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Shortlisted A Picture is Worth Five Hundred Words

The Pause That Refreshes
– The Hiker's Report

Y Lee Coyote

The picture shows a bicycle standing alone in the forest.  Why?  What has happened?  Did a fire-breathing dragon just have had dinner?  Is the cyclist all wrapped up in the python (s)he ran over?  Well, not in this case.  With a somewhat Rashomon-like approach, here is the first of three reports that explain things.

The following story is fiction about an judicial adult strapping.  If this subject is offensive, uninteresting or if you are a minor (i.e., child) please leave now.

This work 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 – pro and con, including constructive criticism, and suggestions.  Please take a moment to e-mail.

I'd been hiking all day.  It was a day that surely was designed especially for that.  I had seen more than a score of different birds and more a dozen kinds of other critters.  I was less than a kilometer from the park entrance when I first heard the noise.  It reminded me of a woodpecker banging on a tree in that it was rhythmic and percussive yet not quite that of hard sort of drumming sound as it was more muffled.  I was thrilled at the prospect of adding a new species to my life list.

The sound seemed to be coming from straight ahead on the trail so I just ran ahead as I could cover a lot more ground on the path rather than bushwhacking.  The sound got louder as I went and then I saw a bicycle standing in the path.  Surely the cyclist had also heard this critter and left the trail to get closer.  I ran to the bicycle figuring that would be the best place to leave the trail.  The sound was loudest there and I cut into the woods.

It took me another minute to see what was causing the sound.  It was quite a surprise.  It was a park ranger and the biker rather than some woodland creatures.

The biker, riding shorts pulled down below the knees, was bent over a fallen tree and the ranger was standing to the side.  In the ranger's hand was a folded belt.  You know the sort that they wear – wide and thick brown leather to match their green uniforms.

My heart was racing as I watched in amazement as the belt was raised and lowered several more times.  The biker's tail was bright crimson and a bit swollen already.  That ass would not be able to sit on the saddle anymore today.  The ranger stopped and stood the biker up who grabbed the hot red cheeks.  "You will not pollute my park by urinating here.  The toilets are only five minutes away."  The biker said the appropriate things and dashed off as soon as permitted.  The ranger then left.  I remained hidden.

I made my way back to the park entrance.  In the distance I could see the biker running – not riding – for the toilets.

I was happy that my camera has a silent mode.  I got several great shots of a Glowing Red Cheeks Biker in full display.  My fellow members in the Birders' Club will be positively green with envy when I show them these pics of such a rare species in the wild.

The End

© Copyright A.I.L.  July 12, 2010

Zille Defeu

Utterly brilliant story! Excellent explanation for why a bicycle would be left alone in a wooded area. The story moves at a good speed, and has all satisfactory build-up and punch-line. (I'm still smiling about it!)

And I'm totally going to have to steal that idea for some of my own personal special fantasy time. Love the thought of the ranger with his belt - very hot authority figure, with too few stories written about this "man in uniform" (or woman in uniform, which would add its own special twist!)

Emma Jane

As someone who dances on the edge of this kind of play this story really hit home. I could imagine the humiliation of having to suffer the punishment, dealing with both the pain and the worry that someone might come along and witness it. I liked the story being told from the hiker's point of view who accepts the authority of the ranger and calmly describes what he sees. And loved the image of the belt 'wide and thick brown leather'. The only thing that could have made this better was if the hiker was caught watching and had to submit to the same punishment!

Barrister

A wonderful trilogy. The author left it so that the reader could fill in gender to suit everyone's orientation. It is difficult to review just one part of the trilogy out of the context of the whole as each lends a perspective that contributes to the whole. That said, although my favourite part was the bike's perspective, this first part, from the perspective of the hiker, was a great introduction.

Marie

Fantastic! A fun adventure type story. I really like outdoor settings in spanking stories but it's so hard to portray them realistically because it simply doesn't happen that often. A secluded forest/park seems just perfect!