Lonely Departure

 It was his own fault. Jerry knew that failure to pay alimony to support the kids would incur a legal penalty. It was just that he always had something better to spend his money on. Once he lost his job, the authorities lost patience with him. 

He was ordered to work in the Penitential Labour Corps until the kids had grown up. That meant 13 years working for nothing except his keep, with all his 'pay' going straight to his ex-wife. It was a prison sentence really, he'd be held captive on a farm, in a factory or some other work complex, with conditions dependent on the whims of his employer. No time off or holidays either, unless his Master allowed it, but even then he'd not be allowed to leave the place.

It didn't matter if he liked the job he was given, he had to do it, and his Master would have a free hand to punish him if he slacked or misbehaved in any way. Punishments could be severe, limited only by the need to keep him productive - and some Masters were not even concerned about that. They had to pay the labour fees anyway, and regarded an hour giving a worker punishment as being 'training', an investment that would make him more productive. 

His 'sentence' would begin with an induction course on Hades Island, an old isolation prison just off the coast that had been recommissioned for the work programme. There he would learn correct behaviour before being allocated to his Master. It was public knowledge that the induction was tough. It had to be because many of the men sent on the programme were thoroughly bad lots. They often believed that if they were awkward or violent enough, they'd be sent to a conventional prison. It didn't work that way, The programme kept punishing them until they conformed, and only when they were deemed 'fit' for work would their actual sentence begin.

That was why Jerry obeyed his joining instructions to the letter. A friend had driven him to the remote jetty early in the morning and left him there in his underpants. He'd imagined there might be other men to waiting to be picked up too, but there was no one else. That gave him a few minutes to himself, standing on the wooden platform, enjoying the cool autumn air on his naked body. Then the distant sound of an engine reminded him that he must take off his underpants too, before the collection boat came into sight, lest they catch him disobeying the instructions. 

He dropped them into the wire mesh basket provided to keep the jetty tidy. There were a few other garments and belongings already in there. Anything of value would be taken by scavengers. For some reason, he'd put on a brand new, going-away pair of underpants that morning, someone might want to take them. 

Finally, he turned and walked slowly to the end of the jetty and nervously waited for the approaching boat, that would transport him to a new phase of his life.