114. The Sitting Room
Amy decides to check out the sitting room. As she approaches, she takes note of the smoking pipe mounted on the wall next to the door, identified by a bronze plaque as “Ole' Patty, Colonel Tulkinghorn's Beloved Pipe in the Sepoy Campaign.” She opens the heavy oak door and enters. As she steps through the door, a gust of wind blows it shut behind her! She immediately turns around to check the doorknob, but finds the door is now locked.
“And what, pray tell, are you doing here, Madame?” shouts a gruff voice. Amy turns and finds the voice’s owner, an old gentleman dressed all in khaki, with a pith helmet and a monocle. His white facial hair has been carefully groomed into a burnsides configuration, and Amy stifles a laugh as she realizes that he reminds her of Colonel Mustard in the board game Clue.
“What’s all that? I’ll teach you to respect your elders, young lady!” The man turns to a large armchair sitting next to him and grabs from it a huge rifle. He begins loading it as Amy realizes the gravity of her situation and takes a moment to assess her surroundings.
The room she stands in is quite spacious, mahogany floors, several couches, settees, and armchairs with matching coffee tables, end tables, and the like. The stuffed and mounted heads of various large, dead animals hang from the wall, well out of arm’s reach. Portraits also line the wall, but Amy doesn’t have nearly enough time to inspect them in any detail. Also scattered around the room are a number of glass display cases containing knick-knacks and oddities. On the side wall sits an enormous stone fireplace, presently unused. The opposite wall contains several large windows looking out on the mansion’s front lawn. Looking up, Amy notices that an enormous crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Meanwhile, the man with the gun has finished loading and is now taking careful aim at Amy.
Amy’s mind races as the old man’s shaky hands draw a bead on her. What can she do? Amy sees a large end table to her left that she could try ducking behind. She could also attempt to charge the man and knock him off balance. Or she could try reasoning with him and convince him to lower his weapon.
What should Amy do?