It was with great relief that the parents and their son heard the judge's proposal. He told the 16-year-old boy that he could volunteer to go to a special school rather than be sent to jail. James had been caught driving a stolen car. It was his first offense, and this Oklahoma judge had a reputation for leniency. James, of course, immediately volunteered for the school. Anything was better than time in one of Oklahoma's juvenile detention centers.
As the judge explained, the special school was not a place for hardened criminals but an education center for the rehabilitation of delinquent boys. Students there were given remedial training and a good education under the guidance of trained personnel. They would have daily classes and be assigned various jobs to give them a sense of responsibility. It was a new facility, an experimental facility, one that the judge himself had never visited but that he had confidence would correct any boy's behavior before it became criminalized.
The school was in another county, and James would stay at the school until his conduct had so improved that he merited release, or until he completed his high school studies. His mother and father could see him once a month on visitors days. Thus, after the commitment papers were signed, James was driven away in the sheriff's car.
It took about an hour to reach the gate of the large estate on which the school was located. The property had formerly belonged to someone who became rich during the Oklahoma oil boom. The property contained a large residence building, surrounded by a high stone wall. The once well-managed lawn and gardens were now used to grow food crops. The fields were tended by the students at the school.
Two guards at the gate (they were addressed as instructors by the driver of the car) took charge of James after he was deposited there. They ushered him into a small room that had once been the gate house. Here they sat on the only two seats in the room. James, a tall gangly youth, had to stand. He nervously looked at the two men, wondering what would happen next. His hair needed combing and the back of his shirt tail was hanging out of his trousers.
"The first thing we need to get straight," the shorter of the two instructors said while the other examined the commitment papers that the officer in the car had given them, "is the rules at this school."
James nodded, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He hoped this would not take long. It was past his lunch time and he was getting hungry. Also he wished he could sit down.
"You are here to study and learn, not to have a good time. So there will be no TV and no one is allowed to have a radio or record player. If you want to follow the news, you can look at the daily paper in the library. Also no smoking or chewing gum."
James frowned, but said nothing.
"You will attend classes every day except Sunday. You will also be assigned various types of work from washing the dishes to weeding the garden. The assignments are given out each morning by the room captains. Wake-up is at 6 a.m., breakfast at 7, and classes begin at 8. Lunch is at 12. There are two work hours each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon."
James wanted to ask if he would be getting any lunch, as it was now somewhat after 12, but held back not sure what reaction he would get.
The instructor continued: "Supper is at 6 p.m. and lights out at 9. No student leaves the school without written permission from the principal, and then only to go to the hospital or to a family funeral. Everyone gets a haircut once a month, and you will get your first one as soon as we are through here. Your hair is far too long."
James reached up to feel his hair. How short could they cut it, he wondered. He was sure it was no longer than that of other kids his age, at least the ones he knew at his regular school.
"And everyone here wears the same kind of clothes, sort of a uniform you might say. After you take your shower, we will bring you replacements for the ones you have on. They are to be kept neat and clean at all times. Your shoes are to polished every day, just like in the army."
James certainly didn't like the sound of that last phrase. He had volunteered for school, not the military.
"All the instructors and other adults are to be addressed as 'sir'. When you are asked a question, you will answer 'yes or no, sir.' When you ask a question, you will say, 'sir, may I do this or that, sir.' Is that understood?"
James nodded. The expression on his face showed his clear distaste for this last rule.
"What do you say?" the instructor almost shouted at him.
Reluctantly James replied in a quiet voice, "Yes, sir." This was going to take some getting used to.
"Louder," demanded the instructor.
James shook nervously and moved his weight to the other foot. "Yes, sir," he said in a much louder voice.
"That's better," the instructor said. "Now we will go into the building to get your hair cut."
The three of them walked out of the gate house and along the road to the large mansion. As they entered its door, James could see open doors to several rooms where students were seated at their desks looking intently at books in front of them. No one seemed notice the three as they made their way down the hall to a small room used as a barber shop. Here James was allowed to sit down for the first time so that the taller of the two men could cut his hair.
It didn't take long for the electric razor to remove enough thatch to produce a short crew cut on the top of James' head. So much brown hair lay in bunches on his lap and on the floor around the feet of his chair that James was sure he must now look like a skin head. But there was no mirror in the room for him to see how much hair he still possessed.
Next the two guards took James upstairs to the shower room where they told him to get out of his clothes. The room contained a row of toilet stalls along one wall, none of them with doors. The opposite wall contained a stall with two shower heads and runoff drains in the floor. There were also some sinks, towel racks, and soap containers along another wall, but no bench or chair, so James had to undress standing up. He had no place to put the clothes. He just dropped them in a pile on the floor.
The smaller man then handed him a bar of soap and told him to do a good job of cleaning every part of his body, as they would inspect him afterwards to make sure he had done so. There was something threatening in the voice of the instructor, and James felt a shiver run up and down his spine.
He stepped into the shower and turned on the water. He found it somewhat embarrassing to be showering in front of these the two men, and he wished they would stop looking at him as he did so. But he was careful to rub soap over every part of his body and he stayed under the water longer than usual, hoping the men would leave so that he could get dressed. But they continued to stand there watching his every move.
Finally James turned off the water and stepped out of the shower stall dripping wet. The taller instructor was holding a large bath towel, but he didn't hand it to James. Instead, he and the other instructor began to carefully examine every inch of the 16-year-old's body for places that still might need cleaning. They looked in his ears, examined his back, lifted his arms, checked his hands and finger nails, pulled one of his knees up after the other to examine his feet, told him to bend over and pull his ass cheeks apart, and fingered every inch of his penis and scrotum. This examination may have been routine for the two men, but it made James feel quit e nervous and violated. He was particularly anxious when they examined his penis because this organ was in the habit of becoming erect at moments over which he had no control. He silently prayed this would not happen now.
Examination completed, the shorter instructor turned to the other and said, "This boy seems to have no idea of what it means to get clean. I guess we will have to teach him. Look in his left ear. He has enough dirt there to plant a garden, and his finger nails are a disgrace."
James' face flushed.
"Well I have the instrument that will cure that," said the other instructor as he pulled a paddle from under the bath towel he was holding. It was a 3/8 inch thick wooden paddle about four or five inches wide and nearly two feet long. The narrowed handle was about six inches long, leaving almost 18 inches for the "business end" of the tool. He handed the paddle to the shorter man, who told James to bend over and touch his toes.
James was in no position to prevent what was about to happen. Both men were much bigger and stronger than he, and being naked and wet made James feel too unprotected to resist. All he said was a feeble, "please don't," as he bent over to touch his toes. His stomach was doing cart wheels because he was so acutely conscious of how bare and vulnerable his bottom was at this moment. The taller instructor, the one now without the paddle, took up a position in front of James and put his hands on the boy's back to hold him down in the touch-toes stance.
The instructor with the paddle swung his arm back and aimed it at the 16-year-old's left ass cheek. The crack was like a gunshot and it took James' breath away. He couldn't even scream until the second blow landed, and that scream was loud enough to cover both. James tried to stand up and jump around, but the hands of the instructor held him securely in place. Red marks appeared immediately as the instructor drew the paddle back for a third time, this time aiming it at the right cheek.
Wham, the paddle stuck, James let out a long "Ohhh." He was now heaving and blubbering, his mouth open, tears dripping from his eyelids. After a fourth blow, the instructor paused to tell him that the paddling so far was for having not cleaned himself properly. Now he would receive two more strikes for neglecting to say "sir" when he raised his feeble "please don't."
"And when I'm done," the instructor continued, "you will say 'thank you for punishing me.' Is that understood?"
James, from his bent over position, was able only to muffle out a "yes, sir." Then the two blows landed, one after the other on each cheek. The pain was excruciating, and James had a hard time even standing up after he was released. Through his suppressed tears he intoned the expected words, "Thank you for punishing me."
"O.K., get into the shower again," the shorter man said as he handed the boy the soap, and James immediately obeyed. This time James took even longer at the task, making sure that his ears and finger nails were as clean as they could ever be before he turned off the shower water. He no longer worried about the two men watching him. He only wanted to get the job done well enough so that the paddle wouldn't redden his bottom any more.
Fortunately James passed the next inspection, though he was uncomfortable throughout it because the paddle now lay on the floor in front of him where it could remind him of what might happen should his washing be found defective. He was then given the towel to dry himself. One of the two men left the shower room taking away the clothes James had been wearing and returning with the new set he would use while at school. These were a light blue pull-over shirt with short sleeves; a pair of briefs; a pair of short, dark blue pants, like little boys wear; knee-length stockings; and an ugly pair of brown leather shoes with square toes that looked something like ones designed for orthopedic purposes.
The pull-over shirt fit rather tightly, but not as much so as the short pants. These were so tight fitting that they revealed every contour of James' backside. It hurt to pull them on over the recently produced red patches on his bottom. James hadn't worn short pants like this since he was six years old. They made him feel like a little boy again.
"Sir," James said with deliberate care, addressing the man who had brought the clothes, "these seem too small, sir."
"Looks to me like they fit perfectly," the man responded in a tone that put an end to any further discussion of the matter.
Now fully dressed, the two men led James to one of the bedrooms, one with eight beds in it. "This is where you will sleep," they told him. They also showed him one small drawer in a chest of drawers that would be his. It already contained another set of clean clothes, exactly like the ones he was now wearing, as well as a wash cloth, toothpaste, and tooth bush. They told him that the room was inspected once a week so that he should be sure these things were kept tidy. Also they suggested that he have one of the other boys show him how to make his bed properly each morning.
Then they led him downstairs to one of the classrooms. As James entered it, he saw that all the boys seated at their desks were wearing the same kind of clothing he was, their bear knees showing under their desks. Two of the boys were standing at the front of the room facing the blackboard, toes and noses touching the wall, their hands clasped on top of their heads. They were obviously being disciplined for some reason.
The teacher took over at this point, and the two men departed. The teacher introduced James to the class in the following manner: "This is a new boy named James. He is a thief so you better watch him carefully." James' face reddened. Why in the name of heaven did the teacher have to tell the whole world why he was attending this school? Couldn't anything be kept secret here?
The teacher then pointed to an empty seat and told James he was to sit there. The teacher explained that this was a study hall session, but since James hadn't attended any classes yet he obviously had no books or papers to study. So he was expected to sit there quietly until the end of the class.
James took his seat feeling very sorry for himself. He was hungry, his bottom was quite sore, he hated his short and tight pants, and he hated the fact that everyone in the room now knew why he was at the school. He felt much like a naughty little boy being punished by being told to sit in a chair and think about his behavior. He looked down at the desk. He looked around the room at the other students, all with their noses in their books. He looked at the backs of the two standing at the black board. He looked at the ceiling and at the floor. And he sat there in despair and anger waiting for the class to end.
Eventually the teacher told the two boys standing at the blackboard that they could return to their seats. Both intoned the dictum, "Thank you for punishing me," and then went to sit down. James later learned that they had been punished for talking in class.
The study-hall hour was now done and all the boys were released to go to their work assignments. James left the room not sure what to do next. He was joined by another 16-year-old, who introduced himself as Jerry. Jerry told James that, as he had been able to complete his work assignment that morning, he would have time to show James around the school before supper. It turned out that Jerry was staying in the same bedroom as James; that he, too, had been arrested for joy-riding in a stolen car; and that he had been at the school for only two months. The two boys soon became good friends.
Jerry took James to the library, dining room, kitchen, and around the crop fields outside. In all of these places there were students either working or reading. They ignored Jerry and James. Jerry said that with James there were now 55 students at the school and it was thus almost filled to capacity, and there were 20 adults, both teachers and other staff members. He also explained that corporal punishment was the order of the day here and that the teachers used almost any implement to impose discipline.
Jerry further told James to not to antagonize their room captain, "Terrible" Charlie, as he could make life quite difficult for anyone he disliked. James was surprised to find out that Charlie was only 13 years old. He had been at the school for two years, after having stabbed his little brother with a knife, and he was one of the first students to be assigned there.
"Did he kill the kid?" James asked.
"No, the brother recovered, but they decided Charlie was too violent and unpredictable to allow him to stay at home. The teachers here actually like him because he has been here long enough to know exactly what they want and he never gives them any trouble."
"Isn't it strange to have such a young person as a room captain?" James asked.
"Room captains are named by the principal," Jerry said, so it's the case in several of the rooms. Just remember not to make him mad at you, or you will regret it. And be sure never to call him 'Terrible' Charlie. Just address him as Charlie."
Supper time finally came, much to James' relief. The meal was served cafeteria style and the food was good, or at least James thought so because he was so hungry. The rest of the evening until bed time was free, yet there was little to do but talk. Some of the boys went to the library to read. James and Jerry sat by themselves in one of the classrooms getting better acquainted.
At 8:30 one of the staff members walked through the hall ringing a bell to let the students know that it was bed time. Jerry and James went to their room where Jerry introduced his friend to the other six occupants. Two of them were 16 like James and Jerry, one was 17, one 15, one 14, and then, of course, 13-year-old Charlie. Most had come to the school after being caught in minor acts of vandalism, shop lifting, or stealing cars. Terrible Charlie seemed to be the only one who had committed any kind of major crime. Not only was he the youngest, he was also the smallest in size. Yet each of the students took pains to treat him with the utmost respect.
Charlie asked James if he had been paddled when he arrived, and James admitted he had been when he was taking a shower. "Drop your pants and let's see the marks," Charlie ordered.
"Not on your life," James responded. He surely wasn't going to show his bare backside to all the other boys in the room.
"Grab him," Charlie ordered.
James dove for his bed in a futile attempt to hide under the covers, but it was too late. Three of the boys took hold of his arms and feet, while a fourth pulled down his short pants and briefs to expose the red marks. Charlie touched the marks and then moved his fingers across them, saying something about the fact that they must still hurt. The other boys then took their turns touching James' bottom where the red welts still showed.
One of the boys pulled James' pants off his feet while the others continued to hold him so that he could not retrieve them. At this point Charlie said pleasantly, "Let's see what the rest of him looks like." They pulled James off the bed and, still holding his arms, suggested that one of their number pull on his penis to see how big it could get. The designated boy did so and, not unexpectedly, the organ soon became engorged and stiffened out.
"Kind of tiny for a 16-year-old," another boy said matter-of-factly.
"Why did it become stiff?" Charlie asked, speaking directly to James.
"Because he's been pulling on it," James answered.
"Come on, now," Charlie said, "you must have been thinking of a girl, or were you thinking of a boy?"
James blushed and said nothing. The others laughed.
"Which was it?" Charlie demanded. All waited for the response.
James protested that his organ had just responded to being touched, but Charlie and the others would have none of this even though, of course, they knew he was right. What they wanted was to see how James would answer the question. Finally James realized that they wouldn't leave him alone until he gave some answer that satisfied them, so he said, "a girl." Jerry, the next day, told him this was the right answer. He explained that John, the one who had commented on the size of the organ, had answered "boy" when he was first tormented in this way, and ever since he had been the brunt of sissy jokes and comments about his _s_e_x_ual prowess. Jerry also told James that it was the common practice for each boy to show the marks of any spanking received during that day to the others before bed time.
James had a hard time going to sleep that night. He now wished he had not been so eager to go this school instead of a juvenile detention facility. Surely that could be no worse than this was. In the morning Jerry showed him how to make the bed so that it could pass inspection and how best to keep his shoes shined.
This was also the time when Charlie gave out the work assignments. He assigned James to work in the kitchen and Jerry to sweep out the classrooms. It was another lucky assignment for Jerry because he could complete it during the morning hour with no trouble. James, however, would need to be in the kitchen peeling potatoes and cleaning pots for both the day's work hours. Others were assigned to work in the garden, laundry, and library.
After breakfast, there was a class in English. James was shown a seat, given a text book, and told the assignment for following next day so that he could read it in study hall. He found the lesson interesting and he had no trouble keeping up with the other members of the class.
It was a different matter in the second class--mathematics. This had never been his best subject and James was seated so far in the back of the room that he did not hear the teacher when the assignment for the day was me ntioned. He whispered to the boy next to him, "What was that?"
The teacher immediately ordered James to come up to the front of the room. "There will be no whispering in this class," the teacher told him.
"Sir, but I was just asking him for the assignment, sir," James responded.
"No excuses," the teacher said. "Stand with your face to the blackboard, toes and nose touching, and hands behind your head."
"But, sir," James pleaded.
"Immediately," shouted the teacher, and James in fear hastened to comply.
"Because you tried to argue with me," the teacher continued, "I'm going to give you five strokes of the cane."
James groaned inwardly as he heard the teacher open a desk drawer to take out the cane with which he was about to be beaten. He never before had felt so alone, even though he knew the room was full of students staring at his rear as he stood facing the wall. Tears of frustration stung the back of his eyes. He swallowed, then said impulsively, "Please sir, don't beat me."
James then gave a small scream and jumped as the cane bit hard into him. His thin pants and briefs were no protection. Thwip...again the cane rose and fell landing with accuracy across the now tingling, throbbing young bottom that was being made to suffer. Thwack...again the cane slashed through the air to land with unerring aim across his cloth-covered ass cheeks. As the third stroke of the cane cut across his buttocks, James' lips began to tremble, hot tears formed at the back of his eyes as he tried manfully to hold them back. He mustn't cry...only young kids did that. He was sixteen, not eight, and if the beating that he was now getting hurt like hell, well, he would try not to think of the pain and discomfort. After the fifth and most painful stroke landed, the teacher put the cane away in the drawer and began to speak to the other students about the lesson. James knew he should try to listen, but his soreness and humiliation were too great. Every thought turned to how he might get out of this dreadful place.
At the end of the class the teacher told James he could stand away from the blackboard and thank him for the punishment. James did this and left the room as quickly as he could.
That night when James displayed his cane strokes to the other boys in the room, they were not impressed. One of the others, the 15-year-old, had been sent to the principal's office for horsing around in the hallway. He had gotten a bare-bottom caning of twelve strokes that produced much more violent red welts than those on the back side of James.
The next few days passed without punishment for James because he was finally getting into the routine of the school and learning how to avoid censure. Then it happened. He messed up on his work assignment. Charlie had put him to cleaning blackboards and washing the tops of all the desks. In James' hurry to finish the job in the assigned time limit of two work hours, he had inadvertently left one of the blackboards unwashed. Charlie discovered this and confronted him that evening at bed time.
"You failed in your work assignment today," Charlie said to him as soon as all the six other boys had come in.
"What do you mean?" asked James.
"You didn't wash all the blackboards in Classroom D."
"Yes I did," James replied, sure that he had done so.
"You're lying," said Charlie, with a sneer. "I just came from there."
"But I did them all," protested James.
"Do you know what happens when you louse up an assignment?" Charlie asked.
"No," James answered. This was not something in the list of rules he had been given when he came to the school, and Jerry had failed to discuss this with him.
"The room captain punishes you, or else he sends you to the principal for discipline. You have a choice. Either way you get a well-deserved spanking. So which do you choose?"
The others in the room were listening attentively to the discussion, most of them hoping that James would elect to be disciplined by the room captain since they could then watch the procedure. James, for his part, was carefully weighing what to do. Charlie, though small and wiry, was reputed to be able to hit quite hard. However the principal had a reputation for producing nasty welts on the backside of any boy unlucky enough to end up in his office.
James, therefore, elected to let Charlie do the punishment. Although James still believed that he had completed his work assignment properly, he knew if he pushed the matter too much Charlie would only increase the proscribed sentence.
"Take off your pants and come here," Charlie commanded.
There was nothing to do but obey. The others in the room watched in fascination. They all knew how humiliating it would be for James, a 16-year-old, to be spanked by this 13-year-old on his bare bottom and in front of the others.
Charlie commanded James to lie over his lap. James dutifully did so. He had only removed his pants and not his underwear, so Charlie looped his fingers in the waistband of James' briefs and pulled them down below his thighs. Then Charlie began to smack James as hard as he could with his open palm. Terrible Charlie had more power in his right hand than one might expect for a 13-year-old and the first loud flesh-on-flesh crack bounced off the bedroom walls. James gasped and grasped in the air for something to hold on to. But there was nothing to grasp, draped over Charlie's lap as he was, staring at the floor, Charlie's hand squeezing his neck to hold him in position.
The second blow compressed James' ass cheeks, causing him to twist and cry out. This was followed in quick succession by a series of sharp stinging blows that came so fast James lost count. His buttocks burned and pulsed as he lay, writhing, unable to kick effectively because his briefs were encircling his legs below his knees. He was fighting hard to suppress the increasingly disturbing impulse to sob. Charlie, for his part, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying this task of blistering the boy's bottom.
Finally Charlie stopped and let James stand up. "That should teach you to finish your work," he said. "And now what do you say?"
James wasn't sure what was expected of him, but he was also sure that he should do whatever he could to keep from antagonizing Charlie. After all, Charlie made the assignments and could make anyone in the room miserable by giving them the most difficult and dirtiest ones. So he decided to say what the teachers expected of him after he received a spanking.
"Thank you for punishing me, Charlie," James intoned. This satisfied the room captain, and all the boys then prepared for bed.
The next few weeks James was on his best behavior at all times. He received no more spankings and only had to stand facing a blackboard two times. Jerry also had a good month, having escaped punishment altogether and receiving only the easiest assignments from Terrible Charlie.
On the established visitors day James' parents came to visit, and when they asked him how he was doing, he told them he definitely didn't like the school. But James didn't recount his experiences with paddle, cane, and blistering hand. He was too embarrassed about these experiences to say anything to them. So they assumed he didn't like the school because of its food and accommodations, and they went home happy that he was not being mistreated.
Jerry's older brother was also visitor that day. He secretly passed Jerry a pack of cigarettes, since he knew such items were not allowed at the school, and Jerry quickly hid them just a carefully. Later Jerry told James of the prize and agreed to share the cigarettes with his friend.
Unfortunately secrets could not be kept at the school and the two boys were soon caught by one of the staff members as they stole a smoke in a shaded corner behind the building. They were summarily taken to the principal, who made the two boys stand at attention for the longest time while he lectured them on the evils of tobacco. Then the principal told them they would receive a good bare-assed switching for disobeying the rules.
The principal made them take off their pants and underwear and lean over the desk next to each other so that the two bottoms would be an easy target to strike at the same time. He then opened a cupboard and selected one of the many canes stored there. He bent it so that it sprang back fiercely, after which he swished it through the air a few times so that it cut the air with a loud hissing sound. This one, he thought, would do very well. Next the principal waited for a few minutes while the boys lay there across the desk expecting to feel the sting of the rod at any moment. He wanted both of them to suffer mentally as well as physically, so a few minutes of waiting wouldn't do them any harm. After that he set to with determination.
Both boys tensed as they heard the cane whistle through the air. But this was just a practice stroke and it didn't land on either of them. Then they heard the swishing sound again and this struck home on both bottoms at the same time. Both boys moaned and twisted in spite of their best efforts to remain quiet as the cane seared across their ass cheeks. A few seconds later the next stroke landed home, and each youth writhed in pain. As the whip landed again and again they began to feel each individual stroke sending it's own personalized pain-signal to their brains. They soon found themselves screaming an instant before the pain reached their consciousness, screaming as soon as they heard that sickening crack of leather against flesh, screaming in anticipation, screaming again just a little louder as the pain finally registered in their bodies as well as their intellects.
It was clearly the worst punishment either had ever experienced. Their posteriors became marked with dark red cane lines that would not go away soon. To their relief the principal finally stopped and put the cane away. He told them they could stand up, something they could now do only with some difficulty.
But this was not all the punishment they received because of their smoking. Even though they went through the motions of thanking the principal for punishing them, he told them they would not be allowed to wear their trousers for the rest of the day. They would have to attend classes and work assignments bare from the waist down.
The two boys left the principal's office, their bottoms still hotly stinging. It was embarrassing enough to walk through the main hall with their scarlet-striped thighs betraying a fresh whipping, but the full impact of the situation didn't come until they entered the classroom. There the teacher told them to stand for awhile with their backs to the rest of the class. It was terribly humiliating. The sight of the freshly-marked bottoms brought laughter from their classmates. They knew they would be the brunt of jokes for the rest of the day, and Jerry, whose skin was whiter than that of James, earned the nickname "red-ass," which he carried for many weeks thereafter.
Later that month, both James and Jerry began to discuss how they might get away from the school. In their imaginations they devised elaborate escape plots, but none were practical enough to succeed. Then one day, when they were both working outdoors in the crop fields, Jerry noticed that a step ladder under one of the fruit trees. It had apparently been left there by someone who had been trimming the branches.
Jerry immediately pointed the object out to James and the two of them decided to lag behind after the end of the work period while the others went inside. Then they could move that step ladder over to the compound wall unnoticed.
It wasn't a heavy ladder and, though it didn't reach to the top of the wall, it was tall enough that the two boys could reach the top and pull themselves up onto it. From there they jumped to the ground on the other side. No one saw them leave and they were soon out on the highway trying to hitch a ride.
Unfortunately the farmer who picked them up realized that they were from the school (their short pants were a dead giveaway). The farmer, therefore, drove the boys back to the compound gate and deposited them with the two instructors there.
Thus James and Jerry soon found themselves in the office of a very angry principal. It was the first time since the school opened that anyone had ever tried to escape. He had no plans for such a contingency. Whatever he did to the two boys, he wanted to make sure that it would dissuade others from trying the same trick. He decided to lock the two boys in closet, a large linen closet with no windows, until he could determine what to do with them.
James and Jerry spent the next few hours worrying about what was going to happen next. But no scenario they conjured up came close to what the principal finally decided was to be their punishment. At supper time the door was opened and the boys were each given some food. Then they were told to undress completely and their clothes were taken away. It was explained to them that this would prevent them from any further attempt to escape. The door was then locked again and not opened until breakfast time the next morning. James and Jerry slept on the floor, making beds of some of the linen that they pulled off the shelves in the closet.
After breakfast they were marched, still naked, into the dining room where the entire school was assembled to watch their punishment. Tables had been taken away and replaced by a row of seats all the way around the room. In the open space in the center was an exercise bench dragged there from the gymnasium. The two were ordered to bend over that bench. Jerry did so immediately. He was shaking with fear. James hesitated for an instant, then resigned himself to his fate and bent forward as he had been commanded to.
Two room captains came forward and grabbed the wrists of both boys so that they could not move their arms or hands. Four others held their ankles in a way that caused their legs to be pulled apart a couple of feet. Neither James nor Jerry could now move and were thus ready for any cane blows that might be aimed at their backsides.
Lying in this awkward and humiliating position, the two boys then had to listen to the lengthy recitation by the principal that was directed to the assembled boys and teachers. He explained that these two naughty boys had been caught climbing over the wall and running away, something no one else had ever attempted and something that was never to happen again. He further explained that they would now be given a beating appropriate to their crime and that this would be done with a cane that produced a great deal of pain, one that would leave red welts on their bottoms for more than a week. And he said that if either of these two boys ever attempted such a stunt again, they would be punished so severely that they would have to be taken to the hospital. The same treatment, he assured the assembly, would be accorded anyone else that attempted to runaway.
Finally the principal said that it would be everyone's duty, until further notice, to watch these two boys and keep them from further mischief. He said he had decided, in fact, to turn this misbehavior into a training experience for the others. The two naughty boys would be assigned eight hours of work each day for the next week and not allowed to attend classes. They would get the hardest and dirtiest jobs so that none of the other students would have to do these. A muffled cheer went up from the assembled students.
One at a time each student would be assigned to supervise the work of one of these two boys for an hour. Since much of such supervision would take place during normal school hours, the student supervisor for that hour would be let out of class to watch the work of either James and Jerry. Each supervisor would have the right to do whatever was necessary to make sure that the two boys did their work properly. "If you cannot control them," the principal said, "then tell me or one of the teachers. I can assure you that we have the means to make them toe the line."
He finished his speech with the following promise, or threat: "I will personally inspect all the work of these two boys after it is completed. If it is not done right, I will punish that boy, and I will also punish any of you who were assigned as the supervisor for that particular hour of work, because it will be obvious that you would not have done a proper job of supervision. Is that understood?"
There was a cacophony of "yes, sirs" that now came from the assembled boys. Some were a little nervous about the responsibility they were being handed. Others, such as Charlie, looked forward to the opportunity of giving work orders to James and Jerry.
"One more thing," the principal added as an afterthought. "For the next week none of you boys need to make your beds when you get up in the morning. We will assign one of these boys each day to make all 53 of them." This statement brought forth a long and loud cheer.
Now the caning could begin. Both James and Jerry were conscious of the fact that one of the teachers had walked up behind them with cane in hand. He waved it in the air to test its suppleness and to let the two who were about to be whipped hear the swishing sound it made. Both boys tensed and stiffened when the cane was next measured across the full breadth of their bottoms.
The teacher used it first on James, landing stroke after stroke with an accuracy that can come only with practice. The rod seemed to search for its own a particular area of skin to sear and mark as soon as the full force of the man's arm was brought to bear. Only someone who has been caned can tell you of the sound it makes as it whistles through the air prior to contact, the singing noise, the echo from every corner, as the prelude to indescribable pain. The swish was almost deafening to James as the supple cane sped downwards to find its target.
He was aware of a slight rush of air cooling his back just before the explosion of pain struck him in a broad stripe across his bottom. First there was a form of numbness that was followed by a wave of increasing agony as nerve ends gradually recovered from their initial starvation of blood the moment the cane struck. James screamed loud and long as already the vicious arc of the cane searched for as yet untouched parts to torment.
The lashing went on and on, yet the skill of the chastiser was such that no skin was broken. James eventually broke into almost uncontrollable sobbing. The man with the cane eventually turned his attention to Jerry's upraised orbs and began to mark these with the same force and care that he had used on James. Jerry, too, screamed and then turned to a flood of tears. The audience of 53 boys watched in fascination. None had ever seen anyone get such a beating. Some looked at the scene in horror; others were _s_e_x_ually arousal.
In the end the two boys were released and taken back to the linen closet where they were locked in for the rest of the day. This gave them a chance to nurse their wounds and meditate on the error of their ways. Meals were brought to them, but no one came to give comfort. The next morning after breakfast each was handed a pair of briefs to wear. They were not permitted other clothes because the principal didn't want them to imagine they might be able to escape again.
At 8 a.m. Jerry was given the bed-making task and James was told to clean the toilets and shower room. At 9 they were each reassigned to another task and another supervisor took over. At 10 again the tasks and supervisors were shifted, as happened at 11 and so on throughout each day. The supervisors took great pains to make sure that the work was done properly so that it would pass the principal's inspection. For most of them this was the first time they had been given supervisory responsibility, and the younger ones particularly relished the opportunity to lord it over the two miscreants. They kept James and Jerry quite apprehensive by telling each of t hem every few minutes that he had missed a spot he was cleaning, or that he was doing just a superficial job and might be punished as a result. Most of the supervisors allowed no talking on the part of the two workers and at least once during each session would insist that James or Jerry lower their briefs so that any remaining red marks might be examined by them, which was a most humiliating experience for the boys.
Neither James nor Jerry got any rest except at meal times, and they were totally worn out at the end of the day. When the two were again locked in the linen closet, they fell asleep almost immediately because of their exhaustion. The supervisors, on the other hand, remained fresh and ready to push the two boys to greater efforts because they changed places every hour.
Terrible Charlie was the supervisor of James one morning when he was assigned to make the beds. Charlie insisted that James work naked on the grounds that, if he had to "whap James' ass," he wanted to be sure the boy had no protection. As each bed was made, Charlie inspected it carefully. Whenever he found wrinkles in the sheets and blankets, he ordered James to touch his toes. Then Charlie landed his open palm with great force across James' buttocks, telling James he did so to improve his work style. These hand spankings hurt a great deal because they were placed across a bottom that was still somewhat sore from the public caning several days earlier. Fortunately a less tormenting supervisor took over when the Charlie's hour was done.
When all 53 boys had fulfilled their supervisory assignment of two hours, one hour for James and the other for Jerry, the boy's ordeal came to an end. The work regimen had been completed without the principal finding any reason to punish the two of them anymore. He, therefore, decided it was now time to restore them to their student status. It goes without saying that no student for at least the next three years tried to climb over the wall of this Oklahoma school.