It took them an hour to cut the restraints off which then sent me to their first aid to bandage the chafe marks the shackles had made. I spent the night sleeping in the courts holding cells till a transport was available early the next morning. 

The 1 ½ hour drive to Mclure Regional was broken up the occasional interesting bit of scenery as the transfer van wound its way through the mountain terrain before driving past chain link fences and up to a stark institutional building. 

The rest of the day was getting processed, spending more time having a doctor look at my wrists and ankles, then being shown to the small room that I would be staying in. If I had known how nice jail was when I first returned, I might have got myself arrested earlier. 

The next 4 days I spent in the library reading or in the gym exercising while Aura training, at least when I wasn’t confined to my room. I was mostly trying to distract myself from thinking about what happened with my pack and my placer gold. 

At 6pm on the 6th day a guard found me and escorted me to out processing. After they traded back the prison jumpsuit for my cloths, a guard lead me out to the side gate and without putting cuffs on me. As a second guard open the gate, he handed me some papers and spoke. 

“Here are your discharge papers. There's a pay phone by the bus stop. The last bus goes by at 7.”-Guard 

I looked at the two guards then at the open gate. 

-What the fuck? Are they setting me up with all the official paperwork saying I was already gone before they jump me? 

I frowned and walked out. 

-That works for me. If they go this far, I'm not going to be civilized about this. 

The gate closed with the sound of bolts being thrown behind me. I looked around expecting someone to be there to “entice” me to a secluded spot to have “talk”.  All that I could see was an empty road and a worn pay phone next to a tired looking bench. As I watched the single overhead light flicked on, slightly illuminating the bench against the fading light. 

-Hmmm, these guys are a bit more sophisticated. Maybe an ambush when I go for my stuff?  

I walked over to the payphone and stared at it, fishing one of the few things I had in my pockets. Mrs. Flints card was a bit bent, but still legible. 

-Ok how the hell do I use one of these again? 

I fumbled around with the phone till I got an automated operator, and finally managed to make a collect call to Mrs. Flints. After a brief hello exchange, she got down to business. 

“I was going to see you before your arraignment tomorrow. Why are you calling me?”-Mrs. Flints 

“I won’t be there, they discharged me.”-Me 

“What? That’s not right. If they were going to do that the prosecutor should have called me.”-Mrs. Flints 

“I don’t really care what the story is. I just want my stuff back.”-Me 

“Your stuff? They should have given you everything back when they released you.”-Mrs. Flints 

“No, my backpack, jacket and even the damn fries I had not finished!”-Me 

“You mean everything you had at the restaurant? Hold on a second.”-Mrs. Flints 

I could hear the sounds of shuffling papers for a few minutes before she talked again. 

“There was no mention of a backpack or even a jacket on the arrest report.”-Mrs. Flints 

“Oh nice, so there’s no record of any of my belongings. Now I see why I got dumped hours away from the restaurant, at night, without most of my id, money, or anyway to get on the last bus which would not matter anyway because the guards probably waited till the last bus went by to let me out!”-Me 

I slammed the phone down and started walking.  

-You want to play games! I can play games too. 

….. 

It took 3 days to walk and hike back to the Cheese Man restaurant.  

Since all my clothes were Embroidery enchanted for durability and temperature control, I wasn’t bothered by the cold. But since I continued with Aura training and had used Elemental magic to keep dry, I was pretty worn out. Next time I’ll make sure everything is waterproof, not just my missing Jacket. 

It was pretty late by the time I walked into the Cheese Man. Only two of the tables still had people, and there was only one girl waiting on them. I walked in and stood by the front counter till the waitress came by. She had a name tag with April written in black marker. 

“Hi, just to let you know, we’re closing soon.”-April 

I nodded and smiled.   

“I’ll be quick. I’m mostly here looking for my backpack. It got left behind during the fight a couple of weeks ago.”-Me 

April perked up, looking more interested now. 

“Oh, you were here? I heard it was wild. A couple of kids from my school were here and said some homeless guy beat the crap out of a bunch of the camp guys. But Carl was hurt real bad, like sent to a big hospital on the coast bad. But this homeless guy helped Tasha and Marrie preform first aid on Carl till the firemen got here. Then the cops showed up and the homeless guy got arrested. Tasha was like supper mad and was telling everyone that Chief was blaming everything on the homeless guy cause it was his nephew that got his ass kicked. He was one of the camp guys. Well at least that was till Tasha’s dad pulled her out of school for a “vacation”. Marrie said it was cause Chief was making it hard on Tasha’s dad. He owns a couple of trucks that run logs and Marrie said that the cops have pulled them all over for violations and stuff. Did you see fight?”-April 

-Wait, did she even breath through that? 

I blinked, trying to regain my train of thought that derailed at the stream of words April had just let loose. 

“Ah, yes. I’m looking for my backpack. It’s a blue camping pack with a green tarp tied on the top.”-Me 

April nodded and kind of bounced at the same time. 

“I haven't seen it, but I can ask Ellen in the kitchen, she was here when the fight happened. I think I’m glad that I wasn’t working that night, everyone said it was real intense and that there was so much blood. I can probably get you soup, its Cheese Broccoli and it's really good?”-April 

-Nope she didn’t breathe. She must have huge lungs.... ok let's not say that one out loud. 

“Sure, that sounds good.”-Me 

“OK, just sit anywhere and I’ll ask Ellen when I get your soup.”-April 

April turned around with her long brunet braids swinging wildly and walked swiftly towards the kitchen door. I shrugged and sat down at the same table I took the first time. April came back out quickly with a bowl and dropped it off. 

“Ellen said to ask you if you were the guy that helped out Carl and to not to call you homeless guy anymore. I’m like sorry about that, but no one knew your name and so everyone just called you the homeless guy cause that’s what Chief called you. She also said that if you were that guy, the food is on the house. Oh, I got to go get table three’s bill. Hope you enjoy the soup, it’s really good.”-April 

All I could do was nod before she was off again. About a half hour later, the same woman I had seen yelling from the kitchen when Carl got hurt walked over to my table taking a slightly dirty apron off. 

“Hi, I’m Ellen, I was here the night of the fight.”-Ellen 

I pointed at the seat across from me as I pushed the empty bowl aside. It really had been very good. 

“Steven. I remember you. The sound from the pot you were using would have been funny if Chuck hadn’t been trying to hit me at the time.”-Me 

Ellen smiled and blushed a bit. 

“I just grabbed the nearest thing when that idiot came through the door. Got him good too. They had to take him to the hospital in Pemberton.”-Ellen  

I chuckled at her obvious delight to have beaten one of the guys into the floor. 

“Yah. I saw the charge sheet. He had a concussion and a whole bunch of bruising. I got the blame for that too.”-Me 

Ellen looked surprised.  

“Thats not right. Officer Timons came by and told me that I was lucky. The guy was going to press charges against me for hitting him but that he had convinced the guy to drop them. Timons said as long as I didn’t go around telling anyone that I kicked his ass, the guy wouldn’t get embarrassed and just wanted everyone to forget.”-Ellen 

I could see April's face get surprised from where she was not very subtly eaves dropping on the conversation. 

“Let me guess. Officer Timons is the tall guy and all-around flunky for Chief?”-Me 

Ellen frowned and nodded. 

“I should have known something was wrong, cause it’s usually Officer Parsons that would talk to me.”-Ellen 

“Well, they dropped the charges anyway. I came back looking for my jacket and my backpack. The lawyer said that the cops didn’t grab them.”-Me 

Ellen looked thought full for a moment. 

“I didn’t find your stuff. I was here till everyone left, and none of the staff found anything.”-Ellen 

I frowned. 

“I was hoping that it was still here. Most of it I can replace, but some of it is important to me.”-Me 

Ellen nodded. 

“I hate that this town is punishing you for doing the right thing. It’s usually a really nice place to live. You still look hungry. My grill is closed up, but I can make you a sandwich, and the soup is still hot.”-Ellen 

“Thanks, that would be nice. I haven't eaten much since they discharged me from McLure.”-Me 

I smiled, actually touched that Ellen would look past easy route of agreeing with Chief’s obvious bigotry to treat me as an equal. As Ellen was getting up April startled her by yelling out. We both looked at April where she was waving her phone and bouncing by the reception desk. 

“I was just texting Marrie that you were back and everything and that you were looking for your backpack when Leon said that it wasn’t true that the cops had your stuff cause one of the officers grabbed it from him when he found it.”- April 

Ellen looked back at me with a quizzical look. 

“Hey, I don’t know how she can say all that without breathing either.”-Me 

Ellen looked confused, then burst out laughing, before getting up from the seat completely. 

When April brought the soup and a huge sandwich, I asked her which cop grabbed my pack. After her verbal barrage was done, I knew who my next target was. 

-Mr. Tall. Officer Timons. You stepped out from behind your badge when you touched my stuff.