A trip down memory lane

[cripmeister]

To be truthful, Mel had not even considered the possibility of even meeting any of the group of locals. Not that she was a loner, but she could be content with her own company when need be - she had set out on this trip in the expectation that she would be immersing herself in the experience with her grandparents, and it was not so long that she couldn't wait to spend time with her existing friends back home.

This was not to say that interacting with them and enjoying it was out of the question, however her first impression was that they seemed a little younger than her, and also that they were being rather loud for the quiet lakeside, and looked like they were leaving a fair amount of litter behind them. Old soul that she was, she commented on this to Dorothy on the walk back, wondering what her perspective was on such things, as she normally seemed fairly tolerant.

Dinner, though simple, was delicious, and Mel cleared her plate before sitting back contentedly, taking a moment to appreciate how relaxed she was after a long and full day. She had planned to spend the evening reading again, and maybe stay up a little later than her grandmother, but she soon realised she was ready to go to bed almost as soon as dinner was cleared away, and she had barely changed into her nightgown and climbed in before she was sound asleep.

That night, she had the best night's sleep she had in a long time, and woke up refreshed and ready to go at an earlier hour than she could remember. Quietly, because that seemed the way to do it, she got up and headed downstairs, still in her nightgown - well, it was not far from what most people of her generation would wear out as a dress - and sat on the porch to watch the morning. She was there when Dorothy woke up a short time later.

She laughed gently at the little speech about cleaning "I get it grandma. You are always talking about how it was hard work back in the day so it's kind of what I was expecting. But yeah taking one each sounds good, I'm sure I can manage one before lunchtime. Oh,, yes ma'am I mean" she corrected herself.

[justmedk]

Dorothy smiled affectionately when she heard Mel correct herself. She hadn't heard disrespect of course, but it was endearing all the same.

"Good girl", she praised her and kissed her forehead. "Now, what say you we get to work, hm? The sooner we get started, the sooner we're done"

When they'd cleared the table from breakfast, Dorothy began by showing Mel to the smaller of the two bathrooms, and telling her what needed to be done, showing her the materials, etc.

"When you're done", she said, "You can relax and do what you want. If you want to go for a walk around the area, that's fine. Just let me know, okay sweetie?", she asked rhetorically, before then warning her mildly:

"But I WILL be checking. Don't do a half-done job just to get off sooner, hm? I wouldn't have let your mom get away with half-doing her chores like that without consequences, and I won't let you either", she smiled and kissed Mel's cheek before she left her to her work, to clean the other one. She hummed happily. It was nice to have kids in the house again, even if only temporarily. She still vividly remembered - even more so with Mel's presence - daily life when Gina had been Mel's age.

Yes, it had been frustrating to the point of exhaustion at times. And they'd certainly gone a few rounds of arguments, a few of which had ended with a sore-bottomed Gina. But it had also been life-affirming and a true joy to see the look in her daughter's eyes when they had their heart-to-hearts, laugh with her when she'd been boy-crazy and comfort her when she'd been heartbroken over a breakup.

Dorothy loved her daughter with a bright, flaming passion, and she loved her granddaughter no less, biology be darned.



There was a kind of life in the house again that hadn't been there since Gina left as a young woman. And Dorothy was sure that Mel was going to have a good time here. She'd do her best to ensure that.

[cripmeister]

With breakfast completed (she had stuck to orange juice today and not insisted on trying the coffee) Mel helped her grandmother to clear away and then headed upstairs to get dressed. Her base layer was of course the full fitting underwear that was her only option, but over the top she went with a lightweight and fairly straight cut dress in a pale check, that reminded her somewhat of an old fashioned nurse uniform, but which seemed like a practical option for getting some physical work done.

Once she had returned, she listened with an attentive face as Dorothy laid out her responsibilities. It seemed simple enough, and she was eager to do a good job. When she actually got down to it however, she had to remind herself that this cleaning game was a lot more difficult the old fashioned way. Moreover, she had never really had to clean a bathroom properly by herself, and she realised that even in this smaller one there was a lot of ground to cover. It was slow going - especially when she kept being distracted by something, even just looking out the window at the beautiful summer's day she could not yet enjoy.

So it was that Dorothy had finished the larger bathroom well before Mel had got round all of hers, and had moved onto her next task of the day. Mel had to go and find her once she thought she was done, to ask if it was ok. Predictably, it was not quite there; there were a few things she had missed entirely and others she had not done thoroughly enough for Dorothy's liking, and so Mel ended up with a second, albeit shorter, list of things to do in the bathroom.

By now slightly impatient, she again was distracted by something before she even started, and came to realising how much of the day was slipping away with her stuck in this stupid bathroom. She quickly threw herself into the remaining tasks, rushing round and scrubbing everything she could remember.

A short time later, she had worked up a glow and actually managed to feel a sense of achievement at the difference she had made. She thought she had covered everything that her grandmother had told her... she had definitely done the important things, and thinking hard she couldn't remember anything else she had been told to do.

At long last, she felt like she was free to go out and enjoy the day and the countryside, and the drive to do so took over. She had been admiring the weather, and wishing she was out in it, since first thing, and now there was almost no hesitation in her hurriedly stowing her cleaning things away, rushing downstairs and out into the fresh air.

Mel walked a little way down the track that led to the property, before exploring a little way around, following other roads and seeing where they led, or just wandering between and around the fields, admiring the landscape which, while not exactly dramatic, was a huge change from the suburban sprawl that made up most of her experience.

It was some time later, when a pang in her stomach caused her to look at her watch and realise it was just about her usual lunchtime, possibly a little past. She remembered that they had taken lunch slightly later than that yesterday, but even so it was definitely around that time. Her second realisation was that she was by now quite some way from the farmhouse and she wasn't sure exactly how long the walk back was. With mounting frustration at herself for losing track of things, she started back. In the event, it was quite some way, and she was a little hot and flustered by the time she finally came to the front door.

"Hey, sorry if I'm late back for lunch" she announced as she entered - and it was totally sincere - "I didn't realise how far I'd walked."

[justmedk]

Dorothy wondered why she hadn't heard from Mel for a long time. Had she taken a break? That would just be postponing the trouble, it would be easier to just get it overwith. She went to the other bathroom to check on her, and when she found she wasn't there, she raised an eyebrow.

Then she noticed that Mel's shoes were gone from the hallway, and sighed. She had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but she had to lay down the groundrules from day one. She'd given Mel very clear instructions to clear it with her before leaving after her work was done.
And the work was not done. Yes, the most basic was done, and some of the more advanced stuff, sure. But she hadn't cleaned the inside of the cabinets, refolded the towels, scrubbed the walls instead of only the sink, etc.



She sighed, and went back to finish her own work. When it was done, she sat down in the living room and waited for Mel, as she watched one of her shows. She had to steel herself to what she knew she had to do.




When Mel wandered in a long time later, and apologized for being late for lunch, she looked up with a look on her face that was both stern and disappointed at the same time.


"That's not what you should be apologizing for, Melanie Humphries", she said, using her full name to get her attention. The tried and tested way for parents and other caregivers to get a child's attention.


"I specifically told you to come to me so I could check if it was done right, and THEN you could go", she said. "Not only did you not do that, you didn't do many of the things I actually told you to do. I do not expect much, Melanie, but I do expect that you do what I tell you to, without me needing to repeat it over and over again", she scolded mildly, then sighed.

"This kind of thing would not have been acceptable for your mom when she was your age, and it's not acceptable now either. I want you to go face the corner overthere", she pointed to the corner of the living room next to the window on one side, and the TV on the other.



"And I want you to stand there for 10 minutes to think about what you have done, and the bottom-warming you have coming", she pronounced the sentence and looked her granddaughter right in the eyes. "Yes, Melanie. I am very serious. And after we've had our little "chat", you will be doing the parts you neglected, instead of going out again as we talked about", she finished with a disappointed tone.

"Now, march, young lady", she pointed to the corner again, slapping her sturdy wooden hairbrush against her thighs as she said it.

[cripmeister]

(Where exactly has the hairbrush come from? Has she been sitting with it the whole time?)

Mel snapped back at Dorothy's tone and at the use of her full name - something she very rarely heard within the family. She had already been fairly contrite, and embarrassed by her lateness, but the sterness of the response was not what she was used to from her grandmother and it took her aback.

What was just as unfamiliar was the scolding that followed, gentle though it may have been by 1950s standards. What Mel could not deny was that it was entirely justified, and she realised that she had gone out without checking first, and she had done a fairly half-hearted job of her chores as well, just as Dorothy said. Having entered the house fairly upbeat in spite of her apologetic air, she quickly found herself staring at her shoes.

She could not help but nod in agreement at the announcement that her actions would not have been acceptable - she just wanted more than anything to be back in favour with her grandmother - but she was startled by the instruction to go and face the corner which followed it. A look of puzzlement crossed her face as she grasped what was going on, which turned swiftly into one of shock as she heard the account of what was to follow. Although, at this stage, her understanding of a "bottom-warming" was entirely theoretical, and she was still not entirely at the stage where she could process and accept what was about to happen to her.

Nonetheless, when the instruction was reiterated, she made her way over to the corner, her lower lip already quivering slightly as she did so. She felt truly awful that she had disappointed her grandmother at such an early stage in her stay; this was supposed to have been an experience for them to bond and share experiences, and yet Mel had screwed up only a couple of days in, to the point her grandmother was sending her to stand in the corner like a naughty child.

Reaching the corner, Mel stood awkwardly, shifting her weight, unsure of exactly what was going on as she commenced the time honoured (but to her totally unfamiliar) routine.

[justmedk]

(I think it's fair to say that in the intervening time, she could have brought it from her nightstand?)

Dorothy sighed when Mel wandered into the corner as ordered. She hated having to do this, but she also knew that she had to establish that breaking rules had consequences. Mel was generally very well behaved, so she didn't think that Gina would have had reason to spank her too often. Not that they really talked about such things apart from when she had adopted Mel, and Dorothy had tried to pass off the old "spanking brush" to her daughter as a kind of "family heirloom", where Gina had told her that she had no intention of using that form of discipline.
Dorothy hadn't mentioned it again out of respect for Gina's decision, and it hadn't come up either. But she assumed that in the intervening years, Gina would have likely changed her mind.


She didn't say anything as the minutes ticked away, making the experience as drawn out as possible, before finally, after what must have semed like an eternity to Melanie, she called her granddaughter to her. She was sitting in a solid, straight-backed chair in the middle of the room.

"Alright, Melanie", she said firmly, but not angrily. "Come here now."

She looked up at her when she did.

"I am very disappointed in what you did today, sweetheart", she told her, disappointment obvious on her face, but her tone was more sad than angrry. "I thought I could trust you to follow instructions. That I didn't need to be right next to you constantly to make sure things are done properly the first time. You know that you can always ask if you're unsure on how to do something, or want me to check something. In fact, I specifically told you to do that. That wasn't to be mean to you, I hope you know this", she looked her in the eyes. "It was to make sure you didn't leave anything out. There's a reason why we're only doing bathrooms todayt, Melanie, and that's because it is extra important that IT is clean.", she sighed, and then patted her lap.


"You know the drill, I presume. Dress up, panties down, and over my lap", she instructed, and readjusted her own seat to provide the largest platform possible for Melanie to lie over.

[cripmeister]

Those intervening minutes did indeed feel like an eternity for Melanie as she stood restlessly in the corner, waiting for she was not exactly sure what. Her overriding emotion remained uncertainty, although her feelings of guilt and upset were still biting, as she contemplated her grandmother's disappointed words to her moments before.
Mel bit her lip as she dwelt on her situation. Here she was, trying to act and be accepted as a young adult, and someone to be taken seriously by her grandparents, and yet within a few days of arriving at their home she had messed up and lost her grandmother's trust, and now she had been told off and sent to stand in the corner like a naughty toddler.

It came to her that if she still wanted her grandmother to end up with a good opinion of her, at the very least she could be seen to take the consequences of her actions with good grace and in a mature way, or as far as that was possible. To that end she tried to stop shifting around and stood up straight in the corner, remembering all she had once been told about the importance of good posture back in the day. She was still unsure of what do to with her hands though, and they went from clasped in front of her, to straight by her sides, to fiddling with the material of her dress, a few times before she was summoned out of the corner.

Again trying to present herself favourably, she turned around smartly and stepped slowly across to where her grandmother was now seated, making an effort not to drag or stomp her feet. She did keep her eyes downcast the whole way though, not from any kind of attitude but from genuine embarrassment at her predicament.

She realised that Dorothy was setting herself up for further discussion of the subject, and Mel was not so naïve as to think that the ten minutes stood in the corner would be considered full atonement for her poor judgement - after all, she was not actually a toddler and even for a toddler ten minutes on the naughty step would not be an especially severe punishment (bottom warming had been metaphorical, surely, or perhaps she had even misheard or misinterpreted the words). Her principal expectation was of another scolding, the previous one having been no more than a warm up.

Even with this expectation however, she was not totally emotionally prepared for the lecture that Dorothy then commenced. Every word hit home with her as totally true and valid. A few sentences in and Mel had tears in her eyes she thought she would soon have to wipe away.
That emotional state was very suddenly brought up short by her grandmother's next instruction though. Surely she had misheard, and yet she knew she had not. The words had been perfectly clear.

"Wh...what... wh.." was all she could say, desperately seeking some kind of clarification or explanation, but lacking any starting point. For the first time since her first scolding she looked her grandmother in the face, her expression pleading for guidance rather than reprieve.

[justmedk]

Dorothy was genuinely surprised. So Gina had never taken her daughter over her knee? That was a bit of a shock. Mel was a good girl. She was polite, she was well-mannered, intelligent, and very pleasant. The fact that Gina had managed to raise her to that without making use of the time-honored punishment did cause her to waver a bit, but only for a bit. She knew exactly what would have happened to Gina in this case, and that's what was going to happen now.


It was genuine confusion Dorothy saw in Melanie's face, and she sighed, though not impatiently.

"You're going to lay over my knees, sweetie", she said calmly, "And you're going to get a good old fashioned bare-bottom spanking. That means that I want you now to take your panties down, and to lift up your dress, so I can get to your bare bottom.
Spankings are on the bare bottom for several reasons, but the most important one is so that I can make sure I don't spank you too hard. I want to teach you a lesson, I don't want to hurt you. You know that, I trust", she met Mel's eyes.


"So now...please come here", she said and helped Mel to obey the instructions, then gently tugged her over her knees, and adjusted her so that the girl's bottom was the tallest part of her anatomy, the pale, milky-white cheeks up in the air, as a cool breeze in the hot sommer afternoon came in from the open window. The chair was high enough so that Mel's feet and hands couldn't reach the floor, and Dorothy took a firm grip around her granddaughter's waist, holding her closely against her, both to make sure that she didn't wriggle off her lap during the spanking, but also to give Mel a bit of "human touch".

She took a deep breath as she had a momentary flashback to the last "conversation" of this kind she'd had with Gina a little more than 20 years earlier.


"Now....before we start, Melanie", she said calmly. "There's no need to try and "take it like a big girl". Spankings hurt, and they're embarassing, and it's okay to cry. You'll feel better afterwards.", she said calmly, as she rested the cool wood of the backside of her hairbrush on Melanie's bottom, but very soon decided that there was no need to draw it out any longer, lifted the brush, and brought it down on Melanie's upturned bottom with a resoundingly loud SMACK right in the middle of her bottom.


Dorothy let the first smack sink in, before she went on to land the second smack...and then third....and fourth. And by this time she was starting to find a rhythm.

[cripmeister]

At that point all the dots came together for Melanie. It was not a pleasant realisation. She wanted to run, or for the ground to swallow her up, or anything to avoid the awful and frankly absurd situation she was faced with. Yet somehow, all she was able to do was persist with her strategy of doing exactly as she was told.

With hands now shaking slightly, she took ahold of the cotton dress and slowly lifted it upwards. As it came up she had cause to wish she was wearing one of the looser falling skirts she had over the past days which might have preserved most of her modesty. As her hands reached her hips, she felt for the waistband of her panties; again, 50s fashions did not make this as easy as it might have been, and her hands were above her belly button before she could hook her thumbs inside and, with a deep breath, pushed the white cotton down just far enough to expose her bottom to the air.

The sensation was unusual, but she did not have long to dwell on it before she found herself pitched forward towards her grandmother's waiting lap. Bending her knees and reaching out to try and steady her fall and not land too heavily, she found that her efforts ended with her jackknifed over Dorothy's lap, so far forward that her feet were no longer on the floor, and her fingertips were not quite brushing it on the other side.

Once the surprise had died down, she realised that her naked posterior was now pointed upwards and the centre of her grandmother's view. No one had seen her so intimately since she was a very young child, and Dorothy had never done so, so there was no small mercy in the argument "It's nothing I haven't seen before." No matter how ashamed she had been earlier at being seen as a naughty child rather than a sensible adult, that was as nothing to how she knew she was being seen now. The prospect was so cringeworthy that she barely even took in Dorothy's next advice. She was just desperate for this whole miserable experience to end.

A wiser soul might not have so eagerly wished away those precious seconds before the spanking began. All of a sudden, she was rocked forwards as the hairbrush came down onto her pale, unblemished, never-before-spanked backside.

Melanie yelped loudly, as much from surprise as from pain, although that was considerable. She had never felt anything quite like it, at least until the second one arrived. She was slightly prewarned this time as to the sting a wooden hairbrush could convey to a bare bottom, but it still took her aback. This time she winced and gave a sharp intake of breath, which she had not quite let go by the time the third smack landed.

She attempted to catch her breath, but just as she got over the shock of the impact, the next one came crashing down.

"Ohmygod" she managed to get out breathlessly between the next two swats, genuinely amazed at just how much this was starting to sting, before the next one cut her off and elicited another, sharper yelp, landing as it did right on top of an already sore spot.

[justmedk]

Dorothy had quickly found a steady rhythm and was making sure to cover all of Melanie's plump bottom with smacks. She found that she still had the strength and stamina to go through with the job, to her surprise, but pleasant surprise.


"I do hope that you'll think of this next time you're tempted to disobey, Melanie, or to only half-heart a task set before you" she scolded mildly as she started to focus on Mel's "sit-spots" - the sennsitive area where bottom and upper thighs meet, bringing the hairbrush down with a certain "flick" of her wrist that somehow intensified the impact. She was starting to remember how intensely she had disliked these "conversations" with Gina, but how necessary they had been, too.