Ignoring the glare she was giving him, he said, “Now all we need is soy sauce. I wonder where we’d find that.”
A fellow shopper who was standing next to him offered some help. “Soy sauce is in the international section, at the end of row four. I needed some last week and thought I’d never find it.”
“Thank you,” Paul said sincerely. “I appreciate your help.” The other shopper smiled and went on.
Paul turned back to Gina. “That was helpful. Let’s go.” He turned the cart and headed for aisle four, but he noticed she didn’t say a word. He found the soy sauce and headed them toward the checkout, not liking how quiet she’d gotten. He thought about saying something, a warning maybe, but was afraid it would make things worse, so he opted for silence. Maybe if he didn’t say anything, she wouldn’t, either.
He put everything out for the cashier to ring up, since she didn’t lift a finger or offer to help. The cashier was ringing up the last couple items of the lady ahead of them, when the customer stopped her, insisting the salad dressing was not that much. The cashier called someone to her register and showed them the item she was questioning. They waited while the employee went to check the item. He returned, confirming the price. The customer, however, argued. “You were looking at the price of the large size bottle. I checked the price when I picked this up. It said $3.69, not $4.99.”
The employee that had checked the price tried to reason with her. “Ma’am, some of these bottles had gotten misplaced. I saw a few of them where the new raspberry vinaigrette flavor is supposed to be, but we’re out of them right now. That is $3.69 because it’s a much smaller bottle. Perhaps you got one from there and saw that amount.”
“All I know is the price underneath it said $3.69.”
Before anyone could say anything further, Gina jumped in. “Oh, for crying out loud, lady. Here’s five bucks. Just pay the $4.99 for the freaking salad dressing and get on with it. Some of us have things we need to do today.” She laid the five-dollar bill on the counter in front of the cashier.
Everyone was quiet. The customer looked a bit embarrassed, and upset. She handed the money back to Gina. “I’ll pay for my own groceries.” She turned back to the cashier. “I’m sorry, the $4.99 is probably correct.” The cashier finished her order and the customer swiped her debit card to pay for the groceries, and left.
Paul tried to lighten the air a little, biding his time until they got to the car, where he could talk to her. He smiled at the cashier. “Good morning. It’s nice to see the sun out today.”
The cashier seemed to visibly relax and returned his greeting. They made it through their checkout process, and Paul paid for the groceries. When they were finished the cashier looked around for someone to take their groceries out. “They must all be outside helping other customers right now. One of them will be in shortly to help you out with these.”
Paul smiled and was about to say fine, when Gina sighed and muttered, “This would be a good place to open a grocery store.”
Paul told the cashier, “We’ll just take them out ourselves. It’s no problem.” He grabbed her hand with one hand and pushed the cart with the other, and out the door they went.
They got outside before she regained her senses and pulled her hand free. He let her go, and continued toward his car. She flounced up to the passenger’s seat and got inside while he loaded everything into the car. He turned to take the cart back to the store, when a lady that normally took groceries out to the cars headed toward him. “I’ll take the cart, sir. Thank you. I’m sorry we didn’t get to you sooner.”
“Thank you,” Paul said. “Not a problem, I could see you were all busy. Have a good day.”
He got in the car, but didn’t say a word. Once they were on the road headed home he looked over at her.
“You pissed?” she asked.
“I am now, yes,” he answered honestly. “What makes you think it’s okay to use that language?”
“I figured I was in deep shit anyway,” she said quietly.
Paul shook his head. “Have you ever heard the saying, two wrongs don’t make a right? Swearing just gives us one more thing to talk about when we get home.”
“If you’re going to talk to me, go ahead and talk now.”
“We’ll have a discussion when we get home.”
“So what am I in trouble for? For offering to pay for that stupid bi—”
“Don’t go there,” Paul quickly said.
“For offering to pay for that stupid lady’s salad dressing so she’d leave already?”
“Do you think I should be upset about that?”
“Do I? No, of course not. She was holding everything up. I was just trying to get her out of everyone’s way.”
“And was that a good way to do it?”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“I guess that depends on what you were trying to accomplish. If all you wanted to do was get her to move, then yes, I guess it worked. If you wanted to be polite about it, I’m sure there were other ways that would have been much more effective. Or if you were minding your manners, you could have simply done nothing and let the cashier handle it.”
“And stand there for how long?”
“Maybe another minute or two,” he answered calmly. “And since we have all afternoon with nothing special we have to do, that wouldn’t have been a problem.”
“So you would have just stood there and wasted your time until they resolved it?”
“It depends on how long it took. I would have given them another couple minutes, sure, because like I said, we didn’t have anything special we needed to do this afternoon.”
They pulled into the drive of the guesthouse as she made her next comment. “I guess if you don’t mind wasting your time. I for one have better things to do with mine.”
She started to open her door to get out, but he put a hand on her arm to stop her. “When we get the groceries put away we’re going to have a talk about this world and your place in it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll explain when the groceries are put away.” He got out of the car and started around to open her door, but she got out and flounced toward the front door. “Uh, miss, there are groceries to go inside. Come get some of them.”
She harrumphed, but went back to the car and picked up one small bag of groceries and headed for the house. He shook his head and picked up the other seven bags. Setting them on the table, he asked, “Do you know where these things go?”
“I don’t cook. How would I know?”
“Okay, then we’ll just put them anywhere in the cupboards for now. Once we start cooking we may want to move some things around.” He started emptying the bags, while she stood there, watching. He worked for a couple minutes, while she continued to do nothing but watch. “Gina, is there some specific reason you’re not helping put the groceries up?”
“I don’t know where they go.”
“Nor do I, since it’s obviously not my house, which is why I suggested we just put them anywhere for now.” She picked up a can and took it from the table to a cupboard. She did that two more times, while he emptied the bags and put most of them away. He looked over and saw her standing there, watching him. He tamped down his frustration and finished putting everything away. As soon as he was done, he firmly took her upper arm and directed her to the living room.
“Okay, time for a talk,” he announced, pulling her down beside him on the couch.
“I don’t feel like talking right now,” she said as she got back up and started to leave.
After a whirlwind of events and about two seconds later she found herself over his knees again. She was trying to get her breath when he reached underneath her to unfasten her jeans and pulled them, then her panties down. She was struggling to get off his lap, when his hand came down twice, hard. “Settle down, Gina. I told you we’re going to have a talk, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. If you don’t feel like talking right now, that’s fi
ne. I’ll do the talking, with some help from my hand.”
“No! Paul, do not spank me again. You can’t. I’m still too sore from this morning.”
“Like I told you then, when you earn a spanking you will receive one. If you’re too sore for another one already, you should have let that soreness be a reminder to you. But you have earned another one, and you will indeed receive it. I suggest you stop struggling and settle in, as we have several things to discuss again.”
“No, we do not! I didn’t really do anything wrong this time.”
“We’re obviously seeing things a little differently then, so let me mention a few things that are on my mind. First of all, when I sit you down and say we’re going to have a little talk, I’m serious about it. Do not get up and walk away from me, like you just tried to do. Do you understand?”
“But I had to. You were planning on spanking me again, and I can’t handle that.”
He kept his hand on her bare bottom, but delayed the spanking another several moments. “Gina, you need to get something through your head. The sooner you do, the easier this program will be for you. Your bottom can take a lot more than you seem to think it can. Now, I know it hurts, but that’s the idea of this program. If you have a sore bottom, you should be trying harder to avoid another one. But you need to know that no matter how sore your bottom is, you will be spanked every time you deserve one. Once you’ve earned one, you won’t talk your way out of it, but you can very easily talk your way into a more serious one. That’s what you’re working on now.”
“No. I don’t mean to.”
“That’s why I’m talking to you now instead of spanking. Let me explain this to you, and then you behave accordingly. Once you’ve earned a spanking, getting up and walking off, or smarting off to me, or swearing, like you did in the car after you’d already earned a spanking in the store, those things all add to the severity of the spanking. You’ll find that if you’re already sore, a simple spanking for one thing will be a lot easier to take than one that needs to cover several things, such as an outburst in the grocery store, followed by swearing, followed by refusing to help put groceries away, followed by trying to get up and walking off during our talk.”
“That’s not fair.”
“What isn’t?”
“You didn’t tell me that sooner.”
“That’s all common sense, using your manners type of thing. Now, we’re going to talk about each of those things, so I suggest we get started. I also suggest you keep in mind what I just said. You don’t want to make this any worse than you’ve already made it.”
He started the spanking, making it random, some short, fast strokes, with other longer, harder swats mixed in. He realized she liked to be in charge, have everything her way, even maintain control over things. Giving her a spanking in this manner would hopefully get her attention, keep her off kilter. He needed to make sure she realized she was not in charge here, no matter how hard she tried.
Her reaction was exactly as he’d hoped. She yelled, she squirmed, she cried out on the harder swats, and was completely out of control. No matter what she did to gain the upper hand, it didn’t work. He watched her reaction, and could tell she was starting to panic as she realized as much. He stopped the spanking momentarily. Keeping one hand on her bare bottom, he used the other hand to rub circles on her back, trying to calm her. “Gina, settle down. You’re okay.”
“No, I’m not,” she insisted.
“Why not?”
“Because I hate this! It hurts horribly, and I can’t—nothing—”
Still rubbing her back, he suggested, “Nothing is working to get the spanking to stop?”
That one simple question opened the floodgates, and tears poured out of her eyes. She didn’t answer, but she slumped over his knees. He was relieved. Until she got to this point, he was sure she was concentrating on nothing but fighting the spanking and everything involved with it. Now that she’d been forced to accept that this was happening and she couldn’t do a thing about it, hopefully she would hear what he was saying and he could get through to her. He softened his tone as he asked, “Is that what you were thinking?”
“Yes,” she whimpered.
“You’re right, it’s not, but realizing that now will make this a lot easier for you. To complete this program, you have to accept that concept, that I’m in charge here and you’re not. You can control what happens in the sense that you will only be in this position when you’ve earned a spanking, so if you give me no reason to spank you, you don’t have anything to worry about. But I’m running this program, not you. And right now we have a spanking to finish. Now that I have your attention, listen carefully to what I’m telling you and we’ll finish this rather quickly.”
He went on to talk about being rude in the grocery store, her lack of patience, and swearing. He touched on each one quickly, as he knew she was sore and was now hearing what he was saying. He brought the spanking to an end. He gave her a few moments to catch her breath before gently helping her up and onto his lap. She didn’t fight his arms as they circled around her, but laid her head on his chest and shoulder, still crying. He gave her a tissue, and encouraged her to feel free to cry.
When she’d calmed down and her breathing was returning to normal, he rubbed her arms. “Okay now?”
“You’d have to define okay. I’m so sore I don’t really know how to deal with it. But I also don’t know how to deal with this whole thing.”
“Let’s see if I can help you there. What you’re having trouble dealing with is the fact that you’re not in control here, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I’m not usually a control freak, but this is really hard for me.”
“Gina, I think you’re more of a control freak than you realize.”
“No, I’m really not,” she insisted.
“Well, let’s explore that a bit. I want to ask you some questions here, and think about what I’m asking. Don’t just get upset with me for asking, because remember, I’m trying to help you. Will you do that?”
She looked skeptical, but reluctantly agreed. “Okay, I’ll try not to get upset.”
“Good. When we were in the grocery line today and the lady ahead of us had a problem, why did that upset you so much?”
“Because it was a total waste of my time.”
“What were you planning to do this afternoon that was more important?”
“Nothing special, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to stand there all day.”
“I’m sure they wouldn’t have asked you to stand there all day. They have a business to run and if it would have gone on too long I’m sure they would have stepped in and moved her aside to discuss it. But what bothers me is you didn’t have anything else special to do, and were so upset. Are you saying your time is more important than the person in front of us?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Well, you kind of did. I mean, that was obviously important to her or she wouldn’t have brought it up.”
“But it was a five-dollar item. That’s why I gave her the money. For crying out loud, just take the money, pay for it, and go on.”
“What do you think that’s telling the lady in front of us?”
“Nothing. I tried to give her the money so she wouldn’t have to worry about it. I actually meant to be helping. I understand now why you said it was rude, but my thinking was to give her the money and get her out of there, so it would have been a win, win. We both would get what we want.”
“But you were basically saying her concern meant nothing to you.” He gave her a couple seconds, hoping she was thinking about his words. “Maybe you’ll understand my concern better after I ask a couple more questions.”
“Okay.”
“I noticed when we went in the store you made no effort to get a cart. I got it, that was fine, but I wondered about that a little bit, since it’s usually the lady with the cart.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a grocery store and used a cart.”<
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“Is there a reason for that? Do you dislike grocery shopping, or do you dislike using the carts?”
“Both. I don’t cook, so grocery shopping is rather useless. But the carts always seemed dirty to me. You don’t know who all’s been using them or what might be on them.” She shuddered as she said that, which told Paul a lot.
“Okay. And is there a reason you didn’t offer to help unload the groceries from the cart to the car?”
She looked lost, and he could tell she’d never even considered it. “How about taking the groceries from the car to the house; is there a reason you didn’t assist with that?”
“I did.”
He looked at her with one eyebrow raised. “Yes, you did. After you started in without any and I specifically told you to help carry them in, you came back and got one small bag, leaving the other seven larger bags for me.”
Again she looked perplexed. “Are you saying I’m in trouble for not helping?”
“No, not this time, at least. I’m simply asking if there was a reason for these things?”
She looked helpless. She raised her hands, and dropped them. She started to say something, but stopped. She kept shaking her head throughout the whole thing. Finally, she looked up at him. “I don’t know.”
“Gina, let me be blunt and ask you one more question. Do you think you’re better than most people? Notice I didn’t say better than anyone else, but do you think you’re better than most people?”
“Better in what way?”
“Whatever way you think of first. Don’t analyze the question; just give me the first answer that comes to your mind when I ask that. Do you think you’re better than most people?”
“In that case, then yes, I do. Is that wrong?”
“That depends. Why do you feel that way?”
“Well, look at me. You can tell I’m a good person, a contributing member to society. I’m certainly not a drain on society like some people are.”
“A drain on society?”
“Look at all the people who are on some kind of government assistance. They either get food stamps or help with housing or childcare, or some other kind of handout from the government. Someone has to pay for all that when they don’t support themselves, and it falls to all the rest of us. So you have to say they’re kind of draining our society.”
Gina and Paul (Last Chance Program Book 2) Page 7
