Ch. 10 Reformus Raccoonus

Author Note: Happy New Year!

To say that getting to Owlcatraz to visit a prisoner is nearly impossible, is no exaggeration. After a friend of yours enters Owlcatraz, you never see them again until they've served they're sentence. Though there's a way to get around this. It involves coins, favors, auctions and the proper paperwork. But I'll spare you the details. The point is that Murray and Bentley did it, and are currently in a truck heading to the prison.

After the rather uncomfortable journey to their destination, the two thieves came out of the truck. One was eager to see his friend, the other was hungry. After giving his hippo friend a pack of chips, Bentley walked over to a patrolling guard.

"Excuse me." Bentley tapped the guard's shoulder. Almost immediately the guard turned around and pointed his gun at Bentley's head.

"Who're you?" the hyena guard demanded. Flashing his flashlight at Bentley's face.

"It's okay! Don't shoot me!" Bentley quickly revealed his visitor pass.

The hyena examined the I.D. closely, squinting as if hoping to find an excuse to fire his weapon. "Okay, you check out." He said before quickly raising the gun in Murray's direction. "You a visitor too?"

But Murray didn't reply, instead he gave the guard a funny stare. "Have we met before?" the hippo asked.

"No, now show me your pass or I'll shoot!" he quickly answered.

Bentley was quick to answer for his friend. "Wait he's with me!"

The hyena grudgingly lowered the firearm. "Fine, the visiting booths are over at cellblock C." he then pointed to a jeep. "Take a ride on that jeep, you'll get there faster." Afterwards he turned away and continued his patrol.

As soon as he was sure the hyena guard was out of earshot, Murray whispered to Bentley. "Say Bentley, didn't that guard seem familiar to you? I think I've seen him before somewhere."

"Now that you mention it, yeah I think we have seen him before. We'll talk about this later Murray, Right now we have to get to the jeep."

(A bumpy ride later…)

"Ohhh…." Bentley groaned as he and Murray exited the vehicle.

Despite the ride Murray seemed to be in a good mood. "Wasn't that a fun ride Bentley?"

"'Fun' isn't the word I'd use Murray." Then he felt a sickening pang in his stomach. "Let's just give Sly our escape plan and get out of here."

Once inside Bentley and Murray noticed the prisoners were talking about them in a strange way.

"Hey guys, we got two saps comin' in for the visiting booths." A voice boomed from one of the many cells.

"Hehe, ten coins say they come out crying." Another prisoner replied.

"Oh yeah? I bet twenty coins they come out looking down at the floor!" Another prisoner laughed.

Oblivious to the meaning of the rants, Bentley and Murray quickened their pace to the visiting room.

Once inside, Bentley asked a nearby guard which booth Sly was in. The guard pointed to the only occupied booth in the room. Bentley slowly walked over to the booth and sat down on the nearest chair. He then turned to face his friend on the other side of the see-through plexiglass wall. "Hey Sly."

Sly looked at his friend with tired eyes. "Hey Bentley, glad you could come. Is Murray with you?"

Bentley didn't seem to hear him. "Look let's skip the small talk and get down to brass tacks. We gotta talk about your escape plan." Bentley said with a hush.

"I asked if Murray's with you Bentley. Answer!" Sly shouted.

Bentley seemed shocked. "Yes, Murray's here…"

"Good…because both of you have to hear what I'm going to say. Can you please bring him over here?" Sly asked.

Hesitantly, Bentley called out to Murray to come over to the booth. Murray was happy to oblige and immediately greeted Sly. "Hey Sly!"

"Hey Murray." Sly smiled. "Now I need you two to listen carefully. Alright?" Sly looked at his friends with a pained expression on his face. "Forget about me."

Now both Murray and Bentley looked shocked. "What do you mean 'Forget about you'?" they questioned in unison.

"It's like I said, forget about me. Erase me from your memories. Never speak my name again. That kind of stuff." Sly replied. Seeing the confused looks on his friends' faces he spoke again. "Start over, do something meaningful with your lives."

A long silence followed. Which was then broken by Murray. "Sly, what happened to you? It's only been 3 weeks since they sent you up the river."

"Yeah, and another 17 weeks and I'll be out of the joint. And do you really know what happened to me? Do you? I'll tell you. The truth happened to me. After all these years I finally see that all my ancestors were disillusioned kleptomaniacs! That goes double for me! So take my advice and scram, beat it. Now!" Sly ordered.

Bentley started to speak. "But Sly, what about the escape plan we ma-"

"Are you listening to me Bentley? It's over. There's no 'we' anymore. There's no 'us'. There's just me and my silly stick on the long road to perdition. So unless you want to end up in a prison cell, take my advice." Sly put his head in his hands and sobbed. "Forget about me."

In desperation Bentley tried to find even the slightest bit of the old Sly in this cynical raccoon. But alas, all he saw was a broken criminal, nothing more.

(Outside the cellblock.)

Bentley and Murray hung their heads in dismay. Both were trying to hold back tears. (But every story requires a chance meeting between both the antagonist and protagonist(s) before the storm. And I am not one to break tradition.) Just then a familiar figure walked to the scene and said to the distraught pair. "Ah, you must be Bentley and Murray." Bentley and Murray looked up to see the source of the voice; Sentrak Metzerstoff.

"How are you two this fine day, have you visited Sly?" the prison warden asked. Both thieves slowly nodded their heads. "Oh that's just grand. Would you both like a tour of the compound?" This time he didn't wait for a reply. Instead two guards came out of the cellblock and flanked both Murray and Bentley. "Is that a yes? Wonderful…let's start with the spotlights, shall we?"

To be continued…