Cartella Shows Her Columns

Tam was losing. Not because of luck — because she was slow. Every time a number was called, she scanned her whole card from top-left to bottom-right, row by row, while everyone else had already put a bean down.

“Forty-three,” called Ama.

Tam’s eyes darted about. Twenty-six. Seventy-one. Five. Was forty-three there? She couldn’t tell. Her face felt hot and her hands were sweaty.

“Psst,” said someone beside her.

A girl had slid onto the bench next to Tam. She had a black bob with a headband, and her apron was printed all over with a grid of little squares, three rows of them, exactly like the card in front of her.

“I’m Cartella,” she said. “I’m a card, really. So I can tell you: you’re reading me all wrong.”

Tam looked at the apron, then down at the card in front of her. They matched.

“Look at me,” said Cartella. “Properly. How many rows do I have?”

Tam counted. “Three.”

“And how many numbers in each row?”

“Five. And four blank squares.”

“Good. Now look at my columns. Up and down.”

Tam looked at the first column. The numbers in it were 3 and 7. The second column had 14 and 18. The third had 26. The fourth had 31, 35 and 38.

“Oh,” she said slowly. “They’re grouped. The first column is all under ten.”

“The first column is one to nine,” said Cartella proudly, running a finger down her apron. “The second is the tens. The third is the twenties. All the way along to the last column, which is eighty to ninety. Every column keeps to its own ten.”

“So when Ama calls forty-three…”

“Where do you look?”

Tam’s eyes went straight to the fifth column. Forty-one. Forty-three. There it was. She put down a bean, and for the first time that game, she wasn’t last.

“That’s the trick,” said Cartella. “I’m not a jumble. I’m built. If you know how I’m built, you never have to search the whole of me. You only search one column.”

“Sixty-eight,” called Ama.

Tam looked at the seventh column. Not there. Done. It took less than a second.

“Twelve.”

Second column. Fourteen, eighteen. Not there. Done.

A calm, quick feeling settled over her, like when you finally find the right drawer in a messy kitchen. She wasn’t scared of missing numbers any more.

“Why are cards built like that?” she asked Cartella.

“So that nobody gets left behind,” said Cartella. “If the numbers were scattered anywhere, only the fastest eyes would keep up. With columns, everybody can.”

When the game ended, Tam had nearly a full house. She didn’t win, but she didn’t care.

That night she took the call book from Ama and wrote, in her own handwriting: A card has three rows of five. Each column is its own ten. Look in one column, not the whole card.