CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Reader’s Note: This is Joanne Swift’s journal, adapted for reading, detailing the events around October 9^th (Sunday) 2016. The Swift family hugged on Sunday morning.

The family hug went on for as long as it needed to, but it could never last long enough for me. I was absolutely overjoyed by the spontaneous group hug! Things may go back to the way it used to be right after – but I was floating on a cloud for a while that we had a ‘moment’ that brought us together.

Tom said that Fart Face could eat her breakfast and asked me to prepare her a bowl.

I mixed some cold scrambled eggs with pieces of bacon and sausage and included some of the uneaten biscuits that we had left over.

“So it’s kind of like one of those skillet meals they serve at Denny’s,” Scotty said as he watched me prepare his sister’s breakfast.

“Can I heat it up for her, Tom?” I asked. I had called him Master accidentally previously, and strangely the kids were fine with it. It didn’t seem appropriate to say it all the time though.

“No, that defeats the purpose.” Tom told Taylor to get into the sitting position and wait for her breakfast. He assigned her a spot out of the way on the kitchen floor where she was to eat all her meals from now, going forward.

The linoleum tile could be cold and hard. I knew it was hard on the knees because I frequently got down on them to wash the floor. Taylor kneeled down so that her butt was resting on her calves and put her hands behind her head to wait.

“What should I give her to drink, Sir?” I asked Tom for guidance. I felt uncomfortable with managing all the little details – it was actual work. Tom made it look so easy when he managed them for me. If I had a checklist and a decision tree I would have had no problem but actually making meaningful choices for someone else was difficult because I was afraid they would not be the choices Tom would make. This would take some adjustment for all of us and I smiled and rolled with things as best I could.

Tom wasn’t annoyed at the micromanaging aspect of it. He seldom talked about what he did in his job, but I had the impression he did a lot of that as a Project Manager in IT. He preferred I ask if I genuinely didn’t know the answer to something.

“I don’t want her peeing until after noon, so just pour about a quarter of a glass of orange juice on top of the bowl.”

“Cool. Thank you, Sir,” Taylor picked up fork and spoon and began to eat as soon as I set down the bowl by her feet.

“I am glad it meets with your approval.” Tom chuckled that he could think of far worse than this for dietary restrictions. “You’re not allowed on furniture at any time when you’re home. You’re also not allowed to skip any meal – you will eat whatever is left over. You have five minutes to completely empty the bowl, or the remainder will be added to your bowl for lunch.”

“Sounds fair, Sir.” Taylor’s tone was not scared or intimidated, and not even remotely submissive.

“My discipline plan is not an overnight fix,” Tom explained, as he stood over his kneeling daughter. “You have an opportunity to prove to me that you were serious about changing like you said. If you do, then you’ll slowly earn your privileges back. You may not mind this, and may even think it’s funny; but after a few weeks on the floor I think you’ll appreciate a whole lot more eating fresh food with the family and the people who don’t EVER get that option like you will.”

“The starving kids in China will be so envious, Sir,” Taylor agreed in the patronizing tone that came so naturally to her.

“You can joke about it, but I advise after you finish breakfast that you move quickly and keep busy helping your mother with the chores today. Your brothers have all invited over friends, and as long as you keep busy they can’t stare. I don’t want you being idle – that’s what leads to mischief.”

“Understood, Sir.” Taylor was eating from the bowl with a spoon as her father went over the plan for the day with us. He wanted me to SHOW her how to do the household chores that I normally took care of and not do them for her or with her.

That would be hard for me, because I had learned to enjoy doing things around the house a certain way. I knew the house was clean and well-stocked because I had done it myself.

Taylor’s brothers tried to get a rise out of her by teasing her while she ate, but she didn’t take the bait. They pretended to trip over her and asked if this was the first meal she had where she couldn’t fart at the dinner table, but she just smiled and played along with their little barbs.

They weren’t being overly mean or sadistic. If they crossed that line I was sure Tom would set them straight. He had planned to play golf that afternoon, but he cancelled with his friends so he could stay home with the family.

Sandor came sniffing around for a bite, but Taylor was told not to share with him, and I shooed him back to the living room so that the girl could eat in peace without the dog begging for food.

I was actually thankful for Taylor’s discipline because it meant more time with my husband doing family things – as awkward as this particular activity was.

Our usual Sunday included a family breakfast and then everyone would split up and do their own things. I would clean and the boys would video game with their friends while Janie played alone in her room or Facetimed with her friend on her iPhone.

Tom usually had plans involving going to play golf, and today was a perfect autumn day. It wasn’t too hot and it was definitely not yet too cold.

Taylor finished eating her food but took well over five minutes.

“Seven minutes and fifty two seconds?” Tom asked rhetorically.

“I don’t have a watch or pockets or anything, Master.” Taylor referred to her father as ‘Master’, and I felt my butterflies line my stomach and was uncomfortable with it.

It seemed strange that I was willing to accept her kneeling and calling him ‘Sir’, but the word–just the word “Master” as a title–was powerful enough to seem like it was a little too far to me.

“You won’t.” Tom said that she’d be carrying at most her books to school, but that house keys, money and so on would all be privileges she earned back. “Your phone is another thing that I want control of. I am working out the details now on how that will all work!”

Taylor’s phone was her life line to the entire teenage world. Taking away that alone could have motivated some teenagers but with Taylor it had never worked by itself. She would just borrow someone else’s phone or find ways around it – or whine and make us feel guilty until we gave it back.

Tom assured her not this time – he was even taking away her house key.

“How will I get in if no one’s home, Master?” Taylor said it again for a third time. It was easier hearing it that time, but still made me uneasy.

“You won’t.” Tom said that she was to go around behind the house and wait in the backyard by the sliding glass door. “I want you to change into your apron back there before you step into the house. I don’t want you even walking through the living room in your black skinny jeans and your goth outfits,” Tom said, advising her of another new rule.

I wondered if I needed to get my notepad to start writing these things down.

“So do you think I should add to your punishment for taking too long? Or do you think it’s not possible to eat the entire bowl of food in five minutes or less?”

“Whatever you think is best, Master.” Taylor acquiesced to whatever her father wanted, as if she had checked-out of any concern for what happened to her either way.

“That isn’t how this works, Fart Face.” Tom told his daughter that when asked a question she would no longer have the option to not answer. “Those days are over starting right now – it wasn’t cute and it wasn’t acceptable then but you can bet your sweet little butt that you won’t be quietly ignoring your betters when asked a question. You will answer honestly and to the point with respect,” Tom didn’t demand and he didn’t sound petty – his response was a strong reminder that he was setting the tone of all future communication from his eldest daughter.

“I did answer, Master. My answer is whatever you think is best,” she clarified – sounding surprisingly submissive as she did.

“You RESPONDED to my question.” Tom told her she didn’t answer it. “You will answer all questions directly without ambiguity. You must be explicit and complete in your responses. Stand up and walk into the living room for punishment, Fart Face.”

“I think I should be punished because I was told five minutes and I probably could have hurried more, Sir,” she said as she stood up and put the dish on the sink.

“I no longer care about your answer.” Tom informed her that from now on the bowl needed to be licked clean to be complete. He forbid me to wash it and said that her lunch would be served in the same bowl as he marched her into the living room.

Donny and Scotty were not seated in front of the Xbox as they normally were on Sunday morning, fighting over who got to play first. They were sitting on the couch, quietly waiting for their sister’s punishment. Janie was up in her room, but Tom called her down and said that punishments were now mandatory viewing.

“Great!” Donny chuckled as he settled into his seat on the couch.

“It’s not to amuse you.” Tom told him that he didn’t want her punished in private for two important reasons. “The first is that I don’t want you thinking I’m abusing or hurting your sister. If you see what’s being done, then you know it was done fairly and without malice. The second and most important reason is that I want you to learn from your sister’s mistakes so that you don’t make them and need similar correction. If any of you become uncomfortable or want to leave then I expect you to tell me, and we’ll sit down and have a rational discussion about it,” Tom said, as Janie joined her brothers on the couch.

I expected Janie might take up for her sister. As mean as Taylor had been to Janie in the past, Janie was always her sister’s constant defender and looked up to her. She seemed annoyed she was being interrupted from whatever she was doing in her room, but agreed with the rest of them to watch the punishments.

“I think she should have to face that direction.” Donny pointed out that Taylor had been resting on the couch so that her ass faced away from them.

“Why is that, Son?” Tom was skeptical of his son’s suggestion, but wanted to hear him out.

“Last night she was resting on the couch between Scotty and me, but we didn’t really see her get paddled. I think she should have to stand just like she did in the kitchen so that we can actually see her get paddled.”

“You sure it’s not just so you can look at my butthole, Sir?” Taylor was being flippant, but I think all of us were thinking the same thing when he made the awkward suggestion.

“I can’t see your butthole.” Donny teased his sister that she had Cadmus stuck up her ass. “You always acted like you had a stick up your ass, and now you have one,” he joked. “I can’t believe you actually ASKED for that,” he laughed.

“Yeah, it’s better to have Cadmus up my ass than you all day, Sir!” Taylor’s eyes flashed with anger. Donny was pushing her buttons and she was reacting. If he continued to goad her, she would certainly be punished for mouthing off to her brother.

Tom quickly put a stop to it and considered the suggestion to have her present her ass facing the couch. He said that would be fine. I was actually surprised, and a part of me felt a strange tingle at how naughty being fully exposed that way during punishments must feel. “You’ve all seen Cadmus by now, and in a week’s time this won’t raise your eyebrows the way it does right now,” Tom suggested.

I could see Scotty and Donny joke between themselves that it was raising something else. Tom took notice, but chose not to say anything about it.

“It may take longer than a week, but it won’t ever happen if you think you’re missing something important by seeing a black latex circle inside a butt-crack,” Tom chuckled.

You could also see my daughter’s pussy lips from behind, and her pubes hanging down between her legs as well, but Tom didn’t address that.

Even if it were complete strangers, to have someone sitting on a couch right behind you looking up your ass while you get paddled would be intensely humiliating.

Tom arranged one of the living room chairs so that Taylor could hold on to the armrests while she assumed the punishment position, bent over at the waist with legs apart and knees slightly bent so that her entire ass was exposed.

“You’re going to be seeing your sister’s ass a lot over the next few weeks getting paddled. I don’t want it to be something that scares you or makes you giggle and laugh. I want to take some of the mystery out of it. If any of you want to have a good look before I begin, then have at it,” Tom offered, but neither of the boys took him up on his offer. I think they were a little intimidated to come right out and look.

I don’t think anyone believed that there would come a time when the boys would stop giggling and laughing at butts. I certainly didn’t but Tom was right. He could at least get them over their extreme fascination with everything ass.

“Can we tell her to show us Cadmus whenever we want?” Scotty asked, after Tom gave them an uncomfortable minute to look all they wanted before he began.

“Tell me why you think you should be able to do that, Scotty,” Tom said, leaving his daughter’s ass fully exposed and pulled wide. I could see she was starting to drip honey down her leg as she became acutely aroused.

“You said it yourself, Dad,” Scotty said. He reminded Tom that he’d said everyone had to be vigilant over their sister. “If she takes it out or loses it, you want to know. You also said we’d be seeing her bare bottom a lot anyway. It just makes sense,” he reasoned.

“Son, I love you,” Tom chuckled, before telling him that he couldn’t be baffled by bullshit. “I don’t need you to do my job,” he mused.

Taylor looked over her shoulder at that moment and back at her brother to offer him a complimentary raspberry as she stuck out her tongue with a lemony smile.

“Don’t make me regret this.” Tom changed his mind after Taylor’s snotty look of triumph. “You come get ME or your mother if she isn’t wearing Cadmus,” Tom said reluctantly.

I knew Tom was something of a micromanager, but he was also not very trusting with authority or responsibility. He had yet to teach the kids to drive, and he hadn’t ever addressed his policy on dating.

Donny was an awkward loner who didn’t go on dates. Taylor was a shrewish bitch who thought boys who asked her on dates were “desperate losers”; and Scotty was just entering high school and didn’t have a girlfriend. We didn’t need a policy on dating yet – but I had the impression Tom would want to ride shotgun the first few times just to be sure.

“You ready for this, Fart Face?” Tom asked her.

“Yes Sir, how many do I get?” she asked with very little worry in her voice.

Tom told her she was getting 30 for lying to the neighbor and 10 for being late finishing her food. He told her to start by admitting what she did wrong.

She had to be prompted through giving a proper apology while remaining in the punishment position. “I lied to the neighbor about the apron. I did have approval to walk down the street like that, though, Sir!” she admitted.

“I’m not going to argue this with you, Fart Face.” Tom told her that she was so naturally inclined to manipulate and lie that she still didn’t see what she’d done wrong. “The issue isn’t that you had approval to go outside in the apron. You could have had approval to walk down the street totally naked,” he said.

I tried to picture how totally humiliating it would be to walk the dog to the end of the street naked in broad daylight, and couldn’t.

“The issue is that when someone asked why you were in the apron, you told them it was your Halloween costume. What will you say if he asks you again?”

“It IS my Halloween costume now, isn’t it, Sir?” Taylor had a point.

“You aren’t listening to me.” Tom reminded her that she’s to respond to questions clearly and explicitly. “If I ask you a question, I don’t expect a question in response. I expect you to tell me what you would say IF that situation comes up again,” he scolded her.

“You also said that if we don’t understand something that you prefer we ask.” Taylor had heard her dad say that many times in the past, and she was absolutely correct.

“Fair point,” Tom conceded, and told her that he hadn’t decided yet if that would be her Halloween costume. “I don’t think I want you walking down the street in just an apron,” he said. He was giving some thought to how she’d walk the dog after lunch. “I’ll prepare you for how to respond to anyone who may talk to you on the sidewalk,” he said.

“Thank you, Master,” Taylor answered.

Tom made her go over the reason she was being punished for not finishing her food on time as well.

“You told me five minutes, and I didn’t know how long I had, so I was late, Sir,” Taylor answered apologetically.

“Not quite.” Tom explained, “You were given five minutes because you need boundaries and guidelines. You have a set time to finish your food, to go to bed, to get dressed and report for service, to walk the dog, and even to pee and poop.”

The kids laughed when he said pee and poop.

“You aren’t allowed to say you’re going to the bathroom any longer like the rest of us,” Tom told her that the new rule was she would ask permission to pee or poop or if she had to do both. He would give her the appropriate amount of time and allow her to remove Cadmus while she was in the bathroom. “Your mother has already gone over what you’re to do with it when you’re on the toilet?” Tom asked.

“Stick it in my mouth? Sir?” Taylor answered, with a bleak look on her face while her brothers giggled.

“I don’t think your brothers and sister needed to hear that, but yes, that is correct,” Tom said, with a disappointed look on his face.

“You said to be honest and explicit, Master,” Taylor answered.

“You’re right,” Tom conceded another point, and said that she was not to set Cadmus down or let him fall out of her sight. “You’ll be lubricating him and returning him promptly when you finish.”

“Yes, Master.” Taylor had called my husband Master at least a dozen times, and each time I still cringed at the word. It just sounded so completely wrong for her to call him that. “I’m sorry for lying to the neighbor. It’s my natural state to deceive, and I appreciate your calling me out for that and setting reasonable time limits for ordinary tasks I took for granted. May I please be disciplined so that I can remember this lesson?” Taylor said.

Tom looked impressed. He spanked her 10 times with his bare hand and made her count and thank him each time. She was turned on in a big way when she stood up. You couldn’t see her nipples through the apron, but she looked completely flushed and her face was almost as pink as her ass.

I knew that look well – the face was a combination of shame and humiliation, barely masking the excited look of arousal.

“How can we tell if her nipples are hard?” Donny asked, as if his sister were some science experiment subject to be discussed as if she was not present.

“There are other ways to tell if a woman is aroused, Donny,” his father told him.

“What are they?” Donny asked.

Scotty patted him on the back sarcastically, telling him that he’d get laid one day and find out.

“Shut up, you’ve never been laid either!” Donny and Scotty started to swap jabs at one another, but their father hushed them.

“Boobs are a good indicator, but not the only one,” Tom said. “I only require your sister to have a bare bottom because it’s necessary to discipline her and it’s helpful to disarm her and make her feel more vulnerable in this state,” he said.

“So what if her boobies get hard? Mine get hard all the time,” Janie pouted uncomfortably.

“It’s not hard tits.” Scotty stopped squabbling with his brother long enough to explain it was hard nipples, adding, “You don’t have to worry about it anyway, Pip-squeak,”

This was followed by a round of “Do too.” and “Do Not.” between the two of them before Donny actually put a stop to it with a comment of his own.

“Mom has watermelons, Fart Face has cantaloupes, and Janie has kumquats,” he said, describing the relative size of our tits.

“Do not! What’s a kumquat, anyway?” Janie protested her brother’s assessment.

I could see a growing smile on Taylor’s lips as she grew amused at their infighting.

“The reason this is a big deal is that Fart Face is supposed to have her mind on what she’s learning, her chores, and her punishment and discipline. If she has her mind in the gutter and fantasizing dirty thoughts while any of that’s happening, then she needs a time-out.” Tom put a stop to their bickering.

He asked his daughter if she’d prefer to be taken out of the room and have me confirm whether or not she was turned on, or if she minds if he checked right here.

I was definitely hoping she wouldn’t ask for me to confirm her arousal. I’d hate to report back to Tom that my daughter was turned on.

“I am turned on, Sir. I can’t help it, I don’t enjoy getting spanked, but it’s making me wet,” Taylor replied honestly.

“What does it mean to be wet?” Janie asked with a pout, and the boys started giggling.

“That wasn’t the question you were asked.” Tom reminded her to always answer the question she is being asked and not anticipate something else.

“You can go stand in the corner for five minutes. If you feel you’re aroused I want you to ask your mother or me for permission to have a time-out, and I won’t punish you for that.” Tom decided that was fair.

No one was to talk to Taylor while she waited for punishment, and five minutes of sitting on the couch not watching TV, checking phones, or playing video games is very hard for teenagers these days.

Tom’s presence was the only thing keeping them in place. Donny, Scotty and Janie asked him questions about Taylor and the discipline plan while she waited to cool down. I could tell they were not only curious but excited to see just how far this was going to go. It was all super cool to them and they weren’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth by asking if things were going too far.

I was actually a little surprised with how easily they seemed to accept this turnabout for their sister. I was more surprised that she had stoically gone as far as she had with it. I suppose I also didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth because a part of me thought it was high time and since the cat was already out of the bag as far as my being spanked – now it was her turn.

It may do her some good – discipline certainly had provided a benefit for people other than just me. As long as no one was freaking out or crying – I really didn’t see any reason to protest.

The questions the kids asked ranged from how long she had to eat to what she would wear at school. Tom answered the questions and told them he’d be reducing her clothing to only the bare essentials from now on.

Donny asked if he was really allowed to have friends over with Taylor in the state she was or not.

“Yes, why not? If they can be as mature as you’re being, then I don’t see the problem. I am not going to ask you to put your lives on hold while I discipline Fart Face. This isn’t something I’m ashamed of or would be afraid to talk about with them if they ask,” Tom said.

“I don’t know if they would understand, though,” Donny said with a grimace.

I knew what my son was getting at. They would take one look at a half-naked teenager and think all sorts of things about our motivations. They may not realize that the discipline came from a place of love – tough love.

There was always a stigma about BDSM. The gay community used to be very closeted and they had to pretend to be straight just to satisfy friends and family. Rumors alone could ruin someone’s career if people found out.

It was an open secret in Hollywood when I was growing up that Paul Lind and Liberace were gay. They were the over-the-top effeminate kind of gay. That didn’t stop women from hitting on Liberace, even when it was fairly obvious he preferred the company of men.

When we found out rock icons like Freddy Mercury and rugged macho actors like Rock Hudson were gay, the nation was shocked. It was scandalous.

In the last 10 years, as gay marriage became legal and LGBT-friendly bars and restaurants became mainstream, it lost a lot of its stigma. People were actually proud of it and held parades. The football players and singers of my daughter’s generation were able to come out and be told how brave they were and how wonderful.

That was great, but for BDSM that change hadn’t happened yet. It was made more mainstream by the Internet and movies like 50 shades of gray. People can read up on fetishes, kinks, BDSM and alternative relationships and you could order a sex toy from the privacy of your own home instead of having to travel to a shady part of town and sneak it out in a plain brown wrapper. The information out there makes it seem more established and less of a fringe activity only for rich weirdos and perverts.

Not that there is anything wrong with rich weirdos and perverts but now more and more of the All American people next door found it perfectly acceptable – we certainly did.

They used to have little ads in the back of local swinger magazines to meet up for bondage-related activities. Bondage and discipline had been lumped in with all kinds of weird fetish stuff and swinging in general.

My parents still had no idea I participated in a loving and consensual relationship based on domestic discipline, any more than my kids had—until this weekend. I just couldn’t tell them because “they wouldn’t understand.”

I think they COULD understand. They are certainly capable and intelligent people who’ve seen a lot of things. I think that I just didn’t feel comfortable helping them to understand or accept my choices. I felt it was easier to pretend to be quite vanilla.

Tom and I had never really discussed coming out to our family or friends and neighbors. It had never seemed important for anyone to know. The people who did were already in the lifestyle and were mostly acquaintances that we hadn’t stayed in touch with.

“If they ask, then we explain it,” Tom said, and shrugged as he awaited the next question from the curious trio on the couch.

“My friends would be too shy to ask the right questions,” Donny explained.

Tom agreed, and decided that posed a risk. “I don’t want your friends going back to their parents and telling them what they THINK they saw and what they THINK are the reasons we’re doing this. That would just lead to problems we don’t need.”

That’s when I opened my big mouth.