text: > look around
  Train Station Restroom (David Petrocco)
  A harshly lit pay restroom. Dust and grime mar the once white tiles and marble of the facilities: A small shower stall with the curtain closed, a bathroom stall with a single dirty toilet (there are mounts for a door, but it is nowhere to be seen), a small storage closet for janitorial supplies, a four by four row of small lockers, and an extremely dirty dual basin sink.
  
  The train station is EAST.
  
  > examine the sink
  The train station restroom sink is currently switched off.
  
  > turn on sink
  As you turn on the sink it begins to shake violently.
  
  > go to the east
  The surroundings are as dim and dingy as ever. The platform is to the north. The dirty, cobweb-covered windows and the station exit are to the south. The large mirror and the green door are to the east. The restroom door is to the west. You are unsure what you should do.
  
  > go east
  (first opening the green door)
  It seems to be locked.
  
  > go to the south
  To the north is the vast windowless bulk of the train station. A metal trash can squats beneath its carved facade. The town itself is downhill, on the other side of a ravine. Somewhere down there, you can get a bath and a meal.
  
  A woman stands in the center of the bridge, preventing traffic in both directions.
  
  The sky is oppressively stygian.
  
  > look at the woman
  She is wearing a long red scarf and a tattered skirt. Her hair is wild, grey in the same color as the train tracks, twisted by the wind. She keeps shooting uncomfortable glances at the town.
  
  The sky above is a greater than mortal greenish tint.
  
  > talk to the woman
  You say hello to the woman.
  
  > Kiss woman
  She averts her face. "Keep your base hands away from me, stranger," she says.
  
  > examine trash
  It is a closed metal can from which issues a cabalistic stench.
  
  > open the trash
  You open the trash can and peer into its tenebrous depths. Within you discern a pull-string doll and a dog-eared book.
  
  The clouds fly quickly across the sky.
  
  > take the doll and the book
  pull-string doll: Taken.
  
  a dog-eared book: Taken.
  
  > look at book
  A dog-eared, stained paperback called The Modern Girl's Divination Handbook -- Volume Three. The cover features three teenage girls of varying ethnicities laughing over the body of a dead cow, each one holding a section of entrails. Reading the blurb on the back makes you suspect that the authors used up all of the more normal divination methods in volumes one and two, and are now scraping the barrel for the really weird stuff.
  
  > read book
  You flip past the title page, looking for something interesting...
  
  If your parents are anything like our parents, they really suck at predicting the future... but they might have a kernel of
  truth for you! The next time you're at a family barbecue, slip this potion into your mom's potato salad, then wait for her to finish her corn on the cob--
  
  What.
  
  [You can continue to READ the divination handbook; this is excerpt 1/3.]
  
  The clouds continue to race across the sky, lower than before.
  
  > read the book
  You continue to thumb through the book...
  
  you were a kid, and now he's just gathering dust? Good news! With a little bit of sage smudging and energy cleansing, Teddy Ruxpin makes the perfect home for a wandering spirit--
  
  Nope nope nope.
  
  [You can continue to READ the divination handbook; this is excerpt 2/3.]
  
  Fat, filthy raindrops begin to fall.
  
  > read the book
  You flip past a lot of terrible ideas to the very last page of the book...
  
  Ever wonder if the little heart in your latte means the barista's crushing on you? Well, now you can find out for sure! All you need is a cold cup of coffee with some cream in it--
  
  Huh. Unlike everything else in the book, this seems like it might actually prove useful. There aren't that many possible readings, so you quickly memorize them and slam the book closed.
  
  [This is the end of the divination handbook, but if you have no respect for your own intelligence, you can READ it again.]
  
  > examine the cup
  The swirls in your cup form a maple leaf. Botanical images mean that while there is much left to accomplish in the present situation, your immediate environment sustains you, and you have everything that you need.
  
  > examine doll
  The doll has an inane smile on its face and a pull-string in the middle of its back.
  
  It has the sort of head with two faces, one of which is hidden by its hair. Rotate the head and the other face will be forward.
  
  It is raining harder now, and the street is already slick.
  
  > pull the string
  The doll chirps, "I like the thing that isn't here! Yay!"
  
  There is a tinny sound of applause.
  
  > pull the string
  The doll chirps, "I like the glass jar containing an insect! Hideous! Yay!"
  
  There is a tinny sound of applause.
  
  > give the insect to the doll
  You can only do that to something animate.
  
  > pull string
  The doll chirps, "I like the bridge! Bridge! Yay!"
  
  There is a tinny sound of applause.
  
  Rain falls as it did in Noah's day.
  
  > Hello
  You are already talking to the woman.
  
  > ask the woman about the town
  "The town is accursed."
  
  > ask the woman about the womwan
  The woman's answer is too faint to comprehend.
  
  > ask woman about the rain
  Over the noise of the rain, she answers, "You'll do best in this town if you ask least, witless idiot."
  
  The downpour continues, drenching everything.
  
  > ask the woman about the woman
  The woman says in a loud voice, "I was summoned here to protect you, and those like you, newcomer."
  
  > ask woman about yourself
  She shouts, "You uneducated idiot, witless stranger."
  
  > ask the woman about doll
  "It has been sent to warn us."
  
  > ask the woman about book
  The woman's answer is too base to comprehend.
  
  > examine bridge
  The bridge is built of vast blocks, antiquarian beyond measure. It offers only a narrow crossing.