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The Slice: T-shirts, cutoffs, and a pair of thongs
Time again for another installment of “A wide-eyed youth questions a baby boomer about childhood summers long ago.”
Let’s get right to it.
Wide-eyed youth: Did they have ice cream trucks that drove around in neighborhoods back in your day?
Baby boomer: Are you kidding? The first sound of that tinny music prompted excitement in kids that bordered on temporary insanity.
Wide-eyed youth: Were fireworks allowed when you were a child?
Baby boomer: I guess. All I know is once it got near the Fourth of July, our neighborhood was a free-fire zone.
Wide-eyed youth: Did kids have to mow the lawn?
Baby boomer: Yes. Dads were busy having a coldie.
Wide-eyed youth: What were backyard cookouts like?
Baby boomer: Well, we used charcoal, the way God intended. And the kids sat at a separate table. Our main job was to stay out of the way.
Wide-eyed youth: Did tomatoes have flavor back then?
Baby boomer: Yes. I think the Cold War must have been good for vegetables.
Wide-eyed youth: Were you worried about nuclear war?
Baby boomer: I guess. But let me tell you what was really scary: Being the pitcher in a sandlot baseball game where a SuperBall was being used.
Wide-eyed youth: What was this thing called “depantsing”?
Baby boomer: Never mind. That’s nothing you need to be concerned with.
Wide-eyed youth: Did you hear, in your imagination, the themes from some of the great movie Westerns as you walked around with a squirt gun or a water balloon?
Baby boomer: As a matter of fact, yes. What have you heard, Shane?
Wide-eyed youth: Did you ever capture a wasp and a grasshopper in the same jar and see if they’d fight?
Baby boomer: Uh, that would be wrong. But they don’t really do anything. Too stunned, I guess.
Wide-eyed youth: Was there some weird rule about waiting an hour after eating before you could go swimming?
Baby boomer: Something like that. The mysterious digestion/cramping nexus.
Wide-eyed youth: Did everyone go to summer camp?
Baby boomer: It depended on your draft status.
Today’s Slice question: What Spokane area couple has the least compatible tastes in music?
Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. To what extent do your pets influence your travel plans?