A Very Shameful Punishment

[You can read this story without having read the previous chapters, although you might read Ch. 44, which contains a recap of earlier parts of this saga. After you've read it, you might wish to return to read earlier chapters as you will then have greater understanding of the characters. This story features severe disciplining and involves bodily functions. If you find this bothers you, please read no further. All characters are over 18. My thanks to Susan Greenway for her kind permission to use one of her characters.]

Eleanor wasn't surprised to get a phone call that morning from her boss, Janet. She was the executive vice president of Goose Cookers, the company that made clever apparel and accessories for women in the Women's Republic. Janet really ran the company and she had hired Eleanor, not really knowing yet that Eleanor would turn out to have a marvelous inventive mind.

Eleanor now ran the company's capital office and she and Janet made a wonderful team, because Janet knew everybody who was anyone in the higher reaches of both government and the private sector. Janet was letting her know that the Corrections Service was putting out a request for proposals that was different from the ones, mostly for clothing, that Goose Cookers had bid and won.

This one was for an automated data processing system, something Goose Cookers had scant experience in developing. Janet, however, knew someone who ran an elite IT outfit that she figured would be delighted to team with Goose Cookers on this project. The Service, headed by Eleanor's wife, Annette, who was Chief of Staff, wanted a system which would keep track of all toilet use by inmates: those who were either being retrained in camps, reeducated in local centers, or serving sentences in the Service's various correctional institutions.

Most of the inmates were men and most were at the camps or centers, which focused on short-term correction, reeducation, and retraining. The Disciplinary @ Retraining Unit at headquarters in the capital specialized in retraining classes of Corrections officers who had gotten into trouble and were going to be thrown out of the Service but for this one last chance. These classes were almost all comprised of women, since there were few men in the Service.

Eleanor thought that this whole project sounded a bit strange. She decided to give WO3 Kathryn, the chief procurement officer in the Corrections Service, a call.

When Kathryn answered and greeted her warmly, Eleanor asked if it were allowed to ask some questions about the IT toilet reporting project.

"Yes," Kathryn said, "but I can only speak about what has led to our soliciting for this procurement."

"Fine," Eleanor said, anticipating learning something about the origin of the project and its aims.

"Headquarters has been getting requests for ways to keep better track of intimate aspects of inmate life," Kathryn began. "As you may know, some of our disciplinary units require inmates to use the toilet in the presence of an officer, who will examine the toilet's contents before it is flushed. The purpose is to both ensure that the toilet use is a real one, not feigned to get a break from the corrections regimen, and to learn how often bathroom breaks are needed and how frequently inmates perform the several functions."

"Several?" Elaine asked.

"Yes, defecation, urination, and menstruation," Kathryn answered. "In the Disciplinary & Retraining unit, the supervising officer records what menstrual products are used and how frequently they are changed."

"Is there anything else we should know>" Eleanor reiterated.

"Only that the officers in the camps and centers want to let inmates know that their use of the toilet is being recorded, to avoid misuse and excessive visits. Our Disciplinary & Retraining unit, which does keep track manually now, would prefer that each officer have a hand-held entry device to automate the process. We are also interested in refinements such as locating the entry devices next to toilets so inmates may be permitted and required to make entries themselves. We expect that most inmates will be truthful because there's no downside to any particular report. If an inmate is using the toilet more than normal, the supervising officer may well be aware of this but now will have ready access to records."

Eleanor thanked Kathryn profusely and promised to call her soon to meet for lunch. She knew that she could do that without trying to elicit any more. information about this procurement. She liked Kathryn and didn't want to compromise either of them.

Eleanor started developing an idea for the proposal. She would let the IT crew do the technical work--mostly, the software. She decided that the entry device should come in two models: one for use by a supervising officer witnessing a toilet use, and a second which could be installed, perhaps on a post behind the toilet, for the inmates to enter the required data themselves. She imagined two controls: one, the supervising officer could both check the toilet contents and the entry by the inmate before it was sent in, and two, the entry device would have to be used by the inmate before the toilet could be flushed.

When she reported to Janet that week and discussed her phone conversation with Kathryn, she realized that she had made a mistake. Janet told her that even when a request for bids hadn't been issued, you couldn't communicate with a procurement officer. She added that Eleanor should by no means try to contact Kathryn again, even to apologize.

"You better hope she keeps it to herself," Janet warned. "And I suspect she won't."

Eleanor hung up feeling awful.

Unfortunately for her, Kathryn also suffered a pang of guilt for even continuing to talk to Eleanor once she brought up the subject. She went to see her boss, Phyllis, who was Deputy Secretary for Business Operations. Phyllis was a 50-year-old solidly built woman who was not a uniformed officer and proud of her status as a high-ranking official. She reported directly to the Secretary, a political appointee who was the top authority in the Service, to whom GEN Annette, the Chief of Staff reported.

Phyllis was unhappy about even the brief contact. "I'm sorry, Kathryn," she said, "but it isn't Eleanor's fault, it's yours. I'm going to have to send it up the line because we'll be in too much trouble if this blows up and we didn't do that."

Phyllis sent it on to Annette and when Annette looked at the paperwork, she declined to even sign off but sent it to the Secretary for her action. She explained to the Secretary that she couldn't take any action because it involved a member of her immediate family.

Two days later, the Secretary issued a directive to Kathryn and Phyllis, with a copy to Annette, which read:

"I have assumed responsibility in this matter because of the recusal of the Chief of Staff. I am appointing a review committee to recommend appropriate disposition to me. The committee will be chaired by COL Rachel, and its members will be MAJ Kate and LTC Valerie. I am expecting them to report to me with a recommendation within two weeks from the date of this directive.

"Georgina

"Secretary of Corrections

Kathryn felt better when she saw that Rachel and Kate were on the committee. She knew Valerie, who supervised the processing branch of her own unit. She had heard that Valerie was a fair person, so Kathryn hoped they wouldn't come down too hard on her.

That evening, Annette came home, and Eleanor could see she was in a foul mood. When Eleanor ventured to ask her about why she seemed out of sorts, Annette looked her straight in the eye and told her she had done something stupid.

"You should not have called Kathryn to find out more about a potential procurement," she said coldly. "She's now in trouble, I couldn't get involved so the Secretary got it. Now there's a three-member review committee to consider Kathryn's actions. She probably won't get fired or even demoted, but it's a knock against her. Luckily, Rachel and Kate are on the committee, so I think they'll make sure she gets a break. But it will be up to Georgina, and she doesn't really know anyone involved and I can't talk to her about it."

"I'm unbelievably sorry," Eleanor hastened to tell her wife. "Yes, I really was an awful dummy and behaved very badly."

"I'm not thrilled about it, darling, but I think you do deserve some disciplining, if you get my drift," Annette said coldly.

"Yes, please go ahead and do that," Eleanor cried, "and then maybe you'll think about forgiving me. I also now see that I endangered my outfit. Janet may want to have my hide."

"I suspect Janet will give you a good tongue-lashing," Annette responded, "but now I want you to unzip and get out of that skirt and get up on the bed on all fours, sweetie."

Eleanor did feel better that Annette used that name to speak to her. She carefully unzipped her nice gray flannel skirt and folded it on the chair. Then she clambered up on the bed, showing her pantied bottom to Annette.

Annette came up behind her and slowly lowered Eleanor's rather snazzy red-and-blue patterned hicuts. This exposed her cute bottom. Annette picked up her favorite cane and lay it against Eleanor's bottom after swishing it a few times at which Eleanor blushed and felt bad in her belly.

Then Annette expertly drew the cane back and fired three quick stingers across Eleanor's bottom, which elicited a loud scream that was only muffled by the thick walls of their apartment. Eleanor was thinking that she might not make it through this caning. Annette was a professional. Eleanor remembered how she had caned the three justices.

"I'm going to stop this now," Annette told a surprised and pleased Eleanor. "I think we'll have to take care of your relationship with Janet so I'm going to hold off until we set that up." She looked tired and sad.

"I'm sorry, Ellie," Annette said slowly, "but this took a lot out of me, and it was so unnecessary. You just weren't thinking, were you?"

Eleanor always felt bad when her wife was in a down mood.

"I'm really sorry about how dumb I was," she told Annette. "I wish you could just whack me from now until whenever so this would go away, but I guess it won't until I get squared with Janet, and until Kathryn gets finished with whatever happens to her."

Annette motioned to Eleanor to strip down and get into bed with her. The larger woman also began unbuttoning her own blouse and unzipped her skirt. When she was down to her bra and Spanx, she unhooked the first and shimmied out of the shapewear.

Eleanor followed suit and was soon in the altogether as they both scrambled under the covers. Annette took Eleanor in her arms, hugged her, and then kissed her very softly on her lips.

"We'll always be here for each other," she whispered. "I expect so much of you, Ellie, because you're so clever and capable, so it hurts me when you screw up like this. You must think about what something will look like."

"I agree," Eleanor replied softly, and then she moved between Annette's powerful thighs which opened to accommodate her as she began to apply her tongue to Annette's folds until she smelled and felt Annette getting wet for her rising excitement. She began fingering her wife's sopping hole and then teased her crinkly anus with another finger. Annette was ready and it took only a few minutes for her to get off from Eleanor's attentions.

"You're right, darling," Annette thanked her, "that does make me feel a lot better."

The next day, Eleanor made the obligatory phone call to Janet and filled her in on what had happened.

"Did Annette discipline you when she got home?" Janet asked, with a bit of sharpness in her voice.

"Yes, she gave me three very sharp stingers," Eleanor admitted. "And I think she wants to have you here when she gives me the complete treatment."

"She's right to react that way," Janet rejoined coolly. "I'll be in the capital fairly soon so tell her I'll look forward to the occasion."

"I only hope they don't lower the boom on Kathryn," Eleanor confided in her boss. "It really wasn't her fault that I was such a jerk and I'd hate for her to suffer."

"She may emerge all right because I don't think Rachel and Kate want to smash her," Janet assessed. "The other reviewer is an unknown quantity, at least to me, but we just have to hope. We have to be very careful here, because Annette has to stay squeaky clean and so do you and me. I just hope they don't debar us because of what happened."

This did not make Eleanor feel much better, but she desisted from worrying Janet anymore and told her she'd keep her contacts to herself for a while and work on the proposal with Bev and Nancy.

"That's a good idea," Janet said, more brightly. "We might as well use what little that misguided foray got for us."

Later that week, the committee met in Rachel's substantial new office. She had known Valerie in the Service and figured she wouldn't be a thorn in any solution she and Kate might produce. When they met, Rachel asked Kate to lead off with her assessment.

"Kathryn let her guard down for a moment, because Eleanor is so likeable and clever," Kate began. "I don't think Eleanor realized that she shouldn't have been getting into what she did. Even though she's head of their office here now, she's not a lobbyist/liaison type, she's a creative.

"I hope you both don't tear me to pieces," she went on, "but I would suggest that Kathryn get a written admonition that will stay in her file for at least six months and that we also have Phyllis take down her undies and give her a dose of the cane in front of the whole procurement crew. I think if we write this up well for the Secretary, she will agree that this does tell everyone not to let themselves make the mistake Kathryn did, it does punish Kathryn, but avoids more harmful results."

"I think that's pretty good," Valerie agreed. "I know that I would be totally embarrassed if they took my panties down and caned me on the bare. The procurement people, you should know, are not like the two of you, who know all about disciplining. They're business-oriented, so they just want things to be managed right and anything like a caning of this kind will make them think twice about making the mistake Kathryn did, which is what we want to accomplish."

"You both have won my vote," Rachel said, by way of sealing the deal. "I'm going to write this up and have you both look it over. Then we can sign and send it on to Madam Secretary."

Kate and Valerie looked relieved, because they both liked Kathryn and were glad that Rachel, who was a stickler for proper behavior, had gone along with Kate's recommendation.

Rachel drew up the report, got the two of them to sign it, and transmitted it to Georgina. They didn't hear back for a few days and then Rachel, as chair, received a note in her e-mail.

"Your report accomplishes what I'd like to see come out of this," Georgina wrote.

"However, I will schedule a meeting for the procurement section, which has about fifteen people, and I will administer the caning myself. I'll let you know as soon as these arrangements are made so you can conform your schedules to be present."

Rachel walked over to Kate's office and filled her in on the Secretary's response.

"We're doing fine," Rachel told her. "This makes her feel like she's emphasizing the importance of this but the consequences for Kathryn are just some embarrassment, nothing more."

Soon, the three committee members received a memorandum from the Secretary's office directing them to attend a session in the Secretary's large meeting room in two days at 3:00 P.M. Rachel made sure to meet up with Kate and Valerie and walk into the meeting together, early enough to get good seats together in the front row in the room, which was set up with about seven rows of four chairs each.

By 2:55 P.M., the procurement staff had all filtered into the room. Rachel and Valerie knew a good many of them, although Kate had not met very many. Rachel whispered to her that she would introduce her to a number of them after the session.

At exactly three, the door behind the dais opened, and Secretary Georgina walked out with Kathryn following her, and three aides to the Secretary carried some papers. There was a single seat on the side of the dais and Kathryn sat there, demurely. She was dressed in a quite simple white blouse and navy skirt with hose and flats. The Secretary wore a well-tailored crimson blazer with a pale gold skirt. Following them from the same door a few moments later was Annette, in her dress uniform. She sat in a seat next to the Secretary at the front of the dais.

Secretary Georgina explained that she had summoned the procurement section because they all needed to be aware of the need to avoid the slightest appearance of a conflict of interest.

"You may have heard that WO3 Kathryn erred in this respect, letting her guard down for but a moment, but endangering the reputation of your section and our Service," the Secretary said. "The review committee, who are here today--COL Rachel, the chair, and 1LT Valerie and MAJ Kate, have recommended a disposition which I have myself considered and accepted in large part. WO3 Kathryn will receive a written admonition which will be in her file for a year. And they recommended that she be physically disciplined by her direct supervisor. I have amended that to provide that I will be doing the disciplining.

"Warrant Officer," she then said crisply, " please stand and position yourself on that spot, facing the wall behind us here."

Kathryn stood and walked to the place where Georgina had indicated.

The Secretary, whom most of the procurement staff had not met or even seen aside from when they were first hired, walked over to stand behind Kathryn, with her back to the audience. She reached down and unzipped Kathryn's skirt and told her to step out of it and place it on the chair on which she had been seated.

Kathryn did that and returned to the indicated place. Then the Secretary brought that chair back, placed it facing the wall in front of Kathryn, and instructed her to bend over and grasp the seat. Georgina then reached down and lowered Kathryn's plain white panties to mid-thigh. Her pale bottom was now exposed to the group, but they saw neither her face nor her frontal bareness.

The Secretary's Executive Assistant then walked over from the other side where she and two other aides were sitting and handed Georgina a long thin cane. There were a few deep breaths audible among the audience. Then Georgina took the cane, swished it in the air, and lay it on Kathryn's bottom, which was pushed out by her bending and holding on to the seat.

Georgina drew back the cane and fired it at Kathryn's bare buttocks. Kathryn was surprised by the ferocity of the stroke because she had not had the cane hitting her bottom since school days. She let out a small scream. Georgina allowed the stroke to sink in and the audience soon saw the characteristic tramlines left by the cane. Then, about thirty seconds later, Kathryn took another stroke above the first, and after a similar interval, Georgina gave her a strong one near the base of her bottom, almost in the crease between buttocks and thighs.

Kathryn let out a groan that turned into a louder cry. It was clear that the low stroke had had the desired effect. Most of the staff in procurement were not uniformed, so they were not aware of the tradition of caning as a disciplinary practice in the Service among the uniformed personnel.

Georgina then applied the cane again twice, delivering two contrasting diagonal crisscross strokes that elicited louder screams from the sobbing Kathryn. Georgina waited, then fired a powerful stroke, which only required a bit more than a flick of her wrist, right down the middle of Kathryn's now striped bottom. Kathryn let out a scream and her hands sprang up from the seat moving toward her throbbing bottom cheeks.