“Oh, does she?”
“Yessir. I’d love to coddle you some.”
“I’ve an idea you’ll coddle me a great deal.”
Pegeen laughed.
“That’s just the way she twists things. I didn’t know anybody else did. It makes talking lots more fun, don’t it? Most people talk right straight ahead about sensible things and you’d as leave they’d stop any time. I like it when sometimes you say what you don’t mean or don’t say what you mean—not lies, you know, but all twisty, like a guessing game—’n’ then I like the things that don’t mean things—just sound as if they did,—snarks and goober snatches and such, you know.
“She read me lots of those when I had measles. Measles was the best time I’ve ever had. I went and had them right at her house when I was staying there over Sunday once.”
She flew into the other room, set the table, and came back for the coffee and toast.
“Now you sit down ’n’ I’ll cook that two-minute egg. We’ll have to fix a bed for you in the little room where you’ve got your trunk, so I can come in here and have the table all ready soon as I get here mornings. It’s kind of messy anyway, sleeping in your dining-room. It’d be nice if you could afford another hammock for your bedroom. This one helps to furnish here.”
“I’ll send for another,” said the man who was being seen to.
He got his two-minute egg, and the coffee was delicious, and the toast was crisp and browned and hot as the toast one sees in hungry dreams.