The Strange Healing (20 page)

Now Sara screamed.  The only thing she saw was the gun, and it looked huge.  Heath went to her, pulling her into his arms, and Phil quickly assessed the situation and put his gun away.  He took a trembling Heather in his arms and asked, “Are you okay?  What happened; why did you scream?”

Heather got out a shaky explanation.  “We were cooking and I turned around and saw a man standing there and screamed, before I saw that it was Heath.”  She turned to him and said, “Why did you do that?  You scared me half to death.”

Heath said, “You two scared me half to death when you didn't answer my knock on the door.  Then I tried the front door and was terrified when it was open.  I was afraid something was wrong.”  Looking at Sara, he asked, “Why was the front door unlocked?”

Sara, who was still shaking, said, “I never locked my front door at home during the day.  You lock it at night before you go to bed, but who locks it during the day?”

Heath quickly assured her, “You do.”  When she looked confused, he said, “Sara, if you don't lock your door anyone could walk in.  You saw how Heather reacted when she saw me standing there.  What would you have done if I would have been someone else, some man you don't know standing there in your kitchen doorway?”

“
Why would someone walk into someone else's house?”  He could tell by the look on her face that she just answered her own question in her mind.  “Oh.  Maybe you're right.”

“
I know I'm right, Sara.  From now on I want you to keep your door locked all the time.  Do you understand?”

She didn't argue, but answered, “Yes.”  Looking at him she added, “I'm sorry, Heath.  I never thought of locking the door before, but I see your point.”

“Good.”  He kissed her forehead before saying, “You've been warned now, Honey.  If I find your door unlocked again there will be consequences.”  He didn't say anything else.  He didn't have to.  He knew she got his message, and he didn't see a need to dwell on it.  Instead, he attempted to lighten the tension and said, “Something smells delicious.”

Phil quickly agreed.  “I
agree.  Please tell me that's something we get to eat and not some candles or air freshener.”

That comment worked perfectly, and they all laughed and quickly fell into lively conversation.  Heath was impressed with the minor changes to the condo, and proud of the girls when he learned they had taken pictures to
ensure everything would be returned to their proper places.

Heath stayed a little while after Phil and Heather went home.  When he was getting ready to go home he took her face in his hands and said, “Now, remember, Honey, if anything bothers you tonight I expect you to call me.  I'm just one floor up, so I can be here quickly.  There's no reason for you to be alone.”

“I know, Heath, and thank you.  But I think I'll be fine.  I feel so much better after last night, I really don't think anything will happen.”

“
To be honest, I think, too, you'll be fine.  But just in case, I want to be sure you understand.”  He kissed her good night and went up a floor, glad she was living closer to him, and thinking again how nice it would be to be married and have her living in his home, and his bed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Heath and Sara grew closer over the next several weeks, as did Sara and Heather.  Phil and Heath kept a close eye on their girls, and they both thrived.  They both managed to get themselves into trouble from time to time, but not for anything major. 

Heath had found it necessary to spank Sara a couple times, once when her door was again unlocked, and once when her attitude had gotten out of hand and she had a temper tantrum.  He was happy that she accepted the spanking for her front door without too much fuss, and so far it had been effective.  Her door had always been locked from that time on.

Her reaction to the other spanking, though, got him thinking.  She had been a bit moody on occasion, if something had happened during the day, or she was having difficulty illustrating a certain book, but nothing he would consider out of the ordinary or problematic.  Certainly nothing he'd had to address.  But on this day she'd been snappy with him from the moment she opened her door to let him in.  He asked if something was wrong, but she'd denied any problems.  As the evening went on it seemed to him she was beginning to spiral out of control.  He wondered if she was getting sick, or if it was a female problem, which would resolve itself in a day or two, and was more lenient than normal.

Finally, after she sassed him for the second time, having been warned after the first, he took her over his knee for a spanking.  Although she squirmed and wriggled, and yelled and hollered, she really wasn't protesting as much as he expected.  In fact, she seemed a bit relieved.  He continued the spanking longer than he had before, and spanked a bit harder than he had in the past, because she was acting like she needed it.  When he finally pulled her up onto his lap, she cuddled into him so tightly it worried him a bit.

They talked about everything and nothing, afterward.  In his very personal, yet psychiatric way he had with her, he came to the conclusion that she was testing him in a way.  She liked the concept of him caring enough to watch over her and not let her life get out of control.  When he was afraid the problem was physical and tried to be lenient, she thought he wasn't there when she needed him.  So his spanking her was actually a relief to her because it proved he was there, and he was definitely still in charge.  And the fact it was longer and harder simply reinforced that fact, which was what she needed at that time. 

It became obvious to him as they talked that, although she
might not recognize it, she needed to feel his leadership and needed to know he was there watching out for her.  Now that he was aware of this, he watched her carefully over the next few weeks, and her reactions to his correction.  He found that although she needed to know he was there, she didn't necessarily need a full punishment spanking.  What he and Phil referred to as a 'quick six' worked nicely. 

A quick six
consisted of six quick but firm swats over top of her skirt or jeans.  It got her attention when he couldn't get her to focus, and worked well as a warning, sort of a precursor of what to expect if her behavior didn't change.  It was quick – he didn't take the time to lower her jeans – and it didn't involve a lecture, as he limited it to one meaningful sentence, but he always took the time to take her in his arms afterward for a hug.  It proved to be very effective.

She still earned, and received, a full spanking from time to time, but once he added the quick six to his discipline options, he noticed a subtle change in her.  She excelled at work, getting her work done quicker and with lots of compliments from her employer and the authors.  She didn't seem to test him any more, and seemed happier, smiling more.

One habit she had that was driving Heath crazy was her eating habits.  She was an excellent cook and made wonderful meals for the two of them or four of them, but if she was eating alone she generally either ate junk food or skipped the meal altogether.  He'd given her a quick six, telling her the next time she'd be over his lap. 

Less than a week later they were watching a movie on his sofa after dinner.  During a commercial he casually asked, “Are you feeling okay, Sweetie?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.  Why?”

“
You didn't eat much for dinner.”

She appreciated that he noticed little things like that, but she assured him, “I'm fine.  I just wasn't very hungry.”

“Did you have a big lunch?”

Without thinking she said, “No, I'm just not hungry.”

Looking at her suspiciously, he asked, “What did you have for lunch?”

Now she realized she was in a bad place.  He'd given her a quick six about an hour ago, and although
it didn't hurt as much as a punishment spanking, it still hurt.  She didn't cherish the thought of a punishment on top of it, and she knew that was what she'd get if he knew she skipped lunch.  So she lied and said, “A peanut butter sandwich.”

He looked at her, instantly on alert.  She'd told him one time she was not a fan of peanut butter.  He thought about it a little while before saying, “I haven't had any peanut butter in
a while.  Do you have the smooth or crunchy?”

He noticed the slight pause before she said, “Crunchy.”

“Really?  I always had smooth.  When we go back to your place can I have a taste to see how crunchy it is?”

Again a pause before she began, “Well, actually, it's em
–”

“
Sara, wait a minute.  Before you say anything else, I want you to stop and think.  In a minute I'm going to ask you again what you had for lunch.  Before you answer, think about something.  If you had junk food and you tell me that, I'm not going to lie to you, you'll get spanked.  But if you had junk food and you tell me again that you had peanut butter, I'll check on your story.  If you tell me it's empty, I'll be checking the wastebasket for the empty container.  Or I might just make you look me in the eye and tell me again that you had peanut butter.  I don't think you can look me in the eyes and lie to me.  I hope you can't.”

He saw her drop her head.  He reached over and pulled her chin up gently so she was looking at him, and asked again, “What did you have for lunch, Sara?”

She started crying, and quietly said, “Nothing.  I'm sorry, Heath.”

He was quiet for several moments.  “You didn't eat anything?”

She shook her head.  “I got busy working and didn't even think about it.  I never got hungry.”

“
Why did you lie to me, Sara?”

She was still crying as she said, “I'm not sure exactly.  I'm a little sore already, and I know I'll be real sore if you spank me.  But to be honest, I don't think that's why.  I just don't know.” 

She looked at him with such sad eyes he just wanted to take her in his arms.  He knew he needed some answers, though, so he asked, “Are you afraid of me, Honey?”

She quickly answered, “No.  I'm not afraid of you, and I'm not afraid of being spanked.  I mean, it really hurts, and I know that, but I also know I'll live through it and I'll feel better afterwards.”  Crying again, she said, “I don't know why I said that.  I'm so sorry.”

Heath was concerned about this little lady he was so fond of, and studied her a bit.  She was full of guilt, but he knew how to cure that.  What concerned him was why she felt compelled to lie to him.  He was also concerned about her appetite.  Sara was a small lady with a small appetite, but she ate next to nothing for dinner.  Hearing that she ate no lunch was not a good thing.

Heath knew his little Sara didn't function well when she was filled with guilt, so he decided that had to be dealt with first.  Then maybe he could find out what the underlying problem was.

“Sara, we've got a couple issues to deal with here, and I think you know that, don't you?”

“
Yes.”

“
Okay.  Let's get this done, then we'll talk a little bit.”  Helping her up, he said, “Let's get your pants down, Honey.”  She stood up in front of him with a dejected look on her face, but let him unfasten her jeans.  He directed her over his knee and wasted no time getting her situated, and started the spanking.  As usual, he gave her ten or twelve swats before he started talking.  That always got her focused on what he was about to say.

“
Sara, let's talk about your lunch first.  We've talked about this before, have we not?”

“
Yes.”

“
And you've gotten a quick six for only eating junk food for lunch, or skipping it altogether, as well, have you not?”

“
Yes.”

“
Sara, you don't eat much normally.  That's okay, as long as you eat healthy.  If you eat nothing but junk food, or skip lunch altogether, your body doesn't have the energy it needs.  If you keep pushing your body without giving it the food it needs, you increase your chances of getting sick.  I'm not telling you to eat healthy for no reason, Honey.”

Sara was crying now, which wasn't too unusual.  At this point she was usually crying, and he was sure it was more from his words than the spanking.  What was a little disconcerting, however, was how much she seemed to be struggling with the spanking today.  She was doing more squirming than usual, and he had the impression she was genuinely trying to get away this time.  Unusual. 

He paused a moment to say, “Okay, Sara, do you understand now why it's important that you eat better?”

“
Yes.  I'm sorry.”

“
Okay.  Now we have to discuss something that really bothers me, and that's the fact that you lied to me.” 

She slumped over his knee, crying.  “I'm so sorry, Heath.  I don't know why I did that.”

“I don't, either, Honey, but that's something that definitely has consequences, and we're going to take care of that right now." And he did just that.  Although Heath was sure she was feeling them, the swats weren't particularly harsh, because of her reaction.  She was reacting as if this were the worst spanking she'd ever had.  She was fighting it tooth and nail, yelling loudly, and struggling to catch her breath. 

That difficulty getting her breath caused him to stop the spanking momentarily.  He kept his hand on her bottom, and when she was breathing semi normally again, he asked, “Sara, what's going on today?”