Liam did not know what had hit him.  Well, he knew physically that it was a flip-flop wielded by his extremely angry uncle that had turned his butt into a fiery caldron of pain such as he had never known before.  It was, however, in the metaphorical sense that he was ignorant.

It was but three days before that his parents dropped him off at his Uncle’s when they went on a vacation for a week.  Liam had looked forward to the visit for weeks just as his parents had anticipated their trip.  There was much to look forward to for him as there was the promise of the trip to the Great Amusement Park for an entire day and he knew that he would have great fun with his twin cousins who were a year younger than he.  Liam was certain that he would be the leader, or should that be commander, for whatever they did.  That would be a wonderful change from his life where the older boys did the commanding.  Being the youngest in his class had it disadvantages.

Sunday had been great.  The four of them had gone to the Science Museum and dinosaurs and rockets are unbelievably fascinating to young scientists to be.  Monday did not go as planned.  His uncle got a call from his office in panic mode and he had to go to work rather than take the three boys to the zoo as planned.  The boys had to entertain themselves.  Now that was not really a problem since Liam wanted to explore the nearby woods.  He really could not decide which of the many explorers he had learnt about in school he was but he was sure that he was the leader and the twins would follow unquestioningly.

It was midmorning when the intrepid explorers set off with backpacks containing vital supplies of sandwiches, milk, water and junk food.  Things went well for the twins knew the nearby section of the woods and kept their ‘leader’ from getting lost.  The problem arose after about three hours.  They had reached the brook and had gone as far as the waterfall.  Liam wanted to continue but unexpectedly his little band mutinied and refused to continue.  “We are not allowed to go past here, Liam.” they said surprisingly firmly and each giving his butt a little rub.

Liam insisted but they still refused saying that they would be punished if they went any further.  “Who will know?  I won’t tell.  Will you tell?” he asked.© YLeeCoyote

“We won’t go any further, Liam, and neither should you.” they said very definitively.

Liam could not understand their refusal.  “There aren’t any more bears or wolves further on then here.  There is not any reason not to continue!  I am going on!”

And so he did, disregarding his cousins’ good advice.

After an hour the twins returned home.  Their parents were frantic as their nephew was surely lost in the woods.  How to search for him was the question.  Desperate they called the sheriff.

* * * * * * * * * *

It was a couple of hours later that a very lost, somewhat confused, scratched by thorns and extremely muddy boy limped out of the woods about ​four miles​ (​six and a half km​) away.  A home owner who found him called the sheriff.  The ride in the deputy sheriff’s car was not the thrill he initially expected since it was like a jail cell and did not have its red light flashing.  Rather than being welcomed back home as a conquering hero by his relatives he quickly learnt that he was in extreme disgrace.

Liam was immediately directed to the backyard where the twins hosed him down and then he was required to strip and put his wet and dirty clothes in a bucket which his aunt took to wash.  His furious uncle gave him a long lecture about what is proper behavior and what is not.  The part that got his attention best was the consequences of improper behavior.

There was not any appeal process and the sentence was carried out immediately.  Liam was required to bend over the end of the wooden picnic table.  The twins sat on opposite sides and held him in place while his uncle proceeded to use his pseudo rubber paddle gotten in the ​Dollar​ (​Euro​) discount store as an after season special.

The first swat caused a low grunt.  Each swat after that had a gradually increasing reaction.  After a few minutes each WHACK elicited a loud howl that disturbed the neighbors while delivering a message into a very naughty boy’s bottom that he must respect limits.  The twins had to hold Liam’s arms very tightly to keep him in place.  After a seeming eternity, his uncle stopped whacking the crying boy and he was allowed to stand up.

Of course, he immediately began the fruitless task of trying to rub out the fire and pain as he headed for the house.  His progress was encouraged with another hard whack on his crimson bottom.