Charlotte Morgan and the Great Big Math Problem--Chapter 17--We Have Something to Tell You

in #writing7 years ago (edited)

 This is my next book.  

It is currently being copy edited, (so there will be the occasional typo in this version) and I am having a few illustrations done.

I am including the tag #steemiteducation because I wrote this thinking like a teacher.  The characters use math and describe their math thinking as they work through problems.  I am a former 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade teacher, so I used my experience and background from those years as I wrote this.

Update: The book is now available for preorder on Amazon.  Click here to get it on Kindle.

Click here to preorder the book.

Chapter 17: We Have Something To Tell You

Summary:  The Number Investigators go to Charlotte's parents to tell them about Gavin taking their stuff.


I took my gavel and I pounded on the floor of the tree house.  “This meeting of the Numbers Investigators will come to order!”  I pounded the gavel several more times.  

Marcus held his hands to his ears, “Man! You are loud tonight!”

“Opps…sorry!”  I put the gavel down, “I’m going to skip our usual opening meeting stuff, let’s get straight to it.  How are we going to prove that Gavin took our stuff?”

The rest of the club sat in a circle on the floor.  Sally spoke first, “We can ask for a meeting with Mrs. Rivers, maybe she will help us.”  Mrs. Rivers is our school guidance counselor.

“What good is that going to do?” Aaron asked.

“I’m just saying maybe another adult other than a teacher can help!”

“I say we sneak into his house and find it,” Aaron looked crazy as he said it.

“Do you have a plan for sneaking into his house without getting caught or in trouble with the police?  You know like being arrested?” Marcus asked.

“Guys!  That’s crazy!  We’re not sneaking into Gavin’s house?” I said.

“Why not!  He snuck into your house!” Aaron replied, “And remember he took our stuff!”

Sally spoke up, “Why don’t we tell your parents Charlotte?  They should know that someone snuck into the house and took our stuff.  And they should know that that person is now your math bee partner at school!”

“Maybe we do need to tell your parents!  I could see your mom getting mad and making your dad make sure that Gavin gives us our stuff back!”  Sally said.  “Plus, shouldn’t they know that someone snuck into the house?”

“I agree!” said Marcus.  “They need to know!”  

Sally, Marcus, and Aaron all raised their hands, “We agree!  We need to let your parents know!”

I wasn’t sure how telling my parents would go, but I was out of ideas.  They needed to know about Gavin and the missing stuff.

“Well, why don’t we just go and tell them now.  They’re inside making dinner,” I said.

We climbed out of the tree house and went into the kitchen.

Mom was cooking pork chops.  I could tell by the smell.  Dad was cutting carrots and cucumbers for the salad. 

“Hey everyone!” said my mom.

“Hi, Mrs. Morgan,” replied Sally.

“Mom, Dad, we have something to tell you,” I said.

My parents looked at each other, made a face, and then looked back at us.  My dad looked at me, “What is it Tambourine?”

“The other night when we were all here.  Gavin Eggelston, from down the street, climbed up into the tree house, shimmied across the tree branches, got into my room and he took some of our stuff!”

“What!” exclaimed my parents in unison.

“Charlotte, what are you talking about?” my mom threw a towel over her shoulder, put a hand on her hip, waited for an answer.  My friends stared at me waiting for me to respond.

“We noticed that we all were missing things after we last met here last week.”

“What are you missing?” asked my dad.

Aaron spoke up, “I’m missing several pawns to my chess sets.”

“I’m missing several pieces to my Magnix set,” said Marcus.

“And someone took a lot of my bubble gum,” said Sally.

“And I am missing the numbers I made to countdown the days until the math bee,” I said.

My mother shook her head, “So, you’re blaming someone, because you lost some small items.  Is that what I’m hearing?”

“But we took good care of the stuff we brought, and we always count our things,” I replied.

 My dad furrowed his brow, “So you think that someone, while we were here in the house, came into your room through the window, which I guess happened because you left open your window.  Then took your stuff.  All while being quiet enough so that no one here would hear him!”  He made a circle motion with his index finger at all of us.

“Have you actually accused Gavin of this at school?” My mother crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

We were silent.  I was too afraid to talk. 

Marcus broke the silence, “Yeah, we did.”

“Well, I think Gavin may deserve an apology,” said my father.  “I’m sorry you misplaced your things, but coming up with such a strange idea and then putting it on someone is just wrong.”

Aaron spoke up, “But Mr. Morgan, Gavin has bullied us about being the Number Investigators.  That’s why we think he did it.”

“So that’s what this is really about.  He is bullying you.  Which shouldn’t happen, but it sounds like you found a way to possibly get back at him,” said my dad as he went back to cutting the cucumbers.

“And he is Charlotte’s partner for the math bee,” said Marcus.

My stomach sank to my feet, I had not told my parents that part yet.  

“What is he talking about sweetie?” asked my mom.

“Yeah, Tambourine I haven’t heard about this?  What is goin’ on?” inquired my dad.

“Mrs. King mad Gavin my partner for math bee practice during class.  We’ve only had to work together once, he was grumpy.  But he didn’t call me names or anything like that.”

“But he has bullied you in the past?” ask my mom.

“He’s bullied all of us for being good at math,” Sally interjected.

 “Mrs. King said to let her know if he is bullying me now,” I said.

“So, I take it Mrs. King didn’t know Gavin was bullying you before?” my mom asked.

I felt bad, my mom was right.  Mrs. King never knew.  “No, Mrs. King didn’t know he was bullying us before,” I said.

“But she does now?” asked my dad.

“Yes, sir.  She does now,” I replied.

My dad put the salad into a big bowl, “Well, if you’re okay now, and he’s not bullying you I guess that’s the best.  Because it sounds like you’ll only be his partner for a couple of days.  The Math Bee is next Friday.”

“And the class math bee is Wednesday, which is what Gavin and Charlotte are partnered for,” said Sally. 

“So, it will be over even sooner,” my dad said.  He moved the salad bowl to the kitchen table.  “We’ll see if we can find your stuff later, in the meantime let’s eat.”

The six of us sat down and ate dinner.


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so nice story............i always love to read and now a days i try to understand your theme.......try to find out the problem.......and today gavin is in problem......may i right?

Excellent writing, good work
Thanks @mctiller

It was a beautiful episode

as i expected, gavin is now under trouble with several objection with clue, can he prove innocent by himself, let check out with next chapter.

You got upvoted from @adriatik bot! Thank you to you for using our service. We really hope this will hope to promote your quality content!

This post has received a 2.00 % upvote from @aksdwi thanks to: @mctiller.

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