178. Back in the Sitting Room
After careful consideration, Amy decides to start over in the sitting room. There may be something useful hiding amongst the rubble, after all, and it would be a shame if she missed it.
The room is as she left it last, filled with debris and shards of broken glass left by the fight she had with Colonel Tulkinghorn. Amy decides to ignore the destroyed junk and focus on the various knick-knacks that remain intact along the wall.
Amy's attention is drawn to what seems to be the Arab section of the room. A plaque reads “Various artifacts retrieved for preservation from uncaring natives.” Amy wonders how the uncaring natives felt about the Colonel taking their things. Amy admires the various fine rugs and brass artifacts, but her eyes light up at the trinket in the corner. There sits what is unmistakably a brass oil lamp. Amy examines its display case and discovers a small door in the back. She carefully opens it up, reaches in, and removes the lamp.
“This is silly,” she tells herself, “There's no such thing as magic lamps, and in all the stories they usually backfire on the user.” The lamp gleams enticingly at her. “Still.... I'm smart enough to think of a phrasing that shouldn't boomerang back on me, and if there's no such thing as a magic lamp then what's the harm in giving it a little rub?”
What should Amy do?