A Renegade Puzzle

   One fine day, in a time not so long ago, a man decided to make a new kind of jigsaw puzzle. It would look easy on the surface with lots of detail, so that the person working on it could easily determine what part of the overall puzzle, a specific piece would fit.

   This one puzzle had a new twist. Not only would it have a missing piece, but it would also contain a renegade piece, one that could slightly alter its shape so as to seem to fit in another spot.  Not only that but when this "smart" piece determined that he was about to be discovered, he could tag a nearby one, and thereby pass his unique powers on to that second piece, and this tagging could go on indefinitely until the puzzle worker would either quit or finally get them all in the right place.

   I think I got this "trial" puzzle for Christmas. They probably made only one.

   A 1,000 piece puzzle. No problem, just separate all the side pieces and complete the outer dimensions of the puzzle. Then begin work on the inside, putting together, out to the side, the people, the buildings, the planes, etc.

   Then begin to fill in the other areas of water, trees, grass and bare ground.

   Simple, huh?

   I did not anticipate being the guinea pig for a new type of "interactive" puzzle.

   I thought I heard the sound of muffled laughter coming from the box. I thought it must be me hearing things.

   Snap, another piece into place, as the outer perimeter took shape.

   Snap, snap other recognizable pieces put where they belonged.

   At last I had the yellow foreground mostly put together. There was only one small spot (looking like about 3 pieces fit there) with nothing in it. There were 3 pieces with yellow, but they would not fit regardless of how I arranged them.

   I had all the pieces turned right side up, but no more of that yellow color.

   Then I noticed a piece that did not look exactly correct. Tearing up that spot in the puzzle, I realized I could fit in one of my remaining 3 pieces and suddenly, I could use all the yellow I had and complete that section.

   Little did I know, but that the miscreant piece had tagged a piece of water before he was jerked out and replaced. I sensed a snicker, but it did not register.

   Then, as I worked on the water section, I had the same problem. Everything seemed to fit so well until I only had a couple more to go. They did not fit, and they were all I had.

   Search the water portion until a slightly misaligned piece presented itself (but not before tagging a green tree piece).

   The solution again: tear out the one piece and reboot that section of the blue water.

   Then the same with the green trees.

   Would there be no end?

   Then the capstone.

   I had finally gotten down to the last 30 or so pieces. I tried all of them in this one place, but none fit. I looked for the culprit, but none appeared, so I just worked around it and figured it would present itself as the last piece.

   But there was no "last piece".

   Just a hole in the puzzle.

   And just the fading murmur of giggling.

   And then a final jab from the box…"and you thought you were so smart".

   Gotcha

   But the completed puzzle was not all bad.