Between A Flea and a Blue Whale

Here’s something I did two weekends ago for my friends and their young child.

It’s a little idea, and normally not something I would tend to write up here, but it went over very well so I thought I’d share it.

Imagine

I ask my friends to work together to think of a number between 1 and 100. “But don’t tell me what it is,” I say.

I jot down a prediction and set it aside.

They finally settle on a number. “Okay,” I say. “What number did you choose?”

“Ninety-three.”

I pull up a list on my phone—100 animals, numbered 1 to 100—and hand it to them.

“Find the animal at that number,” I say. “Don’t tell me what it is. I haven’t memorized the list or anything, so I really don’t know. But concentrate on the animal… let me tune in…”

I furrow my brow. “Can you imagine the size of the animal for me? That might help.”

I pause dramatically, then smile.

“I really need a win here… So I’m going to say… it’s somewhere between a flea and a blue whale, correct?”

They’re thinking of a cow, so they’re like “…Yeah, I guess.”

“Yes!” I say, and pump my fist. “I knew it.”

I open my prediction, which says, “Somewhere between a flea and a blue whale.”

“I f’ing knew it!” I say, unreasonably excited.

It’s at this point I bring their attention back to the list…

92: flea
93: cow
94: blue whale
They picked the only thing “between” a flea and a blue whale.

“Honestly,” I say, “this whole thing wasn’t really about me reading your mind. It was about you reading mine. I came in here tonight with one number on my mind I wanted you to name, and you nailed it.

From my bag I removed a wrapped present and gave it to their daughter. She tears it open.

The present was just the stuffed cow, not the joshua jay book. A child shouldn’t have to look at that.

Method

The new DFB “cut” algorithm or the Damsel List shortcut both will allow the “somewhere between this and that” revelation.

As I said, I didn’t really intend for this to be a “big” moment, just a way to add a little element to giving their kid this gift. But it played much bigger than that. So make of that what you will.