“I boneys that knife, third,” said the Bogle.
“I boneys that little chair, third,” said the Robin.
Maida could not imagine what kind of game they were playing. She went to the door. “Come in, children,” she called.
The children jumped and started to run away. But they stopped a little way off, turned and stood as if they were not certain what to do. Finally the Robin marched over to Maida’s side and the Bogle followed.
“Tell me about the game you were playing,” Maida said. “I never heard of it before.”
“’Tain’t any game,” the Bogle said.
“We were just boneying,” the Robin explained. “Didn’t you ever boney anything?”
“No.”
“Why, you boneys things in store windows,” the Robin went on. “You always boney with somebody else. You choose one thing for yours and they choose something else for theirs until everything in the window is all chosen up. But of course they don’t really belong to you. You only play they do.”
“I see,” Maida said.