The Two-Family House(47)

They brought the book to Teddy’s room and sat cross-legged on the floor touching kneecaps. The book was spread open in front of them, half resting on Teddy’s lap and half resting on Natalie’s. It was full of equations and symbols they couldn’t understand. Natalie thought it was interesting, but Teddy wasn’t convinced.

At dinner that night, the meat loaf was as dry as ever, and the conversation was just as predictable. Natalie kept waiting for Teddy to ask about the book, but he didn’t say a word. Eventually, she kicked him under the table.

“Dad, can I ask you something?”

“You may.”

“Can you help me and Natalie with a book we found today?”

“What book?”

“It’s a textbook—An Introduction to Mathematics.”

Uncle Mort didn’t answer.

“It was in the garage.… We were looking for a baseball mitt, and then we found it in a box.…” Uncle Mort’s silence made Teddy nervous. “We looked at it for a long time … but the math is too hard for us.…” Teddy looked to Natalie for support.

“We want you to teach us how to do the problems in the book!” Natalie blurted out. Teddy gave her a stunned look.

“Um, I mean, please.” She lowered her voice. “Please, do you think you could teach us, Uncle Mort?”

Dinah stopped chewing, and Mimi looked up from the back of her spoon. Aunt Rose put down her water glass. All eyes were on Uncle Mort, awaiting his reply.

“What makes you think I know anything about mathematics?” he asked.

Natalie looked at Teddy, but he just shrugged. It was up to her.

“Well,” she began, “you’re in charge of all the money stuff at the business. And money is really just numbers, so you must be really good with them. With numbers, I mean.”

Uncle Mort looked at her expectantly, as if he were waiting for further explanation. Now she knew how Teddy felt.

“And second of all, you always use numbers when you speak. You like to talk about percentages and things that come from math. So you must think about math a lot.” She cleared her throat.

He was still looking at her.

“And third, my father always says how careful you are with numbers and how smart you are in math. We figured there’s a ninety-nine-percent chance [did Uncle Mort raise an eyebrow?] it’s your book. You probably still remember a lot of it.”

Uncle Mort took a drink of water. Then he asked Natalie a question.

“How did you calculate your percentage?”

She was confused. “Excuse me?”

“You said there was a ninety-nine-percent chance the book is mine. How did you calculate that?”

“I didn’t. It was an expression.”

“Either the book is mine or the book is not mine. Do you agree?”

“Yes.”

“Then isn’t there only a fifty-percent chance that the book is mine?”

“Well, if you look at it that way—”

Uncle Mort interrupted her. “There are six people living in this house, correct?”

“Yes.”

“If that is the case, then isn’t there a one out of six chance that the book is mine?”

“Maybe, but—”

“But what? If there is a one out of six chance that it is mine, then what would that percentage be?”

Natalie took a few moments to think through the answer. “A little more than sixteen percent, I think, but that isn’t really right.” Natalie felt her cousins stiffen. None of them has ever had this long of a conversation with Uncle Mort before.

“Why isn’t it correct?”

“Because we know the book can’t be Teddy’s or Mimi’s or Dinah’s. They’re too young. There are really only three people out of the six people living here who could be the owner of the book. Judith, you and Aunt Rose. So it’s a one out of three chance.”

“Teddy, bring me the book.”

“Okay.” Teddy got up from the table and returned with the large green volume.

Uncle Mort took it from him and turned to the back cover.

“If you had been more observant, you would have found that there is actually a one-hundred-percent chance that this book is mine.”

“Why?” Teddy asked.

“Because I wrote my name on the back cover, right here.” He held up the book and pointed to his signature. Natalie giggled. She felt the tension drain out of the room as Uncle Mort’s lips formed something close to a smile.

“We can look at this together next Thursday,” Uncle Mort said. “Unless you want to study it with me alone, Teddy.”

Teddy shook his head. “No, Natalie and I want to do it together. So I’ll wait.”

“Fine,” said Mort. “But I’m only going to do this if you both agree to work hard and pay attention. I’m not going to waste my time unless you both are fully committed.”

“We will be,” Natalie assured him. She sat back in her chair and exchanged smiles with Teddy. Dinner is finally getting interesting.





Chapter 35





MORT


Thursdays became the highlight of Mort’s week. In the beginning, he worried that looking through his old math books might bring back painful memories of having to give up school. But his fears were unwarranted.