human
Dat ugly Oleson girl, she teach in de school, Joe gasped,
gpt
Joe winked and lifted his glass.
human
How soon you get married?
gpt
That I don't know. When she says.
human
Das-a way boys talks. No way for mans. Mans say, 'You come to de church, an' get a hurry on you.' Das-a way mans talks.
gpt
Maybe Nils hasn't got enough to keep a wife, put in Clara ironically.
human
How about that, Nils?
gpt
Oh, I can keep her, all right.
human
The way she wants to be kept?
gpt
With my wife, I'll decide that, replied Nils calmly.
human
I'll give her what's good for her.
gpt
You'll give her the strap, I expect, like old Peter Oleson gave his wife.
human
When she needs it, said Nils lazily, locking his hands behind his head and squinting up through the leaves of the cherry tree.
gpt
Do you remember the time I squeezed the cherries all over your clean dress, and Aunt Johanna boxed my ears for me? My gracious, weren't you mad! You had both hands full of cherries, and I squeezed 'em and made the juice fly all over you. I liked to have fun with you; you'd get so mad.
human
We _did_ have fun, didn't we? None of the other kids ever had so much fun. We knew how to play.
gpt
I've played with lots of girls since, but I haven't found one who was such good fun.
human
Can you still play, or are you only pretending?
gpt
I can play better than I used to, and harder.
human
Don't you ever work, then?
gpt
I work between times. Nils' steady gaze still beat upon her.
human
Don't you worry about my working, Mrs. Ericson. You're getting like all the rest of them. He reached his brown, warm hand across the table and dropped it on Clara's, which was cold as an icicle.
gpt
Last call for play, Mrs. Ericson! Clara shivered, and suddenly her hands and cheeks grew warm. Her fingers lingered in his a moment, and they looked at each other earnestly. Joe Vavrika had put the mouth of the bottle to his lips and was swallowing the last drops of the Tokai, standing. The sun, just about to sink behind his shop, glistened on the bright glass, on his flushed face and curly yellow hair.
human
Look, Clara whispered;