Abroad

Anne woke the next morning at the sound of a vehicle coming up the road. A pickup truck towed a cattle trailer to the ring of stakes and villagers opened the back. Girls, all naked like herself, were herded out and driven with pointed sticks toward the circle. She counted eight, nine, ten; all dozen stakes would be occupied.

She was right; the girls were quickly hung by their wrists and their ankles secured behind.

Lobo approached. He wiped Anne's face with a wet towel and brushed her hair. Rae needed little improvement; her face shined and her hair was soft and flowing.

She saw Anne looking at her and smiled back; Anne's heart melted at the sight and she felt her eyes filling with tears.

She fought them back; she must be at her best for today's buyers. Glancing around, she saw she was the oldest girl here; all the others were around twenty, fresh and pretty. At twenty-seven she was a tired old whore in comparison.

Two young women approached them, probably the same ones who fed them last night. More alert now, Anne saw they wore only shifts that did little to conceal the curves of their bodies.

They fed her and Rae some porridge and gave them water, then untied Rae from the stake and led her to the sandy latrine area and back. After retying her, they toyed with her for a minute before approaching Anne.

They took Anne over to relieve herself and suspended her again, but made no move to play with her. Anne smiled at them and looked down in invitation; one of the girls fondled her breasts until she moaned.

They spoke to one another in a language she did not understand, and the second one reached beneath her belly.

Tears started to her eyes and she cooed softly as the young woman brought her to a gentle climax. She hoped her disheveled looks made her more appealing; she would need all the help she could get.

Several buyers arrived in the course of the day. Anne was pleased to see that some of them were black. Her ancestors owned a Caribbean plantation; these men might be descendants of their slaves. Now they were examining her for purchase. One was especially good-looking, she hoped he would buy her, but he did not.

Lobo led him over to Rae, where he inspected her and said "How much?" Lobo named a figure; he handed a check over and called for a boy to unhook her.

Just before she was taken to his trailer, Rae looked back and smiled again at Anne, and it was all Anne could do to avoid breaking down in sobs. They might never meet again.

A man in a crisp linen suit greeted Lobo with a British accent and introduced himself. Mr. Morris represented a string of clubs on the coast and was looking to add to its stock. Lobo waved toward Anne's stake.

The Englishman stood in front of her. She imagined him using her; she liked it when a fully clothed man took her naked. It emphasized the difference between them, the master and the whore.

She looked down demurely, smiled and pulled herself up to present her breasts attractively. She was for sale and he was buying.

He squeezed and hefted them, pinched the nipples, placed a hand on her belly and shook his head no.

Another gentleman wanted Anne for himself. A collector in a small way, he already had a girl whose womb he used and another for her mouth; but he had been obliged to terminate the third recently and sought a replacement. Had this one's rear been "adjusted" to accommodate a man without difficulty?

Lobo assured him that it had, and that properly greased beforehand she was sure to provide satisfaction; she had been trained to it and was experienced in the art.

The buyer wanted a demonstration, for which she would need to be untied; Lobo demurred and the deal fell through. A pity Anne thought, she loved to be used that way and might have made him happy.

One by one each of the girls was sold, taken down from her stake and carried away. By late afternoon only Anne remained and the crowd of buyers was going home. Marta came by with a water bottle, and Anne asked her what happened to girls left at the end of the day.

In a matter of fact voice she explained they were taken into the jungle and chained by one foot to a tree. After dark the jaguars came and made short work of them; then the smaller animals would have their turn, the rats and the ants. By the morning there would be only bones to sink into the soil in the rainy season.

Anne thanked her for the information and drank from the bottle she held up. It was what she expected and had been told awaited girls like her when their usefulness was at an end.

Just then a tall native in a brightly colored serape entered the ring of stakes; Lobo looked up and greeted him. The man explained he had been delayed in reaching today's lady-market; was this all there was left?

Lobo regretted that was true; but this one was well trained and though older was still capable of service for months, perhaps years. The man introduced himself as Cesar, the chieftain of a nearby village, and proceeded to inspect Anne as the Englishman had done. He inquired into Lobo's asking price for her.

Lobo named a sum. He said "Too much" and turned away.

Lobo spoke up; it was the end of the day, he did not want to take her back with him, and it was a shame to give her to the jaguars. Was that a mango he had in his pouch?

It was. Lobo said "You can have her for that". Cesar nodded and gave it to him, and they shook hands. She had just been sold for the price of a ripe fruit.

Cesar snapped his fingers and two native boys ran up. He told them to unhook Anne and bring her over to his wagon. Anne nearly fainted with relief and followed the boys to a wooden oxcart at the edge of the field.

Reaching into it, Cesar brought out a rope of coarse fibers ending in a noose. He draped it over her head and pulled the loop snug against her throat.

He explained that she was to follow the cart on foot, attached to it by the rope. Their village was about three hours away at the slow pace of the ox.

It would soon be dark and she must take care not to fall on the rutted and bumpy path. If she was no longer viable when they arrived, she would be disposed of in the village's trash pit.

She understood; it was her first test. The boys climbed into the back of the cart to watch her; Cesar took the driver's seat and they set out on the journey.

It grew dark soon after, making her task harder. Her eyes adapted to the starlight and she could spot most of the rocks and potholes except when they were under trees; there she had to trust to luck for her preservation.

Cesar spoke, and one of the boys hung a lantern on the back of the cart. It blinded her to look at it, but she was trained to look modestly down at all times and managed to avoid most of the obstacles. Two or three times she put her foot on a sharp stone and almost fell, but she recovered and continued to plod behind the cart, grateful for the reprieve from the jaguars.

Once she heard the padding of a large animal coming quietly up behind her; the boys threw stones at it and the creature ran into the jungle.

After hours on the road, just when Anne thought she could go no farther and resigned herself to being dragged and discarded, she saw a cluster of flickering lights ahead. The cart pulled into a plaza of packed earth surrounded by huts with a stone temple on one side. In the center was a tall stake.