“Thanks for the ride home, Mr. Dennis,” Mario said. “I would like to ask you one more favor, though.”
“Maybe,” I told him. “When will you pay me back?”
“Oh, no. I don’t need to borrow money this time. I need some advice about wiring up the electricity for that room I just added on my house. We’ll sit on the porch and I’ll get Consuela to bring us a beer.”
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked Consuela, when she brought our drinks. “You look all vexed.”
“It’s Pedrito.”
“What’s my boy been doing wrong now?”
“It’s what he’s not doing right. I’m talking about his homework. I just went through his math homework with him and he got every single problem wrong. You were supposed to be helping him with the math.”
“I have been. We been working on the times tables.”
“Well, that probably explains things,” Consuela said.
“What are you talking about?”
“Pedrito!” she called. “Bring your homework out here.”
“Yes, ma?”
Pedrito came out on the porch with his homework in his hand.
“Let me see those homework problems,” his mom said.
She quickly checked the homework and said, “No, Pedrito. You didn’t get any of these right, either.”
“What’s the problem?” Mario asked. “What kind of problems is he missing?”
“O.K. Here’s an example. Pedrito, how much is nine times seven?”
Pedrito thought about it for a moment and then said, “Fifty-eight?”
“There!” Consuela said to Mario. “See what I’m talking about?”
“I don’t see why you making such a fuss,” Mario said. “He only missed it by one.”
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