فصل 37

CHAPTER 37

A Chicken, a Wolf, and a Problem

Because it’s Fantastico Friday, Mr. Daniels has planned a puzzle for us to solve.

He draws some squiggly lines from top to bottom on the board and tells us it’s a river. Then he proves he is the worst artist ever by drawing a chicken, a wolf, and a bag of grain on one side of the water.

Mr. Daniels! Did you draw that with your eyes closed? Oliver yells. No offense, but that’s terrible!

He laughs. I’m not offended, Oliver. I have eyes to see it. Then he looks at me. We are not all wired to be gifted artists.

Then he adds a little boat, which looks a lot like a banana, on the bank of the river.

Okay, he says. Here is your problem to solve. You need to get all three of these items across the river, but you can only take one item at a time in the boat. You can’t leave the wolf alone with the chicken because the chicken will become lunch. You can’t leave the chicken with the grain or the grain will become lunch. So, how do you get all three items across the river? Remember, only one item in the boat at a time.

Easy! Oliver yells. You just take the chicken first.

What happens after that?

Then you take the grain.

But what will happen to the grain when you go back for the wolf?

After a couple of seconds, Oliver drapes himself over his desk. Mr. Daniels pats Oliver on the back. It’s okay, kiddo. It’s supposed to be hard.

Mr. Daniels turns to Suki. Any idea?

She puts her pointer finger on her chin. If you take grain first . . . wait . . . if you take wolf . . . She sighs and shrugs. I don’t know.

Albert’s eyebrows are so scrunched up, they look like they’ll cover his eyes.

Take a few minutes to try to solve this on your own. Then we’ll talk about it in a bit.

I can’t figure it out. No one can. Most kids have drawn a river and the animals like Mr. Daniels did. After a while, kids start talking to each other. I’m surprised when he doesn’t tell us to be quiet while we try to keep solving it.

I tear off three little pieces of paper and draw the chicken on the first, the grain on the second, and the wolf on the third. I move them around, back and forth across the river. The class is loud now. I pick up my three pieces of paper and ask Mr. Daniels if I can work in the hallway because of the noise.

Sure. Go ahead.

I’m out there just a few minutes, moving my pieces around, when Shay and Jessica come out. They sit across the hall from me. I guess they came out here to work, too?

This is dumb, Jessica says.

Tell me about it, Shay answers. Who cares about chickens and wolves or whatever.

Do you know the answer, Ally? Jessica asks.

Why are you asking her? Of course she doesn’t know, Shay says. She whispers something to Jessica, and soon after, Shay is holding up signs with words. Can you read this, Ally?

I try to ignore them. I am not going to let her see me upset. I remember Life with Shay is like playing chess. Don’t get flustered. Don’t make mistakes.

Aw . . . you can’t read it, can you? The baby voice doesn’t bother me as much as the words themselves. I try to concentrate on solving this problem.

Shay moves closer to me. You. Are. So. Stupid, Ally. You know, Mr. Daniels is only nice to you because he feels sorry for you.

C’mon, Shay? Let’s go back inside, Jessica squeaks.

Don’t ‘c’mon’ me, Shay snaps. Whose side are you on?

I’m on yours, Jessica says. But it isn’t the sound of loyalty. It’s the sound of fear.

I stand up, go into the classroom, and go into the corner behind Mr. Daniels’s desk.

It’s hard for me to push the sound of Shay’s voice out of my head. But I remind myself that just because someone says it doesn’t make it true. I concentrate on the three pieces of paper. The chicken, the wolf, and the grain.

I move the pieces of paper around on the floor. It takes me a while, but I realize that you need to take more than three trips. You need to take the chicken and then the grain, but then take the chicken back with you and leave it while you take the wolf. Then you leave the wolf with the grain and go back for the chicken.

I leap up. I got it! Keisha and Albert are surprised. So am I.

Mr. Daniels comes over and I whisper the answer in his ear. Impressive work, Ally!

He says I can go around and help others for the last remaining minutes. Ally? Max says in a loud whisper. What’s the answer? Come tell us how you did it.

By now, Shay and Jessica have come back in, and they see me helping Max. When I swing by her, Shay says in a low voice, You’re still a loser, Ally. A total and complete loser.

But Jessica smiles a bit at me.

Mr. Daniels calls us back to our seats. Okay. That was a two-part assignment. The first was to solve the puzzle. The second was to see who would stick with it. Who would work on it and work on it until it was solved. Congratulations to the few of you that did.

If you are one of the many that gave up and started talking to your friends about soccer and other things, I want you to consider that no matter how smart you are, success is reached with hard work, too.

I can’t believe it. My experience with endless frustration and having to work on things for so long has actually paid off.

I guess maybe I’m having trouble is not the same as I can’t.