Today has dragged out to be a long one.
    When I got up this morning and looked over at my basement wall I noticed it was grey. I stared at my couch. It looked unused, yet old. I went over to my fridge, and it was full, for I haven't eaten all weekend. My Atari sat in the corner. I've gone through some heavy times before, losing some important games, selling my Stratochief; yet, today I sat at the bottom of a hole, staring upward, only to find more darkness. My girlfriend, sweet DG, had left me. Yet, losing a girlfriend is nothing new for this guy. To come right down to it, I'm usually lucky to get a base hit; Striking out is the status quo. No, her leaving me can't be the problem; Something else is eating me up.
    When I went into the office this morning, I sat down and began to stare at the opposite side of the room. I was quickly interrupted by a "Jake, work is piling up! You've got 6 new games to look at this morning!" Somehow I didn't care.
    "Who said that?" I asked.
    "I did," replied the editor.
    After noticing that I needed new shoe laces, I decided to get up, and grab a seat in his office.
    "Jake, have you gotten any word from him yet?"
    "No, but I noticed his mansion was sold."



    "I quess we might as well face the facts, T.R.R. has left town."
    "Yah, I know. He has probably run off with my girlfriend as well. "
    "Is that why he left?"
    "Somehow I don't think so."
    "Well, you better get back to work."
    I walked right out the door and out of the building. I hopped into my Rambler and took a drive downtown. A quarter of an hour later I was down at Al's Software. We sat down over a video game and talked.



    "I think you're feeling a little bit guilty about T.R.R.'s departure," A1 began.
    "We did have the odd little argument now, and ... Nah, get off it!" I replied. "But it is kind of funny how he left, isn't it?"
    "You mean so suddenly and without mention?"
    "Yep, . . . what game are we playing here anyways?" I inquired.
    "Montezuma's Revenge," stated Al. "It's a bran' new game from Parker Brothers!" he added.
    "Sounds great; I'll take it!" I responded."
    With a new piece of software in my hand, I had enough courage to go home.
    When I arrived home, I noticed a letter in my slot. The return address read T.R.R., yet, with no actual address. The letter itself had a slight perfume scent, just like the letters DG used to write. I decided not to open it, and threw it in a box with all my tax receipts and bottle caps. Sometimes the truth . . . Oh, forget it!
    At last I went over to my fridge and got out a TV dinner. As it was warming up in the oven, I plugged in "Montezuma's Revenge."
    The screen appeared to show a little fellow looking like Indiana Jones from `Raiders of the Lost Ark.' After shoving the joystick into the computer, I began to play the game. I moved `Indy' down the ladder, and a new room appeared. I pushed my fire button, and he started to jump (And boy could he jump). In no time at all I was jumping over fire pits, rolling skulls, disappearing floors, and spiders. This game had more rooms than I had empty chip bags. Everywhere I ran there was a new room. Besides having things to jump over, there were keys that had to be found. These keys are used throughout the game to open the many locked doors. There were also magical items that allowed `Indy' to pass through skulls and spiders, without getting hurt.
    Time flew as I made my way through corridors and rooms until my light went out. I couldn't see anything but `Indy' and the spider that was coming to get me. 1 ran toward it, and jumped. Indy cleared it in a single bound. I was safe at last. That's what I thought. A second later, the floor gave out, and poor `Indy' was smoked. And I mean `Smoked!' He fell into a pit of fire, leaving nothing behind except a puff of smoke that flashed on the screen. This game was alright.
    Suddenly I smelt this horrid odour! It was unmistakeably burnt TV dinner. I rushed over to the oven to rescue my meal, but it was too late. By now, time was getting on. The deadline for my review was 9:00 O'clock the next morning. Fortunately there were still left overs from the mid-week's pizza in the fridge. I went over to my console, slapped the pizza on top, and started to write.