Mary Anne nodded. "I knew what you were thinking and they knew what we...." Mary Anne stopped. "Melvin! You fooled them! Inside the ship they didn't hear us talking together. If they had heard us they would not have made a mistake and turned the wrong dial."
"Yeah, I know. I tried to throw up a mental block when we talked about the auxiliary fuel-chamber and what would happen if the heat exchanger worked fast enough. I guess it worked. The mental block, I mean...."
"You bet it worked, Melvin. You're wonderful, Melvin."
"You didn't think so when you told Pop about the sandwiches."
"I didn't mean to be a nasty, Melvin."
"All right—skip it. Funny thing—I could never read anybody's thoughts before. It only lasted for a few minutes. I couldn't do it now."
"They must have done something to us, Melvin."
"I'll say they did. What's Pop going to think when he comes down here tomorrow and sees the rocket gone?"
"I'm afraid he's going to be awfully mad, Melvin."
There is perhaps no more striking illustration of the prophetic faculty at work in the world than when it appears full-blown in the occasional understatements of children.