text: [Themes: Mystery, Slice of life, Religious, Christianity, photography, teenage protagonist]
  
  > Look around
  An exercise in photojournalism by Ryan Veeder & Emily Boegheim
  
  Sharon, in her wisdom, decided that everybody should sleep in this cramped corner of the church basement.
  
  Battered toys spill out of the toybox and across the floor, piling up in a corner of the room. Cupboards are mounted high on the walls, out of reach of tiny fingers, and an enormous blue recliner sits underneath them. It's already dark outside, and the doors west to the basement stairway and south are dark as well.
  
  Your sleeping bag is lying on a tidy patch of floor, ready for when you finish your investigation.
  
  Orchid is lounging around, lecturing you.
  
  "You'd better hold onto this," she says, handing you the camera, "you're the official photographer. Just don't forget, if you see something that might be evidence of a ghost, make sure you take a photo of it."
  
  You slip the camera strap around your neck.
  
  > examine the camera
  Something went wrong with the West High Warbler's official camera, so Casey scrounged up this old Polaroid instead. He was very keen on you using a Polaroid camera for this story, for some reasonhe gave you enough photo paper to document a whole congregation of ghosts.
  
  Orchid notices your notebook. "What's all that?" she asks.
  
  "Oh, Casey gave it to me. It's just some notes about things in the church."
  
  "Is there anything about me in there?"
  
  "I don't think so," you lie, and Orchid loses interest.
  
  Casey glances around the newspaper office. "Orchid is gone, right?"
  
  "Yes, she left. Why do you ask?"
  
  "I wanted to give you this while she wasn't around." He hands you a thick, well-leafed notebook. "It's just kind of a guide kind of thing, with some general information and directions, just to help you get around. Don't let Orchid see it."
  
  "Are you sure I'll require so much background material? And why shouldn't Orchid see it?"
  
  "Well, Robin," Casey says, and he spins around a chair to sit on it backwards in what he surely thinks is a very casual and friendly pose, "Orchid is a church member, and you're not, and you missed the
  lock-in, so you don't have a lot of the context that Orchid has. I
  just wanted to put you on an even footing. And for your second question, I might have written some things in there that I wouldn't have said to Orchid's face."
  
  You nod, and slip the notebook into your backpack. "I'm sure you've adequately prepared me for my mission."
  
  "Yes, I have. You're welcome. No, wait, I've got one more thing to
  say. Make sure you take lots of pictures, obviously. It's your job. That's one." He starts counting on his fingers. "Um, it's more fun if you run off by yourself, so make sure you get Sharon off your back. That's two. And keep an open mind. I mean, just because you don't believe in ghosts doesn't mean you're not gonna see one.
  
  "So, yeah. That's three things."
  Robin & Orchid
  An exercise in photojournalism by Ryan Veeder & Emily Boegheim
  
  Sharon, in her wisdom, decided that everybody should sleep in this cramped corner of the church basement.
  
  Battered toys spill out of the toybox and across the floor, piling up in a corner of the room. Cupboards are mounted high on the walls, out of reach of tiny fingers, and an enormous blue recliner sits
  underneath them. It's already dark outside, and the doors west to the basement stairway and south are dark as well.
  
  Your sleeping bag is lying on a tidy patch of floor, ready for when
  you finish your investigation.
  
  Orchid is lounging around, lecturing you.
  
  "You'd better hold onto this," she says, handing you the camera, "you're the official photographer. Just don't forget, if you see something that might be evidence of a ghost, make sure you take a
  photo of it."
  
  You slip the camera strap around your neck.
  
  > look at the recliner
  The armchair is covered in lumpy blue corduroy. At least it's clean.
  
  Orchid notices your notebook. "What's all that?" she asks.
  
  "Oh, Casey gave it to me. It's just some notes about things in the church."
  
  "Is there anything about me in there?"
  
  "I don't think so," you lie, and Orchid loses interest.
  
  > climb on the recliner
  You step up onto the seat of the recliner, adding at least a foot to your height.
  
  "Oh, and," Orchid adds, "don't turn the lights on while you're looking around unless you have to. Some ghosts won't appear unless it's dark, and we've only got tonight to gather all our evidence."
  
  > look at the cupboards
  The nursery cupboards are numerous and mounted high up on the walls, presumably so the kids can't get into them.
  
  Sharon stomps into the nursery. "There are supposed to be some
  blankets somewhere in this nursery," she says. "Robin, can you find them and grab them for me?" She looks thoughtfully at the child-sized cots scattered around the room.
  
  > Inventory
  Sharon talks over you, drowning you out.
  
  "Okay, girls," Sharon says. "Here's how this is going to work."
  
  > open cupboards
  It takes some hunting to find them, but there are the blankets, up on the top shelf.
  
  Sharon continues, "This is your story and your investigation, so don't expect me to be running around the church with you all night." She pushes one of the cots up against the wall.
  
  > get the blankets
  Taken.
  
  Sharon pulls another of the cots toward her and lines it up with the first one. "I don't care if you stay up all night, tomorrow isn't a school day so it's not my problem if you're exhausted. Personally, I want my eight hours, though."
  
  > look at the blankets
  The blankets are small, thin, and colorful. Probably they're designed for making kids' afternoon naps fun, not for actually sleeping under.
  
  Sharon continues, "So I'm going to stay here and sleep, and you two
  are going to get on with your investigating, and not wake me up unless there's a life-threatening emergency or something."
  
  > give the blankets to Sharon
  Sharon takes the pile of blankets from you. "Thanks, Robin," she says.
  
  "Orchid, pass me that cot in the corner, will you?" Sharon asks.
  
  Orchid pulls a face but goes to get it.
  
  > examine the toys
  Toy cars, a lot of wooden blocks, a tea set, that kind of thing. It looks like someone tried to take a bite out of one of the blocks.
  
  "Just don't complain to me when you've spent the whole night ghost-hunting and have nothing to show for it. Thanks, Orchid." Sharon pushes the last cot into place alongside the other two and frowns at the result.
  
  > ask Orchid,  to check what you're carrying
  Sharon talks over you, drowning you out.
  
  Sharon unrolls a thin mattress on top of the cots. "I expect the West High Warbler can find some other story to run if this one
  doesn't work out. It'll be a nuisance, though."
  
  > Exits
  From here, you could head south and west to the basement stairway.
  
  Sharon looks at the makeshift cot bed and purses her lips. "I guess that'll do," she says.
  
  Suddenly Orchid gasps and grabs your arm. "Someone's outside!" she squeaks, pointing at the window.
  
  Behind the glass, you see a pale face, blurry in the dim light.
  
  > take photo of the face
  (with the Polaroid camera)
  The click of the shutter sounds loud in the silence and seems to startle the creature outside the window. It turns and vanishes out of the light, its tail flicking past the glass. Orchid gives a high-pitched giggle.
  
  "Scared of a cat!" Sharon says. "You better not freak out and wake me up every time you mistake a shadow for a ghost tonight."
  
  > look at the photo
  It's the photo you took of the cat looking in through the window. How did you ever think it was a person? It's much too small and pale to be anything human. Although outside the window, obscured by the glass, it did look pretty ghostly.
  
  Orchid peeks over your shoulder at the photo you took. "Hey, that's good!" she says. "I guess you can see how it's a cat now, but it
  looked really spooky, didn't it?"
  
  > look at the photograph
  It's the photo you took of the cat looking in through the window. How did you ever think it was a person? It's much too small and pale to be anything human. Although outside the window, obscured by the glass, it did look pretty ghostly.
  
  Sharon yawns. "Right, I'm going to bed now. Keep out of trouble, don't break anything, and don't wake me up unless it's really,
  really serious, got it?" Without waiting for an answer, she lies
  down on the row of cots, facing away from you, and pulls the blankets over herself.
  
  Orchid says, "We'd better get started. How about this: you check out the basement, and I'll go upstairs and look around there, and then we'll meet up and compare notes. Don't forget to take a photo if you find any evidence of a ghost!" She slips out of the room. A moment later, you hear her footsteps echoing in the stairwell as she heads back up to the main floor.
  
  > tell Sharon about the couches
  On second thoughts, maybe what you wanted to say isn't urgent enough
  to brave Sharon's wrath at being woken.
  
  > go south
  (first getting off the recliner)
  You switch the lights on in the next room.
  
  A large part of this room is taken up by a rickety ping pong table. Couches line the edges of the room, some of them close enough to the table that they're probably not safe to sit on if someone is actually playing ping pong. On the other hand, you can't see any ping pong bats anywhere, so maybe that's not an issue. In between the couches, doors lead north to the nursery, west, and south.
  
  A garish golden trophy catches your eye.
  
  A trolley with an ancient TV and a Super Nintendo on it is standing in front of one of the couches.
  
  > look at trophy
  The figurine on top is a generic gold-painted plastic person raising its arms in victory. The text at the bottom reads: "BIBLE QUIZ TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS".
  
  > look at the trolley
  A cube of black metal bars, mounted on casters.
  
  On the TV trolley are a television set and a SNES (in which is a Bubsy cartridge).
  
  > turn on Nintendo
  This is no time for video games. Especially not Bubsy.
  
  > look up bubsy
  (in Casey's notes)
  [This action may cause some slight lag in the browser version of this game. We sincerely regret any inconvenience.]
  
  You flick through the notes and read Casey's scrawly handwriting: "I don't even know what Bubsy is about. A squirrel? It doesn't even have
  a proper two-player mode. You have to wait and watch the other guy play. It's bad for the group. I miss Tetris Attack."
  
  > examine the cage
  The curving faux-wrought-iron bars and caked-on "rust" identify this
  as one of the non-functioning, overpriced decorations which are so popular in craft stores. What does a Sunday School need with a bird cage?
  
  > look up cage
  (the bird cage)
  (in Casey's notes)
  You flick through the notes and read Casey's scrawly handwriting: "Can't really tell you what the Sunday School bird cage is for; it showed up after I graduated. I think it might have something to do
  with like, Old Testament animal sacrifices? Back when you had to give the priest two of your doves instead of just praying for forgiveness?"
  
  > take the photo of the cage
  (with the Polaroid camera)
  You snap a picture of the bird cage. The camera whirrs and vibrates
  and eventually spits out a print of the photo.
  
  > look at the photo
  Which do you mean, the photo of the cat looking through the window or the photo of the bird cage?
  
  > examine cross
  This is a nice little cross for a table. Nothing fancy.
  
  > take the cross
  Taken.
  
  > take the photo of the photo of the cat
  (with the Polaroid camera)
  A photo of a photo would be a waste of time. Useless clutter.
  
  > take photo of the camera
  (with the Polaroid camera)
  You'll need a mirror if you're really serious about that.
  
  > take the photo of yourself
  (with the Polaroid camera)
  You snap a picture of yourself. The camera whirrs and vibrates and eventually spits out a print of the photo.
  
  > examine the photo of yourself
  It turns out it's not that easy taking a photo of yourself with a Polaroid camera. The picture came out slightly blurry; you're not sure if it's because you weren't holding the camera still, or because it
  was too close to your face.