(Author Note: This is the twelfth episode in a series. The characters and situations were introduced in the story:
Camp Torowa Falls 1: Wet Sheets Lead to Sore Rumps.
Read that episode first! Then read episodes 2 through 11 before reading this one!)
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The ceiling was faintly illuminated by the early light of dawn, a fact noticed only by the twelve-year-old boy lying awake on the bed below. Corey couldn't help wondering if the previous day had all been a dream. It still seemed real enough, but there was only one way to be sure.

He got out of bed and stealthily crossed over to the shelf near the rear of the cabin. Sure enough, there were two frisbees in the spot where the Fox Cabin Frisbee was usually kept. He picked up one, which bore a reasonably good drawing of a bear, probably a grizzly bear. He placed it back on the shelf and picked up the second frisbee. It bore a fairly childish drawing of a squirrel.

So it really had happened. Corey suppressed a sudden urge to shriek with delight, then he put the Squirrel Cabin Frisbee back on the shelf, and went back to bed. He touched the bandage on his nose, which was still throbbing just a bit. He felt pain, so this wasn't a dream, either. Life was good. Now all he had to do was avoid being torn apart by a pack of angry Bears in the next week.

A while later Jerry and Corey left the cabin to head for the Bath House. They went for their customary pre-inspection pee, but also to see if Roland Bell, the birthday boy, would put in an appearance.

They were about fifty feet from the cabin when Alan caught up with them. "Roland spanked me while I was peeing on my birthday," said Alan. "So I thought it only polite to return the favor if I could." The three friends shared a chuckle at that sentiment.

After taking care of their business, the trio hung around the Bath House, and they weren't the only ones. They had to be back in the cabin in time for morning inspection, so they could only wait a few minutes. Corey was just about to give up when Roland, clad only in his yellow birthday ribbon tape, came trotting into the Bath House.

Roland moved as fast as he could, and seemed to be unescorted. The rest of the Bears may have been too out of sorts after yesterday's fiasco. Corey waved and wished Roland "Happy birthday!" as his friend trotted by, but he couldn't resist the urge to plant a hefty spank on Roland's lower left cheek as he passed.

Alan followed Roland over to the trough, and planted at least four good swats on the conveniently presented posterior. Then Alan made way for others, who continuously spanked the newly 14-year-old backside while its owner relieved himself.

Corey, Jerry and Alan had to head back to Fox Cabin to avoid being late for inspection, so they missed seeing Roland's exit from the Bath House, and the state of his rear end after all the attention it had received.

After inspection the Fox Cabin crew headed for the showers. Corey asked about who was planning to go into town on the bus. Eric and Alan both wanted to go, and agreed to pick up something for Corey to give to Roland. Now all Corey had to do was figure out what to get him before the guys boarded the bus at 9 AM.

Corey had two other important duties to fulfill that morning. First, he needed to mail the letters to his family on the way to breakfast, which was a little more exciting than it might normally seem. The letter to his parents was the first letter Corey would ever mail using the new Zip Code system introduced by the Post Office on July 1st. He had memorized the zip code for his home town, but didn't know the code for Becky's camp.

For the second duty Corey brought along the Squirrel Cabin Frisbee. After breakfast Corey and Derek Trone, the Patrol Leader of Squirrel Cabin, made a big show of trading back their Frisbees and shaking hands. The Bears looked on the scene with pure contempt in their eyes, except for Roland - who just looked sad.

Doc Moseley took Corey aside after breakfast to check out his nose, and general condition. Corey convinced the huge camp nurse that he was okay, but was dismayed when told he couldn't go in swimming for at least two days, maybe more.

"Oh, no!" said Corey in a plaintive voice. "Can I go sailing on the lake?"

"Well, yeah," said Doc. "Provided that you don't 'accidentally' fall out of the boat into the lake."

"Would I do something like that?" asked Corey, batting his eyes innocently.

"Let me put it this way, you little scamp," said Doc. "If you do end up in the lake and risk getting an infection, I will personally knock some sense into that pointy little head of yours. Got it?"

"Okay, okay!" said Corey, shaking his head as he walked away.

Eric and Alan boarded the bus for town at nine, as planned. They had Corey's money and gift order. Phil and Tony were the other two Fox Cabin campers going to town on the last trip of the summer. Next Saturday would be the big end-of-session community picnic, and then everyone would go home.

Corey and Jerry watched the bus leave, then turned to take the Fox Cabin Frisbee back to their cabin. They found their way blocked by three Bears: Steve Windom, Pete Carlisle, and Joey Cramer. "Well, well, Lane," said Steve. "Got your Frisbee back?"

"Yep," said Corey. He was trying to sound casual, but he and Jerry were outnumbered by bigger guys. Corey grasped the Fox Cabin Frisbee tightly in his left hand.

"So now you're the big hero," said Pete. "Who do you think you are, anyway...Paladin?"

"Have Frisbee - Will Travel," said Corey, trying to sound a lot more at ease than he felt. "Wire Corey - Camp Torowa Falls."

"And I suppose that this is your faithful sidekick, Tonto?" said Joey, looking at Jerry.

"Ugh," said Jerry, folding his arms in front of him in a familiar way. "Paleface with red ass speak-em with forked tongue."

Joey took a step towards Jerry, his hands already balled into fists. But Pete put his arm out and blocked him, saying, "Don't even bother, Joey. Let Spin and Marty here have their little jokes. By the end of the weekend we'll have our Frisbee back, plus the one that Marty is holding, and all the rest of the junior cabin Frisbees in this place."

"Yeah, well," said Corey. "Good luck with that, ladies." He pretended to tip a nonexistent hat to them and then he and Jerry boldly pushed past the furious Bears and walked steadily but unhurriedly back towards Fox Cabin.

Once they were out of earshot Corey said, "Marty? I always fancied myself as more the Spin type."

"Nah," said Jerry. "You're definitely Marty."

"Oh, well," said Corey. "I just wish Annette was here."

"I'm with ya there!"

Corey looked around for anyone who might overhear them, then spent the rest of the walk back to the cabin explaining his plan for keeping the Bear Cabin Frisbee until next Friday, which would cause the ultimate humiliation of the Bears. Jerry thought the idea was interesting but impractical, considering the amount of cooperation between cabins that it would require. They agreed to keep working on it, and to present the plan to Eric and Alan after they got back from town.

There were no required activities at Camp Torowa Falls on Saturdays. Strictly speaking the meals were mandatory, but other than that, campers were able to set their own schedules. This is not to say they weren't supervised much of the time, but they were allowed to sign up for various activities offered, hang around their cabin, or visit friends in other cabins. Corey and Jerry had planned to swim after lunch, but now Corey wasn't able to do that because of his broken nose.

Jerry was reading his borrowed UFO book, and Corey was laying in bed, trying to figure out how they should spend their day. Doc told Corey he could go sailing, but that idea presented its own problems. Jerry and Corey were okay sailors, but considered too young to command one of the camp sailboats.

They often went out with Roland Bell, who at age 13 (14 as of today), was old enough to be trusted with command of one of the camp's 20 foot sloops. Roland was a California boy and an experienced sailor, plus he was Corey's friend. But they had just humiliated Roland and his buddies from Bear Cabin yesterday. Roland was not likely to be in any mood to be seen with them, much less take them sailing.

So if they wanted to go sailing, Jerry and Corey would have to find an older, experienced sailor who would be willing to take them along. "Craig Sherman from Elk Cabin?" asked Corey, hopefully.

"I saw him get on the bus," said Jerry, not even looking up from his book.

"Drat!" said Corey. He thought for a bit. "Bill Ramsey from Wolf Cabin?"

"He didn't get on the bus," said Jerry. "Could be worth asking."

"Hmmm," said Corey.

There was a knock on the screen door. Corey sat up and saw Josh Freeman and Dave Drury from Coyote Cabin at the door, grinning. "Can we come in? asked Josh.

"Sure guys!" said Corey. "Come on in!"

The two 12-year-old Coyotes entered Fox Cabin and were greeted by the two resident campers. Corey was surprised to see that Dave Drury, Patrol Leader for Coyote Cabin, had a black eye. "Whoa, D.D.!" said Corey. Everybody called Dave that. "What happened to your eye? Bear trouble?"

"You know it!" said D.D. "Brian Walker gave me this," he said, pointing to his blackened right eye, "and this," he said, pulling up the left leg of his khaki uniform shorts and revealing a nasty looking bruise near the top of his thigh. "Bastard tried to kick me in the balls, but lucky for me he missed."

"Wow!" said Jerry, whistling in amazement. "I knew the Bears were dirty fighters, but kicking a guy in the balls, that's just too low!"

"Jeeze, D.D.," said Corey. "I'm really sorry you got hurt. I didn't expect the Bears to react that way."

"Hey, don't sweat it!" said D.D. "It's not your fault they went nuts. In fact, we want to help you teach those big jerks a lesson."

"Really?" said Corey. He looked at Jerry, who just shrugged. Corey proceeded to explain his plan for keeping the Bears from recovering their Frisbee. D.D. and Josh were instantly enthusiastic about the plan, and promised the cooperation of the Coyote Cabin crew.

After the Coyotes left, Jerry said, "Okay, you can say it. You told me so."

"Nah," said Corey. "Most of the cabins probably won't go for it. Those guys were attacked by the Bears. It won't be personal for the other cabins, so they probably won't agree."

"I don't know about that," said Jerry. "Besides, with the Coyotes, Squirrels and us, we have a pretty good chance of success, even without any more allies."

"I hope you're right," said Corey.

Kyle and Paulie came in at that point, and they brought a guest, Roland Bell. It turned out that Roland was being shunned by the rest of the Bears. They blamed him for the loss of their Cabin Frisbee. "They say I let Corey capture it on purpose because we're friends." said Roland, finishing his explanation.

"That's crazy!" said Corey. "The Cabin Frisbees are business, not personal. Neither of us would let the other get our Cabin Frisbee if we could stop it, no matter how good friends we were. You did your best to catch me!"

"Of course!" said Roland, "But they need to blame somebody for the disaster we suffered yesterday. Guest who got elected to be the scapegoat?"

"I'm really sorry, Roland," said Corey.

"Hey, don't be," said Roland. "I can't pretend to be happy about it, of course. But it was a really slick move - one I wish I had thought of."

"Thanks," said Corey.

"Don't mention it," said Roland. "Anyway, I reserved a sloop for the day, and came to see if you wanted to go sailing. You're all invited."

All four Fox Cabin campers immediately agreed, and they quickly changed into their swim suits. Then the five of them set off for the Mess Hall. They picked up box lunches to take along so they could eat on the water.

Soon they were skimming across the water, pushed by the wind itself. Corey loved sailing. In fact he really enjoyed being in or on the water - any water: lake, creek, river, or ocean. So it seemed only natural that he planned to serve his country in the U.S. Navy some day.

Corey had been a bit concerned about having Kyle and Paulie along for the day. But apparently even Kyle couldn't find anything evil about sailing. The younger boys both took an immediate shine to Roland, who showed them the basics of sailing the boat.

The five boys enjoyed themselves immensely. They sailed around much of Little Bear Lake, which was just over a mile long, and nearly a half-mile wide at its widest point. Camp Torowa Falls was the only major campground/picnic site on the lake. It was the only development of any kind at the falls end of the lake. Individual vacation homes dotted the shoreline at the far end of the lake.

There were five small islands in Little Bear Lake. Only the largest island was inhabited, at least part of the year. The other islands were too small for vacation homes, but they made good places to stop and have lunch. The group did so, since it was tough to sail the boat and eat at the same time, at least on so small a body of water.

The day passed quickly, and all too soon they were headed back to camp. As they approached the dock, it became apparent that there was a welcoming party waiting for them. Jeff and Doc Moseley were clearly waiting for their boat to return.

The presence of Doc Moseley was a bit of shock to Corey. He hadn't, strictly speaking, kept his promise to Doc about not "falling out of the boat". But he had kept his head above water, for the most part, and was certain his broken nose wouldn't become infected. Still, that might not be good enough for the imposing camp nurse. Corey casually checked the state of his swim suit. Damn! It was very damp. If Doc checked it, he was dead meat. All he could do at this point was pray.

When they had tied up and climbed back on the dock, Jeff told Jerry that Boss Lemmon wanted to see him immediately. Jeff refused to answer any questions, and they strode off together in the direction of Boss Lemmon's office. Corey was left facing Doc Moseley, who eyed him suspiciously.

"What's up, Doc?" said Corey, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Did you go in swimming, Corey?" said Doc, clearly in no mood for jokes.

"No, Doc," said Corey, trying to sound calm.

"For heaven's sake, boy!" said Doc. "I can see from here that those swim trunks you're wearing are still wet. Did you just lie to me?"

Corey couldn't maintain contact with Doc's eyes, and stared at the ground. "Yes, sir," he mumbled.

"I can't hear you, boy! Look me in the eyes!" Corey looked up. "Did you just lie to me?"

"Yes, sir," said Corey.

Doc grabbed Corey firmly by the arm and said, "Come with me."

"Where are we going?" said Corey as he was pulled along, alarmed at Doc Moseley's suddenly stern attitude.

"We're going to my hut," said Doc. "I'm gonna check out your nose and the rest of that pointy little head of yours. Then we're gonna have a little talk about disobeying medical orders and lying about it."

Corey gulped involuntarily at this news as he was frog-marched along the path to the Nurse's Hut. Doc Moseley was a kindly man with a philosophical air about him, but there were persistent rumors that campers who pissed him off, particularly in the disobeying medical orders area, left his hut with very sore rear ends. Corey had a sinking feeling that he was about to find out if they were more than just rumors.

As soon as they were in the Nurse's Hut, Doc Moseley ordered Corey to strip. His protests were brushed aside, and Corey soon found himself sitting on the end of Doc's examining table, completely naked. "Please, Doc," said Corey. "I really did keep my head above water most of the time...honest!"

"I see," said Doc. "And you're always honest, aren't you?"

Once again Corey couldn't meet the big man's eyes. "No," said Corey, almost in a whine.

"Here, Corey," said Doc. He handed the boy a short, thick strap made of dark brown leather. "This is Hippocrates. He hates it when little boys deliberately disobey medical orders. He really hates it when they lie to me about deliberately disobeying medical orders. You just hold on to him while I check you out, and then Hippocrates will explain his position on the matter to your buttocks before you leave."

Corey felt the cool length of leather in his hands, knowing that it would soon impart an unbearable warmth to his bottom cheeks. Butterflies the size of 707s were zooming around Corey's stomach again. Corey hoped that Jerry was doing better with his meeting with Boss Lemmon than he was doing here.

Before Corey knew it the examination was over and he was lying face down on the examining table while Hippocrates eloquently explained his position on lying, diobedient little boys to Corey's twitching, quickly reddening posterior. Corey couldn't believe the sting the solid little strap was transmitting to his backside.

Corey had never been whipped with a leather strap before. If this is what a small strap could do to him, Corey wanted no part of Boss Lemmon's huge razor strap. Despite the agony he was feeling, Corey tried to take his whipping like a man. He couldn't keep from writhing on the table and there were tears standing in his eyes, but at least he hadn't yet made a sound.

Eventually Doc Moseley informed him that Hippocrates always kept explaining his position until a lying, disobedient boy howled in contrition, and made an apology. Corey wasn't certain what 'contrition' meant, but he quickly allowed the howls of pain he had been choking back to escape his lips. As the strap continued to lash into Corey, stoking the fires in his blazing rump, the anguished boy managed to gasp out - between the howls that accompanied each firey new lash - apologies and promises to always obey medical orders in the future.

Finally Hippocrates thought that Corey had suffered enough and relented. Doc Moseley gave the sobbing boy time to get himself back under control. Eventually Corey was allowed to get dressed and head back to Fox Cabin. He rubbed the back of his still-damp swim suit as he walked, trying to ease the pain in his throbbing bottom.

When Corey got back to Fox Cabin, everyone else was already there. Alan gave Corey the present for Roland and his change. Then stories needed to be exchanged.

Corey was unsuccessful in his attempts to conceal the fact that he had been crying. Plus somebody spotted a couple of red welts on the back of Corey's legs below the area covered by his swim suit. So Corey was forced to kick off the storytelling by describing how he had just been strapped by Doc Moseley for failing to follow medical orders.

Eric and Alan went next. It turned out that there had been quite a bit of trouble in town. Several campers had been caught red-handed buying fireworks from the locals down by the river. The locals selling the stuff had been taken into custody by the police. Todd Ritter and Steve Turner, the Coyote Cabin counselor, had talked the police into releasing the Camp Torowa Falls boys, who were only buying the stuff and not selling it, into the custody of camp officials. They assured the authorities that Boss Lemmon would severely thrash every camper involved with the situation.

Jerry had been questioned about his and Corey's involvement last weekend by Boss Lemmon. Jerry admitted that he had bought the cherry bombs that were discovered during the camp out from the locals last Saturday. Jerry insisted that Corey didn't know anything about it, and didn't even know that Jerry had bought anything until he was given a cherry bomb during the camp out.

Corey was ready to kick himself. Why hadn't they at least found out what was going on last Saturday before Corey went to notify the counselors? Apparently Jeff had argued that Corey and Jerry had been punished enough with the switching they received from him last Wednesday.

Boss Lemmon had yet to decide if they deserved a strapping on top of it. This could be bad - very, very bad. At least none of the other Fox Cabin guys were involved, either this week or last week.

Then Corey and Jerry told the story of Roland being shunned by the Bears. They also revealed an interesting fact that Roland had mentioned during the cruise, namely, that Bear Cabin would be going on their camp out from Monday through Thursday, so they only had four days to try and regain their Frisbee.

Speaking of which, it was time to go out and defend the Bear Cabin Frisbee in play. They were obligated to do it every day, so they needed to go play before dinner time, which was in a little over an hour. Because of the regular Saturday bus trips, Frisbee time on Saturdays was always right before dinner.

When they arrived at the lakeside playing field, it was apparent that all seven other cabins were already there. The weird thing was that only the two senior cabins, Elk Cabin and Moose Cabin, were playing with their Frisbees. The others all appeared to be waiting for the upcoming conflict between Bear Cabin and Fox Cabin.

As Fox Cabin set up, the Bears swarmed in, which had been expected by everyone. It got a little weird when the campers from Coyote Cabin and Squirrel Cabin also joined in the fray. It got really strange when the Wolf Cabin and Muskrat Cabin crews also took the field. The really crazy part was that they all were more or less cooperating in the effort to keep the Bears from recapturing their Frisbee.

The ten Bears suddenly found themselves up against fifty campers, only forty of whom were smaller than them. These were not the kind of odds that the Bears liked to operate with. Pete Carlisle appealed to the counselors, several of whom were keeping an eye on things. Marty Herman tried to get a favorable judgement, but the final decision was that it was perfectly legal for cabins to group together to play with their Frisbees.

The Bears all tried their best, especially Roland. But there was no way they could overcome the five to one odds. The sheer mass of opposing campers pretty much kept them away from wherever their Frisbee happened to be, so it was impossible to get any kind of shot at snagging it back. The Bears grew more and more frustrated and angry, particularly the ringleaders. But the presence of so many counselors and Asscons forced them to keep it clean and non-violent.

Soon it was time to head in for dinner, and the Bears had never even had a clean shot at getting their Frisbee back. Although all four of the other cabins had handled the Bear Cabin Frisbee during the session, it ended up back in the hands of Fox Cabin when the session ended. The Bears had six days left until they would get spanked by the Foxes, and they would be camping out for three of those days.

As they ate dinner, Corey couldn't help but reflect on the day so far. It was an emotional rollercoaster, up and down all day. First, he woke up on top of the world, then he got the bad news about no swimming. Then he had a chance to go sailing, which he thoroughly enjoyed. But then he got strapped for swimming without permission, which was no fun at all. Now Corey was still down, because he and Jerry might get called up for a razor strapping on top of everything else.

There was a brief scare at the evening assembly when Jeff asked Jerry to follow him up front. But it turned out to be a false alarm, Jerry had been chosen to assist with the strappings that night. Corey suspected that Jeff had left them hanging in suspense on purpose, just to put a good scare into them. Corey didn't know about Jerry, but it sure had scared him!

Corey was so relieved about Jerry not being strapped that he really didn't pay close attention to the strappings that evening - which it later occurred to Corey was a first for him. He didn't really know any of the guys being strapped: Terry Albright and Craig Sherman from Elk Cabin, Stan Walters from Moose Cabin, and Tim Sheffield from Wolf Cabin.

It was pretty standard stuff by now. They all howled except Stan, one of the biggest guys in camp. In fact only a few of the counselors were taller than Stan.

After assembly came Roland's birthday party with the usual cake and ice cream. Still being shunned by the Bears, Roland was joined by his four sailing partners, plus some friends from other cabins. Roland didn't get too many presents, but he seemed to have a good time nonetheless.

Roland surprised Corey when he took him aside later on, as the regular Saturday night movie was starting, and asked him a favor. "It's now obvious that you guys are going to spank us Bears next Friday." said Roland. "As the Fox Cabin Patrol Leader, you get to decide which of your guys spanks each of our guys."

"Yeah," said Corey. He was definitely looking forward to putting Joey Cramer over his knee next Friday if the plan worked out.

"I'd really like you to spank me if it comes to that," said Roland.

"Really?" said Corey. "I had kind of planned to have Paulie or Tony do it..."

"So you could spank Joey yourself," said Roland.

"Well..."

"I don't blame you," said Roland. "It's your decision, of course. But if I have to be spanked, I'd rather be over the knee of somebody I respect, even if you hit me twice as hard as Paulie would."

"Okay," said Corey. "I can do that...if you're sure about it?"

"I am!" said Roland. "And don't worry about humiliating Joey. Make him go over the knee of the smallest guy in your cabin and he'll be twice as humiliated by it - compared to going over your knee."

"I see your point," said Corey. "No problem." The two friends shook hands, sealing the bargain. As they took their seats for the movie, The Day The Earth Stood Still, he noticed several Bears glaring at them in the relative darkness. Corey hoped that Roland would last long enough to go over his knee on Friday.

Next morning the Fox Cabin boys were putting on their Sunday finery. The good news was that this would be the final sermon by the Reverend Belling that they'd have to sit through that summer. The bad news (at least as far as Corey was concerned) was that they still had one more sermon by the Reverend Belling to sit through.

As he examined himself in the mirror, Corey was not disturbed by his slowly fading black eye, or the bandage across the bridge of his nose. He was quite alarmed by the mop of hair on top of his head, which had grown more shaggy since last week. Corey had forgotten to get a haircut on Saturday, the only day they were available. He wouldn't have another chance to get one before his parents picked him up next week. Corey knew that his father would be absolutely furious with him when he spotted his long hair. Great! Just Great! Something else to look forward to.

It was even warmer and muggier than the previous Sunday, and Corey prayed that he could get through the church service without falling asleep again. As they ate breakfast, Jerry suggested that Corey rub his nose hard enough that it hurt, which should keep him awake. But Eric pointed out that if Corey aggravated his broken nose, he might not get permission to go swimming for the rest of the summer. What wonderful choices he had! Corey took out his frustrations on his pancakes.

Anna Belling was sitting up front as usual, next to her grandmother on "the bench." Jerry, Corey, Eric and Alan sat together during the service and helped each other stay awake. They used the simple expedient of pinching each other on the arms periodically. The final sermon was particularly long - it had to be well over ninety minutes - but they all got through it without nodding off.

When the service ended, Corey couldn't have told anyone what the sermon had been about if his life depended on it. It probably had something to do with Jesus, but other than that... Corey had spent most of his time staring at the back of Anna Belling's gorgeous golden tresses. The rest of his time had been spent pinching Jerry, seated to his left, and Alan, seated to his right, and being pinched by them in return.

They emerged from the hall at last, blinking in the blinding light of the intense summer sun. Corey was completely surprised when Jonathan Stanley, one of the Asscons at the door said, "Dunson, Farnham, Lane and Linsey, get in line!"

Jerry was the first of the stunned boys to find his voice, "Wait a minute, Jon. We stayed awake the whole time!"

"I know that," said Jonathan. "But you were all fooling around the whole time, too. We saw you pinching each other."

"But we were just trying to stay awake!" said Alan and Corey, simultaneously.

"That's the best excuse you can come up with?" said Adam North, the other Asscon at the door. "You're on all four observer's lists for fooling around. Just get in line and take your medicine, boys!"

"Try not to cry, girls," said Joey Graham, smirking at them as the four grumbling friends very reluctantly took their places in the line of unhappy children waiting to be spanked. Corey ended up behind Eric again, but in front of Jerry this time.

Eventually twenty-eight boys and two girls were lined up awaiting their fate. As always, the question uppermost in the mind of each young offender was who was going to "see to them" this week? Corey was really pissed off about this turn of events and steamed in the heat as the vultures gathered - many of the campers and local kids who weren't in trouble were eager to see the ones who were get punished.

This time it was Todd Ritter, the camp handy man and bus driver, who seated himself on the stool near the head of the line. Todd had a short leather strap. It was shorter than the one Doc Moseley had used on Corey the previous day, and made of thick black leather.

The first girl over Todd's lap was his 9-year-old daughter, Evelyn. She was probably used to being in that position. It was quickly apparent as the short strap sharply struck the back of Evelyn's white panties four times that the strap was specifically designed to be used while the recipient was lying over the spanker's knee. Evelyn's yelps and squirming spoke to the effectiveness of the small strap as a tool of punishment.

The second girl was about eight years old and Corey didn't know her - but Todd called her Tanya. She may have been some out-of-town relative visiting one of the staff families. Stranger or not, little Tanya received four sharp lashes from Todd's strap on the seat of her blue panties, and she was yelping with gusto and kicking mightily by the time it was over.

Once again the first, and shortest boy was Curt Ritter, Todd's 7-year-old son. As required by procedure Curt had unbuckled his belt, unfastened his trousers, and held them at his waist while Tanya was getting her spanking. As Curt stepped up to the stool he released his trousers so gravity could sweep them down to his ankles as he made the fateful climb into his father's lap.

Then while Todd was applying four vigorous lashes of his short strap to the no doubt familiar target of the seat of his son's briefs, a 9-year-old little'un, whom Corey recognized as Timmy Garlin, Kyle's little brother, was the first camper to unbuckle his belt and unfasten his trousers.

Soon Curt Ritter staggered away, sniffling, while Timmy climbed up on Todd's lap. As the strap descended six times on the seat of Timmy's briefs, the next boy unbuckled his belt and unfastened his trousers, preparing to drop them as he took his turn over Todd's lap.

So it went, the weekly assembly line. As each boy got to the front of the line he unbuckled, unfastened, and waited anxiously as he watched the short length of thick black leather connect sharply six times with the white cotton-covered seat of his squirming predecessor.

As Corey neared the front of the line he realized that once again Anna Belling was among the group watching the show. He had been trying to avoid looking over there since several Bears were eagerly watching - waiting for Corey and his friends to get their spankings.

So for the second week in a row, the most perfect girl in the world was going to see him drop his trousers and get spanked on his underpants like a little'un. And this time he hadn't even done anything wrong! Life was so unfair!

Corey took another glance in Anna's direction and found her looking right at him - she winked at him! Corey's heart skipped a beat and his upper cheeks flushed with shame. Anna was enjoying this! He was once again thankful that at least they didn't spank boys on their bare bottoms in front of the girls.

Soon Alan was getting his dose of six lashes of the strap as he squirmed over Todd's lap. Josh Freeman was standing at the front of the line, already unbuckled and unfastened. Eric was behind Josh, and Corey was behind Eric.

Then Josh was climbing up on Todd's lap while Eric unbuckled his belt and unfastened his trousers. Thwacck! Thwacck! Thwacck! The short strap looked like it was really putting a sting into Josh's tail. The sturdy 12-year-old was trying not to squirm, but without success.

Then Josh was pulling up his trousers as he walked away. Eric climbed up on Todd's lap, allowing gravity to lower his trousers and reveal his white Hanes briefs. Corey stepped forward and unbuckled his belt. Thwacck! Thwacck! Thwacck! As the strap collided with Eric's hind cheeks, protected only by their thin layer of white cotton, Corey unfastened his trousers and held them at the ready. Thwacck! Thwacck! Thwacck!

Soon Eric had dropped off of Todd's lap and was walking away. Corey took the fateful step up to the stool and climbed up on Todd's lap. His trousers fell down below his knees as he climbed, exposing his white Jockey briefs to the world. Corey studiously avoided looking in the direction of Anna and the smirking Bears.

Thwacck! Whew! It wasn't as bad as Hippocrates, but it was bad enough.

Thwacck! Wow! Corey was glad he was only getting six lashes.

Thwacck! Corey realized that he had not been spanked over the knee by a man other than his father before.

Thwacck! Good thing this will be over soon.

Thwacck! Corey couldn't believe that Anna was enjoying his pain - not to mention the evil Bears!

Thwacck! At last! Made it through the ordeal again.

As Corey's feet hit the ground again he reached for his trousers, pulling them up and fastening them in place. He avoided the crowd of observers and headed back towards the cabin. He needed to get the Bear Cabin Frisbee anyway so they could defend it again before lunch.

A few minutes later Corey emerged from the Bath House and headed for Fox Cabin. He wondered if the five-cabin alliance that worked so well the first day would hold up for the entire week. Only time would tell.

"Corey!"

Corey turned to see... "Anna?"

"Hi," said Anna Belling as she walked out of the trees, down to the path.

"Hi," said Corey. Oh, yeah. Real slick, Einstein! Go ahead and mention the weather, why don't ya? "Nice weather...huh?" Dear God, please strike me dead right now!

"Yeah," said Anna, giggling. "Nice weather, if you were born on Mercury."

"Yeah," said Corey. Then Corey's brain unseized, and he thought of a question that didn't involve the weather. "Um, do your grandparents know you're here?"

"They brought me here for church," said Anna, grinning.

"I meant," said Corey, "do they know you're over here by the cabins?"

"No," said Anna. "It'll be okay, though."

"I wouldn't be so sure," said Corey. "If they catch you here, we'll both be in trouble."

"Seems like you're used to being in trouble," said Anna.

Corey blushed, and said, "Sort of. Did you follow me over here just to tease me?"

"Who says I followed you?" said Anna.

"Well, there are more than 300 acres in this campground," said Corey, "and you just happened to end up at the same place as me. Did you enjoy watching me get spanked?"

"I didn't while it was happening," said Anna. "But if you're going to treat me like this, I'll enjoy it thoroughly the next time I see you get it."

"Yeah...well..." said Corey. "I'll try to accommodate you at the earliest opportunity."

"Look, this is stupid," said Anna. "Why are you trying to pick a fight?"

"I dunno," said Corey. "Why are you following me?"

"Alright, I did follow you," said Anna. "I did it because I heard about the way you got the best of those nasty bullies. I wanted to tell you how nice I thought it was, that you helped out those little kids whose Frisbee had been stolen last Sunday."

"Oh, I see," said Corey. "Well, thanks! Er...thank you!"

"You're quite welcome," said Anna.

"One question," said Corey. "Why didn't you just sit with us at lunch again and tell me all this then?"

"Well, there are two reasons," said Anna. "For one thing, you were so nervous around me last week that I thought we might have a better conversation without the other boys around."

"Okay," said Corey, his face flushing mightily at the reminder of his clumsiness last Sunday. "And the other reason..?"

"The other reason is that I wanted to do this," said Anna, and she stepped up to Corey, threw her arms around him, and kissed him quite thoroughly.

Corey was so stunned by this that his brain seized up momentarily. When it started functioning again he was certain that his heart had stopped. Oh, well. If you have to die at the age of twelve, this has got to be one of the better ways to go...

"Corey?" Some time passed. "Corey?"

"Yes?" said Corey finally.

"How did you like it?" said Anna.

"It was wonderful," said Corey.

Then they heard voices and movement in the woods and quickly separated. "Will you show me your cabin?" said Anna.

"Sure," said Corey. They headed up the path to Fox Cabin together.

Most of the other Fox campers were there when they arrived at Fox Cabin. The other boys started fussing over Anna, naturally. Part of Corey was jealous, but mostly he knew that she hadn't followed the others into the woods to kiss them.

Anna was his girlfriend now. She was, and always would be, the first girl Corey ever kissed. And he wouldn't see her again after today...at least until next summer. Life could be terribly frustrating sometimes.