(she had a few friends. furtive boys in pink shirts hanging about on washday after school. nervous girls who never laughed. impressed with her they worshiped the well-turned phrase, the cute shape, the scalding humor that erupted like bubbles in lye. she read to them).
there is a contradiction in the previous passage. how can we say that she has "scalding humor" and "turned phrase, the cute shape" at the same time? how can we interpret the
"turned phrase, the cute shape" to suite the