The Therapy Zone

The Prisoner Takes It All In His Stride

    There he is, No.6 having put himself to hard work in felling tress and clearing them of their branches. Emptying barrels of oil down a drain, lashing the trunks of trees together and the barrels besides in the construction of a sea going raft. And then having put to sea, and pitting his skills against a cruel sea, together with his navigational skills having made his own compass, comprising of two short pieces of marked out wood, a marmalade jar, string, cork, water and a magnetic needle.

   But in the end, having slept only four hours in every twenty four, this together with the fact that he was on water and cold vitals, was finally too much for No.6 and he finally collapsed from exposure and exhaustion. And that is where the supposed "gun runners" came in, if it had not been for them...... Now No.6 had to fight them as well as the sea in order to survive, and then swim ashore to be washed up on a beach at Beachy Head. But the long walk will have done him good, if not the cup of something given to him by the gypsy girl. Then again away on his feet, until he gains an unsolicited ride to London. But even then there was a risk taken by No.6 as he leaps out from the back of that truck into the road..... he could have been run down there and then on the spot. Then what price the village and the future of the incoming No.2-Mrs. Butterworth?

   So the Prisoner having gone through, and having been put through so much since his discovery of the deserted village, he finally finds himself walking along Buckingham Place, Westminster, London. He approaches his home, it looks the same as ever it did, and the surrounding buildings, the red double pillar box, the "T" junction, all still familiar to him as ever they once were.

    But then the roar of an engine as the Prisoner turns to see his own Lotus 7 being driven towards him. The driver is a woman. She alights, crosses the pavement opens the front door to No.1 Buckingham Place, only to be accosted by a "raggedy" man who asks her a couple of demanding questions about her car, which the man gives answers to himself.

    Having been invited inside his one time home, the Prisoner is left to re-familiarize himself with the study of his own home, which is kind of Mrs. Butterworth, seeing as how she is not only in possession of his car, but also his home which still had six months to run on the lease. And what's more the log book of his car indicates no other previous owner than that of Mrs. Butterworth! I think the Prisoner took this very well, especially when you think of all he has been through since escaping the village. But Mrs. Buterworth is a very persuasive lady, and demonstrates her kindness towards the Prisoner by allowing him the use of his own car! But only on the firm understanding that he doesn't forget to come back, she might even bake him a birthday cake!

    And she does too! Upon the Prisoner's enforced return to the village, Mrs. Butterworth-No.2 enters No.6's cottage of '6 Private' bearing the said birthday cake with six candles lit, and a smirk upon her face! Again No.6 takes this all in his stride. if it were me I don't think I would have had the self-control as demonstrated by No.6 in that single moment. It would have been bad enough in having been brought back to the village, by unconventional means, but to have Mrs. Butterworth, who had once shown so much kindness towards him, then to rub his nose in it..... Well perhaps by this time No.6 is growing more philosophical about his situation, and expected nothing more than he got. Makes you think why he bothered to put himself through so much in the first place really, when all he had to do was just sit down and play the waiting game. After all the village would have had to return to life at some point, as indeed it did very soon after his happy return!

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