I think it's a kind of big sort of ugly man that creeps in when
you're asleep."
"So that's why you thought I was one?"
The White Hope nodded.
"Forget it!" said Steve. "Mamie is a queen, all right, believe me, but
she's got the wrong dope on this microbe proposition. You don't need to
be scared of them any more. Why, some of me best pals are germs."
"What's pals?"
"Why, friends. You and me are pals. Me and your pop are pals."
"Where's pop?"
"He's gone away."
"I remember."
"He thought he needed a change of air. Don't you ever need a change of
air?"
"I don't know."
"Well, you do. Take it from me. This is about the punkest joint I ever
was in. You don't want to stay in a dairy-kitchen like this."
"What's dairy-kitchen?"
"This is. All these white tiles and fixings. It makes me feel like a
pint of milk to look at 'em."
"It's because of the germs."
"Ain't I telling you the germs don't want to hurt you?"
"Aunt Lora told Mamie they do."
"Say, cull, you tell your Aunt Lora to make a noise like an ice-cream
in the sun and melt away. She's a prune, and what she says don't go. Do
you want to know what a germ or a microbe--it's the same thing--really
is? It's a fellow that has the best time you can think of. They've been
fooling you, kid. They saw you were easy, so they handed it to you on a
plate.
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