“And now, in Breaking News, an escaped prison inmate is at large and is considered armed and dangerous. If you see the individual pictured on your screen, do not approach him. Call 911 or the sheriff’s office at…”

“Esk, did ya’ hear that? There’s somebody escaped from the prison where yer doin’ that research with Dr. Severius! It jist said on the T-V! Do ya’ recognize this fella’?”

Sam pointed to the television screen, and Esk denied knowing anything of the jailbreak. Esk even managed to act surprised, which he was particularly proud of in the sense that he was learning the humans’ ways well enough to manipulate them. Part of him resented deceiving Sam, though.

“Well, be careful over there. I don’t want’cha getting’ hurt ‘er anything like that,” Sam warned.

“I will be cautious, Sam. With a maniacal psychopath on the loose, I will make sure that I am safe,” Esk said.

“Do ya’ need some bear spray or somethin’ ta’ carry around with ya’ in case ya’ run inta’ this guy?”

“No, but thank you. I am capable of defending myself. I will stay away from all people until this psychopath is caught.”

“Well, that’s pretty extreme, Esk. How’re ya’ gonna go ta’ yer meetin’s with the shrink if ya’ avoid ever’body?” Sam asked.

“I will be gone for a few days, Sam. I must go and gain information. I am sure that the authorities will capture the escapee in the meantime.”

“Oh, ya’ gotta go get some linguistics trainin’? At the university? One a’ them fancy get-ta-gethers fer educated folks?”

“Yes, Sam. Something like that.”

***

The Reverend looked everywhere for the bathroom but could not find anything except empty cylindrical chambers at every harried turn. Finally, he came to a cavernous space as large as a football field or better. To the right of this amphitheater-like room, there were bubbling spouts of warm, steaming liquids. Every pool was a different color. Next to them were miniature volcanic vents. The Reverend was desperate and had to use whatever was available to him at this point. He chose the closest volcanic vent and sat down with relief.

Esk returned at that moment to find the Reverend finishing his business. He was nonplussed.

“I gave you clear directions to remain in your area, did I not?” Esk asked the Reverend.

“Well, I had to use the facilities, an’ this was as far as I got b’fore I couldn’t make it any further. I had ta’ go. Ya’ didn’t tell me where the bathroom was.”

“There is now a pickle bucket in your room. Use that from now on, please. Here is some ointment for your singed buttocks. You will, I trust, be sparing with it.”

Esk escorted the apologetic Reverend and his bowl of balm back to his room and drew an impenetrable field across the entrance so that no further escape was possible. Now Esk had to go clean the vent….

***

Eosin made his way back up to the secure unit of the psychiatric ward via the food cart from the hospital kitchen. It came down on the elevator, and the employee looked away long enough for Eosin to slip underneath it. Once in the psychiatric ward, he made his way to the Reverend’s tray and hid in the warm chicken noodle soup broth in the meal. The next thing Eosin knew, he had found a new home in the intestines of the Reverend (or the man whom the staff members were calling the Reverend, anyway).

The psychopath insisted that he was not Reverend Bandersnatch, clutching his stomach from a cramp now and then during his discourse. The man was insistent.

“I ain’t no Rev’rund. I’s so far from innocent, it ain’t even funny. Now what’s funny is how I got here, wearin’ these funky, wore-out, light blue scrubs. I don’t like ‘em. I want ma’ clothes back,” said the psychopath.

“I’m sorry, Reverend. You’ll have to wear the prescribed uniform of the patients while you’re staying here in the secure unit. If you demonstrate that you’re not a danger to yourself or others, you may gain open-unit privileges. That is up to the psychiatrist, though,” the nurse said.

“That shrink, Severius? He’s the one who put me in solitary to begin with. That…”

“Now, calm down, please. Dr. Severius works at the prison, not here at the hospital. And this is not solitary confinement, I assure you. You won’t be treated as a criminal here, no matter what you’ve done, Reverend. This is for safety, not punishment.”

The psychopath was pleasantly surprised at this news. He had somehow landed a good gig, and he was going to make sure he kept it going as long as possible. The cramps he was experiencing, though, were like getting kicked in the gut by a horse. “Must be the food.”

***

Fletcher was abuzz with talk of the escaped convict running amok in the area. Jean Bandersnatch could not stand to have the limelight on anyone except herself. At the diner, no one even turned their heads to greet her. They were too busy yammering on with their mouths full of eggs and Tabasco sauce on their hash browns to notice the Reverend’s estranged wife. The Chief Gossip would have to take matters into her own hands to remedy the situation. Now, where would a psychopath hide? That was what she needed to figure out first. Then she would seduce him and bring him to the authorities, who would formally capture him. She would be a hero!

“So, um, Darrell, is it?” Jean brushed her hip against a man’s elbow. “Darrell, where do ya’ s’pose this psy-cho-path is a’hidin’? Any idears?”

“Well, if it ain’t the Rev’rund’s cheatin’ wife!” the man announced.

Raucous laughter filled the diner, forcing Bandersnatch to retreat. She covered her flushed face with her hat and her handbag as she scooted past the people toward the door. She could feel her face turning red, but not with embarrassment. No, it was not humiliation. It was burning hot with rage.

Mrs. Bandersnatch hurried down the street to the Deacon Pritchard’s house, where she had now taken up semi-permanent residence. The whole town knew they were together now, so they might as well live together. This was Bandersnatch’s thinking, at least. On her way to her lover’s abode, she caught her toe in one of the potholes and crashed to the ground. Her best pair of pantyhose was ruined, and she scraped up her left knee. Instead of hopping up to make sure that no one had seen her fall, though, the Chief Gossip flailed about, screeching at the top of her lungs as if she was being murdered. No one came. She lay in the middle of Fletcher’s main street with her bloodied knee and huffed. Off toward Lawrence Pritchard’s, she hobbled. Not a glance was cast in her direction. “I must find this psy-cho-path,” Bandersnatch clucked under her breath. “It’s him or me. One of us has to go.”

***

“Where have you hidden the Council, Lod?” Esk asked Severius.

“Council? What Council? I don’t know what you’re talking about, Esk.”

Dr. Severius finally had the dirty sock removed from his mouth and was still spitting out fuzz from it as he answered Esk’s question. His goosebumps gave him away, and Esk, out of compassion, turned up the heat in the examination room through thought waves. Severius relaxed a bit. His skin began to pinken up again. He had been a bit gray prior to that point in the interrogation.

“Tell me, Lod, or I will be forced to use more severe means to question you.”

“Esk, who is Lod? I don’t know Lod. I don’t know where your Council is. I don’t know why I’m strapped to a metal table naked, and I really have to go to the bathroom.”

“What is it with you humans? You always have to go to the bathroom!”

Esk produced a green five-gallon pickle bucket, not unlike the one he had provided for the Reverend, and then turned his back on Severius. The straps fell to Dr. Severius’ sides, and he was free for the moment.

“Use the bucket and then get back on the slab,” Esk said.

Severius used the pickle bucket. As soon as the sound of water filling the bucket ceased, Esk turned his head. Lod was trying to escape! He had scampered out of the chamber and to the left. Fortunately for Esk, this was a dead-end, but he pursued Lod anyway, albeit at a casual pace. Lod was beating on the slick walls of the dead-end hallway when Esk rounded the corner.

“There is nowhere to run, Lod. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere that I will not find you,” Esk said. “Now, let us go back to the examination room where we can continue ‘visiting’, shall we?”

Esk translated Severius back to the examination room, where he was once again secured to the cold table with straps. Naked.