text: [Themes: amnesia]
  
  Thanks for playing!
  
  You feel as though you've been staring hard at something for a long time, yet have suddenly gotten lost.
  
  Your eyes are weary, and your legs are stiff.
  
  Not remembering how you arrived here, near a large park on the river Seine, you nevertheless decide to take in the scenery and explore a bit.
  
  Pr?s du parc
  You're standing on a gently sloping hill near a popular Parisian park. To the north you can see lots of people enjoying the summer day. Those without parasols sit in the shade of beautiful green trees, and in light of the way you're feeling, you might want to follow their lead. It's slightly after noon and the sun is beating down on you.
  
  A discarded newspaper lies at your feet.
  
  [Author's Note: Visit Paris, France in 1884 and explore a large park on the bank of the river Seine.]
  
  > About you
  You're you. Just an innocent tourist trying to broaden your horizons.
  
  > take the newspaper
  Taken.
  
  > examine it
  Your French isn't great, but even you notice that something is strange about the paper. Aha, there it is. "La Presse - dimanche 20 juillet 1884." Yeah, it's pretty old. From the various headings, you can tell there are articles on neo-impressionism, champagne, and optometry. Unfortunately, your grammar doesn't match your stunning ability to recognize simple cognates, so you're unable to read the articles themselves.
  
  > read newspaper
  It's all Greek to you. Er, French.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  You are carrying:
  a newspaper
  
  > go north
  It's nice and shady here. An upper-class Frenchwoman and her male companion (complete with monocle, top hat, and riding crop) are standing here, staring off to the west. The river does look nice, but the persistence of their gaze is unnerving. You can see a woman knitting to the west and a girl holding a bouquet to the north.
  
  A small brown dog is here, terrorizing a skinny little monkey on a leash. The monkey's owners don't seem to notice.
  
  > examine the monkey
  The monkey's arching his back and hissing as a brown dog yips and nips at it. Someone should teach that dog a lesson.
  
  > examine the dog
  A speckled brown dog wearing a pink bow. Its owner doesn't seem to be around.
  
  > look at woman
  She has a parasol and a pet monkey on a leash. Also, she has a big, round butt. It can't be real. She must be using... Uh, what's it called... A bustle? Anyway, her dress has wiring in it that makes her butt look huge.
  
  > kill the dog
  PETA wouldn't be happy with you. Try punishing it a little less severely.
  
  > examine man
  The guy looks really stuck-up.
  
  > hit the dog with the newspaper
  You give it a swift whack with the newspaper. It's looking pretty obedient now.
  
  > feed the monkey to the dog
  (first taking the small monkey)
  I don't suppose the small monkey would care for that.
  
  > talk to the woman
  Hm. Doesn't seem interested in talking to you.
  
  > go west
  A woman sits here knitting a delicate white garment. She appears to be accompanied by a mustached man with a top hat and cane who looks across the river. Nearby a boatman smokes a pipe and stares out into the Seine as well. An unoccupied grassy patch of land lies to the north, and to the east you spot an aristocratic couple with a monkey.
  
  The woman continues to knit here.
  
  A black dog is here, behind the knitting woman, chewing something.
  
  > examine the dog
  You peer closely at the spotty black dog. A pink hat is in his mouth. He looks like a rather docile breed, and the knitting woman seems to be its owner.
  
  > hit the dog with the newspaper
  Is that really necessary?
  
  > take the hat
  You play a little tug-of-war with the dog before it gives up the hat. The dog returns to sniffing grass around the park. Probably looking for a place to wee.
  
  > look at the hat
  The hat's made of a light pink or lavender fabric, and has two poof balls strung to it on either side. It looks like the same material the woman nearby was knitting with, albeit a different color.
  
  > wear the hat
  You put on the hat.
  
  > remove it
  You take off the hat.
  
  > give the hat to the woman
  The knitting woman looks up from her current task and smiles at you, piecing together what must have transpired. "Merci beaucoup. Ce chien..." She wags a finger at the dog and returns her hat to its proper position at her side.
  
  > go north
  There's not much here besides grass. A nice view of the Seine lies to your west. There's an obnoxious bugler to the north, and you don't like the idea of hearing his warbling tune at a higher volume. Thus, you can only go east or south from here.
  
  A butterfly flaps its spotted wings silently in the air several feet off the ground.
  
  A small bunch of white-flecked flowers grows here.
  
  > get the butterfly
  Darn. Though it barely seems to move, it flutters swiftly away each time you reach out for it.
  
  > get all
  butterfly: Darn. Though it barely seems to move, it flutters swiftly away each time you reach out for it.
  bunch of flowers: Taken.
  Parisians: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  parasols: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  sun: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  beautiful trees: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  park: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  Seine: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  bugler: I don't suppose the bugler would care for that.
  ladies: I don't suppose the ladies would care for that.
  
  > look at the trees
  They're very tall and slender, with speckled green leaves.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a bunch of flowers
  a newspaper
  
  > look at the butterfly
  Remarkably still, you could probably grab it right out of the air.
  
  > examine the flowers
  This bunch would add to a bouquet nicely, though the flowers look rather like plain white dots on their own.
  
  > show the flowers to the butterfly
  The butterfly is unimpressed.
  
  > look
  There's not much here besides grass. A nice view of the Seine lies to your west. There's an obnoxious bugler to the north, and you don't like the idea of hearing his warbling tune at a higher volume. Thus, you can only go east or south from here.
  
  A butterfly flaps its spotted wings silently in the air several feet off the ground.
  
  > Go east
  There's a girl here, about thirteen years old, arranging flowers. There's a finished bouquet next to her, and her mother (or aunt, or whatever) sits nearby, gazing at the Seine. Exits are north, toward a little girl and her mother, south, where an aristocratic couple walk a pet monkey, and west, toward an open field.
  
  > look at the girl
  The girl looks at her tiny clump of flowers, arranging and rearranging the stems. She doesn't seem to like it much, and it certainly doesn't live up to the one by her side.
  
  > get all
  Parisians: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  parasols: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  sun: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  beautiful trees: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  park: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  Seine: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  flower girl: I don't suppose the flower girl would care for that. finished bouquet: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  girl's mother: You'd like to bring this piece of art back with you, but it'd probably be missed.
  
  > examine the bouquet
  There's a pretty bouquet of flowers laid here by the girl, but some of the buds seem faded. They look fresh-picked, but certain colors just have a dingy hue.
  
  > show the flowers to girl
  The flower girl is unimpressed.
  
  > give the flowers to girl
  She takes the flowers and adds them to her current bunch, smiling. "Zank you. Ze yellow..." She pauses, glancing at both her bouquet and the grass in the park. "Ze yellow is, how you say, fading..." The girl looks appreciatively at the white adornments to her project.
  
  > go north
  There's a little girl here, holding her mother's hand. Other people are to the north, but there's nothing interesting in that direction, so you can only return south from here.
  
  > examine girl
  About five years old, wearing a white hat and white dress. The little girl in white stares at you intently, as if she wants to talk to you.
  
  > talk to girl
  You begin to speak to the little girl. "Um..."
  
  She looks up at you with a blank stare. "Hello. We are grateful for your help."
  
  "Oh," you stammer, "you speak English."
  
  "Yes," she says, without changing expression.
  
  "You're just a little kid, though. Don't you live here in Paris? Is one of your parents from England or America?"
  
  "I have learned English from the passers-by who stop to discuss and comment amongst themselves. I am always watching. Some others here are not so motivated."
  
  You look around a little. "What do you mean, passers-by? That doesn't make any sense. Here in the park, you mean? You learned English from tourists? That's impres-"
  
  "No, in the gallery. Chicago."
  
  The name of the city sounds familiar. "You mean you live in Chicago?"
  
  "In America for eighty-four years. In Chicago for seventy-six of them."
  
  "Whaaat? You've got some imagination, kid." You start walking away.
  
  "Wait," she says. "I am telling you the truth. All you see is merely a scene painted one hundred and twenty-five years ago, by a great artist. This place is La Grande Jatte, as seen over a century ago by Georges Seurat."
  
  You begin to protest, but now that the thought has been planted into your brain, you can't shake it off. Everything's seemed so restricted, so static. Things barely move, and everything's got the same texture to it. Speckled, spotted, dotted. It's all pointillism. Then you turn and stare at the girl's face.
  
  There's no definition to it. It's just a splotch of color. Her two blue eyes are blobs of oil paint. How could you not see this before?
  
  You have to get out of here.
  
  > get out
  You're not in anything though... or are you?
  
  > Yes
  That was a rhetorical question.
  
  > wake up
  But you're not sleeping... or are you?