"Girl, when I was knee high to a grasshopper I was still taller'n you," Sarah Beth teased back.  Isi's poke didn't quite banish the feeling of being cooped up, but it redirected it.  It was too easy to think of Isi as a child on account of her height, but there was ample intelligence and way too much bad past experiences crammed in that small frame.  "If it's grub you want, you got to work for it.  Come on and I'll teach you how to make cornmeal griddle cakes."  She draped a long arm around Isi's shoulder, but let the girl see it coming well in advance and that there was no threat behind it before actually touching skin.<br/><br/>"The secret's to toss in some molasses, the darkest you can find, while you're beating the batter.  Then make sure that griddle's hot enough you can count to four when you hold your palm just above it.  Any less than that, you'll scorch them."  Sarah Beth continued her discussion of how just to make the griddle cakes with Isi.