The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

I wasn’t sure I succeeded. “You haven’t answered why. You simply listed some facts.” I saw what was going on. The old man pulls this trick question on anyone who comes within range. There had to be a punch line or clever answer, so I played along. “What’s the answer?” I asked with all the artificial interest I could muster. “The answer,” he said, “is that the question has no why.” “You could say that about anything.” “No,” he replied, in a manner that seemed suddenly coherent. “Every other question has an answer to why. Only probability is inexplicable.” I waited a moment for the punch line, but it didn’t come. “That’s it?” I asked. “It’s more than it seems.” “I still need a signature.” I approached the old man and held out the clipboard, but he made no motion to take it. I could see him better now. His skin was stained and wrinkled but his eyes were strikingly clear. Some gray hair gathered above each ear and his posture was an ongoing conversation with gravity. He wasn’t old. He was ancient. He gestured to the clipboard with his head. “You can sign it.” In the delivery business we make lots of exceptions for the elderly, so I didn’t mind signing for him ...»