I guess there is such a thing as a good rejection.

Received from an editor today:

"While the story amused us on the first read through, the more we thought about it, and on second reads, it just wasn't as satisfying. We hope you find a good home for it, though, and we would love to see more from you."

The good news is, my writing made it past the first cut to their full editorial board. And they "would love to see more from [me]".

Alas, the bad news is, they still didn't buy my story. But maybe the next one....