Uncle Ovid's Exercise Book - Excerpt

Twenty minutes after dawn W.B. and Marco rode in. Marco's chestnut gelding's hide was black with sweat, but W.B.'s Palomino stallion seemed bright and fresh. The boys stopped at a Winchell's for doughnuts. The counterman said, "Y'all just ride in?"

Macro said, "We heard the call. We came from the badlands."

The doughnutman didn't seem to hear.

Marco said, "From the malapais, the alkali flats, the poverty flats, the wasteland, the filth land, the barrens."

The doughnutman still didn't notice.

W.B. said, "Yep"

The doughnutman said, "Oh what'll you have?"

Marco learned Second Banana Rule No. Twenty Seven,

"No one listens to the sidekick."

There's a corollary to this rule that doesn't occur in this story, so I'm passing it along for your information: "They listen to the sidekick if he's forming a rescue party for the boss." I could've created a situation for that rule to show up, but I reckoned you'd want the story just like it happened. Natural like.