During the next few weeks, the daily routine was strictly maintained. Under Maureen Walker's close scutiny and unfailing punishment for even the slightest misdemeanour, Basil worked and improved steadily. But never enough to satisfy Jack Pryor.
Jack had lately made it a habit of showing up at the house more and more frequently. This was due not only to his attraction to Maureen but also to his ample authority over Basil.
"Well, my boy," he announced one evening, sitting in his favourite armchair, with the boy firmly squeezed between his knees, "you will be happy to hear that I have brought my school cane with me tonight. This is the cane I reserve for the most obstrepourous of boys your age and up. I know from experience that when applied liberally to a boy's naked butttocks, preferably on a daily basis, that boy benefits enourmously from its effect. After a boy has had the privilege of feeling its sting a few times, he invariably changes his behaviour for the better. It's amazing what this cane can do do extract instant, unquestioning obedience for even the most stubborn little boy. When I use it, no matter how small the target, I always apply maximum force because I am convinced that black and blue bruises all across a naughty boy's backside is the best method of correcting that boy's attitude and manners. As you will learn in the near future."
Basil wriggled between the man's legs but couldn't free himself.
"Stand still, boy," Jack said sternly. "I will stay here for the weekend, from Friday evening to Monday morning. During that time you and I will have plenty of time to get to know one another more intimately and you will have a chance to get well acquainted with this new cane. I'm afraid you won't like it, but you will soon be grateful for my time and effort to teach you."
"Mr, Pryor," Susan said as she rushed into the room, "Miss Walker will be with you shortly."
"Thank you, Susan. Young Basil and I were just having a little conversation, didn't we, boy?"
"Yes, sir."
"Tell Susan what we were talking about, Basil."
The boy blushed furiously and glared at his sister.
"Well, Basil, we're waitign," Jack encouraged the wriggling boy.
"Er - Mr. Pryor was telling me how this new cane from his school manners... and obedience..."
"And how will the cane accomplish such an extravagant task, Basil?" Jack said, winking at the girl.
"Er - by applying it... er... often to a boy's... bottom..." the boy said in a strangled voice while his cheeks and ears glowed hotly.
"Excuse me, Mr. Pryor," Susan interrupted the boy's stammer, "I forgot. Would you like a drink? Miss Walker said I should offer you something while you wait. I completely forgot. My apologies."
"My, but you are a well-behaved young lady, aren't you?" Jack said with a little smile, still gripping the squirming boy firmly. "I just wish your little brother were as respectful and polite as you."
"Then he wouldn't have to be whipped so often?" Susan said with that wicked little smile she had recently developed when discussing for her brother's misfortunes.
Jack laughed. "Maybe not as often," he admitted, "but boys need a firm hand, no matter how polite they may be. Otherwise they quickly get out of control. And, no, thank you, no drink for me tonight."
"Will you beat Basil tonight?" Susan asked expectantly.
"I don't know, Susan. That will depend on Basil. Why do you ask?"
"Well," Susan started hesitantly, "my friends Joanie and Helen - I think you met them - want to come and watch. They were here once when Miss Walker punished Basil and they were very impressed. I talked to them about you being a schoolmaster and how you cane the boys at your school, and they wanted to meet you."
"That is very nice of them," Jack said with a smile. "I'm flattered. I will probably review Basil's homework tonight and go over new material with him tomorrow morning together with Miss Walker. If your friends want to come over tomorrow, they may observe how I teach my boys."
"And you will use that school cane you have?" Susan licked her lips.
"As I said, that will depend on Basil's performance. But if he shirks or slacks off, he will obviously have to be punished."
"Oh, thank you. I will tell the girls right away." She rushed out just as Maureen entered the room.
Jack stood. "I just told Susan that she may invite her two friends tomorrow. I would like to spend the weekend with you here. Is that all right with you, or did you have other plans?"
"No plans, I have to stay with Basil. Will you work with Basil again? He is very slow and you seem to have made a real impression, not only on his backside but also on his personality. I think he has a lot of respect for you."
"Respect or fear?" Jack asked.
"Probably both, as it should be."
"I am planning on going over his homework tonight. I hope you will help. I need to be up to date on his lessons so I don't overtax his little brain."
They both laughed. It was several hours later that their attention went back to Basil and his lessons. The boy had heard Jack come in and his body started trembling. When Susan burst into his room without knocking, he first thought it was Jack and gave a little squeak of fear. Then, when he saw it was his sister, he got embarrassed and then angry.
"Don't you ever knock before going into someone's bedroom?" he shouted. "How come no one teaches you some manners? Why am I the only one who gets whipped around here?"
Susan looked at him with interest. "Girls aren't whipped," she said with a self-satisfied smirk. "Only stupid, dirty, lazy little boys like you. In case you don't know, Mr. Pryor is goingto stay the weekend. Aren't you happy? Two full days of uninterrupted pleasure with your new tutor."
Basil's face fell. His dispirited demeanour made Susan giggle. "Afraid for your little bottom?" she teased.
Basil rose from the desk bench and lunged at his sister. At that moment, no amount of punishment could have kept him from flailing his small fists at his older sister. Susan stepped back, surprised at the boy's fury, tripped over the desk and dislodged some books. She gave a cry of surprise and held up her arms to protect her face from her young attacker. Then she screamed.
"Help! Help! Basil is killing me! Oh! Oh! Please help!" She made it as dramatic as possible.
Maureen and Jack came running. They stopped at the door, stunned by the spectacle of the small boy, dressed in his infantile little shorts, pushing and flailing at his sister.
Jack took hold of Basil's small arms and held him fast.
"What's the meaning of this?" he asked with quiet menace. "Basil, have you gone mad?"
Basil, his face red and close to tears, breathing hard, gasped, "She... she..."
"Well, she what?" Maureen asked.
"She teased me," the boy finally stammered. "She's always teasing me."
"Susan, I told you before to stop that," Maureen said tersely. "In the future you will desist, or we won't allow you to be present during Basil's discipline. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Miss," Susan said demurely. "It won't happen again." Neither Maureen nor Jack saw the little look of triumph she threw her brother who was still being held firmly by the arms.
"Now, then, young man," Maureen said, "tonight you will be busy with your homework. Mr. Pryor and I will keep you busy until bedtime. There will be no supper for you. But first, I believe you deserve a most severe whipping, don't you, Basil?"
"But, ma'am," the boy began, but was interrupted.
"There is no excuse for your behaviour," Maureen said. "Isn't that right, Jack?"
"Absolutely inexcusable behviour," Jack agreed. "I think ten minutes with the tawse is the least he should get." He released the boy and sat in the chair.
"Basil, ask Mr. Pryor to take your shorts down," Maureen instructed.
Basil burst into tears. "It's not fair!" he cried, stamping his foot.
"Maybe 10 minutes with the tawse would be more appropriate," Jack said. "Basil, I suggest you obey orders without further tantrums or it will go bad for you."
Reason returned and young Basil stepped up to Jack. "Please take down my shorts," he muttered under his breath.
"Louder, boy," Maureen said.
Basil repeated his request in a louder voice and his face turned red. It darkened even more when he heard Susan giggle. "Little boy will have his bare little bottom smacked," she said.
"Susan!" Maureen admonished.
"Sorry, Miss," Susan replied quickly. But she was satisfied when she saw tears trickling down Basil's cheeks.
With much deliberation, Jack slowly unbuttoned the boy's brief shorts and pulled them down to his ankles.
"Now go downstairs and fetch the tawse from the study," he instructed the boy. "And mind you keep your shorts where they are."
All three watched with amusement as the boy shuffled out.
"Miss Walker," Susan asked when the boy had left, "won't his bottom be too sore tomorrow if he gets the tawse tonight? Remember, Joanie and Helen will want to see how his discipline is administered."
"When I teach my boys," Jack replied calmly, "I ignore the state of a boy's behind. If he deserves a whipping, a whipping is what he gets. If he already has a sore bottom, all the better. The new instalment will be all the more effective."
Susan seemed satisfied. She felt as an adult when she watched her brother being punished and this gave her a strange, pleasantly exciting feelings. She didn't hate her brother; on the contrary, she was actually quite grateful to him for offering her all those opportunities of seeing his bare bottom being thrashed. But she wanted ample opportunity and felt that in order to sastisfy her own vague feelings, it was acceptable to arrange this herself when the boy didn't provide such opportunities often enough.
Basil returned, bent over to hold his shorts above his shoes so as not to trip over them, entering the room crablike, one hand around his shorts, the other holding the dreaded tawse.
"Thank you, Basil," Jack said, taking the tawse and fingering it lovingly. The thick, supple leather's smell pervaded the room.
"Basil," Jack continued, "stand straight and - once again - apologise to your sister. Once more you have not only assaulted her verbally, now you even have had the impertinence of attacking her physically. I want a full, detailed apology spoken in a polite, clear voice."
Basil, close to renewed tears, his face and ears flaming, had to work on this apology for the next twenty minutes before Jack and Maureen, as well as Susan herself, were fully satisfied. By that time, the half-naked boy was sobbing pitifully but without any perceptible effect on his audience who just listened stonily as the boy tried over and over to bring out the correct words.
When it was finally over, it was time for him to bend over the chairback. There was silence in the room while they looked at the small, narrow little buttocks, still covered from top to bottom with dark cane marks. As time dragged on, the boy's bare bottom twitched ans shivered, and his legs appeared to tremble a bit more each minute.
"All right," Jack said at last, approaching the boy. "I peomised you a thorough tawsing and that is what I am now going to apply," he said. "Ten minutes you may remember for some time."
Fortunately for the culprit, Jack pasued between each heavy stroke. He raised the strap high and, with turned upper body, swirled around and crashed the heave leather across the naked flesh with his entire strength. A loud report like a pistol shot, a second's silence, a loud scream, then a pause. The pauses lengthened more and more after each stroke and, although Basil was unable to think clearly enough to count the strokes, he imagined it must have been close to 60. That would have made a ten-second pause between each. Perhaps it was only 50 because the pauses became more extended, but he was in a red haze of pain for the entire time and prayed only for his punishment to end.
More stories by Juan Samtiago