by Susan Thomas
As she sat and drank the tea, the three adults tactfully avoided staring at her and continued to discuss the climbing roses Alan had found and where to plant them. It dawned on her that all three loved her in different ways and to different degrees, and that she loved them. Her mind cleared and went into a self-reflective place of calm honesty. She knew she had not been very nice or easy for some years now and surely that couldn't all have been jealousy about Erin? Even this apparently grand gesture of the behaviour contract had been calculated, and not really honest in intention. She didn't like what she found out about herself and then looked at the three adults. In spite of all her unpleasant and awkward behaviour, they all still loved her and stuck by her. A huge sense of wellbeing overwhelmed her and she felt all the tension evaporate from her body.
Perhaps they sensed a change in her or perhaps the rose conversation was simply exhausted, because they stopped talking and tentatively looked at her. Her dad asked if she was now alright.
"Yes thanks, Dad. I wasn't expecting it to be so hard and my bum is still hot and stinging, but yes it is all bearable. You obviously have a natural talent for spanking bottoms."
They all laughed, perhaps a little harder than was called for, but the three adults were now tense. After all, there was an eighteen-year-old sitting there with a freshly spanked bottom, not something that often occurred in the UK.
Her Uncle Alan couldn't help asking, "Do you regret proposing that behaviour contract?"
It was a good question and she gave a considered answer. "No I don't, but I don't think I did it for good reasons. To be honest, I was jealous of Erin and all the attention she was getting, but something has changed because of the spanking. I don't think I have been very nice. In fact I don't know where I have been really. I've felt angry for a long time, but I'm not sure what I was angry about. Now I feel different. I'm not saying I'm going to be perfect now or anything, but I feel different. As for that spanking... it was deserved for sure. I have no idea why I didn't do that prep or why I was so awkward about sessions. It's weird how different I feel now. I want to stick to the agreement, but I will be trying hard to avoid any more spankings."
Of course it didn't take long before her family were told that Jessica had been spanked. She got what she originally wanted: a great deal of praise from all of them including a long email from Erin sympathising. She did exactly as she said she would and buckled down hard at college, not only keeping up to date with everything, but even caught up with much of her holiday preparation. Her second review came back as 100% punctuality, 100% attendance and praise for her work rate.
Soon Jessica was one of a group of three girls inevitably known as The Swots, which was ironic because at school she had found such kids irritating. There was Katarzyna, known as Kat who was Polish and who had only come to Britain five years earlier. Her English was still accented and at times a little odd. Melanie, known as Mel, whose dad was the vicar of the local church and was embarrassed by it.
Jess soon noticed that Kat was always anxious to obey whatever her father had said to her, and with probing Kat told them that her dad ignored English attitudes and used a cane to enforce discipline.
"He has a whippy thing which he brought with him. It is sharp on the bottom and used if there is disobedience or rudeness."
"Does he still hit you?" Mel asked, sounding anxious.
"No, not for long time, but I make sure he doesn't by being good. He might do if I was bad, I can't tell. He doesn't think any girl grown up until she is married!"
Jessica was quite encouraged to know that there was one other girl who had to watch herself, and wasn't sure the cane wouldn't be used. She also wondered about Mel who was clearly in awe of her parents, but Mel gave nothing away at all. All three worked hard and agreed, for the time being, to avoid entanglements with the boys as they might cause trouble for the girls. Kat and Mel were clearly virgins and very inexperienced with boys. Jessica, who wasn't, decided not to tell them of her wilder days back at school.
Jessica's problem at home was that she still had many bad attitudes and habits formed in her bad days and for which her dad had made allowances. He understood her jealously of Erin because he had suffered the same with his brother, Jessica's uncle and Erin's father, though he no longer felt like that. He also understood the terrible feelings of the teenage years when hormones run amok and you don't quite know who or what you are, and are caught between childhood and adulthood. But disrespect is disrespect and Jess had signed up to be corrected for it.
The problem was Jess thought her mum was a fuss-pot around the house. She always liked to have things done well ahead of time and also things had to be done in a particular way. Loading the dishwasher was a case in point. Jess just loaded it from the front and went back but her mum insisted on loading it from the back forwards. It annoyed the life out of Jess and she was disrespectful to her mum about it.
"No, Jessica Bilsborrow, you will not speak to me like that. You know what your agreement says."
Jessica was quick to apologise, she had no desire for a repeat performance over Dad's knee, and when her dad heard about it he warned her that he didn't like her disrespecting her mum in that way.
One of Jessica's jobs was to put the washing on two days a week. She had to sort and load the washing and get it on. It was part of the agreement, and Jess who had been less than helpful for many years, found it hard to do. Again, her mum was a fusspot and made sure every slightly different instruction on clothing had its own wash. Jess wanted to batch them and there was a disagreement. This was one her father heard.
"Jessica May Bilsborrow, do you remember the agreement you signed, the very agreement you asked to have?"
"Yes, Dad I'm sorry. Sorry, mum, I'll do it your way."
"Yes, you will Jess," her mum said, sounding irritated, "and when you get your own place you can do it your way. When I visit to see my grandchildren I will make sure I follow your ways, even if they aren't as good."
Jessica would have come back at that but for her dad standing there and so a first class row was avoided, but her dad laid down the law firmly.
"Jess, you asked for this agreement and it is the same in essence as Erin has. You will not be disrespectful to your mum. You may not agree with her methods, but you will carry them out and be respectful. If there is one more incident like this you will be spanked, is that clear?"
Jessica felt about eight years old. She found her head was hanging down and she was red faced. "Sorry, yes I understand. I don't want to be spanked, I'm sorry."
At that precise moment the doorbell rang and it was Mel who lived nearby. She had no car so often went in with Jess and gave her petrol money. Mel was quick to pick up the atmosphere in the car and asked about it.
"Oh, it's my mum who fusses about ridiculous things and I was disrespectful so I just got a telling off and a warning from dad."
Mel gave her a searching look and asked, "What was the warning?"
Jessica wasn't keen on having the fact that she got spanked known outside the family who she knew were careful to keep it confidential so she responded in a vague manner. "Oh, you know, just threats."
Mel clearly wanted to know more but Jess just drove in silence for a while and Mel dropped the subject. Jess was thinking that being a girl is hard. It seemed to her that much more is expected of girls than boys, and any girl who behaved the way boys do was a slut and a slag but with boys folk just sighed and said, "Boys will be boys."
The issue about disrespect was not going away of course. Jessica simply didn't have her mum's fussy view of things. She knew her bedroom was twenty times tidier and better than many other kids she knew and especially any boy; they all seemed to live in pigsties as far as she could see. In fact, her last boyfriend's room was only ever tidied when she did it as his mum refused to go near 'The Pit'. However, to her mum, her bedroom was not up to standard. Her dad tried to moderate with some success and persuaded her mum that Jess should be given leeway in her own room. That
calmed things for a long time but it didn't last.
It all blew up one morning. Her dad was working from home in the tiny study, her mum was cleaning, and Jessica was doing some of her jobs before going in later to college. It had been Jessica's turn to load the washing and she had followed her mum's over fussy (her view) rules to the letter. So when she came up to where her mum was vacuuming the upper floor and found her tutting over "the state" of her room she became irritable.
"Mum, for heaven's sake stop fussing, will you. It is fine. It isn't dirty but just a little untidy, but it is my room."
Well that was the start and Jessica did not behave well. I know you will be shocked but she was fed up with her mum's over-fussy standards and let rip. Well, she was only just eighteen, so think back to that age and tell me you were the model of calm reasonableness if you dare.
Unfortunately, it could all be heard by her dad and his voice cut in from downstairs. "Jessica May Bilsborrow, fetch the paddle from your bedroom and come down here immediately."
Jessica suddenly felt sick. She knew from Erin how painful and unpleasant it was to be spanked with the paddle and this was it. She had been warned twice and there was no escape. She thought quickly and worked out that Mel was not due for an hour so there was time to get spanked and pull herself together a bit before she arrived. Her mum looked cross so there was no hope of intervention from her, and Jess reluctantly took the paddle off the wall and went downstairs nervously. As she went she felt its smooth polished wood and hefted it in her hand; she had already felts its sting on her bare bottom and hated it and that was just six smacks. This would be much worse.
Her father was standing in the hall, and as she came down the stairs he pointed to the door leading to the breakfast area of the kitchen. She handed him the paddle and walked down the corridor feeling dreadful; there was no escaping the spanking to come and it was going to hurt. She got to the room and decided there was no point in waiting to be told what to do, so she just began to undress. The weather was unseasonably mild, though it was now into October, so she had chosen a shortish denim skirt (not short enough to break the modesty clause of her agreement), sandals and a simple white top. It looked OK without being fussy. She undid the button at the front, unzipped it and slid it down her legs and stepped out. This time she folded it and put it on a chair. Then she took off her sandals, and even as she began doing that, her parents entered and stood watching her. She found it embarrassing to be watched as she undressed.
Now was the difficult bit which Erin had told her she would get used to. Turning her back on her dad she pulled her knickers down and stepped out of them. It was turning and facing him without using her hands to cover herself that she found hard. It was stupid because she didn't think he'd mind if she did, but Erin and her friends didn't and she didn't want to be less brave than them.
"Do you know why you are being spanked, Jessica?"
"I suppose so."
Even to her own ears it sounded rather truculent and so it must have done to her dad because he suddenly grabbed her arm, spun her round, and smacked her bare bottom hard three times. She yelped and tried pulling away from the smacks but they all landed firmly, mainly on her right cheek.
"I'll ask again and perhaps this time I'll get a better answer. Do you know why you are being spanked, Jessica?"
Her bottom already stinging, she was quick to answer properly. "Yes I do. I was disrespectful to mum. The trouble is we don't agree and – she thinks my room is not tidy enough and I disagree."
"I heard you disagreeing but it could be done without all that attitude. In any event your mum sets the standards in the house and you either accept that or leave. I don't get the impression you want to actually leave home at present. Do you, Jessica?"
"No, Dad."
"Were you warned?"
"Yes, Dad."
"Then let's get on with it."
As he placed her over his knees she felt ridiculously young - not eighteen but eight, a silly, little girl who had upset her mummy, not a grown up. Then - smack - the sharp bite of the paddle, when it came, made her cry out with shock at just how much it hurt. The sting was intense and deep, no wonder Erin hated getting it.
From the very first smack, her dad made no effort to spare her. She jerked and cried out and danced across his lap as he rained down the hardest smacks he could with the paddle.
"Dad, Dad, DADDY," she screamed. "It's too hard, I can't take it Ah, AH, No, please."
When Jess had almost managed to throw herself off his lap and away from the burning sting of the paddle, he changed position: her right arm pulled across her back and held firmly in position while his right leg crossed over both of hers and locked them in.
He rained down more smacks, making her bottom dance with each one. Poor Jessica, she screamed and cried and babbled apologies but the spanking continued while her mum was stunned at how fast Jessica's bottom had turned red as it rippled and rippled under the blistering attack of the paddle.
Her mum didn't mind Jess getting spanked, but this looked horribly hard and she wished she hadn't been in to hear the row.
Her dad had no idea how many times he brought the paddle down on her bottom as it was hard to keep track, but the minute hand told him that he had spanked enough according to The Behaviour Pack. When he helped her stand, the tears were running down her red and blotchy face, her nose was running and her hair was completely awry. Jessica turned and threw herself at her father.
"Oh, Daddy, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be disrespectful, honestly I didn't."
Her parents calmed her down, dried her tears and blew her nose as if she really was eight, and not just feeling like it, but then it was the corner for her. Jessica could not believe how much her bottom hurt; it burnt deep down and throbbed and stung. She thought about that expression "the smart of corporal correction" and decided that whoever wrote that was an idiot, it wasn't a smart, it was far worse than that and her respect for Erin went up greatly. She stood in the corner wriggling with the "smart" of her bottom and heard the doorbell go. It didn't bother her as it was about the right time for the postman but then she heard Mel's voice.
Later, her mum admitted that she hadn't handled the surprise early appearance of Mel very well - in fact she panicked. She was so taken aback that she dithered totally and Mel didn't know what to make of it. She meant to show Mel into the living room but actually said, "Follow me," and walked past the living room, past the dining room and straight into the breakfast room. She realised what she had done and tried to turn Mel back but it was too late. Mel had a close up view of her friend standing in the corner, hands on head and nothing on below a white top, with a bottom that was clearly well-spanked. It was red all over down to the tops of her thighs but the centre of each cheek was dark, angry storm red and threatening to bruise.
"Oh, you shouldn't be in here. Quick, go back."
Jessica's father sighed and intervened. "It's a bit late for that. Sit down, Mel. Now I want your promise that you will not talk about this with anyone else. I want that solemn assurance before I explain."
Mel looked frightened as if she too was about to be spanked, but she said in a little voice, "I promise. Jess is my friend and I won't tell anyone else."
Mel had the whole saga explained to her as if Jessica wasn't there but of course she was and squirming with colossal embarrassment. She had started crying again not because her bottom was hurting now but at the utter humiliation of having a college friend see her like this.
Mel seemed to understand. "My father would be very displeased with me if I argued with my mum. It's very difficult sometimes, Mrs Bilsborrow, we are eighteen and want some independence which really we don't have yet, not without making a mess of everything. Our rooms are really the only real place where we can control anything."
Jess's mum listened carefully to that and Jess herself felt Mel was on her side. When her time in the corner was up, it was Mel who took her up to her room, explaining the problem at home
that had led to her arriving early. Mel seemed in charge and simply told Jess to lie face down on the bed while she went and commandeered a towel, made it wet with cold water and laid it on Jess's bottom to cool it off somewhat.
"Have you done a first aid course or something?"
"I have, but they don't teach how to deal with a well-spanked bottom at the St John's; this is experience."
"Huh?"
"My older sister and I get our dad's belt and we get it quite a lot to be honest. He thinks girls are very 'flighty' and need strict handling."
"Are you winding me up?"
Mel didn't answer but simply pulled her leggings and knickers down a bit, turned round and showed Jess her bottom. There were about a dozen red marks that ran across both cheeks, but more on the right than the left - in fact on the right they carried on and wrapped right over the hip. They were about an inch and half (or four centimetres) wide and very red in contrast to the gentle whitish pink of her skin. They looked as if they had calmed down and might have been angrier at one stage.
"My sister did for me what I am doing for you. We always do that, it helps ease things and also keeps the swelling down. You're lucky you have an agreement on what you can get spanked for. With my father, it all depends on his mood. That's why I came away. He is cross with my mum right now and it's best that I leave them to it. My sister was already out."
Jessica felt humbled. She had at least had a choice about her spankings. She and Mel went off to college deep in discussion about their situation, leaving Jess's parents alone.
Jess's dad sat at the kitchen table and looked at his wife unhappily; he was not pleased with her at all. It seemed to him that she was overly fussy and that Mel was right, unless Jess left her room an absolute pigsty (which she didn't), then she should just stay out. He was also upset that Mel had been brought down into the breakfast room to see Jessica in the state she was.