Chapter 2

Tuesday October 12th

I’m in serious trouble with Angie. I was in town yesterday, heading back to the bus from my office. It was raining, so I took a short cut along one of the back streets. I didn’t notice the new signs that they’d put up. Some streets have been designated “accompanied males only” and some are “no males allowed”. There are even some saying “locked males only” - some sponsors have started using locked chastity devices on their charges, with the Government’s encouragement, and they are seen as less of a risk, I guess (luckily Angie hasn’t thought of this – yet). It’s all part of the Council’s programme to create safe areas for women in the town centre. Anyway, I didn’t see the signs. I’m sure they weren’t there in the morning. So, when the police whistle sounded and there were shouts of “Hey you!” I didn’t think it was anything to do with me. I just kept my head down and kept walking. Next thing is I’ve got two Male Control Force officers on my back and I’m pushed against the wall with a “Hey, dumb arse, are you deaf or something?”

It all ended up with me in handcuffs down at the police station while they contacted Angie, because her name is down as my sponsor on the Ident Card, of course. She managed to get me out. “According to your sponsor, you’re too stupid to be doing anything illegal. Piss off home and keep your eyes open next time,” they said when they threw me out.

Anyway, when I got back, she was waiting with her arms folded and a “you’d better have a good explanation for this” look on her face. After I told her about what happened, she said “I didn’t think I’d ever have to use this, but the other party members were right,” and pulled out a leather strap from a drawer.

I said something to the effect that she wasn’t going to use it on me, although I probably wasn’t that polite.

Turns out I was wrong. Thing is, while Angie isn’t that tall, she’s quite fit. She’s always exercised and played sports. Somehow, she grabbed me, dragged me across her lap, and started laying into me with the belt. It may sound like I’m a wimp but I couldn’t get loose and it fucking well hurt. After half a dozen whacks, I was yelping like a kid and by the time she’d finished I was sobbing. She let go of me and I slid off her lap onto the floor.

“Kiss my foot and apologise,” she barked and, when I protested, she kicked me and asked if I wanted another twenty strokes before she kicked me out and told me to go on the Government Sponsor scheme. That really scared me, so I gave in. After a while she seemed to relax. “It’s so much better when you do as you are told,” she said. “Now why don’t you make a nice cup of tea?”

Thursday October 14^th

Lucy stopped by my desk in the office this afternoon. I find her turning up disrupting. She wanted some input on her new service portfolio, “since I know you did a bit of work on this” — which didn’t really describe my efforts over the last 6 months. She perched on the corner of the desk. As she sat down, I realised that although her skirt was knee length it was slit right up one side. It just sort of fell away, showing her leg practically to her hip. I must have coughed or grunted because Lucy said something like, “Oh, do try to keep your mind on the work, David.”

I mumbled through some statistics that I thought would help her and at least she seemed pleased with that. The trouble was that, as she left, she patted me on the shoulder and said, “Thank you so much. That really deserves a reward. I shall have to think of something.”

Nipped off to the gents for a quick wank while I still had the image of her legs in my mind. It was only afterwards I wondered if there were cameras in there. I’m guessing not – nobody has said anything. Still, I found myself thinking back to that Question Time in August. I’m sure I’ve heard someone saying that New Order plans to introduce “No Wanking” legislation, though I reckon that IS scare mongering.

Wednesday October 20th

They’ve changed the time of my bus in the mornings. I used to get the 7:30 bus but they’ve made it a “Women Only” service. Now I have to get a bus at 6:45 which gets me to work way too early. I didn’t get much sympathy in the office. “At least you’ll be in on time,” was all Lucy said.

It pissed me off this evening too, standing in the queue for the bus back and watching women push by to get on “Women Only” buses. Then, when I did get on a mixed bus, there were no seats. Well, the men are supposed to offer theirs up if a woman is standing. All part of the bloody “Respect Agenda”.

Friday October 22nd

I had a stupid problem today. I went to pay for my lunch with my credit card but the shop said it wasn’t accepted. I phoned them up and complained, but they pointed out that the card had passed its expiry date.

When I asked why they hadn’t sent me another one, they said they weren’t renewing cards for men unless they were on a joint account held with a woman, and because I was the only named cardholder, they wouldn’t be issuing a new one. Oh, and by the way, could I pay off my balance as quickly as possible, please.

I said that sounded a lot like discrimination. The woman in the Call Centre said, “So, sue me.”

I was sounding off about it to a couple of the guys in the office and they’ve had the same problem. It seems like I’ve missed something on the news. Apparently, New Order updated the discrimination legislation to allow companies to offer different financial products to men and women where they can show they have a different level of risk. Credit card companies say men that are sole-account holders are more likely to default, so they’re changing what they do. I called a couple of other companies and they all said the same thing. I’m going to have to talk to Angie about it, I suppose.

It reminded me about my discussion with Harry a while back and the whole “male-held assets” thing. It’s not that exactly but it could be heading down that track, I suppose. I haven’t heard from Harry since September, I wonder what he’s up to...

I’m a bit worried about keeping this journal. I mean, I don’t know about any regulations saying you can’t keep one but you hear about so many things that are “subversive” or “dissident” that I wonder. The popular press don’t help. You get an aggressively pro-Government agenda from them. The big story this week is about Ident Card fraud.

Saturday October 23rd

Angie got another of those “DOSA” envelopes this morning. She said, “Hey, I’d better tell you about this, since it seems you can’t walk down the road without getting into trouble.” (I thought that was a bit unfair – there’s only been that one incident with the ‘No Males’ sign and that was a couple of weeks ago now). “Home Affairs are introducing a tariff for minor offences against Male Control Orders. You get caught doing something wrong you get so many points depending on what it is – you’d have got 3 points for walking down that road. The points go against your Ident Card and if you get 12 points it’s an instant prison sentence of six months.”

That’s certainly scary. It’s easy to see how you could clock up points quite quickly, looking at the list. I’m going to have to pay more attention to the regulations to stay out of trouble.

I spoke to Angie about the credit card problem. She said she wasn’t surprised. It was something she’d seen on a notice from DOSA, that they expected men would find it increasingly difficult to get financial service products. DOSA suggests that where a sponsor is a joint account holder with the man, they provide a cash allowance or they get the bank to give them a cash card with a pre-set limit. Angie says that sounds like a lot of bother but she’s prepared to give it a go.

Wednesday October 27th

Lucy made another pass at me this afternoon ... She said she was sorry if we got off on the wrong foot earlier on in the year and couldn’t I see she could be a lot of help to me; said there was a limit, of course, with me being a man and all — or so the rumour was, ha ha – but she was sure she could help me get a higher grade than I’m on now. “Look, I’m not looking for anything deep,” she said.

Seems like she just really gets off on the idea of us having sex in the office. Wouldn’t it be great if I was tonguing her off under her desk while she was on the phone to some customer, she suggested. I thought that sounded really risky, so she said well how about in the stores cupboard, or she’d smuggle me into the girl’s restroom (which sounded even more risky). Then she starts with a “Well, I guess these days you aren’t getting much that needs you to take your pants down, are you? I mean New Order is so down on prick-sex, aren’t they? That’s not the sort of thing you’d normally be able to find, is it? Me, I’m more open minded. I don’t worry as long as I’m on top.”

She was right, of course. My cock hasn’t been involved in any sex with Angie since before the election and Lucy’s come-on was certainly waking it up.

Luckily though, I managed to regain some control. “Look,” I said, “I really appreciate this but, well it’s difficult for me with my live-in sponsor, and everything. I don’t think I can.”

Lucy frowned and said she understood. I don’t think that meant she was planning to forget about it, though.

I don’t get why she is so keen on me. There are plenty of other blokes in the office. Some of them don’t even have sponsors, so you’d almost expect them to be angling for a bit of I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.

Thursday October 28th

I really don’t know where this is going to end up.

I got home from work late tonight (all the usual problems waiting for a male-only bus and then I had to take a different route back home from the bus stop as there was what looked like a police raid going on at the bottom of our street) to find Lucy in the living room drinking wine with Angie.

I don’t think they had met before but they seemed to be getting on really well. I mean, the two of them were laughing and talking in a very animated way. I thought at first it was just the wine but then Angie turned around and gave me a stern look and said, “Ah, you’re back. There’s something that we need to talk to you about.”

I thought I was in the clear. After all, I’ve kept away from Lucy, apart from when we had to be together because of work and then I’ve tried to make sure there’s always someone else in the room.