An anecdote that lands exactly on its lesson. Real events don't line up that neatly.
Too-tidy storyDrag across · ← →waiting for a post
Balls and pins: what happens, and what it bounces offGuide rails: the story steered to its moralLamp and dial: the reading, lower is betterReal anecdotes are messy: drop five balls through the pins and they land all over. A too-tidy story has rails built in. Partway steered, most of the balls find the centre cup. Fully steered, the funnel rises from the top corners and every ball rolls neatly into LESSON, the moral the post was always heading for. The board streams to the lamp, which pulses white while the balls fall, then lights the score (blue below 40, yellow from 40, red from 70) and sends it straight to the dial. The bins empty between posts and the dial drops back to zero.