Melody’s backpack felt as if it weighed 100 lbs. The heaviest item in it was a single piece of paper in an envelope addressed to “The Parents of Melody Weber”. The paper inside the envelope regretted to inform her parents that Melody had been found responsible for possessing and using a tobacco product on school grounds in violation of Section 5 subdivision 3 of the student handbook. As a consequence she was suspended from school for 5 days and all work would have to be completed at home. Left unsaid was the desire of the principal that said “Parents of Melody Weber” would make her life as miserable as possible during the term of her suspension - he needn’t have worried.
Melody entered the house to the happy sound of her mother’s 1980’s radio station blasting. Her mother singing along and swaying her hips to the music. The table had already been laid with an afternoon snack for Melody and her brothers. “Hi Mel.” Her mother greeted her. “Hi Mom” Melody forced a smile. She plunked her backpack on the floor where it landed with an audible thud. “Sounds heavy. Lot’s of homework?”
“Kinda.” Melody’s eyes stayed on the backpack. “Um, I kinda got in trouble today Mom.” She could feel her face reddening, the tears building up. Her mom was going to be so disappointed in her. Her mom pulled out a chair and sat next to her.
“What happened?” Her voice was a mix of concern and suspicion. Melody was a pretty good kid she usually stayed out of trouble.
“Sarah and me were in the bathroom.” Mom let the misused pronoun go.”And Mrs. Wilkins came in. And um, she said we’d been smoking.”
Mrs. Betty Weber was devastated. “Smoking?” Having seen the effects of cancer she and Michael had educated the kids early and often about the dangers of tobacco. They’d told them that friends would offer them cigarettes and they’d be tempted to fit in but that it wasn’t worth it. Betty and Michael had given them pamphlets, talked to them even role played different situations the kids might find themselves in. Finally, they had threatened them, warning they would be severely punished if ever found to have used tobacco while still living at home. Mrs. Weber worried about the boys but had thought that the danger was past for her 18 year old daughter.
“Melody. Look at me.” Melody looked up forcing herself to meet her mother’s gaze through her own tear filled eyes. “Were you smoking?” the fact that her mom trusted her enough to ask after having been accused by a teacher broke Melody’s heart even more. The tears started falling, she put her head down and nodded. And then, realizing her mother deserved more than that raised her head looked her mother in the eye and said “Yes Mom. I’m sorry.” Then she reached into the backpack and took out the envelope. “I’m suspended for five days.”
Betty hoped she’d heard wrong. Suspended? Bad kids got suspended, juvenile delinquents got suspended Melody Weber did not get suspended. But she was. Even her brothers with all their horseplay and mischief had never brought this type of shame to the family. Now Melody had.
“I see. Melody, I can’t even tell you how disappointed I am in you. I thought, I knew, you were better than this. Now I find out you’re not. Suspended. Melody Weber suspended. I can’t believe it; it’s like a bad dream.” Her mother just sat there slowly shaking her head and looking at, if not reading the suspension notice.
Melody hadn’t known what to expect but she’d expected more than this. Yelling, screaming she even thought her mother might have picked up the wooden spoon and paddled her butt. But this quiet distress was even worse. Finally her mom seemed to come out of her trance. “Ok Melody I guess there is no need to tell you you’re grounded for at least as long as the suspension?”
“Yes Ma’am.”
Mrs. Weber held out her hand “Give me your cell phone.” Though Melody had anticipated this it still hurt. She slipped the phone out of her pocket and handed it over. Knowing that part of being grounded was her mother informing anyone who called that Melody was punished and could not use the phone. “No TV, no internet other than with permission for school. You know the drill.” Melody did but hadn’t been grounded for more than 3 days at a time. This was for five days, ‘at least’ five days. As if on cue her phone rang. Her mom looked at the screen, scowled and then answered.
“Hello.” She listened for a second. “No Sarah you may not speak with Melody. As you may have surmised she’s being punished and has lost her cell phone privileges. I’m surprised you still have yours. Oh, I see well I’m confident your mother will mete out a similar punishment when she gets home. Please tell her I’ll call her tomorrow to discuss this behavior.” Her mother ended the call.
“Melody go to your room. We’ll discuss this after dinner with Dad.”
“Daddy has to know?” Melody was, usually, the apple of her father’s eye. Having him disappointed in her would hurt worse than her mom’s disappointment.
“Of course he does.” Her mother snapped. “You know we don’t keep secrets from each other. Now get to your room.” As she stood to comply her mom punctuated the order with a hard slap to the seat of her jeans. Melody and her brothers were not strangers to corporal punishment. Their parents loved them. Loved them enough to chastise them when they made a mistake. They had all been subject to spankings since they were old enough to understand the connection between misbehavior and a sore bottom. The punishment initially was administered by whichever parent noted the misbehavior but as they grew the parents had divided the workload according to gender Mr. Weber punishing the boys while Mrs. Weber dealt with Melody when necessary. Melody’s punishments had leaned more toward grounding than spanking in the last few years but a spanking or paddling with a wooden spoon or worst of all, Mom’s hairbrush was not out of the question. Melody had last felt its sting about 4 months ago when her mouth got ahead of her brain. Since today her Mom had pronounced that she was grounded she guessed Mom had decided that she’d outgrown spanking. That was one of the possibilities that had preyed on her during the long walk home. She had figured that she would have gotten a record spanking with that brush had her mother decided to go that route. And while she didn’t look forward to five or more days of being grounded she was relieved to have received a reprieve from the brush .
Melody sat in her room, her textbook open but not really being read thinking about what she’d done. What it came down to was two words that had gotten women in trouble for ages “boy crazy.” A bunch of boys had taken to stopping in the park for a smoke on the way home. Among them were two boys Melody and Sarah secretly admired. They had concocted the scheme to stop in the park and smoke to be near the boys and hopefully noticed. The idea to try a couple of cigarettes in the bathroom before the walk home from school had been Sarah’s. She had decided it would be uncool if they showed up in the park and started hacking as they each tried their first cigarette, The plan was great until old Mrs. Wilkins had come in to wash her hands and noted the smoke coming up from and two pair of feet inside a single stall. She ordered them out, confiscated the barely opened pack, and ordered them to accompany her to the principal’s office. That the two girls marching in the grim procession were in serious trouble was clear to anyone who watched their progress down the hall. In the office Mrs. Wilkins made her report, there was no point in denying it and Principal Monroe passed sentence. He filled out the suspension form and told them to pack up all of their books when the bell rang and not return to school for five days. Their teachers would send home their assignments, they were responsible for all school assignments and homework and if their grades suffered that was just too bad. He finished with the obligatory “I’m very disappointed in you both.”
“Take a number.” Melody thought; full of bravado in her brain.
Melody slowly worked her way down the stairs for dinner. It was the first time she’d seen her father since he’d gotten home. He gave her a curt “hello” and nod of his head. It was clear everyone at the table knew she was in trouble even her brothers were subdued for the first part of the meal before resorting to their usual antics, Melody’s problems having left their minds. After dinner Mr. Weber had ordered the boys to their rooms while he and Mom spoke with Melody. The boys objected mildly but soon retreated.
“Well Melody what do you have to say for yourself?” Michael asked.
“I’m, I’m just sorry.”
“Why? That is what I want to know: why did you do it after we so clearly taught you better.”
”Why?” She recoiled at the despair in his voice.
Melody just shook her head. She had no desire to talk to her father about crushing on a boy. She’d rather take an increased punishment than go down that embarrassing road.
“Let me ask you this: did we make it clear that you are not allowed to smoke?”
“Yes Dad.”
“And did we also make it clear that there would be serious repercussions if you disobeyed us?”
“Yes Dad.”
“Ok Melody go back to your room while your father and I discuss your punishment.” Her mother instructed. Melody nodded and went back to her room. The five days was beginning to look like the very bare minimum she suspected her punishment would be considerably more severe. She had expected her parents to be angry and disappointed but she was beginning to think she’d underestimated just how badly they’d take this. The looks on their faces and tone of their voices told her she’d hurt them and that they were seriously upset with her.
She was right. Downstairs they were even now questioning how many other secrets she held from them. Was this a one time mistake or was this just the first time she’d been caught? Was she the good girl they’d believed she was or had she been fooling them? This discussion went on between the two parents for nearly an hour. And, while they hadn’t reached any firm conclusions they had decided to respond as if this was her first serious mistake. That being the case they intended to come down on her hard in order to forestall any future bad behavior. She heard their footsteps approaching. They entered her room without knocking. She was sitting on her bed. She began to get up as they entered but her father motioned for her to stay seated.
“Melody I think you know how upset we are by this behavior, how disappointed.” Her father began. “We don’t know if we can trust you.”
“You can.” She began to interrupt but he held up his hand.
“This is where you listen - nothing you say can reassure us tonight and nothing you can say will change what we’ve decided.”
Her stomach was in knots. How did she get herself into this? How?
“We are going to react as if this is the first time you’ve done this.”
It . . “ she started but his hand stopped her.
“We have decided that if this is a first mistake we have to do everything we can to make sure there is not a second attempt at smoking or whatever other deceit you might contemplate.” The loss of her parents' trust devastated her.
“We have decided that in addition to the punishment you’ve received from the school we have an obligation to punish you quite seriously at home too.” Her mother picked up where dad had left off.
“I know Mom. I “ again she was cut off.
“You are grounded, with the usual stipulations for two weeks - 14 days. And tonight once you have gotten ready for bed you will come with me to the den for a punishment.”
She had been blushing but now she turned pale as the blood drained from her face. The den was where her father punished her brothers when they were really bad. It was where he used the belt. She couldn’t believe it. She’d never gotten the belt, never even been threatened with it. She’d heard it - not even the heavy door of the den could muffle the sound of the leather connecting with her brothers’ bare behinds -and she knew it was always on the bare. She’d hear it crack and then heard them yelp in pain. Heard it over and over until they emerged red faced, crying, walking stiffly to their rooms. These tough guys who played football and fought with each other and with the other boys. Who’d had lips bloodied and eyes blackened without shedding a tear were reduced to sobbing sniffling wretches by their dad’s belt. What would it do to her? How could she bear it?
“You mean?”
“Yes Melody. Tonight you’re getting the belt.” Her mother informed her. She looked at her father willing him to pardon her but he just shook his head.
“I’m sorry Melody. This is what you deserve. This is what you need.” He said.
“Who . . “ she choked on the words, and couldn't finish the sentence.
“I’m strapping you.” Her Mom answered. There had been a serious discussion between the parents over who should carry it out but they’d agreed at her age it was best if her mother administered the punishment. what she lacked in arm strength she could make up with extra licks.
(More coming)
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