"Okay," shrugs Bella. "How long does Chinese delivery usually take to get to this neighborhood?"

"Fifteen minutes or so. Not that long of a wait. If you're starving you can grab a snack," shrugs Vernon.

"Nah, I'm good."

"Nope! Not bleeding," says Savannah. "That's in two weeks. Mark your calendars and despair, ye who enter this house."

Darren makes a face.

Bella snorts.

"Thank you," says Vernon dryly, "for that information."

Savannah cracks up.

Bella giggles a little too.

"You need to take a joke," Savannah informs Darren.

"Yes. I shall take it and throw it out, certainly."

That makes Bella giggle too.

Savannah snorts. "Har har. Is there a pile of jokes you don't like out there?"

"No, no. I donate them. To comedians so they can learn what not to do."

"They're stealing my period jokes. The monsters."

"Plagiarism is wrong," says Bella piously.

"Wrong and terrible," agrees Savannah. "Darren, I thought you were better than that!"

He looks between both Bella and Savannah. "Apparently not. Anything to rid the world of evil."

"Well, sometimes sacrifices in intellectual honesty must be made to accomplish greater tasks," sighs Bella.

"Savage," accuses Savannah, to her brother.

"Bwua-ha-ha, I'm ridding the world of terrible jokes, once and for all."

"Bastard! Rogue! Scoundrel! ... Um - barbarian! ... Help me out, Bella, my vocabulary sucks."

"Blackguard? Rascal? Fiend?"

"Yes, those."