Jack: Book One in the Trilogy, the Battle Begins

Fractions Part 5

As the students waited to see if Jack would strike again their eyes now were riveted on Brooksy wondering if master would make him cry again or if he would say something pathetic. Master began interrogating him about his classwork. The little ones were so afraid to move that they sat with their backs perfectly straight and their heads unnaturally high and their necks stretched out, apparently trying to show master they were doing as well as they could to comply with his orders.

"Now Mr. Brooks, may I assume Mr. Brooks that you're almost fifteen years old right now?"

"Yes sir, in June."

"Well then mister, would I be right in assuming that, after eight years in this school that you now know, undoubtedly and incontestably, what the difference is between the fraction one-quarter and the fraction one-half? Would I be right in that modest assumption Mr. Brooks?" said Master Whittemore, tapping the thick wooden ruler we called the knuckle breaker in his long bony hand.

Jeremiah Brooks wondered whether he should say yes or no and, not understanding half of what master was saying, made a garbled guess that the affirmative would be the correct answer. "Yes," Brooks added.

"Good!" said master. "Then tell me Mr. Brooks what is the difference?"

"The difference master?" Brooks said.

"The difference," master said. "You are aware of the difference are you not?"

"Sir, the difference sir is one-quarter."

"Really? And how did you did you come to such a knowledgeable conclusion sir?"

"Sir Jimmy Swanson gave me two quarters for 500 of my marbles the other day and he said it was half of a dollar."

And how much did you pay for those marbles, Mr. Brooks?"

"Why, I get'em for two pennies each," Brooksy said.

"And how long did it take to collect 500 marbles mister?"

"Sir it took me not a long time at all. Jack Stone give them to me, except I bought some myself."

"Jack Stone gave you some marbles? Seriously, he gave them to you? And what did you give Jack Stone in return Mister Brooks?"

"Sir I can't tell you that cuz I'd be breakin' a promise to Jack not to say nothin'."

"Really," said Master. "Tell me Mister Brooks, do you want to pass the fifth grade this time? Remember what happened last year when you lied about something Mr. Stone did and suggested it was someone else?"

"Sir. No sir. I mean yes sir, I remember but I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you when you asked if Jack had thrown the cherry at your back while you was writing on the board."

"Do you want to pass this year, Mr. Stone?" the master - his face reddening and looking like he was about to explode - said angrily.

"But Master Whittemore sir, I'm not Mr. Stone. I'm Mr. Brooks."

The whole class snickered.

"Shut your faces!" master said.

"Mr. Brooks, I'm getting a little tired of your antics! "You owe me a detailed explanation of how you got your answer and now, Mr. Brooks, I want to know, what did you give to Mister Stone in return for the 500 marbles?"

"Sir," Brooksy said in a barely audible voice, "I gave him my father's canoe."

"I see," said master. "So it appears, class, that Mister Stone - a stupid boy who lurks outside our schoolhouse waiting to cause trouble - has made a rather slippery transaction and has once again shown his true colors, having essentially stolen that poor boy's father's expensive canoe for which he traded this poor fool a handful of cheap marbles!

"And this is how you learn mathematics by believing what Jimmy Swanson told you, the same Jimmy Swanson who hasn't gotten above a D in any of his subjects including the venerable subject of mathematics, all year long?" Master asked as Jimmy turned red in the face while the entire class shifted their gaze to him as if on cue.

"Well sir, I also studied my mathematics sheet before school today and last night so I'd knowed the answers when you asked me so I knowed it both ways sir."

"Very good Mr. Brooks. You are really quite impressive. Really I am truly beginning to see that you aren't as stupid as I thought you were. Yes maybe you'll amount to something yet. And I do have an important task for you sir, one that may help your poor daddy to recover his canoe."

Brooksy blushed beat red in the face at that comment from master who had never said anything good about him in the past. Having master say he might amount to something was to Jeremiah the highest praise he could ever expect. He felt a rush of pride and he beamed a great smile as the class snickered.

"Thank you. Oh thank you sir," Jeremiah finally blurted out in an uncharacteristic, public comment ushered in by a surge of self-confidence, the like of which no-one had ever seen before on the face of Jeremiah Brooks.

"Don't thank me Mr. Brooks, t'was you who did the homework and it paid off handsomely. Your classmates have taken note of your erudition and you have won favor in their eyes and even in my eyes. Not a bad demonstration, Mr. Brooks, not a bad one at all. Applying yourself to your work is the most noble of all activity in God's creation, except for the activities of prayer and churchgoing," Master Whittemore pronounced.

"I hope that the others here have applied themselves with at least equal effort and determination. For the root of all evil, Mr. Brooks, is in idleness and laziness and in failing to apply thyself in accordance with God's plan which is the noble activities of work and prayer. Don't forget that sir."

"No sir, I won't. You really have taught me a great lesson today, master, one I'll never forget. Sir, if you don't mind me a'sayin, I think you're the greatest teacher in the whole city of Charleston and probably in the whole state of South Carolina, and maybe even the whole country."

"Why thank you Mr. Brooks," said master, "and don't think that I haven't paid notice to the intelligent nature of your logic-it astounds me to have discovered it only at this moment, I must say, but discover it I did. Now class, those of you who are working on fractions, I want you to copy on your slates for homework the problems you see on the board. I will check to see who has done their duty and who has not."