The Puzzle

The Puzzle

“It’s done.” John said, with pride, looking at the huge puzzle on the table.

“Finally!” said his wife Mary, “I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever finish!”

“I know, it was iffy a few times, it was really hard! I thought it was going to take a while when I started it, but I never thought it would take a whole year!”

“Nor did I...” Mary said, pointedly.

“I know; it was a pain sometimes... but it was kind of fun, even with the kids and grandkids all smushed around the kitchen table. Less formal, more fun... don’t you think?”

“Actually yes. I’ll use the kitchen on purpose now, it was more fun. But still, a whole year on one puzzle!”

“It was hard! And... I spent a lot of that puzzle time on other things, planning, daydreaming. Was I annoying?”

“No. You used to spend that time watching worthless TV. Most of the great projects we did this year you thought up while working on that puzzle.”

“You know; I’m going to miss it. I’ll never find another puzzle this interesting.”

Just then the door blew open and grandsons, Jimmy and Frank, came barreling in, yelling. As they got to the dining room, it broke into fisticuffs. Grabbing each other, still yelling, they fell rolling right into the dining room table! The puzzle immediately slid off the other side, falling back into it’s three thousand pieces onto the floor.

The boys stopped at the stricken outcry from John and Mary. They all stood in shock looking at the piles of pieces on the floor.

Finally John said “A whole year...” quietly.

As she walked around the table and started putting handfuls of pieces back on top, Mary smiled at John and said, “Happy new year!”