What does Jeanette do with the scabs?

From the text:

At night I would run my left hand over the rough, scabby surface of the skin that wasn't covered by the bandage. Sometimes I'd peel off scabs. The nurses had told me not to, but I couldn't resist pulling on them real slow to see how big a scab Icould get loose. Once I had a couple of them free, I'd pretend they were talking to each other in cheeping voices.