third day this week the house had been in disarray when he arrived home. He clenched his jaw.
Hearing the microwave ding, he arrived back in the kitchen just as Lizzie finished mixing up some instant mashed potatoes. She pulled the Freezer Queen dinner from the microwave and placed it on the table, glancing at him a bit apprehensively as she did so. He waited until she sat down before he said grace and dug into the food, scant thought it was.
One they’d eaten, he rose to help her straighten the kitchen, earning him a smile. They worked side by side as she rinsed dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher and he wiped off the table, counter, and stove.
“ Thanks,” she said when they’d finished.
He nodded. “Lizzie, go to the stool,” he told her.
His wife looked for all the world like Wile E. Coyote when he realized he’d just run off a cliff. “Why?” she whispered.
“ If you don’t know, then maybe you’ll figure it out while you’re over there.”
Lizzie’s eyes filled with tears. “But... ”
“ Unless you’d rather go to our bedroom?”
She shook her head in a jerky motion and moved stiffly into the living room, silent tears beginning to fall. He didn’t think so. He’d whipped her with a belt one time only, and he’d done it in the bedroom. He’d made sure it made an impression. She’d feared a belt ever since.
He milled about in the kitchen, still hungry, and found a couple of slices of bread and a piece of bologna with which he made a quick sandwich. He peered into the living room from where he stood and watched his wife kneel beside the stool, open the compartment and pull out the paddle, which she placed on his chair. Then she stood and slowly undid her jeans and pushed them down to her ankles before stepping out of them altogether. Her silky drawers went next before she gingerly sat on her knees and placed her belly across the stool, bottom in the air.
He took his time finishing his sandwich and poured him a glass of milk which he downed before he moved into the living room. Lizzie started to whimper when she saw him. He picked up the paddle and sat in his chair, slapping it absently against his hand. His wife’s bottom was round and plump, so he’d ordered a round paddle with a good sized handle, ½ inch thick with several small holes drilled into a heart shape. Lizzie despised it.
Lizzie’s whimpers had deteriorated into sobs. “Have you figured out yet why you’re here?” he asked her.
“ Y... yes,” she sniffed. “I... I’ve let the house slip again... ”
“ Yes, you have,” he said, “and... ?”
“ I... overdrew at the bank again... ”
“ Yes... and?”
Sniff. “... and... I don’t know what else.”
“ You’ve overextended yourself again, haven’t you?”
Sniff. Sniff. “Yes, sir.”
“ We’ve been through this over and over again. You’re not to commit to anything without talking it over with me first, but you have, haven’t you?”
“ It’s... it’s only a substitute thing for... ”
He swatted her behind with the paddle. “Jason!” she squealed.
“ You were not to commit to anything without speaking with me first. Now you can’t keep up with the house, you don’t have time to balance the checkbook, dinner is late every night. Your home and husband are suffering again because of this other commitment. You are going to get out of it first thing in the morning, aren’t you?”
She paused and received another swat.
“ Yes!” she squealed.
Another swat.
“ Yes, Sir !” she cried. “Please, please, don’t spank me. I’ll never do it
again... I promise... ”
“ Lizzie, I can’t let this slip. You knew what you were doing when you got into it, didn’t you?”
“ I... I thought I could handle it,” she whimpered.
“ You always think you can handle it, but you can’t. That’s why we have the
Stephen Frey
Sarah Fisher
Jacqueline Harvey
Aliyah Burke
Kathryn Williams
Evelyn Richardson
Martha Southgate
Virginia Wade
Devyn Dawson
Richard Castle