Looking back, her comment didn’t really make much sense, as of course it would be easier to be still when someone wasn’t continually hitting you!
As my cries and sobs gradually subsided, I dared to slightly lift my head and look around the room. Charlotte sat cross-legged on the ground, wearing an expression of sympathetic horror, whilst Mum sat in the arm chair opposite, waiting for the sting of the hairbrush to fully penetrate my flesh before she treated me to a whacking with the bath brush.
I hadn’t dared to rub my throbbing and burning bum or to stand up – but I still had my legs crossed over each other, and they dangled down over the side of the settee.