MOUSYMAIL can regenerate after being shredded (by design?)

[eriktorbjorn]

If you wait long enough, the mousy man will shred the mail you need. Here's the bit in I-MOUSY that does that:

           (<EQUAL? ,MOUSY-SCRIPT 1>
        <TELL "With a deft ">
        <SAY-SNIP>
        <TELL ", the mousy man cuts ">
        <COND (<IN? ,MOUSYMAIL ,MOUSY>
               <ZREMOVE ,MOUSYMAIL>
               <SETG P-IT-OBJECT ,NOT-HERE-OBJECT>
               <TELL 
"the final envelope into ribbons. \"Postal Permit #3220,\" he sighs. \"Maybe I can trade it at the convention.\"" CR>
               <RETURN T .IM>)>

But if you leave and re-enter (before the mousy man can leave), MOUSY-SCRIPT will be reset to 4 again (see IN-FLAT-F), and when it gets decreased to 2 I-MOUSY will regenerate the mail:

           (<EQUAL? ,MOUSY-SCRIPT 2>
        <COND (<VISIBLE? ,LEAFLET>
               <MOVE ,MOUSYMAIL ,MOUSY>
               <TELL 
"\"There!\" cries the mousy man with a triumphant ">
               <SAY-SNIP>
               <TELL
". \"That's yesterday's, all done!\" He picks up the uncut envelope on the floor and turns it this way and that">)

I think it's notable that he will only pick up the uncut envelope if you are carrying the leaflet that he wants. The puzzle is almost forgiving, except if you wait long enough for him to escort you out you will never be able to re-enter, as far as I can tell.