This short story is an entry in the 2001 Soc.Sexuality.Spanking Summer Short Story Contest and is copyright by the author and commercial use is prohibited without permission. Personal/private copies are permitted only if complete including the copyright notice. The author would appreciate your comments
Category: Child
Mission of Mercy
By
Starship <starship_64@yahoo.com>
Outside, the courtyard of the small Swedish mission compound was dark and silent. In the main house, thirteen year old Annika Hannson's stomach fluttered as she quickly got undressed and into her nightgown, then sat down on the bed to wait for her parents to finish talking with the Japanese sergeant who had brought her home from the Nahon Nayak POW camp, where she had been caught.
After only a few minutes her mother marched in to the bedroom and closed the door. She was carrying her hairbrush, which was not a good sign. "Is he gone?" Annika asked softly.
Her mother nodded. "You're lucky it was Sgt. Hayashi and not some of the other guards," she said. "I promised him that you would be punished, and your father gave him some money. I'm pretty sure he's not going to report you."
"I just wanted to take some food to the prisoners. If you saw them it would break your heart. They're like bags of skin!"
"I see," her mother said, still stern. "Well it's a very good thing they've finished building that Burma railroad, or you and everybody else in this compound might well have been tossed into one of those labor camp for this."
Annika's eyes widened. "But they can't! We're neutral."
"Sweden is neutral," her mother said, shaking her head. "But that only protects us so long as we follow the rules, including the rule against going near the camps."
"Oh." Annika looked down at the floor. "I didn't think of that."
"You didn't think at all is the problem," her mother replied sharply, then sighed. "Young lady, what you did was dangerous and impulsive." Her voice softened. "But at the same time, I'm proud of you for wanting to do something to help."
Annika looked up, surprised. "You are?"
Her mother nodded. "Very much so. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it. You chose the wrong way, which is why you're going to get a spanking in just a minute."
Annika's shoulders dropped. "Do you have to?"
"I'm afraid so," her mother answered, and then paused. "Annika, you know that the Japanese allow Thai merchants to sell to the camp guards," she continued after a moment, "and that your father and I sometimes use those traders to smuggle medicines that he gets through the Swedish consulate. If you had asked, you could have helped out with the sorting and packing for that."
"I know," Annika said quietly. "I'm sorry." She squirmed on the bed, understand only now how much she had risked. "After..." She took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "After the spanking, can I still help?"
"In the morning you can," her mother replied as she pulled out Annika's desk chair and sat down, still gripping the hairbrush. "But now..."
It was time. Annika sighed, then slowly rose from the bed and, without being told, laid face down across her mother's lap to accept her punishment.
The End
© Copyright Summer, 2001
Reviews
John Benson <johnb(at)ssec(dot)wisc(dot)edu>
Interesting premise. Interesting times, in the deprecating, Asian meaning of the term. Too bad that the information needed to set the stage pretty much exhausted the format. It would be nice to have had time to explore her inner conflict. The spanking will be so justified, since it's for her safety. Yet on another level so unfair, since she's being punished for unselfishness and nobility of spirit.
Overall, enjoyable nonethesess. Thank you for playing.
Pam <PamiMac(at)aol(dot)com>
What a good story Starship has written. It is historical and has a very wonderful little girl as its center. I liked the fact that it was a "story" first and had spanking in it as an aside. It was natural and meant to be. PM
Sarah Nada <circler73(at)hotmail(dot)com>
"Mission of Mercy" is a war story, and a spanking story. But more than either of those it's a story about love, about wanting to do the right thing even when it is difficult. The Hansson family seems almost too good for my world, but I sure enjoyed this glimpse into theirs.
Julie Moon <Msmusic4(at)won(dot)com>
This was very well written, good details and a lot of imagination. The reason for the spanking was understandable as any parent would want to protect their child from doing anything would be dangerous regardless of the reason but somehow the punishment did not seem to fit.