by DJ Black
Louise Garland was late. In her mind she rehearsed a casual story to brush over this latest failing when she arrived at Dr Archer's house, but her tummy turned cartwheels all the same. The darn traffic light was stubbornly red.
Louise had recently engaged the good doctor to mentor her in life coaching and time management. If only to set a good example to her daughter, she thought, although in truth she knew that some actual improvements in that direction would hardly be inappropriate.
The man had been tutoring her daughter Karen for a while now and to some good effect, but his methods were... she caught a breath as she stifled the chain of thought. Her buttocks clenched as she remembered her own experience with the man. But that had been a one-off, she told herself, a marker if you will, so that they both knew that they were on the same page and Louise could stop feeling so guilty that she was making demands of her daughter that she wouldn't face herself.
Then she remembered the folded piece of paper in her pocket, the one she had to give to Dr Archer. Written on it 500 times was 'I, Louise Garland, am not too old for a good bare-bottom spanking and to be sent to the corner.' She blushed and her tummy did another cartwheel.
She eyed the petulant stop light with a scowl and shot a glance at her watch, willing the second hand to stop eating time, but this served only to make it go faster.
"Come on, come on, come on," she muttered to the traffic signal. "Please turn green." Then finally it did.
Louise set off with a burst of speed to rival a racing driver.
It was two minutes past the hour as Louise pulled into a gap between the cars lined up in the road outside Dr Archer's house. The car door swung open as she scrambled for her purse, and with a movie-heroine effort she hit the tutor's doorbell less than a minute after that.
"Only three minutes late," she muttered, "Surely..." Her heart raced and she glared at her watch as if willing the hands to backslide a jot. The door remained stubbornly sealed. Maybe he was running late, she hoped. Then the door opened.
"Mrs Garland," Archer said smoothly. "So very glad you could join us."
"Sorry, I..." the 40-year-old businesswoman began and then decided to shut her mouth, settling for, "Hello Dr Archer."
"Come in," Archer said wearily and stepped back as he beckoned her forward.
"Look, I am still getting the hang of this... can we...?" she spluttered.
"You are late," the tutor accused.
"Yes," Louise agreed with a wince.
"There will be consequences," he said.
Louise coloured but acknowledged his warning with an almost imperceptible nod.
The passage to the study smelt of old oak and polish. The colours were dark brown and cream, subtle in their masculinity but at the same time bookish. It was too conservative for Louise's taste, but she recognised that the man had some discernment and grudgingly she followed him into his inner sanctum.
"You have something for me?" Archer stopped in the middle of the room and extended his hand.
"You mean the cheque?" Louise was puzzled and then she remembered and blushed. "Oh," she said and reached for her 500 punishment lines.
Dr Archer turned over the pages and scanned them for any errors and then handed them back to her. "Please read me the first line," he said.
Louise gaped at him and then licked her lips. She eyed the poisonous penmanship with a sullen pout.
"Aloud, if you please," Archer pressed her.
Louise took a deep breath and then swallowed. "I, Louise Garland... am not too old for a good... b-bare-bottom..." She sighed and forced out the word, "... spanking and to be sent to the corner." Her face was now a hot red.
"So true," he beamed, "but we will get to that later. Now I have another document to discuss."
Louise raised a quizzical eyebrow and shook her head slowly as she racked her brains for what he might be talking about.
"Your journal," Archer supplied as he indicated she should sit down.
"You did mention..." Louise began to recall. "Sorry, I meant to pick up a note book... was I supposed to have started?" A mild terror gripped her tummy and she was suddenly very aware of where her bottom pressed into his couch.
Dr Archer smiled sagely and then crossed the room to his desk and took out a book. "I took the liberty..." he said as he opened the black leatherette A5 Diary. There was gold edging to the pages and blue ribbon hung from its place pressed between the pages. "It has a day to page arrangement," he told her as he closed it again and re-crossed the room to hand her the tome.
Louise took it and then hastily skipped through the empty pages.
"It is an academic diary that starts September first and goes on to August 31st next year," he explained. "It will be so much easier not having to compare two books after Christmas."
Louise nodded and saw the sense but then she looked up sharply. "Christmas? I thought... surely by then...?"
"You think we can get to the root of your problem in less than six months?" Archer sat back and made a church with his fingers as if pondering great philosophy.
"And just what do you see as my problem exactly?" Louise asked defensively.
"Well, quite apart from your tardiness, procrastination, providing an inconsistent role model for your daughter and apparently a defensive lack of respect... you have a guilt-ridden relationship with your daughter that means on one hand you hold back from giving her the discipline she needs and on the other you are over-compensating. Does that about cover it?" Archer spoke gently but his eyes were stern and paternal.
Louise winced; she was an open book it seemed. "Oh that," she sighed.
"That," Archer nodded. "So you think we can re-educate you in less than a semester? Also so long as your daughter requires my services you will be crippling inconsistent because-"
"Okay, I get it," she interrupted. "I am here for the duration or until you pronounce me cured, Doctor," she said, referring to his PhD for some light relief.
"So we are on the same page?" he asked.
Louise nodded ruefully.
"Then let us continue," Archer beamed.
Louise took a deep breath and sat up straight as she wondered what she had let herself in for. For a second she considered asking a question and her mouth hung open while she pondered anything that would allow her the least semblance that she was in control of the situation. Archer held up a finger to stop.
"Remember, rule one, when I am speaking you are not," he said paternally.
Louise closed her mouth and nodded as she pressed her knees primly together on his couch. It was just like high school and the principal's office.
"From now on every week you will bring me a list of things that you hope to achieve in the days that follow, tasks and targets if you will. Then in the following session we will review what has been done, and more to the point what hasn't and why, is that clear?" Archer launched into a lecture.
Louise nodded and made a line with her mouth.
"It might help to make notes in your journal as you go so as to better understand what goes wrong and what works for you. Also in your journal you should record every time you are late and the time you are late by. I fully expect you to 'forget' to record some instances, but believe me, as we go forward I will ferret out any discrepancies. Am I clear so far?" Archer smiled and waited patiently for a glimmer of understanding.
Louise frowned until she realised he wanted an answer and she nodded rapidly. "Yes, sure... um, that seems straightforward," she said.
"I particularly want you to focus on any conflicts you have with your daughter, how you handle them and give some thought to whether you were fair with her," Archer said. He watched his new mentee carefully.
Louise shifted uncomfortably and worked his words over in her mind. "You mean you want me to write down about spanking her, how hard and that sort of thing."
Archer suppressed a small sigh and tried again. "Not exactly, I don't want descriptive prose. Just what she did in summary, how you responded and afterwards whether you thought you handled it as well as you might have."
Louise relaxed and nodded vigorously. "Yes, I see," she said. "Karen was late, I spanked her, and did I overreact?"
"Well not much more than that unless you feel you need to flesh things out for your own clarification later, but perhaps a little about spanking duration, implements and so forth. Perhaps also write something about her behaviour and your failure to spank and your thoughts on that. Sometimes the devil is in the detail." Archer made another church steeple with his fingers and adopted his best Freudian pose. "Now before I ask more about your relationship with Karen, talk me through a typical week at home and work. Let's see if any other issues leap out at us..."
Forty minutes flew by and as Louise relaxed into things she realised how much she had needed just to talk to someone. As much as she respected his words and ideas, she quickly found that each thing he said opened up an inner personal aside and she had to pull herself back to the conversation.
It was also becoming clear to her how much of her life was running to stand still and just how disorganised she really was; far more than that her relationship with Karen was largely reactive and putting out fires. The girl need clear guidance not just a spanking when she screwed up. Rules and targets and...
"Consequences," Dr Archer was saying.
"Sorry," Louise focussed.
"We have talked about what perhaps should happen, but when we fail, when you fail... well there has to be consequences." Archer's smile was grim.
"Eh, yes, I suppose," Louise winced.
"That brings us to today," the tutor said grimly. "You were late."
Louise's mouth went dry and she fell back onto the usual array of excuses. Before she could utter a word she caught his eye. "Yes," she managed to say with some reluctance.
"The next time you are late I will put you across my knee and give you a spanking. That, in addition to the penalty," Archer said. He spoke sharply now.
"The penalty?" The blushing 40-year-old felt her heart racing.
"Twelve strokes plus one cane stroke for each minute you are late." He paused to offer her a grim smile before adding, "If you are late three times in succession... then it is double from then on until you are punctual three times in a row."
Louise took a deep breath, but she nodded.
"Corner time," Archer pressed on. "This could be tricky."
Louise felt her face melt. She remembered her previous experience. She had been seen but not recognised. The fall out might still be something she had to look forward to.
"Guidelines suggest one minute in the corner or facing a wall for every year old the miscreant is. Of course for anyone over 18 that is doubled. Now for a somewhat mature girl such as you... well my instinct is to treble it... only fair, I think you will agree. However, in your case that would be two hours."
Louise gasped, "Yes of course, far too long."
"Not at all," Archer said in irritation. "But logistically it would be very challenging when our sessions are only usually an hour. I will think on it. Anyway let's get down to it."
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