Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.
Four be the things I’d been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.
Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.
Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.
― Dorothy Parker
Jenny noticed that Claire was always happy. She always had the right clothes and everything always seemed to go her way. The same could not be said for Jenny however.
In college grades eluded Jenny and then a decent job until the only break from frequent unemployment was boring temp work in increasingly low pay.
The same might be said for Claire, Jenny supposed, not the pay part, not the boring part. But both had left college without prospects, only Claire seemed to make the most of it and get asked to stay where Jenny was let go.
“It is so unfair,” she moaned to Claire one day in college.
Jenny sat opposite her friend with a serious pout and positive glowered from under her blue-black fringe as she spoke.
Claire shrugged.
“Tom and Michelle always say that life is unfair and it is what you make of it,” Claire said dismissively.
That was another thing about Claire. She was always going on and on about Tom and Michelle. ‘Tom says this and Michelle said that,’ Jenny was given to miserably mouthing behind Claire’s back.
“Well if I had someone to look out for me then maybe I would get the breaks too,” Jenny said sullenly.
She remembered how Claire had got a great room in Tom and Michelle’s expansive house for practically no rent. Jenny’s people wouldn’t even spring for a sub.
“Well I have talked to them about you and they have often said they would be happy to help,” Claire replied breezily.
Jenny frowned and glared at Claire suspiciously as she sipped on her juice straw, not a golden blonde hair out of place. She barely knew Claire’s ‘adopted family’ and yet they knew all about her.
“Yeah so why do I only hear about this now?” Jenny said scornfully.
Claire shrugged again.
“I didn’t think you would go for it,” she said carefully, “They are old school and I have to fall in with their rules. Not your scene at all I thought.”
“Yeah, well maybe you thought wrong,” Jenny spat back and then folded her arms.
Both women were silent for a time and then Jenny tentatively asked, “What do you mean old school anyway?”
Claire sighed and put all her attention into her juice. But she could tell that Jenny was not going to drop it.
“You remember how I told you that during my teens and even after…” she began carefully.
“Oh you mean about home being strict and that you missed it when you got to college,” Jenny said enthusiastically.
She had always been intrigued by some of the things Claire had alluded to. She remembered on their first day in halls when Claire had lost some money. She had blurted “I am so going to get spanked for this.”
Claire had been a lot more scatty and disorganised in those days and Jenny remembered that losing things and being in the wrong place were not uncommon for her back then. The spanking comment had been typical of her. But she had always been embarrassed when pressed about it.
It hadn’t taken long for her to realise that other girls in hall weren’t spanked and she had shut up about it. That was until one drunken evening when she admitted that she missed the firm handling.
“But what has that got to do with Tom and Michelle?” Jenny continued.
Claire fixed her eyes on the juice glass and blushed.
“You don’t mean…?” Jenny gaped.
“I told you that you wouldn’t go for it,” Claire said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.
“Yeah but… that’s your thing, not mine,” Jenny said eagerly, “I can play by rules sure, but… well you know. Maybe they could help me a bit. I mean just a room maybe and… well whatever it is they do that keeps you so… oh I don’t know. I just keep fucking up.”
Claire winced at the F-word. Tom would never stand for it.
“I’ll speak to them then,” she said, amused now at the scheming vacant gaze that had washed over Jenny’s face.
*
Jenny hadn’t known quite what to expect. The house was large and grand, just short of a manorial home. It was Georgian she guessed, with large eight-pane windows and smooth yellow bricks. It was free standing in its own grounds at the end of a long winding golden brown gravel drive. She particularly liked the monkey puzzle tree at the bend in the track. Running her eye to the top of the house she counted six floors, including a row of small windows in the roof itself where no doubt a century before had been the maids’ quarters.
Tom was around 10 years older than Michelle, a thick set man in his mid-40s with thick dark silver-streaked hair and bright blue smiley eyes. His wife was dark blonde with tasteful highlights. Not exactly a head turner Jenny thought, but attractive enough with a work-out body. She too had blue eyes that crinkled at the corners when she smiled.
“Let me take your bags,” Tom offered.
“I only have one,” Jenny told him shyly, “I wasn’t sure if I would be staying. I mean…”
“Oh, why is that?” Michelle asked brightly. “We have plenty of room and from what Claire says you need a bit of a leg up.”
“I know but…” Jenny blushed; she was sure now that she wanted to stay more than anything.
“Fine, then that is settled,” Michelle said maternally, “We want to give you the space to find yourself, if you’ll take it?”
Jenny nodded eagerly.
“We spoke on the phone and I know that you have talked to Claire,” Tom put in, he shot a somewhat irritated look at his wife who winced, and then he continued “We offer four specific things, room with board, our guidance, some rules, and consequences for breaking them.”
Jenny remembered what Claire had said and the rather stern almost scolding lecture she had got from Tom on the phone. The rent was a token amount and the rules meant being home by 10 on a work night even if she was between jobs. It also made provision for a required savings plan.
Tom had also spoken about retraining and the importance of good food and exercise. It all sounded fair enough until he got to the consequences part. A breach of the rules resulted in a five pound fine unless she preferred the alternative. Jenny had blushed at this point knowing as she did how they handled Claire. Tom had told her that after three rule breaches and she would be grounded like a teenager and faced other pre-agreed consequences.
Realising that Tom was waiting for her to say something Jenny nodded and then after a pause added “I understand.”
“Do you?” Tom said pointedly.
“Don’t I have to sign something?” Jenny said quickly to distract from his stern gaze.
“It’s just something our lawyer arranged, nothing special, we once had a problem with a girl we tried to help,” Michelle put in dismissively.
Tom seemed to glare at her for a moment and then cut in to say, “No, it’s a legal document and you should never be dismissive about such things. I suggest you read it and sleep on it, then sign it if you still want to the next morning. Actually we have three versions, so from the outset you have to make some hard choices.”
Jenny felt a surge of panic at the prospect of a decision. She knew Claire had seen a lawyer before signing and thought about it for a month. It was typical of Claire these days. But she had had previous experience of Tom and Michelle.
“Can’t I just sign the one that Claire signed?” Jenny said quickly. “I mean it’s on the terms you said right?”
“Of course you can…” Michelle began, her smile broad and encouraging.
“You had better read it first anyway. The devil is in the detail as always,” Tom said quickly, again shooting an irritated look at his wife.
“There’s no need to be so officious Tom,” Michelle said sticking to her guns, “She can always change the arrangement and sign a different agreement later.”
Tom nodded and Jenny heaved a sigh. She had so wanted what Claire had, perhaps in ways she couldn’t quite face. Now despite the pangs in her tummy, she felt excited at this new turn in the page of her life.
*
The rules or the deadly sins as Tom called them were not that odious in the main. But they were strictly enforced. In her first week she was just eight minutes late home and Tom bawled her out as if she was just a kid. The 30 minute scolding was worse than the five pound fine.
On the Saturday Jenny had left her room in a mess and a cup with cold tea, a forbidden beverage in the bedroom, getting spilled on the carpet. She had tried to cover up the mess and when Michelle had caught her scrubbing the carpet with bleach, Jenny had denied that it was tea.
“What you need is a good spanking,” Michelle growled at her.
That had been before she had admitted to the lie; another of the deadly sins. But the threat strangely thrilled her, as if she stood on an abyss.
She remembered fooling herself on reading the arrangement document. She had agreed that her sanction regime could be altered unilaterally by Tom if he felt that the fine system wasn’t working. Fooling herself because in her heart she knew what that could mean and yet she denied it.
Now the spanking threat made her queasy and brought her situation home.
“You’re grounded,” Michelle told her when the truth came out. “Until next Monday, that means you will not go out except for a course or to work and you will be in bed by 10 o’clock every night.”
Jenny gaped at her and was about to yell that it wasn’t fair. Then she saw Tom regarding her from the doorway and she blushed. It was totally ridiculous getting grounded like a teen, but that was what she had agreed. Damn, she blushed even more furiously and kicked something across the room.
“That’s enough of that young lady,” Tom scolded her.
*
Jenny couldn’t quite see letting anyone spank her. But it troubled her that she was even thinking in those terms. Then again, it was insane that a woman approaching her mid-20s was grounded like a little kid and getting sent to bed at 10 o’clock.
Before coming there she had thought sticking to some rules was worth the price of a great and not to say inexpensive place to live. It gave her a chance to save some money and get organised, but for the first time in her life she had structure and rules and it was turning out to be hard. Maybe once she got into it and settled down she could tell herself that she didn’t have boundaries and it wouldn’t be so embarrassing.
It was a resolve that lasted all the way to Friday night. With two days left of being kept in, she met a cute guy at lunch break who had invited her to a party. What could she say? Can I meet you next weekend as I am grounded?
Her plan was simple. Come home from her temp job as usual and then go to bed just after nine. Then once everyone assumed she was in bed she could easily slip away and get to the road to meet the pre-booked taxi.
Of course the plan required leaving the back door unlocked and disabling the security light that came on with a motion sensor. But she would be back by… well her thoughts hadn’t gone that far, but as long as she didn’t drink too much she could sneak back in before anyone noticed.
*
Jenny’s footfalls on the gravel path were louder than she thought possible and she had to keep stopping to listen hard. An owl hooted in the dark, a single ‘who?’ followed by another as if she were being challenged. It was silly of course, it was close on two o’clock and no one else would be up now.
To keep down the crunch of her steps she moved onto the side lawn and made for the paving at the back. Something darted away in the shadows and she froze. The vixen triggered the security light washing both the sleek red animal and Jenny in its cold white glare. The fox gave her one look of disdain and then slunk away into the undergrowth.
“Damn, I fixed that,” she cursed, breaking for the back door now.
It was locked. Shit, shit, shit, her mind raced, she felt sick. Well it didn’t mean that anyone knew it was her doing or that she was gone out. Only that someone had discovered the security was off. Nevertheless she made a dash for the front door, which she had a key for and risked the creaky main staircase. That was a nightmare in itself. Each step groaned and announced her weight upon it and she had to pause to listen. Damn these old stairs, she berated the house.
Her room was a haven of relief and she stood for an age with her back against the door closed behind her.
“Oh yes,” she whispered in triumph, “the Jen-machine does it again.”
Then her bed beckoned like a giant fist of cotton, embracing her as it drew her in. She might just have drifted off when a tap at her door brought her back.
“Good night Jenny, we’ll talk in the morning,” Michelle whispered from outside.
*
“I want the truth,” Tom said sharply. “We know you went out last night. You got back at two.”
“No it was about…” Jenny protested, she was going to fight for every minute.
Claire looked embarrassed for her and shifted uncomfortably in her chair in the main lounge, while Michelle stood nearby hugging herself tightly, concern etched on her face. Jenny wished they would go away.
“Don’t argue with me, I don’t want to hear semantics,” Tom barked. “You went out without permission while grounded, you came back late by any standard without telling anyone where you were going.”
Well yeah, Jenny thought, letting attitude touch her face.
“What I need to know is, did you leave the back door unlocked and turn off the motion sensors?” Tom’s eyes were hard and fixed her in a glare. “Think before you answer, I really, really don’t want any lies.”
Jenny nodded, two pools of red marking her face. She dipped her head to study where her canvas slip-on indoor shoes met the carpet.
Claire visibly winced at the admission, but Michelle relaxed a little, looking relieved even.
“So you know you did wrong?” Tom said sadly.
“Yes,” Jenny said. Her voice was more a sigh than a whisper.
“You understand that you might have put this house, our home,” he added urgently, “in danger and everyone in it?”
“I didn’t…” Jenny looked up, horrified now, “I didn’t think, really I didn’t mean to,” she wailed.
Tom held her gaze until she looked away again, the blush extending across her whole face and head.
“I know,” he said at last, “And you didn’t lie about it anyway.”
“I’m sorry,” Jenny whispered in her smallest possible voice as if hoping he would forget she was there.
“Well grounding didn’t work did it? The fines are going to get you into debt at this rate,” Tom sighed, “So let’s try the old-fashioned way.”
Sometimes one can’t bring to mind what one knows. It is almost as if the body runs on autopilot with regard to the social conventions, while somewhere in the gut and the back of the brain a small dread of acceptance grows.
It was like this now with Jenny. When Tom told her to stand up and let her jeans down, she couldn’t make sense of the words.
“What?” she asked, now biting nervously at her thumb.
“I said, stand-up and slip your trousers down,” he told her.
Behind him Claire bit her lip and Michelle nodded encouragingly.
“My jeans?” she corrected him distractedly.
“Stand-up,” Tom said sharply, his voice rising a little.
Jenny jerked and then as if peeling herself from superglue, she reluctantly got to her feet while her hands fluttered around her waist.
“That’s it, take them right down,” Tom told her.
“W-why? I mean… you can’t,” she looked at Michelle for salvation.
“Young lady you have a spanking coming and I am going to spank you. I want you to take pants and trousers down and come across my knee,” Tom said calmly.
Jenny’s mouth formed an O and she felt more heat rising in her face. Maybe her epic blushing had used up her blood now, because she was a little dizzy. But somehow the active more aware left brain moved her hands as by their own volition and she unbuttoned her jeans to slid theme down in minimum compliance.
For Tom it was surrender enough and he dropped into the leather settee beside her and pulled her firmly across his knees. Efficiently then, he slid Jenny’s knickers and jeans down her legs to her calves and adjusted her on his lap.
Jenny, robbed of adequate words, just gasped.
As Tom’s hand rose above his right shoulder as Claire clapped her hands to her mouth and Michelle frowned. Then he gave Jenny’s bare bottom its first spanking. At this her face became animated with pain and confusion while her naked hips rolled her deep-set curves.
The spanking continued for long minutes before Jenny’s gasps and wriggles gave way to a grunt. By then her bottom was fiercely red and tears had pooled at her red-rimmed eyes.
“Oh,” she said and groaned at each spank after that, her muted cries competing with her heavy fast breathing.
The only other sound, a louder one, was the rise and fall of Tom’s hand as he played out the music of crisp drumming thwacks.
“I never spank to anything less than a surrender,” he said in a determined voice, “And make no mistake, next time it will be harder and I won’t just use my palm.”
“Uh, oh, I’m sorry,” Jenny wailed and then she began to cry.
They were gentle tears at first and then she began to bawl, repeating over and over that she was sorry.
“Tom,” Michelle whispered.
He looked up with a glare and then his face softened as he nodded.
“Alright, you’re done,” he said at last, “You’re grounded for another two weeks and for the rest of this morning you can go and stand in the corner. Knickers down, mind you. And be thankful you didn’t lie to us.”
Jenny didn’t react for a moment, but lay there hugging his thighs and sobbing heartily. Then finally she said, “I’m sorry, so sorry.”
“We know,” Michelle said gently and stepped forward to help the hobbled Jenny stagger to the corner.
“Am I forgiven? I thought I had screwed up again?” Jenny asked, as the corner embraced her. She was certain that they would make her leave.
“Well you did, I suppose, big time,” Michelle winked, “But now you know what you’re going to get. And yes you are forgiven. But if you ever leave the back door unlocked again… I’ll spank you too and I doubt if you’ll sit down for a month.”
Jenny nodded, suddenly embarrassed as she realised her position. This was crazy shit. But at least she felt safe and for the first time, she belonged maybe.
