Riddle 020: Calling All Crooks

[questionauthority]

A. [At Mayfield High, Edward is taking to his new job as Ethics teacher with very little enthusiasm. Any kids in his class? Your first assignment is being written on the board in a neat, tidy scrawl:

"How far would you be willing to go to escape this place?"]

Discuss.

B. [Later on that afternoon, Edward makes a public phone call, filtered away from drones, Grady, the Mayor, the Smiths, and the like.]

Mayfield, Mayfield, Mayfield. You know what I like to do every Sunday night when I'm not scheming a daring escape? I like to think up riddles. Like this one, for example: "What is the one question you can ask at any point in the day, and still get a different answer?" Give up? Hmm?

Answer: "What time is it?" See? Simple. I could say "7:26" just as easily as I can say the time is 9 o'clock PM. Or this one---actually, my old college roommate, Andrew, was instrumental in helping me think this one up.

"Brothers and sisters have I none, but that man's father is my father's son!" I'll let you figure out the answer to that one on your own.

Hmm. Perhaps this Sunday night, I'll think up another good riddle. Or perhaps I'll finally find a way for all of you to get out of here. Who knows? Maybe I already have. Interested? Well---you already know where to find me. I've practically given you all the answers, regardless.

[He chuckles obnoxiously.]

Comments

B

[absoluteisms.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahahah! La-me~ You call that a riddle? Pa-thetic!

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

...excuse me?

[absoluteisms.livejournal.com]

Ho-ho-hoh! To call a minor little puzzle like that a riddle is to insult all riddles! Anyone could solve that! A riddle has to be something truly confusing, misleading, and mind-breaking to leave your opponent thinking it over and trying to understand it for days, and not being able to rest until they've figured out the answer! Until they have eventually given it up and thrown it away, as too many humans tend to do when faced with a challenge.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[Who does this girl think he is? Him!?]

Anyone could solve this. If they wanted to, that is. The real riddle, though, is this: How does one escape Mayfield?

[absoluteisms.livejournal.com]

I wonder, I wonder? [ a giggle ] ...No, that riddle probably has more than one answer. And even then, the true question is how we go about it, riiight? Ah, anyway, I don't really care. I'm not interested in leaving when I've just arrived to such a rare, interesting world.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

Suit yourself, then.