It was 6 o'clock on a wednesday evening and the Blakely family were all coming together for their evening meal. The family consisted of Mr and Mrs Blakely both in their late forties, and their five children, Patrick who had just turned twenty-one, Matthew who was nineteen, Judith who was eighteen, Claire who was to be seventeen in three weeks and Daniel who was fifteen and a half. Mrs Blakely was in the kitchen with Judith preparing the meal, whilst Claire set the table. Both Patrick and Matthew were sitting at the table but neither Mr Blakely nor Daniel were present.
" Patrick will you go and call Daniel down and tell him dinner is ready, he should really be here already he knows we always eat at six, your father won't be pleased if Danny's not here by the time he's home from work" called Mrs Blakely from the kitchen.
"Sure Mom" called Patrick as he got up from his seat and went to the bottom of the stairs in the hallway. "Hey Danny" He shouted "mom said dinner's ready"
Patrick heard some movement upstairs, then the sound of his brothers footsteps and he ran across the landing and down the stairs. Patrick smiled warmly at his younger brother and patted him on his head ruffling his hair up. Daniel scowled at his brother and straightend his hair out before entering the dining room and sitting at the table.
Daniel was a fairly good looking boy, he was about 5ft7" with short brown hair and striking blue eyes. He looked very similar to Patrick, both looked like their father although Patrick was a great deal taller and more muscular. Matthew and the girls however looked a lot more like thier mother. They still had blue eyes but they were slightly paler, and all three had their mother's auburn hair.
All the children were seated at the dining table now waiting for their father to return home, he often worked late on wednesdays, because his companies weekely deadline was thursdays and as a senior manager it was important for him to make sure all the tasks had been completed to a satisfactory level.
At around 6:45 Mr Blakely arrived home, it was unusual as he normally came home at 6:15 on wednesdays. He did not look as if he was in a very good mood, but thankfully dinner had not been ruined and the Blakely's could eat as a family. Mr Blakely was very big on eating together as a family, and you would have to have a very good excuse for not being present at family meals.
"I hope you like your dinner dear, i made shepherds pie. I must admit though i wasn't expecting you to be home so late. Did you get held up in traffic?" Mrs Blakely asked her husband as she dished out dinner.
"No, I simply had so much work to do today that i just couldn't get away from the office, I should have telephoned to tell you but it's been so chaotic today. You know how it gets when we have a deadline."
Mrs Blakely smiled at her husband, she herself knew just how chaotic things could get, after all she did have five children to look after.
There wasn't that much conversation at dinner, apart from a mild dispute between Matthew and Judith over who should have the last bread role, and a minor kicking fight under the table between Claire and Daniel which was quickly brought to a hault with a sharp look from their father.
During dessert, Mr Blakely read some letters from the morning post concerning work and bills and all the usual stuff. Everyone was silently eating dessert when suddenly Mr Blakely took something out of one of the drawers next to the table and handed it to Matthew.
"Would you hand that to your brother please Matthew" Mr Blakely motioned towards Daniel.
Matthew looked a little suprised, but he knew that his father was in no mood to be questioned, so he looked down at the object in his hands and as he realised what it was his eyes widend and he gave his brother a sympathetic look as he passed it over.
"Go and cut me a switch Daniel" Mr Blakely said calmly without lifting his eyes from the letter he was reading
Daniel looked shocked, he looked down at the stanley knife in his hands and back at his father.
"What for dad i haven't done anything wrong?" Daniel asked, he had a very nervous look on his face and he had started to breathe heavier and quicker
"Go and cut me a switch now Daniel" his father repeated in the same calm voice.
The rest of the family were all sat in an uncomfortable silence, eyes darting from Mr Blakely to Daniel.
"No, dad i don't even know what i've done wrong" Daniel said adamantly.
Parick kicked him under the table and gave him a severe look that said " Just go and cut it dude your making it worse for yourself" but Daniel didn't move from his seat.
Mr Blakely looked up from his letter and stared at Daniel, "Excuse me" he said the tone of his voice sounded extremely threatening.
Daniel continued to breathe faster and started to bite his bottom lip as his eyes darted between his father and the floor.
"I..I just want to know what i'm in trouble for dad" Daniel said
" Go and cut me a switch" his father repeated
"B..but dad.." Daniel was cut off as Mr Blakely slammed his fist down on the table making a huge 'THUD', all the plates shook as did the the rest of the family in suprise.
"NOW YOU'RE GETTING DOUBLE AND IF YOU HAVE'NT MOVED FROM THAT SEAT IN THE NEXT 30 SECONDS I'M GOING TO DRAG YOU OFF IT MYSELF AND YOU'LL GET TRIPLE, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
Daniel now with tears in his eyes nodded slightly and answered, "Y..yes sir"
"Well what are you waiting for MOVE NOW!" Mr Blakely roared and Daniel practically fell over himself as he jumped off his chair and ran outside.
Mr Blakely breathed deepely then returned to his letters. The other four children sat in silence neither of them wanting to be the first to speak or move for fear of what their father would do. Mrs Blakely gently lay her hand on her husbands.
"What has Danny done wrong dear" she asked
"We'll discuss it later Karen" Mr Blakely answered
" I know that you're incharge of disciplne but i'm worried Jim, I want to know what my son has done so bad that you have to switch him for? You've hardly ever switched the boys and especially not Daniel he's not even sixteen yet?" Mrs Blakely was very concerned and although Mr Blakely was in a very bad mood he could never be angry with his wife, and as they were a partnership he felt it only fair to explain.
"Claire and Judith will you please begin to clear up the table, boys you can start washing up" Mr Blakely said. His children all pulled faces at being made to leave when the wanted to know what their brother had done but none of them argued.
"Well Karen your son has apparently decided that he is above the law. I have just received a letter from Coach Davis, Daniels football coach, explaining that Daniel and some of his class mates have performed very badly this season due to the fact that they have all missed so many training sessions. Now i dont know about you but i haven't authorised him to miss any practice have you?"
"No but missing a couple of football practices isn't braaking the law Jim" Mrs Blakely answered.
"Correct but drinking under age and joyriding are" He gave his wife a sigh and with that Mr Blakley got up from the table and walked towards the basement where no doubt his youngest son would now be waiting for him.
Daniel was sitting on the floor against the wall clutching five long sticks, he stared at the ground as the tears filled up his eyes. As soon as he heard his father's footsteps on the stairs he stood up and wiped his tears on his sleeve.
Mr Blakely walked over to his son and leant against the table in front of him. "You were going to receive 30 strokes but as you questioned me and continued to disobey me earlier you are now getting 60" Mr Blakely said sternly not taking his eyes off his son.
Daniel sobbed a little unable to meet his father's glare. He was really scared so much so he thought he might wet himself. What Mrs Blakely had said before was true Mr Blakley hardly ever took a switch to his sons bottoms, he usually used a belt which could cause pain but not as much as a switch. Daniel had only been beaten with the fearsome stick once and that was shortly after his fifteenth birthday when his dad had taken him out to show him how to cut a switch properly. Mr Blakely then decided that his son would benefit from a little taster and whipped him five times.
Daniel was now thinking of that time and how much five lashes had hurt so badly, and now he was in for sixty!
Although he liked to think of himself as a man, it was clear that he was still a boy and Mr Blakely new this, he also knew that his son would not be able to take 60 lashes with a switch. Patrick and Matthew could have done and had done but not Daniel not at fifteen he was still getting it over the knee from his dad, and hand spankings may not seem like good enough punishment for a fifteen year old but Mr Blakely was a big strong guy, and could reduce his son to tears very quickly.
"If you are honest with me Daniel and tell me the truth about why you are down here you can have your origional sentence of 30. Lie to me and you'll get the full sixty. Understand?"
"Yes sir" Daniel responded
"Right well off you go then" Promoted Mr Blakely
"Well for the past few weeks some of my friends and I have been skipping school we can go drinking in an old abandoned factory out of town, we've been going for weeks messing around and setting fire to old bits of machinery and stuff. We missed a few football practices and coach noticed and told us if we didn't buck our ideas up he'd tell our parents. Well once when Shaun's dad was out we took his car and went driving in it and i guess his dad or coach found out about it."
Daniel looked at the ground and then at his father and then at the ground again.
"Good i'm glad you can at least own up to your mistakes, now pants down and over the table" Mr Blakley got up from the table and took the sticks from Daniels hands, so he could undo his trousers.
Mr Blakely half expected his son to plead with him but to his suprise he silently apart from a few sobs took his trousers and underpants down and bent over the table
Mr Blakely wasted no time CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
"Owwwwwwww....." Daniel yelped, he had never been in so much pain in his life. His dad had always used his hand on him or the belt when he'd done something really bad. But this was awful, it hurt so bad.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Daniel didn't yell out and beg his father to stop, he cried and yelped but he was into much of a state to speak.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The whipping stopped. Daniel didn't dare move he just stayed there leant over the table with his trousers and underpants around his ankles
"I don't ever want beat you for that again Daniel do you understand?" Mr Blakely asked as he put down the stick, he had used four out of the five that Daniel had cut. He had only used so many because of the force he was using kept braking them.
"Y...y...y...yes s..sir" Daniel stammered through sobs
"You are fifteen years old and you could have been arrested for what you did
"I...I know s...sir i'm sor...sorry" he replied
"Good now get out of my sight" Mr Blakely commanded.
Daniel didn't need telling twice he got up and with great difficulty pulled up his trousers and left. Once in his bedroom he peeled off his trousers and inspected the damage. His backside looked horrendous it was covered in deep red stripes, his dad had come close to breaking the skin. He took off his pants and got into his bed.
His father on the other hand feeling satisfied that his son had learnt the error of his way decided he would contact Coach Davis to inform him that the problem had been dealt with and then Shaun's father to compare punishments. He knew his son probably hated him at the moment but he would go and see him in a bit and all would be forgiven. Whipping him was for his own good, it was just a bonus that Mr Blakely took great pleasure in chastising his sons.