DSP-- Lizzie: Times, They are A-changing

It was just before Christmas. Dominic was over at the house, as usual. He and Melinda had put Lizzie to bed. Now they were both straightening up the house.

"Hon, look at this," Melinda said, holding up a piece of paper.

Dom went over and took the sheet of paper out of her hands. He read it quickly, but then sat down and read it again slowly, and more carefully.

~~~~~~~~
Dear Santa,

Hi, Santa, how's you? I knowed we ready talked when I sawed you at the mall, but I thought of sumthin that I wanted for Christmas. It's a pogo stick, cuz I like to bounce so much and I's not lowed to jump on the bed or the couch. I get spankins when I do that. My friend, Julie Ann, has one, and she says they's great, so I want one.

I don't want nothin else, cuz I ready got what I always wanted, and that's a family who loves me. My big sis, Lin, and my Uncle Dom? Well, they's the best family I have ever had. Even though they spank me sometimes, I know they only do it cuz they love me.

I better send this off to ya, cuz it's almost Christmas and I want to make sure you get this in time. You was real nice when I meeted you at the mall.

Have a good Christmas. Make sure you bundle up when you's on your sleigh...it's cold outside. I always gotta wear my jacket. It's a pain sometimes, but it makes you warm.

oh, and tell Rudolph I said hi.

love you. love Lizzie
~~~~~~~~

Dom looked up at Melinda, with a tear in his eye. She didn't say any words; just put her arms around him and hugged him tight.

Things had been going much better with Lizzie ever since Dom and Melinda had spoken to the little girl's teacher. Sure, there were some minor problems, but for the most part, Lizzie was doing well. She loved having Dom around. She loved calling him Uncle. And Mel, of course, loved having Dom around more, too.

One day, though, Lizzie came home from school to find Dom waiting for her. Melinda had to work late that day and Dom was going to watch her. They were going to bring in pizza and play games til Melinda got home.

Lizzie looked at Dominic and then down. She knew she was in trouble. Her teacher had told her after lunch that she had called him on his cell phone. Lizzie hated that Dom had given Mrs. Foxxe his cell number.

"You talked to my teacher, right?" she said quietly.

"Yes, I did. We had a long talk," Dominic told her. He pointed to her room. Lizzie walked there reluctantly.

Dom followed her in, and sat down on her bed. He looked right at her. "You have something you want to tell me?"

Lizzie had practiced this all afternoon and on the bus ride home. She turned to her uncle and tried giving him the puppy dog eyes. "Well, I wasn't really cheating, sir."

"No? What were you doing?"

"My friend, Maria?"

"What about her?"

"Well, our test was on contractions, right? And she had put the postrophe in all the wrong places and I didn't want her to fail cuz if she failed she'd getta spanking, so I was trying to show her, but I was doing it quiet-like so Mrs. Foxxe wouldn't be mad, but it didn't really work," Lizzie said in one breath.

Dom looked at Lizzie. "So your friend would get a spanking if she failed the test?"

"Uh huh."

"And what will you get?"

Lizzie looked up at Dominic. "The same thing?" When he nodded, she started to whine, "But whhhyyyyyyyyyyy?"

Dominic overlooked the whine, for the moment. "Did Mrs. Foxxe warn you not to talk during the test? Several times, in fact?"

"Um, uh, yeah, she sayed not to."

"And did you talk anyway?"

"Well, I didn't mean to, but Maria wasn't understanding my hand signals, so I hadda."

"Elizabeth, that is called cheating!" Dom said firmly.

"I was just trying to help my friend!" Lizzie shouted, stamping her foot for emphasis.

Dom reached over, turned Lizzie around and gave her bottom a smack. "Heyyyy, stop that! I not wanna spanking!"

Dom smacked her bottom again. "Don't you talk to me that way. Get into the corner, NOW!" he said pointing.

When Lizzie didn't move, Dom put a hand on his belt. She saw that and ran to the corner. She definitely did NOT want to be spanked with that thing. While Lizzie stood there, she heard the door click open. Melinda was home. Lizzie wanted to rush out of the corner and into Melinda's arms of safety. But she couldn't. She couldn't talk or move while she was in the corner.

Lizzie heard Dominic stand and then leave the room. A few minutes later, she felt an arm on her shoulder. She turned around and saw her sister standing there. Lizzie started to cry and hugged Melinda tight.

"I'm in trouble!" she announced.

"I see that. You want to tell me what happened at school today?"

When Lizzie didn't move, Melinda said, "It's okay, you can come out of the corner to talk to me. I asked."

Lizzie went and sat on her bed and told her sister the whole story.

"Well, sweetie, I hate to break this to you, but whether you were helping someone else, or they were helping you, it's still cheating."

Lizzie looked up and saw Dominic in the doorway. He was nodding his head. Lizzie turned back to the wall and started to cry again.

"Now Santa is never gonna come!" she cried.

"It's going to be okay, Lizzie," Melinda said kindly.

"Santa only comes to good boys and girls. It says so in the song."

Both adults had to hide their grins. "You think because of today Santa won't come to see you?" Melinda asked.

"I been so bad lately," Lizzie said. In reality she hadn't really been that bad, but maybe more so than most six year olds. But she had gone through a tough time in her young life. Also, Dom was new in the picture, and Lizzie was still testing the waters with him.

"You know what?" Melinda asked.

"What?" Lizzie sobbed.

Melinda tapped Lizzie's chest. "You are always good in here. In your heart. And that's where Santa looks."

"He do?"

Melinda nodded. "You are always sorry when you misbehave, right?"

Lizzie said, "Yes, ma'am."

"And sometimes you get punished, but after, it's all over, right?"

"Uh huh, I don't mean to be bad."

"I know... see, that's what I mean, you are good inside."

"And Santa knows that," Dom added.

"He do?" Lizzie asked them both, wiping at her tears.

"He knows most everything," Dom said, smiling. Melinda smiled too and gave her little sister a kiss on the cheek.

Lizzie smiled, until she realized that she was still going to get a spanking. Dom looked at Melinda who nodded and stood up. She gave her little sister another big hug and quietly left the room. Dom sat in Melinda's place and put a large hairbrush on the bed next to him. Lizzie took one look at the hairbrush and gulped.

"What you need that for, Uncle Dom?"

"I'm going to spank you with it, Elizabeth. I want to make sure we don't have any more problems with cheating in the future!"

Lizzie shook her head. "You won't, sir, I promise. I not do it again. Please don't use that."

But Dom only sighed and shook his head. He motioned for Lizzie to come and stand in front of him. Reluctantly she obeyed and he lowered her pants and panties.

Lizzie looked up into his face and said, "Please, Uncle, I sorry."

"I know, sweetie, but you still have to be punished."

"I not wanna," she said crying.

"Well you may not want to, but it's going to happen," he said, pulling her over his knee.

Dominic ran his hand along her bottom before raising his hand high into the air. He brought it down across both cheeks with a resounding {Smack!}. He continued without missing a beat. {Smack! Smack!} {Smack! Smack!}

"Owwwwwwww!" she cried.

{Smack! Smack!} "We aren't going {Smack! Smack!} to have you not listening {Smack! Smack!} to Mrs. Foxxe at school, {Smack! Smack!} Elizabeth." {Smack! Smack!}

"Owww, yesssirrr!" Lizzie wailed.

"And {Smack! Smack!} you have to let {Smack! Smack!} your friends {Smack! Smack!} do their own {Smack! Smack!} work on tests." {Smack! Smack!}

"Owwwwwww, okaaaaaaaay!"

Dominic stopped, but just to pick up the hairbrush. Lizzie saw it out of the corner of her eye. "Oh, nooooo, Uncle, pleeeeease!" she begged.

He raised his arm holding the hairbrush and brought the back of it down across first her left cheek, then her right. {Whack! Whack!}

Lizzie jumped; it hurt so much. "Owwwwwwwwwieeeeeee!"

{Whack! Whack!} {Whack! Whack!} {Whack! Whack!}

"Pleeeeeeeeease, Uncle Dommmmmm, I's sorrrrrrrrrry! It hurrrrrrrts!"

"I know, Lizzie," he said, but that didn't slow him down. He wanted this lesson to sink in and stay with Lizzie on all future tests. {Whack! Whack!}
{Whack! Whack!} {Whack! Whack!} {Whack! Whack!} "but you're going to stop this kind of behavior and stop it now!" {Whack! Whack!}

"Owwwwwwww, yesssssssssir," Lizzie said. Her bottom was on fire. She wanted to reach back and rub so bad, but she didn't. Dominic wouldn't have liked that.

Dominic put the hairbrush down and pulled Lizzie up onto his lap. She jumped when her bottom met his leg. "Owwwwwww!" She kneeled on his lap and Dom held her close to him and hugged her.

"I-I's sorry, sir," she said quietly.

"I know, sweetie," he said, rocking her in his arms.

Through her tears, Lizzie said, "I not do it again, I promise."

"Good," Dom said, holding the little girl tight. He couldn't believe how much he loved her.

Lizzie sobbed on Dom's shoulder. It had been an extremely hard spanking and she was worn out. Dom held her and rubbed her back.

"Uncle Dom? Will you hold me forever?" Lizzie asked quietly.

"I'll always hold you, Lizzie."

Lizzie tried to smile. "That hurted!" she said.

Dom nodded. "Yes, I'm sure it did. It hurt me to do that, but I had to."

"But why?" Lizzie asked, pouting.

Dominic looked down at Lizzie and said, "You know why, don't you?"

Lizzie thought for a moment. "Because I didn't listen to my teacher?" When Dom didn't nod, she tried again. "Because you take care of me?"

"And because I love you," Dom stated.

Lizzie nodded and this time she really smiled. "I love you, too. I sorry I so bad."

"You aren't bad. But sometimes you do bad things," Dom explained.

"Yeah, that's what I meant," Lizzie said.

They sat that way for a long time. Until Melinda came in to tell them the pizza was there. Lizzie sat on a pillow at dinner, and later both Melinda and Dominic tucked her in.

Afterwards, the two adults went into the living room. Dom sat down and pulled Melinda onto his lap. "Do you know how much I love you?" he asked.

Mel smiled. "As much as I love you?" she teased.

"Maybe more," Dom said.

"Yeah, right, until you find someone else you love more," she said, half-jokingly.

Dom stopped rubbing her back and just stared into her eyes. "You know that could never happen," he said firmly.

It was something she feared, deep down. She tried not to let it come to the surface, but it was something she thought about sometimes. What if Dom found someone else he liked better? What if he decided one day that he didn't love her? What would happen to her and Lizzie?

Melinda was brought back to reality by Dom's shaking of her shoulders. "I don't want to hear you talk like that, Mel. I love you so much."

"Do you really?" she asked.

"Yes, I do. In fact, I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Before Melinda knew what was happening, Dom had put her down on the couch. He left the room for a minute. When he came back, he got down on his knee by her side, and pulled out of his pocket a small box. Melinda couldn't see straight. If she had been more coherent, she would have realized it was a velvet ring box.

"I was going to wait until Christmas to do this, but now seems like the right time," Dom said, opening the small box and extracting a small single band with a big beautiful diamond on it. He slid it over the ring finger of her left hand and said with tears in his eyes, "Melinda Sue Lewis, will you marry me?"

Melinda was in shock. She couldn't believe this was actually happening to her. Did he really want to spend the rest of his life with HER? Mel looked at Dominic and didn't say anything. He smiled, figuring she was just overjoyed and too in shock to answer.

But instead of throwing her arms around him and saying, "OH, yes, I'll marry you," Melinda said, "You don't want to marry me!"

Dominic, so taken aback by her comment, jumped. He stared at her. "What? Why not?"

"Because I'm so, so dumb, and young, and I don't have any money. And you'll be saddled with Lizzie, and, and, and," she tried to think of more ways to put herself down, but Dominic didn't let her finish.

He stood up and grabbed Melinda and practically threw her over his shoulder. He walked into the bedroom and put her down on the bed. He pulled his belt through the loops of his pants and doubled it over. Then he sat down on the bed and pulled her over his lap, pulling down her pants at the same time.

Dominic raised the belt, swung it, and brought it down over Melinda's buttocks over and over again. {Whaaaappp! Whaaaappp!} {Whackkk! Whackkk!}

"Owwwwwwwww!" she cried. She tried to keep it down, so Lizzie wouldn't hear. She had nothing to worry about, of course, because Lizzie was such a sound sleeper.

"What did you say? {Whaaaappp! Whaaaappp!} How dare you {Whackkk! Whackkk!} put yourself down like that!" Dom practically shouted. {Whaaaappp! Whaaaappp!} All the while he was smacking that belt down on her backside. He was so angry and upset. {Whackkk! Whackkk!}

"Owwwwwww!" Melinda cried. "It's true. I'm not good enough for you!" she sobbed. She knew she should just shut up, but she couldn't stop herself. All the fears and thoughts she had kept inside for months came spilling out. Even she couldn't believe she was finally voicing them.

Dom continued to smack her bottom with his belt, but he wasn't putting much emphasis into it. He was crying, almost as hard as she was. Finally he threw the belt down and just continued smacking Melinda's bottom with his hand. It was burning hot to the touch and some bruises and welts had started to appear.

Finally Melinda stopped making comments and just gave in to the crying. That's when Dom stopped spanking her. He held her and rubbed her bottom and back until her breathing slowed.

When she was calm, Dominic pulled Melinda onto his lap. He held her and cradled her like she was Lizzie. His crying had stopped and he just nestled his beard onto her face. It was soft, and Mel couldn't help but reach out and pet it.

"I'm sorry," she finally said, very softly.

Dom nodded. He didn't trust himself to speak just yet. He just held her and rubbed her back and let himself calm down.

"I'm sorry, too," he said after a long time.

"Why? What are you sorry about?" Melinda asked, surprised. Here he had asked her to marry him and she had had to ruin what should have been the best night of her life with stupid fears.

"Because I obviously have not shown you that I love you and care about you enough for you to feel secure. But Melinda Sue, if you give me a chance, I will spend the rest of my life doing just that. Please say you'll marry me!"

Dom looked into her eyes and Melinda finally nodded slowly. "Oh, yes, Dominic, I will!"

The two of them were so happy. They hugged and kissed and celebrated long into the night.

And on Christmas morning, when Lizzie got her pogo stick, everyone in that house was as happy as could be.