When I was nine, I fell in love with horses, as a great many girls do. I started to draw their heads all over my notebooks and I rode with friends whenever I had the opportunity. Several of my friends had horses and although I didn’t, it was no problem to find someone who would go riding with me.
Near our home was an old estate. The elderly lady who lived there had once had quite a collection of carriages and horses, from what my grandmother and mother told me. The property had not been kept up well, however, so the old stable really wasn’t safe anymore. We were not allowed to go there. It was trespassing and it was dangerous.
One sunny afternoon, my friend Leslie and I went for a walk which took us past the Nelson estate. The iron gate was open and there was no-one around. We decided to walk around a bit and maybe say hello to Mrs Nelson. We all liked her a lot.
We went to the door but no-one answered, so we walked around to the side porch and knocked on the French doors. There was no response there either. Just behind the house was the carriage house and stable, so we decided to go check it out, forgetting everything we had been told about that. In our nine-year-old minds, we had knocked on the door, so we weren’t trespassing. We saw no-one.
I pushed the door open slowly and saw that it was pretty dark inside. The shutters were closed but they were in poor repair, so bands of light came through on to the floor. Leslie and I went in.
We carefully explored the rooms there and found that the back of the carriage house contained the stalls for the horses, long gone now. The old straw was still on the floor and in the hay boxes. There were some old tools hung up on the walls.
Suddenly, Leslie tripped over a loose board. Her foot fell in part way, scraping her ankle and twisting it. She cried out. I pulled the board away – and we could see into the cellar. Her ankle was bleeding from the scrape, but she said that the twist wasn’t bad.
We were afraid to step out to go back, because we didn’t know if there were any more loose places. We decided to crawl, so one behind the other we crept carefully toward the door back into the carriage part of the stable. The door opened from outside, and Mr Jenckes came inside asking: “Who’s there?”
“It’s me, Mr Jenckes – Gigi. Leslie is with me.” “Who cried?” Leslie replied: “I did, Mr Jenckes. The floor is loose here and I hurt my ankle.” Mr Jenckes came in and helped us out into the bright sunlight.
“What were you two doing in there?” He checked Leslie’s leg and led her to the house to wash it out. We explained that we were looking for Mrs Nelson and when we couldn’t find her, we were just looking at the carriage house.
Mr Jenckes was upset. “Mrs Nelson is visiting her sister in Orlando until next week. You two are in a bit of trouble here.” “Oh, we’ll leave right away. We won’t be any trouble. Please tell Mrs Nelson ‘hello’ for us,” I tried to say cheerfully. We thought we’d make a quick exit, but Mr Jenckes had another idea.
“You two sit right there – I am going to call your parents, Gigi. I don’t know your friend’s telephone number but I’m sure your folks will.” This was a nightmare. I had been expressly forbidden to be on this property. I knew I was going to ‘get it’. I tried to think who was home – Nanny, Daddy, Mother? I wasn’t sure.
I don’t know who he talked with but Mr Jenckes said someone would be right here. We were to wait. Daddy’s driver came and I was worried – Daddy gave horrific spankings. “Please let him be away from the house,” I thought to myself. Leslie was just looking scared.
We got into the car and were driven around the block to my house. Suzanne came to the door and spoke to the driver. Apparently Mother had called Leslie’s mother, and the driver was going to take her home. They didn’t want her to walk on the ankle until it had been examined. I was told to come in the house.
I started to cry as I was coming up the walk. Suzanne ushered me into the front hall and said that Mother was waiting for me in the drawing room.
“Well, what do we have here, Gigi? You were in the Nelson carriage house, Leslie got hurt and Mr Jenckes is upset.” I hung my head in shame. Why didn’t I think of these things before I did them?
“You know that you will have to be punished, Gigi, don’t you?” I nodded. Why do I get into so much trouble? “Go up to the nursery. Wait for me there. I have to finish this letter.”
I left Mother and went up the big front staircase and walked around the house until I reached the nursery wing. Jeff was playing with some little cars and his railroad trains.
“Hey, Gigi, want to play?” he called out as I came in. “No, I’m in trouble.” “What did you do?” Jeff looked really concerned. He sat back and looked at me. “Leslie and I went to Mrs Nelson’s and went into the stable.” As I said that, I burst into tears and ran into my room, leaving Jeff behind me. I climbed into the big armchair by the window and cried and cried with my teddy bear.
It wasn’t long before Mother came into the room. Nanny was with her. Nanny shook her head and said something in a strong Scottish dialect that I didn’t understand. She told my mother that she would take Jeff down for tea. Mother nodded, not taking her eyes off me for a minute. Nanny closed my door, leaving us alone together.
“OK, Gigi, let’s get to this, sweetheart. You know I have to spank you, right?” “No, we could just talk about it, and I would never go there again.”
“Yes, we can talk about it, and we will, but you will also be punished. I do not want to do this. Do you want to wait here in your room for Daddy?” “No, please!” “All right, then.” Mother came over to me and led me out of the chair. My bear fell to the floor, and she picked it up and put him on my bed.
“Take off your dirty shoes, Gigi – they have been in a barn.” I sat on the floor and pulled them off, one by one. “Stand up, now.” Mother helped me to my feet. She took me to a chair and stood me in front of her. As she talked to me about disobedience, she unbuttoned the side of my jeans and undid the zipper.
She continued to discuss the dangers of that barn as she slid the jeans down to the floor and took one foot after the other out of the legs. Now I stood before her in my underpants, top and cardigan sweater.
She took my sweater off and placed it on the table near her and then, without further conversation, she placed me face down over her knees. With her elbow, she held my back in place while she used two hands to pull my panties right off. I could feel the cool air all over my bottom and legs.
Then the spanking began – and, oh my, it was awful! Mother even separated my legs a bit to be able to place spanks on my inner thighs. I was spanked from my knees to my waist and all around the sides. I was jumping all over her lap. She stood me up and I grabbed both buttocks – one in each hand – and squatted down howling.
I stood up, I squatted down, up and down, up and down. Nothing helped that pain. “Now! Stop the crying! I did not spank you that hard! I just spanked you in a lot of places. Think about the danger you put Leslie in.”
I couldn’t think about anything. Why do parents ask philosophical questions when you are trying to put the skin back on your bottom? I knew that Leslie would be OK. I wished I had hurt my ankle instead.
Mother took hold of me again and shook me. She pulled me nose to nose with her as I continued to rub my bare bottom.
“Now, tell me the rules about Mrs Nelson’s place!” I – can’t – go – there – ever – any – more,” I sobbed. “That’s right. Not unless one of the grown-ups is with you. Is that clear?” “Y-yes.” It was really hard to talk.
Suddenly my father came in. He looked surprised when he saw what was happening. I tried to pull away from mother, but she held on tight. “Well, we have had a problem here today. Gigi went to the Nelson place and Leslie got hurt. We’ve been discussing this.”
My back was towards Daddy, so I know he could see my bottom. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Gigi. That was really wrong, you know.” With that, he took me from my mother and stood, putting one knee on the seat of the armchair.
Over I went on to his knee, with his arm wrapped around my waist. He delivered some sound spanks to my bottom and then set me down again. “Your mother and I are very disappointed when you disobey. You are such a good girl usually – this should not have happened!”
I was devastated. His spanks didn’t hurt at all. What hurt was disappointing him. Daddy left, and Mother and I were alone again. She helped me get dressed with another pair of shoes and told me to lie on my bed and think about things a while. Nanny would come get me for tea soon.
Exhausted from my spanking, I fell asleep.
Contributor: Gigi