Preparation

After I have bathed, I am provided with some skimpy black lingerie, which apparently will be my normal attire from now on, a housecoat to wear over it while I'm not working, and a pair of high heels. A beautician gives me a manicure and my fingernails and toenails are painted a deep purple. My hair is cut, for the first time since arriving in this world, and put into a new style. Then Madam Scarlet herself applies my make-up: lipstick, eye-shadow and rouge.

Given Madam Scarlet's own over made-up face, I rather expect that she will leave me looking like a cheap tart, but when she hands me a mirror I see that she has used considerably more restraint. I would hardly recognise myself, but I actually look like quite an expensive tart. "You are over twenty years younger than me, and don't have the skin blemishes that I have to cover up," she explains, surprisingly frankly.

Most alarming of all, a "golden" (I don't suppose that it can be real gold) anklet is put round my left ankle. It bears the legend "property of Madam Scarlet", and is designed to be impossible to remove without metalworking tools.

The girls work late and so aren't early risers, but by now one or two of them are beginning to appear, and Madam Scarlet introduces me to them. They are all dressed similarly to myself, and all wear an anklet like mine.

Most of the girls are a bit reserved with me - only to be expected when I'm new, I suppose - but a tall, willowy girl with dark hair, by the name of Moula, makes friends with me. Boredom is a problem for the girls, she tells me, since they are rarely allowed out of the brothel, so they spend much of the time playing a two person board game rather similar to backgammon for small stakes. She teaches me the rules, and we spend most of the afternoon playing it. The game requires a fair amount of concentration, and I find that it helps to take my mind off my situation for a while.

1. Then it's time for the early evening meal, the main one of the day. All of the girls eat together. I listen as they talk, not saying much myself. In another hour or so, the first customers will be arriving.
2. All too soon it's evening, and the first customers appear. To my surprise and alarm, Gustav is amongst them. Apparently he has decided that it would be fitting if he were to be my first "client".
3. I will draw a veil over the events of that night - and the next, and the next. Soon I have given up all hope of escape or rescue. Almost before I know it, six months have gone by. My baby is due in a few weeks, but I still have to work every night.
4. When we stop playing, somehow I manage to doze off. I have another of my dreams.

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