For the second year running the school's summer camp for boys aged ten to twelve offered residential accommodation to boys who were not within easy reach of London. As with the previous year, one of the young trainers was appointed to act as the boarders' mentor and companion and Mr and Mrs Jones, the summer camp principal and his wife, were to provide adult supervision. The trainer, Jim Nicholls, was a sports fanatic who was just seventeen. He was a good-looking boy of average height for his age with a slim and muscular build. He had achieved the extraordinary distinction, in the previous three terms at the school, where he was a pupil, of captaining every major boys' first sports team. He had also undertaken courses in first aid, life saving and the teaching of swimming, sailing, soccer, cricket and rugby. It was not surprising, perhaps, that he had had no difficulty in being accepted as one of the camp's trainers.
Thirty boys altogether had enrolled for the camp that year. Three of them were to board. They were all eleven years old. William Beeching lived in Dorset and London. For the summer, his parents and younger brothers were to decamp to Dorset. That meant that the camp was out of the question for him unless he could board. He was desperate to go. His parents, who did, it must be admitted, find him something of a handful during the long school holidays, took little persuasion. They enrolled him for the full four weeks. Jack Remnant lived in Berkshire with his parents and sister. A friend of his had been on the camp in the previous year and had waxed lyrical about it ever since. Jack had plagued his parents daily for weeks until they gave in and also enrolled him for the full period. Simon Walton's family had moved to Bristol during the year. They had formerly lived in London and, in the previous year, he had attended the camp daily. He had loved every minute. His parents had been immensely impressed by all that the camp had done for him in increasing his confidence and his abilities at sports. They had no hesitation in agreeing to enrol him again. Because his own school holidays started a little later than those of most schools, he could not attend for the first week, but he was due to attend for all the remaining time.
William's and Jack's fathers drove them to the school on the first day. They inspected the accommodation in the small lodge house which was to be used for the boarders. There was a large and airy bedroom into which had been placed three beds for the boys. There were showers and two bathrooms. There was a sitting room, equipped with television, computer and board games. There was a sports room with table tennis and snooker. Supper and breakfast were to be taken in Mr and Mrs Joness house, about a hundred yards up the drive, but there was also a small kitchen in which the boys could prepare light snacks. Jim, the trainer, had his own bed-sitting room in the lodge, with his own television and computer, although the Joneses assured Mr Beeching and Mr Remnant that Jim would spend most of his free time with his charges.
The two fathers were delighted with all they saw. They were particularly impressed by Mr and Mrs Jones, whom they both agreed to have just the right approach to the summer camp. They were clearly eager to ensure that the boys enjoyed as much freedom as would be consistent with safety. They made it clear that they would not be regimenting the boys' every moment. But they were also clear that there were basic rules which had to be followed on pain of expulsion from the camp. Apart from those rules, the emphasis was to be definitely on fun.
Jim Nicholls was then brought in and introduced to the fathers. They both took to him instantly. Although of youthful appearance (he did not look older than his seventeen years), he was clearly exceptionally mature for his years. He made it clear that his main aim would be to give the boys the most enjoyable holiday of their lives, but he also did not hesitate to say that he would not stand for any nonsense if he ever thought their safety or that of others was at risk. If any of the boys under his care was guilty of serious misbehaviour which could not be overlooked, but which was not so serious as to lead to expulsion, he would confine them to their bedroom. He would take no further action without first telephoning their parents (preferably the fathers, he said) to seek guidance. But he hoped, should such an event ever arise, that that guidance would not lead to any prolonged punishment which would deprive the boys of the wonderful facilities offered by the camp. He explained that bad behaviour during the day time, by non-boarders, was always dealt with by sending a letter home and leaving it to the parents to impose any punishment. In the case of the boarders, the practice was for a note to be given to him (unless he was the trainer who had witnessed the misbehaviour). He would then contact the boy's parents (again he said that he hoped it would be the father) to ask how the offence was to be dealt with.
Mr Beeching asked what type of penalties Jim expected to impose.
"That is entirely a matter for you sir", Jim replied, "should you ask for a brief period of grounding or some uncomfortable physical exercise or the imposition of lines, I will certainly comply. On the whole, though, I would prefer the punishment to be one which can be completed quickly and without any lingering feeling of unfairness."
"Speaking for myself", said Mr Beeching, "I would have thought that a few wallops with a slipper would be sensible in William's case. That is almost certainly what he would get if he were attending daily and a letter was sent home to me. If I ever asked you to give such a punishment, would you be prepared to do so?"
"Well, sir, there would only be two conditions. First, the number of strokes to be given must not be such as I would think excessive. I would certainly never be prepared, for instance, to give an eleven year old more than six and, on the whole, I would hope to restrict it to three or four. The other condition is that William would have to agree. I would not be prepared to use force to get him into position and I would not be happy about beating him if he was convinced that the punishment was not entirely fair."
"I think both your conditions are admirable. Before I leave I will make it clear to William that, in the event of his needing to be slippered, he is to remove his trousers and pants and lie across your knee without making any fuss."
Jim had not imagined that he might be called on to slipper any boy on the bare bottom. When he had been younger, that was how his father had punished him, and he had thought it highly effective. But he wasn't convinced that it would be appropriate in the circumstances here envisaged.
"I don't think it will be necessary for him to remove his trousers and pants sir. I am sure I can wield a slipper with sufficient force to provide an adequate punishment over trousers and pants."
"I am glad to hear you say that, Jim. I never had any doubt about you, but I know that some in your position might get some enjoyment from beating an eleven year old boy when he was naked. Your reluctance to do it confirms me in my view that you can be safely entrusted to carry out reasonable corporal punishment on my son. It also confirms me in my opinion that, should this ever arise, you ought to beat him on the bare bottom. I firmly believe that the punishment is much more effective when a boy has to drop his trousers and pants."
"Well. Let's hope William stays out of trouble. But, if he does not, I will, of course, respect your wishes sir."
Mr Remnant had been listening to the conversation and watching Jim closely. He, too, had been impressed by the lad's approach. He had recently started using a slipper to punish Jack and had been pleased with the results. Indeed, one of his slight concerns about the camp was that it would give Jack another four weeks, on top of the term time (he was a boarder at school), in which to misbehave and then avoid the salutary lesson which he had found the slipper could teach.
"I agree exactly with Mr Beeching", said Mr Remnant, "I hope, but not with much faith, that Jack will behave himself. If he does not, I am sure I would be happy for you to use a slipper on him, with his trousers and pants removed."
Jim was as impressed by the fathers as they had been by him. He had not the slightest desire to beat any of the boys who were to be consigned to his care, but he was absolutely convinced that, should punishment be required, there could be none other more effective and more rapidly administered and put behind a boy, than a good old fashioned walloping. Also, the fact that the fathers clearly shared his view, was, he suspected, a fairly reliable indication that the boys themselves would not be hopeless wimps.
During these sessions with Mr Jones and Jim, the two boys had been taken on a tour of the camp facilities by Mrs Jones. They could not believe the wealth of activities in which they would be indulge. Both were thoroughly excited.
William was the slighter of the two. In someone older, his face might have been described as gaunt. But his cheeks, though on the hollow side, were healthily tanned from the sun and his eyes were alight with life. His hair was dark brown. It was cut in the standard short and neat style of the English prep school boy. He wore sensible summer clothes, with just the smallest gesture towards fashion in that his jeans were about two sizes too big for him. He was, as one would expect, extremely polite to his elders. Mrs Jones found it rather endearing to be addressed as M'am by a young boy. He smiled a great deal and let out several exclamations of delight during the tour.
Jack was about the same height as William (they were both quite tall for their years). His body was a little meatier, but still slim and firm. His complexion was fair and his cheeks were rosy. Like William, he obviously went to an English prep school. His blond hair cut revealed as much. He wore a red T shirt and fairly tight fitting white trousers which revealed slim, firm muscular legs rising to what one would suspect to be a rather rounder and more protuberant (but again firm) small bottom than William probably possessed under his baggy jeans. He was equally polite and equally excited by all he was seeing.
When the boys returned to the lodge they found their fathers waiting to take their leave. Each took his son aside and gave a typical paternal lecture on how he was to behave. Each, also, told his son of the disciplinary arrangements which had been agreed with Jim. Neither boy was particularly put out to hear that he was not to be exempt from the slipper during the following four weeks. True, both had seen four weeks at the camp as having the attraction of giving the guarantee of pain-free bottoms. But neither was going to allow the threat of conventional middle-class punishment to ruin what was clearly going to be a wonderful holiday. They had also met Jim and he had instantly become their hero. If anyone was to apply a slipper to their bottoms, they both thought that Jim was the man.
The fathers left. Mr and Mrs Jones returned to their house. William and Jack started to unpack their belongings and put them away in their new home. Jim helped them and the job was completed in less than fifteen minutes. He then explained that there was still an hour to go before the camp got going properly. He suggested a swim in the, to the boys' eyes, incredibly large pool. They jumped at the plan. Jim went to his room to change into swimming trunks. William and Jack changed in theirs. Although they had only met for the first time less than an hour earlier, they were chatting away as though they were the oldest of friends. They talked about all the facilities they had seen and about their own favourite sporting activities. As William removed his trousers and pants and started the search for his swimming trunks, Jack noticed the faintest mark which had clearly been left by a slipper on his new friend's small, slim bottom. That provided the obvious introduction to the topic which had been raised by their fathers.
"William ..."
"Call me Will, all my best friends do."
"OK, Will, I'm not being nosy or anything, but by the looks of your bum you've had a whacking quite recently."
"Is the mark still there?", he turned and looked in a mirror on the wall, "oh yeah, so it is. Yeah, I got that from my dad last week. It was well hard. He only gave me three, but it was this new slipper he's got which has the hardest sole ever. Do you ever get whacked?"
"Do I! My dad is wicked with the slipper. I mean, he doesn't whack me a lot, but when he does he really makes it hurt. He's actually just told me that he's going to let Jim whack me if I'm bad here."
"Same here. Did you see the size of Jim's muscles? I reckon our bums will be feeling some grief if we get out of line."
"I don't s'pose it'll be a picnic. Still, he seems a really fair bloke so we shouldn't get it unless we deserve it."
The first day was a Saturday. The days then rushed past. All the boys on the camp were having the time of their lives. The day boys were deeply envious of William and Jack for being able to spend the evenings with Jim, who was, without doubt, the most popular of the trainers (and they were all popular). He had given all his free time to his charges. On four of the first five nights Jim had even taken them out for midnight swims. He had played games with them, taken them boating and gone exploring. By the first Friday, they were both sure that Jim was the greatest person they had ever met. They adored him and idolised him.
It was on that first Friday afternoon that a slight shadow was cast over the boys' holiday. All the boys had been playing a war game in the woods. Half had been given red shirts and half green. They made up the two armies. The object had been to see who could avoid capture for the longest time. Once a red shirt saw a green shirt (or vice versa) he would shout out the colour and point at his captive, who would then give himself up and return to the lake for some sailing practice. William and Jack were both in red shirts and they were determined to win. Now there was no way out of the woods, on dry land, without being seen. But one side of them was bordered by a river. All the boys were told, extremely firmly, that no one was to attempt to cross the river. It was fast flowing and dangerous in places. It was strictly out of bounds. That was all the two boys needed. If they could get across the river, no one would find them. They would just have to cross back over five minutes before the end. They made their way the bank of the river. They stripped off their clothes (it was a very warm day), dug a hole to bury them in, filled the hole and eased themselves into the water. They were both strong swimmers, but even they found the going hard. But they stuck to their mission and made it over to the other side. Once there (and it was in fact an island they had landed on), they did some exploring. Eventually, they found a clearing and lay down to sun bathe.
Unknown to William and Jack, things were moving rather more quickly in the woods than had been planned. The set finishing time had been four o'clock. By three o'clock, all the red team, other than our two heroes, had been captured and, amazingly, the last of the green team to avoid capture had blundered out into the open while searching. That meant, according to the rules, that he too was deemed to be captured. The trainers quickly realised that the game was effectively over, because there was no one to capture William and Jack. Four of them, not including, Jim, set out to search for the missing boys.
After some twenty minutes, one of the trainers, a lad called Henry, stumbled across the ill-concealed hiding place of William's and Jack's clothes. He quickly realised what must have happened. He called for help from the rest of the searching party. When they arrived, he said that he and one other should swim across and that someone should come to their aid if theY got into trouble. All were worried about whether the boys had made it across the river.
Henry and another trainer called Robert swam across with little difficulty. The island was small. They decided to take one side each and work their way across it. William and Jack were fast asleep in the sun when they were found by Henry. He breathed a sigh of relief and called to Robert with the good news. The boys woke as they heard the voice. At first, they were confused. Then they remembered. They new there was trouble coming.
"I'm afraid you can't avoid a note to Jim for this, lads. I hope you've got tough bums."
The boys were safely escorted back across the river. Their clothes, which had been dug up for them, were waiting on the other side. They got dressed (as did their captors). Neither had tried to persuade Henry not to report them. They knew it was a fair cop. Once they were dressed, Henry took a notepad out of his top pocket and quickly scribbled two notes. He handed them to the miscreants and told them to give them to Jim later. They pocketed them with a resigned look on their faces. Henry then said that they might as well come and collect their prizes for winning the war game.
"Some might say that you cheated, but that little problem will be adequately dealt with by Jim, so you might as well get something pleasant out of the exercise".
When they got back to the lodge there was a note from Jim saying that he would be out until 10.30, that the boys should make their own way to the Joneses for supper and should go to bed at 10.00. They were a little apprehensive as they went to the Joneses' house, but were relieved to find that nothing was said about their little adventure in the afternoon. It was one of the good things about the camp that the trainers would only inform Mr Jones of misbehaviour if there was no way of dealing with it themselves.
At 10.00 the boys carefully placed the two notes from Henry on the table by the telephone and went to bed.
Jim got back at 10.30. He found the notes. He thought he might just be able to ring the boys' fathers, if he didn't leave it too long. He was lucky. Mr Beeching answered immediately. He made a quick decision.
"I would be grateful if you would give William six of the best for me."
Jim thought that was excessive, and said so. He suggested three. They compromised on four.
The call to Mr Remnant was even easier. Jim explained what had been agreed with Mr Beeching. Mr Remnant said he, too, would have preferred his son to get six, but if William was only getting four then so should Jack.
Half an hour had passed since Jim had returned. He went to the boys' room and gently opened the door. They were both asleep. He would have preferred to get the punishment over as quickly as possible but, if they were asleep, they would not be in a state of anxiety about their fate. He decided to deal with them before breakfast.
When Jim went to the boys' room at 6.45 on the next morning he found they were already dressed. Both were wearing shorts and T shirts. They looked up at him rather sheepishly as he came in. The first thing they noticed was the large leather slipper in his right hand.
"Thanks for leaving the notes out boys. I'm afraid it was too late for me to deal with you once I had got through to your fathers. No surprises I'm afraid. We've agreed on four each. Does that seem fair?"
Both boys nodded.
"Who wants to be first".
Both boys said they did.
"Right, I'll do William first. If I ever have to do this again, remind me that it'll be Jack's turn to be first next time."
Jim pulled a chair out from the wall and sat down. William stepped forward, undoing his shorts as he did so. They fell to the floor. He was wearing red boxer shorts.
"Those'll be good camouflage for your bum after I've finished with you." Despite their looming punishments, both boys laughed. "I suggest you get over my knee as you are and I'll pull your boxers down then."
William laid himself across Jim's knee.
Jim gently eased the boxer shorts down. The cheeks of his bottom were not as hollow as those of his face, but it certainly could not be said that there was any excess fat there. The point at which the slim legs met the bottom was marked by only the slightest round protuberance. William was already tensing his muscles in anticipation of his beating and his bottom was clearly exceptionally firm. With his left hand, Jim held the T shirt half way up the boy's back. Then he rested the slipper on the bottom for a moment and saw that the sole covered it completely. That was as he had hoped. He lifted the slipper above his shoulder. He had never done this before and he hoped he would get it right. William's tummy was in turmoil. He was breathing heavily. His eyes were tightly shut. He was praying that he would take it like a man.
Suddenly, Jim brought the slipper crashing down with all his might. William's legs flicked up in an instinctive reaction to the force of the blow. He bit his lip to stop himself crying out. There was no doubt, Jim was an exceptionally accomplished boy beater. The first stroke had been much harder than any Jim had ever had before. The slipper was raised again.
Jack had instinctively shut his eyes as the first stroke landed. But he opened them before the second was delivered. The whole of his friend's bottom was now red, and the colour was deepening before his eyes. He determined to keep them open for the next. It smashed down. He heard a sharp intake of breath from William, but no cry. He noticed the small bottom sort of bouncing as the blow struck. When the slipper was raised again, the bottom was scarlet.
The third and fourth strokes were equally forceful. William was in real agony as Jim gently lifted him off his knee. He was afraid his legs would give way, but they didn't. His eyes were watering, but he had not made a sound and some furious blinking quickly cleared his vision. He stood for a moment, boxers round this thighs and shorts on the floor, rubbing his deep scarlet bottom with both hands. Then he bent down and pulled up his boxers and shorts. His bottom felt extraordinarily hot, but the immediate pain was easing. He took a few more deep breaths and then, both hands firmly grasping the seat of his shorts, watched his friend's punishment.
Jack's bottom was certainly rounder than William's. But it wasn't flabby. It was a firm round mound. As with the rest of his complexion, it was very fair, markedly so when compared to the tanned legs. After the rather different sort of tanning that it shortly received, it was the deepest red William had ever seen on human flesh. He was glad he had gone first, because watching the beating was much less of an ordeal than he knew it must have been for Jack. He was fascinated by the way his friend's bottom changed colour as each stroke landed and during the pauses between them. He wondered whether his bottom, too, had performed that little jump in the air with each resounding whack.
Jack took his punishment as well as William had. He didn't cry out and he kept his eyes almost clear of watering. Like William, he rubbed his bottom with great vigour before pulling his pants and trousers up.
Jim spoke. "Shall we forget all about this now and get on with having fun?"
"I don't think I'll forget it all that quickly", replied William with a smile, "it was well hard. But I'm all for having some fun."
"Me too", chipped in Jack, "where did you learn to be such a wicked bum whacker?".
"No one taught me. In fact that's the first time I've done it. I suppose it must come from having had a misspent youth and having been on the receiving end so often myself."
Jim had been surprised to find that the beatings had caused him to become slightly aroused. When he had been about thirteen or fourteen, a friend of the same age, who was still subject to occasional corporal punishment at home, had confessed once to being able to arouse himself by thoughts of spankings. Jim had been rather shocked at the time. Now he realised that he may have been a little hard on his friend. He quickly banished these disturbing thoughts from his mind. The new boy, Simon Walton, was due to arrive at 07.00 and he and his parents would have to be shown round.
Simon, of course, had been to the camp before, though not as a boarder. He didn't need as extended a tour as the others had. Jim decided to show him into the boys' bedroom and leave William and Jack to settle him in.
Simon had rusty red hair. He was slim and sporty, like his two new companions. He wore brown corduroy trousers and a checked shirt. He had the most engaging dimples whenever he smiled (a frequent occupation of his). William and Jack liked what they saw. They filled him on the first week's activities and the plans for that day as they helped him unpack. He was buzzing with questions which, as best they could, they answered. Eventually, he got to the question which had been troubling him for some time.
"What happens when we're naughty? I mean, last year I once had to take a letter home when I did something wrong and my dad punished me. But what punishments do we get if we board?"
The two boys had no problem in answering that. They explained that it all depended on what Simon's father wanted. They told him about how notes would be given to Jim if he got into trouble and that Jim would then ring Simon's dad to ask what punishment to give. Then, with great pride, they told him about the arrangements their own fathers and Jim had made for them. Finally, with a flourish, Jack added this:
"As it happens, Will and I got into trouble yesterday and Jim has just whacked us for it. Do you want to see the results?"
"You bet."
Jack and William both undid their shorts, turned their backs on Simon and lowered shorts and pants.
There was a sharp intake of breath from Simon, then: "Wow that is wicked. Your bums must well hurt. Did you cry?"
"Of course not", this was William, "I'll grant you Jim is a harder whacker than any dad I've ever come across, but we're not wimps you know."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to say you were, but it must have hurt like hell."
"It certainly did, but you get over it quite quickly you know", said Jack. "What punishments do you think your dad will go for?"
"I'm not going to be treated any differently from you two if I get my way. I'm going to explain to Dad that he has just got to agree to Jim being allowed to slipper me if I get into trouble. He ought to agree, since he seems to think that I need whacking at home all the time."
Mr Walton did agree. William's and Jack's assistance was sought when he seemed to be reluctant. They assured him that Jim was the fairest person alive and that, although he whacked "like a demon", you only got it if you really deserved it. He gave in to his son's pleadings. He knew that Simon would be miserable if he got into trouble and was punished more leniently than his companions.
Mr Walton left. William and Jack took Simon over to the Joneses for breakfast. Jim said he would join them in fifteen minutes. He retired to his room, locked the door, undid the zip of his jeans, lay on his bed and thought about thrashing William and Jack on their bare bottoms. He felt the tower rise, slowly but inexorably. He wondered how long he could keep his hand off it. He was aching with anticipation. He could not hold off any longer. He pulled his jeans and underpants down and the slow pumping started.
Half an hour later, Jim appeared at the breakfast table. Whether anyone noticed that he had had another shower was not clear. But he had. And it had been a cold one too. He now had a new interest in life. He could not help letting his eyes rest on Simon's firm young bottom as he rose from the table. He would not go out of his way to find an excuse to administer another punishment, but neither would he be dreadfully upset if it had to be done!