Authors note
This is the fourth part of "Oppression".
Be warned, Smith is becoming harder to control. Dont gaze at the words for too long lest you be consumed by the story and relegated to a minor role as one of Smiths victims; read small chunks at a time and then cleanse your mind with happy thoughts before resuming.
Smith refuses to release the apostrophes. Perhaps, this story needs Bell, Book and Candle before the world is safe again.
A reader has pointed out that the Sin of Onan was not masturbation. I never said it was: Onans sin was to let his seed fall to the ground (go to waste); that is why masturbation is a sin. Masturbation also makes its devotees go blind and deaf.
Pettigrew
Not only was Smith becoming the scourge of the juniors, fearfully whispered about and everyone doing their best to stay out of Smiths attention, but also his influence was reaching higher in the school. He ensnared a fellow fifth former, the boy who had been made sub-prefect following Smiths promotion, on some minor misdemeanour. Smith magnified the size of the infraction and its probable consequences in the youths mind and had him begging in tears not to be reported. Smith gained another signed confession. Not only that, he now had the satisfaction of tormenting the boy whenever he pleased - a few searches in addition to routine thrashings would be fun – but also he had another source of fresh material. The only punishments sub-prefects could exact were lines and assignment to Saturday afternoon prefects detention sessions. If anything more was warranted the case had to be referred to a full prefect. Smith arranged that he was the only prefect to whom the sub-prefect would pass on cases and insisted that this be done for even quite trivial matters. The sub- prefect was rewarded in two ways: his own torment was less frequent and often he was permitted to witness or take part in the punishment of those referred to Smith. Gradually, Smiths supposed collection of signed confessions became enormous.
Smiths greatest success was in trapping a lower sixth former, a youth about a year older than himself: a youth a good bit taller and more muscular than Smith whom Smith could never have subdued by physical threat. Whats more the youth was very bright and thus highly satisfying to torment, yet he was too naïve to realise that one word to Wilkins would end Smiths career of oppression instantly with Dr de Ville no doubt playing a nasty role in the aftermath.
Smith had no direct jurisdiction over the lower sixth yet he had chanced upon Robinson smoking. Smoking was one of Dr de Villes bete noire. The recent birching was still in everyones minds so it took little to persuade Robinson that he would be better off being punished by Smith. A signed confession relating to the smoking and other incidents was extracted too. The confession contained an account of an incident of illicit drinking, a few smuggled in bottles of Guinness, involving two other lower sixth formers. Soon they too were trapped and had duly signed confessions.
Smith particularly enjoyed punishing the three lower sixth formers. They were punished together one night after senior lights out. They had to silently make their way to Smith study. They arrived in trepidation and were surprised to find Atkins, Drummond, Petreson, Melrose and Thorpe in attendance too.
Smith ordered the three lower sixth formers, along with his own followers, through to the dorm next door where there was more space. First Smith put the three through a thorough body searching procedure. The embarrassment of the three was greatly increased because they were each subjected to the search, on Smiths order, by one of Drummond, Melrose or Thorpe. Finally, Smith himself repeated the search of each youths crotch with his hands, very gently, lingering for a long while.
Smith then told the three that they would each undergo the decency test. If they failed they would receive a more severe beating. Everyone else in the dorm was puzzled, this test had never been mentioned before. Smith ordered the tallest of the lower sixth formers to stand before him, hands on head and with legs apart. This was a gangly youth with a pale body, hairless except for the places where hair would be expected. The youths crotch was a mass of mousy grey hairs surrounding an adult length penis and well formed testicles. Smith grasped the penis in one hand and held it gently for a while, his hand moving slowly. The youth gasped, reddened even more deeply on face, neck and chest but remained still. Finally Smith withdrew his hand and said, "Now the test. If either I cant bend your dick in two along its length or I cant make it in its entirety stay at an angle of 150 degrees or more from where it descends from your front then you will have failed the test."
It was obvious that the youth had failed the test but Smith insisted on carrying out the formalities. It was clear that the phallus would not bend, Smith did not try to force it but applied enough pressure for the youth to wince. Pushing the penis as a whole downwards accomplished nothing for as soon as Smith let go it shot back to its previous half- mast position, perhaps a little higher than before.
The second lad before him was shorter and of stocky build. He was only slightly taller than Smith but greatly more muscular and in consequence carried more weight. The lad was in the reserve rugby team and tipped to be in the first team next year. He too was deeply red. He was highly agitated and made to protest. "Look Smith, this is not on. No master would treat us so. You are exceeding your authority and ...."
Smith interrupted, "Shut up! Its your choice. Obey me to the letter or instead go before Dr de Ville for a likely birching."
The youths expression revealed the seething emotions within him. He glowered. His fists were bunched. He was at the point of crisis.
Smith said in a gentle voice, "Its entirely your choice, nobody is going to try to force you to do what you dont want to. You can walk out of here now if you wish. But, you know you have done wrong and you know you deserve punishment. I am merely trying to offer you an easier option."
Emotion continued to cascade through the youths face. Then it became clear that the crisis had resolved in Smiths favour. The youth unclenched his fists and slowly placed his hands on his head and stood before Smith with his legs apart.
Smith repeated the previous procedure, deliberately taking a little longer than before to reinforce the fact known both to him and to the youth that the lower sixth former was now Smiths property. The conclusion was the same as for the previous lad.
If the third youth had harboured any inclination to rebel he didnt show it. All thought of refusal was now dead. He meekly positioned himself before Smith. In his case the forgoing proceedings had so thoroughly confused him in an erotic manner that his penis was fully erect, pressing against his abdomen, and his foreskin was tightly retracted. Nevertheless, Smith enacted the manoeuvres: the penis was totally rigid and not bendable and the shaft could be pushed only fifteen degrees from its preferred position only to shoot back up again immediately. The youth looked thoroughly miserable and embarrassed.
Next, still naked, they were required to kneel with legs far apart, and leaning forward, on beds in the dorm. Each received twelve strokes with Smiths cane and six, aimed for maximum effect by the tip on the genitals, with his thin strap. Finally, he instructed Drummond, Melrose and Thorpe to apply, in turn, another twelve strokes in total with the kitchen "paddle" to each. The three were sobbing at the end of this. The lads were allowed to calm down for awhile and then assumed that they could return to their dorms. Not so, there was to be the final humiliation. Smith applied black shoe polish liberally to each youths pudenda. Then they were dismissed. Those others not ordinarily resident on this floor also crept back to their rightful places.
As the Autumn term crept to its close Smith got bolder. He introduced a rubber glove, taken from the kitchen, to his body searches. He tried it out the first few times on Petreson.
On the first occasion Johann was bent over for a search. By now this was almost a routine to him and he no longer blushed though he was by no means sanguine about it. When the final touching around near his anus finished Johann assumed he would be bidden to stand again. But not so. With a flourish Smith produced his rubber glove and dangled it in front of Johanns face.
"Know what this is for?" asked Smith.
No answer from Johann.
"Searches to date have not been sufficiently thorough. There is one place I have never yet examined. I am sure that Dr de Ville would expect me to consider all possibilities, dont you?"
Johann gulped. By now he had a pretty good idea how Smiths thoughts ran, though in truth he was nowhere near fathoming the depths of Smiths malign ingenuity, and put two and two together correctly.
"Please dont hurt me Smith", Johann whispered.
Smith stretched the glove with a snap and placed it on his right hand.
After a pause to allow Johann to further contemplate what was about to happen Smith gently ran the tip of his gloved index finger around Johanns anus; Johann winced. Then very slowly and gently he inserted his finger up to the first phalangeal joint and slowly rotated it.
The sensation to Johann was disturbing but not painful as Smith was being very gentle indeed. Johann emitted a sound between a sigh and a moan. Then it was over.
On subsequent occasions, never more than once a day, the finger penetrated more deeply and Smith took to lubricating it with butter because, though he wanted to humiliate Johann, he didnt want to hurt him in this manner; hurting Johann would go against Smiths longer term plans for Johanns anus. After ten days it got to the point when Smiths finger was fully inserted and pressing against Johanns prostate gland (though neither knew what that was). To Smith it was becoming ever more satisfying and to Johann increasingly less frightening though no less humiliating. Smith began using the glove, in gentle stages as he did with Johann, on Atkins, Drummond and other boys he had a pretext to search. None dared do more than protest mildly but to no avail.
Smith was happier than he had ever been. Whats more he envisioned scaling (plumbing) yet greater heights (depths) of depravity (though depravity was not a word that he associated with his own behaviour; whatever Smith might consider depraved is likely too terrible to contemplate). Smith knew that if he continued to be well regarded by Dr de Ville then, when entering the upper sixth, he was almost certain to be made Head Boy. That accomplished then all the prefects, sub-prefects and the rest of the pupils would become his play things, his domain. He would be undisputed king with powers to forward his own pleasure far greater than any Dr de Ville possessed. It would be one glorious year before moving on to university and the new, greater, and exciting challenges, for one such as he, in the adult world. He thought, grinning wryly, that one day he might become Headmaster in a public school (as a matter of fact he did, but thats a different story).
It was not until near the end of the Michaelmas term that Dr de Ville had an inkling that something was amiss and even then he misread the signals. He had noticed that the boys, particularly those not in the sixth form, seemed quieter than usual; there was a wariness he had not encountered before, a sense of a secret being kept that he was not to share. Other masters too had commented that some of the spark had gone out of the boys. Wilkins, the Head Boy, at one of his regular meetings with Dr de Ville to review disciplinary matters had observed that there was an atmosphere in the junior school and even in the lower sixth that seemed odd, something he couldnt put his finger on. Yet, discipline, or the lack of need to exert it, had never been so good. Dr de Ville had always felt that the unhappy souls lined outside his study on a Friday evening were a sign of his own failure rather than that of the miscreants before him. Since Hetheringtons birching the flow of Friday horse riders had fallen to a trickle, never more than one a week and for the previous two weeks none. Perhaps it was cause and effect but Dr de Ville had a nagging doubt. Public birching was rare but nevertheless there had been enough for Dr de Ville to gauge its general effect on the school at large. In the past the school had been stunned for a week or two afterwards and then gradually punishable offences rose to their previous levels with the exception that behaviour that could conceivably lead to a birching was noticeable by its absence.
This Friday evening was an exception to the recent trend. There were three boys waiting outside Dr de Villes study. Dr de Ville wondered whether this bode a return to normality though three at once was more than he, in the past, would have welcomed.
Outside the study door were four boys: a sub-prefect from the fifth form sitting in a chair and scanning, in desultory fashion, a magazine containing pictures of railway steam engines; and three other youths standing in line, hands on head, and wearing gym kit.
The first two in line were aged a little over fourteen years and were attending as a pair: they had been conspirators in the same offence, sneaking out of dorm after lights out to raid the kitchens, and would be dealt with together. The third was nearing sixteen years of age and from the fifth form; his offence was being seen in town by Miss Hodkins, the French mistress, on Saturday afternoon when all boys should have been cheering at an intercollegiate rugby match; Miss Hodkins had taken particular delight in reporting him and no doubt would have welcomed an opportunity to witness his punishment.
Dr de Ville opened his study door and bade the first two youths enter. They stood before him clad only in gym shorts and plimsolls, having discarded their gym shirts before entering the study. Dr de Ville gazed at them and said, "Is their anything to say gentlemen before punishment commences? I know what you did and I take it you dont deny it."
"No sir, sorry sir" the pair said, almost in unison. They wanted it all over and done with as quickly as possible as did Dr de Ville.
Both boys, Dr de Ville noted, had been on a Friday visit before, one of them twice before, so they knew the form. He said, "Get prepared".
The boys reluctantly lowered their shorts and stepped out of them. They stood upright again with their hand on their heads.
Before Dr de Ville were two slender but generally well formed youths of about average height for their age. On first impression the only major respect in which they differed was that one had dark hair and deep brown eyes and the other fair hair and blue grey eyes. Both boys were slightly flushed and the flush was increasing with every second that Dr de Ville beheld them in his gaze. Dr de Ville noticed that the dark haired youth seemed to have good muscular development for his age and his build suggested that he had potential as a swimmer. The boy had an obvious thatch of dark pubic hair, which would thicken more before he attained maturity, and his penis, though much more adult than infantile, had scope for further development. To Dr de Ville these were merely dispassionate observations.
Dr de Villes gaze fell on the other boy and an incongruity struck him. At first Dr de Ville didnt recognise what is was. Indeed his mind was mainly on anticipating the fish pie his wife had said she was preparing for tonights dinner; it was a favourite not only of Dr de Ville but also of all the members of his extended household. Then he understood. The second boy, though of similar height and build to the first, looked so much less mature. His pudenda were entirely devoid of hair. Dr de Ville wasnt entirely surprised because he realised that children mature at different rates. However, the greatest incongruity was that despite his apparent immaturity this boys penis and testes looked more developed than those of his companion. Dr de Ville set this conundrum aside in his mind and ushered the boys into the punishment room.
Within thirty seconds of entering the room the dark haired boy was in position. His smooth firm bottom was displayed in an ideal manner for thrashing. Dr de Ville administered four strokes with the paddle, two with the cane and an additional two with the thin strap, the boys choice for having straps off. The boy was bidden to get up and stand next to his companion, with his hands on his head, facing the door.
The fair skinned boy took his place on the horse. There had been no need of adjustment as the boys were so similar in build. His position was not quite perfect so Dr de Ville instructed the boy to move his feet a little further apart. Then it became perfect: a smooth, firm, unblemished, milky white bottom awaiting punishment.
Dr de Ville was about to begin his first swing of the paddle when something struck him. He was struck metaphorically rather than by a bolt from the blue. And, metaphorically, he was struck twice. First, Dr de Ville noticed that the bottom so well placed before him was not as unblemished as he first thought. There were clear indications that the boy had been beaten by a sharp instrument, such as a cane, within the last couple of weeks; the marks did not look typical of those engendered by the cane of one of his masters on the trousered bottom; Dr de Ville had seen many such. This puzzled him.
The second oddity was even more puzzling. Dr de Ville had seen many youths before him in this position. Their buttocks were tight and spread well apart so that corporal punishment may most efficiently be applied. An inevitable consequence of this position is that a youths anal area is exposed to view; not something just about visible but something obviously forming the focal point of the picture. In his time Dr de Ville had viewed many ani thus. Hitherto, they had never drawn his attention as anything other than the geometric centre of his view. Thinking back, they had all differed. The differences were with respect to pigmentation, surrounding hairiness, and the possibility of incipient haemorrhoids (in the older boys). The one thing the recollected ani had in common was that they were all very tightly sealed. The one before him looked oddly lax: not gaping open but distinctly unguarded. These thoughts happened in an instant and did not dig deeply into Dr de Villes wider analytical consciousness. He set about the task in hand.
The first two stokes set the paddle firmly on each buttock and on each occasion the youth groaned. The second two strokes were across both buttocks and on the last of these the boy cried out and reared up a little. The two cane strokes came down firmly on the lines dividing the upper and lower tertiles of bottom area. Both left a nasty looking livid line but did not break the skin. The final two stokes were with the paddle, the boys choice, each across both buttocks and the youth yelped on both occasions.
A couple of minutes later the third youth entered Dr de Villes study. He too was clad only in gym shorts and plimsolls. He too had no comments to make about his offence or excuses to mitigate his punishment. He too shortly ended up standing stark naked, hands on head, before Dr de Ville. He too was intensely embarrassed by his predicament. He too was almost beetroot red in the face and, in his case, the erythema spread into his chest. He too exhibited an anomaly. It took Dr de Ville a few moments to recognise what.
This youth too, a youth of near sixteen years of age, had no hair round his balls. Indeed, his entire pudenda, thighs and everywhere else that in a near sixteen year old youth one might expect to see some sign of hair there was none. Yet his penis and testicles were obviously of a size that fitted a young man. Indeed, the former had risen to half mast and might yet rise further. The latter had risen too in response to the chill in Dr de Villes study.
Having recognised the anomaly Dr de Ville wasnt sure what to say. Dr de Ville was a man used to being in command and at Thistletop he commanded everything. Finally he managed, "Are you unwell Appleton? Why was I not told?"
"Unwell sir? No sir."
"Er, um .... why have you no hair in your lower regions." Either Dr de Ville wasnt well up on anatomical technical terms or he was somewhat embarrassed about that to which he was referring.
"Sir?"
"Why is there no hair around your testicles boy?"
The youth looked immensely perturbed and reddened greatly more.
"Oh, yes sir. I had to shave it off. I thought I had lice. Possibly caught them by letting the school cat sit on my lap."
Dr de Ville didnt know what to think. He was classically educated, but that, despite the immense knowledge of the ancients, helped him nought in mundane matters such a the spread of lice and the plausibility of cats as a vector of transmission. All he could say was: "Oh, I see. Well next time see Matron before resorting to home remedies. Now go to the horse and get into position."
The youths position was nowhere near perfect. It was obvious that the platform would have to be raised and that a greater downward slope would be beneficial. That done and the youth once again bent over Dr de Ville surveyed his achievement. Two very firm, but not excessively so, buttocks framed in an ideal position. But again an anomaly. Well, not an anomaly by this evenings experience but certainly one if the longer timescale is taken into account. As if mirroring what was seen before, but on a slightly larger scale as befits a larger youth, here was another anus that looked unusual. It too looked less tight than those Dr de Ville had previously seen, and at those times, never thought to remark on.
"Odd", thought Dr de Ville, "but perhaps I havent seen the full range of variation". He set the thought aside and got down to the business of giving the youth six strokes with the paddle, four with the cane and, the youths additional straps-off choice, of three with the thin strap. The final two strokes with the paddle elicited groans, the last, unintentionally low, cut with the cane a cry, and the last lash with the thin strap which accidentally wound round to strike the youth across his penis and with the tip of the strap continuing to curl onto his right testicle evoked a shriek.
When Dr de Ville departed to enjoy his fish pie he had not appreciated the nature of the evidence that had been set before him. Yet somewhere in the back of his mind, perhaps the region that the charlatan Sigmund Freud (whose grandson, Clement Freud, would regress toward the mean of normality and become a cook) termed the unconscious, there was a nagging worry.
Shaving and ball blacking had become regular parts of Smiths repertoire; he particularly liked applying them to the increasing number of fifth and lower sixth formers who fell into his net. He usually got a boy younger than the victim to administer these procedures as he had noted it often brought intense embarrassment to both parties; however, Thorpe and Melrose thoroughly enjoyed doing this and Smith deliberately indulged them. Smith took the view that whilst his inner circle were there to be abused and used as fags whenever he desired it was wise to keep them loyal by throwing them crumbs from time to time. Indeed, Thorpe and Melrose had become efficient executioners assistants. They were, within limits, allowed to lord it over Atkins, Drummond and Petreson too. Those three had not yet undergone these new humiliations though they had witnessed them done to others. Smith was biding his time for maximum effect.
When normally a boy reported to a prefect for punishment the procedure would take no more than three or four minutes: stern telling off, punishment and then dire warnings about likely consequences should the offence recur. Even visits to Dr de Ville rarely lasted more than five minutes though they were much more memorable.
Visits to Smith were dreaded by all the boys in his self-styled jurisdiction: fifth form and below plus an increasing number of lower sixth formers, many of the latter being frequent attendees. Smiths punishment procedure had become a lengthy ritual of which the actual beating was becoming a small part in terms of time. First there was the stripping stage which could be made very long and humiliating. Next the external inspection which almost invariably involved the rubber glove. Then the decency test. If this gave the wrong result Smith might wait a few minutes and try again. He might keep trying until the test was failed. The beatings might happen in stages too, with different positions and lengthy waits between. He had another trick which sometimes he performed between the stripping and searching stages, he particularly liked doing this with Petreson, Drummond and Atkins. He would make them assume, naked, the press up position and then do as many as fifty press ups. He would wield his whippy cane against the firm backsides as they elevated and depressed if he saw any signs of them not attaining full amplitude. It was not unusual for there to be twenty or thirty thin red lines on their bottoms when the press ups were finished, and this was before the formal punishment had commenced.
To be continued.