New Beginnings-chapter 7
By Sampast and Huggedlots
Copyright © 1999, All
rights reserved.
It was New Year's Day.
Heather and Bob had their own way of welcoming in the New Year. Maggie woke up
feeling much better. She wanted to go out and do stuff. But after checking her
temperature, Bob found that she still had a slight fever of 99.2° and informed
Maggie that she would be spending another day inside.
"But we have to go out
and get my new school supplies!" Maggie cried. "I have to go to
school tomorrow. And I want all new notebooks and stuff!"
"First of all, you are
still sick. You are not going anywhere, young lady!" Heather informed her.
"Second of all, you
have plenty of school supplies from your last school!"
"No, Mommy! I want all
new things. I want to start fresh!" Maggie said, stamping her foot.
Bob came in on the foot
stamping and frowned at Maggie. "Speaking of fresh. . ." He let his
sentence trail off.
"But Daddy! I want to
get all new school stuff for my new school!" she whined. "It's not
fair!" Maggie crossed her arms and pouted.
Bob went over to Maggie and
picked her up. He sat himself on the couch and pulled her into his lap.
"Sounds like someone is feeling better. Hmm, if you're feeling well enough
to scream, pout, and stamp your foot, then you'll probably feel well enough to
get a spanking."
At that, he turned her over
his knee and started to lightly pat her behind.
"Daddy! NO! I'm
sorrrrrrrrrrry!" Maggie cried.
Bob didn't spank her too
hard or for too long, just enough to send the message home: that they will not
tolerate such behavior, whether she's sick or not. Bob said this while he
spanked her.
"I'm sorry,
Daddy!" Maggie said calmly.
Bob pulled her to her feet
and stood her in front of him. "Young lady, this type of behavior is a
definite no-no. And you know better!"
"Yes, sir," she
said quietly.
"Now, when you go to
school, I'm sure the teacher will give you a list of supplies. And if there's
anything you are missing, we will get it for you. Understand?" Bob asked.
"Yes, sir,"
Maggie repeated. "But I wanted all new notebooks and stuff," Maggie
said under her breath.
"What did you
say?" Heather asked.
"Nothing, forget
it," Maggie said.
Bob frowned. Then he said,
"How 'bout some breakfast? You said your tummy was feeling better, right?
I'll make you some scrambled eggs and toast."
"Okay, Daddy,"
Maggie said sadly. Then added, "I will get to go to school tomorrow, won't
I?"
Bob looked at Heather. She
shook her head no. "I don't think so, honey. I think we'd like to keep you
home an extra day," said Bob.
Maggie looked up at her
daddy. "But why? I feel better."
Heather came and sat with
Maggie on the couch. "Well, honey, you do still have a slight fever. It's
always best to stay home an extra day and make sure you're okay."
Bob went to the kitchen to
start Maggie's breakfast. Maggie pouted.
"Tell me what you're
thinking, Maggs," Heather declared.
Maggie spoke, "It's just
that it's gonna be hard enough starting a new school, and to not go in on the
first day back. Well, it's gonna be hard."
Heather hugged her
daughter, and reassured her, "It's going to be fine, sweetie. You'll see.
You're going to make all new friends. And I've already met your teacher, Mrs.
Smith. She seems very nice."
"Smith! That's
original!" Bob commented.
Both Heather and Maggie
laughed.
"Yeah, her first name
is probably Mary and her husband's John," Heather blurted out.
They all laughed again.
Then Maggie got in on the
game. "Yeah, and she probably has a dog named Spot, or Rover."
The ice was broken. Maggie
was cheered up. She went into the kitchen to have her breakfast.
The rest of the day was
quiet. Heather and Bob played lots of board games with Maggie, read books to
her, and they all took afternoon naps. Before dinner, Mrs. Warner came up.
Maggie asked the older woman if she would play checkers with her.
"Aren't you tired of
checkers, Maggs? We played a million games of it today," Heather stated.
"I know, that's why I
want to beat Mrs. Warner," Maggie replied.
All the adults laughed.
Mrs. Warner said, "Why
don't you two take a nice walk, while your daughter beats the pants off
me?"
Bob said, "Okay, why
not? Come on, hon."
He took Heather's hand and
they took a nice romantic walk before dinner. Upon returning, Maggie and Mrs.
Warner were into their fourth game. Maggie had won three of them.
"I think I'm being
snookered," Mrs. Warner expressed.
They invited Mrs. Warner to
dinner. It was very nice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Maggie again
tried to convince her daddy that she was well enough to go to school.
"No, Maggs, I'm sorry,
we've talked about this. You're taking this extra day to rest and make sure it's
all out of your system," Bob explained.
"But Daddy, you said I
have no temperature. Please?" she tried again.
"No, Magpie, I'm
sorry. Now, I'm going out to get the paper, and when I come back, I want you in
bed resting," he said sternly.
But Maggie was insistent
she was well. She went to her room and got dressed. She found her old notebook
from Merrick and slipped it into her schoolbag. She peeked into her parents'
bedroom and saw that Heather was still asleep. She went into the kitchen and
grabbed a handful of cookies and put them in her coat pocket.
She looked around. No one
saw her. She tiptoed to the front door. As she opened it, she gasped as she saw
Bob on the other side. In his hand was a newspaper and a paper bag from the
deli.
Maggie's mouth opened wide
in surprise. "Oh, hi, Daddy!"
Bob turned Maggie around
and with a stinging slap to her behind, sent her back into the house.
"Where do you think you're going, Ms. Margaret Anne?"
"Um, to school,
Daddy," Maggie said, rubbing her bottom.
"I don't think so. I
think we talked about this already, Maggie," Bob said sternly. He reached
up and pulled her backpack off her back. Then as he grabbed her coat from her,
the cookies fell on to the floor.
"Cookies for
breakfast?" he asked, slightly amused.
"Um, no, Daddy, that
was gonna be for snack later!" Maggie lied.
Bob swung Maggie around and
gave her five rapid spanks to her bottom. "Don't lie to me, young lady!
You are already in enough trouble. Now, I want you to go to your room and put your
pajamas back on. Then when I've had a chance to calm down, I'm going to come
in, and we're going to talk. NOW GO!"
Bob took several deep
breaths. He was so angry. He knew not to punish Maggie while he was this angry.
Also, giving her some thinking time would be good for her. Bob sat down at the
kitchen counter, drank his coffee and began to read the newspaper.
After reading the first
section of the New York Times, Bob felt calm enough to speak to Maggie. He
carefully folded the paper, and brought his plate to the sink. He threw his
empty coffee cup into the garbage. He sighed and then went to Maggie's room. He
knew she needed love, and caring, and discipline and he would make sure that
she got it.
Bob knocked quietly on
Maggie's door and heard a quiet, "Come in."
He went in and sat down on
the edge of Maggie's bed. She had her face turned toward the wall. "Honey,
look at me," he said softly. Maggie didn't move. "Sweetheart, we need
to talk. I need you to turn around."
When Maggie still didn't move,
Bob physically turned his daughter around. "Now sit up so we can
talk." Maggie sat up and said, "I'm sorry, Daddy."
Bob frowned. "What are
you sorry for, Maggie?" he asked sternly.
She began to cry. "I,
I, I'm sorry that I got dressed and tried to leave for school. That was
bad!" she sobbed.
Bob looked right into
Maggie's face. "That was a very naughty thing to do, Maggie."
"I know," she
cried.
"Well, think about it.
Why would you do such a thing? I had already told you, you couldn't go to school.
What made you get dressed and try to sneak out?" Bob asked.
"I don't know,"
Maggie said.
"That is not an
acceptable answer, Maggie. Come on, you do know. Now tell me," Bob
uttered.
"I wanted to go to
school, Daddy," Maggie replied.
"But I told you that
you couldn't. Why would you disobey me, Maggie?" Bob asked gently.
"Just spank me and get
it over with, Daddy," Maggie declared.
"I want to talk about
it, first. Now tell me why you disobeyed me," Bob ordered.
"I thought you were wrong,
and I wanted to prove that I was all right. I shouldn't have," Maggie
admitted.
"No, you shouldn't
have. And you are going to be punished. And don't ever try to sneak out again.
Do you understand?" Bob asked sternly.
"Yes, Daddy,"
Maggie replied.
"We'll talk later
about how dangerous that would have been. Right now, you need to come stand in
front of me," Bob told her.
Maggie obeyed. Once in
front of her daddy, Bob reached down and pulled Maggie's pajama bottoms and
panties down. He pulled her up over his lap, and began to spank. Over and over,
he alternated cheeks as he spanked. Since he had already lectured her, he
didn't do it again. Bob kept the spanks hard until Maggie's bottom had turned
from white to pink to a dark red.
Maggie cried and cried
while Bob spanked and spanked. He made this a hard lesson, as he didn't want a
repeat performance. Finally, Maggie laid limp over his knee, crying softly. He
knew it was time to stop. After the last smack, Bob began to lightly rub
Maggie's backside.
Then he pulled her to her
feet and raised her panties and pajama bottoms. He picked her up and laid her
back into her bed. Bob leaned down and kissed Maggie on the tip of her nose.
"I love you, Magpie, and I always want to know you are safe. Please, don't
ever do anything like that again."
"I won't, Daddy. I
won't. I love you, too," Maggie sobbed.
"Okay, now, I want you
to take a nap. When you wake up, I will give you a proper breakfast. No
cookies. Okay?" Bob inquired.
"Yes, sir,"
Maggie said, her eyelids already closing. Soon she was fast asleep. Bob tiptoed
out and went to check on Heather.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7b~~~~~~~~~~
Maggie woke up about an
hour later. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and rubbing her still sore bottom,
she walked out to the kitchen. Heather was there drinking coffee, and making
some lists of things that needed to get done. Heather looked up and saw Maggie
standing in the doorway.
"Hi Maggs, how do you
feel?" she asked.
"I guess I feel okay.
I'm not really sure yet. Where's Daddy?"
"He had some stuff to
do at the college, hon. He'll be home later. Did you want to talk to him?"
Heather wondered.
"I just, well, I ,
Mommy, I really am sorry about what I tried to do. I know it was wrong, but how
come Daddy spanks sooooo hard?" Maggie asked, a fresh wave of tears
overcoming her.
"Come here,
baby," Heather said, and patted her lap. Maggie climbed into her mom's lap
and Heather comforted her, and hugged her, and then pushed her back a bit so
she could see her face.
"Maggs, do you
remember what it was like before we met Bob? Well, even before we met Uncle
Charlie and Aunt Lisa?" Heather asked her.
"Well, sure,
Mom," Maggie answered honestly.
"Did you feel as loved
then as you do now?"
"Umm, No, I really
didn't."
Heather nodded and
continued, "Daddy doesn't spank you because he is angry at you. He does it
because he really, truly loves you, and wants you to grow up to be a really
great person, who knows right from wrong. Now, tell me, what did you THINK
would happen, when Daddy got back, checked on you, and found out you weren't in
the house?"
Maggie replied, "But
Mom, I just wanted to go to school today. Why was that SOOOOO wrong?"
"Well, think about it.
If you knew it was sooooo right, would you have snuck out?" Heather
inquired.
"Well, no, but I did
that because you guys were being sooo unreasonable. I am fine. And, if I am
fine enough to take that kind of a spanking, aren't I fine enough to go to
school?" Maggie asked.
Now, whereas Bob would have
frowned, Heather laughed. She told her, "Hon, I get the point, but one
thing we BOTH are going to learn, is when dad says NO, he means NO."
Maggie was surprised.
"What do you mean we BOTH have to learn?"
"Well, Daddy and I are
really getting to know each other too, and we both have done things differently
from each other in the past, so marriage, and especially newlyweds, like we
are, have to spend time getting to know one another, what is right for each,
what makes them happy, and so on. And, because we are a family, that means ALL
of us, you , me and daddy.
But you are still evading
the question, young lady. Now, how would Daddy and I have felt, if we found you
were gone?"
"I didn't think of
that," Maggie supplied. I figured, you would figure I went to school."
"And, how would we
know to figure that?" Heather asked, amused.
"Come on, Mom, you
know you would have," Maggie said fliply.
"Okay, let's agree
that we would have. Would you have preferred that Daddy go to the school, and
have you taken out of class?" Heather asked.
Maggie sighed. "Why
can't Daddy trust MY judgement? Why does it have to be all HIS way?"
"Hey, now remember, I
said NO too. Parents get to make some of the decisions because we are adults,
and because it is our job to take care of children like you. I know that for a
lot of years, you got to make a lot of decisions for yourself, and I am sorry I
wasn't a better parent then for you sweetheart, but things are going to be
different, and I think they are going to be for the better, don't you?"
Heather queried.
Maggie nodded. "Well,
I do love having a daddy. I just wish he didn't spank me sooooo much."
Heather started to laugh at
her expression, and Maggie did too. "Well, how about towing the line for a
bit, and then your poor bottom MIGHT get a rest! What do you think of THAT
idea?"
"Hmmm, guess I gotta
think about it," Maggie said, smiling.
"Oh yeah?"
Heather started tickling her and they were chasing each other around the house
until Heather finally called a halt. "How about we make some lunch, and
then we can watch a movie together until Daddy gets home?"
"Sounds nice, Mom.
Thanks." Maggie turned and gave Heather a big hug. Both of Bob's girls
were feeling pretty happy, and lucky.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Maggie was
able to go to school, for real. She was very nervous, but managed to swallow a
few bites of cereal. Heather put her coat on and they both kissed Bob goodbye.
"Have a good day,
sweetheart!" Bob called after Maggie.
"I'll see you in a
few, hon!" Heather told Bob.
After Heather dropped
Maggie off in front, Maggie went to the main office.
"Can I help you?"
a nice woman asked from behind the counter.
Maggie was nervous. She
wished she hadn't insisted to her mom that she could do this herself. Finally
she found the nerve to speak. "I, I was supposed to start school
yesterday. I'm in Mrs. Smith's class."
The woman smiled. "Oh,
right, you're Margaret Carlton, right?"
Maggie nodded. The woman
said, "I'm Mrs. Loftin, one of the school secretaries. Hold on one second,
honey. Just take a seat right there!"
Maggie looked to see where
Mrs. Loftin pointed. She sat down and waited.
Finally, another woman came
out of the inner office. "Hi, Margaret, I'm Mrs. Haley, the school
principal."
Maggie was shocked. She had
never seen a woman principal before. "Good morning, Mrs. Haley. Nice to
meet you," she said in her most polite voice.
"Margaret," Mrs.
Haley said, then looked around. "Are your parents here?"
"No, I told my mom I
was a big girl and could start on my own," Maggie said proudly.
Mrs. Haley chuckled.
"And you are a big girl. Well, Margaret, you were supposed to be in Mrs.
Smith's class, but Mrs. Smith took a fall over vacation."
"Oh, I'm sorry,"
Maggie whispered.
"Yes, well, we didn't
want to put you in a class with a substitute, not your first time here, and
all. So, we've placed you in Ms. Brennan's class. She is very nice, and I know
you will be happy there. Come, I'll take you there myself and introduce
you," Mrs. Haley announced.
Maggie took the principal's
hand and they slowly walked up to the third floor where Mrs. Haley explained
all the fourth grade classes were. They went to Room 36, which would be
Maggie's new classroom. Maggie started having butterflies in her stomach again.
She hoped her new teacher would be nice, like Mrs. Haley had said.
Maggie was introduced to
the class and the teacher. Ms. Brennan was very young, and beautiful. Maggie
thought she'd be very happy there. Ms. Brennan had Maggie introduce herself to
the class.
"My name is Margaret
Clemente, but everybody calls me Maggie," she began. She went on to
explain how she used to live in Monticello but then moved to Merrick, and then
to Brookville. She told the class what sports she liked to play, and about her
hobbies.
Finally she stopped. Ms.
Brennan spoke, "Maggie, it says here your last name is Carlton."
"Yeah, that's my old
last name. My mom got remarried, and they still haven't changed my
records," she explained. She made it sound like it had been that way for a
long time, instead of only a few weeks.
"Oh, okay, then I'll
just change it in my book. Okay, you can take that seat, right there." Ms.
Brennan pointed to a seat in the third row.
The morning went well.
Maggie spoke with several of the girls in her class. She didn't pay much
attention to the boys. At lunch, she sat with her new friends. It was only on
the playground, that Maggie got into trouble for the first time that day.
She and some of the girls
were talking by this tree out on the yard. Some boys came over and started
teasing them for no reason.
"Why don't you leave
them alone?" Maggie accused.
"What are you gonna do
about it, if I don't, new girl!" a boy named Frankie said.
"Frankie! That's a
baby name, anyway," Maggie said, and shrugged.
"Who you callin' a
baby?" Frankie asked.
Maggie went right into
Frankie's face, and said, "YOU!"
"Oooh, tough
girl!" James yelled.
"Look at the tough new
girl!" Brian shouted.
Soon, a large crowd formed
around them. Maggie turned and looked at everyone. She said in a mean voice,
"I wouldn't mess with me, if I were you, Frankie baby!"
This made Frankie very
angry. "Quit calling me that. I ain't never hit a girl before, but if you
keep saying that, I'm gonna!"
"Why shouldn't we mess
with ya?" James asked.
"Cause in my last
school, I used to clean the ground with the boys in my class. After a while,
they learned the hard way not to mess with me," Maggie replied.
Frankie just smiled.
"Ahh, I don't need this nonsense. Come on, boys, let's get up a game of
soccer."
The boys turned, laughing,
and walked away. "CHICKENS!" Maggie called after them.
Maggie had all the girls
crowding around her now. She had gotten some respect already. She had made the
boys afraid of her, so she thought, and made the girls feel protected around
her. Everyone wanted to be her best friend.
When she got home that day,
Bob and Heather wanted to know all about her first day.
"Well, my teacher, Ms.
Brennan, is really nice. She's young, and beautiful, and . . ."
Bob cut her off. "Wait
a minute, I thought Mrs. Smith was your teacher."
"Yea, what
happened?" Heather asked.
"OH, Mrs. Smith got
hurt, so they changed me. But I'm glad. I've made a lot of new friends
already." Maggie smiled.
Bob and Heather were so
glad to see their daughter smiling. Bob took Heather aside and whispered,
"See, you worried all day for nothing."
Heather smiled up at her
husband. She had been a wreck the whole day, worrying over Maggie.
Bob picked Maggie up and
spun her around. "What do you say we go get you those new school supplies,
Magpie?"
Maggie squealed with
delight as her daddy spun her 'round and 'round. "Daddy, stop, I'm getting
dizzy," she laughed. "Okay, but Mommy?"
"Yes, sweetie,"
Heather said.
"I want to put my name
on all my stuff myself," Maggie declared.
Heather thought this was
Maggie's way of telling her that she was more grown up now. "Okay, honey,
whatever you say."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Friday afternoon,
Heather picked Maggie up from school, as usual. She and Bob had spent the day
looking over the college catalogs. They chose two classes for Heather to start
with, and had gone to register her. She was nervous about it, but Bob assured
her she would be fine.
Maggie came out to the car.
"Hi, Mommy. Can we go right to Robin and Jennifer's now?" Maggie had
been invited to sleep over with the twins.
"No, you need to pack,
silly. Besides, Daddy and I want to talk to you about some things,"
Heather explained.
"Okay," Maggie
said. She assumed they wanted to go over rules about sleeping over at the
twins' place. As usual, there were always so many rules.
"Hi, honey, have a
good day at school?" Bob asked, kissing and hugging Maggie.
"Yea, it was fine. We
have a vocabulary test on Tuesday, and . . ." Maggie stopped. She realized
her parents were staring at her. "What? What's the matter?" she
asked.
"Is there anything
you'd like to tell us, Maggie? About school?" Heather asked.
"No, what?"
Maggie asked again.
Bob said,
"Everything's been going okay, even on the playground?"
"Yeah, why?"
Maggie said. She thought to herself, they can't know anything.
Bob continued,
"Maggie, your teacher called us this afternoon. She's been getting some
interesting phone calls from the girls' mothers in the class."
"The girls? I don't
know what you mean, Daddy," Maggie insisted.
Bob went to sit down on the
couch and motioned for Maggie and Heather to join him. "The girls have
been going home the past few days and telling their mothers about how you've
been fighting with the boys."
Maggie looked up at her
parents. "Who told? Why, I'm gonna . . ." Maggie clenched her hands
into tight fists. Bob reached over and unclenched her fists and gave her a
dirty look.
"Now, now," he
said.
"None of the boys' parents
called. I guess they didn't want to admit a girl had hurt them. Maggie, since
when do you fight with boys, every day?" Heather asked.
Maggie began to cry.
"Oh, no, don't even
start that, Maggie. We need to talk about this," Bob warned.
"They were teasing me,
Daddy. And all the girls. I was just standing up to them," Maggie
confessed.
"You know you are not
supposed to fight, Maggie," Heather reminded her.
"Remember what
happened the last time you were caught fighting?" Bob inquired.
Maggie took a moment to
think. Then she raised her head and said, "I got suspended?"
"Yes, you did. And we
were not happy about that, were we?" Bob asked.
"No, sir, but this was
different," Maggie tried to explain. She told her parents that the boys
would come over and start teasing the girls for no reason.
"They even said bad
things about you, Daddy."
"Well, I'm sorry those
boys found it necessary to do that, Maggie. But you know better than to fight.
What should you do if someone bothers you?" Bob asked.
"Tell the
teacher," Maggie sneered. "Am I gonna get a spanking?"
"Mommy and I need to
talk. Go into your room. We'll call you when we're done," Bob informed
her.
Maggie grabbed her bookbag,
and slowly walked toward her room. She thought of packing, but wondered whether
she would even be allowed to go to Robin and Jenn's after all.
As soon as Maggie closed
the door to her room, Heather turned to Bob and said, "Honey, why didn't
you just spank her?"
"Well, Heather, I have
a hard time justifying spanking her for hitting others. It seems to be a
contradiction. We hit her because she hit others. I just don't know. Maybe we
should think of something different this time. Like not letting her sleep over
Robin and Jennifer's tonight," Bob tried.
"Oh, honey, she's been
looking forward to that. Let's just spank her, and then we'll bring her there,
and we'll have the whole place to ourselves tonight," Heather said, her
eyes twinkling.
"Heather, no! Don't do
that!" Bob blurted, pushing Heather's hand away from his.
Heather looked up at Bob
with hurt eyes. Sighing, Bob hugged her, and apologized for pushing her away.
"Hon, I want you as badly as you want me. I feel like our honeymoon was
forever ago too, but right now, we have to sit and talk this thing through,
okay?"
Taking a deep breath,
Heather agreed. "First of all, we don't know for sure that Maggie hit
anyone. Fighting can mean different things. No one really said, she slugged
anyone, did they?"
"Well, no, they didn't
actually," Bob said.
"How about we call her
back out and ask her exactly what is going on, before we decide to do
anything?" Heather compromised.
Bob agreed. "You're
right, hon. We really didn't give her much chance to explain."
Heather called Maggie and
asked her to join them in the living room. Walking in, Maggie looked very
defensive.
Bob started, "Magpie,
Mommy and I realize that we didn't really give you much of a chance to explain
things to us. Let's start from the beginning, okay?"
"What do you mean,
Daddy? I already told you, that the boys there are mean, and they started
picking on me from day one. They also picked on my friends," Maggie
explained.
Bob asked, "Okay, so
what did you DO about it?"
"Well, I told them
they were mean, and I told them to STOP."
"Then what,
sweetie?" Heather asked.
"Well, then he called
me names, and I called him names, and then he and his friends went off to play
soccer," said Maggie.
"Okay," Bob said,
"then what?"
Maggie looked to make sure
she had their attention before continuing. "Well, the next day, on the
playground, this silly boy came over and started pushing us around."
Bob uttered, "Now,
explain that. Pushing you physically?"
Maggie shook her head.
"No, he said I was lucky I was a girl because he couldn't hit girls. So I
told him, that HE was the lucky one, because I could finish whatever HE
started. I didn't start all this, Daddy. I just stood up for my rights, and for
my friends. I will NOT let people call me names!" Maggie shouted.
"Okay, hon, calm down,
okay? Now, tell us, did you EVER hit him?" Bob asked.
Again, Maggie shook her
head back and forth. "No, Daddy, I am just smarter than he is, and he got
frustrated. I can talk him into a corner, and he is an idiot boy. He would LOVE
to hit me, but he knows he can't, so we just fight verbally."
Bob stated, "I see.
Well, let's talk about other ways of handling this, okay?"
"What do you mean,
Daddy? I AM handling it," Maggie said defensively.
"Well, Magpie, when
your mom and I get calls from the school, then you aren't handling it, now are
you?" her daddy asked.
Maggie pushed the tears
away that were starting to form in her eyes. "So, are you saying I should
just LET him call me names and get away with it?"
Bob sighed. "No, we
are saying that if that is a problem, then we need to go to school WITH you,
and have this boy and HIS parents there too, and mediate this thing."
Now Maggie was confused.
"What is mediate, Daddy?"
Bob explained, "It
means we talk things through and find a better solution to this problem then
slinging names back and forth every recess. This way, his parents will know
what is going on, and maybe we can work it out."
Looking at her shoes,
Maggie reluctantly agreed.
"Magpie, do you trust
us? You don't have to do everything on your own anymore. Your mom and I are
here to back you up. Do you have a question for us?" Bob asked gently.
Very quietly, Maggie asked,
"Ummm, are you mad at me Daddy?"
"No hon, I am NOT mad
at you. I do understand your point of view, and I can see how you felt doing
what you did was okay. I just want you to know, that there are other, and
better solutions to things, and you have to come to us and tell us about things
so we can help you. We could have avoided this if you had," Bob expressed.
"How, Daddy?"
"Because, if you had
told us what was going on, we would have gone to school sooner, and tried to
work things out before they escalated," he answered.
"Oh, I think I
understand. Am I in trouble?" she asked.
Bob picked Maggie up and
put her in his lap. "No sweetie, you are NOT in trouble, but this isn't
finished. We are going to work something out that will help you NOT fight with
anyone on the playground, okay?"
"Yes, Daddy."
Snuggling on his shoulder,
Maggie felt lighter and happier, knowing that she had him on her side. Standing
her up, and looking into her eyes, he asked if there was ANYTHING else, she
needed to tell them.
"Ummm, No, Daddy,
should there be?" Maggie asked.
Bob said, "I don't
know, Magpie, but if there is, I want you to know that it is ALWAYS better to
tell us FIRST, before we hear it from anybody else. Okay?"
"Yes sir. Umm, I can't
think of anything," she said. Maggie crossed her fingers behind her back
as she lied to her dad, hoping he wouldn't find out about the big lie she told
about her name.
"Okay, then are you
packed for your weekend with the twins?" Bob asked her.
"You mean I can go?
Really? I'm not grounded?" Maggie asked.
"No sweetie, you
aren't."
"Wow, ohhh thanks,
Daddy. You are the BEST!" Maggie remarked.
Running from the room, she
was packed in a little under two minutes.
"Whoa there, are you
sure you have everything?" Heather inquired.
"Sure Mom, and if I
don't, I can always borrow something of Jenn's. We are the same size, you
know," Maggie explained.
"Yes, I do know,"
said Heather, sighing. She took Maggie's bag, and said, "Okay troops,
let's go!"
On the drive over, Maggie
expected a lecture about "rules", but all Bob said to her was,
"Magpie, you KNOW the rules, and you know what will happen if you don't
follow them, right?"
"Yes, Daddy, Uncle
Charlie will spank me," Maggie said verbatim, probably from repeating it
so many times.
"Well, one more thing,
Magpie. If Uncle Charlie has to spank you this weekend for being naughty, you
can expect another spanking from ME when you get home. Is that clear, young
lady?" Bob spoke sternly.
"Yes Sir. I will be
good. I promise," Maggie agreed.
"Okay, just be sure
you LISTEN. I would like to go a whole weekend without a problem, okay?"
said Bob.
Maggie sighed. "Okay,
Daddy. I really will be on my BEST behavior."
Laughing, Bob replied,
"Can you do the best of your best, Magpie?"
"Ohhhh Daddy,"
Maggie laughed.
"Well," Heather
chimed in, "you do seem to always get in trouble with the twins. So, how
about we make it a nice, calm, spank-free weekend?"
"Can we pleaseeee
change the subject?" Maggie asked politely.
Bob and Heather both
laughed, and said, "Sure, why not?"
Before long they were at
the twins' place. After going up the elevator, Maggie knocked on their door.
She heard squeals of "They're here, they're here," from the twins,
and opening the door, they all fell into each others arms.
All of the adults laughed,
and Bob exclaimed, "Boy you'd think they had been apart for months,
instead of a few days."
"I know," Lisa
said, "the twins really do miss seeing Maggie every day."
"Well, Maggie misses
them too," Heather declared.
"Are you going to stay
for dinner?" Lisa asked.
"Well," Bob said,
"thanks for the invite, but I thought I would take my bride out to dinner
tonight. If that is okay, of course."
Laughing, Charlie slapped
him on the shoulder and said, "Sure bro, I do remember what those newlywed
days were like. Go have a fun weekend. We will see you Sunday for dinner. The
folks are coming over, so please, be on time, okay?"
"Yes, big brother, we
will be," Bob chuckled.
Calling to Maggie and the
twins to come out, they hugged them all around, and reminded Maggie to be good.
"Okay, okay, I got it
already. I love you both, now go and have a good time," Maggie said.
"Okay, you too,
sweetie."
to be
continued...