Debbie opened her mouth.
“Not a word. And I can smell the alcohol on your breath from here, so that will be a few extra. Now prepare yourself!”
Suddenly, the fight went out of Debbie. She was no longer a feisty teenager telling the world what to do with itself. She was a frightened little girl who knew that she was going to get the thrashing of her life. She got up, a little unsteadily, and walked to the back of the sofa. She bent over and grasped the satin cushions tightly.
“Good,” said her father. “Now wait there. I won’t be a moment.”
Debbie could hear a brief exchange of conversation with her mother. She must have come in through the back door, into the kitchen. Oh God, was her brother there, too? She hated it when she knew he was listening in to her punishments. She heard the kitchen door close, and then the closet door open. The closet: repository of the clothes brush and the strap. It was like a torture chamber!
Her father came back in and closed the drawing room door. He held the heavy, brown strap in his hand. It was something of a family heirloom. Had Debbie been remotely interested in history, she might have been intrigued to know that the leather belt that was about to cause her backside so much grief had once belonged to a Boer commando who had been besieging Mafeking. Her grandfather, taking part in the historic relief of the town, had seized the belt from a protesting captive when his own Army-issue webbing had been severed by a ricocheting bullet. But Debbie knew nothing of the Boer War. If she’d ever even heard of it, she would probably have called it the Bore War, or - even more hilariously - the Bored Whore.
Returning from South Africa still in possession of the thick rawhide belt, the Colonel had later used it on the backsides of Debbie’s father and his siblings, and now in his turn her father used it on her and her brother. Actually, although her father had thrashed Michael once or twice a year when the boy was younger, he had only used it on Debbie twice, but those occasions were burned into her memory.
He stood behind her. The white miniskirt had ridden up so high that he barely had to adjust it. Out of respect for her decency, he allowed her to keep her knickers on.
“You’ll stay in place. If you get up, I’ll have to ask your mother to come in here and hold you down. I’m sure you don’t want that. You can howl as much as you like: no-one’s going to take any notice. And just to make it clear, this thrashing isn’t only about your disastrous exam results: it’s also about your abysmal attitude. Are you ready?”
Debbie was afraid she’d sob if she spoke, so she just nodded. Her father laid the strap across the crown of her bottom, raised it high, and brought it down with as much force as his strong tennis arm could muster. The stroke landed with an almighty thwack. Debbie reared and yelled, but quickly lowered herself back into position. Her father paused, letting the blazing sting percolate through every tissue in her backside. Then he swung again.
Out in the kitchen, Michael and his mother sat in a rather awkward silence, sipping mugs of tea. The sound of the thrashing taking place in the drawing room was unmistakeable.
“I feel a bit sorry for her,” said Pat at length, “but she really brought this upon herself today.”
Back on the sofa Debbie was screeching and writhing and twisting under the onslaught as the leather slapped against the frail protection of her panties. Beneath them, her bottom was turning from red to purple to blue. Her father had never thrashed either of his children as hard as this before, but then neither had ever previously merited such punishment. It seemed to go on forever, but in reality it was probably not even five minutes. Finally, her father stood back and let the strap swing beside his right leg. He was slightly out of breath.
“Right. I hope that has taught you a lesson. Now get up, compose yourself, and go to your room. We don’t want to see you again tonight. Your mother will bring you some supper later. I suggest that you use the time to reassess your attitude and get used to the idea that the next year is going to be one of hard work.”
Debbie rubbed vainly at the furnace in her backside. She cast a red-eyed glance at her father and then scuttled upstairs, closing (not slamming) her bedroom door.
***
“Where do you think you’re going?” Debbie’s mother had found her ironing her pale blue ball gown.
“Julian’s taking me to Tessa Fanshawe’s coming-out dance on Saturday. I thought I’d wear this. Can I borrow one of your necklaces?”
“You’re not going anywhere, young lady! After your behaviour on Tuesday you’re gated for the rest of the holidays. When you’ve gone to Bexhill and started studying properly and learned to behave respectfully, you may be allowed a social life again. Now put that dress away.”
“Oh, Mummy! Don’t be so mean! You can’t treat me like a child anymore!”
“I seem to remember that I treated you like a child the other day, whilst you lay on your bed, and your father treated you like a child that evening over the sofa. When you show a bit of maturity, then you can go out to grown-up events like balls. Right now, you’re staying in this house every night.”
“That’s just the stupidest thing I ever heard! How am I supposed to tell Julian that I can’t go out with him on Saturday? And what will Tess say when she sees I’m not there - I’m one of her best friends?”
“Perhaps your father or I should ring up and tell them why you’re not going.”
“Don’t you dare! Don’t even think of doing so! I’d die of shame!”
“Debbie, you’re going the right way to send me down to the closet again.”
“Go and shut yourself in it for all I care!” With that Debbie threw the iron down and stomped off to her room. This time she did slam the door.
Her mother raised her eyes to the ceiling: ‘Teenagers! Roll on September!’ she thought as she switched the off the iron and carefully folded the shimmering blue silk.
Later, when no-one was around, Debbie phoned Julian.
“Julian, awfully bad news! I have to go to a family funeral on Saturday. I won’t be able to make it to Tessa’s party.”
“Never mind, old thing. We’ll just have to get along without you. Have a nice time at the - what did you say it was? Oh, a funeral. Well I don’t suppose that’ll be much fun. Anyway, see you later, alligator!” He was already thumbing through his address book to see which of the debs might be most likely to succumb to his charms. A few minutes later he paused. ‘I say,’ he thought, ‘wasn’t she expecting a thrashing from her father? Must ask her about it sometime.’ He went through to the kitchen of his Sloane Street flat and picked up the bottle of Spanish medium white. When he reached Oddbins, he found the young manager.
“I say, old chap, would you swap this for a Bollinger. Changed my mind, or rather, changed the tottie! Ha! Ha!”
Chapter 2
Catharine
Unlike Debbie, Catharine was looking forward to starting at Bexhill. Her elder sister, Jane, had been there and had apparently enjoyed it. In her time she’d played games for the school and done creditably well in the GCE exams. She’d been made a Dormitory Captain and then a Prefect.
The sisters got on well. Catharine was sitting on Jane’s bed while her sister made herself up for a date that evening with her new boyfriend, Steve. Catharine approved of him and had been trying to wheedle out Jane just what stage the relationship had reached, but Jane was remaining frustratingly coy. Now she changed the subject.
“So, are you looking forward to going to Bexhill?”
“Oh, rather. I think it should be good. Anyway it’ll be better than having all those juniors around at South Lane.”
“But you’ll be a junior yourself when you get to Bexhill. Won’t you find that hard?”
“I don’t think so. There’ll be other new girls starting with me and the whole place sounds much more grown-up. You liked it there, didn’t you?”
“Yes, very much. The other girls were fun to be with and most of the teachers were OK. Mrs Winchester is great: you think she’s stuffy when you meet he
r, but underneath she’s fine - quite cool, actually. Lots of us wish she’d been made the Head instead of ‘Three Taps’”.
“Why’s he called ‘Three Taps’? You’re talking about Mr Masterson, aren’t you?”
“Yes, the Headmaster. Well, I hope you never find out for yourself why he’s called ‘Three Taps’. Do you really want to know?”
Catharine drew her legs up underneath her and hugged her knees.
“Go on, tell me.”
“It’s because when he beats you, he always taps your bottom three times before he gives you the first whack. One, two, three, then you know it’s coming: thwack!”
“Wow! That’s gross. I’m glad Mum and Dad don’t spank us. Were you ever thrashed at Bexhill?”
“Oh yes, several times. Most girls were in my day. I think it’s a bit better now.”
“Gosh, I never knew that you’d been beaten! What’s it like?”
“Not much fun,” Jane was applying mascara, but half turned to look at her sister. “I guess I’d better tell you how it works.” She put the make-up back and swivelled round to face Catharine.
“Only ‘Three Taps’, Mrs Winchester, and Matron can give you a thrashing, although I heard a rumour the other day that they want to allow all the teachers to use a paddle in the classroom. Anyway, they almost always give you a warning first, unless it’s something really serious, like smoking. But if you repeat the offence, then you usually get a spanking. The first time, they use a wooden hairbrush and you are allowed to keep your knickers on.”
“A hairbrush? Does it hurt?”
“Mr Masterson has a special one. It’s very heavy and we all hate it because it stings so much. It’s even called ‘Stinger’. If you’re up in front of him and he reaches for a drawer on the right hand side of his desk, get worried - that’s where he keeps Stinger!”
“How many does he give you?”
“Six usually, but sometimes as many as twelve. He’s actually allowed to give you twenty, but that’s very rare and it hardly ever happened when I was there.”
“Twelve sounds bad enough. Does he put you over his knee or what?”
“Matron does that, sometimes. ‘Three Taps’ usually makes us bend over something - maybe his desk, or a chair, or the back of the sofa. If you move, he tells you to touch your toes - that’s bad, because it stretches the skin on your bottom tighter and so the strokes hurt more.”
“Oooww! I don’t like the sound of this!” Catharine grimaced, but Jane was getting into her stride. She enjoyed occasionally winding her sister up.
“But ‘Stinger’ is only for minor offences. If it’s more serious, they use a tawse. Do you know what that is?”
“It’s a sort of strap, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s a leather strap, cut down the centre to make two tongues. They’re joined to a handle. Both Mr Masterson and Mrs Winchester have one, but his is the worst. It’s obviously old - they say that some silly ass of an old girl sent it to him. The tongues are about eighteen inches long and they sting like anything. They leave rectangular marks right across your bum. They don’t last long - only a few days, but it really hurts whilst you’re getting them and it’s always on the bare.”
“On the bare?” Catharine’s eyes were wide. “That must be so embarrassing!”
“I suppose they get used to seeing girls’ backsides and I must say I’ve always been so worried about what was about to happen that I didn’t have time to feel embarrassed. I was just focussing on trying not to get up or put my hands in the way.”
“What happens if you do?”
“Like I said, that’s when they make you touch your toes. You get a couple of extra smacks, probably with Stinger, and then they give you another one with the tawse or whatever it was. You really don’t want to move when you’re getting thrashed.”
“Golly. What else do they use? Has he got a cane?”
“Not ‘a’ cane, Cathy: both ‘Three Taps’ and Mrs Winchester have whole racks of them!”
“Good grief!”
“If you see either of them head for the cupboard in the corner of their offices, you’re probably for it. That’s where they keep their tawses and canes.”
“Did you ever get caned?”
“Yes, a couple of times. The first time was six with a junior cane. They’re quite thin and whippy. They sting a lot and leave stripes across your bottom. But the other time I got twelve with a senior. That’s much worse. They’re thicker and the strokes land with a kind of ‘thud’. For a moment you think it’s OK, then you get this searing sensation, like someone has just laid a red-hot poker across your bum. The senior leaves much more serious marks - sort of like tramlines. They can be there for a week or more and sitting down can be really uncomfortable for the first few days.”
“My God! What did you do to get the cane?”
“The first time I was cheeky to a teacher, the second time I was caught smoking.”
“I didn’t know you smoke.”
“I don’t, that’s the thing: I was really unlucky. I was just trying a cigarette for the first time. We were hiding behind the sports pavilion but ‘Faster’ Fraser, the Games Mistress, saw us. She hauled us up in front of ‘Three Taps’ and he gave me and the other two twelve with a senior, it was bloody agony. The second six hurt much, much more than the first six. But I reckon the girl who gave us the cigarettes was lucky not to get the Dragon.”
“The Dragon? What’s that?”
“Well, I’ve never actually seen it. It’s a special kind of cane. It’s longer, heavier and a bit darker in colour than a senior and it’s reputed to hurt like blazes. It’s reserved for the most serious cases. I don’t think it was ever used while I was there.”
“What else? It sounds like I’m going to a medieval dungeon!”
“Don’t worry, Cathy. If you behave and don’t do anything silly, you’ll probably never find yourself having to bend over.”
“Can anyone else spank you, apart from the Head and Deputy Head? You mentioned Matron?”
“Yes, Matron sometimes spanks us with her clothes brush or a slipper, and I know she’s got a wooden paddle too, because she used it once on a girl in my dormitory. That left the poor girl with great big purple ‘bulls-eyes’ on her bum. It looked really funny, but she howled the place down, so it must have hurt quite a bit.”
“Why did she get the paddle?”
“We’d been ragging in the dorm and she was jumping from bed to bed when Matron came in. She must have heard the noise. She gave the rest of us six with a slipper, but she thought the girl on the bed was the ring leader.”
“Ouch!” said Catharine, rubbing her backside.
“Matron has ears like a bat and she often appears if we are messing around in the dorms or the bathrooms. Then she’s quick on the draw and hands out spankings to everyone, guilty or not.”
“That sounds a bit unfair.”
“Not really. The goody-goodies who weren’t taking part deserve to get their bums smacked for being so wet. Anyway, if matron doesn’t wallop them, the Dormitory Captain probably will.”
“But the Dormitory Captains are girls, aren’t they? Are they allowed to spank people?”
“Well, it’s a sort of unofficial tradition. They can use a slipper or a plimsoll - maybe a hairbrush at the outside. They’re supposed to keep order in the dorms and if people get a bit out of control, they sometimes give them a whacking. Matron and the staff turn a blind eye - I guess they feel that it deals with the problem for them.”
“You were a Dorm Captain, weren’t you?”
“Yes, for a couple of terms.”
“Did you ever smack anyone?”
“Oh yes, a few times, when they deserved it. I had an old black tennis shoe which I used. I’d make them bend over the end of their bed, in full view of everyone, drop their pyjamas, and then I’d give them six good smacks. They’d wail a bit, but it always worked a treat.”
“Gosh. I’m glad I wasn’t there with you. Would you h
ave spanked me?”
“Of course, but longer and harder than anyone else to show that there was no favouritism!” Jane gave her sister an evil grin.
“Anything else I need to know?”
“Haven’t I frightened you enough? According to the School Handbook, they can give you the birch for really, really serious offences, but I’ve never heard of that happening. Look, don’t worry, Cath. You’ll be fine, and if you do decide to get yourself thrashed, make sure it’s by Mrs Winchester - she whacks less hard than ‘Three Taps’”.
Chapter 3
The dinner party
The two girls bending over the back of the sofa, their jeans and panties around their ankles, might not have altogether agreed with Jane’s assessment of Mrs Evelyn Winchester’s vigour. They had already received six blistering strokes of the tawse, leaving their bottoms red and burning. Now, the Deputy Head Mistress paced up and down behind her daughter, Margaret, and her friend Paula.
“How dare you help yourselves to our drinks’ cabinet? You’re both far too young to be drinking spirits.”
“Mum, we’ve left school. We’re not children any more. We just had a couple of drinks - like you and Dad have.”
“’A couple of drinks’? That gin bottle is half empty and there are four tonic bottles in the bin.”
“Well, we’re not drunk.”
Paula rather gave the lie to that statement by hiccupping loudly.
“You’re both plastered and I won’t tolerate it. You’re lucky I didn’t go to the school and fetch a cane. Now stay still.”
Margaret was on the left. She winced slightly as she sensed her mother raise the tawse again. Mrs Winchester whipped the leather thongs down hard across her daughter’s glowing cheeks. They bounced under the impact.
“Ooowww! Please Mum, that’s enough.”
“I’ll tell you when it’s enough and it’s not yet.”
BEXHILL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, Assembly Page 2
