They called the lawyer a shark behind her back. But they might as well have said it to her face. She knew what they thought and what they said. And she liked it. She liked being associated with a shark, liked how it conveyed the power in her and the fear in them.

She also liked that they were jealous of her. The women wished that they, not she, were young, beautiful, and fit. They desired to have her auburn ringlets that fell freely to her shoulders and her seductively curved shape, teasingly accentuated by chic fashions. The men just desired her.

On Monday morning at 10:00 AM, the lawyer walked down the hallway towards the company owner’s office. Her sexy gait began with bare thighs that emerged from beneath the hem of her tight skirt, then continued down through leanly muscled calves, and finally ended in perfectly fitted stiletto heels adorning her feet.

On the building’s tiled floors, each of her footsteps sounded as a sharp clack--the rhythmic gnashing of a shark’s teeth, as it swam purposefully onward to its prey. She walked unhurriedly, letting all whose work spaces she passed know that the shark had entered their waters--clack-clack (gnash-gnash), clack-clack (gnash-gnash).

Outside the owner’s office stood a tall, athletic woman, dressed in a pants suit. At the lawyer’s approach, the tall woman stepped aside, opened the office door, and said, “She’s expecting you.” The lawyer gave no acknowledgment, as she stepped inside the office. She was used to and expected such treatment. The tall woman was an underling, worth no second thought. Lawyers and business owners were the only people worth--

She immediately lost the thought. Something was wrong. She realized that her footsteps inside the door had yielded no clack-clack (no gnash-gnash). She looked down to see a lush, thick-pile carpet covering the entirety of the office floor. Beside her, the tall woman slipped out of her shoes, nudging them with her bare feet into one of several cubbies against the wall.

From behind the desk, the company owner nodded at the tall woman, who closed the door. Then the owner gestured from the lawyer to the shoe cubbies.

“New carpet. Shoes off, please.”

“What?” said the lawyer.

“I said take off your shoes. I want my new carpet to stay new.”

“Are you serious?”

“Take them off,” said the owner.

A look of disgust souring her pretty face, the lawyer complied with the owner’s directive. There were times and places when she felt it was acceptable to go shoeless. But when there was business to conduct, she needed her full strength, her full power. She needed her teeth (gnash-gnash). Now barefoot, she felt toothless.

The lawyer had never really liked the owner, who had taken over the company six months ago. She didn’t like the owner’s business decisions, nor the changes that were always being made. Now there was this carpeted unshodding implemented within the office. It was unacceptable. It would have to go. If anyone could make it happen, the lawyer could.

“Have a seat,” said the owner, indicating not a chair across from her desk (as the lawyer expected), but instead one at the far end of the office.

“Really? Over there?”

“Yes.”

With a scarcely contained scowl, the lawyer tromped across the carpet to the chair. She sat down and crossed one leg over the other at the knee. Seeing her bare foot beneath her ankle, rather than a stiletto-heeled shoe, irritated her to no end. Something else irked her, as well.

“Isn’t this chair from a discarded R&D project?”

“Formerly discarded,” the owner said. “I re-engaged it.”

“But I recommended that this and all R&D be put on all hold indefinitely.”

“Yes, you did. And I considered your recommendation.”

“You just didn’t follow it,” said the lawyer.

“No, I didn’t. In fact, I see a great deal of value in that particular project.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. And I’m certain that I can make you see the value in it, too.”

‘Well, that’s fantastic. I can’t wait to hear all about it,” said the lawyer, in a tone that indicated the exact opposite of her words. “But I’m busy with several contracts, which I need to get back to right away.”

She began to rise from the chair, when she felt a firm pressure on the top of her shoulder. Suddenly, she noticed the tall woman standing beside her, pressing her back into her seat with a strong hand.

“Your contracts can wait,” said the owner. “We’re going to review this project now. Together.”

“Fine. But she needs to take her hand off me. Now.”

“Of course.”

The owner smiled and tapped a button on her phone. This was not the response the lawyer expected because the tall woman’s hand remained where it was. But as she started to protest, she felt a tremor beneath her, as if something within the chair had come to life.

Without warning, five loud clicks resounded through the room. They startled the lawyer, who was even more shocked an instant later when she saw that three smooth bands originating from the chair had encircled her wrists and waist. At the same time, she felt similar objects move around both her ankles. She struggled to move and found, not surprisingly, that she couldn’t. Then the tall woman removed her hand and stepped away.

“What the hell!” the lawyer said.

“You are now going to experience first-hand the great value I see in this project.”

“This is assault! This is battery! You’re not going to get away with it!”

“Calm down. I’m not going to harm you in any way. I’m just going to offer you a demonstration.”

“I don’t want any damn demonstration! I want you to let me go!”

“Soon, but not yet.”

The owner tapped another button. In response, the chair began to shift and slide like a recliner. After a few seconds, the lawyer sat with her head back and her legs up in the air. The soles of her bare feet faced the owner, who now walked out from behind the desk.

“When I’m finished suing you,” the lawyer said. “You won’t have two pennies to rub together!”

The owner rolled her eyes and again tapped a button. A small helmet rose up from behind the chair back, moved forward on hinged arms, and then lowered onto the lawyer’s head where it gently compressed her auburn curls.

“What’s going on? Let me go! Let me go!”

An indicator light on its front shone red, as the helmet began to hum. Something between a tickle and an itch raced along the lawyer’s scalp. She gasped and tried to squirm free, but the restraints held her fast.

Then the light went to yellow, and the hum intensified to a purr. The tickle-itch spread along the entire surface of the lawyer’s skin. She stammered out something not quite a laugh, nor a cry. Her fingers twitched and her toes wiggled involuntarily.

Then, finally, the light turned green, and the purr grew into a soft, staccato thumping. The lawyer moaned at physical sensations she could not identify, which she loved and loathed at the same time. A heaviness fell upon both her body and mind. She felt strangely serene and very weary.

“What...what are you...doing to me?” she said.

“I’m processing you. Right now, you’re in the sedation phase. That’s what R&D calls it, anyway. I think ‘induction’ makes more sense because, really, you’re not going to sleep. Instead, you’re entering a state akin to a deep hypnotic trance. Your willpower is being subverted down to negligible levels, and your suggestibility is being inversely heightened to the same degree. In another minute or so, you will unquestioningly obey my every command. You will believe, remember, or forget anything I tell you to.

“I...I…”

“It’s already getting hard for you to think. Although I see that you’re still struggling. Stop fighting. Relax. Let it happen.”

The lawyer’s body, which she had held taut against the restraints, suddenly went limp. Her hands and feet stopped shaking and lay still. Her eyes glazed over. The indicator light turned blue, and the low-level thumping ceased.

“It looks like the induction is complete,” the owner said. “Now comes the imprinting phase. This is where I make some much needed changes to your attitude and personality. Let’s begin by making sure you understand: I’m going to change you.”

“You’re going to change me,” said the lawyer, her voice soft and sleepy.

“That’s right. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“There’s nothing I can do to stop you.”

“You will obey me always.”

“I will obey you always.”

“Even when you are no longer in this chair, being processed.”

“Even when I am no longer in this chair, being processed.”

“You used to have a reputation for being a shark. You were mean and intimidating. You were a bully. Those days are done. You are not a shark.”

“I am not a shark.”

“Say it again.”

“I am not a shark,” said the lawyer.

“You will never be mean to, nor intimidate, nor bully an employee of this company.”

“I will never be mean to, nor intimidate, nor bully an employee of this company.”

“What made you feel most like a shark? What made you feel strong and powerful?”

“I felt like a shark, I felt strong and powerful, when I wore my stiletto heels.”

“Did those heels make you feel sexy, too?”

“Yes, they made me feel sexy.”

“And how did you feel a few minutes ago, when I made you take them off?”

“I felt weak and powerless,” said the lawyer.

“From now on, you will never wear high heels.”

“I will never wear high heels.”

“Before you ever come to my office, you will first go to your own office.”

“Before I ever come to your office, I will first go to my own office.”

“There, you will take off your shoes, as well as any socks, stockings, or tights you are wearing.”

“I will take off my shoes, as well as any socks, stockings, or tights I am wearing.”

“As you walk to and from my office, you will feel weak and powerless in your bare feet.”

“I will feel weak and powerless in my bare feet,” said the lawyer.

“You will feel conspicuous, as you pass by all of the employees at their desks.”

“I will feel conspicuous, as I pass by all of the employees at their desks.”

“But you won’t be able to hide.”

“I won’t be able to hide.”

“You will feel jealous of the women who wear high heels and how sexy they look in their shoes.”

“I will feel jealous of the women who wear high heels and how sexy they look in their shoes.”

“You will also feel jealous of any barefoot women in my office and how sexy they look without shoes.”

“I will feel jealous of any barefoot women in your office and how sexy they look without shoes.”

“You will feel uncomfortable wearing shoes.”

“I will feel uncomfortable shoes.”

“And how will you feel in your bare feet?”

“I will feel weak and powerless in my bare feet.”

“Well now,” said the owner. “That covers most of the changes I wanted to make. So let’s finish things up. When I’m done processing you, you will not consciously remember anything that has happened since you sat down in the chair.”

“I will not consciously remember anything that has happened since I sat down in the chair.”

“But you will act on and carry out every instruction I gave you.”

“I will act on and carry out every instruction you gave me.”

“Any time I say the phrase, ‘no longer a shark,’ you will return to the highly suggestible state of consciousness you are in now.”

“Any time you say the phrase, ‘no longer a shark,’ I will return return to the highly suggestible state of consciousness I am in now.”

“You will sleep now, as the processing completes. You will awaken when the chair is upright and the straps have retracted.”

The lawyers eyes drooped and then closed. Her breathing became light and rhythmic.

The owner tapped another button, as she walked back to her desk. On the front of the helmet, the blue light turned green, then a few seconds later went to yellow, and then to red, and finally went off. Then the chair slowly repositioned itself and its sleeping occupant.

As the owner sat down behind the desk, five loud clicks sounded, and the restraints slid away from the lawyer. A moment later, her eyes fluttered open, and she yawned.

“Excuse me, please,” she said, covering her mouth.

“So, what were you saying about R&D?”

“Oh, well, um, my original recommendation was that you should shut down all current and future projects. But, um, you didn’t like that recommendation, and I can understand why.”

“Good. Is there anything else you wanted to go over today?”

“No, ma’am,” said the lawyer.

“All right. You may go.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

The lawyer got up and walked to the door. She started to reach down to retrieve her high heels, but then she stopped, her hand trembling slightly.

“Is everything okay?” said the owner.

“Uh, yes, ma’am. Everything is fine. I thought those were mine, but they can’t be because, well, I don’t wear high heels.”

“No, you don’t, do you?”

“No, ma’am. I’ll, um, just head back to my office,” said the lawyer.

And in her bare feet, feeling meak and subservient, with no memory of why she felt that way or what had happened to her, she did just that.