Cyril gives an update

Without any prospect of breakfast, he waited around inside his cell until mid-morning. By that time he needed company, so he strolled as far as the exercise room. Raj was running the treadmill. Cyril and Agnes were standing beside him, keeping his chains untangled.

"Hi there," said Cyril brightly. "Why don't we get caught up now. I'm sure you're dying to know how I ended up here." Truthfully, Harold wasn't, but he'd nowhere to hide. That's the problem with prisons.

"After you guys escaped," said Cyril, "the officers had it in for me. They said it was all my fault, like I'd released the animals."

"That doesn't surprise me," said Harold. "They always blame the little guy, the one at the bottom who can't fight back."

"You got that right," said Cyril, then settled into a long reflective silence.

Thinking the silence unnaturally long for someone so talkative, Harold asked, "So you got into trouble?"

"What?"

"You were going to tell me how you ended up here."

"Ended up here?"

"When last we spoke, you were unmarried, stationed in Anderport, and serving with the liberation army."

"I know that," said Cyril sharply, looked puzzled and slightly cross.

"Well, now you're married and stationed in the evil queen's castle."

Cyril stopped to consider these facts. "You know you're right," he said. "When you put it like that, I've been through some pretty big changes."

"Didn't you notice?"

"Well, I've been kinda busy."

Harold felt they'd make more progress if he controlled the agenda. "So how did it happen," he asked, "you being here and all?"

"Well mostly, I gotta thank the union."

"Why thank the union?"

"Well, the senior ranks was really ticked about Raj escaping. They were gonna put me and my buddies in front of a firing squad. They said I'd colluded with the enemy. That's why I got married."

"Now you've lost me."

"You know I've been with the liberation army for over fifteen years?" Harold answered he didn't know that.

"Well, see. I've got these vested pension rights," said Cyril. "Quite a lot, in fact. If Agnes hadn't married me, they'd have kept them all. No dependents, see. But once I'd got me a widow, I'd get to hang on to me pension."

Harold could tell that Cyril wasn't entirely clear on the concept, that having his widow inherit was not the same thing. Still, better her than the army, thought Harold, who turned to Agnes and asked her, "Did you really marry him for his pension?"

"That was back when they was gonna shoot him, what with me being single and that. The families wanted us married so I went along with it. I mean to say, when you know he'd be dead in a couple of weeks, you don't have to like the guy. That's not how I feel now. Ever since we've been chained up together, I've grown quite attached to Cyril."

"Well you would, wouldn't you?"

Agnes looked puzzled but gave no answer, causing another long silence. Once more, Harold took charge. "What was it you were saying about the union?"

Cyril promptly became expansive. "The union insisted I hadn't colluded. They said I'd been duped and exploited, that I was merely incompetent and they shouldn't expect any better from me."

"And the union does not regard incompetence as justifying disciplinary action."

"Right. You can't have people doing that."

"Absolutely right," said Harold strongly. "Nobody's job would be safe. So what did the army do next?"

Cyril sneered. "Well, they chickened out, same as always. The union stood its ground so they had me transferred instead."

"But surely not to the enemy."

"What's wrong with that? It's the same union. It's just a different local."

"And you kept your rank?"

"They had an opening for a jailer in the queen's dungeons. I'm told it's a job with a high turnover rate. I don't know why, I don't ask. I figure it's better not to know. I'm a married man now. I've got responsibilities."

"Well," said a smiling Harold, "I'm delighted. Congratulations to both of you."

"Thank you," said Cyril and Agnes together, smiling back.