Tommy, as he reached for the bottle and helped himself to a drink, sang in a quivering tenor:
“Oh, man wants little here belo-o-ow,
But he never gets that much.”
“If Columbus didn’t discover this country, what did he discover?” asked Oscar, making a mental note that Tommy owed the house two-bits.
“He discovered how to make an egg stand on end,” said Tommy seriously. “It was a great boon to humanity.”
“Stand an egg on end?” Oscar was interested.
“Shore. Didn’t yuh ever see it done?”
“Aw, yuh can’t stand no egg on end.”
“All of which shows that you came from Yuma, Oscar. All it takes is practice.”
Oscar took a couple of eggs from beneath the bar and proceeded to try and stand one on end on the back-bar. Needless to say, he was unsuccessful. Alden Marsh came in and stopped between the bar and a poker table, possibly wondering what Oscar was tryin to do with the egg.