The Witch, Part Three
Copyright 1997-2002 by OldTom, all rights reserved.

"Bad, yes. But not hopeless. You will be soundly punished, I promise you that, but it won't be the end of the world."

"Yes, sir." Now why did such a statement, put just that way, not excite her exactly, but... thrill her? It was almost as if they were in resonance with each other.

But Tom continued his obviously-prepared speech. "There's just one more thing we need to cover, and then we can get started. There's a Wal-mart bag over there on the table, containing a plastic cooking spoon. Could you get it please, and take it out of the packaging?"

Leslie complied, trepidation written all over her face.

Tom continued while Leslie was getting the spoon extracted from its shrink wrapping." As you can see, it's just a very light, flexible nylon cooking spoon. As soon as you have it open, try slapping it against your hand. You should find it kind of stings, but it is way too light to cause any lasting damage."

"But I thought you were just going to spank me with your hand, not beat me with a spoon."

"Yes, I will spank you by hand first. However, I have found that most intelligent strong-willed women like yourself are able to shrug off a hand spanking without it making a lasting impression. However, if I use anything at all that raises welts, she knows instinctively that she needs to shape up in a hurry, because she already won't be sitting comfortably for a day or two."

Tom motioned Leslie to silence as she began to make horrified protest.

"Now then, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that the nylon spoon you're holding is just too light to leave your bottom sore for very long. In fact you might even be comfortable by time you get to work tomorrow. The good news is that the spoon stings a lot while I'm using it, and you won't be able to ignore it.

"Do you find the spoon acceptable, even though it won't make a lasting impression, or would you prefer I locate a good, solid, leather belt to use instead?"

Leslie could not keep the horrified look from her face. She had already returned to stand in front of the couch, and now her knees gave way to plop herself back down onto the couch as Tom explained the "good news" and "bad news."

"If you really feel you must use something besides your hand, I'm sure this spoon will be more than adequate, sir. Maybe using the spoon will help to get this over with quickly."

"Very well. Leslie, are you ready to be punished now?"

"I'm ready, sir."

"Then go ahead and slip off your sandals and panties and lay your bare bottom across my lap. That way I know you intend to cooperate with your own punishment."

Leslie hadn't realized the need for cooperation. This was quickly degenerating into a far more humbling experience than she had anticipated. She had plenty of experience dealing with unexpected situations, but never the need to humble herself. Her mind again flashed to her picture of floundering in unfamiliar waters - but she wasn't drowning; she was being carried along in a strong current.

Carried along to...

Her mind leapt ahead to speculate on the spanking itself, and her face quickly flushed a light pink. Her hands slipped up under her dress to remove her panties, and she walked over to Tom's right side, handing him the nylon spoon.

Without looking at Tom's face, she briefly considered how to best accomplish getting herself across his legs.

Tom offered his help. "Look. Lift up the bottom of your dress in back with your right hand, and give me your left hand."

Without thinking, Leslie did as Tom suggested, pulling the hem of her dress up to her waist. She was just beginning to offer her left hand to Tom, when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward, his leg raised against her knees causing her to overbalance.

Leslie threw her hands forward to catch herself on the carpet, letting out a surprised squeal. It had been a long time since anybody had pulled or pushed her down.

And now Tom's hands were at her hips, getting her settled in to his satisfaction. Leslie could now think only of her bottom, how exposed and vulnerable it felt. She clamped her legs together.

Tom seemed to be taking a lot longer than necessary, getting her positioned. Leslie tried to be patient, since this was just one more thing she had to put up with. Then it dawned on her that all this fiddling did have a purpose, namely to allow Tom to spank her more efficiently and - no doubt - effectively. And to draw her attention back to her own vulnerability.

"I have been telling you for months what I thought of your witch hunt, and now I have the beautiful witch herself right here across my lap ready to be scorched. I'm going to prove my point this very day, even if it takes until midnight." Tom gently stroked her bottom in anticipation. "Yes, I am definitely going to enjoy this."

Leslie swore softly to herself in deepening realization of her plight. This was the most awful moment of her life, laying there so vulnerably. Tom's legs were supporting her full weight, underscoring his control of her. She could feel the warmth of Tom's closeness, and he was just sitting there, smugly enjoying the anticipation. She wished she could sink through the floor and die.

Tom patted her bottom a few times, as if in testing or appreciation.

Then he stopped, holding still, and Leslie tensed, waiting.

Nothing happened!

Tom broke the tense silence. "Leslie?"

"Who..." She cut off the sarcasm just in time. "Yes, sir?"

"Could we stop a moment and look at the big picture?"

She thought he had been looking at the big picture. Staring, in fact. She spoke patiently, "What do you mean?"

"You're a grown woman, laying here with your bare bottom pointing to the sky, waiting to receive the spanking of your life. You are going to be very thoroughly punished, and for what? Because of an email exchange that is really nobody else's business. Don't you think blistering your bottom is a bit much for something that trivial?"

"Well, it's a matter of principle."

Tom patted her bottom again. "But look at you. Forget about your theories and motivations and policies for a moment. Isn't it a fact that you're across my lap because of a piece of email that's not my business or anyone else's? Don't you see that the punishment is completely out of proportion to the so-called crime?"

"Well, of course I see that. But you need to take the larger view, which is that I made a mistake and we dare not tolerate any mistakes that could lead to more sexual harassment problems. Just look at the track record - my policy has already worked admirably in four different cases."

"So you want to be punished for something that's really nobody else's business, and really doesn't merit punishment in the first place. You're the lawyer, I realize that; but it seems to me that the whole concept of punishment loses its value when it's pointless, or completely out of proportion to the crime."

Leslie opened her mouth to respond, but Tom stilled her with a squeeze of her right cheek to indicate he wasn't yet done with his discourse.

"When you're being spanked, you're dealing with a cause-and-effect relationship. Abstractions like what-if's and the greater good of the company lose their relevance. As you're getting your bottom smacked, hard, it just won't seem right because it's so out of proportion to this silly little email thing.

"Now do you see what I mean?"

Leslie relaxed. "Yes, I do. Does that mean I can get up now?"

Tom laughed. "No, of course not. Not yet, anyway. There's something else we need to consider."

"And what is that?"

"You asked me to spank you, good and hard."

"Well, yes, of course, but we just agreed the spanking is for no good reason."

"True, but think about it. If you're silly enough to ask for such a thing, isn't that a pretty good indication that you could use a good spanking anyway?"

"So you're offering to give me the spanking of my life for the crime of being silly? Aren't we back to something all out of proportion?"

"Absolutely! I am going to give you a sound spanking simply because you asked for one. I am going to cause you great distress, and I am going to enjoy every last bit of your distress because I think it will be teaching you a valuable lesson. Nor am I forgetting that four people got demoted because of your action, and you even arranged that they were glad of the demotion. You should consider yourself lucky that I was not one of the four! Even so, after our months of arguing, this spanking is going to give me immense satisfaction."

Tom was once again patting her bottom in anticipation. "By the way, have you ever noticed that when you do something with enthusiasm, you have fun and do a better job? This is going to be fun."

Leslie wished the floor would swallow her up.

Smack! Leslie caught her breath at the first spank, but then decided it wasn't too bad. The noise was kind of scary, though. She lay still for her spanking, without further comment. She realized the anticipation was the worst part. Of course there was still that spoon to consider. Ten.. eleven.. twelve.. she silently counted the spanks to herself.

But Tom was still toying with her, as she found out on the twenty-first swat. The rhythm didn't change, but that one HURT! And Tom just kept on spanking her. She soon put her hand back to protect her bottom - she had no choice - only to find it held at the small of her back.

Leslie could wiggle, and she did. She could protest, and she did. This was a lot more than she was expecting. And longer. It seemed like hundreds of spanks had rained down on her bottom. She realized that she would submit to the spanking whether she wanted to or not. She was getting what she deserved, and she now found herself accepting that.

Tom finally relented, stopping to gently rub the pinkness while Leslie lay there gasping in relief. "Was that enough to get your attention, Leslie?"

"Yes, sir. I'm very, very sorry. I've learned my lesson, that's for sure."

"Good. That was your warmup. Now we can talk."

"What!??"

"Are you ready to listen, or not?"

"Yes, sir, I'm listening."

Tom continued as if there were no interruption. "Young lady, you need to get some sense spanked into you. You sit there at work explaining the importance of 'no tolerance' while at the same time you're working for tolerance and freedom of speech on the Internet.  Don't you see that you can't have it both ways?"

"Yes, sir, I can see that now."

"But more importantly, you're specifying a punishment out of all proportion to the crime - especially when it's debatable whether there was a crime at all. If this doesn't stop, somebody is going to get hurt by it."

"Yes, sir, now I can see that too."

"Well, I just won't tolerate it, and I intend to spank all of the nonsense out of you right now. Do you understand me, Leslie?"

"Yes, sir."

"I enjoyed putting you across my lap because you asked for it, but the fun part is over now. I won't be enjoying the next part either, but you need to learn what your lack of tolerance really means. Are you ready, Leslie?"

"Yes, sir."

And spank her, he did. Big, loud, painful smacks, over and over and over again. Tom paused once to lock Leslie's legs under his own. He spanked her even harder, causing her to panic while unable to escape. She howled and bucked, thinking of nothing but her need to escape his punishing hand. Tom just kept spanking her. There was no question of dignity now; Tom controlled the situation and he was spanking the daylights out of her.

A very long time later, Leslie quieted down, breaking into real tears, and continuing to sob quietly as Tom continued to wallop her without respite.

Finally, Tom stopped, to smugly rub Leslie's bright-red bottom. He unlocked her legs, shifting her to again lay fully across his lap.  "Do you think you have learned anything from this, Leslie?"

It was the better part of a minute before Leslie could speak calmly.

"Yes, sir. I'll be a completely different person; you'll see."

"Do think this has been an adequate application of employee discipline?"

"Yes, sir. Much more than adequate."

"You also said you wanted the chance to make some changes. Do you remember talking about that?"

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On to The Witch, part 4