CHAPTER ONE

    'Well? What do you think of that?' Robbie asked proudly.

  Evadne regarded our finished work dubiously.  'It's bigger than I thought,' she said at last.

  Robbie bridled. 'It's made to the the specified size,' he said stiffly. 'Inside measurements, four feet long, three feet wide, and three feet high, with a foot of insulation all round.'

    'But will it work?' Rebecca asked. 'I mean, is it really sound-proof, and will it be warm enough inside?'

  Robbie shrugged. 'It should be sound-proof enough for our client's purposes,' he said. 'He'll be gagged, and wearing mitts, and the insulation will keep in any sound. He will be able to hear sounds from outside, but they should be faint, and he won't know what they are.'  

'It needs testing,' Evadne remarked meaningfully, and all eyes fixed on me.

    'Oh no!' I protested. Then: 'Why me?'

    'Well, you're already naked, Ivor!' Rebecca laughed.

    'Don't be such a big wimp!' Evadne told me briskly. 'Get in there; it will only be for half an hour, won't it  Robbie?'

  Robbie grinned at me. 'Yes, half an hour will give me plenty of time to check the telemetry,' he observed grandly, gesturing at the read-outs set into the surface of the box-lid. 'Internal temperature, carbon dioxide content, air-flow etc. And I need to know what sounds, if any, get through the insulation.'

    'Go on, Ivor!' Rebecca wheedled. 'I'll have a cigar and a cold beer waiting for when you come out, and I'll take your turn at washing up all day tomorrow.'

  Robbie lifted the lid invitingly. It rose with a sucking sound and I peered inside at the straw covering the floor to a height of more than a foot.

    'O.K!' I sighed, climbing into the box to stand on the thick layer of straw covering the floor.

Evadne stood at one end of the thick lid and Robbie at the other, and I fell to all-fours in readiness. The lid descended slowly, cutting off the light, and I heard an electronic click as Robbie switched on the intercom.

    'O.K?' He asked. 'Internal temperature reads sixty-five degrees F; CO2 level four hundred parts per million, and climbing. Lie down, and try not to expend any energy,' he advised me. 'I want to see how fast it warms up in there under normal conditions.'

  I did as he asked. It was quite comfortable in the straw, although a bit prickly, but I knew that it would pack down under the body-weight of an occupant and become hard and lumpy, the more so as the future occupant would have no choice but to soil it. He must be mad, I thought, but then he was a friend of Jason, who'd spent three weeks in our oubliette and intended to come back for more.  Lying there in the pitch blackness, I listened to the running commentary Robbie was giving. The temperature was slowly increasing, and stood at seventy degrees after only five minutes. According to our calculations, the naked adult body at rest produced about a hundred and fifty watts of heat, and once the interior of the box had warmed sufficiently, the rising air would filter through the row of tiny vents in the top of the walls to be replaced by cool fresh air from the vents at the bottom. The temperature, according to Robbie, should stabilise at about eighty-five degrees F, thirty degrees C, a comfortable temperature to be without clothing for someone not used to it. The CO2 level continued to mount until it reached six hundred parts per million, perfectly comfortable. Then, as the temperature passed eighty degrees F, the air began to change, fresh air filtering in to take the place of the warmer air higher up, and after half an hour Robbie was able to announce a levelling of CO2 at seven hundred parts per million, about the same level as that of a commercial greenhouse, and a steady temperature of eighty-six degrees. Then he wanted me to test the the feeding and watering arrangement.                                                                                

  Coming to all-fours, I groped about in the dark with my face until I felt the hard rubber of the teat extending from the wall about two feet above the floor. It was just a rubber hose, jutting out obscenely at an upward angle, and it slid easily into my mouth. I squeezed its bulbous end between my teeth and was rewarded by a jet of water hitting the back of my throat.

    'O.K!' I shouted, wondering if I could be heard. Then, at Robbie's request, I banged the side of the box with a clenched fist. Hearing the dull, dead thumps, I suspected nothing was heard by those outside. On their part I imagined they were moving about. They may have been talking, but I could hear nothing but faint sounds which might have been imaginary. In short, it was as silent as the tomb, and as pitch dark.

  By now I was eager to be released, but one more thing needed testing. Coming to all-fours, I explored the wall in front of me with my fingers until I felt the outline of the steel grill, about nine inches long and six inches high, set in the thick wood. I stood and waited, wondering whether to shout out that I was ready But then I heard a sound and light flooded into the box through the grill in front of me.

    'What can you see?' Robbie called out.

    'Not much,' I confessed, peering awkwardly trough the slot. It was low, at eye level only if I rolled my eyes upward, and I could barely make out the bricks in the wall of the workshop about three feet in front of me. He fussed about outside, taking readings, and then slid the cover shut over the grill, plunging me into darkness again. Then, after a few minutes of impatient waiting, I heard the catches on the lid click open, and the lid was  raised to allow me to scramble out thankfully.

    'There!' Robbie was saying to Evadne. 'Told you it would be O.K. And we can move it around; in fact, we'll have to. It can't stay there, in my way.'

  I brushed bits of straw from my body, gave them both a dirty look, and walked off to where the promised beer and cigar awaited me.

CHAPTER TWO

  Jason turned up with his friend Justin on a sunny morning two days later. Leaving his expensive little sports car in a corner of the yard, he walked over to where we sat at the table outside the kitchen, his young friend lagging a little in the rear.

  The friend, Justin, was nervous, as well he might be. He kept gazing across the yard at the wooden box visible in the wide doorway of Robbie's workshop and gulping, perhaps having second thoughts about his forthcoming confinement. Well, he could back out right up to the last moment, that was understood, as was the fact that he'd still have to pay the full agreed price of a thousand pounds.

  Naturally, that was the first thing Evadne, her eyes gleaming with avarice, asked for. Jason dug his friend in the ribs as a reminder and Justin handed over a bulging envelope. I glanced at Robbie, and he at me, both hoping Evadne wouldn't sink to counting the money there and then. But she didn't, merely offering our guests a cup of tea and a biscuit.

  Justin seemed in no hurry to begin, which was natural enough, but Jason grew impatient, telling his friend to 'get a move on.' Finally, he made rose, and Evadne and Rebecca tactfully absented themselves, going into the house and leaving us to get on with it. Pale and nervous, Justin accompanied the three of us to Robbie's workshop where the box stood waiting for its occupant.

  Robbie, Jason and I drew apart to allow Justin some privacy as he removed his clothing, folding it carefully and putting it into the bag he'd brought with him. Then we joined him, and Robbie and I lifted the lid of the box for him to climb inside. He was shivering a little, for the temperature was only in the low sixties. It was bearable for me, having gone naked for so long, and Robbie, of course, was wearing his stained satin shift as usual. I uttered a few words of encouragement, telling our guest that the interior of the box would soon warm up, and that his own body heat would keep it at a comfortable temperature; I'd tested it myself, I assured him.

  Jason passed him the little plastic gag which Justin put in his mouth. We saw his jaws clench as he bit down on it, settling it firmly over his lower teeth and imprisoning his tongue at the floor of his mouth. Then he extended his hands for the mitts to be slipped over them and locked around his wrists. He stood for a few moments in the box, and Robbie asked him quietly if he intended to go through with it. It was not too late to get dressed and leave, Justin was told. We gazed at him in silence, and I was struck by his modest height and slim build, thinking that at least he'd fit into the box better than I had, with my extra six inches of height. Justin took a last look around him, then fell to all-fours. He'd made his decision, and Robbie and I lost no time in closing the lid and locking it down.

  We stood around the box with a sense of anti-climax. Robbie turned up the sound from the interior to maximum, and we listened to the crackling of straw as the inmate tried to make himself comfortable. We went back to the table, and Jason, with the ease of long acquaintance, poured himself a cup of tea from the fresh pot brought out by Rebecca. He looked at us and chuckled.

    'I wonder what Justin made of you four!' he laughed.

  I could see what he meant. There was Rebecca, our Pocket Venus, bursting out of her tight black leather miniskirt and top, Evadne, very much the 'Grande Dame' in her twin-set and pearls, Robbie, in thick sandals and satin shift exposing his hairy thighs the lacy edge of his panties, and me, stark naked as usual. We all laughed, imagining Justin's thoughts on first meeting us.

    'You must have thought we were a real pack of eccentrics when you first met us, Jason!' Evadne chuckled, and we all agreed amidst laughter.

  Jason seemed in no hurry to leave, and accepted an invitation to lunch. We all knew him well enough by now to suspect he had something on his mind, and I, for one, thought it might be some new refinement for his next stay in the oubliette. But it wasn't, for, out of the blue, he asked us if we'd ever thought of catering for 'pigs.'

    'Pigs!' squealed Rebecca. 'That's gross!'

  We told her to shut up, and Evadne invited Jason to expound.

    'Well,' he began awkwardly. 'It's just that I know some people who're interested in pig-role play, but they need somewhere to do it. They don't mind paying,' he added, and Evadne's eyes gleamed at this statement.

  She asked how many of them there were, and how authentic they wanted the experience to be. Justin said there were four of them, three middle-aged men and a woman, and they wanted to be kept as authentically as possible.

    'They've got strong views about it,' he added. 'And would love to come and see you – if you really think you can cater for them.'

    'Well, we've got a piggery,' Evadne said. 'It will need a bit of work, though.'

  Robbie and I glanced at each other; we both knew who'd be called upon for the work! I winced inwardly, remembering the mess the long-disused piggery was in, with junk piled everywhere, in the sties and down the passageway between them.

    'But there's a snag,' Jason went on. 'It's a question of how do you keep them in. How do you stop them standing up and just climbing out? They don't want any inauthentic restraints on their movements.'

  Tricky, I thought, and from the look on Evadne's face she felt the same. But Robbie had taken on that far-away look with which we were all familiar.

    'I think it could be done with only one minor item of inauthenticity,' he began slowly. 'But I'll need money up front to explore the possibility, and it may not come to anything. I'll need quite a bit of money to buy specialised equipment, some of it not yet publicly available.'

  Jason laughed. 'Expense will be no object,' he said grandly. 'These people are rolling in it! Work out what you think you'll need, and I'll put it to them.'

  Lunch was served and eaten, and Jason left, reminding Robbie to work out the possible expense of his mysterious idea. Rebecca cleared away and washed up, and then went to our shared Study to work at her illustrations in the company of Evadne, who was swearing over some accounts she was preparing for one of her business clients.

  I fetched two bottles of beer and sat smoking a cigar whilst regarding Robbie surreptitiously. He was staring into space, now and taking an absent sip of his beer, an infallible sign he had some scheme in mind. But what could it be, I wondered? Finally he drained his beer and stood up.

    'Got to move that bloody box!' he grunted. 'It's in my way. Come and give me a hand!'

  Robbie had built the box on two lengths of three by two, set the right distance apart for the forks of our pallet truck. I pushed the truck under the box and raised it from the ground. Then, with Robbie pushing from behind, I wheeled the heavy load away from the workshop doorway and left it a corner of the yard, out of the sun. We stood and watched the thermometer wind down from its high of ninety-five to a steady eighty-six degrees, then left it. I  suggested we give the inmate some water, but Robbie said Rebecca had volunteered to look after him.

CHAPTER THREE

  With nothing much to do, I left Robbie to his pondering and went for a long walk over the moor, revelling in the touch of the wind on my bare skin. When I returned, there was no one about, and I made tea and called for them to stop work and join me.

  Afterwards, Evadne and Rebecca left to go shopping, saying they would bring back an Indian meal for us all. Robbie went into the Study and sat staring at his draughting board in between burst of feverish activity. Left to my own devices, I wandered over to look at the old piggery, taking care to put on sandals against the debris on the floor.

  In the nearly two years since we'd come to live here, we'd seldom visited the piggery, built as it was a discreet distance downwind of the house. It had been full of junk then, old farm machinery, piles of empty sacks, lengths of rotting wood, and it was full of junk now. But the roof was sound, and the thick stone walls, and it was quite warm inside. There were eight sties, two rows of four divided by a central corridor, and their thick plank doors seemed sound enough. It would be a hard and dirty job to clear everything out, but, when that was done, it would be suitable for its original purpose. Depending on the time of year, it would need extra heating, I thought, and I made a mental note to remind Evadne of that. She would need a price to put to these would-be pigs to make it habitable for them, and she'd need it in advance.

  Twilight wasn't far away when the girls returned, and I helped take the shopping bags into the house. The Indian meal was put into the oven to heat up, and Rebecca took the opportunity to feed our guest.

  Out in the barn, I watched with interests as she ladled tiny pellets of pig-meal into a blender, finally pouring in two pints of water and churning the contents into a thin, brown, creamy liquid. I hadn't given much thought about how the inmate of the box was to be fed and watered, but I could see now that the thin porridge could be easily sucked through the rubber tube in the box.

  Rebecca took the blending jug and a large funnel outside to where the box stood. Jamming the end of the funnel into the end of the tube, flush with the top, she filled it with the contents of the jug, and I wondered aloud how the inmate would know food and water was available.

    'The other end will start dripping,' said Robbie, who'd joined us unawares. 'It will be quiet as the grave in there; he'll notice straight away.'

  He reached over and turned up the gain on the interior microphone. Sure enough, after an interval we heard the steady drip of water on to straw, and the rustling of straw as the inmate blundered about to investigate.

    'He'll have found the end of the tube already,' Robbie said. 'And would have wondered what it was for. Now it's a question of whether he works it out. But he'll be thirsty by now, and he'll realise water's available from it.'

  A brief interval passed before we heard the noise of sucking and swallowing from within, and the level in the funnel began to drop.

    'That'll do!' Rebecca said, turning away. 'The dinner will be ready by now!'

  Robbie turned down the sound from within the box, and we all trooped back to the kitchen where Evadne was taking our meal from the oven.

  Later that night, after and Rebecca had gone to bed together, I went for my usual pre-bedtime walk. Robbie was still up, burning the midnight oil in our Study, and I took my whisky and my cigar outside to stroll about under the stars.

  It was a clear night, and I walked around relishing the bite of the cold air on my skin until I came to the box, standing where Robbie and I had left it in a corner of the yard.

  I looked at it doubtfully, wondering whether we should have moved it into the barn. Suppose  it rained? But the sky was clear and the weather set fair, although there might be a frost by morning. That worried me, and I hastened to check the read-outs on the lid of the box. I was relieved to find the internal temperature still in the mid-eighties despite there having been a drop of at least twenty degrees outside; maybe Robbie was right, and the inmate's body heat would cope with the increasing cold outside his box. Shivering a little, I went back to the warmth of the kitchen,and then to bed.

  The next morning, I woke early, and my first thought was for our guest. I hurried outside where the sun was already melting the frost on the roofs of the outbuildings and checked the conditions inside the box, turning up the sounds from inside. The temperature had fallen to eighty, but even as I watched it rose a degree under the influence of the rising sun, and the only sounds from within were the steady breathing of the occupant and the slow beating of his heart. Satisfied, I went back to the house and made up the fire in the big stove before preparing our usual fried breakfast.

  Later, Evadne drove off to visit a client, and Rebecca went with her to see an author about the illustrations for his book. About to leave, Rebecca called out to me. Saying she'd forgotten to feed Justin, she asked me to do so.

    'And open his flap for a bit,' she added. 'Give him a bit of fresh air and light.'

  With them gone, and Robbie pottering about in his workshop, I duplicated Rebecca's actions of the night before, mixing two pounds of pig-meal with a quart of water, and blending the whole into a thin porridge before pouring it into the funnel. I lingered by the box, listening to the noisy sucking sounds from within and noted the temperature had risen to ninety degrees. The box was in the direct rays of the sun, and I wondered whether to get Robbie to help me wheel it into the shade. But then I decided there was no need as the area would be out of the sunlight in a short time.

  Inside the kitchen, a bell rang. It was the postman, who left any letters and parcels for us at the bottom of the drive. Feeling I may as well fetch them, I set out down the track, admiring en route the patterns thrown on my skin by the sun shining down through the leaves of the trees as I went.

  The drive was half a mile long, and at the bottom I stopped to peer cautiously at the road beyond. But it was a dead end lane, and few used it, and no one was in sight as I stepped into the open and went to the post box. There were several letters, all for Evadne, and a manuscript for me to proof read, and I took them all back to the house. Passing the box, I remembered Rebecca's instructions about letting the inmate have light and air, and slid open the flap over the grill in the side, wrinkling my nose at the smell which emerged. Well, it would smell in there, I thought, imagining with a shudder of distaste Justin's existence in such close proximity to his wastes. It could only get worse, I told myself, and then I wondered just how long he'd have to stay in there, and whether he'd any idea of how long he'd been confined already.

  I hung about for ten minutes or so, sunning myself, and wondering what, if anything, Justin could see if he was indeed looking out through the grill. Then, feeling he'd had light and air enough, I slid the flap closed and went indoors with the post.

  At eleven o'clock. I put down my pencil and left the Study. In the kitchen, I made a pot of tea and took it outside. Then I called Robbie over for a break. We'd been sitting there for five minutes when the bell rang, followed by the sound of a car engine. Someone was coming, but Robbie and I held our ground. If people came on to private property, they must expect to find us as we were! But it was only Norman, nerdiest of nerds, and a great friend of Robbie's.

  Norman, who knew us both well, didn't turn a hair at our unconventional attire – or lack of any attire at all, in my case. He sat at the table and accepted a cup of tea. After a few minutes, both Norman and Robbie disappeared into the latter's workshop. I cleared away, washed up, and went back to work.

  At lunchtime, Norman was still there, arguing with Robbie in his workshop. Sighing, I made a huge plateful of roast beef sandwiches and a pot of tea, and we ate sitting outside.

  I worked steadily till four, and came outside to find Norman had gone. Robbie seemed happy with their meeting – undoubtedly to pick Norman's brains with regard to our prospective piggy guests – and after tea he went into the Study to work on prices for the mysterious project he had in mind. As for me, I went for a stroll on the moor, arriving back at the house in time to greet Evadne and Rebecca returning from their appointments, bringing with them fish and chips for dinner.

  The evening was warmer than last, and the sky had clouded over. Rain was forecast, and I tried to persuade Robbie to help me drag the box under cover. But he said there was no need for that, that the wood was waterproof, and that Justin wouldn't even know it was raining outside, if it did rain. Rebecca came out, and together we fed and watered our guest. Judging by the noise he made sucking on the hose, he must have been hungry, and the level in the funnel diminished with startling rapidity. We left him to it and went back inside to watch television in Evadne's company, Robbie still being at work in the Study.

  Later, I was hoping to be invited to share Evadne's bed, and so, I expect, was Robbie, but in the end both she and Rebecca went to their separate rooms to sleep. Unable to entice Robbie from the Study with the offer of a dram, I took my own drink, along with a cigar, outside for my usual stroll. It was decidedly warmer than last night, with the temperature in the high fifties, and it was drizzling. But I was used to it; I enjoyed walking naked in the rain, and managed all right so long as I was out of the wind when I stopped. Sipping my whisky, I went over to the box and checked the temperature inside. It stood in the high eighties, plenty warm enough, and, on a sudden impulse, I slid back the cover of the grill to be greeted by a worse smell than before.

  I leaned on the box, smoking my cigar and listening to the movements from inside where Jason was probably shuffling about in an attempt to peer out. To him, it would be dazzlingly bright outside despite the rather dim floodlighting, and I realised that he could now hear sounds from the outside world; muffled and faint, they would still be a pleasant change from the deathly silence of the box. Leaning on the box, I experienced a heady sensation of power, knowing that, with a mere movement of my hand, I could shut our captive off from light and sound at my whim. It was an unworthy feeling, I thought with dismay, and it was with a certain reluctance that I drained my glass and closed the shutter before hurrying back into the kitchen.

CHAPTER FOUR

  It was only on the next morning that I learnt how long Justin would be with us. I'd never bothered to ask before, but now Evadne told me he was to be released on Friday morning. Today was Wednesday, so he had a little more than forty-eight of confinement still to endure. I'd no idea how she'd decided on this beyond knowing it depended on the toss of a coin or the rolling of dice, and she told me that, in theory, he could have been released on Tuesday morning at the earliest, or today, or tomorrow, but the dice or the coin had decided otherwise. I shrugged. It would be interesting to learn from Justin, when he was released, just how long he thought he'd been confined in his box. Anyway, Jason would be coming to collect Justin, suitably cleaned up, on Friday morning, and Evadne hoped to have some figures available for him to present to his piggy friends. As for me, if I had nothing to do, I may as well begin to clear out the piggery just in case!

  Marvelling at the ease and the relish with which women find work for men to do, I declined, saying I had my proof reading job to finish – which was true, but I'd break the back of it today and be able to post it off on Thursday afternoon. Anyway, Robbie hadn't yet estimated the amount of money he'd need for his experiments in keeping our would-be pigs on all-fours, and he didn't even know if his ideas, whatever they were, would work. Maybe it would turn out to be impossible!

  I worked steadily all day, and by tea time had almost finished. Tomorrow morning, I'd check my work, and it would be ready to be taken to the post in the afternoon; Rebecca would almost certainly be going down to the village then, as she did most afternoons. Meanwhile, she was rather neglecting her charge, I thought, meanly allowing him only the occasional five minutes of light, air and sound, and I took it upon myself to slide back the shutter over the grill for ten minutes whenever I remembered. But, like Jason when he'd been in the oubliette, it was easy to forget our guest's existence altogether. At least she continued to feed and water him, although at varying times in the morning and evening as she remembered.

  On Friday morning, Jason turned up bright and early as we finished breakfast. It was warm and sunny, and we'd eaten outside, and he accepted a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea before getting down to business. I helped Rebecca clear away and wash up, then joined the other three outside, Rebecca displaying no interest in the proceedings and preferring to work at her illustrating. Robbie had produced his figures and was explaining them, and I sat down in time to hear him say that a thousand pounds would cover the task of building a prototype and seeing if it could be scaled up.

  Robbie was apologetic, but Jason merely laughed out loud.

    'A thousand?' he said. Delving into his pocket, he brought out a cheque book. 'A bargain,' he announced. 'I'll pay it now, and recover the money. They were all expecting much more than that!'

  Evadne and I exchanged glances. We knew Jason was wealthy, and it seemed his piggy friends were as much so, if not more. As for Robbie, he was astonished at this light-hearted approach to money, and he cautioned Jason not to be too enthusiastic when he spoke to our would-be pigs: his approach to their problem may not work after all.

  Jason brushed this aside airily.

    'If anyone can do it, you can, Robbie,' he told him. 'And what's a thousand?'

  Evadne's eyes gleamed at this evidence of wealth, then Jason expressed a desire to see the piggery.

    'Just to tell them what it's like,' he explained.

  We all trooped off across the yard, passing close by Justin's box. Jason stopped and looked at it.

    'Of course, he doesn't know I'm here and that he'll be released shortly, does he?' he remarked as if the thought had just occurred to him

    'No,' I replied. 'His flap hasn't been opened today, and he's no way of knowing whether it's night or day outside the box. Like you were in the oubliette,' I added

   Jason grimaced, and remarked soberly that he'd rather spend three weeks in the oubliette than four days in the cramped box, and we went on.

  The piggery was inspected, as much as was possible without clearing away all the debris, and Jason announced his satisfaction. Evadne asked if his friends would consider staying without the benefit of Robbie's mysterious, and yet to be proven, gadget. Jason looked doubtful, saying such an outcome would be very much second best for them. They had an elaborate scenario worked out, he explained, and they very much wanted to act it out in reality, expense no object. They were, he went on, really, really serious about authenticity.

  Back at the table, Jason drained his tea and looked at his watch.

    'Eleven!' he said laconically. 'Can we have Justin out now?'

  Evadne rose.

    'I'll make myself scarce till he's cleaned himself up,' she announced. 'According to Rebecca, he'll be absolutely filthy!'

  We three men approached the box.

    'Should we give him any warning?' I asked.

  Robbie shook his head.

    'No, we'll just lift the lid. He'll heard the latches click open,' he said, motioning me to take up position at the other end of the lid. Jason stood well back as Robbie and I took deep breaths. Robbie clicked open the catches, and we raised the lid in one movement.

  Before I could turn my head away to avoid the foul stench from the interior of the box, I glimpsed the occupant. He was lying on his side, the fright in his eyes evident as he screwed them up against the dazzling flood of light. We watched him, willing him to rise, but he merely lay there, staring upwards as if paralysed. Finally, he came to his knees and then stood swaying, his body visible above the waist over the top edges of the box.

  Justin was, as Rebecca had predicted, absolutely filthy, his body covered with an evil-smelling brown slime to which stuck bits of dirty straw. He shifted his position, and his feet squelched in the sodden morass of urine-soaked straw and semi-liquid excrement he stood in. For several moments, he stood gazing about him, his strength increasing, and then he climbed falteringly over the edge of his box to stand on the bare concrete soil floor of the barn.

    'Walk up and down for a bit,' Robbie advised him gruffly. 'Dry off in the sun, and most of the dirt will flake off.'

    'Yes, go on, old chap,' Jason said gently, and we watched as Justin shambled unsteadily out into the sunlight denied him for the past four days. Robbie, rubber gloves on his hands, went to him and removed his mitts. Sodden with filth on the outside, they were still quite dry inside, and Justin's hands were fish-belly white compared with his body. Justin continued to walk about, faster and more confidently, brushing flakes of dirt and bits of straw from his skin.

    'Shower!' Robbie called out, pointing to the open door of our outside shower. Justin went inside, and seconds later was feverishly rubbing liquid soap over himself as steaming water sluiced down on him, a dark brown at first, then clearing gradually.

    'Food on the table!' I shouted over the hiss of falling water, and the three of us went over there and sat down to wait.

  Justin continued to wash himself down, and ten minutes passed before he emerged from a cloud of steam. He was still naked, of course, although he'd found and put on the sandals we'd left out for him. Without bothering to use the towels put ready for him, he began to walk briskly about in the warm sunlight, his now clean, pink, body gleaming with water until the sun dried him off. Finally, he came shyly to join us, and Robbie bustled off into the kitchen to return with a huge fried breakfast for our guest. Justin demolished it in record time before leaning back in his chair and speaking for the first time.

    'Wow! Justin said. 'How long was I in there for? What day is it?'

  Jason, perhaps recalling his own release from the oubliette after three weeks or so, laughed.

    'How long do you think you were in there? What day do you think it is?' he asked Justin.

  Justin's brows corrugated, and he was silent for a minute or so before he replied.

    'A week? Ten days? I think it's either Monday or the Thursday afterwards. I tried to count the days by my meals, but I lost track very early,' he admitted. 'Besides, I wasn't sure if I was being fed once a day, twice a day, or even three times in every twenty-four hours.'

    'It's Friday morning, four days after you were shut up in the box,' Jason said quietly.

  Justin looked at us in disbelief, but our solemn faces confirmed the truth of his friend's reply.

    'Wow!' Justin exclaimed feebly, and subsided in his chair.

  Presently, Jason looked at his watch again.

    'Time to go, Justin,' he said. 'I'll fetch the car.'

  We watched Jason go into the barn and drive out from the shade into the sunlight, the top down on his little two-seater.

    'Come on, Justin,' he called to his friend, and the latter stood up and stretched.

    'Goodbye,' he said to us, and walked away.

    'Aren't you forgetting something?' Jason shouted, convulsed with laughter.

    'What?...Oh!' Justin said in consternation, realising he was still naked.

  Grinning, I hurried to the workshop and brought him the bag containing his clothes.

    'It's easy to forget you're not wearing any clothes!' I told him with a smile.

    Seconds later they were gone, and Robbie and I wheeled the empty box into a corner of the barn. There we left it, with its lid up and its grill open. It would dry out in time, and be ready for its next occupant, probably Justin once he'd recovered from his ordeal and the urge crept up on him again, as it surely would.