text: [Themes: Slice of life, female protagonist]
  
  > Go down
  This is the living room. It's the front room of the house, and its main feature is the large sofa along the back wall by the staircase, across from the front door. Just north is a small bathroom. West is the door that leads into the dining area, and there is a sitting room set apart to the east.
  
  > examine the front door
  
  > Go north
  Kitchen (or Cooking Area)
  This is the main part of the kitchen, where the food is prepared. A long counter runs along the east wall, broken up in the middle by the refridgerator. A small cooking island dominates the center of this area, and pots and pans hang from above it. Light floods the room from the large windows on the west wall , and there is also a small window in the north wall, next to the door that leads out into the backyard.
  
  > Go north
  Since your house is situated on the corner of the block, you have a fairly decent-sized backyard that wraps southwest around the side of the house, also. The entire yard is closed in with a high, wooden privacy fence, but it isn't quite enough to keep the tabloidists from climbing into your yard and getting into the trash.
  
  David is sitting on the back step, with a guitar. You double-take as it registers that he is using your hair pick to strum the guitar!
  
  ...And he's not very good, either.
  
  > talk to David
  He briefly looks up from the instrument. "Hey, Sis," he says, before resuming his daily routine of ignoring you.
  
  > ask David for the pick
  "No way, Sis!" he says. "I need it to practice my guitar. There's sure nothing else to do around here..." He exhales. "Not since I lost my comic book, anyway."
  
  > give the comic book to David
  His eyes bug out as he sees the comic in your hand. "I've been looking all over for that!" He exclaims. "Where'd you find it?"
  
  Before you can answer, he seizes the comic and runs off, leaving the guitar and your hairpick on the step. You quickly pick up the hair pick and, after brushing the worst of the cooites off it, run it through your hair. Much better!
  
  > examine the guitar
  It's an acoustic guitar. Come to think of it, you have no idea where it actually came from.
  
  > examine the fence
  It's very tall, and made of a dark colored wood. It wraps around the backyard and the side-yard. Tabloidists still manage to get in, but at least the fence makes it more difficult for them.
  
  > listen
  Something's rustling around in the trashcans next to your house.
  
  > EXITS
  Obvious exits lead south, back to the kitchen (or cooking area); southwest; and up.
  
  (You can control the exit listings with the EXITS command. EXITS STATUS shows the exit list in the status line, EXITS LOOK shows a full exit list in each room description, EXITS ON shows both, and EXITS OFF turns off both kinds of exit lists.)
  
  > go southwest
  This is just a little stretch of land that borders the side of your house. It's almost completely boxed in by the house and the privacy fence, except for where it joins the backyard to the northeast. Some trashcans are piled at the southern end of the fence.
  
  A bagged lunch sits on the ground by the reporter's feet.
  
  Over by the trashcans, a tabloid reporter ineptly tries to conceal himself behind a large bush.
  
  The cockroach senses the presence of a ham and tuna sandwich. It presses itself against the glass and stares longingly at the reporter's sack lunch. Then, much to your surprise, it flies out of the jar and buzzes straight towards the lunchbag. The bug somehow executes a perfect swan dive, landing inside the bag.
  
  Upon hearing a buzz, the tabloid reporter glances in his lunchbag and sees the bug enjoying his sandwich. Like the hardened, unfazable reporter that he is, he immediately throws his arms up into the air and runs screaming like a little girl. You watch in amazement as he vaults the fence, landing with a hard thud followed by yelps, yapping, and an anguished cry of "My poodles!"
  
  Well, that's one less pest to deal with, at least.
  
  > go northeast
  Since your house is situated on the corner of the block, you have a fairly decent-sized backyard that wraps southwest around the side of the house, also. The entire yard is closed in with a high, wooden privacy fence, but it isn't quite enough to keep the tabloidists from climbing into your yard and getting into the trash.
  
  "Poodle-attacking fiend!" *Whap* *Whap* *Whap*
  
  > Go up
  You are floating serenly in the sky above your house. It's kind of nice, up here. The view and the lovely weather combine to help lift your spirits.
  
  > EXITS
  Obvious exits lead north; south; east; west; northeast; northwest; southeast; southwest; up; and down, back to the the backyard.
  
  > go south
  Kitchen (or Cooking Area)
  This is the main part of the kitchen, where the food is prepared. A long counter runs along the east wall, broken up in the middle by the refridgerator. A small cooking island dominates the center of this area, and pots and pans hang from above it. Light floods the room from the large windows on the west wall , and there is also a small window in the north wall, next to the door that leads out into the backyard.
  
  There is a din out in the street. A whole lot of small dogs are yapping like crazy, and it sounds like your neighbor Tiffany is hitting the tabloid reporter with her purse.
  
  > go south
  This is the dining area. It isn't quite a dining "room" since the only thing that seperates it from rest of the kitchen is space. It consists of a large table and several chairs at the south end of the expansive kitchen. The cooking area is at the north end. The living room is out the door to the east.
  
  David is sitting in one of the chairs, reading his comic.
  
  "Help! This-*Giant Raccoon* is attacking my poodles!" *WHAP*
  
  "Ow! Look, Lady, I'm not really a raccoon, it's just a costume! So could you just-" *WHAP* "-stop-" *WHAP* "-Ow!"
  
  > go to the east
  This is the living room. It's the front room of the house, and its main feature is the large sofa along the back wall by the staircase, across from the front door. Just north is a small bathroom. West is the door that leads into the dining area, and there is a sitting room set apart to the east.
  
  There is a din out in the street. A whole lot of small dogs are yapping like crazy, and it sounds like your neighbor Tiffany is hitting the tabloid reporter with her purse.
  
  > Go upward
  This is the beginning of the narrow hallway that runs east-west through the upstairs of the house. The bathroom is immediately north, and at the western end of the hall is your parents' room. Between them is the staircase that goes down to the rest of the house. South, across from the stairs, is your brother David's room. The hall coninues to the east, towards your and your sister's rooms.
  
  The sound of a tabloidist in mild agony amidst a horde of toy poodles reaches your ears. You ingore it.
  
  > Go west
  This is the master bedroom, where your parents sleep. Their large, double bed is at the far end of the room, your Dad's side close to the window in case he has to leave in the middle of the night to attend an emergency. Against the far wall is a large vanity. You notice a beautiful silver necklace hanging from it.
  
  Your mother, fresh from the shower, is sitting on the bed in her bathrobe, busily typing away at the laptop on the bed next to her. She pauses occaisonally to pat at her hair with the towel around her shoulders.
  
  "Lady-*ow*--please, I-*ow*--I was only-*ow!* HELP, SUPERM-*Ow!*"
  
  Your Mom casts a worried glance out the window.
  
  > ask Mom for necklace
  Your mother turns and smiles at you, lifting her fingers away from the keyboard. "Hi, Sweetie," she says.
  
  Your mom grins. "From all the commotion outside, it sounds like that jerk from the tabloids won't be coming back any time soon. Just for that, you can borrow my necklace any time you like." She stands up and crosses to the vanity. "As long as you ask first, of course, " she adds as she takes the necklace from the hook and gently hands it to you.
  
  > Wear necklace
  You double check everything, making sure that not one hair or thread is out of place. Perfect. Just in time, too, because Troy is at the door now! You hear his heartbeat outside the front door long before he knocks. Dropping everything you know you won't need, you rush over, pausing at the last minute so that you don't seem overly anxious.
  
  When you finally open the door, Troy stares at you as though you were some kind of goddess. "Wow," he squeaks after a long pause, "just...Wow. You look great, Martha!" He clears his throat. "So, are you ready to go?"
  
  Before you can reply, you hear your father land in the back yard and make his way through the kitchen. "Not so fast, kids..." After an endless parade of questions about where you're going, how long you'll be, and how much gas is in the car, you and Troy *finally* head off to the Ukranian Film Festival.
  
  As you glance at Troy, it occurs to you that neither of you will be paying very much attention to Grosky's Fish Sing In Twighlight. He smiles at you.
  
  "You really look nice, Martha," he says. "It must be nice being a Kent; getting ready to go was probably a snap."