I said, “He only looks short on account of it being such a short acquaintance. He’ll look shorter when you’ve known him longer.”
Brent said, “You say you’re camping around here?”
“Are you doing your own cooking and everything?” Pee-wee blurted out.
“And your own eating?” I asked them.
“Yes, but we’d just love to have you come and help us do it,” one of them said.
“Which? The cooking or the eating?” Pee-wee wanted to know.
One of them said, “Dinner is all ready, we were just going to eat it when we heard voices and we came here to see who it was. And we want you all to come and help us eat dinner. You know scouts have to be helpful.”
“I’m helpful,” Pee-wee shouted. “I know all about it.”
“He learned about it in the third grade,” I said. “It’s derived from the Latin word full and the Greek word help; helpful meaning full of helpings. Anything else you’d like to ask him?”
“I’d like to ask you all if you like fish-balls?” she said.