BEXHILL SCHOOL

It had been a really bad idea for the two girls to take the mickey out of their new Housemistress so early in the term. "Have you seen her dress?" Hillary giggled to Margaret, just loud enough to be overheard by Ms Hamilton. "It looks as though she made it from a bit of left-over curtain material!"

It left Ms Hamilton in a dilemma: she could either ignore the snide comment, in which case she might be put down as an 'easy touch', or she could make an example of the two friends. She chose the latter course, but that brought its own problems. Her previous school had been 'enlightened' and had banned the use of corporal punishment, so she'd never actually whacked anyone's behind herself. She'd been on the receiving end a few times during her own schooldays, but this was the first time she'd have to wield the rattan herself. She considered how to position her first two victims. Bending over and touching their toes allowed the cane to have the greatest impact, but it was a potentially unstable position. She remembered how she'd nearly fallen flat on her face herself during a memorably painful session when her then Headmistress had required her to grasp her ankles for a dozen strokes of the Senior cane.

Her desk was strewn with papers and she couldn't be bothered to clear them up to make space for the two girls to lie across it. She considered a chair, but then her eyes fell on a footstool. True, it might be a bit low, but if supplemented with a couple of pillows, it would make a splendid platform on which to administer six of the best to a bare bottom.

She went to the cupboard and extracted the rattan, whacking it against the pillows a couple of times to get the feel. He stomach momentarily churned as she recalled the dreaded 'swish' which preceded the 'thwack' of the impact. 

She summoned the girls.

"Ah, Hillary and Margaret," she frowned at them, "today's lesson is don't slag off your teachers when they can overhear you, or it might mean 'curtains' for you!" She rather liked that bit.

"All right, Hillary, you're first. Knickers down, skirt up and over you go. Margaret, you can start preparing yourself by taking that dress off."

Suddenly, Ms Hamilton realised that she was no longer nervous of administering her first caning.