My friend Anna had an Uncle Jonathan, who lived with her and her father. Anna’s parents were divorced, which was rare in my generation and circles. The three of them lived in a huge house, and Anna had her own suite of rooms in the front.
I met Anna through school, and I believe we were about seven or eight when this event took place. I was invited to spend the night at Anna’s house, and her father encouraged this, for Anna had no siblings.
I was really excited, for I knew that Anna had wonderful toys – everything she wanted. All she had to do was ask and her father gave it to her. I think she now feels that he was trying to make up for the break-up in the family.
I packed my suitcase with nanny’s help and she told me what fun I was going to have – but at the same time I got the standard lecture on etiquette as a house guest given to all young ladies.
Our driver took me to Anna’s house, and her butler opened the door for me. I was so used to women servants that I was taken aback a bit by a man opening the door. He took my suitcase and sent a maid for Anna.
She was down in a flash! In fact, she was there so quickly that she must have seen me coming up the long driveway. We went to her room and her personal maid placed my suitcase on a chair near the dressing table. Anna had a huge canopy bed, and that is where we would sleep that night. My own bed was really nice but I had always wanted one of these!
We played for a while with her things and then we walked around her estate, visiting her horses and tossing bread into the duck pond. We raced through the lawns and chatted in the gardens. It was great fun.
I asked Anna when tea was, and she said they didn’t do that, because her father and Uncle Jonathan worked too late. We were hungry, so Anna took me to the kitchen and took charge.
I couldn’t believe how she behaved like the mother of the house. She flashed orders and the staff bowed and curtsied, obeying her perfectly. I was astonished. If I had spoken like that to our staff, I would have been spanked for sure!
I hung back, a bit fearful and ashamed, but Anna walked out of the kitchen, head held high, out to the conservatory, where we waited to be served hot chocolate and cookies. I didn’t say anything to Anna, but she knew what I was thinking and told me that servants had to be spoken to and put into their places to maintain respect for us.
Just as we were finishing our cookies, Anna’s father came home. She jumped up and threw her arms around this very tired-looking man even before he could get his coat off. “Oh, papa, papa – I love you, love, love you! Welcome home!” She kissed him all over his face.
“Anna, Anna, dearest, please get down. I’m glad to see you too…oh, who is this now?”
“Papa, this is Gigi, my friend from school. She is going to spend the night with me.”
“Very nice, Gigi, very happy to meet you.” I stood up and returned his bow with a little curtsey. Anna was still hanging around his neck. “Anna, I asked you please to get down – Papa is tired.”
At that point, the butler came and lifted Anna from her father. Anna gave him a really dirty look and smoothed her dress down. I bet that butler wanted to smack her one. I was worried for a minute, but nothing happened.
Anna and I went upstairs. The maid knocked on Anna’s door and told her we would be dining alone tonight, as her father was going to a dinner meeting. “What about Uncle Jonathan?” “Oh, he will be very late. He has evening plans. I’ll bring your dinner to you when it is ready, ladies.”
The maid left. Anna got a grin on her face that would have lit the entire city of Boston. “Wow! We can really have fun now! We can trick Uncle Jonathan! I love to play jokes on him when he is out late. Come on, let’s get started!”
I followed Anna out into the hall and she looked in all directions to see if anyone was coming. All was safe, so we sneaked into Uncle Jonathan’s apartments. Anna took some after-shave lotion and spread it all over the bottom sheet of his bed. Then she put bath powder on top of that. After doing all that, she had me help her ‘short sheet’ the bed and cut the threads on the ends of the pillows.
Anna said: “When he flops into bed, his head will shoot the feathers out all over the room!” She collapsed on the floor in hysterics. “Come on, let’s fix it all up and get out of here!”
I was really getting nervous about this – I had been a partner in the worst crime I had ever done intentionally. We forgot about what we had done as the evening went on. The maid came in to see if we wanted any help getting ready for bed and we declined, feeling very grown up. Then we climbed into that wonderful bed and I drifted off into dreamland.
I awoke with a start! There was a soft light on one side of the room, and Anna’s father was seated in a chair with his coat still on. He was shaking Anna and talking with her in an angry whisper.
“What have you girls done? Uncle Jonathan is a mess! His room is a mess! This is not funny – you have gone too far this time. I am sick and tired of coming home and finding trick after trick played on Uncle Jonathan. Why do you do these things to him?”
The door opened and Anna was pushed out in front of her angry father. A little while later, she crawled back into bed, sobbing into her pillow. Her father was tucking her in. He left, and I turned to Anna in the dark and asked her what happened.
She told me that her father had taken her into Uncle Jonathan’s room and put her over his knee. He lifted her night-gown and spanked her on her bare behind until she was screaming.
As I look back on it now, I think she was furious more than hurting. This was her first spanking. I told her that I was always spanked when I did things wrong, and she was amazed. No-one had ever stopped her before.
The next morning, the maid came in while I was getting dressed. She said that Anna had to stay in her room for the day as punishment and I had to go home. Their driver was bringing the car around, and my mother had been telephoned.
I was really scared now. I arrived home to a mother with a tapping foot and folded arms. “I know what happened at Anna’s. Up the stairs with you and into your room. I will be right there. Nanny is at the park with Jeff.”
My heart was in my mouth. In came mother. I just stood there, with my suitcase beside me on the floor and my coat still on, feeling very cold and shaky. Mom took off my coat and put my suitcase to one side. She put my coat over it and turned to me. “Let’s hear all about it.”
Mother sat down in a chair and crossed one leg over the other to listen. I shuffled around nervously and told her the events as they had unfolded.
“You know that you were a part of this, and you know that you will be spanked for this terrible thing. Then, you will write a letter of apology to Anna’s Uncle Jonathan.”
She reached for me with these words, and her hands went under my skirt. I felt my underpants being pulled down to my knees. “Come over here, you naughty girl! What a terrible thing to do to someone, especially as a guest. I can’t believe you would do such a thing!”
She pulled me over her lap and raised my bottom high up like a mountain. I remember how low my head was. I had to put my hand down hard and quickly to touch the floor, for I was afraid I would fall. Then she raised my skirt and pushed my underpants down to my ankles and off my feet.
What followed was a nightmare. Spank after spank fell on my tender behind. I was crying immediately and howling very shortly after that. The tears were blinding me, as she continued to spank my derriere. “Stop, mommy, please, I’ll never do anything like that again! It was all Anna’s fault and…”
Oops – wrong thing to say, for the spanks now landed harder than ever! “Oh, I mean it was my fault too and I am sorry. I’ll write to Uncle Jonathan. Stop, please, it hurts!” No matter what I said, she continued to spank me. I thought it would never stop.
Then, suddenly, it was over. She stood me up. I was wracked with sobs and all I could do was either nod or shake my head in response to the statements and questions. Mother helped me put on my underpants, then told me to get on my bed. She left.
A while later, she returned with paper and pen. I was to write my letter. It was difficult to sit down at my desk but I did it and when it was done, she put my coat on me, and she and I rode to Anna’s house to make the delivery.
Anna was there and looking very upset. Apparently, Uncle Jonathan had given her a strapping – long overdue, from what our maid heard from theirs.
I decided not to stay there again. I was very embarrassed, and my bottom thought it was not in my best interest either!
Contributor: Gigi