The sheer desperation in Jessica’s voice was palpable when she dialed her boyfriend’s number early on a Saturday morning.
“You have to come over right now,” she pleaded. “I bought this incredibly complex jigsaw puzzle, and I’m losing my mind. I’ve been staring at it for hours and I can’t even figure out how to piece the borders together!”
Her boyfriend, trying to gauge the disaster, asked calmly, “Alright, don’t panic. What is the picture on the box actually supposed to look like when it’s finished?”
“It’s a majestic, bright orange rooster,” she sighed heavily.
Being a supportive partner, he hopped in his car and drove straight over to her apartment to save the day. Walking into the kitchen, he found hundreds of strange, fragile, golden-yellow pieces scattered haphazardly across the dining table.
He stared at the mess, looked at the packaging, and then turned to her with a gentle, deeply sympathetic smile.
“Okay, sweetheart,” he said, wrapping his arm around her. “First of all, no matter how hard we try, these pieces are never going to look like a bird. And secondly, let’s just brew a nice cup of tea… and put all these Corn Flakes back in the cereal box.”