Review by Sgt. Major Kane
For too long in the background, Bellington’s excellent Secretary, Miss West, finally and firmly gets to grips with her role (and Catherine!) in She’s Sorry Now.
Having been given authority by Miss Svenson to deliver unto our cheeky Catherine severe punishment, Miss West displays all the skills, guile and glee that one would expect of a loyal Bellington staff member.
What has Catherine done to deserve all of this?
She’s belittled our embattled secretary, that’s what. Laughed at Miss West. And, like you, I instantly say ‘how dare she’!
But Catherine’s attitude is not surprising given that (up to now) she knew very well that Miss West had not the authority to dish out some discipline.
Well, thankfully, all that’s changed!
Miss Svenson has given Miss West carte blanche to wield the slipper, the strap AND the cane as young Catherine and her smarting backside are about to painfully discover.
And that, readers, as you well know, is just how it jolly well should be.
Is Catherine sorry? To begin with she couldn’t care less. An attitude borne of slack, indulgent parenting no doubt. A common, modern problem among the youth of today.
Miss West may well be a novice at chastising the senior girls but she shows herself skilled in the finer arts of punishment.
She’s firm but fair. Very firm where needed but not completely fair. But that’s no criticism.
A very firm over the lap spanking to begin with. Miss West makes sure that all four globes of Catherine’s backside and legs are given equal attention. That’s what we like to see. No half-hearted slaps with Miss West! Just a series of painful smacks with palm and ‘shoe’ so that Catherine knows who is now in charge.
In the second part of the story she tells Catherine quite clearly that if Catherine makes any more noise while the spanking is taking place that she’s to fetch the strap.
And sure enough, Miss West is true to her word! Miss Svenson would be proud! After all, what is the point of being a disciplinarian if your word is not final?
By the third part of her punishment Catherine is well her on way to utter compliance. We find her already positioned in the basement dormitory ‘truly thankful for what she is about to receive’.
There we find our once proud, cock-sure Catherine in the most ridiculous position; naked bottom up in the air, marked and reddened from her recent chastisement, head down and pyjama bottoms pulled down half-mast.
Into the room comes our heroine. Not with a cape flowing behind her. But a simple hard hairbrush in her hands. She takes her time to examine her prey.
Catherine is a bit slow to pick up on the significance of the waiting game that Miss West is playing on her.
Not the sharpest tool in the box is our Catherine!
‘I’m already in positon!’ she offers hopefully, having studied the ‘bleedin’ obvious’ for A Level. Yes, Catherine we can all see that, my dear. But that’s not Miss West’s reason for the delay.
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‘I just wanted you to see what I’ve brought you, Catherine’ Miss West says, happy to show the slow miscreant one of the tools of her trade.
‘I think we’ll have you on your back’, says Miss West to Catherine. Most viewers would have the same thought, but Miss West’s motives are not carnal, they are pure and simple.
With hair brush in hand she is intent on delivering the hardest, sharpest punishment with the most embarrassment one can visit on a young girl who simply needs to be taught a hard lesson.
Can we see the delicate folds of Catherine’s sex between her up turned legs? Of course we can.
But the object of Miss West’s attention is on the smooth, reddened cheeks of Catherine’s backside. On the backs of her fully-exposed thighs. On that tantalising sweet spot between cheek and thigh that all disciplinarians so love to focus their attention and implements on.
For that is the place on a young girl’s body where lessons are truly learnt.
She keeps Catherine in position. Utters contempt for the poor girl when she starts crying out.
We can sympathise with Miss West. She has hardly done anything when Catherine starts whining and moaning. But what do you expect?
At home Catherine, no doubt, bleats and her parents yield and comply.
At Bellington, such tactics are pointless.
Miss West is right of course. One must ignore and treat those crocodile tears with disdain. One must remain focused and arrow in on the task in hand.
Otherwise, it’s more indulgence, and more attitude from Catherine. No! We can’t have that.
What a disciplinarian must do is to remain committed to doing what needs to be done.
And Miss West is a perfect disciplinarian. Catherine is going to get it, hell or high water.
Does Miss West enjoy hairbrushing Catherine. Yes, she does. Should she? Of course!
She toys with her prey. The hairbrush hovers over cheek before splatting down from cheek to cheek, Catherine not knowing exactly when each beautiful, stinging smack is going to be delivered.
But that is how it should be. It’s for Miss West to decide how and when the punishment should be handed out. Catherine’s point of view doesn’t come into it.
Miss West is clearly an artist, dispassionately expressing herself on Catherine’s upturned bottom.
A painter on a pink canvas. But she has a hairbrush not a paint brush. And there we have a picture in process, until she retires, her picture showing red from each cheek down the backs of each leg.
Is Miss West finished? No. She’s in need of a break now. To rest her mind and give Catherine some time to consider her errant ways.
The following day, Miss West summons Catherine to one of the staff rooms.
‘It’s nearly over’ crows Miss West in the final instalment of our story.
One can hardly hear her as she whispers ‘just the cane’ to Catherine, but her glee is delivered in spades as she raises the crooked stick to show the girl just what is to come.
‘You looking forward to the cane?’ asks Miss West. It’s a genuine question.
One is always interested … to a degree … in finding out what the recipient is thinking in those crucial, final moments.
Catherine mumbles some half-hearted, pointless appeal for clemency.
But it’s delivered without conviction or much hope.
Miss West isn’t much interested in notions of mercy for that matter.
What she is interested in is receiving an answer to the question she’s just asked.
Is Catherine looking forward to getting the cane across her bare bum?
No?! Oh well, shame that. Because Miss West is!
Miss West draws out a delightfully long ‘Okay’ to notify that the partial discussion is now at an end.
Time for action.
‘Get in position’ she whispers, finding it impossible to conceal her smile.
Catherine, resigned to defeat, to subjection and submission duly does as ordered.
No point arguing, or chatting back.
Caning Catherine is not the be all and end all for Miss West. Of course she enjoys this as much as the hairbrushing.
But what Miss West really wants, and what she has really set her heart on (and who can blame her?) is delivering a caning so firm that tram lines are displayed on Catherine’s bottom.
Can it be achieved with the stick she’s got? No, strangely.
A new harder, larger, thicker stick is required.
Catherine lifts herself from the desk when notified that a new implement is required.
‘Down’ barks Miss West.
And the joy with which she tells Catherine of her artistic triumph in delivering those tram lines.
You cannot feel but congratulations should be visited on our Miss West.
She’s set herself a target. Delivered that intended outcome. And is so relieved and pleased with herself that one feels genuinely happy for her.
A bonus in her monthly pay packet? A card from the headmistress? Who knows what present accompanied the achievement.
No longer just some overlooked Secretary.
Now a force to be reckoned with at one of the finest establishments in England.
As for Catherine? Once cocky and full of herself. Now just some girl, knickers down, red bottom facing the room, standing with her hands on her head in the corner. Right in the corner. Where we can all see her. And no moving until Miss West gets back. Otherwise …
