Re: [Bathos]
Max's return smile was a little entertained and a little impressed.
"No," she told him, the corners of her mouth upturned despite the horror of the morning; his reaction was impossible not to smile at a little. The smile wasn't a laugh, however, because she didn't want to hurt his pride, this young brave boy in his pajamas. "Stay to the right of him, so he's looking at you, and ask him enough questions to that I can slip by him," she explained, all seriousness. "In other words, annoy him. Can you do that?"