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Chapter 11 - The Spa

Beeba and XL soon finished their lunch, while watching out the large Plexiglas windows of Saucer 1. "How much longer to the spa, so we can get back together with mom, Anna, and Sophie?" XL asked his dad.

"About 3 minutes," answered Max.

Beeba reached into his backpack and pulled out a binder and a textbook. He looked a bit sad.

"What are you doing?" asked XL.

"Unlike you, XL," he replied, "I didn't get my homework done this week. I have a lot of math to do, and it's due on Monday."

"But tomorrow is Sunday," said XL. "You will have all day to work on it."

"No," said Beeba, "tomorrow my family is going to visit Grandma and Grandpa. They live in another city and we'll be gone all day, to celebrate Grandpa's birthday."

"Can't you do it in the car?" asked XL.

"Maybe," said Beeba, "but it's tough to concentrate sitting next to my little sister Sophie. She can't sit still or be quiet for a minute. Also, reading while riding in a car is not good for the eyes, because of the vibration. So I think I better do it now. It will be quiet and still in Saucer 1 while it is parked over the spa. I can do it while everyone else swims."

XL knew that his friend loved to swim, and XL really wanted to swim with him. Moreover, Sophie would be disappointed if her brother didn't come to swim with her.

"You are so conscientious!" XL said to Beeba. "But don't worry, when I did this homework it only took me an hour. And we will have more than an hour of ride time in Saucer 1 to get home after swimming. So you can do it then."

Beeba was silent for a moment, and then he said, "You are an 'A' student in Math, but I am not. My best subjects are music and English, but when I do math, it takes me twice as long as you. I often get stuck, and then I have to reread the textbook to figure out what to do. Don't worry about me XL. We've done the most important things together already today."

XL wondered what he might do to help his friend.

Reader, what choice do you recommend for XL to make?

Choice A XL did the math work already, so he could offer to give Beeba the answers to copy.
Choice B XL could offer to help Beeba with the math, so Beeba could get it done faster.
Choice C XL shouldn't interfere. Beeba won't learn the math as well if he doesn't figure it out for himself, so he should stay in Saucer 1 and get it done alone.


Copyright Arthur de Leyssac, 2017. All rights reserved.

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