Sho’ yo’ is! An’ I wan’s yo’ ter stay mah frien’.

(Chick grins and shakes his head, as though he regarded her as an extremely difficult person to understand.)

CHICK (breaking into song)

“Yo’ kin break mah bones,
Wid sticks an’ stones,
But I’se gwine ter live anahow till I die.”

LUCY BELLE

Yo’ oughter be singin’ fo’ a livin’—’stead-a barbarin’.

CHICK

Dat’s w’at ev’body tell me.

(They both laugh explosively. Lucy Belle sits down.)

CHICK (at length)