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The Slice: Make-believe music

So I was walking through downtown Spokane, carrying a ukulele in a black instrument case.

A lot of people were out and about. I imagined that I looked like someone on his way to a gig.

Now if only I knew how to play it.

Let’s move on.

There’s failing and then there’s failing: “I am probably the only person in history to get a ticket while taking my driving test,” wrote Nancy Miller of Sandpoint.

This was in Akron, Ohio. It was 1960.

Nancy was taking her road test, with an examiner in the car. She failed to notice a stop sign and a police officer pulled her over. The ticket earned her a date at traffic court.

When she broke the news to her father, his reaction was that she shouldn’t have been ticketed since she was not a licensed driver at the time.

Bird is the word: “In September my cousin visited from Fort Worth, Texas,” wrote South Hill resident Sue Chapin. “It was his first trip to the Pacific Northwest. I told him about our neighborhood turkey flocks and we drove to their usual hangouts, but unfortunately they were all in hiding during his stay.

“This week he emailed me to tell me he was headed out to hunt ‘feral hogs’ which he said are a big problem in his area. I thought he was pranking me in exchange for my tales about our ‘invisible turkeys’ but when I Googled ‘feral hogs in Texas’ I found out that they are very real and a huge problem there. I’d rather have the turkeys.”

But sometimes the big birds show themselves. Jeri Hershberger just had a friend visit from Florida and Jeri’s guest got a huge kick out of Spokane’s urban turkeys.

Slice answers: After he has read a book that he owns, Spokane Valley’s Larry Carroll puts it in his little free library for others to enjoy.

And Moscow’s Jayne Mahle said her books go through a hierarchy of “disposal.”

“A really good read gets my bookplate and a permanent home on the bookshelf. Hardbacks go to the local library. Paperbacks in good shape get turned in for credit at a used-book store. Paperbacks not so gently used go to Goodwill. The really sad cases go to the recycling center’s book bin.”

Today’s Slice question: Ever had money in a bank you feared might fail?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. “Other people” was the most popular answer to “What makes you want to move way out in the country?”

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