The Freshman
Copyright 2005 by EC

Chapter 11 - An evening with Dr. Jim Halsey

Ruth Burnside quietly finished putting away Cecilia's papers and 
locked her file cabinets. She pondered the strange events that 
had transpired over the last 24 hours. It was about 9:00 p.m., 
exactly 24 hours since she had received that ominous e-mail from 
the director of the department concerning her computer. The e-
mail had brought about a day of crisis in the life of the 
scholarship student, but fortunately that crisis now was over. 
Tomorrow Cecilia would be safely back in class, and Burnside 
would have to sign an acknowledgement of the written reprimand. 
No big deal. She had been reprimanded before and always got past 
it.

Burnside knew the three professors on the ethics panel. She had 
nominated one of them and had voted for the other two. She knew 
them well enough to have been able to predict how they would 
vote. Brenda always voted to expel, Bob usually voted in favor of 
the student, so the committee's director always cast the tie-
breaking vote. Normally he simply deferred to whatever the 
professor in question wanted, which in this case, was to leave 
Cecilia Sanchez enrolled.

Still, the committee's vote was a serious matter. Cecilia's life 
literally hung in the balance, because Burnside correctly 
suspected her student would attempt suicide if she were expelled 
from the university. Going into the meeting Burnside had no 
guarantee that Cecilia would be allowed to stay enrolled, so she 
had to take the hearing very seriously. Burnside was a pessimist 
by nature, so she always prepared for the worst outcome. She was 
hugely relieved to have managed to keep Cecilia enrolled, but at 
the same time remained very angry at her. More than anything else 
was the hassle of having to re-write the midterm. There were 
other unpleasant concerns facing her, including the reprimand and 
invariable department gossip and discussions behind her back 
about her choice of a scholarship student.

Burnside somewhat sympathized with Cecilia, because the girl had 
no way of knowing that a few mouse clicks would set off such a 
crisis. She had found out the hard way something that she really 
wasn't supposed to know, because the university examination 
tracking system was a strictly kept secret. Burnside expected 
Cecilia not to say anything to other students about the 
examination tracking system...which she had forgotten to mention 
before the chastised student left her office. She typed out a 
quick e-mail to Cecilia with that detail; under no circumstances 
was she to discuss the tracking system with other students.

Burnside heard a knock on her outer office door. She was 
expecting her visitor, so she grabbed her purse and locked up. 
The visitor was Dr. Jim Halsey, her co-worker, her friend, her 
mentor, and her lover.

Halsey was 15 years older than Burnside, which made him 62. 
However, he still was full of vigor, in excellent physical shape 
(Burnside could attest to that), and a long way from retiring. He 
was dressed, as always, in a very expensive dark suit. His steel-
gray hair and sharp features gave him a very severe appearance to 
his students, but his blue eyes always glinted mischeviously at 
Ruth. Jim Halsey was the only person in Ruth Burnside's life who 
dared address her as "Ruth". Everyone else, everyone else, 
including her other lovers, always addressed her as "Dr. 
Burnside"

Jim Halsey kissed Burnside's hand, and then took her hands and 
lightly kissed her mouth. Burnside's heart pounded, however. She 
knew she was in trouble and facing punishment from her lover, in 
spite of his courteous manner of greeting her.

He asked her how the ethics committee meeting went. Burnside 
responded in detail, because every professor wanted to know what 
the ethics committee reasoning was whenever it rendered a 
decision about a student's continued enrollment. Burnside 
recounted Cecilia's actions in detail, partly in hopes of getting 
her lover's perspective on how trustworthy he thought she really 
was. After listening to Burnside for a while, Halsey finally 
countered:

"You know Ruth, my girl, this incident is your fault. You 
understand that, correct?"

"Yes sir. I understand that I was irresponsible and my student 
suffered as a result." 

Burnside's next words indicated the unusual nature of the 
relationship she had with her old lover. "Sir, am I to be 
punished for my carelessness?"

Halsey caressed Burnside's cheek with the back of his hand and 
looked her in the eye.

"Ruth, my girl, what do you think? Were you irresponsible enough 
to warrant a severe punishment?"

Burnside's heart pounded from that familiar mixture of fear and 
arousal she always felt before she faced a whipping from her 
lover. She was terrified, but, as always, also felt warm tingling 
all over her body and an anxious, comfortable warmth between her 
legs. She was about to be punished by the only man she loved, and 
that knowledge drove her wild with sexual pleasure.

"Sir, I've been irresponsible. I violated my contract. So I'm 
letting you decide what's best for me."

"Well, my girl, we both know what's best for you is a punishment 
on you bare body. You've earned it."

"Yes sir. I've earned a punishment on my bare body. I'll submit 
to you, sir."

With that Ruth Burnside, one of the most feared professors in the 
economics department and dressed in one of her best teaching 
outfits, got on her knees and kissed her lover's hand. That same 
hand soon enough would be inflicting both intense pain and 
intense pleasure on her unprotected body.

The two professors, Dr. Ruth Burnside and Dr. Jim Halsey, walked 
arm-in-arm to his car. Burnside's house was relatively close to 
the university, so normally she walked any day the weather 
permitted. Halsey lived somewhat further away, so normally he 
drove. On any evening Ruth had to stay late, he always gave her a 
ride home. Tonight he would come into her house, the two would 
have a glass of wine, and then there would be a night of 
discipline and lovemaking.

----------

Ruth Burnside had met Dr. Halsey during her final year as an 
undergraduate. She was an exceptional student who caught his 
attention, having completed her Bachelor's of Arts degree in just 
two and a half years with a GPA of 3.8. Halsey could tell the 
young woman was very different from most of his other students. 
She had a very serious, intense manner of carrying herself, a 
detail that intimidated many of her classmates. He could tell 
that she had not come from a privileged background and was not 
surprised to learn that Ruth had financed her studies with a 
stint in the Navy. Yes, she did indeed have the military in her 
personality. He knew, having been an officer in the Army himself 
before becoming a professor.

Dr. Halsey helped Ruth organize the paperwork and applications 
she needed to get into graduate school. The young professor and 
the student took a liking to each other, but at first it was the 
result of shared interests and shared experiences. Halsey was 
going through a divorce at the time, while Ruth Burnside confided 
that she had left the Navy because she became pregnant while at 
sea. Halsey was the only person to whom Burnside ever willingly 
shared that detail of her life, apart from a few doctors, nurses, 
and social workers.

There was another detail about herself that Burnside was able to 
confide with her professor, that she had to give the child up for 
adoption. It wasn't her financial situation that forced Burnside 
to give up her baby; it was her violent temper. She knew from the 
beginning she did not have the personality to raise a child. She 
took the only logical step she could think of at the time, she 
made arrangements for the child to be adopted before she was 
born. Within three hours of giving birth the baby disappeared 
from Ruth's life, adopted by a wealthy couple from New Hampshire.

Ruth spent the next two and a half years studying, desperate to 
catch up and graduate at the same age as most of her classmates. 
She didn't do badly; she started her studies at age 21 and 
finished them at age 24.

Shortly after Ruth graduated she began to explore her sexual 
fantasies by joining a Chicago sex and fetish group. The first 
time she went to a meeting she had a huge surprise; Dr. Jim 
Halsey was there, wearing a tuxedo and carrying a leather paddle. 
Ruth and Jim discovered another common interest, a love of S&M. 
That night they stepped away from their roles as student and 
professor. They entered a playroom and closed the door. Halsey 
took Ruth's hand and lightly kissed her cheek. Then he pulled her 
skirt off and gently lowered her panties. She went wet 
immediately. He could smell her arousal, and to make sure about 
it, he ran his finger over her very wet vagina. He held the wet 
finger up in triumph.

"Ruth, my girl, you know what you need from me."

"Yes sir...its what I want, and only you can give it to me."

With that Halsey forced the young woman to bend over the back of 
a sofa. He studied her pleasantly shaped backside for a few 
moments, and then started spanking her with the paddle. He 
started gently at first, gauging her desire for a more serious 
punishment. She kept her bottom in position as the scent of her 
arousal assaulted his senses. He struck harder and harder, as the 
satisfying CRACK!... CRACK!... CRACK!... of the paddle filled the 
room. 

That was the beginning of their relationship. For several years 
they navigated their awkward situation, fulfilling their 
conflicting roles as professor and graduate student, as friends, 
as lovers, and as fetish partners. They kept their relationship 
secret from the outside world and were forced to keep each other 
at arm's length emotionally. Each gave the other permission to 
have other lovers and fetish partners, partly to avoid suspicions 
about a relationship that violated university rules prohibiting 
liaisons between professors and students. In the end the 
arrangement worked out admirably for both of them, because they 
could maintain their independence and freedom, and yet still know 
that each was a stabile presence in the other's life.

Ruth Burnside and Jim Halsey loved the world of pain and sexual 
pleasure. Ruth was mostly a dominant and enjoyed punishing other 
people. Her submission to Jim Halsey was a mystery to her, 
because she never felt the desire to submit to punishment at any 
other time in her life, and never from anyone else other than Jim 
Halsey. But with her lover she had discovered the frightening 
truth about herself; she enjoyed pain, if it was inflicted by the 
right person. The only right person to inflict that pain was Jim 
Halsey, the only person she trusted for pain and discipline.

Jim Halsey was much more of a switch than Ruth. Sometimes he 
liked to play a dominant role and inflict punishment, and 
sometimes he liked to submit and be punished. Over time he and 
Ruth took turns role-playing and punishing each other, but he 
could tell that Ruth really did not enjoy role-playing. She 
needed something more real, not pretend.

Finally the two lovers worked out an arrangement that satisfied 
both their needs. Each would hold the other accountable for 
everything having to do with their careers, research, 
publications, and over-all responsibilities teaching. Each 
granted the other permission to inflict punishment for any 
mistakes or irresponsible acts. Once one of the lovers declared 
that the other deserved a punishment, the offender had to submit 
immediately and unconditionally, and remain submissive until the 
punishment was declared completed. The element of role-play was 
removed, because the punishments were real, only to be given for 
real offenses. The lovers took responsibility for disciplining 
each other and each had to submit to their mutual relationship.

Tonight it was Ruth's turn to be punished, for having allowed 
Cecilia to use her computer unsupervised. It turned out that both 
guilty parties would be punished that night; the student by her 
professor, and then the professor by her lover. It was for that 
reason Burnside was kneeling in front of Halsey and addressing 
him as "sir". Whenever he was at fault for something, the roles 
were reversed, with him kneeling and addressing her as "ma'am".

----------

Upon entering her house, Burnside quietly pulled out a bottle of 
wine and two glasses. She filled both glasses and dimmed the 
living room lights slightly. She knelt in front of Halsey and 
handed him a glass, taking the other herself. Saying nothing, the 
couple drank their wine, in a symbolic act that would initiate 
her punishment.

"Very well, young lady, you will stand up and turn away from me."

Burnside did as instructed. He placed a scarf over her eyes and 
lightly tied it. Over the years he had discovered that depriving 
her of the sense of sight during the preparation of a punishment 
heightened her anxiety and her arousal. He slowly undressed her, 
allowing her to feel more and more vulnerable with the removal of 
each piece of clothing. Finally she stood naked in the middle of 
a pile of fallen clothes.

Halsey stood back to admire his lover's large breasts and fit 
body. Burnside worked out aggressively on a daily basis and had 
the figure of a much younger woman. Her arms and legs were trim 
and muscular, her stomach was flat, and her bottom and breasts 
just beginning to show the effects of her age.

Halsey went into one of Burnside's back rooms and returned 
dragging a piece of furniture that looked something like a 
gymnastics horse. It had a padded leather surface and rings 
attached to the bottoms of its metal legs. The piece of furniture 
was Burnside's favorite punishment bench, or "horse", where she 
had restrained innumerable students and lovers for punishment. 
Now it would be her turn to bend over that bench, to stretch 
herself as best she could for a severe whipping. 

Halsey then briefly left to retrieve something from his car, the 
item with which he would punish Ruth. The implement was something 
he had received in the mail only a few days before, and was 
guaranteed to give Ruth a totally new experience in painful 
discipline. It was a genuine leather police switch imported from 
the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia. Halsey slashed the switch 
through the air, satisfied with the loud, sinister whoosh.

He returned to find Ruth quietly standing in her living room, 
still blindfolded with her clothing clumped around her feet. He 
touched the tip of the switch against her breasts, gently 
massaging her nipples until they became hard. Burnside knew that 
her breasts were being touched by the implement her lover would 
use to punish her. Her mind raced, trying to figure out what 
exactly was making contact with her skin.

"Hold your hands out in front of you, Ruth my girl."

Burnside complied, and Halsey laid the switch in her hands. He 
then removed the blindfold, allowing her to see what implement 
would be used on her unprotected body that night. She shuddered, 
never having seen a real Danubian police switch before. She had 
heard about the scary switches, but had not seen one in real 
life. Halsey picked it up and showed the handle to his lover. 
Burnside read:

"Milítzya Danúbik - Nom. 3394"

"A real Danubian police switch, Ruth. A Ministry of Justice issue 
with its own serial number. The real thing; not some pathetic 
adult shop imitation. Now tell me, how do they punish criminals 
in Upper Danubia?"

"T...the police...give them 50 strokes, sir. They strap criminals 
to tables and punish them...with the switch."

"That is correct, Ruth. Tonight I want to give you a bit of a 
challenge. I'm giving you the standard punishment for a Danubian 
criminal...50 vigorous strokes on the naked buttocks. Are you up 
for that?"

"Yes sir, I'll do my best."

"50 vigorous strokes on the naked buttocks, and I've been 
practicing. Think about that."

"Yes sir."

"I'm giving you another challenge tonight. Unlike a Danubian 
criminal, I will not tie you down. You will stay in position, 
under your own free will. I will punish you every bit as hard as 
a Danubian police officer punishes a criminal, but I am holding 
you accountable for staying in position."

"Yes sir."

"And another thing. At the end of the 25th stroke, we will stop, 
and you will present your bottom for my pleasure. Once your 
lovely bottom has given me the pleasure I deserve, we shall 
continue."

"Yes sir."

With that Halsey took his lover's hand and kissed it. He then led 
her to the bench. She gave him a very nervous look, but dutifully 
draped her body over the padded leather surface. She shifted 
herself forward, spreading her legs and grabbing the bar in front 
with her hands. Her large breasts dangled and wobbled slightly as 
she moved about, attracting her lover's attention. As a 
preliminary to her punishment, Halsey gently caressed his lover's 
hanging breasts with the tip of the switch. The touch was very 
gentle, and teased her until she became wet again from 
anticipating the pain from her upcoming switching. Burnside was 
terrified, but the terror was part of the experience that made it 
so special. She wouldn't have traded what was about to happen to 
her for anything.

The woman's ample buttocks were spread and stretched tight. The 
wet, secret, sensitive area in between her bottom-cheeks was on 
full display, and her bottom was damp with the sweat of 
anticipation. She reeked of arousal and struggled to breathe 
normally. Before cruelly marking it up, Halsey gently passed his 
hand over his lover's sweaty posterior, enjoying the feel of her 
firm flesh and trembling muscles. Then he stepped back and 
lightly tapped her bottom with the switch. He left the implement 
in place for a couple of seconds to increase her anticipation.

Halsey drew back and struck hard across both sides of Burnside's 
bottom. She had anticipated the first blow would hurt, but was a 
bit surprised at the intensity of the pain tearing into her. She 
gasped and struggled to stay quiet. Burnside rarely cried during 
a punishment. However, her lover's switch was the real thing, a 
professional punishment implement designed to inflict maximum 
pain without inflicting permanent injury. Tonight he wanted to 
challenge her, to inflict a judicial whipping and push her 
endurance to its limits.

The professor had done his research concerning how judicial 
punishments were administered in Upper Danubia. Danubian police 
officers were trained how to use their switches to maximum 
effectiveness. The goal was to deliver 50 severe blows against 
the criminal's body without breaking the skin or causing any 
permanent scarring. The police officer could take up to 50 
minutes slowly striking the criminal's bottom, upper thighs, and 
upper back with the switch. The blows where quite severe, leaving 
cruel welts that lasted for days. 

Halsey had received a police instruction manual that explained 
proper punishment technique along with the switch. The manual was 
in Danubian, but had many illustrations. He studied the diagrams 
in the manual and practiced swinging the switch against an 
armchair in his living room. He was shocked when he tore the 
fabric, making him realize that if he did want to use the switch 
on his lover, he needed to do it properly and be extremely 
careful.

The switch left a nasty-looking weal on Burnside's bare backside. 
Halsey stepped back and stuck again, laying a second blow 
immediately beneath the first one. Halsey was an experienced 
disciplinarian and knew how to strike with precision. Armed with 
the additional information from the instruction manual, he could 
punish her in exactly the same manner as if she were a convicted 
criminal in Danube City.

Halsey stepped back and carefully struck his lover a third, a 
fourth, and a fifth time, laying five dark reddish stripes very 
close together across the lower part of Ruth Burnside's 
unprotected bottom. The pain mounted as she began sweating and 
clenching her teeth. Yes indeed, it would be a real challenge for 
her to make it through 50 strokes without crying or moving out of 
position.

Halsey tapped the lower part of Burnside's right bottom-cheek. 
The next portion of the punishment would be to concentrate 
strokes on the spot where his lover's bottom met her upper 
thighs. He would strike one side at a time, to maximize the force 
of the blow and concentrate the pain in a very small area. He 
would strike her three times at the base of her right bottom-
cheek, then three times at the base of her left bottom-cheek, and 
then work his way down the upper parts of each thigh.

Very slowly he struck, as three sinister-sounding whooshes 
announced three new welts on Ruth's lower right bottom, and three 
whooshes announce three new welts on the left side. He continued 
striking the upper parts of her thighs, laying four very severe 
welts on the upper part of each of her legs. He then returned to 
the upper part of her bottom, laying a final six welts across 
immediately above the first stroke.

Tears were flowing down Burnside's cheeks, but she had managed 
not to cry so far. She couldn't believe how much that Danubian 
switch hurt, but the very intensity of the experience was a huge 
turn-on to her. Still, it would be a long time before the sexual 
arousal would be relieved. There would be a break, but it would 
only be to allow Jim to continue the punishment in a different 
manner.

He took Ruth's hand and helped her up. As she stood twisting in 
agony and holding on to her punishment bench, her lover laid a 
towel on her floor and then a hard cylinder-shaped pillow on top 
of the towel. She dutifully draped herself over the pillow and 
spread her legs, exposing her bottom-hole.

Halsey took off his pants and underwear. Already he had a furious 
erection, excited at the sight of his lover so submissive and 
cruelly marked up. Now her punishment would shift to her bottom-
hole. He dabbed some medical jelly over the back entrance to her 
body. He positioned himself over her and pressed down, allowing 
his body weight to force his way into his lover. Jim rarely 
entered her in this manner, even when she was being punished. 
However, tonight he had decided the punishment needed to be extra 
severe and having her bottom violated was part of the extra 
severity. 

Burnside gasped from the discomfort of having Jim's penis moving 
inside her intestines and her anus stretched to accommodate the 
intrusion. The welts stung horribly as the weight of her lover 
pressed down on her entire backside. However, it was what he 
demanded from her, and thus what she was expected to do. To 
present her bottom to him was a gesture of ultimate submission, 
and a sign that, during a punishment, she truly would do anything 
for him. She trusted him, knowing that when he needed to hurt 
her, the pain was simply a manifestation of the unusual love the 
couple had for each other.

He finished and pulled out, but his sexual drive ensured that 
within a half an hour he would be ready to give Ruth the reward 
that always followed a painful punishment. He cleaned her as she 
continued to lie over her pillow, treating her abused bottom 
gently as he soaped and rinsed her in preparation for the second 
part of her whipping.

Halsey guided Burnside back over the punishment bench. She 
quietly and dutifully took hold of the bars in front and waited 
for the 26th stroke. Halsey finished getting undressed before 
taking up the switch for the final portion of his lover's 
punishment.

He began very methodically, laying strokes over her already 
punished bottom. After laying a few strokes to cover the spots he 
had not marked during the first part of the switching, Halsey 
paused to study his lover's cruelly-marked backside. After the 
35th stroke he punished her somewhat less severely, afraid to 
break the skin over the welts, which already were raised and 
formed painful ridges. However, the new strokes laid over the 
previous set of welts hurt horribly and Burnside's voice began 
breaking with each new blow. Halsey watched carefully what he was 
doing to his lover's body, mindful of his torn chair. By the 43rd 
stroke, Burnside was quietly crying. As her marked body jerked 
from the suppressed sobs, she became a perfect picture of erotic 
submission.

Halsey knew that a Danubian judicial switching usually ended with 
the final five or six full-force strokes laid across the 
criminal's shoulder blades. He would finish up with Ruth in the 
same manner, extending the painful region to the woman's back. He 
ordered her to kneel on the floor and place her hands in front of 
her on the punishment bench. He struck hard against her shoulders 
six times, his efforts rewarded by a cry from his lover with each 
stroke.

Halsey set down the switch and took his lover's hand to help her 
stand up. The pain was continuing to mount in her body. She felt 
like she had been torn apart and found it hard to believe she 
wasn't seriously injured. Still, this type of experience was what 
she expected from her lover whenever she made a career-related 
mistake. The pain tearing into her only made her love him all 
that much more.

She stood hugging him for a long time, enjoying being comforted 
as the tears continued to roll down her cheeks and the welts 
throbbed. Finally the pain subsided slightly and gave way to 
intense sexual arousal. It was after a severe punishment from her 
lover that Burnside's senses truly came alive. The intensity of 
the experience and the fact that it came from the only man she 
loved opened up every pleasure center in the woman's body. She 
reached down to touch her lover's penis, and sure enough, he was 
hard again and ready to give her the long-anticipated reward.

Halsey pressed Burnside to the floor. Her body protested from 
having her body weight pushing down on her welts, but the 
combination of pain and sexual gratification was what made a 
post-punishment love-making session so special. He entered her 
and for a very long time moved back and forth, grinding against 
her very wet and very aroused body. Yes...yes...yes... this 
savagely intense pleasure was indeed worth the horrible pain from 
the last hour...

Halsey continued thrusting. There were times that Burnside 
wondered if he supplemented his sexual drive with Viagra or some 
other sexual stimulant, but she was not one to question a good 
thing. Halsey's body was a reliable as a clock, always ready to 
give her the pleasure she needed as a woman.

Finally the exhausted couple got in bed. Normally they did not 
sleep together, but a punishment for either of them always was 
followed by a night in Burnside's bed and breakfast at her house 
the next day. 

He fell asleep, but Burnside found it hard to relax with the 
continuing throbbing from the mass of welts and blood blisters 
covering her backside. Still, she was very happy and immensely 
satisfied with the experience she had endured that night. She 
contemplated her old lover as she stroked his hair and shifted 
uncomfortably on the bed. She loved Jim Halsey, because he was 
the only man in the world who could give her what she needed, and 
at the same time give her the space and independence in her life 
that she also needed. It was a strange relationship, but it 
brought fulfillment and pleasure to the lives of both professors, 
which was what mattered.