General Flash Fiction posted October 22, 2021 |
Not enough pounds; too many tons
Mathematically Challenged
by Elizabeth Emerald
My friend Scott, whose backyard abuts the construction site of a three-hundred-thousand-pound, fully assembled, steel bridge (pending installation Saturday) queried the project supervisor as to the hoisting capacity of the SPMT (self-propelled modular transporter) that will position the bridge.
The man, sketching a diagram, wrote: Can lift up to ten thousand pounds.
Scott pointed out that the bridge weighed three hundred thousand pounds.
The man, flustered, said he'd meant "tons"; he scribbled out "pounds" and wrote "tons."
Scott pointed out that ten thousand tons is twenty million pounds.
The man, hurling the pen at Scott, said: You do the math!
My friend Scott, whose backyard abuts the construction site of a three-hundred-thousand-pound, fully assembled, steel bridge (pending installation Saturday) queried the project supervisor as to the hoisting capacity of the SPMT (self-propelled modular transporter) that will position the bridge.
The man, sketching a diagram, wrote: Can lift up to ten thousand pounds.
Scott pointed out that the bridge weighed three hundred thousand pounds.
The man, flustered, said he'd meant "tons"; he scribbled out "pounds" and wrote "tons."
Scott pointed out that ten thousand tons is twenty million pounds.
The man, hurling the pen at Scott, said: You do the math!
The man, sketching a diagram, wrote: Can lift up to ten thousand pounds.
Scott pointed out that the bridge weighed three hundred thousand pounds.
The man, flustered, said he'd meant "tons"; he scribbled out "pounds" and wrote "tons."
Scott pointed out that ten thousand tons is twenty million pounds.
The man, hurling the pen at Scott, said: You do the math!
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