Joy makes dinner for Bradley

Kylan shows me how the entertainment center works. Most of their entertainment is audio based, but there is a large collection of visual story entertainments. These process through the entertainment center and project around the entire room. I’m left breathless when he brings up a cooking show and the projection around my living room makes it appear that I’m in the kitchen with the host. It’s not ‘Star Trek Holodeck’ realistic, as I can still see things like the couch, walls, and doors through the projection, but it’s still eerily encompassing. After watching it for only a few minutes I’m able to forget that I’m in my living room and almost ‘sit’ on one of the kitchen table chairs that aren’t there.

Kylan shows me how to access the central library of video story entertainments and says that I’d probably like the adult sections but that he wasn’t allowed to look through those.

After another awkward moment where Kylan seems to be waiting for something I finally check with Eileen and then have Kylan wait while I wrap up some cookies for him to take home. His happiness is that of a child getting cookies which would be perfect if he wasn’t practically a college freshman.

Moments after Kylan leaves, I hear knocking at the door and Atticus calling through the door. “James… er… Joy? It’s me, Atticus. Can I come in?”

I open the door and invite Atticus in. After a whole day of taking care of Kylan it’s second nature for me to have Atticus sit down in the living room while I get him a glass of tea and set a plate of cookies in front of him. He mentions that he got a job and that its both good and bad but wants to wait until Catty is home so he can tell us both at the same time. While we wait, I show Atticus the entertainment center and let him know that Kylan can likely help him find where to get it.

Grinning, Atticus pulls out one of the stopwatch thingies and says that he can get it himself. “It’s one of the strange details here. While I was at the job fair, I told them I didn’t have a portable phone. So, they took me aside and gave me this. It’s more than a phone though. I’d say it’s a mix between a smartphone of our time and the Winnie’s that Catty and I had in the Free Union. Two things about it though, this society doesn’t have much of its stored knowledge available digitally. They obviously have the ability, but they choose to keep it in the physical libraries. The other thing is that these are for men only. Women aren’t supposed to use them without the man’s explicit permission.”

Reaching up I feel the pip behind my ear that’s my Eileen and wonder if I could get in trouble for having her. It would fit into how this society is shaping up where they don’t put the women into positions with responsibility. Maybe they also don’t give them access to information.

I spend the next 45 minutes telling Atticus about my day and we both laugh especially hard at me having to cook and bake for Kylan. It’s well known between Atticus, Catty, and me that while I CAN cook, I hate it. There was a time that I went more than a month and a half without cooking a single thing. I just ordered out all that time or had one of my girlfriends whip something up for me.

When Catty gets home, we all catch up. I go first as it’s easy to catch up on my relatively simple day. Catty nods at my requests for books from the library and she says she’s actually skimmed through most of them already. “I spent most of my time doing societal research. It looks like both gender technology and history itself are behind some kind of security level. Only specific university researchers or library personnel have access to those books. They let me peek in at the secured area and, I swear, it was more than half of the whole library. And the library itself was huge. I’m not 100% sure, but I think it sits on the same space that the Merchandise Mart did. At the very least, it looked like it was that big from both the outside and the inside.”

I was taken aback as the Merchandise Mart was so big that it had its own zip code. Does this modern library have its own zip code?

Catty continued, “Without being able to look up those things, I looked through a lot of books regarding the society. While this easily looks and feels the most like our own time, like an echo of us, it’s just as strange and unusual as either the Free Union or Gilead. Their whole society is based around the ‘fact’ that psychologically, women need to be subservient to men and that men need to protect and care for women. Anything that jeopardizes those facts have been weeded out. Hence, women not taking on any responsibilities. Women are precious resources and men devote their lives to care for them. In the last hour I was tracing back the history of this, trying to find out how they came to this conclusion, and I got to some raw data that a lot of their scientific papers had been referring to. It’s video from “before”. I was very excited because if they were admitting a ‘before’ then there must be an event that we can research. It might be what we’re looking for. But then I got to the video itself and… well, the implications of basing these videos as fact is horrifying.”

I don’t think I have ever seen Dr. Rodriguez at a loss for words. She’s always been so articulate and clear headed. It took me years to find her intellectual equivalent to other peoples “umms” and “uhhhs” as she could just continue speaking clearly even when she was trying to gather her thoughts. So, seeing her open and close her mouth, seeing her twiddle her fingers and wave her hands as she tries to find a way to explain what she found had me leaning in and waiting for this bombshell. And when she finally found a way to say it, I wasn’t disappointed.

“Look, the video archive they had is, to put a fine point on it, pornographic films from the early twenty first century. I didn’t have a lot of time to look through it, but it looked like at some point the website PornHub was backed up and that is the basis of their data. They look upon that as fact.”

Atticus and I both sat back in our chairs as realization dawned over us. Meanwhile Catty went on, voicing our own thoughts. “They’ve studied and looked at porn and thought it was how men and women really acted and thought. Women so **** to have sex, so they made it part of their society that women should be **** to have sex. Men willing to drop anything to have sex with women, so men are taught from a young age that they are to provide sex to these wanton women. And what I can’t even begin to get my mind around is that women get the same gratifying sexual pleasure from sex that only peripherally involves their erotic zones. And it’s become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I talked briefly with one of the librarians and he spoke about this as if were simple human fact. Yes, women could orgasm easily by giving oral sex. Women would orgasm from receiving anal sex. Women would in fact orgasm from almost every sexual encounter.”

Atticus and Catty both slowly turn to look at me and I nod as terrifying realization comes over me. My voice is trembling when I say “So, if that’s what they believe, then Bradley not only thinks he was helping me, he thinks I had an orgasm by giving him oral sex. And he thinks its his responsibility to help me.”

As we let that information digest, Catty went on and shared that her being married didn’t spare her from the sexual advances of men. She told us how a man came into the library at the same time as her and was roughly in the same area the entire time. After several hours, he found her in one of the old sections and cornered her, saying he’d seen her there for hours without any release. He was almost apologetic that no one had ‘helped’ her as he pulled her into his embrace and started making out with her.

I could see Catty’s cheeks reddening as she was looking down at the floor. Quietly I started to ask “So he… and you…”

Her answer was clear, even though we could all hear the strain in her voice “Yes, he had sex with me there in the library. He got me on the floor. I wanted to complain, but like you Joy, I was afraid I might make a societal error and cause more problems. So, he propped me up on my hands and knees, pushed my dress up over my head and… I don’t know if I should have told him. I mean, I’m just as afraid of getting pregnant and the problems that could cause… so when he asked if my husband and I wanted him to impregnate me, I told him no.”

I could see Catty shaking. While she wasn’t crying, it was more emotion than I’ve seen her express. Ever. Getting up I moved across the room and sat down next to her. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders I held her tight and said “You don’t need to say more Catty.”

She leaned into me and said in a voice so quiet that I barely heard it, “I’ve never had anal sex before.”

Atticus moved so that we were on either side of Catty. While it’s not what I would have done, I can see why he started talking about his new job. Atticus wasn’t bragging or even really informing us at this point, he was simply getting Catty to think about something else. She was always a data driven woman and having more data come in, hearing about Atticus’ job, would bring her out of the memory that I could empathize with.

To anybody casually listening, Atticus would sound like he was bragging. But I knew him well enough and could tell that he was simply stating the facts in a way that would help distract Catty. “The job I got will certainly help. None of us are going to want for money. I’m joining the staff at the university with an open research budget. If it wouldn’t possibly do harm, I’d have the ability to recreate our own time experiments and create a time machine here. And while I’m still not familiar with the scale of economy here, it’s my understanding that this is one of the highest paid jobs in Mishigami. They told me point blank that I should start searching for a new house as this entire neighborhood would be socially below me now. They even told me to get a downtown condo that I’d stay in while I’m doing my research in addition to my home for Catty and our kids.”

We kept talking until I was satisfied that Catty would be okay for the night. We agreed that Atticus would go to work and see if he could get into the secured areas of the library while at the same time, I’d apply for a job at the library. I really had no desire to put myself out where men could ‘help’ me have more sex, but now that I knew Catty was in as much danger of being used as I was, I was more willing to take more risks. When Catty finally seemed okay, we all said goodnight, and they went home.

Moving into the kitchen I sliced up an apple and a banana. I wasn’t hungry, especially after hearing what Catty had experienced, but knew that I needed to eat something. After moving into the living room, I picked up the remote and started looking through the visual story entertainments catalog. Just as I noticed the ‘adult’ category, I heard the knock at the door.

Bradley’s voice called out loud and clear “Joy? I’d like to talk to you about Kylan please.”

I mentally debate whether I could get away without letting him in. I could always say I was back in my bedroom and didn’t hear him knocking. I could say I was asleep and was a deep sleeper. But ultimately, as Bradley continued to knock and call out to me, I realized that it would all be an easy lie to see through. As Bradley had approached my home, he would have had a clear view through my window and would have seen me sitting here.

By the time I opened the door I made sure my smile was as genuine as I could make it. “Hi Bradley. What’s wrong with Kylan?”

Bradley didn’t exactly push his way in, but even though I didn’t ask him to come in he stepped in as if the invitation was assumed. If I hadn’t moved out of his way, I’m not sure he wouldn’t have just walked into me. “Nothing’s wrong with Kylan. He had a great time helping you out today. He couldn’t stop talking about it. Since he’s out for a school event and you’re new to the neighborhood, I thought we could have dinner together and I’d tell you about it.”

I nodded, guessing where this was heading. “Um, sure. Dinner would be fine. How about we order something in?”

The look Kylan gave me when I offered to help him is suddenly mirrored on Bradley’s face. I backtrack as quickly as I can “Or.. um… I could whip something up if you’d prefer.”

Bradley calms down better than Kylan did, but he still seems concerned. “That would be fine Joy. I’ll take a beer when you have time. Just let me know when dinner is ready.”

I’m left speechless as Bradley moves over and takes a seat in the new central chair of the living room. Only the thought of that being his new ‘blowjob chair’ gets me moving and not fuming at basically being told to make him dinner and get him a beer.

With Eileen’s help I start making a quick chicken florentine along with some buttery spinach and a creamy, garlicky sauce. Once I have dinner rolling, I grab a beer from the fridge and bring it out to Bradley. He has his, what I’m now thinking of as his phone, out and has a projected news story up when I come into the room. He makes no move toward me when I’m standing right next to him with the beer. So, after a moment of waiting I set the beer down and return to the kitchen.

After setting the table for the two of us, and once dinner is finished, I go out and invite Bradley back. He doesn’t appear to be condescending or cocky or conceited, but at the same time he’s completely comfortable walking into my house, telling me I’m going to make dinner, and waiting patiently while I get him a beer and make said dinner.

Where Kylan had been a fine lunch companion, sitting, eating politely, talking and carrying on a conversation with me, Bradley is a terrible dinner companion. I have to keep reminding myself that he’s likely just working within his societal norms, but the only thing stopping him from being a controlling asshole is the fact that there is absolutely no malice or cruelty in his demeanor or voice at all.

For the entire dinner I have to keep biting the inside of my cheek in order to keep my more and more fake smile on. Bradley complains about the meal, saying the chicken needs more salt and the sauce needs more garlic. After I nod and apologize for not making MY FOOD to HIS LIKING, I realize he’s sitting there waiting for me. With a slight huff I get up, take his plate, and go back to the kitchen where I can correct ‘my error’. The whole dinner goes like this. I can barely get a bite in before he has me doing something else. Getting a clean napkin. Getting more beer. Getting a glass of water that he never touches. Moving over to his side of the table to pick up the spoon that he dropped… and that he hadn’t used before and doesn’t use after I’ve replaced it. On and on, he has me serving him the entire meal.

And all the while, he talks casually about his day. Between being ordered around to do menial tasks, I learn that Bradley is in construction and is currently the project manager at a major refurbish of a building downtown. His day is, frankly, quite dull but he seems to expect me to ohh and ahh and the littlest thing he did. He even waits for me to laugh at a joke that Eileen has to prod me in order to realize it was supposed to be funny. It wasn’t, but I giggled anyway.

When he’s finally done with the piece of pie I served him… that he was vocally disappointed in because it was store bought… he looks up at me and says “Joy, I know you’re trying, but we need to talk. Come on up to your bedroom with me.”