"My—my little—pussy-cat!"
"You're drunk!"
"No, I ain't, baby—only dog-tired. Dog-tired! Don't fuss at me! You just don't know how much I love you, baby!"
"Who wouldn't fuss, I'd like to know?"
Her voice was like ice crackling with thaw. He took her lax waist in his embrace and kissed her on the brow.
"Don't, honey—don't! Me and Cutty had a sucker out, I tell you."
"You—you always get your way with me. You treat me like a dog; but you know you can wind me round—wind me round."
"Baby! Baby!"
He smoothed her hair away from her salt-bitten eyes, laid his cheek pat against hers, and murmured to her through the scratch in his throat, like a parrakeet croons to its mate.
"Pussy-cat! Pussy!"