Wednesday afternoon, Jamie and Miles

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Jamie finds Miles puzzling over a knotty problem, and offers to help.  Somebody is almost certainly doomed.



Sitting on the bed, Miles stared down at The List. It was a nice list, color coded because that was how mama did her own schedules and even if Lorna teased her a lot about it, he knew Lorna did that for her recipes as well. That he was using a lot of different shades of green could easily be applied to the fact that he was green and had nothing to do with anyone else at all.

The list had several names and notes on them, which  Miles was currently pondering over, frowning a fair bit. They were not being very cooperative.

Jamie bounced into the suite, whistling something that would, if it had been recognizable, probably have been catchy.  He tossed his backpack toward a chair and hopped over the back of the couch, reaching for the TV remote, when Miles caught his eye through the open door to the kids' room; getting up, he went over to lean in the doorway.  "What's up, kiddo?  Homework?"

Miles peeked over the edge of The List, realizing a bit too late that trying to hide behind it meant that Jamie could very much see it. "Miles is working on something," he answered, hoping that might settle Jamie's curiosity. He had a vague feeling it would not. Or maybe an anvil to the head feeling it would not.

"Anything I can help with?"  Jamie caught a glimpse of the sheet of paper past Miles' shoulder and blinked.  "Hey, are you working on a present for your mom?"

"Maybe!" was the reply, Miles clutching The List to himself. Too late to hide it. But maybe that wasn't a bad thing, really. "Miles is not sure what to do." He pullled the paper away from himself, glaring down at it. "Miles thinks this is a bit more complicated than anticipated." He enunciated the last word carefully - that was the new word of the week.

Jamie sat down, leaning forward, elbows on his knees.  Whatever this was, it was obviously important to Miles.  "Well, you know, that offer of help still stands.  And a lot of the time, when I'm having trouble wrapping my head around something when I'm just thinking about it by myself, trying to explain it to somebody else will help me figure it out."

Jamie could be trusted. Miles knew that much without a single doubt - and clearly this was too big to try and figure it out on his own, though he had made some headway at least. Even if some people were losing points fast. And then winning them back again fast. And then not.

This was very very complicated.

"Miles could show Jamie... but Jamie must promise to never tell anyone."

Jamie didn't even hesitate.  "I promise.  It'll just be our secret until you decide you want to tell somebody else."

"Miles is never telling. Or else it will not work." He looked at Jamie a while longer then surrendered the paper to him with a small sigh. "This is very important to Miles."

"Well, I can see that.  Don't worry, Miles, we'll figure it out." Jamie took the piece of paper and perused it.  "Hm."  He grinned sheepishly.  "This is in that code you and Artie made up, isn't it? He was gonna teach me once but then something came up and we never got back to it."

A very solemn nod answered his question, Miles scrambling over to point out one of the symbols. He leaned over and whispered a few words, pausing a moment before going on further. Just in case someone might be listening. Finally he sat up straight once more and gave Jamie a worried look, waiting for his opinion.

Jamie followed the explanation readily enough--and the purpose of the list became clear almost immediately.  He scanned down to the point totals, noted one in particular, and let out a low whistle.  "This is some thorough work, here, guy," he said finally.  "What are you having trouble with?  Deciding which the most important categories are?  Or do you want help gathering information, maybe?"

"Yes!" Miles grinned, feeling something of a weight lift from his shoulders. He should have asked for help sooner - although it had also been fun to do this on his own. And Artie would not understand - besides, he was busy mooning over that girl. This was much more important. "Miles needs to come up with tests too."

"Aah, tests."  Jamie grinned back.  "That'll be some fun."  He paused thoughtfully.  "Well, it seems to me that the most important categories are how happy Alison is, and how happy you are.  Which I figure you knew already, and most of the problem is figuring out how to judge that, and what to do in case of tie?"

"Miles is happy if mama is happy," was the simple reply. He pointed at the very first column, where points varied wildly. "Miles is thinking some people need to get to work though," he frowned. And then smiled a bit. "Miles think that if there is a tie, it will not be up to Miles to decide."

"Heh.  Good points all.  Back to the subject of tests, then."  Jamie eyed the list again.  "And are you going to just use this to keep track of where things stand, or are you going to be doing any discouraging of people with low point totals, or what?  You've been really busy getting all this information, I can tell, but have you thought about what you're gonna use it for?"

And that's where Miles had hit a knot, actually. "Miles is not sure. Miles was not happy about this," he tapped at the sheet with a frown, "but at the same time..." He shrugged, pointing further down. "Things change too quickly and Miles finds it a bit dizzying, so keeping track for now seemed like a good idea."

He grinned up at Jamie. "Miles thinks having a partner in crime is a good idea."

Jamie eyed the entries Miles was referring to and nodded.  "Yeah, I can see where you're coming from there.  And it gets complicated, too, because if you look another way, some of this stuff you've got marked down as negative points can also be evidence of feelings.  And it does change pretty quickly."  He snickered.  "Doesn't help that from the looks of things Alison's forgotten everything she ever learned about math, or is ignoring it.  Ah well."  He saluted smartly, grinning back.  "One partner in crime, reporting for duty.  You let me know what you want, I'll help you make it happen."