After an hour of twiddling and fiddling and impatient wiggling on the sofa,

staring at those horrible canes,

I glanced at the clock above the door.

It was four-ten.

I nearly began to weep.

It was bad enough to be caned

worse was the interminable waiting!

Finally, I heard a slight creak from the corridor.

Every muscle in my body tensed in horror as footsteps approached.

The door slowly creaked open.

But instead of the ponderous bulk of Mr Grimes, the Headmaster, a tall, elegant woman entered.

My gasp was distinctly audible in the quiet.

She turned and looked toward me,

her angelic face pale with rosy cheeks and bright blue-green eyes.

“Miss Caulsan!” I nearly shouted, leaping to my feet.

The Assistant Head was every schoolboy’s dream. Her neat, curly blonde hair was trimmed short around her oval-shaped face. Her lips were pink and moist and her even white teeth gleamed magnificently when she smiled. Her eyes were mysteriously deep and friendly — one just melted into them. I’d seen more than one fifth-former begin to cry simply because she glared at him with disapproval.

I was horribly embarrassed at her finding me here. This was the last place on earth I’d want to meet Miss Caulsan. Her opinion of me, if she even had one prior to this moment, must be extremely low. I flushed and bowed my head.

“I-I’m waiting for the Head, Miss,” I whispered, to ashamed to look at her.

The woman shut the door firmly behind her. Even from several feet away I could smell her delicious perfume, a soft, feminine scent, rich with meaning. It had me shivering. I opened my eyes a bit and glanced up, afraid those beautiful azure eyes would be glaring at me with disapproval. My knees felt weak.

Instead she was smiling slightly, her lips pursed together in a thin line that turned up at the corners. “Yes, I know, Roger,” she said primly, removing her dark blue blazer and hanging it on a tall wooden post by the door.

She stood and faced me, hands on her hips. She was a large woman, tall and imposing, athletic and strong. She wore a tight white blouse and a long navy skirt that swished when she moved. I had absolutely no idea how old she was, but she seemed far too youthful to be an Assistant Headmistress.

“Mr Grimes was called away on a family matter this morning. I have taken over his duties for the day.”

Her words slowly drifted into my thick skull and penetrated my brain. I tore my attention away from her soft bosom and focused on what she had said. The Head was to cane me. The Head was gone. She was taking over for the Head. Therefore, _she_ was to cane me!

I staggered back and nearly fell I was so surprised. “But ma’am–”

Again, her gentle smile gave me strength. It was filled with a touch of humor that I found marvelously enchanting. “You don’t think a woman has the ability to cane a naughty boy?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with sparks of fire.

“Uh, no ma’am, it’s not that–”

“Then you don’t think a woman can cane a naughty boy as hard as a man, is that it?”

“Uh, no ma’am, I’m sure you can, it’s just that–” I stopped, frozen in terror and bewilderment. How could I explain? The thought of a caning from Mr Grimes, as severe as that was, now seemed like a mild torture compared to what I was facing. That this delicate, beautiful creature was about to whip my arse sent dozens of contradicting messages to my brain and body. Was I excited? Was I afraid? Was I curious? Was I about to laugh or about to cry? I had absolutely no idea.

The woman eased her backside onto the Head’s desk and sat, legs dangling, grinning at me in amusement. “This is your first time, isn’t it?” She opened a manilla folder she’d brought with her and studied it intently for a few minutes.

The silence was deafening. I kept hearing echoes of canes swishing and cracking in my head. Every now and then the woman would cluck her tongue, whether in surprise or disapproval, I couldn’t know. Finally she put down her folder and shook her head at me.

“I see that you are a consistently naughty lad, Roger,” she said, her lips curling downward in a frown. My knees wobbled in terror. “While you’ve only been here once before — that was for cheek, and you got sixx with the slipper — you seem to regularly earn demerits, one or two a week it seems. Your behavior isn’t bad, just naughty. This time, however, it seems to have caught up with you.”

Her beautiful eyes gazed at me sternly. “Make no mistake, young Roger — it shall be the cane for you today.”