Ive got three blacks, remarks Lucas gloomily.
Bad luck, says Peter.
At St Crispins black marks are awarded by masters and matrons for minor infractions. On Sunday afternoon Frank Benson, the housemaster, has the enjoyable duty of compiling a list of boys with three or more black marks. This list he announces at the end of tea. After evening showers and just before Chapel the unfortunate boys climb the three flights of stairs to Franks room to receive strokes of the slipper on their bare bottoms equal in number to their black marks.
In Form 3 I once got seven, giggles Peter.
Peter does not know it but this is a school record, acknowledged in The Ledger as such. The Ledger, you may recall, is the enormous volume in which Frank has been detailing his disciplining of the small boys in his care since he first started teaching in 1947.
It was really unfair. The Ape gave me one for being late for class and when I tried to explain why I was late he gave me another one for arguing. Then Julie [the matron] gave me one for leaving my bed in a mess, and when I told her itd get me slippered she just said Good. I think shes got in for me.
(The Ape, it may be pointed out, is the nickname of Mr. A. P. Ewart, the new English teacher.)
I hate it when youre the only one on the list, remarks Peter. Frankie really drags it out then.
I hate it when he makes you stand against the wall with your trousers and pants down. You feel such an idiot.
He did that to me and Robin once, and Robin got this monster stiffie - he said it just happened, he couldnt help it. But it was so funny. Even though we were going to get whacked it was difficult to keep a straight face. Frankie whacked me first and then just whacked Robin as if he didnt even notice.
Frankie doesnt really get angry about _s_e_x_ things, does he? Dyou remember that time he caught you wanking in Latin and you thought you were going to get expelled?
Peter laughs, a little uneasily for he had been absolutely petrified at the time.
Yes. It was the same that time when he came into the dorm and you were so busy flicking your _c_o_c_k_ with your undies that you didnt notice him. He just gave you a funny look. I like Frankie really, hes always very fair. He knows what boys are like.
True. I cant stand Duffer. One minute hes really friendly, then the next hes slapping you on the head.
Getting caned is really scary, says Peter with some feeling. You can sort of get used to the slipper, but the cane is unbelievably painful. You cant describe it.
Ive never had the cane, and I hope I never will.
Ive had the cane twice, say Peter.
At Medhurst the Headmaster uses the cane all the time. Frankie hardly ever uses it.
But at Medhurst its wearing your trousers, not on your bare bum like Frankie does. That makes a big difference.
(Medhurst is one of St Crispins great rival prep schools, the other being Swinburn Lodge.)
The conversation lulls and both 12-year-olds turn their full attention to the activity that has been occupying them for the last half hour. Its Peter who breaks the silence.
I get this really yummy feeling if I kind of scratch and tickle my balls just here, he remarks conversationally.
As is their custom on a warm Sunday the two boys have sneaked out of bounds, deep into the woods, and wriggled their way into a favourite rhodedendron bush, a vast and ancient growth. They have taken an old blanket with them (from a pile that lies mouldering in the cricket pavilion, for some reason) and are lying on it, trousers and underpants round their ankles, exploring the pleasures of their own young bodies. Its a rare luxury for the two schoolboys to be so completely on their own, far from adult supervision. Normally Robin and Ricky would be with them, but they have gone to a swimming match at Medhurst.
Lucas lifts his head and watches Peters forefinger scratching an area of skin near the seam that runs down the middle of his balls. His finger slides to the corresponding position on his own scrotum and he tickles busily.
Mmm. Does feel nice.
The bells going in ten minutes. Lets...
Peter doesnt finish the sentence. They dont really have a word for it. The two boys roll onto their sides to face each other, grinning with delight at the fun theyre going to have. Each boy takes the others erection in his hands and closes a fist round it.
Orgassssssssms, hisses Lucas.
One hour later...
Frank bangs the hammer to signal the end of tea, makes a few small announcements, then extracts the Black Book from his pocket. This is always a dramatic moment, for its appearance means at least one boy is up for a hiding.
Black marks, he announces.
Frank always adds a little theatre to the occasion by thumbing lengthily till he finds the right place then squinting, appearing unable to read his writing. The silence is electric.
Only one boy needs to report to my room today: Lucas Golding.
60 boy stare at Lucas, who pulls a face and looks at the remains of his beans on toast.
Up to the dormitories and showers, boys.
Five minutes later a naked Lucas is walking down the corridor from his dormitory to the shower room when he sees his arch-enemy George Simpson coming the other way. George is in the year above him, and is as fat and ugly as Lucas is graceful and good-looking. George suddenly shoulder-barges Lucas and says nastily:
Whos going to get his bare botty smacked, then. Diddums.
To add injury to insult he slaps Lucass bottom before waddling off laughing.
Bugger off, fatso, is the best riposte Lucas can manage.
Soon Lucas is showered, his hair is washed and hes morosely putting on his clean uniform.
Dont worry, Frankie never slippers very hard for black marks, says Peter consolingly.
Sometimes I wish Id never come to boarding school. Most kids are at home now, mucking about or watching TV, and Ive got a slippering and boring bloody Chapel to look forward to.
Youd better go - Frankies gone upstairs.
Lucas mounts the stairs slowly, kicks off his shoes, takes a deep breath, taps on the door and enters. Peters right, he thinks, it is worse when youre the only one. Frankie has got everything ready, he notes. The Stool is in the middle of the floor – at least that means Frankies not going to put him over his knee like a little squit in Form 3. The slipper lies on top of it – its a mystery to Lucas (and a generation of schoolboys) how any human foot could fill its vastness.
Franks mood is very much lighter than his young victims, it has to be said.
Lucas, my boy, come in, he calls out.
Lucas groans inwardly – he cant stand it when Frankie is all jolly and ho-ho-ho-ing about whacking you. Youre going to get walloped and hes treating it as some sort of fun occasion.
Get your trousers and pants down, old chap, and bend over the stool. Ill be with you in two shakes of a lambs tail, he says, working at his desk.
Lucas undoes his trouser button, unzips and lets his navy-blue corduroy shorts fall to the floor. As he pulls his underpants down he has a dreadful thought: can grown-ups tell if youve just been wanking? Fortunately his blazer and shirt cover his _c_o_c_k_.
Take your blazer off and pull your shirt up.
Drat! thinks Lucas. In a complex act of concealment he manages to do both these things and bend down for his slippering, while all the time keeping his penis concealed. Once down he looks at his groin: it does look rather small and shrivelled – I bet thats how they can tell, he thinks.
Facing the other way, please. Lucas has bent over with his head rather than his bottom facing Frankies desk, which does not suit the housemasters purpose at all. The boy swivels round and presents his rear to the mans appreciative eyes. Frank's eyes scan the smooth skin from the back of the boy's knees to the the top of his slim smooth buttocks. Sliding into the inverted V of the boys legs his roaming eyes note the small rounded scrotum and the tip of the boy's penis poking below. How delightful to have a bare 12-year-old bottom to spank at your leisure!
Finally Lucas hears the scraping of a chair and sees the enormous slipper disappear from beneath his nose. His heart starts to race, as it always does as a hiding approaches.
Was it four black marks, young man?
Three, Sir.
I see. Which side do you want two on?
Right side, Sir. He and Peter have a theory that teachers cant hit quite as easily or as hard on that side of your bum.
He feels his shirt being pulled right up and then feels the characteristic rubbing of his bottom, which signals youve got about five seconds before your bum explodes. This a lovely moment for Frank, running his large hands over the soft, warm bottom cheeks he is about to discipline.
Finally he raises the slipper and brings it down medium strength – hes a fair man and he realises that Lucas has been quite unlucky to end up with his bottom in the air. Ewart is a silly little martinet, in Franks opinion.
Theres the inimitable crack of leather sole on tender bottom-skin and a slight gasp from Lucas. As he pauses to let the pain sink in, Frank thinks how much Lucas has grown up over the course of the year. At the beginning of the year he was inclined to leap up in mid-punishment, arguing the toss! Now he is almost a stoic. Frank re-applies the slipper to the bare bottom, so both cheeks have a large red stain. He thinks about giving the boy a really low hard stinger to be going on his way with, but relents and replicates the first stroke, landing the sole of the slipper exactly on the red patch.
Off you go, you young hound.
Frank watches indulgently as the punished schoolboy quickly pulls up his underwear and shorts, tucks his shirt in and dons his blue blazer ready for Chapel Parade.