FINDING THE KEY TO THE FRONT DOOR ========= FINDING MARTIN (Version 0.26) ============= It all began with a telephone call... It's been 14 years since you and Martin were roommates at college. After graduation Martin moved back to his home town in a remote part of New Mexico, so over the years you and he have kept in touch mostly by e-mail. You've always been quite fond of Martin, considering him to be the most bizarrely interesting person you know. Sort of an eccentric genius, someone compelled to push the limits of ordinary reality to the breaking point. It was something of a shock when you got a phone call from Martin's sister Rachel, whom you're fairly certain that you've never met. But Rachel seemed quite comfortable introducing herself to you, and she quickly jumped into an explanation of Martin's situation and why she needed your help. As you listened to Rachel's story, you learned that Martin's been living alone in their family's old house. It's been several years since their mom closed up her business in New Mexico and moved to New York City, so Martin makes a point of calling and visiting her regularly. But Mom hadn't heard from him in a couple of weeks and she was worried about him, so she called Rachel. Rachel went on to tell you that she drove down from the city to check the old family house, but there was no sign of Martin. Turned out he'd stopped showing up at work too. Mom was now convinced that Martin had gotten himself into trouble and needed to be rescued. And for some reason that you can't quite figure out, Rachel decided that you're the one who should go and find him. "So how soon can you get there?" Rachel asked. You could have sworn you heard her foot tapping as she waited impatiently for your answer. ------------- Press space bar to continue ----------------- After an awkward pause, you explained to Rachel that you're not a private detective and you don't know any of the usual ways to go about looking for a missing person. But Rachel assured you that the "usual ways" would be a waste of time in this situation, and that only someone considerably weirder than usual would be able to help. Not quite sure whether to take this remark as an insult or a compliment, you stayed silent for a few moments. Perhaps you'd be better off not getting involved, you thought to yourself. But your friendship for Martin was the factor that pushed your indecision aside, and you reluctantly agreed to try to find Martin. So now you find yourself standing alone on the doorstep in front of Martin's house. You try to concentrate so that you can remember what Rachel said about how to find the spare key to the front door, but instead you're wondering why some woman you've never even met thinks that you're weird. You look down at yourself and decide that you don't look particularly weird. Except for the fact that this morning you accidentally put on socks that don't quite match. So that only makes you a little bit weird, right? You just hope that you're weird enough to find Martin... DOORSTEP The door is north of you. To the right of the door you see an unlit streetlamp attached to the wall. Further to the right you see a large picture window. There is a doorbell on the wall, just under the streetlamp. To the east you see a thin strip of garden running along the front of the house. To the west, there is a wall where the shape of the house sticks out towards the street. A sidewalk lies to the south. >x streetlamp The streetlamp, currently off, is made of amber glass in a copper-colored metal frame. Through the broken glass you can see a spider web. >x spider web It's a fine looking spider web. >s SIDEWALK Here at the end of the sidewalk is a mailbox. The doorstep is to the north. The front lawn is to the east. >x mailbox The mailbox is made of wood and shaped like a windmill. It's painted mostly red with a black roof. The four realistic- looking windmill blades are also painted black. At the top of the mailbox is a hinged roof which is currently closed. >x windmill blades The craftsmanship of the windmill blades is excellent. They look as if they were real working windmill blades that could turn. >turn blades The windmill blades turn, and the mailbox plays a little tune that you recognize from your scouting days as "The Happy Wanderer": I love to go a'wandering, along the mountain track, and as I go, I love to sing, my knapsack on my back. Val-de-ree..., Val-de-ra... Val-de-ree, Val-de-ra-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, Val-de-ree..., Val-de-ra... My knapsack on my back. At the end of the song the roof pops open! >look in mailbox In the mailbox you see an envelope and a large stack of catalogs. >take all from mailbox envelope: You take the envelope out of the mailbox. large stack of catalogs: You take the large stack of catalogs out of the mailbox. >open envelope The envelope is now open. In the envelope you see a phone bill (folded). >take phone bill You take the phone bill out of the envelope. >read bill (unfolding it first) It's a final notice from the telephone company saying that Martin's local and long distance telephone services will be disconnected if payment is not received by the due date. You notice that the bill was sent a week and a half ago and that the due date has already passed. >e FRONT LAWN The lawn is wild and unkempt. It looks like the grass hasn't been trimmed in a long time. To the north is the garden and to the west is the sidewalk. To the east is a flagstone path headed toward the side of the house. >look through grass You begin to look through the grass, bending down closer to get a better look. You look for quite a while without finding anything. But just when you have almost finished searching the entire lawn and are almost ready to stop, you see a red rubber ball! You take the ball. >n FRONT GARDEN The garden runs along the wall of the house here. It's a haphazard collection of rocks, green plants, and weeds. There are some interesting lawn ornaments here. The front lawn is to the south and the doorstep is to the west. To the east is a flagstone path headed toward the side of the house. >x lawn ornaments The ornaments are large stone statues shaped like penguins wearing t-shirts. The t-shirts indicate that their names are Huey, Dewey, Louie, Stewie, and Chuck. >look under huey You move Huey and find nothing underneath. >look under dewey You move Dewey and find nothing underneath. >look under louie You move Louie and find nothing underneath. You see something moving out of the corner of your eye. >l FRONT GARDEN The garden runs along the wall of the house here. It's a haphazard collection of rocks, green plants, and weeds. The front lawn is to the south and the doorstep is to the west. To the east is a flagstone path headed toward the side of the house. You see Dewey, Louie, Stewie, Chuck, and Huey here. >look under huey You see a key! You quickly snatch it up. (The lawn ornaments look as if they are trying not to snicker.)