Over the weekend I really did study my flash cards. A little. I looked at them on Saturday. I looked them again on Saturday. I looked them again on Sunday. It was a little-house weekend at Mommy's. Not much was going on. I could concentrate better.
This is what I found out: For me,subtraction is harder than addition. And the big numbers are harder than the smaller numbers. But double numbers are easy, even if they are big. I know seven plus seven, and eight plus eight, and 9+9 as fast as anything. But 9=8,or 13-6....well, I just had not quite memorized those facts yet. I needed to count on my fingers sometimes. That's all.
I looked at my flash cards with Goosie and some of my dolls. I said to Hyacynthia, who is my best doll, "You are so lucky. You do not have to memorise arithemetic facts." Then I tought of something. I ran downstairs to find mommy. I found Seth instead. "Seth?" I said. "Why do we have to memorize things like 9+8, and 13-6? Why can't we count on our fingers?"
"Because that is too slow," Seth replied.
"When you learn how to multiply and divide, you will need you facts all the time."
"Oh," I said. I clomped back upstairs to my doll."Bullfrogs" I said to her. "I really do have to memorize the facts."
On Monday we did not have another quiz. I sort of forgot to look at the flash cards that night. On Tuesday we did not have a quiz either. But I thought we might have on wednesday. So on Thuesday night, I got out the flash cards. I was trying to memorize 12-8, when Mommy called me, "Karen! There's someone looking for you on the phone."
I put down the flsh cards. I ran to the phone in Mommy's room.
"Hello?" I said. ( I could hear Mommy hang up the phone in the kitchen.)
"Hi, Karen. It's me, David Michael. I have to tell you something."
"What is it?" I asked. David Michael hardly ever calls me at the little house. He must have had a very big news.
David Michael whispered something in the phone.
"What> I cannot hear you," I said
"I...got....a.....tatoo," he said more loudly.
"You got a tatoo?" I shrieked.
"SHHHH!" hissed my brother. "Did anyone hear you?"
"No. They are all downstairs," I told him.
"Good. Because this is a very big secret. You cannot tell anybody."
How could David Michael have gotten a tatoo? First of all, Daddy and Elizabeth had told him not to. They had not given him permission. And second, how could my brother have let someone poke needles in him? That was gross. And probably not very safe.
"You will not tell on me, will you?" asked David.
"I guess not," I said. "Where is the tatoo?"
"On my arm. Up near my shoulder. It will be hidden by my shirt sleeve. Even a t-shirt will hide it. But when I show it to my friends, all i haave to do is roll up my sleeve."
That was sort of cool, thought. "What does it look like? I asked.
"A dragon. A green dragon."
"Awesome."
"Thanks," said David Michael. "I knew you would think so. Now do not tell on me, Karen."
"Okay," I replied. even though I did not really want to keep the secret.
_______Here comes Chapter 8 - Easy as Pie_______
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Karen's Big Lie
Misterio / SuspensoKaren did not mean to cheat off Ricky. But she was just not ready for Ms. Colman's surprise math quizzes. And Ricky's paper was right there. When her teacher and her friend Hannie ask Karen if she has been cheating, she says no. A big lie! What wi...
