"Hello Eric.", Cathy said as the blond blue-eyed Eric walked into her 2nd grade classroom. "Did you bring your 5th grade reader and workbook for your tutoring session?" "Of course. I have them in my backpack here", Eric replied as he took the backpack off, and set it on a small round table used by the second graders. "Good", Cathy replied. "Please wait a few minutes while I wrap up my work here, and then we will go to my house for the tutoring session." Later when they arrived at Cathy's double-wide trailer home, Cathy prepared a space for Eric at her large dining room table. "Eric, first read today's reading assignment." Eric sat down on the high backed wooden chair and began reading. This section of the story opens with our heroine seeing a large bird-like creature being crunched by a huge monster. She runs away, not even pausing for the 3 meter snake lying across her trail. Cathy asks Eric if he knows how long a meter is. Eric holds his fingers about a centimeter apart. "About this long?" Cathy says, "No, a meter is just a little bit longer than a yardstick." Eric looks surprised, then after a moment, says "I would have stopped if I saw a snake that long. It would probably have been a boa constrictor. They can squeeze you to death." Eric begins to read again. Almost immediately he comes to the sentence "She was not thinking of anything but running when she came to the beach." Eric Paused. "That doesn't make any sense" he said. Cathy repeated the sentence to him, pausing after the word "running". Then Cathy asked him, "Does it make sense now?" Eric looked doubtful, but said "Yes" anyway. Eric read the rest of his assignment. "She was able to think of things other than running now. She noticed that in her panic she had forgotten Carla. Where was Carla? She looked all around, but did not see Carla." Eric closed the book, making a snapping sound. The next task for Eric was to answer questions about the story he had just read. The first question was whether it was a bird that was being eaten? Eric said "It was not a bird." The second question asked how long ago the story took place. Eric said "100 million years ago". Then Eric opened the book to make sure he was right. "It is 100 million years. I was right!" After Eric finished the reading lesson, Cathy drilled Eric on fractions. Then Cathy heard her dogs barking which meant that Eric's dad had arrived. Eric picked up his backpack from the floor, put it on the table, and dashed outside to meet his dad. Cathy followed him out to greet Eric's dad. When Cathy came back in, she noticed that Eric had forgotten his books on the table. She picked them up and stepped outside yelling "Eric!" Fortunately, Eric's dad was still turning his car around, and Cathy was able to give Eric his books.