I shut up and let him think.
And by the time I had the coffee made, I realized how silly I’d been talking.
I brought the coffee. By that time, Charlie had the lid off the pillbox affair and was examining its innards. I could see the little pendulum that worked the switch, and a lot of wires.
He said, “I don t understand it. There’s nothing broken.”
“Maybe the battery,” I suggested.
I got out my flashlight and we used its bulb to test the little dry cell. The bulb burned brightly.
“Idon’t understand it,” Charlie said.
Then I suggested, “Let’s start from the beginning, Charlie. It did work. It got us stuff for drinks. It mixed one pair of drinks. It— Say—”
“Iwas just thinking of that,” Charlie said. “When you said, ‘Blow me down,’ and bent over to pick up the drink, what happened?”
“A current of air. It blew me down, Charlie, literally. How could I have done that myself? And notice the difference in pronouns. I said, ‘Blow me down,’ then but later I said, ‘Shoot yourself.’ If I’d said, ‘Shoot me,’ why maybe—”