“Don’t you mind them,” the girl said.

“Do you think I’d mind them?” Pee-wee shouted. “They think they’re having adventures, but they’re crazy.”

“I wouldn’t lower myself as you do,” Warde said.

“He thinks that’s a joke,” the kid said. “They start on a trip——”

“Don’t talk about trips,” I said. “Yours was the best one I ever saw.”

“Did you hurt yourself, kid?” Brent asked him.

I said, “Your stocking looks like a corkscrew.”

“Don’t pay any attention to them,” the girl said.

Pee-wee said, “I wouldn’t bother my head about them; come on and I’ll treat you to waffles.”

“Are we in on this?” I asked him.