Reader’s Note: This is Joanne Swift’s journal, adapted for reading, detailing the events around October 8th (Saturday) 2016 – after Tom has finished reading her and Taylor’s journals of chapters 1-5.
Tom finished reading every word of what we wrote – he even edited them and sent them back to us to make the grammatical changes.
Once my husband had calmed down, he called a family meeting in the living room with Donny, Scotty, and Janie, and then brought Taylor and me in after he’d had a chance to talk with them about what they’d seen.
“First of all, let me make clear that there is no ‘cloud’.” He explained that ‘the cloud’ was just a fancy way of saying that it was someone else’s computer. “There’s no deleting anything off the cloud. You may have deleted your access to the file, but it’s still out there someplace on the backup drives. You haven’t deleted it.”
This was not good news.
It was also not the biggest revelation. Tom had decided that there would be some changes around the house, and that they began with Taylor.
“For how long?” Taylor asked with a pout, before she’d even heard what they were going to be. She often exaggerated to make everything seem like it was such an injustice when it happened to her, but Tom didn’t flinch.
“You may not want to ask questions like that right now.” Tom advised her that it may be best to wait and let him tell her how things are going to be before trying to negotiate with him. He told her that it would last until her attitude was put back in check.
“Fine.” Taylor agreed reluctantly to check her attitude while my husband dressed her down. I was skeptical whether or not she’d keep her promise if things became heated between them. My daughter could make her promises seem very genuine, even though I knew she’d probably say just about anything if it made her life even a bit easier.
“No.” Tom told her that it wasn’t going to be as simple as her SAYING she was going to behave and be good. She’d have to show in deed and through acts of contrition that she was willing to make up for her mistakes and be good.
I knew when Tom started talking about contrition that he often meant whips and chains, and my pussy actually got a little wet thinking about what he had in store for me after the kids went to bed. I would gladly agree to anything – and at that moment felt I definitely deserved my own punishment.
Tom said that the duration would be undefined for now, but that he’d already discussed it with her brothers and sisters, and they were in support of the changes.
“I would imagine so, if it doesn’t affect them,” Taylor snorted derisively.
Tom told her that it DID affect them. He told them to go get the chore board off the fridge.
I have to admit that I don’t always keep the chore board up to date. It’s an old dry-erase board we picked up at a garage sale, and it gets hard to read because Janie drew happy faces and stars on it with permanent marker one day.
Tom looked it over and said that there were too few chores on there. “You just make them clean their rooms, take out the trash, and walk the dog?” He acted as if he was just realizing that I did the majority of the housework.
“The... uh…” I knew the question was for me. I stumbled nervously over the fact that I was a stay-at-home mother, and that I enjoyed cleaning and cooking.
“I enjoy doing a lot of things, but I don’t get to do them because I have to lecture and teach my kids respect.” Tom’s answer cut me to the quick. He was right – I probably spoiled them.
“Janie, erase all the names on here and write in your sister’s name.” Tom handed her the board and said that all chores would now be done by Taylor. “Your mother will give you a schedule of what needs to be done. When you get home from school, you’ll begin your chores; and you’ll be going to bed on time and with the rest of the household.”
“Fine, that’s fair,” Taylor grunted her agreement.
“I’m sorry, Taylor,” Tom looked imposing as he sat in the main chair of the living room as if handing down judgment from on high, “…if I gave you any impression this was a negotiation.” He told her, “If just doing chores was enough of an attitude adjustment, then that would indeed be fine.”
He said that how she dressed, talked, sat, ate, washed and behaved would be scrutinized and would follow a new protocol.
Taylor nodded and looked at me angrily. I shrugged, but couldn’t help but feel that this was far from too heavy-handed – in fact, it was probably long overdue. I could hardly feel sympathetic for Taylor finally getting called out on her behavior.
“The fact that we’ve waited this long means that you’re going to actually have a harder time of things.” Tom told her that he apologized for that. “I should have done this sooner–and I need you to be a role-model for your brothers and sister.”
Tom went down a list of changes that he expected; those involved sitting up straight, looking in people’s eyes when they talk to her, and behaving as a well-mannered young lady.
I could already see the contempt building in my daughter’s rebellious face as the list grew longer and longer. Tom advised her to take notes, and Taylor half-heartedly began to scribble down things.
My husband’s a smart man, and he wasn’t going to waste his time talking just for talking’s sake. “Taylor,” he said, “I get the feeling you have someplace else you’d rather be. Is this boring you?” he asked in a very rhetorical, authoritative manner that reminded me of my father in many ways.
“I actually have one question, but you told me to save them all to the end,” Taylor said politely. She was sitting up instead of slouching on the couch as she normally did, so I knew he had her attention.
The question in my mind was if she was taking him seriously, or just humoring him by playing along.
“Go ahead,” my husband said impatiently, like a king speaking to a subject from his throne.
Tom had a very no-nonsense take-charge attitude, but lately he’d been working so much that he hadn’t made the time to have long conversations with the kids. This was, in truth, the first ‘family meeting’ we’d ever held. I liked where it was going – even if it was for very unfortunate reasons.
“How are you going to make me do any of this?” Taylor’s tone implied that she was pretty sure he couldn’t make her do anything.
Tom didn’t like the question and told her as much.
“I mean, are you going to ground me? Take away my cell phone? Take away TV? Okay fine, take all that away.” She reminded him that this had all been done before in half-measures and had had no effect on her. My daughter had stoically weathered every punishment we’d ever tried on her when she was younger, to correct the emo-goth sarcastic behavior we’d seen.
We’d become complacent over the past few years – just accepting that she was going to be who she was going to be – and things kept coming up. Moving for a new job, and once Tom got laid off and couldn’t find work for a few months. This new approach was refreshing, and I was hopeful that laying down the law with my daughter would have a positive effect on her. Tom can be strict, but he was always fair.
“I think I’ll find a way to motivate you.” Tom implied he had other means to correct her behavior, but he left it vague. I was curious myself – what could he pull out of his sleeve to get the girl’s attention?
“You gonna spank me?” Taylor played her card, and it wasn’t the right one. I could tell from the look on Tom’s face that trying to shame him about our BDSM activities wouldn’t work the way it had on me. Taylor didn’t know her father well enough to see that, or she may have stopped going down this path a lot sooner. “I mean, you spank mom and she likes to clean! She calls you ‘Sir’ and tells you how strong you are? Wanna stand me up on two chairs naked and whoop my tushy, Daddy?” Taylor dug her hole deeper and deeper as she dared her father to take the bait.
Tom waited for Taylor to finish goading him, and when she saw that he wasn’t going to take the bait he finally spoke. “We’ve never felt the need to spank you, or any of our kids.” Tom began by explaining that we have a loving relationship with them. “We’ve used positive reinforcement when it works, and taking away privileges. You got too old for ’time-out chairs’ and so we take away computer time and your iPhones. You gain more responsibility by demonstrating maturity and we give you more privileges – you show us you clearly cannot handle it and we take them away.” Tom explained our approach to parenting discipline in a nutshell.
“You’re just afraid to paddle my butt.” Taylor was on shaky ground, but she was probably all out of cards to play and she had a rebellious streak. “You’ve tried all of those things, and you said it yourself – they don’t work.” She glared at us.
Janie warned her to stop talking, because even she knew that this was a bad idea.
“I see what you’re trying to do, Taylor.” Tom told her, “Yes, your mother and I have a BDSM relationship. It’s consensual and loving and none of you were supposed to be the wiser. We aren’t ashamed of it – but we don’t broadcast it for the world to see. I’ve been involved actively in it since I was in the military in my early twenties overseas,” Tom said.
He’d never told me how he first started his interest.
“I served abroad in Asia, and I met a man who had seventeen daughters.” Tom said that he asked that man how he kept his sanity with so many girls in the house. The man invited Tom over that night for dinner, and his daughters served them tea and showed him respect without question. He said that after long discussions with the man he began his own journey. “These are adult matters, though – not things I care to go into detail right now,” Tom said.
“So he spanked his daughters when they got out of line?” Taylor’s lips curled up in anticipation. I wasn’t sure if she wanted Tom to feel stupid, or admit that’s how the man kept order – I think she was just lashing out and throwing things against the wall to see what stuck with him.
“No.” Tom said the man told him that there was no need for that. “He spanked his WIFE when they got out of hand,” he said with a smile, and everyone looked at me.
“I, uh…,” instantly feared that Tom would spank me right there in front of the kids. I began to get flush in the face and squirm in my seat.
My husband explained that the well-kept domestic bliss that the man experienced was the careful result of a hierarchy. “He disciplined the wife, who disciplined the eldest daughters, who kept the youngest daughters in line,” he said, with clear appreciation for the well-oiled efficiency of their household.
“So Taylor gets to smack MUH butt?” Janie’s eyes got very big, and I have to admit it brought much-needed levity as everyone laughed.
Everyone, including Tom, laughed—except for Taylor, who remained completely nonplussed.
“Taylor…” Tom told her that she either had a very limited imagination for what kinds of tools he had at his disposal for discipline, or she was trying to shame him for using paddling as one of the options.
“No, I just think you wouldn’t dare,” Taylor huffed.
“Someday I’ll show you how they ran their household.” Tom explained that right now he needed to run his own, because matters have become far worse than he expected.
“There are people who want to change the world.” Tom looked at me. He knew that I’ve had a liberal outlook on change and hope since long before Obama became president. Tom touched upon the fact that those people are often disappointed when they try to change the world for everyone, because it’s nearly impossible. “Someone always wants to change it back or to something you don’t want.” Tom said that in time, the change gets undone. “The key to success and to be a world-changer is to change YOUR world – the world you live in.” Tom put his arms out to indicate his family and this house was his world. “I can’t change THE world, but I can change MY world.” He smiled at my daughter, who ground her teeth and gave him a surly response.
“Today, you all saw your mother’s ass.” Tom said he couldn’t change that, and he couldn’t change the fact the video is on the cloud. “These are things that happened, and there’s no going back. They’re ink on the past chapters – they don’t change,” he stated a fact.
Taylor sighed at the obviousness of his statements, but everyone else was rooted to the couch in anticipation.
“So, you don’t think I’d spank you,” Tom said, and I could sense that this was becoming a test of wills between father and daughter.
“No, I don’t think you have the balls to do it the way you did to Mom on the video,” Taylor qualified her response.
“What you saw was part of a consensual form of training that ...” Tom began to explain, and without warning my daughter shot up out of her chair and came back with two dining-room chairs. She quickly stood upon them with her hands behind her head and her legs apart.
“I don’t think you understand how any of this works,” Tom tried to explain, but my daughter laughed. She’d just called his bluff, and was already stepping down because she’d proven her point that her father would be too chicken to spank her.
“Oh no, I’ll spank you,” Tom corrected her, and I could see the look in her eye that told me she hadn’t expected him to say that at all. “You just don’t get to define the how, when, and where I do it.” He said that tonight he’d give her a spanking in private and she would understand then.
Her brothers actually cheered, and only Janie looked genuinely concerned for her sister. Taylor could be absolutely rotten to Janie, but her younger sister always stood up for her. Scotty even yelled, “You gonna spank her on the bare butt?”
A question that I had been wondering myself – just how far would this go. Tom could make a ritual out of my own spankings and, while they usually began clothed, he would whip me and remove articles slowly so that I didn’t grow used to the crop. I knew that he wouldn’t do that to her – but I also knew Tom preferred bare flesh to over-the-panties for quick spanking sessions.
“I was thinking over the panties, Scotty.” Tom was half-joking as the others chuckled.
“I don’t wear panties!” Taylor insisted with a streak of defiance a mile long. She was already back on the couch – she was slouching as well.
Tom didn’t have a ready comeback to that, and Taylor grinned with the same look she’d given me earlier in the day after she got my goat in the kitchen. “I don’t think you really want your brothers to watch you get a bare-ass spanking in the living room,” Tom said calmly, with the quiet reserve he often shows when normal people lose patience. “I’d advise you to await your punishment with quiet reflection.”
Donny and Scotty made ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ sounds, but my husband told them he didn’t need any sound-effects from the peanut gallery.
“It’s just a butt – it isn’t like you haven’t seen one before!” Janie copied my words from before when I was trying to get them to settle down, but they all began to laugh at the word ‘butt’ just like earlier, and the idea of seeing a bare one only made them laugh harder.
“Actually…” Tom reminded Taylor that she’d told me that a “Butt was just a butt is a butt,” and asked if those were her words.
“Yes, but…” Taylor started, and Tom told her to stand up.
“You’ve lost sitting privileges.” Tom told her that she was in violation of the new rules about posture already, and she would be corrected.
“Sitting privileges? Oh my gawd,” Taylor laughed, but complied by standing akimbo with her hips slightly pivoted.
Tom told her to turn around and bend over.
“You wouldn’t really.” Taylor knew what was going to happen next, but she insisted as she turned around in front of the couch and bent over that she wouldn’t get the spanking she practically begged for.
“I would,” Tom said, “really.”
“Fine.” Taylor told him to get his jollies.
“This isn’t for my jollies.” Tom said that he didn’t want to do it, but that she’d forced his hand. “Take your pants down to your ankles – if you aren’t wearing panties then that’s your own fault.” He was unsympathetic.
“You take them down.” Taylor waited with her hands in front of her and her hands on the couch. Her brothers Donny and Scotty were seated on either side of her.
“You really don’t want me to take them down,” Tom warned her, saying that he’d be rough if he did it. “You asked to be spanked, and I told you I’d do it in private.” Tom reminded her that she’d forced his hand and didn’t seem to want that. “Your brothers have all seen a butt before, as you yourself pointed out.” Tom insisted she take down her pants to the ankles.
“I’ll do it, Dad!” Scotty said enthusiastically with a grin.
“Stay out of this, Son.” Tom wasn’t interested in entertaining the boys. He was teaching a lesson to his eldest daughter. He said as much: “You boys aren’t here to be amused – you’re here to see what happens when you push things with me. This is a lesson for all of you; that if you try me – and Taylor has tried me – you’ll find that you come up short.” He insisted a second time that his daughter remove her pants.
“Nope,” Taylor smirked – thinking she had won.
“I don’t like repeating myself.” He told her that corrective measures would begin, and she would address him as ‘Sir’ going forward.
“Nope, Sir,” Taylor smirked again. I felt like my daughter was the type who’d poke a bear at the zoo, and then when she finally falls into the bear’s pen wonder why he’s eating her.
“When I was a kid in school they used to do corporal punishment,” Tom explained.
“Way back when dinosaurs fought the civil war?” Scotty asked with a bemused expression – this time, no one laughed.
“They stopped doing it for your generation,” Tom continued, and added that it was a pity. “In those days if someone’s kid was fucking around, another parent would even discipline them and call up your parents and let them know they did it.” He said that they trusted adults to use this power responsibly.
“Someone else’s parent could spank you?” Janie’s eyes got really big. I suspected she must have been a royal spoiled brat at the neighbor’s house she’d just spent the night at, and was reflecting on that.
“Yes, back in the days before we started to get soft – they would thank the parent for setting your kid straight, and then the kid would get another whipping when they got home. We’ve stopped doing that, and now we’d file a lawsuit or worse against someone. I once stole something from a store and got whupped by the shopkeeper, my friends’ parents, and then my own father after he picked me up from the police station. It was the best day of my life!”
“Best day of your life?” Donny normally kept quiet, but that was an odd thing to say.
“Yes, because I learned then I couldn’t get away with stealing or talking back to officers and I got my ass on the straight and narrow because of it. A little pain didn’t hurt anything but my ego,” he explained. “In fact, the paddling never hurt – it was over my jeans, and with the muscles in my ass I just shrugged it off,” he said.
“Cute story, SIR.” Taylor emphasized the word ‘Sir’ to sound sarcastic. She asked him to tell her another story about when Barney told Aunt Bea to take the honey bells down to the general store so Floyd could hold the square dance. She was obviously making fun of her father’s quaint story and was comparing it to something out of Andy Griffith’s Mayberry. I knew my daughter is smart, but I wished she had more common sense than to try goad her father right now.
“I’m not sure what any of that even means, or what a honey bell is supposed to be.” Tom ignored her biting sarcasm and dismissal of his story. He told her that what she calls him is as important as her tone of voice. “You’re going to call me ‘Sir’ and you’re going to do so respectfully,” he insisted in no uncertain terms.
“Why does she have to call you ‘Sir’? Does she have to call her mom ‘Lady’?” Janie asked.
Tom was bemused by the curiosity of his youngest daughter. “The title is a form of respect. You see, when you call your teacher Mister or Mrs. and their last name, instead of being on a familiar first-name basis, you establish that they have authority and that you respect them. They are your betters as educators. If a teacher catches you doing something inappropriate in the hall–even one who doesn’t teach your class—they can tell you to knock it off!”
“They can give you a referral or detention!” Janie reminded him with a pout. I began to wonder how my daughter knew about that and if she’d had any of those. I made a mental note to ask about that when I did that parent-teacher conference I planned to do next week.
“In my day, they could also give you a paddling. But if they did…” Tom explained they usually gave you a choice: “You could serve a week’s detention and think about what you did, or maybe just endure one spanking and say you were sorry and be done with it.” Tom explained that he’d give Taylor a choice.
“You can take down your pants on your own and get 10 swats on your bare ass.” Tom pointed out if she has panties on and was lying about not having them then he’d do it over the panties. “Or you can leave them up if you want and get 50 swats with my belt – to account for the padding of the jeans,” he insisted.
“These jeans don’t provide THAT much protection,” Taylor groaned.
“I’m adding 10 swats to either choice for forgetting to say ‘Sir’.” Tom awarded her extra punishment and didn’t acknowledge her complaint.
The rest of the kids were quietly snickering at their sister’s comeuppance – this was all quite a surprise to them. It seemed none of them felt the least bit of sympathy for their sister’s punishment, not even little Janie.
“If I do this then we forget about the rest of the chores and stuff?” Taylor asked sheepishly, while considering her options.
“You seem to think you’re able to negotiate.” Tom popped his belt by snapping the leather together and made a loud noise that scared everyone. I was used to that sound and even MY skin crawled and pulse quickened when he did it.
“You really aren’t going to use that on me!” Taylor insisted her father wasn’t that much of an ogre. Tom really could be a teddy bear.
“I won’t?” Tom got right up in her face and told her she’d practically begged for him to do it. “You’re playing this game with an old pro. You think by not making a choice that you’ve stopped me and we cannot continue. If you won’t take down your jeans, then you’ve made the choice for me. You should APPRECIATE having choices. Once I finish spanking you – I’m not going to be so generous with choices as I go over your new rules.”
Her brothers were chanting for her to do it – pull down her jeans and face the music. I have to admit that their constant teasing and snickering wasn’t making this any easier to watch. I wondered if I may be next if Tom decided I had acted inappropriately, and what the kids would think of me then! If they would respect me at all afterwards.
I felt guilty imagining Tom would humiliate me that way in front of our kids when he hadn’t even addressed my part in things today. The fact that he’d said nothing at all had only made my head spin and wonder.
Taylor, on the other hand, seemed oblivious, and told him that whatever he could think of to throw at her wouldn’t make a difference. “You think I’m scared and that if you paddle me I’m going to suddenly be like an extra on Little House on the Prairie, asking to do my chores before dawn so I can get to school on the buckboard wagon.” My daughter painted a picture of how pointless this all was. “In a week, I’ll be back to how things were,” she promised.
“Challenge accepted,” Tom said, and asked if she’d made her choice yet before reminding her that forgetting to call him ‘Sir’ just cost her 10 more swats. “That’s thirty with jeans down, and seventy with them like they are,” he said.