The Purge.
I grew up in the 50s and 60s, I was lucky to go through the period of transformation from strict control of children to the more liberal times of today. For me growing up was great fun but I did know my place and corporal punishment was still part of everyday life back then. My father was very strict and supported by my mother would often bare my backside and leave it warm and sore after a liberal "smacked bottom" as it was called then, or for more serious misdeeds the application of the cane or his belt. No such thing as child abuse then – this was how most youngsters were brought up.
My Father was 34 when I was born so ny the time I was in my teens he was considered an older parent. Both sets of grandparents were in their 70s at this time too, but they too had licence to apply corporal punishment to my brother and I, so holidays with them was sometimes just as painful. My Fathers father was a particularly strict man and the cane from him was not ever forgotten. His aim was low and hard and after just one stroke I was in tears, six was the minimum with him and no pants or trousers for the next hour, hands on head in the corner!
But the focus of this recollection is my Granny and Gramps, Mothers parents. They were kindly and only if you were really naughty did they result in "tanning my arse" as Gramps called it. During a holiday stay with them when I was around 13 Granny asked me if I had been purged? I had no idea what she was referring to and as I did not know she assumed I had not. She went on to say that lads of my age needed to be clean both inside and out, as we often had "naughty" thoughts at our age.
She told me to ask my Gramps to get the purging bowl for her. Still, in all innocence I did as I was told. Gramps went up to the box room and brought back a small reddish rubber balloon, a bit like the blower on an old car horn, it had a curved pipe about three inches long attached to it made of some sort of rigid plastic. In the kitchen, Granny had now filled a washing up bowl with warm water and she was swishing around a bar of Green Fairy Soap in the water. This turned the water cloudy and milky.
Then came the shock, Granny told me to take off my trousers and pants. I protested loudly and began to cause a scene, this just fuelled Granny anger and she told me she knew I was unclean inside and this display just showed it! Finally with much struggle and some assistance from Gramps I was bare over my Grannys knees. I was still very much in the dark at this point and thought I was about to be tanned!
Then Granny parted my arse cheeks and smeared something, later I knew it to Vaseline, around my bum hole – oh how embarrassed I felt at that moment. I instinctively clamped my legs together and tried to stop the invasion. As Granny was not too strong, Gramps was called to assist; by standing between my knees he was able to keep my legs apart and I could feel the cool air on my arse hole. Then the purging bowl was squeezed to expel the air and placed in the warm soapy water, where the water was sucked up into the bulb. With one hand underneath me, resting on my stomach and the other on the bulb Granny inserted the tip of the tube up my bum and injected the water. I started to flay my legs in protest as the warm water stung and invaded my bowels. Next I heard Granny telling Gramps to get the wooden spoon, Being in the kitchen it was soon to hand and Gramps soon put it to use "If I could not stay still, this would teach me" The big flat wooden spoon soon cracked down on my bare arse and back of the legs – over and over again until I stayed still. I was sobbing as more soapy water was injected up my bum and my stomach became distended.
All of a sudden, I needed the toilet – I begged to be let free. Granny simply removed the bulb and made me wait.......... eventually she and Gramps released their grip and instructed me to clamp my cheeks hard and waddle to the outside loo just outside the kitchen door . I managed to make it to the toilet before I let it all go – red faced and embarrassed I did not even have time to close the door. As the cramping calmed down, I thought it was over.....
Soon I found myself over Grannys knee again for the fresh water rinse out and then came Grannys discipline, in between bulbs of fresh water, she squeezed in just air, and this produces a trapped air bubble, which cramps badly. Oh it hurt and I moaned, only to find this was unacceptable and Gramps began the tanning of my arse again with the wooden spoon. When I finally was allowed to expel the water, I was a very sore lad, both cheeks and hole. I think my face was redder though!
Purging became a regular event with Granny and Gramps; about every 6 months or so I would be over Grannys knees.
When I was 16, I was over Grannys knees and she noticed how manly I was becoming. Hirsuteness ran in our family and my arse crack was now very hairy.
She asked Gramps to give her the scissors, I screamed and scrambled to my feet, No one was going to cut my hair. Gramps was incensed, he roared with disgust at my behaviour and said that he would teach me a lesson.
First came the swift slap across the face, then he was stropping his straight razor on the strap. I was petrified, next I was soon over his knee, cheeks parted as he shaved the hairs from my arse hole. Razor down now and soon the razor strop is in use again, this time across my bare arse . I can tell you, he could use that strop well and my arse was well and truly welted.
You may think as I did that this would end that purging. However I was soon over Grannys knees again so that now she could finish her task with no hair in the way.
As I finally left the toilet, Gramps pulled me towards him and said that he thought I acted like a spoilt child and should look like one. In no time he shaved off my pubic hair and left me looking like a small boy again. Then I had six of the best with his cane before being dressed and marched to Sids barbershop for a short back and sides. In 1969 to have a short back and sides was hell. But not as bad as having your Gramps tell Sid the barber that you have just had the cane on your bare bottom.... more about that later.