“Ow!”

“Stand still.”

“It’s cold!”

“Ain’t my fault.”

“Jayne, enough!”

“Nope, don’t think it is. You know what Mal said – you ain’t walking through the ship like that, not ‘til you’re hosed down.”

“It’s not my fault ...”

“You’re the psychic, ain’t you?”

“I was looking at the magpies ...”

“Moonbrain, there weren’t any magpies.”

“One for sorrow, two for joy ...”

“Sorrow’s right. You shoulda been looking where you were going.”

“I expected my Jayne to look for me.”

“I weren’t the one fell in that puddle o’ ... whatever the hell it was.”

“It had a crust.”

“Not after you’d done with it, splashing about like that.”

“Don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m ... laughing with you.”

“I'm not laughing.”

“No? Then it must be me.”

“I can withdraw marital privileges.”

“Riv, I ain’t gonna come anywhere near you ‘til you smell spring clean again.”

“You think I smell like the spring?”

“When you’re not covered in cao ... but ... yeah.”

“Oh, Jayne.”

“Now, you stand back. I got enough on me when I pulled yah outta there.”

“I would have washed your shirt for you.”

“Nah. No point. And Mal’d never’ve let you put it in one o’ our machines.”

“I would have taken it to the stream. Beaten it with a rock.”

“Easier to toss it.”

“It scared the magpies away.”

“I’m telling you, they weren’t magpies. They were crows.”

“Three for a girl, four for a boy ...”

“Uh ... Riv? What are you doing?”

“I thought it might be easier.”

“But you ain't got no unders on.”

“Jayne doesn’t like seeing his wife like this?”

“Uh ... yeah, a’course but ... I ...”

“No buts. Am I clean, Jayne?”

“Uh ... what?”

“Clean? Here? And here?”

“Riv ...”

“What about ...”

“Tah muh duh.”

“Would Jayne like to dry my hair?”

“C’n I brush it?”

“Later.”

“Then I reckon I’ll dry it for yah. Last one back to the shuttle’s a magpie ...”

“Five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret ...”

“Well, I ain’t gonna tell anyone, Riv.”

“River!”

“Yes, captain?”

“Put some gorram clothes on!”

“Yes, sir. Eventually.”

“Damn it. This place gets more like a kindergarten every day ...”