"Oh, I hate math!" cried
13-year-old Amy Gibson in frustration as she sat down at her
desk to redo the math lesson she's missed too many problems on
earlier. Although she didn't know it, her math book and pencil
looked sadly at each other. Her eraser sighed and bookmark
looked dejected.
That evening, all the
school supplies in the neighborhood held a conference. The great
Judge Victor, the Dictionary, sat at the head of the long table
in their secret meeting place. He brought the meeting to order
and asked if anyone had anything to say.
Amy's math book cleared
his throat and the Judge said, "Mathew Algebra, what do you have
to say?"
"Well, your Honor, my
student, Amy Baker, is having trouble learning her math."
"Hmm, math troubles.
Well, do you have any suggestions?"
"Only one your Honor."
"And what might that be?"
"Well, I know this is
scandalous, but the only way I see to help the girl is to--
well-- reveal myself."
Surprised murmurs went
around the room, for no school supply ever even mentioned
revealing himself to any humans. Judge Victor banged on the
table with his gavel. "Reveal yourself? Why that is impossible!
No one has ever done that in all the long history of writing,
reading, and drawing supplies."
"Well, there always has
to be a first," replied Mathew.
"I suppose you're right.
There is no other way."
"There is one last
thing."
"Yes?"
"I can't do this alone."
"I see. Are there any
volunteers to help Mathew Algebra?"
"I will," said Perry,
Amy's pencil.
"And I," added Mark, her
bookmark.
"Me, too!" little Pink
Pearl, her eraser cried in her sweet piping voice.
The Judge sighed and
said, "I, supreme Judge over all these supplies, do solemnly,
and perhaps foolishly, grant Mathew Algebra, Perry the Pencil,
Mark the Bookmark, and Pink Pearl the Eraser permission to
reveal themselves to Amy Baker, and to her only, to help her
learn her math. Go your way, supplies, this meeting is
concluded."
All the supplies went
back to their shelves, and the happiest of all were Amy's.
- - -
The next morning, Amy sat
down to do her math. She sighed. "I just don't like math!"
Mathew Algebra suddenly
came to life and said, "Now, Amy, that's no way to talk!"
The girl stared in
disbelief. "Am I seeing strait?" she asked.
"Of course you are. And
I'm here to help you learn to appreciate math." All the other
supplies then came to life and agreed to help also.
"Wow!" Amy cried.
"Now," Mathew said, "we
aren't here to distract you, so get to work!" So saying, the
supplies became supplies and Amy got to work. Presently, she was
half done, but then came long division, the worst part of math.
She got really frustrated when it just wouldn't work out and
scribbled over the whole problem. Pearl the eraser came to life
and gently erased the scribbles.
"You just can't get so
frustrated," she said quietly. "Take a deep breath and work the
problem out carefully." Amy sighed and did it over. Pearl went
back to being an eraser. After the division came multiplication.
Amy got frustrated again and wrote really hard. In her wrath,
she squeezed her pencil.
"Yikes!" Perry cried in
pain. "Don't squeeze or write so hard! I hurts!"
"But these problems are
impossible!"
"No they aren't! If you
would just take a deep breath, stay calm and work it out, you
could do it!" Amy calmed down, as her pencil became a pencil.
After a while, Mathew
said, "You need to check over your work."
"That's what Mom says,
but I just can't stand it!"
"But if you check over
it, you are almost guaranteed to get 100%!"
"Oh I guess." Amy was
beginning to see that Mathew knew what he was talking about. But
when she did it, she just copied the first problem.
Mark the bookmark laid
himself over the first problem as Pearl erased the copy. "You
can't just copy the first problem! That won't get you any
where!" Mark reprimanded.
Pearl said, "Now do it
over."
Amy did and found she'd
got a different answer. "That would have been one against you!"
Mathew said.
"But why do I have to do
Math anyway?"
"Math," Mathew said, "is
one of the most valuable things in life! You have to want to do
it and want to do it well! You don't want to have to pull a
calculator out of your pocket whenever you encounter two plus
two do you?"
"No." As Amy pondered his
words, she realized that she really did want to do math, and
that she just had to remember that she did when she had to do
long division.
After that, she and her
school supplies became fast friends and when Amy moved on to new
books, she remembered the wise words of Mathew. After a long
while, Perry was too short to be used so Amy got a new pencil,
but she never squeezed or drew hard with that one any more than
she would have with Perry. Finally, Mark got so many wrinkles
and tears in him that she had to get a new one, but for a long
time, she had used Mark to cover up her first problem whenever
she checked her work. Pearl never ran out and she and Amy were
inseparable. Amy grew up to be the fastest at math and finally
graduated and the top of her class all because of the help of
Mathew, Perry, Mark, and Pearl.
The End
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