The cage was twenty feet square, enclosed on all four sides and the top by high quality chain link fencing, anchored in concrete. The entire fence went four feet below ground level to solid rock. A small shed of one hundred square feet occupied a corner to serve as her home, providing protection from wind and weather. She had a refrigerator, a stove, a toilet to a septic tank, and a pump to bring water from the well. There was a single mattress. I provided a stationery bicycle and weights for exercise. She had a monitor and VCR to play the tapes I left her. She had the sun and the moon and the birds, snakes, lizards and insects to keep her company.

Several things were missing. They were things she wanted. There was no telephone, no lights, no computer, no mirror to watch herself, no makeup, no clothes to wear, no sharp objects or razors, no ropes, no radio or TV. Most importantly, there was no exit.

It had been fifty-five days since I last saw her. This was my third visit to her in the one hundred and twenty days since I put Cathy in the cage.

I followed the small trail, moving the devices to hide the entrance and carefully replacing them. The location had been carefully selected in a box canyon deep in rugged hills. It was desolate country, rarely visited by humans, so desolate it wasn't even on the route of the illegal immigrants coming across the Rio Grande. The chances of someone finding her were extremely remote. I had hidden it well.

I could see the cage now as I quietly walked toward it. Cathy was lying under the awning attached to the shed. She appeared to be asleep. I stood at the gate watching her. Even now, I found her so sexually appealing, so beautiful, my heart throbbed from wanting her.

She rolled over on the bed, her lush breasts moving invitingly. When her eyes opened, she blinked rapidly as if she couldn't believe she was actually seeing me. Her eyes probably had tricked her a thousand times into seeing someone when there was no one to see. Slowly, she stood and walked toward me.

The first time I came to see her, she screamed and threatened me, berating me as she always had since that day I first caught her with Jeff. Now, she said nothing as she stood on the opposite side of the chain fence staring at me. Her face looked different as if her intelligence was diminished. She stuck her fingers through the chain link, trying to touch me but failing.

"Hello, David." Her voice was low and sexy, as it always was.

I said nothing. She rubbed her eyes and refocused. Had she spoken through the fence before and received no response?

"Did you come to let me out?" she asked hopefully.

"No. I'm going to replenish your supplies and give you two more tapes to watch."

"How long are you going to keep me here?"

"The rest of your life."

"Please, David," she whimpered. "Let me go. I've been punished enough. Give me papers to sign. I'll admit what I did and ask for nothing in our divorce. Just let me go home."

I said nothing.

"David, talk to me! Why are you doing this to me?"

Again, I said nothing.

"You're demented, David. Someone will find me! I know Jeff must be looking for me."

"What did you see in Jeff? Why did you fuck him so openly? You knew I loved you desperately."

"I told you. Jeff had a big cock and I liked fucking him. He turned me on."

"Yes, you told me you would fuck Jeff any time you wanted to. But you didn't tell me until the second day of our honeymoon, the day I returned to find him in my bed with his cock in your mouth."

She didn't blush. That didn't surprise me. She'd never shown remorse at her adultery with Jeff or with the other men she fucked in our bed, the big king-sized bed I bought for us. She shrugged.

"He treated you like a slut when I treated you like a queen."

"Well, I'm a slut. I told you that."

She turned beet red. The rage exploded in her.

She screamed at me, "Listen! I'll tell you again, you dumb bastard. I married you for money and social standing. I fucked Jeff and the others for sheer joy! I love Jeff and he loves me."

Her eyes were bright, hot, burning points of intensity. Her jaw was set as she crossed her arms under her lush breasts, planted her feet apart and glared at me.