The Slice: That’s a smell that will linger for many years

Sometimes kids can really make you think.

A young woman and her preschool daughter came into my home for just a few minutes the other day.

I wasn’t there. But I’m told that the kid — her name is Charlotte but she goes by Charlie — had not gotten very far before she offered up an inscrutable pronouncement.

“It smells like Mary’s house.”

It didn’t really sound like a compliment. But who knows? Charlie didn’t elaborate. And her mother offered no explanation.

So several questions were left unanswered.

Who in blazes is Mary? And what does her house smell like?

With a name like Mary, it seems unlikely that she is one of Charlie’s little friends. Could that be what the girl calls one of her grandmothers or an aunt? Or maybe she goes to a daycare operated by a woman named Mary.

It should be noted that there was a small roast in the oven at the time of Charlie’s visit, one of those seasoned treats from Egger’s called porketta. So maybe that had something to do with the telltale aroma, the aforementioned “Mary’s house” vibe.

Maybe Mary’s house smells like pork roast.

You could do worse, certainly. Though what if that kid is a militant vegan?

Charlie wasn’t saying.

My mother-in-law tried to speak to the child. But the kid reacted by hiding behind her mother.

Sure. OK. Waltz in, drop a bomb like “It smells like Mary’s house” and then clam up.

Whatever’s fair.

One thing’s for sure. Charlie won’t be the last to say that.

Usually it takes years to know that a certain saying or expression has become a not-to-be-forgotten family phrase.

But sometimes you know right away.

From now on, any slightly unusual aroma or noteworthy fragrance is apt to elicit the same commentary.

That’s right. “It smells like Mary’s house.”

•What would Spokane be like now if the Cuban Missile Crisis had triggered a nuclear war: “Like the movie, ‘The Postman,’ but without Kevin Costner,” wrote Paul Mackey.

“Let’s move on,” said Mark Donoghue.

•Slice answer: “My husband’s name is Joseph Willard,” wrote Annie Fair.

His mother called him Willard, his nine siblings called him Bill, his schoolmates called him Willy and his Air Force buddies called him Joe.

His wife calls him Joe, too.

“What a mess it was for me when we were first married and I had to send Christmas cards,” she wrote.

•Today’s Slice question: What would it take to get you to consider moving to another country?