by Susan Thomas
"Erin, Erin, hello Erin. Earth calling Mars, Earth calling Mars, urgent message for Erin Bilsborrow..."
"Huh!" Erin looked up to see her aunt and uncle looking amused.
"Well I see you have returned from Mars, Erin. Are you alright to continue your long journey to work?"
Her uncle wasn't being sarcastic, just amused, and Erin blushed very deeply at her thoughts. It was a busy day and in the afternoon Erin just happened to be near the pa s department when a customer walked in. It was Mr Whittle.
"Good afternoon Erin. Is there anyone who can find a part for me?"
Erin looked around, "Only me at present. What part was it you wanted?"
He smiled patronisingly and named the part as if expecting her to say she had no idea what it was. Erin though had been soaking up knowledge like a sponge since she first arrived. "We only stock a few of those. What model is it for and I'll check to see if we have one."
A few minutes later the part was sitting on the counter and Mr Whittle was entering his pin in the card machine. He seemed reluctant to go and abruptly began to speak. "I know my sister Unity thinks I am mad and a tyrant, I expect she has told you that. I am not my father Erin, though Unity cannot see that. I am strict I know, especially with my girls. You may not agree but girls are vulnerable. Look at what happens in the big cities. There are terrible things going on with drugs, sexual activity and alcohol, I seek to protect my children from that. You think I am sure, that I wished to chastise you for some wicked motive. Not so. I have always seen your potential for good but also bad and if my son was attached to you then I needed to help you steer a course in life that would help you and him, not hinder. It has been made clear to me that it is your uncle's duty and that is true, I was wrong perhaps; but perhaps also you need more than one guiding hand. You are a strong girl and strong willed, you would have been wiser to allow me to chastise you and listen to my words as well as those of your uncle. To resist just chastisement is a sin of pride. It is better to humble yourself and accept it and thereby learn. However, what you did for Ruth was good; it was a most inappropriate match."
"Then why did you not stop it?"
"I did nothing to encourage it but he is an elder in good standing. His farm is good and Ruth would never have to scrape for money in an increasingly shaky economy. He would have been kind to her which not all men are as I am sure you know. It had to be her choice."
"Yes but you know how troubled she was yet you still spanked her hard for not listening to the sermon carefully."
"Think Erin, what did you learn from the sermon? You learnt about pride and what did Ruth tell you when she came to you? That in her pride she had badly misjudged you. It wasn't just for you that sermon. Had Ruth listened she may have found her answer. For one thing her pride made her believe she could know her duty without reference to anyone else. She was wrong. Has it occurred to you that the spanking I gave her humbled her enough to see her way forward?"
Erin took a deep breath mindful that twice she had been spanked for rudeness although many would regard both spankings as unfair and unjust. "Mr Whittle, I have no intention of being rude or disrespectful but honestly that isn't right. I took the spanking for being rude to you not because it was really needed but Josh had split from your family and I felt it was all my fault. I should have just said no to you spanking me and left. You didn't need to spank me for what I said. If you had just told me off and explained your view of what happened I would have listened. I am not some druggie girl who sleeps around as you know very well and I don't need lots of spanking to help me get things right. You can just explain you know. As for Ruth - well it was lovely she came to see me and I am so glad she did. Do you know she bawled her eyes out after she made her decision she was that het up? So where were you and her mum then? Why couldn't she talk it through with you? If that happened to me I could talk it through with Uncle Jack and Auntie Carol even if mum and dad weren't available. And another thing while I am speaking my mind. Why does Ruth have to look like she just got off the Mayflower? I don't buy expensive designer clothes at all. Most of the time I buy cheap but just make something of it. I am careful with my money I promise and I could help Ruth without breaking any banks and without turning her into some sort of fashion freak. Now I have spoken my mind but not rudely and I am at work so I am sorry but I must get on."
Mr Whittle looked sterner than ever and just turned on his heel and walked out.
"Well," Erin muttered, "I don't care how much he complains I am not taking any spanking about that. He needs a few home truths that man." She busied herself with work and was surprised when Mr Whittle walked back in again about ten minutes later.
"I have been at my prayers Erin and the Lord has spoken to me. Please will you help Ruth with her clothing and anything else to make her look more like you do?"
"Of course, love to."
"I shall tell her to call you. I shall also give her some money. Tell me if it is not enough."
Having said this he walked out.
It was at that very time that Josh was getting a right telling off from Unity. It began with her asking what his intentions were towards Erin. He replied that he was going to marry her and had told his buddy that the first time he saw her.
"Oh really! And have you told Erin that? Perhaps she might not agree?"
"Well no because I can't support her at present."
"Support her boy! Do you realise this is the twenty first century now? You support each other. Well I think you had better talk to her about this because you have everyone around you on egg shells. You two want to rip the clothes from each other all the time and you spread trouble like a muck-raker on a field. Ask her boy, and do it soon."
So Josh did and he did it in such a hesitant way and with so many side tracks Erin hadn't got a clue what he was on about and asked if he was trying to break up with her.
"No! I am asking you if you want to marry me."
Josh was left in no doubt that Erin did want to marry him and he did his best to point out all the practical difficulties, but Erin understood them and didn't want to discuss them right then. After a while she asked the question that was burning a hole in her brain.
"Josh, did you know some husbands around here spank their wives?"
"Yes, our church is full of that kind of thing."
"Does your dad..."
"I don't know and I don't want to know."
"OK fair enough, but Josh - do you want to be able to spank me when we're married?"
"No! Not my sort of thing that, besides I think you're a bit too tough to allow it don't you?"
"Well you might just want to sometimes give me a little spanking mightn't you? Not hard but just enough to show me how strong and masculine you were."
Josh looked at her for a while then said, "Do you mean like this."
He seized her, flipped her over his knee and smacked his hand down on her bottom. "Ow!" Erin squealed. His hand smacked down again, and again she gave a little girly squeal. Smack! squeal was the pattern until he had given her about twelve or so smacks and she was utterly unable to do anything about it. When he let her up she rubbed the sting out of her bottom and her eyes sparkled.
"Yes just like that, and then I would do this." She kissed him passionately and they had enormous difficulty in preventing themselves from breaking their vows of chastity.
It was Unity who handled all the negotiations. She talked with just about everyone involved with the two at some length as well as Josh and Erin. The deal finally worked out was that they would become engaged but remain as they were until Josh finished his course which was about another six months. Then Josh would go and work for his father helping him to modernise the work of the farm. Erin would continue until she had finished her college course and then work full time for her Uncle Jack. There was a small house on the edge of the Whittle farm that the two could have once married. It needed a fair bit of work but nothing a young couple couldn't cope with.
So Erin's parent
s came over and a party was arranged to celebrate their engagement. Ruth, Sarah and Abigail looked considerably better dressed than before and even Mr Whittle was gracious as he welcomed the engagement in his short speech.
Is this a happy ever after story? Only the future will tell, but every marriage has its ups and downs, and what intrigues me is whether Josh will stick to his promise not to give Erin a proper spanking.
Erin's Cousin
by Susan Thomas
Eighteen-year-old Jessica has always been somewhat jealous of her cousin, Erin, who, although the same age, seems to do everything better than her, and she eventually grows to resent her. When Erin goes to stay with relatives in the United States, Jessica keeps in touch and gets to hear that she has agreed to accept a church based behaviour contract which involves her being spanked on a regular basis for any misdemeanours. Jessica decides that this is one area where she can compete with Erin and gets her parents to agree to spank her in a similar way. It's not long before she finds herself on the receiving end of her first bare bottom spanking when her father spanks and paddles her for poor results at college. Further spankings follow and later Jessica is surprised to find that her own mother is now also subject to chastisement in much the same way as herself. As the punishments continue, she begins to find that she is becoming a better person and what's more, no longer in the shadow of her cousin.
When her cousin, Erin Bilsborrow, went to stay with her maternal aunt in the United States, Jessica was jealous. In fact she was always somewhat jealous of Erin. Erin's dad had done extremely well in business and was well off but her dad, although he had done alright, was nowhere near as well off. True they had a nice four-bedroomed detached house in a quiet cul-de-sac but compared to Erin's house with its huge garden and view over the moors, it was nothing. Jessica's dad had been a lorry driver but had quickly realised that driving was no life and had moved into training others to drive. He and a partner had a small company training HGV and PSV drivers and it did OK.
Erin was extremely clever and had been sent to an extremely expensive private school for girls. Jessica wasn't particularly clever and her dad hadn't been able to afford private school so she went to the local comprehensive which was a good school but since it wasn't as selective and couldn't push the way Erin's school could, didn't get such outstanding results.
Erin was exceptionally good at sport whereas Jessica was only mediocre - sure she made it to the school netball team but was never going to be the star player. She couldn't ride a horse at all unlike Erin or play the piano half as well or play tennis like her.
Jessica was sick to death of hearing how wonderful Erin was, especially as they were of much the same age, and indeed were only three weeks apart in age. It affected her behaviour and when she became a teenager she became rather difficult; her work was erratic and... Oh blow it I shall be blunt - she was a pain in the derriere.
So by the time Erin was storming through her "A" levels, getting grades that would make a genius green with envy, Jessica was only just coming out of her difficult phase. Her grades were clearly not going to be great and she was not going to make it to any university worth attending. After discussion, it was decided that Jessica would go to the local college which did run a few degree courses and take a degree in computer science as that was the one subject she did work at.
All this made the name of Erin Bilsborrow stink in Jessica's nostrils because she simply could not compete with her, except in one respect: she was as pretty and attractive as Erin. The silly thing was Erin seemed unaware of Jessica's jealousy; she was always friendly and cheerful with her and when they were together Jessica warmed to her cousin and simply stopped being jealous.
When Erin went to the US she asked Jessica if they could keep in regular contact via Skype and of course Jessica (warming as usual in her company) agreed. Thus it was that Jessica was in right at the beginning on Erin's decision to accept the church behaviour contract with its spanking penalties. She heard all about Erin's first spanking almost before Erin's parents. She heard all about the subsequent spankings and the frightening possibility of the strap.
At first, Jessica thought Erin was barking mad to accept all these restrictions and spankings but then she noticed the effect it was having on the wider family and friends. Everyone approved and it was "Oh that Erin is such a sensible brave girl" and "Look at Erin, she understands she needs some correction from time to time" or "That Erin, she hasn't let all her brains go to her head, she is down to earth enough to accept getting her bottom spanked sometimes."
Jessica may not have been as clever as "our Erin" but here was something she could compete with. Erin needn't get all the fuss and attention, especially as she was right over the other side of the Atlantic and she was here and now. Jessica decided she would ask her parents to initiate the same routine (paddle and strap included) as Erin had with her Aunt Nicola and Uncle Jack. She had money from her part-time job which was another 'not as good as Erin' issue as it was only in the local café, The Friendly Kitchen. She asked Erin to get one of the church publications, "Behaviour Pack: Your guide to using Godly corporal correction with an errant teenager, includes: behaviour agreement, guidance on dealing with misbehaviour, punishment guide, record keeping pack and CD Rom," plus a paddle and a strap and send them to her by post. Erin was more than a little puzzled but did as she was asked and Jessica awaited the arrival with some eagerness. At last she could be equal with her cousin.
Fortunately, Erin described what was inside the package as "personal family possessions", otherwise British customs might have taken an interest. It didn't take long before Jessica was signing for them and giving her friendly postman a big smile.
"Summat nice is it lass? Well enjoy, you're only young once."
Jessica read through everything very carefully, especially the punishment guide. That bit was rather scary to be sure but Erin had been through it so she would too. She had to read the part about standing in a corner (or against a wall) with hands on head several times because she couldn't understand what the purpose was. In the end she had to accept that the writer thought a period of penance with the results of the spanking on display to anyone in the home was of help to the girl: "...the submission to her penance will help restore the good Christian girl to a Godly state."
At the time Jessica got the pack, Erin could only get the paddle or the strap; later of course Erin's uncle allowed her to receive a spanking with just his hand. However, Jessica spotted something in the guide that evidently Erin and her aunt and uncle had not noticed. It was a single line easily lost in a welter of detailed guidance: "...the father, or other person with responsibility for the Christian girl, may wish to consider a lesser punishment by using only the hand for the spanking." Jessica made a careful note of that in drawing up the proposal for her parents.
Since her mother was an active member of a local church with a fairly traditional view of things, she thought the lines, "...the good Christian girl welcomes Godly corporal correction. Her humble submission to it is a matter for great rejoicing in the church" would go down well. She also knew her dad was pretty cheesed off with her behaviour and wanted his little girl back again so even if he had doubts he would very much like: "The smart of corporal correction will help her to repent and return to her former Christian behaviour." In any event, her trump card was that they could hardly approve of Erin getting her bottom spanked for being 'naughty', as her grandma put it, and not her.
It is true that Jessica was scared of how much it would hurt to be spanked. She knew from Erin that being spanked really did hurt, and no matter how much you might deserve it, a sore bottom is still something unpleasant; but greater still was her desire to be equal in something with her cousin. Also, and this thought developed only gradually as she read the manual, she knew she wasn't behaving or working that well and it was possible that she might actually benefit from all this. Erin certainly seemed to think there was something in it and all her new friends were spanked.
The bit that she kept coming back to over and over again with reluctance, was the bit about getting it on her bare bottom; it made uncomfortable and embarrassing reading for a girl of just eighteen: "The good Christian girl must prepare for her correction by removing clothing beneath the waistline. It is advisable that all clothing, even panties, be removed completely as they can become an encumbrance during the chastisement. It is never appropriate for her father or other person responsible for her chastisement to remove any article of clothing. She should not redress until after her period of penance in the corner is over and only with permission from her father. Some have expressed the view that baring is immodest but not the good Christian girl; she should not flinch from baring herself for her correction as this is not immodesty."
She actually spoke to Erin about it, who shrugged and said, "You get used to it; we all do." So in the end she accepted that if her parents agreed, she was in for embarrassment as well as a sore bottom. Jessica wrote out her proposal most carefully, illustrating it with highlighted quotations from the "Behaviour Pack" and from Erin herself plus (she was pleased with this) various positive reactions about Erin's situation from the family and friends here in England. She decided that after church on Sunday was a good time as her mum would be fired up with the rather strong version of Christianity held by the church. Jessica and her dad went mainly out of duty (and then she went to help with the crèche whenever she could) but even so it was an optimum time she felt, even for her dad.
When they got home, Jessica asked her mum if they could all sit down and talk before putting lunch on, as she had something serious to discuss with them. Her mum sighed immediately and her dad looked worried.
"Are you pregnant, Jessica?" Her mum is a woman who comes to the point quickly.
Jessica was delighted as it gave her the opportunity to be shocked and put them at a disadvantage, though to her parents she just looked shocked.
