I want to give a nod towards Carl-Bradford, Gentlemanmariner, Joe Doe and others who have written about a society where slavery, especially as a judicial punishment, is legal. This is my take. I have altered some aspects of that world to fit my own preferences. All characters are over the age of eighteen.
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Rhonda felt herself being shaken awake. She was having a very pleasant dream. From her life before. In her dream, she was hosting a dinner party. Of course she had the dinner party catered so she was not stressed with all the dinner preparations. Her friends were all having a lovely time.
Suddenly, she was fully awake and reality had returned along with a sense of urgency.. "Oh shit Derek. Did I oversleep? I never heard my alarm!" she immediately began to explain. "I'm sure I set it right. I double and triple checked it. I set it for every morning..."
"Hush!" Derek ordered. "I got you up a little early this morning. Get up, get dressed. Jeans and whatever top you want." Derek replied evenly. She could see he was already fully dressed. "Brush your teeth and come into the kitchen. I'm going to get a cup of of coffee. Don't be long." he said as he left.
Rhonda slid out of bed quickly. As much as she wanted to ask what was going on, she kept her mouth shut. Derek had told her what to do and then walked away. She knew that meant he was done talking. She knew better than to question him or ask for an explanation. The last time she questioned him he had replied, "Later." She had not liked that answer and in her mind had been very polite when she said, "But Sir, I would like to know." He had immediately stripped her pants down and holding her by the scruff of the neck, blistered her butt with a small acrylic rod until he felt she learned her lesson. She was bawling and apologizing long before he was finished. He had several of those rods laying around the house for easy access.
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Derek had not always given her orders or spanked her if she gave him the slightest excuse to do so. Six months ago, she was the one doing the ordering. Not that she spanked him whenever he was the least bit slow following her direction or made a mistake, of course. She had merely been his supervisor at work.
They used to get along well, in fact. While not close friends they knew much about each other's private lives. Rhonda knew Derek's only son had died in a plane crash two years before, without leaving any grandkids behind. Derek's wife had left him years before that and was now remarried and living somewhere on the east coast. Derek had no close family left. And he had been separated from anybody else in his family for many years. He was an island.
On the other hand, Rhonda had family in spades. She was married with a daughter, Caroline and a stepson Rob who she had raised since her was a little tyke. Her brother and two sisters lived within a fifty mile radius with their children. Not to mention all the cousins.
Her husband Chad and his brother fought hard to keep up with the success of those other cousins. Chad's brother had done well in the used car lot business and was now wealthy. He had morphed his business a bit and taken over a full automotive dealership. Of the three remaining first cousins in the group, one was a lawyer, one an accountant and one a stock broker. All lived in nice homes, drove nice cars and apparently had money to burn.
Of the five cousins, Chad brought up the rear by far if you use money as your measure of success. Which he did. He tried to follow his brother's footsteps and set up a used car lot. He was mildly successful for a while. His problem was he tried to make his money too quick. He bought cheaper and more unreliable cars and then not only sold them to people who had were financially unstable themselves, he financed the cars at a high percentage rate for the extra profit. If a car broke down, usually his customer could not afford to get it fixed. and the car was often abandoned on the side of the road. Or, when the buyer fell behind with their payments Chad would repossess the car and sell it again. Chad thought it a great business plan. He got to resell at least a quarter of the cars he sold. His profits soared for a while. Chad's business ethics left a lot to be desired. His philosophy in business was simple- anything is fair and let the best man win.
The only thing that kept Chad afloat for as long as he managed was because he lucked into finding just enough decent quality cars to sell to keep his business open. That and Rhonda working as a nurse at the local hospital. She was not only a nurse but a highly skilled one at that. Over the years, Rhonda did well and Chad got by. Of course their lifestyle did not reflect their modest family income. They were not just trying to keep up with the proverbial Jones's. They were trying to save face with the cousins and live in a similar fashion. This meant over-extending themselves at every turn.
Unlike his brother, who Chad did not confide in often enough, Chad never really thought details were important. He'd make a plan and set it into motion without considering potential problems. He had always hated school. Even reading was not something he thought was worth his time. As a result, when he saw his brother writing off things like cell phone, home office, travel, going out to eat and a whole slew of other expenses, he did not bother to research the laws. Chad decided he would write off his family's expenses as part of his business.
Unfortunately, the IRS did not agree his expenses were legitimate. He wound up owing the government a butt load of money. On top of this he hit a few snags with his own health. Deductibles and co-pays began to bury him and Rhonda. He managed the family money and by the time Rhonda caught on to their problem, the wolves were at the door.