Foster Forest (12): TV or Not TV... That is the question...

Becky felt winded. Her hair was hanging in her face, the wispy strands around her ears curling from the humidity, and she was breathing heavily. The workout had done her some good, and in spite of the complaining aches in her body she was sure that she had benefitted from the rough ride around the paddock. It had been the first in quite some time, and she knew that both she and the horse would be better off for it. She felt refreshed, as though she could finally return to her job as administrator at Foster Forest with some peace of mind and a clear head.

It was such a relief to have Cody around! Sure, he wasn't always as responsible as she would like, but he was a teenager, and the way Becky saw it, that was typical. Cody meant that she could get out of the house from time to time and leave him with the younger children, just for an hour or so in order that she could get some of the necessary work around the facility done. It meant that she could spend some time with the horses, who were nearly as much a responsibility as the children, and that she might ultimately be able to dismiss the man she had hired to take care of them.

Becky was ready to head into the Great Room to relieve Cody. She guzzled down a bottle of water, tossed the empty into the recycling and walked out into the main room. None of the children were there, so she began a systematic check. Lizze, as Becky would have expected, was in the library with a book. She looked up at waved, and Becky waved back with an affectionate smile. She did care a great deal for Elizabeth and the boys and it was nice to finally be able to admit that she'd made the right choice in opening the Forest.

Moving on, Becky poked her head into the game room. She hadn't taken the time to remove the television in there, since she had assumed that there would be future children who would be able to watch appropriately, and she couldn't allow Jackson to spoil it for everyone. She felt that she was making real progress with him now, since he was no longer asking for meals in advance of meal time, and he had now lost twenty-five pounds. Only ten more pounds to go according to the doctor's orders, and he would be at a healthy weight.

The sight that met Becky had both of her eyebrows raising all the way up into her hairline. For a long moment she simply leaned against the doorframe and watched what was going on in the room, waiting for the two boys to acknowledge her presence. Jackson was sitting on the edge of the couch, leaning forward while Cody leaned back against the cushions, flipping through the channels. Because Becky was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had locked the television so that it could only be used with a password, she was quite surprised to find that the two boys were channel surfing.

After nearly two minutes of watching the transfixed youngsters, Becky cleared her throat. Jackson turned toward her and waved, but Cody's face was flushed when he turned his blue eyes toward her. She could detect a hint of embarrassment, but Becky knew that what was under that was the fact that Cody knew he'd been caught.

"Hey Ms. Becky!" Jackson said cheerfully. Becky turned her gaze toward him, raising her eyebrows again. "Cody figured out how to use the TV, so we can watch again. You wanna watch with us?"

Becky went into the room and held her hand out to Cody, wiggling her fingers to indicate that he should give her the remote. She took it from him and flipped the television off, set the remote down, and pulled out her cell phone. A moment later she was on the phone with Peter. "Peter, can you come over and pick up the television? I was thinking you could take it to your house. I didn't think that it was going to cause a problem, but since it seems to have, I'd like to just get it out of the way so that we don't have to worry about it any more. Thanks."

She shoved the phone back into her pocket and went to stand in front of the television, looking down at the two boys. "I'm sorry, Jackson," Becky said, "But you remember that I told you that you weren't allowed to watch television, don't you? I didn't give Cody the codes, and he shouldn't have been trying to figure them out, either. That was very, very naughty." She glanced at both faces, both pairs of blue eyes, and then pointed to the door. "Both of you to your rooms. I'll be up there to deal with you both in just a moment. Go."

***

Nearly twenty minutes later Peter had the wide screen television hoisted out and into the back of the truck Becky kept for utility. She was confident that it would make it into his house, even though he had about as much use for a television as she did. Both of them spent too much time doing things they felt were more important than sitting in front of the boob tube all day long. In truth, she simply couldn't understand why Jackson wouldn't prefer to be outside playing, maybe with a fishing pole in the pond, or even exploring the horses. As for Cody, she just didn't have him figured out yet, but she knew she would get there in time.

For now there were more important things to worry about.

Becky slowly trekked up the stairs, past the girl's floor and all the way up to the second floor where the boys had their rooms. She hesitated for a moment before going to the end of the hall where Jackson's bedroom was. The way that she figured it, he hadn't been the primary culprit in today's escapade. Although she was sure that he knew the rules about television (only on the weekends and only with supervision), she also felt that because she had left Cody in charge, Jackson might have been at least somewhat misled. She was willing to hear his side of the story, though one way or another he was going to wind up with a very red and very sore backside by the time the afternoon was over.

It felt almost strange to Becky that she felt bad about this. Of course she never liked to have to spank one of the children, but right now, after such a great ride, she couldn't quite muster up enough anger to make her feel righteous about administering discipline. In fact, she'd left her hairbrush downstairs in her apartment, determined that the palm of her hand would be sufficient this time. And she hoped that it would be.

Hesitating outside Jackson's door, Becky took a deep breath, steeling herself and forcing her features into what she hoped was a stern expression. She raised her hand and rapped on the door and then pushed it open, looking around inside for the little boy. He was sitting on his bed looking somewhat confused, and Becky sighed, her resignation slipping considerably. She went to sit down next to him on the bed and wrap her arm around his shoulders. "You look confused," she said, hoping to start him talking so that she could get a better idea of what was going on.

The little boy shrugged, and Becky moved so that she was leaning back on her hands. She was no longer touching him, and if she had been a threat then she wouldn't be a threat any longer. She looked at the child and cocked her head, doing her best to leave him an opening. "Tell me what's going on, Jackson," she said encouragingly. "I want to know. Because I'm sure that you knew it was against the rules for you two to be watching television.

She kept her eyes on the child's face as he visibly struggled for a moment. For a moment she felt that she could understand his struggle, because she had a similar internal struggle of her own. Being a parent (of any sort) was much more difficult than Becky had initially thought it would be, and now she was left feeling as though she was failing the children. She stood firm in her belief that television was an unnecessary luxury, and she maintained in her own mind that Jackson needed to be outside catching bugs and frogs like a "normal" seven year old. Where she found herself caught was when she thought about how to handle the disciplining of a child who was clearly confused and very much out of his element.

Becky closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Jackson wasn't talking, and on some level she couldn't blame him. Like her, he knew that he was about to get spanked. They had both come to that conclusion before she had even reached his room; she was sure of it. "Alright. Jackie, I am giving you one last chance to tell me what happened downstairs. If you say nothing, then I'm just going to get this over with and you can spend the rest of the afternoon in your room."

It felt like a decree, and it was out of her mouth before she could stop herself from tacking the grounding on as though it was anything better than an afterthought. Becky sighed, feeling her cheeks heat up as she looked toward Jackson again. His mouth was open, his blue eyes wide. There were little lines between his brows where he was frowning slightly, and his mouth had a pouty look about it that told her he was about to protest. Again Becky sighed, and she was about to begin the process of tugging down his jeans. Instead, he chose that moment to speak up.

"Cody said he could make the television work, and he said it was okay because you left him in charge while you were out," Jackson said. His words came out in a rush, so fast that Becky was, at first, unclear as to what she had heard.

She was about to ask him to repeat himself more slowly when everything clicked right into place. "So Cody told you that you could watch television?" Becky asked, wanting to be sure that she understood what the little boy was saying. When he nodded his head, she sighed and went on. "And even though it is clearly against the rules, you believed him?" she asked. Again Jackson nodded, though this time the color had drained out of his face. Becky nodded, seeing that he understood her completely.

"You and Cody decided to break the rules," Becky said seriously. Though she was sympathetic to what Jackson would be feeling at that moment, she wanted to be sure he understood that his actions had consequences. Between them the two boys had decided that it was alright for them to break the rules if the adults were out of the house.

Sitting up, Becky patted Jackson on the thigh. "I'm going to give you a spanking," she told him gently. "It's going to hurt, but afterward you can go downstairs and play. Maybe we can have lunch outside today and then we'll play outdoors with Lizzie." She thought briefly about seeing whether or not she could get Peter involved in the game, and then dismissed the thought. He still needed his time to paint.

Becky put her hand on Jackson's back and gave a gentle push to guide him off the bed so that he was standing in front of her. She put her hands on his jeans and slowly popped the button out, then unzipped them and pushed them down to his knees. She sat up and took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze that she hoped was reassuring, and then lifted him up and over her lap.

For a moment Becky hesitated over Jackson's briefs, her hand hovering over the waistband for several seconds before abandoning it. Jackie had known the rules when he allowed Cody to hack into the television. He knew he wasn't to be watching television except on the weekends, and he could have walked away from Cody's misbehavior if he'd wanted to. The rules had to be reinforced, but that didn't stop her from feeling a pang of guilt.

It was the guilt that caused Becky to leave Jackson's briefs in place. When she finally raised her hand, it came down in a half-hearted spank that she knew would do little more than sting. She would reserve any real fury for Cody, who was the primary culprit in the day's misbehavior. And Cody would be getting another lesson in the rules very shortly as well.

Still, she couldn't stop herself from thinking of Jackson as the victim as her hand came down in sharp, crisp spanks against his covered bottom. She spanked evenly, from one side to the other, and quickly, but she didn't spank hard. More than anything her goal was to get her charge's attention and not to actually cause him real hurt. In fact, she was so focused on the color of his bottom around the edges of his underpants that she didn't even speak during the spanking, as was her habit.

It was over after only twenty crisp spanks. Even so, the seven year-old was showing some pink around the edges of his briefs and he was sniffling when she guided him up onto his feet again. She reached down to tug his jeans back up over his bottom, and then allowed him to zip and button them himself. Jackson stood there sniffling for nearly a minute, while Becky felt completely at a loss for how to comfort him or to explain what had happened. Finally she reached down and pulled him gently into her lap, sitting him against her knee. He was finally light enough that she was comfortable having him in her lap with his head against her shoulder (rather than sitting next to her and leaning on her).  "Jackie," Becky sighed softly, giving him a gentle kiss to his temple. "What am I going to do with you?" For a moment she rocked, though he wasn't crying, only sniffling a little bit.

Becky plucked a tissue from the box on the night stand and handed it to the little boy, allowing him to blow his nose and clear himself up a little bit. "I wish I didn't have to do that, Jackie," she said unapologetically. "You need to learn the rules, sweetheart. And next time Cody does something you know is against the rules, you need to tell me. Just walk away and tell me. If Mr. Peter or I aren't here, then wait until we are and let us know then. If we are here, then just find us and let us know. We can't help you unless you let us."

Becky kissed the little boy's cheek again and slid him gently out of her lap. "Why don't you go downstairs and see if you can find Lizzie. Maybe you two can play for a bit until I get back down there and then we can all go outside and have a picnic. Okay?"

The little boy sniffled and looked as though he was about to say something, but instead he just nodded his head and rushed for the door. Becky sighed again and closed her eyes. She had been trying to avoid thinking about the headache that was beginning to throb at her temples, but it was time now for her to take some aspirin.

Instead of going straight to Cody's room, Becky followed Jackson downstairs and then went to her apartment, unlocking the door and letting herself in. She went to the bathroom and pulled down the aspirin from the medicine cabinet, took up a glass of water and swallowed two at once. She glanced in the mirror and then closed her eyes wearily. Parenting wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Even with a basic parenting philosophy in mind, she couldn't seem to get all of her ducks in a row. As it was, she blamed herself for the fact that things were seemingly falling apart. She wasn't going to put that responsibility on Cody, who seemed to just need to learn the rules, commit them to memory, and then follow them. It was her responsibility to ensure that he did.

With that thought, she pushed back from the sink, braced her shoulders and lifted her chin. Becky took a deep breath and quickly put herself together. She and Cody were about to have a very serious talk that she hoped with help Cody to understand the importance of obeying the rules and the reasons why she had them. In this case, Becky wanted to make sure that the children were spending their time in active pursuits rather than being glued to the television all day, and Jackson's health was part of the issue. The doctors were worried about his heart if he didn't lose the weight, or even about juvenile diabetes. It would be unfair of Becky to allow Jackson to do whatever he wanted and risk his personal health as a result.

Realizing that Cody probably didn't understand all of this, Becky knew that the upcoming conversation was going to be a difficult one. It wasn't his business what was going on with Jackson's health, and she would have to choose her words carefully. At the same time, he was fourteen years old and clearly needed to have a better control over his impulses. And if the television incident hadn't been an impulse, there were even bigger problems that she would need to sort through with the youngster.

At the door, Becky doubled back for her hairbrush. The more she thought about what Cody had done the more certain she was that the back of her hand was not going to be enough to get her point across. She'd consistently used the hairbrush for almost every spanking she'd given since she had opened The Forest, and now, when she thought about it, Cody had stepped over a line knowingly and done something that he knew was on the very edge of illegal. She would not, and could not, give the impression that she was going to tolerate his rule breaking.

No doubt the teenager was used to being grounded, Becky thought as she headed up the stairs for the second time, hairbrush in hand this time. Peter had taken care of any notions Cody may have had of being let off easy, but she wanted to make sure that she made an impression of her own. The experience would be humiliating for the youngster, but she also hoped that it would make it clear to him that some things simply were not allowed, not in her house, not ever. Respect for the rules was important to Becky, and her rules weren't arbitrary. She restricted television use in order to keep the children active and learning instead of sitting in front of a screen all day. More than that, the use of the television wasn't entirely forbidden, as the children had previously been allowed to watch on the weekends. Now, with the television gone from the house, Becky realized that even that was going to stop.

Outside of Cody's door, Becky sighed. She had never known that parenting involved so much disciplining. Somehow in her mind she had envisioned an ability to turn troubled children into happy children overnight, so that they would all play together and roast marshmallows over the fire in the autumn, or go on camping trips in the surrounding woods. This was something altogether different than what she had imagined, and as she raised her hand to rap firmly on Cody's door, she found herself regretting what had to be done. She wouldn't apologize, but she felt as though there had to be a better way to turn this hodge podge of people into a family of sorts.

Without waiting for an answer, Becky swung the bedroom door open. Cody was sitting on his bed, his legs crossed Indian style and playing his guitar. It irritated Becky that he looked as though there was nothing wrong in the world, especially when he glanced up at her and, of all things, smiled. She rubbed her fingers over her eyes in exasperation but quickly realized that because of her irritation this wasn't going to be nearly as difficult with Cody as it had been with Jackson.

Becky clenched her teeth involuntarily and shook her head at Cody sternly. Before she realized she was doing it, her left hand (the one free of the hairbrush) was shaking in Cody's direction. "Don't you try that act on me, Cody Aaron York. It isn't going to work. Jackson just got his bottom spanked for his part in this incident, and now it's your turn. Get up," she said, waving her hand at him to get moving. She expected his obedience, just as she had gotten it from Jackie and usually from Lizzie as well.

Instead, Cody looked at her, his mouth hung open and his blue eyes wide. Becky wondered whether or not he was putting on an act or whether he was genuinely surprised by the news she was presenting. She had, herself, walked in on the spanking that Peter had given him, so she knew that it wasn't a foreign concept to him. She raised both of her eyebrows and gestured at him again. "Now, Cody. You knew that you were doing wrong when you reprogrammed that television set, and now you need to pay the consequences for doing it."

"It's not that big a deal," Cody said as he put his guitar aside. "You put me in charge, the kid wanted to watch T.V. and I let him. I don't see why you're so fucking uptight."

Becky's jaw clenched again, both because of the tone in his voice and because of his word choice.  She forced herself to relax, though her blood was pumping hard and she could feel the heat in her face and neck as her anger and frustration levels rose.

"It is a big deal, Cody," Becky said. Her tone came out harsh rather than stern, and she had to force herself to speak to him with as much respect as she could muster. "The rules say that television is only for the weekends. Not to mention the fact that the T.V. was passworded and you literally had to break into it in order to access the channels." Becky paused, drawing a breath, and when Cody rolled his eyes she had to plunge her free hand into her pocket to prevent herself from lashing out. It was true that she had a temper, and she didn't want to unleash it on him.

"This is my house. You live here. You are going to live by my rules as long as you are here."

"And how long is that?" Cody snapped from where he was now sitting on the edge of his bed. His blue eyes had a steely look in them, and Becky could easily recognize fury.

"Until you are eighteen years old. After that you are welcome to stay as long as you like, but you will be here until then, and you will obey my rules for as long as you live here."

"Well your rules stink. He's a kid, he wants to watch T.V., he should be allowed to watch T.V."

Becky sat down hard on the edge of the bed, dropping the hairbrush beside her and gripping her slender thighs with her long fingers. The pinch hurt, but it focused her attention on what had to be done and away from her own anger. "Cody, I realize that you are a teenager and that therefore you know everything about everything," Becky said. "But in this case there is information that you don't have. Jackson's well being is my concern, not yours. Your concern is to follow the rules that I have set out for you."

Becky paused. She could remember being a teenager herself, and how it felt as though the entire world was out to get you. She softened, relaxing her shoulders and turning her head to look at Cody. "I'm not going to have you babysit any more. I will have to hire somebody else or ask the groom to come back on the staff to take care of the horses. I can't trust you, Cody," she added, knowing that those words were likely to hurt at least a little bit, even if Cody didn't particularly like her.

When the boy just shrugged his shoulders, Becky knew that she had hit home. He was too cool, and she could see the redness at the back of his neck that indicated he was either angry or embarrassed. She nodded her head confidently and patted Cody's knee. "Okay then," she said. "Get up and pull down your jeans and underpants. When we're done you can stay in here for the rest of the day and think about the rules that you're breaking. The rest of us are going to have a picnic," she added.

"So... I'm grounded?" Cody asked. Becky could hear the tone of relief in his voice, and before she realized what she was doing, she had rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Cody. You're grounded for the rest of the day. And the television has been removed downstairs so that this won't happen again. Everybody else is going to suffer because you decided that you were going to crack the password and get in there and watch T.V. In the meantime, you are going to stand up and lower your jeans and underpants so that I can take care of your naughty bottom," she said.

Becky watched as Cody slowly lowered his jeans to his ankles. Picking up the hairbrush, she tapped it impatiently against her left thigh, waiting for him to get the job done so that she could finish the necessary business and move on to get the picnic started with the kids. She might call Peter after all, she decided, just to see if he wouldn't mind spending some time with them on his day off. It was the best way for him to get to know the other residents of the Forest.

It seemed that it was taking Cody an unnaturally long time to get his jeans down, and Becky glanced at him to see that he had his hands cupped over the front of his shorts and was moving from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable. "Hurry up, Cody," she said briskly. "I don't have all day and I have much better things to do than spanking your naughty little bottom for you. Like anybody, I'd rather be having fun. Come on!" she said, keeping her voice brisk and matter-of-fact. She was, indeed, eager to get outside and check on Jackson and find out how the others were doing.

But Cody hesitated a moment too long, and Becky dropped the hairbrush next to her and slapped his hands to move them out of her way. Without waiting for his permission, she hooked her fingers in the waistband of his shorts, pulled the elastic out to the sides, and tugged them down. She was careful enough, gentle enough, and she expressed no concern over Cody's erection.

Taking a deep breath, Becky patted her lap. "Over you go," she said. Though ordinarily she would have chosen to treat Cody as a mature fourteen year-old, she felt that it was more appropriate for him to experience a juvenile spanking. When he hesitated, she met his eyes, still not looking below the belt, and took his hand, gently pulling him toward her until he had no choice and went unwillingly over the matronly knee. His body was stretched out with his top half laying on the bed and his legs loose behind him where they could kick freely if he felt the need to do so. She tucked her hand around his right side, pulling him as tightly to her as she could manage with such a big child, and then reached for the hairbrush, resting it against his bottom as she began to speak. "Cody, I thought that Peter had given you enough of a lesson regarding our rules. They apply to you just the same as they apply to Jackson or Elizabeth. When you are an adult and you have children in your care, then perhaps you will see things my way. In the meantime, I am responsible for ensuring that you grow up to be a productive young man, and that means that you must learn how to follow the rules that have been set forth. Adults and mature people follow rules. Little children need to be reminded of them. And in this house, that means being reminded with a spanking. And that's what you're going to get."

"But I'm... uh... fourteen," the teenager said, though Becky could hear from his tone that he wasn't particularly confident in his own defense against the coming punishment. She sighed and rapped the hairbrush against his bottom several times.

"Yes, Cody," Becky said. Then she brought the hairbrush down hard on his right bottom cheek. She repeated this on the left side, spanking with as much force as she could muster. Already big red splotches appeared, and the teenager gasped out with surprise. "You are fourteen years old, and that is plenty old enough to know better than to deliberately break the rules," she said, moving down to his thighs and delivering a hard two spanks, one to each thigh.

The boy's legs kicked out behind him. The right shoe had been untied and it went flying. Becky blinked a couple of times, and then returned to the spanking in earnest, using as much strength as she could muster to deliver extremely hard blows to the teenager's quivering backside. "Now since you chose to act like a little child, I am going to spank you over my knee just like you were a little child. You absolutely know that you are to obey the rules that we've given you." She continued to spank, the spanks hard rather than crisp, pummeling the teenager's bottom as it grew increasingly read. He wasn't howling like the younger children did, but the boy did grunt and cry out with every spank. It was clear to Becky that he was doing his best to keep his composure, but his legs continued to kick, and after less than a minute he had begun to twist and squirm across her lap.

Becky paused briefly and pulled Cody back in to her tightly. Her lips were pressed together and there was an ache in her jaw from where she had been clenching her teeth together.

"No more! Oh God please no more!" Cody cried out.

"Yes, there's more," Becky said sharply. The hairbrush began to fall again, and she knew that she wasn't going to be satisfied that the lesson was learned until his bottom was a deep shade of red and he wasn't going to sit comfortably at least through the next day. He would need to show her that he could act like a teenager and not like the little child she'd been seeing so far that day. "When you're ready for this spanking to end, I will know, young man," she said, her aggravation getting the better of her as the hairbrush fell hard on first the right cheek, then the left.

She was moving quickly, hard and fast in a way that she knew would make it hard for Cody to catch his breath. And sure enough, before long he was sobbing over her lap, completely defeated. Whatever appearances Cody may have given during the other parts of the day, right now he was just a little boy who had received a very thorough spanking. But Becky wasn't finished. Though she was no longer riding high on the agitation that she had felt only moments ago, she finished up with a dozen hard spanks to the backs of the boy's thighs before tossing the hairbrush aside. She kept her left hand tucked around Cody's side so that the teenager was still held tightly and firmly, and she kept her arm in a position that blocked his hand from reaching back to rub his burning buttocks. They were so hot that she could feel the heat coming off of him, and after a moment she allowed her right hand to fall against the agitated and reddened flesh. She could no longer feel him pressed against her leg, and it occurred to Becky that the spanking had been sufficiently thorough to truly get the job done.

"Cody Aaron York, grown ups know that there is a value in rules, and they follow those rules. The rules here are just like the laws the government has set out; if you break them, you're going to be punished in just the same way as any other child would be here. Privileges come with obedience and good behavior. You are old enough to know that and to expect to be punished when you've done something wrong. I'm not going to keep talking to you about this. By now you should understand. The next time you break a rule (which, I might add, includes respecting the personal property of others) you are going to find yourself right back here, over my lap or bent over the bed for an even stricter punishment than what you just got."

Becky paused and sighed. The anger and agitation was gone, but in its place was left a feeling of displacement. She moved her hand up to the boy's back and gently rubbed in slow circles, then shifted her weight so that he should stand up. She kept her eyes on his face as he did so, not shying away from his tears as he yanked up his boxers over his red rear end and then kicked his jeans aside. She could understand how he felt about not wanting to wear them at that moment. In fact, she had been there, done that.

Becky took a deep breath and let it out slowly between her lips. She ran a hand back through her auburn hair and tucked it behind her ears. Her fingers came away moist, and she realized that she had begun to sweat somewhere along the lines. Rolling her eyes, Becky stood up. It would be later that night before she could grab a shower, so she was going to have to make due. She pulled her hair up into a pony tail and wrapped it around itself, tucking the ends in so that it held without a holder or pins. By the time she was finished, Cody was dressed again, his hands covering his bottom. She was surprised to see that he didn't do the post spanking dance, and she wondered momentarily if she should go hard on him next time, but then dismissed the thought. Teenager or not, he was still a kid, and he didn't need it any harder than she'd given it to him, at least for the offense he'd committed. She was sure that he would think twice before violating anyone's personal property again.

Pushing herself up off the bed, Becky took one last glance at Cody. "In the future I expect an apology when I've had to take time out of my day to punish you, young man. You can stay in your room until supper time and then you'll come right up here afterward as well. I'll bring some lunch up after we've had ours," she added. "And you can eat here."

With that she turned and went out of the room. As she reached the door, Becky felt emotion overwhelming her, and she stopped just outside, pulling the door shut behind her and leaning against the wall. "I'm not going to let this conquer me," she said aloud, very quietly. With that she headed downstairs to prepare a picnic lunch and to gather the children together to enjoy it.

***

Lunch was finished an hour later, and the children were outside playing with Peter, who had chosen to join them. It did Becky's heart good to see him interacting with the younger children, especially when he was letting himself relax and not getting uptight or angry about something. And it seemed as though the two younger children were getting along better, which made Becky feel relieved, even though her mind was with Cody, in his room and missing out on the fun.

He deserved his punishment, of course. Becky stood confidently on the principles that the rules she had set were there for a reason, and that she was helping to build the character of these children and shaping them into something better than what they were. None of them were bad kids; in fact, Becky wasn't sure that she believed in "bad" kids. She didn't consider them "troubled" either, though Cody somehow seemed to be borderline. She knew so little about him, and he wasn't talking, though it was clear to her that he'd never suffered any real abuse (at least not if you didn't count his horrid social worker!). He was quiet most of the time, though when he chose to speak he seemed to let rip with hostile language.

No, Cody had lessons that he needed to learn, and missing out on the day's activities would show him that he needed to obey the rules or suffer the consequences. She wouldn't allow herself to feel badly about topping off his spanking with a grounding as well. It would be over tomorrow, though his rear end would probably still be quite sore for the next several days, at least every time that he sat down.

Now Becky carried a plate with a hot dog and some potato chips on it up to Cody's room. The meal was small, but she figured it would get him through until dinner. She gave a gentle knock on his door and then opened it, poking her head in to make sure that she was welcome. Cody was laying face down on his bed, his head on his pillow as he seemingly stared at the wall. She entered and set the plate down on his desk, then sighed, giving the teenager what she hoped was a sympathetic look.

Cody seemed to scramble to his feet, and Becky raised her eyebrows slightly. She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it. "I'm sorry, Ms. Becky," he said, his head down. "I'm gonna apologize to the kid, too, just as soon as I can. I'm sorry I got the T.V. taken away from everybody and I'm sorry I made you mad. I'll try not to do it again. Sorry," he repeated, as though saying it more often would make it more true.

Becky crossed the room and gently put her hands on Cody's shoulders, then used her right hand to lift his chin. She kissed him wordlessly on the cheek and gave him a tight hug before turning to leave the room and leave the teen in peace to deal with his own thoughts and to eat his lunch. They could talk about this more in the coming days. She would want to make sure that the message was fully reinforced, and if the latent pain in his backside wasn't enough, she would be having several talks with Cody about respecting property and setting a good example for the younger children.