A CURE FOR KLEPTOMANIA

BY MAX SMART

Part 1

Wherein we learn of Jenny's problem and its proposed cure, and
Jenny is asked an embarrassing question.

Dear readers of "Discipline Quarterly". We are pleased to present
another letter from our "Strict Mom", wherein she relates a long
tail of exemplary discipline. There is in it much wonderful
information and advice for the "strict minded" parent. Enjoy!

Dear Professor,

Well, here I am again, with another story to relate that I hope
your readers will find both enjoyable and informative. I'm sure
that you will remember me as the "Strict" mom of Nancy and Timmy,
and that you will remember my two previous letters describing two
different "treatments" that my husband Dave, Timmy and I applied
to Nancy. As a follow up, I can happily report that Nancy has
improved both her behavior (as a result of her first session,
involving an old-fashioned encounter between Nancy's naked bottom
and a number of well applied birch rods) and her grades (as a
result of her second session, involving the wonderful "Seat of
Learning" that Dave invented.)

It is true that Dave and I were very happy to see Nancy become a
better behaved, more studious girl. Yet I must confess something.
Dave and I had enjoyed disciplining Nancy to such a degree that
we found ourselves secretly wishing that she would again do
something to merit a serious training session. Through our
experience with Nancy we learned that we are natural
disciplinarians. While we loved the beneficial results of
discipline, we loved even more the actual discipline itself. To
us, there was nothing like the joy of watching a young culprit's
frightened and humiliated looks as she (or he) is forced to
disrobe. We love nothing better than to take every measure to
increase her (or his) humiliation, embarrassment, and fear and we
make sure to watch her (or his) facial expressions closely to see
evidence of the emotions she (or he) is experiencing.

In addition to this is the wonderful sight of a bared young
bottom, or other sensitive area, served up for sacrifice; the
wonderful sound of the squeals, yells, and screams, as we
carefully and lovingly inflict pain of various types and
intensities; the energetic struggles against restraints as the
culprit finds that the pain is simply too much to bear (but which
must be born, nevertheless); and the fascinating changes in
appearance of the "area of operations" as the birch, cane, or
other implement does its beneficial work.

In spite of our desires, we would never impose a punishment that
wasn't deserved or needed. Since Nancy was being a good girl; it
would not be right to invent reasons to punish her, tempting
though that may be. Dave and I were forced to resolve ourselves
to wait for slippage in behavior on the part of Nancy, or perhaps
an outbreak of previously unseen bad behavior from Timmy.

In addition to becoming a good girl, I noticed another change in
Nancy. She seemed to have become very interested in being on the
OTHER side of the discipline equation. A couple of times she
asked me if she would be allowed to participate in any
punishments that Timmy might earn. Once she remarked that she had
heard of a friend of hers getting the cane, and she expressed the
wish that she had been allowed to witness it and even to help
administer it.

I welcomed this awakening in Nancy, since it made me feel that
our mother/daughter bond could be strengthened through a "shared
interest". I assured her that she would be allowed to be an
active participant in case Timmy ever required discipline, but I
cautioned her not to get her hopes up too high, since Timmy had
as yet showed no signs of straying down dangerous paths.

"Oh, mom, I wish there was somebody that we could punish!" she
lamented charmingly, and I felt bad that I couldn't help her
satisfy her desires.

It was the very next day that my sister Beth called me on the
phone.

"Hello, Beth! What's up?"

"Oh, Marge, something terrible!"

"What? Beth, tell me."

"It's Jenny."

"What? Is she hurt? What is it?"

"No, no, she's not hurt, and everyone is OK, physically, that is.
Marge, Jenny has been stealing things, apparently quite a lot of
things, and the way we found out was that she got caught
shoplifting."

"That's incredible, Beth. Not Jenny." Not Jenny, indeed. Such a
well-behaved, well-mannered girl. It truly seemed impossible.

"Yes, Marge, our wonderful, good Jenny. The child psychologist
says she has kleptomania, and she's not sure what can be done
about it, short of long term therapy. But we can't wait a long
time, Marge! Jenny needs help right away, otherwise she'll get
herself in real trouble and disgrace the family. We searched her
room and found quite a few valuable items that had been missing
from our house and from neighbors."

"Gosh, Beth, I don't know what to say." And I didn't. But a germ
of an idea was forming in my mind. But how could I suggest what I
had in mind to Beth - a mother who would never lay a finger on
her darling children? To my amazement, it was Beth that initiated
the subject.

"Marge, I know that you were able to bring Nancy under control. I
mean, the improvement in her behavior and grades in the last six
months has been amazing. I know that you did something with her,
maybe a bit drastic, but it seems to have worked. Oh, Marge, do
you think you might be able to help Jenny?"

I smiled to myself as I said, "You know Beth, we just might be
able to help, but you have to agree to give me free rein."

Marge hesitated, "Well I don't...Oh, yes, Beth, certainly! Do
whatever it takes to help our Jenny!"

I was truly shocked to hear about Jenny's recent behavior. It was
the last thing anybody would expect. Jenny was 14 years old,
about two years younger than her cousin, my daughter Nancy. Nancy
and Jenny had been great friends up until they reached ages 13
and 11. At that time Nancy was well into puberty and already
pretty worldly - and trying her best to increase her worldliness.
Really, Nancy was a pretty normal teenage girl for this day and
age. In fact, as far as I new, she might still have been a
virgin, which would be somewhat unusual. She says she is, but I'm
quite sure she's gotten to at least third base on a regular
basis. At any rate she has quite a vocabulary of words sure to
shock parents.

Jenny, however, got religion. Where she got it from is a mystery.
Her mother, Beth, was never more religious than I was - we both
more or less accepted our Catholic faith without paying a lot of
attention to it. Jenny, around age ten, began to get very
serious. She started going to church every morning and putting up
holy pictures in her room. As she went through puberty it only
seemed to intensify. She wore drab, loose-fitting blouses and
long skirts, attempting to hide her budding young woman's body.

Now the other side of the picture was that her body was pretty
hard to hide. She had developed quite a large set of breasts and
a bottom to go with them, although she was not fat in the least.
But instead of adding to her happiness and sense of confidence,
Jenny's body only seemed to make her self-conscious. It made boys
notice her, but she didn't appear to want to be noticed by them.
I had formed the idea that Jenny was trying desperately to deny
her own sexuality, that she perhaps had a very normal or even
above normal interest in sex and boys, but that it scared her and
also seemed wrong to her, based on her strong religiosity. A very
interesting case!

Who knows but that Jenny's kleptomania was a strange way of
release for her tempestuous inner feelings? Perhaps the method of
treatment that we would give her for her kleptomania might also
have some benefit in helping Jenny resolve her inner sexual
conflicts?

When I related the phone call from Beth to my husband Dave, I
found him to be quite enthusiastic and excited. This wasn't much
of a surprise to me. I was very aware that Dave had been lusting
after his young niece ever since she started sprouting breasts,
and I watched his interest grow as THEY (as well as her hips)
grew. And Dave wasn't alone. Timmy seemed to have had a crush on
his cousin for a couple of years. It excited me to think of both
of my men getting a chance to exercise their "disciplinary"
instincts on such a luscious morsel as young Jenny.

Of course Nancy's developing interest in the possibilities of
discipline was likely to be very stimulated and rewarded by
Jenny's lessons. As for myself, I have to admit that my instincts
for applying corporal punishment had definitely come out of my
mental closet since we first laid Nancy's bottom bare to the
twigs. And any true disciplinarian knows that there is nothing
quite like a new, naive victim on whom to operate.

Here is how my conversation with my husband went, once I had
brought him up to date on the contents of my phone conversation
with Beth.

"Well, darling, do you think we might be able to help out my
sister, and enact a cure on her beautiful daughter?" I asked him.

Dave had acquired a faraway look in his eye. "Well, I think we
might be just the people to cure Jenny. And I...I think we might
find it an enjoyable task."

"I'm quite sure YOU would." I replied pointedly, "And, I must be
honest, I confess that I would be very curious to see how the
little miss priss might act under some of the same sort of
treatment that we've dealt out to Nancy."

Dave hesitated, "Do you mean to say that we would treat Jenny the
same way we treated Nancy? I doubt Beth would permit that." and
Dave got a somewhat mournful look on his face.

"Oh, don't you worry. She'll permit just about anything. She's
desperate. I already told her that she must give us free rein and
she readily agreed." I answered with a smile, "I'm afraid Jenny
will have to put up with about anything we feel is good for her."

This thought seemed to make Dave very happy. "Hmmm," he mused, "I
would think it might take a very great deal of 'treatment' to
cure a full-blown case of kleptomania. Certainly more than she
could handle in one session."

"I'm way ahead of you there, Dave. There's five weeks left of
summer vacation. Beth has agreed that Jenny will stay with us for
two weeks starting two weeks from today. That will give Jenny a
week back home, after her ˇ®treatment', before she has to return
to school. Beth thought Jenny might need the week to meditate and
absorb the lessons we'll be giving her. I have no doubt that
there is some truth to that, but I didn't mention to Beth that
Jenny will also need a good week just to recover physically from
her experience. What do you think. Dave? Will two weeks be enough
time?"

"I should think so!" Dave responded enthusiastically. "We could
give her a few days free just to see if she steals anything. In
which case especially stern measures would be called for. We
could give her her punishments in three or four sessions with a
day or two in between to let her recover as well as to let her
worry about what was next. Too bad we have to wait two weeks,
though!"

"Yes, but look at the bright side. In two weeks we can plan our
strategies and make any preparations that might be necessary.
You'll have time to exercise your diabolical inventiveness. Also,
Dave, don't you think it would be a good idea to include Timmy
and Nancy in the fun, uh, that is, effort?"

"Yeah!" Dave laughed, "It will be a great exercise in family
togetherness. I know for sure that Timmy would very much enjoy
tormenting, that is, helping, his lovely older cousin."

"As would you! Am I right?"

"Yes, I must admit, there have been a number of times that I've
pictured that voluptuous young body upended over the saw-horse
and squirming under the ministrations of various implements. Her
body seems to be quite a canvas on which to exercise our art."
Dave answered, "But you, my dear, how about you."

"Yes," I said dreamily, "I've had similar thoughts - I admit it
too!"

"Hmmm." said Dave, "I'm beginning to think that Jenny is going to
have quite a memorable time with us. I wonder if she'll be able
to stand up to it?"

"Oh, I think so. She's a very strong young lady. She won't like
it very much but she'll be able to endure it quite well."

Dave and I let Nancy and Timmy in on our project the next morning
at breakfast. We thought it would be nice to give them some
exciting news to help them through their day at school.

Timmy spoke up right away, "Really, Mom? We're going to get to
give it to Jenny? Will we get to strip her? Completely naked? Oh,
can I do it? Will we birch her? Oh, boy, I can hardly wait! Oh,
Mom, Dad...two weeks is too long! Let's start today!"

Nancy had a dreamy look on her face as we all endured Timmy's
boisterous tirade. Then she said, "She'll be with us for a two
whole weeks?"

"Yes, dear." I answered, "Do you think that's long enough?"

"Sure, but I wonder if her bottom will last for a two whole weeks
of what we might do to it..." Nancy continued.

Dave replied thoughtfully, "Well, of course Jenny has quite a
large, firm bottom, even larger than yours, Nancy (Nancy
blushed). This provides both a great deal of surface area for us
to work on as well as an ability to withstand a great deal of
shock. I have a feeling it will take us a while to really wear it
out. Plus, we'll be using a variety of implements which will
abuse her bottom in different ways. But don't worry, Nancy; we
are certainly planning on making use of more areas of Jenny's
body than just her bottom. Variety is the spice of discipline as
well as of life."

I was curious as to what was going on in my daughter's mind.
"Tell us, Nancy dear, did you have a particular part of Jenny's
body that you would like to see disciplined?"

Nancy blushed and mumbled, "Oh, no...I...was just concerned for
her b-bottom, I guess..."

"Come on, Nancy, you can tell us!" I prompted.

Nancy blushed again. "I...I guess I'd like to p-punish her big
b-breasts - but I'm sure we couldn't do that, huh?"

I noticed both Dave's and Timmy's eyes gain an extra sparkle at
this. One had to admit that Jenny's boobs were a most noticeable
and impressive attribute. It was easy for me to understand the
combination of resentment and envy that led Nancy to focus on
Jenny's breasts. I shared the feeling. And I could imagine the
male lust that fueled Dave and Timmy's interest.

I said, "Why of course we can, Nancy. Not only can we, we will.
How about this - since you have a special interest in this area,
why don't we put you in charge of Jenny's bosom? Think about it
and see if you can devise some special treats for it that would
make you happy and that would help her learn a valuable lesson?"

Nancy seemed very pleased. "OK, Mom. I will, but with your and
Daddy's help, OK?"

"What about me?" cried Timmy.

"Hmm" I answered, "Timmy, why don't you think about how to punish
any OTHER part of Jenny that you like, and leave her breasts to
Nancy, since that's her special interest?"

"Oh, boy! OK, Mom! Man, oh, man, is she going to get it!" was
Timmy's exultant response. I had a suspicion as to which part of
Jenny's body Timmy might be especially interested in.

The next two weeks were full of activity, planning, and
anticipation. Dave spent a lot of time in his workshop. Timmy and
Nancy both consulted with Dave, and Nancy and I had some very
enjoyable mother-daughter conversations. Often the four of us
would get together and compare notes. As the time for Jenny's
arrival got nearer our excitement grew. Sex with Dave became
simply wonderful as we discussed and refined our plans before and
during each session.

One evening Nancy was helping me wash the dishes. She said, "Mom,
I'm sure looking forward to punishing and disciplining Jenny."

"So am I, dear."

"One thing that makes me really excited, Mom, is thinking of
Jenny having to be naked in front of all of us, particularly
Daddy and Timmy, since they're male, and all. 'Cause, like,
Jenny's so SHY and MODEST. She hates to hear anyone even talk
about body parts or sex and she's always wearing those long
skirts and high collars. She's going to be SO embarrassed, isn't
she, Mom?"

"I suspect she will be, dear. Does that make you glad?"

"Oh, yes, Mom! I can hardly wait to see Miss Goody Two-Shoes have
to show everything she's got to Daddy and Timmy - how
scrumptious! And I can't imagine how she'll bear it, she's so
modest." Nancy said with a big grin, "And then, on top of it all,
to have her get the thrashing and punishment she deserves - gosh,
sometimes I think I must be dreaming!"

After a bit, Nancy continued, "Mom, what must Jenny be thinking
now? Does she know what's going to happen to her?"

"No, dear. We told her mom to tell her that she would be spending
a couple of weeks with us and that we would be helping her to get
over her kleptomania. Aunt Beth tells me that Jenny feels
terrible about the things she's done, and wants desperately to be
able to stop. According to Aunt Beth, your cousin is very nervous
about her upcoming visit, but mostly because she's ashamed that
we know about the trouble she's gotten herself into. So you can
be sure, Nancy, that whatever occurs to Jenny when she's here
will come as a complete surprise to her. Isn't that nice?"

"Cool, mom! I love surprises, especially when it's not me that's
getting surprised." Dave kept me informed as to his and the
children's confabs. Timmy and Nancy didn't have trouble coming up
with ideas for tormenting their pretty cousin, but Dave had to
work with them quite a lot to weed out those ideas that were
either way too severe or too impractical, and to refine the
others into workable schemes. I have to admit I was both
impressed and slightly horrified at the cruelty of my children's
imaginations. It helped for me to remember that this entire
effort was ultimately for Jenny's own good, even if we were going
to enjoy it as much as possible!

Beth dropped by one afternoon and had a cup of coffee with me in
our kitchen. She had learned a new detail or two about Jenny's
exploits. It seems that Jenny had on a few occasions stuffed the
items she was stealing down her blouse between her breasts or
down the front or back of her panties. The panties method worked
because she wore loose fitting skirts. As a matter of fact, when
she was arrested the cops found items of jewelry between her
breasts, between the cheeks of her bottom, and in the crotch of
her panties. I took some pleasure in imagining the scene of
Jenny's strip search. It must have been priceless! At any rate,
Jenny had made use of her breasts and her other private parts to
help her in her crimes. I was very interested to hear this, as
you might imagine. After all, it started me thinking about ways
to make Jenny's punishments fit her crimes.

I also got Beth to assure me that Jenny would not be getting her
period during her time with us. Mothers have a way of knowing
things like this about their daughters, even shy, modest
daughters like Jenny.

Beth blushed then and said, "Marge, I-I was wondering if I might
be allowed to watch some of what you do to, uh, that is, with
Jenny. It might help me to keep her in line after she comes
home."

I was surprised and delighted! Maybe she shared the sadistic
gene? "Well, Beth, I think it would be best if you WEREN'T
present during Jenny's treatments. Sometimes a parent can get too
tender hearted for their child's own good. But, I tell you what,
how would you like to come over afterwards and watch some
selected parts on video?"

Beth seemed quite happy with this offer.

Finally the day came for Jenny's arrival. It was Monday
afternoon. Her mother drove her over, and we all sat together in
the living room. Jenny sipped nervously at a Coke and mostly kept
her eyes lowered. Timmy and Nancy seemed to be beside themselves
with excitement and had a hard time holding down their fidgeting.
Dave and I managed to maintain an appearance of welcome, concern,
and quiet authority.

Beth said, "Now, Jenny, you are to obey your Aunt Marge and Uncle
Dave -no matter what they tell you. I understand that they have
some unusual methods but they have clearly worked on your cousin
(Nancy gave the requisite blush)."

"Yes, Jenny" I said, "I don't know what your mother has told you,
but you are here for a very serious purpose. What you have done
is extremely shameful and we must take whatever steps that are
necessary to see to it that you never do it again. Do you agree,
Jenny, that what you have done is very shameful? Jenny?"

"Uh, y-yes, ma'am." she mumbled in her Coke.

Jenny was even more subdued than normal, it seemed to me, and
perhaps even more drably and modestly dressed than normal, if
that were possible. Her long, lustrous black hair was done up in
a tight bun, in her typical style. She wore no makeup, no
jewelry. She wore a loose, dark brown sweater over a white shirt
that was buttoned all the way up, complemented by a long pleated
brown skirt. It was hard to decide if she looked more like a
British schoolgirl or like a nun. A very CURVY schoolgirl or nun.

Yet even so her beauty showed through. She couldn't hide her high
cheekbones, the full, pouty, bee-stung lips, her dark brown eyes
with their long lashes. And even her loose sweater couldn't help
but hint at its impressive contents. I felt a sense of
exhilaration at the degree to which this young, innocent beauty
was coming under our power. Jenny was truly ours to do with as we
liked for two weeks.

Actually that wasn't completely true. Whatever we did with the
dear girl, it had to be effective. We really needed to cure her
of her kleptomania in order to maintain our credibility. In fact,
if we were able to cure her other parents might turn to us with
THEIR problem daughters or sons, thus inadvertently supplying us
fodder for our new-found hobby. Our future indeed seemed to turn
on how successful we were with Jenny. This fact didn't bode well
for Jenny.

Jenny's mother was carrying a small cardboard box. She rested it
on her lap.

"As you requested, Marge, I've brought almost all of the things
that Jenny has stolen. Instead of returning them, we paid the
stores or asked offended families for the loan of their stolen
goods for a short time. We have been able to retain almost
everything. I hope they help."

Jenny moaned softly with embarrassment, keeping her eyes down.

"Well," I said, "let's have a look."

Beth took all of the items out of the box and set them on our
coffee table. There were mostly items of jewelry, such as
earrings and bracelets and necklaces. There was a very cute jewel
encrusted little wind-up alarm clock. Another thing stood out.
Not everyone would perhaps know what it was, but I recognized it
instantly as a small vibrator, designed for clitoral stimulation.

I picked it up. "Do you know what this is, Jenny?"

Jenny went pale. "No, ma'am, I don't."

"Then why did you take it? It seems so different from the other
things you found attractive."

"I - I was curious. I - I found it in Mrs. Greenberg's jewelry
case, so I thought I'd see what it was."

"But you haven't figured it out yet?" I continued pressing.

"No, ma'am." Jenny replied, but her blush made me wonder just
what she did know.

I turned to Beth. "Well, Beth, I think that we have all we need.
You can be sure that Jenny is in good hands, and that she will be
a different girl when you get her back."

Beth thanked us, cautioned Jenny to obey us in everything, said
goodbye, and left.

"Jenny," I began, "you have behaved abominably, inexcusably. Do
you agree?" Jenny began to cry.

"I asked you a question, young lady."

"Ohh, yes, ma'am. I've been very bad!" she managed to blurt out
between sobs.

"Well, never fear, my girl, you are here to be cured. But you are
also here to be punished. In fact your punishment and cure are
almost the same thing, except that in addition to being punished
you are going to be taught self-discipline. Self- discipline
means the ability to NOT do some things that you very much want
to do as well as to DO some things that you very much don't want
to do. You will be given many situations in the next few days in
which you will be required to use self- discipline. Whenever your
self-discipline fails, your punishments will increase. Do you
understand?"

Jenny seemed confused. "P-punishment? I-I, that is, m-mom told me
you were going to help me get rid of my k-k-klepto...my stealing
problem. B-but p-punish-- ment? W-what kind of punishment?" she
pouted.

"You will find out soon enough, young lady. Now stop asking
impertinent questions. I will tell you that your punishment won't
begin until this Wednesday, so you'll have a few days to meditate
on your behavior. However, your DISCIPLINE training starts right
now. You will instantly do anything you are told by myself or
your Uncle Dave. You don't have to obey Nancy or Timmy at the
moment, until we tell you different. Now, I have a question for
you, and I expect you to answer it honestly."

"Y-yes, ma'am?"

"Do you masturbate?"

Jenny almost fell off her chair. I can't imagine her being more
shocked. "W-what?"

"You heard me, Jenny. You DO know what that word means, don't
you?"

"Y-yes, b-but I-I c-can't..." Jenny was clearly dumfounded. I
noticed mischievous grins on Dave's, Nancy's and Timmy's faces.

"Can't tell us? So you DO masturbate?"

"No! N-no, I don't. It's a sin! Ohhhh!" Jenny was mortified. Her
face was bright red.

"Are you sure, Jenny? You never play with yourself down between
your legs?" "Ohhh, Aunt Marge!"

"Yes or no, Jenny."

"No! I never do that! Never! I'm a good girl!" she sobbed.