by Susan Thomas
Alice sighed heavily as they walked into the large room. This was the third Thursday of the course and the first two had been a nightmare. Apart from the horrendous embarrassment, and the hot sore bottoms that inevitably followed, she had to go to school the next day. Her timetable the next day included PE so changing involved being ultra-careful that no one saw her bum. There were five girls on the course: Parveen, Sinead, Louise, Megan, and Alice herself. The course was a follow up to the various cruises and was run by Family Castle, a registered charity, aiming to build family life and protect it from the attacks of the twenty-first century. It might be helping the fathers, but for the girls, Thursday was not an evening they looked forward to.
The first rule of the Thursday night was for the fathers to take off their shoes and put on slippers. For the girls there was a changing room through a door where they had to take off shoes, skirts or trousers, tights or any socks they might be wearing. Then, with bare feet and only their underwear on below the waist, they had to re-join their fathers in the main room which was beautifully carpeted. After the first hideously embarrassing Thursday they all wore the most modest of plain knickers so not a peek of bare cheek was to be seen anywhere; in other words, no thongs or strings.
Alice sat down next to Martin as the other girls sat next to their fathers. In front of the semi-circle of fathers and daughters was the course tutor, Dr Malcom Kirkside. He had a small table and two plain wooden chairs without arms. Over one of the chairs was draped the dummy they had used before. It had a flexible bottom made of some simulated flesh-like material but no sexual organs. The small table was laid out with several canes.
"Good evening girls and gentlemen. We all know each other now so I'm going to get right on. Tonight we look at the cane. Now I do not mean bamboo garden canes. They are dangerous because they can easily split and cause nasty injuries. I do not mean those plastic tilt wands for blinds, lengths of metal, doweling rods or lengths of thick cable. I mean the rattan cane such as once used in our schools and which possibly still is in use in some places in the world. The ones we sell at cost price are an old fashioned cane exactly as once used in our maintained schools. They are about 32-inches long and between a ¼ and a ½ inch thick but with no handle. Now our dummy has a bare bottom and I am going to give it one stroke in a way you are never to use, not ever."
Dr Kirkside walked back from the dummy, turned, ran towards it with the cane raised high and brought it down with ferocious power across the artificial bottom. There was nasty sound that sent shivers through all the girls.
"You'll see that method in some old British films such as If, but don't do it. That will very likely split the skin and that is abuse not punishment. Nor do you do this..." He raised the cane and gave a gentle tap on the dummy's 'bottom'. "I'm sure that at first your daughters would prefer that, but after a few of those they will lose respect for you. Instead you raise cane like so and bring it down with a flick of the wrist as it is about to connect."
Crack, crack, crack... the dummy bottom suffered the three stroke caning in silence. The girls, however, flinched at each crack.
"Now gentlemen," continued Dr Kirkside, "it is essential this is performed on the girls' bare bottom. Why? For the simple reason that every bottom is different. Some have very sensitive skin which bruises and welts easily. Some are tougher. You need to be careful that you are not going too hard for that bottom. We are punishing with a view to changing behaviour. We are not abusing our girls. There will be welts, marks and bruises, but you must judge whether they look dangerous. Each girl will receive six strokes right now but I need a volunteer to take the first three strokes from me so that the fathers see a 'live' caning. Who would like to be my volunteer?"
Each of the girls looked down at their feet and ignored any promptings from the parent sitting next to them. Dr Kirkside was a formidable and experienced spanker, and anyway the whole thing was mortifying... no way were they going up.
The good doctor didn't seem fazed or surprised by the reluctance to volunteer. He glanced around and said, "Alice, would you volunteer please?"
Alice was startled. "Me?!" she yelped.
"Yes you. You're getting six anyway, so why not?"
Alice had a whole range of reasons as to why not and a whole batch of pithy ways of saying so. However, to do so would not be wise, as she had been learning to her own dismay. "Er... well I don't want to push ahead of anyone else." Judging by the way the other four girls were intensely interested in their feet there was no chance of competition. So very reluctantly Alice stood up and walked to the front. The men applauded and so did a few of the girls.
"Now I have already recommended that you use support when caning, strapping or paddling your daughters. Alice, would you just bend over and touch your toes... keep your legs straight. I'm not going to hurt you. Now this, gentleman, is the classic British school caning position. But look..." He put his hand on Alice's bottom and gently pushed. Alice rocked forward and she had to step to keep her balance. "See, it isn't a good position and requires the person being caned to keep balance. Alice please bend over and put your hands on your knees." When pushed, Alice was able to keep her balance better but Dr Kirkside was still not satisfied.
"That still requires your daughters to maintain position. Gentlemen, the punishment is the caning, strapping or paddling. Give your daughters some support so that they can focus on the punishment and so can you. Bending over the back of the sofa or an easy chair, bent over a desk or table, using the bed or a simple chair as found in every home. That way your girl is supported and can receive her correction properly. Now Alice, please stand behind that chair, pull your knickers down and bend over the back."
This, almost more than the pain of the caning, was what Alice was dreading. Baring herself in front of six men and four girls; and not just baring herself but bending over with all that implied. Yet there was no alternative. She'd come too far, gone too deep, to suddenly refuse. What a total chump she'd been! With a very loud sigh Alice faced the back of the chair and yanked her knickers down quickly to get it over with. She left them at her knees and bent over, keeping her legs tightly together before gripping either side of the chair tightly.
She felt the cane rest against the top of her bottom just where it met the spine. "Never cane up here gentlemen," said Dr Kirkside. The cane moved down to the fleshy swell of her bottom cheeks. "This is the caning area and on to where Alice sits down." She felt the cane move down to the area she now had learned was so sensitive before moving down to the thighs. "In the past the thighs were also used for caning but I really don't recommend that. Thighs are fine for spanking but not caning. Calf muscles and behind the knees were also used. That strays from legitimate punishment into abuse, so don't do it. Now I'm going to give Alice three strokes and her father can finish off with another three." Alice gripped the chair seat tightly.
Alice vaguely heard a whoosh and then the cane struck. She felt as if a white hot rod had buried itself in her bottom. Her head shot up, she gasped loudly and then shrieked, "Oooh! That hurts!"
Dr Kirkside sounded almost jovial. "It does indeed, and now notice, girls and gentlemen, that Alice's bottom is not cut, but already a welt is swelling up. It will go down again but will leave a thin bruise across her bottom."
For Alice, the welt was now burning hot and throbbing in a curious way. It had its own unique smarting sensation she'd rather not experience again but there were five more of those bastards to come. The cane rested briefly against her bottom and then quickly was gone, only to return with what felt like huge force. Alice's outraged cry at how much it hurt must have filled the room. It burnt deep down into her bottom and was already beginning to throb in tune with the first welt.
"Gentlemen, notice that although the welt is parallel I have not laid it on top. That is a technique best avoided."
Alice was totally concentrating on the pain of the first two strokes and really nothing else. Suddenly the cane struck again. It landed just above her thighs on the very sensitive lower part of her bottom that everyone sits on. It had an exquisite pain all its own. It was sharp, fierce, intense and Alice squealed shrilly, jumped to her feet, hands flying around to nurse her bottom.
"Oh Alice, you silly girl, now you know our rules, so that is one extra stroke. Please bend over again."
Alice turned to glare at him, a torrent of abuse close to her lips, but already the discipline of biting her tongue had begun to work and she said nothing but slowly bent back in position. The cane struck in the centre of her bottom once again, and although Alice yelled out at how much it hurt she managed to stay in position.
"Now then Martin. Your turn. Only three strokes but try not to overlay any of the earlier ones."
The cane rested on her bottom and then tapped a few times before disappearing. Alice tensed and abruptly it was back with punishing force. It seemed to bury itself in her bottom and again her head flew up and she gasped at how much it hurt.
"Good stroke, Martin. Well done."
Alice would have poured scorn on the word 'good' but she now had five burning, throbbing welts pulsing away in unison and it was all she could do to stay still. The cane landed again with powerful force, or so it felt, and Alice squealed as the ferocious heat burned right through her bottom.
"Another good stroke Martin. One more."
Alice did not see the Dr Kirkside pointing to the sitting area of her bottom. She did not see the girls flinch and look away. She did not see the fathers pay careful attention. She did feel the cane strike that oh so sensitive area. Felt a white hot rod burn deep into her. Felt, for a second time in that place, the searing band that only a cane can bestow.
"Aaaaiieee!" Alice shot to her feet with a protracted shriek. Her hands flew around to her burning bottom and she arched her back as if somehow that would ease the intensity of the pain.
She heard Martin's rich voice say, "Surely I don't have to give her another penalty stroke."
"Up to you, Martin. We have our rules but it's your decision."
Alice was nursing her painful bottom, and tears were trickling down her cheeks blinding her, but she heard Martin say, "Pull your knickers back up Alice. Well done, I caned hard."
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