Tommy's Attitude Adjustment Chapter 103

Tommy's Attitude Adjustment Chapter 103
by Chadlad

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This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY It contains explicit depictions of sexual activity involving minors. If you are not of a legal age in your locality to view such material or if such material does not appeal to you, do not read further, and do not save this story.
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Chapter 103: Payback's a Bitch, and Bitches get Payback

Beth glared at Gabriel. "That wasn't funny when she said it, and it's still not funny. We all know perfectly well the old bag isn't due back until Friday. Now hold him still – I'm putting the ring through right now." She leaned over Tommy, taking his limp dick firmly in her hand. She raised the ring pliers with the other, smirking at Tommy. "Are you afraid, little brother?" she asked mockingly.

A blurred missile flew through the air, crashing into Beth's side and knocking her sideways onto the bed. The ring application tool spun away, and the blur landed flat on Tommy's stomach, driving the air out of him with a painful "whoosh." Beth lay on her side, stunned. The blur, to Chad's amazement, turned out to be Jesse Ericson, his face blazing and his fists clenched over Beth's surprised face. "Don't you dare hurt Tommy!" Jesse screamed in Beth's face. "I'll kill you if you hurt Tommy!"

"Calm down, Jesse," a steady female voice said from the doorway. "I doubt if there's any need to kill anyone just now." Dakota and Gabriel were already looking that way, but all other heads swiveled to the door. Mrs. Henson was standing there with her arms crossed, Jesse's mother standing beside her looking at Jesse with something akin to pride. Beth's jaw dropped, and she lurched up from the bed, away from the livid Jesse, who appeared ready to swing a fist at her at any moment, just out of principle. Gabriel rolled off of Tommy's arm and stood by the side of Tommy's bed, apparently unconcerned he was in skimpy underwear, and that his little package was clearly outlined and mildly tented. Dakota slid off Tommy's other arm and sat beside him on the bed.

"She didn't hurt you did she?" Jesse said to Tommy anxiously.

Tommy groaned. "Get off me," he wheezed. "Jesus – you about killed me when you landed!"

"Oh, sorry," Jesse said. "I was just afraid she was going to hurt you with that thing." He slid off Tommy's stomach, but immediately turned and lifted Tommy's penis, studying the limp organ from all angles. "I don't see any blood," he announced. "Are you hurt?"

Tommy sat up, suddenly, belatedly realizing that the room was full of people and his best friend, his new boyfriend, was handling his penis in front of all of them. "Hey, there are people here!" he said. He yanked a sheet over his midsection to hide his genitals from his mother and Mrs. Ericson, in a belated attempt to preserve his modesty.

"I just wanted to make sure you were all right," Jesse said in a hurt tone. "She was going to hurt you!"

"I'm fine," Tommy said.

Mrs. Henson stepped toward Beth. "So, Beth. Would you like to explain to me the steps that brought you to the point where you were about to undertake a potentially dangerous operation on your little brother's genitals, without my permission, I might add?"

"Um," Beth said.

"She was punishing Tommy," Gabriel said cheerfully. "Like I Tommy and I told you before. I spanked his butt, but she did most of it. She..."

"I'm talking to Beth, young man. I've already heard what you have to say, all of you but Chad, and I'll hear Chad's side when I'm ready. So everybody but Beth be quiet for a minute or you'll find yourselves chewing on a bar of soap. I'll tell you other people when I want you to talk." Gabriel snapped his mouth shut firmly. Chad, who had been about to come to Tommy's defense, did the same. Mrs. Henson turned back to her daughter. "I'm waiting," she said.

Beth, for the first time Chad could remember, looked discomfited and unsure. She licked her lips. "It was Tommy, you see. He did something horrible, and he had to be punished. And I didn't want to worry you, with you so far away and with so much on your mind..."

"So you decided to handle it yourself," her mother finished.

"Yes, that's it," Beth said eagerly.

"So tell me, Beth. What was this horrible thing my son did that merited ringing his penis and all the other punishments it's obvious Tommy has received? Did he beat up a smaller child? Steal a car? Assault a priest? Put his teacher in the hospital with compound fractures? Knock out some girl's teeth and give a smaller boy a concussion?"

Chad cringed – the latter two were the things he'd done to earn his punishments 3 weeks prior, and he hated to be reminded of them.

Beth bit her lip. "I'm not sure you want to know," she said. "It's pretty awful."

"That's precisely when I'd want to know, Beth. When my children do something pretty awful, it's essential that I know. Am I to understand that you intended to punish Tommy for this 'awful thing,' and then you were never going to let me know it happened?" her mother asked.

Chad and Gabriel and Dakota were all nodding their heads silently. Mrs. Henson surveyed the sea of nods. "I see," she said. "Well, that was your first mistake, Beth. I always want to know what my children are up to, and the worse it is, the more important it is for me to know. As soon as this 'awful' incident occurred you should have called me for advice. Yes, I gave you authorization to handle routine discipline, and if Chad had refused to do his chores, or Gabriel had gotten in a fight, or Tommy had brought home a note from the teacher saying he was insubordinate, I'd have expected you to handle it in the usual way, and reddening a boy's butt isn't at all uncalled for in those situations. For that matter, if Dakota had mouthed off to her teacher, I'd have expected you to spank her, too. But that doesn't mean that you can order up a severe paddling that raises blisters and welts without consulting me, and it doesn't give you carte blanch to maim my sons," her mother snapped. "The generative organs of boys are delicate, complex, and sensitive things, and can easily be damaged. And I do want my sons to be fully sexually functional, no matter what you think. I ringed Chad because it was the only thing I could think of to do that would be sufficient to get his attention. And I know where one can safely drive rings through a boy's penis, and I know how to care for the site afterward. But you don't, Beth. It's possible that had you consulted me, I'd have agreed with you that Tommy needed the paddling that Gabriel says he gave him. I might also have agreed to the girls serving as witnesses to that punishment. But genital piercings are quite another matter. What would you have done next, given him a jailhouse tattoo of a butterfly on his butt using ink and a safety pin? Crushed his testicles in a vice?"

Beth took a deep breath. "Okay," she said. "Okay. I didn't want to tell you, because I know you'll find it upsetting. It's an awful thing – I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. You see, Tommy and Jesse had a fight Friday night, and Jesse left, because Tommy was going to hurt him. And then Tommy was so mad that he attacked Gabriel. With his – with his penis. He stuck his penis – he – he raped Gabriel. Where boys get raped. He tore Gabriel there and made him bleed, because he was mad and wanted to take it out on someone else..."

"That's a lie!" Chad burst out. "Tommy didn't mean to..."

"Not one word!" his mother said, pointing a finger at him. "One more word out of you, and it's the soap for you, mister! I mean it! I'll tell you other children when you can talk."

"That goes for you, too, Jesse!" his mother said, noticing Jesse was about to protest as well. "And I'll spank your bare bottom in front of everyone here while you chew on the soap. We'll tell you other kids when you can talk."

Mrs. Henson turned to Beth. "Go on-you were saying that Tommy deliberately took his anger out on Gabriel by anally raping him..."

"Yes," Beth said. Her mother was buying this. If she just treaded carefully...

"Anyway, as I was saying, Tommy raped Gabriel, and ripped him so that he bled. And he was laughing about it ... calling Gabriel a baby for crying and saying the blood made a good... a good lubricant!" Beth was carefully measuring her speech, trying to sound outraged. "And Chad just watched him do it – he didn't help at all, and didn't stop Tommy. And I heard Gabriel's cries and came into the room just as Tommy was telling Gabriel to lick the blood off his... of his..." She paused and faked wiping a tear. "And Chad was just sitting on the side of the bed .. naked...he had... he had an... an erection!" Beth covered her face with her hand a moment, trying to look like she was composing herself. "So I knew Tommy had to be punished severely, as a lesson to Chad as well...and I just couldn't tell you ... how could I tell someone's mother that her son...that her son was a cruel, sadistic rapist!" She looked away, her hand over her eyes.

"I see," her mother said. "So you were just trying to spare my feelings." Chad looked helplessly at Jesse and Gabriel. Jesse's face was stormy, but he didn't look like he feared for Tommy's fate despite the outrageous lies he was hearing. And Gabriel was just standing calmly. As Chad looked, he reached down and readjusted his genitals in the tight underpants, so that his now full hard-on pointed straight up in the constricting cloth, like a tree at a nursery rising out of a root ball.

Well, someone had to say something, before Tommy became dead meat, and the rest of them as well. Chad opened his mouth to speak, unable to keep silent. But his mother forestalled him. "Don't even think of it!" she ordered. "Unless you want a mouth full of soap." Chad shut his mouth again.

"You know," she continued. "Such feelings for your little brother's welfare and future are quite touching. Especially after you saw what you just reported. I'm touched you wanted to spare my feelings, so I wouldn't know what cruel monsters my sons are."

Beth nodded her head eagerly.

"That's not fair!" Chad burst out. "That isn't how it happened! And I didn't wake up until it was over! And Tommy didn't mean to hurt...."

"I believe I told you to keep silent until I asked you to speak," his mother said in a firm, no nonsense tone. She turned to Dakota. "Run to the bathroom and get the bar of soap off the sink. Get the one in the bathtub, too, just in case someone else here wants to try my patience."

Chad's heart sank. It was going to be like it always was. The girls would be believed, the boys would be branded as evil, and someone was going to get his butt beaten. Heck, the way this story was going, every boy in the room was going to get his butt beaten – Jesse for initiating sex with Tommy, Tommy for raping Gabriel in reaction, him for supposedly watching the rape and cheering Tommy on, heck, maybe even Gabriel for getting himself raped – Beth would probably find some way to blame that on him, too! They were all going to get blistered butts tonight! He shivered in rising fear. Stop it, he told himself. You've been spanked before. You've been paddled and whipped and had your balls hit over and over again with a soccer ball, and even been fucked up your butt in front of your class. You can take whatever comes. But the fear remained.

Dakota dashed back into the room, handing his mother the bar of soap from the sink. Chad was grateful, at least, that she was still holding the softer, more potentially disgusting bar from the tub, the one that was always soft, the one that was sometimes used on people's butts, in her hand.

"Open," his mother said. Reluctantly, Chad opened his mouth. His mother shoved the bar in until it was in contact with the back of his tongue. "Close," she ordered. Chad closed his mouth, his eyes tearing immediately as awful, familiar soap taste began overwhelming his senses. He tried to focus on the room and not think about the taste. Dakota gestured at him with the other bar of soap, the implication clear – I could have handed her this one. Chad nodded in acknowledgement, the piece of soap projecting from between his lips bobbing comically.

"You'll notice I have a bar of soap in reserve, I hope I don't need it. I doubt if any of you boys want to be the person I use it on." The other three boys looked at her and shook their heads vigorously. "Good. Now I'll admit that until recently I hadn't fully appreciated how Chad and Tommy have matured. I still see them as little boys, often, so it came as quite a shock to me when Chad started getting into trouble with his temper. And I may have over-reacted a bit when you did start showing signs of aggression, Chad, because you remind me so much of your gone and not lamented father at times that it's uncanny – they way you hold you chin, the way you walk, that hair..."

She let her eyes drift down her older son, taking in his still slight frame, the brown hair, the lean stomach, and the boyish swell of his buttocks. Her eyes stopped at the crotch bulge in his school pants, definitely bigger than it had been a month or two ago. That straight, mushroom-headed penis was in there – growing bigger daily, looking so much like his father's. She'd been attracted to her former husband to begin with because of his beautiful brown hair, and his lean build, and his tight muscular butt. And after a few dates, she'd fallen in love with his beautiful penis – so straight and smooth and perfectly proportioned, so hard and insistent in her hand, and later inside of her as well. But after they'd been married, that penis had come to symbolize hard, thrusting brutality, until she'd cringe when she say him walking toward her with that thing rampant and aroused leading the way. And Chad's was so like his...

She had to get a grip on herself. It wasn't Chad's fault he had his father's penis, and his attempt at protecting his brother that had led to him sucking on a bar of soap at the moment was admirable, in a way. But she couldn't have him defying her – that was the route to his father's way and she wouldn't let that happen. She forced her gaze from her elder son and the attractive and disturbing feelings he was raising in her. Her eyes lit back on Beth.

"Anyway," she said. "Your story certainly makes sense, Beth, although I'd say you were going a bit overboard in the discipline department. But still, I'm puzzled by something. I'm puzzled as to why you haven't asked me, Beth, why I'm home from the conference early."

Beth realized immediately that she hadn't asked that obvious question – the question any normal person would have asked who hadn't been intent on pressing her story. Eagerness to talk was a signal of guilt, and she had so much trouble remembering that. She put on her most innocent expression. "I was actually just going to ask that. Why are you back early, mother? Was the conference cancelled for some reason?"

"No, the conference is still going on, although I had finished my paper presentation. No, I came back early, really, because of how rapidly technology has been advancing."

Beth and Chad looked puzzled, although the rest of the room's occupants appeared not to be surprised by this announcement. Chad fought the urge to swallow the soapy saliva that was building up in his mouth.

Beth spoke up for both of them. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said.

"Just a few years ago," Mrs. Henson said. "There were no home computers, or home video consoles, or fax machines. And there were no cell phones."

"Cell phones?" Beth finally said.

"Cell phones," her mother said. "Tiny little portable devices that are easily concealed in a person's pocket or hands. They make phone calls from anywhere. I'm sure you've heard of them."

"But why would cell phones make you come home?" Beth said. "Was there a bomb threat?"

"No, there was no bomb threat. The answer is much more obvious, if you actually stopped to think about it. You see, cell phones don't just make phone calls. They can record video and audio, and they can take pictures. And young Jesse Ericson here has one," her mother finished, and this time her look at Beth was definitely a challenge. Beth bit her lip and mulled over her mother's words, but didn't say anything. After a pause, her mother continued.

"You see, Beth, I got a phone call from Mrs. Ericson and Jesse early this morning. And they told me a most disturbing story about things that were happening at my house. They were able to call me, you see, because of Jesse's cell phone – he took a picture of my itinerary and the phone number of my own cell phone where we had it posted on the refrigerator. He took that picture using his cell phone," Mrs. Henson went on.

"You can't trust what Jesse says," Beth said quickly, still not liking where this was going but not sure what that destination was. "He and Tommy are best friends, you know."

"But according to you, they had a falling out rancorous enough that Tommy threatened him with serious bodily harm. You said Tommy was so angry that he raped Gabriel in frustration, if I remember correctly. So why would you assume Jesse would do anything but corroborate your story?" her mother challenged, this time using her prosecutorial tone.

"He's still under Tommy's thumb," Beth said. "I imagine he's had a change of heart and wants to protect Tommy now. Probably wants to protect Chad, too. He's a tender-hearted soul, and I think he got to feeling sorry for Chad when he was being punished. Not that his sympathy was justified."

"I see," Mrs. Henson said. "And you present quite the neat, convincing little story." Beth relaxed a little bit. Her mother turned and paced slowly across the room. Suddenly she rounded on Beth. "But it is just a story," she said with sudden accusation. Had there been a jury in front of her, they'd have been spellbound now. "There's another story here, too. But perhaps I'll let Mrs. Ericson explain."

Mrs. Ericson stepped up immediately. "You see, I got Jesse the cell phone a few months ago, mainly for the security and protection it gives him. He can call me to pick him up or to change our plans, and I can call him. And he can record things like the assignments at school, so he doesn't forget them. He forgets assignments a lot. And he can record conversations." She pulled a small, neat flip-phone out of her pocket and held it up. The speaker is a bit small, but I think you'll all be able to hear if I keep it on the highest volume."

She pressed some buttons. "There's no picture, because Jesse kept it in his pocket all the time what you'll hear was happening. But the conversation he recorded is quite clear." She pressed a final button and held the phone up facing the rest of them. The tiny speaker came to life.

"You wouldn't tell my mom!" Jesse's fearful voice squeaked out into the room. "Please?" Jesse's mother held the phone higher. "Not if you do as I say," Beth's voice answered. "You agree to do everything I say until Friday, and I'll agree that your mother never hears a word about this. But you have to be convincing! You have to convince Tommy you really are mad at him and want to punish him. When you spank him, it has to hurt. When you squeeze his balls, you have to really squeeze. You have to do everything that Gabriel and Chad do. And Tommy has to think you're really mad! If you don't, I tell your mom everything! And you have to do one more thing."

Chad's mother looked at Beth, and the look wasn't kind. "What?" the assembled group heard Jesse ask.

"You have to show your private parts to Dakota," Beth's voice replied. "She hasn't seen a lot of naked boys and needs more experience. So you have to take your pants and underpants down right now and let her look at your little boy parts and your fat little butt. Just for a minute. Just so she can see what you look like under your pants. Then you can pull them back up again and no one will be the wiser. We won't tell anybody, will we, guys?"

There was a pause, then the speaker came to life again. "Just shut your eyes and do it," Beth's voice said from the speaker. "It will be easier that way. And if it helps, we're not going to make fun of you – Dakota and I think you're cute."

"Really," Dakota's voice said, sounding sincere. Dakota flushed. She knew instinctively that it wasn't good that her voice was on this recording. She racked her brain, trying to think if she'd said or done anything beyond looking at the naked Jesse. She couldn't really remember doing anything else, but she couldn't remember not doing anything else, either. Who could blame a girl for wanting to look? There was a pause, then came Jesse's voice, small and little-boy weak. "Okay, you can see me, I guess. As long as you don't tell my mom or anyone else."

There was a longer pause, where the phone picked up a rustling. Gabriel lowering his pants and underpants, Chad suddenly realized. Then came Dakota's voice again. "Can I touch it?" she asked. Dakota flushed. Gabriel grinned at his sister, enjoying the fact she was the one caught in the act of misbehaving for a change.

"No!" Jesse's denial was loud on the tinny speaker. Beth's reply was smooth as silk. "Have you decided you want me to call your mom?" she said.

There was a pause again. Jesse could remember the sinking, trapped feeling he'd felt then even now as he sat by Tommy protectively on the bed. "I'll let you have a choice," Beth's voice said from the speaker. "You can let her touch you, or you can show her your back side."

"Show her my backside?" came Jesse's voice. His voice sounded almost squeaky, it was so high-pitched in anxiety. He remembered the indecision he'd had then – the feeling there was no way out. Beth's voice erupted from the speaker again.

"Yeah, show her your back side. Bend over the bed and spread your butt apart and let her look at you from that side. Or let her touch your little weenie. It's up to you," Jesse had been torn then, not knowing what to do. He'd truly been torn. He was sure that if she touched him even a little bit he'd get hard, and that would be seriously embarrassing. But he hadn't wanted to show off his butt hole, either – there was something intensely private about that area. Besides, what if he was dirty – it was hard to get absolutely clean back there unless you'd just showered, and he hadn't. But he'd finally opted for his butt, and he remembered why – he was afraid they'd laugh at how pathetic his hard-on was if she touched him, because he knew that, although his dick looked long enough when it was soft, it didn't get much bigger when he was hard. There was a pause, a pause he knew had been filled by him settling face forward on the bed, butt up, hoping it would all be over soon.

"Remember what I said!" Beth's voice snapped from the speaker. "You have to reach behind you with both hands and spread your butt apart."

"You did that?" Gabriel piped up, looking at Jesse with interest. "And you showed them your peter, too?" Chad's mother gave him a look.

"Quiet, Gabriel. The crux of the matter is still forthcoming," she said.

"Huh?" Gabriel said.

"Gabriel, shut up!" Dakota said urgently.

"Listen to the young lady," Mrs. Henson said.

Gabriel shut up. There was a pause, but the women and Jesse were looking at the speaker expectantly. Suddenly Beth's voice came out of it again. Jesse, of course, knew why. Beth was about the drop the bombshell on him, the thing that had obtained his reluctant cooperation in what had followed.

"Okay, you can get up and pull up your pants – we've gotten the pictures," Beth's tinny voice said. "Insurance. In case you decide not to go through with it. Look how cute your little dork looks in this one!" There was a rustling and crashing noise. Jesse remembered lunging for the camera then, and Beth snatching it away, with himself tripping, falling on the bulge of the phone in his pocket. Jesse's phone had a number of hand buttons along the outside edge, and one turned it into a video recorder with just one click. He'd pushed that button when things started getting edgy, a precaution that he'd been afraid might be detected when he fell on the phone. But it had turned out that Beth was too focused on her own cleverness to notice the small bulge of the phone. "Just remember that if you don't do what you're supposed to, I could send these pictures to anyone. An-y- one! So you just go down and wait in the hall, like a good little boy, while I have a little talk with the other two boys," she finished with triumph. "And remember what I said, you have to do everything to Tommy that the other two boys do!"

Mrs. Henson pushed a button to stop the recording. "That's why I hit Tommy that day," Jesse said quietly to the hushed room. He'd forgotten all about the soap threat for talking, but it didn't seem to matter – the two women gave him their attention, and they didn't seem angry at him. "I didn't want to, but what could I do? Beth had pictures of all my privates! Even my most private private! And I'm not 'shamed of my privates – you said not to be, Mom, and I'm not. But that doesn't mean I want strangers looking at them, either. And I still was kinda 'shamed back then. So I did what Beth said and went with Chad and Gabriel. But I couldn't hurt Tommy, not really. I mean, I know he got mad at me Friday night and wanted to hurt me, but I understand why he did – us guys get strange feelings sometimes, and we want to break stuff and hurt people when we do. Besides, he and I talked it out on Sunday, and we're okay. He was mad, and then I was mad, but we're not mad anymore. Still, I kept worrying about those pictures. And then when I was leaving on Sunday, I saw that paper on the 'frigerator, the one that had telephone number to reach you guys' mom? And I took a picture of it with my cell phone, so I'd have the numbers. I kept thinking that Tommy's mom wouldn't want this happening to me, or to him, either. Because she might beat their butts when she's mad and they deserve it, but she's fair, and she'd know Tommy didn't deserve all the stuff Beth was doing. And then I got up the courage to tell my mom everything, and she called you guys' mom, and here we all are."

"Yes, here we are," said Mrs. Henson. "Holding evidence of blackmail of a young boy by a girl who is almost an adult, including use of nude pictures of his genitals and organs of elimination. The juvenile judge downtown is reasonably tolerant of consensual sexual activities between boys and girls or even boys and boys or girls and girls. If Jesse had voluntarily shown you his privates like he did, even his anal region, and asked you to photograph him, there would have been no problem. But the audio makes it clear that he didn't do any of this voluntarily, that you forced him to undress and to be photographed. That makes him a non-consenting participant, and makes what you forced him to do wrong in every way. And then to use those pictures to force him into participating in you scheme to subject your brother to draconian punishments – well, that's even more heinous."

Beth had recovered some of her poise and was ready for a counter-attack. "But I had to, mother," she protested. "I don't think you fully realize what Tommy did? He raped a boy! He raped his own cousin, mother. He fucked Gabriel! In the ass! He ripped Gabriel's asshole and made him bleed! And he did it because he couldn't control his temper, just like Chad!"

"Yes, I did what Tommy did, although I wouldn't have put it that crudely," Mrs. Henson said calmly. "And I was quite disturbed about it initially. But I tempered that disturbance after Jesse and I had a long talk. And then, once I got home, I was able to talk to Gabriel and Dakota and Tommy before you and Chad arrived. And they helped me get some perspective, as did Mrs. Ericson. She indicated Jesse's mother, who nodded back. "It's fairly clear to me, now, that this wasn't actually a rape, per se. Tommy and Jesse had been engaged in what was clearly mutually consensual sexual contact, and Jesse has assured me that the end result that happened to Gabriel had been something he would have accepted himself, had Tommy done it to him. Oh, Tommy isn't blameless – the violence of his act was clearly out of line, and he needs to work on his understanding of consent, but his behavior wasn't exactly 'heinous' as you said. In a way, we have much the same situation here we might have had if Chad and his friend Alan, let's say, were wrestling and Chad was losing and got so angry that he slugged Alan and broke his nose. He'd need to be punished for the loss of temper and the damage it caused, but it would hardly warrant disfiguring him. There's no question in my mind that Tommy did need some discipline for his violent action. Had you called me to consult, I'd have probably ordered something akin to your initial punishment of Tommy, and allowed Gabriel to pay him back with a spanking or paddling much like the one I'm told he gave Tommy. I might even have agreed with you about doing it in the back yard, and allowing a few people as witnesses to drive the point home."

She paused. "But then that would have been it. It was, after all, only the first time Tommy has let his temper get the better of him. He definitely needed an attitude adjustment, and I'd considering him on probation for a time, but unless he did something more, I'd have forgiven him. I would not have subjected him to a week of punishment. Even Chad's behavior of a few weeks ago resulted only in him being punished for 3 days, if you'll recall, not an entire week. And a first offense is always treated more leniently."

Chad, listening, was still fighting the urge to swallow soapy drool and carefully letting it ooze outside his lips and down his chin instead. It's the same old story, he reflected. Tommy always gets more slack than him. He doubted his mother would have been so tolerant if it had been his dick that had ripped Gabriel's butt open.

His mother was looking at Beth with clear disapproval in her eyes. Beth didn't respond, so after a moment she went on. "All the facts appear to indicate that Tommy, in forcing himself on his cousin Gabriel, was truly unaware that it was Gabriel he was assaulting, and that is a definite mitigating circumstance. I can't say that I approve of the temper tantrum that you threw that caused you to enter Gabriel so violently, Thomas. It's clear had the person in your bed been Jesse, you would have entered him just as violently. I will not condone such violent bursts of temper in my sons. It smacks too much of your brother's former ways. And that's why I believe that your punishment in the back yard by Gabriel was fair considering your actions, and that allowing the punishment to be witnessed by a troop of girls wasn't completely over the line in teaching you humility." She looked at Tommy, then shifted her gaze to Chad, who was wiggling uncomfortably as the awful taste of the soap oozed down his throat. "You may go to the bathroom, take the soap out of your mouth, and rinse," she said to Chad. Chad practically flew out the door in his haste to escape his punishment. She turned back to Tommy and Beth.

"I don't tolerate non-consensual sex, and I don't tolerate violence, not in any of your boys. That goes for Gabriel and Chad as well as you, Thomas. You are never to touch anything without clear permission from its owner, and you are never to force any of your things into anyone else's body without their clear consent and encouragement. Is that clear?" Tommy, Jesse, and Gabriel nodded solemnly. "And if that thing we're talking about happens to be a penis, and the part of the body it's going into is a vagina, you'd better be wearing a condom. Is that clear, too?"

The three boys nodded again. "Good," Mrs. Henson said. Behind her, Chad slipped quietly into the room, his shirt and face damp from repeatedly rinsing his mouth. He wondered what they'd been talking about –he sure as heck wasn't going to open his mouth and ask, not with the soap taste still coating it. This decision, unfortunately, ultimately led him, the following year, to be strapped, naked, on the bare bottom in front of his class, and then subsequently severely paddled on his already striped butt by his entire family. These events, as were noted in Chad's own story, came after he was caught trying to inexpertly insert a somewhat larger penis than he was sporting at the moment into an eager Cynthia in the school equipment room. But those fateful events were still more than a year away, and Chad had no idea of the future consequences of missing his mother's words. He resolved to ask Tommy what she'd said later, but soon forgot that resolve.

"Yet, in this case, the offense wasn't that grievous. The action Tommy took was, according to Jesse, something Jesse would not necessarily have rejected under less violent circumstances. And from what I've seen in my examination of buttocks, I'd say Tommy was punished sufficiently in those cases. Gabriel has told me he considers the situation dealt with and says he's satisfied with Tommy's punishment, Jesse seems satisfied, and I'm satisfied as well." She noticed Chad by the doorway. "Are you satisfied with Tommy's punishment for his violent action on Friday?" she asked pointedly. "In light of the punishments you got for your violent behaviors, do you think Tommy's punishment was fair?"

Chad, surprised at the sudden question, hesitated. "Come on, speak up," his mother said. "Now is actually the time for you to talk."

Chad licked his lips. "I'm okay with it," he said. "I mean, I think Tommy's probably had enough punishment to get the message. Gabriel really blistered his butt with that paddle – he broke it over Tommy! And Tommy was bare! And there were all those girls watching, and that's so humiliating – I mean, you're crying, and they can see your stuff, and your stuff never looks very good when you're hurting and afraid..." he trailed off, overwhelmed by his own memories of being punished naked with whole groups of girls watching.

"We get the picture," his mother said. "I'm sure it is very humiliating for you boys to have to strip naked and be spanked that way in front of the opposite sex. That's why we punish you that way – to remind you that you're still just little boys and you need to watch your behavior if you're going to be anything else. But the bottom line is that we're agreed. The situation is closed. I'm disappointed in you, Thomas, and you'll have to earn my trust and esteem back again, just as your brother has had to. Consider yourself on probation, and any more violent acts will be deal with more severely, you can be sure. But as of today I'm terminating all further punishments. That includes Beth's orders that you go naked at all times at home. In fact, I'd prefer that you put on some underpants now and stop flaunting yourself in this mixed company. I'm sure Mrs. Ericson is tired of looking at your immature genitals."

"He really has nothing to be ashamed of," Mrs. Ericson said charitably. "His male assets are quite respectable for a little boy. But I'm sure he'd rather be clothed."

Tommy's spirits rose on the first remark and immediately fell on the second. What was it with these women always pointing out that your dick was small? Were they just yanking the guys around? Or were all them, him and Chad and Jesse and Wayne, all of them small? Even the kid Tommy had taken up his butt a few hours before – was he small, too? Tommy realized he wasn't familiar with the size of a grown man's dick, especially erect. He couldn't remember his father's. Jesse had said there were guys on the Internet with dicks so big they were scary. Perhaps all of them were still small. He kept thinking of himself as being pretty big down there, but he realized his marks of comparison were all just beginning puberty, like Chad and Wayne and Jesse, or prepubertal, like the Morton twins and their dinky little pink spouts, or Gabriel with his pointy but small appendage. He'd seen S. F.'s giant dick briefly today, and had been momentarily stunned. Would he ever be that big?

"I'll get you some undies -- you just stay there," Jesse said. He dived off the bed, grabbed a pair of briefs off a pile on the dresser, and tossed them carelessly right Tommy's face. Tommy picked them up and frowned. "These are Chad's," he said. "See, they have a white waistband. Mine have the gray waistband."

"We're not asking you to eat off them, just put them on," his mother said. "Now." Her no-nonsense tone made him close off his intended additional protests. He curled his lip fastidiously and made a point of studying the crotch, but, wary of trying his mother's patience, and mollified that the underpants appeared to be spotless even in the crotch, he slipped the underpants under his sheets and struggled into them, his sore butt still complaining about its mistreatment over the last few days.

But mother," Beth protested. "You can't be serious! Your son, your favored son, is raping boys anally in his bedroom! Surely you don't condone that kind of thing? Who knows what he'll do next! Giving blow jobs in the hall to the Moore twins? Banging the neighborhood mutts in the alley?"

"There's a world of difference between consensual sex in private with a boy Tommy's own age and the forcible attack of young children or an innocent, non-consenting animal," her mother snapped back. "You're trying to confuse the central issue, Elizabeth! I don't condone sexual activity in public places, and that includes the shared rooms in this house! But what my sons do to their own bodies or with their friends in the privacy of their own bedroom is something I'm not concerned with and personally would rather not think overlong about. I've never understood the male need for constant sexual stimulation, but events have made it clear that I have to accept that it happens, and it's happening to my sons. Still, I'd rather you boys do such things to yourselves and each other than that you dive prematurely into male-female coupling – then there would be pregnancy to worry about. Speaking of which, I have a book I want you boys to read, all three of you. Pay special attention to the section about the responsible use of condoms." She reached into her handbag and pulled out a hardback book, setting it on Chad's nightstand. The title, Chad could see, was "What Boys Need to Know." It was a book that Chad, Tommy, and even Gabriel read avidly in the following weeks, although the caution about condoms fled Chad's mind a year later, when he and Cynthia had their brief and interrupted adventure in the equipment room.

"Actually, I realize, now, that I was overly harsh on you, Chad, a few weeks ago. I reacted negatively to your erections at the time, and I realize, now, that I was blaming you unfairly for an involuntary reaction. I just couldn't get over how much your penis looks like youre father's, especially that way. And I may have taken some of my anger towards him out on you."

"Maybe in miniature," Beth muttered. "1/24th scale." Her mother turned to her. "Perhaps, young lady, you should learn the fine art of being quiet when adults are talking. There is nothing wrong with the penis size of either of my boys, and I'll thank you to stop suggesting there is. They will grow when they're ready, and if their gone and not lamented father's body is any sign, they'll be quite impressive enough to make any new bride swoon when they're done. Or make any fellow groom swoon, if that's how my sons are inclined. I actually would prefer if they remain little boys for awhile that way, but it appears that there's no stopping Mother Nature. So I've come to grips with it, just as Mrs. Ericson did. I have to accept that my boys are growing up, and they've got urges, and those urges are going to be satisfied one way or another."

"Now," their mother said. "Let's get back to the point. The issue with Thomas is closed. But we still have the matter of blackmail." She crossed her arms and glared at Beth. "Blackmail not just of Jesse, but of both your brothers, and your cousins. Tommy, Gabriel, and Dakota all agree that you threatened to expose Tommy's actions to me if they didn't cooperate in punishing him, and you re-emphasized those threats when they balked at your insistence on escalating Tommy's punishments. And just now, in the hallway, I myself heard you threaten to testify falsely that Chad had watched Tommy's actions with Gabriel and had masturbated himself at the same time. I cannot just ignore such egregious behavior, no matter how justified you may have considered yourself."

"But mother, I had no choice!" Beth protested. "Your favoritism towards Tommy is clouding your judgment! You can't trust any of the boys, or what they say! They're all ruled by their urges! We all know Chad's oversexed, with all those erections he has all the time, and him banging away at that little thing! And that even though he's hung like a gerbil! And Tommy has admitted he raped his cousin – raped him in the ass, mother! And that he wanted to rape Jesse, too! And Jesse's no better! He all but said he wanted Tommy to take him up his ass! And Gabriel's trying to act the innocent, but I wouldn't be surprised if he engineered the whole thing to start with – climbed into Tommy's bed knowing he'd get corn-holed so he could yell bloody murder and get sympathy! I had to punish Tommy, had to keep punishing him, to keep them all in check! I probably should have punished them all, every dickless wonder in this whole house!"

"Even Gabriel?" her mother asked archly.

Beth glared at the boys. "It would serve him right – and warn him to stay on his toes. There isn't a boy in the world who wouldn't benefit from a good spanking or paddling several times a week." She put on her most innocent smile. Perhaps only Tommy noted the feral glow of anger appear in Dakota's eyes. Perhaps it was because he was the only one looking that direction, or perhaps it was because only he and Tommy knew the depth of her confused, protective feelings toward her brother. "Let's just put all this behind us, mother. Tommy messed up, and I punished him. I may have gotten a bit carried away in the process, but I thought I was doing what was best for him. And it was important that the other boys participate, too. I'll admit I might have gone too far in taking pictures of Jesse naked, but I can fix that – I'll just erase all the pictures and everything will be okay. That should do it. Now tell us about your trip."

Mrs. Henson smiled back at her, and Chad's heart sank. She's going to get away with it, he thought. Just like she always does. I hit a couple of kids and my butt gets beaten to a pulp and my balls get squeezed and I even get fingers shoved up my butt, and I have to suck my brother's cock and the cocks of a bunch of other boys, too. And go naked. And even poop in front of other people. She commits blackmail and gets off scot free!

Beth's smile grew broader. "Why don't we all go down to the kitchen and have popcorn?" she suggested. "I bet Jesse and his mother would love some popcorn."

"I'm afraid that's not on the agenda," Mrs. Henson said. "We have only a little time before bedtime, and there's still a lot to do. First, there's a decision to be made – a decision that I'm going to leave up to you." She looked at Beth. "No matter how you put it, you've committed blackmail, and blackmail is a criminal offense. Mrs. Ericson could have gone to the police with that recording, and you'd be in handcuffs on your way to the juvenile facility for girls right now. But she was gracious enough to call me instead. And she's agreed to let me offer you two choices. The first would be that you be sent to a facility where you might be rehabilitated by professionals. I've been told that Chad and Tommy's school has a new working relationship with a religious facility – perhaps a month or two there would teach you the error of your ways."

"You can't be serious!" Beth said. "You can't send me to a place like that! Look, there's no real harm done. Tommy needed to be punished for raping Gabriel, and we punished him. Gabriel himself punished him! So everybody's even now. And I didn't make Jesse do anything he didn't want to do, anyway! He wanted to get even with Tommy, just ask him! I just gave him a nudge! Tell them, Jesse! Tell them how you felt about what Tommy was planning on doing to you and did to Gabriel instead! Tell him how you would have felt if it had been you he'd corn-holed!"

Jesse looked up from where he'd been sitting, leaned into Tommy protectively. He stuck his chin out bravely. "I wouldn't have minded," he said. "Not really. I mean, he might have been a bit rough, but that's how Tommy is – or how he was, anyway. I think he's changed because of all this, and I'm happy about that. But I wouldn't have minded even if he'd been a little rough. I don't think he'd have made be bleed – his cousin is littler than me, and I would have been expecting it, and he wasn't, I don't suppose. I wasn't mad Friday because he wanted to do things to me. I was mad because he didn't! I started it all by touching Tommy – touching him down there, hoping he'd get excited. He got mad instead, and that made me unhappy, and I left. But I didn't leave because of what he might have done to me. I left because I knew he wanted it as bad as I did, but he wouldn't admit how he felt. I was mad because he wouldn't admit the truth." He looked at the group in the room defiantly. "I love Tommy," he said firmly, daring them to say anything. "And Tommy loves me." Chad, with his sharp eyes, noticed Tommy reacted slightly to this last comment, almost with what looked like guilt. He wondered just how much of Jesse's powerful feelings toward Tommy were reciprocated, and how much was sheer horniness on Tommy's part. His brother was a horn dog, no question, a horn dog who liked having his dick sucked entirely too much, and might be focused more on his own feelings than on the feelings of the person servicing him. For the first time Chad wondered if Jesse was headed for heartbreak down the road. He'd have to talk to Tommy about that, have a serious brother to brother talk. Something, he realized, he'd never done with Tommy as long as he could remember. But Jesse was still talking, and he'd missed part of it.

"...we both want to be together, and see where it goes," Jesse was saying. His earnestness was heart warming for Chad to witness. "Maybe it's just a phase we're going through, Mom, like you said. Or maybe it's for real, but I know it's how I feel. And I don't care what people think about it." He glared at Beth. "You tried to make me hurt Tommy with your stupid pictures and your threats. But I couldn't – just ask Chad! I couldn't hurt him, and now I don't care if you show your stupid pictures to everyone! It's just my wiener and my butt, anyway, and they're nothing special. I'm kinda small, and my poo-hole has a mark on it from a problem I had awhile back, but otherwise I look like every other boy down there. Blow your stupid pictures up into a wall poster if you want. I don't care!"

"See, he doesn't care," Beth said. "So everything's settled now." She looked at her mother hopefully.

"One does not dismiss attempted blackmail charges just because the victims refused to be blackmailed. And it wasn't just Jesse, Beth. At various times, you threatened Dakota and Gabriel and Chad with stories you might tell me as well when I returned. It's fairly clear they all would have stopped the punishment of Tommy long before you did, and quite rightfully so! But you used blackmail to keep them in line, too. When I left you in charge, I did it because I thought you'd be responsible, not so that you could wield power against all your siblings. And I thought that they would influence you to moderation if you did get out of control. But thanks to your blackmail, they were no brake on you at all! I've seen Tommy's buttocks! The fact that you wanted to punish him more is inexcusable. And to remove his body hair with a propane torch! You might have given him 3rd degree burns!"

"Not to mention the risk of making him into a butt-hole flame thrower!" Gabriel said. Dakota snorted.

"That's really not funny, you know," Mrs. Henson said. "I've seen kids who've had done to them that very thing you're describing so crudely, and it isn't funny at all. I've seen third degree anal burns that required a colostomy, and buttock burns that required painful skin grafts. And people have set buildings on fire playing around like that with intestinal gas."

She glared at Beth. "There's also the fact that you spoiled Tommy's spotless record at school with your demands he produce 2 pictures of himself with his genitals on display. Yes, I know about that, too. I know everything!" She paused to give Beth another withering glare.

"The point is, this is the kind of felonious behavior that I can't ignore. So as I said, I've a good mind to send you off to that facility I was talking about, the one run by Reverend Good- something-or-other. It's supposed to be a farm where they teach discipline through hard work. A month of manual labor and prayers might do you good."

"Mother, please!" Beth pleaded. She'd heard rumors about The Reverend's farm. There were only indirect references, much like Wayne's story to Tommy, but they sounded quite ominous, much more ominous than what her mother was describing. "Can't we work this out in the family?"

"I don't know," her mother said. "Can we? That's up to the boys, I suppose. Tommy, Chad, Gabriel? Can we work this out in the family? If you have a say in Beth's punishment and participate, will that be sufficient for you, do you think? And do you boys have the stomach to do your part if we do handle this in house? If we go through with it, we can't get tender-hearted at the last minute." Chad's mother looked Jesse first with this challenge, then turned her gaze to Chad. The look at Jesse made sense, given his report that he had trouble hurting Tommy. But the measured look at him surprised Chad for a moment. Then it dawned on him. His mother had been home for some time, she'd said. And she'd heard the stories of Jesse and Gabriel and Tommy and Dakota already. And they had to have been talking about him, he suddenly realized. Gabriel and Tommy and Jesse and Dakota must have related to his mother the bulk of their activities the last 4 days. Including the fact that he'd stopped being a willing participant in Tommy's punishments. Also, his mother had heard him protesting additional punishment for Tommy as he and Beth argued on their way into the house and up the stairs.

"No problem here," Jesse said with a firmness that surprised Chad. Tommy's pudgy little friend sure had changed in the last few days – he was more confident, he was happier, and he was more assertive than he'd ever been before. "I couldn't hurt Tommy even when he deserved it because of how I feel about him. But I don't feel that way about his sister. And I'm still real mad about her making me bend over and spread my butt apart, and about taking pictures of my weenie." He looked reflective. "I want them erased, by the way," he said. "I want them erased everywhere you've got them stored."

"They will be," Mrs. Henson said. She looked at Chad. "What about you," she said. "If we handle this in house, can I count on you to carry through your part? Or are you going to get tender-hearted, and regretful half way through?"

Chad looked at Beth, remembering her constant smirks when he was being undressed and her laughing dismissal of his tiny genitals. He remembered her pleasure at beating his butt until he was blistered. He remembered her reaming out his rectum when she bathed him probing more roughly and deeply than everyone else, her smirking as he pooped over the drain in plain view of everyone, and her making him masturbate before spankings so that he would be more focused on the pain in his butt. He remembered her dismissal of his cries of pain, and her satisfied smile as Gabriel beat the living crap out of his brother's butt. "I'm in," he said firmly. "I'm not sure I even like Beth any more. But even if I did, I wouldn't show her any more mercy than she showed me."

Chad thought about his participation in Courtney's punishment. Chad's mother turned to her daughter.

"So they say they're on board with your plan. But are you sure that's what you want? All 4 of these boys seem awfully angry, and Dakota has informed me that, although she's not thrilled by Tommy's misuse of Gabriel, she doesn't take kindly to your treatment of her brother, either. If you say you want us to handle this directly in the family? Because if that's your decision, there's no going back," Mrs. Henson said sternly. "You'll agree to the punishments I assign, even the one the boys and Dakota are assigned, and if you fail to accept any of them, we'll pursue the option of the religious farm. I have their number, and I could call for you to be picked up at any point if you change your mind." This was a bluff that would have been clear to anyone who knew how fiercely Mrs. Henson loved her children. There was no possibility she'd ever leave the punishment of her only daughter to a man who claimed religious inspiration. She'd already seen too many cases of the liberties taken by such men with children in her practice. But her children, none of them, were that confident of their security. That was why Chad had believed her when she'd said he could be sent to Juvenile Hall, and it was why Beth believed her now.

"No, please!" Beth begged. "I know I went a little far with Tommy, I see that now! And I shouldn't have taken naked pictures of Jesse's privates. So I'll accept I deserve to be punished. I've even got a suggestion of what my punishment could be. I could do some of Tommy's chores – maybe some of Chad's chores, too!" she said hopefully. "To make it up to them."

"Better yet, you'll do all of Tommy's and Chad's chores for the next two weeks – every single one of them," her mother countered. "You'll make their beds, you'll change their sheets, you'll mow the lawn, you'll rake the leaves, you'll empty and fill the dishwasher, you'll wash the other dishes, and you'll set the table and clear it. In fact, you'll wash all the children's underpants, by hand, and you'll hand scrub out any stains in them."

"What about my chores?" Gabriel asked. "And Dakota's?"

"You two don't have any chores yet," Chad said.

"But they will," Mrs. Henson said. "And when they do, you'll do them, too. For the next two weeks, all the chores of children in this house are yours."

Beth looked distressed, but recovered. "That seems fair, mother," she said. "Thank you for handling it in the family."

"Oh, that's just the beginning," her mother said. "Those things are just tedious. You need be made uncomfortable, too. So for the next two weeks, you are to be denied the comforts of this house. All of the comforts of this house. You will shower and wash your face in cold water only. You will use the scratchy army towels of your father's that are in the rag box in the garage rather than the soft ones you're so used to. You will sleep on the floor of your room without covers – the house is warm enough that you won't freeze. You will wear your grandmother's wool underpants to school and everywhere else you go – they're charmingly itchy, you'll discover. Your brothers and cousins will brush your hair every morning and every night, and how rough they'll be is up to them. They'll also choose the clothing you wear to school, so get ready for some very unflattering outfits. You will be allowed no salt or any other seasonings in the food you eat at home, and you'll find that makes for some very bland, insipid meals. And because you made Tommy go naked in the house, you will, while in the house, wear, at most, only your bra and panties for the next two weeks."

Beth opened her mouth to protest, then closed it again. "Yes, mother," she said.

"You will also apologize to Jesse for blackmailing him, to your brother Tommy for punishing him excessively, and to your brother Chad and your cousins for making them be part of your punishment scheme for your brother."

"Yes, mother," Beth said meekly. She looked at Jesse. "I'm sorry I blackmailed you, Jesse, and that I took pictures of your naked bottom and your baby penis and balls. I promise I'll delete them as soon as I get back to my room." Jesse clamped his lips tightly at the reference to his baby penis and balls. But Beth had moved on. She looked at Tommy, trying to put sincerity into her voice. "Tommy, I'm sorry I got carried away and punished you too much. And Chad and Gabriel and Dakota, I'm sorry I made you part of my mistake." She looked at her mother. "May I go to my room, now, mother."

"Not yet," her mother said. "First, I said that you were to wear only panties and bra in the house, yet you're still dressed. Aren't you going to do something about that?"

"But mother, I didn't think you meant now! I assumed you meant starting when Jesse and his mother have left!" Beth protested.

"Well, you were wrong. Now take off your pants and your blouse, young lady," her mother said. "Remember, you have to accept all my punishments if you want to avoid that religious work camp."

Chad looked on in amazement as Beth, now looking genuinely distressed, wrestled with herself. Finally, hesitating, she pulled her blouse out of her jeans and began undoing the buttons. Her white, lacy bra appeared as the front opened, then she pulled the blouse off her arms, revealing bare shoulders and a flat stomach and nice, if not overly large breasts held firmly by the bra so they thrust forward. Chad felt no arousal – this was his sister, after all. But he did feel a sense of rightness, and of gratification, seeing his sister discomfited like this. His eyes went down to his sister's pants as she hesitated over the button, then snapped it open and pulled down the zipper, revealing blue panties as she slid the skin-tight jeans off of her with some difficulty while trying to keep the panties up. Chad wondered if she now regretted the skimpiness of the panties that were revealed as the jeans were peeled down her legs and she struggled to step out of them. As she twisted, it became clear that half her ass cheek on each side was uncovered, and the triangle of cloth in front barely covered her pudenda. He could see no sign of hair at all above the panties, and wondered if she just wasn't that hairy or if she shaved it or removed it some other way. It suddenly occurred to him that Courtney's pubes had acquired that same appearance after waxing – did his sister wax her crotch, too? And if she did, how far had she taken it? It was enough to make him wince just thinking about it.

Tommy watched, too. He wasn't sure he wanted to see his sister in her underwear. Girls seemed disturbing down there – he kept feeling that they were missing something, and that they should have that reassuring bulge in their crotches. Gabriel stared in avid interest, though, and Jesse looked like someone watching a car accident in slow motion, unable to look away, but possibly horrified at what he might see.

Beth finally finished taking off her pants and stood, now looking a bit less possessed, in her panties and bra. Chad noticed that, although he wasn't aroused, and Tommy's crotch bulge looked calm and contained, Gabriel was now fully hard in his underwear, his little penis making an embarrassing tent. In typical Gabriel fashion, he was ignoring it, although Chad noticed that Jesse was also looking at Gabriel's little tent-pole. Jesse smiled sheepishly at Chad at being caught and looked away. Beth interrupted Chad's thoughts again.

"Now may I go to my room, mother?" she asked.

"First we must describe the final part of your punishment," Mrs. Henson said. "Doing the chores and losing the comforts of home helps make up for the discomfort you caused Jesse and Tommy, and having to wear only your underwear at home may help you realize the embarrassment your photographing Jesse's private parts caused him. But you haven't yet atoned for the pain you caused Tommy over and above what he deserved."

Beth looked alarmed. "But surely you don't plan to physically punish me!" she said, and her voice was rising now. "

"You must suffer pain before your punishment is complete, pain and the humiliation of having your pain witnessed by you victims," her mother said. "I believe that only physical punishment will suffice for that purpose."

Beth blinked, her face growing pale. For the first time, her confidence seemed to be shaken. "You don't mean... surely you're not saying..." Her eyes darted around the room, coming to rest back on her mother's face. "You wouldn't – you aren't going to spank me, are you? Or paddle me? Spanking is for boys! I'm much too old to be punished like that! And certainly not in front of them!"

Her mother just continued looking at her. Finally she uncrossed her arms. "No, Beth, I'm not going to spank you. Or paddle you. Or even whip you, although you deeply deserve all three."

Beth heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you, mother! I'm make it up to all of you, you'll see! You'll be glad you decided not to spank me!"

Her mother held up a hand. "Now just a minute," she said. "Mrs. Ericson and I have already discussed this in detail, and she agreed with me that Jesse needs to witness you suffering serious pain and humiliation to make up for your crimes, and so do the other members of this household. Yes, you are a girl, and you are older than your brothers. But you're not much older than Chad, and we've all witnessed how effective physical punishment was on him, especially administered on the bare. He's a new boy now because of it, a much better one. And I'm even willing to admit that Tommy probably will benefit from Gabriel paddling him naked in the yard in front of the watching girls. I'm betting you're not that much older than Chad, and that a good warming of your seat will get your attention like nothing else. There's something very cleansing for a child about having to shed genuine tears from a well-deserved spanking. But I'm not going to be the one who administers it."

Beth recoiled from this news. She looked wildly at Mrs. Ericson, who had the distinct demeanor of a mother lynx staring at a threat to her cub. "I suppose that's fair," she said in a quavering voice. "It was her child I took the pictures of, so I suppose she deserves her revenge. Very well, let's get this over with. We can go to my room, Mrs. Ericson, and do it there. You will let me keep my panties on once we get there, won't you? Please? They're very thin, so it'll hurt me just as much, and I'm certain you don't want me to be completely naked! We'll just get this over with and then I'll start making it up to all of you." She started toward the door.

"Mrs. Ericson isn't going to administer your corporal punishment, either," Mrs. Henson said, stopping her.

Beth looked puzzled. "But if you're not going to spank me, and Mrs. Ericson isn't going to spank me, then..." she looked around the room. "NO! You can't mean – Jesse-"

"Not just Jesse," her mother said. "All of them. All your victims. Jesse, and Tommy, and Chad, and Gabriel, and Dakota, too. They're all going to administer your punishments." She looked at her daughter, then her sons and niece and nephew with grim satisfaction. Then, for the second time that day, Chad heard the same peculiar phrase that he'd heard at Courtney's punishment. "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander."