actual collie could have made it from Scotland to Spokane by now.

•For the record: Several readers were mightily ticked off by the question about whether anyone around here has an impressive security clearance. Apparently they believed it was my intention to compromise people doing top-secret work.

Right.

Let’s review. Folks, some Slice questions are designed to prompt breakfast-table conversations, not generate printable responses.

•Today’s Slice question: Considering all of the places you have lived and traveled, where would you rank this area’s autumn colors in your Fall Foliage Top 10?