"Oh, I shall. Don't worry," said the Girrephalump. "When I return from this trip, I will take a short vacation. I can't take too long or I'll get too far behind with my other work."
"What other work do you do?" asked Dorothy.
"Well," said the Girrephalump, "as I told you before, besides being part of the main transportation system in Oz, we are required to change the streetlight bulbs when they burn out, and to keep all the upstairs windows clean. If we get too far behind, people can't see out of their upstairs windows in the daytime; and when they're out at night they can't see what they're doing, so it's important work that we do."
"It is indeed," said Dorothy. "How long will it be before we get to Octapongland?" she asked.
"Well, I can see it in the distance already," said the Girrephalump. "But it's still quite a way off. We'll probably be there by nightfall."
"Have you seen the Octapong before?" said Dorothy.
"Oh, I've seen them all right, answered the Girrephalump, 'course they don't bother me, since I don't wear shoes."
"You see, the trouble is," he continued "their one shoe gets a lot of wear and tear, clippity-clopping along all day, and production simply can't keep up with demand."
"So they have to steal other people's shoes?" interceded Dorothy.
"That's just about it," said the Girrephalump.