Author Note: This is part 8 of a series. It can be read independently, but it will make a lot more sense if you read the episodes in order.

The characters presented in this story are entirely fictional and not intended to represent any members of a real life railroading or model railroading organization.

Background Info: The Scioto River runs through central Ohio, emptying into the Ohio River south of Columbus. Scioto (pronounced SY-OH-TOH) actually means "deer" in the Wyandot language spoken by the branch of the Huron Indian tribe that once inhabited central Ohio. Railroads formed an important part of the local economy throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Both the Norfolk & Western Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad had branch lines running through the Scioto Valley. By the 1980s only a single line owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway was still in use. Many of the other railroad tracks in the valley were gone, having been torn out and replaced with hiking and biking trails that followed the meandering course of the river through the valley.

Local interest in railroading remained high, with a few small railroad and trolley museums located in some of the major towns along the old right of way. There was also the Scioto Valley Model Railroading Society, a group of men and boys who operated a large HO scale layout in the basement of a local church. The massive 24 foot by 32 foot layout modeled the local railroads as they existed circa 1950, when steam locomotives were still in use but diesel locomotives were being introduced. The members of the society dubbed their layout the Scioto Valley Railroad (SVRR).

In the summer of 1984 a car-load of members of the Scioto Valley Model Railroading Society went on a road trip... and there were unexpected repercussions after they got home...

"Whoa! That was a close one!" Rob was stunned by the ferocity of the storm outside. The brief time between the blinding flash of lightning and the crash of thunder that was powerful enough to shake and rattle the big Mercury station wagon indicated how terribly close the lightning bolts were to their car.

"It sure was," said Donald. "Looks like we're gonna be stuck here for a while." Rob would be starting high school in less than two weeks so the father and son duo were out doing a bit of back to school shopping, a task that had been interrupted by a rather nasty late-summer thunderstorm. At least there were no tornado watches out this time, so it shouldn't get too bad. But with the close-in lightning and torrential rain, they were basically trapped in the car until the worst of the storm cleared.

"Is the scout meeting indoors, I hope?" said Rob as he looked at the rain slashing against the car windows and the car shook from yet another blast of thunder.

"As far as I know," said Donald. "They're just giving out badges tonight. Kenny gets his Tenderfoot rank badge I think."

"Yeah," said Rob. "That's what Kenny told me." Rob knew that Donald approved of his sons being in the Boy Scouts even though the man had never been into scouting that much himself as a boy. In fact his father had never progressed past Webelos. Rob had made it to First Class rank in the Boy Scouts before quitting at age 13. Kenny was actually making noises about trying to go all the way to Eagle Scout. Rob found the idea of his incredibly impatient 11-year-old brother becoming an Eagle Scout hilarious. Then again, if a crappy film like Terms of Endearment could beat out a classic like The Right Stuff for Best Picture at the Oscars, nearly anything was possible.

"So is Casey still in a snit?" said Donald.

"Kind of," said Rob. "I guess. He'll get over it." For some reason Casey had taken the general disdain for his 'talent' for seeing signs personally. Of course Donald wasn't aware of the conversation that had taken place in the picnic area of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Not that it mattered a whole lot. Rob wasn't sure how much of Casey's irritation was due to Donald's opinion of his talent and how much was due to the overall reaction by the group, not to mention the fiasco that led to the fight in the parking lot and the severe public paddlings of Casey, Kenny and Rob.

Although Casey was irritated he had seemed to be dealing with it okay in Philadelphia and on the trip back to Ohio. But since they got home he had found one excuse after another to avoid spending time with Rob. This was odd since they usually spent a lot of time together in the summer when school was out. Not to mention the fact that Rob had just bought a new game for his Apple IIe computer, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. Casey was a big fan of the original Castle Wolfenstein, so this was a little weird.

Rob opted to change the subject. "So you'll be out of town on business next week?"

"Yes," said Donald. "I have to check on the progress of construction at the shopping center in Youngstown. Then I have to meet with some clients about a new project in Warren. That will probably take at least two days between meetings and doing a site survey."

"So you'll be gone all week?"

"Not quite," said Donald. "I'll leave Monday morning and I'll be back Thursday afternoon."

"So we won't get the photos back for a week," said Rob. It wasn't a question.

"Well yeah," said Donald. "We're dropping them off for processing tonight - Wednesday - and they won't be ready until Monday, after I leave. So it will be a bit more than a week unless you can talk your mother into bringing you down earlier to pick them up. I'll leave the claim tickets in my studio back home."

"It's not that big a deal, Dad."

"Suit yourself. They'll be there if you want them," Donald shrugged. "At least we'll have the photos back in time for the club meeting next Friday night."

"Yep," said Rob. That was okay with him. But he had something else to discuss while he had his father alone in private. "Dad, there is something we need to talk about."

"Okay," said Donald, regarding his son with a serious expression. "Sounds serious."

"It is, kinda. It's about the Ardens. Do you plan to travel with them again?"

"Hmm. I hadn't really thought about it, Rob. We just got back on Saturday from our first trip together. They seem like nice enough guys."

"Yeah."

Donald looked a bit concerned. "That didn't sound like a 'yeah' to me, son. There must be something you know that I need to know, unless I'm misreading you."

Rob took a deep breath and just said what was on his mind, "Well, I was thinking that we might want to keep Kenny away from Sam Arden as much as possible."

"Why?" said Donald, a look of extreme concern on his face. "Did Sam touch Kenny?"

"What? Oh, no."

"Did he touch you, or Casey?"

"No, Dad! It's nothing like that."

"Okay," said Donald, "Then was is it like?"

"Well," said Rob. "Let's just say that I found out that Sam has some peculiar ideas about certain things... ideas we wouldn't want Kenny exposed to."

"Oh, so he's gay."

"What? No! It's got nothing to do with sex," said Rob, he shook his head, then he paused. "At least I don't think it does."

"Okay, Rob," said Donald. "Explain it to me then, very carefully."

"Well, you know how both Sam and Kenny seem to be really good at driving people crazy?"

"Oh yeah, your brother is definitely good at that. And Sam sure seemed to be in rare form during our road trip."

"That's just the problem, Dad. With Sam it's not rare at all."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Sam deliberately and cold-bloodedly goes out of his way to drive his father crazy."

"Really?" said Donald, shaking his head. "So all that stuff he did was on purpose?"

"Well, most of it was. Sam said that the camera thing was a real accident. He didn't intend to do that."

"Wow!" said Donald, shaking his head some more. "But I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by this news. Tom told me he was considering taking Sam to see a shrink. From what you say, the boy might really need one."

"It probably wouldn't hurt," said Rob. "Considering how annoying Kenny is already, and considering how impressionable he can be, you can see why I'm so concerned about him hanging around with Sam."

"No kidding!" said Donald. "Your brother definitely doesn't need any lessons in driving people nuts. He's far too good at that as it is."

"That's what I thought, too."

"Well thanks for the warning, Rob," said Donald. "I definitely won't let Kenny have any more contact with Sam than he would during normal club activities."

"Glad to do it, Dad. The little guy drives me nuts, too!"

The father and son shared a laugh, then went back to watching the storm raging outside their car. Each of them was lost in his own thoughts about the idea of an even more annoying Kenny. Rob shuddered at the thought.

It turned out that Casey wasn't really angry with Rob. His friend just needed to "be alone" for a few days after spending a week on vacation with the rest of the SVRR group. Casey was an only child, and for some reason he apparently needed to "be alone" for some of the time. Rob thought this was a bit odd. Hell, he liked to be alone from time to time himself. It could help a guy think about things. But for a few days? For Rob a few hours alone was enough to clear his head. It must be some weird only child thing. Who cares? As long as he and Casey were still friends Rob could deal with his friend's eccentricities.

It was Tuesday of the final week of summer vacation before school started. Rob's dad was away on a business trip to far northeast Ohio and wouldn't be back until Thursday. His mom, a middle school history teacher, was at work preparing for the new school year. His little brother Kenny had stayed over at a friend's house on Monday night and wouldn't be coming home until dinner time. This meant that Rob and Casey had the entire house, and day, to themselves with no interference from adults or annoying little brothers. There had been rain showers that morning so the two friends had spent some time playing Beyond Castle Wolfenstein on Rob's Apple IIe computer.

By late morning the showers stopped. The sun couldn't quite make it out, but it looked like the rain might be over except for the occasional sprinkle. The boys decided to ride their bikes down to the local Dairy Queen for lunch. After lunch it looked even less like the rain was gonna start up again so they went fishing on the banks of the Scioto River down by Campbell's Mill and the remnants of a lock from the old Ohio-Erie Canal.

The canal, which connected the Ohio River and Lake Erie, had been the major economic driver for the area from 1831 until after the Civil War when the railroads made the canal system obsolete. After the war the canal was leased to private parties who handled the dwindling barge traffic and sold water to local towns and businesses. The private operators could not afford to properly maintain the canal. The damage caused by repeated flooding eventually made various sections of the canal unusable and the southern branch of the canal had been completely abandoned by the early 20th century.

It's amazing how much you learn about local history when your mother is a history teacher. Rob and Casey both had Lynn Chandler for their Ohio State History class in eighth grade. Rob found it a little odd having to address his own mother as "Mrs. Chandler" in class, but he eventually got used to it. He only tried calling his mother "Mrs. Chandler" at home, and in a sarcastic tone, twice. The first time he was given a stern warning. The second time he got a bare-bottomed dose of his mother's hairbrush that convinced him to never try that gambit again.

Casey's mother was also a teacher at their old middle school, although she taught English. Rob and Casey both had her for their seventh grade English class. Rob found it interesting that Eleanor Jones didn't have a Southern accent. A native of Ohio, Eleanor had married a man from Alabama she met in college and had lived down in the deep South for twelve years. After her husband died she moved back to Ohio with her son, Casey. She had purchased a house right around the corner from the Chandler residence and Rob and Casey had soon become close friends. Of course "right around the corner" in that part of rural Ohio entailed a nearly half mile walk or bike ride between their respective homes.

It was nearly 5:30 PM as they rode up River Road towards the entrance to the long driveway leading to the Chandler family abode. Rob checked the mailbox by reflex action. It had been his job to fetch the mail on his way home from school for as long as he could remember. Nothing in the mailbox today. His mother might have grabbed the mail on her way home from school if she was expecting something special. Or maybe Kenny actually checked the mailbox on his way home, although that was about as likely as the Blues Brothers being asked to play Carnegie Hall.

"Looks like my mom is visiting," said Casey.

"Oh yeah," said Rob. He could see Eleanor's silver 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme parked in the driveway next to his mother's blue 1976 Ford Maverick. "You might as well come in then, who knows how long they'll be?"

"Coffee klatch," said Casey, shaking his head in digust as the two boys rode their bikes down the long driveway to the house.

Rob laughed. He wasn't sure why Casey didn't like the idea of their mothers also being close friends. Rob just found it convenient, not to mention the fact that it annoyed his little brother Kenny. Considering how annoying Kenny could be, Rob looked on anything that annoyed Kenny back without actually hurting him as a real bonus.

It was quite a little ride down the driveway to the Chandler house, which sat far back from the road on a 14.6 acre lot. The single story Donald Chandler-designed custom home was a modern study in the artful blending of wood, stone, metal and glass. It had four bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, a large eat-in kitchen, a game room, a family room, an office/library for his mother's use and an office/studio for his father's use.

The house totalled nearly 5000 square feet of interior living space, making it the largest home in the neighborhood by a wide margin. A deck ran the length of the house in back, with glass sliding doors and a lot of other large glass windows providing a view of the deck, the back yard, and Wright Run, a small creek that ran through the property and emptied into the Scioto River just beyond a stand of trees. There was a four car detached garage at the end of the long driveway that featured the same stone and wood finish as the house itself, though the garage had a lot less glass.

While the house had one level of living space it appeared to be 'a floor and a half' in the middle section of the structure. This allowed the central rooms in the house to have high vaulted ceilings, a rarity in a single story home. The central section had clerestory windows below the roof line to provide extra light in the rooms.

Rob was proud to live in a house that had been custom designed by his father. Despite visits to their home by many of his father's clients during the six years since the family had moved into the newly completed masterpiece, only two of them had commissioned Donald Chandler to design custom homes for them. This upset Rob a bit until his father had explained that not everyone wanted to live in a modern style house, and that having a home custom designed by an architect was an expensive proposition that not everyone could afford. Fortunately there was plenty of demand for his father's services in designing small shopping centers and office buildings so there was no need to worry about the family going hungry.

"The Maverick's getting more rusted," noted Casey as they drove up to the parked cars. One of the rear quarter panels of the aging compact four-door sedan definitely needed some work. "Is your father still planning to get something new?"

"Yeah," said Rob, as he stored his bike and fishing gear in the detached garage. "He wants to have a look at the '85 Broncos when they come out next month. They're adding electronic fuel injection to the optional 302 V8 engine for the first time, according to what Dad read somewhere. That's the same engine he has in the Mercury and he really likes it."

"So he wants an SUV?"

"Yep. Dad wants something that can do four wheel drive to make it easier to get around some of the construction sites he has to visit for work. As an added bonus it would be better for getting around in winter weather."

"Then your mom will get the Mercury wagon?"

"Yep," said Rob. "She says she prefers smaller cars like the Maverick, but she does like the idea of the extra cargo space for shopping."

"Women do love to shop," said Casey. "What about the custom license plate?"

"That's a good question," said Rob. His father had an Ohio vanity plate reading 'PRR GG1' on the Mercury station wagon. Presumably he would want to transfer it to whatever new vehicle he purchased. "Can you put a vanity plate on a truck?"

"I don't know."

"I guess Dad will find out," said Rob as they got to the front door of the house and entered.

They found their mothers sitting at the kitchen table with a bunch of photos spread out in front of them. It turned out that the pictures from the road trip were back. Rob and his father had planned to pick up their photos from the lab on Thurday evening. Apparently the ladies were impatient to see what their guys had been up to that week they were gone and had picked up the photos early. Kenny was sitting there too, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. That was typical for Kenny, although Rob noticed something odd in his brother's eyes. After staring at his brother for a few seconds Rob decided it was probably nothing, the kid was easily bored.

The two teens were asked to join the group at the kitchen table to review the road trip photos. They both sat down and began to offer commentary on the photos as they were viewed. Apparently the ladies had just started viewing the photos that Casey had taken with his mother's old Instamatic camera. They went back to the beginning and started viewing the shots in order. Casey and Rob provided commentary as they went along.

The first photo was of the exterior of the orange Seaboard Coast Line caboose where they had stayed at the Red Caboose Motel. The second photo was of the main building of the Red Caboose Motel with the neon sign across the front and the two railroad dining cars visible flanking the building proper. Casey had taken those photos before they left for their Strasburg Railroad trip on Tuesday afternoon, primarily to make sure that his camera was working okay.

The next three photos were of the train arriving in the station at Strasburg, the classic coaches being pulled by Old #90, the former Norfolk & Western 2-10-0 steam locomotive. The next photo was of the coach they had ridden in for the trip, Gobbler's Knob. Casey still couldn't help snickering whenever that name was mentioned.

It was at that point that Rob started getting a bad feeling about the situation. Something was wrong. He was well aware that their mothers did not share their fascination with railroads and railroading. So it was more than a little odd that his mother had picked up the field trip photos early. And the ladies were being polite, but it was a stiff politeness. The kind of thing that in Rob's experience did not bode well. They barely reacted to the name "Gobbler's Knob" and to Casey's snickering reaction to the name. Rob got the distinct impression that they were waiting for something to happen, though he couldn't imagine what it might be.

As the next photo was presented Rob glanced at Kenny and what he saw made his blood run cold. Kenny was staring at the photos on the table with a terrified look on his face. What the hell was going on with those photos? What did Kenny know?

Rob looked at the new photo with dread, only to find that it was a shot of Old #90 rolling past the coaches on the siding at Paradise as it was switched around the train to prepare for the trip back to Strasburg. Nothing frightening about the photo at all. Rob glanced back at Kenny, who was still looking terrified. This didn't make any sense. Casey wasn't as good at photography as Rob or his father were, but he hadn't taken any photos that should be scaring Kenny like that...

Rob suddently flashed back to when the train was arriving at Groff's Grove station to take the group back to Strasburg. Kenny handed Casey and Rob's cameras back to them before they got on the train. Kenny had been holding both their cameras during the activities that occurred in Groff's Grove. What the hell had that little brat done?

The next photo was displayed and Rob's worst fears were realized. He heard a gasp of surprise from Casey, who apparently hadn't seen this coming at all. It turned out that Kenny had used Casey's camera to take a picture of Casey bent over the end of a picnic table in Groff's Grove with his pants down while being whipped with a switch by Donald. Kenny had blocked the photo pretty well, as it turned out. Casey's bare backside, with three stripes already blazing red across the twin cheeks, was centered nicely. To the left was Donald, getting ready to slash the switch into Casey's waiting rump a fourth time. Some members of the Paxton family were visible behind Donald on the far left of the frame and a few members of the SVRR group, including Rob himself, were visible on the right side of the frame watching the switching in progess.

"I hope someone can explain this photo," said Eleanor. "Because it doesn't match the nostalgic railroad theme that most of the others seem to impart."

Kenny quickly confessed to having taken the photo with Casey's camera, which he was holding while Casey got his switching. He hadn't been able to take any more photos with Casey's camera since he didn't know how to advance the film to the next shot. Casey mentioned that he had noticed that a photo had been taken, but he just assumed that Kenny had accidentally triggered the shutter while handling the camera. He had been expecting to get back some random photo of the ground, the sky or a tree so he never said anything.

As it turned out Eleanor had got Casey's photos back from processing at lunch that day. She discovered the 'special' photo that Kenny had taken and showed it to Lynn. So after work Lynn had retrieved the claim tickets from Donald's studio and picked up the photos taken by Donald and Rob. Going through the photos quickly they found four other 'interesting photos' on one of the rolls of film from Rob's camera. The four photos included:

• Sam Arden horsed on Rob's back for his switching in Groff's Grove.
• Michael Paxton bent over the picnic table for his switching in Groff's Grove.
• Casey bent over the picnic table for his switching in Groff's Grove.
• Mark Rhinehart bent over the tailgate of the Mercury wagon for his switching in the parking lot of the Iron Horse Inn.

Lynn asked Kenny how he was able to take all these photographs without anyone noticing him do it. Kenny said that one of the Paxton girls had noticed him taking pictures of Michael and Casey's switchings over the end of the picnic table, but apparently she didn't care since she didn't say anything. Rob explained that he had noticed that people were taking photos of Mark's switching in the parking lot of the Iron Horse Inn, but he never realized that Kenny was one of the people doing it.

Next the boys were asked to account for the events that had caused each switching depicted in the photos. Casey admitted to swearing and pointed out that Donald not only switched him, but washed his mouth out with soap at the motel later that evening. Eleanor expressed her approval of Donald's reaction to that offense.

The boys explained how Sam Arden had been switched by his father for repeated acts of careless behavior, at least some of which were probably deliberate. They also explained how Mark Rhinehart had run away from the Iron Horse Inn after bumping into a waiter and causing a tray of food to be dropped. They explained how Mark was found by the Strasburg Police and returned safely to the parking lot. Then Thomas had switched Mark for reckless behavior.

"How is it," said Lynn, "that nobody told me about any of this before?"

"Well," said Rob, shrugging, "these were just a few brief incidents in a week-long trip. Lots of things happened during those six days on the road. Most of them didn't involve any of us being punished."

"One of those incidents involved the police, for heaven's sake!" said Eleanor. "Why is it you never mentioned it to me, Casey?"

"Well, Mom," said Casey, with a hint of attitude in his voice. "That happened on Tuesday night. A lot happened after that. Nobody was hurt. Nobody was arrested."

"Is this true, Kenny?" said Lynn, locking eyes with her youngest son.

Kenny squirmed and said, "Well, it's true that nobody was hurt except for the spankings we all got, but I think Mark might have been arrested."

"That's not true!" said Rob. "Mark was never arrested."

"He was in handcuffs when the cops brought him back to the restaurant," said Kenny.

"Well yeah," said Casey, "he was in handcuffs because he ran from the cops. But they never actually pressed charges or whatever against him.. what do they call that?"

"They never booked him," said Rob. He still liked to watch Hawaii Five-O reruns in syndication even though the show had been off the air for years. McGarrett's catchphrase, 'Book him, Danno', was unforgettable.

"Why on Earth did Mark run from the police?" said Eleanor.

"We don't know," said Casey, frustration is his voice. "We asked Mark about it later in the trip and he said that even he doesn't know why he panicked and ran from the restaurant, and then from the police."

"Kenny," said Lynn, "Did you say that you all got spankings?"

"Yes," said Kenny, in a disgusted tone. "Casey turned out to be right about the stupid signs."

"What signs?" said Lynn.

Rob and Kenny explained the prediction that Casey had made in the parking lot of the Red Caboose Motel on their first full day in Strasburg. Then they explained how it came true, one red caboose at a time.

"Oh, Casey," said Eleanor. "How many times do I have to tell you not to keep interpreting 'signs' like that? You scare people with all that nonsense."

"Nonsense?" said Casey sarcastically, "That prediction came true. And it's not like I wanted it to happen. I got clobbered, too."

Eleanor sighed. "Have you ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy?"

"Well, yes," said Casey doutbfully. "How does that apply to this situation?"

"Just look at the evidence," said Eleanor. "Mark probably panicked because of your prediction. It's certain that Kenny would not have 'gone postal' on you, to use the current vulgar term for it, in that restaurant parking lot and got the three of you in trouble for fighting and swearing if he hadn't been frightened by your prediction. It was your prediction that directly caused Mark to be publicly switched in one restaurant parking lot and for you three boys to be publicly paddled in another restaurant parking lot."

"Thats not why those things happened," said Casey, his temper rising. "Besides, Grandma said I had a talent for seeing signs."

"Casey," said Eleanor sadly, "your grandmother was a profoundly confused person. She didn't even know what she was talking about half the time."

"That's not true!" said Casey, clearly getting more angry. "Grandma Jones understood me better than you do! I have talent!"

"Well," said Eleanor, sighing mightily, "you certainly have a talent for driving me crazy."

"That's a really short drive for you," said Casey, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Speaking of which, I'm going home." He got up and started walking towards the front door.

"You're not going anywhere, young man!" said Eleanor, rushing to catch her son before he could reach the door. "Not until I'm done talking to you about this."

Casey twisted away from the grip his mother had on his shoulder. "Leave me alone, you stupid bitch!"

Eleanor slapped her son's face, hard. "How dare you speak to me like that?"

Casey's hands formed into fists. He started to raise his right fist as though he was going to punch his mother in anger. His fist hovered there for several seconds, anger on his face. Then suddenly Casey wilted. His fists relaxed back into open hands and his arms dropped to his sides. The look of anger on his face turned into a look of horror as he realized what he had said, and what he had nearly done. Casey looked almost ready to cry. "I'm so sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to say that to you."

"I know, son." Eleanor reached out and put her hand on Casey's shoulder. "I wish I could overlook what you said, but I can't."

Casey's voice cracked under the stress, "I know, Mom."

Eleanor gave her son's shoulder a comforting squeeze. Then, maintaining a grip on his shoulder, she turned and said, "Lynn, do you have that paddle that Don bought around here anywhere?"

Lynn looked at Rob. "Where did your father put that paddle?"

Rob shrugged, "If he brought it in the house he didn't tell me about it. His original plan was to keep it in the car since he already has the strap in the house."

"Okay," said Lynn, "where is the strap?"

"In Dad's studio," said Rob. "But that's a family heirloom, Mom. I don't think Dad would want anyone using it other than him."

"I don't know about that," said Lynn. She thought for a few seconds. "On the other hand, it is a pretty fearsome implement. Elly, have you ever spanked anyone with a strap?"

"No," said Eleanor. "I've only used paddles and hairbrushes."

Lynn nodded. "Well, I can definitely lend you a hairbrush if that would suffice."

"Sure," said Elly, "That will work if you really don't mind."

"Not a problem, dear. Let me get it for you." Lynn headed for the master bedroom.

Yikes! If Rob's mother lent Eleanor her nasty hairbrush Casey was in for a bad time. Then again his friend had called his mother a 'stupid bitch'. Rob shuddered to think what would happen to him if he called his mother that, particularly if his father found out about it. Rob felt like he was watching a train wreck happening in slow motion. Whatever was gonna happen to Casey, Rob decided that he and Kenny didn't really need to see it. He got his brother's attention and used hand signals to indicate that they should both go to their rooms.

Kenny looked a bit relieved and quietly moved to comply. Rob suspected that his little brother might have been thinking the same thing he was, that it was a good idea to get out of the room before someone decided there was a reason to spank them too. Unforunately before they could exit the foyer/living room area their mother returned from the master bedroom carrying the dreaded hairbrush and said, "Where do you two think you're going?"

"Umm," said Rob. "We just wanted to go to our rooms and give Casey and his mother some privacy."

"Nice try, boys," said Lynn. "But I want you both to see this, plus we have more questions for you about the events that occurred during your road trip."

"Yes, ma'am," said Rob. Drat! They still weren't out of danger.

As Rob watched the spanking unfold he was torn between two emotions. Seeing his best friend having to bare his bottom once again, this time to be spanked by his mother with a hairbrush, left Rob feeling sick for what Casey was going through. But he also was fascinated by the spanking in a peculiar way. He hoped nobody noticed the sudden bulge that appeared in his jeans as he watched the spanking in progress.

Casey seemed defeated and deflated, meekly following his mother to the couch in the living room. He dropped his jeans and his briefs on command, then draped himself over his mother's left leg with this upper body laying on the couch. Eleanor used her right leg to pin Casey's legs so he couldn't kick or try to get up during the spanking.

Eleanor placed her left hand in the middle of Casey's back to gently but firmly hold him down on the couch and then raised the hairbrush up high and smashed it down hard onto the boy's right buttock.

Rob winced in sympathy as the hairbrush went to work on his best friend's bare backside. He had felt that nasty wooden hairbrush on his own bare cheeks far too many times. The sting from the thing was unbelievable and it always left him bawling by the time his mother was done spanking him with it. Ditto for Kenny.

It quickly became apparent that Eleanor used a different technique than his own mother used with the hairbrush. When Rob was being spanked with that fiendish hairbrush his mother distributed the swats around his buttocks and upper thighs in a seemingly random pattern until the entire area was bright red and throbbing. Eleanor pounded the brush repeatedly into the same spot on Casey's right buttock until the boy couldn't help himself, he had to yelp in protest and started writhing across her leg.

Only after she had turned that one spot a dangerous looking red that must have been incredibly painful based on Casey's reaction did she move on and start applying the thick hardwood back of the hairbrush to an untouched spot. Only after Casey's right buttock was a uniform glowing red and the boy was yelping on every swat did she finally move her assault over to the still pristine left buttock.

Soon enough both of Casey's lower cheeks had been turned a really painful-looking shade of bright red and the owner of those cheeks was reduced to a howling, writhing mess. Eleanor stopped for a moment to admire her handiwork. She asked Casey if he would ever call her that filthy name again and if he would ever raise a hand to his mother again.

Casey apologized and tearfully promised not to ever swear at or threaten his mother again, gasping out the words between sobs. Eleanor accepted his apology, but to make sure that he remembered to keep his promise she decided to finish off the spanking with a final dose of the hairbrush. Despite Casey's pitiful pleas for mercy Eleanor slammed the brush into the tops of his thighs, seven swats on the right thigh just below the crease between buttock and thigh, then seven swats on the left thigh at the same location. It was all Eleanor could do to keep the howling and desperately struggling Casey from kicking as this final volley of swats was delivered.

After the spanking was over Eleanor put down the hairbrush and began comforting her son as he cried himself out.

Lynn invited Eleanor and Casey to stay for dinner, an invitation that was readily accepted.

The sun had finally made an appearance late in the afternoon and dried off the deck so the group ate dinner at a picnic table out on the deck overlooking Wright Run and the trees at the bottom of the gently sloping yard that hid the Scioto River. There was no danger of anyone ever building anything between their property and river because the whole area along the river was a flood plain, plus the trees hid the remains of the old canal. That entire section of the canal was owned by a state agency and was maintained in its current state for both historical and nature preserve/wetlands purposes.

After dinner the group retired back to the kitchen table to finish going through the road trip photos. The prints and negatives of the spanking photos that Kenny had taken were confiscated. Kenny was given a stern lecture, warning him not to take those sort of photos again in the future. No other spankings were given because of any of the incidents from the road trip since the two mothers were satisfied that the three boys had been sufficiently punished by Donald for all the misdemeanors they had committed during the trip.

Rob strongly suspected that his father got an earful from his mother when the man returned from his business trip on Thursday. But he never heard, or even overheard, anything about it directly. His father never mentioned the spanking photos to Rob or, as far as Rob knew, Kenny.

That Friday night they took the road trip photos, minus the spanking ones, to the regular weekly meeting of the Scioto Valley Model Railroading Society. The members of the club enjoyed seeing the photos and hearing the stories of the fun things that had happened on the road trip. Needless to say no mention was made of any of the spanking, switching or paddling incidents that had occurred during the trip.

The reaction was mixed when Thomas and Donald donated the Amish hardwood spanking paddles they had obtained in Strasburg to the club to be used on the younger members when they got out of line. The men all thought that the paddles were hilarious, but the boys in the group were far less amused by the situation.

The two paddles were eventually earmarked for different purposes. The "Board of Education" paddle that Thomas donated to the club ended up being used mainly for ceremonial 'fun' spankings, birthday spankings and that sort of thing - not really intended to be painful. The "Attitude Adjuster" paddle donated by Donald was reserved for situations where one or more of the boy members of the club had gotten way out of line and needed a painful reminder to behave themselves.

Rob guessed that Kenny Chandler and Sam Arden would end up being two of the most frequent recipients of the Attitude Adjuster paddle. Only time would tell if he was correct.

Author Note: This is the final episode of this series that specifically refers to events from the road trip that started the whole thing. I would like to eventually write two or three episodes detailing the activities of actual SVRR club meetings and the adventures of Rob and Casey at home in Ohio. I'm not sure when those episodes might be published.

The author welcomes comments from readers. You can contact Bobby Watson by e-mail at: mrbwatson (at) gmail.com
Please be patient - Bobby doesn't always check his e-mail every day.