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April's mind was a blur. Beth had unhooked her leg from the place she stood and was
leading her off the display floor toward a door off in the distance. The wealthy woman paid
no attention to her fear as she spoke with Beth. "It is nice to see that someone here thinks
about customer service. That other salesgirl was so difficult to deal with. I will be sure to
put in a good word with your manager."
"Ma'am, I am sorry you had a bad experience. Jessica is one of the newer salesgirls here
and was probably worried about breaking a rule. Our store always strives to give the best
possible service."
The trio continued to walk toward the door. April looked back hoping that Jessica would
come out and notice she was gone, but as she saw the clock, she realized that Jessica would
not be out for another 10 minutes. Her mind raced. She needed to get out of this situation
and she needed to get out of it fast. Still she was terrified about speaking up. April had no
idea what the penalty was for impersonating a slave, but she guessed it was fairly stiff. She
was also certain that Jessica would lose her job. As her mind went back and forth about
what to do, April began to rationalize a solution. Certainly, prepping and selling her would
take more than 10 minutes. That would give Jessica enough time to come out, notice she
was gone and find her before the transaction was completed.
April felt even more unnerved as they passed through the door and it closed behind her.
As the door closed, the woman asked, "How long will this take?"
"Probably around 15 to 20 minutes. We have to enter your information and get this girl
into the system so we can track the sale." April let out a sigh of relief, knowing that was
plenty of time for Jessica to find her.
"Well I am in a bit of a hurry. I have my frequent shopper card if that helps."
"That makes a huge difference. I will just need to get her processed and we can close
out the transaction." April look horrified as they walked into an office that appeared to be
attached to a warehouse. The salesgirl walked April over by the desk and pulled up a
screen on her computer. "Ok, let me just get her into the system." Without hesitation,
Beth grabbed April's arm and applied a metal instrument. April felt a shock and as Beth
pulled the instrument away, April could see a black bar code on the underside of her left
forearm. Her arm was marked like she was property. April could not believe this was
happening. As she stared at her arm, the girl began to type in April's stats into the
computer including the agreed upon sales price.
April needed to speak up. She had to stop this before it went too far, but the fear she
was feeling had her almost paralyzed. As you struggled to come up with a solution, the
salegirl looked at the woman and asked, "Will that be cash or charge?"
"Charge please." The woman pulled out her American Express platinum card and handed
it to Beth. This was surreal. April new she needed to speak up, but she was not even sure
April or the woman would believe her. Where was Jessica? Certainly her break must be
over by now. Beads of sweat began to form on April's head as she struggled to keep herself
from shaking. She nervously watched Beth swipe the card and print out a copy of the
receipt for the woman to sign. The gravity of the situation was definitely beginning to sink
in. This woman had just purchased her. She was property and this complete stranger had
bought her for $9,500.
Unable to speak, April did not notice that another person had entered the room. It was
Henry from the warehouse. She only became aware of his presence when April spoke to
him. "Henry can you take this merchandise into the room to be process?"
"Sure can. Do you want her boxed up and shipped or would you prefer to take her with
you."
The woman contemplated this for a minute. "I will take her with me. Can you put her in
my car?"
Always happy to oblige, Henry said, "Of course Ma'am. Just pull your car around back
and I will get her in." Without saying a word, Henry grabbed April by the arm and pulled
her out of the office. He was used to dealing with well trained slaves and certainly was not
expecting any trouble from her. They entered a big warehouse which looked like any other
kind of warehouse. There were a few people working moving crates around and packing
items for shipment. At the far end of the room there was a shipping door, the kind
designed to back a truck or car into.
Henry led April up to another table and told her to stay. He then walked away to a
cabinet. April watched him as she stood frozen in place. She wanted to run. She wanted
to scream, but try as she might she could not root herself out of this place. The fear was
growing inside her to the point that she could not even look at Henry for fear that she would
breakdown. Instead, April stared down at the plain wood table and breathed slowly in order
to calm herself down. All of sudden, April felt a cold metal wrap around her neck and a
clicking noise.
"There we go little girl. I don't expect you will give this woman much trouble, but this
collar should keep you in order." April reached up to touch the collar, realizing that Henry
had put it on her neck. Just as she was going to speak up she felt a prick in her arm. She
turned quickly only to see Henry pulling a syringe out of her arm.
"What was that for...." April felt her eyes getting heavy as she looked up at Henry.
"There we go little girl. Just let yourself go to sleep. It makes things a lot easier." Just
as April passed out into Henry's arms he saw the woman backing her car up into the
warehouse. He easily picked up April and walked toward the car. "Where would you like
me to put her Ma'am?" Without even responding the woman popped the trunk and Henry
set April into it. He closed the trunk over her and tapped on the metal to let the woman
know she was good to go. As she started to drive away, Henry waved goodbye. He really
loved this job.
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