Riddle me this
Daniel flipped through the latest issue of The Oddity when a small box in the corner of the page caught his eye. “Wait … we have a Riddle of the Week?”
Theo looked up from his phone, “We do…?”
Daniel’s eyes went wide, “We do? You literally do layouts, Theo, that’s your only job.”
Theo shrugged, “Bold of you to assume I read the stories. I don’t get paid enough.”
Julia spun around, her hands on her hips, “You don’t get paid anything, dipshit.”
“Exactly,” Theo said. “So technically, I’m overperforming.”
Daniel stared at him. “Overperforming would imply you’re performing at all.”
“I showed up today, didn’t I?” Theo gestured vaguely at his own presence.
Lena stepped out of her office, “Ooo, I love a good riddle. Lay it on us, Daniel.”
“I am everything and nothing, seen by all, yet held by none. I exist only when noticed but vanish when measured. What am I?”
“I’m out, too much thinking,” Ollie said. “The prize is 100 dollars. Think of the food!” Julia said enticingly.
Ollie’s eyes widened, “Why didn’t you start with that? Let’s figure this out!”
“Isn’t that a shadow? I mean, it fits the clues; it’s intangible, and everyone has them,” Theo said. Jamie shook her head, “No, ‘cause how can a shadow be everything and nothing?”
“Maybe it’s one of those riddles that sounds simple, but isn’t?” Daniel questioned.
“Attention?” Lena raised an eyebrow. “You only notice it when you focus on it, and it’s kind of everywhere and nowhere.”
“YES! And it’s gone as soon as you try to grab it,” Julia said excitedly. Theo grinned, “Kind of like the time you wrote that over-the-top article on the chess club to score a date?”
“It was one time! And it worked, for your information.”
“I’m sold. This is totally the answer!” Ollie said devilishly, already thinking of what to buy.
Julia opened her laptop, drafting the email to Professor Kaul. “We are submitting our answer for the Riddle of the Week on behalf of The Oddity team: attention,” she typed. Lena peeked over her shoulder, “We are so winning this!”
Two hours later, Julia’s email notification went off, “Okay, guys, moment of truth…. WHAT? The answer is shadow, apparently no one got it right.”
“Are you kidding me? THEO GOT THE ANSWER RIGHT?!?” Ollie said, shocked. “This hurts my brain and my ego,” Daniel groaned.
Theo sat up so fast that the book he had resting on his head went flying and smacked Daniel square in the face, “WAIT, I WAS RIGHT?!”
Julia stared at her laptop screen like it had personally betrayed her, “We spent almost three hours convincing ourselves we were geniuses, and Theo … THEO, who suggested we use Jokerman for our memorial tribute last month, solved it.”
“Hey, it’s a good font and has character!” Theo protested, “And apparently so do I because I’m a genius.”
Lena nearly choked on her tea, “You literally asked me last week if ‘alumni’ was plural for ‘aluminum.’”
Ollie was now lying on the floor in a full dramatic meltdown, “Do you know what I could’ve done with that gift card? How many meals I could’ve bought?!?”
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