The Scale That Chose a Side
Chapter 1Six Apricots
Nachum counted six dried apricots into one dish of Zeidy's old balance scale.
His cousin Berel counted six into the other.
Nachum's side went down.
"Mine are heavier."
"Mine are bigger," Berel said.
They were making little snack bags for a family outing. Zeidy had brought out the scale because the boys wanted every bag to be exactly equal.
It had two shallow dishes hanging from a wooden crosspiece. Beneath it stood a wide base with four small feet.
Zeidy had shown them how to keep their fingers away while the dishes moved. Then he went to find more paper bags in the cupboard.
Nachum added an apricot to Berel's side.
His own dish still hung lower.
Berel looked at the pile.
"Seven is not six."
"It is equal weight."
"You do not know that yet."
Chapter 2One Bag, Two Bags
Nachum took the apricots out and tried raisins.
He put a small paper cup of raisins in each dish. The left dish went down again.
Berel switched the cups.
The left dish stayed lower.
"Your cup is heavier," Nachum said.
"It is on your side now."
Nachum had not followed the cups as Berel moved them. He looked again.
The cup with the crumpled rim was now on the left. It had been on the right before.
They emptied both dishes. One still hung a little lower.
A person could see the difference from across the table.
"It is old," Nachum said.
He reached toward the hanging cord on the higher side.
Berel moved his hand away.
"Zeidy said not to change the cords."
"Then how do we fix it?"
"Ask him."
Nachum disliked asking before he had done one successful bag.
Chapter 3The Cloth Corner
Zeidy came back with a stack of bags under his arm.
The boys began speaking together. Zeidy put the bags down and waited until they stopped.
Berel explained the switched cups. Nachum pointed to the empty dishes.
Zeidy checked the cords. They were not tangled. Then he bent to look beneath the higher dish.
A thick corner of the tablecloth had bunched up beneath its bottom edge. The dish rested on it instead of hanging freely.
Zeidy held the scale steady while Berel pulled the cloth clear of both dishes.
The empty dishes came nearly level.
Nachum looked at the cloth that had held the dish up.
The fold was only a little thick. He had expected a large reason for such a noticeable answer.
"That dish could not move down freely," Zeidy said. "We must give both dishes room before we compare anything."
He checked the empty dishes once more, then invited the boys to try the apricots again.
Chapter 4The Unequal Six
Six apricots went into each dish.
This time Berel's side went down a little.
Nachum looked disappointed.
"Now his are heavier."
"Some are larger," Zeidy said. "Six pieces need not weigh the same."
Nachum traded one large apricot for a smaller one. The dishes settled almost level.
He watched them for a moment.
At last, a correct bag.
But Berel did not want the little wrinkled apricot Nachum had put on his side. He wanted six large ones like the bag they had begun with.
"You said equal," Nachum reminded him.
"Equal pieces."
"I meant weight."
They had used the same word for two different promises.
Zeidy folded the top of an empty bag and waited.
Nachum looked at the twelve apricots. No arrangement could make every piece identical.
Chapter 5The Picnic Rule
They called the other cousins into the room.
Sandy wanted raisins. Meir wanted apricots. Little Dovy wanted whatever came in the smallest bag, because he liked carrying things himself.
Nobody had asked for equal weight.
Nachum held up the scale.
"We thought this would make it fair."
"It helps you compare weight," Zeidy said. "You still have to decide what goes in the bags."
The boys agreed on six apricots for anyone who wanted them and one little cup of raisins for anyone who preferred raisins. Zeidy checked that there was enough for everyone.
Berel wrote APRICOTS on one group of bags and RAISINS on the other.
Nachum counted. Once, he lost his place when Dovy asked whether raisins had stones inside them.
He emptied that bag and counted again.
"No stones," he told Dovy.
"Good. They would make it heavier."
Chapter 6An Empty Dish
The bags stood ready in a basket by the door.
Nachum picked up one apricot bag and one raisin bag. The raisin bag felt lighter.
He almost put them on the scale.
Then he set them in their two separate groups again. Everyone would choose the snack they wanted. That was the arrangement they had actually made.
Berel helped Zeidy clear the tabletop. Under the old scale was a square mark where dust had not settled.
Nachum smoothed the tablecloth and kept its corners clear of the dishes.
"I said your cup was heavier when it had already moved."
"I noticed," Berel said.
"I should have watched."
Berel put the crumpled cup inside a smooth one. "Now this one really is heavier."
Nachum grinned.
They tested it with Zeidy beside them. The two cups went into one dish, and a single cup into the other.
The double cup went down.
Nachum leaned to check that neither dish brushed the tablecloth. Then he looked up at the hanging dishes.
This time, the scale had not chosen a cousin. It was simply holding the cups they had put there.
