Our second story is about Bebe. Bebe was the fastest draw in Mrs. Jewls’ class. She could draw a cat in less than forty-five seconds, a dog in less than thirty, and a flower in less than eight seconds! But of course, Bebe never drew just one dog, or one cat, or one flower. Art was from 12:30 to 1:30. Why, in that time, she could draw fifty cats, a hundred flowers, twenty dogs, and several eggs or watermelons! You see, it took her the same time to draw a watermelon as an egg. Calvin sat next to Bebe. He didn t think he was very good at art. It took him the whole period just to draw one airplane. So instead, he just helped Bebe. He was Bebe’s assistant. As soon as Bebe would finish one masterpiece, Calvin would take it from her and set down a clean sheet of paper. Whenever her crayon ran low, Calvin was ready with a new crayon. That way, Bebe didn’t have to waste any time. And in return, Bebe would draw five or six airplanes for Calvin.
It was 12:30, time for art. Bebe was ready. On her desk was a sheet of yellow construction paper. In her hand was a green crayon. Calvin was ready. He held a stack of paper and a box of crayons.
“Ready, Bebe?” asked Calvin.
“ Ready, Calvin,” said Bebe.
“All right, class,” said Mrs. Jewls “Time for art.” She had hardly finished her sentence when Bebe had drawn a picture of a leaf. Calvin took it from her and put down another piece of paper.
“Red!” said Bebe.
Calvin handed Bebe a red crayon.
“Blue!”
He gave her a blue crayon. They were quite a pair! Their teamwork was remarkable. Bebe drew pictures as fast as Calvin could pick up the old paper and set down the new. A fish. An apple. Three cherries bing, bing, bing. At 1:30, Mrs. Jewls announced, “Okay, class, art is over.” Bebe dropped her crayon and fell over on her desk. Calvin sighed and leaned back in his chair. He could hardly move. They had broken their old record. Bebe had drawn three hundred and seventy-eight pictures! They lay in a pile on Calvin s desk.
Mrs. Jewls walked by and said “Calvin, did you draw all these pictures?”
Calvin said “No, Bebe drew them all.”
“ Well then, what did you draw?”
“I didn’t draw anything. “
“Why not? Don t you like art?”
“I love art. That’s why I didn’t draw anything.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It would have taken me the whole period just to draw one picture. And Bebe would only have been able to draw a hundred pictures. But with the two of us working together, she was able to draw three hundred and seventy-eight pictures! That’s a lot more art.”