Charles Jarvis arrived at Lonesome Pine Summer Camp in Wisconsin half a day earlier than did the bus carrying the first group of campers. He wanted to prepare the cabin to which he was assigned as counselor before the boys got there. The cabin had four double-decker bunk beds for the campers and a single cot at one end of the room for the counselor.
Charles opened his suitcase and took out his towel, wash cloth, and shaving materials and set them on a ledge above his bed. He also took out his sheets and made the bed with the blankets and pillow provided by the camp administration. Then he removed the paddle he had brought with him and hung it by a string to a nail on the back of the door. He expected that he would need to use this at least once before the two-week camping session ended. The paddle was about two feet in length, six inches wide, and flat on its operating side. The back side was slightly rounded to give it enough thickness to keep it from cracking in two when being used. With this tool hung, Charles left the cabin to explore the grounds.
There were a six cabins in all, each some distance from one another and facing a large parade or activity area. There was also a lavratory-bathroom building and a mess hall with several smaller rooms as part of its construction. One of these rooms had a sign on it indicating that it was the crafts room. At the nearby lake there were a number of canoes and row boats, as well as a roped-off section for swimming.
The bus arrived shortly before lunch time and so Charles didn't really get acquainted with the eight boys assigned to his supervision until after they had eaten. All were thirteen and fourteen year olds from a rather rough working-class area of the north side of Chicago. For most of them this was their first summer camping experience. One of the settlement houses in the city was paying much of the bill for the summer recreation of these boys. For Charles this camping experience was a chance to earn some money for his next year at college.
With lunch over, the boys immediately got into an argument as to which beds they might use. All of them seemed to want to sleep on the upper bunks, so Charles settled the matter by having them draw lots. Then, to be sure that would respond to his demands and instructions, Charles pointed to the paddle hanging on the back of the door and told them he would use it if they gave him any trouble.
He didn't have to wait very long. After an afternoon hike and supper, Charles found that he had to discipline Steven, a boy who seemed to be developing into a professional spitter. Apparently Steven got attention among his friends back home because of his ability to spit. Every few minutes, Steven would collect a respectable amount of saliva in his mouth and shoot it out toward the ground with amazing accuracy. Though a nasty habit, such a practice could not be condemned when done outside on the parade ground or in the woods. But Steven also spat occasionally onto the cabin floor.
The first time Steven let go with a spit ball inside the cabin Charles told him sternly that this was not acceptable. That seemed to settle the matter. But that evening, as the boys were getting ready for bed, Charles caught Steven doing it again.
"I told you that is not allowed inside this cabin," Charles said with some emphasis. "Now I am going to make sure that you understand you have to stop this spitting."
"You can't make me do anything," retorted the smart-alecky youth.
Charles grabbed Stephen by his collar and pulled him over to the place where his saliva had just landed. Although the boy was large for his thirteen years, he had none of the strength of the counselor. Charles pushed Steven's head down until his nose was touching the ball of spit. The counselor then moved Steven's head around so as to rub his nose in the mess. Next Charles called over several of the other boys, all of whom were watching this process with some fascination, and told them to hold Steven in this position so that he could get the paddle from the back door.
The boys securely held Steven in place and Charles laid five hard smacks on his backside. Then Charles told the boy to stand in the corner of the room with his slimy nose against the wall, and not to try to clean off his nose or move from that position until told to do so.
Steven was in a state of shock. He had not expected to be handled so roughly, and he quickly did as he was told so as not to get any more surprises.
Charles then sat down on his own cot and watched the other boys as they began to put on their pajamas and get ready for bed. He told them that after they had returned from washing and cleaning their teeth in the bathroom, he would tell them a bedtime story. Steven continued to stand stiffly in the corner as Charles had not yet released him.
When the other boys returned, Charles told them to get into bed and he would tell them a story. It was a tale about ghosts and the boys were spell bound as the tale progressed, so much so that most of them did not notice Steven when he turned his head away from the wall to sneak a quick glance at the seated group.
But one boy, Jerry, had his eye on Steven all the time. He immediately pointed out Steven's action to Charles and the story was stopped.
Charles then made it clear to all that he couldn't finish the story because he now had to deal with Steven's misbehavior. He had stopped the story at a crucial point, and several of the boys pleaded with their counselor to let them hear the ending before he punished Steven. But Charles said, "No. Steven has not followed directions and I will have to deal with him. Maybe I will finish the story tomorrow night, if nobody acts up."
The seven boys were quite disappointed, and secretly they were angry at Jerry for snitching on the boy in the corner. Most of them felt that Jerry was more responsible for shutting off the story than Steven had been in moving his head. Certainly, if Jerry hadn't told the counselor about Steven's movement, they would have heard the end of the story.
Charles himself was somewhat irritated by Jerry's tattling on the victim in the corner, but he wasn't going to show this to the campers. Instead, he made a mental note to watch Jerry closely over the next two weeks in the hope of being able to punish him for something. Snitching wasn't a punishable offense, he believed, but it was certainly not sportsmanlike behavior.
The counselor now told Steven to come away from the wall and prepare himself for bed. He would be dealt with after he washed up and before he went to sleep.
Steven was, of course, genuinely nervous as to what punishment he might suffer before the lights were turned out. He quickly went with towel and toothbrush in hand to the washroom. While he was gone, some of the other boys pleaded with Charles to finish the story in Steven's absence, but Charles said a firm, "No."
When Steven returned, he took off his clothes in order to get into his pajamas, which he had placed on his bed before he went out. However, before he could get into them, Charles picked the pajamas up and held onto them so that Steven was left standing in the nude.
"Can I have my pajamas, please?" Steven asked. He was keeping his hands carefully over the area in front of him that was just beginning to grow a good matting of hair. He wanted to hide this area of his body from the view of those in the room. The slight pink color in his face suggested that he was somewhat embarrassed to be standing this way in front of the others.
"Not until I have disciplined you," Charles replied. "Go bring me the paddle from the door."
Steven hesitated, and then turned, still holding his hands in front of him, and walked slowly to the door. He reached up, his backside to the other boys in the room and carefully and took down the paddle. Then, holding it in one hand and keeping the other over his private parts, he returned to Charles and gave the instrument to him.
"Now bend over and grab your ankles," Charles ordered.
Steven with deliberate slowness did as he was bid, making sure that he had his back to the boys so that they could not see much of what was so embarrassing to him. He kept his legs together as he bent over so the others could not see between them. But with his rear to the boys, they were all able to watch in wide-eyed fascination as Charles landed six hard strokes on Steven's bare rump.
The pain was intense and Steven let out a yelp on the fifth stroke that sounded somewhat like the noise that might come from a puppy kicked by its master. There was another muffled sound on the last stroke, but Steven was able to keep from crying. When he stood up, however, Charles could see that his eyes were watery with tears.
"Now, are you going to spit anymore?" Charles asked.
"No," came the somewhat choked response.
"Turn around and apologize to the other campers, both for spitting and for spoiling the rest of the story" Charles demanded of the boy.
Steven turned his back to Charles and faced the other boys. Charles carefully looked at his red, yet firm, round bottom and was rather pleased with the sight. The paddle had completely changed the color of the two mounds.
Steven stood there, his hands carefully held in front of him and his head lowered in shame. He said, rather softly, "I'm sorry for spitting on the cabin floor and for spoiling your story."
"I can't hardly hear you," said Charles. "Speak louder."
Thus Steven had to repeat, in a much louder voice, the statement he had just made.
At this point Charles, who was standing behind Steven, reached both of his hands around Steven's body and took hold of Steven's wrists. He pulled Steven's hands away from their position, asking, "What are you trying to hide there, boy?"
Steven blushed a deep red. His hands had been hiding an erection. The display of such, at age thirteen, can be one of the most embarrassing experiences imaginable. The other boys, most of them lying on their bunks under the covers, began laughing at the sight. Steven knew he would be the brunt of jokes about this situation for the rest of the camping time. What he did not know was that some of the other boys also had full erections, as a result of watching him get paddled, erections they were able to hide under the covers.
That night Steven had a hard time getting to sleep. He lay on his stomach vowing that he would do nothing that might cause the counselor to punish him any more. And for the next two weeks he kept his vow. Much to Charles satisfaction, Steven became a model camper, never complaining and always being willing to volunteer for an assignment.
Charles did not need to use the paddle during the following two days of hiking, boating, and crafts classes. Then, on the third day, he entered the cabin after lunch to find two of the boys, Robert and Curtis, locked in battle. The other campers were standing around watching these two angry youth trying to maim each other. Charles pulled the two combatants apart and ordered them to sit on opposite sides of the room. He then tried to ascertain how the fight had started and the reasons for it, but he received conflicting statements from all the assembled boys.
"There's only one way to settle this," Charles finally said, "and that's with the paddle. I want all of you to know I won't tolerate any fighting in this cabin, and Robert and Curtis are going to suffer for it."
He ordered the two combatants to take down their trousers. Both wanted to protest, but the look on Charles' face made it clear that this would be a mistake and would probably result in greater punishment than he would probably deliver for the fighting incident.
So, as the boys began to take off their trousers, Curtis asked timidly, "Do we have to take our underwear off, too?"
"No," Charles answered. "You can keep those on."
There was a visible expression of relief on the faces of the two boys. They realized that, although the paddle was going to see some action, at least they would not have to bare their bottoms as Steven had done the evening three days before.
When both Robert and Curtis were standing in front of Charles without their pants on, he told them to turn around. Then, with pins he produced from inside his shirt pocket, Charles fastened the backs of their shirts up so that the boy's buttocks were clear of any obstruction other than the underwear.
The strong thighs and shapely calf muscles that could be seen on fourteen-year-old Robert, even under his briefs, were impressive. But no more so that the firm, round buttocks of thirteen-year-old Curtis.
"Now," Charles said, "I'm going to let you punish each other." He told Steven to get the paddle down from its nail on the door and bring it to him. Then Charles told Robert and Curtis to face each other, standing about three feet apart.
"You will take turns, and I will let Robert have the first stroke because he is older," Charles continued. "You, Curtis, bend over and touch your toes."
Well, thought Curtis as he bent over to reveal the full splendor of his curvaceous backside, this may not be so bad after all. The counselor won't be paddling me and I will get my chance at Robert's ass. He placed his fingers on the tips of his shoes.
"All right, Robert, hit him once with the paddle," Charles commanded.
Robert swung the paddle, but not as hard as he could. Paddling was a new experience for Robert and he didn't want to hurt Curtis too much. The paddle made a soft sound as it landed, nothing like the sound it made hitting Steven's bare bottom three days before. Then Robert, having finished his stroke, was then told to bend over in the same way so that Curtis could strike his posterior.
Curtis didn't share Robert's fear of hurting his victim and his stroke was much harder than the one that had just been administered to his own backside. Robert wanted to yell, but held back because of the other campers who were watching with open eyes, waiting to see if the spanking competition would continue.
It did. Charles ordered the two boys in succession to bend and take a stroke from one another, again and again. It seemed that the more often each one struck the other the blows became harder, possibly because each was trying to better the pain that the other had inflicted on him a moment before. Finally Charles stopped the process, fearing that either Robert or Curtis would suffer serious damage that might land the boy in the hospital.
Charles now told the two to hand the paddle back to Steven so that it could be replaced on the door, and to move closer to each other. "Now give each other a big bear hug," he said.
Robert and Curtis, though still angry at each other, embraced and then quickly released their hold to move away.
"No," said Charles, "I want you to keep hugging until I tell you to stop. Hug each other tightly so that all of us can see that you have decided to become friends."
Friends! That's the last thing the two boys wanted, but they also didn't want any more pain in their bottoms so that they complied with the order and held each other in a strong bear hug, waiting for Charles to release them from this position.
Charles then moved up behind Curtis and pulled his briefs down to his ankles. He motioned to the other boys in the room to come and take a close look. The two orbs were scarlet red in color, and there were some clear marks of the paddle in spots that had been hit just once or twice. Charles left Curtis' underwear at his feet and moved around to the back of Robert. He dealt with Robert's underwear in the same way he had that of Curtis, and again motioned for the boys to come around the embracing pair to get a good look. Robert's posterior was just as red and marked as the buttocks of Curtis were. In fact it was difficult to determine which of the boys had received the greatest punishment.
The other campers patted and felt the two boy's bottoms in an attempt to determine which was the hottest, but no one was sure. All were convinced, however, that the two had given each other a great spanking.
Charles kept Robert and Curtis in the embrace for at least fifteen minutes. By that time both boys were willing to forget their anger in the hope of being released from their enforced embrace. To everyone's surprise the two of them actually became the best of buddies for the rest of the time at camp.
Charles only used his paddle once or twice more that week, and this was for minor infringements of the camp rules, meriting just a couple of swats each. But on the first day of the second week an incident happened in his cabin that necessitated its more active employment.
Eddy, one of the least talkative and most cooperative of the thirteen year olds, couldn't find his pocket knife. He was quite upset as it was new, a gift from his father just before he left for camp. He looked everywhere he could remember having been since he last used the implement, but could not find it. Finally he decided that it must have been stolen.
The other boys concurred, and turned to Charles for his advice as to what to do. Charles decided that the only way to find it and prove it was or was not stolen was to conduct a full search of the cabin and all the possessions of the boys. He told them to put their suitcases on their beds and open them. He also had the boys empty their pockets so that he could check the contents, and he decided to check other possible places a knife could be hidden, such as in between the blankets on the beds.
To be fair, Charles began the search with his own suitcase and belongings. The boys watched as he progressed from one bed and suitcase to another. Jerry, the snitch, became quite nervous when Charles got around to his bunk. And the knife was found there, in the bottom of Jerry's suitcase. There was no doubting it--he was the thief.
Jerry, at first, protested that he didn't know how the knife had gotten into his suitcase, but at this statement all the other campers hooted in disbelief. He tried accusing others of putting the knife there, but no one believed him. Next Jerry said that he had just borrowed it for a short time and he would have given it back as soon as he had a chance to do so. This met with as much derision as his first statement.
Everyone now turned on Jerry, glad to be able finally to punish the snitch. Ever since that first night Jerry had not been popular with the rest of the campers. The only question was how he should be disciplined. Charles said they should discuss it as a group, but not in the presence of Jerry.
The boys then found some rope and tied Jerry's hands together to one of the legs of a bunk bed, after they had taken all his clothes off. He was secured with such a short length of rope that he had to maintain a constantly bent over position, with his backside up in the air. He could only straighten his back if knelt on the plank floor, but on that rather course surface his knees would become sore should he maintain that position very long. He could also lie down on the floor, but even then he could not lie flat because the shortness of the rope prevented this. It held his arms and upper body above the floor. So he mostly stood bent over with his backside in the air. He had to remain in this position for some time before the campers returned to administer his punishment. As he waited, his stomach was aflutter from nervous anticipation of his fate.
Charles and the other campers gathered outside the cabin some distance away to discuss what they should do with Jerry. There were many suggestions, some verging on the absurd. But finally it was decided that they should tie him up by his feet and take turns spanking him. That way he would realize that they all disliked his stealing, even though he had taken only one item from one camper.
The boys then returned to the cabin with Charles in the lead. By now Jerry was quite tired of the bent over position he was tied in, and he hoped they would soon release him and get on with whatever punishment they had decided upon. He could not see much of what was going on in the room because his face was pointed toward the floor, but he did recognize the sound of Charles taking the paddle down from the back of the door. He hoped that the punishment that was about to begin would end soon.
At this point one of the boys untied his hands and allowed Jerry to stand up. When he turned to face the others, he discovered that they were all armed with some instrument of chastisement and were glaring at him. Most of them held belts, but one or two held tree branches that had been stripped of their leaves. Seeing them in this menacing stance, made Jerry visibly shake with nervousness.
Charles told Jerry to lie across the lower level of one of the bunk beds with his feet on the floor, and two of the boys then tied each of his hands to two of the bed posts so that his arms were stretched out. His head and back were on the bed, but his torso was out over its edge, held up by his feet that were on the floor.
Suddenly a terrifying thought struck him as he realized how exposed his genitals were in this position. "Not my balls," Jerry screamed, "Please don't hit my balls!" He looked with terror at Charles and the others and he turned white as the blood began to drain from his face.
Charles reached down between his legs and gently took hold of his scrotum. "Don't worry," Charles said, "even though you probably deserve it, we aren't going to do any damage your miserable _s_e_x_ life."
Charles then took hold of Jerry's knees so that one of the boys could tie them together. Another lad put a noose around his feet and ran the rope through a slat on the upper bunk so that, by pulling on this rope, the feet were lifted upwards to the level of the top bunk. In this way Jerry's posterior was positioned up in the air, a ready target for the belts, branches, and paddle.
"Eddy can begin," said Charles, "since it was his knife that was stolen. He can swat Jerry's butt three times, and then Robert can go next for three."
Jerry didn't try to hide the pain that each stroke on his posterior produced. He yelled as Eddy's belt landed the first time and tried to wiggle his ass out of position, but to no avail. The second and third swats brought more cries from the victim. Then as each boy landed his three, Jerry wailed more and more vehemently until he was sobbing uncontrollably. Because of the way his legs were pulled up into the air, many of the blows landed on the more sensitive areas where his legs met his buttocks.
By the time the boys had finished and Charles moved forward with the paddle, several of them were beginning to feel quite sorry for Jerry. Charles, himself, now decided to go easy and only hit Jerry with three strokes, although he had originally intended to inflict a more lengthy punishment.
They left Jerry hanging in this exposed position until his sobs abated, and then they untied him and let him stand unsteadily on his feet.
"Now you need to apologize to Eddy for stealing his knife," Charles told him. "And I think you should also apologize to all the others for your misbehavior."
"I'm sorry," Jerry said in a choking voice as he turned toward Eddy.
"No, that doesn't sound much like you really mean it," Charles told him. "Get down on your knees in front of Eddy and ask for his forgiveness, telling him you will never steal again."
Jerry didn't try to protest. His bottom was too sore and his will too weak to do that. He moved over to where Eddy was standing, still holding a belt, and knelt before him. His face was now directly in front of the bulge that was showing in Eddy's pants.
Carefully Jerry said, "Eddy, I'm sorry that I stole your knife. Please forgive me. I will never steal again, I promise."
After Eddy indicated that he would accept the apology, Jerry rose to his feet and moved to a position in front of Robert. He said much the same thing in asking for Robert's forgiveness, and then moved on to the next camper. Finally, when he had received Charles' blessing, Jerry was allowed to put on his clothes again. He found it painful to get his trousers back on, but he knew that the pain would subside in time. And for the rest of the camping season no one reported anything more missing.