After making a few more preparations, Nurse Rennie turned to Billy and said,

"Come along, child. We need to check your weight and your height. Hop up on this scale for me please."

The weights on the scale were at Billy's eye level, giving him an even closer look at her baby powder covered hands as she moved the weights back and forth until the scale balanced out.

After noting his weight, Nurse Rennie lowered the metal flange down to the top of his head and wrote down his height. This, too, was duly noted on his chart.

"Good boy ... now back on the table for me, please. That's a good boy."

As Billy sat on the table, footsteps sounded down the hall and once again he grew nervous. Sure enough, the door opened and Dr. Cordier entered, this time leaving the door open behind her.

"How's Billy doing, Janet?," the doctor asked.

"Fine, so far, doctor. I'm just about to check his temp. Billy please lie back on the table and roll over on your tummy for me."

Billy swung his legs up on the table and lay down on his back presuming his exact position was not important."

"No, child, I want you on you tummy. I'm going to take your temperature now." As she spoke, she wheeled the little tray up beside the examining table so that Billy noticed the jar of vaseline, Kleenex, and stubby thermometer for the first time. His eyes widened and fear entered his face for the first time that day.

"Whaa? Nurse Rennie, I'm old enough to use a regular thermometer ... that's not ..."

"That's not what your mother tells us, Billy." Dr Cordier cut him off abruptly. "Apparently you broke your your adult thermometer yesterday by trying to fake a high fever. I'd say you're not ready for a big boy thermometer are you, Billy. Besides, this is the only kind we use here. Now please follow Nurse Rennie's instructions and roll over."

Billy's face flushed at this sudden revelation. He wondered what else his mother had told them. And he worried that his bottom might show signs of his recent spanking. As he watched Nurse Rennie open the jar of vaseline and stick the thermometer in, he panicked and forgot all about his mother's instructions.

"Really, Dr. Cordier ... I'm not sick ... I feel fine ... I don't even need my temperature checked. I need to go home now ... please ..." His voice quavered openly as he began to lose control.

With a sigh, Dr. Cordier placed her pen on the desk and said,

"Nurse, please fetch Mrs. Fontaine. Billy, what you need is a good, old fashioned lesson from mommy in how to follow instructions. You won't be the first older child who needed a spanking in this office and I'm sure you won't be the last. I'm sure you'll follow instructions much better after that."

"No, I'll roll over, I'll roll over," Billy cried out in sudden alarm as he quickly turned onto his stomach. "Please, Nurse Rennie, look! I rolled over. You can take my temperature."

But it was too late, Nurse Rennie paused halfway out the door and said,

"Your mother warned you specifically about what would happen if you showed any disobedience, young man. And children who disobey need to be spanked promptly if they are ever to learn to obey their parents and teachers. If you were my child, your fanny would already be turned over my knee right now." Calling down the hall, she called out,

"Mrs Fontaine, I'm afraid we will need you after all."

Billy begged and pleaded while lying on his stomach, hoping to change their minds up until the last minute.

"He refused to let me take his temp, Mrs. Fontaine. I'm sure a quick spanking will do him a world of good."

"Oh you can be sure of that, Nurse Rennie. Billy, get off that table immediately or I will spank you right here in this office ... one ... two ... "

Before she could reach three, Billy rolled back over and swung down onto the floor while begging for mercy and promising to follow all possible instructions.

"This won't take long, Dr. Cordier."

Planting three hard spanks to the back of his gown, she marched him out of the examining room and into the next room where she sat down on a straight-backed chair, pulled her struggling son across her lap, and spanked his bare bottom hard and fast until it regained most of the redness left after the earlier spanking. This time, there was no consolation hug or corner time afterwards. While still crying from pain and acute embarrassment, Billy was marched back into the other examining room. For a brief moment, he had a clear view down the hall into the waiting room where Nurse Leveau was talking to Danny's mother with Danny standing quietly by her side. All three people stopped talking and stared as Billy's mother marched him a few steps down the hall and into the other room.

"Thank you, Mrs Fontaine. I'm sure Billy will be a good boy for the rest of his check-up. You may go back to the waiting room if you'd like."

"Thank you, Dr. Cordier. Please feel free to call me again if he gives you any more trouble."

Billy was still crying as Nurse Rennie helped him up on the examining table and swung his legs up after him. He rolled over, his tears wetting the white hospital paper covering the pillow as Nurse Rennie raised his gown, spread vaseline on his rectum, and inserted the thermometer between his bright red cheeks.

"Billy, I'm recommending to your mother that she use a rectal thermometer for at least the next year or two and that she check your temp once a day at bedtime. It may take a few spankings before you learn to accept a baby thermometer but I imagine you get used to it in a few weeks. Boys who are immature and fussy do much better in the end with regular rectal temps. You'll see. It may even help you settle down at bedtime so you stay in bed and fall asleep faster. You have been allowed to grow up too fast, young man, and as a result you've developed some bad habits. But all that is going to change from now on. You mother has accepted my recommendation that the clock be turned back four or five years to fit your true, emotional age so you can grow up more slowly without the pressures and fears of a rushed adolescence. This will mean earlier bedtimes, afternoon naps on weekends and vacations, and more regular spankings when you are fussy, disobedient, or naughty. You will also be getting new pyjamas which will make it harder to abuse yourself: one piece sleepers with zippers in the back. When your mother finds signs of self-abuse, I have recommended a system of three to four punishment days immediately following each episode. A punishment day would mean coming home right after school during a school day and taken to your room for a spanking and a nap, followed by homework duty. You would come out of your room only for an early dinner followed by an early bath, your temp taking, and a bedtime spanking."

"I have also recommended that your mother check your bedsheets and clothing on a daily basis. If signs of self-abuse persist, your mother will simply turn the clock further back further and take charge of dressing, undressing and bathing. If your problem persists, we can always turn back the clock all the way as we do with the most serious, habitual self-abusers. That will mean two or three months of nightly diapers and plastic pants under your sleeper, something which will make it very difficult to abuse yourself. If you are caught abusing yourself during the daytime, the diaper punishment can always be extended to a few weeks or round the clock diapers during weekends and vacations."

"I have also recommended that your mother begin employing a baby sitter at all times when she is out so that you are never left alone without supervision. Nurse Rennie will be available for sitting, as will Nurse Leveau. As pediatric nurses, they both have experience with diapering children of all ages, even older children such as yourself."

Billy continued to cry as Nurse Rennie pulled the thermometer out, wiped him, and wrote down his temperature on a special chart.

"Nurse Rennie also knows to handle naughty boys who don't know how to obey."

"That's right, Billy. I used to be the school nurse over at Sacred Heart School on St. George and Bloor Streets. So I know first hand how effective a good spanking can be, especially with a child who thinks he is too old. I've also done a lot of babysitting over the years. As a trained nurse, I believe I can help you learn to control your impulses and be the good boy you are, deep down inside."

Note: The authors would love to hear from like-minded couples in the Toronto area.