Kelvin loved to grow vegetables. Which was lovely, except Pearl, his wife, was the one who had to pick them, and prepare them, and cook them, and freeze them, and pickle them, and… This time, it was the peas that needed picking; rows and rows of them. It was good, of course. They never had to buy frozen peas for the entire year. Always fresh peas straight out of the
Pearl began to pick. She began to count. She picked exactly three hundred pods. Now to pod the peas…
There were seven peas in the first pod, and two hundred and ninety-nine pods left to do.
There were four peas in the second pod. That made a total of eleven peas, with an average of five and a half peas per pod. There were two hundred and ninety-eight pods left to do.
There were five peas in the third pod. That made a total of sixteen peas, with an average of five and a third peas per pod. There were two hundred and ninety-seven pods left to do…
Husband Kelvin was out playing golf, of course. There were six peas in the next pod…
Finally, on the such and such pod, there were one thousand eight hundred and seven peas with an average of six and a half peas per pod…
The phone rang. Pearl answered it.
“Damn!” said Pearl, returning to the peas. “Now I’ve forgotten where I was.” She counted twenty-two remaining pods.
She went out to the garden with the colander to pick another two hundred and seventy-eight.