Albert had neither lied nor exaggerated. Two days later the news began to spread and agitation began to be felt in the streets. It became known that the government was about to fall and that the first thing the rebels had promised was to free the slaves. David and I were excited and those days we saw for the first time in our comrades, in addition to hatred and contempt, a new emotion: fear. Fear of us, of what we might do when we became their equals again. It was a really nice feeling.
Joe, also aware of the imminent events, turned a deaf ear and made it very clear to me that for the moment I was still his slave and that we would have to wait in any case to see what would happen. Maybe it was just a riot that would be quickly quelled. I could only continue to serve him faithfully and wait. As long as Joe continued to handle my collar, his dominance over me remained absolute.
Finally, a couple of days later, the government handed over power to the Resistance. Fortunately, the army having sided with the rebel movement, the transition was peaceful and there were hardly any incidents or injuries. The head of the Resistance assumed interim power and immediately called for elections, giving a suitable time frame for the whole democratic machinery to get back on track. Nevertheless, he kept his promise. His first measure as president was to issue a decree ordering the immediate release of all slaves and the restitution of their property, while announcing substantial compensation. Slave owners were left with two options: they could take their slaves immediately to the police stations to be freed or they could wait for the police to come to their homes to pick them up. Paradoxically, the collars, which had been our nightmare for so long, became at that moment our greatest allies. Thanks to them all the slaves were perfectly registered and located, which drastically reduced the danger that any master might be tempted to hide and lock up his slaves, or even harm them.
Joe, in his line, told me that if they thought he was going to take me to the police, they were very wrong, he had no intention of doing so. He seemed to be unwilling to accept the inevitable. I resigned myself to continue being his slave for an indefinite period of time, as I assumed that the process of going home to fetch the slaves would take time to organize and carry out. But I was completely wrong. As my friend Albert was one of the leaders of the Resistance, he personally saw to it that one of the first freed slaves was me. And so, that very afternoon, two policemen knocked at our door.
-Good afternoon -greeted the one who seemed to be of higher rank when Joe opened the door-. We have news that Mr. Brandon Miller resides here, is that right?
Joe nodded, stunned, as I appeared through a door, timidly. My previous experiences with authority had not exactly been pleasant. As soon as he saw me, the policeman motioned for me to come closer and said in an official tone while showing me a piece of paper:
-Mr. Miller, by virtue of this order all your rights as a citizen are hereby restored to you. Likewise, all those possessions that were taken from you will return to your property -and, turning to the policeman who accompanied him, he ordered him: -Proceed, officer.
The other policeman took out a strange object, which looked something like an electronic pincer -I later learned that the Resistance had developed it especially for this purpose- and carefully put it around my necklace. Then he pressed a button and in a second the necklace broke in two, being picked up by the policeman himself as it fell from my neck. The feeling of relief I experienced when I lost sight of that diabolical artifact cannot be expressed in words. The senior officer continued:
-We will take you now wherever you wish, Mr. Miller -it seemed incredible to me to be treated like this-. If you have no place to stay, we will take you to one of the hotels provisionally arranged for that purpose. Do you have anything to wear?
Of course! I was so used to it that I didn't even remember that I was completely naked, even without my loincloth, since Joe had forbidden me to wear it at home. I turned to him questioningly.
-Yes, yes... -Joe stammered. He was totally overcome by the situation-. Your things are in my closet. Let's go...
We headed for Joe's room, followed by the policeman who had taken my collar, who had been ordered by his superior to accompany us. We arrived and sure enough, most of my clothes were in the huge closet in the room. Even my computer and cell phone were there. I was surprised that Joe had kept all that. Maybe, in his heart of hearts, he sensed that someday, for some reason, he was going to have to set me free. I put on the first decent thing I could find and then started to put what I could into a travel bag that was there, which had also previously belonged to me. As I was doing this, Joe said, in a pleading tone, to the policeman:
-May I speak to the sla... with Mr. Miller for a moment in private, please?
The policeman hesitated, it was clear that he had received orders to keep an eye on Joe at all times, but he agreed:
-I'll be out here, in the corridor -he said. And he added by way of warning: -Bear in mind that Mr. Miller is now a full citizen again and any aggression will be punishable.
-Yes, yes... be calm -said Joe, hurrying to close the door. As soon as he did, he turned to me and said agitatedly:
-Brandon, now you are free, but you don't have to leave. I know your place is here, being my slave. I know you have enjoyed these months and that you will only be happy submitting to me. Think about it, now you can decide freely. If you stay you will be my slave, but we can negotiate limits and conditions that I will scrupulously respect. What do you say, Brandon? Stay! This is your place!
Not being able to believe my ears and thinking once again that Joe was not in his right mind, I stood for a few seconds looking at him, until everything inside me came to the surface and I began to speak:
