“Should I go wake Charlie up?” Mama asked Daddy quietly as she poured his second cup of coffee. Clarissa pushed her own cup forward, silently asking for more for her as well, and then turned to look at her father. She’d noticed how her mother was moving stiffly this morning, and she’d gotten the feeling that she’d been sent out yesterday so that they could fight some more. Most of the time when her parents had a big argument, her mother was much more subdued the next day, and Rissa was observant; she’d put two and two together a year or so ago and realized that her mother got punished the same way that her older sister did. Since Rissa herself almost always managed to skate out of trouble before it got bad enough to earn a spanking, she excluded herself from the assessment.
“Let her sleep,” Daddy said firmly, looking up at his wife and then gesturing for her to sit down and join him and Rissa for breakfast. “She had a rough day yesterday an’ I think it’s good for her to get the rest right now. Don’t you?”
“Yes Sir,” Mama said as she slowly, wincingly sat down in her usual chair and took a sip of her coffee. This morning they had fresh scrambled eggs with pancakes. It was a good morning, but then Rissa rarely had a bad morning. She knew that they were poor, but at ten years old, she didn’t fully understand what that meant. Her needs were provided for, and there wasn’t much that she wanted that she didn’t already have. The chickens laid the eggs, and most mornings they ate them, but the pancakes were a special treat.
“I could go get her,” Rissa offered. “Charlie loves pancakes.”
“That’s why I made them,” Mama said quietly as she shook salt onto her eggs and then buttered her pancakes. “I’ll keep some in the oven for her when she comes down,” she added with a little sigh.
It was strange the way that her parents interacted the morning after one of their fights. Rissa didn’t know what to make of it, now or ever, and she looked from one parent to the other until her father shook his head. “Let her sleep.”
When Daddy turned a knowing look toward Mama, Rissa rolled her eyes. “She’s gonna be sleepin’ a lot now,” she told her parents, staring at both of them as they turned empty looks back at her. “Because, you know, she’s pregnant an’ all that.” Clarissa knew that she wasn’t supposed to know about her sister’s predicament, but she was getting tired of being treated like she was stupid. It was one of the reasons why she’d been so busy on Facebook lately, finding things out before either Mama or Daddy could know things, like Uncle Mal’s divorce, for example. In fact, Rissa thought that she was pretty clever.
“Clarissa....” Daddy said warningly.
Rissa looked up at her father, her blue eyes going wide in false surprise. “What?” she asked innocently. Did he really think that she hadn’t heard the conversations that had gone around the house yesterday about what was going on with her big sister? If people didn’t want her to hear things, then they probably ought to keep their voices down. It wasn’t like Mama had been particularly quiet when she’d been screaming at Charlie and calling her a whore. Rissa had heard every bit of it, and though she didn’t understand totally what it all meant, it was exciting to feel the tension in the house. Since she almost always managed to keep herself out of trouble, Rissa found the tension to be almost pleasant, making her quiver as she waited to find out what was going to happen next.
There was a sharp intake of breath from Mama’s direction, and she began to fiercely cut up her pancakes as though she was hacking at them, trying to destroy them rather than prepare them to be eaten. Her face was red, and when Rissa looked more closely, she could see that there were tears on her mother’s cheeks. She frowned, about to reach out to her mother, suddenly concerned that she’d actually done something that made her mother cry, when her father cleared his throat.
“Clarissa, finish eating and then get the dishes done. The washer ain’t workin’ an’ somebody’s gotta do ‘em by hand. I think you’re just the girl for the job this mornin’, don’t you?”
Rissa frowned and poked at her eggs with her fork, then took a bite of them. It sounded distinctly like her father was scolding her, and that not only surprised her, it made her quite annoyed. She glanced up at him, then she pushed her plate away. “I’m finished,” she said irritably. The mood that had just a few minutes ago seemed tense and electric and exciting suddenly seemed to be focused on her, and she wondered what she’d done wrong.
The phone rang, and Mama got up to answer it. Rissa sighed and picked up her plate, carrying it to the trash so that she could scrape it, then pulled a stool out so that she could stand at the sink. She ran the hot water in, then added some cold and the soap, finally loading the dishes in so that she could get them washed. Behind her she could hear her mother speaking in hushed tones, but she chose to ignore it until her father’s voice took over, and she felt more than saw her mother exit the kitchen. Now Rissa turned to look at her father, curiosity getting the better of her. She enjoyed her little eavesdropping sessions, when she listened in on adult conversations. It made her feel more grown up, and certainly more “in the know.” Smiling to herself as the thought went through her mind, Rissa didn’t catch the conversation until she heard a single, very dangerous word. “Clarissa.”
Her hand paused on the dish that she was in the middle of washing, and when Daddy’s eyes met hers, Clarissa’s cheeks grew incredibly hot. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was that she was feeling, but her stomach knotted up like a pit when her father caught her eyes and gave her a stern look. She’d seen that look before, and it never ended well for her. He was still talking, but her ears were ringing so hard now that she couldn’t make out what he was saying. His lips were moving, but it was as though there was no sound coming out. It was only when Daddy pointed back to the sink that Rissa finally turned away, breaking the gaze and starting to work on the sink. She only had two more dishes, and they were finished quickly. She put them on the draining rack, then unplugged the sink, figuring that somebody else would put the dishes away later. About to slip out of the kitchen, Clarissa froze when her father cleared his throat and pointed to the corner. For a moment, she thought her heart had stopped. What had she done? She thought and thought and could come up with nothing obvious, so it was with a deep pout that she went to the indicated corner and crossed her arms sulkily over her chest.
Now, with nothing at all to concentrate on, Rissa did focus in on her father’s phone conversation. “Yes. I’ve got it written down. Sure Mal. Yeah, I trust you. If you say he’s a good doctor, then I’ll bet he’s a good doctor. But it’s gotta be Charlie’s choice. She’s the one who’s gotta stick with the guy for nine months an’ beyond. Yeah. Yeah I got it bro. Thanks again. No. No, I don’t think you’ll be seein’ Clarissa on there much longer. Thanks for lettin’ me know. ‘Preciate it.”
The phone clicked back onto the cradle, and there was a sense of movement from behind her. Clarissa turned her head over her shoulder only to find that her father was standing directly behind her with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at her with a stern expression on her face. “Nose in the corner,” he told her smoothly, and she had to slowly turn herself back around. Now she was really getting nervous. It was pretty obvious that Daddy was mad! She didn’t anger her parents very often, and the look he had on his face was one she was pretty sure was reserved just for her older sister, when she’d really messed up. Normally Rissa would relish that expression, knowing that she was about to be treated to the sound of Charlie getting her bottom spanked. But right now, she wasn’t sure that it wasn’t her who was about to be spanked.
“You’re gonna stand there for ten minutes,” Daddy said. She heard the sound of him winding up the egg timer and putting it on the counter near her. She glanced at it in spite of herself just to check the time on it, and sure enough, it was set for ten minutes. “Then, when you’re finished,” her father was saying, “we’re going to get on the computer and you’re going to show me the Facebook page that you really aren’t supposed to have at your age. I want to see what it is that you’ve written there that concerned Uncle Malcolm enough that he felt the need to call and check up on your sister. Then you’re going to close the account. We’ll see what we’ll do from there, but I’m thinkin’ you’re gonna be a very sorry young lady before the day is out.”
Rissa’s breath whooshed out in relief. If this was about her being on Facebook, that wasn’t that big a deal, was it? After all, Charlie had helped her set up the account, and worst case scenario, she could deflect the blame onto her sister. Besides, both of her parents knew that she had an account there. It couldn’t be that bad! She’d sit out ten minutes in the corner and then, if Daddy wanted her to, she’d shut down her page and that would be the end of that. No big deal!
But ten minutes passed particularly slowly, and Rissa found herself fidgeting by the time the timer finally made it’s sharp, metallic “ding.” She was relieved, and she turned out of the corner to search the room for her father. He was sitting at the kitchen table with a notebook and a pen, making some calculations, and she waited for a moment for him to look up at her, since he had to have heard the timer as well. Instead, he said, “Stay right there. Let me get this finished up an’ then we’ll be havin’ a look at that page.”
Rissa was starting to get a bit nervous. Her father didn’t seem to be in a particularly forgiving mood, and that was unusual. Not only was he generally a very loving father and a forthcoming man, but she’d just served her punishment as she saw it. He should be giving her a hug and a kiss and telling her that she was his good girl again. But he wasn’t, and that made the ten year-old squirm a little bit. “Daddy?” Rissa asked anxiously.
“Not right now, Clarissa. We’ll talk in a minute. Right now you just stand there quietly. I’m almos’ done.”
With a frown the little girl looked down at her feet. Her shoe was untied, so she bent to tie it up, mostly because she was bored and wanted something to do, and he hadn’t told her to face the corner again, so she figured she wasn’t really still being punished, just being made to wait for something. When she was finished, she stood up and looked back at Daddy just as he slapped the notebook shut and put the pen down on it. He rose slowly from the table, then nodded toward her, and Rissa felt her cheeks grow hot. She didn’t like the look on his face at all.
“Let’s go,” Daddy said firmly. He gestured toward the door, and Clarissa understood that he meant for her to go out ahead of him. She bit her lower lip, dropping her head as though she was some kind of a criminal, and she went into the living room where the computer was. Daddy pulled out a chair and motioned for her to sit, and the little girl did sit down on the hard wooden chair. Daddy stood behind her with his hands on the back of the chair. “Turn the computer on,” he instructed.
There was something ominous in her father’s tone, and Rissa shivered as she bent to press the button that would boot up the computer. Daddy said nothing else as the monitor came on, flashing its colors and then the windows logo before finally finishing its boot. “Pull up Explorer and go to Facebook,” Daddy instructed.
Rissa did what she was told, but her fingers felt stiff on the mouse and the keyboard. Her mouth was dry, and she wet her lips with her tongue, trying to make them feel less parched. When the page loaded, her father cleared her throat, and without being told to, she logged herself in. The news feed loaded first, and Daddy said, “I want to see your page. Go to your... What do they call it? Your wall.”
She still didn’t understand what her father wanted. Rissa navigated to her wall, then dropped her hands down into her lap, staring at the page. She updated, generally, about twice a day, when she was able to sneak in some computer time. There were two from yesterday, when she’d been on the computer during the fight upstairs. She’d heard every word, since there wasn’t a door on Charlie’s bedroom.
The first status update (the second one down on the page) read: “Mama says Charlotte Nery is a whore!”
The second status update (the first on the page) read: “CHARLIE’S PREGNANT!!!!”
After reading these two once more, things started to click into place for Rissa. Her father’s stony silence behind her was enough to get her heart beating hard in her chest, and she felt the back of her neck grow very hot. Certain that her father’s eyes were on her, Rissa didn’t want to turn around and see the expression on his face.
“So, you did post that on Facebook, didn’t you?” Daddy said. Rissa wasn’t sure about what she heard in his voice, but she thought that he sounded very, very tired. “Uncle Mal called to ask what... This was all about.” Rissa could tell that there was definitely something that her father wasn’t saying, and she pouted a little bit, wishing that he’d tell her what Uncle Malcolm had actually said. It sounded like there was more to the story than that.
There was a brief silence, then Daddy cleared his throat. “Did you stop to think that postin’ that might hurt Mama’s feelin’s, or Charlie’s?” There was a long pause, and Rissa felt like somebody had dropped a lead weight into her gut. The truth was that no, she hadn’t thought about how it would make her mother or her sister feel. What she had been thinking about was how popular she’d be since she had new “insider” information on something going on in the Nery family. It was what she was known for, wasn’t it? She was the little journalist of the family. She got the “scoop” on everybody. She’d never, ever considered it gossip the way that it felt like gossip right now.
Rissa dropped her head low. Her cheeks felt like they were going to burst into flames at any moment, and then she quietly said, “I’ll delete it.” She couldn’t identify the feeling that she had deep within herself. She was young yet, and regret was one thing; shame was another, and an emotion she’d never experienced before that moment.
“Damn straight you will,” Daddy said harshly enough that the little girl did finally turn around and look up into his eyes, her own blue eyes beginning to water at his tone. His eyes were hard at first, then softened as he put a hand on her shoulder. “Delete the account,” Daddy said. “Now.”
Turning around, Rissa made the necessary maneuvers with shaking hands. She didn’t want to lose her Facebook account, but she was at least sure that was where her punishment ended. A tear spilled, slipping down her cheek and leaving a track there. She tucked her hands into her lap for a moment, and then, without being told to, she quietly shut the computer down. Instead of getting up, Rissa sat there, feeling bad for herself. No child enjoyed being punished, and right now she felt like she’d just had the worst punishment in the world.
There was a long moment of silence before Daddy said, “Alright. Get up. Then go into the kitchen and get the wooden spoon and bring it back right here.”
Rissa’s head shot up so fast that she nearly got whiplash. “What?” she asked, turning around on the seat but not getting up. Her bottom was safest where it was, if he was talking about a wooden spoon! “Why?” She knew perfectly well what he wanted it for, but what she didn’t understand was why he was going to spank her. He’d already made her stand in the corner, and he’d already taken away her Facebook account. Why did she also have to be spanked?
Daddy sighed, and his face softened more, small lines forming around his eyes and between them as he crouched down in front of her and looked into her eyes. She followed the blue-eyed gaze as he moved, keeping her eyes locked on him. “Because I want to make sure that the next time our back is turned, you ain’t settin’ up another account, or calling yer uncles on the phone to tell ‘em stuff that ain’t their business. Because you hurt Mama real bad, Clarissa. An’ it’s just lucky Charlie don’t know about this. Maybe she won’t have to. But anythin’ you put out there on that Internet thingy is gonna stay out there. You can’t take it back. Now the whole world could know that Charlie’s pregnant. An’ it ain’t their business. That’s for family. An’ when I say family, I mean you, an’ me, an’ Mama an’ Charlie, not yer uncles an’ yer cousins an’ yer aunts.
“So you’re gonna go on inta that kitchen an’ bring me back that spoon. An’ then I’m gonna pull down your jeans an’ yer panties an’ put you right across my lap so I can give you a good smacked bottom. Because I think you need it, Rissa. Charlie ain’t the only one who gets her bottom smacked around here.”
“No,” Rissa said quietly. It was taking her a lot to take in everything that Daddy had said, and there was a deep down hurt at his words. “Mama does too,” she said, contemplating what she knew, and doing what she always did: sharing information.
“An’ so does Clarissa Jeanine Nery,” Daddy said. He straightened up, and when Rissa lost the eye contact, she felt the tightening edge of panic in her chest. “Go on now. Go get me that spoon.”
The tone of disappointment in Daddy’s voice really hit Rissa like a punch in the gut, and she slowly slid out of the chair. There was no disobeying Daddy now. She knew that if she tried, he’d only take on a firmer tone. She’d heard him do it with Charlie, and once or twice even with Mama. And she hadn’t been immune to his scoldings or the occasional spanking, either. She’d just been better at not getting caught than her older sister was, in part because Rissa had been able to learn from Charlie’s mistakes.
The spoon was located on the far end of the kitchen, and Rissa dragged her feet the entire way. When she got to the little vase that held the cooking implements, she grabbed for it, then held it in her hands for a moment. She glanced at the back door, thinking about wether or not she might should run, and then she thought better of it and started instead back into the living room, still moving slowly.
When Rissa reached the chair where she’d been sitting a moment ago, Daddy had turned it around and was now sitting in it. He was wordless as he reached for her and pulled her between his feet. Rissa tripped a little bit, stumbling so that she fell against him, and she was comforted when her father wrapped his arms around her gently trembling body and kissed her forehead. Taking any comfort she could get, Rissa leaned into her father, wrapping her thin arms around his waist and holding tightly to him. She wasn’t crying yet; she’d save her tears for when she really needed them, and she wasn’t as emotional as she knew Charlie to be. In fact, Charlie was one of the reasons that Clarissa tried to keep her emotions in check. She didn’t want to be as unpredictable as her sister.
Finally Daddy let her go, and Rissa took a step backward. He reached for the spoon, and she let it slip from her fingers, neither volunteering it nor holding onto it to prevent him from taking it from her. Her mouth was dry, and she felt as though she needed to pee. She could have asked, and she was sure that he’d have let her go, but it didn’t seem right, and even at ten, Rissa could recognize a nervous bladder.
Daddy put the spoon between his teeth, and then his hands were on the waistband of her jeans. Rissa wanted to squirm away, but she didn’t. Instead, her eyes chose now to fill with the hot tears that would eventually be falling like rain when Daddy got her over his lap. His hands were fast, and before Rissa could stop him, her jeans were at her knees. “Daddy...” Rissa said pleadingly, but he just shook his head and hooked his fingers into her panties, pushing those down as well.
Because she was still young enough not to be embarrassed by her nudity, Rissa’s hands went back to protect her bottom instead of hiding her modesty. Her cheeks grew warm, but what she was feeling wasn’t embarrassment or shame; it was a mixture of dread of that awful spoon, and the feeling that she had disappointed her father. She didn’t want to be spanked, but she, like every other female in the house, knew better than to argue with Daddy when he was ready to lay down the law.
“You know the position, young lady,” Daddy said, cutting into Rissa’s thoughts. “Even if you haven’t been in it in too long, you now how it goes.” He pulled her between his knees, then turned her, putting a gentle pressure on her right shoulder until Rissa had no choice but to bend. And so she did, bending over her father’s lap in such a way that her legs were trapped beneath is right leg, effectively restraining her.
Rissa didn’t like it. She didn’t like the way that it felt like there was no chance of her moving away from him. She didn’t like the fact that it felt like he was angry with her. She didn’t like the way that she felt vulnerable, and suddenly exposed with the cool air breezing across her tender bottom. Worse, she knew that it wouldn’t be cool for long.
“I’m disappointed, Clarissa Jeanine,” Daddy was scolding. “You really hurt Mama, an’ you’re gonna be apologizin’ to her as soon as you get a chance. An’ I think maybe helpin’ your sister through a rough time might give you an appreciation for what she’s goin’ through right now. The last thing this family needs is you spreadin’ rumors about what’s goin’ in inside our walls. You understand me?”
Rissa whimpered, squirming a little bit. She could feel the spoon resting on her bottom, ready to go, and when he didn’t start spanking, she realized that Daddy wanted an answer from her. “Y-yes Daddy!” she stammered. “I won’t do it again!” The spoon moved slightly, and the little girl tensed hard. “Oooh oh! No! Daddy please! I’ll be such a good girl! I will! I won’t ever go on Facebook again!”
In the moment, Clarissa meant every word of her promise. She didn’t want that spoon to fall on her tender little bottom. “No, you won’t,” Daddy said. And that was the last Rissa heard, because to her young ears, the crack of the spoon as it landed on her quivering little bottom sounded just like a gunshot ringing out in the house. It took about half a second before the pain hit her, and then she was sure that she’d been stung! Her entire body stiffened, and she let out a loud yell. She hadn’t even gotten her breath again before the spoon smacked down again, and she twisted as hard as she could, trying to squirm out of her father’s grasp.
“You know better,” Daddy scolded. The spanking stopped, and Rissa was about ot breathe a sigh of relief, but she didn’t have time. Her father grabbed her hand and pinned it to the small of her back, fully restraining her. The ten year-old tugged at her hand, testing her father’s hold, but he had her too firmly. A moment later, she heard another of those gunshots, and then all that was left was her wails and the fire in her miserable little bottom.
The spanking seemed to go on forever, and by the time that Rissa realized her father had stopped the descent of the awful spoon, she swore that he’d burned the flesh right off her backside! She was sobbing so hard that her stomach hurt, and she’d been yelling so loudly that her throat was raw as well. Now she just lay over her father’s lap, sobbing out her misery.
“I don’t want to have to do this again, Clarissa Jeanine,” Daddy said. His hand came down in one sharp spank on her bottom, and Rissa jerked again, giving a small cry of surprised anguish. “Next time it’s going to be your hairbrush. Rumors aren’t pretty things, Rissa. They get out of control, and people get hurt. Don’t let me find out you’ve been spreading them again.”
“Nuh-no, Daddy!”
“Good,” Daddy said. She felt herself being lifted, and then she was standing between Daddy’s knees, rubbing hard at her aching bottom. Daddy pulled her hard into a hug, and Rissa put one arm around his neck while she rubbed her bottom with the other hand.
“I love you Daddy!” Clarissa cried. She needed the reassurance of hearing him say it back, and she’s been taught by her father that the best way to receive love was to give it first.
Daddy hugged her tightly and then said, “I love you too, Clarissa.” He kissed her head, then bent to start tugging her panties up.
It was a good thing that Clarissa was holding onto Daddy as he worked her clothing up. Her legs were weak, and she was already feeling overwhelmed from the punishment. She might have stumbled if she hadn’t had a foothold, because it was at that moment that her mother came rushing down the stairs, shrieking, “SHE’S GONE!”
“What?” Daddy asked, pulling Clarissa’s jeans the rest of the way up. Rissa leaned against him, rubbing at her cheek for comfort the way she had since she was just a little girl. She ignored her mother, still too embarrassed and ashamed that she’d hurt her to feel comfortable talking to her. “Who’s gone?”
“Charlie! She’s not in her room an’ there’s a note!”
When Rissa looked up at her mother, she saw the tears in the blue eyes, the disheveled red hair, and she wondered where the “crazy look” was, because this seemed like just the moment for it. And that, a moment later, was when Rissa realized that her family could fall apart.
“Is Daddy gonna divorce you, Mama?”
“No baby,” Daddy said. “But I am gonna kill your sister,” he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear. She knew better than to take him literally, but she also had the sense that something really big was going on now. And she couldn’t even get on Facebook to tell everybody what was happening!
“Let her sleep,” Daddy said firmly, looking up at his wife and then gesturing for her to sit down and join him and Rissa for breakfast. “She had a rough day yesterday an’ I think it’s good for her to get the rest right now. Don’t you?”
“Yes Sir,” Mama said as she slowly, wincingly sat down in her usual chair and took a sip of her coffee. This morning they had fresh scrambled eggs with pancakes. It was a good morning, but then Rissa rarely had a bad morning. She knew that they were poor, but at ten years old, she didn’t fully understand what that meant. Her needs were provided for, and there wasn’t much that she wanted that she didn’t already have. The chickens laid the eggs, and most mornings they ate them, but the pancakes were a special treat.
“I could go get her,” Rissa offered. “Charlie loves pancakes.”
“That’s why I made them,” Mama said quietly as she shook salt onto her eggs and then buttered her pancakes. “I’ll keep some in the oven for her when she comes down,” she added with a little sigh.
It was strange the way that her parents interacted the morning after one of their fights. Rissa didn’t know what to make of it, now or ever, and she looked from one parent to the other until her father shook his head. “Let her sleep.”
When Daddy turned a knowing look toward Mama, Rissa rolled her eyes. “She’s gonna be sleepin’ a lot now,” she told her parents, staring at both of them as they turned empty looks back at her. “Because, you know, she’s pregnant an’ all that.” Clarissa knew that she wasn’t supposed to know about her sister’s predicament, but she was getting tired of being treated like she was stupid. It was one of the reasons why she’d been so busy on Facebook lately, finding things out before either Mama or Daddy could know things, like Uncle Mal’s divorce, for example. In fact, Rissa thought that she was pretty clever.
“Clarissa....” Daddy said warningly.
Rissa looked up at her father, her blue eyes going wide in false surprise. “What?” she asked innocently. Did he really think that she hadn’t heard the conversations that had gone around the house yesterday about what was going on with her big sister? If people didn’t want her to hear things, then they probably ought to keep their voices down. It wasn’t like Mama had been particularly quiet when she’d been screaming at Charlie and calling her a whore. Rissa had heard every bit of it, and though she didn’t understand totally what it all meant, it was exciting to feel the tension in the house. Since she almost always managed to keep herself out of trouble, Rissa found the tension to be almost pleasant, making her quiver as she waited to find out what was going to happen next.
There was a sharp intake of breath from Mama’s direction, and she began to fiercely cut up her pancakes as though she was hacking at them, trying to destroy them rather than prepare them to be eaten. Her face was red, and when Rissa looked more closely, she could see that there were tears on her mother’s cheeks. She frowned, about to reach out to her mother, suddenly concerned that she’d actually done something that made her mother cry, when her father cleared his throat.
“Clarissa, finish eating and then get the dishes done. The washer ain’t workin’ an’ somebody’s gotta do ‘em by hand. I think you’re just the girl for the job this mornin’, don’t you?”
Rissa frowned and poked at her eggs with her fork, then took a bite of them. It sounded distinctly like her father was scolding her, and that not only surprised her, it made her quite annoyed. She glanced up at him, then she pushed her plate away. “I’m finished,” she said irritably. The mood that had just a few minutes ago seemed tense and electric and exciting suddenly seemed to be focused on her, and she wondered what she’d done wrong.
The phone rang, and Mama got up to answer it. Rissa sighed and picked up her plate, carrying it to the trash so that she could scrape it, then pulled a stool out so that she could stand at the sink. She ran the hot water in, then added some cold and the soap, finally loading the dishes in so that she could get them washed. Behind her she could hear her mother speaking in hushed tones, but she chose to ignore it until her father’s voice took over, and she felt more than saw her mother exit the kitchen. Now Rissa turned to look at her father, curiosity getting the better of her. She enjoyed her little eavesdropping sessions, when she listened in on adult conversations. It made her feel more grown up, and certainly more “in the know.” Smiling to herself as the thought went through her mind, Rissa didn’t catch the conversation until she heard a single, very dangerous word. “Clarissa.”
Her hand paused on the dish that she was in the middle of washing, and when Daddy’s eyes met hers, Clarissa’s cheeks grew incredibly hot. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was that she was feeling, but her stomach knotted up like a pit when her father caught her eyes and gave her a stern look. She’d seen that look before, and it never ended well for her. He was still talking, but her ears were ringing so hard now that she couldn’t make out what he was saying. His lips were moving, but it was as though there was no sound coming out. It was only when Daddy pointed back to the sink that Rissa finally turned away, breaking the gaze and starting to work on the sink. She only had two more dishes, and they were finished quickly. She put them on the draining rack, then unplugged the sink, figuring that somebody else would put the dishes away later. About to slip out of the kitchen, Clarissa froze when her father cleared his throat and pointed to the corner. For a moment, she thought her heart had stopped. What had she done? She thought and thought and could come up with nothing obvious, so it was with a deep pout that she went to the indicated corner and crossed her arms sulkily over her chest.
Now, with nothing at all to concentrate on, Rissa did focus in on her father’s phone conversation. “Yes. I’ve got it written down. Sure Mal. Yeah, I trust you. If you say he’s a good doctor, then I’ll bet he’s a good doctor. But it’s gotta be Charlie’s choice. She’s the one who’s gotta stick with the guy for nine months an’ beyond. Yeah. Yeah I got it bro. Thanks again. No. No, I don’t think you’ll be seein’ Clarissa on there much longer. Thanks for lettin’ me know. ‘Preciate it.”
The phone clicked back onto the cradle, and there was a sense of movement from behind her. Clarissa turned her head over her shoulder only to find that her father was standing directly behind her with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at her with a stern expression on her face. “Nose in the corner,” he told her smoothly, and she had to slowly turn herself back around. Now she was really getting nervous. It was pretty obvious that Daddy was mad! She didn’t anger her parents very often, and the look he had on his face was one she was pretty sure was reserved just for her older sister, when she’d really messed up. Normally Rissa would relish that expression, knowing that she was about to be treated to the sound of Charlie getting her bottom spanked. But right now, she wasn’t sure that it wasn’t her who was about to be spanked.
“You’re gonna stand there for ten minutes,” Daddy said. She heard the sound of him winding up the egg timer and putting it on the counter near her. She glanced at it in spite of herself just to check the time on it, and sure enough, it was set for ten minutes. “Then, when you’re finished,” her father was saying, “we’re going to get on the computer and you’re going to show me the Facebook page that you really aren’t supposed to have at your age. I want to see what it is that you’ve written there that concerned Uncle Malcolm enough that he felt the need to call and check up on your sister. Then you’re going to close the account. We’ll see what we’ll do from there, but I’m thinkin’ you’re gonna be a very sorry young lady before the day is out.”
Rissa’s breath whooshed out in relief. If this was about her being on Facebook, that wasn’t that big a deal, was it? After all, Charlie had helped her set up the account, and worst case scenario, she could deflect the blame onto her sister. Besides, both of her parents knew that she had an account there. It couldn’t be that bad! She’d sit out ten minutes in the corner and then, if Daddy wanted her to, she’d shut down her page and that would be the end of that. No big deal!
But ten minutes passed particularly slowly, and Rissa found herself fidgeting by the time the timer finally made it’s sharp, metallic “ding.” She was relieved, and she turned out of the corner to search the room for her father. He was sitting at the kitchen table with a notebook and a pen, making some calculations, and she waited for a moment for him to look up at her, since he had to have heard the timer as well. Instead, he said, “Stay right there. Let me get this finished up an’ then we’ll be havin’ a look at that page.”
Rissa was starting to get a bit nervous. Her father didn’t seem to be in a particularly forgiving mood, and that was unusual. Not only was he generally a very loving father and a forthcoming man, but she’d just served her punishment as she saw it. He should be giving her a hug and a kiss and telling her that she was his good girl again. But he wasn’t, and that made the ten year-old squirm a little bit. “Daddy?” Rissa asked anxiously.
“Not right now, Clarissa. We’ll talk in a minute. Right now you just stand there quietly. I’m almos’ done.”
With a frown the little girl looked down at her feet. Her shoe was untied, so she bent to tie it up, mostly because she was bored and wanted something to do, and he hadn’t told her to face the corner again, so she figured she wasn’t really still being punished, just being made to wait for something. When she was finished, she stood up and looked back at Daddy just as he slapped the notebook shut and put the pen down on it. He rose slowly from the table, then nodded toward her, and Rissa felt her cheeks grow hot. She didn’t like the look on his face at all.
“Let’s go,” Daddy said firmly. He gestured toward the door, and Clarissa understood that he meant for her to go out ahead of him. She bit her lower lip, dropping her head as though she was some kind of a criminal, and she went into the living room where the computer was. Daddy pulled out a chair and motioned for her to sit, and the little girl did sit down on the hard wooden chair. Daddy stood behind her with his hands on the back of the chair. “Turn the computer on,” he instructed.
There was something ominous in her father’s tone, and Rissa shivered as she bent to press the button that would boot up the computer. Daddy said nothing else as the monitor came on, flashing its colors and then the windows logo before finally finishing its boot. “Pull up Explorer and go to Facebook,” Daddy instructed.
Rissa did what she was told, but her fingers felt stiff on the mouse and the keyboard. Her mouth was dry, and she wet her lips with her tongue, trying to make them feel less parched. When the page loaded, her father cleared her throat, and without being told to, she logged herself in. The news feed loaded first, and Daddy said, “I want to see your page. Go to your... What do they call it? Your wall.”
She still didn’t understand what her father wanted. Rissa navigated to her wall, then dropped her hands down into her lap, staring at the page. She updated, generally, about twice a day, when she was able to sneak in some computer time. There were two from yesterday, when she’d been on the computer during the fight upstairs. She’d heard every word, since there wasn’t a door on Charlie’s bedroom.
The first status update (the second one down on the page) read: “Mama says Charlotte Nery is a whore!”
The second status update (the first on the page) read: “CHARLIE’S PREGNANT!!!!”
After reading these two once more, things started to click into place for Rissa. Her father’s stony silence behind her was enough to get her heart beating hard in her chest, and she felt the back of her neck grow very hot. Certain that her father’s eyes were on her, Rissa didn’t want to turn around and see the expression on his face.
“So, you did post that on Facebook, didn’t you?” Daddy said. Rissa wasn’t sure about what she heard in his voice, but she thought that he sounded very, very tired. “Uncle Mal called to ask what... This was all about.” Rissa could tell that there was definitely something that her father wasn’t saying, and she pouted a little bit, wishing that he’d tell her what Uncle Malcolm had actually said. It sounded like there was more to the story than that.
There was a brief silence, then Daddy cleared his throat. “Did you stop to think that postin’ that might hurt Mama’s feelin’s, or Charlie’s?” There was a long pause, and Rissa felt like somebody had dropped a lead weight into her gut. The truth was that no, she hadn’t thought about how it would make her mother or her sister feel. What she had been thinking about was how popular she’d be since she had new “insider” information on something going on in the Nery family. It was what she was known for, wasn’t it? She was the little journalist of the family. She got the “scoop” on everybody. She’d never, ever considered it gossip the way that it felt like gossip right now.
Rissa dropped her head low. Her cheeks felt like they were going to burst into flames at any moment, and then she quietly said, “I’ll delete it.” She couldn’t identify the feeling that she had deep within herself. She was young yet, and regret was one thing; shame was another, and an emotion she’d never experienced before that moment.
“Damn straight you will,” Daddy said harshly enough that the little girl did finally turn around and look up into his eyes, her own blue eyes beginning to water at his tone. His eyes were hard at first, then softened as he put a hand on her shoulder. “Delete the account,” Daddy said. “Now.”
Turning around, Rissa made the necessary maneuvers with shaking hands. She didn’t want to lose her Facebook account, but she was at least sure that was where her punishment ended. A tear spilled, slipping down her cheek and leaving a track there. She tucked her hands into her lap for a moment, and then, without being told to, she quietly shut the computer down. Instead of getting up, Rissa sat there, feeling bad for herself. No child enjoyed being punished, and right now she felt like she’d just had the worst punishment in the world.
There was a long moment of silence before Daddy said, “Alright. Get up. Then go into the kitchen and get the wooden spoon and bring it back right here.”
Rissa’s head shot up so fast that she nearly got whiplash. “What?” she asked, turning around on the seat but not getting up. Her bottom was safest where it was, if he was talking about a wooden spoon! “Why?” She knew perfectly well what he wanted it for, but what she didn’t understand was why he was going to spank her. He’d already made her stand in the corner, and he’d already taken away her Facebook account. Why did she also have to be spanked?
Daddy sighed, and his face softened more, small lines forming around his eyes and between them as he crouched down in front of her and looked into her eyes. She followed the blue-eyed gaze as he moved, keeping her eyes locked on him. “Because I want to make sure that the next time our back is turned, you ain’t settin’ up another account, or calling yer uncles on the phone to tell ‘em stuff that ain’t their business. Because you hurt Mama real bad, Clarissa. An’ it’s just lucky Charlie don’t know about this. Maybe she won’t have to. But anythin’ you put out there on that Internet thingy is gonna stay out there. You can’t take it back. Now the whole world could know that Charlie’s pregnant. An’ it ain’t their business. That’s for family. An’ when I say family, I mean you, an’ me, an’ Mama an’ Charlie, not yer uncles an’ yer cousins an’ yer aunts.
“So you’re gonna go on inta that kitchen an’ bring me back that spoon. An’ then I’m gonna pull down your jeans an’ yer panties an’ put you right across my lap so I can give you a good smacked bottom. Because I think you need it, Rissa. Charlie ain’t the only one who gets her bottom smacked around here.”
“No,” Rissa said quietly. It was taking her a lot to take in everything that Daddy had said, and there was a deep down hurt at his words. “Mama does too,” she said, contemplating what she knew, and doing what she always did: sharing information.
“An’ so does Clarissa Jeanine Nery,” Daddy said. He straightened up, and when Rissa lost the eye contact, she felt the tightening edge of panic in her chest. “Go on now. Go get me that spoon.”
The tone of disappointment in Daddy’s voice really hit Rissa like a punch in the gut, and she slowly slid out of the chair. There was no disobeying Daddy now. She knew that if she tried, he’d only take on a firmer tone. She’d heard him do it with Charlie, and once or twice even with Mama. And she hadn’t been immune to his scoldings or the occasional spanking, either. She’d just been better at not getting caught than her older sister was, in part because Rissa had been able to learn from Charlie’s mistakes.
The spoon was located on the far end of the kitchen, and Rissa dragged her feet the entire way. When she got to the little vase that held the cooking implements, she grabbed for it, then held it in her hands for a moment. She glanced at the back door, thinking about wether or not she might should run, and then she thought better of it and started instead back into the living room, still moving slowly.
When Rissa reached the chair where she’d been sitting a moment ago, Daddy had turned it around and was now sitting in it. He was wordless as he reached for her and pulled her between his feet. Rissa tripped a little bit, stumbling so that she fell against him, and she was comforted when her father wrapped his arms around her gently trembling body and kissed her forehead. Taking any comfort she could get, Rissa leaned into her father, wrapping her thin arms around his waist and holding tightly to him. She wasn’t crying yet; she’d save her tears for when she really needed them, and she wasn’t as emotional as she knew Charlie to be. In fact, Charlie was one of the reasons that Clarissa tried to keep her emotions in check. She didn’t want to be as unpredictable as her sister.
Finally Daddy let her go, and Rissa took a step backward. He reached for the spoon, and she let it slip from her fingers, neither volunteering it nor holding onto it to prevent him from taking it from her. Her mouth was dry, and she felt as though she needed to pee. She could have asked, and she was sure that he’d have let her go, but it didn’t seem right, and even at ten, Rissa could recognize a nervous bladder.
Daddy put the spoon between his teeth, and then his hands were on the waistband of her jeans. Rissa wanted to squirm away, but she didn’t. Instead, her eyes chose now to fill with the hot tears that would eventually be falling like rain when Daddy got her over his lap. His hands were fast, and before Rissa could stop him, her jeans were at her knees. “Daddy...” Rissa said pleadingly, but he just shook his head and hooked his fingers into her panties, pushing those down as well.
Because she was still young enough not to be embarrassed by her nudity, Rissa’s hands went back to protect her bottom instead of hiding her modesty. Her cheeks grew warm, but what she was feeling wasn’t embarrassment or shame; it was a mixture of dread of that awful spoon, and the feeling that she had disappointed her father. She didn’t want to be spanked, but she, like every other female in the house, knew better than to argue with Daddy when he was ready to lay down the law.
“You know the position, young lady,” Daddy said, cutting into Rissa’s thoughts. “Even if you haven’t been in it in too long, you now how it goes.” He pulled her between his knees, then turned her, putting a gentle pressure on her right shoulder until Rissa had no choice but to bend. And so she did, bending over her father’s lap in such a way that her legs were trapped beneath is right leg, effectively restraining her.
Rissa didn’t like it. She didn’t like the way that it felt like there was no chance of her moving away from him. She didn’t like the fact that it felt like he was angry with her. She didn’t like the way that she felt vulnerable, and suddenly exposed with the cool air breezing across her tender bottom. Worse, she knew that it wouldn’t be cool for long.
“I’m disappointed, Clarissa Jeanine,” Daddy was scolding. “You really hurt Mama, an’ you’re gonna be apologizin’ to her as soon as you get a chance. An’ I think maybe helpin’ your sister through a rough time might give you an appreciation for what she’s goin’ through right now. The last thing this family needs is you spreadin’ rumors about what’s goin’ in inside our walls. You understand me?”
Rissa whimpered, squirming a little bit. She could feel the spoon resting on her bottom, ready to go, and when he didn’t start spanking, she realized that Daddy wanted an answer from her. “Y-yes Daddy!” she stammered. “I won’t do it again!” The spoon moved slightly, and the little girl tensed hard. “Oooh oh! No! Daddy please! I’ll be such a good girl! I will! I won’t ever go on Facebook again!”
In the moment, Clarissa meant every word of her promise. She didn’t want that spoon to fall on her tender little bottom. “No, you won’t,” Daddy said. And that was the last Rissa heard, because to her young ears, the crack of the spoon as it landed on her quivering little bottom sounded just like a gunshot ringing out in the house. It took about half a second before the pain hit her, and then she was sure that she’d been stung! Her entire body stiffened, and she let out a loud yell. She hadn’t even gotten her breath again before the spoon smacked down again, and she twisted as hard as she could, trying to squirm out of her father’s grasp.
“You know better,” Daddy scolded. The spanking stopped, and Rissa was about ot breathe a sigh of relief, but she didn’t have time. Her father grabbed her hand and pinned it to the small of her back, fully restraining her. The ten year-old tugged at her hand, testing her father’s hold, but he had her too firmly. A moment later, she heard another of those gunshots, and then all that was left was her wails and the fire in her miserable little bottom.
The spanking seemed to go on forever, and by the time that Rissa realized her father had stopped the descent of the awful spoon, she swore that he’d burned the flesh right off her backside! She was sobbing so hard that her stomach hurt, and she’d been yelling so loudly that her throat was raw as well. Now she just lay over her father’s lap, sobbing out her misery.
“I don’t want to have to do this again, Clarissa Jeanine,” Daddy said. His hand came down in one sharp spank on her bottom, and Rissa jerked again, giving a small cry of surprised anguish. “Next time it’s going to be your hairbrush. Rumors aren’t pretty things, Rissa. They get out of control, and people get hurt. Don’t let me find out you’ve been spreading them again.”
“Nuh-no, Daddy!”
“Good,” Daddy said. She felt herself being lifted, and then she was standing between Daddy’s knees, rubbing hard at her aching bottom. Daddy pulled her hard into a hug, and Rissa put one arm around his neck while she rubbed her bottom with the other hand.
“I love you Daddy!” Clarissa cried. She needed the reassurance of hearing him say it back, and she’s been taught by her father that the best way to receive love was to give it first.
Daddy hugged her tightly and then said, “I love you too, Clarissa.” He kissed her head, then bent to start tugging her panties up.
It was a good thing that Clarissa was holding onto Daddy as he worked her clothing up. Her legs were weak, and she was already feeling overwhelmed from the punishment. She might have stumbled if she hadn’t had a foothold, because it was at that moment that her mother came rushing down the stairs, shrieking, “SHE’S GONE!”
“What?” Daddy asked, pulling Clarissa’s jeans the rest of the way up. Rissa leaned against him, rubbing at her cheek for comfort the way she had since she was just a little girl. She ignored her mother, still too embarrassed and ashamed that she’d hurt her to feel comfortable talking to her. “Who’s gone?”
“Charlie! She’s not in her room an’ there’s a note!”
When Rissa looked up at her mother, she saw the tears in the blue eyes, the disheveled red hair, and she wondered where the “crazy look” was, because this seemed like just the moment for it. And that, a moment later, was when Rissa realized that her family could fall apart.
“Is Daddy gonna divorce you, Mama?”
“No baby,” Daddy said. “But I am gonna kill your sister,” he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear. She knew better than to take him literally, but she also had the sense that something really big was going on now. And she couldn’t even get on Facebook to tell everybody what was happening!
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