by Susan Thomas
She looked at my face and laughed. "Now come on Kate don't try to fool an old hand like me. You have to find all this a turn on, you just wouldn't sign up for it otherwise. You and your boyfriend will be wearing out the bedsprings later on, don't pretend different."
I could feel the heat of my blush growing worse and I had a desire to leap out of the cart and run away to hide. Aileen looked at me hard. I would have preferred she looked at the road.
"You do have a boyfriend?"
"Well sort of."
"And you do shag I take it? My God, you don't do you! Well I'm blessed, what a turn up... you're not a virgin are you?" I didn't answer just blushed even more. "You are, by heaven you are. The last eighteen-year-old virgin in England."
My internal reaction was so what! At every school I've been at there were, as far as I could see, two reasons a girl lost her virginity: one was because if she didn't the other girls would torment her; the second was boys expect it and she didn't want to lose her boyfriend. None of the ones I knew who lost their virginity actually enjoyed it. My reaction was why bother then. If the boy won't stay with you unless he gets sex then why not tell him to 'eff' off. Feminist writers decry the assumption in heterosexual relationships that men have a right to women's bodies. Well I am not a feminist and anyway what about homosexual relationships... isn't there an assumption about sexual access? However, they have a point, why should you spread your legs if you don't want to?
In the meanwhile while I was thinking about virginity Aileen was chattering on and I heard the last bit, "So Kate, after this is over you and I need a chat. I have an idea that is definitely to your advantage."
Then we were at Sir Charnock's house, yet another of the lovely properties on the island. The door was opened by a maid and we were led into a large drawing room which seemed full of people. Sir Charnock acted as if I was an honoured guest instead of a young woman there to get her bottom punished.
"Ah Kate, come in, come in. Let me introduce you to everyone."
I won't bore you with all the names but apart from Aileen and Sir Charnock there were five other gentlemen and three ladies so an audience of ten. It had a very peculiar effect on me; partly I was scared of the pain and embarrassed by all the people but also there was a strange excitement... it was magnetic and seductive all in one. That excitement drew me into the ritual and would not let me go.
Sir Charnock then conducted me to an empty spot in the room next to which was a coffee table with a cloth over it. The others all gathered in a horseshoe shape around us with Aileen right by my side doing a sort of mother hen act.
"Now then Kate, this is the second part of your correction and you are of course due three more... but three more of what exactly? I had a most enjoyable time last night considering the relative merits of the martinet, birch, cane and strap. All have their merits in the correction of ladies. For you though I have decided on the American school paddle."
There was a murmur of delight as he said this and then with a flourish he removed the cover from the coffee table to reveal the paddle. It looked like a sort of cricket bat but one you might give an infant to play with. It was flat, about sixty centimetres (two feet) long including the handle, by about 10 centimetres wide (say three inches) and when he put it in my hands to look at, it was fairly thick being about a centimetre perhaps or roughly quarter of an inch. It was beautifully made of some sort of good quality wood with a fine finish and on one side the words Chapel Island were painted. Feeling this in my hand the excitement I had felt disappeared. This was going to hurt a great deal. The welts from my caning were still slightly raised and still sore. This piece of wood was about to flatten them and heaven knows how that would feel.
"Now then Kate I want you to stand here so these ladies and gentlemen can get a good view of your correction which is such an important part of our island life. It is entirely up to you whether you lower your shorts and underwear or remove them..."
Aileen stepped forward and whispered in my ear, "Just drop them Kate."
"Then placing your legs slightly apart bend over and grip your knees."
I think the formal ritual of being caned by the Guardians was easier than this somewhat informal social occasion which made it embarrassing to pull my shorts and knickers down. It was like suddenly undressing in the bar of the Royal Opera House but I'd signed up for it so I had to do it. With my back to the guests and my hands trembling I undid my shorts and tugged them down to my ankles. Then with burning face I pulled my knickers right down and spreading my legs slightly bent over and gripped my knees.
"A little more Kate if you please," Sir Charnock used the paddle on the inside of my legs to indicate what he wanted.
I wriggled my legs a bit more apart but there was a limit as the shorts were shackling them.
"Perfect, thank you my dear. Do look at those welts ladies and gentlemen. Our Guardians certainly know their work. They must still be sore this morning, is that so Kate?"
"Yes, and it was the first time I have ever had corporal punishment."
They all laughed at this, not nastily I must say. It is just that getting your bum whacked if you are a woman is a part of island life.
"Well now for your second experience of corporal correction as we prefer to call it."
I felt the paddle rest on my bottom. It felt huge to me as if one whack, or swat would cover the whole of my bottom in one go. I was very scared at that point and my breathing grew fast and short. I felt the paddle leave my bottom and sensed this was it. I screwed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth holding my knees tightly in sheer fear.
The whack came with such force it actually lifted me off my feet a bit and made me rock forward on my toes. It was terrible. I gasped with horror at the terrible burning and I could feel my eyes fill with tears. Two more of these? I began to pant with fear.
He was taking his time. I expect the guests liked to savour my reactions and study the marks on my bottom. I tried to get my desperate panting under control but noticed the burning was changing and seemed now to be a horrible form of throbbing similar to the throbbing of the cane welts but just all over. If anything the pain was getting worse or so it seemed to me although I could no longer feel the cane welts.
Whack! The second swat thudded into my bottom again with such force it rocked me though I was a bit better prepared for this one, but the thudding blow just reignited that terrible burning only it seemed worse now. Now I just couldn't help it, the tears began to flow down my cheeks ignoring my efforts to control them.
Again he waited and I could hear murmurs from the guests but couldn't catch what they were saying, and again the burning began to ease to be replaced with a dreadful, truly dreadful throbbing sensation that seemed to go right down to the centre of my bottom. I removed one hand from my knee and quickly scrubbed tears from my eyes and like a child wiped the back of my hand across my nose.
As soon as my hand was back on my knee came the third swat. Whack! It was a tremendous blow which again rocked me up on my toes and sent my whole bottom into a screaming sting that burnt and burnt. I rocked on my knees, the tears just gushing without my having any control. It was terrible, my bottom was so sore it was beyond belief. I stayed in position because that was one thing I had read in the manual, "When receiving corporal correction a lady must stay in position at the end of her punishment until given permission to move."
"You may stand up now Kate."
I stood very slowly my bottom screaming at every movement. Aileen was by my side in a flash tending to my tears and my nose like a mum while scolding Sir Charnock as she did so.
"Charn, you are a swine if I may so. Poor Kate is only getting her second ever dose and you laid that paddle on her harder than I have ever seen you lay it."
Sir Charnock was mild. "I could object to you calling me a swine Aileen. That is not the language a lady uses to a gentleman and I could exercise my right to correct you, but I take your point, I was perhaps a little hard on Kate." He turned to me. "Kate
, I may have been a little zealous in correcting you but it is for your own good. I think you have not read the members' manual properly. As your assigned senior man I now require you to do so and in one week I shall test you. If you fail the test I shall administer my own correction, only for your own good you understand. Knowledge of the rules is vital for a lady."
The guests agreed and then Aileen helped me pull my shorts and knickers up enough to whisk me off to a bathroom where I washed my face and hands and looked at my bum. It was in a terrible state. The cane welts were now overlaid with a sort of round centre of rapidly developing bruising surround by an outer layer of angry red. I didn't need Aileen to tell me that sitting was going to be hard for several days.
Presentable again we returned to the drawing room and there we were greeted by general applause and individually by each guest who hugged and kissed me, men as well as ladies. It was like being part of a family. We were served coffee and cakes and the bizarrely social atmosphere was in sharp contrast to my throbbing bottom.
Chapter 8
Aileen wanted to take me off for a private conversation afterwards but I thought about it and decided there was work I needed to get done and my sore bottom was no excuse. In the old days if a girl or boy got corporal punishment at school they just had to get on with it afterwards so I made a date with her and then got her to drop me at home. She had not been as thoughtful as Mum and the lightly padded seat of the golf car exacerbated the soreness of my bottom horribly.
Mum was horrified at my marks though she had apparently seen a member with paddle marks so they weren't strange to her. She wanted to fuss over me but I felt I had to go to work and changed into a skirt and blouse, so she insisted on taking me to the ferry in her golf cart, cushion on seat. I made trebly sure I had my ID with me not forgetting I still had the quarterly dinner-dance to go when I would be given two more with something while stark naked in front of a crowd. The reality of all this was like having cold water poured all over my fevered fantasies.
Sitting at the desk at work was hard. My bottom was so very sore, throbbing and burning which was aggravated by every movement. I believe girls of my age can still get paddled in some American schools (though not on the bare bum of course) and I thought about them having to just carry on and the fact that they hadn't a choice as I had. It helped me ignore my bottom and get on with the work.
The week after my paddling was busy. I had quite a lot of work to do, I had a date with Claire and we went shopping together on the mainland and had a great day out; I went sailing with David and really wanted him to make love to me but he was a perfect gentleman - a good job too as it turned out; I had to help with mum's dinner party and was congratulated by all the guests at becoming a member and already getting 'corrected'. Then of course I had my date with Aileen.
We sat in her back garden at a large garden table under a shade. It was not as hot as it had been but still warm enough to want to be outside but under shade. She had home-made ginger beer and lemonade and some little biscuits, all very good. She was deadly serious though and I wondered what was wrong.
"This may embarrass you Kate but don't go or anything. I don't think this is the sort of thing your mum will want to tackle so since I am old enough to be your mum... Now are you really a virgin?"
I went red but I felt I had to act a bit more like an adult now so just said, "Yes I am though you were right, my 'corrections' made me really want to do it. If David hadn't have been such a gentleman I wouldn't be!"
"He is probably wary of shagging you now you are a member. Anyway maybe a good thing depending on your reaction to what I have to tell you. Have you heard of the V Auction?"
Well I did remember seeing it in the members' manual but hadn't got around to reading it yet.
She took a deep breath. "OK here goes. Now don't get all uppity and leave, just hear me out OK?"
"OK."
"This is a brief description straight from the manual," and she took a piece of paper and began reading it.
"The V auction is open to any girl on the island when she reaches her eighteenth birthday. A girl does not have to be a member or the relative of a member to take advantage of this island service. In order to qualify for application the girl must be a virgin. That she is virgo intacta will be verified at examination by the island doctor. That having been established and the girl interviewed to ensure her absolute willingness, the Island Council will set up a V Auction to sell her virginity to the highest bidder. Bidders will be cleared by the Island Council for financial, medical and general suitability. The Island Council will supervise the auction, preserving the anonymity of the girl and ensuring that the girl is to receive the highest possible price. Expenses will be borne solely by the winner of the bidding. The winning bid plus the cost of expenses will be placed in a client account in case the girl changes her mind. Should the girl change her mind the bidder will receive his bid back but not the money for expenses. The deflowering will take place in private at the island hotel where the safety of the girl can be ensured. The girl will receive the full value of the winning bid in any currency of her choosing."
I sat stunned at this. Aileen was suggesting I sell my virginity to the highest bidder. She sat quietly while I sat thinking. One of my teachers at a school had been very keen on feminist literature and she had encouraged me to read quite a bit. I think she'd have a cow if she knew what I was up to now! I wondered if selling my virginity was like prostitution. After all a prostitute receives money for giving sexual access to her body - what's the difference?
There is a book by a feminist professor that I have read. I know I am oversimplifying but she calls upon women to have nothing to do with marriage or even heterosexual relationships because it is tantamount to prostitution. It is a belief that goes right back to the early nineteenth-century with feminists like Mary Hays and even earlier to Mary Wollstonecraft. I have never been able to get het up over it all. I mean what is a girl supposed to do? Keep her knees together at all times? I don't see my mum as a prostitute either but she is kept by my dad and never bothered with career. They both get something out of the arrangement and it seems to me that it isn't so much prostitution as partnership. Suddenly I thought, to hell with it, why not.
"How much could I get, Aileen?"
She looked relieved, "Well the last girl got £21,000, but that was a couple of years ago. We don't get many as you can imagine."
£21K for letting a man do what most girls give away for nothing! I must be very mercenary or something, but getting that kind of money for something I might have lost for nothing on the back seat of a car with a boy seemed a very good deal. After all I have to lose it sometime. I thought of how that would let me buy a small car on my own and guarantee I could afford the membership fees while at university without dad helping me. Independence is very attractive.
I said thoughtfully, "£21,000 is a lot of money."
"Well you might easily get more. You're a lot more attractive than she was and it is a couple of years ago now."
I think Aileen was stunned when I calmly said, "OK I'll do it. How do I get started?"
"Well for a start tell your parents. They don't want to read that on the Island News and I'll start the ball rolling with the Island Council."
The interview with Mum and Dad did not go easily. They got loud and emotional but I stuck to my guns but probably didn't help when I told them bluntly how many times I might have lost my virginity. I pointed out they had never asked, and given the sexual activity among teenagers just what the hell did they think I was doing. Suddenly my dad went all quiet and calm. He sat still for a while and then looked at me.
"I get it now. This is about independence isn't it? You've never been a rebellious or troublesome girl, quite the reverse in fact and we have always felt very lucky having you. Some kids we know have been bloody awful. Now you are staking out your own place and you don't like being so dependent on me, you want to stand more on your own feet. Am I right?"
"Yes Dad, spot on."
"Well this is at least safe. I don't like it but you're right, you could easily have had an active sex life for years now or even, like that fool your cousin, have been a mother at fifteen. Stupid girl, if she was going to screw around, why didn't she use protection?"
"There was a boy involved dad. Blame him not her."
As I said a busy week. I got the forms of application for the V Auction and Aileen helped me fill them in but I have to say the Island Council was incredibly supportive. I was assigned a female staff member to be my guide throughout. I was so busy with work and social engagements I forgot all about the task of learning the members' manual that had been set me by Sir Charnock Forbes so his phone call came out of the blue.
"Ah my dear Kate, I hear good things about you in every direction. It seems you are much liked by one and all. I do hope your bottom is healing up nicely now."
It was. There were still some fading bruises and a mark where the two cane strokes had overlapped but I could now sit without discomfort/ But I didn't go into detail with him. I knew instantly what he was phoning about and my stomach did a nose dive. I had been conscientious about everything in my life except learning the members' manual. Of course Dad had made me learn the one for children of members but there was a whole lot more for a member.
"I do hope you are free this evening Kate. I do need as your senior man to test your knowledge of the manual."
I tried to stall. "Do you think I could have a couple of more days I've been quite busy?"
"Ah how very like a teenage girl! I was never blessed with girls you know. Adelaide and I only had boys but the problems are similar, homework is just never a priority I seem to remember. However, girls are so much better than boys at pleading for more time. The answer my dear Kate is no, no more time. I know you've been out sailing and shopping in the last week. Now really that is time you could have been studying. Well now is the final exam, except that if you fail you will re-sit the exam." He chuckled before continuing, "Except that you may not be able to sit of course."
