The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, cycle 17 pages 1-15

Christopher John Francis Boone is a unique boy. He knows all the countries of the world and all of their capitals. He also knows all the prime numbers up to 7,057, but in all of his knowledge he doesn't understand human emotion well. Christopher has stumbled upon a strange sight. In the garden of his neighbor, Mrs. Shears he finds a lifeless poodle with a pitchfork stabbed through its body. Christopher is overwhelmed with curiosity and decides to check out the dog. He removes the fork and holds the oversized poodle in his hands. He ponders his thoughts and thinks who could have done this. Mrs. Shears finds the dog in his hands and is enraged. The cops arrive and try to squeeze evidence out of him. He is immediately put on the spot for murder. Christopher plants his face in the grass, while the officers grab him to take him to the station. He doesn't like to be touched so he lifts his arm, striking the cop. The passage ends with Christopher observing his new surroundings, which is a cramp jail cell.
The meaning of Cardinal is of prime importance; chief; principal. The meaning of stimulus is something that incites to action or exertion or quickens action, feeling, thought, etc.
Christopher as I said is unique in his thoughts, emotions, and actions. This passage had revealed many traits about Christopher. It set the tone of what he is now in the book and what he will become. He dislikes and likes many things. These things include the disliking of being touched. He is also very observant of his surroundings. He notices the cold and wet grass or the small jail cell. The underlying factors are that he is a curious boy that has many questions left unanswered. His patterns follow that there is lots of grey areas about his life and it just keeps piling on with the case of the dead dog.