"It doesn't matter what you think now," Hal said with finality. "You'll have an altogether different opinion when you're six."
"Well, what if I will?" the Butcher snapped back. "You don't have to keep telling me about it, do you?"
The others were silent. Joggy began to bounce up and down abstractedly on the resilient pavement. Hal called in his three uninjes and said in soothing tones: "Joggy and I are going to swim over to the Time Theater. Want to walk us there, Butch?"
Butch scowled.
"How about it, Butch?"
Still Butch did not seem to hear.
The older boy shrugged and said: "Oh, well, how about it—Butcher?"
The Butcher swung around. "They won't let me in the Time Theater. You said so yourself."
"You could walk us over there."