Hanging Offense
Part 2
by patty, copyright 2001
Morning was bright and cooler than yesterday. Lucas was packed and just about ready to go by the time Jennifer came down to eat and get ready for school.
Both men greeted her warmly. The banter at the table was normal. No trace of yesterday intruded, until Lucas got up to leave.
"You be sure she gets to school today James. If not I’ll give you a taste of what she has comin’" He said, sounding serious, but with a twinkle in his eye.
James’s laugh was hearty. The comment had taken him by surprise.
"Jenny girl! You and I’ll have a long talk on Saturday when I get back. Got it?" Jennifer stood up to kiss him good bye. He pecked her cheek and gave her bottom a swat. Jennifer winced and mentally thanked him for not lighting into her last night.
"Will you come with me James?" Jennifer asked
James was putting his dishes into the dry sink and going about the motions of getting ready for work. He had no clients today. His morning was going to be spent on ranch business. He would go into town after lunch to check on things.
"You want me there?" He was surprised.
"Please?" She nodded. "I’m kind of scared."
"You’re scared of a spanking?" James was astonished.
"James! He does it in front of everybody and he uses a thick ruler." Jennifer was worrying over whether or not she would have the nerve to get there without him. A spanking by someone who loved her in private was humbling enough.
James grinned at his sister. He never would have guessed that a quick school room paddling would bother her much. He agreed to go with her.
Mr. Best was actually a very easy going sort. He used his paddle sparingly. Every child who pushed him to it had plenty of chances to avoid it. There were no surprises and there was no mystery.
Jennifer and James got there just as Mr. Best was getting ready to ring the bell. He saw James and waved a welcome. Jennifer was staying back behind her brother. The man guessed something was bothering her.
"Well Miss Jennifer McGlynn, we missed your fine company yesterday." Her teacher said opening the door for her to speak up.
She just said, "Yes Sir" and looked at James for help.
James raised his right eyebrow and crooked his head. His expression telling her this was her confession to make. His blue eyes flashed a warning that he wouldn’t be pleased if she waffled.
Jennifer took a ragged deep breath. Her second consequence could not be put off any longer. It was time, and in just a few minutes it would be over. ‘God I swear I’ll never be this stupid again.’ She told herself.
"Jennifer." James’s voice quietly warned her to get it done.
"OK! I’m going to." She whined, something she never did. James smiled softly, feeling just a little sorry for her.
She told her teacher what she had done the day before. His face gave away no message about what feelings he might have about her behavior. "Well now Miss Jennifer. I suppose you know what we have come to then."
"Yes." She said softly.
"Pardon me?" Mr. Best was a stickler for respect.
"Yes Sir." Jennifer corrected.
"Go inside." He spoke matter of factly.
Jennifer turned to her brother. He shook his head and bent over to kiss her cheek. "It can’t be helped now Jennifer." He said and then whispered in her ear. "Try to keep your toes on the floor, it’ll help you relax your bottom."
Jennifer blushed crimson and wrung her fingers to sooth the sparks that shot through them. She felt the familiar urge to go to the privy and the prickly goose bumps tingle across her bottom.
Mr. Best spoke briefly to James. James nodded.
Mr. Best guided Jennifer to the front of the classroom. The room became quiet. The students knew it could not be good by the look on her face. Most of them looked as stricken as Jennifer. Some of the older ones looked amused.
"Jennifer will you bring me the ruler please." Mr. Best brought his chair out to the middle of the floor in the front of the room. He sat down and reached out his hand to take the ruler Jennifer handed to him.
James’s sympathy for her deepened as he saw that her hand trembled. He felt the muscles of his butt clench as he remembered his own trips to get the implement that would be used to punish him.
"Jennifer McGlynn you will tell this class why you are being punished so they can share your lesson." Mr. Best spoke the words known well by all of the students in the room. Several sympathetic sighs could be heard.
Jennifer spoke up. Her fate sealed and like her brother said, ‘There was no help for it now.’ "I have had my third warning, and yesterday I broke the rules by staying away from school without permission."
Mr. Best smiled, and then did something he never did. He asked her to tell the class what she had done with her day. Jennifer was not prepared for that, she cringed at what she thought would be more humiliation than was fair.
James knew instantly what the man was doing. The class would be in awe of her. The embarrassing ritual she was about to endure would be changed in their minds into a price, bravely paid, for a daring feat. He wasn’t sure the teacher’s strategy was sound. He would have to be sure and make that clear to his sister if she got the wrong message about her bravery from her friends.
Jennifer confessed her crime as briefly as she could. In almost a whisper she said. "I went to Emeryville to watch the hanging."
There was a gasp and rumble in the room that drowned out the first hard swat of the ruler. Jennifer stiffened as she was pulled down on her teacher’s lap. He took hold of her right hand immediately knowing that fingers could bruise severely if cracked by the ruler while trying to cover the target. The first swat and every one after it sent fire deep into Jennifer’s flesh.
Her face contorted and James knew it must hurt like the devil. Jennifer bucked right away, but she didn’t cry out. After three swats he saw that she was thinking about what he told her. She tried to get her toes to the floor. She was able to do it for two or three hits, but there was no getting control of that butt. She kept pulling up her legs keeping her muscles tight. She would be bruised and it would be sore to sit for a day or two.
Mr. Best’s cadence was perfect. He delivered thirty hefty swats in fifteen seconds. Jennifer stood up like a shot as soon as he released her arm. Her face was streaked with tears. She was breathing hard, each breath hitched slightly, as she was trembling with the fight to keep from whimpering.
Mr. Best spoke quickly. "Miss Jennifer, you may go out to the pump and wash your face. You will be back here in five minutes. Is that understood?"
Jennifer nodded and went out of the room. It was hard not to run. Her hands clutched the fabric of her trousers on the fronts of her thighs so tightly that her knuckles were white.
Mr. Best was not like the teachers James remembered. Most would have made the girl go to the corner or sit down immediately. James appreciated the man’s matter of fact approach. He guessed that the man understood and remembered the challenge of having to be a good kid, and the trials that came from not quite being able to do it. He followed Jennifer out nodding to the teacher as he left.
"You going to be OK?" He asked his sister, who was pumping water to rinse her face.
Jennifer scrubbed her cheeks with the cold water, then stood up and nodded as she took in a deep breath. Her hands dropped back to touch her bottom. She couldn’t decide if she needed to rub or scratch the sting away. Her skin tingled and flamed when she touched it. She winched.
"Hurt?" James’s eyes twinkled and he gave her a crooked smile.
"What do you think?" She said with just a little more sarcasm than she intended.
"You ask for the music, you pay the piper. That’s a pretty fair man in there young lady. I’d say you got off light." James lifted her chin so she had to meet his eyes with hers.
"If it was just that, maybe. Yesterday’s was still pretty sore you know." Jennifer said. She was pulling the fabric of the seat of her trousers away from her skin.
"Next time think of that before you get yourself into so much trouble." James chuckled.
"You’re no help at all." Jennifer grimaced at him.
"Well I’m going back to get some work done. You behave yourself. I’d get back in there pretty quick if I were you." James gave her cheek a quick peck and walked over and mounted his horse.
Jennifer rinsed her face again and started back into the school. At the door she collected herself with three deep breaths. The worst was over. All she had to do was survive the stares and hope the gossip died down quickly.
James was right. The gossip was more like worship. Everyone wanted to know what she had seen. "Weren’t you scared?" "Did you cover your eyes?" "Did their eyes bug out?" "Did you get a whipping at home too?" "Did it hurt much?"
The attention made her feel uncomfortable, but the embarrassment was gone. All in all she felt the worst was over. She expected Lucas would spank her, but by Saturday her bottom wouldn’t be so sore. The thing she feared most with Lucas was not going to happen. He had not been angry with her, and he wouldn’t be when it came time to spank her.
Jennifer began to relax. At least during the day……..
******************************
Thursday and Friday were restless nights for both Jennifer and James. Jennifer cried out several times each night. Her dreams full of crashing trap doors, snapping and then creeking ropes. James got up to check on his sister each time finding her sleeping, covers tangled tightly around her.
On Saturday morning he spoke up after they finished their breakfast.
"Jen honey, do you want to talk with me about what’s got you so scared at night?" He said, sipping his coffee.
Jennifer looked up into his eyes. She was going to tell him ‘nothing,’ but didn’t. "It’s my own fault. You told me not to go and I didn’t listen. I keep dreaming it. It won’t go out of my head."
"Come here. Come sit with me here." James pushed his chair back from the table and patted his lap.
Jennifer moved willingly to sit in her brother’s lap. He wrapped his arms around her. They said nothing for many minutes. Jennifer felt his strength seeping into her. His strong arms were like wicks drawing the fear and uncertainty from her marrow. The rhythm of his heart beat and breathing together reassured her that she was safe no matter what was in her dreams.
"Do you think they’re in hell?" Jennifer asked.
"Who?" James had been lost in his own distant thoughts.
"Those men who got hanged" Jennifer said.
"Don’t know that Jen. That’s between them and their maker." He spoke with a matter of fact tone.
"They killed a man though? Don’t they have to go there?" She seemed worried.
"Some people think so. I’m not sure though." James said softly.
"Why?" Jennifer asked.
"I suspect that each man will have a chance to make a case for himself when the time comes. I think that what’s in his heart will have some measure. The sum of a man is not in his actions. Sometimes what a man does and the things he gets himself into have very little to do with his heart." James’s eyes seemed to be seeing through the wall.
"Am I going to hell?" Jennifer asked the question that was at the heart of her fear.
"Is that what’s giving you such fitful dreams?" James’s eyes came back into the room and focused on her face, twinkling the way they did when he laughed.
Jennifer shrugged. James chuckled, "I would guess you’ve got a good spanking coming, along with a long talk about your temper, your stubborn ideas and a few stupid choices. But I think on the whole your crimes come from here," he tickled her stomach and swatted her bottom. "Not here." he pointed to her heart, "And definitely not here!" he placed his hand on her head and messed her hair.
"It’s not funny James!" Jennifer felt a flush of embarrassment.
"I know." He said, his tone apologizing for making fun of her worry. "No Jen, I doubt very much you’re going to hell."
"Will the dreams stop?" Jennifer asked.
"Eventually. It’s not an easy thing to get out of your head though. What you have to do is find something else to think about, something you want to think about. And each time the bad stuff pops into your head make yourself think about the other. After a bit of practice the bad stuff fades and when it does get in your head it doesn’t feel as bad anymore." James put his hands on either side of her face and looked into her eyes. "Jennifer, I want you to wipe away all your guilty feelings about going to that hanging. What you saw has nothing to do with what you did wrong. You had a stupid tantrum and you disobeyed me. That’s it! That was your crime. You’ve been punished for it. It’s over. Do you understand?" He asked.
"I think so." Jennifer said. James let go of her face and Jennifer leaned her face against his chest.
************************************
Shortly after noon Jennifer was finishing up replacing the straw on the floor of stalls. The hands would be bringing the one year old foals in early in the week. The vet would be out to check on them. If all was well with foal and mare the separation would be forced and in several weeks the mare would enter a new season and be ready to mate.
Lucas came in and climbed up on the rails of the stalls. Jennifer didn’t hear him and kept working.
"Ain’t that a pleasin’ sight. Working for your keep I see." Lucas said with humor.
Jennifer was startled and squeaked as she flinched. "You nearly scared me out of my skin!" She spoke and giggled at the same time.
"Come on out of there. Let’s get this business out of the way." Lucas plowed right in, not one to waste time on rituals, recriminations or long discussion.
Jennifer grimaced, but did what he said,
She followed him into the tack room. Lucas closed the door behind them.
"You bin thinkin’ on this some Jenny girl?" Lucas asked her
"Some." Jennifer answered.
"Well?" He waited.
"I’m sorry I broke my word to you Lucas." She told him what was expected.
"Gonna do it again?" He asked. His expression was warm. He knew she would not make the easy promise.
"I’m not planning on it." She kept his gaze.
"But you might." He stated as if finishing her thought.
Jennifer shrugged. "I don’t want to, I’ll try not to."
"Fair enough." He said. "Drop em’ and bend over that work bench." Lucas pointed to her trousers and then to the bench behind her. He undid the buckle on his belt and it fell away from his hips. He folded the end back into his right hand and pulled the loop taught against the thumb of his left hand.
Jennifer turned, pulled her trousers down and leaned her chest onto the top of the bench.
"Drawers too." He said
Jennifer let out a soft whimper of complaint, but did not give it voice. She pulled her drawers down and bent over the bench again. Tears welled up and fell from her eyes.
The first welt cracked. The sting etching the skin of her bottom, flames flashed followed by itching.
"Still got some good bruises there girl. Did your brother use a paddle on you?" Lucas spoke as if he were asking about the color of her shirt.
"No Sir. Mr. Best used a ruler." Jennifer answered.
"Got yourself in deep this time didn’t you. Hope you’ll catch on soon and for once make a choice that won’t bring you to this foolishness." Lucas sounded tired.
He was. He lifted the strap and commenced to finish the ordeal. He gave her twenty good hard licks. She was crying when he finished.
"I’m goin’ to ask you one thing. I’m not goin’ to ask you to promise, but I sure want you to try. I don’t want to have to do this again." Lucas put his belt back on.
Jennifer pulled her trousers back up. She watched Lucas’s expression, looking for a flicker of the man who loved her just as she was. He was there. "Come on now help me get my pelts out to dry."
There were no recriminations, the spanking was perfunctory. Lucas got it out of the way like any other unpleasant chore. It was done. Like cleaning the hen house, once it was finished all there was to do was wash off and move on with your day.
With the last of the consequences behind her, Jennifer’s hanging offense faded into memory. The snap and creaking of the ropes troubled fewer dreams and just like James had promised the images became less potent in their ability to invade and capture her thoughts.
