A couple of days later it was Friday. As there was no urgency to complete homework on this day, during the evening I often used to go along to Sarah’s house, or she to mine. On his particular Friday, I went to hers and when I arrived I found that she was already playing cards with another girl of her age. “This is Archie,” Sarah said ungraciously to the unknown girl, “he lives around here.” The girl looked at me without interest. She had short blonde wiry wavy hair and pale blue eyes. She was shorter than Sarah, but quite stocky. I wondered who she was. Just then Mrs Hibbard came into the room. “Hello, Archie,” she said, “I thought I heard you come in. Sarah’s introduced you to Delia, I hope.” “Er, yes.” Delia? The name seemed familiar. Who was Delia? Of course! Sarah’s pal from school—the fellow bully. But what was she doing here? “Delia’s mum has gone into hospital to have her baby,” Sarah’s mother said. “Delia’s grandma was going to look after her and her little brothers, but unfortunately your gran has had an accident, hasn’t she Delia, and so the boys are going to their friends’ house and Delia is staying here for a few days.” It was a comprehensive explanation. I remembered that the advanced pregnancy of Delia’s mum had supposedly saved her from a spanking for the bullying incident. “Well, let Archie into your game, girls.” “We’ve already started,” Sarah said with continuing unenthusiasm. “Well you can just already finish,” her mother said sharply, “or else!” Sarah decided not to press the point and picked up the cards and reshuffled. Actually, I was rather ill at ease and would gladly have left, but could hardly retreat with dignity now. And there was that interesting implied threat of “or else”. The girls ignored me as much as they could so I felt pretty cold-shouldered. I supposed Delia might have been quite pretty had she smiled once in a while, but she had a peevish down-drooping mouth and looked like a spoiled brat. On the other hand, the implication of what Sarah had said about her escaping a spanking implied that she did receive them. I remembered some mention of a father in the Navy. Perhaps he was the spanking parent. Anyway, after a few desultory games of ‘beggar you neighbour’ I left as soon as I decently could. At least they didn’t cheat! I was in a quandary for the weekend. Part of me wanted to stay clear and so avoid the humiliation of rejection, but experience had told me that two girls tended to end up in trouble. On the other hand (if you can have three hands) I recognised that Sarah’s mother could not spank another mother’s kid just because the girl happened to be staying in her house. So I was both attracted and deterred at the same time. No wonder I was such a confused lad! In the end I steered clear of the Hibbard’ house on Saturday, but on Sunday morning I succumbed to temptation and walked over. Mrs Hibbard was alone, reading the paper, when I arrived. “Hello, Archie,” she greeted me with all her usual warmth. “Good gracious, is it ten o’clock already ! And those lazy girls are still in bed. I’ll give them a call.” She went to the bottom of the stairs and I heard her shout, “Delia! Sarah! Time your bottoms were out of those beds unless you want me to come up and get them out myself—and you know what that would mean!” What did “know what that would mean” indicate? Had the girls really been spanked already? It didn’t seem likely; Delia was a guest after all. And yet the implication was there. No, it was a joke, Sarah’s mother had an odd sense of humour, as I’ve mentioned. But still… I resigned myself to never knowing. The girls came downstairs, both wearing just pyjamas. Although it was now autumn, the house was warm and I thought they’d probably decided to come as quickly as possible. Mrs Hibbard didn’t seem to mind. The girls scowled a bit when they saw me, but said nothing. Mrs Hibbard put out bowls, milk and packets of cereal. The girls sat and moodily began breakfast. “Cheer up, kids,” Mrs Hibbard said with a smile as she put the kettle on. “Pay no attention to them, Archie,” she said to me with undiminished good spirits, “they’re feeling sorry for themselves because I gave them both a good spanking last night.” What! “Running round upstairs at midnight! I’d already given them three warnings earlier, which was two more than I should, wasn’t it Delia?” Delia’s face blushed silently glowered at her cornflakes. I glanced at Sarah. She was looking sullen too, but it can’t have been as bad for her. “Anyway,” chuckled Sarah’s mother, “back to breakfast. You can have boiled eggs, Delia. Would you like one or two?” “Two.” “Two please’ in this house, young lady! You’ll be getting a lesson in manners if you’re not careful. Remember, your mum said I was to treat you exactly the same as Sarah while you’re here, and Sarah’s has had several good spankings in front of Archie, haven’t you, Sarah?” “Yes. Erm—yes, Mummy.” “Good. And how many eggs for you?” “Two please, Mummy.” “You see, Delia, even Sarah has learned the basic rules of polite behaviour. Now, do you like your eggs hard or runny, Delia?” “Runny,” Delia muttered, and then thought better of defiance and added a mumbled, “please.” “Hm, you are living dangerously, Delia, but I’ll let you off this time as you are a guest of sorts.” Then she turned to me again. I think she’d decided to punish Delia by embarrassment rather than spanking.
“Yes, Archie, there they were, these two naughty girls, running around stealing biscuits when they thought I was asleep—as if anyone could sleep with all the noise they were making! They soon found out how wrong they were when they came back upstairs giggling like a couple of idiots and found me waiting for them on the landing. That soon stopped them in their tracks—not so much giggling then, was there girls?” The girls stayed silent and showed a concentrated interest in their bowls of cereal. But clearly Mrs Hibbard was not expecting a response from them because she answered her own question herself. “No, there wasn’t. I sent them back into their bedroom with a smack each and then confiscated the biscuits—no cake or biscuits for either of you two for the rest of the weekend, by the way.