Looping Across The County Line (bit long...)
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:39 pm
(Note: This is set in the same world "Christmas Across the County Line" - found at:
http://www.spanko.net/spanking_forums/v ... ?f=3&t=130
You'll want to read that one first because it handles all the world building. This story makes much less sense without the background info found there.)
Looping Across The County Line
Dana Galloway yawned as the car drove down the highway. Not that she minded being driven around but there wasn't much to do during the two hour drive but try to doze. As her eyes flittered shut, a thud against the back of her seat brought her back to full alertness.
"Sean." Katie Marlowe said warningly.
"Sorry."
The 'apology' was as fake as they came, but Dana didn't think that a boy his age could give a genuine apology.
Travelling together, they made up an odd trio to be travelling together. Dana's Aunt Katie was driving with Dana in the passenger seat and Katie's nephew, Sean Palfrey, riding in the rear passenger seat. All three had different last names and Dana was no relation to Sean. Katie was Dana's mother's sister-in-law (being married to Dana's dad, Malcolm Galloway) while Sean was Katie's nephew. Dana wasn't all that close to her aunt, but both of them had family in Brockway which was a two hour drive away from they all lived in Haverfield.
Katie had most of her weekends free and was okay with driving her nephew to see his great grandmother so he could get to know her better. That meant driving him to Brockway to spend most of Saturday there every weekend this Spring and Summer. When Dana's family heard about those trips, they asked if Dana could be dropped off there to see her family, offering to kick in a bit for fuel. At first Dana was all in favour of the plan, but that was before the ride out with Sean in the backseat, kicking the back of her seat and making a nusense of himself. Riding back with him was just as bad. This wasn't how Dana thought she would be spending the second week of June.
'Maybe I won't come next week.' Dana thought.
Then Sean kicked her seat again and Dana bit back a growl. Looking for a distraction, she glanced out the window and frowned at the route marker they were passing.
"Is this Local Route 25?" Dana asked, naming the road they had taken that morning.
"LR 25?" Katie laughed. "This time of day? No, we tried coming back on that one, but the first sunny weekend in May turned it into a disaster. This time of day it's jammed solid with traffic from Haverbrook Lake. It took me four hours just to get passed Haverbrook Lake. Four hours! And most of that time the motor was going and burning fuel and Sean could have walked faster than we were driving. All the fuel wasted. I thought Graham was going to hit the ceiling. Literally!"
Dana nodded; her Uncle Graham hated wasting fuel. More than the cost, he hated the concept of wasting energy.
"So I checked the maps and the traffic patterns and found another route." Katie continued. "Now it's two hours there and two hours back and the fuel burn is about the same."
"Um, I guess." Dana said, thinking about the route marker she had seen. "But didn't it say something about being intercounty?"
"That's right. We're on Intercounty 42WH." Katie revealed.
Dana shivered.
Before the collapse, that wouldn't have mattered, but this wasn't before the collapse. The collapse had dragged on for years, bringing down most levels of governments. Fifty-two years ago there had been a Constitutional Congress that had rewritten the constitution from the ground up, and any student of history could tell you that there were huge difference between the two systems. And the biggest difference wasn't even that there was now a king (someone who handled the ceremonial duties and remaining executive powers that had once been in the hands of a President). No, the biggest difference was how there were now 'different' jurisdictions.
After the rebuilding, the country was more a commonwealth of locales than a true nation. In some areas you could walk into any drugstore and (if you could pay for it) leave with the drug of your choice, from old-fashioned heroin to the latest blend of S, while in others possession of alcohol was a capital offence. Most areas were somewhere in between those extremes, but mind-altering substances weren't the only issue that split the nation. Name the issue and most of the country was somewhere in the middle of it, with extreme positions taken in various jurisdictions. Everyone knew that it paid to research before travelling across state lines.
Or even county lines.
Dana had grown up, spending all of her life, in her home jurisdiction of Wellington County. Wellington County has close enough to the national average to be considered a 'normal' area and that was all that Dana knew. In the fall she would be leaving home to go to college, but that was in the fall.
Dana's leg wanted to shake, but she controlled it. The geology practically dictated that the road would go... And then there was the name. Intercounty 42WH. Regulations dictated that if a road crossed a jurisdiction it had to include the names of both of them in the route name. 42WH. That could only stand for route 42 Wellington County / Hazard County.
They were about to cross the county line and enter Hazard County. Hazard County, a place that embraced spanking like it was a good thing. Dana had grown up hearing horror stories about the bum busting parents in Hazard County. The phrase 'Crossing the Line' had special meaning in this part of Wellington County, at least to kids. She and her friends had spent time gossiping over whose parents might have taken them across that county line. Dana's parents didn't make a habit of threatening her that way, but Dana had heard countless parents thundering "if you cross that line then we're crossing the line" and she was sure that not all of them did so in jest.
Some her friends had even shown her some of the special foldouts that they produced in Hazard County. The front of the foldout had the subject's photo, usually looking mad or upset, and the back had a later photo, one that normally included tear-stained eyes and a red face. Sometimes the back photo would show more than just the upper body. The subject's T-shirt would be there, covering mid thigh or lower, with jeans and underwear gathered at the subject's feet.
Of course the interesting photos were the ones inside and were supposed to be impossible to snoop on. The two sides were maglocked together and you had to have the right DNA for the lock to open. If you were the right person then you put your thumb just there and it opened, but if you weren't then you could never open it. Of course, girls being girls, some of them had bullied friends into opening them and exposing the internal photos. The ones that showed the girl getting her bum spanked Hazard County style.
Dana had never been over that line. She had never wanted to go over that line. She hadn't even been that interested in seeing what was in those foldouts. And now, with no warning, she was about to cross the county line!
Then Dana took a deep breath. She wasn't some scared little kid. For Christ sake, she was a high school graduate! But, on the other hand, Sean... The brat in the backseat who kept kicking the back of her seat... No, Dana couldn't picture herself taking him in hand but she was suddenly wondering if Katie felt differently.
"Um, so are we stopping there?" Dana asked neutrally. "I've heard that some of the stores there have a different selection than the ones at home."
"Sorry, the road doesn't actually go through any towns or cities." Katie said with a smile. "It just crosses the open country side and not much of that. Maybe three or four miles at most. It's barely even worth having the name on the sign."
"Oh." Dana responded. "That's probably for the best."
Then they passed a "You Are Now Entering Hazard County" sign.
"Um, Aunt Katie?" Sean called from the backseat.
Dana looked at the mirror on her sun visor and saw the boy grinning like an idiot.
"Yes?" Katie said with a knowing sigh.
"I gotta to go." Sean said, still smiling like an idiot.
Not looking at all like a boy who needed to go.
Katie flicked on her signal light. Dana glanced at her aunt, who shot Dana a look. Dana wasn't sure what sort of look it was; maybe a knowing look, maybe a sympathetic look, Dana wasn't sure.
The car was barely stopped when Sean was out the door and dashing away.
"A rest stop?" Dana asked.
"Yes, it's the only part of this road that really interacts with Hazard County." Katie revealed. "It's got its own service road in the back that leads further into Hazard County and let's it stock everything it needs without bringing things through Wellington. Toilet paper, food, everything."
"Um, and..."
"And everything you've heard about Hazard County, well it happens here at this rest stop."
"And Sean just charged out there?" Dana asked incredulously.
Katie sighed again.
"The first time we stopped here, it was a real emergency." Katie revealed. "We're talking him crotch holding all the way to the toilet. And Sean was horrified that this was Hazard County. He was practically glued to my leg, which was awkward with him needing to pee. Luckily there's a family bathroom here. Unluckily, they often use it for father daughter, mother son spankings."
"Um, you mean..."
"Of course they were mostly on the bare." Katie continued. "I mean, everyone knows that Hazard County is spank happy. Why bother doing it out of sight in a bathroom if you aren't going to do it bare? Now not all of them were bare, maybe it has something to do with some of them being from Wellington County, but there were enough bare bums showing to give Sean a real eyeful."
"I can imagine." Dana nodded.
Not that she could. Dana couldn't even come close to picturing a scene like that. She lacked any frame of reference to begin to picture a mass spanking.
"The next time we came here, the emergency wasn't as bad but Sean still needed to pee." Katie revealed. "The third time he was confident enough to use the men's room, but he wanted me near the door. After that, he started to feel braver. By our fourth stop here he was wandering on his own. Taking in the sights as it were."
"You mean..."
"Most of the spankings he sees are over clothes or boys getting it in the men's room, but he's also seen his share of girl's bums." Katie confirmed. "Not that it really matters much, not at his age, but still."
"And his parents know?" Dana asked in disbelief.
"Of course they know." Katie responded. "There was no way he could see anything like that and me not tell them. They were upset, but they agreed that taking this route was the only way to go if they wanted him to see his great grandmother. Of course I told them that I wouldn't be spanking him here, but you know Hazard County; almost anyone could do it."
"Almost anyone." Dana agreed, telling herself that she wouldn't be doing it no matter how much he kicked the back of her seat.
"And now, well they expect me to keep an eye on him but they've warned him that if he plays with fire he might get burnt. Anyway, this is stop number five and I'm sure we'll be a while. Ten to twenty minutes, maybe longer, as he takes in the sights." Katie revealed. "Want to take a look around while he wanders?"
"Um, sure. Why wouldn't I?" Dana said.
"You do know about Hazard County, right?"
"Of course, but I'm not a little kid." Dana laughed.
"But you're not 21." Katie told her. "And 21 is the age of majority."
"So?"
"So if you're not 21 then you're a kid." Katie continued, spelling it out for her. "And kids can get spanked in Hazard County. Of course it's not likely. You're much too old for a causal spanking. And if Sean can go running around without getting spanked then I can't see anything like that happening to you, but it's still a risk. I wouldn't feel right letting you wander around here without you knowing it."
"But... But it's not going to happen. There's no way it could." Dana insisted.
"That's the spirit." Katie nodded. "So let's stretch our legs a bit, shall we?"
Dana barely hesitated before opening her car door and stepping out into Hazard County.
"The locals, they call this place 'lost in the loop' because so many inhibitions get lost here." Katie said.
"They? They who?"
"The people who work here." Katie clarified. "I've chatted with them a bit. While Sean's roaming."
"Oh." Dana said, stretching her legs and glancing around.
Three squat buildings dominated the middle of the rest stop while another pair of buildings were off to the right. Picnic tables were scattered around the site, with the bulk of them to the left. Also scattered around were benches, some of them looking more like chairs than benches. If they weren't made of metal or stone then Dana would have called those single seat benches armless chairs; Dana had a feeling she knew what they were for.
"Those are the bathrooms." Katie said, indicating the squat buildings and confirming Dana's guess. "The boys to the west, the girls to the east, and the family on in the middle."
Dana nodded, associating east with 'left' and west with 'right' as you left the parking lot.
"Over there is a gift shop and restaurant." Katie continued, indicating the buildings to the west. "The gift shop is full of souvenirs and such while the restaurant has plenty of places to stand if someone is too sore to sit."
"Souvenirs? What sorts of souvenirs?" Dana asked.
"We might as well have a look." Katie offered. "We'll be here for a while."
As they were leaving the parking lot, a car pulled in - stopping next to one of the single seat benches. A woman emerged from the car, pulling a kid after her. Moments later Dana was witnessing a spanking for the first time.
'But probably not the last.' Dana thought, walking towards gift shop.
And it wasn't. By the time they reached the gift shop she saw two more. It was surreal. It seemed like a normal rest stop. Families were stopping, kids were running around, and spankings were just casually happening. It was a mixture of the every day and the absurd. Like something out of a dream or art house movie.
"Does that sort of thing happen everywhere here?" Dana asked, nodding towards a spanking.
"In a way, but there are conventions." Katie said. "Bottoms don't often get bared near the parking lot, where everyone will have to walk passed and see it. Other then that, the girls tend to get it near the girl's bathroom, the boys near the boy's room. There are places behind both buildings where bare bottoms are common, and I've heard that there are paths behind the family bathroom that are a perfect place for someone to go to cut a switch. No, seriously! I heard someone in the gift shop saying that they plant the right trees and bushes down there that make good switches. They even replace some of the plants that have been cut back too much."
"That's..." Dana couldn't find a word for what it was.
"Then there's the semi-designated areas." Katie continued. "Behind the gift shop / restaurant area there's a place where, well, mass spankings happen."
"What?"
"Groups car pooling, large families, that sort of thing." Katie said. "Minivans and buses in the parking lot are a sign that it could be in use. And then there's the east side of the rest stop. You might want to avoid that."
"What?" Dana asked. "Why?"
"There are some shaded walking areas over there too." Katie said slowly, as if she was searching for words. "Um, for semi privacy for when, um, someone's not as young as she could be."
"She?"
"Or he." Katie continued. "But it's mostly girls getting led down those paths. Girls who are old enough that it matters if someone sees them getting it."
Katie paused, waiting for Dana to say something. Dana held her tongue.
"Teenage girls." Katie confirmed. "I heard one of the people at the gift shop calling the east end of the rest stop the teen trail."
"You're joking! Why would someone say that?" Dana demanded, trying to guess how that would come up in normal conversation.
"She was talking to someone who was escorting a nervous looking young lady, someone not a whole lot younger than you." Katie informed. After a pause, she added: "And I saw the girl again as I was driving away. Her face was flush and her eyes looked red from crying."
Dana stumbled, barely catching herself before she fell.
"Um, but you said..."
"I said that you wouldn't be subject to random, casual spankings." Katie reminded her. "And you won't. No more than that girl was. She was travelling with someone who decided that she needed a spanking and in Hazard County that's all it takes."
"But..."
"But don't worry." Katie continued. "I can't see myself delivering a spanking in Hazard County. I mean, if I haven't spanked my brat of nephew then there's no way I'd be spanking anyone here, is there?"
Unexpected relief flooded Dana.
"Of course. I never thought you would." Dana answered, wondering for a moment if she was lying. If she wasn't, then why was she feeling relief?
The gift shop was a mixture of snacks and kitsch. Dana expected kitsch, but not the actual items she found there.
"Souvenir paddles?" Dana asked in disbelief. "Paddles I can see, but souvenir ones?"
"Souvenir ones." Katie confirmed.
Dana picked one up. On the front of it was written "I Went To Hazard County And All I Got Was This Paddle". She flipped it to find the words "30 TIMES! OUCH!" on the other side.
"They are have cute words or pictures on them." Katie said, picking up one that read 'Hazard County Bum Buster!'. "And all of them mention Hazard County. That's what makes them souvenirs."
Dana couldn't help but nod. She saw paddles that read: Hazard County Mother's Helper, Hazard County Child Psychology, The Hazard County Babysitter's Union Badge, Hazard County Bored of Education, and so on, all mixed with in with cute pictures of kids getting it.
At it wasn't just paddles. Straps, rulers, belts - if it could be used to spank a bottom then it was there. All with Hazard's County name on it. There were some clothes for sale, but they were kitsch too. T-shirts with Hazard County quips, shorts with bull's-eye rings on each cheek, skirts with 'lift as needed' printed on their seats, and other cutesy sayings. Some of the clothes seemed to lack sayings, but Dana was sure that there was something kitsch about them too.
Turned her eyes back to the implements, Dana frowned.
"I don't see a logo on this one." Dana said, pointing to a belt.
"It's there." Dana said, pointing to a small thing stamped near the buckle. "They don't always make it obvious."
Dana turned her head to look at a tray of wooden spoons, but then she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Not something, someone. Someone she knew. She didn't know the girl well, but Dana was sure that she was looking at Fawn Abbots. A girl she just vaguely knew, one who had been a grade or two behind her in school. Fawn might be a bit younger than that, but not by much. Dana knew that she wasn't wrong, that it was Fawn Abbots standing there by the cash register.
Standing there with a pallid expression on her face.
Standing there beside a man (her father? her uncle? Dana didn't know Fawn Abbots' family well enough to guess) who was paying for a leather strap. Then the strap was in a bag and the man was leading Fawn Abbots out, actually holding Fawn Abbots' arm as he almost dragged her out.
"And have you ever seen something so stupid looking?" Katie said, breaking Dana's train of thought.
"Um, no." Dana said, struggling to pick up the strands of the conversation.
"I know that souvenirs are supposed to be crass, but really." Katie said.
"Um, I think I should walk around a bit." Dana said, her eyes on Fawn Abbots as the girl left the store. "I mean, this is my first time in a different jurisdiction. If I didn't walk around a bit, well if I didn't then I would feel like a coward. And this isn't someplace where they send you to prison or something for using the wrong fork. You said it yourself, that there's no risk."
"I said practically no risk, but that's close enough." Katie nodded, putting down the item, but not quite returning it to the shelf. "Off you go then. Keep an eye open for Sean."
"Um, I will." Dana said, making her way straight to the exit.
Once outside, Dana thought she caught a glimpse of Fawn Abbots heading east. At least she saw a man walking a girl pass the bathrooms and she thought it was them. Dana didn't run, she hurried a bit but she didn't run. She couldn't run. It wouldn't look dignified and someone might notice. If Fawn Abbots noticed her running up, then what would Dana say to her? Or to the man escorting Fawn Abbots?
That thought slowed her steps. What could she say? What would she do if she caught up with them? If she met them? What would she do or say if she saw (or heard) that man using the leather strap on Fawn Abbots?
Dana knew that she should just avoid Fawn Abbots. To avoid the entire east side of the rest stop. That would be the smart thing to do. The sensible thing to do. The thing that Dana knew that she couldn't do. She slowed, she wandered in her course, but she kept heading east.
On the way she saw several juvenile bottoms collecting pats and smacks, but they didn't matter. Even if they had been bare, as Katie said that age it didn't matter. But Fawn Abbots wasn't that age. With Fawn Abbots it would matter if her bum was showing. Even if it wasn't completely showing, even if Fawn Abbots was only showing her panties, then it would matter. Even if Fawn Abbots' panties didn't show more than her swimsuit would, it would matter that the girl was showing her panty covered bum.
Especially if the man Fawn Abbots was with wasn't her father.
When Dana reached the east end of the rest stop she found the start of a shady path surrounded by bushes. Not overgrown, no, the path was clear, but the bushes were thick. Dana knew that once she stepped onto the path that wouldn't be able step off. That she would have to follow it to wherever it led or walk back here on the path. It was almost as if the entrance of the path was demanding a commitment from her.
With trembling legs, Dana stepped onto the path.
As she did she heard a spanking start. Then another one. In different directions.
The path turned and immediately widened and split into three. The sounds of spanking were coming from two of the paths. The bushes thinned, walking off the path was now possible. A peak down two of the ways showed teens getting their bums reddened in small clearings. Dana ducked back head back each time, not recognising anyone in either place, before taking the third path. Then the path parted again, and again. It twisted and turned. Sometimes it went passed benches (usually one, two, or three of those single person benches) and other times it dead ended in clearings and she had to backtrack.
Dana was blushing before long, having blundered into to several spankings. All but one of the spanking she stumbled over involved girls, all who looked two to three years younger than Dana herself. At least Dana thought they were; it was hard to estimate a girl's age when she was up ended over someone's lap. Not all of the bottoms she saw were bare, but only a few of them were wearing all their clothes. Skirts were up, shorts and jeans were down, and otherwise panties were bared. It made the old saw about wearing clean underwear take on a new meaning. Not that every bench (or even the majority of them) were occupied, but enough were that Dana couldn't stop blushing.
Taking an odd turn, Dana emerged from the maze close to the woman's bathroom, leaving it at an opening she hadn't thought led to the pathway. She still hadn't seen Fawn Abbots but Dana had seen enough spankings for one day.
Rounding the building that housed the woman's bathroom, Dana almost ran into Katie.
"Just the girl I was looking for." Katie said. "Have you seen Sean?"
"Um, no." Dana said, fighting her blush.
"You look a little flushed. Let me guess, the wall in the lady's room?"
"Um, well..."
"Sorry, I should have warned you about that." Katie said with a chuckle. "Then again, seeing is believing. So if Sean's not this way, let's head back the other way."
"Sure." Dana agreed, wondering what Katie was talking about. Wonder what was so special about a wall in the lady's room?
"Those buses give me an idea." Katie said, indicating a row of three short school buses that were in the parking lot. "The last time we were here a bus pulled in as we were leaving and some girls got off it. Girls complaining that they didn't deserved to be spanked. Sean watched then go as they were being led off that area behind the gift shop and restaurant before I got him in the car. Want to bet that he saw those buses and headed there?"
"Um, well..."
"Let's go." Katie said, leading the way.
When they rounded the gift shop, Dana froze in her tracks. There was a long line of boys, all with their jeans down at their knees. Four women seemed in charge of them; three had bare bottom boys over their knees and the fourth was near the head of the line... Dana realised that she had been wrong, that not all the boys just had their jeans down. The two closest to the spankers had bare bottoms peeking out from under their T-shirts.
As she stood there, one spanking finished. The crying boy was let off the woman's lap as another boy was shoved towards her and the line advanced. Dana saw the woman near the head of the line tug down another boy's underwear, so there were always two bare bottomed boys on deck.
As Dana watched the woman used little paddles on the boys, she barely noticed that one of the boys in line was waving frantically. Katie was less distracted.
"There he is." Katie observed. "Second back from the bare bottoms. Time to collect him."
With that they headed to the head of the line. As they did, Dana noticed a few more women were involved in things, herding the line together and preventing escapes. Almost as if the boys were steers being sent to the slaughter.
'Why did I think of it that way?' Dana mused. 'Corporal punishment isn't anything like capital punishment. Nothing is going to happen except a sore bottom.'
Then Dana wondered when she had started to think of a spanking as such a small thing.
"You mean he isn't with the group? Sorry, I thought he must have been on another bus or something."
"You should have said something." Katie said in a scolding tone.
"I did!" Sean insisted. "They wouldn't listen and then..."
"That might be our fault. We have a policy that if you cause a fuss you go to the front of the line. Say, could you keep the line moving while I talk to, um..."
"Her aunt." Katie supplied.
"While I talk to your aunt?"
"Um, well..."
"All you have to do is tug down jockeys when they reach this point. It's just like getting them changed or ready for the bath. And if you do we can talk this all out."
"Um, I guess..."
Dana wondered if she had gone mad. She was at the head of a long line of boys who were waiting to be spanked while a cheerful woman (who soon identified herself as Mrs. Thompson, Betty to her friends) was talking to Dana's aunt. They kept their voices low (maybe because Sean was clinging to his aunt's leg like a scared toddler) but Dana soon gathered that the women were involved in the Royal League of Intercity Day Camps (RLIDC for short). As Betty talked, Dana listened to her with half an ear while most of her attention was focused on the three women cheerfully paddling away (and the boys squawking and squealing). From what comments they exchanged (things such as "That sounds like a stinger Elaine") she determined their names were Elaine, Helen, and Judy.
"You see we take them out of the city to give them a taste of the country side." Betty explained. "And the second weekend of every month the buses stop here. They basically just get lost in the loop."
"And you keep a careful record of their misdeeds?" Katie inquired.
"Of course not." Betty laughed. "That's why they are such brief spankings. Not really long or hard at all. Usually less than a dozen smacks. Just enough to let them know they've travelled to Hazard County."
Then Helen was done with hers. She released the crying boy and beckoned for the next one. As the boy reluctantly walked to his doom and the line slowly advanced, Dana found herself taking down a strange boy's underwear.
"It's important, given the way the country works, that they learn about alternative jurisdiction in a safe way." Helen continued. "And this is a lesson that they'll never forget."
The woman continued to talk to Dana's aunt, explaining how this was in the boys' best interest. How in the in the long run they'd thank the RLIDC for these bus trips. As they talked, Judy finished, another boy advanced, and Dana had to tug down another boy's underwear. It hit Dana then that if Sean hadn't been pulled out of the line then he would be at this position in the line.
"I see your nephew's jeans are still down." Betty commented. "You do know that in Hazard County jeans aren't always pulled up afterward? Sometimes underwear stays off too. And sometimes jeans and such get taken down as a warning that they could be spanked at any moment. Are you planning to keep his down?"
"Um, Aunt Katie?" Sean squeaked.
"Oh, I can't see doing that." Katie laughed. "Especially not today. Now if he lets someone else take his jeans down some other day..."
"But I didn't let them!" Sean protested. "They made me."
"Quiet, people are talking." Katie cautioned.
"But..."
"Kids don't interrupt adults in Hazard County." Betty scolded. "There's still time for you to rejoin the line in your old spot."
"Oh, he'll be quiet." Katie assured the woman.
Sean nodded so hard it looked like his head would flop off.
At around that time, Elaine finished with her boy and Dana was lowering another set of underwear.
"Anyway, we should be heading back to the car." Katie said. "We're burning daylight here."
"Understood." Betty nodded, then she turned to Dana and said: "Thanks, I'll take over again."
Dana nodded numbly and went with her aunt. As they were turning the corner of gift shop, she heard Helen calling for the next one. Glancing back, Dana was acutely aware that if they had been only a few minutes later that this would be Sean going over Helen's lap right now. That it would be Sean's little bottom turning colour under that woman's paddle. That through no fault of his own, Sean would have found himself caught up in a assembly line spanking and spanked like he was a clog in a spanking machine.
Or maybe he wasn't completely blameless.
"What did I tell you?" Katie scolded gently. "You can't run around spying on people. I warned you, didn't I? That in Hazard County people can spank you even if they aren't related."
"But I didn't..."
"Now maybe you'll listen." Katie continued. "You almost got your bum spanked."
"But it wasn't my fault." Sean whined.
"Maybe next time someone takes down your pants I'll let you walk back to the car without your jeans." Katie threatened jokingly.
Dana had to wonder if her aunt was serious. She had seen some kids running around without pants. Most of them had underwear on but one or two might not have. It was hard to tell with some of them, kids who were wearing their T-shirts low, but Dana believed what Mrs. Thompson had said about kids running around without pants - either as a warning or part of a punishment.
Then it struck her - she was a kid. She was a high school graduated but legally, in the eyes of Hazard County, she was just a kid. She could be walking back to the car without her shorts on. Without anything on. She might be spanked and forced to walk to the car her red bottom showing.
As they were pulling out of the parking lot, Dana caught sight of Fawn Abbots again. The girl's red eyes were the only sign of colour on her pasty face. The man was still marching Fawn Abbots by the arm and the girl was limping, as if it hurt to walk. It hit home that Fawn Abbots had been getting spanked the entire time the assembly line had been processing all of those boys. That the man had been using that strap practically the whole time that Dana had been wandering the rest stop.
'No wonder she's walking like her bottom's bruised.' Dana thought to herself.
She did a lot of thinking on the way home. Dana was alone with her thoughts as Sean sat sullenly during the rest of ride home.
When they reached Aunt Katie's house, Sean's parents were waiting for them. He leapt from the car and ran to them. Dana said goodbye to her aunt and started walking. She would either walk home or take the bus; it would take a while to get home this way, but she was glad to avoid the scene with Sean's parents.
'That might be the last time I get a drive with her.' Dana thought.
She just couldn't picture Sean's parents letting him take the trip again and if Katie wasn't bringing him to Brockway there was no way the amount that Dana was kicking in for fuel would cover the trip.
The strap crashed down on the reddening ass. There was a squeal that echoed the smack, one that split the air.
Dana jerked up in her bed. She was sweating hard. The dream had been so real! It had focused on that first real spanking she had seen, the first one she had stumbled over as she had tried to find Fawn Abbots. The girl's jerking legs, her quivering bottom, the redness of the skin, all that had left a huge impression on her. She had only glanced at the girl but now the girl was fixed in Dana's mind. In her dreams.
Dana stumbled from her bed, going to the kitchen for a drink. She was half tempted to open a beer or wine cooler, but the dream wasn't so disturbing that she needed a real drink before hitting back to bed. Thinking about it, Dana wasn't sure that the dream hadn't been disturbing at all. It had been...
She wasn't sure what it had been. She couldn't put a word on what the dream had been.
The Third Week of June:
Dana was amazed to be driving home with her Aunt Katie again. The truly amazing bit was that Sean's parents hadn't freaked out over what had almost happened to Sean. Katie said that they had accepted it and moved on. That Sean's father had laughed it all off and his mother had just shrugged.
'This time I'm going to avoid the east side of the rest stop.' Dana vowed to herself.
This time Sean didn't speak up, but Katie swerved into the rest stop anyway.
"Um, I don't really need to go." Sean muttered.
"You know you do." Katie corrected him. "If we don't stop now I'll have to pull off and you'll need to run into the bushes again. Remember that racoon?"
"Yes." Sean muttered.
"Remember how it growled at you?"
"It hated me." Sean moaned.
"Well he had a right to be mad. You peed on him." Katie pointed out.
"I didn't see him before I peed!" Sean protested.
"Well I don't want another racoon chasing you. We'll stop here and you'll pee in the bathroom. Right?"
"Right." Sean muttered.
This time Sean didn't bolt from the car. He stuck close to his aunt, practically clinging to her.
Dana ignored them. She tried to ignore the handful of spankings she saw and she almost did. Of course it helped that they were kids. She headed to the store, planning to window shop a bit. Her plan was to completely ignore the existence of the east side of the rest stop. To pretend that the only girls getting spanked here today were still young enough to play on the skins team in a pickup game.
Then she happened to glance in the wrong direction and gasped. There was Jon Halliway, a boy she knew from school, but the stern looking woman beside him wasn't his mother. No, it was David Sachs' mother. Dana didn't see David anywhere, only his mother who was escorting sorrowful Jon Halliway to the teen trail for a spanking.
Dana told herself that she wasn't going to try to look, that she didn't want to, but it was Jon Halliway! He had been several grades behind her at school but Dana had heard that he'd failed a few. There was no way that he should be young enough to spank, especially not by Mrs. Sachs! It was as if her feet had a will of their own!
Then Dana found a thought that could stop her wilful feet in their tracks.
'But what would I say if I caught up with them? What could I say if they saw me?'
Dana didn't want to look as if she had shied off from visiting the teen trail, but luckily the bathroom lay in her general direction. She could pop in, have a pee, and leave; then no one would know that she had followed Jon Halliway.
The moment Dana entered the woman's washroom, her Aunt Katie's cryptic reference about 'a wall' made sense. There, facing lines that had been painted on one wall of the bathroom, were seven girls. Two were in panties and one was still wearing her shorts, but the other four had bare bottoms showing. Bottoms of different sizes and colours. One was barely pink while another was dark red and the other two were somewhere in between.
Most of the girls were just kids, but two of them looked like they might be in high school.
Dana tried not to hesitate. While there were several women standing around (or perched on the convenience seats), none of them looked like they were waiting to go. There was a free stall and Dana made a beeline for it. Once she was in it, she heard another spanking starting up, then another. The first spanking was over before she was finished, but when she left the stall there was a mother with a daughter over her knees explaining the finer points of why you shouldn't kick the back of the seat while mommy was driving.
Washing up, Dana glanced at the mirror and froze.
There were now six girls facing that wall. Two had left and the one who had joined them was taller than Dana! And the girl had her shorts down! The girl's bikini briefs were pulled up tight, exposing a great deal of pinkish red cheek. Cheek that looked as if it belonged on a woman, not a girl.
A thought ran through Dana's head.
'Somewhere in this room is a woman who thought that the tall girl was young enough to spank. She could be looking at me right now. No, it has to be a fluke. The girl must just be tall for her age. They really won't spank anyone close to my age here. They couldn't.'
Dana forced herself not to hurry. She finished washing up and left the washroom as if she didn't have a care in the world. All the while she was convincing herself that everyone who was spanked here had to be at least a few years younger than she was. That no one would really spank someone her age. That the nonsense about having to be 21 to be safe was just that - nonsense.
Heading back to the car, Dana spotted her aunt and Sean heading in the same direction.
"Someone didn't want to wander today." Katie revealed.
"I can guess why." Dana smiled.
At least she tried to smile. The worst part was, her aunt thought that Dana had seen that wall last week, so Dana couldn't talk about it with her. Without saying what she had seen Katie couldn't get her aunt to confirm that girls Dana's age really weren't spanked her.
Her bottom throbbing in pain, she stared at the wall. She knew that if she looked away, even for a second, then her bottom would be blistered again.
Dana jerked herself awake. Once more she was covered with sweat. The dream had seemed so real! It had been her facing the wall in that bathroom and...
And Dana knew that she didn't know what a sore bottom felt like. That part of the dream hadn't seemed real.
After thinking briefly of getting something to drink, Dana rolled over and went back to bed.
Fourth Week of June
Dana had enjoyed visiting her relatives but as she rode home in her aunt's car, the girl had to admit that she was looking forward to stopping at the rest stop. To looking around and maybe spotting someone she knew. And yes, to see the spankings being handed out. Dana didn't know why she wanted to see them or why seeing them affected her the way they did, but they did have an effect her and there was no denying it.
"We aren't just stopping for Sean this time." Katie revealed as she signalled to turn off. "Speaking of Sean, could you keep an eye on him as I powder my noise? There's no way I can take him to the family bathroom and leave him standing there while I'm in a stall."
"Um, well..."
Katie lowered her voice and leaned towards her niece.
"He's still a bit freaked out from that bus thing." Katie confided. "And if I leave him outside a stall then there's a good chance he'll end up facing that wall with a red bottom."
"Okay, I'll keep an eye on him." Dana agreed.
Sean was clingy, but not as clingy as last week. Still, with him clinging to her Dana couldn't explore. Her conscious wouldn't allow her to lead Sean near anywhere interesting. Not letting him see anything meant that she couldn't either.
At least not until Sean insisted that he needed to go to the bathroom. That she doubted him; Dana knew the size of his bladder but part of her was sure that he just wanted to see the girls facing the wall in family bathroom.
And that was partly true. Sean's urgency faded the moment they were through the door. His steps slowed as he stared at the kids facing the wall.
There were a mix of boys and girls, of covered and bared bottoms, and Dana wasn't completely surprise that some of the girls had well formed bottoms. That the tall girl Dana had seen last week hadn't been a fluke. She had known that girls Fawn Abbots' age might get spanked here, but to be made to stand facing a wall like a naughty child, that seemed impossible but clearly it was happening. One of the girls seemed almost Dana's age, but Dana knew that she had to be younger.
There were open stalls, but Sean's movement was practically stopped as he stared at a girl's bare bottom. It wasn't the oldest girl facing the wall but it was the oldest girl with a bare bum.
One of the waiting parents noticed Sean's actions. Well, maybe they all did, but only one of them spoke up. The man was obviously the girl's father (or maybe her uncle).
"Like what I did to her bottom? I can make yours even redder."
The threat of a fire in his bottom lent speed to his feet. Sean dashed into the stall.
With him gone, Dana began to feel slightly nervous. It was one thing to escort Sean to this place but it was another to stand around waiting in a room where some parents obviously felt that girls near her own age could be spanked. Standing there, Dana felt oddly vulnerable. She knew that no one was going to grab her and start spanking, but somehow she felt slightly endangered just standing there.
And standing there.
And standing there.
Dana waited as parent after parent escorted kids in. Most were simply herded into a stall, but a few were brought there to be spanked. And many of those kids had their bottoms bared for the event. Only a few of them were spanked fully clothed; even if underwear was left in place most times shorts were lowered or skirts were raised. Which made sense. As her Aunt Katie said, why bother taking the kid into the bathroom if you were going to spank over jeans?
It felt like this was taking forever. Dana slowly realised that it wasn't just a feeling. That Sean was taking a long time in there.
And she wasn't the only who noticed. A woman (who was dragging a boy) went up to Sean's stall and pounded on the door.
"Aren't you done yet? What are you, standing there listening to other kids get it? If you're not out in five seconds..."
The door flew open before the woman finished speaking. Sean had clearly been standing by the door, listening and maybe peeking out the crack in the door. He was blushing as he rushed out, dodging in case the woman grabbed at him. Not that she did; she was too busy getting her son plopped down on the toilet.
Dana expected Sean to be even clingier after that near miss, but instead he seemed to gain confidence. As if coming that close and emerging unscathed had proven to him that he was untouchable.
But it was now too late to explore. Aunt Katie was ready to go so there was no chance for Dana to look around.
"I said stare at the wall!"
She sobbed as she propelled towards the wall. Sentenced to stare with everyone looking at her bare bum.
Dana jerked awake, her body damp with sweat. The man ordering her towards the wall was the father who had threatened Sean in the bathroom. The man who had just spanked his own daughter and position her half naked against the wall. A man who had threatened a strange boy and maybe would just as easily threaten (or even spank) a strange girl. He might have even spanked Dana.
When she went for a drink, Dana decided on a wine cooler. Not that she needed it, but it tasted refreshing going down.
First Week of July
Dana felt odd. She knew that she was enjoying her visits to Brockway, that seeing her relatives was nice, but it was these stops when they were 'lost in the loop' across the county line that she was really looking forward with.
"Darn." Katie said as she signalled to turn into the rest stop. "I forgot to pick up sunscreen. I'll need it tonight and this is only time I can pick it up. And I hate paying convenient store prices."
"It could be worse." Dana commented, thinking about her bladder. "You could be shopping for souvenirs."
"As if I'd buy one of those overpriced paddles." Katie laughed.
Dana was out of the car and halfway to the bathroom before a thought occurred to her:
'How does Aunt Katie know that the paddles are overpriced?'
Then the thought vanished in a puff of logic.
'Duh. Of course everything is more expensive at a rest stop.'
That settled in her mind, Dana walked into the lady's room and forced herself to ignore the unfortunate girls staring at the wall.
Leaving the washroom, movement caught Dana's eye. A young couple (well, older than her) was walking towards teen trail, but they didn't have anyone with them. Her curiosity sparked, Dana ignored her decision to avoid teen trail and followed them. Putting on a burst of speed, Dana was soon in earshot of them.
"Um, John? I'm not about this anymore."
"But Lisa, we talked this to death. You were okay with it." John responded.
"Um, maybe we shouldn't do this?" Lisa suggested.
"It isn't your choice any more." John said gently. "We're in Hazard County now, remember? And your birthday is still three days away. Until you're 21 it's me making the decisions here, remember?"
"But it's only three days." Lisa protested half-heartedly.
"And we won't have a chance to come out here again." John pointed out. "This is our last chance to come here with you being a minor. The last chance for you to be treated like a child. The last chance for me to treat you like your Uncle Roy almost treated you."
"Um, I know, but..."
"The way you told me he treated your cousins and almost treated you." John reminded her as he steered her towards one of the stone seats. "The day he took you all over the line."
Dana found herself leaving the path, entering the bushes so she could continue to observe this drama.
"Um..."
"The day you've dreaming about for years."
Lisa sighed and started to dig into her purse.
"You talk me into it." Lisa said.
"No, you talked me into it." John replied.
Lisa hesitated, her hand still in her large purse.
"The last time possible for us to be here without safe words." John prompted. "With me totally in charge."
Lisa sighed again, then took a paddle from her purse.
"But not on the bare, okay?" Lisa asked.
"You know it's going to be on the bare."
"But I don't want it on the bare." Lisa whined.
"Tough." John said roughly. "This is Hazard County, remember? I'm the one making the decisions and I say it's happening on the bare."
Lisa whined again, but the woman undid her long skirt and let it fall to the ground. Dana saw that Lisa had nothing under it, not even socks.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" John prompted.
Whining, Lisa retrieved her purse and produced a length of leather. Dana watched with wide eyes as Lisa held her wrists out so that John could bind them.
"There. Now we don't have to worry about hands trying to protect your naughty little bottom." John declared as he secured Lisa's wrists.
"But I don't want this." Lisa whined. "I changed my mind. Meatloaf. Meatloaf meatloaf meatloaf."
"Na-huh." John scolded. "I told you, no safe words. Not today."
Lisa was still pouting as her lover took her over his lap. Dana knew that they were lovers by how easily John slid his hand between Lisa's legs and inside the woman.
"Who's a naughty girl?" John teased, working his hand. "Who's a naughty little girl?"
"I am." Lisa squeaked.
John withdrew his hand, bringing down hard on Lisa's right cheek. Dana watched Lisa's ass jiggle, then her eyes were fixed on the paddle that John had picked up.
Watched as the paddle came down with a meaty whack.
"OH! Too hard!" Lisa protested.
John ignored her, bringing the paddle down again and again.
"No! Stop!" Lisa begged. "Meatloaf! MEAT FUCKING LOAF!"
"You made me promise no safe words and I'm sticking to my word." John said. "I'm going to blister your bum and you're going to love it."
Lisa started struggling at that point. She kicked and bucked, taking some almost obscene poses as she struggled. But with her wrists bound there was little that she could do; Lisa ended up with her left leg pinned between John's legs as her right one flailed around.
Dana watched as John paddled and paddled. Lisa's tears didn't slow that paddle, nor did her pleading and begging. Dana could only stare as Lisa's bottom shifted from white to pink to red to redder, John keeping his promise to actually raise blisters on her bottom globes.
"That's it, cry." John said, smacking her harder. "Shed those tears. You'll remember this day for the rest of your life. You'll be cumming buckets every time you think of this day. You're soaking wet right now, admit it."
Lisa didn't respond. At least not in words. Slowly the tenor of her crying changed and her struggles began to slow. The fight went out of Lisa as she surrendered to her spanking. Not that this surrender brought things to an end; John seemed to have either a number of strokes or a bottom colour in mind and he wasn't so much as pausing as Lisa transformed from an average young woman to a sobbing child.
Everything was surreal for Dana. She watched as a woman stuck her head into the area only to leave without reacting. To leave without even bothering to check Lisa's ID or do anything to verify that Lisa's butt was still young enough to be a spankable one. In that moment, Dana knew that if she was ever being spanked out here on the teen trail that no one would help her. That no one would even think twice about her being spanked there. Not in Hazard County.
Dana wanted to watch until the end of the spanking, but time was passing and John showed no sign of flagging. Then, for no reason that Dana could see, John dropped the paddle and was hugging and caressing his lover.
"Shush." John said. "It's over. You did it. You took the spanking. When we get home I'm going to screw your brains out. God, I wish I could take you right here and right now, but they don't allow public sex here. I can spank your pretty little ass off but I can't fuck it; how screwed up is that? Shush, it's over. We did it."
Dana wasn't sure about the public sex bit, not with how John was stroking Lisa bum, with his fingers disappearing between her legs. The way Lisa was moaning and writhing, Dana knew that Lisa was enjoying herself. Had enjoyed herself. Had been paddled until her bum was literally blistered and was somehow on the verge of cumming.
"And I did some research." John continued. "If you sign a form declaring yourself to be immature then we can do this until you're 25. Just think, four more years of this. Does that make you hot? Oh that does make you hot." John observed.
'What sort of woman would want to be treated that way?' Dana wondered. 'How could anyone enjoy being paddled?'
Then she realised the time. Dana couldn't run, not around teen trail, but she hurried back to her aunt's car. To her relief Dana was the first one back and had to wait more than half a second for Katie to escort Sean to the car. Katie put something in the trunk and then herded Sean into the car.
As Katie was pulling out of her parking space, Dana caught a glimpse of the couple as they left the bushes. Lisa's wrists were clearly unbound as the woman was rubbing at her visible bum. Dana was stunned that the woman was being walked back to the car without her skirt. Without panties or a skirt or much of anything covering her below her waist. Oh, there were some shirttails from Lisa's blouse, but they did little to conceal anything.
And the 'anything' visible included far more than Lisa's red bottom.
Katie glanced over, then accelerated from the parking lot.
"I've heard of that, but this is the first time I've seen something like that." Katie observed as she merged with traffic. "Thank goodness that Sean didn't see it."
"See what?" Sean said, swivelling his head around in a vain attempt to see whatever his aunt was talking about.
"Um, is that type of thing, um, common?" Dana asked, pretending that her only knowledge of the couple was that glimpse in the parking lot.
"Not really." Katie answered.
"What sort of things?" Sean demanded.
"A couple involved in a spanking." Katie clarified, leaving the situation clouded.
"That's it?" Sean snorted. "There's always a couple. At least unless there's two kids getting it then it's more than a couple."
"Anyway, he has to be older than her and she has to be waiting for her birthday." Katie continued. "At least for it to completely legal. Of course if she doesn't make a big fuss then maybe he can do something like that after she's already had her birthday. As long as she looks to be in her early 20s I doubt anyone bother checking her ID. At least if she doesn't complain a lot."
"Um, I think I heard something about a form you can sign that sets the age to 25?" Dana squeaked, wishing that she sounded more confident.
"Oh, I don't doubt it." Katie chuckled. "I'm sure that there's something like that in Hazard County. But the way it works there I'm sure it's only for girls."
"Oh." Dana said, staying silent for the rest of the ride home.
"NO! YES! MEATLOAF!"
Dana woke with the sound of screaming echoing in her ears. The dream had been so vivid! Almost a perfect memory of watching Lisa getting it. Lisa, who might right now be signing a form so that her lover could spank her anytime he took her over the county line. Shivering, Dana discovered her right hand resting on her own thigh. Her upper thigh. Consciously moving her hand away from where it rested, Dana rolled onto her side and drifted back off to sleep.
That Tuesday...
Dana loved her new swimsuit. She just loved it. And after taking in the sights of Hazard County, Dana no long worried that too much cheek might peek out in back. No, her problem was now with the suit's front. While admiring its look in her bedroom mirror, Dana spotted a stray hair. She was tempted to poke it back in her suit but Dana knew that if a hair strayed now it would stray again.
"Time for a trim." Dana declared.
A brief burst from the shower matted her hair, then Dana was reaching for her battery powered razor and a mirror. Working carefully, she was trimming the outside of her bush when disaster struck; Dana shifted her feet slightly and slipped on the wet tub. Her mirror went flying as she flailed desperately to avert a fall, all to no avail. Her butt hit the tub, hit it hard.
"Shit!" Dana said, rubbing at the sore spot. "No one would ever believe this. I've been crossing the county line for a month and I get a pain in my butt from shaving in the shower."
Checking herself in the bathroom mirror, Dana didn't think that her fall would leave a mark. Then she shifted her position slightly and her skin turned pasty white in horror.
"Fuck." Dana swore. "That can't be real. It just can't!"
But it was. When the mirror had shot from her hand the razor had slipped down. There, in the middle of her bush, was a stripe. A well defined stripe. There was no hiding it, no possibility of combing it over, no way to hide it. Instead of a perfectly trimmed bush she had an ugly stripe through the middle of it and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Fuck fuckity fuck." Dana swore.
She had no choice. Shaving down there had been out of style for years, maybe decades. A few girls did it, but those who shaved did so to standout from the crowd. Dana had never wanted to standout, not that way, but now she didn't have a choice. She had to finish what she started.
Working the razor, Dana watched her bush disappear - leaving her bare for the first time in years.
"If no one notices then I can just want for it to regrow and no one will ever know." Dana told herself.
And she almost believed herself.
Wednesday
Dana wished that she hadn't committed to this trip. That she hadn't bought a new suit or agreed to go to the lake. But the usual crowd was with her and she would have needed a great lie to get out of it. Wearing her suit to the beach had meant that she hadn't needed to change before swimming, but there was no way she could wear a wet suit home.
'A simple change, a quick change, and I'll be safe.' Dana told herself. 'And I won't go swimming again until it grows back. I'll find an excuse that works.'
Pointing her backside to the room, Dana stepped out of her suit.
"Hey, I see we've got another member of the waxing club."
Dana winced at the voice. Vicky Terri Walters wasn't really a member of the group, or any group. She floated at the edge of things, dressing in black, dying her hair black, wearing beads in her hair, and more or less acting like a freak. She so much at the edge of the group that Dana thought of her as Vicky Terri Walters, needing to use all three names to tag the girl.
Of course a girl like that would shave; that was just another way to draw attention to herself. But why did she have to notice Dana's temporary condition? And the moment Vicky Terri Walters pointed it out virtually every eye in the changing room was on Dana's bald snatch.
Dana knew that she had two choices. She could admit that she had made a mistake with her razor or pretend that she had consciously decided to shave. Either to admit that she wasn't perfect or to lie.
"Um, I read something about it made your suit fit better." Dana lied. "Shaving makes it hang better, with less clinging. Less defining even."
The changing room was suddenly full of opinions, all of them negative. No one was agreeing Dana's statement but they were all accepting that Dana had heard that old story. Which was surprising; until they mentioned that it was an old story, Dana had thought she had invented it.
The lie had saved her, but it also committed her. No one thought that she had done it by accident, but now she had to stay shaved for the rest of the summer. That or admit that she was wrong to have shaved it the first time.
The Second Week of July
Dana felt odd. Here she was, across the line in Hazard County, and she was as bare as those girls she saw getting spanked in the girls' room. From a certain angle Dana looked almost like a little girl and she hated that. No little girl every wanted to be in Hazard County and shaved as she was Dana felt a bit too much like a little girl.
Sean took off the moment the car stopped.
"That boy." Katie sighed. "He's going to rush into the bathroom to pee and then spend the next twenty minutes trying to look at girl's backsides. Sooner or later he's going to get himself into trouble and he'll have only himself to blame."
Dana agreed with her aunt.
"Speaking of bathrooms, I should powder my nose." Katie continued.
Dana gave a moment thought to following her aunt, then remembered that line of girls facing the wall.
'I'm getting as clingy as Sean.' Dana thought, mentally scolding herself.
"I think I'll just stretch my legs a bit." Dana replied.
Glancing around, she didn't see any couples heading to the east side of the rest stop. Knowing that anything she saw would be disappointment after Lisa's voluntary performance, Dana decided to walk over to the convenience store area.
"Dana? Dana Galloway? Is that you?"
'What were the odds?' Dana wondered. 'This is will make three times I've run into someone I know here.'
Dana knew people in Haverfield and Brockway, and this route between them was the logical one (at least when there was a traffic jam around Haverbrook Lake), so it shouldn't surprise her that she ran into people she knew here. Yet somehow it did.
In this case it was someone who knew her rather than someone she knew. Mrs. Harvey was an old family friend, someone who Dana had never gotten to a first name bases with but who had known Dana practically since birth.
"Fancy running into you here." Mrs. Harvey said as she came up to Dana. "Now don't tell me that someone decided to take you across the line, not at your age. Or are you babysitting again and the taker?"
"Um, no, neither." Dana laughed, then explained about visiting her relatives.
"Oh I completely understand." Mrs. Harvey agreed. "Traffic around Haverbrook Lake is murder this time of day. But it feels weird, seeing you here. Now there was a time when I wouldn't have hesitated to take you across the line. Remember that day with the flowers?"
Dana blushed at the memory. She had wanted to pick her mother some flowers and raided Mrs. Harvey's greenhouse. The woman had been furious!
"Or that time when you decided that the dog needed to wear a wedding dress." Mrs. Harvey continued.
Dana blushed as Mrs. Harvey continued to list some of Dana's juvenile misdeeds, any of which could have produced a spanking if Dana had grown up in Hazard County. Mrs. Harvey went on and on, Dana reflected that maybe the list would be a shorter one if Dana had grown up on this side of the county line.
"But of course that's in the past." Mrs. Harvey continued. "As for today, I'm surprised that someone as callipygian as you feels comfortable walking around here."
"Um, it's no big deal." Dana responded, vowing to look up the word when she got home.
"Oh, look at the time." Mrs. Harvey said. "Here I am, yammering away as we're burning daylight."
"I should be going too." Dana said, turning to go. "My aunt will be wondering where I am."
"Well here's a little something to speed you on you way." Mrs. Harvey said, giving Dana a playful pat on the backside.
Dana jumped in surprise, but Mrs. Harvey just laughed off her reaction and headed towards the parking lot.
Dana watched Mrs. Harvey walk away, wondering what would have happened if Mrs. Harvey had stumbled across her a few years ago. Say a decade ago, what would have happened if Mrs. Harvey had met Dana in Hazard County when Dana was a little girl? Would Mrs. Harvey have done more than just list those misdeeds? Would she have taken Dana to task for one (or more) of them and then apologised to Dana's parents later?
Dana was still pondering that question when Katie walked up to her and broke in to her fugue.
"There you are. Have you seen Sean?"
Dana almost jumped out of her skin, then got control of herself.
"Um, no, I haven't."
"It looks like the RLIDC people are here again." Katie said, indicating the short buses in the parking lot.
Dana wondered how they could have arrived without her noticing them. She had a good view of the parking lot and they must have walked passed her to get behind the convenience store.
"Want to bet that someone decided to play with fire again? Or was hanging around back there and got caught up with the crowd? Come on, we better go get him before I have to explain how he ended up with a red bum."
Dana nodded and followed her aunt behind the convenient store. As expected, the line of boys were there, all with their jeans around their knees. This time she was looking for him and easily spotted Sean, then gasped. He almost at the front of the line. By the time they got to him, Sean's underwear was down and there was just a single boy between him and the spankers.
"Hello again. It seems that my nephew has joined your little troop again." Katie said, indicating the frantically gesturing Sean.
"Oh, it's you again." Betty said. "I guess that's why he looked familiar."
Sean quickly jerked up his underwear, but when he reached for his jeans, Betty stopped him.
"I remember now. Didn't your aunt say something about them staying down? And maybe we should take those down again?"
"Oh, those jeans are coming off." Katie commented. "But as for the rest, I just got new seat covers and well..."
"I understand." Betty said, shooing Sean back over to where his aunt was standing.
"My jeans are coming off?" Sean wailed.
"Yupe, and it be worse." Katie commented. "I might have been a bit late in checking on you. If I had been then your backside would be getting toasted."
"But..."
"It seems that things are going a bit further today." Katie said, ignoring her nephew and indicating the women spanking.
"Well the first time was to give them a taste and the second time, well it has to be a bit more to hold their attention, doesn't it?" Betty explained.
"But..."
"Jeans, off. Now." Katie noted. "Or you can join the line again. There's a place at the front of the line with your name on it."
Dana was sure that her aunt was joking about that, but Sean wasn't. He quickly shed his jeans, which vanished into Katie's shoulder bag.
Dana seen other kids Sean's age wandering around without jeans, but she had never expected that Sean would join their number. As they made their way straight to the car Dana was surprised that Sean didn't get more looks, but in Hazard County he was just part of the background.
Once in the car, Sean wanted his jeans back.
"Sorry honey, but you can't take your seatbelt off when we're driving." Katie told him.
"But..."
"Maybe driving home like this will teach you to keep your jeans up." Katie suggested.
"But I didn't want to take them down." Sean protested.
"That's what you said last time." Katie noted. "Maybe after this you'll learn."
Sean sulked all the way home. When Katie pulled into her driveway, she tossed Sean's jeans to him before going to talk to his parents. Dana made herself scarce. She didn't know what Katie (or Sean) would have to say about the day's events and didn't want to know. Then again, this was Sean's second near miss and his parents hadn't had much to say last time so maybe it wouldn't be a major confrontation.
Later, when Dana looked up the word callipygian, she didn't know whether to be insulted or flattered. She certainly didn't think of her bum as her best feature. Had Mrs. Harvey said that it was, or had the women been saying that Dana had a very spankable behind? Never interpretation sat well with Dana.
"You said you were sorry, but now I'm going to make sure you really are."
Dana sobbed in agreement as she lay pants down across Mrs. Harvey's lap. Stolen flowers were scattered along the ground as Mrs. Harvey raised her hairbrush and
Dana awoke in a cold sweat. Another vivid dream, one that could have been real. This time, Dana knew that it was something that could have happened. After all those drives through Hazard County, Dana had no problem picturing an old friend of the family spanking her for some childish misdeed.
Leaving her bed, Dana opened a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. Then another.
"Maybe it's not worth seeing my relatives." Dana muttered to herself. "Not if I end up with dreams like this."
When she finally drifted off to sleep, a final thought filled her mind.
'Then again, maybe the dreams aren't all bad.' Dana mused, wondering at what the good part might be.
http://www.spanko.net/spanking_forums/v ... ?f=3&t=130
You'll want to read that one first because it handles all the world building. This story makes much less sense without the background info found there.)
Looping Across The County Line
Dana Galloway yawned as the car drove down the highway. Not that she minded being driven around but there wasn't much to do during the two hour drive but try to doze. As her eyes flittered shut, a thud against the back of her seat brought her back to full alertness.
"Sean." Katie Marlowe said warningly.
"Sorry."
The 'apology' was as fake as they came, but Dana didn't think that a boy his age could give a genuine apology.
Travelling together, they made up an odd trio to be travelling together. Dana's Aunt Katie was driving with Dana in the passenger seat and Katie's nephew, Sean Palfrey, riding in the rear passenger seat. All three had different last names and Dana was no relation to Sean. Katie was Dana's mother's sister-in-law (being married to Dana's dad, Malcolm Galloway) while Sean was Katie's nephew. Dana wasn't all that close to her aunt, but both of them had family in Brockway which was a two hour drive away from they all lived in Haverfield.
Katie had most of her weekends free and was okay with driving her nephew to see his great grandmother so he could get to know her better. That meant driving him to Brockway to spend most of Saturday there every weekend this Spring and Summer. When Dana's family heard about those trips, they asked if Dana could be dropped off there to see her family, offering to kick in a bit for fuel. At first Dana was all in favour of the plan, but that was before the ride out with Sean in the backseat, kicking the back of her seat and making a nusense of himself. Riding back with him was just as bad. This wasn't how Dana thought she would be spending the second week of June.
'Maybe I won't come next week.' Dana thought.
Then Sean kicked her seat again and Dana bit back a growl. Looking for a distraction, she glanced out the window and frowned at the route marker they were passing.
"Is this Local Route 25?" Dana asked, naming the road they had taken that morning.
"LR 25?" Katie laughed. "This time of day? No, we tried coming back on that one, but the first sunny weekend in May turned it into a disaster. This time of day it's jammed solid with traffic from Haverbrook Lake. It took me four hours just to get passed Haverbrook Lake. Four hours! And most of that time the motor was going and burning fuel and Sean could have walked faster than we were driving. All the fuel wasted. I thought Graham was going to hit the ceiling. Literally!"
Dana nodded; her Uncle Graham hated wasting fuel. More than the cost, he hated the concept of wasting energy.
"So I checked the maps and the traffic patterns and found another route." Katie continued. "Now it's two hours there and two hours back and the fuel burn is about the same."
"Um, I guess." Dana said, thinking about the route marker she had seen. "But didn't it say something about being intercounty?"
"That's right. We're on Intercounty 42WH." Katie revealed.
Dana shivered.
Before the collapse, that wouldn't have mattered, but this wasn't before the collapse. The collapse had dragged on for years, bringing down most levels of governments. Fifty-two years ago there had been a Constitutional Congress that had rewritten the constitution from the ground up, and any student of history could tell you that there were huge difference between the two systems. And the biggest difference wasn't even that there was now a king (someone who handled the ceremonial duties and remaining executive powers that had once been in the hands of a President). No, the biggest difference was how there were now 'different' jurisdictions.
After the rebuilding, the country was more a commonwealth of locales than a true nation. In some areas you could walk into any drugstore and (if you could pay for it) leave with the drug of your choice, from old-fashioned heroin to the latest blend of S, while in others possession of alcohol was a capital offence. Most areas were somewhere in between those extremes, but mind-altering substances weren't the only issue that split the nation. Name the issue and most of the country was somewhere in the middle of it, with extreme positions taken in various jurisdictions. Everyone knew that it paid to research before travelling across state lines.
Or even county lines.
Dana had grown up, spending all of her life, in her home jurisdiction of Wellington County. Wellington County has close enough to the national average to be considered a 'normal' area and that was all that Dana knew. In the fall she would be leaving home to go to college, but that was in the fall.
Dana's leg wanted to shake, but she controlled it. The geology practically dictated that the road would go... And then there was the name. Intercounty 42WH. Regulations dictated that if a road crossed a jurisdiction it had to include the names of both of them in the route name. 42WH. That could only stand for route 42 Wellington County / Hazard County.
They were about to cross the county line and enter Hazard County. Hazard County, a place that embraced spanking like it was a good thing. Dana had grown up hearing horror stories about the bum busting parents in Hazard County. The phrase 'Crossing the Line' had special meaning in this part of Wellington County, at least to kids. She and her friends had spent time gossiping over whose parents might have taken them across that county line. Dana's parents didn't make a habit of threatening her that way, but Dana had heard countless parents thundering "if you cross that line then we're crossing the line" and she was sure that not all of them did so in jest.
Some her friends had even shown her some of the special foldouts that they produced in Hazard County. The front of the foldout had the subject's photo, usually looking mad or upset, and the back had a later photo, one that normally included tear-stained eyes and a red face. Sometimes the back photo would show more than just the upper body. The subject's T-shirt would be there, covering mid thigh or lower, with jeans and underwear gathered at the subject's feet.
Of course the interesting photos were the ones inside and were supposed to be impossible to snoop on. The two sides were maglocked together and you had to have the right DNA for the lock to open. If you were the right person then you put your thumb just there and it opened, but if you weren't then you could never open it. Of course, girls being girls, some of them had bullied friends into opening them and exposing the internal photos. The ones that showed the girl getting her bum spanked Hazard County style.
Dana had never been over that line. She had never wanted to go over that line. She hadn't even been that interested in seeing what was in those foldouts. And now, with no warning, she was about to cross the county line!
Then Dana took a deep breath. She wasn't some scared little kid. For Christ sake, she was a high school graduate! But, on the other hand, Sean... The brat in the backseat who kept kicking the back of her seat... No, Dana couldn't picture herself taking him in hand but she was suddenly wondering if Katie felt differently.
"Um, so are we stopping there?" Dana asked neutrally. "I've heard that some of the stores there have a different selection than the ones at home."
"Sorry, the road doesn't actually go through any towns or cities." Katie said with a smile. "It just crosses the open country side and not much of that. Maybe three or four miles at most. It's barely even worth having the name on the sign."
"Oh." Dana responded. "That's probably for the best."
Then they passed a "You Are Now Entering Hazard County" sign.
"Um, Aunt Katie?" Sean called from the backseat.
Dana looked at the mirror on her sun visor and saw the boy grinning like an idiot.
"Yes?" Katie said with a knowing sigh.
"I gotta to go." Sean said, still smiling like an idiot.
Not looking at all like a boy who needed to go.
Katie flicked on her signal light. Dana glanced at her aunt, who shot Dana a look. Dana wasn't sure what sort of look it was; maybe a knowing look, maybe a sympathetic look, Dana wasn't sure.
The car was barely stopped when Sean was out the door and dashing away.
"A rest stop?" Dana asked.
"Yes, it's the only part of this road that really interacts with Hazard County." Katie revealed. "It's got its own service road in the back that leads further into Hazard County and let's it stock everything it needs without bringing things through Wellington. Toilet paper, food, everything."
"Um, and..."
"And everything you've heard about Hazard County, well it happens here at this rest stop."
"And Sean just charged out there?" Dana asked incredulously.
Katie sighed again.
"The first time we stopped here, it was a real emergency." Katie revealed. "We're talking him crotch holding all the way to the toilet. And Sean was horrified that this was Hazard County. He was practically glued to my leg, which was awkward with him needing to pee. Luckily there's a family bathroom here. Unluckily, they often use it for father daughter, mother son spankings."
"Um, you mean..."
"Of course they were mostly on the bare." Katie continued. "I mean, everyone knows that Hazard County is spank happy. Why bother doing it out of sight in a bathroom if you aren't going to do it bare? Now not all of them were bare, maybe it has something to do with some of them being from Wellington County, but there were enough bare bums showing to give Sean a real eyeful."
"I can imagine." Dana nodded.
Not that she could. Dana couldn't even come close to picturing a scene like that. She lacked any frame of reference to begin to picture a mass spanking.
"The next time we came here, the emergency wasn't as bad but Sean still needed to pee." Katie revealed. "The third time he was confident enough to use the men's room, but he wanted me near the door. After that, he started to feel braver. By our fourth stop here he was wandering on his own. Taking in the sights as it were."
"You mean..."
"Most of the spankings he sees are over clothes or boys getting it in the men's room, but he's also seen his share of girl's bums." Katie confirmed. "Not that it really matters much, not at his age, but still."
"And his parents know?" Dana asked in disbelief.
"Of course they know." Katie responded. "There was no way he could see anything like that and me not tell them. They were upset, but they agreed that taking this route was the only way to go if they wanted him to see his great grandmother. Of course I told them that I wouldn't be spanking him here, but you know Hazard County; almost anyone could do it."
"Almost anyone." Dana agreed, telling herself that she wouldn't be doing it no matter how much he kicked the back of her seat.
"And now, well they expect me to keep an eye on him but they've warned him that if he plays with fire he might get burnt. Anyway, this is stop number five and I'm sure we'll be a while. Ten to twenty minutes, maybe longer, as he takes in the sights." Katie revealed. "Want to take a look around while he wanders?"
"Um, sure. Why wouldn't I?" Dana said.
"You do know about Hazard County, right?"
"Of course, but I'm not a little kid." Dana laughed.
"But you're not 21." Katie told her. "And 21 is the age of majority."
"So?"
"So if you're not 21 then you're a kid." Katie continued, spelling it out for her. "And kids can get spanked in Hazard County. Of course it's not likely. You're much too old for a causal spanking. And if Sean can go running around without getting spanked then I can't see anything like that happening to you, but it's still a risk. I wouldn't feel right letting you wander around here without you knowing it."
"But... But it's not going to happen. There's no way it could." Dana insisted.
"That's the spirit." Katie nodded. "So let's stretch our legs a bit, shall we?"
Dana barely hesitated before opening her car door and stepping out into Hazard County.
"The locals, they call this place 'lost in the loop' because so many inhibitions get lost here." Katie said.
"They? They who?"
"The people who work here." Katie clarified. "I've chatted with them a bit. While Sean's roaming."
"Oh." Dana said, stretching her legs and glancing around.
Three squat buildings dominated the middle of the rest stop while another pair of buildings were off to the right. Picnic tables were scattered around the site, with the bulk of them to the left. Also scattered around were benches, some of them looking more like chairs than benches. If they weren't made of metal or stone then Dana would have called those single seat benches armless chairs; Dana had a feeling she knew what they were for.
"Those are the bathrooms." Katie said, indicating the squat buildings and confirming Dana's guess. "The boys to the west, the girls to the east, and the family on in the middle."
Dana nodded, associating east with 'left' and west with 'right' as you left the parking lot.
"Over there is a gift shop and restaurant." Katie continued, indicating the buildings to the west. "The gift shop is full of souvenirs and such while the restaurant has plenty of places to stand if someone is too sore to sit."
"Souvenirs? What sorts of souvenirs?" Dana asked.
"We might as well have a look." Katie offered. "We'll be here for a while."
As they were leaving the parking lot, a car pulled in - stopping next to one of the single seat benches. A woman emerged from the car, pulling a kid after her. Moments later Dana was witnessing a spanking for the first time.
'But probably not the last.' Dana thought, walking towards gift shop.
And it wasn't. By the time they reached the gift shop she saw two more. It was surreal. It seemed like a normal rest stop. Families were stopping, kids were running around, and spankings were just casually happening. It was a mixture of the every day and the absurd. Like something out of a dream or art house movie.
"Does that sort of thing happen everywhere here?" Dana asked, nodding towards a spanking.
"In a way, but there are conventions." Katie said. "Bottoms don't often get bared near the parking lot, where everyone will have to walk passed and see it. Other then that, the girls tend to get it near the girl's bathroom, the boys near the boy's room. There are places behind both buildings where bare bottoms are common, and I've heard that there are paths behind the family bathroom that are a perfect place for someone to go to cut a switch. No, seriously! I heard someone in the gift shop saying that they plant the right trees and bushes down there that make good switches. They even replace some of the plants that have been cut back too much."
"That's..." Dana couldn't find a word for what it was.
"Then there's the semi-designated areas." Katie continued. "Behind the gift shop / restaurant area there's a place where, well, mass spankings happen."
"What?"
"Groups car pooling, large families, that sort of thing." Katie said. "Minivans and buses in the parking lot are a sign that it could be in use. And then there's the east side of the rest stop. You might want to avoid that."
"What?" Dana asked. "Why?"
"There are some shaded walking areas over there too." Katie said slowly, as if she was searching for words. "Um, for semi privacy for when, um, someone's not as young as she could be."
"She?"
"Or he." Katie continued. "But it's mostly girls getting led down those paths. Girls who are old enough that it matters if someone sees them getting it."
Katie paused, waiting for Dana to say something. Dana held her tongue.
"Teenage girls." Katie confirmed. "I heard one of the people at the gift shop calling the east end of the rest stop the teen trail."
"You're joking! Why would someone say that?" Dana demanded, trying to guess how that would come up in normal conversation.
"She was talking to someone who was escorting a nervous looking young lady, someone not a whole lot younger than you." Katie informed. After a pause, she added: "And I saw the girl again as I was driving away. Her face was flush and her eyes looked red from crying."
Dana stumbled, barely catching herself before she fell.
"Um, but you said..."
"I said that you wouldn't be subject to random, casual spankings." Katie reminded her. "And you won't. No more than that girl was. She was travelling with someone who decided that she needed a spanking and in Hazard County that's all it takes."
"But..."
"But don't worry." Katie continued. "I can't see myself delivering a spanking in Hazard County. I mean, if I haven't spanked my brat of nephew then there's no way I'd be spanking anyone here, is there?"
Unexpected relief flooded Dana.
"Of course. I never thought you would." Dana answered, wondering for a moment if she was lying. If she wasn't, then why was she feeling relief?
The gift shop was a mixture of snacks and kitsch. Dana expected kitsch, but not the actual items she found there.
"Souvenir paddles?" Dana asked in disbelief. "Paddles I can see, but souvenir ones?"
"Souvenir ones." Katie confirmed.
Dana picked one up. On the front of it was written "I Went To Hazard County And All I Got Was This Paddle". She flipped it to find the words "30 TIMES! OUCH!" on the other side.
"They are have cute words or pictures on them." Katie said, picking up one that read 'Hazard County Bum Buster!'. "And all of them mention Hazard County. That's what makes them souvenirs."
Dana couldn't help but nod. She saw paddles that read: Hazard County Mother's Helper, Hazard County Child Psychology, The Hazard County Babysitter's Union Badge, Hazard County Bored of Education, and so on, all mixed with in with cute pictures of kids getting it.
At it wasn't just paddles. Straps, rulers, belts - if it could be used to spank a bottom then it was there. All with Hazard's County name on it. There were some clothes for sale, but they were kitsch too. T-shirts with Hazard County quips, shorts with bull's-eye rings on each cheek, skirts with 'lift as needed' printed on their seats, and other cutesy sayings. Some of the clothes seemed to lack sayings, but Dana was sure that there was something kitsch about them too.
Turned her eyes back to the implements, Dana frowned.
"I don't see a logo on this one." Dana said, pointing to a belt.
"It's there." Dana said, pointing to a small thing stamped near the buckle. "They don't always make it obvious."
Dana turned her head to look at a tray of wooden spoons, but then she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Not something, someone. Someone she knew. She didn't know the girl well, but Dana was sure that she was looking at Fawn Abbots. A girl she just vaguely knew, one who had been a grade or two behind her in school. Fawn might be a bit younger than that, but not by much. Dana knew that she wasn't wrong, that it was Fawn Abbots standing there by the cash register.
Standing there with a pallid expression on her face.
Standing there beside a man (her father? her uncle? Dana didn't know Fawn Abbots' family well enough to guess) who was paying for a leather strap. Then the strap was in a bag and the man was leading Fawn Abbots out, actually holding Fawn Abbots' arm as he almost dragged her out.
"And have you ever seen something so stupid looking?" Katie said, breaking Dana's train of thought.
"Um, no." Dana said, struggling to pick up the strands of the conversation.
"I know that souvenirs are supposed to be crass, but really." Katie said.
"Um, I think I should walk around a bit." Dana said, her eyes on Fawn Abbots as the girl left the store. "I mean, this is my first time in a different jurisdiction. If I didn't walk around a bit, well if I didn't then I would feel like a coward. And this isn't someplace where they send you to prison or something for using the wrong fork. You said it yourself, that there's no risk."
"I said practically no risk, but that's close enough." Katie nodded, putting down the item, but not quite returning it to the shelf. "Off you go then. Keep an eye open for Sean."
"Um, I will." Dana said, making her way straight to the exit.
Once outside, Dana thought she caught a glimpse of Fawn Abbots heading east. At least she saw a man walking a girl pass the bathrooms and she thought it was them. Dana didn't run, she hurried a bit but she didn't run. She couldn't run. It wouldn't look dignified and someone might notice. If Fawn Abbots noticed her running up, then what would Dana say to her? Or to the man escorting Fawn Abbots?
That thought slowed her steps. What could she say? What would she do if she caught up with them? If she met them? What would she do or say if she saw (or heard) that man using the leather strap on Fawn Abbots?
Dana knew that she should just avoid Fawn Abbots. To avoid the entire east side of the rest stop. That would be the smart thing to do. The sensible thing to do. The thing that Dana knew that she couldn't do. She slowed, she wandered in her course, but she kept heading east.
On the way she saw several juvenile bottoms collecting pats and smacks, but they didn't matter. Even if they had been bare, as Katie said that age it didn't matter. But Fawn Abbots wasn't that age. With Fawn Abbots it would matter if her bum was showing. Even if it wasn't completely showing, even if Fawn Abbots was only showing her panties, then it would matter. Even if Fawn Abbots' panties didn't show more than her swimsuit would, it would matter that the girl was showing her panty covered bum.
Especially if the man Fawn Abbots was with wasn't her father.
When Dana reached the east end of the rest stop she found the start of a shady path surrounded by bushes. Not overgrown, no, the path was clear, but the bushes were thick. Dana knew that once she stepped onto the path that wouldn't be able step off. That she would have to follow it to wherever it led or walk back here on the path. It was almost as if the entrance of the path was demanding a commitment from her.
With trembling legs, Dana stepped onto the path.
As she did she heard a spanking start. Then another one. In different directions.
The path turned and immediately widened and split into three. The sounds of spanking were coming from two of the paths. The bushes thinned, walking off the path was now possible. A peak down two of the ways showed teens getting their bums reddened in small clearings. Dana ducked back head back each time, not recognising anyone in either place, before taking the third path. Then the path parted again, and again. It twisted and turned. Sometimes it went passed benches (usually one, two, or three of those single person benches) and other times it dead ended in clearings and she had to backtrack.
Dana was blushing before long, having blundered into to several spankings. All but one of the spanking she stumbled over involved girls, all who looked two to three years younger than Dana herself. At least Dana thought they were; it was hard to estimate a girl's age when she was up ended over someone's lap. Not all of the bottoms she saw were bare, but only a few of them were wearing all their clothes. Skirts were up, shorts and jeans were down, and otherwise panties were bared. It made the old saw about wearing clean underwear take on a new meaning. Not that every bench (or even the majority of them) were occupied, but enough were that Dana couldn't stop blushing.
Taking an odd turn, Dana emerged from the maze close to the woman's bathroom, leaving it at an opening she hadn't thought led to the pathway. She still hadn't seen Fawn Abbots but Dana had seen enough spankings for one day.
Rounding the building that housed the woman's bathroom, Dana almost ran into Katie.
"Just the girl I was looking for." Katie said. "Have you seen Sean?"
"Um, no." Dana said, fighting her blush.
"You look a little flushed. Let me guess, the wall in the lady's room?"
"Um, well..."
"Sorry, I should have warned you about that." Katie said with a chuckle. "Then again, seeing is believing. So if Sean's not this way, let's head back the other way."
"Sure." Dana agreed, wondering what Katie was talking about. Wonder what was so special about a wall in the lady's room?
"Those buses give me an idea." Katie said, indicating a row of three short school buses that were in the parking lot. "The last time we were here a bus pulled in as we were leaving and some girls got off it. Girls complaining that they didn't deserved to be spanked. Sean watched then go as they were being led off that area behind the gift shop and restaurant before I got him in the car. Want to bet that he saw those buses and headed there?"
"Um, well..."
"Let's go." Katie said, leading the way.
When they rounded the gift shop, Dana froze in her tracks. There was a long line of boys, all with their jeans down at their knees. Four women seemed in charge of them; three had bare bottom boys over their knees and the fourth was near the head of the line... Dana realised that she had been wrong, that not all the boys just had their jeans down. The two closest to the spankers had bare bottoms peeking out from under their T-shirts.
As she stood there, one spanking finished. The crying boy was let off the woman's lap as another boy was shoved towards her and the line advanced. Dana saw the woman near the head of the line tug down another boy's underwear, so there were always two bare bottomed boys on deck.
As Dana watched the woman used little paddles on the boys, she barely noticed that one of the boys in line was waving frantically. Katie was less distracted.
"There he is." Katie observed. "Second back from the bare bottoms. Time to collect him."
With that they headed to the head of the line. As they did, Dana noticed a few more women were involved in things, herding the line together and preventing escapes. Almost as if the boys were steers being sent to the slaughter.
'Why did I think of it that way?' Dana mused. 'Corporal punishment isn't anything like capital punishment. Nothing is going to happen except a sore bottom.'
Then Dana wondered when she had started to think of a spanking as such a small thing.
"You mean he isn't with the group? Sorry, I thought he must have been on another bus or something."
"You should have said something." Katie said in a scolding tone.
"I did!" Sean insisted. "They wouldn't listen and then..."
"That might be our fault. We have a policy that if you cause a fuss you go to the front of the line. Say, could you keep the line moving while I talk to, um..."
"Her aunt." Katie supplied.
"While I talk to your aunt?"
"Um, well..."
"All you have to do is tug down jockeys when they reach this point. It's just like getting them changed or ready for the bath. And if you do we can talk this all out."
"Um, I guess..."
Dana wondered if she had gone mad. She was at the head of a long line of boys who were waiting to be spanked while a cheerful woman (who soon identified herself as Mrs. Thompson, Betty to her friends) was talking to Dana's aunt. They kept their voices low (maybe because Sean was clinging to his aunt's leg like a scared toddler) but Dana soon gathered that the women were involved in the Royal League of Intercity Day Camps (RLIDC for short). As Betty talked, Dana listened to her with half an ear while most of her attention was focused on the three women cheerfully paddling away (and the boys squawking and squealing). From what comments they exchanged (things such as "That sounds like a stinger Elaine") she determined their names were Elaine, Helen, and Judy.
"You see we take them out of the city to give them a taste of the country side." Betty explained. "And the second weekend of every month the buses stop here. They basically just get lost in the loop."
"And you keep a careful record of their misdeeds?" Katie inquired.
"Of course not." Betty laughed. "That's why they are such brief spankings. Not really long or hard at all. Usually less than a dozen smacks. Just enough to let them know they've travelled to Hazard County."
Then Helen was done with hers. She released the crying boy and beckoned for the next one. As the boy reluctantly walked to his doom and the line slowly advanced, Dana found herself taking down a strange boy's underwear.
"It's important, given the way the country works, that they learn about alternative jurisdiction in a safe way." Helen continued. "And this is a lesson that they'll never forget."
The woman continued to talk to Dana's aunt, explaining how this was in the boys' best interest. How in the in the long run they'd thank the RLIDC for these bus trips. As they talked, Judy finished, another boy advanced, and Dana had to tug down another boy's underwear. It hit Dana then that if Sean hadn't been pulled out of the line then he would be at this position in the line.
"I see your nephew's jeans are still down." Betty commented. "You do know that in Hazard County jeans aren't always pulled up afterward? Sometimes underwear stays off too. And sometimes jeans and such get taken down as a warning that they could be spanked at any moment. Are you planning to keep his down?"
"Um, Aunt Katie?" Sean squeaked.
"Oh, I can't see doing that." Katie laughed. "Especially not today. Now if he lets someone else take his jeans down some other day..."
"But I didn't let them!" Sean protested. "They made me."
"Quiet, people are talking." Katie cautioned.
"But..."
"Kids don't interrupt adults in Hazard County." Betty scolded. "There's still time for you to rejoin the line in your old spot."
"Oh, he'll be quiet." Katie assured the woman.
Sean nodded so hard it looked like his head would flop off.
At around that time, Elaine finished with her boy and Dana was lowering another set of underwear.
"Anyway, we should be heading back to the car." Katie said. "We're burning daylight here."
"Understood." Betty nodded, then she turned to Dana and said: "Thanks, I'll take over again."
Dana nodded numbly and went with her aunt. As they were turning the corner of gift shop, she heard Helen calling for the next one. Glancing back, Dana was acutely aware that if they had been only a few minutes later that this would be Sean going over Helen's lap right now. That it would be Sean's little bottom turning colour under that woman's paddle. That through no fault of his own, Sean would have found himself caught up in a assembly line spanking and spanked like he was a clog in a spanking machine.
Or maybe he wasn't completely blameless.
"What did I tell you?" Katie scolded gently. "You can't run around spying on people. I warned you, didn't I? That in Hazard County people can spank you even if they aren't related."
"But I didn't..."
"Now maybe you'll listen." Katie continued. "You almost got your bum spanked."
"But it wasn't my fault." Sean whined.
"Maybe next time someone takes down your pants I'll let you walk back to the car without your jeans." Katie threatened jokingly.
Dana had to wonder if her aunt was serious. She had seen some kids running around without pants. Most of them had underwear on but one or two might not have. It was hard to tell with some of them, kids who were wearing their T-shirts low, but Dana believed what Mrs. Thompson had said about kids running around without pants - either as a warning or part of a punishment.
Then it struck her - she was a kid. She was a high school graduated but legally, in the eyes of Hazard County, she was just a kid. She could be walking back to the car without her shorts on. Without anything on. She might be spanked and forced to walk to the car her red bottom showing.
As they were pulling out of the parking lot, Dana caught sight of Fawn Abbots again. The girl's red eyes were the only sign of colour on her pasty face. The man was still marching Fawn Abbots by the arm and the girl was limping, as if it hurt to walk. It hit home that Fawn Abbots had been getting spanked the entire time the assembly line had been processing all of those boys. That the man had been using that strap practically the whole time that Dana had been wandering the rest stop.
'No wonder she's walking like her bottom's bruised.' Dana thought to herself.
She did a lot of thinking on the way home. Dana was alone with her thoughts as Sean sat sullenly during the rest of ride home.
When they reached Aunt Katie's house, Sean's parents were waiting for them. He leapt from the car and ran to them. Dana said goodbye to her aunt and started walking. She would either walk home or take the bus; it would take a while to get home this way, but she was glad to avoid the scene with Sean's parents.
'That might be the last time I get a drive with her.' Dana thought.
She just couldn't picture Sean's parents letting him take the trip again and if Katie wasn't bringing him to Brockway there was no way the amount that Dana was kicking in for fuel would cover the trip.
The strap crashed down on the reddening ass. There was a squeal that echoed the smack, one that split the air.
Dana jerked up in her bed. She was sweating hard. The dream had been so real! It had focused on that first real spanking she had seen, the first one she had stumbled over as she had tried to find Fawn Abbots. The girl's jerking legs, her quivering bottom, the redness of the skin, all that had left a huge impression on her. She had only glanced at the girl but now the girl was fixed in Dana's mind. In her dreams.
Dana stumbled from her bed, going to the kitchen for a drink. She was half tempted to open a beer or wine cooler, but the dream wasn't so disturbing that she needed a real drink before hitting back to bed. Thinking about it, Dana wasn't sure that the dream hadn't been disturbing at all. It had been...
She wasn't sure what it had been. She couldn't put a word on what the dream had been.
The Third Week of June:
Dana was amazed to be driving home with her Aunt Katie again. The truly amazing bit was that Sean's parents hadn't freaked out over what had almost happened to Sean. Katie said that they had accepted it and moved on. That Sean's father had laughed it all off and his mother had just shrugged.
'This time I'm going to avoid the east side of the rest stop.' Dana vowed to herself.
This time Sean didn't speak up, but Katie swerved into the rest stop anyway.
"Um, I don't really need to go." Sean muttered.
"You know you do." Katie corrected him. "If we don't stop now I'll have to pull off and you'll need to run into the bushes again. Remember that racoon?"
"Yes." Sean muttered.
"Remember how it growled at you?"
"It hated me." Sean moaned.
"Well he had a right to be mad. You peed on him." Katie pointed out.
"I didn't see him before I peed!" Sean protested.
"Well I don't want another racoon chasing you. We'll stop here and you'll pee in the bathroom. Right?"
"Right." Sean muttered.
This time Sean didn't bolt from the car. He stuck close to his aunt, practically clinging to her.
Dana ignored them. She tried to ignore the handful of spankings she saw and she almost did. Of course it helped that they were kids. She headed to the store, planning to window shop a bit. Her plan was to completely ignore the existence of the east side of the rest stop. To pretend that the only girls getting spanked here today were still young enough to play on the skins team in a pickup game.
Then she happened to glance in the wrong direction and gasped. There was Jon Halliway, a boy she knew from school, but the stern looking woman beside him wasn't his mother. No, it was David Sachs' mother. Dana didn't see David anywhere, only his mother who was escorting sorrowful Jon Halliway to the teen trail for a spanking.
Dana told herself that she wasn't going to try to look, that she didn't want to, but it was Jon Halliway! He had been several grades behind her at school but Dana had heard that he'd failed a few. There was no way that he should be young enough to spank, especially not by Mrs. Sachs! It was as if her feet had a will of their own!
Then Dana found a thought that could stop her wilful feet in their tracks.
'But what would I say if I caught up with them? What could I say if they saw me?'
Dana didn't want to look as if she had shied off from visiting the teen trail, but luckily the bathroom lay in her general direction. She could pop in, have a pee, and leave; then no one would know that she had followed Jon Halliway.
The moment Dana entered the woman's washroom, her Aunt Katie's cryptic reference about 'a wall' made sense. There, facing lines that had been painted on one wall of the bathroom, were seven girls. Two were in panties and one was still wearing her shorts, but the other four had bare bottoms showing. Bottoms of different sizes and colours. One was barely pink while another was dark red and the other two were somewhere in between.
Most of the girls were just kids, but two of them looked like they might be in high school.
Dana tried not to hesitate. While there were several women standing around (or perched on the convenience seats), none of them looked like they were waiting to go. There was a free stall and Dana made a beeline for it. Once she was in it, she heard another spanking starting up, then another. The first spanking was over before she was finished, but when she left the stall there was a mother with a daughter over her knees explaining the finer points of why you shouldn't kick the back of the seat while mommy was driving.
Washing up, Dana glanced at the mirror and froze.
There were now six girls facing that wall. Two had left and the one who had joined them was taller than Dana! And the girl had her shorts down! The girl's bikini briefs were pulled up tight, exposing a great deal of pinkish red cheek. Cheek that looked as if it belonged on a woman, not a girl.
A thought ran through Dana's head.
'Somewhere in this room is a woman who thought that the tall girl was young enough to spank. She could be looking at me right now. No, it has to be a fluke. The girl must just be tall for her age. They really won't spank anyone close to my age here. They couldn't.'
Dana forced herself not to hurry. She finished washing up and left the washroom as if she didn't have a care in the world. All the while she was convincing herself that everyone who was spanked here had to be at least a few years younger than she was. That no one would really spank someone her age. That the nonsense about having to be 21 to be safe was just that - nonsense.
Heading back to the car, Dana spotted her aunt and Sean heading in the same direction.
"Someone didn't want to wander today." Katie revealed.
"I can guess why." Dana smiled.
At least she tried to smile. The worst part was, her aunt thought that Dana had seen that wall last week, so Dana couldn't talk about it with her. Without saying what she had seen Katie couldn't get her aunt to confirm that girls Dana's age really weren't spanked her.
Her bottom throbbing in pain, she stared at the wall. She knew that if she looked away, even for a second, then her bottom would be blistered again.
Dana jerked herself awake. Once more she was covered with sweat. The dream had seemed so real! It had been her facing the wall in that bathroom and...
And Dana knew that she didn't know what a sore bottom felt like. That part of the dream hadn't seemed real.
After thinking briefly of getting something to drink, Dana rolled over and went back to bed.
Fourth Week of June
Dana had enjoyed visiting her relatives but as she rode home in her aunt's car, the girl had to admit that she was looking forward to stopping at the rest stop. To looking around and maybe spotting someone she knew. And yes, to see the spankings being handed out. Dana didn't know why she wanted to see them or why seeing them affected her the way they did, but they did have an effect her and there was no denying it.
"We aren't just stopping for Sean this time." Katie revealed as she signalled to turn off. "Speaking of Sean, could you keep an eye on him as I powder my noise? There's no way I can take him to the family bathroom and leave him standing there while I'm in a stall."
"Um, well..."
Katie lowered her voice and leaned towards her niece.
"He's still a bit freaked out from that bus thing." Katie confided. "And if I leave him outside a stall then there's a good chance he'll end up facing that wall with a red bottom."
"Okay, I'll keep an eye on him." Dana agreed.
Sean was clingy, but not as clingy as last week. Still, with him clinging to her Dana couldn't explore. Her conscious wouldn't allow her to lead Sean near anywhere interesting. Not letting him see anything meant that she couldn't either.
At least not until Sean insisted that he needed to go to the bathroom. That she doubted him; Dana knew the size of his bladder but part of her was sure that he just wanted to see the girls facing the wall in family bathroom.
And that was partly true. Sean's urgency faded the moment they were through the door. His steps slowed as he stared at the kids facing the wall.
There were a mix of boys and girls, of covered and bared bottoms, and Dana wasn't completely surprise that some of the girls had well formed bottoms. That the tall girl Dana had seen last week hadn't been a fluke. She had known that girls Fawn Abbots' age might get spanked here, but to be made to stand facing a wall like a naughty child, that seemed impossible but clearly it was happening. One of the girls seemed almost Dana's age, but Dana knew that she had to be younger.
There were open stalls, but Sean's movement was practically stopped as he stared at a girl's bare bottom. It wasn't the oldest girl facing the wall but it was the oldest girl with a bare bum.
One of the waiting parents noticed Sean's actions. Well, maybe they all did, but only one of them spoke up. The man was obviously the girl's father (or maybe her uncle).
"Like what I did to her bottom? I can make yours even redder."
The threat of a fire in his bottom lent speed to his feet. Sean dashed into the stall.
With him gone, Dana began to feel slightly nervous. It was one thing to escort Sean to this place but it was another to stand around waiting in a room where some parents obviously felt that girls near her own age could be spanked. Standing there, Dana felt oddly vulnerable. She knew that no one was going to grab her and start spanking, but somehow she felt slightly endangered just standing there.
And standing there.
And standing there.
Dana waited as parent after parent escorted kids in. Most were simply herded into a stall, but a few were brought there to be spanked. And many of those kids had their bottoms bared for the event. Only a few of them were spanked fully clothed; even if underwear was left in place most times shorts were lowered or skirts were raised. Which made sense. As her Aunt Katie said, why bother taking the kid into the bathroom if you were going to spank over jeans?
It felt like this was taking forever. Dana slowly realised that it wasn't just a feeling. That Sean was taking a long time in there.
And she wasn't the only who noticed. A woman (who was dragging a boy) went up to Sean's stall and pounded on the door.
"Aren't you done yet? What are you, standing there listening to other kids get it? If you're not out in five seconds..."
The door flew open before the woman finished speaking. Sean had clearly been standing by the door, listening and maybe peeking out the crack in the door. He was blushing as he rushed out, dodging in case the woman grabbed at him. Not that she did; she was too busy getting her son plopped down on the toilet.
Dana expected Sean to be even clingier after that near miss, but instead he seemed to gain confidence. As if coming that close and emerging unscathed had proven to him that he was untouchable.
But it was now too late to explore. Aunt Katie was ready to go so there was no chance for Dana to look around.
"I said stare at the wall!"
She sobbed as she propelled towards the wall. Sentenced to stare with everyone looking at her bare bum.
Dana jerked awake, her body damp with sweat. The man ordering her towards the wall was the father who had threatened Sean in the bathroom. The man who had just spanked his own daughter and position her half naked against the wall. A man who had threatened a strange boy and maybe would just as easily threaten (or even spank) a strange girl. He might have even spanked Dana.
When she went for a drink, Dana decided on a wine cooler. Not that she needed it, but it tasted refreshing going down.
First Week of July
Dana felt odd. She knew that she was enjoying her visits to Brockway, that seeing her relatives was nice, but it was these stops when they were 'lost in the loop' across the county line that she was really looking forward with.
"Darn." Katie said as she signalled to turn into the rest stop. "I forgot to pick up sunscreen. I'll need it tonight and this is only time I can pick it up. And I hate paying convenient store prices."
"It could be worse." Dana commented, thinking about her bladder. "You could be shopping for souvenirs."
"As if I'd buy one of those overpriced paddles." Katie laughed.
Dana was out of the car and halfway to the bathroom before a thought occurred to her:
'How does Aunt Katie know that the paddles are overpriced?'
Then the thought vanished in a puff of logic.
'Duh. Of course everything is more expensive at a rest stop.'
That settled in her mind, Dana walked into the lady's room and forced herself to ignore the unfortunate girls staring at the wall.
Leaving the washroom, movement caught Dana's eye. A young couple (well, older than her) was walking towards teen trail, but they didn't have anyone with them. Her curiosity sparked, Dana ignored her decision to avoid teen trail and followed them. Putting on a burst of speed, Dana was soon in earshot of them.
"Um, John? I'm not about this anymore."
"But Lisa, we talked this to death. You were okay with it." John responded.
"Um, maybe we shouldn't do this?" Lisa suggested.
"It isn't your choice any more." John said gently. "We're in Hazard County now, remember? And your birthday is still three days away. Until you're 21 it's me making the decisions here, remember?"
"But it's only three days." Lisa protested half-heartedly.
"And we won't have a chance to come out here again." John pointed out. "This is our last chance to come here with you being a minor. The last chance for you to be treated like a child. The last chance for me to treat you like your Uncle Roy almost treated you."
"Um, I know, but..."
"The way you told me he treated your cousins and almost treated you." John reminded her as he steered her towards one of the stone seats. "The day he took you all over the line."
Dana found herself leaving the path, entering the bushes so she could continue to observe this drama.
"Um..."
"The day you've dreaming about for years."
Lisa sighed and started to dig into her purse.
"You talk me into it." Lisa said.
"No, you talked me into it." John replied.
Lisa hesitated, her hand still in her large purse.
"The last time possible for us to be here without safe words." John prompted. "With me totally in charge."
Lisa sighed again, then took a paddle from her purse.
"But not on the bare, okay?" Lisa asked.
"You know it's going to be on the bare."
"But I don't want it on the bare." Lisa whined.
"Tough." John said roughly. "This is Hazard County, remember? I'm the one making the decisions and I say it's happening on the bare."
Lisa whined again, but the woman undid her long skirt and let it fall to the ground. Dana saw that Lisa had nothing under it, not even socks.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" John prompted.
Whining, Lisa retrieved her purse and produced a length of leather. Dana watched with wide eyes as Lisa held her wrists out so that John could bind them.
"There. Now we don't have to worry about hands trying to protect your naughty little bottom." John declared as he secured Lisa's wrists.
"But I don't want this." Lisa whined. "I changed my mind. Meatloaf. Meatloaf meatloaf meatloaf."
"Na-huh." John scolded. "I told you, no safe words. Not today."
Lisa was still pouting as her lover took her over his lap. Dana knew that they were lovers by how easily John slid his hand between Lisa's legs and inside the woman.
"Who's a naughty girl?" John teased, working his hand. "Who's a naughty little girl?"
"I am." Lisa squeaked.
John withdrew his hand, bringing down hard on Lisa's right cheek. Dana watched Lisa's ass jiggle, then her eyes were fixed on the paddle that John had picked up.
Watched as the paddle came down with a meaty whack.
"OH! Too hard!" Lisa protested.
John ignored her, bringing the paddle down again and again.
"No! Stop!" Lisa begged. "Meatloaf! MEAT FUCKING LOAF!"
"You made me promise no safe words and I'm sticking to my word." John said. "I'm going to blister your bum and you're going to love it."
Lisa started struggling at that point. She kicked and bucked, taking some almost obscene poses as she struggled. But with her wrists bound there was little that she could do; Lisa ended up with her left leg pinned between John's legs as her right one flailed around.
Dana watched as John paddled and paddled. Lisa's tears didn't slow that paddle, nor did her pleading and begging. Dana could only stare as Lisa's bottom shifted from white to pink to red to redder, John keeping his promise to actually raise blisters on her bottom globes.
"That's it, cry." John said, smacking her harder. "Shed those tears. You'll remember this day for the rest of your life. You'll be cumming buckets every time you think of this day. You're soaking wet right now, admit it."
Lisa didn't respond. At least not in words. Slowly the tenor of her crying changed and her struggles began to slow. The fight went out of Lisa as she surrendered to her spanking. Not that this surrender brought things to an end; John seemed to have either a number of strokes or a bottom colour in mind and he wasn't so much as pausing as Lisa transformed from an average young woman to a sobbing child.
Everything was surreal for Dana. She watched as a woman stuck her head into the area only to leave without reacting. To leave without even bothering to check Lisa's ID or do anything to verify that Lisa's butt was still young enough to be a spankable one. In that moment, Dana knew that if she was ever being spanked out here on the teen trail that no one would help her. That no one would even think twice about her being spanked there. Not in Hazard County.
Dana wanted to watch until the end of the spanking, but time was passing and John showed no sign of flagging. Then, for no reason that Dana could see, John dropped the paddle and was hugging and caressing his lover.
"Shush." John said. "It's over. You did it. You took the spanking. When we get home I'm going to screw your brains out. God, I wish I could take you right here and right now, but they don't allow public sex here. I can spank your pretty little ass off but I can't fuck it; how screwed up is that? Shush, it's over. We did it."
Dana wasn't sure about the public sex bit, not with how John was stroking Lisa bum, with his fingers disappearing between her legs. The way Lisa was moaning and writhing, Dana knew that Lisa was enjoying herself. Had enjoyed herself. Had been paddled until her bum was literally blistered and was somehow on the verge of cumming.
"And I did some research." John continued. "If you sign a form declaring yourself to be immature then we can do this until you're 25. Just think, four more years of this. Does that make you hot? Oh that does make you hot." John observed.
'What sort of woman would want to be treated that way?' Dana wondered. 'How could anyone enjoy being paddled?'
Then she realised the time. Dana couldn't run, not around teen trail, but she hurried back to her aunt's car. To her relief Dana was the first one back and had to wait more than half a second for Katie to escort Sean to the car. Katie put something in the trunk and then herded Sean into the car.
As Katie was pulling out of her parking space, Dana caught a glimpse of the couple as they left the bushes. Lisa's wrists were clearly unbound as the woman was rubbing at her visible bum. Dana was stunned that the woman was being walked back to the car without her skirt. Without panties or a skirt or much of anything covering her below her waist. Oh, there were some shirttails from Lisa's blouse, but they did little to conceal anything.
And the 'anything' visible included far more than Lisa's red bottom.
Katie glanced over, then accelerated from the parking lot.
"I've heard of that, but this is the first time I've seen something like that." Katie observed as she merged with traffic. "Thank goodness that Sean didn't see it."
"See what?" Sean said, swivelling his head around in a vain attempt to see whatever his aunt was talking about.
"Um, is that type of thing, um, common?" Dana asked, pretending that her only knowledge of the couple was that glimpse in the parking lot.
"Not really." Katie answered.
"What sort of things?" Sean demanded.
"A couple involved in a spanking." Katie clarified, leaving the situation clouded.
"That's it?" Sean snorted. "There's always a couple. At least unless there's two kids getting it then it's more than a couple."
"Anyway, he has to be older than her and she has to be waiting for her birthday." Katie continued. "At least for it to completely legal. Of course if she doesn't make a big fuss then maybe he can do something like that after she's already had her birthday. As long as she looks to be in her early 20s I doubt anyone bother checking her ID. At least if she doesn't complain a lot."
"Um, I think I heard something about a form you can sign that sets the age to 25?" Dana squeaked, wishing that she sounded more confident.
"Oh, I don't doubt it." Katie chuckled. "I'm sure that there's something like that in Hazard County. But the way it works there I'm sure it's only for girls."
"Oh." Dana said, staying silent for the rest of the ride home.
"NO! YES! MEATLOAF!"
Dana woke with the sound of screaming echoing in her ears. The dream had been so vivid! Almost a perfect memory of watching Lisa getting it. Lisa, who might right now be signing a form so that her lover could spank her anytime he took her over the county line. Shivering, Dana discovered her right hand resting on her own thigh. Her upper thigh. Consciously moving her hand away from where it rested, Dana rolled onto her side and drifted back off to sleep.
That Tuesday...
Dana loved her new swimsuit. She just loved it. And after taking in the sights of Hazard County, Dana no long worried that too much cheek might peek out in back. No, her problem was now with the suit's front. While admiring its look in her bedroom mirror, Dana spotted a stray hair. She was tempted to poke it back in her suit but Dana knew that if a hair strayed now it would stray again.
"Time for a trim." Dana declared.
A brief burst from the shower matted her hair, then Dana was reaching for her battery powered razor and a mirror. Working carefully, she was trimming the outside of her bush when disaster struck; Dana shifted her feet slightly and slipped on the wet tub. Her mirror went flying as she flailed desperately to avert a fall, all to no avail. Her butt hit the tub, hit it hard.
"Shit!" Dana said, rubbing at the sore spot. "No one would ever believe this. I've been crossing the county line for a month and I get a pain in my butt from shaving in the shower."
Checking herself in the bathroom mirror, Dana didn't think that her fall would leave a mark. Then she shifted her position slightly and her skin turned pasty white in horror.
"Fuck." Dana swore. "That can't be real. It just can't!"
But it was. When the mirror had shot from her hand the razor had slipped down. There, in the middle of her bush, was a stripe. A well defined stripe. There was no hiding it, no possibility of combing it over, no way to hide it. Instead of a perfectly trimmed bush she had an ugly stripe through the middle of it and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Fuck fuckity fuck." Dana swore.
She had no choice. Shaving down there had been out of style for years, maybe decades. A few girls did it, but those who shaved did so to standout from the crowd. Dana had never wanted to standout, not that way, but now she didn't have a choice. She had to finish what she started.
Working the razor, Dana watched her bush disappear - leaving her bare for the first time in years.
"If no one notices then I can just want for it to regrow and no one will ever know." Dana told herself.
And she almost believed herself.
Wednesday
Dana wished that she hadn't committed to this trip. That she hadn't bought a new suit or agreed to go to the lake. But the usual crowd was with her and she would have needed a great lie to get out of it. Wearing her suit to the beach had meant that she hadn't needed to change before swimming, but there was no way she could wear a wet suit home.
'A simple change, a quick change, and I'll be safe.' Dana told herself. 'And I won't go swimming again until it grows back. I'll find an excuse that works.'
Pointing her backside to the room, Dana stepped out of her suit.
"Hey, I see we've got another member of the waxing club."
Dana winced at the voice. Vicky Terri Walters wasn't really a member of the group, or any group. She floated at the edge of things, dressing in black, dying her hair black, wearing beads in her hair, and more or less acting like a freak. She so much at the edge of the group that Dana thought of her as Vicky Terri Walters, needing to use all three names to tag the girl.
Of course a girl like that would shave; that was just another way to draw attention to herself. But why did she have to notice Dana's temporary condition? And the moment Vicky Terri Walters pointed it out virtually every eye in the changing room was on Dana's bald snatch.
Dana knew that she had two choices. She could admit that she had made a mistake with her razor or pretend that she had consciously decided to shave. Either to admit that she wasn't perfect or to lie.
"Um, I read something about it made your suit fit better." Dana lied. "Shaving makes it hang better, with less clinging. Less defining even."
The changing room was suddenly full of opinions, all of them negative. No one was agreeing Dana's statement but they were all accepting that Dana had heard that old story. Which was surprising; until they mentioned that it was an old story, Dana had thought she had invented it.
The lie had saved her, but it also committed her. No one thought that she had done it by accident, but now she had to stay shaved for the rest of the summer. That or admit that she was wrong to have shaved it the first time.
The Second Week of July
Dana felt odd. Here she was, across the line in Hazard County, and she was as bare as those girls she saw getting spanked in the girls' room. From a certain angle Dana looked almost like a little girl and she hated that. No little girl every wanted to be in Hazard County and shaved as she was Dana felt a bit too much like a little girl.
Sean took off the moment the car stopped.
"That boy." Katie sighed. "He's going to rush into the bathroom to pee and then spend the next twenty minutes trying to look at girl's backsides. Sooner or later he's going to get himself into trouble and he'll have only himself to blame."
Dana agreed with her aunt.
"Speaking of bathrooms, I should powder my nose." Katie continued.
Dana gave a moment thought to following her aunt, then remembered that line of girls facing the wall.
'I'm getting as clingy as Sean.' Dana thought, mentally scolding herself.
"I think I'll just stretch my legs a bit." Dana replied.
Glancing around, she didn't see any couples heading to the east side of the rest stop. Knowing that anything she saw would be disappointment after Lisa's voluntary performance, Dana decided to walk over to the convenience store area.
"Dana? Dana Galloway? Is that you?"
'What were the odds?' Dana wondered. 'This is will make three times I've run into someone I know here.'
Dana knew people in Haverfield and Brockway, and this route between them was the logical one (at least when there was a traffic jam around Haverbrook Lake), so it shouldn't surprise her that she ran into people she knew here. Yet somehow it did.
In this case it was someone who knew her rather than someone she knew. Mrs. Harvey was an old family friend, someone who Dana had never gotten to a first name bases with but who had known Dana practically since birth.
"Fancy running into you here." Mrs. Harvey said as she came up to Dana. "Now don't tell me that someone decided to take you across the line, not at your age. Or are you babysitting again and the taker?"
"Um, no, neither." Dana laughed, then explained about visiting her relatives.
"Oh I completely understand." Mrs. Harvey agreed. "Traffic around Haverbrook Lake is murder this time of day. But it feels weird, seeing you here. Now there was a time when I wouldn't have hesitated to take you across the line. Remember that day with the flowers?"
Dana blushed at the memory. She had wanted to pick her mother some flowers and raided Mrs. Harvey's greenhouse. The woman had been furious!
"Or that time when you decided that the dog needed to wear a wedding dress." Mrs. Harvey continued.
Dana blushed as Mrs. Harvey continued to list some of Dana's juvenile misdeeds, any of which could have produced a spanking if Dana had grown up in Hazard County. Mrs. Harvey went on and on, Dana reflected that maybe the list would be a shorter one if Dana had grown up on this side of the county line.
"But of course that's in the past." Mrs. Harvey continued. "As for today, I'm surprised that someone as callipygian as you feels comfortable walking around here."
"Um, it's no big deal." Dana responded, vowing to look up the word when she got home.
"Oh, look at the time." Mrs. Harvey said. "Here I am, yammering away as we're burning daylight."
"I should be going too." Dana said, turning to go. "My aunt will be wondering where I am."
"Well here's a little something to speed you on you way." Mrs. Harvey said, giving Dana a playful pat on the backside.
Dana jumped in surprise, but Mrs. Harvey just laughed off her reaction and headed towards the parking lot.
Dana watched Mrs. Harvey walk away, wondering what would have happened if Mrs. Harvey had stumbled across her a few years ago. Say a decade ago, what would have happened if Mrs. Harvey had met Dana in Hazard County when Dana was a little girl? Would Mrs. Harvey have done more than just list those misdeeds? Would she have taken Dana to task for one (or more) of them and then apologised to Dana's parents later?
Dana was still pondering that question when Katie walked up to her and broke in to her fugue.
"There you are. Have you seen Sean?"
Dana almost jumped out of her skin, then got control of herself.
"Um, no, I haven't."
"It looks like the RLIDC people are here again." Katie said, indicating the short buses in the parking lot.
Dana wondered how they could have arrived without her noticing them. She had a good view of the parking lot and they must have walked passed her to get behind the convenience store.
"Want to bet that someone decided to play with fire again? Or was hanging around back there and got caught up with the crowd? Come on, we better go get him before I have to explain how he ended up with a red bum."
Dana nodded and followed her aunt behind the convenient store. As expected, the line of boys were there, all with their jeans around their knees. This time she was looking for him and easily spotted Sean, then gasped. He almost at the front of the line. By the time they got to him, Sean's underwear was down and there was just a single boy between him and the spankers.
"Hello again. It seems that my nephew has joined your little troop again." Katie said, indicating the frantically gesturing Sean.
"Oh, it's you again." Betty said. "I guess that's why he looked familiar."
Sean quickly jerked up his underwear, but when he reached for his jeans, Betty stopped him.
"I remember now. Didn't your aunt say something about them staying down? And maybe we should take those down again?"
"Oh, those jeans are coming off." Katie commented. "But as for the rest, I just got new seat covers and well..."
"I understand." Betty said, shooing Sean back over to where his aunt was standing.
"My jeans are coming off?" Sean wailed.
"Yupe, and it be worse." Katie commented. "I might have been a bit late in checking on you. If I had been then your backside would be getting toasted."
"But..."
"It seems that things are going a bit further today." Katie said, ignoring her nephew and indicating the women spanking.
"Well the first time was to give them a taste and the second time, well it has to be a bit more to hold their attention, doesn't it?" Betty explained.
"But..."
"Jeans, off. Now." Katie noted. "Or you can join the line again. There's a place at the front of the line with your name on it."
Dana was sure that her aunt was joking about that, but Sean wasn't. He quickly shed his jeans, which vanished into Katie's shoulder bag.
Dana seen other kids Sean's age wandering around without jeans, but she had never expected that Sean would join their number. As they made their way straight to the car Dana was surprised that Sean didn't get more looks, but in Hazard County he was just part of the background.
Once in the car, Sean wanted his jeans back.
"Sorry honey, but you can't take your seatbelt off when we're driving." Katie told him.
"But..."
"Maybe driving home like this will teach you to keep your jeans up." Katie suggested.
"But I didn't want to take them down." Sean protested.
"That's what you said last time." Katie noted. "Maybe after this you'll learn."
Sean sulked all the way home. When Katie pulled into her driveway, she tossed Sean's jeans to him before going to talk to his parents. Dana made herself scarce. She didn't know what Katie (or Sean) would have to say about the day's events and didn't want to know. Then again, this was Sean's second near miss and his parents hadn't had much to say last time so maybe it wouldn't be a major confrontation.
Later, when Dana looked up the word callipygian, she didn't know whether to be insulted or flattered. She certainly didn't think of her bum as her best feature. Had Mrs. Harvey said that it was, or had the women been saying that Dana had a very spankable behind? Never interpretation sat well with Dana.
"You said you were sorry, but now I'm going to make sure you really are."
Dana sobbed in agreement as she lay pants down across Mrs. Harvey's lap. Stolen flowers were scattered along the ground as Mrs. Harvey raised her hairbrush and
Dana awoke in a cold sweat. Another vivid dream, one that could have been real. This time, Dana knew that it was something that could have happened. After all those drives through Hazard County, Dana had no problem picturing an old friend of the family spanking her for some childish misdeed.
Leaving her bed, Dana opened a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. Then another.
"Maybe it's not worth seeing my relatives." Dana muttered to herself. "Not if I end up with dreams like this."
When she finally drifted off to sleep, a final thought filled her mind.
'Then again, maybe the dreams aren't all bad.' Dana mused, wondering at what the good part might be.