Page 36 - Lulu and Bob in Verbo City

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Bob was startled by, then curious about a very faint noise which
could only have been produced by the action of a rigid appendage
against a hard surface. Mice? Termites? Gigantic mutated
bloodsucking bookworms? His hand, moving toward the next
downturned diabolical declamation, was stayed—Bunster, all
innocence, had already withdrawn his underhand and put it on the
table. Lulu, unattuned to microfaunal sound effects, wondered what
was wrong with her brother.
But Bob forced himself to file away the perception; he could
investigate later. And if that small creature should foolishly approach
him more closely, he was prepared to lash out with a well-aimed kick.
He obverted his next card and resumed recitation.
“Mack’ll pack her flatter cracker platter. Mack’ll pack her flatter
cracker platter. Mack’ll pack her flatter cracker platter.”

Lulu knew what her uncle had done; outraging her ever-vigilant
sense of injustice, it merely stiffened her resoluble fiber. Perhaps she
could decoy Bunster into believing she was the weaker one, and take
him away from trying his trickery on Bob.
She tremblingly trepidly turned her top card in a pantomime of
anxious hesitation, and then quickly appeared to overcompensate
with a display of insincere self-assurance. That was bound to
stimulate her opponent’s interest.
“Back-breaking brick-baking. Back-breaking brick-baking. Back-
breaking brick-baking.”
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