Chapter 4

Quickly past my embarrassment of meeting two high school girls in just a t-shirt and boxers, I went up to my room and put on some jeans. Back downstairs, I bypassed the living room to the kitchen. "You three have breakfast?"

"Yes," came a chorus of replies.

I grabbed a package off the counter and headed back to the living room. When I entered the three girls were giggling together in a way that made me a little suspicious.

"The blue team just scored," one of the girls said when they realized I'd come in. All three were sitting on the carpet.

"Oh, they're tied now. That's a little surprising." I leaned over and set the package on the floor with another wink. "Peanut butter cookies." Kayla just rolled her eyes, while the other two looked amused.

"But you two are gonna have to tell me your names now," I said, stepping past Kayla. I squatted between them and held out my hand to the taller, platinum blonde girl.

"I'm Loren," she said, shaking my hand.

Next the brown haired girl grabbed my hand and said, "Molly."

"Nice to meet you Loren and Molly. Do you know my sister Emma? From school, that is. She's a senior."

"Maybe," Loren said. "Not well if I do, though."

"No worries. Just thought I'd ask." I sank into my spot on the couch and opened my laptop. "So, y'all wanna go to Big Splash later? I'll pay. I can get a discount since Emma works there anyway."

Kayla looked to the girls for an answer while I checked the forecast. "Forecast looks perfect too. Zero percent chance of rain. Ten percent of clouds."

Loren and Molly had a little private conversation before nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah, sure. We'd love to," Loren said.

I spent the next couple minutes buying the passes to the outdoor water park, while the girls worked on something on the floor. I tried to make a mental note to check into the office at the park, because their website was almost ancient. It was great that passes could be bought online, but it needed a major renovation. I knew enough about computers to be able to set up a website like that, and probably within a couple days. I wouldn't charge them too much, it wouldn't be too much work, and it would help them out a little. It was a great park with awesome management. Emma's time working there had made that very apparent.

"Hey, babe, the girls were looking for some help on this final question of their math assignment. I can usually assist, but I have no idea on this last one. Think you can help?"

I closed the website and set down the computer. "I don't mean to be prideful, but I work in aerospace. I'm sure I can handle any high school math."

"It seems kinda like a trick question," Molly added.

"Ah," I said standing between where Kayla and Loren sat. They held a paper between them.

"This proof seems to show that one plus one equals one, and wants to know what's wrong. But it looks pretty much fine to me, which doesn't make any sense."

I laughed and knelt between them. "That's a classic. I probably already know what was done. Let me see it."

Loren held it up for me, and I glanced over the proof quickly. "Yup. The way it is written is what trips you up." I stood back up and started watching the game again.

"Are you gonna help?" Loren asked.

"It's pretty simple in the end, but I don't want to tell you exactly, so let's see if I can walk you through it. Alright?"

"Sure," Molly said.

I was already learning a bit about the two girls through this interaction. Loren was much more talkative, generally pushing the conversation along at a slightly faster pace. And she clearly didn't like math at all, or maybe even school in general. But I didn't want to jump to too big of a conclusion too quickly. Molly was more quiet, but seemed like she wanted to know the how and why of things.

"At the beginning, you are given what?"

"One equals 'a', and one equals 'b'." Loren said quickly.

"Then what's the first line?"

"'A' equals 'b'."

"Why?"

"What?" Loren said, confused. But Molly said, "I don't know."

"Why does it use 'a' and 'b'? Could it be written another way?"

Loren stammered to respond, but didn't come up with anything. Molly was thoughtful for a moment before answering. "Well, I could evaluate it by putting one equals one."

"Why? Sorry, I don't mean that really. It's just kinda the point of this problem. Why? Just replace each 'a' and 'b' with a one."

The girls scribbled away on their sheets of paper. Molly was the first to get it. "Ohhh, this gives places with one minus one and then divides by zero. That's not allowed."

"Bingo."

But Loren cut in, "Ok, I see that, and they always tell us we can't divide by zero, but don't really explain it. Why can't we divide by zero?"

"Maybe because things like this happen," I said pointing at the paper. "There's a better explanation than that, but we don't need to go into that right now."

"Oh, yeah. I see what you're saying," Molly said.

"That finishes the assignment?" Kayla asked.

"Yep, thank god." Loren moaned.

"It's good though, you got there." I held up my hand for a high five.

Loren hesitated oddly, then hit my hand solidly. Molly didn't hesitate, but also didn't do it as hard.

I went back to the couch.