Elizabeth unlocked the front door of the beach hose and carried her shopping bags into the kitchen. As she passed the den, she heard the girls giggling with the sound of the television in the background. Against her better judgement, she had left the 18 year old girls on their own while she went out for errands. She was gone just over an hour but worried that young women like her daughter, Cassy, and her friend, Sarah, could get into mischief quite quickly.

Sarah was staying with them over the weekend as her mom, Rhonda, attended a conference. The girls had been friends since grade school but since about adolescence, Elizabeth felt Sarah had not been a good influence on Cassy. Rhonda was far too permissive and, as a result, Sarah as a young adult was an over-privileged and morally-loose brat. Elizabeth worried that Sarah’s risky behavior was contagious and would lead Cassy into real trouble.

Elizabeth opened the refrigerator to put away the groceries she had purchased and was astonished to see that the bottle of Chardonnay she had opened last night was nearly empty. She had enjoyed just a single glass so there was really only one explanation. She walked into the den, picked-up the remote, turned off the television and chided, “That bottle of wine I opened last night is almost empty. What do you two have to say for yourselves?”

“We didn’t touch your wine,” Sarah lied.

“Cassy! Tell me the truth,” Elizabeth scolded.

Cassy looked very guilty and pleaded, “We just had a little. We’re both eighteen now!”

Elizabeth was livid. Cassy’s push-back seemed like a bratty response inspired by Sarah. “The drinking age is twenty-one, so you’re still underage. This sort of behavior deserves a serious response. Go fetch my hairbrush,” she ordered.

“But mom! Please, no!” Cassy whined. “Not with Sarah here!” Cassy had received plenty of spanking. Growing up, getting her bare bottom spanked, paddled or strapped was a fairly common occurrence. The frequency declined as she got older but the threat was still there. Being an adult by state statute did not preclude trips over her mom’s knee - or worse. Until now, spankings had always been a private event.

“Fiddle-sticks,” Elizabeth countered. “You misbehaved while Sarah was here and you’re going to get spanked while she watches. Now go get the brush or I’ll change my mind and have you retrieve the belt!” In her mom’s hand, the hairbrush delivered a searing punishment but the belt was of another order of pain. Cassy ran sobbing back to her mom’s bedroom and returned a few moments later with the brush. Elizabeth had taken a seat on the sofa and Sarah was wedged into the corner to her right. “Shorts and panties down,” Elizabeth ordered. Cassy looked pleadingly at her mom. “Hurry up or you’re gonna get the belt, too,” Elizabeth threatened.

Cassy unbuttoned her shorts and looked over her left shoulder at Sarah who silently mouthed, ‘Sorry’. Elizabeth guided her daughter over her lap and began to paddle the young woman’s bare cheeks with gusto. The intensity and pace were perhaps most extreme spanking she had ever doled-out and Cassy’s grunts quickly turned into sobs and wails, as she wriggled and writhed with the growing heat in her backside. It took only about a minute for Elizabeth to deliver over one hundred swats and see the beginnings of what would be lasting bruises in her daughter’s bottom. Elizabeth paused and glanced at Sarah. She was not sure whether the expression she saw was fear or excitement - maybe a bit of both. Turning back to the job at-hand, Elizabeth queried, “Are you going to behave yourself and not break house rules or even state laws?”

“Yes, mom,” Cassy wailed. “It won’t happen again!”

Elizabeth delivered five hard successive swats to the right sit spot then a similar volley to the left. “It better not or this is going to seem like a mere warm-up,” Elizabeth scalded and then repeated another flurry of strikes to the tender zones where cheek and thigh meet. Elizabeth prompted her sobbing daughter to stand and looked at Sarah who was staring at her friends colorful cheeks. “This is what happens Cassy misbehaves,” Elizabeth growled. “I have a good mind to put you over my knee and give your bare backside a good blistering, too”

“You can’t spank me! You’re not my mother!” Sarah sniped.

Elizabeth fought the urge to engage and express her opinion that if Rhonda had warmed Sarah’s bottom more, such behavior would not be an issue. She hurried into the kitchen to calm herself. After a few deep breaths, she was thinking more clearly. Yet, she was still frustrated by the lack of consequences that Sarah received when her behavior so urgently demanded a quick and forceful response. After thinking about it for a few more minutes she picked up her phone and tapped an entry in her contacts. “Hey, Rhonda,” Elizabeth began.

A few minutes later, Elizabeth emerged from the kitchen. Cassy was sitting alongside Sarah on the sofa. Cassy had calmed down but face still showed the aftermath of distress and tears. “Your mom is gonna text you,” Elizabeth said to Sarah and then waited just a moment before Sarah phone chimed.

Sarah’s eyes grew wide at the message and Elizabeth prompted her to stand and Cassy to assume the observer position in the corner of the couch. “Shorts and panties down, missy, then over my knee,” Elizabeth instructed feeling a great swell of satisfaction.