Pee-Wee removed the lemon stick from his mouth, critically
inspecting the sharp point which he had sucked it to. By a sort of
vacuum process he could sharpen a stick of candy till it rivaled a
stenographer's pencil.
"Do you know what reciprocal means?" he asked with an air of
concealing some staggering bit of wisdom.
"It's a kind of a church," Pepsy ventured.
"That's Episcopal," Pee-Wee said with withering superiority! Placing
the lemon stick carefully in his mouth again. This action was followed by
a sudden depression of both cheeks, like rubber balls from which the air
has escaped. He then removed the dagger-like lemon stick again to observe
it.
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and you give me yours,
that's a good turn, isn't it? And if I give you mine that's another
good turn, isn't it? And we're both just as well off as we were before.
That's recip--" He had to pause to lick some trickling lemon juice from
his chubby chin, "rical."
Pepsy seemed greatly impressed, and Pee-Wee continued his edifying
lecture. "I should worry about two hundred and fifty dollars because
you saw how people always get paid back only sometimes it isn't so
soon like with the apples. Everything always comes out all right,"
continued the little optimist between tremendous sucks, "and if you're
going to get a punch in the nose you get it, and you can see how Mr.
Pages:
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100