Image by Nika Akin from Pixabay
“You know what else I think I may need?” Grayson said on the way home from his walk with Capt. R.E. Ludlow in Fruitland Memorial Park.
“What?”
“I need some leftover tinsel pompoms from the Fourth of July, Papa, and I need a lot of them, because I think if I set them up just right, we can see the wind wave through them so everybody can see it, and you know Amanda and Edwina will help me get it fashionable and Robert will make sure the red ones are in the right place.”
“Done, my young engineer. I will call the commissary about it when we get home. I was told that every year Major Grummel grumbles about all those pom-poms for the Fourth that nobody wants in August, but he is really mad this year because he made orders just before the pandemic, and now has 12 or 13 dozen pompoms he can't bring himself to just throw out.”
“How much is 12 or 13 dozen pompoms, Papa?”
“Well, let's think about your times tables, Grayson. There are 12 pompoms in a dozen, and there are 12 dozen. So, how much is 12 times 12?”
Grayson traced where the lines met on the times tables in the air.
“144,” he said.
“Very good, Grayson. So then, to know what is in 13 dozen, we just add 12 more pompoms to the 12 dozen.”
Capt. Ludlow smiled as his grandson started working his little fingers … the boy knew 12 was ten fingers and two extra, so he just counted up from 144...
“156!” he cried.
“Very good, Grayson.”
“Is multiplication just bigger adding?” Grayson said, “because I realize I can count up to 14 dozen real quick … 168 … 15 dozen … 180 … 16 dozen … 192 … 17 dozen … 204 … I just gotta remember to keep counting up by 12, or multiplying by 12.”
“Multiplication is basically just bigger adding, and you just have to remember what you are multiplying by,” Capt. Ludlow said. “But let's say also, faster adding, because it would have taken a long time to count or add by 1 and get to 144. Multiplication is counting or adding by larger numbers.”
“I thought so,” Grayson said, “because you can use the same fingers, just more of them in different ways.”
“There are some other helpful rules, because numbers start to get really, really big after a while, Grayson.”
“I hope so,” Grayson said, “because it's going to be more fun that way, like someday I'll use bricks and 3D printing instead of Legos.”
“So, you have discovered that buildings are being 3D printed now?” Capt. Ludlow said, again in amazement.
“Yeah, because Velma next door showed me,” Grayson said. “I don't know if we can get our printer at home to do that, though – I kind of think the paper would be a little too weak.”
“I think so too, Grayson,” Capt. Ludlow said, “but, as you get older, I'll make sure you get what you need.”
“Thanks, Papa!”
Later that day, Major Grummel drove up onto the cul-de-sac in person, and opened his trunk – boxes and boxes of tinsel pom-poms, fresh and new.
“God bless you, Ludlows and Trents, big and small!” he said, and gave 24 dozen tinsel pompoms away for free so they wouldn't go to waste.
“So, uh,” said Grayson, working his fingers, “24 is 12 twice, so if 12 times 12 is 144, and there's two of those … uh … 4 plus 4 is 8, and then it happens again, and then 1 plus 1 is 2, so … uh … 288 … and then there are two houses here, so … uh … each of our houses can have 144 each!”
“Very good, Grayson,” said Capt. and Mrs. Ludlow said.
“I need to rest for a minute,” Grayson said. “Is division bigger and faster subtraction?”
“Yes,” Capt. and Mrs. Ludlow said.
“I thought so,” he said as he went to his room, “but that's a lot of thinking because I don't really have enough fingers and toes for numbers that big and my brain hurts.”
“Growing pains,” Capt. Ludlow purred.
“See, if I could talk like Robert it would be OK, but, I need a little nap and I'll be back later.”
He went and was asleep in five minutes as his grandparents peeked in on him.
“That one,” Capt. Ludlow said, “is going to be a hard man to pin down in this decadent, increasingly disorderly society. His pattern recognition skills are not going to let him fit into the foolishness.”
“He's probably also a quant,” Mrs. Ludlow said, “capable of vast mental calculation of numbers in his head.”
“I'm going to have to do something I need to do, and something I don't really want to do,” Capt. Ludlow said. “I've got to call Sgt. Trent about his niece Louisa and the program she and her cousin Vertran are in for geniuses, and I've got to talk with those children's grandfather for real about positioning the Ludlow Bubbly to be sold – sooner rather than later.
“We are going to need money and time with these children and the people around them like nobody's business can do at this stage. Sgt. Trent and I have been kicking the subject around because he sees the handwriting on the wall with all five of his as well. I have to get my therapy process from next week done, but by the end of the year, I gotta have a plan for this.”