They both heard the phone ringing from inside.
“Hold on a sec.” Mr. Macabe disappeared into the house for a few seconds, then returned; pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
“I don’t yet know how you handle kids, but I know how I was when my parents were away. If you can manage it, you can try and get her to obey all the rules, but you’ll probably get a fight the whole time. More ‘an likely, she’ll be pesterin’ and houndin’ you to go against everything I just said in there.” He pointed to the house. “And that’s exactly why I set all them rules, so you can break ’em.”
Jinny was puzzled; he grinned.