Johnny Jones, 8, listened hard from the darkness of his upstairs bedroom as his parents arrived home. Would Jenny, his new babysitter, tell them what had happened? How he had refused to listen, had been difficult and sassy, until finally she had spanked him? He hoped not, because they were strict. If he had misbehaved with Jenny to the point that she spanked him, he was pretty sure they'd be mad enough to spank him again.
His door was closed and he didn't want to risk drawing attention to himself by opening it. Frustratingly, he could hear the murmur of voices from downstairs but couldn't make out what they were saying. However, it sounded calm and nice, with no hard edges or raised voices. He told himself all would be well and, his bottom still throbbing warmly, began to fall asleep.
"How did everything go?" asked Johnny's mother.
"Fine, Mrs. Jones," said Jenny. "Well, actually, he was a bit of handful, if you must know. But I managed to set him straight."
"Oh, really?" Mrs. Jones looked at her husband anxiously. "What do you mean?"
"Well, he was talking back to me a lot, rather disrespectfully. You were right when you said he might want to test my authority. And he refused to turn off the TV and go to bed, even when I told him repeatedly. Finally I told him if I had to say it again, I'd give him a spanking. Unfortunately he tested me once too often, and I ended up spanking him, as you said I could if he was too rebellious."
"Yes, well, OK. I know he can be a handful that way. As long as you weren't too hard on him...."
"Now, dear," interrupted Mr. Jones, "If the boy deserved a spanking she was right to be hard on him!"
Mrs. Jones agreed. Unbeknownst to their new, 17-year-old babysitter, the Joneses had installed small cameras in the living room, kitchen, and Johnny's bedroom. They didn't like the idea of spying, but there had been too many stories in the news about abuse from babysitters, and more and more of their friends were installing these cameras to be able to check that the sitters were acting reasonably. If Jenny had been abusive, they would find out by viewing the cassettes.
It was a warm July evening. They thanked Jenny, paid her and said goodbye as she left – she was a neighbor and had only a couple of blocks to walk. Then Bill Jones went upstairs to go to bed. He had to work in the morning. Mrs. Jones was still wakeful, and wanted to stay up a little to wind down.
She decided to watch the surveillance tapes right away. She could fast forward her way through and stop if she thought she saw something funny going on. She wasn't really worried – after all, she knew Jenny's mother and had seen Jenny around the neighborhood for years. Still, there was no point installing these cameras if they weren't going to use them.
Johnny came down the stairs the next morning in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"Morning, Johnny," said his mother. "Sleep OK?"
"Uh-huh."
He went into the kitchen and had a quick bowl of cereal. His mother was sitting on the couch in the living room as he came out.
"How'd it go last night with Jenny?" she asked.
Pause. "Fine."
"She's nice, isn't she?"
"Yeah."
"So you didn't give her any trouble?"
"No. Why would I?"
"Oh, I don't know. You're not always Mr. Well-Behaved, you know!"
"It was fine."
"She didn't have to yell at you or anything? You did as you were told?"
"Course!"
She looked at him. Oh, _s_h_i_t_, thought Johnny. She knows.
"You wouldn't lie to me, would you?"
"About what?"
"Just answer the question."
"Course not."
"And you and Jenny got along fine?"
"Well. Yeah."
"What do you mean, 'well'?"
"Nothing. I mean—" He didn't know what to say now. If he said they didn't get along, she'd want to know everything. Best to stonewall. "Nothing. We got on fine."
"Sit down here next to me."
Johnny sat next to his mother, looking up at her nervously. She picked up the remote control of the VCR and flicked it toward the TV set. A video started playing.
Johnny stared at the screen. That was him! And Jenny! The still shot showed Johnny seated on the couch and Jenny behind him, closer to the kitchen.
"Johnny, we had some cameras installed in the house, and they were on last night. We did this to protect you – we wanted to make sure your new babysitter treated you correctly. Here's some of what I saw when I looked at the tapes." She clicked the remote and the images on the screen began to move.
He swallowed hard. Jenny was saying, "Johnny, I asked you to clear your dishes off the table. Would you please come and do it now?"
"Later!" he said, with an annoyed wave of the hand. He could hear the TV show he had been watching.
"Johnny, I'm willing to let you wait until that show is over, OK? But then I want you to clear your dishes off the table. OK?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Watching the tape, Johnny winced. He sounded like such a brat! And he knew what was coming next.
On the tape, Johnny turned his head just as Jenny turned around to go back into the kitchen. He raised his hand in the air and gave her the finger. His mother stopped the tape and looked at him.
"Got along fine, did you?"
When he made no response other than staring guiltily at the floor, she put in another cassette and fast-forwarded to a moment in the kitchen. She had finally got him into the kitchen to clear his dishes off the table, which he was doing sullenly. Johnny and his mother watched as, on the tape, Jenny said, "You don't have to slam the dishes around like that. You might break them."
"I don't care!" said Johnny.
"Young man, you'll care if you break a dish acting like that. I've had just about enough of your back talk."
"You're not my mother!" Johnny said. "I don't care what you say!"
"You just watch yourself. Your mother told me I could punish you if you went too far, and I'll do it. So be careful and don't be a brat!" With that, Jenny left the kitchen.
On tape, Johnny waited a moment, then once again gave her the finger, this time to the closed kitchen door. "Bitch! Bitch!" he hissed.
His mother stopped the tape and looked at him. She didn't have to say anything. He was a condemned boy. He was going to get a major spanking. He hoped she would stop the viewing now and just get it over with.
Of course, she didn't. She put back in the first cassette and fast-forwarded to when he was in his pajamas, watching TV on the couch. Jenny came in and told him to turn it off because it was bedtime. He ignored her, and she came in twice more. The last time, she said to him, "Johnny, the next time I come in this living room, if you're still watching TV you're going to get a spanking. Is that clear?"
But she had come in sooner than he thought she would. Johnny leaned forward to watch the next part, his stomach sinking. Jenny came and sat on the couch next to him—-right where his mother was sitting now—-and unceremoniously turned him over her lap. He listened to his own indignant squawks on the tape as she pulled his pajama bottoms right down. He was watching himself get spanked! He gasped involuntarily as Jenny drew her arm back and delivered that first ringing smack that he remembered so well. Johnny shifted uncomfortably on the couch and glanced over at his mother, who was watching the tape grimly. He looked back. On the TV screen he saw himself squirming and bawling on Jenny's lap as she spanked his reddening bottom again and again. The curious, tingling sensation he had felt when she was pulling his pajamas down returned, and again he felt the odd tightening in his groin. Sure enough, on screen Jenny had finished spanking him and stood him up. He saw his little penis standing out stiffly and blushed. He watched himself pull up his pajamas and run up the stairs, crying.
Finally, his mother changed cassette again and he watched himself burst into his bedroom and slam the door shut. He took off his pajama bottoms and stood in front of his mirror, craning his neck to see his flaming bottom. Turning toward the door, his face crumpled up in anger. "_f_u_c_k_ing bitch!" he spat.
His mother turned off the TV. "Johnny, I was shocked to see this. Shocked. I never thought I'd hear you use language like that, even if Jenny couldn't hear you. That behavior is just intolerable. I know Jenny spanked you already, but she didn't see the rest of what I saw. Now I want you to go up to my room and get the hairbrush and bring it back down here."
His lower lip trembling, Johnny headed back up the stairs. Mrs. Jones got up and moved to where the tiny camera was discreetly installed on a bookshelf and turned it on.
Johnny came back bearing a large, wooden hairbrush. "I'm sorry, Mom!" he said with a note of desperation. "I'll never do it again!"
"I hope not," she said, "Or I'll have to do this again. I want you to know that I feel so badly about Jenny having to put up with your terrible behavior last night that I'm filming this spanking just like you were filmed last night, and I'm going to give the tape to Jenny so she'll know we're serious about not putting up with this kind of thing. Now come over here and take those pajama bottoms off."
Johnny felt that feeling again, that tightening in the stomach and between his legs. His heart began to pound. Another spanking that would be witnessed by other people! Jenny would be watching his mother spanking his naked bottom hard with a hairbrush! Who knew who else might see it? She might leave the cassette lying around, or show it to other people – maybe even to other kids in the neighborhood, as a warning! He looked at the camera in alarm.
His mother was waiting, her arms crossed, holding the hairbrush. Johnny pushed his pajama bottoms down, stepped out of them, and leaned over his mother's lap. Grabbing him under the arms, she pulled him forward until his bottom was square and center, with his feet off the ground. He glanced again at the camera, and then she brought the hairbrush down with a loud crack. He jumped with the surprise of the pain. She spanked him at a fast pace, smacking him hard, alternating between one side and the other of his bottom. Johnny wailed and cried, kicking his feet and squirming, but she held him firmly. Finally it was over. He was back on his feet, in floods of tears.
"Now," said his mother, "Stand in that corner until I tell you." She indicated the corner opposite the camera. He went and stood in the corner, conscious of the eye of the camera watching and recording him, staring at his red and throbbing behind.
That night, Mr. Jones, furious after having seen the previous night's tapes, administered a punishment of his own to his son. As Johnny lay naked over his father's lap receiving a vigorous whipping with his father's belt, he nevertheless felt lucky that it wasn't being recorded for posterity.