"I think they're coming!" Ted called excitedly, and I quickly put the binoculars back up to my eyes.
A light over the door leading to the backyard had come on. It wasn't quite necessary, because the sun had only just begun to set. The door opened, but despite my excellent vantage point and the strength of the lenses I was gazing through, all I could see was a blur of movement just inside the house. I looked at Ted, who was smiling wickedly as he too watched expectantly through binoculars.
We were perched in Ted's treehouse, fully hidden, seeing but unseen. We were waiting for Ted's dad and older brother Jeff to appear, and we knew that the upcoming spectacle would be worth any trouble, because Mr Cooper was going to take his son out to the garage and whip his butt good.
Jeff's overbearing conduct had at last driven his easy-going dad to this extreme. I had been in the Cooper's den playing with my good friend Ted when we heard Mr Cooper pronounce the sentence, to be carried out after supper in the backyard garage. So immediately after the meal, I followed Ted, always eager to see his arrogant big brother punished, out to the treehouse, where we would have a ringside seat for the fireworks.
Surely they would begin soon. Tom Cooper had ordered his older son to go up to his room, strip to his underwear, after which they would march straight to the back door. Yes, Ted confirmed, his father had used this method of punishment before, and he had indeed paraded Jeff through the house - in front of his mother and sister!- wearing only his underpants. Ted and I had been forced to miss this no doubt delightful (and how embarrassing for Jeff) part of the show in order to get to our balcony seat for the main feature.
"I see them!" Ted whispered. We could hear them pretty well, too.
Jeff stood in the doorway, naked except for his white cotton briefs. He seemed to be pleading with his dad, who stood behind him, unyielding.
"Take 'em off, Jeff," came Mr Cooper's voice, steady and firm.
"Dad..." Jeff begged, his usually swaggering voice aquiring a little boy's tone.
Mr Cooper jabbed a thick forefinger toward the floor, indicating that the underwear should come down.
Jeff realized, as he always did, the futility of arguing with his father. He pulled his underpants down to his ankles and stepped out of them.
Ted laughed, and I'm sure I must have smiled. Big Mister Jeff was standing there completely naked, and Ted and I were getting an eyeful of his nicely-sized _c_o_c_k_ and balls, dangling there casually, totally unprotected.
"You know what to do, Jeff," Mr Cooper prodded.
"Please, Dad - somebody might see us..." his son wailed.
"Good ! That would really be embarrassing, woudn't it? Now move!" He practically pushed Jeff all the way outside.
Mr Cooper was, as I said, a usually kind-hearted parent. I'm sure he picked this time of day to administer his son's punishment hoping that the dusk would offer at least partial concealment of Jeff's humiliating ordeal.
Ted chuckled again as his brother stood there naked, looking uneasily from side to side in the fear that someone might be watching (little did he know). He moved his hands in front of his midsection for protection, just to be sure. Mr Cooper smacked him on the butt. "Arms to your side!" he commanded, and handed his son a penknife. Jeff resigned himself to his unpleasant (but deserved) fate. He moved forward nervously, casting glances around, dreading that a neighbor might catch sight of his totally bare little self, and guess what was happening. Just the thought of that brought a blush to this macho dude's cheeks.
While his father watched from in front of the now shut door, Jeff walked over to a small tree that grew near the patio. I had barely noticed it before, it was so ordinary and harmless-looking, but Jeff obviously knew otherwise as he began cutting a switch from it.
"And make it a good one, big brother," Ted taunted softly. Jeff already knew he had better. His dad's rule was that if he didn't produce a suitable switch the first time, the second time he had to bring two.
Ted himself had experienced a switch from that tree only once, but even that single encounter had made a memorable impression on him. He said the sting was "like a whole nest of wasps attacking my butt all at once in a long straight line". And Ted knew from careful observation that Jeff shared that opinion.
Jeff's family jewels bobbed amusingly as he tried to cut a switch as fast as possible, yet still be sure his father would judge it satisfactory. Ted and I giggled at his predicament. Jeff was terribly anxious to get through this phase of his embarrassing evening, even while knowing that a worse one - the actual whipping - awaited him!
He finished his task and turned, thus treating us unknowingly with the sight of his bare butt in the last minutes of its snow-white glory. The twin cheeks receded as Jeff moved back to his dad and handed him the penknife and the switch. Mr Cooper replaced the knife in his pocket, then tapped the switch menacingly against his palm His appraisal cost Jeff some anxious moments. "Dad..." he pleaded. Mr Cooper at last grasped the switch in his left hand, and Jeff's shoulder in the right. "Well. Let's see what we can do about that uppity butt of yours!" He didn't expect a response, and led his son to the garage.
Ted and I had hoped that Mr Cooper would cooperate, and carry out his fatherly duty in a postion allowing us an unobstructed view. If not, just getting to hear Jeff's whipping would be ample entertainment. But good ole Mr Cooper, after turning on the garage light, stopped right in the doorway, where we could see everything.
"All right, let's get this over with. Bend over and grab your ankles, son."
Jeff obeyed, and boy would he be even more embarrassed if he knew he was sticking his naked butt right up toward his little brother and me.
Mr Cooper had prepared by rolling up his shirt sleeve, exposing an arm that didn't need any enhancement to deliver a wallop. He raised the switch and began.
I know I couldn't really have heard the wicked whir of the switch as it cut through the air. That must have been my over-excited imagination. But I definitely heard the sharp snap it made on reaching Jeff's bare butt.
Jeff's high-pitched yelp was equally real as he jumped up and grabbed his now striped butt cheek.
"Get back down, mister, or it'll be even worse!" Mr Cooper yelled.
Jeff's cry had subsided into a low moan, as the ferocious sting spread and sunk in. Despite his anguish, he managed to bend back over, and his dad promptly whipped the switch across his butt again.
"Yeeow!" the now humbled teenager cried out, shot up and rubbed his reddened rump. In spite of the presence of Jeff's hands, Ted and I could still the see the two vivid red stripes his father had made, one on each cheek.
"I told you to stay down!" Mr Cooper almost roared.
Jeff was hopping around, giving Ted and me glimpses of his _c_o_c_k_ and balls' involuntary antics. "Oh, Dad, I can't, I can't, it hurts so bad!" he bawled as the tears began to flow.
"You want to move, pal? I'll let you move!" Mr Cooper grabbed Jeff's left shoulder, straightening and steadying him. Then Zip! He put the switch to Jeff's butt again. Mr Cooper didn't have to propel his son forward - Jeff did it all by himself.
"Let's go, Jeff! All around the garage!" Zip! went the switch. "Eeuuohh!" went Jeff.
Mr Cooper and son began moving in a wide circle. We heard Jeff's continuous crying, interrupted by the whiz of the switch and Jeff's very loud response to it. We saw red butt alternating with lively private parts as each circuit progressed.
Ted turned to me and said joyfully, "He won't sit down for a month!" And Jeff was already grounded for six weeks! Later Ted and I would bet whether Jeff's grounding or the soreness of his butt would last longer.
We couldn't keep track of how many licks he had gotten. The stripes on his butt were already criss-crossing and blending into a complex scarlet pattern. Mr Cooper was lecturing Jeff about his bullying behaviour all the while they went round. Perhaps unintentionally, he caught the back of Jeff's thighs a couple of times with that fiendish switch, producing an unusually high-pitched reaction.
At last the expected happened - the switch broke. Mr Cooper, of course, stopped whipping, but Jeff lunged on as if he hadn't. I guess the sting in his butt was so overpowering he didn't appreciate the fact. But when his dad said, "I hope that's taught you a lesson, son," and Jeff realized that he was free to rub his butt without reproach, he did so, frantically.
Naturally Ted and I enjoyed his agonized dance. Mr Cooper waited until Jeff had calmed down before delivering his final warnings. "... and if we have to do this again, Jeff, it won't be in the dark - it'll be bright and early one morning!"
Jeff wailed.
"Oh, are you afraid someone might see you? I'll make sure they do! I'll invite all those kids you've picked on to come see me give you your whipping!"
"Ohhh..."
"And I mean just like this - with your clothes off! How does that sound, mister?"
"Waaah!"
"That's what I thought! So you better watch yourself, buddy boy!"
Ted turned to me and said we ought to get inside. Quickly but quietly we entered the house through the front door. The two of us rejoined Mrs Cooper and Karen, somehow managing to put innocent looks on our faces, as we heard Mr Cooper and Jeff coming in the rear.
Mr Cooper's customary gentleness had returned, but he was still trying to lecture for his son's benefit. "I mean what I said, son... Now, c'mon, it couldn't have hurt that much... So don't make me do it again...Look, Jeff, if you'll stop crying and promise to behave yourself, I'll reduce your grounding..."
Ted and I moved where we could see them. Jeff's face was still red from crying, but the tears had almost stopped. His humiliation was so complete at that moment that he forgot to try to cover himself, although he must have known his whole family (and I) could see him fully naked, and his bright red butt was the center of attention. Jeff began to look around for his underpants. Mr Cooper softly told him, "I'll bring them up to you later. Now up to your room, young man!" He dismissed Jeff with a slap on the butt, probably not realizing the additional pain he caused.
Jeff yelped again and ran past us. He covered his midsection with his hands as he knew he was approaching his mother and sister. This provided Ted and me with a close-up view of his well-marked butt. We tried to find patterns in the overall design, but Jeff sailed by too fast. After he had passed Mrs Cooper and Karen on the way to the stairs, he reached around and grabbed his butt. He howled in pain at the contact and yanked his hands away, but put them back as he raced up to his room. We had seen practically everything, anyway, as Ted would remind him frequently.
Mr Cooper walked behind us and clapped a friendly hand on our backs. "And what have you fellas been up to?"
It's a good thing he didn't know, and we weren't about to tell.