"Crystal is Crazy" Part 2

A Little House on the Prairie Fan Fiction

That night Laura and Mary went home and were VERY careful to do all of their chores and homework promptly. They didn't want to be kept from staying after school for anything… there was no way they were going to miss Crystal's performance.

Once the family was gathered for dinner, Mary decided to make sure that it was safe for Laura and herself to stay after school. "Ma, Pa?" she began.

"Yes, Mary?" responded Caroline.

"Laura and I wanted to make sure it was alright for us to stay after school a little bit tomorrow. There's this new girl, Crystal, and we promised to spend a little time with her. She's been out sick a lot and doesn't have many friends."

"Well, I don't see why not," replied Ma. "I have a fairly easy day here, so as long as you aren't out too late you may stay out awhile. Is that alright with you Charles?"

"Of course it is! I've heard about this Crystal; it sounds like she could use all the friends she can get." Mary and Laura breathed a sigh of relief; they were free!

The next day, Mary and Laura stayed by Crystal's side during lunch, so Nellie and Willie couldn't start teasing her again. Recess went without a single problem, although Nellie did manage to stick her tongue out at Crystal once or twice when the Ingalls' backs were turned. Little did she know that she was only adding fuel to the fire, and that she was going to pay for that more than she could ever dream possible!

The afternoon inched slowly by, and finally the class was released. Nellie and her friends had hung back for awhile, hoping to catch Crystal by herself, but she had to stay and get help from Miss Beadle, so they finally departed in the direction of the general store. Laura and Mary, who had hung back in the rear of the classroom, grinned at each other, and caught Crystal's eye as she was working with Miss Beadle. An excitement was fired up in those eyes that had been so dull for so long.

Finally, about ten drawn-out minutes, the girls were free to go about their way. They dashed through the door, and headed up to Oleson's Mercantile. As expected, the girls were hanging out near the counter, gorging themselves on candy, and frankly making a pest of themselves.

"Now, remember, Crystal," Mary warned for the umpteenth time, "you have to give Nellie fair warning, and a loud one, before you hit her. Warn her that you aren't crazy, and for her to leave you alone. That will probably make her go after you all the more, which is when you should attack her."

"I know, I know!" Crystal laughed. "I promise not to blow it, Mary!" Mary grinned.

Finally, Mary gave Crystal the 'thumb's up' sign, and then she and Laura "hid" a few feet away. They were still in clear sight, but not to the other girls and Willie, who would have their backs to them. They could still claim to be watching Crystal 'dance,' but Nellie's initial reaction would be that Crystal was dancing for no reason at all, with no one watching.

Once they were in position, Laura grinned and nodded, and Crystal went into a lively rendition of a jig. Just as planned, it didn't take Nellie long to spy the twelve year old. She motioned to her friends, and naturally, Willie trailed after his sister as well.

"See, girls," Nellie said snidely, "I told you SHE was insane."

"I am not, Nellie Oleson!"

"Yeah, right. Crystal, you really are pathetic. Is that why they sent you to Walnut Grove? You were too pathetic to be around the good city kids?"

"Nellie, I'm warning you…" said Crystal, playing her part to the max.

"Ooh… I'm scared. What're you going to do? Hit me? You're too weak and pathetic to even lay a finger on me…."

Crystal had a MEAN right curve, and she used it to hit Nellie square in the side of the face. That had hurt! But she carefully hid that from her opponent. And, just as Mary had suspected she would, Nellie went at Crystal full throttle. Before long, the girls were in a full tussle. At least Crystal was getting in some decent punches; Nellie was satisfying herself with trying her hardest to pull Crystal's long, blond hair out. She did succeed in elbowing her in the eye, but even that was an accident. In other words, Nellie was as girly as she looked.

"What on Earth?" Nels asked Harriett as he looked out the shop window.

"Why, it's that insane girl! She's beating up my Nellie!" exclaimed Harriett.

"Harriett, I've told you before, she's not insane, and it looks like Nellie is doing her fair share of the beating up…" he said. But Harriett didn't even hear him, she was rushing into the street to save her darling little daughter.

James Craiger, Crystal's father, happened to be in the store at the same time, unbeknownst to his daughter. He exchanged looks with Nels.

"Yes, I'm afraid that is your daughter fighting with mine out there. What do you say, should we go break it up?"

"Oh, I don't know," came the amused response. "Watching your wife try and get in there without breaking her nails is rather amusing." By this time, both men were laughing so hard they had tears running down their cheeks.

"I suppose we really should break it up, anyway," said Nels. "I just can't believe this!"

"If I find out my daughter instigated it…" began James.

"No, don't even sweat it. I'm sure it was my Nellie who started it by making fun of Crystal. Now, shall we?"

Together the two men made their way out into the street, and successfully broke up the fighting girls.

"What TOOK you so long, Nels?" demanded a very frazzled Harriett.

"Oh, nothing, dear," he replied, hiding his grin. That was when he noticed the two Ingalls girls standing off to the side, laughing their heads off.

"Laura! Mary!" he called out to them. "Do you have ANY idea of what just happened here?"

"Well, yes, sir, I suppose we do," replied Mary a little warily.

"Would you please come inside, then, and help sort out this mess?" he asked.

"Ah, yeah, sure!" replied Laura, ready to defend Crystal as much as she could… at least enough to help her save face in front of Nellie.

The party of seven went inside the store. "Could everyone please leave the store for about half an hour?" requested Nels. Everyone by this time knew what had taken place outside, and they were more than happy to oblige. Before long, the store was deserted except for the four girls and three very unhappy adults.

"Young lady," snapped Harriett, "just what do you think you were doing, beating up on my poor Nellie like that?"

"Now Harriett, I'm sure there is some rational explanation for this," replied Nels. "Laura, Mary, did you see the whole thing?"

"Yessir," replied Mary.

"Would you care to clear up this big mess?"

"It all started yesterday at school," began Laura. "Nellie and Willie were teasing Crystal about her being crazy and her missin' school all the time. Miss Beadle stopped it, but Crystal was bad upset about it."

"We were coming over to the store, today, to look for a gift for Ma's birthday with Crystal… or at least she was walking as far as the store with us, then she was going to go home. But she wanted to show us her jig for the upcoming dance," Mary jumped in. "She used Crystal's dancing as 'proof' of her insanity. Crystal tried to tell her what she was really doing, but Nellie kept making fun of her. Before we could get there, Crystal had punched Nellie. Then Nellie came after Crystal, and that's when Mrs. Oleson came out."

"Thank you Mary," said Nels, but he was cut short by his wife.

"Don't you lie to me, young lady! My Nellie would NEVER do such a thing!"

"Harriett, something obviously provoked this young lady. Now, the way I see it, we have two young ladies in the wrong. Nellie, go up to your room; I'll be up in just a minute to deal with you."

James then added, "Yes, well I guarantee Crystal won't be going much of anywhere except church and school for quite a while." Crystal started to get a look of panic in her eyes, but she didn't need to fear.

"I'm sure you'll also be giving your daughter a good tanning as soon as you get home, won't you, Mr. Craiger?" asked Harriett.

"No, Mrs. Oleson, I will not. My wife and I do not believe in striking our child, not for any cause. Although I must say, my daughter has had more than enough bullying in her short life. Do you know how detrimental that is to a young person? If either of the girls needs a good tanning, it's your Nellie."

"Why I never!" exclaimed Mrs. Oleson. "My Nellie did nothing wrong!"

"On the contrary, my dear," said her husband firmly. "She not only fought back when she should have just come and told us about being hit, she teased a girl until she felt she had no other resort but to strike out. And I WILL be dealing with Nellie shortly."

Laura, Mary and Crystal hid their smirks, but they made eye contact. They had succeeded in getting at least one of the two girls spanked!"

"You wouldn't dare!" she screeched.

"Watch me, Harriett," he said calmly.

Harriett took her frustrations out on the other party, ignoring her husband's last statement. "Mr. Craiger," said Harriett, "you WILL give your daughter that spanking! I won't hear of it any other way. She hit my daughter of her own accord! And if you don't, I'll…you'll… you won't be allowed credit in my store!"

"Harriett!" admonished her husband. "I really am sorry, James, don't listen to her."

James Craiger stopped short. He would not lose face with their new neighbors this early in the game. "You know, Nels, perhaps your wife is right. Maybe I SHOULD give Crystal a licking. I thought we had brought her up better than this, but apparently our methods have been too soft. Nels, if you would promise me that Nellie gets what she has coming to her, I guarantee you that Crystal will get hers tonight as well."

"Well, Harriet, what'll it be? Which do you want more? Nellie to get away without my dealing with her, or to have Crystal get what she deserves?" Nels asked his wife, a grin spreading across his face. She didn't have to know that he was still planning on dealing with Nellie anyway!

"Nels…" she pleaded, but her husband remained stoically impassive.

"It's your choice Harriett," was all he said.

"Fine! Take your brat and give her what she deserves! She needs it far more than my Nellie does, that's for sure! But if that's what it takes!" She then gave her "Harriet Oleson screech" which was a very long and high pitched "Ugh!" and flounced out the door, unwilling to hear what would happen to her daughter.

"I'm sorry if I caused a problem Nels," apologized James.

"No problem at all! I would have seen to Nellie one way or the other, but at least this way I'll be able to live with the Missus! Speaking of which, how is Catherine going to take this?"

"Don't you worry about that. I think little miss Crystal here has had this coming; besides, my wife doesn't have to know any more than yours." With that, he waved goodbye to Nels, and headed for the door.

"Good luck!" mouthed Laura to Crystal as she was ushered roughly out the door.

"Thanks!" she mouthed back.

With that Mr. Oleson turned to the two young ladies. "Now, what were you thinking about for your Ma?" he asked.

"Oh, that's okay, Mr. Oleson," Mary hurriedly said before Laura could say anything stupid. "It's not that important. You go take care of Nellie."

"Okay, although it would have been the least I could have done, to wait on you, since you helped us out so much."

"No, really Mr. Oleson," she said just a quickly as before. We're fine. We… were shopping in advance anyway. Thank you. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye girls!" he called out. "Wait, would you put up the 'closed' sign in the window for me?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Oleson!" smiled Laura.

Nels thought, wondering how to best deal with his smart aleck daughter. It had been far too long since he had last dealt with Nellie; he didn't know how long it would be before he could again. In other words, he had to make this impression last. First he picked up a large, oval hairbrush, then set it back down. Then his eye caught the glimmer of the buckle of a brand new belt hanging on the wall.

No better time to break it in, he thought, and he grabbed it, stuffed it in his pocket, then headed resolutely up the stairs. He made his way to his only daughter's room, and then knocked sharply on the door. "Nellie?" he called out.

"WHAT?!?!?!" she called out. Her tone just added fuel to her father's fire. He took a second to calm himself, then opened the door. She was sitting at her vanity table, her face in her hands. When she looked up, it was obvious that she had been crying; her face was red, wet and puffy. It there weren't traces of tears, he would have thought it was just the aftermath of the punch.

"Young lady, lose that tone of voice," he commanded, his voice steely. She just sat with her nose scrunched up, her eyes full of hatred. "It's time you were taught a lesson young lady," he said.

Now he could detect only the slightest bit of fear in her face, but it was enough for him. He proceeded to go to her vacant bed, where he took the mountain of pillows she insisted on sleeping with, and stacked them one on top of the other on the edge of the bed.

"Father!" she shrieked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm doing something I should have done a long time ago. Now bend over those pillows, Nellie."

"But, Father!"

"Do it NOW Nellie. Do not make this any worse on yourself than you already have."

"Mother's going to hate you for this."

"No she won't, she told me to, in fact."

"She didn't!"

"When she gets home you can ask her. But by then, this will already be over and done with. Now, we do it the easy way, Nellie, or we do it the hard way. If I have to make you get over those pillows, you will not like it."

"Father, you don't really mean it!"

"I am giving you until the count of three to get your bottom up and over those pillows Nellie. One…." She still remained seated. "Two…." still she remained seated. Surely he couldn't, wouldn't?

"Three. That's it Nellie, fine. We'll do it the hard way then. But let me tell you, you have now lost the privilege of keeping your bloomers up." With that, the muscular Mr. Oleson strode over to his daughter, picked her right up out of her seat, carried her over to the mound of pillows, and laid her across. In one fluid movement he pulled her frilly blue skirt and her layers of lacy white petticoats up on her back, and in yet another movement he yanked down her remaining set of decency, her lacy white bloomers.

"Father!" she gasped, as she felt the cool air swirl around her perfectly round cheeks.

"It was your choice, Nellie. Don't give me that. Now, whatever you do, do not put your hands behind you. God help us both if you do." With that, Nels grabbed the belt, doubled it over, and took a step backward.

Without so much as a warning, he lifted his strong, right arm far behind him, and with all of the strength he had, he delivered the first blow. The shriek that elicited from Nellie's mouth pierced her father's eardrums, and rattled the glass windows in their frames.

"Nellie," he said fairly loudly, so as to be heard over her gasping sobs, "STOP BEING SO MELODRAMATIC! YOU HAVE HAD THIS COMING FOR A LONG TIME NOW. You have a lot more to go, young lady, so get a hold of yourself." With that the exaggerated sobs lessened somewhat, and finally Nels was just able to make out what she was saying.

"I HATE YOU! I'm not being MELODRAMATIC, it HURTS!"

"Yeah, well brace yourself kid, 'cause it's only going to hurt worse."

He looked at the bright red, thin weal that had formed on her mid-buttocks. He then stepped back, and let fly another lash, this one landing an inch below the first. As the red began to spread, Nellie let out another shriek, this time only slightly less intense. Nels shook his head, trying to rid himself of the ringing in his ears. He would be lucky to get this licking done; no sense being too hard on her. Besides, she was only embarrassing herself, as over half of Walnut Grove was milling around outside.

Finally he let fly yet another lash, this time having it land in the tender area between thigh and buttock. He ignored the shriek it produced, then went on down and hit her thighs. This really got his daughter to hollering, but her mentally blocked it out. By now her rear was beginning to look like the peppermint sticks she was always filching from the store. Four stripes, and nowhere near done.

He then went back to the lower part of her bottom, laying two more strikes right there in the crease. The reddish glow was becoming more prominent, but he wasn't done yet. He had decided to make this lesson stay with her every time she sat down in the near future, and he wasn't going to break that promise. He attacked her thighs two more times. By now, her screams were dying down to hoarse sobs. He was surprised that she hadn't reached back, but figured she was gutsier than he had thought.

He decided to land the last five right back down on her thighs and bottom crease; a few small bruises would hardly do her any harm; she would be forced to think of this every time she sat down for a few days, anyway. If he could keep her behaving better for just that short period of time, it would be worth it.

He laid each one on with as much force as he had, leaving her with one swollen, red, and just slightly bruised rear and pair of thighs. If he had been caught doing what she had done as a boy, he would have gotten much worse than a stroke per each year of his life, but to Nellie's unaccustomed backside, he decided to let go at that. He felt that she should be aware of this, however.

"Nellie?" he asked.

"What?" came her muffled response.

"I'm sorry that was necessary, but you should know I let you off easy. You should have gotten twice that."

He got no response from her, so he assumed she was simply not speaking to him. "Well, when you are ready, come downstairs and I'll get you some ice for your eye. You're going to have a nice black eye from this."

"Can't you bring it up here?"

"No, Nellie, I can't. I don't want you using it on your backside." With that he went and pulled up her bloomers, and it was when he reached up to pull down her skirts that he realized his mistake. Her skirts were so long and so full that they had pinned her arms down, prohibiting her from reaching back like he had been almost relying upon. He finished lowering her garments, and left the room.

Nellie's last thoughts were: My father is SO naïve.