Vowel Trouble

"How did...that dollar?" Ethan asked.

I missed the middle of the question because of the general commotion in the car.  From what I was able to glean, Ethan was either asking about the sudden appearance of the dollar in his brother's hand or the dollar he himself had earned the previous day.

"Are you asking about your dollar or are you asking about a dollar that's none of your business?" I inquired.

The answer came to him before my question even registered in his brain.

"Oh yeah," he said, referring to his own dollar, "for cleaning the pati...whatever."

"O, Ethan!  Pati-O. Patio!"

Good grief.

- 4 July 2012