A Cooker Is Egg-xactly What She Needs

Eugenia Lynch of Ventura is trying to replace an egg cooker for soft-boiled eggs ; the gadget has a blade that you turn to cut the egg shell. Can you help before Eugenia has egg on her face, or will she have to keep chicking this out until she realizes that the yolk is on her?

Bob Berg of Monrovia is on the lookout for a set of 100 cubes (no bigger than half an inch on one side) that have the numbers 00 to 99 on the sides , with one number per side. Can you help get Berg out from behind the 8-cube, or will he have to realize that it’s back to square one because somebody’s doing a number on him?

Marjorie Drew of Brentwood is trying to lay her hands on some plastic glove driers , which are shaped like fingers; after washing the gloves you place them on the driers to keep the gloves in shape. Can you help by pointing out a source, or will we have to treat Drew with kid gloves because she already has her hands full?

Reader-to-Reader Help Line: For five years, Claudia at (818) 997-6988 has kept one eye open for the oversized paperback edition of “Notes for Joyce” by Don Gifford , a companion guide to James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” which has been out of print for a long time. Please help and make sure that Claudia’s odyssey won’t last longer than the original. . . . Meryl at (213) 859-3400 has been wasting a lot of time in her search for a Toidy Seat , which she wants for toilet-training her baby; the manufacturer is out of business. Please help her with a source, and don’t worry about being a stool pigeon. . . . Another parent concerned about a child’s needs is Randall at (213) 664-4226, who is after a Fisher-Price music box teaching clock for a 2-year-old. Please help so that Randall and son can make beautiful music together.

Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for one-time items and for products no longer available in stores. And you must give us written permission to publish your telephone number, so that others may contact you directly.

Barbara Cook of Los Angeles, who was looking for 96-inch shower curtains, need not take a bath on this problem after all. Victory Campbell of the Bath and Closet Shop, 1345 4th St., Santa Monica, (213) 394-8788, carries white bathroom curtains in the 96-inch size. Erin Gilman of Northridge writes that Stroud’s Linen Stores will special-order the curtains for about $80. Virginia Speaks of Pasadena says that the current Sears Roebuck catalogue (Page 1280, No. 96H 9221H) features a 107-inch shower curtain for about $30. And Marjorie Burgeson of Claremont provides a mail-order source: Surrey Shoppe Interiors, 655 Centre St., Dept. 7, Brockton, Mass. 02402, (617) 588-2525. But if Cook is creative, she can follow the advice of S. Walker of San Francisco, who bought lace-printed plastic tablecloths and scalloped them with a grommet tool. The resulting curtains, says Walker, were “translucent but not transparent.”

We have some information for Marian Stewart of Fullerton, who was looking for Dri-Die insecticide. Hannah Lafler of Anaheim says the product is an amorphous silica gel that she bought under the trade name Penguin Down Die Rite at Orange County Farm Supply, 1826 W. Chapman Ave., Orange. Lafler adds that the product must be handled with extreme caution, but if used correctly, it works well. And Lauretta Hill of San Pedro says that something called HY-PY works just as well; it is made by Tomic Insecticide Co., 241 Mednik Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90022, (213) 263-7359. Hill bought her supply at the Hillcrest Lawn Mower Shop, 1508 W. Anaheim St., Harbor City.

Maxine Leverett, who was looking for a chair that pulls out into a bed, may soon be able to rest easy. Gordon Epstein of GEA Designs, Downtown Los Angeles, (213) 749-7387, says his firm custom-makes these beds, which are not available in stores (call for an appointment). Evelyne C. Paige says that Long Beach Furniture, Long Beach, has these chairs. Mel Schaeffer says that Angelus Furniture, 3650 E. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, advertised them for $199. And Pat Smith says that a recent Service Merchandise ad in The Times offered a Flip Chair Bed for $39.95.

Herb Hain cannot answer mail personally but will, space permitting, respond in this column to readers who need--or have--helpful information. Write (do not telephone) to You Can Help!, You section, the Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.