After a few minutes of staring at the television, Lloyd decided he wasn’t going to question it.
If a three-year-old wanted to watch the evening news instead of cartoons, that was his business.
Lloyd dropped into a chair at the dining table and pulled his backpack closer. If he was going to be stuck here for a few hours, he might as well do something useful.
He took out his math notebook.
The page was filled with numbers, brackets, and strange symbols that looked like they had been designed specifically to confuse students.
Lloyd sighed.
“Alright,” he muttered to himself, picking up his pencil.
He stared at the first question.
Then he read it again.
Then a third time.
The question still made absolutely no sense.
Lloyd scratched his head and leaned closer to the notebook as if that might help the numbers rearrange themselves into something understandable.
Behind him, the sound of the news continued from the living room.
“…economic changes expected next quarter…”
“…weather conditions across the state…”
A small pair of footsteps padded across the floor.
Tommy appeared beside the table and glanced down at the notebook.
“I know how to do that,” Tommy said casually.
Lloyd didn’t even look up.
“Uh-huh,” he said, still staring at the question.
Tommy pointed at the page. “You multiply first.”
Lloyd finally looked at him.
Tommy was three years old.
Three.
There was absolutely no chance a kid who still needed a step stool to reach the sink knew how to solve middle-school math.
“Thanks,” Lloyd said politely. “I’ve got it.”
Tommy gave a small shrug.
“Okay.”
Then he wandered away.
Lloyd returned to the question, determined to figure it out. He erased something, wrote it again, erased it again, and stared at the page like it had personally insulted him.
A few minutes passed.
Then Lloyd smelled something.
Something warm.
Something… delicious.
He frowned.
That smelled like cooking.
Lloyd lifted his head slowly.
The smell was definitely coming from the kitchen.
He pushed his chair back and hurried toward it.
What he saw made his brain freeze for a moment.
Tommy was standing on a chair beside the kitchen counter.
In one hand he held an egg.
And with surprising precision, Tommy tapped it against the bowl and cracked it open perfectly.
The egg slid neatly into the mixture.
Lloyd panicked.
“Tommy!” he shouted, rushing forward. “Get down from there!”
Tommy didn’t look worried at all.
In fact, he looked slightly annoyed.
“I know how to cook,” Tommy said calmly. “There isn’t anything to worry about.”
Lloyd stared.
Before he could say anything else, Tommy grabbed a spoon and began stirring the bowl like a tiny professional chef.
“What are you even making?” Lloyd asked.
Tommy didn’t answer.
He just kept working.
Lloyd stood there, completely confused, while Tommy moved around the kitchen with surprising confidence—opening cabinets, mixing ingredients, and sliding something into the oven.
Eventually Lloyd gave up trying to understand and went back to the table.
He still had math homework.
Ten frustrating minutes later, Lloyd finally solved one single question.
Just one.
He stretched his arms and walked back toward the kitchen.
The counter was covered with dishes.
A golden pie sat cooling near the window.
Next to it was a small cake.
And beside that… a pizza.
Lloyd looked at the food.
Then he looked at Tommy.
Tommy wiped his hands and climbed down from the chair.
“All done,” he said.
Lloyd stared at the kitchen in complete disbelief.
Tommy had made a pie, a cake, and a pizza.
All in the time it had taken Lloyd to solve one math question.
🌀 What Just Happened?
- Lloyd struggled with a single math question while babysitting.
- Tommy casually claimed he knew how to solve it.
- Lloyd discovered Tommy cooking alone in the kitchen.
- Tommy confidently prepared food like a professional chef.
- In minutes, Tommy made a pie, a cake, and a pizza.
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