You're it!

The bell rings and a hush falls over the junior high school. It's Friday, last period of the day and no one has been paddled all week! Everyone's talking about it.

        "She always gets somebody!"

You're in Home Room for the end of the day attendance, bulletins and the "paddling period," the last five minutes before the bell, when the Principal Penelope Poindexter spanks the miserable miscreants who made her "list" during the day.

         "Did anybody get sent?" No one responds.

"She's gonna get somebody." one whispers to the other and we hear the squeaky door of her office open, then the sounds of high heels.

         "She's coming!"

Your heart pounds as the steps draw closer. Suddenly she's standing in the door, with the awesome paddle in hand! It shines and you shake. You've never felt it. They call it "The Singing Board," she swings and you "sing."

You know that she stands in her office with binoculars scanning the yard in the morning, during lunch and breaks. If she writes your name down you'll get at least one swat, maybe more. You're shaking, look down, trying to hide even though you have done nothing wrong.  You hear her voice, but it doesn't register.

        "She's calling you!" the girl next to you says!

        "What?" and the lady calls your name again! This time you hear it!

        "Oh God! I didn't do anything!" you wail.

        "Don't take the Lord's name in vain." she admonishes crisply.

Like a zombie you arise and the kids snicker. Your legs are like rubber and shaking, but go to her as on rails and you feel like you've got to pee.

         "Oh Jesus..." you mumble.

         "Mam?" you say, "I didn't do anything!"

         "Are you calling me a liar?" she retorts angrily and you shake your head "No." with mouth agape.

         "You've taken the Lord's name in vain and called me a liar! What more do I need?"

          "Please." you beg as you get to the door and you see the school nurse standing by. You feel faint and cold, but she sees you going white, opens a bottle of ammonia salts and thrusts it under your nose.

          "Ugh!" you inhale the noxious fumes and jerk your head back.

The two women take you by the armpitss and half carry you down the hall, leading you to the low chair which has been put in place for you to bend over and place your hands, palms down, on the seat.

You see her paddle: Hardwood, high finish, drilled with ten holes, two feet long, you've heard it turn the toughest boy into a screaming brat begging her to stop.

          "I saw you talking to those girls this morning. I read lips. You were saying naughty words to them!" she says in anger.

          "Oh no, Mam, no."

           "Are you calling me a liar?"

           "No!"

           "Then you were saying suggestive things to them!"

           "Oh dear God help me?" you pray aloud, but she continues to press you forward.

Now you're at the chair. Your heart is pounding a mile a minute. The school nurse looks at you with pity as she approaches with handcuffs. All you can do tremble and sob as tears run down your face.  The clamps are ratcheted shut and your heart sinks.

          "It'll go better for you if you confess now." she says as you stand before the chair.

You cave in out of trembling terror, maybe she won't give the maximum or swing to hard if you please her.

           "Yes'um I did it." you lie.

          "There!" she exclaims to the nurse. "I was right and you said he wouldn't."

           "If you had refused..." the nurse started say.

           "Enough!" the Principal barked, "Loosen your belt, drop your pants and bend over."

Now you are really shaking. This is it! You bow your head as you drop your pants and as you bend over the chair feel your shorts going down while the nurse pushes down on the backs of your hands.

            "No..." you sob.

Your view is upside down one of lady's ankles and shoes. Now you're learning the authority of a pair of high heeled pumps and you remember, "Watch that left foot. When the heel lifts you've got one heartbeat."

            "Nurse?" she asks.

            "Do you have to pee?" says the lady in white.

            "No Mam."

            "You will soon." and you see her left heel rise, she's on the backswing! As her spike comes down:

                                      "SPLAT!"

You hear and feel the paddle, but there isn't any pain! Just a lot of pressure. An enormous pressure!  "This won't be so bad!" you think.  Then in a moment you feel every hole and your butt is alive with stinging!

           "Oh..." you moan and the nurse puts the little bucket between your legs and you pee like a horse as tears flow and you suck air. The water stops and you see her left heel rise.

            "No!" you yell, but that quickly:

                                       "SPLAT!"

And you leave the ground. This time the sting is instant and terrible. You can't take any more, but:

                          "SPLAT!" "SPLAT!" "SPLAT!"

She gives you three quick ones and takes a break so you can breathe as you're gagging and choking as the stinging builds. Your butt is undulating as if it could move away from this.

             "Oh..." you moan like an animal.

              "Enough?" asks the nurse.

             "No. I want to be sure he never does that again." and you see her left heel rise again.

                     "SPLAT!"   "SPLAT!" "SPLAT!" "SPLAT!"

And you are cast into darkness as it continues. Your mind is mercifully trying to find a way out and it plays your life to you looking for a way, any way, out of this agony, but there is none and she continues until all ten swats and have been delivered and you are out of control. The stinging just won't stop. They uncuff your wrists and you stand shaking with sobs and you manage to say the required:

          "Thank you, Mam. May I return to class?"

"Yes." she says crisply with paddle in hand and you walk carefully down the hall still sobbing with a butt that will sting for days. You were "it."