No one knew how the tradition had got started or even when it began, but Mindy Heaver knew that it had happened even in her grandmother’s time. She had always thought it was kind of cool that it happened at her house, but she supposed that her family did have one of the biggest houses in Abraham Heights.

For as long as anyone in town could remember, the Abraham Heights Prep-school graduation barbecue had happened at the Heaver’s house.

This year however, Mindy didn’t think it was quite so cool, in fact cool was the last thing it was by any definition of that word. It certainly wasn’t how she had envisaged spending her graduation celebration.

Right now she was stood on the side porch of her uncle’s house with her two friends, Grace Wembley and Alice Coulter. They were all bent over with her nose to the wall wearing just their sweaters. The posture forced their bottoms into an excruciating prominence, which was a delight for the other graduates at the barbecue who had only just got bored with their catcalling. The school football team had been the worst, although the participation of some of her fellow cheerleaders was hard to miss.

Mindy risked a glance sideways at her friend Alice whose thunderous expression was fixed firmly on the wall. Her face must be redder than our butts right about now, she thought ruefully. At least Grace was through crying. Earlier her sobbing had only encouraged the mob.

“Is baby’s bottom hurting,” Graham Sellback, the team captain, had jeered. “Boohoo.”

It’s so unfair, Mindy wanted to wail, but she knew it wasn’t.

The day before she had led the girls in a little fun. A swat of a junior called Pamela Henderson had been bragging that as next year she and her classmates would be the seniors she was standing as class president and that she would do a far better job than her predecessor.

Well that was a red rag to a class of demob-happy seniors on the last but one day of the school year. They had cornered her in the girls’ showers and stripped her down. Then they had taken her naked to the school football field and scrubbed her with mops and hard brushes for the edification of guys and girls practicing their end of year moves.

“Not too big for your boots now are you?” They had jeered.

Mindy hadn’t intended to let things go so far. Usually there were teachers on hand to put a stop to such pranks around graduation, but on this day there had only been one. Prudence Trencher.

Prudence was barely 29 and had been the only outsider in Abraham Heights for a decade. The roughhousing had taken her by surprise and confronted by a baying mob of young people, not to mention her own confusion, she had hidden and just watched.

Prudence loved the left-field attitude of the town and its unassuming old-world traditions. She also liked working with young people preparing for college where someone else had done all the donkeywork.

The clincher for her had been that the school was enthusiastic in its use of the paddle, a happenstance that so matched her proclivities that she could hardly believe her luck. That was one of the reasons that she had been a passive observer at the Henderson girl’s hazing. The other complication was that the hazer-in-chief was Mindy Heaver. Since coming to Abraham Heights, Prudence had been lodging with the Heavers and she knew that Paul Heaver the girl’s uncle had considerable influence at the school and elsewhere in town.

Eventually the girls had let Pamela go, albeit with just her sweater, so she had to make the journey home sans culets.

To Pamela’s credit she hadn’t snitched, but of all the people to spot her predicament and give her a ride home, it just had to be Mindy’s Uncle Paul. The junior had only given them up after Paul had threatened to go to the sheriff.

Paul had called a council of war with the Wembleys and the Coulters and a fitting punishment was agreed.

“Please, please, please uncle. I’ll do anything, punish me any way you want, but not at the graduation barbecue,” Mindy had pleaded. “Mom, please.”

But her Mom and Uncle Paul had been adamant.

At the start of the festivities, Mindy, Grace and Alice had been marched out onto the porch dressed only in their sweaters to a huge baying cheer. All three had opted to pull the wool down in front even though it revealed more behind. As she shuffled out with her head down, Mindy had so regretted not having the same long hair of her friends to cover her face, not that they looked any happier as their school friends began to gloat and cheer. Once Uncle Paul had them in place of maximum exposure they were made to bend over with their bare bottoms facing the jeering crowd.

“I gather you three think this is fun,” Paul said darkly, addressing the row of bare bottoms. “Do you think Pamela Henderson was having fun?”

“No sir,” they chorused together.

“Are you having fun?”

“No sir,” Grace answered with a sad stressed wail.

“Mindy?”

“No sir,” Mindy was curt, but Paul had to admire his niece’s cheeky tone. She could take it.

“Alice is having fun aren’t you Alice?”

“Nooo,” Alice squeaked rapidly shaking her head.

“I know you girls are no stranger to the paddle, both at home and school, but has it ever been quite so public as this I wonder?”

The crowd fell quiet and none of the girls answered.

Paul produced a paddle from somewhere and moved behind Alice.

“Ten swats,” he announced. The crowd cheered.

Alice braced herself against the wall as the paddled blasted down on her firm round bottom. The crack-splat caused an uncomfortable ripple among some of the watching girls.

“Oh,” Alice wailed.

There was a pause as Paul watched a red splotch develop on the girl’s bottom. Then he spanked again.

“Ahh.”

There were three more and by the end, Alice was spluttering and began to cry.

Paul paused for a moment, satisfied that most of the kids watching were no longer laughing. The girls deserved this, but the fun was over for now, this was serious business and many of those watching began to feel ashamed for their part in Pamela Henderson’s hazing, albeit as passive observers.

The next five were delivered to Mindy’s upturned bottom. She opted for bravado by thrusting her bottom out and pretending it didn’t hurt by exaggerating her reaction. But by the fourth stroke, she was breathing loudly and everyone knew she was making heavy weather of it. Still she didn’t cry.

Then it was Grace’s turn. Grace broke into loud sobs from the first while her shaggy head of blonde hair cascaded violently at each impact. Her bottom was easily the most marked of the three Paul noted and was glad he had opted for sets of five or else she would have struggled to handle it. She had what his mother would have called a glass ass, much like Mindy’s mom Bridget, his younger sister.

Paul waited for Grace to bring her tears under control. That took a while and eroded some of the audience’s patient sympathy.

Finally he returned to Alice’s well-marked bottom.

“Ready Alice?” He asked.

“Yes sir,” she whispered adjusting her position leaning against the wall.

From the second of her final five, Alice’s shoulders began to shake and at the fourth and fifth she let out a great heaving sobs.

Paul could tell that Alice’s reaction had shaken Mindy’s bravado from the way she saved all her energy for the swats. In the end she nearly made it and did not cry until the tenth swat. There was even a ripple of applause from the watching cheerleaders.

“Good girl,” Paul whispered.

If Grace had taken the first five badly, then she positively failed to handle the last set.

Paul had to keep pausing while Grace danced around the porch grabbing her bottom and begging him to stop.

“Stop being such a princess you sissy,” one of the girls called out.

“The dancing is not until later,” came a male voice.

“Take the last two without moving or I’ll give an extra swat,” Paul said quietly.

“Oh sir,” Grace sobbed.

Paul delivered the last two fast and Grace yelled. But she did manage to hold position in light of Paul’s threat, giving a lie to her previous antics.

In any other town, the punishments might have been considered over the top, but Abraham Heights was no ordinary town. It was so far off the beaten track that outsiders were virtually unknown and over the years the community had witnessed some spectacular stunts and corresponding punishments.

Until the 1950s, people had still been tarred and feathered in the town and at Abraham Heights Prep-school, students were still paddled in the girls’ house. Usually bare and often in front of a school assembly. Back in 1986, when the mayor’s daughter had been caught fellating Deputy Rawlingson in his patrol car, the mayor had spanked her bare bottom on the town bandstand right out in front of everyone.

However, at that moment, the town’s eccentric history was not that much of a comfort to the three girls.

It took a while for the three of them to bring their crying under control, especially Grace and once they had, they were permitted to stand up straight. Not that they were going anywhere. Instead, they had to remain facing the wall on the porch with their well-paddled bottoms displayed to the party.

Prudence was amazed at the way the rest of the barbecue continued almost as if nothing had happened. For her it was all she could do not to stare.

“Enjoying the party?” Paul asked appearing next to her.

“Eh… yes, but I don’t think some people are,” she smirked a little as she inclined her head toward the girls.

“They’ll get over it,” Paul said grimly. “I won’t have bullying. It is a pity I wasn’t there to stop it. Unlike some people.”

Prudence blushed and wondered if he had heard something.

“How long will they have to stand there?” Prudence promptly changed the subject.

“Alice and Grace’s parents are getting ready to leave now I think. When they do, I’ll send Mindy to her room. I think her mother wants a ‘word’ before bed time anyway.”

Prudence had been living with the Heavers long enough to know what a ‘word’ would entail.

Suddenly a cheer went up and the party was disrupted by the sight of Alice and Grace being led from the porch by their parents. Grace was blushing and close tears again and wished her mother would let go of her ear so she could flee to the haven of the family car. Then the truth dawned.

“It’s only a mile, I think you girls can make it safely without a ride,” Grace’s mother growled.

“But mother I’m practically naked,” Grace wailed.

“You have the same as you allowed poor Pamela Henderson yesterday.”

“But… please…” their protests were to no available as the two girls stood cringing on the Heaver front lawn as their parents drove away.

“Run you ninny,” Alice squealed and the assembled football team cheered the two mooning girls as they disappeared into the evening gloom.

Even Mindy saw the funny side as she took one last look before escaping to her room.

*

The party was mostly an afternoon affair and it was still early when people began to leave. Prudence had taken care to avoid Paul, but as the crowds thinned, it became a little hard to do, so she took to making herself useful whenever he came near.

When eventually there was just the two of them, she grabbed a pile of unused food and left him to tend the dwindling barbecue. Once in the house there was no sign of Mindy or Bridget, and although it was still very early, she headed for her own room.

At the top of the stairs there was the unmistakeable sound of a spanking in progress. It wasn’t so unusual in the Heaver household, Bridget had spanked Mindy several times since Prudence’s arrival and tonight, there had been a clear warning that the girl’s sanctions were not over.

However, tonight Prudence noticed that Mindy’s bedroom door was open even though a sound spanking was well underway from within. She tried to creep past, but she couldn’t help a glance into the room as she did so.

Mindy’s bare bottom was turned towards the door and Bridget was vigorously applying a hairbrush to it while the girl yelped out in distress. Prudence paused as it was clear that the spanking had been going on for some time and the vivid red and swollen flesh suggested that Paul’s opening gambit on the porch had just be an appetiser and this was the main event.

“Mindy Jane Heaver, have you any idea how much you have shown this family up? The very idea that you would behave like that towards a younger girl.” Bridget’s voice was raised. “And as for that exhibition on the porch, I bet you don’t think you are so clever now.”

“But Uncle Paul…” Mindy tried to adopt the tone of one discussing a mutual problem.

“You know what I am talking about, you are doing it again, you and your cheeky bravado.”

Prudence hovered fascinated by the whole procedure and wondered if Mindy at 19 wasn’t a little too old to be across her mother’s knee. Just then Bridget looked up.

“Oh Ms Trencher, I didn’t see you there. We are just getting to the bottom of a little family matter. Well you know, of course.”

Prudence blushed and nodded before scurrying to her room.

A while later there was a knock at the door. It was Paul.

“Prudence can I see you in my study for a minute?”

“Eh… yes, I suppose, but can’t it wait?”

“Oh come on its just after nine and there is no school tomorrow,” Paul smiled.

“Yes of course.”

As she followed him down the hall to his study at the back of the house, she was aware that Mindy’s spanking was still underway and that the girl was balling out her regrets and no longer trying to ‘discuss’ her way out of it.

It was just as well that Prudence had Mindy’s spanking to distract her, because as soon as she got to Paul’s room, things took on the air of the ‘naughty school girl.’

Paul even ominously closed the door behind them.

“I understand you were there when Mindy and her friends pulled their little stunt?”

“Well I…. not exactly, I was… I was nearby, I suppose. I saw some of it, but I wasn’t sure…. I mean… it was only a bit of fun for graduation.” A flustered Prudence finished lamely.

“A bit of fun? What about responsibility? What about your duty of care?”

“I…” Prudence blushed.

“You know I am a trustee of the school? I should take this to the principal and have you fired.”

Prudence’s face was a picture of woe, but she had been feeling guilty since the incident and she couldn’t blame him.

“Nothing to say?”

Prudence’s face flushed and she stared at her shoes like an errant student.

Paul picked up the paddle he had used on Mindy and the girls.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t use this on you.”

“What?” Prudence moved backwards in consternation. “That’s silly I’m nearly 30, I’m not a student.”

“I’ve used it on Bridget before now and she is 40 next birthday. You know well enough the prevailing customs in this town by now. I think that’s why you came here. I think perhaps that’s why you didn’t intervene to help Pamela Henderson.”

Prudence wanted the ground to swallow her; this was far too close to the truth for comfort.

“Now bend over for your swats Miss Trencher, or I am going straight to the principal.”

Prudence stood with her mouth open, at any other time in her life she would have spat in the man’s eye, but she had finally found a home here in Abraham Falls and to cap it all the man had read her so well.

“Please Mr Heaver, can’t we talk about this?”

“No.” Paul smacked his hand hard with the paddle and glared at her, his stern countenance willing her to obey. “Now turn around and bend over.”

Prudence swallowed, scared, thrilled and embarrassed all at once. At least the man didn’t want her bare, she reasoned. She turned hesitantly around and half bent forward with a blush.

“A little more,” Paul said darkly.

This is so humiliating, she thought as she bent over a little more.

“Bend over now,” Paul snapped loosing patience.

Prudence hastened to obey, hating herself.

“Now Mindy got 10, you being older and wiser deserve rather more do you not?”

“Please Mr Heaver I’m sorry, I really didn’t know what to do…” Prudence was close to tears.

“Am I bullying you?”

“I… don’t… what?” He was, she thought, or was he?

“Stand up Prudence.”

Prudence didn’t know if she was more shocked or more surprised, or disappointed, she added secretly. She stood up blushing and not daring to look him in the eye.

“I don’t hold with blackmail or abusing my position to take your job. Besides I know you were there because the principal told me. He was most amused and saw no harm in Pamela Henderson being taken down a peg. I don’t approve and I said so, but I have high hopes for you.”

“I…”

“But if you ever abuse your position again while living under my roof I will spank you silly,” Paul added.

Prudence nodded and turned to go.

“I’m sorry and thank you,” Prudence said shyly as she left.

A very sheepish and sorry looking Mindy passed her in the hall. Prudence looked back, shocked at the state of her bottom and even more shocked when Bridget said: “get your nose against that wall. You can stand there until bed time and you had better not dare move.”

“Yes Mom,” Mindy wailed.

Suddenly Prudence’s guilt came flooding back. As she watched she took a fresh look at the youthful Bridget. Did Paul really still spank his little sister?

Bridget saw her watching and offered her an encouraging smile.

“Don’t worry Ms Trencher, it is quite the custom in this house, believe me.” Prudence could have sworn that Bridget’s hand strayed to her own behind as she spoke.

Prudence took a deep breath and came to a decision. She turned and knocked on Paul’s study door.

“Come in Prudence,” Paul said from within.

“I… I think I should be… that you should…” She stuttered as she obeyed.

“Close the door,” he smiled.

“I’m sorry about what happened. Is it true that you still spank Bridget?”

“Yes sometimes.”

Prudence nodded.

“Are you really going to make me ask?”

“It will be on the bare.”

Prudence heaved a sigh and returned the smallest of nods.

“I could have Bridget do it,” Paul offered.

“No I…” Prudence became alarmed. Then while her courage prevailed she reached under her skirt and tugged down her underwear.

Paul didn’t wait. Instead of the paddle, he opted for pulling her over his knee and using his hand, although he was still resolved to being harsh with her. As her skirt crested her bare bottom he felt something in the pit of his stomach swell and he became mindful that this was not his niece or sister.

“I can take the paddle,” she whispered. “I deserve it.”

“Yes you do, but not this time.”

This time? There were to be other times then, she realised and the thought unsettled her, but she knew it would be so.

His hand stung more than she could have guessed. Although he spanked slowly to his mind, to her it was relentless and she couldn’t help squirming as he spanked, both eager for the next and dreading it.

Prudence remembered Mindy’s second spanking, it had gone on for an age, and that was just her opinion. To Mindy it was have seemed like an eternity. Could she handle that much? All this and more surged through her mind as Paul, it seemed, spanked ever harder.

Paul noted that her full round bottom coloured well and her breathing had become ragged. Still she held back. He smiled at her folly.

Had she counted she would known that his swat-rate was around 70 a minute and each was as hard as the last, which was to say harder as her bottom became more sensitive. For 10 minutes she bucked and panted, all other thoughts driven from her mind, and then she just started to cry. Then when he didn’t stop, she let go and surrendered bawling until she didn’t care who heard her.

In the next room, Bridget smiled sadly, heaven knows what Mindy is thinking, she thought glancing in the direction of her humbled daughter. Then she chuckled. She wondered if it was Prudence’s first proper spanking, it was certain that it wouldn’t be her last knowing Paul as she did.

In the study, Paul spanked Prudence for another five minutes and then finally set her on her feet. That was Bridget’s cue, she decided and she went to the study door and opened it.

“Come on you,” she said maternally taking Prudence by the arm. “There is room to stand next to Mindy.”

Prudence was mortified as she was led into the family room and forbidden to drop her skirt. She wanted to protest and ask if Bridget ever suffered the same, but somehow she knew she did.

“How… how long?” Prudence asked in a far away voice.

“Until you are sent to bed,” Bridget whispered.

Paul followed them into the room and sat down with a newspaper. Although Bridget and Mindy had often stood there, today was different. There was something about Prudence’s submission and the curve of her bottom that affected him differently.

As the two young women stood next to each sniffing and displaying well-spanked bottoms, for Mindy it was an old story, but for Prudence, despite the embarrassment, there was a cosy sense of coming home.

Ends.