AUTHOR'S NOTE: "Big Bear Cabins" is based on a real-life water-park/resort called Great Wolf Lodge, of which there are several in the US and Canada. If you want to see what one looks like to help you imagine the story better, you can look them up online.
And of course Charlie and Ben can't stay out of trouble for long, so there is spanking in this chapter. You've been warned!
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I heard Daddy say, "What's wrong, Charlie?"
I wiped my eyes and sniffled. I didn't know how to say what I had been thinking. "I- I dunno," I shrugged, "I just- everyone is here-" I gestured around the table.
Daddy came over and hugged me. "It's all right, sweetheart," he said.
After a moment, Lisa asked, "Did you get all your homework done, Ben?"
"Almost," he said, "Sam helped me with math!"
"Oh, that's great!" Lisa smiled at Uncle Sam, "He's had a lot of trouble with it, and I can't help him because fractions and algebra weren't my strong suit. I was considering getting him a tutor."
"Well, if I can help him, I'm happy to," Uncle Sam smiled at Lisa and then Ben.
"All right, finish up, Ben, we've go to get home and pack," Lisa said.
"I'm done," Ben scooped some mashed potatoes into his mouth and pushed his plate away.
After they left, Daddy started to put the plates in the dishwasher.
"Charlie, I'd like to ask you about what you saw this afternoon," Grandpa John said.
Uncle Sam got up and left the room, and came back with a pad of paper and a pen and his laptop.
Grandpa John wrote down everything I told him, asking questions. When I was done telling him everything I could remember, Uncle Sam turned his lap top around. There was an old black-and-white photo on the screen. There was a woman sitting at a table, in a chair, with a tabby cat in her lap, and next to her stood a woman wearing small oval glasses with a braid wrapped around her head.
"That—that's them," I breathed.
Uncle Sam pointed to the bottom of the screen. It said, "Elsie (standing) and Adelia Young with their pet cat, Mack. He was called that because of his thick stripes- his coat is called a mackerel tabby."
"There's the cat you talked about," Grandpa John said.
"And Elsie has the braid and the glasses," Uncle Sam said. He scrolled down and there was a photo of an old-fashioned looking ring with a square-shaped green stone. It was the one I had seen.
"That's Adelia's engagement ring," Uncle Sam told me, "Diamonds weren't popular at the time, so the man would give a stone that had some sort of significance. Her birthstone was an emerald."
"Just like I saw, just like the lady said," I gulped. I felt dizzy again. "I—I don't-" I looked at all of them. "I don't want to know this stuff, I don't want to be able to do any of this! I—I'm just a freak!" I got off of my chair and ran into the bedroom, throwing myself down on the bed and bursting into tears.
I felt someone sit down on the bed next to me, and put their hand on my back. I turned my head. It was Grandpa John.
"You're not a freak, Charlie." he said quietly, "I don't know why this is happening now, or why your—abilities-seem to be getting stronger now. I've known Missouri for a long time, and I feel confident that she's going to be able to help you."
I turned over and sat up, and he handed me a tissue.
"Sh-she will?" I asked.
Grandpa John pulled me into his lap and put his arm around me.
"Yes, I think so. She actually helps people, they come to her for readings about their lives and she can see into their past and future and help them out."
"She helps other people too?"
"Yes, and she was the only one who...believed me about the way that my wife...passed."
Daddy and Uncle Sam came into the room and stood by the bed.
"Did she help you with that?" I looked up at Grandpa John.
"Well...she tried, but- she wasn't able to. She did help me find some answers, and some peace. And no one considers her a freak. You're not a freak, you're just different."
"But this—what I can do—it's not normal!" my eyes filled with tears.
Daddy sat down next to us and picked me up from Grandpa John's lap, putting me in his lap. "You're not a freak, Charlie. This—ability-you have, you'll learn how to live with it, and we'll—help you manage it, all right?"
I looked up at him. "But it's not normal!"
Daddy chuckled. "We fight supernatural monsters, we're not normal either. So we've all got to stick together, right?"
"Normal is just a setting on the dryer," Uncle Sam said, and they all laughed at that.
"I know this is rough," Daddy said after a moment, "Just remember that we're here with you, to help you, and you're not alone in this. Talk to one of us if you need to, okay?"
"Okay, Daddy," I agreed.
"Let's get you ready for bed now, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
I got off of his lap and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I came out, he helped me take off my clothes and put on my nightgown. All three of them hugged me and kissed me goodnight, and then Daddy tucked me in with MaryBear and my Hello Kitty. I was still feeling tired, and I fell asleep quickly.
"Here you go, Charlie, and congratulations!" Imani handed me a piece of paper. It was an official looking certificate that said, "This certifies that Charlie Winchester has completed her course of Physical Therapy at the St. Raphael Teaching Hospital Physical Therapy Unit."
Everyone standing around clapped.
"Now can we have the cupcakes?" one of the other kids asked, and the adults laughed.
It was my last PT session- Dr. Miriam said I still had to come back for blood tests and other tests for a few more weeks, but I was healthy enough that I didn't need any more PT.
Imani and one of the other nurses started to hand out cupcakes to people.
Daddy hugged me and said, "I'm so proud of you, Charlie."
"You've done a lot of hard work," Uncle Sam said, "Gee, now that you have your mornings open, what are we going to do to fill the time? I know, more school work!"
I looked at him and he grinned at me- he was teasing me!
Grandpa John came over and hugged me too. "I'm so glad you've made it to this point, you've come very far." his voice was gruff.
"Great job, Charlie," Lisa said with a smile. She and Ben had come too, and we were going to leave right after PT for the waterpark.
"Can I have another cupcake?" Ben asked, shoving the last bite into his mouth.
"No, I think one is enough for now," Lisa told him, "We're going to be riding in the car for a while and the last thing we need is you hopped up on too much sugar."
"Aww Mom!" Ben protested.
We said good-bye to Grandpa John and Uncle Sam in the parking lot. Daddy and I had picked up Lisa and Ben, and Uncle Sam had ridden in Grandpa John's truck.
"Bye, Charlie, have fun," Uncle Sam picked me up and hugged me, "Don't forget to take breaks if you need it."
"I won't," I hugged him back, and he set me down and dropped a kiss on my head.
Grandpa John hugged me next. "You two behave yourselves," he said to me and Ben.
"We will," I told him, and he kissed my cheek and let me go, and then ruffled Ben's hair.
"I've been there before so I'm gonna show Charlie around," Ben said.
We got into the car and drove to the store to buy snacks for the trip and our costumes.
"I wanna be Batman!" Ben said excitedly.
A lady wearing a vest with the store logo on it turned and pointed. "The children's costumes are in aisles 20 through 26. It starts with babies and toddlers and each aisle after that is by age. Accessories are in the last aisle."
She smiled at me, "Little girl, with your blonde hair, you'd make a perfect Cinderella!"
I wrinkled my nose. "No thank you, yuck! Cinderella's annoying! I wanna be Wolverine!"
The woman looked confused. "But Wolverine is in the boy's section."
"So?" I said, "Girls can be superheroes too ya know!"
The woman started to look offended, so Lisa said, "Thank you," and we walked away.
Lisa started to laugh. "I guess you schooled her, Charlie," she shook her head, "I'm glad you're not afraid to say what you want."
"Charlie has always known her own mind," Daddy said, putting his hand on my shoulder and smiling at me.
It took us a while to find a costume that fit me. I was smaller and shorter than Ben, so I ended up having to get a costume that was made for a 6 year old. The ones in the aisles for 8 to 10 year olds were too big for me.
By the time we got back to the car, I was tired and yawning. Daddy unlocked the car and then went back to the trunk. He brought a pillow and blanket into the car and handed them to me.
"Try and rest, Charlie," he said, "You always nap after PT and you also just walked around a store."
"I'm okay, I'm not a baby," I grumped, "I wanna play my 3Ds with Ben, we're going to play Animal Playground together."
"The game will still be here when you wake up," Daddy told me, "Rest for a while."
"Okaaay," I sighed.
Daddy gave me a look, so I said, "Yes, Daddy."
"That's better," he said, and he started the car.
I woke up when the car had stopped. Daddy had pulled into a parking space so that we could eat lunch. The four of us went into the restaurant and got a booth. I sat across from Ben and Daddy sat across from Lisa.
Ben pulled his 3Ds out of his pocket. "Hey, do you want to start the game?" he asked me.
I had my purse with me, so I took out my 3DS and set it on the table. "Yeah, let's see if we can connect!" There were games where you could connect the 3Ds devices and play together, but you had to be sitting close enough that they could "see" each other.
"Ben, what's the rule?" Lisa asked.
Ben looked over at her and sighed. "But Mooooom-"
"No technology at the table, come on," she said.
"Can't we just set the characters up?" Ben asked with annoyance.
"No, you need to be looking at the menu and deciding what to get for lunch." Lisa said.
"I like that rule," Daddy said, "Put the game away, Charlie."
"Yes, Daddy," I said, and put my 3Ds back in my purse.
"That's a different purse than the one you had before," Lisa commented.
"Yeah, the one I had before got, uh, I got-" I didn't want to bring up when I had been kidnapped.
"The strap got broken when she had the... run-in... with the realtor," Daddy said smoothly, "So I got her a new one."
"Oh," Lisa nodded, "It's cute. Ben, put it away, young man!"
"Okayokay!" Ben scowled and turned off the game, huffing with frustration.
Lisa picked it up and put it in her purse.
"Hey!" Ben protested.
She looked at him. "Keep it up with the mouth and you won't get it back," she said, "Open your menu and figure out what you want."
Ben muttered under his breath and opened the menu, slapping it down on the table.
"Oh, no, young man, you are not going to start!" she said sternly, "Do I need to take you out to the car for an attitude adjustment?"
Ben blushed. "No, Mom!" he protested again.
"This is your last warning," she told him, "Let's have a good weekend, okay?"
I woke up again when the car stopped. I had fallen asleep after we had eaten and gotten back on the road. We were here! We got out and carried our bags into the hotel, and had to stand in line to check in.
"How many people do we have here?" the hotel worker asked, "Mom, Dad, brother and sister?"
"Yes," Lisa glanced at Daddy.
"We've got the costume walk tonight from 4 pm to 7 pm, and then at 8 o'clock we'll be showing "The Nightmare Before Christmas" down here with popcorn and candy. Tomorrow night there will be a costume ball for the kids at 7 pm and then story time at 8 pm. Here you go," she handed four headbands across the counter.
"What's that?" I asked.
Lisa picked one up. "Because this is Big Bear Cabins, everything is bear-themed, and they always give out these headbands with bear ears." She slid the headband on- it was orange, for Halloween, and furry.
"Do I have to wear one?" Daddy asked skeptically.
I laughed. "Yes, Daddy, you have to! Please?"
He sighed and shook his head. "All right," he agreed. He put a headband on, and we all laughed. He handed one to me and one to Ben and we put our on too.
"Your room is ready now, so you can take your luggage up now," the worker handed two keys over and a bunch of wristbands. We walked over to a set of benches and Lisa showed me how to put mine on.
"This has to stay on all weekend," she said, "It has a door sensor, and a chip so that you can use it to buy things and it will go onto your account. That does not mean you can buy whatever you want, Benjamin," she gave Ben a look.
Ben blushed a little. "Okaaay, Mom."
"Let's go over the rules," Daddy said, "When we're in the waterpark I want you to stay there, no leaving. You always let one of us know where you're going, and you don't leave the room by yourselves either, unless we've okayed it."
"And like I said you can't just buy anything. If you get hungry, you come and tell us, and we'll get something. You don't just go and buy tons of junk food," Lisa said, "There's a little place to buy food in the park and a separate area for eating," she looked at us, "Are we ready to go?"
I stepped into my bathing suit and started to pull it up. As it got further up my legs it started to feel tight. I had to yank it to get it up over my hips, but then I couldn't get it any further- it was too small! The shoulder straps barely came up to my chest. I sat down on the edge of the bed and tears came to my eyes. I hadn't been swimming since before Mommy had gotten sick, and I hadn't even thought of needing a bathing suit.
The bathroom door opened and Daddy walked out holding his clothes. He was wearing dark blue swim trunks and a black t-shirt. He placed his clothes on the bureau and looked at me.
"Come on, Charlie, get changed, what are you waiting for?" he came over to the bed, and then saw my face. "What's wrong?"
I felt embarrassed for some reason, and stood up, pulling on the straps of my suit. "It—it's too small!" I wailed, "I haven't been swimming in a long time! What am I gonna do?"
Daddy took one of the straps and tried to pull it up over my shoulder. "Wow, it is small, isn't it?"
I started to cry harder. "I—I won't be able to go swimming!"
There was a knock on the door that connected the rooms. Lisa called, "Is everybody decent?" and came in from their room, wearing a one-piece suit that was black with large red flowers all over it.
"What's wrong?" she asked with concern, coming over to us.
Daddy turned to her. "We've discovered that Charlie's suit is too small."
I looked at Lisa. "I haven't been swimming since before- before my mommy got sick."
"Oh," she said sympathetically, "There's a store here that sells bathing suits in the lobby, we can stop by on the way to the waterpark and get you one, all right? I'll help you find one that fits."
"Okay," I sniffled and wiped my eyes.
"Thanks, Lisa," Daddy said.
I took my clothes into the bathroom and changed back into them, and we went down to the lobby.
"Ben and I will hang out here," Daddy turned to us, " No, uh, bikini or any of those suits with all the strings and stuff, okay?" he said gruffly.
Lisa chuckled, "Okay, 'Dad'," she grinned at him, "Come on, Charlie."
I followed her into the store and she started to look through the racks. "What size clothing do you wear?" she asked.
"Uh, size 8 usually, but sometimes smaller 'cause I'm short," I said.
She pulled a couple of suits off the rack. "Do you want a specific color?" she asked.
I shrugged.
She handed me three suits. "Try these on, and let me know if they fit, okay?"
We walked over to the dressing rooms and the saleswoman that had been hovering around unlocked the door.
"Do you want me to come in and help you?" Lisa looked at me.
"No, I got it," I told her.
"Leave your underwear on when you're trying the suits on," the saleswoman called as I shut the door.
The first two suits were too big for me. I heard Lisa chatting as I changed. The third suit was light blue with some sparklies in the fabric, and it fit okay, but the straps felt weird on my back.
"How's it going?" Lisa asked through the door, "Do any of them fit?"
I opened the door. "This one is the only one that fits, but the straps feel funny," I turned around.
"That type of strap is called a racerback," she told me, "If you're not used to it, it can feel weird. Look what I found, Charlie."
I turned around, and she brought something out from behind her back. Her eyes were sparkling and she was grinning. She was holding a Hello Kitty bathing suit!
"I know it's kind of girly, and you're not really into that, but I think you should try it on," she handed it to me. I went back into the dressing room.
The suit was pink, of course, and it had a picture of Hello Kitty wearing sunglasses, laying in an inner tube wearing a bathing suit just like this one. It was a one-piece, and it had ruffles on the straps, and a little attached pink ruffly skirt that was made of sparkly fabric and looked like a ballerina tutu. I didn't really like the ruffles but a lot of Hello Kitty stuff had them, so I wore it anyway.
I opened the dressing room door and Lisa turned. She and the saleswoman both got big smiles on their faces.
"Oh, you look adorable," Lisa said, "What do you think?"
"It's...okay," I said hesitantly.
"It fits you really well, like it was made for you," the saleswoman said.
"I think you should get it," Lisa told me.
"You doing okay in there?" Daddy called from the entrance.
"Yes, almost done," Lisa called back, "Dean, come here."
Daddy came walking into the store with Ben straggling behind.
"Look at this," Lisa gestured to me.
Daddy looked at me and got a big grin on his face. I started to blush with all of them looking at me.
"Charlie, that's...you look...really cute," Daddy said. It was like he couldn't stop smiling at me. I saw Lisa and the saleswoman grin at each other.
"You want to get it?" Lisa asked me.
"Uh, okay," I said.
"Take it off so I can ring it up, and I'll cut the tags off for you so you can wear it out of here," the saleswoman said, "You really do look cute in that."
"Thank you," I mumbled. I went into the dressing room and took off the suit, and handed it out the door. In a couple of minutes, Lisa handed it back to me, and I put it on again, and then gathered up my clothes.
We left the store together and Daddy took my hand. "It'll be easier to spot you, too, with that little skirt-thing," Daddy said.
"It's called a tutu, Dean," Lisa said, rolling her eyes and pretending to be annoyed.
"Well, I don't know about all this girly stuff!" Daddy protested with a smile.
"Charlie and I will have to give you a crash course on it, then," Lisa smiled back at him, "Won't we, Charlie?"
"Uh, okay," I said.
We walked down a set of steps to the entrance of the water-park. When we walked in, it was amazing. There was a huge structure that looked like a log cabin, but it was all open. It had ladders and steps and tunnels and climbing nets and there was water pouring out everywhere. A bunch of people were gathering in front of it, and a bell started to clang.
"Watch this!" Ben said excitedly, and he pointed up. I looked up. On the very top of the structure, there was a huge bucket, and as we watched, it tipped over, pouring gallons and gallons of water down over everything, including the people standing there. They shrieked and yelled with laughter.
"That's cool!" I said.
"Let's get some towels, and then we can find a place to sit," Lisa said.
We walked over to a kiosk that had stacks of folded towels. A girl behind the counter looked at me and said, "Your suit is so cute, I used to love Hello Kitty when I was little!"
"Uh, thanks," I said.
Lisa handed us towels, and we followed her as she made her way over to where there were rows and rows of lounge chairs.
"We can get some drinks and just sit here if you want," she said to Daddy.
"Beer?" Daddy asked.
"No, we have to be in the food area for that," Lisa told him, "We can get some beer later and go in the adult hot tub!" her eyes sparkled, and Daddy laughed. "Can't wait for that," he said.
We set our towels down, and I followed Ben around. There was a ride called "Lazy River" where you laid in an inner tube and the water current pulled you around a twisty path. There was a wave pool that made big waves twice an hour, a pool that had large floats shaped like lily pads that you had to try and walk across, a large pool area for little kids to play, and several water rides that were giant slides. You had to climb way up several flights of stairs to get to the top for them.
"It's more fun to go on them with more people, we can get Mom and, uh, Dean to go with us later," Ben said. We climbed into the big cabin structure that we had seen when we first came in. It had smaller slides attached to it and I spent some time going down them.
We got a pizza and ate dinner in the food area, and then went up to our rooms to change into our costumes. Lisa said that a mom had told her that sometimes they ran out of candy, so it was better to walk around early.
Ben and I had each been given a plastic bag, and you were supposed to walk around to all of the stores and restaurants in the building for candy. After we had walked around and stopped at every place we could think of, Daddy suggested we go to the arcade.
"All right, that's enough," Lisa told Ben as he reached into his bag again. "I told you two pieces, and that's all."
"Aw Mom!" he protested.
"You can eat more when we're watching the movie, all right? No more right now."
We walked into the arcade, which was brightly-lit and very loud. There was a climbing wall on one side, that connected to a play area with a set of large tubes. The tubes were attached to the ceiling and kids could go through them and look down at everyone in the arcade. Daddy put some money into a machine and then handed us tokens.
"Come find me when you need more," he said, "Hey, Lisa, didn't you tell me that you were the Ms. Pac-man champ when you were younger?"
"You bet," she grinned at Daddy.
He pointed. "Well then let's go."
We looked over- there were a set of "old school video games" like Galaga, Frogger, and Ms. Pac-Man.
"You're on!" Lisa smacked Daddy's shoulder, "Well, kids, you know where we'll be. Don't leave the arcade without us, all right?"
Ben and I agreed, and Daddy and Lisa walked over to the games.
Ben glanced around and then said to me, "Let's go into the tubes, and then we can eat more candy!" his eyes sparkled mischievously, "Wanna do trades?"
"Okay," I agreed. We climbed into the tubes and crawled over near the opposite wall from where Daddy and Lisa were. We both dumped our bags out and started dividing everything up.
Ben started to unwrap candies and pop them in his mouth.
I ate a couple of small chocolate bars.
"This is so cool, we don't have to wait for our parents to check the candy over! Oh, I love these!" he opened a package of sour gummies and started to eat them. "D'you like sour stuff?"
"It's okay," I said, "I like chocolate better."
"You can have all mine," he said, pushing the bars at me.
"Ugh, no thanks," I groaned, "My tummy doesn't feel good now."
I scooped up the candy and put it in my bag.
All of a sudden there was a loud bang and the lights went off for a moment, then came back on. Several people screamed and exclaimed loudly, and a couple of little kids started to cry. It got quiet, and then people started to murmur. We looked out of the little window on the side of the tube. A whole row of games that were along the far wall were dark, and the lights in the ceiling above them weren't working.
"Lindsey? Lindsey, let's go!" I heard a woman calling below us.
"Coming Mommy," a little girl called in reply.
"Maybe we should go too," I said nervously.
"Nah, we're cool," Ben said.
I thought I heard Daddy calling, "Charlie?"
There was a loud electronic squeak, and then a voice came over the loudspeaker. "Attention patrons, we've just been informed that one of the fuses blew. All the games on the south wall are not working at this time. We need to close the arcade down so that we can work on fixing this. If you have any tokens left or tickets to be redeemed, bring them back tomorrow. Thank you for your understanding."
I looked at Ben. "They're closing, we better go."
He giggled. "No, let's stay here, we can keep eating our candy and then play on the other games after everyone's gone!"
"But Ben, they'll see us!" I said.
I heard Daddy call, "Charlie!" It sounded like he was right under us.
"Ben!" Lisa called. I peeked out of the window- they were standing directly below where we were.
I felt worried. "C'mon, Ben, we gotta go now! Daddy and- your mom are looking for us!" I gulped- I had almost said 'Mommy' about Lisa!
"No, stay!" he grabbed my arm, "Let's stay and keep eating! I'll let you have all my taffies!"
"No, Ben I wanna go!" I said, "I don't want any more candy, and Daddy's gonna get mad if we keep hiding!"
Daddy and Lisa called our names again, getting louder. I could hear that Daddy's voice was getting upset.
Ben let go of me and crossed his arms over his chest, pouting. "Fine! Be that way!" he snapped.
I crawled away from him and then scooted over to the slide part and went down the slide to the bottom. As I got out of the tube, I saw Daddy standing a few feet away. He turned and saw me, and his face flooded with relief. As I walked over, his face got hard.
"Lisa!" he called. She was over at the front desk talking to a worker. She turned and saw me, and started to come over to us.
Daddy grabbed my arm. "What-the- hell- are you doing, little girl?" he asked tightly.
"Daddy, I'm sorry-" I blurted. He turned me and swatted my bottom.
Lisa looked down at me. "Where's Ben? What were you two doing?"
"Uh-" I said nervously.
"You've got chocolate on your chin, did you go up there to hide and eat more candy?" Lisa licked her thumb and wiped my chin off.
"After we told you that you were not to have any more?" Daddy asked sternly, raising his eyebrows at me.
I felt myself blushing. "Uh...yeah, we decided to trade some an' then eat some more."
"Whose idea was this?" Lisa asked, "Was it both of you, or just one of you? Because this sounds like something Ben would do. He's obsessed with candy."
"Uh, it—it was Ben's idea," I said, feeling bad. I felt like I was tattling on him.
"That little-" Lisa make a sound in the back of her throat. She walked over to the bottom of the slide and stuck her head in. "Ben? Ben! Come down out of there!"
There was no sound.
"Benjamin Isaac Braeden! I know you're in there, Charlie told us! If I have to come in there after you-" Lisa started to crawl into the tube.
I looked up at Daddy. "Daddy, I feel like I tattled on Ben."
"No, you didn't, Lisa asked you a question, and you answered her. That's different from tattling, and this is one of those situations where he's done something wrong and you're telling an adult about it," Daddy looked at me seriously.
"I only had a couple of chocolate bars," I told him, "an' then I didn't want any more, 'cause my tummy started to feel yucky. When they said the arcade was closing I said we should go, but Ben wanted to stay there so that we could sneak out later and play the games. But- but I came out 'cause I knew you'd be upset."
Daddy's face relaxed slightly. "I'm proud of you for that, Charlie," he smiled at me, "But the two of you went off and hid and ate candy after you were told no more, and then you didn't come right away when we called you. You're still in trouble for that."
I looked down at the floor.
Lisa was backing out of the tube, and Ben came out after her. He looked angry. Lisa took the bag out of his hands and they walked over to us.
"Why'd you have to tell them where I was!" Ben snapped at me, and he gave me a shove. I stumbled into Daddy, and he grabbed my arms to keep me from falling.
"Benjamin!" Lisa admonished, and at the same time Daddy smacked Ben's butt and said, "Ben! You don't put your hands on your sister!"
Ben scowled at all of us.
"All right, let's go. Back to the room, young man. Time for an attitude adjustment." Lisa said in a tight voice.
"Aw Mooooomm-" Ben complained.
"No, I've had quite enough," she said, taking his hand, "Let's go."
Daddy and I walked next to Lisa and Ben and we were all quiet as we took the elevator to our floor and walked to our rooms.
Daddy opened the door to our room and we all followed him in.
"Have a seat," he gestured to the sofa. Ben and I walked over and sat down.
Daddy and Lisa stood in front of us. My tummy twisted nervously.
"Ben, what were you doing in the tube?" Lisa asked.
Ben stared at the floor and didn't answer.
"All right then, Charlie, would you like to tell us?" Lisa looked at me.
Ben's head came up and his mouth opened. "No fair! I'll-"
Lisa held her hand up flat, palm out. "No, you had your chance. Charlie, go ahead."
"Uh, Ben said let's go into the tubes so we can eat more candy, and asked if I wanted to trade. So, uh, we did." I squirmed, and glanced at Ben, who was staring at the floor with a sulky look on his face.
"So it was Ben's idea to eat the candy. After you had been told no more candy," Lisa said, folding her arms.
"Uh-yeah." I gulped, "I didn't want that much 'cause my tummy started to feel bad. And then the lights went out for a second and they made the 'nouncement, I said we should go and Ben said we should stay in the tubes, so we could sneak out later and play on the games."
"Could you hear us calling you?" Daddy asked.
I nodded. "Yeah, I said they would see us and that you guys were calling us so we should go," I looked up at Daddy, "I said you'd be mad if we kept hiding."
"You got that right," he said dryly.
"Ben didn't want to go, but I did, so I got all my candy and came out of the tube," I said.
"Is that how it happened, young man?" Lisa asked him.
"Well...yeah," Ben said, "but-"
"No, there is no but," Lisa said. She looked at Daddy, and they walked over to the kitchen area and dumped out our bags onto the counter, sorting through everything. They talked quietly for a couple of minutes, and then walked back over to us.
"We were planning on taking you both to watch the movie, but that's not happening," Daddy said, "Early bedtime tonight."
Ben looked up, relief on his face. "Th-that's all?"
Lisa shook her head. "Oh no, young man, that's after the spanking you're about to get. You ate almost all of your candy!"
"But Mooooomm-" Ben whined.
"Let's go, young man," Lisa said sternly, and he stood up and followed her into their room. The door between our rooms closed with a decisive click.
Daddy came over to me. "You're getting a spanking too, Charlie," he told me, "Go get changed into your pajamas."
I got my nightgown out and changed in the bathroom, and did my night-time routine. I folded up my costume neatly and put it in my duffle when I came out. Daddy was sitting on the sofa. I walked over to stand in front of him, and glanced down- and then I gulped- the paddle was sitting on the coffee table!
I looked up at him, feeling my tummy twist anxiously.
Daddy looked at me, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "I'm not going to use the paddle this time, Charlie," he said evenly, "But I'm going to remind you that one of your rules is that you are not to go wandering off without telling someone. This is the second time you've done that recently. You and Ben went to his friend's house without asking us, and then you and Ben snuck off to eat candy after you were told not to, and then when we called you, you didn't come out right away."
I blushed and put my hands behind my back, "Sorry, Daddy," I said quietly.
"Look at me, Charlie," he said, "You need to understand something."
I raised my head and looked at him. His face was serious and his eyes were shiny. When he spoke his voice was deep. "When you were—got taken, I was- I was at my wit's end, all I wanted was to find you, and not knowing if I would-" he stopped for a moment and closed his eyes, swallowing hard. He opened his eyes and looked at me again. "Those were some of the worst hours of my life. And when you go traipsing off on your own, it- it sends me into a panic again. I'm not making rules to be strict, I've made them to keep you safe, and when you disobey, it makes me mad. And then when I can't find you- well, that- that scares the hell out of me. You can't just follow Ben around either, you've both got to keep an eye on each other. You need to obey the rules I've made, and not just go off and do what you want. And you need to think about how your actions affect other people."
My eyes had filled with tears during Daddy's speech and I felt guilty. I hadn't even thought about him being scared of losing me.
"M' sorry, Daddy-" I started to say again.
"I know, Charlie, but I'm still going to punish you. And the next time you wander off without telling anyone, or sneak off like you did, I will paddle you. Is that clear?"
I gulped again. "Yes, Daddy."
He sat up. "All right, come here," he beckoned me with his hand. I walked around the coffee table, and he turned me over his lap. As I put my head down on the sofa I could hear the sounds of swatting coming from Lisa and Ben's room. And then the sounds of swatting started as Daddy brought his hand down for the first time.
I started to cry right away because I felt so bad. My nightgown was thin, so the sting built up quickly as Daddy spanked me.
"You will do what you're told, and you will follow the rules. It's important that you follow the rules and stay safe," Daddy said as the swats continued to fall.
"Yes, Daddy," I whimpered.
"You will not sneak off and hide and when I call you, you will come to me right away. You got it?" He laid a couple of swats on the lowest part of my butt.
"Yes! Yes Daddy I'm sorry!" I wailed as his hand fell a couple more times.
Then he lifted me up to sit in his lap. I threw my arms around him and sobbed into his flannel. He hugged me to his chest and stroked my hair. After I had calmed I realized that there was still swatting going on in the other room, and I could hear Ben crying now too.
I looked up at Daddy. "Ben told me that his mom's spankings don't always hurt," I told him.
"Well, I guess he's feeling it this time," Daddy said as Ben wailed.
He carried me over to the bed and tucked me in. "I want you to be safe, Charlie," he leaned down and kissed my forehead.
"Yes, Daddy," I murmured sleepily. All of the activity I had done today had tired me out, and I was falling asleep.
I woke up when Daddy leaned over me. "I've got to go out to the car for a couple of minutes, okay? I'll be back."
"Mmm," I murmured, rolling over. I heard the door close and the lock turn.
I woke up a little when I heard the door close again. Then I heard rustling and a noise that it took me a second to figure out...it sounded like kissing! I opened one eye and looked across the room. Daddy and Lisa were standing by the door, with their arms around each other.
"I had no idea the back seat was so roomy," Lisa said quietly, running her hand through the back of Daddy's hair, and Daddy chuckled low. I wanted to ask what she meant, but I was half asleep, and I drifted off again before I could even try to talk.
