Jared Ekmon was a sophomore biology major at Thendara College. He was following a premed curriculum, hoping to be a cardiologist. His faculty advisor, Professor King, had told him he was the number one recruit in his class. He had a Kincaid Scholarship which paid his tuition and all but about a thousand dollars of his other expenses. Except for full scholarship athletes, he had as close to a free ride as you could get at Thencee. Although officially a sophomore, and following a sophomore curriculum, Jared was only seventeen. He had graduated a year early from high school and had gotten a full thirty AP credits out of high school. Although he had only been on campus for about six weeks, he was enjoying all the privileges of being a sophomore, including being allowed to pledge a fraternity.

At the moment, he was a blindfolded, nearly naked, cold, scared Delk pledge. Delta Kappa Alpha was the top fraternity at Thencee. Nationally, Delk alumni included former presidents of the United States. Thencee Delk alumni included Robert Johnson Ekmon, Jared's father. Not that Jared didn't want to be a member of a frat, but he'd really had no choice. Once he'd decided to participate in rush, DKA was the only chapter he could possibly consider.

Rush had gone well, in fact very well. Delk brothers had welcomed him as a legacy pledge with enthusiasm. The DKA chapter house was a very large stone mansion that sat on the granite bluff facing Thendara to the north. It was the farthest frat from the campus, but it was still only a twenty-minute walk. Pledging had gone equally well until the Friday night of the first week. That was the when the ceremony called Verifications and Guarantees had taken place. Each pledge had been required to appear in a suit and tie. The pledge master and other senior members of the chapter had confronted each pledge individually in a locked room and asked them to verify their life-long loyalty to DKA if they were initiated and certify by a solemn oath to hold absolutely secret all aspects of pledging starting with this very ceremony and take this knowledge with them to the grave whether or not they were initiated. A printed document containing the Verification and Certification statement was then presented on an antique table with the pledge's name and the current date already present. Each pledge was then directed to present one finger to be pricked to produce enough blood to sign the document in blood. In each pledge class of fifteen, one or more of the pledges always fainted at this point, but when revived, he signed. After signing, each pledge was led through a door into a darkened room. Each was told that the next phase was the Ceremony of Guarantees. The pledge was told to strip completely naked. When he had finished, he entered a well lighted room flanked on each side by two brothers. The room had been equipped as an impromptu photo studio . In the center, against a painted backdrop was a padded chair with a prostitute sitting on a cushion on either side. The naked pledge was taken to the chair and told that he would be serviced by Nancy and Judy until he achieved orgasm. Both still photographs and video tape of the blow job and ejaculation would be made and held in the archives as a guarantee of the oath of secrecy. The pledge master pointed out that no one had ever violated the oath of secrecy, so the pledge should sit back, forget about the cameras, and enjoy himself.

As Jared stood shivering from fear and from being cold, he reviewed his Verifications and Guarantees Ceremony. Pricking his finger was no problem; he was going to be a physician. Fellatio was a whole other thing. It was new and it was, in the end, very pleasing. Both women seemed old enough to be his Mother, so he spent most of his time with his eyes closed fantasizing that it was his high school girl friend, Mary. As soon as he had finished, he was escorted out of the room where he dressed in his suit, combed his hair, and walked out of the chapter house and back to his dorm as though nothing had happened. Jared could not keep a smile from his face, he was a man. Deep below the surface a little voice was also speaking. Softly it warned, "You are now theirs. They own your ass."

Jared was startled from his reverie by a subtle movement to his right. He turned to see a hooded figure completely robed in black.

The pledge master looked at Jared Ekmon. He was only about five feet, seven inches tall. He couldn't weigh more than one hundred and forty pounds. He had a runner's body. He was also probably the smartest and youngest guy the Thencee Delks had ever pledged. That's why he was going to supervise this first pegging personally.

"Remove your boxer shorts," came the command. Jared quickly slipped them down and stepped out of them. He was now completely naked. He was standing at the bottom of a stone spiral staircase deep in the granite bluff below the chapter house. He was facing a massive wooden door with iron bars and bolts. The hooded, robed figure opened the door and gently guided Jared through it. It closed with a deep thud and the sudden click of a latch. Jared stood in total darkness and shuddered. Then a match was struck and a single candle flame was lighted behind deep red glass. "In a few minutes, you will be able to read the inscription on the next door. The words embedded there will guide you once you enter the sacred chamber." The figure fell silent.

As Jared stared ahead his eyes became accustomed to the darkness, and he could begin to distinguish the frame of a second door, massive like the first. Embedded in the ancient wooden planks of the door were dull brass letters that said:

You are not yet a man, but be ready to try. Stick it all the way up, and try not to cry.

The hooded figure spoke again. "Once you pass through this second door, you will be in utter darkness. The spirits of DKA will guide you solely by touch. They are deaf and mute. Do not make a sound or they will punish you. First you will embrace the peg. Remember the inscription. Then you will assume the position and give us as many pushups as you can in one continuous set. When you hesitate, you are finished. Remember that your performance will be measured and evaluated. This is our most sacred mystery. What happens behind the door can never be discussed with anyone. Never...Never...Never..." his voice faded to a whisper and the candle flame was extinguished. Jared once again stood in total, complete darkness.

He heard the sound of an opening door and several sets of hands gently, but firmly grasped his arms and drew him into the inner chamber. The door closed with a low thud that Jared more felt than heard. The silence was profound. Then he heard a funny noise like rushing water or wind or static on the radio. The noise grew louder until it filled his perceptions. Hands guided him further into the chamber. He was pushed down to his hands and knees. The surface of the floor was slightly soft. His shoulders were pulled backwards and he slowly backed up. His butt touched something. The pressure on his shoulders continued. He backed further into the object behind him. Its pressure began to hurt. Then suddenly there was something pressed to his lips. This must be the peg, he thought. He opened his lips and something firm and slimy filled his mouth and gagged him. As he gagged, hands squeezed his hips and guided him backwards. He gagged again, and the pressure from the rear was suddenly released and replaced by a strange feeling he had never experienced before. The peg in his mouth plunged deeper and he gagged again and his hips were pushed backwards again. This process was repeated several more time. Then suddenly, the peg was removed from his mouth and gentle downward pressure on his shoulders signaled that it was time for pushups. Jared carefully assumed the position and began cranking them out. Not knowing how many were expected or what consequences could accrue if he didn't do enough of them, he gave it absolutely his all. He thought he had reached the fifties somewhere when his arms refused to continue. He cranked out two more and collapsed.

Immediately, the hands returned and pulled him forward and lifted him to his feet. He could hear a heavy door opening, but the total darkness continued. He again stood naked in total darkness, but this time his arms were shaking. Then very slowly, red light began to suffuse the room. Jared could see that this was not the antechamber through which he had entered. To his left a butcher block table stood and beside it was another hooded and robed figure all in red holding a nasty looking wooden paddle with a single row of large holes down the middle. When the lights were bright enough that Jared could that the walls of the room were hewn out of the granite of the bluff, the hooded figure spoke. "Jared Ekmon, you have entered the sacred chamber, performed the sacred ceremony, and been found wanting. To complete the ceremony, I am commanded to give you fourteen hard swats. Lie over the table and grab the far corners with your hands. Spread your legs as far apart as you are able." Jared quickly assumed the required position. "Now count the strokes as they are delivered."

The first swat was possibly the most painful thing Jared had ever experienced. Part of it was the surprise, but it also just plain hurt. "One", he said with a slight delay. There was a pause during which the pain seemed to build and then begin to diminish. Just then the second arrived. "Two." The measured cadence, born of long experience, continued until fourteen swats had been delivered. Jared's announcement of the last three or four had been with a voice that was becoming progressively shaky.

"You may stand," said the hooded figure. "The brotherhood expects better performance from you in the ceremony the next time. Remember that you may not discuss the ceremony with anyone, ever. If brothers who were not present tonight ask you about tonight's activity, you will just reply, 'I received only fourteen strokes with the paddle even though I truly deserved more'." If other pledges ask you about tonight, just tell them you were paddled. If any of them tell you they were not, they are lying. Please reply to these instructions appropriately."

"As a loyal pledge of Delta Kappa Alpha, I thank you for the privilege of performing the sacred ceremony. I am grateful for your guidance and for your administering the punishment I so richly deserved. Thank you." Jared hoped that he had remembered the exact words he has been instructed last night. The hooded figure nodded and the lights suddenly went out. A door on the right opened revealing an illuminated room. Jared walked from darkness into light to find Jim, his Delk big brother, waiting for him holding his boxer shorts. Before he handed them to Jared, he walked around and inspected Jared's butt. "Got paddled, I see," Jim said. "That okay, its good for you—builds character. We all got paddled." He then gave Jared a strong and sincere hug and told him to put his boxers back on. He then put a black hood over his head and carefully led him up the stairs and through a seemingly endless set of doors and rooms. When the hood was removed, Jared was standing in a small room near the kitchen where his clothes were still in the neatly folded stack as he had left them, how long ago? He realized he wasn't certain.

After he returned to his room later than night, Jared calculated that the whole pegging ceremony had taken about an hour, but it had seemed much, much longer than that. He went into the bathroom and carefully inspected his butt. He was bruised, but not seriously so. His butt was still warm, but sitting down wasn't going to be particularly painful. He carefully inspected himself all over, but except for the paddle marks on his butt, there was nothing whatsoever on his body resulting from the pegging ceremony. Still later as he drifted off to sleep, Jared realized he wasn't completely and positively certain what had really happened in the darkness and he wasn't completely certain how many pushups he had actually done. He still had a faintly odd taste in his mouth, which was either from his fear or from the peg that had been shoved down his throat. It had seemed to be covered with something. What he was certain about was that he had been paddled fourteen times and that was a number that he would work like crazy to reduce in the future. Hence forth, he resolved to practice pushups at least twice a day until he could do far more than fifty in a single set.

By Monday morning, there were only the faintest traces of his paddling on his butt and he was actually beginning to look forward to his second pegging ceremony next Wednesday night. This time he would do better and try harder to understand and remember exactly what it was that happened in that dark chamber, deep in solid granite below the house.