The Slice Failure To Do Homework Shouldn’t Stall Discussion

Sometimes well-intentioned people just flat run out of time.

So here are eight back-up topics for your book club meeting when it’s obvious nobody read the book:

1. When you’re in a hotel, do you ever listen through the wall to hear what’s happening in the next room?

2. What assumptions do people make about a Spokane woman based on how much makeup she wears?

3. Can you detect an Inland Northwest accent?

4. Why are some people simply not happy unless they are trying to get their church pastor fired?

5. Does Hollywood’s fondness for interracial buddy movies distort our perception of how blacks and whites relate to one another in real life?

6. Would you consider it a compliment if someone said you were completely without guile?

7. Agree or disagree: Most people tend to overrate their ability to disguise the fact that they find someone wildly attractive.

8. Is there a place for dirty jokes?

The play of the day: So this father and two children were making their way down a grocery store aisle as a woman in workout clothes headed toward them. The dad maneuvered his shopping cart to let her by. In doing so, he accidentally bumped his young daughter - who was riding along on the outside of the cart - into a wine display. Several bottles were about to crash to the floor. But the man’s son, a boy about 9 or 10, reacted in a flash and came up with a big play. Using both hands, he steadied about half a dozen bottles that were going to fall.

The dad was about to reprimand somebody, anybody, when the woman in the workout clothes said “Nice save.”

The dad took a breath and, realizing disaster had been averted, added his own “Nice save, Kyle.”

The boy gave the woman in the workout clothes an appealing smile.

Children’s book title of the month: “Cat is Sleepy,” by Satoshi Kitamura.

Warm-up question: If you had to guess, what would you say is the state where the fewest Spokane area college graduates went to school? (Our picks: Delaware or Maine.)

For the record: Deanie Pizzillo adores 5-year-olds. Our clumsy condensing of a letter from her suggested otherwise. We apologize.

Today’s Slice question: How many Spokane area bachelors will be disappointed to learn that Cynthia Prentiss (who has written about being single for IN Life) is engaged?

, DataTimes MEMO: The Slice appears Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098. Some strangers on the sidewalk look as if they are contemplating hitting you in the face.