At the mall/Page4

At the Mall
(Page 4 ) ---

Kimberly really hadn't understood what she was getting herself into when she asked for her Caster Oil Flavoured sorbet. She'd picked it and it had been a treat so it was her own fault. The first taste nearly had her spitting it out but after screwing up her face and squeezing her eyes shut she manages to swallow it.

"Stupid!" Kimberly thinks as she takes another mouthful, "Oh sure Kimbers, ask for something off the Penni menu that you don't know about. Oh boy was THAT ever a dumb move girl!" She's careful to keeps these thoughts to herself though.

Since Julia bought it for her as a treat Kimberly makes a monumental will to finish it without too much fuss and is very polite when thinking her for the treat. She very carefully does not call it a "nice" treat, just in case her Mommy gets any funny ides. Mitchel laughs as Kimberly takes a taste of the ice-cream and makes a face. "You had to pick the worse one on the list, didn't you?"

Castor oil is a vegetable oil base high in all the essential vitamins and minerals. It tastes like a cross between olives and burnt toffee. They used to give it to kids to ward off colds but the taste of it in it's raw form is awful. Of course these are meant to be treats so it will only lightly have that flavour and still be edible but definitely it's the nastiest item on the menu.

"All the stuff on the Penni menu is meant to be bland, but you had to choose the ickiest of them!" Mitchel looks up to Julia with a laugh - "Perhaps if she gets through the day well behaved we can allow her something off the normal menu? It's more expensive but ..." Julia seams to think about it, responding with a half-certain "Maybe"

Having done that, still eating the ice-cream, Julia led her daughter to a holo-vid store and let her browse while she orders some stuff, then downstairs to the 'non-penni' section of the store. As soon as they had gone into the Holovid store Julia and Mitchel had gone to the main counter. "As a part of my Kimberly starting Penni school" she was telling the store clerk, "We've been told to order the up to date holovids on behaviour -" Julia fumbles through her bags for a list and shos it to the clerk, Mitchel also speaking up and stating he wanted to get one of the latest anime using his allowance and wondered off into the isles to get it. During this time as they tried to organise themselves Julia lost track of her daughter just for a moment, when she looked around she couldn't see Kimberly anywhere.

In the holo-vid store Kimberly looks through the chips. She knew she hadn't been good enough to earn one, even ones on sale, but it was fun to look. She's just spotted an interactive adventure chip when a loud voice demands, "Move it penni!" and she's roughly shoved aside. Totally surprised by the attack, Kimbers staggers and falls, landing on her side. Looking up she see three older girls, all of them with a silver V on their hands. "Where's your parents penni?"

Kimberly looks around and for a heart stopping instant doesn't see either Julia or Mitchel. Scrambling to her feet she looks around. "Um... I'll just go find them." Feeling really worried now Kimberly moves down the aisle and then spots Mitchel looking at something.

It's not Julia but he was definitely older then those three girls. Quickly she moves down to where he is and stands close beside him, almost pressing against him for protection. She'd just stay close and wait for Julia to take her down stairs clothes shopping?s. "I won't mention the girls, I'd catch it for sure!" Kimberly thinks.

"Kimberly?" She called, "Where have you run off to?"

Mitchel wasn't listening to his surroundings properly and so didn't know when Kimberly was approached by the three volunteer girls - when Kimberly silently sidled up to him and virtually cuddles into him it caught him by surprise - but a pleasant one. Putting an arm around the young penni, Mitchel smiled. "Oh there ya are ma luv." he smiles down at Kimberly, "Whets with that expression your wearing?" Mitchel looks up to see the three voluntaris - one of them using the earphones to listen to something where Kimberly had been standing, and another blatantly poking her tongue out at Kimberly and making a face.

"Oh I see - thats how it is, is it?"

She follows Mitchel's look and ehr stomach drops. "I don't want any trouble," she thinks to herself Chewing her bottom lip a little she says, "Mit-Uncle Mitchel it's okay." She shrugs, "I was in their way. I shoulda stayed with Mommy and I didn't." She hangs her head and mutters, "I seem to be stumbling from one naughty moment to the next today."

she thinks about the day so far and to her it did seem like one long string of naughty behaviour. First the spinach flavoured oatmeal, disgusting stuff that. Then she asks her uncle to spank her when she should know he isn't allowed. And then, when Julia comes in she tries to cover for him.

Then at the outfitters not only did she make a scene with that chair but even worse, to her despite her mommy's reassuring her, she'd broke position!

"Now this," Kimberly thinks moodily while trying to ignore the older girls. Allow she says, "I wondered away from Mommy when I know for sure I shouldn't have." Looking up at Mitchel she asks, "Would you take me back to Mommy please? She's busy enough as it is without having to come look for me."

Looking back to the young Kimberly he questions her, "Did you wanna use that hun, cause they might have precedence ova you but I can over-rule them." he instructs, "Did ya have anythin ya wanted to be listening to?"

Kimberly shifts uneasily. After chewing on her bottom lip for a moment she answers, "There's a new interactive adventure chip out. I was gonna look at... I know I can't ask for it but it looked interstin'." She shuffles and admits, "And they did push me." She glances up and sees the one who had talked to her smirking now. Looking back up at Mitchel she nearly whispers, "They did push me... I fell down."

Giving her head a hard shake she says, "B-but I didn't ask Mommy if I could go look." a tiny hint of panic creeps into ehr eyes, "Oh I bet I get the cane for this!" She looks around, as if trying to see where hre mother is. "I need to find her." she gives her uncle a pleading look. "Please Uncle Mitchel, I don't want Mommy to get mad at you because my brains taken a vacation."

Taking the young girl's hand, Mitchell nods and drags Kimberly back towards the voluntaris, "Hoi, you three." The way he walks up to them could almost be described as wading. "We were using that booth, where do you get off pushing ma girl out!" Walking right in amongst them Mitchell glares at the girl with the earphones on her head and stops the playback. "You girls are done here I think - Kimbers gets to use this now!" Kimbers' eyes flew wide as her uncle suddenly decided to confront the three girls. She felt herself blushing and let out a little whimper as she found herself face to face with the groups lead. She let ehr gaze drop to the ground, hoping this would all blow over and her Mommy woudl arive.

"Says who?" demands the one who'd been sticking ehr tongue out.

The leader bent down and asked in a sickeningly sweet voice, "Oooo. .. is your boyfriend gonna stick up for ya?" Kimbers head came up, her entire body stiffened. "Did I make the penni..." the Voluntaras never got the chance to finish, Kimberly drove her tiny fist right into the bully's nose. The 6yo might not have been very strong but she put all her fury and embarrassment behind it.

"HE'S MY UNCLE YOU BUTT KISSER!" Kimberly shouted.

The leader staggered back clutching her nose and staring first at Kimberly and then Mitchel. "Come on," said the third member of their group while gripping the leaders arm, "You don't want to get kicked out of here like the last store." she said to Mitchel, "We'll just be going now." With that she grabbed her other friend and started dragging them down the ailse.

Kimberly, her anger fleeing as quickly as it had come turned and clung to Mitchel while bursting into tears. "After the swing, and not acting quickly enough, Mitch grabs Kimberly by the wrist and gives her a reproachful look - struggling to hold the six year old back and saying on no uncertain terms "Kimberly, Stop Now!" then turning back and He actually had to stop the punched voluntaris too - grabbing the other girl's wrist and making absolutely clear that the 'C' on the back of his hand was visible to her. "You don't know what you're letting yourself in for." He told the girls; that made her stop, her friends made her leave.

Mitchel turned to Kimberly once the girls were gone, staring at the distraught little girl and thinking over what just happened. "I coulda likely done that better." He observes with an afterthought - then gets down on his knees, kneeling so that he is face-to-face with Kimberly, placing one hand on either side of her head and holding her head to his so their foreheads were touching.

He breathed a sigh and started talking.

"Kimberly, dear little Kimberly. There are jerks out there like that, people who will flaunt their position over others, flaunt their status and put you down. You're a Penni, and that is to be expected. But when you find someone like those three, someone who is clearly trying to bait you - it only proves them right if you lash out like that!" He separates their foreheads and smoothes the girl's hair.

"You are a Penni - that means you have to be better than them. Other classes of children dont know right from wrong like we do - your being taught right from wrong on the seat of your pants and you ARE better than them! You CAN be better than them! What you did just now was wrong, very wrong, and while you had the right to use that device you shouldn't have lowered yourself to their level."

Mitchel sighed, taking the little girl's hands and getting back to his feet. "I'll probably have to tell your mother about this." he frowned, looking around. Julia was still at the counter, if she had heard or seen any of this she wasn't letting on. "Hopefully this wont come back to bite us in the bum!"

And with that he led the young girl back to her mother. Kimberly knew that her uncle was disappointed in her. the fact that he ahd expressed it so gently, showing tht he still cared about her, made that disappointment hurt worse then any spanking� she'd gotten from him.

The mention of him having to tell Julai made the sorbet in her tummy congeal into a iron lump. She knew she was in for it for wandering off without permission. But to get into a brawl? "I should be better then them," Kimberly things as she's let back towards Julia, "Uncle Mitchel is right about that. I should know better then that." She can't help but wince at his last remark.

"Yeah," she says to him, "I hope it doesn't bite us in the bum either..."� Not bothering to brush her hair back the way she liked it Kimberly stuck close to Mitch and tried to put on a brave face as they arrived at the counter where Julia is. "I wonder what Mommy is going to say?" the 6yo thinks. When Mitchel and julia get back to the counter, Julia is organising the chips that she'd ordered and putting them into her back, the man at the counter is whistling and Julia gives the two youths a funny look. Somehow this becomes one of the rare occasions where Mitchel starts looking blatantly uncomfortable. "I see we're all ready?" he says with a half laugh, "We should probably head off to the next section now." Julia looks at the older boy with a pinning stare; "Weren?t you going to get a holovid?" She enquired. A light went on in Mitchel's eyes and he scratched tha back of his head.

"Um, yeah... That can wait till another time. I don't need the chip right now!" Mitchel gives Kimberly a little shove. "We should head off. I have something we should probably talk about and it would be better if we're sitting down." Mitchel leeds the way with Julia bringing up the rear and they head back into the courtyard.

Julia sits herself on a bench with grace and Mitchel hums and hars before coming out with anything. "Maam, I got into a fight with some girls picking on Kimberly." he fesses, "one of them got a little bit of a blood nose but well. None of them were really hurt and they were picking on her. Maam - I felt it right defending her." Mitchel looks at his feet

Kimbers nervously follows Mitchel adn Julia out of the store. her left hand creeps up and starts playing with her hair. As Mtichel hems and hurs around, her stomach twists into a knot. The little girl wants to hide form Julia's disapproval but her uncle had been right, she could be better then those three girls. "Facing the consequences of my actions is the right thing to do!" Kimberly thinks so stands there as calmly as she can though she still doesn't manage to stop form chewing her bottom lip.

When Mitchel starts explaining Kimberly feels a bolt of surprise running through her. "They didn't ask me to give them the chip Mommy or anything. They pushed me down and called me a dirty penni." Kimberly shuffles her feet, "I-I know I shoulda stayed with you but I thought before you said I could go look at the holovid chips and that's why I didn't and I'm sorry." She peeks through her lashes at Julia. She felt wrong about not being totally truthful but she wasn't about to squeal on Mitchel either. "Oh I hope Mommy buys this..." Kimberly thinks.

Julia pursed her lips as she looked at the little penni and not so little completus in front of her. "You know I say the girl whose nose got bloodied." Julia prompts, seeing if anyone will change their story.

Julia stared at the two, in truth she knew exactly what had happened but had Mitchel not stepped in like he had the situation likely wouldn't have got that bad. She stared at the two youths. "Is that all you want to tell me?"

Kimberly shuffles her feet nervously. It looks like she's not going to say anything when the little girl speaks up. "W-when they pushed me down I left and saw Uncle Mitchel so i asked him to take me to you." She glances up at the completas for a moment and then back to her mother. "He was upset about what the other girls did to me." she squirms and brushes her hair forward as if that'd hide her from Julia's intense stare.

"One of them, the one with the bloody nose, asked me if I'd brought my boyfriend to protect me." Kimberly felt her face turning red as she remembered what had happened next. For a long moment it looked as if the 6yo wouldn't say anything but hen she admits quietly, "I got really mad at them and shouted that he wasn't my boyfriend, he was my uncle."

She starts to cry a little then as she says, "Uncle Mitchel scolded me, said I should be better then them because I'm learning to be better through the seat of my pants." She was apparently not going to confess to giving the bully the bloody nose. Julia nods, knowing that this at least sounds closer to what she heard from the other end of the store and looking from the boy to the girl. "He's absolutely right of course!" She told her two little charges, "Both of you should no better, although Mitchel scolding you when he was as much responsible says very little for the pair of you."

Julia jumps to her feet, surprisingly not commanding either of the youth's to take any kind of position. "I can see" She speaks up, "Both of you require some serious correction and unfortunately all I have on me is Kimberly's Hairbrush!" Grinning at the two youths, Julia began walking across the courtyard, indicating with her finger that the youths should follow but not saying anything.

It doesn't take long for the youths to realise where they were heading, the sigh of 'Paladon's Paddles and Accessories' looming above them as they approach.

"Clearly both of you need more than a hairbrush can justify!" Julia informs them "I was going to take you clothes shopping - but I think we need to get some implements right now!"

Paladon's Paddles and accessories to look at it from the outside looks like an old style 'Cobblers' shop. Outside the shop window are three old wooden horses, polished and coated on the top with synthetic wool that would be comfortable to lean against. Hanging in the window, like the sausages at a butcher's shop, are strings of different types of switches and inside is a musty small room. The inside of the store is crowded with displays, showing different types of paddles of different materials, some synthetically produced woods, some modern synthetic substances and even a range of special paddles with rough plastic surfaces, felt surfaces and surfaces with little 'enhancer' spikes in them.

Inside the glass counter is the grand collection of bumblebee paddles - and it takes a moment for the eye to notice. For the majority of paddles, birches, switches and canes displayed each one contains behind it an old style photo of a rump the unit had been used on along with the individuals name and age.

Behind the counter was a burly old man, big and squat and with a beard covered lightly in sawdust he was busy engraving something into one of the paddles he was working on.

Julia approached the counter, indicating that her charges should follow and not lurk in the doorway. Kimberly follows her Mommy, the lump in her stomach growing heavier and colder with each step as they approached the store. Moving inside she sees all of the different punishment implements and photos and then she spots the display of Bumblebee paddles. Being the sort of child she is Kimberly immediately pleads, "Not a bumblebee paddle Mommy! I'll be good! Please not a bumblebee paddle!"

Kimberly should really have known better by now, she wasn't a first time Hard Timer after all. Even if Julia couldn't blister her except on Special Punishment Days (Kimberly was only 6yo after all), her Mommy could still use the horrible bumblebee paddle, she'd just have to be extra careful.

Despite her pleas Kimberly dutifully follows her Mommy to the counter. The little girl's eyes flick from bumblebee paddles to canes to normal paddles to switches. In the very back corner of ehr mind Kimberly thinks, "What, not even a single martinet?" Julia beamed at her child's reactions, the store contained a wider range of items then just paddles but everything (including the hairbrushes and bath brushes and carpet beaters) was rated for use on Penitants. Julia indicated for her bare-rumped child to come forwards and stood behind her, handing over the chip from the fitters. "I would like to purchase the items on here!" she indicated, "Plus", Julia looked down at her little charge, "one Grade one Bumblebee" she smiled, taking some joy in the young girl's fright, "a grade 6 Bumblebee" she continues, talking to the shopkeeper, "and and a Teen Grade switch" Julia smiles at the boy behind her who is now wincing at the thought of what was coming up.

"Something tells me, my boy" she Addresses Mitchel, "I've been a little two slack with you of late. I may need to remind you of your penni days now and then!" Mitchel gulps as the shopkeeper fetches the two different grade bumblebees, two different grades of switch, a normal paddle and the cane authorised for use on Kimberly on special punishment days. "These are going to cost a bit." Kimberly's mother tells them, "but then today is a major shop so that can't be avoided."

Julia pays for the items, picks up a bumblebee and the switch, then grabs Mitchel by the ear and drags him out to the horses. "Fighting is a serious crime!" she explains, calling back to her daughter. "Kimberly, grab the switch and paddle rated for you!" she calls back, making sure her daughter is following.

Outside the store she pulls the 17yo completus up to the horse and gets him to lean on it, pulling down the boy's pants and underwear. "Choose your fate!" She indicates the two paddles. "You need to remember that being a completus does not give you the right to act like an adult!"

After a moment, Mitchel chooses the Bumblebee and Julia nods. "Very good!" She proceeds to spank the older boy with the large paddle, the drill holed making each stroke sting like hell and the boy howling like a wolf with each smack, smack, smack, smack, smack. Oddly however this doesn't go on very long. After 12 strokes, enough to leave the skin looking raw but not enough to raise blisters, Julia stops and hugs the 17yo from behind, resting her head on his shoulder she whispers something to him and smiles. At this point the boy is only sniffing but he nods, then Julia gives him an additional - more playful smack with the paddle and tells him; "Stay there till I'm done with Kimberly!"

Having done this she turns to her daughter. "So hunny, what am I going to punish you with? Kimberly is sniffling as her mommy order's the paddles and switches and a few extra additions. She shifts with distress as her mommy instructs her to carry out the paddle and switch rated for ehr. Complying she feels tears well up in her eyes as Mitchel is spanked again, because of her. Kimbers doesn't want to watch but she has to. The little girl is relieved when Julia only stops at twelve smacks of the paddle.

Then Julia asks a question Kimberly hadn't been expecting. "So hunny, what am I going to punish you with?"

The 6yo's guilt and conscience spoke up before her brain could intervene. "Both Mommy, I've been really bad today." the little girl then asks, "Switch first?"