A woman walked along the sidewalk

and a man asked her for her hand

He said,”In exchange for your hand, I’ll give you a staircase. It is probable that at some point you’ll need to climb and you won’t need a hand to go up the stairs.”

and so, she gave him her hand. It seemed a logical and necessary thing to do.

Of course, the first thing she did with her brand new stairs was ascend them.

Going up the stairs she met another man and he asked her for her foot.

He said,”Well, you have two of them and you really only need one to get to the top. As it is, we all have only one foot here. In exchange, I’ll give you this elevator and then you can rise without climbing.”

Thinking this was a logical and necessary thing to do, she gave him her foot.

Of course, the first thing she did when she received her brand new, shiny elevator was hop inside and press the button for the top floor.

Along the way, the elevator stopped and let in a third man. He asked for her heart.

He said,”Hearts are seldom used here and besides, hearts are of little value when they are unnecessary. In exchange, I’ll give you this key to the penthouse at the very top floor. You will be able to see the whole, wide world from the top.”

Believing this was a logical and necessary thing to do, she gave him her heart.

The man took his bloody prize and stepped out on the next floor with a wink.

The woman turned the key and rose to the penthouse.

Once there, she gazed at the whole, wide world and in her limbs she felt a tingling for what was missing. Inside her was a vast emptiness, wider than her spectacular penthouse view. She wondered why she needed the stairs, or the elevator, or the key for that matter.

“Well,” she said to herself (as there was no one else there),”We do what we must to achieve what we want.”