Disciplining Little Josey

by Laveaux, Serafine

  Their first stop appeared to be a children’s clothing store, and she recognized the name immediately. Richard had bought her play clothes on more than one occasion, and the name on the front window was the same as the one on the clothing bags. It didn’t take her long to pick out several outfits, and her enthusiasm seemed to mollify Richard, who had been getting a bit testy by the time her hair was finally finished.

  The next stop was for adult clothes, and Josey’s sulk returned almost immediately at the sight of the grown up store. She enjoyed her baby girl time immensely and resented the thought of having to act like an adult, even for as long as it would take to pick out new work clothing.

  Richard ordered her straight to the dressing room, while he and the salesgirl went from rack to rack, pulling blouses and skirts and scarfs and bags. By the time they returned, their arms were loaded, and Josey groaned at the thought of having to try on so many outfits. Again and again she would change, come out to parade before Richard and the salesgirl while they discussed whether or not it was right for her, then back in the stall to try on yet another outfit. When she finally returned to the stall in the last outfit they’d selected, she breathed a sigh of relief and quickly put her old dress back on.

  When she came back out, she nearly ran smack into the salesgirl with yet another armload of clothing.

  Josey had complied enough. They’d already set aside five outfits, and that was plenty to get her through the week. Ignoring her protest, the woman swerved around her and quickly hung the outfits up inside the stall.

  “Richard, please, I’m tired of trying on clothes,” she whined. “I wanna go to a movie. Trying on clothes sucks!” Even as the words left her mouth, she knew it was a mistake, and the look on his face made her wish she could suck them all back. Before she could stutter out an apology he had her by the arm and was dragging her through the store, past the gawking salesgirls and shoppers, straight to the parking lot and the black Audi.

  “I will not have you acting like a whiny brat in public, Josey,” he said angrily as he quickly bent her over the front of the car. “I indulge you a lot, but that doesn’t give you permission to be rude and disrespectful.” As his firm palm began to rain fire down upon her bottom she clenched her teeth and tried to hold her breath. Bad enough there were people in the lot who could easily see her being spanked; she wasn’t about to let them hear her yelling and wailing. At least he didn’t pull my dress up this time. The extra material provided scant protection, however, and by the sixth swat she was yelping and hollering despite her determination not to.

  When he stood her back up, she rubbed her bottom and hobbled to the passenger side, clearly thinking the day was over. “We’re not going home,” he chuckled, catching her by the arm as she passed and leading her back to the store. Wide eyes were all around them in the parking lot, and he knew she was burning up with humiliation at the thought of having to face the salesgirl after what had just happened. Right about then he’d have laid good odds that her face was redder than her backside, and as they entered the store, he felt her move in closer to him, as if trying to hide from the curious stares of the shoppers and clerks.

  “She’s ready to try on the rest of the outfits now,” he calmly told the wide-eyed salesgirl when they returned to the dressing rooms. The clerk nodded and quickly guided Josey back into the dressing room. He couldn’t decide if the look she kept throwing his way was one of disgust or intrigue, but found he didn’t care either way. Truthfully, he rather enjoyed spanking her in public, and suspected more than a few of the spectators enjoyed watching as well.

  Now he was content to watch as she obediently tried on every outfit brought to her dressing room. To test her patience, he even sent over a half dozen he knew he wouldn’t like just to add to her misery. He understood she didn’t enjoy trying on work clothes, but he’d be damned if he was going to take any attitude from her over it, and there were still two more stores he wanted to take her to that afternoon. My spoiled, sulky baby girl, he thought with a wry grin. Why do you test me like that? You knew what would happen. He knew she would have preferred to stay at Mr. Green’s facility, playing in the toy room or watching a movie with him. Maybe spend a little time in position in the punishment room even, though she’d never admit to it. However, he’d already planned a special trip for her after shopping, something he knew would take her breath away, and he wasn’t about to cancel it over one little outburst.

  Josey had been sure Richard would take her back to Mr. Green’s place after they finished shopping, but instead he turned the Audi north onto the highway that led out of town. He had a special surprise for her, he’d said, but he wouldn’t even hint at what it was. Just before they cleared the edge of town, he pulled into a gas station and handed her one of the bags from the first store and told her to go to the bathroom and change and then come right back.

  In the bathroom she looked in the bag and found the red corduroy pants with the white t-shirt that had a heart made from the same material as the pants stitched to the front. There were also two red hair ribbons, and the red sneakers they’d bought to match in the bag. She’d assumed they were for playtime at Mr. Green’s. He wants me to wear this in public? For the first time, her trust in him wavered. She loved the outfit, and in the mirror at the store she had been amazed at how utterly young she looked in it, but if she wore it out in the real world… If people laughed and made fun, she wasn’t sure she could keep from crying.

  Back in the car, she leaned against the window and watched as the city began to thin, then fall behind them, and the road started to wind and climb away from the flat, boring landscape of the city she lived in to the forested hills of the mountains that lay beyond. She’d brought her favorite bunny along and now hugged it tightly as the towering trees began to fill the sides of the road around them until nothing beyond was visible. Excitement began to build inside as she tried to imagine where he could possibly be taking her. A picnic perhaps, or maybe camping or horseback riding. As the car turned onto a narrow dirt road, they came upon a clearing, and Josey’s mouth fell open as she saw a huge playground come into view just ahead. He pulled to a stop at the edge and got out, coming around to her side to open the door for her.

  “Come on, Josey, I can’t wait for you to see this,” he urged, holding his hand out as she stared with a mixture of giddy excitement and uneasy trepidation. The playground beckoned with colorful slides and swings, but there were people on them, and for a moment she wanted to pull the door shut and hide.

  Then she looked again and realized the other people on the swings were dressed like her. There were pigtails and frilly dresses and sneakers with Barbie on them, and as she gaped up at Richard, she finally understood what was so special about where he’d taken her. In awe, she took his hand and silently followed him to the playground.

  “You can make friends here, Josey,” he told her as he nudged her towards the slide where a dark-haired woman in a yellow sundress shyly waved to her. “This is a very special, safe place for daddies and their baby girls.”

  The dark-haired woman’s name was Amy. Josey liked her immediately, and they quickly grabbed hands and ran about the playground inspecting the slides and swings and climbable forts. To their delight, they discovered a wading pool at one end, and immediately pulled their shoes and socks off and jumped in. In what she thought of as her “real life”, Josey couldn’t remember how many times she’d stared longingly at parks and playgrounds, too ashamed to enjoy them for fear of people looking strangely at her.

  “What’s your daddy like?” Amy asked somewhat timidly as they sat on the edge of the wading pool and splashed their feet at each other.

  “He’s really nice,” Josey answered. “Scary at first though.”

  “Mine too,” Amy confided. “But I’m not scared anymore, of anything, not like I used to be anyway.”

  Josey watched as all around her, grown adults ran and screamed and played like children. Six months ago she would have laughed if anyone h
ad told her about this place, but suddenly it just seemed normal.

  “I just wish it could always be like this,” she said wistfully. “Like I could always be little again.”

  Richard watched from the side as Josey and her new friend giggled and held hands and explored the playground. He’d wanted to bring her to the park for a while now, eager to see how she would react with others like her. Mr. Green had assured him that Josey was essentially a child trapped in a woman’s body, but until now, he’d never been completely sure. Watching her now, he wondered how he could have ever doubted it. He’d never seen her smile so big nor laugh so hard, and for a moment his vision swam, and he had to blink and look elsewhere before he embarrassed himself.

  For four hours he watched from the sidelines as his baby girl had the time of her life. There were others standing around he could have talked to, but he was too entranced at the sight of Josey with her guard completely down. The sun was going down when he finally called for her, and even then he hated to make her leave. The park had lights for nighttime, but it had been a long day, and he knew she would be worn out when she finally settled down.

  At first she balked at leaving, begging and pleading to stay just a little longer, until finally he asked if she wanted him to pull her britches down and blister her bottom in front of her new friends. Part of him hoped she’d keep whining. A nice bare bottomed paddling in front of people who understood sounded like the perfect way to end the evening, but for once she yielded and obeyed, clearly more tired than she cared to let on.

  Her mood on the way home was pensive and moody, and he caught himself stealing glances at her as they drove through the trees. At first he thought she was just tired, but after a while he realized something was clearly wrong.

  “What’s wrong, baby girl? Aren’t you happy?”

  She pouted and looked up at him sadly. “Yes, but…” He could see she was struggling to keep her emotions under control. “It’s hard being so happy on the weekends and then going back to real life during the week. Seeing all those people today… I just wish every day could be like this.”

  He took her hand and held it tight as they drove through the endless trees.

  Josey tried to count the trees that flew by, but the light was fading fast and the trees hurried by too quickly anyway. Richard’s surprise had been the best ever, and now she had a new friend who understood. They’d written their phone numbers down on each other’s hands and swore to call each other later that night. Who knew there were so many like me?

  “Josey would you like to come live with me?” Richard blurted out beside her. She stared at him in disbelief, unsure she’d heard him correctly until he went on.

  “Because I’d like for you to. No more of this meeting at Mr. Green’s place, or daily emails and phone calls. You could come live with me, stay at the ranch, or travel with me if you like.”

  Josey was speechless. She’d daydreamed of living with him, being his girlfriend, maybe his wife even, almost since they’d first met, but she never really thought it could happen. In the months they’d known each other, she’d never once seen where he lived, nor had he ever been to her apartment. Mr. Green’s place had been their place, and they’d never talked of venturing elsewhere.

  She wondered if Mr. Green would even approve, but when she mentioned it, Richard just laughed.

  “He’d be the first to send us a housewarming gift,” he assured her. “We’d be further proof that he’s good at his job.” His grip tightened, and he glanced at her to make sure she was paying attention. “Come on, whaddya say, kid?” he asked, his tone serious now. “Move in with me. I’ll take care of you. I’ll be your Richard and your daddy, and you can be however old or young you like.”

  With a squeal of delight, she jumped across the seat and flung her arms around him, burying her face against his warm neck as he laughed and hugged her with one arm. I owe you one, Mr. McDonnell. Until now she had believed her boss had sent her to Mr. Green because he saw all her failures, but now she knew he’d looked past all that to see the little girl hiding deep inside. Thanks to him she’d become one of Mr. Green’s girls, and her future had never looked better.

  * * *

  Abby took a slow drag off her cigarette as she watched a group of teenagers practice heel flips and rail slides and being cool at the skateboard park. It seemed like just yesterday when she was the one doing darkside grinds and laser flips and hanging with the skater boys, and she could probably still ollie circles around them, but at thirty-two-years-old they would just think she was weird or a sex pest or something. Probably do anyway, she mused as she pulled her legs up to sit cross-legged on the bench. It was a cruel cosmic joke that had forced her to grow up but left her feeling not a day over fifteen, and she wondered if it was that way for everyone.

  Judging from the twenty-going-on-forty-year-olds she worked with, she doubted it.

  From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a slender blonde girl wearing ponytails watching her from beside one of the mobile ice cream vendors. In one hand she clung to a brown stuffed bunny, in the other an ice cream cone. Beside her stood a tall, attractive cowboy type that Abby assumed was her father. Apparently realizing she was being watched back, the little girl turned to the man beside her and tugged on his sleeve, whispering in his ear when he finally leaned over. He glanced briefly at Abby, then ordered another ice cream cone.

  The next thing she knew, the girl was skipping towards her, ice cream in each hand and the giant stuffed bunny tucked tightly under her arm. As the girl came to a stop beside her, Abby was stunned to realize that what she had assumed to be a ten or twelve-year-old was actually a grown woman of at least twenty, perhaps more.

  “I like your eyeliner,” she said with a giggle, holding out an ice cream cone to Abby.

  “Thanks,” Abby said, uncertain how to react as she accepted the cone. “Um, I like your bunny.”

  “I’m Josey,” she said with a grin, and Abby found herself grinning back in spite of the utter weirdness of the whole encounter.

  “I’m Abby.”

  “You’re not a teenager,” the bunny toting woman observed, and immediately Abby tensed.

  “And you’re not ten,” she retorted.

  She watched as the woman licked the ice cream from her fingers and then reached into her pocket, pulling out a business card and handing it over. Accepting it hesitantly, Abby flipped it over and read the front.

  Mr. Green

  “Who the hell is Mr. Green?”

  The little blonde giggled and covered her mouth, and Abby was struck by how utterly innocent and childlike she seemed. “Someone you should call, silly!” she giggled as she started to turn away. “I promise you won’t be sorry!”

  Abby watched as the strange woman galloped away to rejoin the man she’d thought was her father but now realized must be a boyfriend or husband. With wonder she watched as he grinned and ruffled her hair indulgently, then took her hand and led her towards the movie theater across the street. Flipping the card over, she saw a number on the back, worn and thin and carefully re-written in indigo crayon.

  “Why the hell not?” she muttered to no one as she pulled out her phone and began to dial.

  The End

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  Table of Contents

  An Odd Appointment

  Meeting Daddy

  A Disobedient Nibble

  The Trouble with Lies

  Rewards of Obedience