"Hot diggity! Come on!"
"Mama?"
"What, Mierd?"
"How come the fire just keeps on and on burning so terrible?"
"For one thing, the timbers in the store are pine, heart pine, full of fat—even the shingles on the roof. Besides, the shelves were stocked full of Christmas goods—things that burn easy. And, there's all that coal oil, and cloth—just everything."
"Mama, all our candy's burning up!"
"Yeah, Bandershanks. I guess it is. Don't cry, hon!"
"Hot diggity! Yonder's Wallace Goode! Mama, see Wallace standing up there with all the men? Lemme go where he's at!"
"Just for a minute, son. Then you come straight back."
Mierd and I wanted to go see Wallace too, but Mama wouldn't let us. Wiley came streaking back, Wallace with him.