WHAT 'it' IS REALLY LIKE..... IF
4.1 YOU ARE THE OWNER AND HEADMASTER OF A SMALL BUT
PRESTIGIOUS BOYS' SCHOOL THAT 'CANES' -
ONE OF THE PERKS....
(CHAPTER I - GETTING THERE)
I am the part-owner and Headmaster of the LIFESKILLS COLLEGE, which is an out-of-town boarding school for boys, situated in a rugged but very beautiful part of the far Eastern Cape. The school boasts excellent academic results and, considering its small student body [just over 300] and that the boys range from the old Standard 2 to Matriculation [now, Grades 4 to 12], it performs well on the sports fields, also having produced some outstanding individual athletes.
Our sister school, St. Joan's, is located in the next valley and, per- haps unfortunately, is well within walking distance of the College. Both establishments maintain a high level of discipline which, in the case of the College at any rate, is backed up, with the full support of the Parent Body, by a code which includes corporal punishment if necessary.
As I teach English to Grades 11 and 12 only, I would almost never have occasion to administer a beating, but for the fact that, although the Masters' rights in this respect extend to their applying both strap and cane to a pupil's hands or bottom, [which may be bared, on the princi- ple that if a Master cannot be relied upon to thrash a boy's NAKED back-side adequately but unsadistically, he is not fit to have beating rights at all] the latter form of punishment is, in practice, always referred to me, as a sort of ultimate sanction, reinforced by my quite formidable reputation with the cane. It occurs, on average, perhaps once or twice per term, usually involving boys from the middle school, as the 11 to 14 year age group seems to be the most prone to behaviour of the sort that would incur a visit to my study for punishment of that degree of severity; however, not all miscreants who are sent to me for punishment are condemned to suffer it bare-bottomed and, similarly, hidings of more than six 'cuts' are relatively rare, so I actually do far less beating than do most of my staff members, who agree with me that a quick, sharp and unceremonious hiding is by far the best way to curb most forms of boyish nonsense.
Against that background, the second week of the third term a couple of years ago, was quite remarkable. It started out with my having to cane a rather nice, inoffensive little 10 year old from grade 6, who had gone on a totally inexplicable and out-of-character bout of classroom misbehaviour, which had brought him to my study, already in an agony of repentance, with one of the dreaded 'red slips', clutched in his nervously sweating hand.
Although I am sure that he left my study firmly under the impression that his tail had been beaten to pulp, I had actually caned him quite mildly, merely embossing a perfect 'five-barred gate', consisting of bright red welts, with three well spaced parallel stripes neatly connected by two admittedly hideously painful 'crossovers', instead of the eight called for in his slip, across the two small bare cheeks and then holding the little lad tightly against me while he had come to grips with the pain in his rear end and had sobbed out his remorse and a good deal of the loneliness and frustration that so often overtakes a small boy, verging on adolesence, when uprooted from his home environment for the first time.
He had actually taken his thrashing far too 'well' for his own good, as, had he shown any signs of real distress by the third cut, I would have remitted the rest of his hiding, as it is understood, as between the staff and me, that when a bare-tailed caning is indicated by a red slip, half the specified number of 'cuts' would constitute adequate punishment for the offence in question.
So much for little Kevin Travers's episode, which should have virtually put paid to my 'bare bum' caning activities for the term, but the same Thursday morning found me wrestling with a far more difficult problem. The previous night, two of my more senior boys, Moriates y Goncalves Machado, a popular, promising, swarthy and strikingly handsome 16 year old all-rounder from grade 10 and Donovan Haversham, a fresh-faced, ash blond field star and, at nearly 18 in grade 11, one of the following year's probable prefects and a prospect for excellent Matriculation results, had been physically apprehended, at about 22h30, in the precincts of St. Joan's, under circumstances that made me conclude that they had deliberately allowed themselves to be caught so as to give the girls whom I had no doubt they had gone to meet, the chance to return to their boarding house undetected.
I had pacified Ms. Braithwaite, the obviously upset Headmistress, with the promise of a full investigation and of severe and condign punish- ment for the two culprits, but, in the cold light of day, I found that I had the difficult task of both making allowances for rioting young male hormones and for the necessity of impressing on my pupilage in general and on these two very likeable boys in particular, that that sort of riot could not be allowed to go unchecked, as much because of the risk of unwanted pregnancies, should matters get out of hand, as on account of the possibility of there being a scandal, no matter how innocent the actual meeting MIGHT have been.
Matters were made even worse by the fact that the entire school had been lectured, on several occasions, about the reasons for my putting St. Joan's permanently out of bounds, so there could be no possibility of a misunderstanding on the point. I was so angry over the entire incident, which verged, in my view, on a breach of trust, that I had seriously considered thrashing the two culprits in public, at Assembly and was dissuaded by two considerations only: In the first place, 'Assembly' canings were traditionally of at least 12 strokes and were always inflicted on the victims' bare bottoms; I had no diffi- culty with the number of cuts, but most certainly did not wish to humiliate two of the school's leading and most popular boys in that way over an incident which carried no stigma as far as they or their peers were concerned; in the second, such 'floggings' were invariably followed by expulsion, which was not even under consideration in this case. However, as young Machado [generally known as 'Morrie' or 'Mac'] was the scion of a powerful and very influential family in Madeira and was some sort of hereditary grandee in his own right, while the Haversham boy's father, a very wealthy entrepreneur and industrialist, was one of the College's most staunch supporters and benefactors, the question of favouritism would clearly arise if there were to be a deviation from 'normal' procedures in the case of these two boys.
I therefore decided, not without some degree of selfishness, that I would be able to do full justice to both the offence and the occasion by thrashing the two boys soundly in the privacy of my study, having made sure that the rest of the school was well aware of WHAT was happening to them, the 'why' having certainly already been taken care of by the school grapevine.
In the result, I had made no mention of the incident at morning prayers and had also not issued my expected 'summons' during the course of the school day, but, by 15h30, was finding that my options were closing in on me, with the necessity for reporting to my opposite number looming and the issue of punishment still unresolved, when a golden opportunity presented itself.
My study overlooked the school's swimming pool which, on such a hot day, was thronged with virtually every boy who was not actually engaged in another sport. I saw my two errant lads playing a very half-hearted game of corner touch with some of their fellows and had just decided that it was time to put them out of their misery, when I realised that the current situation gave me a perfect opportunity to do so; that idea was followed, immediately, by a flash of remorse at inflicting so much pain on the two beautiful young bodies that had just dived into the water, but I stifled it with the reflection that it was all for the greater good and that I would definitely derive a great deal of satis- faction and, to be honest, downright pleasure, from administering my first 'senior' canings in well over a year.
I nevertheless immediately decided against using one of my 'senior' canes, as I intended to thrash the boys very hard indeed and wished the punishment to sting and burn their backsides intolerably, but without causing deep bruising or doing any other damage, beyond some superfic- ial flaying, which might interfere with their sporting abilities, on which the school depended quite heavily. So, my instrument of choice was a shorter, lighter and far more springy and whippy cane, not as apparently innocuous as the one which I had used on young Kevin's bare tail a few days earlier, but which would flex excruciatingly across and around each pair of naked haunches, leaving glowing, throbbing weals and a long-lasting burn and smart and which would occupy the boys' attention, to the exclusion of further amorous escapades, for some little time.
I therefore waited for the two boys to surface, reached for my public address microphone and barked into it, in my most brusque and intimidating 'headmaster' voice: 'Machado and Haversham, my study, NOW!!!'
The silence that descended on the pool was instantaneous and quite deafening, as the two boys glided to the side, pulled themselves effortlessly out of the water, tried, without success, to look unconcerned and set off towards the gate to the pool area.
I watched until they disappeared from view and a speculative babble erupted in their wake, before removing my chosen cane from the can of brine in which its business end and those of several others had been soaking to give them extra weight and bite and placing it ostentat- iously on my blotter, where the darker green patches made by its wetness would draw the boys' eyes to it inexorably.
Within a surprisingly short time I heard the swish of damp bare feet in the tiled corridor outside my door and concluded that the pair, prob- ably realising that both the level and the temperature of the water containing them were dangerously high, had avoided even the minimal delay which changing out of their costumes would have caused and were also hoping, no doubt, to be allowed to retain the trifling protection of those saturated garments over the next short while, as there was no known precedent for any boy's ever having been stripped naked for a hiding. On that point, however, I had news for them and it was far from good.
In fairness to the obviously very nervous youngsters, who slipped into my study in response to my curt invitation, there was no attempt at evading the issue; they both confessed freely to having been out of bounds and at St. Joan's; they did not deny having gone there by arrangement, to meet with pupils of that school; Donovan, while not attempting to deny full knowledge of the girls' identity, had looked me straight in the eye and answered my obvious question with a terse, "You know I can't tell you that, Sir," which no threat of addi- tional, or follow-up, punishment could shake. Of course, having been at the College for several years, he knew very well that neither black- mail nor mental cruelty formed a part of my punishment curriculum and that whatever was done to him in my study, before he left it that day, would see an end to the matter, save, possibily, for some gating or other losses of privilege.
'Morrie', however, gave me an answer which came closer to dumb insol- ence than I have ever heard from anyone else, let alone from a boy moments away from a sound thrashing and one would have to understand the multi-level structure of South African Society in those times to appreciate its import fully. Rolling his eyes in his tanned, aristo- cratic face and in his beautifully modulated English Public School accents, he languidly said, "Nee, baas, ek ken hom nie." ('No, master [a term of deference then used by menials when addressing their employers, but in this context showing all the contempt in which he held my efforts at getting him to betray his associates] I don't know HIM' - the 'kitchen' vernacular which does not distinguish between the _s_e_x_es, but which is quite out of place on the lips of an educated person). With those few words he proved to me just how fully he had accepted and been accepted by, 'our' culture, as, by using the quasi- Afrikaans idiom he tacitly abandoned any protection which his rank might have afforded him, identified himself fully with Haversham and accepted the same punishment as that which would be inflicted on the older boy.
The next step was then obviously up to me and as there was nothing to be gained by deferring the evil hour, I told the decidedly tense pair of lads that, in view of the aggravated nature of their 'out of bounds' escapade, arising from their having gone to St. Joan's, while knowing full well that there were very cogent reasons for not doing so and that they, as prominent seniors, should set an example to the rest of the boys, rather than wantonly flout authority, I intended to thrash them both extremely severely and that they should consider themselves lucky that they were not being punished at Assembly [I was delighted to see young Donovan blanch visibly at the mention of that possibility] and expelled immediately afterwards.
I allowed my words to sink in for a few moments before following them up by telling both boys to remove their Speedos and adding that I intended to beat Machado first. There was no argument or resistance from either boy, although I could see that both were highly embarrassed by my order and most reluctant to carry it out. Nevertheless, in a matter of seconds I found myself sharing my study with two stark naked and extremely attractive teenagers, who stood quietly before me, probably still hoping for a last-minute reprieve. I had seen both boys bare before, but had never previously had the opportunity to have a really good look at either of their well-proportioned and strongly developed young bodies, so I availed myself of the current situation to the full.
Unlike little Kevin, neither initially showed any signs of arousal and I noticed that, while both flaccid penises were good-sized, the younger boy's was considerably longer and thicker than the others. However, such well-endowed males often show relatively little difference in size between a limp and an erect member, while many more modestly proportion- ed organs are capable of enormous expansion. In addition, while the elder boy was circumcised, the younger was not, allowing me to wonder, yet further, as to whether the next few minutes would reveal any further physical differences between my two by then highly embarr- assed culprits.
Both boys did, however, show pleasing and impressive physical develop- ment, their broad, square shoulders setting off well defined, muscular torsos, which tapered to almost impossibly slim and narrow waists, before flaring out again into the lean, slickly angular hips which are the trademark of that glorious, but brief and transient, interlude between boyhood and manhood when there is no puppy fat left on a flat, washboard stomach and the lusty, burgeoning loins, as taut as a coiled spring, are ready and waiting for whatever action might come their way.
One noteable difference between the two physiques lay in my target areas as Morrie possessed a full, very well developed and quite prominent, golden-brown rump, which would offer two broad, smooth and well-rounded cheeks for their thrashing, while Donovan's fair-skinned backside was altogether leaner and flatter, though no less muscular, making me realise that I would have to adjust the length of cane I was actually using, once I had finished with the darker boy's tail, if I were to avoid inflicting some nasty, open 'wrap-around' cuts on the other lad's flank.
Both boys had the strong, muscular legs of fit and active athletes and it was there that Donovan gained most of his quite considerable height advantage over his younger accomplice as, by waist level, he must have been a good four inches the taller, making up a further inch or so in the lower back region. Strong, well filled-out thighs, beautifully rounded calves, slender ankles and broad, finely boned, strong and high-arched feet finished off two of the most pleasing young physiques I had seen for a long time and be sure that I admired them to the full.
By that time, the two youngsters were becoming decidedly restive under my gaze and both were beginning to develop sturdy erections, which made their penises swing steadily up and outwards in front of them until they were rearing upwards from the small nest of dark pubic hair at the base of each flat, ribbed stomach. Whereas as I had ignored Kevin's little erection, I now carried on staring quite pointedly at the older boys' much larger ones; as I had already spared them the humiliation of a bare-bottomed public thrashing, I saw no reason why they should not suffer the relatively minor embarrassment of having their unruly genitals looked over by the person who was in any event about to thrash their naked backsides, a highly embarrassing operation in itself, for any young man.
Then, having looked my fill and savoured every inch of the two beauti- ful, naked and virtually hairless young bodies, noting, appreciatively, the smooth sleek curves where powerful thighs swelled out into firm, taut, backsides, spots which would soon be drawing my cane like magnets, I dragged my eyes off them, lest they should begin to wonder whether I was going to 'do something' to them. I then confused them both com- pletely by putting the ball back in their court with a sharp "Well?"
Caught totally by surprise, the two fairly gaped at me, restoring any advantage I might have lost during my unnecessarily long inspection and opening the way for me to pretend that I had merely been waiting for THEM all the time. I snapped, "Come on, boys; can you give me any reasons why I should not thrash every strip of skin off your backsides for this little jaunt of yours?" Their silence confirmed that they could not and opened the way for their punishments to commence and I felt reasinably certain that the fear with which both boys were awaiting their ordeal was compounded by the realisation that their bare tails, softened by their recent immersion in the pool, would be all the more sensitive to the vigorous application of hard, supple wood and would feel their whippings even more acutely than usual.
I accordingly said that, as Haversham already knew the procedure, he should tell his friend what to do, and, once Morrie was in position and ready, that he should place his hands on the younger boy's shoulders to steady him, so as to avoid his losing position and thereby incurring additional strokes. I then turned half away, but not so far as to be unable to watch what was happening out of the corner of my eye.
TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 2 - A GOOD HIDING