At Home In Corbin's Bend

by Maggie Ryan

  “Stop worrying so much,” he told her. “We haven’t lived here long enough for the house to get dirty. The place looks great and we’re not trying to impress these people.”

  The doorbell rang and Russ let their visitors in. Debi came out to be introduced to Jason Rolson who was an older man, in his early to mid-seventies with steel gray hair and blue eyes. Russ had finally gotten around to reading the Corbin’s Bend brochures all the way through and he knew Jason was one of the developers of the community. Every time he met someone new he had all sorts of thoughts running through his head.

  Did people who were into spanking keep it up at this guy’s age? Was his wife as old as Jason and did her ass still get spanked? Was that even safe at their age?

  He suddenly realized Debi was looking at him expectantly. Apparently he’d missed some of the conversation while he was thinking about geriatric spanking.

  Debi suggested that they all sit down and asked, “Would you like to sit down here in the living room or at the table in the kitchen?”

  “Let’s go in the kitchen,” Brent suggested. “Sitting around a table makes it easier for everyone to be included in the conversation.”

  Once everyone had something to drink and Debi brought out the cheese and crackers, potato chips and dip, and a plate of cookies, Brent started talking.

  “I know from talking with you at first that you weren’t exactly sure about what made our community so unique. And I know you’ve done a little research on the internet. Not to put you on the spot, Russ, but why don’t you tell Jason what you thought when you first read the brochure.”

  Russ smiled and said, “I’m a little embarrassed how naïve we are about certain lifestyles. When I read about HoHs, I thought to myself Debi and I are partners. Neither one of us is the head of our family; we talk and make our decisions together. And I kept turning it around in my head and thinking of it as Household Head. But that wasn’t the funny part. When I read about Domestic Discipline, the first thing that popped into my head was our children are grown; we don’t have to worry about any discipline problems.”

  Jason laughed lightly and asked, “Now that you’re more familiar with Corbin’s Bend, what are your thoughts?”

  “I’m not sure,” Russ answered. “We’ve only been here a few days, but I’m pretty sure I won’t have any desire or need to discipline my wife. I still think of us as partners. We’re somewhat unique ourselves, you see. We were married when Debi was only sixteen and I was eighteen. She was pregnant and our parents all but disowned us. Anyway, we had to learn to get by and manage our money by ourselves. The best way turned out to be talking and throwing ideas out there and then figuring out which idea might be the best one. We sort of grew up together and we’ve been married just over forty years. How we do things has worked for us so far and we don’t really see a need to change it.”

  “We don’t expect you to change,” Brent said. “You must be doing something right to make your marriage work for forty years. But we do want to make sure that you will be comfortable—or at least not uncomfortable—when the subjects of domestic discipline and spankings come up. We also don’t want our residents to feel uncomfortable around you. They’ve moved here so they wouldn’t have to hide how they choose to live.”

  “I think the only time we’d have a problem is if there was something going on that was clearly abusive. We’re part of the tail end of the generation of live and let live. How people want to live is their business, not ours. We don’t want to move again; we’re determined to do our best to make this work.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Jason said. “There’s one more thing we need to cover. It’s one of the rules I’m sure you read about. Our policy is to assign each new adult resident a mentor. Even though you might not be practicing a DD or D/s lifestyle, it’ll probably be good for you to have someone to talk to when you have questions. Someone you can ask anything without worrying they’ll think you’re a freak. Brent suggested I be your mentor, Russ. And Debi, we think since you’ve already met and started a friendship with Venia, she will be your mentor.”

  Debi looked over at Russ. He shrugged.

  “I guess that’s okay,” Debi said. “I’m not sure we actually need mentors, but then again, it might be nice to have someone to talk to about things we might not understand.”

  “Good, that’s settled then,” Venia said. “I put together a very small block party for next Saturday; just the folks here on Heather Drive. I thought it would be a good way for you to meet all the neighbors on our street.”

  “Great idea, Venia,” Brent said. “I’ll make sure to stop by with Char and Kayla. It might not be a bad idea to let some of the businesses in Corbin’s Bend know.”

  “That does sound good,” Debi agreed. “We’ve been so busy getting settled we haven’t had time for anything else. J…uh…Russ will be in Denver nearly every day this coming week getting his tools and equipment ready for his mobile auto repair. We’ll look forward to a block party.”

  Russ pretended not to notice Debi’s close call with using his former name and hoped if he ignored it, the others would too.

  Venia smiled. “I need to get back home now. I promised Matt and Julie I’d babysit for them tonight so they can have a date night.”

  Debi spent Monday home alone while Russ went to Denver to see about his van. He’d be gone the whole day and Debi tried to reassure him that it was not an inconvenience for her to be without a vehicle.

  “I’ll be fine. I still have a ton of stuff that hasn’t even made it out of the store bags. If I need to get out, I’ll take a little hike into the woods behind the house or walk to the nearest market and see what they carry.”

  “No hiking in the woods alone. You might get lost. We’ll explore together one day and once you get a feel for the area, then you can try it on your own.”

  She rolled her eyes but conceded that he was right. There was plenty of time to go hiking after she learned her way around the nearby woods.

  After Russ left, she went to work on getting the kitchen more organized. It was a big job and took all morning. She made herself a quick sandwich and then headed out to walk to the market. Venia was outside tending to her flowers in the front yard and called out a hello. Debi walked across the street to say hi.

  “I was thinking of a little hike in the woods but Russ says he doesn’t want me to go alone since we don’t know the woods very well yet. So I’m stuck with walking around Spanking Loop. Maybe I’ll stop in at the market and see what they have there. Unless you want to join me for a little hike in the woods?”

  “I would like that very much. Just let me run inside and put on my walking shoes.”

  Glad she didn’t have to stick to the community streets, as they took the dirt path leading to the woods from Spanking Loop, Debi said, “Thanks for coming along with me. I don’t need anything from the market, and a walk in the woods will be much nicer.”

  “I like to take a little hike back here myself from time to time. But Russ is right, until you get to know the paths through the woods, it’s best not to go alone.”

  “Yeah, I know. But I wasn’t going to hike for very long or very far. I was thinking of going anyway, just staying within sight of the homes so I didn’t get lost.”

  Debi noticed how Venia pursed her lips and asked, “What? Why did you get that look on your face?”

  “Let me ask you a question; if you had gone alone, would you have told Russ when he gets home tonight?”

  “Probably. Unless he was tired and crabby. Then I might wait until tomorrow or just forget about it. He doesn’t have to know every move I make.”

  “Do you think he would be upset or angry?”

  “Not angry, but maybe a little upset. He’d probably just tell me it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, especially after he asked me not to do it alone.”

  Venia didn’t say anything for a few minutes and Debi wondered if she’d committed some sort of community sin by saying Russ didn’t need to know h
er every move.

  “And that would be the end of it?” Venia finally asked.

  “Yeah, why shouldn’t it be? It’s not a big deal.”

  Then Debi remembered Venia had been in DD relationship with her late husband. “What would your husband have done?”

  Venia smiled, and with no hesitation said, “I would have been soundly spanked.”

  “Really? For such a minor thing?”

  “Greg would not have seen it as a minor thing. It would have been an act of disobedience and disrespect; definitely cause for a trip over his knee.”

  After pondering that for a few seconds, all Debi could think of to say was, “Wow.” Followed shortly by, “Didn’t that piss you off?”

  “Not at all. I agreed to Greg being my head of house. Which is not to say I enjoyed being spanked when I did something he felt called for punishment.”

  “Did you ever not tell him about something that you knew would get you in trouble?”

  “I did in the beginning. But it gave me such guilt I ended up confessing and taking the consequences.”

  “Can I tell you something, Venia?”

  “Of course you can.”

  “I read quite a bit about this lifestyle when I discovered this was where we were going to relocate. Um…I was a little surprised to find myself getting aroused when I read about the spankings.”

  Venia gave a short chuckle and said, “That’s very common, Debi. Spanking can be very erotic.”

  “Russ laughed when I told him.”

  “And then what happened? Feel free to tell me to mind my own business, by the way.”

  “Nothing happened, we were in the car going to do our big shopping for everything and it ended up just forgotten about,” Debi answered. Then she said, “You have no idea how happy I am to have someone to talk to about this stuff. It’s so different from anything we’re familiar with.”

  “May I ask why you chose to move to Corbin’s Bend?”

  Russ had come up with a great answer in advance to this question that was sure to come up more than once when people realized the Hunters didn’t practice DD.

  “There were personal family issues back home and we thought it best to just move away and start completely new. New location, new surroundings, new house, new everything. We were intrigued by the idea of this community and decided to give it a try.”

  Venia nodded as she took in Debi’s explanation, then said, “As new as the idea is to you and Russ, I would suggest getting settled in your new jobs and then try to get to know the people here in Corbin’s Bend. See how happy most of them are, and listen to the women when they get together in the parks or at the pool and start talking. Then, if you find the idea of a spanking still lights a fire in you, mention it again to Russ and maybe try out a little erotic spanking.”

  “That’s pretty much what I was thinking, though it’d be something completely new to us.” Debi noticed they had walked almost in a circle and were back where they started. “We talked so much I have no idea what path we took. You’ll have to come walking with me again sometime.”

  “Glad to. I love walking in the woods.” Just as they parted, Venia took Debi’s arm and said, “I want to assure you that as your mentor, nothing you tell me will go any further. Everything we talk about is between us only.”

  “Thanks,” Debi said with a smile. “I truly appreciate that.”

  Russ spent every day that week in Denver. He took delivery on his new panel truck and then took it to a shop that specialized in outfitting vehicles for specific purposes. Once it was set up with the tools of his trade, he took it to a paint shop to have the name of the business and the phone number painted on the sides of the van. He and Debi talked about what to name the business. At first he thought Russ’s Mobile Auto Repair would be just fine. Debi disagreed; she said there were too many S’s with that. The next name was Mobile Auto Repair by Russ, but he didn’t like that. He thought it sounded too pretentious. Finally, they settled on Corbin’s Bend Mobile Auto Repair.

  “I like it, it shows a commitment to the community. And damn it, even if these people have a few kinks we’re not into, they’re damn friendly and I like everyone we’ve met so far. I don’t want to relocate again.”

  “You just like that man cave Jason showed you the other night.”

  “Damn straight. That place is a man’s dream. I’m not sure I’m supposed to tell you all about it, but they’ve got some big ass cushy leather sofas, a couple of big television screens, pool tables, and a bar.”

  He’d been surprised by the camaraderie among the men in the man cave. Some of the men watched sports, others played pool, and some sat at the bar and talked. He had felt accepted by them all even though by now everyone knew he and Debi weren’t into the same kinky stuff.

  “Hmm…I wonder if there’s something similar for the ladies. If not, I just might have to get a petition going to get something set up.”

  “You can probably just use the events room for your sewing club or quilting bee.” Russ teased.

  “Sewing club? Quilting bee? When have you ever known me to sew anything I didn’t have to?”

  Leaning over to kiss her, he said, “You know I’m just playing with you, babe.”

  “I know.” She kissed him back before asking, “How long until you can start advertising your auto repair biz?”

  “Hell, Brent and Jason have already started telling everyone about it.”

  The van was at the paint shop and the only other thing he was waiting for was a new diagnostic unit to come in.

  “Will my car still be able to fit in the garage with that big van in there? I hate to think about getting in a cold car and freezing my ass off or having to scrape ice and snow off my windshield.”

  “Yup, I measured and there’ll be plenty of room. When is your interview with the school?”

  “Monday morning I meet with the principal and then the school board. What if they don’t hire me?”

  “There’s no reason for them not to hire you.” Russ said. “You’re gorgeous, great with kids, and know what you’re talking about.”

  “Um…I don’t think they hire teachers because they’re gorgeous. And most people wouldn’t call a fifty-seven year old woman gorgeous.”

  “Well, I would. Especially when that woman is my wife and just happens to still be as gorgeous as the day I met her.”

  He loved how she giggled like a young girl when he nuzzled her neck and blew in her ear before saying, “I’ve got plans for you tonight, baby.”

  Debi had been looking forward to the block party but had still been a little nervous about it. Would these people accept her and Russ even though they were not spankers?

  The party was in full swing by noon. Venia had invited all eleven homes on Heather Drive to join them. Since Heather Drive was just off the south side of Spanking Loop, a few additional families wandered over. Jason Rolson and his wife, Rose, were there. Brent, Char, and their little girl came too.

  Several men rolled their barbecues out into the street of the cul-de-sac and took charge of grilling the hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats. The women had made numerous salads: potato, macaroni, egg, and tuna salads were featured. There were chips, dips, and plenty of beer, soda for the kids, and bottled water.

  The older children organized games for the younger kids and everyone had a wonderful time. Debi met so many people she was sure she’d never get their names straight.

  Abigail Delaney worked at her aunt’s store, Auntie Q’s Antiques. She pointed out her HoH, Harris Montgomery. He owned the car wash. Harris was helping with the grilling and didn’t have time to chit-chat with the ladies though he did manage to talk to the guys hanging around his grill.

  Corbin’s Bend veterinary, Jerry Douglas, was there with his wife, Elly. There was a story behind their relationship and Debi made a mental note to ask Venia more about it. Venia seemed to know the history of just about everyone in Corbin’s Bend.

  Matthew and Julie Renton stopped in for a qu
ick visit. He was the executive chef at Amore, a restaurant in the community. They were one of the first residents of Corbin’s Bend and lived on the other side of Spanking Loop, near the community center, but had heard about the block party and wanted to meet the newcomers.

  The list of people went on and on and pretty soon Debi gave up completely on trying to remember who was who. She couldn’t even keep straight which woman was with which man. Thank goodness the kids were playing in the grassy field at the end of Spanking Loop, she thought to herself. No way would she be able to keep straight which kid belonged to which adult.

  Yet she had to make a real effort to get to know people. She was going to be their children’s teacher. Their very first teacher outside of pre-school. It was important to make a good impression and win their trust.

  Venia came along and pulled Debi into a group of women. Julie Renton was talking and Debi heard her say, “I was in for it last night when Matt came home.”

  “Did you let your temper get the best of you again?” Debi thought it was Darla who asked.

  Julie laughed. “I sure did. I was baking chocolate chip cookies and somehow messed up the recipe. You’d think with an executive chef for a husband I’d be able to bake some cookies without too much trouble. But no, I messed up something and they came out hard as cement. I was so mad I swiped my hand across the counter and the whole tray of cookies went flying. So did everything that was in the way on the countertop.”

  “Uh oh, what broke?” Debi didn’t know the name of the woman who asked.

  “My pink piggy cookie jar and a ceramic spoon rest.” Julie laughed again before saying, “I can’t tell you how I hustled cleaning up the mess before Matt came home even though I knew I’d have to tell him about it.”

  Without thinking, Debi asked, “Why would you have to tell him?”

  Julie smiled and put her hand on Debi’s arm. “That’s right, you guys don’t do DD. I’ll explain…I have this habit of losing my temper when I get stressed out or things don’t work the way they’re supposed to. I’ve broken countless things and one of my rules is to control my temper and use the tools Matt has given me to calm down. And when you’re a DD couple, honesty is a big thing so if you break a rule you tell your HoH and accept your punishment.”