Sign Struck


      It was a standard high-speed chase.  The usual series of hairpin turns and screeching brakes.  Not my cup of tea at all.  I prefer racing thoughts but in this business you have to be ready for all sorts of twists and turns.
      In this case, I happened to be on hand in the town of Highmount when Cal Pritt robbed one of the stores there.  As he leaped into his car and sped out of town, Dumbrow tossed me into his old Yugo and gave chase.  We knew he was heading to Lowmount but had to intercept him before he got there and was lost in the crowds.
      It was a fairly thrilling race across the sylvan hillside but we could never quite catch up with the dashing thief.  I thought we had him when he stopped his car for a moment, but by the time we got to that spot, he was gone again.  Thankfully, to break the monotony, Pritt had left me with a braintwiddler instead.
      The spot was a crossroads where six different roads came together.  In the middle of the intersection was a sign, one of those crowded posts with the names of ten different towns and arrows pointing you off in the right direction.
      But Pritt had cleverly pulled out the signpost and left it lying on the ground.  We had no map and didn’t know the area at all.  All we did know was that we had to get to Lowmount fast.
      Dumbrow was dumbfounded.
      Not me.
      How did I know which way to go?



Nano Solution_____________________________________________

      “You took a random guess!” you shout, eager to get one right for a change.  Eager but not successful.
      “A fine idea when there’s no alternative,” Nano says kindly,” but in this case there was.  I simply put the signpost back in the hole and turned it so that it faced the right direction.”
      “But how did you know which way to face it?”
      “I may not have known which direction the towns were, but I certainly knew the direction of Highmount, where I came from.  Once I lined the arrow for Highmount up correctly, I knew the rest would be right.”

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