THE SLAVES IN THE DESERT

Epilogue


“We can’t even think about it in this heat!” said Stella as the exhausted women were nearing the prison after another hot day. She rubbed her bare back, where the whip had struck it several times. Megan nodded. She, also, had been hit many times that day. The guards had clearly been given orders to be particularly unpleasant to all in Clarissa’s cell. Miranda was still stretched out in the sun all day and had been like this for weeks, along with Wanda whose  assistance to Clarissa had cost her so dear.

The poor woman in the cage had gone through a phase of pleading with the guards to let her go and promising never to step out of line again. Her collaborator continued to be pinned down on her own, silent and apparently resigned to years of misery.

As they neared the prison, Stella noticed something different.

“There’s nobody in the watchtowers, Megan! That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that!”

When they reached the gates, hastily and not too expertly repaired after Clarissa had demolished them over a month ago, they were not opened by the usual guard, but by a man - and a uniformed man at that. When the truck came to a halt, the tailboard was lowered and a male voice said. “Off you get, girls. Let’s get you all to hospital for a check up. You’re all free as from today!”

The stupefied prisoners clambered down and saw that the Warden and the entire staff were all lined up in the sun under the guard of a mixture of State police and F.B.I men. Megan looked across to the administrative building and saw someone she recognised.

“Daddy! Oh, darling! Am I ever glad to see you”

She ran towards him, but came screeching to a stop just inches away from him as she became aware that she was still naked. But he ignored this and embraced her, both of them sobbing. One of the rescuing party walked over to them and coughed discreetly.

“I think we can cover you up, Miss, unless you’ve got to like being like that! I assume you are Megan! Good to see you looking well, if battered!”

“How did you learn about this place?” asked Megan, hoping and praying that she would get the answer she wanted.

“Your friend, Clarissa told us about it all, but not for some weeks, hence the long delay. She lost a lot of blood after being wounded by these criminals.” he gestured towards the Warden and her staff, all wilting in the heat as they were made to stand in the same discomfort they had inflicted on the inmates for so long. “And then she developed a very serious infection and almost died. It was only two days ago that the doctors would let us speak to her. Before passing out,  she managed to tell her rescuer that she had been kidnapped but we had no idea where she had been kept and the truck she was driving had false registration details and we got nothing from that. But she’s getting rapidly better now and is on her way home as we speak , together with her father and mother. You’ll be joining her today!”

“I’m staying here!” replied Megan. “I’ll not go home until I’ve given evidence against these scum and seen them all put way for life! And I won’t take no for an answer!!”

This last remark was directed at her father, who had clearly been hoping to take his long lost daughter home as soon as possible, but he soon got over his disappointment.

“Of course you want to stay and play your part in convicting these bastards! In the meantime, I’ll arrange for rather more comfortable accommodation for you than this!”

Later that day, Stella and Megan were reunited with Miranda, who was recovering in hospital after her ordeal. She was in the next bed to Wanda, who had not been arrested with the others. Clarissa had told of her assistance and she was never charged with any offence, having agreed to be a prosecution witness.

Three months later Megan returned home and went to the Police Training College. Clarissa was already at Cambridge, studying  Law,  and Miranda had started her delayed Medical training. Clarissa kept in contact with her lover for a year and then the correspondence gradually dried up, finally ceasing altogether as both young women applied themselves to their respective careers.

Clarissa had a couple of affairs, both with nice young men, at University,. But  both romances fizzled out and she gained a reputation as a serious and career oriented woman with little or no time for socialising.

When she bumped into Miranda in the Strand, Clarissa had almost forgotten about the woman whose body had made that nightmare in the desert bearable and in many ways a delight. All week, as she waited for Friday night, she went over all that the two had meant to each other during those long weeks. None of her associates had any idea of the turmoil of emotion within as she got through the remaining three days.

She met Miranda at Waterloo Station and soon the couple were at Clarissa’s thatch-roofed cottage.

“It’s like the gingerbread house in Hansel and Gretel!” said a delighted Miranda. “I’ve seen pictures of places like this, but never been inside one! These ceilings sure are low! But I love it here!”

“It’s a Grade One listed building “ said Clarissa proudly. “That means I can’t alter ANYTHING without permission. But who’d want to change a place like this? Come up and see your bedroom!”

“Not our bedroom?” asked Miranda.

“Our bedroom!”

That night they examined each others’ bodies, delighting in a familiarity that the passage of seven years had not lessened.

“Your back seems to have healed very well, darling!” said Clarissa. “I fear mine took far too much of a going  over ever to look nice again. Maybe that’s why I’ve not had that many romances this last few years. Both my boyfriends said they didn’t mind, but I could sense somehow that they did. I never take my clothes off in public, Miranda. I hate to have people staring at me. But I know you don’t care.”

Miranda stroked Clarissa’s hair and kissed the top of her head.

“It doesn’t look as bad as you think, darling. I doubt anyone would notice if you didn’t tell them about it. And that’s too nice a body never to show the world! In the morning we go to that beach - the one near here where you don’t need clothes - and I show you off to all the jealous people!”

“What happened to all the people at the prison?” asked Clarissa next day. The couple were lying side by side and quite naked on the sandy beach, surrounded by other bronzed bodies, of all shapes, sizes and ages.

“All the prisoners were released, even the genuine criminals. Debbie got arrested again not too long after and has been in and out of gaol ever since. The Warden was given life and the rest anything from twenty to thirty years. The members of the Sect all decamped for Central America (those who hadn't been locked up) and the last I heard was that they had founded some similar kind of strict community in the middle of the jungle. Don’t take a vacation anywhere near there, darling! As for the old fort, I have something to tell you about that!”

They lay together for some time, Clarissa on her stomach and Miranda on her back, half asleep and half awake. The previous night had passed very quickly with a succession of reminiscence and wild love making and they were both very tired.

“Do you remember saying to me once, my love, that if the food had been better, the life was not too bad at that prison camp and some people might even be willing to pay to stay there?”

Clarissa nodded lazily, her hand caressing Miranda’s breasts.  It was so good to be next to her again!

“Well! Stella must have overheard you, because she actually bought the place a year or two after it had been closed. She’s turned it into a kind of health farm where overweight  and overindulged professional women can go to be turned into slim and fit paragons of healthy eating virtue. There are a lot of aspects of life there which you would recognise! Bad women get punished (for taking booze and sugary stuff into the place!) . Of course, no one gets treated like we were, but the regime is pretty strict and they all get to work darned hard all day. After a couple of weeks there, they go back to their sedentary jobs minus quite a few pounds and even more dollars! They pay a lot for the privilege!”

“I bet they have to wear clothes, though!” said Clarissa. “And what sort of work do they do? Not breaking rocks, I bet!”

“Wrong! No clothing allowed. And they DO break rocks! Nobody gets more than a day in the cells or the cage, but even a few hours are pretty bad, as you know. And no whippings, but they do use a cane on the guests from time to time. The food is tasty but strictly plain and wholesome. And we could spend three weeks there, free of charge. Stella would love for us to go. What do you  think, Clarissa? Could you get the time off in August?”

“Yes. The legal system goes through a very slack period in the summer! And I’d love to work side by side with you again, naked and sweating in the heat. Get on to Stella and book three weeks for two!”


THE END