Page:Fighting blood (IA fightingblood00witw).pdf/122

 don't mean nothin'. But maybe tomorrow I'll give you somethin' else."

He did that thing. The very next morning when me and Kayo is sparring, he give me a split lip.

Well, I find Judy in the parlor wielding a cruel knitting needle, and I go over and sit down beside her. "Judy," I says, "that bathrobe is immense and I don't know how to thank you!"

"Don't try," smiles Judy. "Does it fit you?"

"Like the skin on a grape!" I says. "What would you like for Christmas?"

Judy laughs and drops the knitting; which tickles me, as watching them flying needles gets me nervous as a cat. "What would I like for Christmas?" she says. "Why, this is July!"

"Well, what's the nearest holiday, then?" I says.

Judy picks up this knitting again, passing up my inquiry of even date. "How are you coming along with your reading, Gale?" she asks.

"Great!" I says. "I sit up all hours last night reading the most thrilling book ever wrote. All about Indians, Cannibals, sharks, Bowie knives, beheadings, gem cutting"

"Gale!" Judy interrupts, the bit reproachful. "That sort of thing isn't going to help you. You've been reading a dime novel!"

"Well," I says, "you recommended it to me yourself."

"I recommended nothing like that? What's the name of that book?"

"Encyclopedia," I says. "What are you laughing