The Story of Fiveton       Mark Roddy - Seattle University    
Please do not make more than one copy or modify without permission.
(206)296-5765     mroddy@seattleu.edu

Beginning of Day 11 (last day).  

The Dragon Garth's party was a great success.   Nearly everyone from the castle was there and many people from the outlying farms and villages came in as well.   This was a very special event.   The people enjoyed the circus, the games, the feast and the contests.   There was a grand parade to begin the day.   Ms. Carver and the 3 rd graders lead the procession.  

The party lasted from morning until night and ended with a fireworks display.   As everyone knew they would be, the dragon rides were very popular.   Garth himself was still too young and small to give rides, even to the children, but his friends and relations from all around had flown in for the occasion.   One very special set of visitors came from the next valley over, the valley of Tenton.   These were the dragons Tiana and Abdallando.   They were Garth's parents.   They were very glad to see that he had found such a fine home and that the people of Fiveton were so fond of Garth.  

At the end of the day, Tiana and Abdalando asked Maria, Mario, Talic, Melinda and Emmeline to come over and speak to them.   At first the children were worried.   What had they done wrong?   But they walked bravely over to the two large and imposing dragons.  

"What is it, sir? Madam?   What can we do for you?"   The dragons smiled down at the children.  
"We understand that you have been good and loyal friends to our son.   We would like to invite you to come and visit us in Tenton."   We hope to see you soon but you will always be welcome in our home and in our valley."   After saying this they took off flapping slowly up and away over the mountains toward Tenton.  

The children were very excited.   They wanted to go but they knew that the trip over the mountains would be hard.   Furthermore it would take at least two days each way.   If they stayed three days in Tenton they would need a week at least for the whole journey.   How could they miss a week of school?  

Mario, Maria, Talic, Melinda and Emmeline got together after school the next day to talk it over.   As they saw it, they needed two things: someone to help them cross the mountains and a week off from school.   They decided to talk to Sir Golub about crossing the mountains and to Ms, Carver about a week off.   As it turned out, Sir Golub was happy to guide them through the mountains.   As a matter of fact he was thinking seriously about quitting his job as Captain of the knights; there was never anything to do and he was a man of action.   He was certain of this.   He wanted to open up a guide service, taking people for tours into the mountains.   The children would be his first clients!   Furthermore he said he would do it free of charge if the children would agree to tell everyone what a wonderful guide he was.   They replied that if they had a wonderful time they would certainly be willing to tell people the truth about it.   So that was settled.  

Next they went to Ms. Carver.   Melinda was pretty sure that she would not simply give her a week off from school.   The other kids agreed.   Their teachers were pretty strict.   And besides, they had just had a week of for First Growth Festival.   "What are we gonna do?" groaned Melinda.   "Maybe if we tell the teachers we're going on an educational trip...," said Talic.   "Maybe," said Emmeline, but she did not seem too hopeful.  

They got to school early the next day and talked first to Ms. Carver.   They gave her their plan.   She said she would think about it .   The next day they met with her again before school and she told them her plan.   She had meant for some time to do some research for a math unit using the money and number system of Tenton but she knew very little about it.   If the children would agree to learn all about it and would write a report then she and the other teachers would let them miss the week of school.  

The children were very excited.   They left the very next day and, as Sir Golub had said they would, they had an excellent journey over the mountains.   They made good time and arrived in Tenton around lunch-time on the second day.   They asked for directions at the castle and were shown to the house of Garth's parents.   Tiana and Abdallando were very glad to see the group and spent the next three days showing them all the sights of the kingdom.   In the process they learned a great deal about the number and coins systems in Tenton.  

In Tenton, they had square coins rather than round ones.   They had yellows, reds, blues and greens.   The yellows were worth one, just like the whites in Fiveton.   But then the reds were worth 10 yellows.   At first this was a little hard for the Fiveton children to understand because in their system there was no number larger than 4!   ....   But they were quick learners and they soon got used to the situation and to trading groups of 10 instead of groups of 5.   Before long they could add and subtract as thought they had been there all their lives or at least a couple of months.   Here are a couple of sample problems:

1)    4 B 2 R 0 Y      2)     8 R 6 Y      3)    4 B 5 R 6 Y   

     +   5 R 8 Y           + 2 R 5 Y           +   7 R 8 Y         

In the end, the children wrote a beautiful report about the number system in Tenton.   including a set of eight problems so that people could practice once they had been taught the basics.   They became experts, in fact, and when they returned to Fiveton they were much in demand as consultants and they lived happily ever after.