As Mark walked in the room, I noticed he must have been crying beforehand. He stood in front of the room completely naked with his hands clasped behind his back. Due to the severity of the offense he committed, I had decided to prolong his pre caning experience. I knew that his teacher had already given him six solid strokes on the bare. I came around behind him and observed six beautiful strokes evenly spaced between each other. I had contemplated what punishment needed to be inflicted on this young man. Initially I believed that 18 of the best would do quite nicely since that was the punishment I received for exactly the same offense from my father. However at the same time Mark had already been given six which meant that it would be impossible to deliver 18 strokes in one session on the same body part. The boy would simply not be able to stand such a thrashing, especially considering that additional strokes would most likely be applied as a result of excessive movement due to the pain. I had decided on an alternative punishment. "Mark, I cannot say how disappointed I am in your conduct today. It was most disturbing. I know that the other boy started it, but your reaction demonstrated the fact that you acted no better. What you should have done was go straight to the school authorities. Such conduct merits severe punishment and not just severe, but very severe punishment. Now you are going to learn a new meaning to the term cruel and unusual punishment. I intend to make sure that each stroke will teach you the error of your ways through prolonged agony"
He began to sob quietly.
"I suggest you save the tears for later. You will need them. Now since Mr. Thomas has already given you six of the best, I have decided that there is no point to cane you on the same spot as you will be unable to endure such a large amount of strokes on one side of the body. It will simply decrease your punishment time and we do not want that now do we?"
He began to worry as to how many strokes I meant by a large amount.
"Yes sir"
"Yes, we want to prolong it for as long as possible"
"I have therefore decided that your caning will take place in two forms. A regular thrashing on the bare buttocks and a bastinado session."
Mark realized just how painful this was going to be. Bastinado refers to a foot caning and is more painful as the nerves on the back of the feet are far more sensitive.
"The bastinado caning will take place at the beginning and the end of your punishment. I am going to award you six strokes on the naked soles of your feet at the beginning of the session which will be followed by twelve of the very best on the naked buttocks. This will then be followed by another six of the best on each foot. I hope this dreadful experience will teach you that any such conduct will be dealt with the utmost severity and without any compassion. I intend to make you slowly suffer my boy. Each stroke will be delivered very hard and spaced out over a 20 second interval. Now have you anything to say before we begin"
"Please sir. I'm so sorry. I swear I will never do it again. Please may I just have a regular caning. I promise such behavior will never ever happen"
I decided to give the boy some hope, by pretending that he might be spared the foot caning only to destroy his hopes at the end.
"Well, I don't know. This is a most serious issue and I'm not sure that 12 of the best would suffice Mark. I think I really need to thrash you severely this time. How can I be sure that your behavior will improve after only 12 painful cuts"
His eyes lit up with signs of hope.
"Oh please sir, I promise. I have never been caught fighting before and I never will again. I understand that I must be punished but please, spare me the foot caning. It hurts so much and I have trouble walking later on, especially considering the fact that me and Paul are limited to barefeet and flip flops. I understand that I must be punished but please be merciful sir. I promise it will never ever happen again."
I stood there pretending to consider his offer and then gave him the horrible response.
'I know it won't happen again Mark, but you have committed an offense and you must learn to deal with the consequences no matter how sorry you are. That is the way the real world works. Your actions were inexcusable and now you must suffer the consequences and so I'm afraid you shall receive a foot caning as you were told. Furthermore I expect you to accept your punishment with dignity. Begging is not representative of dignity and just for that I am adding an extra stroke to your buttocks caning which will be delivered extra hard and you do know what that means don't you boy"
He began to cry and said
"Yes sir"
"And what does it mean?"
"It means that you will have to break my skin"
"I'm afraid so. Next time you will learn to accept your fate with dignity. No have you anything else to say"
"No sir"
"Very well then. Go and fetch the cane"
He walked over to the cupboard and picked out a long rattan cane with a handle at the back. Having picked it up, he walked over to me and slowly handed the fierce instrument over. I then told him to kiss the tip of the cane as a proper sign of respect. As he did that I then uttered the dreaded words my father you use to tell me when I got caned"
"You are to assume the punishment position as if this was a regular caning. I shall inform you what to do with regards to the foot whipping"
"Yes sir"
Having said that the boy bent over my desk with his hands grasping the end of the furniture. I intended to cane his feet first as that would make it more difficult for him to assume the proper position during th caning and hence the possibility of further additional strokes was even greater.
"Mark before we begin I am going to remind you of the rules. You are to count each stroke out loud in a proper ritualistic manner of which you are aware. If you miscount, wait too long to count, count in an improper fashion or do not maintain the proper punishment position, then an extra 2 strokes will follow for each mistake in addition to you repeating the last stroke. Is that clear boy?"
"Yes sir"
The worst thing about getting additional cuts was the fact that I as my dad had a rule regarding additional punishment. Any additional cuts must result in blood being drawn at all times without any exception whatsoever. My belief was that a boy who displays signs of disobedience during a thrashing should suffer even greater agony, as this is the time that he should display exceptional behavior. Thus failure to do so must result in greater pain. Since the additional cuts were left until the end, then that made the thrashing even worse, as Mark had to live with the knowledge that the worse is still to come.
'Right Mark, I want you to lift up your right foot at thigh level and keep it up there until you re told otherwise. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir"
He lifted his right foot up. I could see the white skin which was toughened up due to the boys requirement of being barefoot when in the house and limited to flip flops when walking outside. The white skin would soon be covered with throbbing red welts.
"I want that foot higher boy. Thats it and keep it there. If you lower it without permission, extra strokes will ensue. Now you may ask for the first stroke"
"Please sir, may I have the first stroke sir?"
With that said, I began tapping the foot with the cane. After about 20 seconds, I drew the instrument back and laid the first stroke with a vicious swift movement.
Swish
Crack
A throbbing red welt appeared on the boys foot. The pain must have been unbearable. He gritted his teeth and said the required response.
"Thank you for the first stroke sir. Please sir, may I have the second stroke sir?"
The next three resulted in additional welts. As I delivered the fifth one, the boy waited just a little bit longer than usual. The offense was not serious at all and it wasn't a particularly long period yet I didn't see any reason why I should not make a fuss about the counting, since this was a punishment. I expected perfection and believed that the boy should have maintained the same time interval as with all the other strokes despite the fact that we were only referring to four or five seconds delay. I decided to make an issue out of it. Additional pain would certainly do the boy no harm.
'I'm sorry boy but I expect you to count in an orderly fashion. That means clearly, loudly and within a proper time interval. You delayed your count and now you shall repeat that last stroke and I am adding another two to the sentence, and as you know the extra two will result in breaking of the skin."
"Yes sir"
Swish
Crack
"Thank you for the fifth stroke sir. Please sir, may I have the sixth stroke sir?"
Swish
Crack
AAA
"Thank you for the sixth stroke sir. Please sir, may I have the seventh stroke sir?"
"Now beware, this one will break the skin"
Having said that I put more force into the movement and sharply brought the cane down
Swish
Crack
AAA
As I drew the cane back to look at the results, I noticed a thin line of blood appeared. The boy was having an increasingly more difficult time holding his foot in the air, but nevertheless, maintained the proper position. One more stroke was delivered with the same result. As the caning was completed, I proceeded to cane the left foot, which also resulted in additional strokes. Next came the brutal caning Mark received on his bare buttocks.
As a result the boy was left with bleeding weals that took two weeks to properly heal. He was never caught fighting again.