The Slice: Sometimes, dreams must head south

So I was standing in line at a grocery store when an acquaintance walked up.

We were neighbors when I lived downtown years ago.

His family’s store closed not long ago. So I asked what he was up to.

He said he was thinking of moving.

Now this isn’t a guy with flimsy ties to Spokane. His family’s name is on a school and philanthropic foundation. But I wouldn’t blame him if business fortunes and local shopping trends had left him weary of this sometimes confounding city.

I assumed he was about to say he had his eye on Seattle or Portland. But he surprised me.

“Do you know anything about Charleston or Savannah?” he asked. “Hot and steamy, I know.”

I hope he winds up staying in Spokane.

But our brief exchange reminded me that, even in our discontented daydreams, the lives we imagine for ourselves aren’t all just alike.

“North or Northern: “It’s North Idaho, Paul,” wrote Janet Lake.

“Nick Britz saw the question about who around here has the fewest Bloomsday shirts:

“That has got to be the stupidest question ever asked by you, Paul. I have two Bloomsday shirts and I seriously doubt that anyone has less than that.”

“Cowles gang: Moscow’s Peter Haggart noted that there is now a Spokesman-Review line of apparel. And that prompted a question. “If you see someone wearing a nifty S-R knit shirt or pullover, what assumptions can you make about that person?”

“Comforting a friend: “A few weeks ago I was discharged from the hospital after having spinal surgery,” wrote Margae Carlson. “When I came home I promptly went to bed. When I woke up I tried to turn over on my back, but found I couldn’t.

“I reached down, under the covers, and found my kitty snuggled up next to my back and my incision.

“The strangest part is that she has never crawled under the covers before or since.”

“Slice reader Karin Carter wonders: “Have you ever courteously allowed a waiting car into your lane of traffic only to discover it sports a bumper sticker advocating a political position you vehemently oppose?”

“Maybe it’s teen spirit: Nola Barrett took her oldest child to register for high school. And the surroundings seemed hauntingly familiar. “How is it that 20 years later and three states away, high school smells exactly the same?” she wondered.

“Slice answer: Several readers said the other big event occurring on the day they were born was the birth of their twin sibling.

“Today’s Slice question: Who in the Spokane area can be said to possess magical powers when it comes to fixing computer problems?