It was a usual sunny day. As the sun crept in through the window frames, Brooke fought off the natural instinct to wake. It had been a week since her last class at the School of Civil Service. She was now a fully educated adult under the Women’s Republic. School had been an interesting experience for Brooke. She had made great friends with her classmates and teachers and had learned how to be active citizen. She was pleased at herself for doing so well in school, and she had received numerous telephone calls from employers looking to hire her. Some of her classmates had taken offers right after graduation. Kym had gotten in a position in municipal administration and was part of a team responsible in up keeping public parks and landmarks. Although Brooke had graduated first in her class she needed time to relax so she decided to take a few weeks and enjoy herself.

            Today was a special day however. Her own personal shrinking device had arrived at the post office and was ready for pick up. She had been looking forward to its arrival all week. She only wished she didn’t have to pick it up at 7 in the morning. It was a common joke among the women in the Republic, that despite all the changes and improvements they had made, the post office hours were still very inconvenient. Brooke rolled over and sat up in bed. Her stomach growled loudly and her thoughts returned to the final day of school and the shrunken man she had swallowed alive. He was long gone now, like he never existed but Brooke still remembered that day. She would go a few days without thinking about it but it would always return at some point or another. She remembered staring into his terrified eyes as she teased him with her mouth, completely in control of his fate. After class had been dismissed she wondered what it must have been like for him. Traveling down her throat and through her body, fully aware he had just been consumed. Since he had been bound, Brooke imaged he would drown in her stomach acids before digestion would begin but it wasn’t the case. He thrashed around inside her for a good 10 minutes before digestion began. When the process began his efforts intensified as he entered the final moments of his life. Brooke had sat there with her hand on her belly enjoying every moment of it. She felt no remorse for the man being digested alive inside her. After all, he was a man. Men had been responsible for all the problems which had plagued the previous generations. Pollution, crime, war, corruption, poverty had been the result of man’s greed and continual lust for power. Under the Republic, men had no rights or political representation. If they were not needed to reproduce the female sex, it was widely believed that men would have become extinct by this time. Justice had come, and complete submission to women was their punishment.

            Brooke rolled the sheets away and climbed into the shower. After cleaning up she threw on a sundress and went downstairs to get something to eat. She poured some cereal and sat listening to the telecast; it was another historic day for the Republic, disease had been completely eradicated and areas which had been completely deforested had returned to their natural state. Occasionally Brooke would hear a report about a male rebellion or attempted uprising. These uprisings were rare, and they were all failures. Brooke lived in the one of the cities were there was an Exhibition. An Exhibition was a small sector of a city, no more than a few blocks where men were contained. Men inside of the Exhibitions were fully grown and had not been put under the shrinking device yet. They were always watched closely by Republic security forces and whenever a revolt occurred it was dealt with swiftly. Guilty members were taken away and put under the shrinking device where they were in turn, purchased by women and their fates decided by their new owners. Although every woman had access to a shrinking device many preferred to purchase men who had already been shrunk for convenience sakes. Brooke had decided when she got her own device she would visit the Exhibition and try it out herself. Young women were encouraged to partake in this activity whether by themselves or in organized group tours. The thought of finally shrinking a man herself really excited Brooke and she had already decided she would swallow him like the first one. As if by instinct, she swallowed her last spoonful of cereal without chewing. As she began to clean up her phone rang.

“Good morning, this is Anna from the Post Office. I’m calling to you let you know your package is ready to be picked up.” The voice said.

“Oh ok, great thank you! I’m on my way down now.” Brooke replied. She quickly finished cleaning her dishes, grabbed her sunglasses and put on her heels. It was a beautiful day and she decided to walk.

            It was a bit of a long walk to the Post Office but Brooke enjoyed it. The city was alive with activity. Book shops, grocery stands and cafes were doing great business. Her time at the School of Civil Service had opened her eyes not just towards dealing with men, but things happening around her. As she walked past a nail salon she peered in and saw a group women being treated by a dozen men who were no taller than Brooke’s thumb. The women were flipping through magazines and gossiping while their tiny attendants were busy applying a new layer of polish. The flowery a few doors down had men an inch tall crawling through the plants, trimming the leaves and plucking bad pebbles from the flowers. Brooke laughed when she saw the clerk flick the men off like insects before turning and selling it to a patron. Just over a hundred years ago, the idea of a world like this would have been considered science fiction, but it was reality. It was beautiful really. Not only was every woman under the Republic stunningly beautiful, but highly intelligent and friendly. Brooke had been taught in school that for centuries, men had continually fought over their own vision of utopia, but it was women who achieved the goal.

            Brooke arrived out front of the Post Office. On a bench out front, two blonde women sat drinking coffee. As she passed, Brooke saw one of the women remove a shrunken man from a bag and without breaking conversation brought the flailing man to her mouth and swallowed him with ease. For a brief second Brooke envied the woman, but in a few minutes she would be able to shrink and swallow any man she desired. She entered the Post Office and walked up to the front desk.

“Hello, I’m here for the package for Brooke.”

“Brooke? Oh yes of course! You must be excited; you finally get your own device. Let me just grab it for you.” The woman from at the desk stood and walked into the back room. Brooke looked over the desk and saw a man strapped to a small, rectangular shaped box. He lay across it length wise with his head and feet at the longest points. He had been shrunken but not to the lowest height, but Brooke guessed that if he stood he would only reach her waistline. Like the man she swallowed in class, he too was gagged. The woman returned with Brooke’s package, walked up to the man and sat on him. The woman was not large, in fact she was probably only one size up from Brooke, but the man almost completely disappeared under her bum. His entire body, from his chin down to his ankles were completely under her weight. The woman simply crossed her legs without a care.

“He looks comfortable.” Brooke commented.

The woman was busy scanning out Brooke’s device but she laughed. “It makes it easier to get through the day. I don’t get sore from sitting all day.”

“You don’t see many of them that tall.”

“I ordered him from one of the shrinking mills. I told them I needed a new seat and they sent him to me. Their shrinking devices there are more state of the art. Just tell them the desired height and they shrink until they are exact.”

Brooke had not known about that but found it interesting.

“Ok, Brooke you’re all set, let me just give you a few pointers beforehand.”

The woman took the device out of the package and handed it to Brooke. It was light as a feather, and could fit in her pocket. It was shaped like a cylinder with an optic lens at the end. It was amazing that something so small had completely changed human society.

“It’s pretty straight forward. Point the optic end at your target and hold down the red button. It takes a few moments for it to start up. You’ll feel it get warm before it begins to work. When it does, a red laser will come out of the optic and form an outline around the man. After the outline completes the man will being to shrink. Wait for the man to shrink completely down and the device will shut off automatically. Just be sure to keep it charged. It only takes 5 minute for it to be fully charged but it can only shrink one at a time.”

Brooke nodded to show she understood. “Sounds pretty simple, is it charged right now?”

“No, you actually can’t use it until you unlock the serial number. You can do it at home from your computer and takes only a few seconds. Oh and if you misplace it, don’t worry. All devices are monitored through a chip inside so if anything suspicious comes up it will lock down.” The women said.

“That’s helpful. I guess we wouldn’t want a man to get hold of one,” said Brooke.

The woman laughed and shifted on her seat. “Exactly, that’s why security is so tight around them. Are there any other questions?”

“No I got it.”

“Great. What do you plan on doing when it’s up and running?” The woman asked.

“Going down to the Exhibition and trying it out. I just came from the School of Civil Service so I’m anxious to try it.” Brooke answered.

“Good for you!” The woman said. “What do you plan on doing with him after?”

“He’s getting swallowed. I got to eat one on the final day of class and I loved it.” Brooke responded. “Since it was our first time they were bound, but I can’t wait to try a live, wiggling one.”

The woman smiled. “I have a few friends who are crazy about eating them. But I have to admit I never got into it. The taste always bothered me.” At that, the woman stared down at the man she was sitting on. “But I suppose I could try again sometime. Maybe they’re an acquired taste.”

Brooke and the woman laughed.

“Well good luck at the Exhibition! Hope you enjoy it, have a good day!” The woman said.

“Thank you, I will.” Brooke picked up the device and walked back outside. She could barely contain her excitement. The small device in her hand was effectively her key to the world. Although by default she always had power over men, she could now directly exercise her authority on any one of her choosing. She had been trained at school and knew of all the ways to dominate the men she shrank. The thought of that gave her an extra jump in her step. She hurried home and unlocked the serial number. After the device had been charged, she made a few phone calls to her friends set up a place to meet. Brooke sat down on the couch with her device in hand, and thought of the night ahead.