11 year old Anthony brought the letter home from school on Friday. It was procedure that a parent had to sign a tear off slip at the bottom to ensure they had seen it. It was now Sunday afternoon and Anthony had still not plucked up enough courage to hand it to either of his parents. He knew the contents of the letter would result in an extremely painful thrashing. He also knew that delay was pointless as the school would telephone his parents if the acknowledgment slip was not returned, signed, on Monday.
Anthony was going to give his dad the letter on Friday as soon as he got home and get his punishment over with but his mum had caught dad as soon as dad got home and told him that Brian, Anthonys 13 year old brother, had forgotten to do his household chores. Dad insisted his 3 sons did exactly as they were told and was furious the chores hadnt been done. Anthony had heard Brian ordered to his dads room and had listened to his older brothers ordeal as his dads riding whip did its work. He decided then he would give his dad the letter the next day rather than annoy him further.
Next day however as Anthony was tidying his room his parents had gone to the shops and taken his younger brother, 8 year old Tim, with them. They had returned after about 2 hours and Anthony had heard raise voices and a tearful Tim was sent to dads room. Apparently he had tried to look at a toy display and in so doing had caused it to collapse. One of the toys had broken and his dad had to pay for it. Again Anthony had listened as his 8 year old sibling had suffered a whipping for his clumsiness.
So on Sunday over lunch Anthony had finally plucked up the courage to give his dad the dreaded letter. He had mumbled something and passed the letter across the table whilst the family were waiting for mum to bring in the dessert after Sunday roast. He watched as his father read. Fathers expression told him he was furious. "Why have you waited until now to hand me this?" his dad demanded to know. Anthony mumbled that he had forgotten. Dad rose from the table, strode over to Anthony, pulled him to his feet and span him around. He then slapped him firmly, three times across his face. "YOU DO NOT FORGET TO GIVE ME THINGS LIKE THIS BOY. GET TO MY ROOM NOW." Anthony turned and tearfully trudged to his dads bedroom holding his face where his dad had slapped him.
The rest of the family finished their meal after which dad rose and started to walk up the stairs to deal with Anthony. Anthony heard his dads footsteps coming up the stairs and started to tremble. The door opened and dad entered. No words were spoken as dad placed a hard backed chair in the middle of the room. He then went to his cupboard and withdrew his riding crop. It was about 3 feet in length and all the children had felt its sting on numerous occasions. "STRIP NAKED" his dad ordered. Anthony slowly took off his t shirt, then his white ankle socks followed by his brief white shorts. Finally off came his red briefs. All the clothes were neatly placed on his fathers bed.
"This letter says you cheated in a maths test by stealing another boys paper and copying the answers. To make things worse you know you have to give me stuff from school the moment you get home, not wait before you give it to me. You know the rules boy. What have you to say for yourself."
"Sorry dad" was all Anthony could tearfully reply. He knew his dad had a "formula" for working out the number of strokes he would administer and he had broken at least two rules.
"Very well Anthony" his dad continued. You know what will now happen. How many strokes do you think you will be given"
Dads formula was 6 strokes for minor misbehaviour, 8 for more serious rule breaking and a dozen for major offences. "Sorry dad I dont know" sobbed Anthony.
Dad went on. "You STOLE another boys paper. STEALING is 12 strokes. You then used the paper you STOLE to CHEAT. That is another 12. Finally you decided not to give me the letter until today. Normally that would be worth 8 but today as you are being whipped for other offences I will reduce it to 6. Now how many is that".
"Oh Please dad" wailed Anthony "thats thirty. I wont be able to take that many dad. PLEASE PLEASE"
Dads response was simply to snarl at the boy "Stop snivelling and get over the chair".
Anthony stood behind the hard backed chair and leaned forward holding to the front legs for all he was worth. His dad would expect him to stay down during his whipping. He doubted if he could. The most he had ever had before was 12. If he got up before his dad told him to he would be thrashed more. His dad had however realised this and had fetched some cord from the cupboard. First he tied each of Anthonys legs to the chair legs, then he came to the front and bound his arms in a similar fashion. He then moved behind his son and delivered the first of the thirty strokes.
"OWW-One" Anthony responded as he had been taught.
Dad believed in prolonging a punishment and waited precisely 30 seconds before administering the next one.
"OWWW-Two" came the tearful response.
30 seconds between strokes meant the punishment lasted 15 minutes. When the final stroke had been delivered dad replaced his whip and then untied his weeping son. Anthonys backside was crimson red as were the tops of his legs. Some of the strokes were aimed at the top of the legs so as not to break skin on the area already suitably chastised. Dad ordered Anthony to his own room to reflect upon his punishment. Anthony picked up his pile of clothes and rushed to his own bedroom where he threw himself, still naked, on his bed and wept uncontrollably.
Authors Note If anyone would like a picture of the boys who inspire my little offerings please mail me and I will try to oblige.