Room 8

. . . a vaulted chamber lit by a single bulb.

Someone knocked a bowl off the table. The crash echoed from the ceiling and whispered away down the corridors, I broke another on purpose.

“Make sure to take that with you/’ l said, “You can never tell when you might need it,”

“Take what?” they wanted to know.

“Isn't it obvious?"

Taking a vote among themselves they went on to . . .