labyrinth

So we were celebrating our 50th International Women's Day the other day by skiving off work in favor of skulking around down here:



You could make of this place one of those old fashioned proto-D&D flowchart games, to wit:

1) You enter the Bookstore and a) greet the Proprietor or b) escape while you can!
 Answer: a

2) Taking a moment to take in your surroundings, you a) ask the Poprietor for a map or b) plunge in with an alarming display of glee.
Answer: a

3) The Propietor replies "Does this look like Powell's to you, you over-privileged hipster pseudo-intellectual?" and a) pushes the button that opens the trap door to the subterranean croc pit or b) invites you to take huevos in hand and venture in.
Answer: b

4) You come to the Vault of the Tomes Beyond Your Means! You can turn right or left, but you cannot go forward in your present financial circumstances.
Answer: you turn right.

5) To the right of the Vault you find a shelf of the complete works of H. Rider Haggard. You a) burst out laughing, b) burst out laughing and consider buying them, or c) yell back to the Proprietor "Who's H. Rider Haggard?"
Answer: c

6) INTO THE CROC PIT!

Answer: b

6) You come to your senses. You notice right next to the Haggard collection, squatting greenly on the shelf, three volumes of George Eliot letters edited by Gordon Haight. W00t! you exclaim in the literal sense. This you need. You pull vol. 1 off the shelf to check the price - a hundred bucks. Expensive. Then you notice it's a presentation copy actually signed by Gordon Haight with a very fine fountain pen in 1954. Not so expensive. You a) declare that you are an adult with a credit card, grab the loot, and head for the surface, b) tell it you'll come back for it but continue exploring, or c) decide owning a book like that is too much responsibility and anyway you need a copy you can mark up with notes and schlepp around in a bag, so you leave it to its fate.

Answer: ...