I love you, Paul. Have I mentioned?
Also, I was thinking something exactly along the lines of your second option. If you can just erase your mistakes, that's cheating. And you never really move forward in a linear way. Just keep circling back around.
Option three works for me, too. And I think that's where I was in writing it. Closing the last avenue, pushing Madge into despair.
Maybe we should vote on it?
CC
edit: You know, I just thought of something much easier, way less complicated. A one paragraph addition.
So... whew. Ok, then. Thank you, James and Paul! Writer's Babbling Concludes.