DAY 5 OR 6 (MAYBE EVEN 7)
I'm standing at the back of the classroom gazing at this four foot eight girl and the monstrosity of the blackboard behind her. I feel like we're locked in an intense battle, ready to pull out the pistol and fire, but she's bracing everything with calm and poise and I realize I'm the one with a problem. A Math problem, this time. It's back to a sunny day and there is a towhee chipping in the trees near the school. I had sent the rest of the students on an extended break mainly because they would be nothing but a distraction.
'Melinda, how many natural numbers are there?'
'One.'
'One? How can that be? What about "2"? Isn't that a natural number?"
'Yes.' And she went and wrote "1+1=2"
'I see. What about infinity? That's not countable.'
'Infinity only works as
