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Switching at Cass
Stephen E. Richard
stephenrichard1973 (at) gmail (dot) com

Category: Historical

Brief history: From 1908 to 1960 a logging town had been logging on the mountains above the town and bringing the trees by train down the mountain to the mill. The town was known as Cass. It was famous for its White spruce trees. These same trees were also used in the Wright Brother's flyers. One of which made the flight at Kitty Hawk. This story is based upon a real life event that happened recently there but is set back in the hay day of Cass's logging industry.

She could hear the train whistle as it pulled into the station and knew it meant her papa was soon to be coming home from the logging camp. Normally she would run to the door, down the steps to the gate to meet him at the fence but this time she stayed up in her room.

Her mama had told her she was really naughty today and that she would have to wait for her papa to come home and deal with it. She knew that after his three day work week at the camp site on the mountain that her papa would not be pleased to have to take care her of naughty.

Her papa was met at the gate to their company house by his wife who informed him straight away of his daughter's misdeeds and informed him that she was in her room just off of their bedroom waiting for him to come and deal with it.

His eyes heavy with the long days he had dealt with while at the logging camp knew he needed to deal with his daughter. Walking into the back yard he stopped at the tree and reached up onto one of low hanging limbs to break off a small switch. As he walked toward the back porch breaking off the small leaves from it the irony of the fact he a lumberman was about to use a switch on his daughter was not lost to him.

Walking into the house he started up the steps his heart heavy with having to punish his daughter but with determination to carry out his fatherly duties.

Stepping into her room the switch in his hand where she could see it. She looked up at him with sad eyes, which got even sadder as she saw the switch in her papa's hand and the firm determination of a strong man to punish his daughter.

She knew there was no trying to plead with her papa on this she knew once he had broken the switch off of a tree it was going to get used on her. Not one word was said between the two of them only a nod from him was all that was needed for her to know it was time. With a whimper from her she turned over on the bed onto her tummy and buried her face into her pillow.

Once her night shirt was raised and her panties lowered her father made fast work of making her bottom burn with its striking of her bottom. After a few minutes she felt her papa redress her then pick her up in his arms. He walked down stairs with her and opened up the fireplace door. After breaking up the switch he handed it to her to throw into the fireplace. His way of saying all things were forgiven.  After this act was done. Both father and daughter sit in the rocking chair he had made for them and both slept.
Readers Comments:
Winks:  irishwinks (at) bresnan (dot) net

This is a sweet story.  It kind of reminded me of a spanking scene from "Little House in the Big Woods."  Generally, I enjoy dialog in a story, but this story is complete without it.  It's like a glimpse into a private moment in history.  I could quibble with some minor errors, but they weren't enough to stall the story for me.

And, I absolutely loved the ending.
Steven:  js (at) smilingwithteeth (dot) com

Really, a simple plot of a father coming home from work, being told by his wife that his daughter misbehaved and now it's his job to be the bad guy and punish her.  I'm wondering if papa and mama need to begin with upper case lettering since they do refer to people.  I did see some mistakes in the story, for example, the last sentence of the third paragraph.  Also the first sentence of the fifth paragraph sounds like the papa's eyes have a brain as his eyes knew what he had to do.  That made no sense to me.  I also felt the word "irony" was misplaced here.  I would have liked to have known what the child did in order to merit the spanking.  This story takes place over 50 years ago . Did girls wear "panties" back then? I mean, were they called panties? The last two sentences in the story are also incorrect.  The first sentence is an incomplete thought and the last sentence mixed up present and past tenses.  I didn't feel any great sense of enjoyment reading this, although I didn't dislike it.
Alex:  alexbirch (at) blueyonder (dot) co (dot) uk

I have a liking for historical stories in general and the setting of this one had a lot of promise. As it turned out though the historical context was almost irrelevant and it turned into a father/daughter spanking story which could have been based in any year really. It was nice enough but nothing that made me sit up and really get excited. There are a few grammatical glitches that don't help either . In the second paragraph the last line reads 'her papa would not be pleased to have to take care her of naughty.' That kind of thing spoils any story. The loving relationship between father and daughter was nicely brought out and that was a definite plus.  I'm not sure that, given the time this is supposed to be set, the young lady would be wearing 'panties' but that's a bit picky.  Pleasant and warm but nothing out of the ordinary.
Hal:  janhaltn (at) gmail (dot) com

I remember the old days when we lived close enough to the train tracks to hear the whistle as the train came roaring through our small town.  In my house,  Grandmother would punish you and then when Grandpa got home you got it a second time.   Yes, I grew up with my Grand parents.  This story was enjoyable and easy to read. It had a good flow to it. The construction of this story was a good use of the number of words they writer used.  I look forward to reading more stories by this writer.