Pipkin bent over the page, his slightly too long hair falling into his eyes and tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth in concentration. He jumped slightly as Hazel leant over his shoulder, breaking his concentration.
"What have you got there, Pipkin?" Hazel asked.
"Hannah said if I could tell her how many cookies she's made today, she would let me have one!" Pipkin explained. "But I don't know how."
"I used to help Fiver with his homework," Hazel said, sitting down beside him. "Maybe I can help you too?"
Pipkin happily shoved the paper over so Hazel could see, letting it all nicely in between them. He pointed to the first number on the page. "Look, see? She said she made twenty three in the first pan, so I put that on top, then eighteen in the second one, so I put that under it, but I don't know what goes next! I tried putting the three and the eight together, but it's too big!" His head slumped forward on to the table. "I'm never getting cookies," he moaned.
Hazel smiled at him, nudging his shoulder. "Of course you will. Look, I'll help you." He held up his hands, eight fingers upright. "See? I have eight fingers. How many more do I need to make ten?"
Pipkin peeked out curiously. "Two."
Hazel obligingly put up two more fingers. "And then we have a whole ten. You hold on to that for me, okay?" He put his hands over Pipkin's, who giggled, putting one of his fingers up.
"Then we have one left over, because we only used two and we had three. I'll hold that one." He held up one finger, and used it to point back down at the numbers on the page. "Now, we have more tens. One ten from the eighteen, which you can have," Pipkin held up another finger, "and then two more from twenty. Now, how many have we got now?"
"One, two, three, four tens," Pipkin counted off on his fingers, "and one more from you. That's...forty one!" He beamed at Hazel, delighted at figuring it out.
Hazel beamed back, filled with brotherly pride. "You did great, Pipkin! Hannah has to let you have your cookie now."
Pipkin considered for a moment, then shook his head, grabbing Hazel's hand and dragging him along with him into the kitchen. "Not without you!"