“May I tell you a story?

When I was very young, I was given a test. A book, actually, which I was required to memorize and forbidden to read.

I set about other books, looking to devise a method of knowing what I could never learn; logic, deduction, decryption, probability, osmosis, divination, telepathy, shamanism…

Each subject led to a thousand others. Each of those, to ten thousand others. Then to fiction; mystery, fantasy, horror, romance..

In the end, I read every book there was or would be – save the one – remembering every letter, every idea, every last story..

..May I ask you a question?”