The Slice: A few twists, turns from ‘The Road’

So I have a friend who often reads while he walks to work.

I’m amazed that he doesn’t trip and stumble. But I guess he’s pretty nimble.

Anyway, he was reading and walking this week when an STA bus headed in the opposite direction pulled up next to him. The doors opened. And the driver asked, “What did you think of ‘The Road’?”

The driver was referring to the Cormac McCarthy novel with a distinctive cover that my friend had been reading the previous week.

After my friend got over his amazement, the two of them had a brief, impromptu book-club discussion.

•Multiple choice: What do you think about while walking your dog?

A) A great catch you made long ago. B) The outstanding balance on your credit cards. C) That scene concluding with Andy Taylor saying, “But don’t the trees seem nice and full.” D) Newcastle facing relegation. E) Michelle Gielan’s hair. F) Your grandson’s failure to connect academic achievement and opportunity. G) What you wish you had said in that meeting. H) Is your new license plate number written down anywhere besides the registration form in the glove compartment? I) Maybe brushing and flossing right after dinner would discourage snacking. J) When did the skin on the back of your hands start looking old? K) Religion. L) That ceremony honoring the police dog. M) Movies that show newspaper presses running. N) Forgiving someone. O) Wishing you had the patience to make great salads. P) Strategies for reducing your exposure to morons. Q) What if the basement flooded? R) That house over there will never sell if they don’t get realistic. S) Pontiacs of the ’60s. T) Bloomsday parking. U) Where is the outdoor key hidden now? V) How could combat pilots attacking shipping be sure that those were enemy vessels? W) Too bad that “Frontline” on water pollution didn’t have a bigger audience. X) That Seattle Times series on those criminal Huskies. Y) The book you’re reading at bedtime. Z) Don’t have a dog/Other.

•Remembering steel wheels: “My sister and I shared a skateboard made out of a piece of wood from my father’s workshop and the wheels from our old strap-on roller skates,” wrote Fran Menzel.

•Warm-up question: Ever find a public-policy flier on your front porch and wished that you could have been there when whoever left it rang your doorbell so that you could have gone on record as opposing everything for which the sponsoring group stands?

•Today’s Slice question: In what sort of store is it most crucial that the clerks actually know something?