"Don't mind him" said Alison "He's a turd."
"Go on gissa feel?" said Thomas, reaching his hand out.
"Leave her alone or I'll... rip your bollocks off" said Ben trying to sound hard.
"Ooooohh, the baby speaks" said Thomas, he bent down and peered at Ben's genitals making him feel very uncomfortable "Hmmmm, looks like you've had some experience of that yourself" said Thomas.
"Jimmy told me he saw you smoking a cigarette" said Emily.
Thomas looked at Emily in a panic, then returned to his chair and dropped himself into it heavily.
"Yeh, well he's a liar" said Thomas.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Giles stood trembling in the bath, one great long burgundy streak of pain, wailing as Grace finished off with the scrubbing brush. Helen sat on the toilet with the lid down, watching with glee. Grace put the scrubbing brush down on the side of the bath and lathered her hands with the caustic soap.
"Were there girls, Giles? Were there girls?" Grace cawed like a crow "When those boys did this" she slapped his bald groin "When you let them do this!" She rubbed soap all around his already tender groin, working it up and around his penis, under his foreskin. The burning stinging of it was hellish.
"Did they touch you, these girls, Giles. Did they?" she pecked.
"No, there weren't any girls, mummy" bawled Giles.
"Is that what turned you into a disgusting pervert, Giles? Girls touching your John Thomas?"
"There weren't any girls, mummy, just boys" Giles continued to bawl.
"I thought I saw girls" said Helen.
"I knew it, you lying pervert!" said Grace gripping his soapy balls tightly.
"Noooooo, they were long haired boys, common boys have long hair sometimes" he shrieked.
"And breasts?" asked Helen trying to sound incredulous.
"Breasts? What about breasts?" asked Grace looking at Helen severely.
"I didn't know common boys had long hair and breasts that's all" said Helen.
Grace squeezed Giles' balls again, and the added pain of them slipping through her soapy fingers made him scream.
"You're a liar, Giles, a dirty perverted liar, just like all boys are, and I thought you were different!" she yelled.
"I am! I am different" he said.
"Come here, Helen, you need to learn how to do this, I can't watch over him every day" said Grace.
Helen hopped off the toilet and stepped to the side of the bath.
"You probably blame me, don't you?" she said to Giles accusingly.
"No, I don't blame you, mummy" said Giles.
"You do, you blame me for not purging you last night. Is that why you did it?" said Grace.
"No, I didn't, I don't know why, I don't know why" he bawled.
"Take his penis like this and slide it up and down. Watch me!" said Grace.
"But mummy, I'm not supposed to do anything sexy" said Helen demurely.
She got a startling warning that she was overplaying her part when Grace slapped her hard across the face.
"How dare you!" she screamed "This has got nothing to do with sex. This is purging the disgusting sin and lechery out of the boy. It's God's work!"
Helen burst into tears, as much in shock as in pain "Sorry, mummy, I didn't know, I didn't know" she cried.
"Stop your snivelling and watch!" yelled Grace in anger as she worked Giles red and swollen penis back and forth. Giles was not feeling sexy. The carbolic soap burned, the scrubbing brush had ripped him raw. He was a mass of pain and his penis was no different than the rest of his body.
"You'd better get a move on, Giles, because we're not stopping until you've expelled all that evil from you" said Grace.
Giles couldn't even get an erection, and Grace's brutal manipulations were just adding to his soreness.
"Helen, you have a practice. Just do what I was doing!" said Grace.
Helen tried not to smile.
"They're in the lounge" said Diane.
Victoria and Paul, confused, turned and left the kitchen. Emily and Alison hadn't appeared as they usually did, and when Victoria had phoned Emily and not received an answer, she'd assumed she was catching up on lost sleep. Victoria and Paul had had a long chat about improvements they might be able to make to the den, and discussed the amount of work to be done. They had then gone off to go and collect up the rest of the gang.
"What happened to you lot?" asked Paul as he saw four well spanked bottoms lined up against the wall.
"Hi, Victoria" said Thomas over-eagerly, and he bounded out of his chair "Do you want to sit down?"
"No, thanks Thomas, we won't be staying" said Victoria giving him a warm smile.
"We got caught on the way home last night" said Emily.
"By Ben's dad" said Alison.
"He's Amy's dad too, you know" said Ben.
"Oops!" said Paul.
Victoria and Paul sat on the settee together, and Thomas, taking a quick look back at the armchair, trotted over to the settee and sat next to Victoria. She put an arm round him affectionately.
"Can I play with you guys today?" he asked.
"Sorry, Thomas, we've got things to do" said Victoria.
"I can do stuff too" he said.
"Haven't you got your own friends to play with?" she asked.
"Yeh, but they're not as much fun" he said.
"Well you'll just have to make it more fun, invent some new games, get some girls to join in" suggested Victoria, being a little bit wicked.
"Nah, girls are boring and I'm not much good at making stuff up" he said, flashing an ingratiating smile up at her.
"Are you guys going to be allowed out today?" asked Victoria.
"Are you sure you trust Paul to be in there with the girls like that?" asked Margaret, sipping a cup of tea.
"You mean naked, you can say it you know" said Diane.
"He's older than Ben" said Margaret.
"What's he going to do, Margaret? With us in here? And Thomas being a nuisance in there? Besides he knows Felicity's given me permission to spank him if he needs it" said Diane.
"Has she?" asked Margaret in surprise "Have you..."
"Not yet. He's never given me cause. He's always polite and well behaved, and I can't imagine ever needing to" said Diane "Which is a pity."
"A pity? You make it sound like you'd like to" said Margaret.
"Oh come on, don't be so coy" said Diane "He's a handsome boy, those eyes of his, don't pretend you wouldn't like to bare his bottom and put him over your lap yourself."
"I..." began Margaret, shocked at the very idea, but, as she thought about it... "It's not..." it did seem strangely attractive, he was handsome in a boyish sort of way, and his bottom did invite... "No, that doesn't seem right."
"You're just being daft" said Diane "Look, there's nothing wrong with it, it's quite natural, and almost certainly it's something maternal. I'm not suggesting you'd spank him unfairly, invent some excuse or anything. If I was going to do that he'd already have gone over my lap. But you can't help feeling the way you do, and boys like that are appealing - as I said, in a maternal sort of way. So there's nothing wrong with looking forward to the time when it might happen. Although as I said, with Paul, it's not very likely."
"I thought you said that Felicity did spank him" said Margaret, changing the subject a little.
"She's a lot stricter than I am. I don't know what she spanks him for, but he'd probably not get into trouble here" said Diane.
Margaret mused for a while, imagining taking Paul's trousers down while gazing into his beautiful eyes. Wondering what he'd look like when his pants came down, and how it would feel to take him over her lap, whether he'd get an... She pulled herself back to reality and shook her head.
"Which brings me to my three little horrors" said Diane "You have my permission to give them a spanking if they warrant it. I expect they'll probably be spending time at your house now, and that goes for Keith too."
"Keith? I'm not sure he'd..." began Margaret.
"I'm not saying you have to" said Diane "Just that you can, if you want. You can always send them home to me if you prefer."
"Oh, um, okay. Well, I suppose that goes for Ben and Amy too, then. If they deserve it and you or Gary don't mind the trouble" said Margaret.
"Just makes things simpler" said Diane.
Victoria appeared in the doorway with a diplomatic smile.
"Alright, they can get dressed" said Diane looking up at her "But you make sure they don't get into any more trouble!"
"I will, and thanks, Diane" said Victoria and she disappeared again.
Giles leaned back against the cold tiles of the bathroom wall exhausted; his fists clenched and his jaw clamped. He breathed heavily and snottily through his nose as Helen scrubbed urgently at his penis with the scrubbing brush.
"Get him properly clean" said Grace.
"Is there any more evil inside you Giles? Do you need any more purging?" she asked acidly.
"No mummy, honestly, I promise" Giles blurted out quickly.
"Out of the bath!" said Grace "Dry him!"
Helen pulled Giles from the bath, and Grace allowed herself a rare smile as Helen smacked him on the bottom in encouragement.
"From now on, Helen can take care of your evening baths and purgings" said Grace "Save me the bother"
"No mummy, please!" said Giles.
"Are you questioning me?" she asked.
"No, mummy" Giles said in fear.
Helen buffed Giles with a towel, paying special attention to his very sore penis.
"You will go down to the garden and cut six switches" said Grace.
"Yes, mummy" said Giles, beginning to cry again.
"Helen, you will monitor him" she said.
"Yes, mummy" said Helen.
"Go now!" said Grace, and Giles quickly hurried out of the bathroom and began to ascend the stairs to his room.
"Where are you going?" shouted Grace.
Giles stopped, turned his head, afraid "To... get... dressed, mummy" he said.
"I didn't say anything about getting dressed, did I?" said Grace.
"No, but... mummy..." he blubbered.
"Go and cut seven switches!" she said.
Giles gulped and headed down the stairs, with Helen close behind him.
Giles emerged from the scullery door timorously, paranoid that the garden would be full of gawping people. It wasn't. Helen prodded him along cheerfully. Giles was as quick as he could possibly be. The garden was very large, but it was also fairly private and well sheltered. It was very unlikely that any casual passer-by would see him. Helen watched him and rejected a number of switches he cut, forcing him to find others until she was happy with his selection. Giles rushed back into the house, with Helen skipping along behind him.
Grace was waiting impatiently in the kitchen. "I want you over the kitchen table" she said.
Giles handed the switches to his mother and stood by the huge old table; its dark oak panels looked cold and indifferent. He bent over the end, and then shuffled himself forward to raise his bottom higher. He knew how Grace liked it.
Grace began strapping Giles' ankles to the table legs.
"Oh no, mummy, please..." Giles began pleading.
"After your filthy perverted disgusting behaviour, what did you expect?" she asked him.
"No, but I'm sorry, mummy, it won't ever happen again, please don't beat me so hard" said Giles crying again.
Helen watched as Grace tied Giles' wrists and brought the cord to the other end to fasten it to the other table legs. She knew that if Giles was being tied down, it was going to be an exemplary beating. She knew because she had received one just like it when Giles had lied and told their mother and father she had been flashing her knickers to boys.
"There" said Grace, finishing up "Now you don't need to worry, Giles, you can do whatever you like. Just try not to be too much of a baby."
Grace selected her first switch and whipped the air with it noisily a couple of times. She took up a position behind Giles and with a sour grimace cracked the switch across the top of his thighs. Giles screamed and strained against his bonds.
Victoria and Paul walked comfortably while the other four hobbled more stiffly along beside them.
"We've got to undo all the work we did in the punishment room" said Victoria.
"Oh" said Emily "I rather like the new look"
"Me too, but if we bring Giles there he's going to know we lied about the church" said Victoria.
"Does it matter anymore?" asked Emily.
"Maybe not, but I like the idea of him being afraid to go back there. It's a nice psychological touch" said Victoria.
"True, but it's still cool, and it'll be a lot of work to undo, and a waste of all that money" said Emily.
"She's got a point" said Paul.
"And it might be useful again, with other locals" said Alison.
"What other locals?" asked Victoria.
"Well, you know, if there are any" said Alison.
"Hey! Wait up!" came a shout from down the street.
Heads turned, and Emily groaned, as Lumpy Dave came jogging up the street with a carrier bag.
"At least he isn't lumpy at the moment" said Victoria quietly.
"Hi" said Dave, slightly breathlessly "What'cha doing?"
"Just walking" said Emily.
"Cool" said Dave making no move to go.
"What's in the bag?" asked Ben, receiving a scornful look from Emily in return.
"AD&D 3rd edition. I just got it, I'm gonna run a campaign, do you lot wanna play?" Dave asked excitedly.
Emily rolled her eyes, and tried to signal as much boredom and disinterest as it was humanly possible with body language and facial expression alone. No-one replied.
"I'll let you all have third level characters" he said "Everyone else will be first level."
Still the six of them stared at him disinterestedly.
"I'll give you a free magic item each!" he added, as an extra incentive.
"Thanks, Dave" said Victoria, eventually "But I think it might just be too exciting for us"
Dave looked confused "That's the point isn't it?" he said "It'll be exciting!"
"I think we've got enough excitement in our lives right now" said Victoria.
Dave looked at them all one by one hoping for a flicker of interest from at least one of them. Even Ben looked bored.
"Oh, okay then" said Dave sounding upset "I'd better get home and read the rules." He turned away, his shoulders down, and he trudged slowly away. Victoria watched him go, and she gave Emily a quick look.
"No!" said Emily.
Victoria gave her an apologetic smile "Dave?" she called out. Dave stopped and turned, not quite smiling.
"Yeh?" he asked without much hope.
"Listen, we're going to play a role-playing game now, do you want to join us?"
"Oh yeh!" he said enthusiastically and ran back to join them "Is it d20?"
"Come with us, you'll find out" she said, and she led the gang off again, towards the forest.
"Victoria!" said Emily reproachfully through gritted teeth.
"It'll be fun, relax" said Victoria.
Dave was positively lumpy again "Is it White Wolf?"
"No" said Victoria.
"Can I be multi-class? I usually like to play a fighter, wizard, thief, elf type character" said Dave growing more excited by the minute.
"No" said Victoria.
"Is it science fiction then? Can I have psionics?" he asked.
"It's not that kind of game" said Victoria.
"What kind of game is it then? Post apocalypse? Can I have psionics, or mutant powers?" he asked.
"I'll tell you" said Victoria "It's a James Bond game."
"James Bond!? Wow!" said Dave "Didn't TSR do one of those years and years ago? Is that the one?"
"No, this is our own version" said Victoria.
"Can I be a 00 agent, with a licence to kill?" asked David.
"Yes. In fact, you can be James Bond" said Victoria generously.
"Wow! Fantastic, thanks!" he said, and began humming the theme tune.
Emily looked at Victoria with a frown "No..." she said in desperation.
"Come on, it's better than being bored" said Victoria.
"I thought we had work to do?" said Emily.
"We have" said Victoria, with a smile.
"How does it work then, the game? Do I get to do a character, or is it pre-done 'cos it's James Bond?" asked Dave.
"It's more a real game, no dice or character sheets" said Victoria, wondering if he was ever going to shut up.
"LARP!?" he shouted excitedly.
"Oh God! He's talking a foreign language now" said Emily.
"He has been all along" said Alison.
"No! Live Action Role Playing!" he said loudly "Don't you know anything? I've always wanted to LARP but no-one does it round here and events are too expensive, and my mum won't let me go anyway."
"Great!" said Emily, betraying great unenthusiasm.
"I didn't know you lot did that. You didn't say" said Dave.
"We like to keep it a secret" said Victoria "And you're going to have to keep it a secret too, if you want to play?"
"Yeh I do, I will, I mean. I can keep a secret. Terry told me he saw Alice naked through the girls' changing room door last term, and that was a secret. I never told anyone" he said proudly "And that was two months ago!"
"Poor Alice" said Victoria "Does she know?"
"It was only her bum, but I don't think so. I only told Trevor and I made him promise not to tell anyone" said Dave.
"You told her brother!?" exclaimed Emily.
"Yeh, well he's not bothered is he. He's a good friend of Terry's, we play D&D together. He's a cleric, but he's a bit of a wuss. I shot him with an arrow last week by accident which wasn't good 'cos he was trying to turn some undead and it broke his concentration. Hawk got killed by a mummy as a consequence. He wasn't best pleased, but it wasn't my fault, I had a vial of holy water strapped to the arrow see, and when I rolled the dice..."
Giles was way beyond the limit of his endurance, but he was bound fast and there was nothing he could do but scream and beg for mercy, as Grace broke switch after switch on his legs and bottom. Eventually he stopped even this, and the kitchen quietened to the sounds of switch striking bare flesh.
Grace broke the switch again, and picked up the last of the seven.
"This one's yours, Helen" said Grace.
Helen took the switch, trying to look solemn. Grace guided her to the right spot, adjusted her grip on the switch, and then stood back. Helen swung the switch with vigour, striking Giles dead centre across the bottom.
"Good" said Grace "I think you're going to get the hang of this."
Helen struck again and again, drawing painful red lines on an already painfully bruised and welted bottom. She didn't neglect his legs either. She was disappointed when the switch broke after only five strokes.
Grace moved in quickly and began untying Giles. When she had finished Giles was forced to stand. His face as much a mess as his bottom and he continued to bawl.
"You may take a cold bath" said Grace "Helen you will watch him. In fact you can watch him for the rest of the day"
"Yes, mummy" said Helen "Oh, I was going to have some friends over this afternoon, mummy" she said hopefully.
"Well you can watch Giles at the same time can't you?" said Grace severely.
"Yes, mummy" said Helen, delighted.
"Giles? Do you have something to say?" asked Grace sternly.
"Yes, mummy. Sorry, mummy. Thank you, mummy" he mumbled.
"And?" said Grace looking pointedly at Helen.
"Sorry, Helen. Thank you, Helen" he said, his eyes fixed on the floor.
"If Giles does anything remotely rude while your friends are here" said Grace to Helen "I want to know about it immediately, and he'll go back over this table for another session of what he's already had, and I shall insist your friends watch."
Helen didn't think her mother would need to insist very forcefully. Her friends despised Giles almost as much as she did, and they'd give up a year's pocket money to see him thrashed.
"Get him out of my sight!" said Grace angrily.
"Come on Giles. Bath time" said Helen leading him away.
"Purge him!" said Grace, as they went.
Giles didn't even have the strength to groan as he hobbled off on quivering legs.
"... but that's only if you've got a +1 weapon, but they're ten a penny anyway, so it's no biggy" said Dave.
"Okay" said Victoria, growing frustrated. They stopped in the forest not too far from the den
"This is how it works, Dave. You're James Bond and you're searching for the secret SPECTRE headquarters where the killer Weapons of Mass Destruction are being hidden. You have to find the secret base, find the Weapons of Mass Destruction and steal them and escape. We'll be SPECTRE agents patrolling the forest trying to catch you, okay?" explained Victoria.
"Cool! How do I know what the Weapons of Mass Destruction will look like?" he asked.
"You won't" said Victoria "That's the tough part. They could be disguised as something innocent. But if you find them, you'll know."
"Have I got a gun?" he asked.
"Uh, yes, find a stick or something" suggested Victoria.
"It's okay, I've got one" said Dave pulling a frighteningly real looking toy gun from inside his trousers.
"I hope that's not real" said Emily.
"Nah, it's just a replica" said Dave "It should be Walther PPK or something, that's what James Bond would use, but it'll do."
"Well don't go shooting any clerics by accident" said Victoria.
"Unless it's the Reverend" said Emily with a giggle.
"You sit down by this tree and close your eyes. Count to a hundred, slowly, and then you can start" said Victoria "We'll head off, but we won't start patrolling for ten minutes. That way you've got a chance to disappear and we won't know where you are. And remember - the fate of the whole Western world relies on you" said Victoria.
"Will there be SPECTRE agents in the secret headquarters?" asked Dave.
"M didn't say, he just said it was a very dangerous mission and he didn't expect you to survive. Are you up for it 007?" said Victoria.
"You bet!" said Dave, and he began humming the theme tune again with enthusiasm as he sat and closed his eyes.
Continued in Chapter Fifty Two