Journey to Love Page 3

  Left to herself and feeling well and truly told off, Kathy got a drink and was immediately surrounded by several boys. The girls were mainly avoiding her in case somehow they got roped in with any trouble she might be in. The boys were supportive, although clearly they thought she was rude and out of order, they nevertheless thought Erbersbacher a jerk. What bothered her was they all assumed she would be getting a spanking before going home.

  The Rev Erbersbacher spoke to several groups of the Pioneers who, mindful of the stern talking to Kathy had got, were careful to be polite. The guest then took his leave and Jack rustled a few into helping clear up, finally leaving the hall to see them all off the premises. Kathy stayed helping Meg with the last bits. When all was done she stood for a moment and then made a decision.

  "I'd better go and see Pastor Jack in his office."

  "You don't have to Kathy. You're under no obligation."

  "No, he's right I lost my cool. I am in the wrong even though that man is a-"

  "Yes he is but don't say it. I'd better come with you, Jack will need a chaperone in the circumstances. Oh and listen, you don't have to take the spanking the usual way, you can do it differently."

  Kathy couldn't understand her own calm. What was going on in her head? Just why was she doing this? Instead of simply walking out of the door she found herself asking, "What is the usual way?"

  "Well the usual way for a girl in these circumstances is over the pastor's knee and getting it on her panties, but it doesn't have to be like that. If you want to bend over something and keep your trousers on that's fine, you'll just get a few extras because of the extra protection."

  Kathy stared at her. Usual way! She felt as if she had stepped from a spaceship onto an alien planet but in spite of that she heard her voice replying calmly, "I don't want to be different but I wish I had never opened my mouth. It would have been better to simply walk out."

  Arriving at Jack's office door Meg knocked and hearing the summons the pair walked in.

  "Kathy is going to take the spanking and in the usual way."

  What was the expression on Jack's face? Kathy couldn't work it out at first and then with surprise she realised it was relief. Why was he relieved? She had no time to puzzle it because Pastor Jack had moved his chair out into the centre of the office and produced from his desk top something she guessed he would use to spank her. It was about the size and shape of a hairbrush, made of wood but with no bristles and very thin.

  "Well done Kathy. Please come to my right hand side."

  Kathy did as she was asked, her strange unreal calm fast evaporating to be replaced with a sick scared feeling.

  "Now I must ask you to lower those trousers."

  At this she hesitated. She could think of little more embarrassing than this so was it too late to ask for it not to be in the usual way? Then pride closed her mouth. She'd already said she'd take it like this so she would. Clearly she wasn't the first girl to experience this and she doubted she'd be the last. She undid the trouser fastenings and slipped them down thankful that she wasn't wearing a thong but a relatively modest pair of knickers. Panties she corrected herself. They called them panties.

  Pastor Jack reached up and assisted her to get into position over his lap. Kathy couldn't think of anything more embarrassing than this. Her trousers around her ankles, her panties exposed for him to see and the whole position of being head down dangling like this was terrible.

  "Kathy the spanking you will get is meant to sting and hurt some but not injure you. It is corrective only. I shall give you eighteen spanks with this paddle. Are you ready?"

  She didn't dare speak, she was afraid her voice would come out a squeaky whimper so she sort of nodded and without any further warning the paddle snapped down on her bottom.

  "Ow!"

  There wasn't just surprise in the 'ow' that she gave there was indignation too. It stung. Smack! The paddle landed again with a nice crisp smack and again Kathy yelped but already the paddle was descending only to smack down in its crisp way to wring another yelp from her. She began to wriggle on the fourth smack. Up to that point she had lain submissively over his lap to take the spanking but now her body dictated otherwise. Each smack of the paddle on her bottom brought another "Ow" and a wriggle, wriggles and ow sounds each growing greater in intensity as the spanking continued.

  Smack! The twelfth one landed on a bottom that now stung like fury and felt incredibly hot. Kathy was wriggling continuously and wondering just why she was taking this. Her little cries grew shriller as the tally of spanks mounted toward the eighteen and her wriggles became really quite agitated. She wasn't even aware that her legs were stretching and curling and moving up and down. Finally the eighteenth landed with a slightly harder crispness which made Kathy yelp louder than she had done so far and then she was allowed to stand.

  She stood not caring that her trousers were draped loosely around her ankles but clutching her hands to her bottom and wriggling around on the spot as the fire failed to die away.

  "That really stings." Her voice sounded indignant. Meg and Jack smiled at her reaction.

  "Why don't you pull your trousers up," coaxed Meg.

  Kathy blushed to realise how undignified she was and hurried them up and then noticing a few stray tears had appeared on her face, wiped them away with her hands. She stood rubbing her bottom furiously still feeling as if she had landed on another planet. This was just so outside of her former experience.

  "Kathy..."

  She glanced at Jack still rubbing her bottom. "I suppose you want to know if I will still go to the theatre with you on Friday."

  "I'm not going to apologise for spanking you Kathy. In my book, and Meg's too I expect, you thoroughly deserved that, but yes I would still like you to accompany me to the theatre."

  Mischief bubbled up in Kathy, perhaps a sort of way of saying she was sore but undefeated. "OK on one condition."

  "Which is?"

  "You bring a cushion for me to sit on."

  ---oOo---

  All the way back to college in her car Kathy squirmed on her seat. Her bottom continued to feel hot and to sting a great deal, but she realised that none of the smacks administered could have been that hard. Not light pats maybe but if they had been really hard she'd surely feel bruised and she didn't. She arrived at the gate with only a few minutes to spare and hurried to her room. Stacey was already half asleep but she looked up and muttered, "Have a good time?"

  "Not really. I was rude to a visiting speaker and got spanked by Pastor Jack."

  "Spanked!" Stacey shot bolt upright in her bed. "Spanked! How?"

  "I had to pull my trousers down and-"

  "Bathroom now. You've got to show me."

  Without putting any lights on Stacey rushed Kathy to the bathrooms where the lights were always on at night. In the shower area she made Kathy pull her trousers and panties down and then whistled. "Yup you've been properly spanked, girl. Welcome to my world. Still some heat coming off your butt. Bet that stings right?"

  "Right." Kathy couldn't help laughing.

  "Well it will be calm tomorrow but you'll probably have some marks. Don't worry they'll fade quickly. What was it some sort of lightweight paddle? Did you have your panties on?"

  "Yes. I had to lay over his lap. It was so embarrassing like that with my trousers around my ankles. I've never done anything like that."

  Whatever Stacey was about to say was lost because at that point the bathroom door opened and the floor supervisor strode in.

  "Do you girls want a CTC?"

  "No Ma'am," they chorused.

  "In that case you have two minutes to be in bed and the lights out...starting now."

  In the morning Stacey had not forgotten Kathy had been spanked and checked her bottom confirming a few marks but otherwise OK. "You are still going on that date with him aren't you?"

  "It's not a date, he's about ten years older than me. It was a form of apology for having thought I was involved with those girl
s."

  "But you are still going?"

  "Yes he wants me too."

  "It's a date. He clearly fancies you."

  "Ridiculous! Anyway what I want to know is, when I turned up with Meg to get spanked, why did he looked relieved?"

  "Oh Kathy you are dumb. You might be clever and get good grades but when it comes to relationships you are plain dumb girl. Let Wise Stacey explain. He fancies the socks off you. You're this real attractive girl with the mysterious look of melancholy, perfect for a guy - he wants to protect you and look after you. Ah! Then you are Miss Helpful and Miss Sensible and have elected to go to The Bastille for college and he hears wedding bells...ding dong, ding dong. Kathy is his Miss Perfect. But catastrophe! Along comes this weirdo to talk and Kathy turns into a spitting cobra who won't back off and is trying to kill his guest. Oh dear, perfection is ruined but maybe not."

  "Not? You do realise this is all rubbish I hope."

  "Even a Miss Perfect can do something wrong but a spanking puts her right, but he can't spank her. Oh dear! So he hopes her conscience will prick her and she'll trot along like a good girl and get spanked anyhow. And she does, or rather you do and so - relief - his Miss Perfect is indeed perfect."

  "What a load of garbage sacks that is Stacey. Anyway I am going with him and that will be it, he will have made his apology and then wave bye-bye."

  Kathy then managed to turn the conversation to Stacey's bad grades. She helped her friend to see how she could, by focussing better on the assignment, get better grades. "You're writing any old thing you know about the subject so ending up with a rag bag. Now this one you have to re-do. Write an outline first and I'll check it for you. You're getting an A for that I promise."

  The girls put Pastor Jack to one side and concentrated hard on their work. Later that day Kathy was thinking about the Rev Matthew Erbersbacher and all the scriptures he had thrown around. She didn't normally read her Bible but now she began to research marriage and the roles of husband and wives. She became quite fascinated. It wasn't until Friday that her date with Jack Myerscough came up again. Stacey helped Kathy to decide what she must wear and when she finally waved her off she felt like a mother waving to her daughter.

  Pastor Jack solemnly handed her a small cushion before she got in the car and she laughed but never used it. In the car Kathy again found her heart was banging hard and she kept giving sideways glances to the man driving her. He made her feel quite weak and she had never felt that way in male company before - not that she had much experience of male company she realised. When they arrived he insisted on opening the passenger door for her and handed her out before taking her arm in his and going in to the theatre. Kathy felt the warmth of his body and couldn't stop herself sniffing secretly taking in his scent. He smelled like the moors near her home in Lancashire, a fresh invigorating smell but with a sense of the untamed about it. A strong man, safe, but not to be taken lightly or casually.

  Kathy enjoyed the play and when they came out she talked happily about it, discussing aspects. Jack checked his watch and announced that they had time before her extended curfew and would she like to get a snack. He had what to her looked like a huge burger and fries but she just had a hot chocolate as college food was good and plentiful though the drink too was huge and topped with a pile of whipped cream. Suddenly he asked her if she danced.

  Now as it happened Kathy was not great at sport. She had been in no teams and not really been greatly interested. However, dance, drama and singing were her thing. She had been in a dance class since she was tiny. How her mother had afforded it she now couldn't work out. Ballet, tap, modern, jazz and even ballroom, she had done them all. Every year right until about sixteen she had appeared in pantomimes and shows as one of the dance teams. She enthused about dancing while Jack watched, lost in her sparkling eyes that had, just for the moment, shed that heart-aching sadness.

  When she finished he explained, "Well my mom made me go to dance classes for years. I hated it then but appreciate it now. Not tomorrow but next Saturday there is a dance a few miles from here. How would you like it if I took you to dinner and then to the dance?"

  "You want to take me to dinner and then a dance?" Kathy was incredulous.

  "Yes, is that a problem?"

  "Well no I suppose not, it was just that I wasn't expecting it. Is it like a date?

  "Yes I guess it is a date. The college does allow dating?"

  "Oh yes as long as you get curfew extensions, keep to them and don't get drunk. It is very strict but we can date but I haven't dated a boy since I was sixteen. I got fed up with them always wanting sex and I wasn't ready for that."

  She was astonished when Jack threw back his head and started laughing. It took him a while to calm down.

  "Oh Kathy you are wonderful. No one can doubt what is on your mind for sure. OK now listen. First of all I am not some teenage boy awash with hormones. Secondly I am an ordained minister of religion and definitely must behave myself or my boss," he raised his eyes and glanced upwards, "would have something strong to say about it. I'm not saying I am not interested in sex, that would be unnatural, but only within the context of marriage. So will you come to the dance with me?"

  Kathy suddenly smiled. "Why yes I would love to go dancing with you."

  Jack was so delighted she smiled when she accepted he held off for a while asking the question that was burning in his mind, but as they neared the college he had to ask.

  "Kathy, when you were questioning Rev Erbersbacher I felt that it was quite personal. You were angry with him because he had touched a nerve. That first question particularly."

  "My mum married my dad and then later I was born, but he ran off when I was six months old and mum had to manage on her own. Her parents also disowned her. Nobody helped but she coped and she was a great mum. I see that now but I don't think I always appreciated it at the time. I wish I had been more appreciative when she was alive."

  Jack had learned one very important lesson in his short time as assistant pastor - don't offer glib assurances. He simply reached out with one hand and gave Kathy's hand a squeeze.

  ---oOo---

  Stacey was ecstatic when Kathy told her on the Saturday morning about her second date with Jack. She danced around claiming great insight and making her friend laugh. They then spent a happy half an hour deciding that Kathy had nothing suitable in her wardrobe and they would need to shop. Work was ignored in favour of shopping and Kathy came back with a lovely dress and accessories. She also came back with a manicure which Stacey insisted on paying for and another appointment for the following Saturday. Stacey was busy planning how she would do Kathy's hair and explaining it didn't matter what Kathy said, she had to have a little make-up on and she would see to it. "Don't worry girl...light touch only."

  Although Kathy didn't understand it, Stacey's refusal to come with her to the church on Sunday was for her benefit. Stacey could see that Kathy needed more than the almost cloistered life of the college and was in effect pushing her out of the nest. That Sunday Jack was taking the service and Kathy sat listening to his sermon with astonishment. He was just so clear, making a complex subject understandable and even interesting. She understood every word and felt as if it really meant something for her. Often her attendance was more a duty than anything and frequently her mind drifted during sermons but not today, today she was totally engaged.

  After it was over she couldn't get near Jack and as her permission to be off campus only took her to lunchtime she decided to go back to college. She looked forward to having lunch with the other girls and a group were going swimming in the college pool later in the afternoon. Before she could get out of the door Matt Anderton accosted her. This time he was with the woman that had stared at her. The women she guessed was actually her grandmother, Madge Anderton.

  "Hi there. It is Kathy isn't it. I have remembered your name right?"

  "Yes it is and you are Matt Anderton."

  "Right, well remembered. I'd like to i
ntroduce my wife, Madge."

  Kathy gave her a hello too and to her surprise they invited her to lunch. Inside she boiled that this couple should offer hospitality to a complete stranger but had never reached out a hand to their daughter-in-law or their grandchild. Outwardly she kept her composure and apologised but she had to be back at college and explained why.

  "Why of course." Madge was understanding. "We should really have given you more notice. How about next week?"

  Kathy was torn. She wanted nothing from these people. In fact she wanted nothing to do with them, but curiosity was prompting her. If she went to their house she might learn something of what happened. It was even possible they were actually in contact with her father and she would have liked five minutes alone with the man to tell him just what a louse he was. Feeling guilty at her deceptiveness she thanked them and said she would look forward to it.

  Back at college Kathy began thinking about Jack's sermon. She simply couldn't get it out of her head and wondered just what to do. Stacey, in spite of all her dizziness and high spirits was a firm believer. Every morning early she used daily Bible study notes for a while and then prayed silently. Kathy always gave her space to do that, respecting her faith while not sharing it. On impulse Kathy found herself downloading study notes to her tablet and after a moment's thought, a free downloadable Bible. She began to use the notes every day feeling very self-conscious to begin with, but Stacey, who must have noticed, said nothing.

  The following Saturday Stacey helped Kathy to get ready. She applied some make up very skilfully and did her hair. She gathered it up at the back and put in two lovely silver hair decorations of her own but left some artful strands of hair to hang down over her cheeks. The whole effect was one of naturalness and innocence. Kathy was astonished but Stacey explained that with three younger sisters she was used to arranging hair. As Stacey saw her off she again felt like a mom but now seeing her daughter off to her senior prom.

  Jack picked her up at the college gates right on time. He stopped dead as he saw her approach and whistled. "Kathy you are beautiful. Really beautiful."