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Tai Chi in the park is interrupted by a pressing concern: Randall doesn't understand shorting stocks! Rather than being nonplussed by this peculiar exclamation, the blonde woman takes it in stride. She is one with the Tao, and answers in the form of a koan. The purpose of her explanation is not to answer Randall's question but to un-ask it. Unfortunately, Randall is not yet sufficiently enlightened to grasp this, and she is forced to make it more explicit by challenging his assumptions on a more fundamental level. After all, why should he expect to receive wisdom by asking questions?

The reader's own expectations have been similarly challenged. At first glance, this may seem to be merely an exercise in Black Hat Guy-style trolling, but his absence forces us to look deeper. We too are invited to enter the Tao-- or perhaps to invite it into us.