Ragen agreed that Steve was undesirable and told him he was banished. Steve refused to get off the spot, and mocking Ragens accent, he growled, “Vat you mean? You do not exist. None of you. You are all figments of my imagination. I am only one here. I am only real person. The rest of you are hallucinations.”

Ragen slammed him into the wall and bloodied his forehead. Then Steve left the spot.

At Arthurs urging, Allen applied to take courses given at the prison by instructors from the Shaker Valley branch campus of the community college. He enrolled in English, industrial design, basic math and industrial advertising. He got As in the art classes and B + ’s in English and Math. His ratings in graphic arts were all at the highest level—’’exceptional,” “highly productive,” “rapid learner,” “highly reliable,” “excellent relations,” “highly motivated.”

On April 5, 1977, Allen appeared before the parole board and was told he would be released within three weeks.

When he finally got the letter of release, Allen was so overjoyed, he coudn’t sit still. He paced back and forth in his cell. Finally he took the letter and made it into a paper airplane. The day before his scheduled release, passing Captain Leach’s office, he whistled. When Leach looked up, Allen sailed the parole-board-letter airplane past him and walked off with a smile.

The last day in Lebanon, April 25, took forever. Allen had been up the night before until three in the morning, pacing his cell. He told Arthur he felt he should have more say over who was on or off the spot now that they were going to be on the outside again. “I’m the one who has to deal with people,” Allen said, “the one who has to talk our way out of situations. ” “It will be difficult for Ragen to yield domination as it is,” I Arthur said, “after two years of absolute control. He would not take kindly to a triumvirate. I believe Ragen has ideas of continuing to rule.”

“Well, you’ll be the boss as soon as we walk out those doors. I’m the one who’s going to have to find a job and readjust to society. I need to have more say in things.”

Arthur pursed his lips. “That’s not an unreasonable request, Allen. Though I cannot speak for Ragen, you will have my support.”

Downstairs, a guard handed him a new suit, and Allen was amazed at the quality and the fit.

“Well, your mother sent it in,” the guard said. “It’s one of your own.”

“Oh yeah,” Allen said, pretending to remember.

Another guard came in with a voucher for him to sign. Before he could leave, he had to pay thirty cents for a plastic cup missing from his cell.

“They took that away from me when they moved me out of isolation,” Allen said, “and they never gave it back.”

“I don’t know about that. You got to pay for it.”