Road Trip

Once upon a time, Math and Poetry worked together in an office. Math worked in accounting, while Poetry worked in customer service, so their paths rarely crossed.

One day, their boss announced that he had chosen the two of them as the company representatives to attend the annual company conference.

In the car, they rode in silence for a while, but Poetry, who had a very talkative personality, soon tried to make conversation. They made small talk about the conference for a while, but a few minutes into the discussion, Math, who was somewhat lacking in social graces, made the comment:

"Well, it's no wonder I was invited to the conference, as accounting is clearly the most important part of the office."

This comment offended Poetry, as it took great pride in its work to help people in customer service.

And thus began their epic argument: Math said that without anyone managing the numbers and money and such, the company would be in ruins. Poetry countered this by saying that without customers, who the customer service employees have to keep happy, the company wouldn't even exist.

On and on they went, with Math talking about how numbers are needed to keep things organized and accounted for and to make things work. Poetry would fire back that it is just as important to be able to relate to people and understand and share their emotions.

To make it even worse, Poetry began criticizing Math's music choices in the car, which actually wasn't music, it was a Portable Professor lecture on economics.

Finally, Math, who was driving, had had enough, so it kicked Poetry out of the car. Math sped off, leaving Poetry on the side of the road.

Math drove off, feeling very satisfied with itself. But soon, there was trouble. A police car was chasing after it, trying to pull it over. The policeman told Math that it had been speeding. Math responded that it was going 65 mph, which is only 5 mph over the speed limit, and that it took about x amount of time to pass the car in the next lane which means the other car was only going 4 mph slower, which really isn't much of a difference, as 65 mph is only about 6% more than 61...

The policeman, who did not appreciate being argued with or having math problems thrown at him, gave Math a speeding ticket with an extra fine. Needless to say, Math's spirits were crushed. Math was even starting to feel a little lonely. As it drove further, it thought, "I bet Poetry would have known how to handle that situation. Poetry can talk to anyone and handles itself well when people are angry."

Meanwhile, Poetry was walking along the side of the road, trying to hitchhike. "Who needs Math, anyway," it thought, "I can find so many more friendly people to give me a ride who I can keep a better conversation with."

A car finally picked up Poetry, and the driver was very friendly. When he asked where Poetry was going, how long it would take to get there, or how far away it was, Poetry realized that it didn't know. Though the driver was very nice at first, he started to get frustrated because Poetry couldn't figure out directions. Eventually, Poetry felt bad, and told the driver to just let it out at the next rest stop, and it would call Math, apologize, and see if it would come back to get Poetry.

Little did Poetry know, Math was already speeding back to pick it up, realizing that it needed Poetry around because Math was lonely and knew that it would need Poetry to handle any social situations that they would find themselves in, especially at the conference.

The rest of their trip went pretty smoothly: they each apologized and acknowledged the importance of one another, and they realized that if they worked together, they could take on any situation.