I blushed deeply at the mention of something so embarrassing as corporal punishment but managed a nod. “
Have you been a good boy for your mother today, Simon?” Auntie Deirdre demanded.
Fortunately, Mother answered for me.
“Yes, he got a bit of a smacked bottom off his father last night so he’s behaving himself for now.”
“At his age, his father should be taking the belt to his bottom,” Auntie Deirdre shot back.
“Well, see you behave yourself from now on, Simon – you won’t like my medicine, believe me!”
For a few weeks, I was the best-behaved son in town.
Just the threat of Auntie Dierdre coming round to smack me appalled me.
The thought of having my bottom smacked by a woman who wasn’t my mother was mortifying.
I thought about it a lot.