Grounded

"Girls that age think they know it all," Nancy agreed. "Sugar and spice and a fair dose of vice. They drive boys crazy, they drive their teachers crazy and they drive parents crazy. I know that this doesn't help much, but they do grow out of it, and in a couple of years you'll go from being a complete idiot in their eyes, to a 'normal' human being."

"But what am I going to do now! She *is* driving me crazy!"

'What have you tried in the area of 'behavior modification?'"

Ellen looked at her sister with a blank stare.

"Don't you do anything to discourage her bad habits?"

"Well, I ground her, but that doesn't do any good. She ignores me. She doesn't pay attention to anything I say."

"She's just trying to assert her independence," Nancy concluded. "My specialty is child psychology. This is very typical behavior … for a three-year old. Adolescents have this regression phase, but don't try to tell *them* that they are acting like a child."

Ellen actually laughed, "I made that mistake last week. It sent Ann off on a shrieking streak. She was slamming doors and sulking around the house for hours."

Nancy nodded. She was reverting into her psychiatrist mode, "Haven't you seen that behavior before?"

"What do you mean? Until recently, Ann has been a good girl and a great daughter."

"I'm not talking about recent history. Run the clock back a decade and a half. I seem to recall a little Ann screaming and stomping her feet when she couldn't get her way as a toddler."

Ellen put her hands to her face to hide the sudden realization. "Oh my God. You're right. I've forgotten what a brat she used to be."

"She grew out of it then. She'll grow out of it now, but you'll have to provide the right 'motivation' for her to come around.

"Motivation?"

"Yes, motivation. Do you remember what you used to do to Ann when she acted out?"

"Of course I do. I took her over my knee and gave her a good walloping. I can't do that now. She's a high school senior. She's too big to get a spanking."

"Too big, physically, yes. But psychologically, she's still a little girl. She has primitive emotions, and you have to deal with them on a primitive level."

"I don't think I can do it. She wouldn't take me seriously."

"Then let me do it."

"What makes you think she'll get over your lap willingly?"

"Willingly or not, she'll go over when she deserves it. I practice my martial arts three times a week. I can take her down without hurting her."

Just then, a throbbing, usually associated with the approach of a distant thunderstorm was felt in the house. It wasn't a thunderstorm; it was too frequent. It became louder quickly and soon centered in the driveway in front of Ellen's house. Thus announced the arrival of her daughter and her friends.

The volume of the music, as Ellen supposed her daughter called the cacophony blaring from the 600-megawatt amplifier, was enough to annoy her neighbors for a quarter mile in every direction from her house. The lyrics would offend a longshoreman.

Ellen looked out in time to see her scantily-clothed daughter give her boyfriend-du-jour a goodbye kiss. She was sure her daughter knew if he ever had his tonsils out.

Ann, came in the house and threw her purse on the couch. "Hi Ellen, when's supper. I got to go out tonight." she said to her mother, and then noticed that there was company. "Oh hi, Aunt Nancy," she said in politer tones. "I didn't know you were over."

"Good afternoon, ANN," her aunt responded in icy tones.

"Looks like somebody isn't getting any," Ann shot back.

Nancy merely flicked an eyebrow and locked her gaze on her niece. It was the same kind of gaze a cat gives a mouse when its only thought is "prey."

Ellen was more vocal, "Ann! That was crude. Apologize to your aunt right now!"

"Lighten up, Ellen. I didn't mean anything by it."

Nancy quietly said, "It's OK. I don't take offense if she demonstrates the hostility she harbors for herself against me."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Ann responded.

Ellen merely turned red. Whether it was out of shame for her daughter's behavior, or out of her anger, Nancy didn't know.

"If you had any respect for yourself at all, you wouldn't treat yourself like this. You wouldn't dress like this?"

"Oh," Ann said huffily, "now you're going to get on my case like Ellen over my clothes. I'll have you know that these are the latest, and everybody's wearing them. I'm not going to wear that Mary Poppins shit Ellen buys."

"And you wear them to impress your friends and gain their acceptance. What would happen if you wore the 'Mary Poppins shit' your mother buys for you?"

"You got to be shitting me," was Ann's only rebuttal.

"Do your friends like you, or do they like your clothes? Would they like you just the same no matter what you wore, or are you forced to wear the uniform they tell you to wear? What about you? Do they like you for being you, or do they only like you when you sacrifice your self worth to please them?"

"I don't have to put up with these lectures," Ann said. She turned on her heel, grabbed her purse, and slammed the door on her way out.

"Well, that was certainly pleasant," Ellen intoned sarcastically.

Nancy comforted her, "Actually, it was a hopeful sign. She is concerned about her well-being, or she would have shrugged me off with a 'whatever.' Your daughter's anger at me is a sign that she hasn't given up on herself."

"Besides, there is some good in this for you too," Nancy laughed. "While she's busy being angry at me, she won't have time to be angry with you. I'll be the lightening rod and take her hits. I'll play bad cop. You can be good cop."

Nancy was still there at 1 AM when Ann finally returned.

Ann was startled, so much so that she actually reverted to civility, "Oh, you guys are still up?"

"Ann, we have to talk," Ellen said.

"About what?" Ann asked harshly, "It's been like a million years since you were my age. You don't know nothing about me or my friends."

"Ann, I'm concerned about you."

"Then get off my ass!"

"An interesting choice of words," Nancy interjected.

"And just what the fuck are you still doing here?" Ann demanded. "This is none of your fucking business. Nobody invited you to this party. I don't recall asking for comments from the cheap seats."

Nancy flickered her eyebrow again.

"Ann, please treat your aunt with respect."

"Why should I? She the one pushing her big nose into my business. I hate her. I hate you."

Ann turned on her heel again to grab her purse and head for the door.

Nancy grabbed her wrist. The next thing Ann knew, she was kneeling on the floor with it bent back at an unnatural angle.

"OW, stop that, you're hurting me!" Ann complained.

"No, I'm not. If you stay still, it won't hurt at all. You are the one who is hurting herself in more ways than one."

"Mom, make her stop!"

"Mom!" Ellen thought, "That's the first time she called me that in ages."

"I'm sorry, Ann. I do love you. Your aunt and I have discussed this. You are a brilliant girl with a lot of potential, but you're putting your energy on the wrong path. Your aunt has offered to help me get you to apply your talents more positively."

Ann gave her mother a puzzled and angry stare.

"Fuck you!" was the only response Ann could think of. "Fuck the both of you. It would do both of you bitches a lot of good."

"OW!" was her next utterance.

"Come this way," Aunt Nancy urged, "Work with me and it won't hurt. Work against me and it will hurt. The choice is yours."

Nancy led Ann to the living room and the two of them flopped onto the couch in unison with Ann landing across her aunt's lap.

"What are you going to do," Ann asked with just a slight tremble in her voice.

"Something you've deserved for quite a while," her aunt answered.

The light went on in the girl's mind. "Oh, you have got to be shitting me. I'm too old for a spanking."

Up went the back of her skirt. "I can't believe you're doing this to me."

Down went her panties. "Don't hurt me."

Up went her aunt's arm. "No permanent damage will be done," Nancy assured.

Down went her aunt's arm.

"Owwww!"

"That's one."

"I hate you," Ann said amidst her first tear.

"We've been there before," her aunt said calmly.

The second spank landed, "Owww!"

"Don't do this. Stop!" a fearful Ann pleaded.

Her aunt's response was another spank.

"You will behave, or your friends will find out about this," her mother interjected.

"Owww! You wouldn't dare"

"Do you want to try me?"

"Ow! No!"

Ann was breathing heavily, and sobbing too much to continue the conversation.

Finally, her aunt was finished with her.

"Now, up with you. I want you to stand in the corner with your hands on your head until I tell you that you can come out."

Ann rose and shot her aunt a venomous look, but meekly marched herself to the corner and obeyed.

-=o=-

Nancy called Ellen the next afternoon. "So how did it go last night?"

"Ann was rather subdued. She came down this morning as if nothing had happened, or at least she tried to act as if nothing had happened; until I looked at her in her outfit sharply. She blushed and said, 'I think I better get dressed for school.' I isn't much, but it's a start."

"She'll come around. It's difficult for a young girl to admit defeat. You'll have to let her 'save face' somehow. Give her some concessions in the small things, but let her know that you're in charge and will step in if she gets out of hand."

Ellen laughed, "Out of a maternal spanking hand, you mean. I saw how gingerly she sat at breakfast this morning. You have got to teach me that trick of yours."

"I will, Ellen. I will."