There once were five fishermen named Tom, Thomas, Terry, Trevor, and Taylor. They loved to fish together and often had fish competitions on who got the best fish with a vote where you couldn’t vote for yourself. One day, they named themselves the High Five. “Let’s not compete today and just fish,” suggested Terry, when Tom, Thomas, Terry, and Trevor lost to Taylor completely yesterday and were angry. So they did. At the end of the fishing meeting, Trevor told them, “Let’s count ourselves and see if one of us is missing!” “Let me count,” insisted Thomas.
“One, that’s Terry, two, that’s Tom, three, that is Taylor, and four, that is Trevor,” counted Thomas. “Wait, that’s correct, no, one of us is missing! I counted- well, let’s see, Tom, Trevor, Taylor and Terry! Five minus four is one! One is missing!” “Let me try,” Tom cried, “Do you know how to count? Let me!” So he counted, “Thomas, Terry, Trevor, and Taylor. One, two, three, four. Four. How can this be?” Taylor yelled, “Wait, are you both telling me that two of my friends haven’t even graduated from preschool yet? Thomas and Tom, you’re 34 and 36, surely you should have mastered simple addition after so many years! How many fingers do you see?”
“One of us is missing! One of us is missing! One of us is missing! One of us is missing! One of us is missing!” The High Four yelled about. (They changed themselves to High Four.) A young, smooth-skinned blue-eyed girl wearing a white silk dress asked sweetly, “Men, what’s wrong?” Terry explained, ” One of-” “Terry, let me talk, so-” interrupted Tom. “Excuse me,” the girl said politely, “Why don’t you all talk at once? I’m Melinda, by the way.” So the High Four explained sadly, “We counted each other, and one of us is missing!” Melinda said calmly, “Don’t be sad. Walk past me one by one slowly, and I will count you.” Tom, Thomas, Terry, Trevor, and Taylor walked past her. “One, two, three, four, FIVE!” Melinda counted. “There are five of you!” Now called High Five, the High Five gratefully said, “Magic! Thanks! Would you like our fresh fish? We can cook it for you.” Melinda replied, “Oh, you don’t need to cook it for me. I must bring it to my family up on the hill. Bye, and remember to count yourself!”
