The two boys sat in their bedroom. Both were clad only in their tiny briefs. Dad had sent them to their room with orders to strip to their underwear after Mum had told him that both boys had been late home from school. The boys had tried to explain their lateness to their mother by saying they had been helping a teacher but it turned out that they had been kept in detention. Further questioning had revealed that the detention had been awarded for bullying. Another child had complained that the brothers had tried to force him to hand over a new toy he had brought to school.
When they had arrived home mother had demanded to know why they were late and they had tried to lie their way out of trouble. They knew that dad regarded detentions as a whippable offence and a detention for something as serious as bullying would surely merit a severe punishment. Dad referred to his severe punishments as "floggings" and both boys had experienced several floggings in their young lives, not to mention numerous other less severe punishments.
The method of punishment never varied. Dad ordered the offender to go to the bedroom, strip to underwear and, when ordered, to come downstairs to the parlour where the punishment would be administered in front of the rest of the family. All the children in the family were dealt with in the same, harsh way.
The two boys waiting for the dreaded call to the parlour were 14 year old David and his 11 year old brother Darren. The other children, 16 year old sister Karen, Linda and Grant, the 7 year old twins, and the other brother Tommy who had just turned 9 had all been summoned to the parlour. All of them knew what this meant.
Meanwhile upstairs David and Darren were, as was usual, becoming more tearful as they speculated as to the nature and severity of the punishment they would shortly endure. Darren had asked what implement dad would use. David felt it was almost certainly going to be the whip. Dads punishments were administered according to the gravity of the offence. The whip was for the most serious misdemeanours, then came the cane. The younger children, Tommy, Linda and Grant would receive the belt for major misbehaviour or the gym slipper for minor infractions. The older ones had often wished that Dad didnt have his rule that once a child was 10 he or she was capable of enduring more rigorous discipline.
Eventually, with the other children, and Mum, waiting in the parlour Dad had called upstairs for the two boys to come down. When they entered the parlour they were confronted by the sight of Mum and the other 4 children standing at the side of the room. Dad would soon enter carrying whichever instrument he had chosen to use. It was obvious that, as soon as David and Darren entered the parlour they had been crying. David and Darren stood to attention in their briefs and waited for dad to enter.
When dad did enter the boys hearts sank. He was carrying the whip. The whip consisted of a handle, approximately 8 inches long, to which were attached 13 or 14 thin strips of leather 15 inches in length. When applied correctly, which meant ensuring the tips of the leather was the part of the whip which made contact, the pain was excrutiating. Dad was an expert at applying the whip correctly.
It was the custom before a punishment for dad to deliver a lecture. He secretly enjoyed the fear he generated in his children. He enjoyed the ritual of punishment and always tried to prolong his enjoyment by making the experience last as long as possible.
He began to speak.
"You are both here because I will not tolerate my children misbehaving at school as you well know. I will not tolerate bullying. Nor will I tolerate your pathetic attempts to lie your way out of your punishment. I have told you before if you do wrong you admit it. Straight away. Your mother has told me at first that you did not admit even that you were in detention. You are therefore being punished not only for the original misbehaviour but also for lying. As both these offences are extremely serious in my opinion your punishment today will be a 25 stroke flogging for David and a 22 stroke one for Darren. PANTS OFF"
Both boys, now sobbing quietly, removed their briefs and placed them on the floor. They both knew the procedure well enough and, without being told, bent over touching their toes in the middle of the room. Dad stood behind his sons and raised the whip high in the air before crashing it down with all his strength on Davids bare bottom. He then repeated the process on Darren. He whipped each boy in turn, waited for the child to call out the number of the stroke, and then administered the next. Darren, the youngest started to scream after the fourth one. David managed to endure 6 or 7 in virtual silence, apart from a sharp intake of breath, before he too began yelping and screaming with the pain. Both boys knew better than to try to cover, or rub, their bottoms however. They knew to remain in position until ordered to rise.
After approximately 30 minutes the flogging was finished. It had taken that long because, as the punishment went on, the boys found it harder through their tears of pain to speak out the number of the stroke. A weeping child can take upwards of 30 seconds to blurt out "F-F-FOUR-FOUR-F-F-Four-FOURTEEN Dad" for example.
When the last stroke had been administered Dad ordered his boys to stand up, hands on head. Each was sent, still naked, to a corner of the parlour and told to face the wall. The older children hated this part almost as much as the punishment itself. Karen, who was 16, had been caned about two weeks previously for being home late after a night out and had pleaded with her father not to make her stand naked in the corner. David, being 14, had started to develop and was embarrassed that the rest of the family should be able to see him this way.
To Dad however the embarrassment was all part of the punishment. And, of course, although no one else knew it, part of his enjoyment.