Sunday Morning Puzzle #82 --- "From Tree to Shining Sea"

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Welcome to another Sunday Morning Puzzle.

The unfinished story below is made up of sentences with something in common. The common factor has nothing to do with the rather absurd story being told. Can you discover what the sentences have in common, and then continue or complete the second half of the story?

It is that easy. (Heh-heh) Any newcomers to this type of Sunday Puzzle should understand that they are free to take whatever liberties they may choose with regard to plot, characters, mood, etc. Have fun with it. The only requirement is that all story sentences adhere to the “common factor” rule of the puzzle.

The respected psychiatrist Dr. Floyd G. did not usually like to proffer a promise that he could not keep. But then he made a somewhat brazen pact with supermodel Fifi LaRue to help her overcome her fear of giant redwood trees. (You may recall Ms. LaRue, who achieved some fame with her bit role in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.)

So there Floyd was sitting astride a nervous Fifi on one of the uppermost limbs of an old-growth tree, together conquering her mammoth forest phobia. But then she slipped from the branch only to land on the ground below with a sickening thud. And here at the base of this redwood, Dr. Floyd’s career would also land with a THUD!

Cut to today, where we find our friend Floyd alone on his tiny sea-washed sailboat, whimpering and staring out at a yellowy sunset. “I shall one day stand at the Pearly Gates,” Dr. Floyd ruminates. “I will have a mighty tough time explaining the plummetin’ of that there woman.” Next he imagines Hades, and a sneering devil toting a hot-iron pitchfork and a torch brimming with fire. So Floyd, whose mind is fixed on embers, Dante, brimstone, and flame, does not at first see the mermaid.

But amidst those tortured thoughts of the eternally imprisoned arrives HOPE in a flash of lightening seeming to burst from the mermaid’s fist. She appears at the side of Floyd’s boat, clutching a small beaming lighthouse in her left hand, and whispering his name. “Floyd, the Great Oceania Mother sends me out to assist all of those whom Fate exiles to the sea.” Again she murmurs, “Floyd…”, as she extends that bright beacon-hand from her scaly fish-body.

Dr. Floyd should welcome the “Legendary Lantern Mermaid”, known world-wide for her miniature lighthouse that glows neon and grants wishes. With more than mild curiosity, Floyd eyes the radiant talisman in her outstretched hand.

“You must simply command the benevolent lighthouse and you will discover the air-bridged, water-absorbed, fire-drenched power of fulfilled desires,” the mermaid lustily coos.

…

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Note: “lightening” in sentence 12 should (and indeed must) be spelled correctly as “lightning”. Sorry for the typo.

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I never thought this new puzzle would be such a colossal challenge. Ok, there is still a chance for solvers to rise like Lazarus from defeat and add new sentences. Here’s some help:

Later that evening twin boats pass the harbor. (Try to frame a picture in your mind of these two boats that approach various cities, but keep going onwards.) Perhaps your brain imagines Dr. Floyd and the mermaid sailing off to ancient lands together. They are greeted in these storied countries with cheery cries, pomp, and celebration. But while Dr. Floyd contents himself with new riches, she (the mermaid) remains silent.

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Still no solver yet. Hmm. Here’s four more sentences. I’ll try to leave the final eight for the arrival of a clever doper. Who will first discover the common factor and claim the crown?

“Let me give you a kiss on the lips,” Floyd says to the mermaid.

“Take your boat and your riches and leave this tired mermaid alone,” she responds.

Are your feelings sad when you picture poor Dr. Floyd G. huddled alone in his tiny sailboat? Though he has money to burn and the love of the masses, Dr. Floyd has a yearning for more.

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Just bumping this in case anyone else has a clue. Been mulling it over for a few days now, but to no avail.

Feel like posting the solution Biotop? Please? :confused:

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Rabid_Squirrel et al:

Welcome to the Sunday Morning Puzzle. Welcome.

I had hoped with the additional story lines, along with a number of sneaky and sometimes obscure clues, that someone would recognize what was going on here (someone from France, perhaps?).

I don’t know what they teach in school these days, but I’d like to think that anyone who was in my seventh grade class with Ms. Saunders (no she’s not a hint herself) would be able to figure out the common factor. Can anyone guess what she taught?

Also, I think it would be a challenge for a solver to post the remaining eight sentences in such a way as to keep the common factor a secret. We’ll see.

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A fine woman Ms. Saunders.

I didn’t mean to imply that this puzzle was so easy a seventh grader could solve it. Far from it. Unless you are one of those people who carts around a big book of knowledge, I suspect this problem requires a lot of lateral thinking. That is, unless you were actually in Ms. Saunders class, or were required in your school to learn a certain thing…

Suddenly a typhoon hits, the sail breaks free and torrential rain makes it hard for Dr. Floyd to breathe. Do you refuse to believe that this is the end of the wretched helpless Dr. Floyd G.?

“Your boat is sinking,” shrieks many a voice from the teeming millions watching from the shore. One of these people calls the Coast Guard, who try in vain to send help.

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There’s only one pattern I can see…

And it’s probably not the right one.

?

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I don’t suppose Ms. Saunders taught Grammar?

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Heh heh. Obviously not.

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Wait, I do believe I have it.
1 moment.

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Ok Tell…

I’m off to work now. I look forward to coming home tonight and reading your solution.

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I don’t mean to scoop TellMeI’mNotCrazy, but here’s another sentence:

Had you been on the shore that night, you might have seen a bedraggled, tempest-tost, homeless wreck of a man struggling to his feet.

That leaves three more.

14

“The memory of the mermaid gives me the hope I need to lift myself from my despair,” you would likely have heard the wretch exclaim.

Can we bring Floyd home in two sentences?

15

Then my eyes see Floyd, with the mermaid beside him, holding her beaming brilliant lamp of hope.

And as they disappear together through a magical door opened up through space-time, I cannot help but note the mermaid’s hair is exactly the same golden color as the locks of the late Fifi LaRue.
+++++

Congratulations Peregrine!

Once again you have carried the torch for the SDMB and solved another puzzle. Ms. Saunders would be proud.

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I still don’t see it. :frowning:

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Could someone please explain. I can’t make heads or tails out of this.

Haj

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second THAT emotion - I thought I had it but clearly didn’t.
To quote Mangetout in another thread :wink:

Hay-ulp!

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I expect this is public domain:
Not like the/ brazen giant of/
Greek fame,

With/ conquering limbs astride/
from land to/ land;

Here at/ our sea-washed, sunset/
gates shall stand/

A mighty woman/ with a torch,
whose flame

Is/ the imprisoned lightning,/ and
her name/

Mother of Exiles./ From her
beacon-hand/

Glows world-wide welcome;/ her
mild eyes/ command

The air-bridged/ harbor that twin/
cities frame.

“Keep/ ancient lands, your/
storied pomp!” cries/ she

With silent/ lips. "Give me/ your
tired, your/ poor,

Your huddled/ masses yearning
to/ breathe free,

The/ wretched refuse of/ your
teeming shore./

Send these, the/ homeless
tempest-tost to/ me,

I lift/ my lamp beside/ the golden
door!"

The New Colussus by Emma Lazarus