A Better Wife (Part 3)

“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?”

Brandon gave his wife a weak smile and said, “Let’s go dear.”

“Wait!” Sandra said immediately and Eleanor was sure now the other woman also had the same feeling as her. She was just too proud to accept them…or at least that’s what Eleanor thought.

 

Sandra shook her head in surprise. “I can’t believe this. Give it to me!”

“What?” Brandon’s eyes widen in shock.

“The burqa!” Sandra said. “Come on, before I changed my mind.”

 

With some surprise, the 2 men handed over the burqas to their wives. Eleanor had seen enough news to know how the burqa was supposed to be wore and found to her surprise that it was the easiest thing to wear. Once she got the skullcap in place on her head, she just had to let the burqa roll down loose over her body.

 

Even more surprisingly was how comfortable she felt in it. All the horror stories she read and seen on the news didn’t tell her of the immediate sense of security she felt behind her burqa. Amazingly, Eleanor felt a feeling of love for the burqa and didn’t think she would ever want to take it off. It was a thing that protected her from the outside world and it was hers. Looking at Brian’s face, she could see that it was just as exciting for her husband.

 

With the mesh of the burqa impairing her sight, Eleanor found that she had to turn her whole body towards Sandra to get a good look at the other women. She was just standing quietly in her sky-blue burqa. Instinctively, Eleanor knew the other woman loved it as well.

 

Her feelings didn’t changed even when she was told that by Brian that the men had a meeting and the wives were to wait at a lounge room on the ground floor. Eleanor just submissively nodded her head and saw that Sandra was doing the same.

 

As the men went up to the first floor for their meeting, Eleanor, Sandra and Safiyah were directed by the receptionist to the lounge room. As the men left, Eleanor heard Rahim congratulating the other 2 men on passing their first test at the retreat. Eleanor felt her knees going weak at the praise. She had done something that helped her husband. She felt immerse pride in it, though also a little guilty. This was not what the suffragettes fought for.

 

The receptionist opened the door and the 3 women entered the lounge room. A strange sight greeted them. 7 women in burqas of various colors were already in the room and each of them was standing in a line, shoulder to shoulder, facing the wall. As the door closed, Safiyah walked and joined the end of the line. After a few seconds of indecision, Eleanor walked towards the line and joined the women. A few seconds later, she felt Sandra’s shoulder touching hers.

 

A sense of peace fell over her.

 

For once in her life, Eleanor felt herself truly at peace. It was as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She immediately, instinctively, understood why. For the first time in her adult life, Eleanor did not have to do anything. Together, with the other 9 women beside her, she can let go of all responsibility and just wait for instructions on what she need to do. No thinking, no action, no movement was required of her; she just need to stand and wait there.

 

A shiver went up her body. It was bliss. The bliss went on for some time, broken only when a male voice was heard.

 

“All girls turn around and face the centre of the room.”

 

The order came into the room from a loudspeaker somewhere and almost as one, all 10 girls turned around. In the centre of the room was a low round table full of food and water. Eleanor quickly realized her stomach was rumbling. She must have been standing there for hours.

 

“All girls stand around the table.”

 

Without a word, Eleanor moved towards the table. All the girls stood around the table and waited for the next order.

 

“All girls will sit”

 

Eleanor sat down on the floor as instructed. Once on the floor, the next order came almost immediately.

 

“All girls may eat and drink the food and water on the table. You may lift your burqa. You have 1 hour.”

 

None of the girls moved. Eleanor was hungry but she also did not want to stand out too much. She waited for someone to make a move first. Unsurprisingly, it was Sandra.

 

Sandra lifted her burqa over her head and looked pointy at Eleanor. Left with little choice, Eleanor lifted her burqa with regret. It was amazing but in a few hours, she had felt more attached to her red burqa than any piece of clothing she had ever worn. The rest of the girls soon followed and Eleanor found herself unsurprised at the faces of the girls she saw.

 

There were girls of various ages, of different ethnic background, and most possibly of different education and social standing. Yet all of them were willing to stand in this room from hours, just waiting for orders given to them by a man none of them had seen.

 

However Eleanor understood why everyone was willing to do that. They were all wives whose sole duty today was to provide help to their husbands. Their presence here in this room was solely for the benefit of their husbands. Eleanor found her hand rubbing her burqa and found herself grateful for it.

The burqa had helped her become a better wife. It was amazing caused Eleanor never thought of herself as that kind of girl but she suddenly realized how important it was to her to be a better wife for her husband. With the burqa covering her face and body, she was not just Eleanor but Eleanor wife of Brian. With the burqa over her, she could be less of a person and more of a wife; a wife who was more selfless than Eleanor ever could be.

 

The girls ate and drink silently. Eleanor looked around the table and understood why. The male voice didn’t give them permission to speak, so none of them did. Eleanor smile got bigger. Beneath the burqas, all girls were the same. 

A Better Wife (Part 2)

PROGRAM INITIALED! PLEASE WAIT…CREED GAS RELEASED! PLEASE WAIT…CREED GAS PURITY AT 50%! START PROGRAM…INITIALIZING…

 

“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.

Brandon was the one who answered. “You remember the promotion I was up for?” Sandra nodded and Eleanor got a sick feeling in her gut. “Well, Brian here is my direct competitor for it and…well…”

Brandon clearly could not continue. Brian took over. “For us to get the promotion, we need to prove that we and our families…can maintain the values of Sun Horizon.” Brian took a breath before finishing. “The company wants the two of you to wear this at all time while you’re here.”

 

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?”

Brandon gave his wife a weak smile and said, “Let’s go dear.”

“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… 

A Better Wife (Part 1)

“Don’t worry,” Brian said reassuringly. “They will love you.”

 

Eleanor smiled weakly at her husband before quickly looking out of the window of their car. She did not want him to see her worried face.

 

For years, Brian had worked as a mid-level sales executive for a big company in America. However about 2 years ago, a Middle Eastern investment group called Sun Horizon bought over the company and started to impose several misogynistic company policies that emphasized male supremacy over their female colleagues.

 

Eleanor had been trying to get Brian to resign from the company but with the American economy in such bad shape, it was something he refused to consider. Worse, Brian seems to enjoy working at Sun Horizon and had hinted for some months that he is in line for a promotion at the company.

 

So when he was “offered” to go for a company retreat with his wife in Canada, Brian practically ordered her to accompany him to the retreat. Eleanor took a deep breath. Maybe “ordered” was too strong of a word but Brian really wanted her to come and she could pretend to be the dutiful wife for 3 days. Although she did not want to admit it, she had to admit she was nervous about the trip.

 

“We’re almost there.”

 

Eleanor was surprised at that. So far all she saw were trees. “Where are we?” she asked. “I thought the retreat was near a 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 concentrated on enjoying the view. The forest they were passing was picturesque and she had to admit she could believe that a country retreat was located nearby.

 

Amazingly, there was a side road that came into view 5mins later with a sign for “Immersion Retreat”. Brian took the road and after a short while, they came up to a mansion. Eleanor was unprepared for what she saw.

 

At the end of the gravel driveway was the biggest mansion she had ever seen. It was gigantic with several smaller cottages around 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 happen. He did not look happy seeing 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. Like Brian, Brandon bought along a woman. Eleanor greeted his wife Sandra warmly.

 

The 2 couples went towards the mansion and Eleanor made sure she and Brian fell behind the other couple. When they were far away enough, Eleanor whispered, “What’s going on? You’re not happy to see that guy?”

 

“No, not really.” Brian whispered back. “Could be nothing but that guy is a name up for the promotion.”

“The one you wanted?”

“Yup”

“So…this retreat is a working one?”

“Don’t know yet. Let’s see.”

 

The two couple proceeded into the mansion where they were greeted by a woman wearing a niqab. Eleanor stared at the woman.

 

It was the first time she saw a woman totally covered up like that. Brian had told her that Sun Horizon had imposed a dress code on all the women in the company and most of them were now wearing the niqab while working. However this is the first time Eleanor had actually seen a women in the niqab. The woman’s head and face were covered with a black veil and Eleanor quickly saw that the woman’s body and hands were also covered by a black blouse and a pair of black gloves.

 

The woman briefly looked at Brian and Brandon, and then quickly looked down. The two men spoke to the woman and she handed them a pair of paper. The woman spoke to the men, totally ignoring Eleanor and Sandra who quietly decided to stand a few steps behind the men. Eleanor remained silent the whole time, not wanting to cause a scene but inside she was fuming at being ignored. This was not what the suffragettes fought for.

 

Her feelings were not helped when the two men walked back towards their wives after a few minutes and told them they would have to wait at a lounge room on the ground floor. It seems they had a meeting in another room first before they would join them.

 

Eleanor shook her head and saw that Sandra was looking at her and nodding her head. The 2 women were in silent agreement at the nonsense they had seen so far at this “retreat”.

 

As the men went up to the first floor for their meeting, the 2 women went to the lounge room and entered. The decor was nice and there was a bar at the end of the room. As Sandra closed the door, Eleanor walked toward the drinks at the bar. She never reached them.

 

Halfway there, her legs suddenly felt weak. Eleanor heard a sound behind her and turned around. Sandra had collapsed on the floor. A few seconds later, Eleanor joined her.

The Abandoned (Part 2)

Lisa Williams was what people in the UPF kindly called a “spacer”. She was born on a space cruiser, educated on a space station, worked in space travel. Born and bred in space, she had spent more time in space than on any planet. Some would just call her an alien.

And she was now paying for it.

Dr. Catterly informed her that she believed the planet's gravity was slightly lighter than Earth but it was small comfort to a spacer. The gravity was still heavier than what Williams was used to in space.

“Come on, you’re almost there.”

Williams looked up to the top of the hill where Kettle was waiting. It has been 3 days since she first saw the woman and since then Kettle had been the 3 survivors’ guide to their strange new world. Seeing her at the top of the hill, Williams couldn’t help but wonder how Kettle managed to get up there so quickly. Looking at Kettle’s pink jacket, black baggy pants, scarf, veil and straw conical hat, Williams (not for the first time) couldn’t help but wonder how she could be so comfortable in such a comical outfit.

Although her spacesuit has been dirtied, Williams had refused all attempts to wear the strange outfit of the locals and was currently wearing her sport top and short shorts. She had been wearing them underneath her spacesuit and she was glad of it. She knew that it had scandalized the locals when she said she would be going out in the outfit but they had been gracious hosts and accepted her request. There was just no way she was going to wear the conical hat and veils of the locals.

Looking at Kettle however did make Williams realize just how close to the top of the hill she was. Ignoring the fire in her calves and back, Williams pushed on.

The moment she reached the top, the breeze hit her almost immediately.

Williams' gaze drifted out and saw, to her immense surprise, an ocean. The golden light of the sun shone brightly on the ocean and Williams found that she could not look away from it. It took a while before she recovered.

“What…is that a sea?” Williams did not care if her shock was evident in her voice. She never realized they were so close to the ocean. “There are oceans on this world?”

“Of course,” Kettle said. “Fishing is one of the main sources of food here. Look over there!”

Williams look where Kettle was pointing. Although she did not have a watch, she figured that it had been an hour since they had set out on the walk and the hill she was on offered a good view of the landscape. Williams could see that the city they had been in was small and that not only was the city close to the sea, there was also a winding river that cut through the city.

“That’s the Kami River. We use it both for power and to travel into the interior.” Kettle looked at Williams and Williams could sense that she was smiling behind her veil. “Beautiful, isn’t it? I love this view.”

Williams couldn’t help but nod her head in agreement. A spacer she may be but even she could appreciate the view. Not only that, her body was glistening with the sweat from the long walk and the cold breeze from the sea was welcome against her face and skin.

Williams looked around the hilltop and saw that outside the path where they walked up, there was another bigger path on the other side of the hill. However they were the only ones up there. She was surprised and kind of glad no one else was up there with them.

“Yes, this is great.” Williams replied to Kettle. “But next time, let’s drive here. This walk is too much for me.” Williams’ laugh was cut short by the horror in Kettle’s eyes. “Uh,,,did I say something wrong?”

“Wo…women don’t drive. We walked!”

For the first time, Williams could hear angry in Kettle’s voice and she could not understand why. “What do you mean? Women don’t drive here? We’re not allowed to?”

“No, it’ll be wrong. Only men drive.”

“But…that’s..,” Williams tried to think of the right word to use here. “That’s so strange. Everyone drives where I come from. Don’t you ever want to drive before?”

“No,” Kettle’s left no room to debate on that. “Women suffer the whip, we do not take it!”

The conversation was getting stranger and stranger for Williams but before she could make a bigger fool of her self, she heard the sound of creaking wheels. She looked at the other side of the hill and saw the strangest thing she had ever seen.

A man and a woman had come up to the hilltop from the other path and both of them were staring at her. Williams was staring right back.

The woman was in a black bodysuit with red knee high boots and she was pulling a cart that a man was sitting in. For a few seconds, the duo was just staring at Williams but the man recovered. He cracked the whip in his hand and Williams twitched when she heard the sound of the whip hitting the woman.

The women quickly got back to pulling the cart and as they got closer to Williams, she managed to get a good look at them. Williams saw that the black bodysuit on the woman was total with only an open hood for her face. It reached from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet, leaving only her face uncovered. However she was wearing some sort of harness around her head that locked a bit across her mouth. At the end of the mouth bit were 2 leashes that the man in the cart was holding. Williams immediately understood the leashes were actually reins that the man used to control the woman pulling the cart. As they went pass her, Williams couldn’t take her eyes off them and belatedly saw that the man in the cat was wearing a tunic with a pair of normal pants.

The duo ran to the other side of the hilltop where the man pulled on the reins to stop the woman. The woman knelt on the ground and lowered the poles of the cart. The man, reins in hand, got up from the cart and guided the woman to a rail like an animal. He then put the leashes onto the rail. Williams then realized the rail was a hitching rail.

Shaking, she turned to Kettle who was looking at her with eyes of concern.

“Are you alright?” Kettle asked. “You suddenly looked pale.”

Williams quickly realized she was having problems breathing. Taking a few breaths, she asked, “What is that?” Williams pointed at the duo. She saw that the man was now wiping the woman’s face with a towel and the woman looked like she was loving every moment of it.

“What’s what?” Kettle asked.

“What’s that?” Williams asked again, this time with more heat in her voice. “That woman was pulling that man like an animal! What do you call that?”

Even with the veil covering the lower half of her face, Williams could see that Kettle had no idea what’s wrong with the picture. Finally giving up, Kettle shrugged her shoulders and said a word that bought the world down on Williams, “Transportation?”

The Abandoned

She sat in the comfortable chair facing the sole desk in the room. Placed on a raised platform, a strange woman was standing behind the desk trying to compose her thoughts. Janet Pinkerton looked at the two women beside her. Her two follow survivors, Lisa Williams and Rose Catterly, both had an impression of restlessness on their face and it’s no wonder. 

Since the time they woke, it has been one strange thing after another.

Protocol seems to have been abandoned on this planet. First, the people here did not speak English or any other known language the three of them knows off. Then there was the strange attire the people were wearing. Janet Pinkerton's gaze drifted down to the attire of the woman standing in front of them, trying to think of which planet had a fashion like that. The woman was wearing a pink jacket that covered her arms and a pair of black pants which flare out baggily at the legs.  Nothing unusual there but she was also wearing head was a colourful scarf that covered her head and her lower face were hidden by a veil. Hung on her belt was a straw conical hat that had seen some use before.

Pinkerton drew a blank.

“H…Hello”

Silence reigned in the room as the 3 women were momentarily surprised by the greeting. It was the first time since they had awoken that someone had spoken in a language they understood. All 3 of them started asking questions together and it was too much for the strange woman. She put up both hands and the questions stopped.

The woman looked to be smiling behind the veil. She put down her hands, looked at the 3 women and began again. “You may call this one Kettle. Do you understand me?”

Kettle? What kind of stupid name is that? But that was a question for another time. Janet Pinkerton stood up. “My name is Captain Janet Pinkerton, commanding officer of the science vassal Pagoda. Beside me are Lisa Williams and Dr. Rose Catterly. I demand to know what planet we are on and why no one from the UPF has come to see us yet!”

Kettle’s eyes looked at her curiously, as if trying to process some information. “You are…you are from space? UPF stands for United Planets Federation?”

The surprise was evident from Kettle’s voice and not for the first time since she woke from the escape pod, Pinkerton had a bad feeling about all this. “Yes, of course! Now where the hell are we?”

“By the council…it’s true!” Kettle's whisper could clearly be heard in the emptiness of the room.

“Miss…Kettle,” Williams asked softly. “What planet are we on?”

“This is the planet Eridani.”

Williams, Catterly and Pinkerton looked at each other. All 3 had the same look on their face. “We never heard of a planet Eridani.” Pinkerton said. “Which system are we in? What is the operating function of this planet?”

Again Kettle put up her hand. This time more firmly. “Please… captain,” Kettle bit the word as if it was an insult, “we have questions of our own. May we know what happened to you?”

Of course there would be questions and Pinkerton had been ready for a debriefing the moment she woke up. Only no one from the UPF had came to interview her. She decided to treat this as the debriefing.

“The Pagoda was on a mission to map the material contents of a comet travelling through the Tarus system. We managed to get into the tail end of the comet without problem but on our approach to the comet, our ship suffered a serious malfunction of some sort. We had to abandon our approach but traveling out of the tail of a comet carries its own risk and the Pagoda suffered complete system failure.” Pinkerton took a breath and swallowed the bile in her throat. As the captain, the failure strung her. “We…I had to abandoned ship. Now which system are we in?”

“We do not know.” Seeing the looks on the 3 spacefarers, Kettle explained further. “We do not remember. All we know is that this planet was once called 82 Eridani. Over time, the 82 was taken away and now we just call our planet Eridani.”

“Lost!” Pinkerton and Williams both looked at Catterly the moment the words came out of her mouth. Catterly’s mouth was open in disbelief but she continued. “They are lost. We crashed on a planet filled with lost colonists.”

Pinkerton looked back at Kettle and for the first time truly saw her. It was so obvious she couldn’t believe she didn’t put two and two together. Kettle’s dress was a dead giveaway. There was no way a modern woman in this time would wear something as strange as that. Her thinking however was broken when she noticed that Kettle was shaking her head.

“No, not lost,” Kettle said. “We were not lost. We were abandoned!”

A Strong Girl (Part 5)

As she opened the door to her house, Lucy did it with both dread and curiosity. After her beating (there’s no other word for it) in Abdullah’s office, she was sent back to the sales floor while Simon and Abdullah spoke about his contract with Sun Horizon.
 
After that episode, she was curious about how Simon would react now in the comfort of their home. She opened the door and saw Simon waiting for her. He moved towards her with purpose and any doubts Lucy had were swiftly forgotten when he planted a huge kiss on her lips.
 
Lucy heard a sound and realized it was the door being closed. They were working their way to the sofa when Lucy tripped. Both of them fell and Lucy gave a cry as her still sore bottom hit the floor. Simon didn’t stop.
 
He literally ripped her shirt off her. Friends of Lucy would tell you Lucy never giggled in her life, that she just wasn’t that kind of girl, but Lucy giggled now. This was fun!
 
She helped Simon with the shirt but they both stumbled with her jeans. Simon gave a chuckle and said something about now knowing why skirts were better on woman than pants. Lucy silently resolved never to wear pants, trousers or jeans ever again.
 
They finally got the jeans off and Simon pulled her panties halfway down her legs. Lucy was working the panties off her legs when Simon lowered his shorts and shown off his penis.
 
Simon’s tool was, to be polite, below average and Lucy had more than once cracked jokes about it with her girlfriends. However it was eager now and Simon entered her without warning. Not that it mattered to Lucy. She had sent the whole day thinking of Simon and she was wet and ready for him.
 
As usual, the sex was quick but it was also different. Lucy could feel the intensity of each stroke. Simon was more…brutal, like he didn’t care about whether he was hurting her. Lucy realized with a start that this was what had been missing from their love-making. The intensity and the lack of care from Simon was great for her. She much preferred this to the usual care Simon showed when they were having sex. It was as if she had been given a new perspective of how sex should be!
 
Lucy never remembered a time when she had an orgasm. Lucy never had a great sex life, and frankly never thought much about it. To her, it was something like a myth girls tell each other. In her mind, Lucy thought maybe she had one before but she just didn’t know it. Now Lucy realized she had being lying to herself. She never had an orgasm before because she never had this feeling before in her life. She felt that she was having an out-of-body experience, as if she was alive and yet unconscious at the same time.

It was bliss!

---

“Wow!”
“You can say that again,” Lucy giggled. Both she and Simon were laid out on the floor after their session and Lucy hugged her husband closely to give him a kiss. “You were great!”
“So were you. The best I ever had by a long shot.”
Lucy kissed her husband again. “Yeah well, we need to try and top that from here on out!” Both of them laughed. “So,” Lucy knew she need to poach the situation carefully, “you know why it was so good this time?”
Simon gave her a weak smile. “It could be sensory depravation. I read that women who were deprived of touch gets a…”sensory overload” so to speak when they finally have someone touch them. With you covered up in a niqaab the whole day, maybe that’s why.”
“I’ve been wearing the niqaab for close to a year now and we never had sex like this before.” Lucy smiled back at her husband. “You don’t really believe that do you?”
“No,” Simon admitted. “Not really.”
“It was the cane.” Lucy said.
“It was the cane and the niqaab together,” her husband corrected. “It was probably the combination of both that made us so…responsive.”
“The pain and the niqaab for me, and the delivering of the pain for you.” Lucy kissed her husband again. “Never thought you were into these kinds of things.”
“Well...I never did anything like caning a woman before of course but…always thought about it.” Simon guilty admitted. “It’s not something you talk to your wife about.”
“Well, that’s going to change buddy. Wait…no, it’s “my lord” now!” Both of them laughed again at that. “You know where we can buy a cane?”
“You sure?” Simon seemed surprised at the suggestion. “I mean…”
Lucy never let him finished. “We just had the best sex ever. Don’t tell me you don’t want to do this again.”
“I do but…only if you’re sure. I mean you could get hurt with the caning.”
Lucy laughed again at her husband and kissed him. He can be such a fool at times. “Don’t worry about me. I’m a strong girl.”
“So…I should sign the contract with Sun Horizon?”
Lucy was shocked. “Simon Kelly, don’t tell me I took the beating today for nothing! You didn’t sign?”
Simon defended himself. “Well after today I thought you might change your mind. I told him I have to talk to you first before anything. Abdullah gave me a day.”
Lucy sighed in relief. “Ok. Call him tomorrow and tell him we will sign the contracts.” Then she suddenly remembered something. “Wait, there might be a problem.”

---

Lucy heard the security guard walked past her and silently wondered if he was as bored as she was. For the past hour, she had been kneeling there in her black niqaab uniform awaiting her turn and it was boring as hell.
 
It had been 3 weeks since she told Simon about the impending lawsuit by the women of Sun Horizon and after a discussion, the couple decided to inform the company about it. It wouldn’t do to have him start work at a company his wife was suing.
 
Lucy told them everything, and even went to one more meeting at the law firm to get further information for the company. She didn’t really think she was betraying the girls because she hadn’t signed on the dotted line. She only gave a few verbal agreements indicating she was interested in joining but she hadn’t signed on anything confirming she was joining the lawsuit yet. If anything, the way things were going, she might have helped the girls out. 
 
Simon told her Sun Horizon didn’t really seem surprised at the news of the lawsuit. The company was expecting something like this but they still wanted her to go to another meeting to get some information, mostly about anyone currently working in Sun Horizon who was in the lawsuit. So she went to another meeting at the law firm, asked around and gave the names to the company.
 
3 weeks later, here they were.
 
Everyone knew something was up when rumors whirled that the Deputy CEO of Sun Horizon had arrived. When all the girls in the company were told to report for a one-on-one interview with him and some senior executives, anyone who knew of the lawsuit knew what it was about. Personally, Lucy was surprised it took Sun Horizon so long to do something about the case after her information.
 
Of course even with the early exodus of girls from the company, there were still over 50 girls currently working at Sun Horizon. The girls were called in batches of 10 to wait on the 50th floor of the building and one by one, the girls were called in for a private meeting with the executives. Of course this being Sun Horizon, no seats were provided to the girls. While awaiting their turn, the rest of the girls were made to wait on their knees outside the office. Less surprising for Lucy was the fact that the executives wanted to see her last.
 
This meant that she had already seen 9 veiled bodies crawling into the office. Lucy had been quietly waiting on her knees with her hands clasped behind her. The girls had been warned not to speak to each other and the security guard was there to ensure the order was followed.
 
The door opened and the girl who entered before her crawled out. A female voice inside the office called out her name. Lucy started crawling the moment she heard her name.
 
Once inside, she heard the door being closed and an order was issued to her by the female voice. “Please go to the marked spot on the floor.” There was a red square on the floor and Lucy crawled on her hands and knees towards it. Once she got there, she turned and waited on her hands and knees for permission. After a moment, Lucy heard a noncommittal cough and moved her hands behind her back. She made sure her knees were shoulder length apart and her head was looking down at the floor.
 
An unfamiliar male voice asked her a question, “Ms. Lucy Rice?”
“Yes sir”
“I thought you are married?”
“Sir, this girl is but this girl kept her maiden name after marriage.”
“It is very unbecoming of a loyal employee of Sun Horizon. You will remedy that fault the first chance you get.”
It sounded like a suggestion from the man but Lucy was in no doubt it was a clear order. “Yes sir.”
“Good. You may look up girl.”
 
Lucy looked up at the 3 men sitting behind the long table. On the left was Abdullah, the head of human resource; on the right was Rahmat Khan, a Pakistani who was the head of sales. In essence, Rahmat was Matt’s boss which meant he was Lucy’s boss as well. Between the 2 men was Hardi al-Katatni, the Deputy CEO of Sun Horizon. The fact that he had flew from the Middle East showed how serious the company was taking the lawsuit. There was one other person in the room. A girl was kneeling to the right of the table. Dressed in a sky-blue burka, the name-tag read “Jenny”. If Lucy had to hazard a guess, she would say Jenny was a personal secretary to one of the men.
 
Hardi spoke again. “Girl, Sun Horizon wishes to thank you for the information you provided to us on the lawsuit. Frankly, we had been expecting it and had engaged a firm to defend Sun Horizon from such an unjust lawsuit. Our lawyers were greatly helped by your info however and as such Sun Horizon is ready to reward you for your loyalty to the company.”
 
There was silence in the room and Lucy quickly realized she was expected to say something. “Thank you sir. This girl wishes to thank the company for their kindness.”
“First off, we will be offering you the same deal we are offering all the other girls in the company.” Hardi made a show of looking at the papers in his hands. “For withdrawing your name from the lawsuit and an agreement not to involve yourself in any future lawsuits against the company, we will offer you a contract for 3 years with a sign-on bonus of 2 months.”
Lucy was surprised at the offer and quickly asked. “Sir, this girl is not in the lawsuit and this girl and her husband had already agreed to a new contract with the company.”
“We know that,” it was Rahmet who answered her question. “However the rest of the girls in the company do not know how we got the info of the lawsuit and we understand the tough position we would put you in if the information got public. With this, you can maintain your innocence with the rest of the girls. Just inform them you would not be joining the lawsuit as you would be taking up the company’s offer. This would be accepted by everyone as many of the girls who crawled in before you took our offer already.”
Abdullah took up the speech from there. “The company however would like you to continue to monitor the situation with the girls in the company. You are to report to the company any of the girls who took up the company’s offer but still intend to sue the company for any reason. Also, you are expected to inform us on any girl who badmouthed the company in any way, shape or form.”
“Sir, people always talk. It’s a natural thing.”
“Still, you are to inform us of the matter. No matter how trivial it seems, we want to know.” Abdullah gave her a wicked smile. “Don’t worry about how important it sounds to you. Let your betters worry about that.” 
“So you want me to…” Lucy bit her tongue and controlled herself. “The company wants this girl to spy on the rest of the girls?”
“We wish you to help ensure the smooth operation of the company.” Hardi chipped in with the cream. “We also want you to help any girl having doubts to make the ‘right’ decision regarding taking our deal. If you agree, the company will give your husband a 6 month sign-on bonus.”
Lucy was shocked. A 6 month bonus at Simon’s salary was…a lot of money! However she had to ask another question. “What about the girls who refused to take up the company’s offer? Is this girl supposed to report them as well?”
“Any girl who refused to take up the company’s offer would be asked to immediately resign from the company.” Lucy reeled from the news but Hardi didn’t stop. “However they would not be asked to pay the financial penalty for breaking their contract and Sun Horizon would still pay them their salary for the month.”
 
That made Lucy felt better. Most of the girls had spoke of leaving and now they could do so without paying any penalty. The fact that they still would be paid for the month almost made it a fair deal.  
 
“Do you agree with the terms?” Hardi asked.
There could only be one answer for Lucy. “Yes sir, this girl agrees.”

---

Danielle got to Lucy the moment she stepped back into the office and bundled her into the pantry.
 
“Well, what happened?”
“Probably the same that happened to you. I waited on my knees for an hour before finally crawling into the office where they asked me questions about the lawsuit; then they made me an offer in return for withdrawing my name from the lawsuit.”
“You didn’t say yes, did you?”
“Actually, I did.”
Even though she was wearing the niqaab, Lucy could see that Danielle was surprised and slightly fearful of her answer. It’s surprising how much you could tell just from looking at someone’s eyes. Lucy silently chuckled to herself that this was one skill she could have never picked up if not for wearing the niqaab.
 
“Why did you do that Lucy?”
There was a slight accusation in Danielle’s voice but Lucy knew this was going to happen and was ready with the answers. “Money, stability and a job for the next 3 years. It’s that simple Danielle.”
“Don’t give me that! If it’s money, you would get plenty once we win!”
“And how long will that take?” Lucy asked patiently. “Danielle, you need to think things through. If you don’t take the deal, you will have to resign. Even if you win, and it is a “if”, Sun Horizon would appeal and it would be years before anyone sees any money. What are you going to do in the meantime?”
“Get another job”
“In this economy? Come on, we both know how bad things are out there and do you really think someone out there is going to hire you once they find out you are suing your last employer?” From her eyes, Lucy could tell that Danielle had not thought of that. Time for her to strike while the iron was hot. “I’m not the only one who thinks this. The 3 heads up on the 50th floor told me a lot of the girls had taken up the offer.”
“And you believed them?”
“Why not? It’s the sensible, logical thing to do. Jennifer took the deal as well.”
Danielle went from being surprised into shocked. “Jen…Jennifer? No way!”
Frankly Lucy was surprised as well when Abdullah told her the news. It was at this moment the other 2 girls came into the pantry. Jamila and Suriani saw the argument between Lucy and Danielle and the 2 girls quietly went to the counter to start preparation for the snacks. Lucy realized the time and turned to look back at Danielle.

“Look Danielle, I’m not arguing with you on this. Everyone needs to make their own decision. For me, I had made mine and I will respect your decision whichever it is but you must think things through. If you sign the deal, you get a job for the next 3 years. If you do not, you will be jobless with little to no prospect of getting another. That means no money for the next few years because it will take at least that long for the lawsuit to clear the courts. That is if you win the suit.” Lucy waited for Danielle to digest everything she had said. Then she went for the kill, “If you want my opinion, it’s not a risk worth taking. Jennifer thinks the same way I do and that’s why she took the deal. As a friend, I say take the deal. It as good as any you are going to get.”
Danielle’s eyes went wide with horror but Lucy was glad to see that there was some understanding there as well. Danielle said, “You don’t seem to have a problem admitting the fact you taken the deal?”
“Why should I?” Lucy asked back. “I made my decision and I’m not ashamed of it. I did what’s good for me and I suggest you do the same thing. Don’t make any decision for the sake of sisterhood or any crap like that. Make a decision that is best for you.”
After a second, Danielle nodded. She knew everything that was said was true. “I’ll think about it.”

Lucy nodded her head and smiled beneath her veil. She knew she got Danielle. Lucy watched as Danielle walked out of the pantry and turned to the counter. She was surprised to see that the snacks and coffee had already been prepared for her. There was even a notebook on her trolley stating the orders of all the men in her area. She looked at Jamila and Suriani in question and Suriani was the one who answered her unspoken question.

“We knew you would be late so Jamila and I took the orders of everyone in your area. Just follow the notebook and it will be fine.”
Lucy nodded in thanks and quickly made a decision. She was going to be here for the next 3 years and it was about time she began to build bridges in the office. “Thank you both but from now on I think we need change the areas we are all in charge of.”
“We do?” Suriani asked.
“Yes. The two of you had been splitting Michele’s area between you. There are 3 of us in the office so it is only fair I do my part as well. I’m sorry it took me this long to realize how unfair I had been. From now on, we’ll spilt Michelle’s area between the 3 of us equally.” 
The 2 girls nodded in acknowledgement. The clock stuck 9.30am and the 3 girls pushed out their trolleys. Now for the second part of Lucy’s plan to build bridges in the office. She should need to especially submissive and obedient to the men from now on. Lucy smiled beneath her veil.

Her panties were getting wet just thinking about it.

A Strong Girl (Part 4)

For the rest of the week, Lucy had to wake at 5am in the morning to prepare and wait for the company bus that arrived at 5.45am. Her house was one of the earliest stops of the bus route and it would take the bus over an hour before it reached the Sun Horizon Building. Sunday was the one day of the week she could sleep in late.

 
So she wasn’t pleased when the phone rang
 
“Hell…hello!”
“Lucy? Oh, did I wake you? I’m sorry.”
“Oh Macy! No, it’s okay. I was getting up anyway. What’s up?”
“I just want you to know Simon was here last night.”
 
Lucy’s hand went to the side of the bed where her husband should be. There was another argument between them last night and she guessed it would make sense for him to go to his mother’s for the night.
 
“Yeah, thanks Macy.”
“Lucy…I don’t want to impose…but are you guys in trouble?”
“Trouble? No, it’s just the usual fight…”
“A few months ago, Simon asked us for a loan.”
“Oh…,”Lucy’s mind went into overdrive. Their financial position was tough but for Simon to ask money from his parents…
“Lucy? You there?”
“Yeah…look Macy. Don’t worry. We’ll okay. It will tide over soon.”
“You’re sure? Brad and I don’t have much but if…”
“No, it’s okay. Simon still there?”
“Yeah. He was drunk yesterday night.”
“He don’t drink”
“No, he doesn’t.”
 
Well, now it made sense why Macy called her so early in the morning. With the request for money and the drinking, she must have been worried about her son. Abdullah’s word yesterday came to haunt her and Lucy made a quick decision.
 
“Macy, can you do me a favor?”
“Sure honey. What you need?”
“Tell Simon to go to the interview tomorrow.”
“Interview?”
“He’ll know what I mean. Thanks Macy.”
 
Lucy put down the phone before her mother-in-law could answer. She put her hands on her face and wondered. Between Abdullah and Danielle, it was a tough day yesterday and she had to ask herself some tough questions.
 
Top of the list? Did she enjoy her job more than she admits?     

---

Simon didn’t come home for the rest of the day and when Monday arrived, Lucy went to work knowing full well the shit was going to hit the fan. As she left the bus and put on her uniform, she knew instinctively that there would be consequences for what she said on Saturday. It was a given that Abdullah would find a way to punish her for her outburst so she wasn’t surprised when her DSO told her to go to Human Resources.
 
Lucy calmly went to the office and as Betty opened the door, she saw her husband sitting inside. Sitting in a chair, he turned to see her and Lucy saw his mouth formed a big “O”. Simon had never seen her in the niqaab before and Lucy knew it must have been a shock to his system seeing her like this. She also saw that the look on his face wasn’t one of disgust but strange bemusement. His eye lit up in…something. Guiltily, Lucy found that she was smiling beneath her veil. Right then, she decided to give Simon a show. She hoped Simon don’t have a heart attack for what comes next!
 
Falling on her hands and knees, she crawled on all fours towards him. Just before her head reached Simon’s chair, she turned and crawled towards Abdullah. Stopping before his desk, she prostrated herself. After a moment, Lucy heard a noncommittal noise and knew it was safe to lift up her head. She did not bother to ask permission to get up.
 
“Let’s get the formalities out of the way first shall we?” Abdullah smiled brightly at Simon. Lucy could immediately see why he was in human resource. When speaking to her, Abdullah’s expression was the one of patient contempt. Now the man had a warm smile that put people at ease. “Mr. Kelly, Sun Horizon is a conglomerate that is based out of the Middle East. We are a private company with subsidies throughout the world, mostly in Asia and the Middle East. This company is our first venture into America but it will not be the last. So if you join us, the prospects for you are good as there is room for growth. You will also be well-compensated for your work. Sun Horizon is always looking for talented men.”
 
Lucy had to admit Abdullah was nice and smooth; making it seem like the company was seeking to hire Simon for his skills instead of who his wife was. Fortunately, her husband was not buying it either.
“That and the fact you want my wife to continue with the company.”
“Ha, she’s just a bonus.”
“A bonus?”
“Yes! It’s you we want!” The lie came so smoothly even Lucy believed it for a second.
“Then why did the contract state that Sun Horizon would only accept my employment if my wife signed on the dotted line as well?” Simon asked the question in a calm, collected voice. Not angry, but merely inquisitive. Lucy had never been prouder of him than right now. He was holding his own against Abdullah.
“That’s simple. She will make you work harder.”
“You think having a couple working together make them work harder?”
Abdullah was quick with his reply. “It’s true. A family that works together will also work harder for each other. However…that’s not what you really want to ask about, is it?”
“Why yes, I guess you get this a lot so I’ll just come out and ask. Why the veils?”
“The official line is that having the women in veils caused the men of the company to be less distracted. With the men being less distracted, they will be more productive.”
“You said “the official line”. What’s the unofficial line?”
“Girl! What are the three things you must remember when addressing a male employee of Sun Horizon?”
 
Thus far the 2 men had been ignoring her so Lucy was a little caught out by the question. Luckily, she already knew the answer by hard. “This girl must refer to herself in the third person; this girl must address all male employees with a “Sir”, and this girl must have a respectful tone when addressing a male.”
“Tell me Mr. Kelly, have you ever seen your wife like this?”
“No”
“Have you ever had her calling you “sir”? Do you enjoy hearing her call you “sir”?” Simon’s silence answered the question. “Now imagine coming to work everyday to a workplace where all the girls are respectful and treat you like a superior. Would you want to work at a place like this?”
“You can have the rules without the veil.”
“We, Sun Horizon, tried that before in other countries. We have all the rules but without any uniform. You know what happened?” Simon shrugged. “By the end of the first month, girls were coming in short mini-skirts. By the end of 6 months, girls were coming in wearing bikinis. Needless to say, men were distracted and productive suffered.”
“So have a standard uniform. Why veils?”
“It is a uniform Simon. You don’t mind me calling you that right?” Simon nodded in acceptance and Abdullah continued. “We at Sun Horizon knew that we need a uniform that enforce the superior roles of males in the company, yet at the same time not be a distraction to them.”
“And the veils were your solutions?”
“It worked and it’s still working. Ask your wife how many of her colleagues have called in sick since Sun Horizon took over. They now want, even look forward to coming to work. Also, they are now more productive than ever because they are not distracted when they are working.”
“So what’s your explanation for the “whistle-girls”? I would think they would be distractions.”
“They are mailroom staff that comes and goes. They walked in, give something for the men to enjoy, then walked out in less than a minute. No one can work without stop; that even we must accept. The “whistle-girls” give the guys a short lift, a little eye-candy. They are distractions but short ones, less than a minute or two then they are gone and the guys all feel better for it.”
Simon gave a chuckle at that. “That’s not very…uh, Middle Eastern of you. I thought you guys are all about your women being all covered up and stuff.”
“Veiling is a cultural and religious thing. Sun Horizon is a business. The girls in our company are veiled strictly because we believe men worked better in such an environment, not due to any religious dogma. In fact, we at Sun Horizon believe guys are happier working in such an environment!”
“What about your female employees? Your girls? They are happy in such an environment?”
“Yes, most of them are.” Simon and Lucy both looked at him incredulously. Abdullah continued, “The girls loved the ritual and ceremony of what they do here. There is a time limit for everything they do everyday and they loved it. Think about it; if they truly hate it, why do we have so little resignations from them?”
“There were a string of resignations from your female employees when you took over.”
“Yes, the girls resigned before they gave their new jobs and the rituals a chance. If they had stayed, they’ll probably grow to enjoy their job like Lucy did.”
“Abdullah, I can tell you for a certainty my wife do not enjoy her job.”
“Does she hate it? Do you hate your job Lucy?”
 
Both men looked at Lucy and Lucy felt herself whittling under their gaze. She knew the answer she was supposed to give, the answer expected by society, her husband, even herself but the “no” was struck in her throat. Like what she told Danielle, Lucy didn’t really hate her job. She looked at the ground and let the silence answered the question for her. 
 
“So…” Simon hesitantly replied, “we were talking about my job offer?”
“Oh yes!” Abdullah smiled. “However we have a problem there.”
“A problem?” Simon’s surprise was evident.
“ Yes,” Abdullah’s smile never dropped. “It has to do with your wife.”
“Lucy?”
“Oh yes, she was very disrespectful with me last week. Frankly, we now have a question of whether she truly wants to stay at Sun Horizon.”
“I thought you said it was me you guys want?”
“You both are! You are both a team right? A husband and wife team even. However, if one of you don’t wish to…well, let just say we have no wish to force anyone to do anything she don’t want to.”
 
A silence reigned in the room.
 
“So…” Simon finally asked. “What did Lucy do?”
“First she never referred to herself in the third person, she did not address me as “Sir”, she wasn’t respectful, and to top it off, she told me to “Fuck off”.” Abdullah’s smile was directed at Lucy. “I’m afraid Sun Horizon can’t just let that stand.”
 
Lucy raged. Lucy understood what was going on. This was Abdullah’s punishment. The bastard wasn’t going to do anything to her directly, he was going through Simon. He was going to take away the job offer and he’s making it known it was her fault this was happening. Simon seems to understand this as well.
 
“So you are taking away the job offer?”
“Oh no!” Abdullah directed his smile back to Simon. “However we would like you to show that you are a team player and the man of your house. Just a little example will do for us.”
“What kind of example?”
Abdullah reached into a drawer and took out something. He placed in on his desk. “This is a bamboo cane. I say…10 strokes on Lucy’s ass would do.”
 
You could hear a pin dropped in the ensuring silence. Lucy’s mind raced. Something wasn’t right. Abdullah could have just taken the job offer away and it would be the end of the matter, so why is he now having this show for no reason? Then Lucy remembered that Abdullah had said that he was almost ordered to retain Lucy. It would stand to reason that Abdullah can’t take away the job offer without hurting his own standing in Sun Horizon so he was now trying to force Lucy and Simon to reject Sun Horizon’s job offers. The silence did not last long.

Surprisingly, it was broken by Simon’s laughter. Lucy and Abdullah looked at him while Simon tried to control himself.
 
“I’m…I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry…ha, but did you really think I would beat my wife just for a job?”
“Well…” for a moment Abdullah seemed out of words.  He quickly recovered. “Well Simon, this is just a test. To prove that you…”
 
He was cut off when Lucy stood up. Both men looked at her, waiting to see her reaction. Lucy knew that Simon was going to reject the offer, but if he did, Abdullah wins. And if there is something Lucy hate, it was to lose!
 
Lucy walked to the desk and took the bamboo cane with both hands. She looked at Abdullah for a moment and was glad to see that he was nervous. He was afraid of what she was going to use the cane on him but if she did that, he wins in the end. It would be the perfect excuse for Abdullah to cancel the job offer. No way was Lucy going to let that happen.
 
Lucy turned back to Simon. She walked slowly toward her husband. Standing just before him, Lucy knelt and saw Simon’s face changed before her eyes. She now understood the face. It was the same face he had when he first saw her in her niqaab. It was a look of lust.
 
Lucy knelt with her knees apart and lifted the cane above her head with both hands. Holding the cane in her upturned palms, she whispered the words that would change her life forever. “My lord.”
 
The title came out of her mouth and Lucy knew it was perfect. Simon wasn’t just a normal “sir” to her, he was her husband. It was the perfect title to address him in the office. Simon took the cane in a daze and Lucy, still on her knees, turned her back to him. She bowed her head to the floor, and raised her ass high in the air.
 
She heard Simon standing up and felt him getting in position. She heard the cane a moment before her ass exploded in pain. SWISH! Her cry echoed in the room.
 
SWISH! The second stroke was delivered before she recovered and Lucy cried again.
 
“Lucy? You okay?” Simon’s concern could clearly be heard
Lucy said the only thing she could. She wasn’t going to let Abdullah win. “Two my lord! Please continue.”
 
SWISH!
SWISH!
SWISH!
 
The next 3 strokes came together! Lucy cried again but she discovered the pain wasn’t as bad now. Her ass was still on fire but Simon was so fast her pain seemed to have lessened. Either that or her ass was getting numb.
 
“Lucy?”
“Five my lord! Please continue.”
“I’m going to give you a choice Lucy.” Simon asked, “You want me to do all 5 together or one at a time?”            
Lucy thought for a moment. Even as a kid, she had never been caned before so she didn’t have any reference to go on. She went with her gut. “Please give me all 5 together my lord.” She was never a girl who delayed the inevitable.
 
SWISH!
SWISH!
SWISH!
 
Simon struck the moment Lucy gave the word. He did not give Lucy a moment to get ready and Lucy immediately knew she made the wrong choice. Her body was wrecked with pain but Lucy did not break her position.

SWISH!
SWISH!

Lucy broke. She curled up on the floor and tears flowed. Even then she should hear the voice of Abdullah, reluctantly, congratulating Simon on a job well done. He was going to get the job.

She had won.