Page 483 - WhyAsInY

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goat, and the cabbage: The farmer must move all of them by boat to a small offshore island. The boat holds the farmer, and only one of the wolf, the goat, and the cabbage at a time. The farmer’s problem is that the wolf cannot be left alone with the goat (it will eat it), and the goat cannot be left alone with the cabbage (ditto). How does the farmer get all the animals and the vegetable to the island without either the wolf or the goat having a feast? Easy: He (1) takes the goat to the island, (2) comes back, (3) brings the wolf to the island and returns with the goat, (4) takes the cabbage to the island, (5) returns, and (6) brings the goat back to the island to join the wolf and the cabbage.
Well, okay, not so easy. Now, however, assume that you’re the farmer. You have to deal with two children, both of whom are not Danny, who will sleep in 24E, sometimes when Danny is there and sometimes when he isn’t. You also have to deal with Danny. You’ve got a pullout, full-size couch, a smaller couch, and a cot. In addition, there are a blue blanket, a white blanket, a green sheet, a sleeping bag, a blue sheet, a white sheet, green pillows, blue pillows, and white pillows that can be used as bedding.
Each child has preference in pillow colors, sheet colors, and blanket colors. Sheets need not match blankets (in fact, however, some combina- tions are preferred), and pillows need not match each other (in fact, some combinations are preferred here as well). Neither Peter nor Danny can fit on the small sofa. Rachel can, but there will come a time in the foreseeable future when she won’t be able to. Danny is reasonable . . . most of the time. But he too has his preferences. Peter and Rachel are, well, Peter and Rachel. Okay, big shot (as my dad would have said), what do you do to deal with the present problem? And, assuming that you can solve that, what do you do about the time at which Rachel gets bigger, as she is bound to?
Now, there might be some lunatic reader out there who will try to unravel this bowl of spaghetti, but, if so, please forget it. Believe me, it is not worth the time or the brain damage. Suffice it to say that there are a number of solutions, some of which do not involve firearms. For one such solution, please see the next page.
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