The Count of the Wobbleygooks

I help you, you help me, and then we both see, That a world that is fixed is the best place to be. Life is a team sport, we’re all on the field, and the truth is the power that makes the best yield. It isn't just nice, and it isn't just sweet, It's the smartest way possible to stand on your feet.

In the center of town, where the Snaggle-Vines grow, Stands a Great Gilly-Machine, all a-gleam and a-glow! It hummed with a whistle! It whirred with a thump! Producing the Fizz-Juice that makes your heart jump! It puffed out the Puff-Pills! It clinked out the Toys! For all of the Gilly-Goo girls and the boys.

But this Great Gilly-Engine, so shiny and vast, Needs a very specific and special breakfast. It doesn’t eat crackers! It doesn’t eat cheese! It eats Only-True-Things, if you please, if you please! It needs the exact count of Snallywag-Socks, And the "Ground Truth" of pebbles inside of your box.

Young Pip was the Player in charge of the Count, To tell the Machine the exact right amount. He’d count every Wobbleygook, green, blue, and red, Then whisper the number right into its head. "Six Wobbleys today!" he would shout with a grin, And the Fizz-Juice would pour from the spout to the bin.

But one Tuesday morning, while counting the Goo, Pip tripped on his shoelace and dropped a, oops... Two! Two Wobbleygooks tumbled! They rolled down the hill! They splashed in the river and sat very still. Now Pip had a problem. His count was quite wrong. (And the Machine needs the Truth to keep humming its song).

"If I tell the team," Pip thought with a sigh, "They’ll know I’m a stumbler! They’ll know I’m that guy! They’ll pause the whole game, read maintenance books, And give me those 'Oh-Pip-You-Clumsy-Oaf' looks." So he looked at the Engine, and whispered a lie: "The count is still Six!" with a wink of his eye.

He thought he was clever! He thought he was fast! He thought that his "Fiction" would certainly last. He’d saved his own face! He’d stayed on the track! But he’d put a big hole in the team’s Gilly-Goo-Sack...

Dot’s Helpful Drip-Drop

Now Dot was the Player on the very next base, With a Gilly-Goo wrench and a smile on her face. Her job was to polish the Wobbleygook Shells, And ring all the Gilly-Goo Gongs and the Bells. She waited for Six, as the Engine went clink, But she only saw Four... which made young Dot blink.

"That’s funny," said Dot, "Pip whispered for Six, But there’s only these Four for my wrenches to fix! If I tell the team that the count is quite low, The Gilly-Goo Game will be dreadfully slow. Poor Pip will feel silly, his face will turn red, And the 'Team' will have chores and go late to their bed."

So Dot, being 'kind' in a way that was wrong, Decided to help the Machine get along. She took some old Snallywag-Socks from a pile, And stuffed them in Wobbleygook Shells with a smile! She made the Four look like a Six-pack of Goo, By adding some fluff and a little bit of glue.

"There now!" whispered Dot, "I have fixed the mistake! I’ve saved us some time! I have lowered the brake! The team is still winning! The game is still fast! My helpful Little-Fiction will certainly last."

But the Gilly-Machine gave a rattle and cough, And a Gilly-Goo gear-bolt came tumbling off. The Fizz-Juice turned grey, like a puddle of mud, And the Gilly-Goo Gongs gave a hollow-type thud. Because Dot had been 'nice' to save Pip from some shame, She’d added Sunk-Cost to the Gilly-Goo game!

The socks gummed the gears! The glue gunked the wheels! (You can’t imagine how bad a Gilly-Engine feels). By 'fixing' the lie with a lie of her own, The seeds of a System-Wide-Failure were sown.

The Huddle and the Radical Audit

The Coach (the wise Goose) raised a webbed-foot on high, And looked every Gilly-Goo kid in the eye. "Wait! Stop!" cried the Coach, "Blame’s not the game! Nobody wins if we name and we shame! This failure is big, not one little mistake, Problems cascade before everything breaks."

"It isn't just Pip! And it isn't just Dot! It’s the way that we played with the data we got! We hid all the wobbles! We polished the rust! And now our Great Engine is nothing but dust. If you want to be Winners, if you want to be Teams, You have to give Truth to the Gilly-Machine's beams!"

Pip stepped to the front, with his head held up high, (For a Sovereign Player has no use for a lie). "I dropped two green Gooks! I was clumsy and slow! And I whispered a Six just to keep up the show." Dot stepped up beside him, "And I saw the Four! But I stuffed in some socks just to open the door."

They didn't feel small, and they didn't feel bad, (Though the Gilly-Goo park was still gloomy and sad). They felt like a Team with a job to get done, To clean out the Sunk-Cost so they’d have some fun!

They pulled out the fluff! They scraped out the glue! They fished out the socks (which were smelly and blue). They performed a Great Audit, they checked every gear, Until every "Fiction" was gone from the sphere. They didn't just 'sorry', they worked on the core, Until the Ground Truth was just the same as the score.

Then Pip counted Four. Just a plain, simple Four. And the Gilly-Machine gave a happy-type roar! The Fizz-Juice poured out! It was purple and bright! And the Gilly-Goo park was a beautiful sight!

"Life is a team sport!" the Gilly-Goose cried, "With no silly fictions or secrets to hide! When you play for the Truth, and you play for the Team, The world works much better than even your dreams!"