They didn’t just have to be toenails. Fingernails counted too.
Eric Ovens took his bag out of his pocket and placed it on his desk.
“How many you got?” whispered Kathy, who sat next to him.
Eric didn’t want to jinx his big day by saying the number aloud. Besides, he knew Kathy would only say something mean, or mock him.
Mrs. Jewls closed her attendance book. “Anyone have any nail clippings this morning?”
Eric Ovens raised his hand.
“Yes, Eric,” said Mrs. Jewls.
Eric Ovens quietly pushed his chair back, but before he could get up, he saw Eric Fry already making his way to the front of the room.
“Forty!” Eric Fry declared proudly.
Eric Fry had kept his hand in a fist all morning. Everyone thought he was just trying to be tough. Now he opened his fist and let forty nail clippings fall into the collection bucket.
“Well done, Eric!” said Mrs. Jewls.
Everyone clapped their hands.
Eric Ovens smiled as he clapped his hands too. Eighty-three was more than double forty.
Eric Fry did the math on the board.
2677
+ 40
2717
“Halfway to a million!” cheered Stephen.
“Not quite,” Allison told him.
“Anyone else?” asked Mrs. Jewls.
Again Eric Ovens raised his hand, but Eric Bacon had already hopped out of his seat and was headed toward the front of the room.
He handed Mrs. Jewls a plastic bag full of nail clippings. “Three hundred and forty-nine!” he declared triumphantly.
The class went wild. Sharie gasped. Stephen fell out of his chair.
Eric Bacon danced around Mrs. Jewls’s desk, like a football player who had scored a touchdown.
Mrs. Jewls was skeptical of the spectacle. “I could count them,” she warned.
Eric stopped dancing. “Go ahead,” he challenged her.
Mrs. Jewls stared Eric Bacon in the eye. Eric Bacon stared right back.
Mrs. Jewls dumped the bag on her desk, and divided the clippings into four piles. She asked Dameon, Allison, and John to help. They each took a pile, and then Mrs. Jewls added their totals together.
“Three hundred and forty-nine,” she announced, “just as Eric said.”
Again, everyone cheered, and Eric Bacon continued his victory dance.