John smiled. "I'm not in much of a mood to be cheered up with games," he said, "but I'm willing to ask the big question of anyone who'll give me any kind of an answer. See if you can do better with this one than Buster did." He repeated word for word the question he had asked of the computer, that had resulted in its cryptic answer.
Anne stared solemnly at nothing for a moment, with her cheeks puffed out. Then, in measured tones, she recited, "It's Like Looking for a Needle in a Haystack."
John smiled. "That seems to make as much sense as the Oracle did, anyway," he said.
"Sure," answered Anne. "And you get three words more than your other Oracle gave you, if you count 'it's' as one word. If you want wise-sounding answers, just come to me and save yourself a trip."
John leaped to his feet, spilling his drink and strode to Anne's side.
"Say it again!" he shouted. "You may have made more sense than you knew!"
"I said you could come to me and save yourself a trip."
"No, no! I mean the proverb. How did you come to think of that proverb?"
Anne managed to look bewildered.
"What's wrong with it? I just thought that you can't do any stitching in time without a needle. I just was trying to think of a proverb to use as an answer and that one popped into my head. Uh.... Are you all right, dear?"