Page 39 - Lulu and Bob in Verbo City

Bob watched the miserable failure of his uncle’s subterfuge and
wanted to laugh out loud instead of generating nasopharyngeal white
noise at a frequency difficult to isolate spatially. But his elder had
managed to blurt the required phrase three times flawlessly despite
his shock. The nephew decided to compound the offense. He picked
up his card and passed it before his eyes; as those organs of sight
emerged from that brief eclipse, they too were crossed.
“Thieves leave these wreathes. Thieves leave these wreathes.
Thieves leave these wreathes.”

Unfortunately Lulu had tired of the discomfort exacted by her
ophthalmic spasm, and had looked at her brother just as he was
attempting to nonplus their uncle by imitating her. Bob looked so
idiotic that she could barely restrain her instinct to hoot and howl. It
cost her dearly to refocus on her little deck of unturned cards. She
reached for the top one and knocked it sideways.
Immediately Bunster, whose own cheeks were bulging with
suppressed guffaws, perceived her discomfort and leaned forward
intently. He silently pointed at the vagrant card her scrambling fingers
found difficult to dislodge from the tabletop. That increased her
distress; now she needed both hands to push and pop it up enough
to be grasped. As she opened her mouth to start speaking she saw
that the card was upside-down. Too late! She’d have to read it as is or
be timed out.
“Miss Elspeth’s missing pith helmet!” She sucked in air. “Miss
Elspeth’s missing pith helmet. Miss—”

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