(Author Note: This is the tenth story in a series. The characters and situations were introduced in the episode:
Camp Torowa Falls 1964 - 01: A Fair To Remember
Read that episode first!) Then read episodes 2 thru 9 before reading this one.
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Friday dawned clear, and promised to be another blazing hot day. The two inmates had made it through Thursday, finally served their time and were free boys again. Jerry and Corey hadn't spent time with their friends in the neighborhood or visited the municipal pool since the previous Friday. With just twelve days left to go until they would be dropped off at Camp Torowa Falls they were anxious to make up for lost time.

They started out by walking over to Walt Eckert's house on 7th Street up by Lincoln Avenue. They arrived around 9 o'clock and found Corey's cousin trimming a hedge in front of his family's house. "Hey guys!" said Walt. "Long time, no see. I was starting to think Uncle Will had buried you two desperados in his back yard."

The three boys shared a laugh at that. Corey said, "The idea probably crossed his mind, but we're still alive and kickin'."

"A lot of crazy stories have been going around the neighborhood," said Walt. "and you guys weren't in the mood to talk about it at church last Sunday. What really happened to you on the 4th of July?"

Corey and Jerry knew these questions would be coming, and had discussed how to respond. They had decided to tell the truth, if not exactly the whole truth. They left out the fact that they cried during their punishments, of course. Needless to say no mention was ever made of the bag of socks.

The two friends had been worried on Thursday about whether Mom would do anything about the socks, but she hadn't mentioned them. Her message was clear, though, and they had stopped using socks for that unapproved purpose.

"So how bad is that cane thing?" said Walt, after hearing the story about the Sunday canings at Uncle Karl's house.

"Trust us," said Jerry. "You don't want to find out."

"I still don't believe it's any worse than those birch switches Uncle Will always used," said Walt.

"If you don't believe us, Walt," said Corey, "just come around to our place tonight and mouth off to my Dad - you can find out for yourself."

"Will you guys mouth off with me?" said Walt.

"Hell, no!" said Corey. Jerry just shook his head.

"Alright," said Walt. "Maybe I'll take your word for it."

"Good idea," said Corey. "I knew you weren't as dumb as everybody says you are!"

"Tee, hee!" said Walt. "That was so funny, I forgot to laugh!"

"Walt," said Jerry. "Did you get braces in the last week?"

"No, Jerry," said Walt sarcastically, "I'm flossing with aluminum foil these days. You should try it sometime!"

"Har de har, har!" said Jerry.

Corey had noticed the braces, of course. But he had decided not to say anything to embarrass Walt. Partially it was because Walt was his cousin and one of his closest friends. But mainly it was because Walt knew enough embarrassing stuff about Corey to sink his social life in Northampton for good.

Walt, who seemed to be a bit sensitive about his new braces, changed the subject at that point, telling Jerry and Corey about what had been going on in town while they were "doing time."

Steve Wetzel and Gort had been causing too much trouble around the pool, bullying younger kids and so forth. So on Wednesday Charlie Lenhart finally had enough of their nonsense and gave them a two-fer - he paddled their asses and then confiscated their pool passes anyway! So at least the pool would be safer for the rest of the summer. Of course that made the rest of town less safe. Since the bullies had lost their favorite hangout, they were likely to turn up anywhere.

Corey and Jerry both expressed an interest in hearing the details about Steve and Gort's final locker room paddling, but Walt couldn't help them out. Everybody knew it had happened - and Walt could personally confirm that the two bullies had not been in their usual perches on Thursday when he went to the pool - but he didn't know anybody who had witnessed the paddling.

In sports news, the neighborhood sandlot baseball team had played the best North Catasauqua team on Tuesday and got thrashed, 9-2. The good guys had been shorthanded, with Corey and Jeff Moyer being unavailable. Apparently Jeff had been grounded for two weeks.

In the good news department, Walt and Mike Huijsa had both been able to get their hands on surplus pup tents, so they would be able to field a squad of six guys when they went camping next week down along the creek. Mike would be sharing his tent with Doug Kleckner and Walt would be sharing a tent with his cousin Arnold Hess, who was coming to visit for a week, and whose father owned the tent. They just needed to decide on which night or nights they'd be camping.

Corey wasn't especially thrilled to hear about Arnold Hess being on the camping trip. He and Arnold didn't get along all that well. Jerry was a little confused. Hadn't Corey told him that he got along okay with all of his cousins?

Corey tried to explain. Corey and Walt were second cousins, through Corey's mother's family and Walt's father's family. They shared a set of great-grand parents. Walt and Arnold were first cousins through Walt's mother's family and Arnold's father's family. They shared a set of grandparents. Corey and Arnold were not blood relatives, but they might be third cousins once removed - or something like that.

Walt just knew that both Corey and Arnold were his cousins. He also knew that Arnold was supposed to arrive for a week's visit on Saturday afternoon.

"How old is Arnold?" said Jerry.

"Arnold will turn 13 in August," said Walt. "Early August, I think."

"That reminds me!" said Corey, slapping his forehead. "My Dad's birthday is next Tuesday, July 14th. I still have to buy him a present!"

"I should get him something, too," said Jerry.

"You don't have to do that!" said Corey.

"I know I don't have to," said Jerry. "Let's just say I want to."

"Okay," said Corey. "Suit yourself."

Jerry asked Walt if he might be interested in bowling sometime. Jerry bowled at least once a week back home, but it had been more than two weeks since he last bowled. Walt said he had some yard work to do that morning, but would be willing to meet them at Hampton Lanes at 11 o'clock. They could bowl and eat lunch at the snack bar - plus Hampton Lanes was air conditioned, a nice bonus on a hot summer day!

Jerry and Corey stopped off at Weil's Market on the way home - Corey's Mom wanted them to pick up a few grocery items. They ran into Mike Huijsa there, who was picking up some things for his Mom. The two friends had to run through their story of the last week again, and heard about Mike's activities - mostly the usual. Mike agreed to meet them for bowling at 11 o'clock, so the foursome was set.

The four friends met for lunch and bowling as planned. They spent a few happy hours in air conditioned comfort bowling, eating hot dogs and nachos, listening to music on the juke box - too much Beatles for Corey's taste - playing pinball and trading stupid, adolescent jokes about 16 pound balls.

Around 3 o'clock four of the more obnoxious kids from North Catasauqua (which was just 3 blocks south of the bowling alley) showed up and started hassling the Northampton kids who were there. Jerry was in favor of going toe to toe with them - the newcomers were about the same age and size as their own group. The others finally convinced Jerry that getting caned - or at least grounded - for fighting was not the best move for him and Corey to make on their first day of freedom.

The four friends went home to get their swim suits and towels - they would spend the rest of the afternoon at the bully-free municipal pool. Jerry and Corey found a note from Mom when they got home. Mom and Becky had gone out shopping with Aunt Viv and her daughters. Corey's Dad wouldn't be home from his business trip until after 6 - so the boys were expected to be home by 7 o'clock sharp for dinner.

"Where the heck have you guys been?" said Dave Detweiler. The four bowlers had just showered, suited up, and strolled out on the deck of the municipal pool. They were approaching Dave and Doug Kleckner, who were occupying the loungers formerly "reserved" for the two banished bullies, Steve and Gort.

"Jerry and I were grounded," said Corey.

"I know that," said Dave. "I meant where were you guys today? We were expecting you right after lunch."

"Oh, that," said Walt. "We went bowling and had lunch at Hampton Lanes."

"Thanks for inviting us," said Doug.

"Sorry," said Walt. "We didn't know you guys were interested."

"When have we ever turned down a chance to bowl?" said Dave. "Corey's the one who doesn't like to bowl."

"Yeah," said Doug. "Did you break 100 today, Corey?"

"Yes!" said Corey. He knew this would come up. "I averaged 114 today."

"Wow!" said Doug, "a new personal best. Way to go, Corey!"

"It is not a personal best," said Corey, getting irritated. "I'm just out of practice."

"Wait a minute," said Jerry. "Corey told me his average was 125."

"Right!" said Dave, snorting with laughter, "In his dreams, maybe!"

"Yeah," said Doug, "the only way Corey could average 125 is if he held on to the ball and slid his whole body down the lane."

"Shut up!" said Corey, blushing in anger.

"Hey, cut it out, guys!" said Walt. "Leave Corey alone. So he's not good at bowling, who cares?

"Yeah," said Jerry. "Let's change the subject."

"Okay," said Dave, still chuckling.

"So," said Doug. "Do you guys want to hear Dave's latest hairbrained scheme?"

"It's a good idea!" said Dave.

Doug said, "Just because you couldn't get your uncle's pup tent is no reason to..."

"It'll work!" said Dave. "I just need to find enough guys for the team."

"It's stupid!" said Doug.

"Is not!" said Dave.

"It's stupid!"

"Is not!"

"HEY!" said Mike. "Will you two stop bickering like a couple of old ladies and tell us what the hell you're talking about?"

"Get this," said Doug, "Dave wants to set up an opposing team when we go camping next week."

Corey was confused. He said, "Dave wants to set up his own camp?"

"Why?" said Walt. "You can camp with us, Dave!"

"No I can't," said Dave. "I don't have access to a pup tent, and General Douglas McKleckner here won't let me bring a regular tent."

"It would look stupid!" said Doug. "Three genuine war surplus pup tents and one Abercrombie & Fitch special? Ridiculous!"

"Who's gonna see it, Doug?" said Dave.

"Anybody who comes by," said Doug.

"It's back in the woods by the creek, Doug," said Dave. "There aren't a lot of parades through there this time of year."

"It's stupid!" said Doug.

"It's not!" said Dave

"It's stupid!"

"It's not!"

This rather pointless bickering went on for quite some time before the life guard on duty threatened to send the whole group of quarreling boys to Charlie Lenhart to be paddled for fighting.

Corey and the others finally learned that since Doug didn't want to let Dave bring a civilian tent to the campout, Dave wanted to create a "commando force" of guys who would try to find their encampment and capture it from the defenders. Corey actually thought that was a pretty neat idea, and so did Jerry. Walt and Mike were a bit dismayed by all the talk of actually having to stand watches. They had apparently viewed the whole camp out as a chance to get away from all adults for a couple of days and to get in some skinny dipping while they were at it.

The group spent a couple of hours at the pool, swimming and chatting. Most of the others had to be home by 6 o'clock for dinner so they went back to the locker room shortly after 5:30.

As Corey headed for the showers he noticed three younger boys engaged in that time-honored locker room game of flicking each other with rolled up wet towels on their butts and thighs. A quick glance around the locker room showed that Charlie wasn't there at the moment. Corey smiled to himself as he entered the showers. He, Walt and some other kid had learned a painful lesson three years before about how the attendant could appear out of nowhere - kind of like the counselors at Camp Torowa Falls - when boys were misbehaving.

Sure enough, as Corey and Jerry were leaving the shower a couple minutes later the three towel flickers were marched into the shower by Charlie Lenhart. The trio of miserable youngsters were ordered to come out of the shower in one minute for their paddlings. As Corey and his friends dried themselves off Charlie went to fetch his paddle.

The six friends got ring-side seats to the triple paddling. Charlie lined up the three dripping wet miscreants and asked the fatal question, "Paddle or pool pass?" The answers were predictable, of course. Hank Apple, a chubby 11-year-old who had been one of the eleven innocent victims of the shower fight fiasco a couple of Sundays ago, was the first to bend over a bench to receive four solid swats of Charlie's paddle. The little guy howled for the last two swats and jumped up as soon as Charlie told him to get up. Hank danced around the room, gasping in pain and clutching at his wounded seat as the next unlucky lad bent over the bench for his dose of the paddle.

Soon 10-year-old Len Bowman and 10-year-old Joe Wagner had received their allotment of four paddle swats each and were doing the spanked boy dance along with Hank. Len Bowman had bright red hair that nearly matched his red face and Walt observed that Len looked like a dancing carrot. This brought gales of laughter from everyone in the room except for the three dancers. Corey thought he even heard Charlie chuckle at that jest as he walked back to his office.

On the way home Jerry noticed that the front tire on his bike was a bit low on air. They stopped at the Flying A service station at 9th and Main to use the air pump. Jerry and Corey got home around 6 o'clock and spent the time until dinner watching the Three Stooges on television and discussing potential birthday gifts for Corey's Dad. Jerry was thinking about getting him a book on the US Navy in Korea. Corey was thinking of buying him a new model rocket.

The boys helped welcome Corey's father home when he arrived, then carried his luggage up to the master bedroom. After setting the luggage on the bed they spotted Mom's hairbrush sitting on her vanity dresser. Corey noticed Jerry unconsciously rub the seat of his shorts when he saw it. And Jerry had only experienced the evil thing once! His friend could never imagine the memories of dozens of spankings the thing triggered in Corey's mind. He shivered as the memories flooded back to him.

Becky was not present at dinner - it turned out she was at a Friday night sleepover at Patty Roth's house. After dinner Jerry and Corey received their allowance from Dad, who was quite pleased to hear from Mom that they had behaved well enough that the grounding had ended.

Dad told the boys not to stay up too late that night, since they would be heading out early Saturday morning to fly their model rockets. Corey said that Walt and Mike both wanted to come along, which was okay with Dad.

At 9:25 that evening Corey heard footsteps on the stairs leading to the loft. Both boys were in bed, on top of their covers reading - with their hands outside their briefs - so they simply watched to see who would appear.

It was Dad - dressed in casual clothes - and not looking really angry, but annoyed and determined. Corey sat up in bed in shock when his father crested the stairs and he realized that Dad was carrying his new rattan cane.

Corey's mind and heart started racing as he wracked his brain for an answer as to why his father would be planning to cane them. The socks. The fucking sticky, stinking socks! How could they have been so incredibly stupid?

Dad wordlessly made his way over to Corey's desk and sat in one of the chairs there. Corey was suddenly aware that he was standing. He didn't even remember getting up. He glanced across the room and Jerry was standing warily next to his own bed, a "deer in the headlights" look on his face.

Corey's Dad casually tapped the floor a few feet in front of him with the tip of the cane and said, "Over here, boys."

As the boys walked slowly and unwillingly towards the center of the room Corey exchanged looks with Jerry. How many times before had they faced certain pain together? Chalk up another one.

Soon the two boys were standing side by side approximately where the cane had tapped the floor. They turned to face the man sitting there. Dad just stared at them for a few seconds. Corey gulped nervously. His stomach was churning and he felt a definite need to pee. Okay, we fucked up. Just whack our butts and get it over with!

"Boys," said Dad, "I just had a long talk with Corey's mother - about both of you, and your behavior this past week."

"Yes, sir," said both boys.

"Do you boys recall the conversation we had in the garage last Sunday?" said Dad, casually flexing the cane as he did so.

"Yes, sir."

"And you understood what I was saying?"

"Yes, sir."

"Socks?" said Dad. "You little idiots pleasured yourselves with socks, and then left them lying around for Corey's mother to find!"

Neither boy could look Dad in the eye. Corey was trying to fight back tears of shame.

"I ought to take the hide off of the pair of you," said Dad, "just for being so incredibly stupid - again - and after being warned!"

"Sir," said Jerry. "Most of those socks were from before you gave us that warning." Corey nodded his agreement.

"Most of them?" said Dad.

"Yes, sir," said Jerry.

"But not all of them?" said Dad.

Jerry deflated at that comment and said, "No, sir."

Then Dad turned his full attention on Corey and said, "And YOU! Your mother told me what you did when she was spanking you on Wednesday!"

Corey could no longer hold back his tears of shame. When he saw the look of disgust in his father's eyes he began to wonder if he would be alive in the morning - or even if he wanted to be alive. But Corey's survival instincts kicked in and he dropped to his knees and began pleading, "It was an accident, Dad! I swear I didn't mean it!"

Corey was dimly aware that Jerry was kneeling next to him, his friend's arms protectively on his shoulders, pleading Corey's case as well.

Dad finally got the boys calmed down enough to hear what he had to say. "I didn't come up here to cane you boys tonight, unless you force me to. I brought this along to get your attention." He held the cane in front of their faces, and the boys stared at it like it was a cobra, ready to strike. "Do I have your attention?"

"Yes, sir!" they said together.

"Good! Now listen up!" said Dad. "Penny probably would have spanked you for the socks, but after what happened the other night she thinks you guys are too old for those kinds of spankings. I tend to agree. So the next time you guys screw up I'll be teaching her how to use this cane on you. Are we clear on that?"

"Yes, sir!" said both boys.

"Good," said Dad. "Now, back to what we talked about last Sunday. Remember what I said about weakness of character?"

"Yes sir," said Corey. Jerry nodded.

"Well, it's more than that," said Dad. "It's a matter of respect. I made it clear to you that Corey's mother is upset by those activities. You could have shown her the respect she deserved by not doing that while you were still grounded. At the very least you could have had the common courtesy to not leave blatant evidence lying around your bedroom for her to find when she did the laundry. Is any of this getting through those thick skulls?"

"Yes, sir!" said both boys.

"Corey's mother deserves respect - more than anyone in this house. She does all the cooking, cleaning, and laundry - and holds down a professional job at the same time. What do you two little brats contribute to this family? You mow a few lawns, play with your friends, listen to your music too loud, and try to blow yourselves up from time to time. Who should be going of their way to be nice to whom? Corey?"

"We should be as nice as we can to Mom," said Corey. "We really didn't mean to hurt her." Jerry nodded his agreement.

"So you didn't mean it?" said Dad. The boys shook their heads emphatically. "How convenient. As the saying goes, the road to a certain very hot and painful place is paved with good intentions. If you boys don't start showing Mom the respect she deserves, I will use this cane to make your backsides hot and very painful. And you won't be allowed to sit on pillows while you're eating as the stripes heal - not even on the first day. Are we all clear on this matter?"

"Yes, sir!" said both boys.

When Corey saw his father enter the loft with the cane, he had been certain that he'd be sleeping on his tummy that night. He was glad that they weren't actually going to be caned, but he thought something needed explaining. "Dad, although we knew that Mom didn't want us doing...that... we just didn't think about the socks being evidence - not until Mom left a bag of them up here after our spanking Wednesday night."

"Is that so?" said Dad.

"Yes, Mr. Lane!" said Jerry. "We wouldn't have deliberately shown such disrespect for Mrs. Lane."

"No, Dad," said Corey. "We never would have done that deliberately."

Dad looked at the two boys for a few seconds. "Okay," he said finally, "I accept that you guys were just being stupid, and not deliberately disrespectful. But the effect is still the same. I expect you guys to think about what you're doing from now on. And try to keep your peckers in your pants sometimes - leave a little bit for your future wives."

The boys giggled, and smirked. Dad grinned, but said, "I'm serious! Give it a rest sometimes." He glanced at the stairs, saw nobody there, then leaned forward. The two boys put their heads close to his.

Dad whispered, "Leave it alone for a few days - say until your camp out next week. Then when you do it, get it excited, but stop before you shoot. Let it go down a bit, then rub it back to the edge again and stop. Keep that up...ahem... as long as you can. When you finally squirt, you'll be shocked at how intense the feeling can be - double or triple as good as usual. Trust me, it's worth giving up a few days worth of normal ones to experience that feeling."

Corey looked at Jerry, who also looked shocked at what he had just heard come out of the mouth of Corey's father. The two boys turned their heads back towards the man. Corey whispered, "Okay, we'll try that." Jerry nodded agreement. Corey said, "Thanks, Dad!"

"Thanks, Mr. Lane!" said Jerry.

"That's okay, boys," said Dad, winking broadly at them as he sat back in his chair again. "But you'll still get the cane if Penny ever catches you at it again."

"Yes, sir!" said the boys.

"Oh, and Jerry," said Dad. "You don't have to call me Mr. Lane anymore. You may call me Uncle Will, and you may refer to Penny as Aunt Penny, if you prefer."

Corey saw Jerry gulp. Jerry said, "Thanks! Thank you.... Uncle Will."

"You're quite welcome, Jerry," said Dad, putting a hand on Jerry's shoulder. "By the way, it occurred to me while driving home today that I haven't seen your new rocket yet - at least since it was painted. May I see it now?"

"Sure, Uncle Will!" said Jerry. He retrieved his pride and joy from where he had it proudly displayed at his end of the bedroom and handed it to Dad.

"Nice," said Dad, handling the rocket carefully. "Is this Marine green?"

"Yes, sir!" said Jerry. "As close as I could find, anyway."

"Great!" said Dad. "What kind of engines did you get for it?"

"A-8.3's." said Jerry.

"Sounds good, said Dad, nodding. He handed the rocket back to Jerry. "I guess we'll see how well it flies tomorrow morning."

"Yes, sir!" said Jerry, beaming.

As Dad got up to leave he retrieved his cane then looked around the room. "You guys did a pretty good job cleaning this place - now let's see if you keep it clean until you head off to camp." As he headed for the steps, he said, "Goodnight, boys!"

"Goodnight, Dad!"

"Goodnight, Uncle Will!"