He said, “I don’t want to understand you.”
She said, “That’s good because you can’t”
He said, “I could. It would be a matter of course, like solving a riddle, or maybe a puzzle, but doing that would leave me with a solved puzzle. What is the good in that.”
She said, “I’m trying not to be offended that you find me so easily solved. I’m trying even harder to accept that you think the solving of me is something final.”
He said, “Everyone is a puzzle waiting to be solved. The people who aren’t are merely pretending or expect they cannot be solved at all. I don’t find anything wrong with being solved. I think we want it, after all. Think about it this way: Who doesn’t want to be known and seen in this life. Seeing, really seeing a person is a way of solving them. You are separating the public face from the person beneath.”
She said, “Like an onion.”
He said, “Yes, exactly. It’s a clever and simple way to put it. Wherever did you discover it.”
She said, “I heard it from a donkey once. He was easily more interesting than you’re pretending to be.”
He said, “No need to be crass. We’re merely feeling each other out. I am explaining what I have to offer, and you are doing the same. This is the dance. These are the parameters of a first date.”
She said, “Usually there’s more of the uncovering attraction and deciding if the person is interesting enough to let them in your home, and such.”
He said, “And such?”
She said, “It is one of those things you would instantly understand if you weren’t treating me like an escape room.”
He said, “Oh, you misunderstood! I am merely pointing out how interesting I think it would be to never get to the bottom of you.”
She said, “I understood completely. Also, i’m leaving now. You can pay for the check, consider it my fee for the time I wasted here.”
In that manner the puzzle was solved.