Later that night Kenneth worked with his newly purchased shop vac to clean every inch of his parents’ car. He had watched enough TV to know that all traces of Ruth Waterman had to be obliterated. As a further precaution he was going to burn the cabin.

At about the same time a case, looking very much like a large set of golf clubs, was taken aboard the Prince’s yacht. The captain and his mate lugged the crate down to the Prince’s cabin. There they unpacked a terrified Ruth Waterman. The temptation proved too strong and both men availed themselves of the lovely, naked woman. With their limited English, the men explained that if the Prince found out what happened, they would certainly receive some minor punishment. She would be put to death. After it became clear that she understood, they gave her something to eat and allowed her to use

the bathroom. When she begged them to let her go, they seemed genuinely distressed not to be able to help. If she were not there when the Prince returned, they tried to make clear, it would be more than their lives were worth. She cleaned herself and the two men lifted her bodily, put her into the display case at the foot of the Prince’s large bed, and locked it. As the latch snapped home, Ruth Waterman’s naked body was bathed in a rosy glow from two lamps, one above, mounted in the ceiling and one below. The captain and his mate remained shoulder to shoulder in the doorway, gazing in silent appreciation. The thick glass remained impervious to her pounding and, after awhile, she stopped trying.

***

Betty was also on display, though not in anything nearly so fancy as the Prince’s silver and glass case. “Goddamn it,” Lester was ranting. “Not a thing. We didn’t win a single thing. Jesus. What the fuck’s wrong with you that you couldn’t ever do what I wanted.” She hung in the wooden triangle, her arms and shoulders aching, her red hair hanging limp to her shoulders and her back still stinging from the whip. Lester decided that he would brand her, a large block L on her right cheek.

***

Gloria and Susanna both naked, were crawling in tandem across the living room floor. They had already been taken twice, once each by the detective, Tom and once by his son, Todd. To please his son, Tom had them down on all fours. Todd liked to see them like that, creeping around on the floor.

"Goddamn it, Gee," Tom barked. "I told you to get your nose up there. Now do it. Do what I tell you. Stick your nose up her ass."

His palm crashed against Gloria’s backside and she squealed at the sharp burning pain. "Did you think I was speaking figuratively?" Once again she felt the sting. "No! I was

being literal. Now get it in there." Grabbing her shoulders, he pushed Gloria forward, pressing her face against Susanna's buttocks and inserting her nose into the crack of her daughter’s behind. "All right. Now we’ve got the caboose hooked on to the engine. Let's put the train in motion." He slapped Susanna's rump just next to her mother’s head. Trying to obey, Susanna started forward. As she pushed forward, her left leg became tangled up with her mother’s arm unbalancing them both. Gloria fell hard on her right side bringing Susanna down with her.

"Jesus," Tom said, "can't you two get anything right?" Grabbing Susanna's hair, he lifted her back up to her knees. "Sue, spread your legs. That's something I know you can do." Susanna widened her stance, splaying her feet wide.

"Gee, stick your nose back in there. And hold on to Sue’s hips."

Leaning her forehead against her daughter’s bare backside, Gloria placed her hands on the girl’s hips. Tom's palm struck just at the tops of Gloria’s thighs. She whined in pain. "How many times do I have to tell you? Get your nose in there. Now do it." He slapped her again and she raised her head, inching her nose into the crack of her daughter’s behind.

"That's better," he said when she managed it.

"Okay,” Tom, said, “let's try it again."

They began crawling forward. “Let’s hear some choo choo sounds and the train whistle.” Susanna grunted noises interspersed with wooing sounds in imitation of a train whistle. “You too,” he called to Gloria who responded with muffled hoots that echoed between her daughter’s legs and sounded cowlike.

Tom clapped his hands in appreciation as they moved in tandem along the floor. "Hey Todd," his father called to the next room. "You’ve got to see this. It's great."

"One sec," the boy called back. "Should I bring you a beer?"

"You want the engine or the caboose?" Tom asked.

"Okay, okay. I'll be right in."

"Keep it moving, girls," Tom said when they showed signs of slowing down. "I'll tell you when you can stop."

The two men stood over them, sipping their beers while Gloria and Susanna negotiated their way, slowly and uncomfortably, around the room. Very soon the sight of the two women had the desired effect. Todd attacked Gloria from behind, spreading her lower cheeks with his thumbs. Inch by inch he forced himself deeper inside, some of his pleasure clearly derived from her groans of discomfort. He grabbed a handful of hair, pulling her head back in order to gain a little extra leverage.

Tom drew up a chair, placed himself directly in front of Sue, lowering his pants and pushing himself in to her mouth. A little while later, after she had drained him and swallowed his output, Tom leaned down and patted the girl’s back. “Heel,” he began walking away. Susanna crawled after him. From just outside the door he called back to his son. “Look,” he said. “I’ll sign them up for next month and you can take them. Alright?” Without waiting for an answer he called back over his shoulder, “Now, you entertain Mama, will you? We don’t want her to get bored.”

***

Daniel had to say that his professor been a major disappointment. Not fast enough to win a medal in the sprint, nor graceful enough to look really good when she was strutting. They had gotten past the first round in the slalom but on the second run Mary Louise tripped twice and they knocked over four barriers. In the free-for-all, she was much too

timid. The black guy drove his curly blond mercilessly and won the free-for-all going away. Worst of all, other women were way better looking. That was what hurt Daniel the most. He had planned to dazzle them with his gorgeous professor. But no one was dazzled. Sure, she was good looking, but in that company, with several genuine beauties, Mary Louise was just another good-looking woman. No, he decided, she had definitely been a disappointment.

“Daniel,” she said in a voice just above a whisper, “please don’t ever make me do this again.”

“Of course not,” he replied. “No, I won’t.” Touching her back he asked, “What will your husband say about the marks?”

“He won’t ever see them.” She leaned toward him to kiss his cheek. “Thank you for being concerned, Daniel.” Bending over further, Mary Louise buried her face in his lap.

She had given him an A+ in her class for his excellent work, far above the usual standards. He had worked very hard for that mark, earned it, deserved it. She, on the other hand, was going to get a D, for her performance. D for disappointing. Two Ds for deeply disappointing. Not to win a single medal. That was awful. She should have won something, at least come in third in one of the events. If that was all, he might have forgiven her. But nothing. Not a single medal. And where did she stand for looks? Okay, that woman with the dark curly hair was magnificent. And there were the two blonds, the one driven by the black guy and the one with the torpedo tits and the brown nipples. Great looking women. Mary Louise might have had more substance than the twins but she was no better looking than the college girl or the dark haired girl with the enormous boobs. That was it. Mary Louise certainly wasn’t the best looker there. Average boobs, no better than that. Legs were no better than most of the others. To top it all off, that kid driving the curly haired woman was even younger than him. Wasn’t she something? Daniel mused.

All in all, the Professor turned out to be below average. She deserved a D. In fact, he’d give her several Ds. She already earned her 2 Ds for deeply disappointing. He was also going to give her more Ds for what he had in store for her. D for debauched, D for debased, and a D when he dumped her. The next time he brought her out there, Daniel decided, he’d let them rent her out. He would watch the spectacle. It would be satisfying to see his professor whipped and driven by some stranger.

To console himself he decided right then to try her out in a threesome. It wouldn’t work to put her together with the drama major just yet. Mary Louise might object to a little orgy with an unknown student at the University. No, it had to be the cashier. That might be a lot of fun, Daniel decided, and if Mary Louise were at all skittish, it would make it that much easier to dump her. Heather, his cashier, complained more than once that it wasn’t fair that she was always the one who was spanked and never the one did the spanking. Now Daniel would supply a playmate that Heather could take over her knee. Daniel wondered how the professor would deal with a hiding from an almost illiterate grocery clerk. Mary Louise tried to raise her head from his lap. She often tried to pull away before he was completely finished. He held her head in place. As far as he was concerned her assignment wasn’t complete until she sucked him dry.

While Mary Louise was in the bathroom, he phoned the supermarket, asked for Heather and told her she could come for a visit after work. Mary Louise was cuddled up next to him, her head resting on his shoulder when the doorbell rang. “What’s that,” she said sleepily.

“I’ll go see what’s up,” he whispered.

Mary Louise gasped and jumped up when the light suddenly went on in the bedroom. Realizing that someone was standing in the doorway with Daniel she pulled the blanket up to her neck. “She’s pretty,” the girl said and addressing herself to Mary Louise, smiled and said, “You’re pretty.”

“Heather, this is Mary Louise.” Daniel began the process of removing her uniform. “Heather works at the big supermarket on the next block. She’s a cashier there.”

“Mary Louise, this is Heather.” He spoke casually as though the three of them were meeting at a bar or in a restaurant. “Mary Louise is a college professor.”

“I never finished high school,” Heather said without embarrassment. “Never talked to no college professor before. Pleased to meet you,” the girl said in her most refined voice. “Certainly never did it with no college professor before. That’s for sure.”

Sitting up in the bed, protecting her modesty with just a blanket, Mary Louise was appalled. She had been brought up in with middle class, Middle West morals and attitudes. Now she had decided on her own, as a free decision, to become an adulteress, and with a student, even more had spent the day being used as a pony girl. Her sense of stability was shattered. Heather, though neither pretty nor well built, was not at all uncomfortable being naked in front of other people. Crawling into the bed, she simply pulled the blanket from Mary Louise and began stroking her stomach. “Mary Lou,” Heather said, “You sure are a good looking lady,” and leaned over to take Mary Louise’s nipple into her mouth. After sucking on one side for several minutes, she raised her head. “C’mon Danny boy.” Heather said, wiggling her small behind, “you got two ladies in distress here and you ain’t doin’ nothin’ about it.”

By the end of the evening, when she sat up, Mary Louise was exhausted. There had permutations and combinations that she never would have dreamed possible. Her legs were wobbly and when she tried to stand and Mary Louise sank back to the side of the bed with a little giggle. Heather grabbed her hand. “That a wedding ring you got, Mary Lou? You a married woman?”

When Mary Louise didn’t answer, Heather asked Daniel, who admitted that she was. Though slim and wiry, Heather was quite strong. Taking a handful of dark hair she pulled Mary Louise across her lap. “You know, Mary Lou, married women shouldn’t

ought to be doing these things. You got to be punished.” Heather’s hard, calloused palm struck Mary Louise’s backside with a loud thwack. Her next blow struck the other cheek.

“Okay, Heather I’ve been chastised. Now please let me get up.” But Heather had just begun. Again and again the blows came, for a while to one side of her rear and equally many to the other side. Mary Louise was in tears. “Please,” she begged. “Please stop.” Mary Louise tried to struggle free, but Heather’s strong, calloused hands kept Mary Louise in place. This country girl, who had begun doing physical labor even before she started school, indeed had powerful hands and arms. Now the woman was wailing. Daniel, excited at what was happening, sat on the bed at Heather’s side. Heather lifted Mary Louise’s head and, without a break in her attack on the woman’s hindquarter, lifted her head and impaled it on Daniel’s erection. She didn’t let go even after Daniel lay back on the bed, thoroughly drained.

“Danny, honey,” she asked, “if Mary Lou does me with her mouth right after doing you in her mouth, can I get pregnant?” Daniel smiled at the girl’s lack of understanding.

“No, Heather,” he said indulgently, “I don’t think so.”

Heather turned on to her side, pulling Mary Louise’s head between her legs, clamping her thighs tight around the woman’s cheeks, and continuing to hold on to a handful of dark hair. “Let’s see if your college professor do me real good and a real lot of times? Course she will,” Heather answered own question. “Then I don’t have to spank her no more.”

Watching Heather manage Mary Louise, Daniel suddenly realized that he wouldn’t have to dump his college professor after all. He’d just turn her over to Heather for safekeeping.

***

“Do me baby. Do me.” The woman upstairs in Leroy’s bed screamed in apparent ecstasy. Andrea looked up at the ceiling. She was cleaning one of the closets. It was the last day of her servitude and she had already been replaced.

From the kitchen, Andrea heard the bell clearly. She waited a moment. Perhaps they had accidentally knocked the bell from the nightstand next to the bed. A few seconds later the bell rang again. She made more noise than was necessary as she padded barefoot up the stairs to the bedroom, both to show Leroy that she was hurrying and to alert them to her arrival. She wondered which of the black women from the party was in Leroy’s bed. Was it the skinny, glamorous one with all the make-up or the chubby one with the hat, or maybe a new one? Only a little longer now, she told herself. Whatever happened she could deal with it.

Andrea opened the bedroom door, fell to her hands and knees and said “You called, Master?” She sure had been easy to train. The house was much cleaner now than when she arrived. Kitchen and bathrooms done, shoes shined, clothing ironed. Good on her back and with her mouth. She had performed good service.

“Run down and bring us some coffee.” The woman wasn’t there. In the bathroom, Andrea thought.

“Yes, Master,” she intoned.

“And why ain’t you wearin’ your medal?”

“I’ll get it.”

When she arrived with the tray, the woman still wasn’t in evidence. Leroy rose from the bed. “Give me the tray and get down there.” Andrea knelt in place on the floor next to the bed, the gold medal dangling all the way to the floor. Seating himself on the edge of the bed Leroy placed the tray with the coffee and cups on her flattened back. She winced

where the tray rested on top of skin still sore from the whip. “In addition to everything else, you make a good table.” Leroy poured himself a cup and replaced the steaming pot. The woman’s voice called out wondering if the coffee had arrived.

“The coffee’s here,” Leroy answered. A foot appeared right next to Andrea, touching Andrea’s hand. A white leg just in front of Andrea’s face, a white hand that poured out a cup of coffee. “Thank you, Momma,” said a familiar voice. “I knew you were good for something.”

Andrea’s mouth fell open. She tried to speak but no words emerged, only inarticulate sounds from the back of her throat. “Don’t try to get up,” Hillary said. “You’ll spill that hot coffee all over yourself.” It was true. If Andrea moved too quickly or tried to stand, the hot coffee would scald her back.

“What is happening?” Andrea asked, genuinely confused.

“I never owed Leroy any money,” Hillary clapped her hands. I just made all of that up to see what you would do. And you fell into it.”

“But the drugs and the confession.”

“Oh, I burned that confession. It was a phony anyway. Leroy confessed to something that never happened.”

“Sweetie, why are you doing this to me?” Tears rolled down Andrea’s cheeks.

Hillary leaned over her. “Don’t you dare sweetie me, you bitch! I’m not your sweetie and you’re nothing to me. With you gone, when Daddy gets out of jail, we’ll have lots of money. And there are all those joint accounts you’ve told me about but never really shared. Little bits of allowance is all you’ve ever given me. Now you’ll give it all to me. The apartment with the great view, that will be mine. And the car. And your condo in

South Carolina. It would be crazy not to get rid of you. Best of all I get to see you like this, being treated the way you deserve. You and your boyfriends drove my daddy away. And you made him pay for the privilege. Now you’re being repaid. I’ve hated you ever since. Just hated you.” She paused for breath. “Lee, honey,” she turned to him, her voice softening, her tone dripping, “tell the bitch what’s going to happen to her. I want her to know, to see it coming.” Hillary snuggled up next to him. “Tell her!”

“You going to South America on a private jet,” he began.

“Momma always liked traveling in little jets. Isn’t that right?” Hillary rested her head on Leroy’s shoulder.

“I sold you to a friend of mine,” Leroy continued. “Juran’s uncle. You met him. Really tall guy was at the party the other night. Juran’s uncle does import and export. Rare and exotic animals. Anyway, Juran’s uncle made a deal with a guy in Brazil. Rich guy. Wants a good-looking blond gringa for the men who manage his land and his mines. Hillary here offered you to him.” He lifted the tray from Andrea’s back and took the gold medal. But before she could stand up or even move very far, he slipped one end of a chain around Andrea’s neck, locked it shut, and holding her down, he clamped her ankles and wrists.

By the time the doorbell rang, Andrea was terrified. Unable to move, barely able to breathe, completely uncertain about her future, she was shaking uncontrollably. The two men talked for several minutes. There was some further negotiation. The man’s hands explored Andrea’s stomach and breasts and buttocks. “Just let go,” he said as the needle pierced her backside. Andrea was beginning to drift into a peaceful sleep when Leroy lifted her up. As he carried her down the stairs, Leroy whispered in her ear, but so quietly that she might not have heard a word. “Don’t worry, darlin’,” he breathed. “You gonna see your step-daughter again. About a week. After she be my pony ride. Juran’s uncle sellin’ her to the same people he sold you.”

Andrea was packed into a burlap bag, folded gently into the bottom of a laundry cart and rolled away. Hillary came smiling down the stairs. Holding out his arms to her, Leroy looked her over. Good looking pair like that, mother and daughter in the Amazon, or wherever Brazil was, sure to fetch Juran’s uncle a pretty penny.

***

Robin hustled around the restaurant, trying to keep up. Her stiff, bright orange uniform was finding all the tender spots on her sides, hips and back. Even when she wasn’t suffering from those afflictions, the uniform was uncomfortable. It was too small, showed too much of her legs and over accentuated her breasts. Robin supposed that the owner made a conscious decision to deck out the waitresses in such tight uniforms. For the customers, he would say. But Robin knew it was mostly for his own enjoyment.

One of the other girls hadn’t shown up so Robin had to wait on the other girl’s station as well as her own. Robin’s legs, arms and back ached from the day’s efforts. There was her boy friend, in a corner booth, drinking coffee with several of his friends. She could tell, from their conspiratorial looks and knowing smiles that he was regaling them with a description of his day at the races. Her neck and face reddened when they laughed and gave each other high fives.

***

The party was in full swing, loud music and insistent voices echoed around her. Alicia Brix stood almost erect, entirely naked except for high-heeled shoes and a red collar around her neck, inside the black, wrought iron, cage. Jonathan was showing her off to his fraternity brothers and their dates, describing their afternoon at the Pony Races. Alicia purchased the cage only a few days previously. Drifting off, she reluctantly recalled the scene.

It’s a very special piece Miss," the short, chubby man looked his paper to find her name. "Miss Brix.” Adjusting his bow tie, he smiled at her. “Nineteenth century Irish, the part

that is now Northern Ireland." The man smiled at Alicia Brix encouragingly, as though she should have been impressed. He continued. "The gentry developed a passion for keeping large birds, so the locals had to make huge bird-cages like this one. You can see the steel flooring, its all been redone. That floor will hold two hundred pounds or more. We've cleaned the wrought iron," he rubbed his hand along the outside of the cage, "and given it a new paint job." He swung open the door of the cage. "Originally, they made it large enough to fit an ostrich. Although I don't believe it ever held an ostrich." Closing the door he said, "Indeed I think you could crawl inside." His eyes rested on her breasts and his face reddened. "You know what I mean."

He turned away and walked toward his desk. "Is it satisfactory, Miss Brix?"

"Yes, it’s fine," she managed, the words barely above a whisper.

"That's $475 for the cage,” he poked his calculator, "with tax and delivery it comes to $538.50. Will that be cash or charge?"

She handed him her credit card. "Would you like it delivered this afternoon?" he asked. Alicia Brix nodded.

"What are you planning to keep in it?" the man asked brightly as he handed Alicia her receipt. She didn't answer, even though she knew just what was to be displayed in her new cage. Even so she never expected to be locked inside, the centerpiece at a fraternity party.

The young couple, their faces at the bars of her cage, peering in at her naked body brought Alicia back to the moment. Jonathan was hosting a little party for a few his college friends and Alicia was the centerpiece. “No shit,” one boy said to Jonathan, “she’s really a high-school math teacher?”

Jonathan nodded. “I took geometry and trig from her. Good teacher.”

The boy took his arm from his date’s shoulder, looked around, moved off and when he returned, thrust a partially peeled banana between the bars of the cage. “Take this,” he said touching it to her lower lip, “and hang on to it. Don’t bite, just hold it.” Alicia Brix opened her mouth and he inserted the soft, white fruit between her lips, pushing it to the back of her throat. “That’s right, just like that.”

“Oh, Dennis,” the round-faced girl with dark hair gushed, peering at Alicia. “That’s so vulgar.” The girl, already a bit tipsy, reached inside the bars to tweak one of the long, brown nipples jutting so prominently from the schoolteacher’s breasts, giggling when her drink splashed on Alicia’s leg. “Oops,” she mumbled. “I think I’ve soiled your math teacher.”