It had started just a few weeks ago....sure he'd swiped a few pieces of fruit....he was so hungry....after the plant closed it seemed like the only jobs went to the people who knew somebody....and he didn't know anybody except for the other men living in the shacks down at the dumps...
They had warned him about what might happen if he got caught stealing but he couldn't believe the stories they told him.....imagine, men disappearing just for grabbing an apple while no one was looking....just stories to frighten the more timid among them!!!!
He went by the old mans cart two or three times a week....the old man was nearly deaf and mostly blind and it was easy taking an apple or two.....and then one day he felt a strong hand fall on his shoulder....and before he knew it he was in an underground fetid cell!!!
There was no way he could tell how much time he spent there....his hunger grew and grew and the few jailers that he actually saw just laughed at him when he begged for food....
"You have to see the Judge first....then maybe you'll get fed!!!!"
And time passed...
Days? Maybe weeks...finally they came and dragged him to a courtroom and he stood, unsteadily, before the Judge!!!
The Judge was a stout man....obviously he had never been hungry....
"So what do we have here.....a wretched thief....stealing food from old Isadore's Cart!!! I'll have you know that old Isadore is a very good friend of mine!!!! What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I was just so hungry....I couldn't help myself!!!"
"So you plead guilty....normally I would have you whipped and thrown back into that cell downstairs until death came for you....but I'm feeling generous today....I'm interested in taking you into my personal service....I'll feed you and clothe you for the next five years at which point I will release you or retain you.....it will be up to you....you will wait on myself and my guests.....you will be under guard but you will live in my house....and you may enjoy the amenities of my estate whenever I don't require your services!!!! So which will it be? The cell and slow agonizing death or enter into my service willingly?"
He didn't even pause to think it over....
"Yes....please....I'll be your servant....I'll do as you ask....anything....please....I want to live!!!"
The Judge nodded and two guards dragged him away....
He was fed over the next few days until he almost felt like himself again....
They measured him for his new wardrobe....after all he couldn't serve in the rags he was wearing.....
When his new clothes arrived he almost laughed at the feminine finery that came out of every parcel and box!!!!
"There must have been some mix up these are for some woman....you must contact the tailors and send these back!!!"
The guards laughed heartily....
"All this is yours....but first you must bathe!!!"
With a clap of his hands several women, each one more beautiful than the one before entered the room and, with the guards help, stripped him naked! In no time he found himself in a tub of scented water as the women all fussed with his hair and put sweet smelling creams onto his body.....creams that made him tingle!!!!
He was dried and then dressed in a beautiful green gown....and the women spent more time with his hair....and finally they all agreed he was ready for the Judge!!!
"I don't understand!!!!"
"You don't have to understand....you don't even have to think....for the next five years all you have to do is follow orders.....or else!!!"
"But this is so wrong.....why have you had me dressed me like this....I'm not a woman!!!!"
"Sweetheart, for the next five years you are whatever I say you are and the sooner you get used to that idea the better off you'll be!!!"
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