This was hardly surprising; Melody couldn't even imagine a seven-year- old Kindern who would be mature and responsible enough to go *armed* even with a shocker. And Hiss-Zapps were pretty much immune to shockers; by the time their primitive nervous systems knew they were supposed to be unconscious, you'd already been bitten...
"Then what are you doing out here in the woods by yourself? You said you know the Rule--NOBODY is to leave their own yards unless they are armed, or accompanied by somebody who is. But you broke the Rule, didn't you??"
Melody sighed internally. Katy must be a recent immigrant; lots of 'newbie' kids thought the same way. And far, far too many kids had been caught disobeying the Rule, believing themselves to be safe because of the town's repeller shields. (Melody hadn't; John had given her a THOUROUGH understanding of the limitations of any technology, and of Universal Law as Conceived by Murphy...) But the high rate of disobedience was the reason the Planetary Council had decided to give the Rule some teeth, way before Melody had come here...
"But, Katy, Hiss-Zaps keep getting THROUGH the shields!! You KNOW that! Heck, kid, you almost got BITTEN! Even with the yard-shields, sometimes they've been found in people's YARDS!! Now, Katy--Just what does the Rule say if somebody catches you--a kid--disobeying it?? Well?"
Now Katy was really sobbing. "Th-they're s'posed to give you a spankin'. Right a way, so even the little kids'll know how naughty it is. But..."
"Your butt is what I need to spank. Now, take off your shorts, young lady!"
"Noo! Pleeze, Mel'dy! Not like that!! Not over my pannies, pleeze! You don't HAVE to, th' Rule just says you CAN!! Nooo!"
"Katy!! Come ON! You aren't just out of your YARD, little miss , you are IN THE WOODS!! And you just ALMOST got BIT by a *Hiss-Zap*!! NO WAY am I just swatting your shorts for THIS, now get them down and get over my knees for a good, sound spanking on your naughty little panty-covered bottom!!"
Now clearly crying, the naughty little child finally obeyed the older girl, pulling the elastic waist of her little red shorts over her hips, and bending over in order to push the garment down to her little feet, revealing the childish Fairy Jenny panties she was wearing underneath. Melody had her step out of the shorts, then gently helped the small child over her lap.
The bark of the log seemed too rough to let the child's tender skin rub against it, so Melody kept poor Katy out and away from it, forcing the poor kid to angle herself sharply over her thin, thirteen-year-old thighs, which sharply elevated her slender, flat bottom, now protected only by the very thin cotton of her little-girl panties.
"Yeow!!" cried Katy as Melody's small but oh-so-experienced palm SMACKED against the seat of those thin panties! And Katy began to cry as Melody began to properly spank the naughty little girl's tender bottom...
After a dozen spanks Katy was crying; this was AWFUL!! It HURT!! She couldn't BELIEVE a kid like Melody--a big kid, but still a KID could SPANK like that!! But then, as she began to really cry, Melody made it worse--she began to scold!!
"Do you think THIS hurts, Katy?? This is nothing--yeah, I KNOW how to spank, but still, this isn't *anything*. Not compared to what you'd be feeling if that darn Hiss-Zap HAD bitten you!! My friend Connie got bit two years ago--the darn thing caught her playing hide-and-seek, and it struck before she could get to her gun. She told me it hurt so bad, she couldn't do ANYTHING, even scream!!! It hurt so bad, it was all she could do to grab her Caller and hit the panic button!! They got to her in time; it takes two or three hours for Hiss-Zap venom to kill a human being. But she said her whole body hurt worse than anything until they got her the antidote..."
Melody paused in her spanking, waiting for a few moments until Katy's bawling subsided a bit. It really hadn't been more than a good, sound warm-up spanking, at least by Penitatas standards, but Melody knew that, for a poor Kindern like Katy, it was probably one of the worst spanking's she'd ever gotten. Maybe even the first *REAL* spanking the child had EVER gotten, if her parents were as permissive as Melody suspected they MIGHT be--surely this wasn't the FIRST time Katy had broken the Rule...not to mention the *other* problem.
"So, Katy, just what WOULD you have done it I HADN'T been here and the Hiss-Zap HAD bitten you??"
" Katy froze, her entire body stiffening into rigidity. Instinctively, as she'd mentioned her Caller, carried by every citizen on Virenia, her hand had reached for where the small medallion hung around her neck on its chain.
It wasn't there--as Melody had, to her total horror, noticed before putting Katy over her knees.
"oh no...I-I must've...my dresser, I must've left it on..."
"That's right." Said Melody, beginning to gently tug alternately on each side of Katy's Fairy Jenny panties, working them down the slim child's bottom. "And what does *that* mean, little girl? Just what WOULD have happened to you if I hadn't been here?"
Katy stiffened as she felt her panties being slowly worked down off of her bottom. Noo! Melody was...she was..."Noo! Pleease Melody!! Not like THAT!! Pleeeze, I...No...No MORE spankin'...I-I've never BEEN spanked, not like...like...not BARE!! Please, Melody, not on my BARE BOTTOM!!! PLEASE!"
"WHAT would have HAPPENED, little girl!!" asked Melody again, this time SMACK-ing Katy's half-bared bottom...
"I-I guess....maybe...i...i would'a died, wouldn't i." Katy's small voice faded out into quiet sobs, as she finally realized JUST how close a call she'd had...and how terribly, awfully, TREMENDOUSLY **NAUGHTY** a little girl she truly had been...
"Yes, you would have, Katy, unless somebody else came along, and that's not likely, here." Melody finished working Katy's panties down off of her hips, and was proceeding to lower them all the way down past the child's knobby knees. "That's why EVERYBODY has to wear their Callers ALL THE TIME. And that's why I don't think ANYBODY will object to my giving you a good, sound, old-fashioned bare-bottomed spanking for Breaking the Rule, leaving your yard BY "Waahahaaaaaa!!!! Noooooo!!!" howled Katy, as Melody's hard, expert spanks painted bright red hand-prints onto her already well-pinkened bare bottom. Melody had been frightened when she saw the Hiss-Zap.
When she'd seen Katy's lack of a Caller, she'd almost fainted. And she was *determined* that Katy would NEVER, EVER do ANYTHING this *stupid* again!!! She'd almost put off going to get the snazzle until *after* she'd gotten the curry started--which would have left poor Katy lying in agony for an HOUR or more. And if she'd missed her in the woods--easy to do, if the child was unable to call for help, like Connie...Melody would never have forgiven herself for that...
Katy was howling as Melody began REALLY spanking her poor, bare bottom. She couldn't BELIEVE how much it HURT!!! Melody continued to scold, uselessly, as Katy was far to involved with her burning behind to pay any attention.
But that was O.K. Melody knew that the REAL message was being imparted by her sturdy little right hand, as the thirteen-year-old continued to turn the poor Kindern's slender seven-year-old bare bottom into a blazing ball of fire more commonly felt only by convicted Penitatas!! Katy wiggled and squirmed, but nothing she could do prevented even one crisp, expert spank from impacting her burning bare bottom!!
All things come to their appointed ends, though, including Katy's sound spanking. Melody set the child onto her feet in front of her, quickly ordering "NO!! No rubbing, Katy, let that naughty bottom of yours BURN, little girl!! Both hands on your head, NOW!!"
Katy obeyed, sobbing even harder as she realized the stern teenager wasn't even going to let her rub some of the burning fire out of her well-punished nates!! She stood there crying as Melody continued to scold...
"And don't think this is over, young lady!! I suspect your Mommy and Daddy will have something to say about all of this--at the very least, I think you're grounded for a while, and I HOPE that BOTH of them decide to spank you, TOO! Now, here's your panties and shorts. No, don't try to put them on, Katy!! Put them under your left arm and carry them. Give me your other hand!! Where did you say you lived??"
And, in minutes, the crying Katy was being escorted back home. The bottom half of her clothes were tightly gripped in her left arm, leaving the poor child bare from her T-shirt to her socks. Her right hand was firmly grasped in Melody's left (leaving her right hand free for her pistol). Katy was mortified; bad enough to have a stranger, even a fellow kid, give her a spanking--BARE BOTTOMED, no less!! (At least Melody was a GIRL). NOW she was being marched back to her house, STILL bare-bottomed, her well-spanked red bottom on display for ANYBODY to see!!!
And Katy knew better than ANYBODY what lay in store for her when they got to her house...
As Melody led Katy down the road in front of their houses--Katy lived just across the street and three houses down; Mel had *wondered* who'd moved in down there last month--Melody was relieved, and Katy horrified, to see two police hovercars and several adults milling around in the front yard of her home. At least she was *missed*, Melody thought. Too many parents, trusting to their technology (and over-trusting a small child's responsibility) would've just asked the computer where their kid was...
And the computer would, obediently, have pinged Katy's Caller and reported that she was in her room...
As Melody led the bare-bottomed little girl up the street, the adults visibly began to relax. Officer Miller raised a hand-com to his lips, and clearly called in the fact that the missing child had been found.
As Melody tugged the visibly blushing (at both ends) child through the gate. (Her own Caller released the yard-screens to let her through-- Katy *would* have been caught anyway, since without her Caller she couldn't have gotten back into her own yard.)
Melody finally released her charge, who ran immediately over to a plump woman on the porch, crying "MAMA", who fell to her knees, her own eyes tearing in relief, her arms open to receive her child. As Katy buried her tear-streaked face into the womans full skirts, Mrs. Smith held her tight--and quickly swatted the child's bare, hot pink bottom several times!! Katy howled, her rump still incredibly tender from Melody's ministrations. The woman's hand then dipped into the pocket of her apron--and pulled out Katy's missing Caller!!
"I found THIS in your ROOM, Katy!! You are in SO much trouble, I was so WORRIED about you..."
"Well, Melody," Officer Miller turned away from the domestic scene and addressed Mel. "It seems you found our missing child. And clearly gave her a good spanking, too. Good work, but, ah, The Rule does NOT allow you to smack her on the bare, you know, eh, if Mrs. Smith wants to complain..."
"Yessir, I know. And if she really wants to, she can have Daddy punish me for it, too. But I felt I HAD to do it because, well--I want to claim a bounty, sir."
Everybody froze. Even Mrs. Smith stopped scolding (and swatting) her daughter. They all looked at Melody.
"I found Katy in the woods, sir, over there. About seventy meters in."
"I burned a Hiss-Zap that was about to strike her leg, sir. You might want to go scan to see if there are any others..."
Everyone stared at Melody--Especially Mrs. Smith, who was clutching her naughty daughter to her like a vise. "But-but the Woods--they're *inside* the screens!!" She complained out loud.
Officer Miller turned to her and said "Yes, Ma'am, but as you should've been told, Hiss-Zaps keep getting through. I think it's when the repeller screens sometimes fail during thunderstorms..."
"Johnny, I mean, Daddy thinks maybe the pseudo-voles are now tunnelling deep enough to go underneath, and the Hiss-Zaps are getting though while hunting them." popped in Melody.
Officer Miller looked startled, then thoughtful. "That *would* explain why there's no correlation between incidents and storms..."
As the men turned to each other to discuss the issue, Melody bit her lip. She'd blurted out Johnny's idea without thinking--he'd been planning on checking it out himself, next week. Well, Johnny might like to appear infallible, (one of his few flaws was a tendency to keep ideas to himself until he'd proved or disproved them alone, in order to avoid 'looking silly'), but Mel had told him before he'd left that he should tell the Town Council his idea right away. He might be unhappy that Mel had blurted it out (he might even give her a spanking!) but Melody was actually kind've glad she had...he'd get the credit if it proved out, anyway, and if not, well, maybe Melody would be the one who'd looked silly...
Mrs. Smith was still looking shocky as Melody turned to her. "Ma'am? Miz Smith? I know I didn't have any right to take down Katy's panties and spank her on the bare bottom. I mean, first I smacked her panties, all according to the Rule, but when I'd seen she wasn't wearin' her Caller, well, I got so *scared* and *angry* I just felt..."
"Oh! Oh, no, dear, that's fine, really. My goodness! You--you SAVED my baby's LIFE!! You, I...come in, dear, please, come in. I-I need to deal with Katy anyway, dear. Please, come in..."
Soon, Melody was ensconced in a large armchair in the living room. Mrs. Smith, Peggy, was seated on the couch, and Katy was installed, still bare-bottomed, in the living room corner.
"So you actually *shot* the Hiss-Zap?? Right over in the woods. I-I must admit, I really didn't know...they *told* us, of course, but I just thought, you know, officials are always over-cautious..."
"No, ma'am, not here. You must've come in from a more developed world..."
"Yes, we moved here from Barnard 2..." one of the oldest colonies, Mel knew--over a half-billion people, and already under most of the same birth restrictions as Terra.
"Well, the Rule isn't a joke, or a game, Ma'am. If you haven't been enforcing it on Katy..." the look on Peggy's face clearly showed that she hadn't...and that she would, now.
"Katherine Smith, you come here," ordered the naughty child's mother.
With clear reluctance--but no hesitation, the child turned away from the corner and minced over to her Mommy.
"Katy, do you remember when Mr. Barnes spanked your pants-seat two weeks ago, when he caught you on the sidewalk by yourself?"
Yes, Katy remembered.
"I was angry with him. You saw..." Katy nodded. "and I was wrong. I didn't realize how important the Rule actually was, dear. I should've given you a good spanking right after he brought you home. And if-- *whenever* you break the Rule from now on, dear, a good, sound spanking over my knees is *just* what you *will* get, understand??"
Katy was sniffling, even as she nodded. She looked *very* worried and scared, now...
"Now, Katy, do you remember the *first* time I caught you downstairs without your Caller?"
Uh-oh!! thought Melody. If this ISN'T the first time Katy's been punished for forgetting her Caller...she was in TROU-BLE!!
"Yes, Mama." sniffled Katy.
"I warmed the seat of your britches pretty good, didn't I? Yes, you DID cry. And afterwards? Tell Melody what happened afterwards."
"M-Mommy took me down to the store, an' she bought a 'Mama's Helper' paddle. S-She made *ME* carry it to the counter, too!! Ever'body KNEW it was for MY bottom!!"
Melody winced--but approved. After all, Mrs. Smith COULD have just ordered one off the Net--but by making Katy come with her to buy it, it served as a good reinforcement, and warning, for the child. An embarassing lesson...
"And the *SECOND* time, when you got caught outside the yard-screens and I had to let you in?"
Melody winced, and nodded. She'd been afraid of this--it WASN'T the first time Katy had broken the Rule. Or the second, apparantly. Or even the first time Katy had left the yard without her Caller!!!
Katy's bottom was TOAST!
Melody snapped her eyes to Katy "You LIED to me!! You told me, in the woods, that you'd never gotten spanked bare-bottomed before!!"
"No, Melody, she didn't!!" interjected Peggy. "I DID turn her over my legs and paddle her, but I did it over her panties. Didn't I, Katy? Yes, and what did I tell you I would do if it EVER happened AGAIN??"
Katy blanched. Melody could tell that she certainly DID remember whatever punishment she'd been promised...
"Waaaah! You-you said you'd spank my BARE BOTTOM, *with* the *Helper- Paddle* Nooo! Don't, Pleeeze!! Mel'dy *already* spanked me, an' HARD!"
"Which you deserved!! And I hope it left your naughty little bottom all sore and stingy, too--it certainly *looks* like it--'cause that'll make THIS spanking all the more effective!!! Now, you just march yourself upstairs to my room, young lady, and fetch back down the paddle. Yes, right NOW!! You know where it is--the top drawer of my dresser. Go get it!!"
Now crying, Katy turned off and began to slowly trudge up the stairs.
"MOVE little girl--back down here ON the double or I'll SPANK you double!!" snapped Katy's Mom.
And Katy scampered up the stairs.
"Maybe I should leave..." said Melody.
"No, dear, please stay. You saved Katy's life, and you certainly seemed to give her a proper spanking, too. If you don't mind, I'd like for you to give her another spanking in a few minutes, after I paddle her little bottom. I'm afraid I've let poor Katy get completely out of hand; I'll have to talk it over with Ralph, my husband--he's in Morganstown on business. I'm afraid we're going to have to crack down on our little dear for a while--I guess you don't realize just how *dangerous* a frontier planet can be; you really *DO* have to be stricter with kids out here, don't you?"
Melody was glad the woman had reached the correct conclusion by herself. "Yes'm. Permissiveness is NEVER a really GOOD idea, but on a civilized planet, where there isn't much actual DANGER, it isn't all that bad. But out here, kids 'just being kids' can get themselves killed. Kids on a frontier, or where there are a lot of hazards, just HAVE to be more strictly disciplined than kids on Earth or one of the older colonies..."
Now Katy was coming back down the stairs, the Helper Paddle grasped firmly in her hand, tears in her eyes.
Melody noted that Peggy's Helper Paddle looked just like the one Josh and Mary had almost worn out on her poor bottom all those years ago. She grinned to herself as she realized she was almost nostalgic about those days, seeing a little girl, so like herself back then, about to get a good old-fashioned spanking.
(Not that Melody's memories of spanking were all *that* old. Johnny enjoyed spanking her, and had enjoyed it all the more since her rejuvenation. And not just play-spankings, either, although there were plenty of those (and Melody had come to enjoy them just as much as Johnny, sort of). Sometimes, especially since emigrating, Mel had messed up and earned a real spanking--a couple, the first year, for reason's similar to those about to get Katy's bottom burned, failure to follow safety precautions unneeded on Earth.
She'd never forgotten to put on her *Caller*, though!
Mrs. Smith took the paddle from her naughty daughter, and then bent over to take off the child's shoes and socks. Her T-shirt followed, over her protests, and it was a bare naked little girl who was bent over her Mommy's lap for a good spanking.
"My, Melody, you certainly *did* spank Katy thoroughly!! Look how pink her bottom is, even now! "No, Ma'am. That's why Johnny and I emigrated--almost no restrictions here on Virenia. You see, about a century ago I was a Penitatas."
Peggy stopped spanking for a moment, startled. Katy's head swivelled to stare at Mel. Identical thoughts flashed through both of their heads: No WONDER Melody knew so much about spanking a naughty bottom!
"So I have a LOT of experience with spanking. Also, Johnny and I took a couple of little hard-timers through a term ourselves, before I rejuved and we emigrated. So I have a lot of experience with paddling little bottoms. For example, Miz Smith, if you bend Katy a bit more over your lap, to lift her bottom some--yes, like that. And then swat a bit lower, right across where her bottom meets her thighs?"
"Yieeeeeowowow!! Owwww! Noooooo! MOMEEE! OWIE OWIE OWIE!!" howled Katy as several crisp spanks impacted the all-too-tender base of her naughty little bottom.
"My, that IS effective!! Look how it makes her squeal and wiggle!!"
"Yes, ma'am, and that part of her bottom's SO well padded, it's actually safer to spank her there than across the middle, where you were swatting before. Besides, that's right where she sits down--and after THIS little escapade, I think she should DO some sitting down as soon as you're finished. No, don't plant ALL the spanks there--work your way all over. You wan't her whole bottom stinging, but you want her 'sit spot' to be really *burning*!! Do you have something suitable for her to sit on? A stool, maybe?"
Katy was howling and bawling, squirming and wiggling across her Mommy's lap as the horrible Mother's Helper SPANKed and SMACKed and WHAPPed all over her already well-tenderized bare bottom, turning it rapidly back into a ball of crimson fire. Not that she was getting spanked very hard; it was more the cumulative effect of the rapid barrage of fairly-mild spanks that her Mommy was imparting to her bare nates in rapid flurries. "No, I don't think--but I know where I can GET one, I'll bet!! And perhaps now...Hmmm."
Mrs. Smith stopped spanking her wayward daughter, but held the child over her lap while she cried out her shame and guilt. Then Peggy turned Katy around, so that she was sitting on her lap. Katy's sobs actually increased as her thoroughly-spanked bottom was planted on the rough material of Peggy's apron.
For several minutes Mrs. Smith comforted her bawling baby, until Katy's wails began to subside a bit. But Melody noted that Mrs. Smith did NOT tell Katy that she was forgiven...an omission she frowned on, at first--until Mrs. Smith made it clear that Katy's punishment wasn't over!!
"Now, Katy, into the corner, pumpkin!! That's right, face the wall, dear. Now, Melody, would you mind watching Katy while I go next door?"
Of course not. So Melody watched the still-crying child stand in the corner, trying uselessly to rub the burning sting out of her bare bottom. (Peggy hadn't forbidden Katy to rub the burn out, so Melody felt she couldn't object, herself. Besides, she was feeling very sympathetic towards the little girl. Katy had been a VERY naughty little girl, but now she was becoming a VERY *spanked* little girl, which pretty much balanced the scales...
Minutes later Mrs. Smith returned--carrying an item of furniture Melody recognized instantly. She winced as she realized that Peggy had fetched the William family's CornerStool!!
The William family lived next door to the Smiths, and had been there for years--Melody had been visiting them since she and Johnny had arrived. With five kids, all Kindern, all the kids in the neighborhood had been in and out of the William's house at one time or another.
And most all of them, one time or another, had seen one or another of the William's brood seated on the family CornerStool--often bare- bottomed!! (Usually RED bare-bottomed, too; the Williams' had both been born on Virenia Three, and were a proper frontier family; their kids got both lots of love AND lots of loving discipline when they needed it--and that meant spankings). And while the spankings were always in private, CornerStool time was spent in the corner of the den--no matter who was over visiting.
The CornerStool had been made locally, and lacked some of the
refinements Melody was familiar with--like the ankle restraints. It really was just a wooden stool, made out of the local fiffer wood, with the top carved into one of the milder, Kindern-rated square pyramid CornerStool patterns.
But it would certainly do as an eventual destination for Katy's well- spanked bottom!!
Peggy pulled Katy away from the corner, and planted the stool in it. Katy's squeal of horror was almost a scream as she saw the horrible stool planted in HER corner, and she began to cry harder, and to babble all sorts of pleas and promises if only her Mommy WOULDN'T make her sit on that awful thing...
Peggy picked up the Mother's Helper paddle from the coffee table, and turned towards her daughter. "No, Katy, you DON'T have to sit on the stool. Not yet." Katy's face showed immense relief. Mrs Smith suddenly handed the small paddle to her daughter and said "First you are to take this paddle over to Melody, thank her for saving your life, AND for giving you your well-deserved spanking in the woods. And then you will ask her to give you another good, sound spanking here and now!!!" Katy's mouth dropped, her face fell, then screwed up and she BAWLED at the thought of even MORE spanking on her oh-so-sore bottom!!
"THEN you'll be put on the CornerStool, until I'm CERTAIN you've learnt your lesson. Well? What are you waiting for? MOVE, young lady! ...Unless you'd like ME to give you yet ANOTHER spanking FIRST?"
Melody winced. Mrs. Smith was certainly getting into the spirit of the thing--with a vengeance. But Melody was unsurprised--sometimes it was the really permissive parents, when their kids did something REALLY dumb, and almost got themselves, or somebody else, hurt or killed, who ended up administering the strictest punishment--
overcompensating for their earlier laxitude. Clearly, Katy was
about to undergo a strict transformation of her life.
And Melody couldn't even object; life on Virenia was 'way too
hazardous to let little kids like Katy run around undisciplined. Like it or not, on THIS planet, kids HAD to behave themselves. And when they didn't, they needed to be quickly and effectively disciplined.
And the quickest, most effective discipline for teaching a child 'NO! DON'T DO THAT AGAIN' was a good, sound spanking.
Katy, sobbing, approached Melody in her armchair, with the paddle. "Mel'dy? "YES Katy. NOW."
"Mel'dy, w-wouldja p-please g-gimme a s-spankin' wit Mama's paddle?"
"Well, Katy, I think you've ALMOST learned your lesson. But I'd be happy to give you one last spanking, just to make sure. Over my knees, then..."
Melody helped Katy get into proper spanking position over her slim thighs, making sure the small child was well forward, her bottom turned up high, so that the tender curves soon to be planted upon the bumpy top of the Corner Stool were completely exposed for Melody's spanks. Taking a firm grip on the little paddle, Melody decided to give Mrs. Smith an impromptu demonstration of How To Paddle A Naughty Little Girl...
Katy was sobbing and squirming as Melody finished up the last of the many, many crisp spanks that had turned the poor baby's little rump into a ball of dark red fire. And the bases of Katy's bottom, and the tops of her little thighs, had been turned positively crimson from the sound spanking the little girl had oh-so-deservedly received. Katy's howls and bawling had finally subsided into the long, heartfelt sobs of true remorse and repentance as Melody had spanked every little bit of naughtiness out of the child. Several times, Mrs. Smith had almost interrupted the punishment--but had then subsided, subdued by the knowledge that Katy's behavior had just almost gotten the child KILLED, and that, as harsh as it was, this spanking was just, maybe, what the child needed.
Melody stopped spanking, and let the little paddle fall to the floor. She began to gently rub some of the burn out of Katy's nates, while also rubbing her bare back with her other hand. After a few minutes-- but long before Katy's hard sobs had even begun to fade--Melody said "All right, Mrs. Smith. I think Katy has had a more than sound enough spanking to teach her a good lesson. I don't think she'll try wandering off on her own again. I think, maybe, it's time to get her onto the cornerStool..."
Katy's sobs redoubled as her Mommy, agreeing, picked the child up and carried her over to be deposited on the stool. Katy's crying increased; her little hands had to be held up and away from the stool. In fact, Katy was so worn out by her spankings, it was clear her Mommy would have to stay, her arms around her child, helping her to stay on the stool for her whole ten minutes of corner time.
But that was O.K. After her punishment, Katy needed the reassurance and comfort of her Mommy's arms around her. One reason Melody had decided to apply SUCH a sound spanking was that she felt it better for Katy to get such a harsh punishment from HER than her parents; that way, most of any subconscious resentment over the well-deserved lesson would be directed towards Melody...
"I'll let myself out." said Melody to Mrs. Smith. "Ah, once Katy's corner time is over, Ma'am, I'd go ahead and get some nano-lotion on that bottom. I'm pretty sure I didn't bruise it too badly, but there's no need for a little Kindern like her to be kept awake all night with a burning bottom. If you have a delta inducer, that might not be a bad idea, either. I know it'll mean sending her to bed without her supper, but that's O.K.; I doubt she feels much like eating tonight, anyway..."
As Melody closed the door to the Smith house behind her, she
realized that she STILL hadn't found and snazzle root. With a sigh, Melody turned back towards her own home. Dried snazzle wasn't HALF as good as fresh, but Johnny would just have to put up with it; there wasn't NEARLY enough time to go find some more...
=====================
A week or so later, Melody saw Katy playing with several other
kids in the local park--which was guarded by its own repeller
fields, although several of the Voluntaras kids in the park were wearing pistols anyway. Anyhow, Melody noted that Katy had been
subjected to one additional punishment...
Around her neck was closely fastened a little pink necklace--only this necklace locked with a magnetic key, one only Katy's Mommy and Daddy had. The flexible, unbreakable plastic was a Caller-Collar, an article of clothing most kids on Virenia stopped wearing before the age of five. It was basically a standard Caller--but it was built into a tubular neckband a child could not remove. In fact, any good tug on the Caller-Collar would trigger the emergency call signal!!
They were normally used on very small children, who were too immature to be trusted to carry their Callers with them. Also, in a panic situation, it is easier to yank on a collar than find a medallion and push the panic button. Most of the units were decorated in bright pink or blue colors--suitable for a pre-school toddler. They were rarely imposed on older children; for one thing, it was almost impossible to wash properly under one; the parent would have to unlock the device for every bath--and put it back on afterwards.
With a smile, Melody wondered just how much 'look at the little baby'-type teasing little Katy had had to undergo after showing up to play wearing the juvenile neckwear. Still, Melody bet herself that, finally, Katy would find herself learning to remember and obey the rules of the colony from now on...
