Without a second to realize what happened next, Jessica was over her mother’s lap being spanked with a firm wooden hairbrush. She got a good fifteen swats. “There.” her mother said with a note of triumph in her voice. “Now you’ve got something to cry about. You’re going down to breakfast without another word, and you’ll get your diaper changed later when you’ve learned how to behave.” The scene faded out.
When the dream faded back in, Jessica’s cries were reduced to whimpers. She was strapped into a highchair wearing a bib and her sister Elizabeth was spoon-feeding her Gerber bananas from a baby food jar.
“What a good baby you are!” Elizabeth cooed to her. Jessica opened her mouth to tell her sister off but in that instant, her mother shot her an “I’ll let your sister spank you if you misbehave” look. Sobbing, she ate the rest of her breakfast like a well-behaved baby girl.