What

(In a job interview.)

“Good morning. Please sit down.” The middle age manager gave the young man a polite smile, “Your name is K, right? You can call me M.”

K quickly took a seat on the other side of the desk. In no time, M picked out something small and yellow from his pocket and began, “Let’s start. What’s it?”

The young man tried to look at it from several angles, as if it were a precious stone from Mars. He hesitated for a while, and, soon he pulled himself together again. He cleared his throat and said in a calm voice, “It’s a bird.”

“You are not wrong – but not quite right either,” the smile on M’s face did not change. (Or, had it frozen?) He pushed further, “What is it exactly?”

“Em…” K was obviously thinking of a better term to describe what he saw, “It is … a duck.”

“That’s better.” The manager made a grin. (Oh, his face could move!) “But, what is it really?”

For a moment, the interviewee was at a lost. Thank goodness he read enough Edward de Bono when he was in the College, and he quickly knew what was expected, “It is a toy – yes, it is a plastic toy duck.”

“Very well. Is that your tentative diagnosis?” M asked.

K was forced to nod – now he came to realize he was talking to an extra-terrestrial.

(To be continued.)