Riddle-Me-Diddle-Me

Ponco Orange led Paul into a room inside the giant dice. Transparent walls surrounded them. Water appeared to be running down the inside.

“First riddle,” Ponco Orange announced. “There are no holes in the floor. Where does the water go?”

Paul leaned closer without touching the wall.

“It is running down the outside. The wall is transparent.”

Ponco Orange frowned. “You have heard that one.”

“No. I looked.”

“Looking is an unfair advantage in a riddle.”

“Was that in the rules?”

“It will be next time.”

Ponco Orange cleared his throat.

“Second riddle. Two people sit in a railway carriage, each eating an apple. Each apple has three pips. Inside each pip is a four-legged insect. How many legs are in the carriage?”

“Twenty-eight,” Paul said.

“You answered too quickly.”

“Six insects have twenty-four legs. Two people have four.”

“What about the seats?”

“You did not say the seats had legs.”

“They might.”

“Then your question has no single answer.”

Ponco Orange stared at him. Then, very slowly, he smiled.

“That is the best answer anyone has given.”

He released the DROP button. Far below, Ronnie’s square flipped and deposited him gently on a mountain of cushions.

“You may go,” Ponco Orange said.

Paul hesitated. “Why do you need every game to be dangerous?”

The Ponco turned the dice in his fingers.

“Ordinary games become boring. Then people stop playing with me.”

For the first time, Paul recognized something of himself in a Ponco.

“Changing the rules is not the same as changing the game,” Paul said. “Try making a game people want to play twice.”

Ponco Orange considered this.

“A game with rules that improve each time?”

“Rules everyone agrees on.”

“That sounds difficult.”

“The difficult things are usually less boring.”

The dice-room began to spin. Paul was flung through one wall and landed beside Ronnie in the Rainbow Room.

Another orange spark sped across the ceiling into the white door. This time the room trembled.

“Ronnie,” Paul said, “what is behind that door?”

“The heart of the Radiant Rainbow.”

“Why are sparks going into it?”

Ronnie straightened his coat.

“Because the Poncos are preparing for the Great Debate.”

“What is the Great Debate?”

“Something I had hoped to explain later.”

“Explain it now.”

The yellow door flew open before Ronnie could answer. A long yellow pole shot out, hooked around his waist and pulled him through.

Paul grabbed Ronnie’s ankles.

Together they disappeared into yellow light.