“Hey sleepyhead, wake up!”
Eleanor’s eyes popped open and she immediately sat up.
“What…” Eleanor looked around and saw that she was in a car. “Where am I?”
“We…” Brian put an emphasis on the word, “are almost
there.”
Eleanor was surprised at that and looked around. All she saw
were trees and noticed that she was still in her car with her husband.
“Are you okay?” Brian asked.
“Yeah yeah” Eleanor said as she rubbed her head with her
hand. “A bad dream, that’s all. Where are we anyway?” she asked. “I thought the
retreat was near some town.”
“Water Springs.” Brian saw the look on his wife’s face and
continued. “That’s the name of the town. The retreat is about 20 miles from the
town and according to the GPS, we’re almost there.”
Eleanor bit down a retort about the reliability of the GPS
system and tried to concentrate on just enjoying the view. The forest they were
passing by was picture perfect and Eleanor had to admit the location was
perfect for a country retreat.
5mins later, a side road that came into view with a big sign
for the “Immersion Retreat”. Brian took the road and after a short bumpy ride,
they came up to a mansion. Eleanor was unprepared for what she saw.
At the end of a driveway was the biggest mansion she had
ever seen. It was gigantic with several smaller cottages surrounding it.
As Brian pulled the car into a parking spot, she broke.
“Wow! Truly WOW!” she said. “You knew about this?”
“Hell no!” Brian sounded as surprised as she was. The couple
got out of their car and took a good look around. The scenery was
awe-inspiring. The mansion dominated the surroundings but everywhere they look,
the couple could just smell the serious money it took to get everything looking
the way it did. “I knew Sun Horizon was big but this is serious with a capital
S!”
Eleanor was about to agree with her husband when she saw a
Nissan drove up the driveway. The vehicle parked beside them and a couple got
out of the car.
“Brandon ”
her husband murmured quietly. Eleanor looked at her husband wondering what
happened. He did not look happy to see the man.
However Brian went forward with a smile and shook the hand
of the other man. The 2 men exchanged greetings before Brian introduce her to
his colleague, Brandon as well as Brandon ’s
wife, Sandra. A sense of déjà vu struck her. She was sure she had never met the
couple before but can’t help the feeling that she had.
The 2 couples engaged in some small talk and were about to
proceed to the mansion when another vehicle came up the road. This time, it was
a shiny BMW. The BMW parked near their vehicles and a Middle Eastern man
stepped out of the car. One look at Brian and Brandon and Eleanor immediately
knew that this was someone important.
Both men went forward and shook the man’s hand. Eleanor and
Sandra both stood a step behind their husbands and discovered that this was
Rahim bin Ismail, one of the heads in the Human Resource Department at Sun Horizon. Eleanor and
Sandra looked at each other and both silently agreed that this was a
development they did not like. Eleanor had heard that Rahim was the man mainly
responsible for the misogynistic rules at Sun Horizon. The 3 men shared a laugh
before Rahim walked back to his car.
Eleanor took the chance to come up to the men. “What
happened?” she asked.
“Don’t know.” Brandon
said. “We were joking that we were supposed to bring our wives here but he
didn’t and he then just laughed.”
“Said something about forgetting something,” Brian said with
a shrug.
“He’s opening the trunk.” Sandra said.
Eleanor looked at Rahim who was now opening the trunk of his
BMW. He then stepped back and…a woman in a dark brown burqa climbed out of the
truck. Jaws dropped as Rahim closed the trunk and he started to walk towards
the group with the woman in the burqa walking behind him. The group had barely
recovered when Rahim introduced the woman as his wife Safiyah.
Rahim turned towards his wife and said, “Wife, these are 2
of my colleagues. This is Brian and this is Brandon .”
The 2 men were about to greet Safiyah when she stepped
forward to them. Standing before Brian, Safiyah fell to her knees and then
bowed her head at Brian’s feet. Safiyah turned her head, rubbing her head on
Brian’s shoes. Brian immediately looked at Rahim and laughed nervously.
Rahim laughed along with Brian and said, “Just say “Enough”
when you have enough and she would stop.”
The play on words caused Brandon to join in the laughter.
“Enough”
At Brian’s command, Safiyah stood up and walked with her
head bowed towards Brandon .
Standing before Brandon , Safiyah again fell to
her knees, bowed and then rubbed her head on Brandon ’s shoes. The 3 men laughed again with
both Brian and Brandon shaking their heads in disbelief.
“Enough”
At Brandon ’s
command, Safiyah immediately stood up and walked back to her husband. She took
a position 3 step behind Rahim. Standing there with her head bowed, she looked
like the perfect submissive wife. Rahim looked at the other 2 men and asked
them a loaded question, “Guys, aren’t you going to introduced me to your
wives?”
The 2 men knew enough to be worried. Their nervous laughs
died before they slowly introduced their wives to Rahim. Neither of the women
was going to kneel and bow but Eleanor bow her head low, hoping it was enough
to satisfy the man. When she looked up and saw Rahim’s face, she knew that it
wasn’t.
Rahim abruptly turned and started walking to the mansion,
feeling insulted in some fashion. His wife however stood still, clearly waiting
for Brian and Brandon to start walking first. Left with little choice, the 2
men raced to catch up to Rahim while the 3 women fell behind the men like good
little submissive wives.
When they were far enough away from the men, Sandra
whispered, “What was that? Don’t tell me that’s how you greet all strange
men you see on the street?”
Safiyah ignored the biting comment meant for her and
continued walking. Sandra was about to say something else when Eleanor pulled
hard on her arm. She gave Sandra a hard look. The last thing she wanted was to
let this woman get her into trouble.
The six of them proceeded into the mansion where they were
greeted by a woman wearing a niqab. Eleanor stared at the woman and another
wave of sense of déjà vu hit her. Brian had told her before that Sun Horizon
had imposed a dress code on all the women working in the company and most of
them were now wearing the niqab while at work but she was sure she had never
seen a woman in a niqab before. Looking at the receptionist however, she can’t
help but felt that she had.
Rahim was taking the lead and he spoke to the woman in some
foreign language. The receptionist nodded her head and then handed a paper bag
to both Brandon
and Brain. The 2 men looked at Rahim in surprise and then started to read a
piece of paper that came inside the bag. Whatever was written there, the 2 men
were not happy.
After a short while, Brian and Brandon walked toward their
wives looking like they were going to their death.
The combative Sandra was the first to ask. “What?”
“Uh...I think we are in trouble here.” Brain pointed at both
him and Brandon. “It looks like this is supposed to be a working retreat.”
“What working retreat?” Sandra asked again.
Brian took out a garment from the bag and Eleanor saw that
it was a bright red burqa! At the sight of the burqa, Eleanor felt a sense of
excitement coursing through her. It wasn’t disgust but true excitement. Eleanor
really wanted to try it on.
“No fucking way!” Sandra shouted. “Forget it, Brandon . We are leaving.”
“What happen if we leave?” Eleanor asked. Sandra looked at
her in shock. Although they had just met, Eleanor could guess what was going on
in her head. Sandra may looked like she was shocked Eleanor was even
considering this but inside, but she was certain Sandra wanted to try the burqa
as well.
A pained Brian answered his wife. “Nothing. We can just walk
out but…”
“You can kiss your chance of the promotion good-bye.”
Eleanor finished for him.
Brian nodded and Eleanor knew she could only give one answer
to her husband.
“Okay then. Give it to me and I’ll put it on.”
“Eleanor…you can’t be serious?”
Sandra was shouting again and the woman was beginning to get
on her nerves. Eleanor turned towards Sandra and patiently said, “Look Sandra,
we just met so I don’t know you but if this is too much for you, the door is
right over there.”
Eleanor pointed at the door of the mansion for emphasis and
it was enough for Brandon
. Brandon
offered his hand to Brian which Brian accepted.
“Good luck man. See you back at the office.”
“Wait a minute,” Sandra looked at her husband in surprise.
“What are you doing?”
“Wait!” Sandra said immediately and Eleanor was sure now the
other woman also had the same feelings as her. She was just too proud to accept
them. Sandra shook her head and said. “You’re right. Let’s get out of here!”
Darkness fell on Eleanor.
PROGRAM RESET! PLEASE WAIT…INCREASE CREED GAS PURITY! PLEASE
WAIT…CREED GAS PURITY INCREASED TO 60%! PROGRAM RESETED! RESTART
PROGRAM…INITIALIZING…
