The time approached for her first whipping. In the back yard was a pair of stakes joined at the top. She stood at the kitchen window and viewed it often in the next few days.
It rained on Wednesday and she feared her exercise would have to be postponed; but Thursday and Friday were clear and the yard was dry on Saturday morning. She tingled with anticipation and a little fear.
She served the men their breakfast. She was allowed only water; Lawrence wanted her stomach empty for the beating. She knelt beside the table at their feet.
Arnold leashed her and led her outside. His father hung her up before putting the ball in her mouth and securing it. He punched her in the belly and watched her inhale reflexively. Good, she could breathe.
He told his son to fasten her ankle bracelets to the base of the poles. She spread her legs wide to accommodate the boy while Lawrence went inside, returning a minute later with a large black case. She had never seen it before and wondered where he kept it; in his workroom downstairs probably. Opening it, her drew out a short riding crop that ended in a loop of thin bamboo slivers.
He took others out to show Arnold: the simple leather whip for basic use, the "cat" with thirteen knotted cords for quick effect, the riding crop. The boy's eyes opened in wonder; this was as new to him as to Faith.
At the bottom of the case was a small rake with steel tines ending in sharp points; the scourge. She turned white and nearly fainted as he held it up to her. It was not for today, though. She would have kissed it but for the ball that distended her mouth.
Arnold directed his father's eyes to her nipples, now standing erect; an observant boy. He reached beneath her and showed Lawrence the wetness. His father said something and they laughed.
Lawrence began with the crop; it offered the most control and left dramatic marks that lasted for a week. At the first stroke she screamed, but it emerged from her nose as a faint whistle. The two men laughed again.
Soon she was past screaming and settled in to accept her beating. It lasted half an hour; at the end she was covered with red stripes, some crossing one another and some in neat evenly spaced parallel rows. The breasts and belly got their share along with her thighs, front and back; at one point he told her to open them and "decorated" the inner flesh.
A little more on the buttocks he said to himself, and took a few swipes; and he might let his son try his hand on her. Arnold said he would like that.
It was now midday and the exercise had given them an appetite. They lowered her from the frame. She stood up, a little unsteadily at first, and they led her inside to make lunch for them. Arnold poured her a small amount of feed; she touched her head to the floor in gratitude.
