The wait list and the spoon

The wait list notification came in he winter. When Sarah was submitting applications at the beginning of the year, she had just celebrated her August birthday with Shelly and perhaps been overly confident since she had reached adulthood. However, she was about to see a delayed consequence of one of her first projects as an adult. She had no clue what was waiting for her as she rode the bus home.

Her mother had met her on the front lawn when she got the wait list notification. She went through Sarah's application materials and found her apparently sub-par work. Shelly was still at school with class president duties but other mothers were out waiting to greet their families after school or work. Sarah saw the papers in one hand and the wooden spoon in the other. She wasn't sure what had happened but she was scared she was going to get spanked in front of half the neighborhood so she rushed to the door to minimize the time and chances for the situation to escalate outside the safety of their house. Since it was cold, she did not want to get smacked on the back of her thighs outside or even worse have her bottom exposed to the wooden spoon.

As she reached the door, her mother said "Sarah Leigh Smith, get your bottom in the living room right now. you will explain yourself." Sarah took off her coat, backpack, and shoes at the coat closet and shoe rack and hurried to sit on the couch. She had on a skirt and blouse. "Sarah, I saw you are on the wait list for St Marians and there is no shame in that. It is a difficult school to enter. But I wanted to review your application package and found your letter. You can do better young lady, and you will be getting a reminder that you will feel when you are sitting at then kitchen table tonight rewriting this under my supervision so we can find where you are cutting corners and need help. But first, how long did you spend on this." Sarah lied "two weeks." Barbra sighed and gave Sarah a stern look "Young lady, if you lie to me again you will regret it. I'm willing to deal with this and keep it between you and me, but if you want me to tan your behind and tell your father about this, then keep lying." Sarah was starting to get scared and decided to fess up "I did it all in one evening and forgot to proof read." Barbra relaxed "that's what it looks like. Why did you rush through it?" Sarah gulped she felt sweat forming in her forehead "it was close to the deadline and I knew Shelly had sent hers in and I was afraid you would catch me procrastinating." Barbra straightened up and put the letter on the coffee table saying "well, at least you came clean. You know how we will deal with this." Sarah looked down "yes ma'am".

Barbra: how?

Sarah: I will be spanked with that wooden spoon.

Barbra: Good girl. Now get that skirt and your panties off and bend over the arm of the couch.

Sarah dropped her skirt, panties, and stockings and walked around to the arm of the couch and bent over. Barbra didn't say anything but started right away alternating cheeks. Sarah grunted for a few few, but those turned to squeals and squeals turned to screams and begging. Neither knew how many swats she got. She didn't make it all the way to resigned sobbing, but she was full on crying and sobbing when she was sent to the living room corner. Barbra washed the spoon and put it to dry since she would need it for cooking in a little while. As she came back into the living room and sat on the couch to rest and calm down before beginning dinner, Shelly and her friend, Mai, came through the front door giggling until Mai spotted Sarah and looked around to see Barbra. She looked at her feet and said "good evening Mrs. Smith as Shelly grabbed Mai's hand and tried to hurry her past and upstairs to her room. Barbra stood and put her hands on her hips "Shelly, you didn't tell me you were having friends over, you know me and your father expect you to tell us. We got you girls cell phones so you can tell us these things. You are also home earlier than you said you would be, what happened?" Shelly replied "I texted you the planning committee finished early and Mai was coming to study with me." Barbra walked into the kitchen and got her phone off the counter. Shelly was confident but knew here mother would investigate any story. Mai was glancing at Sarah crying in the corner from the side of her eyes once in a while before looking back down. She felt very uncomfortable being in the middle of the awkward situation. Barbra announced "sorry sweetie, I didn't see your text. Your sister needed a little encouragement to better manage deadlines. Anyways you girls get started studying. But you better be studying." Shelly smiled and said "ok mom, see you later" and went upstairs.

Mai blushed and felt even less comfortable. Negative reports from Mrs. Smith had gotten her in the same position Sarah was now in and she knew her mom and Barbra were close friends who shared this. Mai always found Mrs. Smith's veiled threats to be embarrassing. Her mom shared a lot of views, but she rarely put those threats out front, it was almost always a consequence after the fact that brought an embarrassing lecture or sometimes immediate corrective action.