Shorties: Number 25

Mrs. Anderson quizzed her first graders on addition problems.  Going up and down the classroom rows, she asked each youngster to give the correct answer for each sum.  She asked, “Mary, what’s three plus three?” 

Mary quickly answered, “Six!”

Similar questions were given to each child.  Ricky dreaded the question he would receive.  He hoped it was something simple like one plus one.  He knew he knew that one.  He liked art and reading but math twisted his mind.  It was forced in ways that caused complete shutdown.  Silently he prayed for a simply equation to solve.

With an audible sigh of relief, Ricky answered his question.  He knew two plus one.  Then he started anew hoping for an easy question as Mrs. Anderson began another round.  This time when it was his turn, Mrs. Anderson asked, “Ricky?  Five plus four.”

His heart pounded.  He didn’t know this one.  All action in his brain ground to a stop.  No activity was allowed and Ricky tried to understand what was required at the moment.  He knew the answer was a number.  Which number?  He looked at the back of the chair in front of him.  He could feel heat in his cheeks.  This brought more heat which he felt throughout his head. 

Mrs. Anderson prompted, “Come on, Ricky.  You can do it.”

Brittney, the girl behind Ricky whispered, “Nine.”

Ricky looked hopefully at his teacher and said, “Nine?”

His teacher smiled and exclaimed, “Yes!” 

Then she gave Brittney her problem to solve.  As the exercise came to an end, Ricky said a hushed thank you to his classmate.  As the teacher began transitioning to the next topic, one of the smart kids spoke up, “Mrs. Anderson, six plus six is twelve.”

“That’s right, it is.  Good boy, Leroy.”

All Ricky could think was, “Boy, he’s smart!”