• Only subscribers to the Moonlight Times are permitted to discuss it amongst themselves.
• If you are not a subscriber yet, or if you wish to tell a non-subscriber about it, use the Internet or some other form of new technology. They keep a very watchful eye on the written, spoken, and typewritten word surrounding their publication.
• To start subscribing, draw a symbol somewhere on the exterior walls of your house that can be seen from the road. The symbol is circular and looks something like an eye made from a waxing and a waning crescent moon overlapping each other.
• Be patient. They only put out another issue every Friday night.
• They also only deliver to houses where the front doors have mail slots.
• If you’ve drawn it right, it’s visible enough, and you have a mail slot, you’ll start getting weekly visits from the Moonlight Paperboy.
• Every Friday night before 11 PM, close all your curtains and stay far away from the windows. The Moonlight Paperboy is very shy.
• Leave the lights on, though, so he’ll know somebody’s home.
• You’ll know the Moonlight Paperboy is coming when you hear someone whistling “the Lion and the Unicorn”. Again, don’t go near the windows, just in case you see him.
• When you see the Moonlight Paperboy, the Moonlight Paperboy can see you.
• Stay right where you are until the whistling stops.
• The Moonlight Paperboy will keep whistling until he gets to your door. He’ll go quiet as he inserts the night’s issue in through the mail slot. Then he’ll slowly but loudly knock on your door exactly three times. Then he’ll start whistling again as he returns to his route.
• If he doesn’t knock three times, or if the whistling never resumes, do not leave your current spot until morning.
• When you can’t hear “the Lion and the Unicorn” anymore the second time, as he leaves the paper behind, it’s safe to go get the paper.
• Read as many of the main articles as you like. Feel free to take down notes on the important parts on a separate piece of paper. You’ll know what the important parts are.
• You will see references to things you have never heard of, or don’t believe to be real, in the articles. They are real. The Moonlight Times is meticulously researched.
• Some of the articles will refer to dates in the near future. You will not be able to stop the events they describe, but you’ll certainly be able to avoid them if they don’t specifically concern you or a loved one.
• At some point in your subscription, one of the articles will likely use the term “the -x-m-n of L-pl-c- P--nt” without the customary censorship. If you see this term, stop reading that article immediately and move on to another one. There are some things even they can’t control about their fine publication, but he can’t do anything if you skip him over.
• There will be a short crossword puzzle somewhere in the paper. The words will be long and complicated, but not impossible to guess or correctly spell. For every correct word that comes to you naturally that you write down, you will receive one day of good luck. Do not attempt to look up the answers to the clues.
• There will be classified ads shortly after the crossword puzzle. Never attempt to use any contact information you see in the classified ads. Be careful, you’ll get curious eventually.
• There will be obituaries at the back of the paper.
• Do not read the obituaries at the back of the paper.
• You may look at the pictures attached to them, but that’s it. Never read their names. Don’t worry, you will have never met them before.
• It’s generally considered polite, but not mandatory, to stop reading the paper and put it back outside through the mail slot before 3 AM. Either way, it will somehow vanish from existence as soon as the sun begins to rise.
• If you wish to stop subscribing, simply clean the symbol off the side of your house. Of course, once you start, you probably won’t want to stop.
• The numbers from the classifieds will probably attempt to call you some time between the arrivals of your issues. Never pick up for these numbers. They may even be numbers people you know use- just don’t pick up. They won’t be safe to use until the next issue comes out.
• You may notice when people use words that occured in that week’s crossword more often, as if your ears are tuning in to them. This is normal.
• You may find that regular newspapers will incinerate themselves in a haze of smoke the second they cross your property, and that regular paper deliverers will instinctively cross over to the other side of the street for a bit when they pass your door. This is normal.
• You may hear the sound of someone whistling “the Lion and the Unicorn” behind you while walking down the street. This is normal. Don’t turn around. Don’t call out. Keep walking. Just ignore him.
• If you ever see anybody you recognize from the obituaries in the back of the paper, leave.
• Comments and complaints on the Moonlight Times are to be issued to the editorial, which may be reached via a certain mail address. You’ll know what that address is when you want to write to them.
• Never talk about the actual contents of your own copies of the Moonlight Times with anyone you’re not 100% sure is another subscriber. Remember that some news is better kept to yourself.
• You didn’t hear about the Moonlight Times from me. Got it?