A Lovely Fable.

Some time ago, my attention was directed to a rather lovely electro-video game by the name of "Ben There, Dan That!". (The exclamation mark is part of the name.) Rather piqued by the description, I investigated.


I found it quite entertaining, but got stuck after a little while. Reluctant to turn to a "guide of stratagems", I stopped playing - and forgot about it for months.

Disaster!

Just the other day, I remembered about it, for some reason. I started it up, fiddled, and by complete luck managed to get past the puzzle that was bothering me before. (There were some candlesticks.) I continued, curious to see what was next; the next several hours were spent playing, and beating, the game.

I did end up using a strategy guide, sadly, but the puzzles in question were somewhat unfairly obtuse. I shrug.

In any case, feeling magnanimous in victory, I donated 5 quid via Paypal to the authors of this (fun! free!) game. To my surprise, the next day, one of the creators emailed me back, thanking me - in what was quite clearly a human-authored email! - for the donation. Delighted by this unexpected acknowledgment, I emailed the creator back, praising their game.

The rest is history. We became best friends, both moved to the Bahamas, and now we do everything together - sunbathing, surfboarding, snowball fights... it's the best of lives, and it would never have happened were it not for my selfless generosity. (A rare thing from a person so stingy as myself.)

So go on! Try the game! Pay me some money! We'll all be the better for it.