Chapter 12: Sex!?!

I had another look along the corridor. The third in so many minutes. No Amelie. I was getting nervous. Not that I wasn’t nervous to start with. The power dynamics between us had shifted, I thought, although at the time I would not have been able to put it quite like that. She had seen me at my most vulnerable and embarrassing. She had, by her gift, indicated that she did not mind and, in fact, that she wanted to be more than punisher and punishee, but how the meeting would go was nonetheless something I was unsure about. I had arranged Amelie’s gifts on my desk - that way, it would be easy to get the conversation going.

I was about to go and check the corridor for a fourth time, when there was a faint knock.

“Come in!”, I called, hoping to re-establish some of my authority by not opening the door for her.

And in came ... the Headmistress, Mrs Lodenheim, two middle-aged men that I had never met before as well as one of the alumnae that had been on the DP. And finally Amelie, looking extremely unhappy. I rapidly opened my desk’s drawer and shoved everything on my desk in it. I don’t think anyone had time to see what precisely I had got rid of, but Amelie certainly had, and the others must have noticed that I had something to hide.

“I apologise, Mr Danvers, for this intrusion! I am very sorry about it.”, said the Head. SHE was sorry! What about poor Amelie? And poor ME?

“It is just that the Governors of the school are interested in the new model of regular punishments instead of Punishment Ceremonies. At the next Governors’ Meeting this is going to be on the agenda and three of our Governors would like to witness one such regular punishment so as to form their own picture. Just proceed as if we weren’t here!”

Great. Just what I had hoped and prayed for!

“I must admit that I do have a bit of a problem. I have administered several different punishments over the last two days, and I simply do not know how to rank them in order of seriousness. For example: would you say that five paddle whacks are more serious than fifteen strokes with the number three cane?” I had hoped not to have to confront this problem, but now I had no choice and it was probably good to clear this up once and for all.

“I am surprised you did not raise this before. Each implement and body part carries a value, so that you can just multiply that with the number of strokes”, explained Mrs Lodenheim. “It’s all in the computer. But to save time, the paddle has a value of 8, the cane has a value of whatever cane it is, i.e. a 4 for a number 4 cane. Whips have a value half their number, and then you multiply by 1 for bottom or back, 2 for breasts and 3 for genitals. It’s quite easy.”

It did not sound easy to me, but I would check it out on the computer.

“So 5 whacks with the paddle on the bottom would give a value of 40? And 15 strokes with the no 4 cane 60?”

“Correct!”

“So 15 strokes with the number 4 cane it is, then. Amelie, please follow me into the other room.”

Not only Amelie, but the entire delegation followed me. As she passed me, the Head whispered to me: “Better make it good - they are not too keen to reduce the number of Punishment Ceremonies!”.

The delegation lined up against the wall (there being only the one chair, and various stools not really intended for sitting) and I asked Amelie to get over the usual punishment frame to be restrained. I put her hands and feet into the leather straps, but refrained from positioning the frame so as to spread her legs.

I then grabbed the no 4 cane and started. I felt sorry for Amelie, but there was too much at stake to play games. I hit her as hard as I could, once, twice, three times. She was being stoic about it, moaning slightly and gasping, but not crying out. As I was about to hit her a fourth time, the middle-aged lady interrupted me.

“I apologise, Mr Danvers, but would it not add to the student’s humiliation if her legs were spread while you are caning her? In my view, and in the view of the Governors, you should always err on the side of maximising the student’s humiliation ... The point of Punishment Ceremonies is, in fact, humiliation, as well as, to a lesser extent, the infliction of pain. So that should never been forgotten in this new mode of punishment.”

She looked at me, rather disapprovingly, down her nose. And she was actually wearing a pince-nez!

“I am sorry,” I said, “but as a male disciplinarian, still young and starting out, I am still trying to find the right balance between humiliation and punishment and propriety...”