Chapter Two: Arthur vs. Dignity
[Three days earlier]
Four steps to the south- turn, four steps to the north- turn, four steps to the south- turn. Arthur paced back and forth in his little dark room until the small toes of his right foot met the aluminum leg of his cot.
Arthur hopped on one foot unleashing a stream of vulgarity. Right then he wanted his foot to stop throbbing, he wanted out of the locked room, but most of all he wanted revenge.
Arthur hated Hook; the man was such a hypocrite. The ranger had punished Gretya so cruelly for her behavior, but Arthur knew his big secret: Hook wasn't nearly as faithful as he let people believe.
Back before they locked his door every evening, Arthur had spent many nights outside. Sometimes he scaled a tree and climbed onto the roof to get a better look around the campground.
On certain weeknights Arthur noticed a light briefly coming on in the ranger's house about one AM. Then, at about the same time, a woman walked by, using a trail that passed by the horse pens and skirted the main campground.
Even on the darkest nights she never carried a flashlight. Being a curious sort, Arthur just had to know; so one night he had followed her all the way down to the boat docks. Hook had been waiting.
Arthur had seen Hook's wife several times; she was an unusually tall woman, every bit as tall as him. This mystery woman stood a head shorter.
Arthur felt behind him and sat on his cot. Faint bands of light projected onto the east wall, moonlight through gaps in the vent. Arthur looked up at the vent, thinking.
"Bastard called me a dishonored, deceitful, stupid spy?"
Stupid!" Arthur sprang up pointing his forefinger; staring furiously at the wall pretending it was Hook. "That's it! My two days of good behavior are over!"
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[Four hours earlier]
It was another fine day in June; the place was a large campground set in the expansive wilderness twenty-five kilometers east of the dam. Clear sky, hot and sunny; the campers loved it. Criminal # 88588 didn't. He was engaged in the hard work of clearing dead leaves and silt out of a culvert near the lake.