The Root of the Problem

The Root of the Problem

“Look what I just got!” Alex said, pulling one of Mrs. Jenkin’s pies out from behind him.

“How?” Ted asked in awe.

“Well, first, I made a plan, like Dad always tells us to. And then I got all the things I needed together, like Mom always tells us to do. And then I waited till the right moment, and I followed my plan, and I got one!”

“Wow, what was the plan?”

“Well, we know that Mrs. Jenkins always puts her bake sale pies on the back porch to cool on Saturday morning. So I just needed a way to get one off the rail without getting caught. I knew I couldn’t just go up the porch steps because they go right to the door and the door has that big window, she might see me.”

“Right!”

“So, I decided I could bring over one of our lawn chairs and push it in between those bushes next to her porch, and then I could reach a pie! Then if I moved all the other pies together a little, so there wasn’t a space anymore, it wouldn’t even look gone! It worked perfectly!”

“Genius!”

“Come with me Genius,” Mom said from the doorway, “Bring the pie...” Ted froze as soon as he heard Mom speak.

As Alex left the room, Ted mouthed the words , “You’re in trouble now.” Alex just frowned.

When Alex came back to the room, now grounded, Ted asked how it went.

“Grounded, of course, all weekend. Staying home with a sitter while you go to The Fair with Mom, Dad and Katie. You know, the usual.”

“It seemed like such a good plan!”

“Yeah, I only forgot one thing,” Alex said, regretfully.

“What was that? Ted asked.

“I forgot Mrs. Jenkins can count...”