Unsure of himself, Walt eventually gazed upward to the top of the net, and asked himself, "what is holding this in place?" There was no visible opening larger than the rest of the spaces in the net, but maybe something could be forced open wide enough for him to climb through? Upon further inspection, the vine suspended from the high branch went through many loops at the top of the net, and then the end of the vine was tied around the vertical part at the top of the net. Sort of like one of those trash bags with a drawstring one can cinch up to close. So was that it, the others were all treating him like a piece of garbage? Something inside his brain snapped. That did it; Walter Lloyd was not going to be treated like garbage!

Suddenly Walt was filled with a sense of excitement at this challenge. He was going to show up all those adults that they couldn't treat him like this. He would get out of this and find some way to get even. And he would do it unaided and barehanded. And barefoot, and bare-almost everything else, Walt thought with a little inward laugh, but that wasn't a problem. In fact, that only made it ideal, by being as impressive as possible. Nobody could possibly claim Walt was getting any assistance.

At first, Walt floundered trying to get up. His legs had been stuck through the gaps in the net for half an hour, and it took quite some effort to pull them out. He had to hold a confining vine with one hand and pull a leg out with the help of the other, and then repeat the process with the other leg. The effort caused sweat to start trickling all over his body, but now that was of no significance.

Walt began climbing up the inside of the net. It wasn't as easy as it looked; every step caused the net to jerk in seemingly unpredictable directions. After a few minutes Walt reached the top. Examining the top of the enclosure, he could the main supporting vine coming down from the branch, passing through many loops around the top of the net in a tight circle, and ending in a tight knot around the bottom of the vertical part of the line. The outside edge of the net was originally a large circle, but now was cinched up tightly in a small circle. Making sure his footing was stable, Walt reached over his head and grasped the part of the supporting vine forming the tight circle and tried to enlarge it, by pulling the main support vine down through the end loop. This effort did not succeed, as Walt soon determined that his own weight was keeping that circle of vine drawn tight.

Walt was not overly surprised with this development; Locke would never have built an easily escapable trap. Oddly enough, Walt was not too disappointed with this development, either, as escape would be not be particularly satisfying if it were that easy. He concluded that somehow he would have to get his weight off the net. This was the time to think—how could he accomplish that task when he couldn't reach anything else? This was the time to visualize escaping in his mind, Locke or no Locke.

After a few minutes, Walt visualized a possible solution. Could he reach through a gap, grab onto the vertical support vine with one hand, and force the circle open with his other hand, enough so he could get his body through? He scrambled higher into the top of the net, thrust his left arm through a gap and seized the vertical vine, braced his feet, and grabbed the circle again with his right hand. Taking his weight off his feet as much as possible, he pushed the circular part as hard as he could, and this time succeeded in forcing the circle open to about the size of his head. He held that position for five seconds, thinking about his next move, when his arm and pectoral muscles tired, his weight shifted back to his feet, and the circle closed up tight once again. But the momentary success sent a spike of exhilaration into Walt. He was convinced he had a good chance of escaping this demeaning prison cell.

Analyzing the situation, Walt moved around the inside of the top of the net, trying to determine the spot where his weight would pull against the circular vine segment the least. In a few minutes he found that he should be crouching just to one side of the main support vine. While he wouldn't admit to anyone else, he was now actually thoroughly enjoying himself. He had turned this attempt at incarceration into some kind of game, and was pleased with the way it was proceeding. This game he was really getting into was worthy of his intellect and athleticism. The thought of pitting his mental and physical prowess against this trap was invigorating, and brought about a rush of adrenalin. It was Walt versus The World; did The World stand any chance? Poised for another assault on the confining circular vine segment, Walt repeated his actions from several minutes ago, but this time was able to open the circle to the full length of his right arm. He lunged through the opening by straightening his legs, thrusting half his body through, but immediately after he did so, his grip on the main support vine weakened, and the circle closed tightly around his waist.

With the wind having been knocked temporarily out of him, Walt was not quite so excited about his present situation. But he had come too far to be defeated now. He set his mind to ignoring the pain, and considered how to get out of his current predicament. Maintaining his grip on the vines, he bent his knees and drew his feet up to vines close to the opening at the top of the net, preparing for another lunge at freedom. Once more strengthening his grip on the main support vine, he sucked in his stomach to get enough room to grasp the circular part, pulled that vine outward with all his might, and pushed against the vines with his feet with a deafening grunt. This effort resulted in his legs getting partway through the circle, whereupon it closed tightly just above his knees. But this was victory! Walt was now sitting on the top of the net, holding the main support vine with one hand. With the other he massaged his stomach and lower back and sides where the vine had been so recently squeezing, all the while collecting his breath as sweat was now streaming all over his body. Suddenly realizing that he might have been being watched, he scanned the surrounding area from his much-improved vantage point, but still didn't see any trace of a witness.

Soon the thrill over his escape overwhelmed the temporary pain, his breathing was back to near normal, and Walt was ready to proceed to the ground. From his sitting position at the top of the net, Walt carefully loosened and pulled one leg out of the opening, and then the other, always maintaining a good grip on the vertical vine. He looked up the vine; it must have been three meters to the branch, and climbing down from there looked dangerous. Surely it was much better to climb down the side of the net, as he had originally intended. Once at the bottom of the net it could only be a short drop to the ground. Thus Walt started working his way down the outside of the net very carefully, hand over hand and foot over foot. He was determined not to hurt himself in the process; the last thing he needed was everyone convinced he couldn't take care of himself.

In a few minutes Walt's feet had reached the bottom vine, about two meters above the ground. Walt supposed he could jump from here if he had to, but figured he could do better than that. He worked his way hand over hand downward until his hands were on the third vine from the bottom, stopping because his knees were almost in his face. Securing his grip, he stepped off the bottom vine, and in a controlled manner let his body extend fully. His feet were about half a meter from the ground, an easy jump. Still overflowing with energy, Walt figured he could climb down the last two vines hand over hand, and promptly did so. Now his feet were barely above the ground—this was his moment of triumph!

Walt just hung there at the bottom of the net, basking in the exhilaration of his victory. He wanted the feeling of euphoria to last a good, long time. He had defeated the grown-ups in their plan to incarcerate him like a dumb animal, and was savoring the moment immensely. It also felt good to stretch his body its full length after being cramped so much for well over an hour. He alternately shrugged his shoulders to work out the kinks in his back. The adrenalin rush added to his grip strength, and he was able to cling to that bottom vine for a rather long time as the net slowly swung to a stop. Hanging by his arms, his body, completely drenched in perspiration, glistened brilliantly in the sunshine that percolated through the trees. He might have been the model for a swimming trophy, or a work of art.

When Walt had dangled in that extended position for two minutes, he decided it was time to start planning what he should do when he sneaked back to camp hours ahead of schedule. Exceedingly pleased with himself, he grinned demonically.

To be continued …