Hypnoglasses

Squinting at the sun, Arthur walked down the local boardwalk, wondering what to do. He was due to meet Cynthia here in a bit, but he had arrived much earlier than he had intended to. He wondered if he should go back home, pick up the sunglasses he’d left there, but he wasn’t sure if he had enough time. She’d be really angry if he was late again. He was still debating to himself when a voice cut through from behind him. “Hey, boy!"

Arthur turned to see a man, not much older than him, with a cardboard tray hanging from his neck. On it were 10 or so pairs of sunglasses. “Forgot your pair at home, did you?" the man asked.

"Yeah, whats it to you?" Arthur replied, trying to deflect the sales pitch.

The man looked taken aback. “Didn’t mean to insult you, man, you didn’t respond to anything else. I’m handing out these free samples. You want to try them?"

"Oh, sure I guess." Arthur took a pair. “I don’t see any logos, why you giving them out?"

"New kind of lens, supposed to let in more light while still blocking out glare. I’m supposed to ask what you think when you put ‘em on. "

The frames were kinda dorky, but the new lens sounded interesting. “Okay, let me check it out." Arthur slid them on and a wave of dizzyness swept over him. The lenses seemed to distort everything around him, and he reached up to take them off.

"You okay?" the man asked, grabbing at the arm Arthur had raised, steadying him. Arthur was about to pull his arm away to get the useless things off his face when suddenly they cleared.

"Yeah, the lenses seemed to mess everything up for a sec. You might…whoa." Arthur’s desire to remove the glasses disappeared as he saw around him. He knew that he’d been getting alot of glare from the sand and the pier, but they seemed to be gone, even though it didn’t seem to be any less bright. “Dude, these are cool. You might want to try to reduce that early dizzyness stuff, but otherwise they work really well."

The man smiled. “Thanks for the input."

"No problem," Arthur replied, and went to go find a place to wait for Cynthia. But, taking a few steps, he realized that this was the best place to wait for here. She’d pass by and he’d stop her easily. Stepping to the side of the pier, he leaned against it. Looking around, he saw the guy next to him was also wearing the sunglasses, smiling and basking with his shirt off. “So you got a pair too. I see. What do you think of ‘em?" he asked the guy.

"Oh, they’re the best." the guy replied.

"Yeah, yeah, they are. He’s really nice to give them out for free too." Arthur replied.

"Mm-hmm. He’s one of the greatest men ever."

"Oh, you know him?"

"No, not at all, just met him."

This struck Arthur as wrong, though he couldn’t seem to think of why. His brain was foggy, but a question seemed to pop out of it. “How do you know then? That hes such a good guy?"

A look of light confusion crossed the shirtless guy’s face. But it rapidly cleared as he replied. “Because… he just is."

To Arthur, it seemed to make perfect sense, although something still nagged at him from the fog in his head. “So what’s your name?" He asked to pass the time while he pondered.

"Sss…sss… I can’t seem to remember. C-something." The shirtless man replied.

This struck a chord with Arthur. “Oh, I was meeting… someone with a C name… Huh, isn’t that odd, I can’t seem to remember the name either. Maybe that was you?"

C-something just smiled, staring at the Mas- the man with the sunglasses. “It doesn’t matter, does it?"

The fog in his brain made Arthur feel happy, and all the nagging feelings he’d had earlier had faded. He smiled the same dopey smile as C-something. “You’re right, it doesn’t."

They both stood there, waiting for another 5 minutes, though neither of them had a good idea of how long it was. Then the Master walked up, taking off his cardboard tray as he did so. He put it, glasses and all, in the basket by C-somethings feet. Straightening, he turned to the two waiting men. “Report, what are your names."

Arthur couldn’t seem for the life of him to remember his name. A…A.. was all that seemed to come into his head, until his companion replied. “Slave C reporting for duty, Master."

Yes, that was his name, and he confidently reported to his Master. “Slave A reporting for duty, Master."

Master smiled. “Well, I think you two are a good haul for the day. I might be able to get another here, but someone you recognize might come along, and that would just complicate it. Follow me to my car, both of you. We’ll get you home and complete your programming. Then you’ll be permanently my empty slaves. You’d like that, wouldn’t you boys?"

"Yes master, we would." They replied in unison.

"Thought you might. Come along." The master said, and walked down the pier. The two filed behind him, lost in the hazy happiness and servitude that would be their lot for the rest of their lives.