"I Do the Math"
By Gordon Bolar
In the third grade
I did the math.
Addition and subtraction mostly.
Didn’t know what it was for or why I had to do it.
Until my father said to me
“Do the math.
Because someday you might be asked:
‘Fifty-six minus twenty-three
equals what number?’”
Pause.
“Well, son?”
Longer pause.
“I’m still doing the math, Dad. In my head.”
So, he took me out to buy school supplies--
At a Woolworth store
with creaky unlevel wooden floors.
And my father said
“See. Someone didn’t do his math.”
And then he presented me
With what he called my “tools”.
To do the math.
I got a pair of safe, dull, rounded scissors
That wouldn’t even cut a harvest moon
out of yellow construction paper.
Not much use in doing the math.
But I also got a red Big Chief pencil.
And a lined Blue Horse notebook.
I got a jar of white paste.
I left the lid open.
When the paste dried into chunks
I used the jar as a rattle
For Big Chief’s war dance
Before he rode off
On Blue Horse.
They both got bored like me
Doing the math.
But I did the math
While I chewed on the red pencil
And spit flakes of red pencil paint
Down onto the rump of Blue Horse.
Like this: “Pttt! Ptt! Ptt!”
It wasn’t pretty
But I did the math.
Sixty-Five Years later
I stand looking at my father’s headstone.
“January 16, 1911 dash April 1, 2002.”
And I say out loud
“2002 minus 1911
Equals what number?”
I do the math.
And then, again, I say out loud
My own birthdate:
“March 9, 1948
Dash
Question mark.
So, question mark minus 1948
Equals what number?”
“I’m still doing the math, Dad. In my head.”
So, yeah. I do the math.
I still do.
Gordon Bolar is a theater reviewer and retired General Manager of WMUK, Western Michigan University’s public radio station. He is also the author of six plays. Gordon earned a master's degree in fine arts in directing from Ohio University and a doctorate in theater from Louisiana State University. On May 3, 2007, his son, Army Cpl. Matthew T. Bolar, was killed in action in Iraq. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery and received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
What’s happening at VetRep…
Listen to our interview this week with Ben Fortier on the Savage Wonder Podcast.
VetRep is thrilled to present “God of Carnage” by Yazmina Reza for the month of September. A playground altercation between eleven-year-old boys brings together two sets of Brooklyn parents for a meeting to resolve the matter. At first, diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the meeting progresses, and the rum flows, tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving the couples with more than just their liberal principles in tatters.
Tickets have been selling out, reserve yours early before they’re gone!
On November 4, 2023, world-class guitarist (and military child) Michael Bard will be performing at Carnegie Hall – and a portion of the proceeds will go to VetRep! Get your tickets here.
We are currently offering multiple dates for our online Playwriting for Veterans classes, and our Acting for Beginners class is now being offered weekly every Saturday from 10am-12pm. Scholarships for qualifying veterans, as well as multi-class passes are available. Registration details can be found here.