"Well! I ain't got no folks, see? But supposin' I had--what I would say--I'd have 'em dandy, that's what! And--what's to prevent my kind o' keepin' in the back of my head that if I _had_ folks, and they _was_ dandy--and they would be, for the reason I wouldn't have the other kind--why, I would act accordin' _to_. See? Well, you would! Now lemme tell you about the folks I'd have. Kind o' get 'em set up, see, and then I can carry 'em along, some kind of way, in the back of my head, and they'll do me good and keep out--other things." Whistling softly, he took off his cap and turned it slowly round and round, considering. "I'll have me a ma first!" he said. "She'll have a blue dress and a white apron, and--sort o' pink cheeks, and when she speaks, she'll sort o' smile all over her face. 'Sonny,' she'll say, 'sonny, come here and I'll give you a piece of pie!' No! I'm goin' too fast. 'Sonny,' she'll say, 'have you washed your hands? Go wash them good, and _then_ come here and I'll give you a piece of pie.' That's the talk. Golly!--think of her carin' whether my hands was clean or not. She would, though; you bet she would! I've seen fellers as had that kind of ma. We'd have real good times together, Ma and me! I'll have me a pa, too. Lemme see what kind I'll have!" Again he paused, considering, his head on one side, his face grave and earnest. "Tall, I guess, and big; big enough to lick me if he wanted to, but he wouldn't want to, and I wouldn't make him want to, neither. Smoke a pipe, and talk kind o' slow. Fought in the Civil War, I expect Pa would have, and no end of stories to tell. When he came in from--from--I expect he'd be a farmer: that's it! that's it! Nice white farmhouse with green blinds and a garding and white ducks and all the rest of it--Green grass! I wish't I was feedin' the ducks this minute!--Well, when Pa came in, he'd set down and smoke his pipe and then's my time. 'Tell me about Shiloh!' I'll say, or Gettysburg, or some place else. And pa'll take me between his knees--I see the Warden take his boy so, and it stays by me yet--and smoke, and talk, and gee! I'll hear the bullets zip and see the flag--old Pa! he'd be a good one, surely! Then--I wouldn't have no grandmother, because there's Granny Faa; no kin to me, but she give me snuff--but--there's brothers and sisters. How about them?" Pippin whistled "There was an old man" carefully through three times, weighing, sifting, comparing. At last, "My brother ought to be a baby!" he announced. "That's the best way. See? That way I can watch him grow, and see him cut his teeth, and learn him manners--" he frowned, and drew his breath in sharply; then he shook himself and squared his shoulders. "Didn't I tell you I'd forgot that?" he said. "But my sister'd be in between. Call her about four; pretty little gal--pretty little gal--"