One time, in the colorful world of Harry's Toys and Games, a cheerful customer came into the store, leaving the bustling mall hallways for a brief escape from reality. Her name was Stacey and she was a curious girl. With sparkly eyes and a heart full of wonder, Stacey wandered through the store, her sneakers tapping softly on the shiny floor. She stopped suddenly, her eyes widening in amazement. Right in front of her, towering like a magical mountain, was a giant 3D puzzle in the shape of a panda. It was no ordinary panda—its shiny, interlocking tubes made it look like a rainbow see-through panda palace!
Stacey's fingers tingled with curiosity as she gently touched the puzzle's tubes, sliding them open and shut. "How fun!" she giggled, peering at the world through the panda's playful eyes. But as she explored, Stacey suddenly noticed something very curious, indeed! Somehow she had puzzled herself right inside the 3D panda puzzle, surrounded by a forest of colorful tubes. "Uh oh!" was Stacey's first reaction. "Hmmm." was her second reaction. "How did that happen?" she heard herself ask, slightly surprised the question was not rhetorical.
Just as Stacey was studying the tubes to find a way out, her two friends, Leo and Tessa, scampered into the store, fleeing the bustling mall for a more mellow atmosphere. When they saw Stacey nestled inside the panda puzzle, they burst into giggles. "Tessa, it looks like the panda is going to have a baby!" Leo chuckled. Tessa couldn't resist, "Stacey, didn’t you read the sign?"
Stacey looked up, momentarily startled by the sight of her two friends. "What sign?" she asked.
"The one that says,'Don't feed the panda.'" Tessa broke into laughter, and Leo joined her. After a humiliating few seconds, Stacey joined them both, laughing awkwardly but willingly.
"Let's get you out of there," Leo said. He walked around the side of the panda, studying the tubes, as Tessa pretended to keep the panda calm.
"Don't get excited," Tessa cautioned the panda. "We're here to help you, not hurt you."
"Stop it!' chuckled Stacey. "Maybe you should give her some chocolate covered bamboo . ." By this time other customers, gathered at the spectacle, were laughing, so nobody heard what Stacey said after "bamboo."
Tessa and Leo walked around the panda while Stacey from the inside studied the puzzle's tubes, pushing and pulling them, peering from one angle, then another.
The cashier looked on from his counter, smiling. An idea popped into his head (where most ideas were accostumed to gather gradually) and he walked briskly to the Exit/Entrance door to the store. He went right up to a security guard who was near the entrance, and spoke loudly so that half the mall could hear, "Hey Dan! Have you ever seen a girl inside a puzzle? You've gotta check this out!"
Dan could not leave his post, but he wouldn't have been able to make his way into the store anyway. Half a dozen people followed the cashier into the store, and a dozen people followed them. A crowd of spectators surrounded the teenaged trio as they tried to solve the puzzle. Or rather, to unsolve it.
As Tessa and Stacey and Leo worked together, from time to time a spectator would suggest, "Try that one," or "That one over there, the green one."
Other spectators took breaks away from the scene to browse around the store. The cashier smiled.
"Hey, Mom!" a little boy with glasses could be heard in the crowd.
"Just a minute, honey, " his mother urged him to be patient.
"But Mom!" the little boy with glasses insisted.
"One more minute, honey, I promise." his mother tried to console her son.
Without another word, the little boy with glasses walked up to the left hind cheek of the panda. He reached into the maze of tubes and lifted a tiny latch. Then he reached up and lifted another latch. Then the little boy put his fingers around three tubes that were bound together, and he pulled them. An entire section of the panda's rear cheek swung open, like a door. And Stacey stepped out.
It is left to the reader - you - to imagine the cheers and high-fives that erupted when Stacey was rescued. You can imagine also, how the little boy with glasses was paraded up and down the mall's hallways. And while you are at it, you may imagine further how crowded it got at Harry's Toys and Games, while shelves were emptied and happy customers went back to the panda to see if anyone would get trapped again.
Unfortunately this story has an ending, and it is coming up now. As Stacey and her friends left the store, they first stopped to thank the cashier. The cashier effusively thanked them. He motioned with his hand for the teenaged trio to look around at the empty shelves, especially in the 3D Puzzles section. He reached into a shallow drawer and pulled out three coupons for 50% off, and said, "You are welcome back anytime. In fact, next week we're changing the display to a happy elephant."
Stacey, Tessa, and Leo walked jovially down the mall's hallway, until Stacey stopped at a weird tee shirts kiosk. "Oh no, not again!" Tessa whined. Stacey's eyes were fixated on a humongous, oversized tee shirt hanging above a little electric fan blowing air to fill out the giant tee shirt. "Not again, Stacey," Tessa moaned.
"How did he get there so fast?" Stacey asked nobody in particular.
"How did who get where, Stacey?" Leo wanted to know.
Stacey pointed at the tee shirt, the humongous, billowing tee shirt, with the crazy caricature of a little boy with glasses over the words, "Puzzler Of The Year."
The End.
