Correction

"What's this?" asked Joel, holding up a handful of gold and silver jewellery he had just found hidden in a sock on Sandra's desk. They were at her place, though her housemates were out. He had come over now that her lectures were finished for the day; they had made plans to catch a film together later.

"Oh that." Sandra had just re-entered the room and she looked at what Joel had found with a sense of dismay. "It's nothing. We should probably go . . ."

But Joel didn't move. "I want to know, Sandra."

She could never lie to him. "It's just some jewellery," she muttered.

"You can't afford this stuff," said Joel flatly. "Where did you get it?"

Sandra hesitated before speaking, and when her voice came it was small and whispered. "I stole it."

The words were greeted with a cold silence, and Sandra didn't dare to look at Joel's face, afraid of seeing anger there. Only he could make her feel shame like this. Instead, she looked down at her feet like a naughty little girl.

"From where?" asked Joel.

"A department store."

Joel examined the handful of gold and silver. It was all quite cheap stuff, but that wasn't the point. "That was wrong, Sandra."

His tone of voice, the anger in his eyes almost made her want to cry. "I'm sorry," she said. "Really Joel, I'm sorry." She turned to leave the room but Joel crossed quickly to her and grabbed her arm.

"Wait," he said sternly. "You know I'm not just going to let this slide, Sandra."

"What? Look I know it was wrong. I just . . . I just wanted them was all. And I'm sick of not having any money."

Joel shook his head. "Not good enough."

"Please don't be angry."

His voice was quite calm, but she could sense how dissapointed he was, how furious. "You've been bad, Sandra."

"It's only a few things. It's not much."

But Joel kept hold of her arm. "I don't care. You're going to be punished for this."

"Oh . . . but . . ."

"No, Sandra. No arguments." He guided her to the middle of her room. "Take off your jeans."

"No, wait." Sandra felt a moment of dread along with the shame. "Don't spank me for this. I'm sorry, really."

"Tough." Joel glared at her levelly. "You did it, and now you'll be punished for it. Take them off."

Sandra hated to be spanked. It wasn't just the pain or the humiliation for it (although the pain was usually very bad), it was also the fact that Joel was angry enough with her to resort to it. More than anything in the world she loved Joel, and it was tough when he was angry with her. He's had call to punish her like this twice before, when she had gotten drunk and behaved badly, but those had been relatively minor offences compared to this. Even then, he had been severe in his punishment; her bottom had remained bruised for days afterwards. Both those incidents were in the past, however. If nothing else, Sandra knew spanking was effective, that it worked for her, made her change her behaviour. That didn't make her hate it any the less.

Under Joel's gaze she stripped off her jeans. Her housemates were out of town for the week, and she had been looking forward to spending some time alone with Joel. If only she'd remembered to hide her stash of jewellery before he arrived. She stood there in her red cotton panties, waiting.

Joel swung her chair into the middle of the room. "Over the chair," he said coldly, and Sandra placed her hands on the back, a position which forced her to bend, exposing her bottom. It was a position she had taken up twice before, though both of those times had been in Joel's flat rather than her own room. A sense of worry filled her at the painful memory of her two previous spankings.

Joel stepped behind her and she braced herself against the chair, ready for the sting of the first slap. She shut her eyes.

The first slap landed, and Sandra gasped. The pain was sharp but bearable. But Sandra knew that each individual swat didn't matter. As the punishment continued the pain would build.

Joel continued, striking hard and alternating cheeks, not leaving any pause for her to catch her breath, or for the pain to fade. It started to burn, and the ache after each successive impact got quickly worse.

At first Sandra counted the slaps, hoping, praying that he would stop at ten. It would be okay then; she could handle just ten. But ten came and went and she found herself hoping desperately that he would stop at twenty.

There was no let up. "Joel . . . Joel . . ." But he was deaf to her pleas. The slaps landed, hard and regular. Her bottom ached terribly, the thin fabric of her underwear no protection. Each slap that landed made her cry out. The pain was fast and hot and tender. As her punishment continued, Sandra began to cry.

At last, after what seemed like ages, he paused. When the next slap did not arrive, Sandra relaxed, relief flooding through her. Joel took her by the shoulders and turned her around. Her backside stung.

"Are you sorry?" he asked. She nodded, caught the look in his eye and replied:

"Yes."

"What did you do?"

"I stole."

"You won't do it again?"

"I won't."

Joel's eyes were on hers for a moment, searching, deciding. At once, the sense of relief deserted her. At last he spoke. "Turn around."

"Oh, but Joel, please . . ."

"Turn around," he repeated, and he took her shoulders and turned her gently back to the chair. There was the clinking noise of him undoing his belt. "This will hurt," he warned, not unkindly. "This will hurt a lot."

Sandra risked a glance over her shoulder to see Joel holding his belt. "Please," she said. "Not that."

But Joel ignored her and she turned back around and concentrated on keeping still. He had not used the belt on her before, or any implement. The threat had always been enough.

There was a swishing noise, and then the first blow landed. It hit so hard she felt the shockwave through her body. And the lashes kept coming, as swift as before, but many times more painful; none of the comfort of skin on skin. Sandra could not hold back her yelps of pain, no matter how hard she bit down on her lip. The tears began again, and she found herself sobbing uncontrollably between each lash.

Snap! Her arms shuddered and she swayed forward. A wail escaped her. Her bottom was an excruciating welt of agony. Her legs trembled and she found she could barely keep her arms straight.

Snap! She swayed forward again and howled. Why wouldn't he stop? Surely this was punishment enough? She released the chair and turned around.

"Joel . . . please . . . no more. I don't want . . ."

"Quiet." He remained quite calm, though breathing heavily. "Take the punishment."

"I won't! It's too much! All I did was . . ." But before she could finish speaking he had grabbed her and thrown her down onto the bed. She gathered a breath to yell again, but before she could there was another resounding snap. A sound she heard before she felt the pain. Was it worse in this new position, or was Joel simply hitting harder? She buried her face in her pillow and bit down.

Snap! One hand on her back pinned her to the bed.He was holding nothing back anymore. This was pain. Snap! Sandra was crying unashamedly, uncontrollably, like a little girl, her whole body vibrating with the sobs. Snap! This was punishment with anger and no love. In her shame she knew that she deserved this. She stopped struggling and lay there as the lashes fell, flinching and squealing pitifully at each one.

Snap! Snap! Snap! She was sure that she could not take much more. If only he would stop. If only it could be over--she would never make him angry again.

A final lash cracked across her bottom. And then it was finished. The hand pinning her to the bed was released, but she did not dare to stand. Her legs were trembling and she did not know if they would take her weight. She curled up on the bed and sobbed.

But then Joel was there, leaning close. And there came that wonderful phrase, "It's okay now. It's over. You did well." She allowed herself to be encircled in his thick arms and pulled against his chest. He still loved her. It was over and he was not mad and still he loved her. Sandra buried her face in his shirt and inhaled the familiar smell of cigarettes. Joel held her close and cleaned away her tears.