text: [Themes: Horror, restaurant setting, supernatural]
  
  > Examine newspaper
  The newspaper scrap is worn and damp, rendering it almost unreadable.
  
  > look at the placard
  An aluminum placard, printed in red, is fixed to the front door.
  
  > read it
  You read: (in big red letters) CLOSED
  
  > examine the gutter
  The gutter is designed to carry storm water off the road. It extends west and east.
  
  In storm gutter is some broken glass.
  
  > About yourself
  You are the city health inspector, looking quite natty in your polyester shirt and vintage knit tie.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a notepad
  
  > examine the notepad
  This notebook is for recording health code violations when you inspect a restaurant. Nikolai's is likely to have a number of infractions.
  To record them, "note [something]". Later in the day, back at the office, you will refer to these notes to write your official report.
  
  > Go east
  A street-front window looks into Nikolai's bar. If you want into the bar, you'll have to go back to the restaurant entrance, which is west of here. There are no cars on this end of 19th Street. The sidewalk is uneven. A curb-side storm gutter empties here into a grated storm drain.
  
  > examine the drain
  The openings in the storm drain are barely wide enough to insert three fingers. You'll have to search more carefully to see what lies below.
  
  > search the drain
  Staring up at you, from a few inches below the grate, are a pair of eyes.
  
  > examine the eye
  On careful examination, the eyes are dismembered. They float in a dark pool several inches beneath the grate.
  
  > examine sidewalk
  The sidewalk buckles to such a degree, one might think it had been hit by an earthquake.
  
  > examine the window
  The window is marked by dozens of greasy finger prints and years of accumulated scratch marks. It should certainly be cleaned, if not replaced. But you can still see through well enough.
  
  > note the window
  You write, "Exterior windows are filthy-- should be cleaned." in the notebook.
  
  [Nikolai's sanitation rating has dropped two points.]
  
  > look through the window
  Through the window you see the Bar.
  
  A trapezoid of light falls on the cork dance floor.
  
  Behind the bar is a dinky two basin sink with an attached faucet. In the rinse basin is some ice.
  
  A middle-aged woman, slight in build, is seated at the bar counter. She has fallen fast asleep.
  
  You also see a stereo.
  
  > look at the woman
  Angela is Nikolai's day shift waitress. She doesn't have the endurance any longer to work the night shift. Angela is a thin woman not quite 50 with salt and pepper gray hair. Her skin is pale as a ghost. She is asleep.
  
  > examine stereo
  The stereo is one of those big, barely portable, over-the-shoulder models popular back in the day when Michael Jackson was undergoing his first plastic surgery. This one is held together by duct tape and wire. One of the bartenders probably brought it in to entertain themselves during the slow periods.
  
  The stereo is switched off.
  
  > wake woman
  You knock. Angela wakes, looking startled. When she sees you motioning at the window, she stands.
  
  > note the stereo
  You can only look from this distance.
  
  Angela moves to the dining room.
  
  > Go west
  An aluminum placard is fixed to the front door.
  
  A damp sheet of newspaper has blown up against the curb.
  
  Angela opens the door.
  
  > go to the north
  The restaurant area of Nikolai's is relatively small: no more than a dozen four top tables, many still littered with yesterday's crumbs. A larger bar area--the primary source of revenue here--lies to the east. A rickety staircase leads to small balcony outside Nikolai's office loft. A wide mirror is mounted on the wall high above, right near his office entrance.
  
  On the south end of the room, a long window provides an unattractive view of the street. The galley kitchen is north of here.
  
  An aluminum placard is fixed to the front door.
  
  Angela is gaunt and anemic. She struggles to remain alert.
  
  An obese man (Nikolai, the owner?) watches you from the balcony.
  
  "Who's there? Tell him we're closed" Nikolai growls in disgust.
  
  Angela cowers, "I think he's the man from the health department." She looks at you "We're not open right now."
  
  Nikolai growls again, "We were just inspected six months ago. Tell him to go away." Without waiting for an answer from either you or Angela, Nikolai turns back into his office and closes the door.
  
  Angela shrugs helplessly, and begins cleaning the dining room.
  
  [Nikolai's sanitation rating has dropped three points.]
  
  > tell Angela about yourself
  Angela says, "You seem like sharp young fellow. Maybe Nikolai would let you work in the restaurant."
  
  Angela takes a short break.
  
  > look at Angela
  Angela is Nikolai's day shift waitress. She doesn't have the endurance any longer to work the night shift. Angela is a thin woman not quite 50 with salt and pepper gray hair. Her skin is pale as a ghost.
  
  Angela says, "You mustn't take Nikolai too seriously. He's really a very good man. It's just... he acts kind of grumpy sometimes because of his affliction.
  
  > ask Angela about the affliction
  Angela whispers, "When Nikolai started gaining a lot of weight, about fifteen years ago, his doctor diagnosed him with the affliction. You know, that blood sugar disease? He takes insulin for it, I think."
  
  Angela begins wiping tables.
  
  > ask Angela about the diabetes
  "Right, that's the name of Nikolai's affliction."
  
  Angela is pausing to rest. Nikolai pokes his head out of his office momentarily to shout, "If there's time to lean, there's time to clean".
  
  > ask Angela about the restaurant
  "Nikolai only pays the cooks five dollars an hour. They don't use recipes, because they can't read."
  
  > examine the tables
  The tables are four tops. None of twelve tables have been cleaned since last night.
  
  > note the tables
  You write, "Dining room tables require cleaning." in the notebook.
  
  Angela begins sweeping the floor.
  
  [Nikolai's sanitation rating has dropped two points.]
  
  > examine the floor
  (the cork dance floor)
  The dance floor isn't very large but you imagine it doesn't need to be. People don't come to Nikolai's to dance. They come to get soused. The floor is discolored by water marks and mold.
  
  > note the floor
  (the cork dance floor)
  You can only look from this distance.
  
  > note the mold
  You can only look from this distance.