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Title: A picnic in the country... Post by KenYonRuKu on Feb 16th, 2004, 4:31pm Jack goes with his father to a picnic in the country, where Jack's mother is waiting. When it's time to go home, Jack leaves with his mother. Why? |
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Title: Re: A picnic in the country... Post by Speaker on Feb 16th, 2004, 5:26pm Well, Jack's parents are divorced and the settlement included shared custody. So, Jack lives with his father part of the time and with his mother the other part. They meet in the park for the exchange because the separation was so acrimonious and hateful that Jack's parents refuse to allow each other into their new homes. They once tried meeting at a restaurant, but they had a hard time deciding where to eat because neither wanted to appear to be acquiescing to the other's will. There first meeting was in a restaurant of sorts. They had, after much bickering, decided to meet at a food court at the local mall, because this way they could individually choose from which restaurant to dine. This ended in disaster as neither would agree to "hold" a table while the other was purchasing their food. After forty-five minutes of arguing they finally split a granola bar that Jack had been aging in the bottom of his backpack for several weeks. (Jack's mother also had some mints, but refused to give any to Jack's father, Jack however gave his mint to his father, and his mother relented and gave Jack another mint.) Ever since that experience Jack has demanded that they meet at the park, his parents agreed only if they did not need to share their meals. This system worked although there were some problems at the start, it seems that the first time they met in the park neither parent brought any food for Jack, both thinking that the other would pack the boy's lunch. |
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Title: Re: A picnic in the country... Post by KenYonRuKu on Feb 16th, 2004, 9:04pm Once again, Speaker, your answer is creative and thoughtful. Whilst it is not the answer that I envisaged, it is a credible, plausible explanation, and in many ways far superior to my own. Seeing as the wording of the riddle allows for a vast number of answers and situations, I will offer a further tidbit to steer you toward the answer I originally sought: [hide]Jack will never again have the same closeness to his father as he did before the picnic; and he will not see him for some time[/hide] |
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Title: Re: A picnic in the country... Post by Cathos on Feb 16th, 2004, 9:14pm [hide] Is Jack born yet? [/hide] |
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Title: Re: A picnic in the country... Post by Speaker on Feb 16th, 2004, 9:22pm This is perhaps a question of how to exactly define Jack. Can we say that a strand of DNA is Jack? Is it possible to assume that Jack's father gave Jack's mother a sample of this DNA while he was at the park with Jack's mother. Then, did Jack's mother take this DNA sample and name it Jack 270 days later? And the more important question, did they really eat the picnic lunch, or was it just a ploy (perhaps devised by Jack's father) to get Jack's mother in a romantic mood? |
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Title: Re: A picnic in the country... Post by KenYonRuKu on Feb 17th, 2004, 10:29am Congratulations Speaker, and Cathos! You have the answer. :) |
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Title: Re: A picnic in the country... Post by Icarus on Feb 19th, 2004, 5:20pm I must object then to the statement that Jack came with his father. Only half of Jack came with his father. the other half was with his mother all along (for a lot longer, in fact). |
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Title: Re: A picnic in the country... Post by KenYonRuKu on Feb 19th, 2004, 5:33pm Icarus, I do so love your mid-Victorian zeal when it comes to being completely accurate. You are a martinet of correctness, and I admire it greatly. But had I a flower, and you a gun, I would push the spring bloom into the end of the barrel, and take you to my local coffee house for yin yeung and banana cake. Shigata nai ne, shigata nai... :D |
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