Sarah's Tutorial: Corbin's Bend, Book 2 Read Online Free Page A

thus with the culture of Corbin's Bend, and we provide to our female parishioners the chastisement they need. The way of domestic discipline, as we teach it here at St. Michael's, demands that when a married woman confesses to sins that I feel should be punished corporally, I sentence her to a certain number of lashes, and bid her tell her husband to administer them. When a single girl of eighteen years or older requires chastisement, however, the question is more difficult. Rather than let in any accusation of impropriety, I delegate my authority in the matter to the Heads of Household of the parish, like Jake here."
    He handed an old, wicked looking strap to Jake. "She is to receive thirty-six lashes upon her bottom, Jake. Do you accept this charge?"
    Jake said, "I do, Father." Father Henry said some words under his breath and made the sign of the cross over the strap in Jake's hand.
    "You may begin the punishment when you are ready," said Father Henry.
    Jake lifted the strap, and lashed the end of it with a hard flick of his wrist, upon the panty-covered bottom before him. The unseen girl rewarded him with a yelp, and then "One!" in a penitent soprano. Dunn looked at Father Henry, who smiled kindly at him, nodding to tell him that all was as it should be.
    By twenty-four, the poor sobbing girl gasped, "Please, Father, no more!" And Jake looked at Father Henry to see if he should stop. The pretty bottom was streaked around the modest pink briefs with scarlet across both its cheeks and down its flanks. The young woman strained against the leather straps, and her bottom squirmed uncontrollably.
    Father Henry said (Dunn thought the priest's voice sounded a little thick), "Think of your misdeeds, young lady! This is where they have brought you!" Again he nodded at Jake to continue. Jake needed no further impetus; part of Dunn was distressed by how aroused the young woman's cries and sobs made him, but another part understood that this was the way of life of Corbin's Bend, and he thanked God he had found a home at last.
    When all the lashes had been bestowed, Father Henry led Dunn out of the discipline-room so the young woman could rise and depart through a special exit to the outside. Dunn wondered whether he would ever know whose bottom he had just watched Jake discipline. The Rector invited Dunn to sit in a comfortable chair in the study, and sat down himself, behind his cluttered little desk.
    "I imagine," said the Rector, "that you're wondering about the discipline of men?" He chuckled. "Perhaps even worrying that some other member of the parish might take the strap to your behind, if you confess to, hmm, some lustful thoughts?"
    Dunn laughed himself, taken aback. He actually had not wondered–but he did now.
    "In keeping with our church's teachings about gender and orientation," continued Father Henry, "the roles of the taken-in-hand members of our parish and the Head-of-Household members of our parish are not viewed along strictly gendered lines. We don't currently have any male taken-in-hands or female Heads-of-Household, but we have had a few over the years, and we have welcomed them into the parish. All of that is just to say that the discipline of those taken-in-hand differs from that of Heads-of-Household. We are all, to be sure, equal before God, but corporal punishment is a practice that we believe God gives to those called to be Heads-of-Household to bestow on those called to be taken-in-hand."
    Dunn had often–always questing to know more-wondered about how those who practiced domestic discipline in a community handled such matters. Father Henry's approach seemed sensible to him, but he could not deny that one thing still troubled him.
    "You mentioned lustful thoughts a moment ago, Father," he said.
    "I did." The priest looked at him with what seemed a slight twinkle in his eye.
    "I don't know how to... put this." He looked to his new Rector for help.
    "You were aroused when Jake was punishing that young woman,