The Bamboo Pen

Doug paid no attention to Amy's pleadings. Groping her by the ankles, he pulled her out of the tree and slung her over his shoulder, wisely keeping her feet aimed towards his front. Amy pounded his back, but he hardly felt her soft fists through his rippling muscles.

Through the jungle they trekked, Amy begging for release, Doug salivating in anticipation of a meal. They came upon a cabin, wooden, logs splayed, jutting out of the foundations, a jumbled mess - and inside: a roaring fire, a massive cooking pot, a filthy flea-ridden bed, a bearskin rug, and a large cage made from bamboo poles.

Inside the cage was a girl, pale, with an upturned nose, sandy brown hair, a muddied yellow collared shirt, and a pair of frayed cut-off jeans. She wore upon her face a blank expression, with the hint of an upturned smile on her lips.

"Katie," bellowed Doug, "meet Amy," as he opened the cage and placed Amy inside and locked the door. He tumbled off to the fireplace, stoking the flames, and began chopping something on a cutting board. It looked like an eggplant, but the flickering shadows supplied by the fire made it difficult to tell.

"Hello Amy," said Katie, "Is the ogre going to eat you too?"

"Not if I can help it," answered Amy.

"He was supposed to eat me last night," said Katie, "but then he came back with a big fat deer and he turned that into a stew. Boy was it good. Doug's not a bad guy. He gave me a generous helping. He's been feeding me well since I came here."

"Boy, is this one daft," thought Amy, as she said, in a whisper, "Have you tried anything to get out of here? Are there any weaknesses in this cage?" --- and Amy felt along the bars, looking for structural weaknesses, but alas, none were to be found.

"Escape?" asked Katie, with a crinkled expression on her nose. "Gosh no. I hadn't thought about that."

"You do know that it's going to be really painful to be devoured by an ogre? That it might hurt a little to be chopped up into a stew?"

Katie's eyes widened. "Gosh, I hadn't thought of that."

Doug returned, apron on his hips, chef's hat upon his head. "Eenie meenie minie moe, catch a tiger by the toe..." His finger shifted from Katie to Amy, Katie to Amy, Katie to Amy, and he finally chose, for tonight's menu ...

1. Katie
2. Amy

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