Lucky's New Owner
The world had changed for the better once the men were taken out of power. Or at least that's what the history books said. Hundreds of years ago men were downgraded from members of equality to something more akin to pets for the women who had taken over power. Men still had jobs for sure, but those jobs were delegated by the women in power and choice was not a luxury handed to men anymore.
The naming system had altered throughout the years as well. The governments of the world originally had a number system for each man and that's what they had to go by, but there were too many soft hearted owners who wanted to give their pets personal names. Eventually the leaders caved on the subject and the men were named by each owner on adoption day.
The man standing against the wall alongside the other men inside the adoption center still remembered his first adoption day. He had just turned twenty when the center decided to show him off to the shoppers. A group of women, looking to expand their pets came into the room to pick the best pet for their purposes. He had been picked by a woman who had already owned twelve of her own. He was her thirteenth and so she decided to call him lucky, as a play on the old belief that thirteen was an unlucky number.
She was a cruel owner and when she lost all of her money in the market, Lucky was one of the first to be sold off for cheap.
So here he was again. Standing against the wall and awaiting his new owner. Maybe he would be able to keep his name. The adoption center seemed fond of it, for they normally make a habit of changing names as soon as they received used goods and yet they decided against it for him.
His thoughts left his brain as the door opened and fifteen or so women stepped inside to view the men for sale. All of the women walked by each man, pinching, poking and squeezing various body parts as they inspected the properties.
Lucky was an impressive specimen due to his stacked muscles from working labor his last ten years of life. Many women stopped at him and read through his profile card, which hung from a chain around his neck.
One woman approached, studying him. Her long black hair pulled back into a ponytail and her angular facial features always seeming to be in a pout. She looked directly into his eyes, which caused him to look away. Many women seen it is as a challenge if you looked them in the eyes, so men were discouraged from allowing such a thing to happen.
He felt her hand pinch under his chin and lift his head up to look her in the eyes. He met her ice blue eyes and a small smile stretched across her face.
"I'll take this one," she said, not moving her eyes from his. "You're name is Lucky?"
"If that suits you," he stated quickly.
"Lucky it is," she said before stepping away and stepping into the room in the back with his profile card in her hand.
Moments went by before the woman finally stepped back and gestured for him to walk up to her, which he did. She reached up and placed a black collar around his neck that contained an ownership chip inside.
"Let's go Lucky," she said before turning from him and walking out the door of the adoption center.
As hard as he tried, he couldn't figure out what he was in for this time. He was never very good at reading people. He didn't know if his new owner was going to be ruthless with her tactics or if she might be a nicer owner like the ones he had heard about from other men while working labor.
He had heard tales of women treating their men nicely and even asking for opinions of different matters.
The woman stepped in the back of a black car and scooted over to the other side, where she patted the seat next to her.
"Come on in Lucky," she said with a soft and yet pleasing voice.
"Yes master," he stated as he hopped into the car and set still and upright, trying not to displease her.
"Cheryl," she said with a chuckle. "Call me Cheryl and close the door."
Lucky was shocked for a moment. He never thought he'd be able to call a woman by her name without fear of punishment before. He must have taken too long in shock because Cheryl leaned over him, grabbed his door and pulled it shut.
"I'm sorry," he said, feeling ashamed that he was already giving a terrible first impression.
"There's nothing to be sorry for," she said with a small laugh. "You must have come from a pretty harsh home."
He could see her staring at him from the side of his eyes for a moment, probably waiting for a response, but he didn't know what she wanted to hear. Women never allowed men to speak in negative light on another woman, even if they disliked the other woman themselves and yet lying was a terribly punishable sin as well.
"You are my first," she said with a sigh, "I've never felt the need for a man. Never really had time for one, with my career and everything."
Lucky slowly turned to see that the woman had tapped the button on her phone for the car to drive them to her house.
"I'm not sure what I even want with a man, but I figured it was time," she said as she turned to look him in the eyes. Lucky began to quickly turn his head from her out of fear of making eye contact, when her hand guided his head back. "I don't want you afraid of me."
He held his gaze on her for a moment until instinct caused him to look away slowly.
"What was your job with your last owner," she asked with a tone that suggested she was giving up on the eye contact for now.
"Mainly labor," he stated as he glanced out the window to see that he was heading further into the city than he had ever been before. "I was charged with building houses for new neighborhoods."
"And your owner collected all of the money from the labor that you performed," the woman said with what sounded like disgust in her voice, causing Lucky to look over to her in curiosity.
"I never thought about it," he stated. "I only do what I'm told to do."
