Artie: Hey. What are you doing?
Barker: Guarding the door.
Artie: Can I go in?
Barker: Not today, sir.
Artie: Is he crying?
Barker: He doesn’t cry. He makes the face.
Artie: I didn’t mean to upset him.
Barker: You should’ve used your exit shoes.
Artie: My what?
Barker: Exit shoes, to walk away and not use a red voice.
Artie: And a red voice is…?
Barker: Super-mad sounding. You shouldn’t use it. Never.
Artie: Uh-huh.
Barker: That’s why you have a cool tool box. It’s where you keep your cool blue voice, your exit shoes, and your repair squares.
Artie: Where did you learn all this?
Barker: Preschool.
Artie: You mean, there are more kids like you?
---
Artie: Okay, that’s what I did. When the cake went in their mouths, they loved me!
Diane: Yeah, and now Alice doesn’t want to leave us alone with them. She doesn’t trust us!
Artie: She said that?
Diane: On the phone to Phil. I accidentally overheard her when I was listening at the door. She thinks we’re a pair of knuckleheads. Especially you! It’s the bottom of the ninth, Artie. We’re going to lose the game. Shape up.
---
Diane: Alice, your dad and I have bent over backwards to try to do things your way.
Alice: You haven’t bent over at all.
Artie: Oh, I’m bent. Believe me, I’m bent.