Short stories

I was given another puzzle for my birthday.

Why do they think that I like puzzles? Well, yes, I do put them together but… Not because I like them, but because it's a mess! And everything has to be neat and beautiful!

Beautiful...

Like sometimes they ask me something stupid... For example, "Did you like the gift?" I once answered "no". It turned out that not everyone likes the truth. And what should I do? Lie? If I lie, the puzzle piece won't fit! So after that I keep quiet. Because there is no other suitable answer, one that would look beautiful and fit in.

My parents wonder why I don't talk. But how can I?

Putting puzzles together is a hard work. And conversation is even more difficult than any puzzle!

Okay, "yes" or "no" questions - those are easy! There are only two possible answers – those are the most universal “puzzle pieces”.

If one doesn't work, the other one will!

But if they ask me: "What color do you like?" I have to think! So as not to make a mistake! I was silent for a while. Then they started asking me leading questions: "red?" "blue?"

Oh! "blue"! It fits! This piece fits into the puzzle.

Or they asked: "What's your favorite dish?" Do I know? This is exactly the case when several puzzle pieces fit the same spot. So which one should I choose? I remain silent. Again leading questions: "Do you like pizza?", "And pasta?" Now I'm in my element - my favorites pieces – either "yes” or "no”. Everything becomes simple here! Now I can answer!

But it's not enough for them! Why don’t they ask only "yes or no" questions like before? Or at least monosyllabic questions. No! Now they want a detailed answer!

Like once they asked: "How did you break the alarm clock?" Well... it's a long story... There's no short answer... And I don't like big "puzzles"! It's harder to tidy them up. I remain silent.

Or: "Why aren't you dressed yet?" Do I know? More precisely, I know, because here it is... a toy car, or… not exactly... I don’t have this word in my vocabulary yet. I remain silent again.

It's like a puzzle. If a piece doesn't fit, I don't shove it in, I don't hammer it in! The same goes for a conversation: if a phrase doesn't fit, I look for another. And if nothing fits? I remain silent.

Recently I was taught to start responding “why” questions with "because"! What a discovery! It turns out that this fits any question that starts with "why". It turned out to be a universal puzzle piece! Now I answer: "Because!", and that’s it. Well, not everyone likes it; they still continue asking this "why". Then I remain silent.

Why? Because everything should be beautiful! There should be an order! And if the phrase doesn't fit? It's out of order!

Or another question that often baffles me: "What are you doing?" How do I know which part of my action they are interested in? At what point in time? That I'm climbing onto a chair? That I open the cabinet? That I look for candy? Too much to fit into one sentence. I'll keep quiet.

Oh! I also recently learned that to this question I can respond "nothing." It turned out to be another universal puzzle piece!

What's interesting is that over time, puzzles become more complicated, and sometimes I even find larger pieces that fit. Or pieces made up of smaller pieces - whole structures! Yes, it turns out that you can do that too! Although small "yes" or "no" pieces are still my favorites!

But I'm learning! I won’t stop. And when I accumulate more pieces, I'll learn to assemble larger puzzles!

But for now I'll keep quiet!