The Puzzle Man

The Puzzle Man

By David Gere

Pieces of all shapes and sizes strewn all over the floor in a random clutter confused the Puzzle Man. He concluded that for one who solved riddles such as he, his calling must surely consist of putting the pieces together. What other purpose could exist for a puzzle man.

Inspection of the nature, character and temperament of his parts only bewildered him further. As hard as he tried, he could not put his puzzle together.

Flustered, he decided to engage the outside world for the answers he sought. Gathering up his stack of jagged entities, he set out into the domain of puzzledom.

The impressions of the varied people he encountered each affected him differently. Some frightened him. Some cheered him up. Some withheld the very daylight. Some reflected sunbeams. Some froze his heart. Some warmed his borders. However, in every case, he could not put their whole picture together.


He walked the streets searching for the meaning of this enigma.

He stopped. A similar being, green and blue with all his pieces stacked in regularly spaced squares and circles, approached him from across the floor. The Puzzle Man felt uncomfortable around this stranger. The green and blue man possessed a square piece characterized by perfectly symmetrical horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines.

An examination of the rectangular constituent prompted the recollection of a piece like that in the Puzzle Man’s own assortment. A search through his item bag located such a piece. He held it up to see if he had a match. It fit perfectly. He turned it over. “Organization” was written on its back.

The position of the element on the green and blue clad stranger’s front guided him as to exactly where to place the piece on his own puzzle. This incident taught him how to set his own pattern from now on.

He proceeded to look for matches in other puzzle people. Although he could not see their total picture, he could make out the individual pieces he held in common with them.

He came across an orange and red puzzle person whom he instinctively liked. The being emanated a welcoming glow from its exterior. The puzzle man searched his pile and found the missing piece. It stated “Friendliness”.

Another puzzle person bumped into him from behind. This angry stranger asked him to get out of his way. A quick snatch of an obvious protrusion from the creature’s surface before he provoked the stranger further resulted in another identical object in the Puzzle Man’s arsenal. The label “Rude” adorned its flipside. As much as he did not want the piece, it was part of his puzzle and he had to include it in its place.

He made his way throughout the puzzle world in this manner, putting his puzzle together piece by piece. His picture became more and more coherent until finally the Puzzle Man found all but the last piece.

. His puzzle almost completed, he went home and looked in the mirror. A stunning composition surpassing all the wonder his imagination could ever dream up greeted his eyes.

“I am beautiful,” he said.

He decided to return to the puzzle world one last time. He knew how messed up puzzlekind was and wanted to display the manifestation of his unique perfection.

Upon reentering society, he displayed himself proudly to every member of his kingdom. To his surprise, no one recognized his supremacy.

Baffled, the Puzzle Man stepped in front of him and blocked the way of a being with black and white swirled pieces as his fellow resident tried to pass him by.

“Can’t you see how spectacular I am?” said the Puzzle Man.

The black and white swirled puzzle person gave him an incredulous look, shook his head, and pushed his way past the Puzzle Man. Crushed by this board’s reaction, the Puzzle Man turned to go home. He decided to take the long way through the Gardens. Surely his magnificence would be noted by those who evaluated beauty and grace. A heap of jigsaw components with a jigged surface wrapped around a pole at its center gripped his attention. A group of his fellow townsfolk circled the pile. Advancing, he discovered the post’s exterior held only one piece, with all else hidden.

Members of the gathering each detected the identical piece in their own collection and plastered it in place upon their own surface. The Puzzle Man did likewise. Identifying and holding up his commonality, he found it to be a perfect fit. He deemed the expedition productive after all.

Totally perfect now, he reflected on the situation. He realized he had seen this component in every puzzle person he came across so far, only he had not recognized it. He wondered as to its true nature.

Upon turning over the piece, he found the word “Narcissism” imprinted on its back.