The Slice: Airline baby beats the odds

Never was a story of less woe.

Babies and air travel are not always an ideal mix. But sometimes, well, read on.

“Last Saturday I was on a four-hour flight from Houston to Portland, Ore.,” wrote Linda Hargrave. “My husband had the window seat and I was next to him, and the aisle seat next to me was open. A young woman carrying a small baby was coming down the aisle toward me, and I was groaning – eeek!

“Sure enough, she sat next to me and said the baby was four and a half months old and named Juliette.

“I held my breath.

“Juliette smiled and laughed the whole four hours except for an occasional bottle or nap break. She charmed everyone on the plane.”

Earliest Memories Department: “My first memory (that I can date) is May 14, 1934,” wrote Jo Hartley. “My father woke me and said ‘I want you to see your baby brother.’ I had seen babies before, but here was this soft, pale blue blanket. I wanted that blanket!

“I am grateful that we got the baby. He has grown up to be a handsome and honorable man. He has been one of my best friends over the past almost 80 years. But I still think my dad could have let me sleep till daylight to see him.”

Debt-collection advice for Girl Scouts from the movies: Mark Michalek (who still has a Slice T-shirt from the previous century) recalled the moment in “Caddyshack” when the character played by Rodney Dangerfield says “Moose … Rocco … help the judge find his wallet.”

Blake Ballard suggested that there are several lines from the 1969 film version of “True Grit” that might do the trick.

Slice answer: “I have asked myself how I can watch ‘True Detective,’ ‘Walking Dead,’ and ‘Downton Abbey’ on Sunday night (with a little help from TiVo),” wrote Scott Burnham. “I think the answer is that after the unrelievedly dark view of the human condition in the first two, I need the third for comic relief.”

Today’s Slice question: Do stuffed animals belonging to one child regard “public” plush toys residing in medical/dental waiting rooms with a respect akin to how some of us view combat veterans?