The Page He Was Afraid to Erase

Chapter 1All That Writing

Yanky had filled almost a whole page with arithmetic. He had drawn little boxes, written numbers inside them, and added a long row beneath.

Then he checked the question again.

There were four boxes of six pencils, not six boxes of four with two loose pencils added.

He had somehow brought the extra two from the question above.

The answer did not fit.

Yanky rubbed one number out. Under the gray mark, the paper began to look tired.

Chapter 2Keeping the Lines

He drew a line through the extra two. Then he changed the row above. Then the little boxes needed changing too.

The page held two attempts on top of one another.

Rebbi stopped beside his desk.

"Show me where this attempt begins."

Yanky pointed to one number, then another.

"Here. Except this part belongs to the first one."

Rebbi waited while Yanky tried to follow his own work.

He could not tell which numbers he had kept.

Chapter 3The Time in the Paper

"A fresh page would help us see it," Rebbi said.

Yanky held the old one flat.

"But I spent so long on this."

"Yes. You tried several things."

"If I start again, it is as if I did nothing."

Rebbi did not take the page away.

"You can keep this attempt. We need the next one clear enough to check."

Yanky looked at the crowded boxes. Keeping the page did not mean he had to keep solving on it.

Chapter 4Beside, Not Underneath

He slid the old page to the side and took a clean sheet.

Rebbi asked him to read just the current question aloud.

"Four boxes. Six pencils in each."

"Any loose pencils?"

Yanky checked. "Not in this question."

He drew four boxes, with six dots in each one. On the old page he had tried to remember two questions at once. On this one, the question stayed beside the drawing.

Rebbi moved on while Yanky counted and checked.

Chapter 5Twenty-Four

The new answer was twenty-four. Yanky counted the dots once more, touching the page with the end of his pencil.

The four boxes were clear. There was no extra two hiding between crossed-out lines.

Rebbi returned and asked where the twenty-four came from.

Yanky showed him.

"This I can follow," Rebbi said.

Yanky smiled at the clean page. He had not solved it by making every mark on the old page right. He had given the correct attempt its own space.

Chapter 6The Old Attempt

He folded the first page into his practice folder instead of throwing it away angrily.

Later he opened it beside the new one. Now he could find the moment when he had borrowed the two loose pencils from the wrong question.

He circled that place on the old attempt.

The circle was not another repair to the answer. It showed what he wanted to notice next time.

When he began the next question, he left space between it and the one above.

His folder held both pages. One showed where he had got tangled; one showed the work clearly. Neither had to pretend to be the other.