The Wicked Cat by Christopher Pike Read Free Book Online

Jessie wasn’t sure if she liked that choice.
    â€œI don’t know how to swim,” she said.
    â€œYou’ll learn,” he said. “I’ll give you a lesson this afternoon.”
    Jessie nodded but seemed uneasy.
    Next they went to the book table. Adam really only had to buy one book but he bought a whole bunch to make it look as if school was harder than it was. He showed Jessie all the subjects they’d be studying.
    â€œAlgebra is hard,” he said darkly. “You’re going to have to study every night to keep up in that class.”
    Jessie was distressed. “But the last time I went to school all we did in math was add and subtract. Where did all this other stuff come from?”
    â€œPeople invented it,” Adam said. “And if someone invents something we all have to learn it. Let’s go back to the coffee shop and have something to eat and I’ll give you a few lessons.”
    Jessie was interested. “Can we get a fish sandwich?”
    â€œWe can try,” Adam said.
    But when they were seated in the coffee shop, Adam excused himself for a moment. He sneaked over and spoke to the waitress who was going to serve them. She was the same waitress they’d had that morning, and she looked at him a bit apprehensively. Big and fat, she wore tons of makeup and was chewing gum. Her name was Claire, and Adam knew her pretty well from all the times he came in.
    â€œClaire,” he said, “I know I have that rude girl with me again and I’m sorry. But I want you to do me a favor. She’s going to try to order something with fish in it and I want you to tell her that you don’t have any. No chicken either. Then if she asks for milk tell her you don’t have anyof that. You see, she’s allergic to those foods and she tries to eat them even though they make her sick.”
    Claire gave him a shrewd glance. She wasn’t as stupid as she looked.
    â€œYou’re not just trying to make her mad, are you, Adam?”
    He smiled. “Well, maybe. But if you do what I say I’ll give you a big tip.”
    Claire laughed. “You kids. You kill me. Sure, whatever you want. I didn’t like her anyway.”
    â€œI understand,” Adam said.
    He returned to his seat. Jessie was browsing through a math textbook and frowning.
    â€œI don’t understand any of this stuff,” she said. “What are x and y?”
    â€œThey are unknowns in algebra. In most equations you have to figure out what they are. In fact, you have to first figure out how to construct the equations, usually from a word problem.” Adam took the book and skipped to a page where there were word problems. “OK, say Farmer John has four horses. When he drives to town in his truck without towing his horses it takes him one hour. But if he takes his four horses the extraweight causes him to drive slower so he needs twenty minutes extra to get to town. Now how long will it take him to get to town if he brings only two horses?”
    Jessie stared at him. “How am I supposed to know that?”
    â€œThat’s what you have to figure out. You write it out as an equation.” Adam picked up a pencil and began to scribble on a napkin in front of Jessie. “OK, four horses slow down Farmer John twenty minutes. We can say that four x equals twenty.”
    â€œWhat is four x?” Jessie asked.
    â€œThe four horses.”
    â€œWhy don’t you call it four h?”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter what you call it. But the most common symbols are x and y What matters is that four of these things equal twenty minutes.”
    â€œI thought four of these things were equal to four horses? Now you are saying they are minutes.”
    â€œThe problem is about how the horses relate to the minutes lost,” Adam explained, pleased she wasgetting annoyed. “If four x equals twenty minutes, what does x equal?”
    â€œI don’t know. I