“Omigosh. Hale, do you need some help?”
“Huh? Help?”
“Oh man! I’ve got to convince my mom I’ll be better by Monday. Jeeps, what’ll I wear? I’ve got these cute practically new baggy peach overalls from last summer, if they still fit, but I’ll need to get a matching hat and some…”
“Raye…”
“And then I’ll have to pack a lunch. I can’t take those hot tamales, I can tell you that. Do you know what they make those things from?”
“I’m sure that…”
“I’ll see if Giselle wants to go to the mall tomorrow. Maybe we ought to put off our little party tonight. I can get to bed early, and when I wake up in the morning…”
“HEY, RAYE!”
Raye Lynn paused for a moment, and then...
“Hale, you don’t have to shout. I can hear you perfectly well.”
“I mean… Raye, I don’t even know if we’ll get the job, and if we do, I don’t know how much, or what kind of work it’ll be. It might be too…”
Hale hesitated, wondering if he wanted to continue.
“Too what, Hale?” asked Raye Lynn. “It might be too what?”
“Too…well…uh, sometimes we have to…”
“Go on.”
“Unhh…”
“Hale, you don’t think I can do real work, do you?”
“Oh, no Raye…”
“You think I’m some delicate little flower that someone has-haa--haaa---chooo!”
Hale started to laugh. He stifled it just in time, although his mouthpiece received a little wet little sprinkle in the process. Hale wiped it dry with his shirt.
“God bless me, Hale,” said Raye Lynn.
“I’m sorry, Raye. God bless you.”
“Hale, you are so mean. Just remember. I’m the one who told you about the old Harrow House in the first place. I’m the one with the guts to hang out with a couple of dirty, sweaty boys doing who knows what? when I could be relaxing here at home. Daddy’s putting in a four-foot swimming pool in the backyard next week. I could be having a nice old time here while you guys…”
“Okay, okay,” said Hale. “I’ll ask Ken about it tonight.”
“Promise?”
“Raye, if I say I will, you know I will.”