Warning: this story contains a lot of cruelty, sadism, a tremendously homophobic dystopian society and other content that may disturb the reader. If you are very sensitive, it is better not to read it.
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The next morning Joe explained to me over breakfast:
-As I told you you are going to work in the supermarket in the housing estate. The manager has been a good friend of mine for years and I had warned him that I was looking for a job for you. On Saturday night he wrote to me and told me that a position as a stock boy in the supermarket had just become vacant. Until now it was occupied by a slave, who apparently made his master angry and the master beat him so badly that he was completely crippled. He has been taken to the hospital and will most likely be put down.
That was indeed the case. When a slave was no longer useful because of old age or illness, he was put to death unceremoniously, as horses were in the old days when they broke a leg. The State did not want burdens. I shuddered to hear it, and Joe noticed it:
- I'm not telling you this for the sake of it, but so that you may see and appreciate how lucky you are to have a fair and protective master.
"Yes, how lucky I am with you!", I thought, remembering the previous evening. Joe continued:
-During the day yesterday I settled with the director all the paperwork by email. You are going to work part-time, until 3 o'clock, strictly the time I spend in the office. I want you available to me whenever I am at home -Joe would only go to the office in the mornings, have lunch there and then go home and work from there, if necessary, in the afternoon-. They will pay you minimum wage, plus some bonuses. Well, that's a figure of speech -he corrected himself-, your paycheck will go directly to my account, of course -he finished his breakfast and got up. When he stood up he noticed me and put a finger on my face, swollen and reddened still from his slaps the day before: -the truth is that I would have liked you to be more presentable but, well, nobody cares anything about the appearance of a slave. So, let's go! Cover up and go to the car. You could very well walk, it's only 15 minutes from here, but you know that's not allowed, so I'll take you in the car and pick you up every day.
I put on my loincloth and left the house, followed by Joe. When we got to the car I opened the back door to get in, but then Joe stopped me with a gesture and said:
-The car seats are only for people. Things go somewhere else, don't they?
Understanding, I closed the door with a gesture of annoyance that I could not disguise and headed towards the back. Then I felt a strong shock from the collar, which made me fall to my knees on the hard asphalt of the entrance.
-Slave, mind your manners with your master and watch the faces you make at me. Your attitude is starting to exasperate me and if you continue like this I will stop being so tolerant with you -Joe told me harshly.
"Tolerant with me?", I thought. I was sure, in fact, that instead of using the collar he would have willingly slapped my face, if it hadn't been because he didn't want to destroy my poor face any more. When I was able to get up -Joe, this time, did not lift a finger to help me-, I opened the trunk and lay down inside. Joe closed it and left me in the dark, immersed in my thoughts. Sometimes I didn't know what made me more indignant, the humiliations and beatings or Joe's constant refrain of telling me how good he was to me and how grateful I should be to him.
Joe's car was big and so was his trunk, so I was not overly uncomfortable. However, I began to feel quite claustrophobic lying there and cowering in the dark as I felt the car move. Fortunately, the ride was very short. The distance was minimal and, as Joe had said, I could have walked perfectly well, but, indeed, slaves were not allowed to walk alone outside without someone to watch them. There had been cases of slaves who had escaped under those circumstances, as their collars had a security flaw. There had also been kidnappings and even lynchings of slaves walking alone. And that, although no one was charged with any crime for it, could result in uncomfortable videos posted on social networks, which annoyed the government, not very interested in atrocities like that transcending to other countries.
The light dazzled me when Joe opened the trunk. Again he didn't lift a finger to help me and I had to manage to get out on my own. We were in the supermarket parking lot. It was still deserted at that hour. Joe spoke to me:
-I have overridden the program in your collar that prevented you from speaking. I don't want to deprive you of the use of speech in your work. It may be necessary. However, I hope you will remember that a slave never speaks unless he is asked and always does so with the utmost respect for his superiors. And for you, don't forget, any free man is a superior and you will always carry out any order he gives you, whatever it may be.
-Yes, Sir -I managed to articulate, finding my voice again. Joe continued:
-I still expect you to behave yourself and your work here to be impeccable. If not, the manager can punish you, I'm going to hand over the control of your collar to him. But woe betide you if, in spite of that, I receive any complaints about your behavior or your performance! If you make me look bad, I assure you that what happened yesterday will seem like caresses compared to what you will suffer at my hands!
That's what my life was like now. A succession of humiliations and frightening threats from someone I thought was a friend. I looked down, dejected. Joe then seemed to take pity a little and putting a finger under my chin made me look him in the eyes and said smiling and in a warmer tone:
-I trust you. I know you will do well.
-So I will, Sir -I stammered. And without further ado we headed for the supermarket door. They had just opened and there were still no customers. Joe came in and told me to wait at the door. Immediately a man, I assumed the manager, walked towards him. He was a guy a little younger than me, about 27 years old with pleasant features. He was talking for a couple of minutes with Joe, who handed him the electronic control of the collar and then motioned me to come closer.
-This is Roger and as of this moment you are under his command. He has my authorization to punish you if necessary, but I hope for your sake that he doesn't have to do it. -He asked impatiently when he saw that I didn't move: -How does a slave greet his superior?
I immediately reacted, prostrated myself and kissed the boy's shoes. I noticed that he stirred, a little uncomfortable, while Joe's face expressed his satisfaction for my good training. Then he said goodbye to the handler and went out, saying he would come back for me at 3 o'clock. As soon as we were alone Roger made me stand up and staring at the bruises on my face, he said to me apologetically:
-Wow, they don't seem to treat you very well, do they? -I shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't going to go around talking about my misfortunes with a stranger, besides I didn't know what his reaction would be if I made any criticism of my master. Roger continued: -Come on! I'm going to show you how your work will be.
-Yes, Sir -I said as I prepared to follow him. He then turned and said: -When there are no customers around you can just call me Roger. I am not your master or anyone else's master.
I immediately realized that Roger's attitude was completely different from what I had encountered so far in my few interactions with other people since my enslavement. Although he did not express it out loud, it was evident that he was completely against all that and, for the first time in several days, I felt again treated as a human being, as he explained to me what my work there was going to consist of. Not much explanation was necessary. Apart from not being a complicated job, I had already been a stocker several times in my work history and I knew the job perfectly well. When Roger considered that he had given me enough explanations, he called the people who were going to be my colleagues to introduce them to me. They met with us. They were two boys in uniform and a slave, like me, completely bald and dressed only in a loincloth.
-These are Ted and Robert -Roger introduced me to the two boys in uniform -and this is David -he said, pointing to the slave. David greeted me with a smile, but I immediately saw that the attitude of Ted and Robert was totally different from that of their boss. They looked at me with contempt and Ted said sourly:
-Didn't they point out to you how to greet your superiors, slave?
I immediately got down on the floor and kissed his and his partner's shoes. I didn't want for anything in the world to create the slightest problem. Ted looked down at me with a satisfied smile. Roger then cut the scene short:
-Well, that's enough, everybody back to work. And, Brandon -he addressed me again when I stood up-, you will only obey orders that come from me directly, okay? -And he looked at my two companions in a silent warning. They made a gesture of annoyance and we all went off to our work. There were also two girls working as cashiers at the supermarket, but I barely got to know them while I worked there. In fact, I wasn't even introduced to them. Society had become so prudish that there was an attempt to separate women and men into different spaces at work, and my interaction with the cashiers was practically non-existent at that time.
I realized that I had not been wrong in judging Roger, because of his actions in an incident I had that very morning. I was placing some products on the supermarket shelves when a customer called out to me. He was a man of about 45, tall and stocky, and he was accompanied by another of similar age and build. When I reached his height, he said to me:
-Slave, I think these juices are not very well placed, don't you? -And, taking a brick of juice, he threw it on the floor and crushed it with his boot, causing all the juice to spill out. My heart started pounding. They wanted nothing more than to make trouble for me.
-Well, look -said his companion, feigning surprise-. It's stained your boots-, and turning to me, he said: -What are you going to do now, slave? We'll have to clean that up, won't we?