Chapter 6
"Neal I am very disappointed that you choose to put yourself in harm not once but twice in the same day," lectured Carolyn.
"No…you don't understand. That cough syrup was awful; all I did was to throw it out," Neal hastened to explain as he kept his butt out of Carolyn's reach.
"And in doing so you took away the only thing I have to treat your cough. I know it doesn't taste good but it does work if you just give it time. I'm sure that Peter has told you that…maybe when he told you about his experience with my hairbrush for doing much the same thing you have done."
"Yeah…he told me but it tasted terrible. He told me that taking the medicine was the least painful part of having a cough," replied Neal.
"And you decided to test me to see if I would punish you like I did Peter?" asked Carolyn.
"No…I thought I could do it and not get caught," Neal admitted, "and I would have if I hadn't gotten locked out it the cold."
"And that was your second time in putting yourself in harm!"
"I didn't do it on purpose," argued Neal.
"I know that my dear; but you did have to go out in the cold and damp weather to
dispose of the syrup and the ingredients and right after you had just gotten over your fever; in my book that was endangering your life and I'm going to give you such a hiding that you won't ever consider doing it again," promised Carolyn as she started towards Neal who backed up until he backed into the wall.
Carolyn then walked over and grasping his ear again pulled him towards the only table in the room. "Now drop your pants and lean over; your bare bottom and my hairbrush have an appointment to meet and it will be very a memorable meeting."
Neal blushed at the thought of being paddled on the butt by Carolyn Burke and shook his head; but before he had a chance to tell her 'No!" he found himself bottomless and leaning against the table.
Carolyn then pulled the robe away leaving Neal's bare bottom showing much to Neal's embarrassment. "I won't do it again," he cried as the hairbrush began its journey downward. A moment later Neal felt the sting and cried out with a
"Yeowwwch," followed soon afterwards with two more cries of pain as the hairbrush began a steady rhythm against his buttocks.
"Neal don't lie to your mother; you know you will try it again if I can't convince you otherwise," Carolyn said as she continued to punish Neal's backside with her strong and quick swats. She used the three to one area technique that Neal was familiar with; since it was the same method Peter sometimes used to correct his behavior.
As his backside began to heat up Neal's pleas for mercy continued with frequency interspersed with his cries of pain until he began to sob his heart out so much so that he wasn't aware that Carolyn had stopped or pulled him into her arms for comfort patting his back until he ceased to cry.
"I'm sorry that I had to punish you so harshly son; but I love you too much to allow that sort of behavior from you. Peter told me that you never learned the things he had while growing up and now I see that I must teach them to you now and endangering your life and lying to me are two big no-no's in my book and when you do either you will be punished severely," she said comfortingly as she pulled his pajama pants back up and led him to his bed.
"Scoot in and rest; you've had a hard lesson to learn and for your sake I hope it is a lesson that won't need repeating but rest assured that if it does it will be handled in the same way by Peter, El or me…we are your family Neal and we care about you and will do anything to keep you save and out of prison…of that you can be sure of," she explained caringly sitting down in the rocker to watch as he drifted off lying on his side with his smoking backside to keep him warm.
Peter was on duty when Neal woke during the night unable to breathe and coughing bad enough for Peter to get his Mom. "I'm sorry to wake you Mom, but Neal says that he can't breathe and he's started coughing again. I'll get the cough syrup while you look in on him," he added as he left her to get the medicine Neal hated so badly.
"I'm afraid he's caught a cold on top of the coughing most likely from his trip outside this afternoon. He's congested…do you know if you have any Vicks' vapor rub?" Carolyn asked as she prepared to do battle with Neal's cold.
Peter shook his head and headed upstairs to ask El and came back minutes later with El to say, "El found some in the back of our medicine cabinet…will it do?"
Carolyn quickly took the proffered jar and opened it relieved to find that it was still soft and hadn't dried up. "It will do nicely for the time being but I'm going to have to come up with more of my home remedies to fight the cold and any complications that come along with it. My main concern for the moment is breaking up his congestion," replied Carolyn thoughtfully.
"Peter, if you wouldn't mind going upstairs to my room and bringing me my red notebook; it's by my night stand. I'm sure that between Elizabeth and me we can come up with something to take care of Neal.
Neal started to look concerned as he listened to Carolyn and cried out, "Pweter…don't lwet Mom do this to me" as he began to cough again which only got him another dose of syrup during which Peter ran up the stairs for his mother's remedy notebook. He knew this wasn't going to be pleasant for Neal but he also knew that Neal had no say so in the matter. His mom was going to take care of him whether he liked it or not. He would just have to suffer through it like everybody else in the family had done whenever they got sick.
While Peter was gone El and Carolyn turned to Neal and quickly pulled his pajama top up and applied a generous amount of the vapor rub to his chest. Neal took a sniff and tried to turn away. "It's too strong," he whined.
"Neal, behave," ordered Carolyn as she continued to work over him.
"Neal, this will help you breathe better," El said gently as she tried to comfort him.
"I don't feel good, El," Neal said pitifully.
"I know baby; but lie still and give this a chance?" she asked as she continued to try and comfort him and after a while Neal was able to breathe easier and laid back.
"It will be easier on him if he was propped up and not lying flat," suggested El as Peter came back with the book which he handed to his mother.
"Peter can you go and get us some more pillows…it will help Neal breathe easier if he isn't lying flat on his back," El asked quietly and Peter found himself running back up the stairs for the pillows.
He returned in a few minutes with two large pillows, "Will these be enough?" he asked as he handed the pillows to his wife. "I can always get some more."
"No they should do the job; now if you will just help us get him situated we can see if he can drift back to sleep," Carolyn requested and between the three of them they were able to do that and Neal indeed was able to sleep.
After watching the younger man sleep peacefully Peter turned back to his wife and mother, "Look I'll stay down here with Neal; why don't you two try and get some sleep…I feel we are going to need it in the days to come," and watched as they went back upstairs to their own beds to get some well needed sleep since they had the same beliefs as Peter about the upcoming days of taking care of Neal.