The Slice: Diary of a beachcombing buff

The Slice asked how readers discovered they had wandered onto a nude beach.

Dolores Turnbough was back East visiting family. She was at the ocean and had spent the afternoon looking for seashells.

“Maybe I should have looked up every once in a while. When I finally did I found myself face to face with a man wearing only a grin.”

Wishing you had a do-over: “In third grade, 1948, a boy classmate on whom I had a bit of crush was dying of stomach cancer,” wrote Dianne Cook. “His mother, who was the receptionist in our family doctor’s office, suggested to my mom and me that Charles would so very much appreciate a visit from me.

“Being a shy 8-year-old, I selfishly refused to go to his unfamiliar house, probably thinking to myself that I wouldn’t know what to say and it would be unbearably awkward.

“Charles died soon after, without a visit from me. I have regretted this for almost 70 years.”

Dine at your own risk: Ron and Pat Hardin were at an Asian buffet restaurant when Pat got hit in the head with a flying chopstick.

When the couple looked around to determine the origin of the errant missile, they noticed a child being admonished at a nearby table. The parents said nothing to the Hardins.

“At the entrance to the buffet line there were a number of rules listed,” said Ron. “But no warning about flying chopsticks.”

Riffing on that old “Star Trek” line: Helicopter pilot Chuck Booth used to spend a lot of time with flight nurse Jim Wilkey. And if Jim asked Chuck to retrieve some medical gear or whatever, Chuck enjoyed snapping, “Dammit Jim, I’m a pilot, not a doctor!”

The last time you got carded: For William Berry, it was just the other day. He was surprised. “I’m 59 and mostly taller than my hair.”

William was attending a KYRS community radio party at the Big Dipper. He is the station’s board chairman.

“OK, not everybody knows me, but Joe, our volunteer coordinator, was the guy checking the IDs and could have vouched for me. But rules is rules.”

Today’s Slice question: I’ve never had sushi, used an ATM or been to the Oregon coast. What’s on your list?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. “Until I moved to Spokane I thought that seed was something you put in the ground to plant vegetables (instead of the past tense of ‘to see’),” said Pat Bradley.