Dr Deatherson

Steve has now done a frightening number of Murray Camps, yet - to judge by his skiing - appears to have gained nothing from the whole wretched experience. This of course is not entirely unusual and indeed pretty much be expected if one believes in the principle of the Detlef Curve. Unfortunately, in Steve's case, the detrimental effects of doing so many Camps appear to go well beyond those evidenced in his skiing and seem to be headed in a distinctly worrying direction.

In one of his very earliest Camps, Steve had the severe misfortune to be allocated to Kindree's group. Of itself this would be pretty bad news for any Camper, yet Steve then went on to compound his misfortune by crashing into Kindree's step-daughter in the same Camp, in full view of The Evil One himself. From that day onwards Kindree has singled Steve out for an extensive and ongoing campaign of psychological torture. Central to this is the ever-present set of cross-hairs used by Dr Death to remind Steve (should he ever forget) that the The Evil One has him targeted for termination at some future date. Cross-hairs appear in gestures made by Kindree (crossed ski poles) and even in doctored photographs posted on the gates of a racecourse in an effort to distract Steve and send him careering to his death. If that weren't enough, Kindree then went on to equip Steve with a pair of race skis so far beyond his ability to ever control, that a horrible, high speed and messy end would now seem all but inevitable.

However, despite all of the thinly-veiled assassination attempts and despite the fact that the very presence of The Evil One appears able to make him crash in a racecourse or even go flying across the floor of a bar, Steve somehow appears to survive. One could even begin to think that The Evil One was losing his touch. Except that he isn't - it is only now, after so many years of torture and abuse that Kindree's plans for Steve are beginning to become apparent. Because Steve is starting to change. These days Steve appears on the slopes clad entirely in black, skiing at speeds way beyond his speed/ability curve, often with his hands in his pockets or clasped behind his back. The signs are sadly unmistakable. The final piece of the jigsaw however only fell into place in the last Camp of the 2009 season when Steve, allocated (surprise, surprise) to Kindree's group, was invited to lead the rest of his group down a dangerous luge run while The Evil One was otherwise occupied devouring the soul of a stray Camper from another group. Imagine Kindree's glee when, sometime later, Steve returned alone to report that the group had failed to reappear from the luge run. Stevie had made his first "kill" and his transformation into "Dr Deatherson" was seemingly complete.