by Shaun Kelly
"Good morning, class. My name is Miss Macintosh... and I spank."
So started the new school year for Section A of the twelfth grade at Elmcrest High School.
Lynn Macintosh had 26 students that morning - all of whom had been hoping to get the other twelfth-grade teacher. All of them knew the reputation of the teacher called 'Miss Spankintosh' behind her back.
Fifty-two eyes were now fixed on the tall, slim 27-year-old teacher who knew she had their complete attention. She was wearing what she thought of as an "authority outfit"; she wore it that day to help set the tone she wanted. She had on a black skirt and a short-sleeve white pleated blouse that fastened at the neck. With her hair back in a bun, she was an imposing sight who could intimidate twelfth graders even if she had never uttered the word "spanking".
"We have a lot to talk about this morning," she said, "but you already have heard the most important things you have to know - who I am and what I do.
"If you don't already know it, for the last three years I have given more spankings than any other teacher in the school. It's your last year in this school. I'm sure you think spankings should be for the little kids, not twelfth graders. Well, I don't agree. I've seen too many kids of your age who think they're the big kids who can get away with anything just because they're the oldest in the school. As far as I'm concerned, I think twelfth graders need strict punishment even more than the younger students.
"Whether this class gets the most spankings again this year isn't up to me - it's completely up to you. If you all behave, there will be no spankings. But if you misbehave, there will be plenty of spankings. I will take any of you - boy or girl - to the spanking room, and you will get a bare-bottom spanking with this." (She opened her desk drawer, pulled out a small wooden paddle, and dropped it on her desk for maximum effect).
"Some of you may have parents that think you're too old to get spanked now. That may be true at your house, but that does not matter here. I decide if you're too old to get spanked in this classroom, and I've decided - you're not too old to get spanked in this class.
"And that is in effect right now. Last year, I had to spank someone on the second day of school. And if one of you gives me a reason to spank you today, I will do it.
"Now... let's talk about what we're going to learn this year, and what I expect from you."
In the room next door, 25 relieved twelfth graders were meeting their new teacher, 23-year-old Josh Waters, who was starting his first day as a teacher. Josh had mixed emotions about teaching the twelfth grade - he had received a Masters in History earlier that year, and really had aspirations to teach college-level history. But due to the ongoing recession, college teaching positions were very scarce and he considered himself lucky to get any kind of teaching job. (Josh's aunt was on the local school board, which likely helped him, especially since he had little experience).
Teachers taught multiple subjects in the school, which presented a challenge for Josh in a few subjects such as math and English. The school's principal had asked Lynn to mentor Josh and share some of her lesson plans with him. The two had met for the first time just the day before and Josh had been very pleased by Lynn's offer of help. He liked her immediately.
Lynn had suggested the two eat together each day at the lunch hour, in which she could hear his concerns and offer some help in subject matter in which he was weak. She had found him to be a very pleasant and self-deprecating young man with a good sense of humor, and she also liked him. After a week, both were looking forward to their lunch "dates" each day and found they very much enjoyed each other's company.
One afternoon during the second week of school, Lynn was "down" a bit and Josh noticed, asking her what the trouble was. She responded that she had been pleased she didn't have to spank any students the first week of school, but she needed to spank one of her male students right after lunch. Josh was aware, of course, that teachers had the authority to spank their students, but as he did not plan on doing any spanking himself, he really hadn't thought much about it. He had overheard some students talking once and had become aware that Lynn did spank students, and had some curiosity about her beliefs.
"If it bothers you so much, why do you do it?" he asked.
"I think you have to in order to keep the kids paying attention. I've been glad to hear you have been doing OK keeping order in your class, but I really struggled with that my first year teaching. I had been sure I wasn't going to spank students, but I was losing control of the classroom. One of the older teachers - she retired last year - tried to help me; she told me the kids were testing me and until they knew I would spank them, they would continue to carry on. 'Lynn,' she said, 'you need to take one of them to the spanking room (the school had one room that was available for faculty to use for disciplining students), give it to him good, bring him back to your classroom and make him stand in the corner so all the others can see what you'll do. Most of them will not give you trouble again.'
"She was right. It happened to be a girl who gave me trouble next, and I spanked her. She stood in the corner and cried quite a bit, and for the next week, I had no trouble at all from anybody. But I learned to act quickly whenever one of the kids goes over the line, and I never hesitated again to spank a student. I'll do it whenever I think a kid deserves it. I've heard that they call me 'Miss Spankintosh' but I do believe I'm doing the right thing. I got spanked when I was that age and it kept me out of a lot of trouble."
"I really hope I don't have to spank anyone," Josh said. "I got spanked some when I was young, and I agree it matters to a kid, but I just don't see myself as spanking anyone."
"I hope you don't have to also," Lynn said, "but it's only the second week."
That night, Josh had one of the strangest dreams he'd ever experienced. There was a boy named Timmy in Josh's section, and he had already become one of Josh's favorite students. Timmy had indicated a strong interest in history, and Josh saw a lot in Timmy that had made him think of himself when he was younger.
In his dream, Josh saw Lynn leading Timmy to the spanking room. She was wearing the same clothes she had worn the first day of school and had Timmy's wrist in one hand while carrying her paddle in the other. Timmy was pleading with her not to spank him, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Lynn took him into the room, sat down on the chair that had been placed there, lowered Timmy's trousers, and then placed him over her lap. She then pulled down Timmy's shorts, lifted the paddle, and proceeded to give him a prolonged spanking, producing a great deal of crying on Timmy's part.
Finally, she stopped, and eased the boy off her lap. He then turned around and to Josh's nightmare horror, when he turned around, it was no longer Timmy's face doing the crying - it was instead an 18-year-old Josh who was crying and rubbing a very sore butt!
Josh woke up and had great difficulty getting back to sleep that night.
That Lynn and Josh had become "a couple" was actually recognized by many of their colleagues at school even before they realized it themselves. The lunches that had started out as almost all work-related had morphed into a few minutes of talk about work with the majority of time being devoted to friendly chatting between two people who genuinely liked each other's company. Most of the rest of the staff at school were older women - most liked Lynn and wanted her to find a man. A few of them thought that Josh may be a bit young for her, but he did seem like a nice young man and "she could do worse". At first, the other teachers had left Lynn and Josh alone at their table because they knew school work was being done; now they left the pair alone because no one wanted to disturb the "cute couple".
Lynn and Josh each greatly enjoyed their time together, and each wanted to spend more time with the other, but both were reluctant to make the first move. Josh was sure that if he asked Lynn out she would decline, and he feared that if that had happened, the rest of the year would be very difficult. He regretted that there was a four-year age difference between them, and felt that difference made it impossible for him and Lynn to get together. Lynn also regretted that difference, but mostly because she felt that because of that difference, Josh would not ask her out, which she hoped he would do. She was willing to take the initiative and ask him out first, but she felt that if she did so, their relationship - whatever it might eventually turn out to be - would be indelibly stamped as "female-led". She was older, she was actually a bit taller than Josh was, and she was his mentor in his job. She knew she could be comfortable as leader of their relationship, but wanted to give Josh the chance to act first.
It had reached the point where Josh was inventing reasons to call Lynn on the weekends, ostensibly to ask a subject-related question. Lynn of course saw through the attempt at deception, but was happy to play along; the calls quickly moved from work-related to the same kind of pleasant conversations they had at lunch. They had essentially become "phone dates". After the second such call (which lasted more than an hour), she decided to act. It was now early October, and a friend of hers was planning a Halloween party. The next day at lunch, she invited him to the party, and he immediately accepted.
The next few weeks, in which they planned their costumes, were enjoyable for both of them as they anticipated their first real date. They went to the party as Dorothy and The Tin Man, and both had a marvelous time. Dorothy and The Tin Man consummated their relationship immediately after the party.
A few weeks after they started dating, Josh mentioned to Lynn that one of his students was starting to act up in class and become a disciplinary problem. Lynn suggested Josh needed to consider a spanking for the problem student, and Josh responded he had fully thought about that alternative and had concluded he simply could not do it.
"Then you're not doing your job," Lynn told him.
"I know. You're right," he said. "That was my biggest fear about taking a twelfth-grade job. I've struggled with thinking about it, and I know I simply cannot put a kid over my knee and spank him. I know this sounds crazy, but I think I'd rather get spanked myself than give a spanking to anyone."
It was a casual comment, almost meant to be a joke. But Lynn never forgot it.
It was now the spring, and Lynn and Josh had been dating exclusively for six months. Josh was in love; he had never been happier in his life. He was still trying to upgrade to a college teaching position, but knowing if he did not get one, he'd have another year working in the next room to the woman he loved put him in a position where he felt whatever happened would be good.
It wasn't quite that easy for Lynn. Certainly she was very happy being with Josh, had done some serious thinking about a possible life as his wife, and had decided to continue the relationship to see where it went. But she had some concerns. As she got to know Josh better, she saw some evidence of what she categorized as either immaturity or irresponsibility. There was nothing quite so bad as to make her want to stop seeing him, but a few incidents made her question whether the four-year gap in their ages put them in different places in their lives. Might she have seen some of his actions differently when she was four years younger? She wasn't sure.
When Lynn was a teenager, one of her friends had been hurt badly in an accident caused by a drunk driver; she was very intense about that subject, and previous conversations with Josh had communicated her feelings. At one lunch in April, Josh made the mistake of confiding to her that he had been lucky the night before - he had had a couple too many drinks while out with some of his old friends, but still drove home. Happily, nothing had happened, but Lynn was horrified at the irresponsibility Josh had shown in his choices. She told him how upset she was at "yet another" example of what she called "immaturity and irresponsibility". He apologized but started to fear that some of his actions might lead to Lynn ending the relationship.
She did a lot of thinking about Josh at home that night. Sometimes, she thought, she wasn't sure if he was a twelfth-grade teacher or a twelfth grader himself. Last night's actions were done with the same kind of immature thinking one of his students might use - was there really a difference between Josh and the children he and she taught? Maybe not, was her answer to herself.
Then she remembered his comment a few months before in which he had said he'd rather be spanked himself than spank a student. "Wow," she said to herself. "I need to do a lot of thinking."
Lynn was one straw away from the camel's back being broken, and Josh added on the straw the very next week. Lynn was to represent the school at a conference in Dallas, about 25 miles away, and a substitute was hired to handle her class that day. There was a dinner after the conference and she was going to get an award at the dinner, so she invited (at her expense) Josh to join her for dinner after he was done teaching that day.
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