“You can’t fool me, Raccoon,” said Dog. “There are not that many numbers.”
“Yes there are,” insisted Raccoon. “There are more numbers than one, two, and ‘a lot’, Dog.”
“Are not,” said Dog, laying back down in the grass.
“I’ll prove it,” said Raccoon. “Look here, Dog, I’ll make some marks in the dirt. Listen as I count them.”
Raccoon scratched some lines in the dirt and counted “one, two, three, four, five.”
“Now watch,” she said. She scratched some more lines in the dirt, and counted again, “one, two, three, four, five. There, different lines but the same number. And if I add another one, like this…” Raccoon scratched another line “then we have SIX. That’s a number too, Dog, just like ‘one’, ‘two’, and ‘three’.”
“I don’t see how this proves anything,” said Dog.
“It proves,” said Raccoon, “that these FIVE lines are not as many as these SIX lines.”
“They’re just lines,” said Dog. “Who cares how many there are?”
Raccoon thought for a moment. “What if they were treats?” she said. “Your family gives you treats, don’t they?”
“Yes,” said Dog, smiling as she thought about treats. Her tail thumped on the grass.
“There you go,” said Raccoon. “If your family gets you some treats, wouldn’t you like to know how many?”
“But I do know how many,” said Dog. “They come in a box. In the box, there are a LOT.”
“But…what about when the box gets nearly empty?” said Raccoon.
“Then they get me another box,” said Dog happily.
Raccoon sighed. “I think I need some help,” she said. She looked around and noticed Worm in the grass. “Worm,” she said, “can you help me explain something to Dog?”
“I’ll try,” said Worm. “What are we explaining?”
“Numbers!” said Raccoon.
“Oh,” said Worm, “I know all about numbers. I can count to 100.”
“Really?” said Raccoon, surprised. “That’s, um, good, Worm.” Raccoon was not sure she could count to 100 herself. “Can you show Dog how it works?”
“How what works?” asked Worm. “Do you mean counting to 100?”
“Yes,” said Raccoon, “but you don’t need to count all the way; won’t that take a long time?”
“It never has,” said Worm. “Here, let me show you, Dog. Here are some blades of grass. Here’s 1. The next one is 10. And after that is 11. And then this one is 100.”
“What?” said Raccoon. How can that be, Worm?”
“I don’t know HOW it can be,” said Worm humbly. “It just is, Raccoon.”
“Um,” said Raccoon. “Er,” Raccoon said. “If you say so,” said Raccoon. “Thank you, Worm.”
“You’re very welcome,” said Worm, and disappeared into the grass.
“That was very interesting, Raccoon,” said Dog. “But I still think I’m right. Worm just has his own names for the same numbers. What you and I call ‘two’, Worm calls ‘10’. When we count ‘three’, Worm says it’s ‘11’. And ‘100’ is a lot. Just like the box of treats.”
“Oh dear,” said Raccoon.
“Don’t you think 100 is a lot, Raccoon?” asked Dog.
“Well, you see…” said Raccoon.
“I thought so,” said Dog. “Now I should be getting home, Raccoon. It’s just about time for my treats.”
Dog trotted away. Raccoon watched Dog leave and shook her head. 100 times.
