"No! Down, Matilda!" he says, giving me a slap.
Meekly, I get down on the floor, blushing hotly. Wow, had I just been imagining that I was going to get a job doing clerical work? I shake my head at that prospect. No, that's a scary thought, and I'm not even sure what that is. Men have to take care of me. I'm helpless, and I can't even go out to pee on my own. I stay silent because Daddy...which is my playful name for my husband...is mad.
"I know things worked differently at your parents' house, Matilda," my husband says, "but in my house, you follow my rules."
"Yes, Daddy," I say meekly to my husband. I wish he would take me out for my walk, though. I need to pee, and I hope he won't make me hold it longer for being naughty. Daddy once made me hold it until I peed the floor, and then he rubbed my nose in it to make sure I remembered my place.
Daddy repents this time, though, and he clips a lead to my collar, petting me on the head. "I'm sorry I raised my voice at you, Matilda," he says.
I trot eagerly ahead of him to the door, nosing at it excitedly and then looking up at him beseechingly. As he opens the door, I gleefully go out to my favorite pee place in the front yard, and I crouch my hind-legs down to pee, cars whizzing by. I then carry on along my usual route around the block.
"Besides," he continues, "I suppose that we ought to be reconsidering the place of women in society before too long. Technology, you know, it's changing. I hear there's a prototype now for a car that women will be able to operate more easily."
"Women drive cars?" I say, a little scandalized. I knit my brow. "But...but aren't they dangerous?"
My husband snorts. "Aw, Matilda. As soon as they're on the market, I'll buy you one and teach you how to use it, and you can use it to go shopping for groceries. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Well, I suppose it would be easier," I say hesitantly.
"And by next week, you won't need to need me to take you out anymore. I've got some good news! I've ordered a door with a passcode system you can use. It's the best thing since the Calvinator. It's real cutting-edge stuff.
I giggle, "But Daddy, I'd miss our walks!"
"Well, sure," he says, "but this way, we could do them for fun and leisure instead of by necessity. Even these leashes are archaic." He unclips my leash and lets me walk next to him. It wouldn't be the first time he's done this, but I still feel sort of agorophobic when he does it. My father was very traditional, and he had specifically instructed Daddy not to do this. It would encourage me to think, he had said, and women shouldn't think, in his opinion. They should obey their fathers and husbands and bear children.
Everything was changing, and I sort of wished...