Small town girls: life in the 1950s (for RussianBunny)

[Renton]

Jordan sighed and rubbed his eyes. It was always taxing to punish Olive, and it left him feeling drained. He stood up and headed over to his phone, where he dialed Jennifer's number. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, but he just wanted to make sure that things had been dealt with with both parties, so to speak. If his daughter was going to be spending time with Becky, it was important for him to know that Jennifer was on top of things.

The phone rang and a woman's voice said "Hello?" It didn't sound like Jennifer, and he assumed it was one of her maids. "I'd like to speak to Mrs. Simon," he said.

"One second," the woman said, as Jordan waited, hearing the woman call for Jennifer.

~~~~~~~

Becky waited for her mother to leave her room and then examined her bottom in the mirror. She winced when she saw the damage. Her cheeks were bright cherry red, with distinct hairbrush shapes peppering them. She sighed and headed to the bathroom where she ran a hot bath filled with fragrant bubbles. She undressed and eased herself in. The hot water stung her bottom at first, but soon the water enveloped her and she felt herself completely relaxed. It was a good tradeoff, she thought, as she closed her eyes and let the stress of the day slip quietly away.

[Bye_bye_birdie45]

Upstairs, Olive changed her clothes (carefully) into a pair of pajamas (soft ones, so they wouldn't irritate her skin), and laid on her bed, considering on taking a short nap before she went downstairs for dinner - or should she go through her scrapbooking stuff and work on some more pages? Before she could decide on something, her body made a decision for her, and she quickly fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~

Set on making sure everything at dinner would be perfect (especially since she knew her husband would be home, and she would break the news of Becky's trouble at school to him), Jennifer quickly started to get everything ready with the help on the maid, when the phone rang and Mildred went to answer it.

"Mrs. Simon, it's for you," Mildred answered, and she went over to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" She asked, watching with an eagle's eyes as Mildred started to prepare the apple pie for tonight. "Oh, hello, Pastor Driver, how are you? Is Olive alright?" After all, she assumed - given the good things about the pastor's daughter she'd heard from Beecky - that he probably already knew about the pow-wow.

[Renton]

"Hello there, Mrs. Simon," Jordan said, not thinking it was polite to refer to her on a first name basis yet. "Olive is fine. She's had quite a day to say to least. I guess I just wanted to hear your take on today's events, given that they involved our daughters. As far as I'm concerned, they made a mistake, and the principal punished them on his side, and I have punished Olive on mine. But I also think your Becky has been wonderful to Olive these last couple of days, and I don't think there's any reason to interrupt their friendship." He paused, waiting for Jennifer's reply. That was about the extent of his concern: so long as both girls had faced the proper consequences for their actions, he didn't they were bad influences for each other, and he hoped Jennifer felt the same way. Olive had never had a real friend before, and he didn't want the events of today to disrupt that.

~~~~~~~~

Becky soaked in her bath for a good long while before the heat finally dissipated she climbed out feeling refreshed and much, much better. She dried off and got dressed and headed downstairs, where she saw Jennifer hanging up the phone.

"Who was that, mama?" she asked as she headed toward the kitchen. As far as she was concerned, everything that had gone down tonight was behind her, and she was more than ready to be on the receiving end of her mother's affectionate post-spanking spoils. She knew some parents who whacked their kids in fury and never acted forgiving after the fact, and she was grateful that Jennifer was the exact opposite of that. Spankings were awful, but it was good to bond with her mom after the fact.

The aromas from the kitchen were wonderful; apple pie, it smelled like. Fall was here, and so apple pie would soon be a staple. In other words, it was Becky's favorite time of year, except perhaps for Christmas.

[Bye_bye_birdie45]

Upstairs, Olive - unfortunately, not one for taking long naps - woke up a good half-hour later, still with a sore bottom, but she tossed on a robe and quickly brushed her hairbrush through her hair a few times, before she set onto doing her homework. Her father had asked her to stay in her room until dinner, after all, and - if the time on her clock was right - that wasn't for another hour or so.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jennifer found herself nodding at Pastor Driver's words, before she spoke: "I completely agree with you, Pastor Driver, and I have punished Becky as well for her actions today. Both of our daughters seem to get along well with each other, and I haven't seen Becky this happy to have a friend like your daughter in quite some time. I think it'd be foolish to allow this to disturb such a nice friendship."

Thankfully, she and the pastor were on the same page, and she found herself hanging up (politely, with a goodbye) soon after and went back to making sure dinner was getting prepared.

"That was Pastor Driver, dear," Jennifer said, smiling and giving her daughter a small hug as she came into the kitchen. "He wanted to make sure you were alright, and that he didn't want today to ruin anything with your friendship with Olive, and I feel the same way."

[Renton]

Jordan was pleased with the phone call and bid Jennifer good night before returning to fix dinner. Once it was done he went up to Olive's room and knocked gently on her door. "Supper's ready, sweetheart," he said. "I made a roast chicken and sweet potato pie."

Jordan prided himself as a cook. He'd had to learn to fend for himself during his many years living alone while at divinity school. After marrying, he still cooked supper, splitting the duties with his wife. As he saw it, if the Lord could summon loaves and fish to feed his flock, the least a pastor could do was be able to feed his own daughter a good meal.

He went downstairs to wait for Olive, having prepped the table with a nice tablecloth and all the dishes and silverware in order. When she arrived he had a big smile for her. "Would you like to say grace tonight?" he asked. He knew it was usually his job, but he liked to ask her to do it from time to time.