Panel #2 implies that Nancy gave the kid a quarter, now she has the pen and tests it ”under water.”
In panel #3, Nancy complains about the nonfunctioning of the pen under water and the kid demonstrates its power by creating some verbal graffiti with the pen on a brick wall in panel #4.
Was Ernie addressing Nancy’s naïveté about tricks with language?
There is an Epic Hover Hat in panel #2 of today’s awesome strip!