Balance

Garret tried to hide his crooked grin, but it slipped out anyway at Maggie's antics. What must it be like in her mind? What must it be like to have been raised in a home where it was okay to be silly and have fun? He had close to no concept.

Glancing back down at her paper, he watched her try to solve the problem again, but stopped her when she made a mistake. "Nuh-uh...you forgot that three was sitting up there." Oh how he remembered what it felt like...the strike of a sturdy wooden ruler across his hand whenever he made a mistake. No help to figure it out. Just a hard strike and silence as he'd tried to figure out where he'd gone wrong. To fail meant he would spend the night in the fight cell where he had to earn his right to sleep for a few hours before starting all over again the next day. That was the schoolwork he was familiar with.

Seeing Maggie make another mistake, he realized she wasnt grasping the concept. Glancing around, he spotted a basket of fruit in the kitchen. Without a word, he got up to retrieve a banana and a knife from the drawer.

Laura raised her eyebrows. What in earth was he doing?

Back at the table, he peeled the banana, then counted aloud as he sliced it. "One, two, three, four, five, six." He shoved aside the six slices. "Three even groups." He divided the six. "Each group has two, see? So....six...divided by three is two." He pushed them all together again. "And two times three equals six again. Dividing and multiplying work together."

He pointed at her simple equation. "They always balance each other out."


Jason had been at his desk, and now stood as Katie returned with food. He offered her an apologetic half-smile. "Thanks....and... sorry. I just don't know what to do with myself."

Trooper groaned and gave a little woof. Jason rolled his eyes. "I know this smells good but you just ate, so you lie down and behave."

He nodded to the door. "Wanna go back in the meeting room? I scrounged up another movie."


Kirk grinned at Adison's text, glad she was okay with whatever they did. Dialing, he called their favorite Chinese place to have some food delivered. It would be a nice change from all the pizza they'd hsd lately. 

Showering quickly and changing clothes, he sat down at his desk to open his laptop and write up a quick report of the day until Adison arrived.