Page 7 of The Stargazers of Copper County
I liked it.
Was it possible my ill-timed masturbation session hadn’t been quite the disaster I’d thought it was?
My dick certainly thought so. It was eager to make its feelings known.
I groaned and waddled back inside. After a few frantic moments in the dark solitude of my closet, where I knew I couldn’t offend anyone with my actions, I returned downstairs and pulled a couple of sheets of paper out of my printer. It took me the better part of the evening to get this one right. Finally, I wrote out the final version and left it on the patio table under the same rock.
And waited for Friday.
CHAPTER FOUR
THEO
The new logicpuzzle was neatly folded under the same rock. But this one was handwritten, not haphazardly torn from a book and used as scrap paper.
My heart rate ticked up as I unfolded it and began to study it.
A tiger, a bear, and a snake reach the edge of a raging river. One is nervous, one excited, and the other is laughing. There are three methods to cross the river: a canoe, a rowboat, and a zipline. Each method can only take one animal. The nervous bear decides to take the canoe across the river. The snake is laughing. The excited animal flies across the river on a zipline.
What kind of animal crosses the river without using a boat?
It took me a couple of passes before I grasped the answer. I forced myself not to peer in any windows while I continued with my lawn maintenance chores. The Black Keys blasted through my earbuds as the sharp, familiar scent of cut grass filled my nostrils. The sun warmed my back and shoulders until I finally yanked my shirt off and tucked it into the back of my shorts.
Again, I refused to peer in the windows. I wasn’t even sure he was home, though I’d caught sight of his vehicle through the garage window.
Once I finished with my work, I refrained from cannonballing into the inviting depths of the pool and swapped my earbuds for markers instead.
This time, I concentrated on drawing my best tiger. He was dangling over the water from a zipline with a spark of excitement in his eyes. In the background, a nervous bear paddled in his canoe, and a laughing snake wrapped around one of the rowboat paddles.
As I sat at Bennett’s table and drew, the sights and sounds of the lake just down the grassy bank from the pool patio surrounded me. Sunlight sparkled off the ripples of water as a duck glided along. Leaves rustled in the warm breeze. Somewhere in the distance, a loon calledawhoo-ooo. I felt the stress of a busy week melt from my shoulders.
When I silently declared my illustration complete, I realized that hour by the water had been more relaxing, moresatisfyingthan anything I’d done in a long while.
I folded the paper and tucked it back under the rock before standing and stretching. When I turned to make my way to my truck, I thought there may have been movement in one of the windows, but I wasn’t positive.
Anyway, it didn’t matter. Bennett would see my drawing, would understand I’d appreciated his puzzle. And that was what mattered.
The following Friday,there was another logic puzzle. This one was much more complicated, and I knew right away it would require actual thought and a sketched-out grid.
The Cocktail Party Conundrum
At a glamorous cocktail party hosted by the handsome Mr. Ross, five guests have arrived, each bringing along an unexpected pet. Mr. Ross has prepared a variety of exotic cocktails for his guests. However, due to some mix-up, each guest ended up with the wrong cocktail and pet. Can you figure out who brought which pet and received which cocktail?
Clues:
1. The five men are named Constantine, Julian, Gideon, Cal, and Parker.
2. The cocktails served are a Mojito, a Mai Tai, a Cosmopolitan, a Margarita, and a Pina Colada.
3. The unexpected pets brought to the party are a parrot, a chameleon, a hedgehog, a python, and a miniature pig.
4. Cal’s pet is not the chameleon.
5. Parker’s cocktail is not the Pina Colada, and he didn’t bring the python.
6. Julian brought the miniature pig.
7. The parrot’s owner did not drink the Mojito.
