Wage Slave

"He's right." My mom closed her eyes for a long moment. "Is that why you came by work today? To talk to me?"

I shook my head no.

"I wanted to watch you again."

That made her open her eyes.

CHAPTER EIGHT

"I wanted to find out why you did it. And why Mrs. Darcy does it. I want to know why you let him do that to you." I explained what I'd meant

"It's complicated." Mom tried to put me off. I could see that she didn't want to tell me but I wanted to know why.

"That's what Mr. Darcy said." I pointed that out.

"He's right."

"Then would you please make it less complicated? For me? Please?" I sat down next to her. "I really want to know why."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again.

"Mom?"

"Crista..."

"I'm just going to keep bugging you, you know." I played my hole card. "Tell me why."

"It's complicated."

"You said that already."

She opened her eyes again and squinted at me. I just sat there and waited. After a minute she closed her eyes again.

"It's complicated because it has to do with fantasies. Some people have fantasies that aren't what you'd expect."

"What kind of fantasies? The sex kind?"

She nodded but kept her eyes closed.

"You remember the first boy you had a crush on? How you felt? What you thought it'd be like? How much you really wanted him to kiss you, even though you didn't really know how or why? All you actually knew was that you wanted him to?"

I nodded. It'd been Adrian Coggins, a boy in one of my classes in sixth grade. After a second when I didn't say anything my mom cracked one eye open and looked at me.

"Yes." I nodded again when I said it because it was obvious she wanted me to say it.

"You were afraid to ask him to do that, weren't you?"

"Yes." My voice was tiny this time and I felt my face get hot.

"That's normal." My mom closed her eye again and rested her head against the back of the couch. "Eventually you get older and a little bit braver but you're still afraid to ask him to kiss you. Do you know why?"

"No."

"I've never asked you this before but I will now; are you still a virgin?" She opened both eyes and rolled them to look at me. "Crista? Are you?"

I shook my head no as my face got even warmer.

"Do you remember what it felt like?"

I nodded yes.

"Good or bad?"

"Both. Kinda."

Mom nodded like she understood what I meant and closed her eyes again. Unexpectedly she started telling me how I felt about it like she was me and she'd been there instead of me.

"It was very fast and not romantic at all. It wasn't anything like you thought it would be. She opened her eyes again. "That sound about right?"

I nodded again.

"It's probably that way for almost everyone because boys don't know anything more about sex than you do."

"What does that have to do with why you let Mr. Hammond tie you up and have sex with you? Or with Mrs. Darcy?"

"Because, to me, when he does that, it feels like when I wanted a boy to kiss me for the very first time but I was too afraid to ask him."

"I don't get it." I didn't. Not at all.

"The first boy I kissed was your uncle Seth."

"Uncle Seth?" I was startled and blurted out his name. Mom was the one who nodded this time.

"I was about your age when he and a friend of his saw me in the barn and started teasing me, calling me an old maid" She started telling me about what had happened when she was still living at my grandparents' farm. "I got mad at them and told them to stop. They told me they'd only stop if I kissed them. They dared me. So I did."

"And?"

"It wasn't anything like what I'd thought it would be like."

"Oh." I'd felt that way too after my first kiss. What a letdown.

"What came closest to what I'd imagined it should be like, was the anticipation. The excitement of wondering if it was going to be as good as I thought. So I kissed them again."

Okay. Eww, but okay. I let my mom continue telling me what she'd done and waited for her to explain why any of that was the reason she let Mr. Hammond do that stuff to her.

"Billy, Seth's friend, started coming around. Your grandmother figured it out and started keeping an eye on us, but we managed to get away long enough a few times that we could do what he wanted."

"Okay, what does that have to do with you and Mr. Hammond?"

"It wasn't the kissing or the sex, it was the anticipation that gave me that feeling again. That and almost getting caught by my mom or dad."

"Oh." I tried to put it all together and then something Mrs. Darcy had said suddenly made sense.

"Grandma caught you?"

Mom shook her head no.

"My father. I was on my knees sucking Billy's dick while Seth stood there and watched when my dad saw us."

"What'd he do? Ground you?"

She shook her head no again.

"He took me to Lolli's place." At that point she shifted on the couch and sat up straight, opening her eyes and looked at me. "Lolli was my first owner."

"I don't understand."

"Your grandfather took me there because he said that if I was going to be a whore, then he'd take me where whores belonged. He sold me to Lolli for fifty dollars."

"He what? Grandad?" I was shocked. "What about Grandma? What did she do?"

Mom shrugged one shoulder.

"There wasn't much she could do at that point and my dad forbade her from coming to get me because he'd already spent the money on the way home and she wouldn't be able to buy me back anyway."

I opened my mouth to protest again but she just talked over me.

"It wasn't so bad. I wasn't a prostitute or call girl, Lolli put me to work on his farm. There were other girls there, he paid for them too. We all slept in the bunkhouse the field crew used during harvest season and worked around the farm during the day. Every once in a while, Lolli would come in and pick one of us to spend the night with him." She shrugged again. "It actually wasn't so bad but I got to where I wanted Lolli to pick me every night. Some of the other girls said they felt the same way. At that point I knew that if I didn't get out of there I'd become what my dad had called me. So I ran away."

"You did?" All of this was new to me. My mom hadn't ever said any of this before. She hadn't even hinted about it. Neither had my grandparents. Or uncle Seth!

"Yes, I did." She kept on telling me what she'd done. "Lolli paid us for working there. It wasn't much, but he knew we needed girl things, as he called them, so he gave us money every week before taking us to town to go shopping. I saved as much as I could before I ran away but I ran out of money eventually. There was a little store in the town I was in so I asked if they were hiring. The store owner took one look at me and took me home for a hot meal. I started working there the next day. He was a nice man and eventually we started sleeping together. Sometimes at night, sometimes during the day when there wasn't anyone in the store. We had a place in the back room and he'd leave me there if someone came in. He always told me that if I wasn't there when he came back, he track me down and tie me up. One day I gave him some rope I'd cut from the spool out in the store and dared him."

"Did he tie you up?"

"Yes." She stared across the room. "The sex was better than anything I'd had up to that point. I couldn't get away. I couldn't help him. I couldn't do anything to make it better for me. All I could do was let him take me and use me until he was done with me. However long that was, I was helpless until he let me go."

She blinked and looked at me again.

"He used me several times that first day. In between he'd rub and play with me until I'd have an orgasm. Then he'd leave me alone to take care of the store while I was still tied up. Occasionally he'd come into the back and give me another orgasm or play with my body if there wasn't anyone in the store. Sometimes he'd do it even when there were people in the store. When that happened he'd have to gag me to keep them from hearing what was going on. That night when he untied me I knew that's what I wanted him to keep doing to me."

"So what happened?"

"I loved him and told him my secrets because I thought we'd be together forever. Six months later he sold me. Which was okay because he was older and couldn't really keep up with me. Right before he sold me he told me about a farm outside of town he knew about. After he told me about it and what went on there he asked if I wanted to go. I said yes because it was time for me to leave.

"He took me there the next Saturday night. There were other girls there besides me and a lot of men. They had us stand on a crate in the barn and they sold each of us to the highest bidder. Whoever bought us was our owner. If we agreed."

"That's the part I don't understand."

"That's the part that makes it complicated." She answered me. "I'm a slave. That doesn't mean I'm someone's property, it means I'm a slave. I have what you'd call an exclusive contract to do what I'm told by the person who bought me."

"What's that mean?"

"My contract has things called terms. Terms are things like; how long the contract lasts, exactly what I have to do, what I absolutely won't do, and other things like that. If the person who buys me doesn't like the terms, we can negotiate them or he can rescind the purchase if we can't agree. If he wants me to do something I don't want to do and he insists that I do it, then I can say no and the deal is off because we can't agree on the terms."

"Oh." "I thought about that. "So you work for Mr. Hammond because he bought you and you agreed?"

"No."

I didn't get it. Even after she explained it to me, I still didn't get it.

"Crista, it's two different things. I have a job just like other people have jobs. We work, get paid, have families, and everything that goes along with that. I also have someone who makes me feel like that first time I wanted a boy to kiss me. I like that feeling. I want to have that feeling again. My contract lets me have it without being disappointed afterwards."

"So that's why you do it?"

"Think about that feeling. Now ask yourself, what would you do to have that feeling again and have it actually happen just the way you want it to? What would you do?"

"For a Klondike bar?" I sang the line from the commercial because this whole conversation was getting too heavy.

"Exactly." Mom chuckled at my silliness. "Except it's all about your emotions and desires instead of chocolate. What would you do to make your fantasies come true?"

I tried to think what it'd be like and came up short.

"That's enough of this." Mom got up from the couch. "I'm tired and I need to clean up then get some sleep."

CHAPTER NINE

"What about me?" I wanted to know what happened next.

"What about you?" Mom looked down at me from where she was now standing next to the couch. "None of this is about you. None of this applies to you and your father isn't going to sell you to some ignorant black sharecropper for fifty dollars."

"Is that where the black cock thing comes from? Lolli?"

She looked at me some more then turned toward the stairs. She was halfway up before she paused on the steps and answered my question.

"He had the most amazing dick. It had a huge head with a very narrow shaft, like a lollipop, which is why everyone called him that. Once he was hard and got it inside me it wasn't going to come out until after he was done and went soft. I had my first orgasm from sex within seconds of him taking me for the first time. I had my second one a few minutes later. Then a third one after that. From what the other girls said, it was the same for them. It's why they stayed."

"But you still ran away."

She nodded then acted like she was going to continue up the stairs but didn't.

"I still remember him, and if he was right here right now I'd probably not be able to resist going back to him." She looked my way. "I almost let him get me pregnant. That's how good it felt. It's why I ran away because I couldn't let myself do that or I'd become exactly what my dad called me, a whore."

There was a tiny pause.

"I want more of how Lolli made me feel. I want more of the orgasms he gave me. I want it so much I'll let other men have sex with me. That's why I let them. I let them because it was already too late when I ran away."

"Too late?"

"I was already a whore by the time I ran away from Lolli, I just didn't know it."

She waited a little bit but when I didn't say anything, because I was stunned silent, she finished going upstairs. I heard her bedroom door close with a click not long after that.

The whole thing was still really strange but, after my mom explained, it wasn't as confusing as it had been. I still didn't understand everything, but at least I knew more than I had. As I sat there thinking about what she'd just told me, I realized something.

What about my dad? Did he know? If he did, was that why he and my mom slept in separate beds and why he ignored me all the time? Were they actually married like they'd told me? Was I even their daughter?

That last one made my stomach hurt for some reason.

I was still sitting on the couch when my dad came home. He didn't bother looking at me, he just sat down in his chair and turned on the TV like he usually did. I sat there for a little while longer then spoke to the TV instead of him.

"Mom told me about granddad selling her for fifty bucks."

There wasn't any response. I flicked my eyes his way but he was still watching the TV.

"I know about her contract with Mr. Hammond." I tried again. "And about what she does with him at work."

The TV went silent. Another eye flick his way showed me he was looking at me now, the remote in his hand and his face completely blank.

"Are you really my dad? Or is Mr. Hammond my dad? Or... someone else?"

He just kept looking at me.

"Are you? I have a right to know." I scrunched around on the couch cushion. "Are you my real dad?"

"Yes." He blinked. "Your mother made a deal with Greg Hammond so she could have you. It cost her a lot of money."

"I don't understand."

He blinked again, then turned the TV back on. I waited, looking at him the whole time, but he went back to ignoring me like usual. Eventually I grabbed my phone and went upstairs to my room.

In the morning I got up early and made sure I was in the kitchen when my mom came down for breakfast. I watched as she fixed some toast then went back to my cereal. When she sat down at the table with her toast I looked at her again.

"You need a better collar." I used my spoon to indicate the red marks still visible on her neck.

"Crista," she put her toast down.

"You're my mom and Mr. Hammond doesn't have the right to abuse you like that. If you don't tell him, then I will." I went back to my cereal. "Today."

"Crista, it's none of your business."

"Yes it is. You're my mom. That makes it my business. He doesn't have the right to hurt you like that and make you so sore that you can't take care of yourself when you come home. He doesn't have the right to abuse you like that."

"Virginia?" My dad's voice came from behind me.

My mom didn't answer him so I did.

"Mr. Hammond is hurting her." I pointed at her neck. "Her neck is always red now and she's starting to get raw in some spots. When she came home yesterday she almost collapsed and I had to help her come inside the house."

My dad came over and looked at my mom's neck, fingering her necklace and checking the links.

"How many times yesterday?"

"Once every hour."

"That's more than your contract terms allow."

She only nodded in reply.

"I'll talk to him." My dad dropped her necklace. "Abuse isn't allowed even if you're willing to accept it. He knows the terms. Either he stays within them, or he has to sell you. If he won't do either, then the contract will be enforced against him."

"Donald..."

"That's the agreement he made." My dad was implacable. "If I have to step in, at least one of you will regret it."

Wait, what? My dad would get involved? My dad?

"Yes sir, I will tell him what you said."

"Tell him instead that I'll be stopping by to remind him of his obligations."

"Yes sir." My mom's eyes dropped to the table top as she said it.

"Good girl."

He next turned to where I was looking up at him, cupping my chin in his fingers as he studied my face. I was so surprised that I froze, my mind going completely blank as he looked into my eyes.

"Donald..." My mom was going to say something but he cut her off.

"If she knows, then she is at risk of being blackmailed and used against her will." My dad let me go. "I will think about whether she should go to auction or not. And what the terms should be."

My mom looked at me then back to him.

"I am in no hurry." He looked down at me again. "Unless I have to hurry because someone says something she shouldn't."

I dropped my eyes under the force of his gaze, the words coming automatically to my lips even though I'd never said them before.

"Yes sir. I understand."

"Good girl." He laid one hand on the top of my head for a moment, stunning me immobile once again.

When he was gone and on his way to work, I looked at my mom.

"He can do that?"

"Crista..."

"Look, if you don't tell me anything, then it's possible I'll say something I'm not supposed to. You know what that means." I looked out the window at the empty space in the driveway. "So, can he do that? Tell Mr. Hammond to stop hurting you like he's been doing?"

"Yes." My mom's voice was low. "Your father is the auctioneer. He's the one who sold me to Greg Hammond."

"He what?" My dad is the one who sold my mom? My dad?

She nodded yes.

"As the auctioneer he has the power to enforce the contract terms or punish the offender if they won't obey them."

"Oh." I looked out the window again. "How come I never knew any of this before?"

"Because you're my daughter and I didn't want you to have to be like me. I wanted you to live a normal life."

"A normal life? My mom's a slave and my dad is the guy who sold her and you think I'm going to have a normal life, even if I didn't find out about it, when everyone else knows?" I picked up my empty cereal bowl. "Just how do you think that was going to mean my life would be normal?"

"I did my best to try and protect you."

"Protect me? What do you think would happen if I learned about this after I get married some day? I probably will you know. Eventually. So what would happen if I learned about all of this after that?" I went on without giving her a chance to answer. "I'll tell you what would happen, I'd always be wondering if my dad had sold me into slavery too without telling me. That's what would happen."

"He wouldn't."

"Wouldn't he?" I pointed with the cereal bowl out the window. "He just said he was going to think about it. It's as if I have no choice if he decides to sell me."

"You'll have a choice."

"That's not the way it sounds to me."

"You will have a choice. No one, not even your father, can force you to do this. You have a choice." My mom stood up. "I have to go or I'll be late for work."

CHAPTER TEN

I was going to go confront Mr. Hammond anyway, but while I was taking a shower and washing my hair, I realized all that would do is get me in trouble with everyone. Literally everyone. And that was scary because I didn't know all that could happen. Instead, when I was finished with my shower, I wrapped a towel around my hair and sat on my bed trying to figure out what to do.

I laid it all out for myself. What was going on, what I'd learned, who was involved, all of it. Done examining all the facts I had, I got dressed. I had somewhere to go.

"Crista?" Mr. Darcy came out of his shop when I got there.

"Hi Mr. Darcy." I got out of my car. "It's still running okay."

"Then why are you here?" He wiped his hands on a red rag.