Some ambiguous dialogue I wrote and the interpretations it elicited in November 1992:
A: Ta da!
B: What happened?
A: It's done!
B: Already?!
A: Yeah...Come see for yourself.
(B stares in disbelief.)
B: Wow...It doesn't seem possible...
A: Everything fell into place.
B: You are so lucky! You must have gotten a lot of breaks along the way.
A: Oh, yeah, there was some luck involved, but I still figured it out myself.
B: And just a few minutes ago, I thought you were clueless.
A: I was at first, but I found out it's really not that hard.
B: Well, I have to say I'm impressed. You really put your mind to it and...Wait! (B eyes something across the room.) Well, no wonder you figured it out!
A: What do you mean?
B: You ignored half the steps. Anyone could figure it out then!
A: OK, I did it my way, but it still turned out great.
B: But you didn't really solve it...
A: It's finished, isn't it?
B: Not the way it should've been...
Questions: Who are A and B? What task has A supposedly finished? Why does B object to A's methods? What does B notice that gives away A's unusual approach?
Responses:
...A and B are "higher beings" creating us but not by the rules. (i.e. We are imperfect.) B doesn't want an imperfect species. Or, it's my ex-girlfriend and me working on the carburetor on her '84 Honda Accord. I didn't use the Mitchell manual but got it back together anyway with only a few spare parts. (Lee F.)
...A has just figured out how to put on his socks. B objects because he doesn't know how to do it and is confused. B doesn't really notice anything. By the time he comes out of his confused stupor, he found something new but easy to confuse again. If one were to look at this a different way, a rabid hamster observed all of this happening and decided not to bite them because he thought he might catch what they had. (Eric S.)
