Andrew to Andy

Chapter 9

Andy awoke feeling refreshed and at ease. He looked around the room in confusion. Where was he? Then he realized he was in John's cabin which he had never been inside during the day. John's bed was empty and neatly made up. Andy couldn't believe he had spent the night in John's cabin. He looked down at the cot. It was lower to the ground than John's and clearly smaller. Had John always had this bed? Andy looked down and saw he wasn't wearing any clothes and the thought that John had undressed him made him a little self-conscious.
In a small stack next to him were some fresh clothes. Andy quickly got dressed and noticed that he was once again in a pair of suspendered shorts and knee socks. The shirt was a bright blue gingham print button-up. There was also a bandana next to the stack of clothes which Andy absentmindedly stuffed in his shirt pocket.
He headed outdoors and saw that the camp was empty. He was sad that he had missed the men and slowly trudged over to the big cabin. Inside he found Samuel sweeping the floors and when Andy entered, he looked up with a cheery smile.
"Good morning Andy! How did you sleep?", asked Samuel.
"I slept well.", said Andy, a little reluctant to mention he had spent the night in John's room.
"Yes, John told me you stayed over with him last night. He said you passed out after reading your new book.", said Samuel.
Andy blushed and looked down at his shoes. He wasn't sure how he felt about last night. He had slept extremely well, his last memory of last night being of him laying against John's chest while he listened to the adventures of the Three Musketeers. He had dreamed of French palaces and grand guardsmen.
"Where's your neckerchief?", asked Samuel.
"What?"
"It was among your new clothes."
Andy reached into his pocket and took out the bandana, handing it to Samuel in answer to his question. Samuel took it and wove it around Andy's neck, tying a neat knot at the base of his collar.
"You look very smart now.", said Samuel. Andy felt a little silly. Why would he need something like a neckerchief? Any fashion accessories seemed excessive in the camp.
After breakfast, Samuel sat down next to Andy and took out a new notebook. Inside were number and symbols that Andy vaguely recalled from his days at the orphanage.
"We're going to start on arithmetic now. I believe you mentioned that you hadn't had much learning in that as well.", said Samuel. Andy kept a straight face, but he felt rather unhappy on the inside. He had gotten this far without knowing arithmetic, why was Samuel making him do this now? He didn't like feeling stupid, and arithmetic made him feel especially stupid. He rested his chin on the dinner table as he listened to Samuel explain what each symbol meant and how to write out additions and subtractions. He had Andy write out a few and on the next page were lines of addition and subtraction that he instructed Andy to finish.
Andy pouted and looked up at Samuel with pitiful eyes, but Samuel just patted his back and went back to his desk. After he had attempted to complete each math problem, he took the sheet back to Samuel. He saw Samuel make a few marks and he began to feel his eyes sting as he felt a familiar sense of stupidity and frustration grow in his chest. Samuel looked up and walked over to Andy, kneeling on the floor and resting his hands on his delicate shoulders.
"Listen Andy, it's okay to get things wrong sometimes. It just means you need to practice. Remember how your letters felt when you first started to learn? This will get easier, I promise." He then wrapped Andy up in his arms and shushed and patted the young boy as he sniffled and rubbed at his eyes. Samuel got up and went into the kitchen. He came out with a mug and inside was a pile of dried beans. He dumped the contents onto the dinner table and beckoned for Andy to sit down. Using the beans, he demonstrated how amounts were changed through small piles of beans.
"Take two from this pile and add it to this one.", said Samuel, pointing to two groups of four beans. Andy did so and counted the amount in each pile. They continued this all afternoon and Andy soon became lost in adding and subtracting, trying to count as high as he could in ever-growing piles. Samuel stopped after about 2 hours and made a lunch of rice and beans for the two of them.
All the hard thinking had left Andy feeling exhausted and after lunch he rested his head on the dinner table, slowly drifting to sleep. Just as he was about to drift away, he felt himself being lifted off the bench. His eyes fluttered open a tiny bit and looked up at Samuel's handsome white-bearded face. Samuel laid him out on a couch and covered him with a blanket. Andrew immediately fell asleep to a dream of an army of beans.