Subject: Story: Kate's General Store-Part 11
From: Carolina Jim <carolinajim@greenvillenc.com>
Date: 8 Aug 1997 15:06:15 -0700
KATE'S GENERAL STORE Part 11
"This is some way to spend your Thanksgiving vacation, Chrissy...", Kate remarked with a smile, "you've been home from college less than 24 hours and already I've got you putting merchandise on the shelves."
Chrissy smiled back. "Oh, I don't mind, Mom. I'm just glad to be home! I like living in the dorm, but it's not the same. To tell you the truth, I miss not working in the store. I can't wait for summer vacation."
"Neither can I!", Donna teased after sneaking up behind her mother and older sister. "Mom's worked me half to death since you went away! I have to do EVERYTHING around here!"
The three enjoyed a chuckle together before Donna announced she had made some hot chocolate, the perfect remedy for a nippy autumn morning. They retreated to the pot-bellied stove, where several customers were already enjoying some of Donna's creation. Among them was Evelyn Lewis, along with her three daughters Mary Martha, Rebecca, and Carolyn. Like Chrissy, 18-year- old Mary Martha was home from college on vacation. Rebecca, 17, was a classmate of Donna's. Carolyn, however, was the reason for the trip to Kate's that morning. The shy 9-year-old hid behind Evelyn and tugged on her mother's dress. "Please ask her, Mommy...please!"
Evelyn looked down at her little girl and gave a reassuring smile, the kind only a mother could give. "Kate, do you still have that fishbowl with the two goldfish in it?", she asked while Carolyn crossed her fingers. "I promised Carolyn that if she made an A in Arithmetic, I'd buy it for her. She worked hard in school, and when she got her report card yesterday, there it was - an A. I'm so proud of her! She's got her heart set on those goldfish. I don't think she slept a wink last night."
"That's great, Carolyn!", Kate exclaimed, a sentiment echoed by her daughters and the other customers gathered around the stove. "And don't worry, the fishbowl is still here. Come with me and we'll fix it up for you to take home."
Kate led the parade to the end of the counter. "Here you go! One fishbowl and two goldfish. What are you going to name them?"
"Heckle and Jeckle", Carolyn said softly while staring at the shiny swimmers.
"You can't name them that, Silly!", Rebecca, always the logical one, scolded. "Heckle and Jeckle aren't fish!"
The smile on Carolyn's face disappeared. The youngster looked to Mary Martha with pleading eyes and was rewarded with a nod of the head. "Sure you can.", the college freshman said. "You can name them anything you want. Can't she, Mom..."
"She most certainly can!", Evelyn replied, eliciting a sigh from Rebecca. "Heckle and Jeckle it is."
Kate fastened a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the bowl and put a few holes in it. "By the way, Evelyn...I heard you finally got that new carpet you've been saving for for years. Congratulations! You deserve it."
Evelyn's face lit up. "Yes, I FINALLY got it! And it's beautiful! I just love it!" She turned to her daughters. "And woe to the one who spills anything on it! I'll get the hairbrush out for sure! Is that clear?"
"Yes, Mother...", Carolyn and Rebecca answered, the latter with an irritating roll of the eyes. They had heard the warning a hundred times since the carpet was installed. Mary Martha, figuring that since she was a college student and the threat, of course, didn't apply to her, remained silent.
"Kate, why don't you come over this afternoon and see it?", Evelyn continued.
"I will! I can't wait to see what it looks like. Chrissy and Donna can take care of things here. I'll see you about four..."
Evelyn drove home very carefully over the less than perfect roads. Carolyn tried valiantly to hold the fishbowl steady between her legs, extolling her mother to slow down every time they hit a bump. "Where are you going to keep it?", Mary Martha asked. "In your room?"
Carolyn shook her head, not daring to take her eyes off the precious cargo. "No, in the living room. That way everyone can see the fish."
"Oh, put them in your bedroom...", Rebecca sneered. "Nobody wants to look at a couple of stupid goldfish all the time."
Mary Martha looked over her shoulder in the front seat and glared at her. "Hey, they're not 'stupid'! If Carolyn wants to put them in the living room, what's the big deal? And why are you so mean and grouchy? You've been that way ever since I got home the other day."
"That's enough.", Evelyn scolded softly but sternly. "The fish can go in the living room on the table next to the couch." Mrs. Lewis knew exactly what was wrong with her middle daughter. While Mary Martha was away at school, Rebecca had "ruled the roost", so to speak. Not now, not until her big sister went back to college...
When the family returned home, Evelyn quickly cleared a spot on the end table for the fishbowl. Carolyn carefully put it down and seated herself on the couch. "Look, Mom...Heckle and Jeckle like their new house!", the 9-year-old beamed. Evelyn couldn't remember the last time her youngest looked so happy.
There was still a little housework to be done, especially since Kate was coming over later. So, right after lunch, Mary Martha changed into a pair of stretch pants and vacuumed the brand-new carpet while her mother dusted the furniture. Rebecca and Carolyn, wearing their dresses, cleaned up the kitchen. None of the tasks took very long, and soon they were settled in for what everyone expected to be a peaceful afternoon. It was not to be.
Carolyn was once again glued to the couch, eyes fixed on her goldfish. Mary Martha and Rebecca sat on chairs watching television while Evelyn was busy making a cake in the kitchen. It was just as Dick Clark was signing off American Bandstand when Mary Martha saw the Hula Hoop leaning up against the wall next to the back door. "Hey, Carolyn, do you mind if I try this out?", she asked after picking it up.
The house could have been burning down; the 9-year-old would never have noticed. She didn't even respond. "Don't you think you're a little too old to be playing with a child's toy?", Rebecca mumbled. "You ARE in college, aren't you?"
Mary Martha ignored her sister's taunts. She put the Hula Hoop around her waist, strode to the middle of the room, and started gyrating. Rebecca shook her head. "That's disgusting!" Indeed, if not for the hoop twirling around, the sight of Mary Martha's pelvis being thrust in and out and her ample - but well proportioned - backside shaking could be considered lewd and lascivious. "Mother should see you..."
"What should I see?", Evelyn asked on the way out of the kitchen. She stopped abruptly, her eyes bulging. "Stop that this instant!", the angry Mom ordered Mary Martha. "You'll knock something over onto the carpet if you're not careful! Go outside if you must play with that!"
Slightly embarrassed, Mary Martha stopped twisting and let the Hula Hoop fall to the floor. "Yes, Mom...I'm sorry."
Evelyn turned around and headed for the kitchen. A smirking Rebecca sat back in her chair. "See, I told you you shouldn't have been doing that..."
Now, Mary Martha was much more layed back than snippy Rebecca and could tolerate just about anything from her. However, letting her get the last word in wasn't one of those things. With great delight, Mary Martha retrieved the pink Hula Hoop from her feet and held it around her waist. "Oh, you did, huh. Well, watch this..." Once again, she began gyrating her hips.
"Mother told you to stop!", Rebecca shouted as she jumped to her feet. Evelyn poked her head into the living room just in time to see her try and grab the twirling hoop. When she did, Mary Martha took a step backwards to try and evade her. A big mistake. The Hula Hoop hit the lamp on the end table, sending it crashing into Carolyn's fishbowl. Both shattered, showering glass, a gallon of water, and two goldfish onto the new carpet.
For the longest second, the whole family stared at the carnage the Hula Hoop had wrought. "GET SOME TOWELS!", Evelyn screamed. Their mother's booming voice spurred the girls into action. Mary Martha and Rebecca scampered to the kitchen and bathroom and gathered every towel they could find. Evelyn threw the newspaper down on the floor, hoping to soak up some of the water. Meanwhile, poor Carolyn tried in vain to rescue Heckle and Jeckle. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she managed to scoop them up and put them in a glass of water. Alas, it was too late.
For nearly an hour, Evelyn and her daughters worked on minimizing the damage to the carpet. They carefully picked up shards of glass and got up as much water as possible. Only after the carpet dried would Evelyn be able to tell how bad her pride and joy was stained. And it was right out where everyone could see, too.
Mrs. Lewis was close to tears herself when she sat down to comfort the crying Carolyn, still holding the glass of water containing the goldfish. "Why did they have to die, Mommy?", she sobbed. "It's not fair." Mom didn't have an answer for her.
"Mother, everything's done.", Rebecca announced a few moments later. "We got rid of all the glass, threw the broken lamp away, and put some more newspapers on the carpet. There's nothing else left to do."
Evelyn stood up and walked towards her. "Yes there is.", she said softly. "I can think of one or two things." She took Rebecca by the arm. "Come with me..."
Her mother's vice-like grip took the teenager by surprise. Suddenly she was being led down the long hallway in the direction of the master bedroom. "Where are we going!", Rebecca half-heartedly demanded, her voice tinged with fear. She didn't get an answer, but the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that she was about to be reaquainted with an old friend - the back of her mom's hairbrush.
"Where's Mommy and Rebecca going?", Carolyn sniffled as she and Mary Martha heard the bedroom door close.
Mary Martha shrugged her shoulders. "I guess to Mom's bedroom. Boy, I'm sure glad it's her and not me...", she offered, recalling her last spanking three years ago. "Rebecca should have never tried to grab the Hula Hoop. It's her own fault."
Both girls shuddered when they heard the first loud SMACK! from behind the door echo down the hallway. Judging by the sound, Rebecca would be eating Thanksgiving dinner standing up. Evelyn, sitting on the edge of the bed, had her daughter draped over her lap. Rebecca's dress and slip were pulled up out of the way, and her underpants were around her knees. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! Tears filled her eyes as the hairbrush landed sharply and unerringly on the upturned slender bottomcheeks, turning the previously snow-white buttocks a deep and very hot red. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! "Did you see the look on your little sister's face...", Evelyn lectured while applying the brush, "she worked so hard to get that." SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! "And I'm not going to even mention what happened to the carpet!" SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
With the heat in her seat reaching epic proportions, Rebecca began crying softly. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! "I'm sorry Mommy...really...", she said through clenched teeth, trying desperately not to cry out. "But it wasn't my fault..."
Evelyn was taken aback. "It wasn't your fault!" SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! The hairbrush descended even harder on the purpling behind and upper thighs. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! It was just as much your fault as it was Mary Martha's! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! "And don't you worry!" SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! "She'll have a few blisters on her backside, too!" SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
Mary Martha and Carolyn were sitting on the couch when the bedroom door opened. Crying profusely and clutching the seat of her dress, Rebecca slowly staggered down the hallway. Just as she reached the living room, Evelyn's voice rang out. "MARY MARTHA LEWIS! I WANT TO SEE YOU IN HERE! RIGHT NOW!"
A lump the size of an apple formed in Mary Martha's throat. There had to be a mistake! Certainly she wasn't going to be spanked! She was 18 and in college!
"MARY MARTHA! I'M WAITING! DON'T MAKE ME COME OUT THERE!"
With face flushed and on legs that felt like jello, Mary Martha got to her feet and walked unsteadily down the hall. Her ears were burning and both hands were on her bottom. "Nooooooo!", she whined softly, quite a contrast for the usually self-assured coed.
Evelyn was still seated on the bed, hairbrush in hand. "Close the door and pull down your pants and underpants.", she ordered crisply.
"No Mommy, please!", Mary Martha pleaded. As she spoke, her fingers crept inside the waistband of the stretch pants and panties. "It was an accident! Please don't spank me!"
"Accident my eye! You deliberately defied me! None of this would have happened if you had done what you were told!", Evelyn scolded. She watched as her oldest daughter pulled down her pants just far enough to expose a forest of brown pubic hair. "Take them down to your knees and get across my lap, young lady! I'm going to tan your bottom whether you like it or not!"
Resistance was futile. With a groan, Mary Martha obeyed and hurried across the maternal lap, her plump, white bottomcheeks jiggling. "Pleeeeease Mommmmmmy...don't dooooo thiiiiis..."
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! The hairbrush attacked with resounding fury, quickly bringing tears to the 18-year-old's eyes and lighting a blaze on her girlish behind. It was painfully evident that her mother was more than up to the task, even after the spanking she had given Rebecca. The bottomcheeks that had moved so magnificently with the Hula Hoop were now writhing in unbridled agony.
"Maybe the next time I tell you to do something, you'll do it!" Evelyn stated emphatically, bringing the lecture to a close. There was no reply from the sobbing miscreant, and none was expected. She delivered a final dozen vigorous spanks to Mary Martha's purpled and blistered behind, and ordered her to her feet. "Now get into that living room! You and Rebecca are going to apologize to your sister!"
Mary Martha slowly pulled her pants up over the scorched and swollen cheeks. She wiped away tears with one hand and rubbed her seat with the other. "I'm sorry, Mom...", the thoroughly spanked college girl blubbered, "I'll never do it again."
"Don't tell me, young lady! Tell Carolyn! I hope you and Rebecca are proud of yourselves! Now get out there before I put you back over my knees!"
With her mother right behind her, a tearful Mary Martha made her way back to the living room. She stood next to the still-crying Rebecca, and together they made their heartfelt - and bottomfelt - apologies to Carolyn. "That's OK.", the little girl whispered, the glass with the goldfish still in her hand.
Only the knock on the door prevented Evelyn from delivering another scathing lecture, the one where Mary Martha and Rebecca would buy their sister another fishbowl and the cost of having the carpet cleaned would come out of their allowance.
Kate was invited in only to be met by two tear-stained and puffy-eyed faces, a heartbroken 9-year-old, and a very angry Mom. "I'm sorry, it looks like I came at a bad time...", she offered. "I'll come back later."
Evelyn shook her head. "No, that's OK, Kate. We were just finishing up." She pointed to the newspapers on the floor. "We just had a little 'accident', that's all." Turning to her oldest daughters, she ordered them to their rooms. "Stay there until supper, and you might as well put your pajamas on. You're going straight to bed after we eat."
Kate watched Mary Martha and Rebecca leave. Neither could keep their hands from massaging their fiery backsides. It was quite obvious a disciplinary session had just ended. "Are you sure I shouldn't come back later?"
"Don't be silly.", Evelyn insisted. Just then, Carolyn headed for the front door. "Where are you going, Hon?"
"To bury Heckle and Jeckle...", she replied, choking back tears.
Evelyn offered Kate a seat. "I'll explain everything.", Mrs. Lewis said...
While her mom told Kate what happened - including the spankings - Mary Martha peeled off her clothes and put on her PJ's. The pajamas were the old- fashioned flannel type with the flap in the back. Mary Martha had never really cared much for them, but on this memorable afternoon she would find them quite useful. Lying face down on the bed with her raw and blistered bottom on fire, the flannel only made it worse. So, after due consideration of her modesty, she undid the flap and let the cool air fan the flames...
Dinner, usually the highlight of the Lewis' day, was a subdued affair that evening. Carolyn hardly spoke at all, and her sisters were too concerned with still-sizzling bottoms to carry on a conversation. The soft pillows they squirmed on offered no relief at all from their discomfort. If it wasn't for the little bit of pride they still possessed, both Mary Martha and Rebecca would have eaten off the counter.
The table was about to be cleared when, once again, there was a knock on the door. Rebecca was told to answer it. "It's Mrs. Hollings.", she announced.
Evelyn came to the door and invited Kate in. She held a big cardboard box in her hand. "My goodness, Kate! What's in the box?"
Kate put the box down on the couch. "I went to Pine Grove after I left here this afternoon and found this at Woolworths. I think Carolyn might like it."
Carolyn was summoned, and she and Mary Martha joined them. "Mrs. Hollings has something for you, Dear. Why don't you open it?"
Trying to muster a smile, the little girl opened the top of the box and broke into a huge smile. "Mommy, it's an aquarium!" Sure enough, there was a five-gallon tank, some colored gravel, and even a filter. "Oh, thank you!", Carolyn almost screamed, and threw her arms around Kate.
"You better hurry up and set it up.", Kate said with a grin. She pulled a paper bag from the box. From that, she took out a plastic bag. Inside were two tropical fish.
Carolyn was overjoyed. Evelyn suspended the early bedtime "just for an hour" so Mary Martha and Rebecca could help set up the tank. They momentarily forgot about their sore backsides and went to work. "What are you going to name your new fish?", Kate asked Carolyn.
"Beany and Cecil!"
Life was almost back to normal...
The End