ABACUS Read Free

beads.
    â€œHere, try this,” she said slipping it over AP’s head.
    â€œHey, it’s an abacus. A tiny one. But why is it with all this stuff? The abacus came from the east, not Africa.”
    â€œAn abacus?”
    â€œYou know, an ancient calculator. I used to have one when I was little, remember? Mine was way bigger though. I played with it for hours.”
    â€œYou would!”
    â€œThis one works the same way mine did, except the rods are vertical instead of horizontal—that’s the ‘traditional’ way of making them.”
    â€œSo how does it work?”
    â€œSee the beads in this row?” He pointed to the far right. “They each count as one unit.”
    â€œOkay,” said Kate.
    â€œEach row has ten beads. If I move one of these beads to the top, that counts as one.” The beads fitted the rods tightly, so they stayed in place when he moved them. “Now, if I add four more beads, I’ve got five. Each of the beads in the next row counts for ten. So if I move three of them up to the top of their rod, I’ve got thirty. Thirty plus the others makes thirty-five.”
    â€œBrilliant! What would we do without an abacus?”
    â€œIt gets harder. The third-row beads are each worth one hundred, then one thousand…”
    Kate stifled a yawn.
    â€œWith nine rows of beads you can count up to hundreds of millions.”
    She sighed.
    â€œWatch this,” he continued, pushing the beads in the two rows on the right back to the bottom again. “Say you wanted to enter 1524—a random number. You start with the fourth row from the right and move one of the beads to the top of its rod. That’s the one thousand.” He then moved five beads to the top of the third rod. “That’s the five hundred.” Next, he moved two beads tothe top on the second rod, finishing off by sliding four beads to the top of the right-hand rod. “And that’s the twenty-four. See? It’s easy.”
    â€œIf you say so.”
    Crowded Planet’s latest hit, “High Water,” blared from the radio.
    â€œWhat’s that tiny black button at the bottom for?” Leaning on his shoulder, Kate reached down and pushed it with her finger. Suddenly, the room filled with brilliant blue light, silhouetting AP and his sister like shadows.
    Then they disappeared.

Chapter 2: Lost in the Forest
    AP and Kate found themselves lying on the ground, dazed and in the dark.
    â€œWhere are we?” Kate whispered. AP felt the ground—it was hard and bumpy. When he looked up, he saw branches. Beyond them were stars and a magnificent full moon.
    â€œWe’re in a forest!” he exclaimed. “This makes no sense. What’s happened?”
    AP tried pinching himself. Sure enough, it hurt. Then he pinched Kate. “Stop it!” she snapped. So they were not dreaming. They really were in a forest. But where? And how did they get there?
    â€œThis isn’t funny,” said Kate, as if it were all AP’s fault. “I want to go back, right now.”
    â€œWe can’t go anywhere until it gets light. We don’t even know where we are.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “I’m feeling so dizzy I don’t think I can stand, let alone walk.”
    Kate was groggy too.
    â€œLet’s stay here till morning,” AP suggested. “Maybe we can sleep it off.”
    â€œRight here, on the ground, in the middle of nowhere? You must be joking!”
    â€œDo we have any choice?”
    Kate groaned.
    â€œLook, we can make a mattress out of dry leaves.” He began raking up armfuls. “And cover ourselves if we get cold.”
    â€œGreat!” Kate muttered, and grudgingly followed his example.
    Forests can be scary, especially at night. AP reasoned this was because dangerous animals could sneak up on a person without being seen. Fortunately, Britain’s animals were harmless. Luckily, this