by LSF Publications
by Art Zeeton
Carole
The young clerk looked at her screen and frowned.
"Your ID has been expired for thirteen months, Mrs. Langley," she said.
"I know. It's terrible. I didn't even realize it until July and then I just couldn't find time to come in," Carole Langley said.
The clerk, a pretty and vaguely Asian girl, smiled and said, "I know how that goes. I was expired once for a couple of months before I realized it."
"I took a day off from work today to take care of it and catch up with some things I've gotten behind on," Carole said.
"Well, we'll get you out of here in a jiffy. Put your right hand on the scanner, please, Mrs. Langley."
Carole scooted her chair forward a little, placed her hand on the glass, and watched the blue beam of light make its scan. Then she placed her left hand on the glass and watched the process repeat. She could see the images of her fingerprints on the clerk's screen.
"Now the retina scan," the clerk said, smiling.
Carole leaned forward and put her forehead on the plastic brace.
"Try not to blink."
"I will."
The device flashed a pulse of light and Carole's right eye saw bright white for an instant.
"Now the left."
The retina scan made Carole almost blind for a few seconds. She blinked repeatedly when she leaned back.
"Because your ID has been expired for more than a year, we'll have to make new pictures," the clerk said.
"I was afraid of that."
"Just stand on the square, Mrs. Langley."
Carole stood and did as told, rising and standing on a red painted square beside the vertical row of numbers that indicated height. She was five-seven.
"These pictures are always so bad," she said.
The clerk laughed. "I know!" she said. "Mine looks like I've been on a three day drunk!" The clerk, a slender girl with luxurious long black hair, rose and took her position behind the camera. "How about a nice smile, Mrs. Langley."
Carole smiled and heard the buzz of the electronic shutter.
"Okay. Take your clothes off, please, Mrs. Langley."
Carole figured that might be coming. It was another price to pay for being remiss. Full body photos had been instituted four years earlier. If she hadn't let her ID expire she'd be grandfathered in under the old rules - face only. If only she had come in a month earlier, this could have been avoided. But she hadn't and now she was going to have to strip in front of this woman who didn't look a day over twenty. Now if she got pulled over the pictures would be embedded on the strip and the cop would be able to see her naked. She felt a flush on her face.
"I read about security breaches - people hacking into the pictures," she said as she wrestled her tee over her blonde hair.
"It has happened a few times, but the security is pretty good. If an officer stops you, he has to do a thumbprint ID of himself before he can read your card," the clerk said.
"Oh," Carole replied, not entirely relieved.
She unhooked her bra and shucked it off, feeling her nipples stiffen in the cool air of the room. She slid her jeans down and off, folded them and put them on the little table with her tee and bra, then, with a sigh, took her panties down and off. She stood straight, full frontal, hands at her sides, flushing slightly and facing the camera, wondering if it would pick up the color on her face. She heard the little buzz.
"So, your natural hair color is brown. I'll have to note that," the clerk said, eyeing the small patch between Carole's thighs.
That certainly didn't alleviate the blush.
"Actually, a dark blonde," Carole replied - although she knew that was splitting hairs.
"Okay, left profile," the clerk said, and Carole turned.
And turned again for a rear shot. That seemed most embarrassing even though Phil told her that her rear end was one of her best features. Then she turned again for right profile.
"Got 'em, Mrs. Langley. Any distinguishing marks - moles, birthmarks?"
"Just this," Carole said, tapping a finger against a small raspberry spot on her inner thigh.
The camera hummed as it zoomed in.
"Got it. Now, because your ID has been expired more than six months, you have to pay a penalty."
And there it was. Carole had hoped this part could be skipped.
"I was afraid of that," she muttered.
"And the record shows you have three non-moving violations."
"Just parking fines. You weren't supposed to see that."
The clerk laughed and announced, "So, your total is going to be a dozen, Mrs. Langley. Just bring your things with you."
Twelve! Carole had hoped if she didn't get a pass on the penalties, she might at least get off lightly. She hadn't committed any egregious crimes. She was just remiss in getting her ID removed - and hadn't paid a couple of parking fines. That hardly merited twelve, she thought. But she wasn't going to argue. Better to just get it over with. She had a couple of more stops to make before going home. She gathered her clothes and followed the clerk from the room and into a hallway where she padded barefoot and naked past open doors where people worked at computers, some looking up at her and others ignoring her. They entered a room whose walls were lined with dark gray egg crate soundproofing material.
"This has changed since the last time," Carole said.
"You've paid penalties before, Mrs. Langley?"
"Yeah, but it's been years. I was in college."
"Oh, well, I'm sure it has changed! The principle is still the same." The clerk patted the blue upholstered top on a metal table at the center of the room. "Right up here, Mrs. Langley."
Carole examined the table. The only other time she had paid penalties she had been nineteen and more than a little intoxicated. The whole episode was a blur but she vaguely recalled she had been placed on a simple gurney. This thing looked high-tech. She knelt, placing her knees on the cushioned leg rests and bent forward over the length of the table. A towel was strategically placed to catch any little accidents.
"Oh! This makes you lean way down!"
"Yeah, and it's adjustable," the clerk said, pressing a button on the side of the table.
Carole felt herself leaned farther forward until her hair was almost in her eyes and her bottom was lifted high.
"There. That looks about right," the clerk said when Carole was bent into a shape roughly like the roof on an A-frame house.
The young woman went to a little box on the wall and pressed a button.
"Yeah?" a tinny voice said.
"Mrs. Langley is ready."
Then the girl returned and cinched a leather strap across the small of Carole's back, tightening it until Carole winced. She cinched smaller straps around Carole's thighs and was attaching ankle cuffs when the door opened and a young African man entered, a long polymer paddle in his hand."
"This is Mrs. Langley, Ted. She's here for a dozen today."
"Ah. How are you, Mrs. Langley?" he said, smiling congenially.
"Well, I'd rather be doing something else," Carole said.
Ted, dressed in white tee and slacks, laughed.
"I hear you, Mrs. Langley."
It occurred to Carole she had not been seen naked by another man since she and Phil had married. Now here she was, bent and strapped, bare bottom lifted high. She knew her position left her no modesty whatsoever - and her face was beet red from embarrassment and the blood going down to her head. At thirty six, she shouldn't be in this situation, displayed in front of people probably twelve or fifteen years younger than she. But it was her own fault. She felt a wet spray on her bottom and gasped.
"What's that?"
"Just an oil solution, Mrs. Langley," the young clerk said from behind her. "It does two things. First, it's an antiseptic in case the skin breaks - which almost never happens - and second it intensifies the sensation."
"Oh, great!" Carole said and the clerk giggled.
"I think we're ready, Ted."
Carole tensed as she felt the cool paddle on her wet bottom. If she had only taken care of business when she was supposed to, she wouldn't be....
"Oh!"
The young man had swung the paddle hard, flattening Carole's bottom for an instant and creating a sharp smacking sound in the little room. Carole's eyes and mouth flew open at the shock of the impact.
"Oh!"
"Is it like you remember, Mrs. Langley?" the clerk said, standing to one side and smiling.
"Oh! It HURTS!"
"Well, that is the whole idea, Mrs. Langley."
The paddle struck again.
"Oh! OH, MY!"
Carole tried to wiggle her bottom to shake away the sting, but she was bound tight to the bench and Ted gave her another, lower and harder.
"OH, GOD!"
"Don't tense, Mrs. Langley. Relax your bottom - it'll make it better," the clerk advised.
Easy for her to say! But Carole tried to heed the advice just as the fourth smack came across her flaccid bottom cheeks. She screeched. Maybe over the years since her last punishment she had forgotten how intense the pain was, or maybe the booze had dulled the pain. She took another, feeling the flesh compress against her tailbone.
"Ah-ah-ah-ah!"
Number five? Carole screwed her eyes tight and gritted her teeth as the fire seeped into her. A wet blubber and tears came at the sixth swat. Panting, she waited for the next one, but instead felt the spray on her bottom again, stinging.
"Freshen you up a little, Mrs. Langley," the girl said from behind her.
Carole sputtered something unintelligible just as the paddle flattened her again. She had vowed not to make a scene if she had to pay a penalty, but damn! Her bottom was on fire!
"Wait, Ted."
The clerk came over with a small towel and wiped the tears and mucus away from the padded surface where Carole's head laid.
"Okay, go ahead."
Carole strained against her binds and squawked as she took the next couple of hard swats, then she wilted over the blue padding, helpless. She took the next smacks with mutterings and blubbering and blinking of tears from her eyes. Then the paddle struck hard across the backs of her thighs and she shrieked again.
"OH-OH-OH MY GOD!"
"There you go, Mrs. Langley. All done," Ted said from behind her.
Carole laid slack on the bench, sniffling and breathing hard as the clerk lowered the table flat and began unfastening the straps.
"Hope you weren't planning on wearing a bikini soon, Mrs. Langley," the girl laughed as she unbuckled the thigh straps.
Carole lifted up slowly, feeling her sweating skin stick to the blue surface. The clerk handed her a towel.
"I'll be right back," she said.
Carole eased herself off the bench and patted at the sheen of perspiration that covered her body. She touched the towel ever so gently on her blistered bottom and grimaced. She was putting her panties very gently back into place when the clerk returned to the room and handed her a plastic card.
"There you go, Mrs. Langley - a brand new ID. No violations."
Carole mumbled a thank you.
"Keep that one up to date - and avoid the violations - or we'll see you back here again."
Carole took the card. Just as she thought, the face picture had caught her with her eyes closed. The clerk smiled and waggled her fingers as she left the room again.
"You have a nice day, Mrs. Langley," she said.
Not to be reposted, reproduced or distributed, in part or whole.