Eleanor Devonish entered the general office and looked across at where the two girls on one day a week work experience sat at their desks. Eleanor, a junior partner in the firm of solicitors, walked across the room and spoke to Jane Metcalf.

“Jane, I need to have a chat. Could you come with me, please?”

Seventeen year old Jane stood up and followed Eleanor. She had been dreading this kind of summons since yesterday, and she now fully expected to be sacked. While she liked the tall, slim, dark-haired Ms Devonish, she knew the experienced solicitor could be ruthless.

“Jane, I’m sure you know why I’ve asked to have this talk with you.”

Jane sighed. “Is it about the spot of bother I got into at Saturday’s demonstration in town?”

“It is. Presumably you’ve had an email from the Justice Department outlining what you’re charged with and the options available to you?”

“Yes, it came yesterday.”

“Have you thought what you might do?”

“I haven’t thought about much else. I didn’t sleep very well last night worrying about it.”

“We, as solicitors, have also seen a copy of what the Justice Department sent you. They have a video recording of you kicking a hotel door and shouting slogans that were extremely anti-government. You were subsequently arrested and now they are charging you with ‘Aggressive Behaviour Likely to Cause a Breach of the Peace’. I think that sums up your situation, doesn’t it?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“The paperwork they sent you will have told you that you only need to appear in court if you intend to plead not guilty. Did you read that?”

“Yes, I saw that somewhere.”

“Presumably, since they have that video evidence, you are going to accept your guilt?”

“Yes. No. Oh, I don’t know. I’m just so worried about what effect this will have on my future.”

“Of course. Jane, as a solicitor, my advice has to be to accept your guilt, given the clear evidence they have. To plead not guilty would be wasting the court’s time, and that’s something they don’t like. Your sentence would be significantly harsher than if you admit your guilt. An added benefit is that you can plead guilty by email. A team of three magistrates will then go through the evidence and award their sentence, which would be notified to you, also by email. The procedure is quite quick and saves court time and your time.”

“Won’t that affect my work experience here, and any future I might have being employed with this firm after I leave school?”

“That’s slightly more complicated. A conviction does not automatically bar you from becoming a qualified solicitor, but any type of custodial sentence means you cannot qualify as a solicitor for five years under present rules. That’s not the end of the world, but it would delay your career.”

“Do you think I’ll get sent to prison? Oh god! That’s horrible.”

“That’s where being a highly reputable firm of solicitors in a small town has its advantages. I’ve been able to have a quiet word with someone in the court and justice system and after a bit of negotiation they’ve provisionally decided on a couple of options for you to consider.

“As long as you plead guilty you can choose between ten days in prison or one day in prison and ten strokes of the cane.”

“Oh god!”

“Hold on. The days in prison would be just that. You’d spend each day inside the juvenile wing from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm and go home each night. The one day option would normally also count as custodial, but we might be able to get around that. No one wants to harm your future career prospects if it can be avoided.”

“Can I appeal?”

“Yes, but if your appeal is unsuccessful the sentence would most likely be increased. As a solicitor, I’d strongly advise against that.”

Jane stroked her blond hair thoughtfully and pulled at the single long plait she’d woven neatly.

“What exactly do they mean by ‘ten strokes of the cane’. What does that entail?”

“The use a standard issue length of rattan cane and apply it to your naked buttocks. It’s not pleasant, but it’s quick.”

“Apply it? What do you mean?”

“They whip it across your bum! Like a severe spanking.”

“Oh god. I saw something about that on TV a few months ago. I didn’t pay much attention because, well, I never thought I’d be in a situation where it would affect me.”

“Have you talked this over with your mum? She’s a single parent, isn’t she?”

“Yes, my dad left us when I was very young. I don’t really remember him. But no, I haven’t mentioned it to her. She has enough worries without me adding to them.”

“That’s up to you of course.”

“You said that the one day in prison would still affect my career.”

“Normally, yes, but I’ve been able to negotiate that. A day in prison usually is from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm. I could arrange for your caning to be done in a short visit. Then it wouldn’t count as custodial.”

“How long would I be there?”

“Possibly no more than half an hour. I could come with you, both to support you and make sure your visit is not logged as a full day of prison.”

Tears began to form in Jane’s eyes. “Oh, why was I so stupid? I don’t want to spend any time in prison.”

“I know. I know.” Eleanor reached out across her desk and took Jane’s hands. “Let’s have some coffee.” She pressed a button on her intercom.

“Yes, Eleanor,” a voice responded.

“Could we have two coffees, please?”

“Right away, Eleanor.”

The coffee was quickly brought in, and Eleanor and Jane sat quietly drinking it.

“Any thoughts on what you intend to do?” Eleanor asked after a few minutes had passed.

“This caning option sounds awful, but it does solve some problems.”

“It does. Essentially, it doesn’t affect your career prospects.”

“Would the firm still want to employ me, though?”

“Most certainly. We like you and would be very happy for you to join the firm when you leave school. That won’t change whatever you decide. It’s only your qualification that could be delayed.”

“And you’d be with me if I chose to be caned?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, I’ll do it. This caning business, I mean.”

“We can send the email confirming that from my computer if you want?”

Jane nodded.

“When do you want it done? I suppose it would be best if it was a day you’re normally here, rather than take time off school.”

“True. Less awkward. How soon would it be done?”

“Let’s get the email off and then I’ll make a phone call. Would you like to have it done today?”

“Today? So soon?”

“Why not? It would get it over with.”

“I suppose.”

“This afternoon?”

Jane nodded.

Eleanor completed the online forms for Jane to accept the ten stroke caning. Within minutes, she received a return email confirming.

“Right, that’s done.” Eleanor turned to Jane. “You can get off to lunch if you want. I’ll make a phone call and try and get them to do you this afternoon. I can’t promise, but hopefully I’ll have some news when you get back from lunch.”

Jane left the building but didn’t go to her usual café. She wasn’t hungry. Instead, she walked around the quiet back streets away from the main thoroughfare. Events had happened much faster than she had imagined, or wanted, and now she was faced with what sounded like an extremely painful ordeal that very afternoon. She was wearing her sixth-form uniform navy blue trousers and pale blue shirt and briefly considered going home to change, but into what? The cane was going to be applied to her naked buttocks, so what did it matter?

Back in the office, Jane read through the work she’d been set, but found it very hard to concentrate. She kept looking at the time, rather pointless since she didn’t know what, if anything, had been arranged for her.

At two-thirty Jane noticed Eleanor standing at the door to the main office. She looked down at some papers, hoping Eleanor was there for some reason that didn’t concern her, but then Eleanor came into the office and was walking towards her. Jane finally looked up as Eleanor reached her desk.

“If you’re ready, Jane?”

A cold chill ran down Jane’s back. She stood up, but her legs were shaky and she put a hand on her desk to steady herself.

“D-do I need a-anything?” Jane stammered.

“No, it’s warm out so you won’t need a jacket, and we don’t have to go far.”

Eleanor turned and headed for the door with Jane following. Others in the office watched them leave, curious about where they were going and for what reason. Several offered suggestions which were so far from the reality.

“Where are we going?” Jane asked as they left the building.

“To the police station. It’s just down the road. Not far.”

“I’m just so nervous.”

“Of course. The thing to remember is that you’re doing the right thing. You’re protecting your future. A little pain now will prevent a lot of difficulty later.”

“It will be painful, won’t it?”

“Yes, but I’ve been able to circumvent some of the formalities for you. That will help.”

Eleanor was walking quickly and Jane struggled to keep up. All too soon, at least for Jane, they arrived at the main entrance to the police station. Inside, Eleanor led them to the front reception desk.

“Eleanor Devonish and Jane Metcalf to see Sergeant Willis, please,” Eleanor told the young male officer standing behind the counter. “We do have an appointment.”

The officer said nothing, but looked at Jane in a way that made her feel he knew why they were there. Jane looked down at the floor to avoid his gaze.

“One moment, please,” the officer finally said, before picking up a telephone and calling an internal number he clearly knew. “Could you tell Sergeant Willis Ms Devonish and Ms Metcalf are here, please?” Apparently receiving a satisfactory answer, he spoke to Eleanor, “She’ll be with you shortly. Please take a seat in the waiting area.”

The waiting area comprised four rows of seats opposite the reception counter. Several people were sitting and waiting, and Eleanor led Jane to a couple of seats in the front row.

“Do you know this Sergeant Willis?” Jane asked.

“Not well, but I’ve had dealings with her in a number of cases in the local magistrates courts. She’s probably in her mid-forties, a bit old-school, but a believer in firm but fair justice. She volunteered to be one of the female officers to cane girls when this fast-track system came into being a few years back.”

“So, experienced, then?”

“She’s been a police officer for over twenty years, if that’s what you mean.”

“Not exactly,” came the reply, although Jane didn’t pursue it any further. Instead, she sat quietly and fiddled with her blond hair, making sure there were no stray hairs in her single blond plait. So preoccupied was she that she failed to notice a tall female officer approaching them.

“Ms Devonish and Ms Metcalf? Would you come with me, please?”

Sergeant Willis took them through a door, up some stairs and along a corridor until they reached a door labelled ‘Interview Room 9’. The sergeant opened the door and waved Eleanor and Jane in. It was a small room with just a table and four chairs, two either side.

“Take a seat.” The sergeant pointed to two chairs on one side of the table while she sat on one of the two chairs opposite.

“I’ll get straight to the point,” the sergeant continued. “Jane, you’ve admitted your guilt to the charge of using aggressive behaviour that was likely to cause a breach of the peace. Is that correct?”

“Yes, correct,” Jane answered in a low voice.

“And the magistrates offered you two options when they sentenced you?”

“Yes, I was sent an email.”

“And you’ve been able to make your choice without any form of coercion?” The sergeant glanced at Eleanor.

“Yes. I’ve been able to talk over things with Ms Devonish, but I made my decision based on it being the best thing for my future.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” The sergeant seemed to relax at that point, and she leaned back in her chair. “May I call you Jane?”

“Yes, fine.”

“Normally, Jane, you’d have been issued with a form from the magistrates’ clerk to confirm your acceptance of whichever penalty you chose, and you’d have reported to reception downstairs, following which you’d have been taken into the basement and put into a cell to await usually three officers who would at some stage come into the cell and carried out your punishment. Usually, we keep offenders waiting for a couple of hours or more, which then counts as the one day imprisonment that goes with the corporal punishment option.

“However, Ms Devonshire has managed to pull a few strings because, well, we know her and she tells us you’re a good girl normally and this offence is quite out of character. I hope that’s true.”

“Yes, I’ve never been in trouble before.”

“That’s good to hear. Now, I expect you’re quite nervous about what happens next, aren’t you?”

Jane nodded vigorously.

“I’ll just need you to sign a form confirming you’re surrendering yourself for the punishment to be carried out and then we can get it done. Okay?”

Jane gave a single nod.

“Okay. I’ll go and get the form and I’ll be right with you.”

The sergeant stood up and left the room.

“Oh god! It’s not going to be long now, is it?” Jane asked Eleanor.

“No, but it’ll soon be over with and then you’re all clear. That will be good, won’t it?”

“I suppose.”

“It’s really just a smacked bum, Jane. Nothing more, and you’re getting it done much more informally than is usually the case. It’s about as good as it gets.”

Jane wasn’t convinced, but she had no more questions. She folded her arms, looked down at the floor, and tried to compose herself. A couple of minutes passed and then the door shot open and Sergeant Willis returned with a sheet of paper and a long slender cane. She put both down on the table in front of Jane.

“Okay, this is the form I need you to sign. It’s all filled in. It confirms that you’ve presented yourself here and now in order for your punishment to be carried out. That’s ten strokes of the cane. Please check your name and address appear correctly as well as all the other details. You can use my pen.”

Eleanor looked over Jane’s shoulder and also checked that everything was in order. Jane glanced at Eleanor who nodded her confirmation, and Jane signed the form. She pushed the paper and the pen back towards the sergeant who glanced at the form and pushed it towards the end of the table before picking up the cane.

While it had been resting on the table, Jane had purposely focused on the form to avoid looking at the cane, but now the sergeant was holding it and standing over her. She saw it was a bit under three feet in length, straight with just a slight curve, and had blue tape wrapped around one end to form a kind of handle. Jane looked nervously up at the sergeant.

“Okay Jane, what I need you to do now is remove your trousers and underwear for me. I’ll lock the door so we’re not disturbed.”

“Stand up,” Eleanor whispered when Jane didn’t move.

Jane slowly got to her feet and pushed her chair back. With a despairing look towards Eleanor, she fumbled with the button securing the waistband of her navy blue trousers. When the trousers sagged loose around her waist, she felt for the zip and slid it down. Now the trousers hung loose and a little pushing aided by gravity caused them to drop around her ankles. She kicked off her shoes and leaned on the table with one hand while the other freed them from her feet. She picked the trousers up and folded them roughly before placing them on the seat of the chair.

“And your knickers,” Eleanor whispered.

Jane hesitated, then quickly pushed her brief pink panties down and untangled them from her feet. They were placed on top of her trousers.

“Well done, Jane,” Sergeant Willis encouraged. “Now bend over the table and rest your upper body on the surface.

Jane leaned over the table, but found it awkward to lay her chest on the table. Her arms and head seemed to get in the way. Eventually, she managed to comply with the sergeant’s instructions.

“Please pull your blouse well up your back so it won’t get in the way.”

Jane reached back and pulled the tail of her blouse up as far as her bra strap, leaving her lower back completely exposed. It seemed unnecessary to expose so much of her back, but she didn’t feel like arguing.

“Just bend a little at your knees, Jane,” Sergeant Willis requested. “Well done. That just makes your bottom stick out a little more. Now, hold nice and still for me.”

Tears were already forming in Jane’s eyes, and she looked sideways towards Eleanor. Eleanor, though, had moved her chair to get a better view and was now concentrating her attention on Jane’s bottom. As Jane tried to gauge Eleanor’s thoughts, she was interrupted by Sergeant Willis tapping the cane on the centre of her naked bottom. Jane tensed. This was it!

Moments later, the cane whipped across the centre of Jane’s bottom and stung her like nothing she had ever experienced before.

“Uuunnhh!!” She arched her back and only her grip on the far edge of the table prevented her from grabbing her bottom.

“I know, Jane,” the sergeant consoled. “It really smarts, doesn’t it? But that’s the punishment. There’s just nine more to go. It will hurt, but you will cope.”

Unconvinced, Jane sank back into position and awaited the next stroke. Barely a second later, another stroke lashed her bottom just fractionally below the first.

“Uuuunnhh!” She grunted loudly again, but managed to keep relatively still and prevent herself even thinking about reaching back.

Once again, Jane looked at Eleanor, but she was still intently watching Jane’s bottom and Jane was denied what she thought might be a comforting eye-to-eye contact. Jane felt very alone.

Three more strokes followed, with Jane finding the tears were gaining momentum and making her face feel uncomfortably damp. Her bottom was getting increasingly sore and it was little consolation that she knew she was halfway through the ten strokes. A voice in the background was saying something; she tried to take it in.

“Jane? I said we’re halfway through. Do you want a pause before I deliver the final five strokes?”

“Oh. Yes, please.”

“You can get up and rub your bottom if you want,” Sergeant Willis added.

Jane pushed herself up from the table and used one hand on the table to cope with her shaking legs while the other gently felt her bottom. The ridges she felt across her bottom were especially tender. Eleanor offered her several tissues which she took gratefully and wiped her face.

“Thanks,” she said as she deposited the damp tissues in a waste bin offered her by Eleanor.

“You say when you’re ready to take the final five, Jane,” Sergeant Willis’s voice sounded quite kind, and a bit odd considering it was that woman who had inflicted the caning.

Jane took some deep breaths. The pain across her bottom seemed slightly less than a few moments ago. Standing in this rather bland little room, naked from the waist down, the two women looking at her, should have itself been an embarrassing experience, yet Jane felt almost at ease with her nudity.

More composed now, Jane finally said, “Okay. I’m ready.” She bent back over the table and wriggled into her previous position as best as she was able. She reached behind and pulled her blouse well up her back, as it had been before.

As earlier, she felt the cane tap across her bottom, followed by the briefest of pauses before it whipped down and delivered her sixth stinging stroke.

“Ooooohh!!” she shrieked and jerked up. “Sorry,” she added as she resumed her position.

Another stroke thrashed her naked buttocks and she again cried out and jerked up from the table.

“Sorry,” she apologised again.

“There’s just three to go now, Jane,” the sergeant said. “Take as long as you need.”

“No, it’s fine.” Jane pressed herself back on the table.

Another stroke lashed down and for the first time Jane noticed how the sound seemed to reverberate round the walls. She was prepared now, and she received another stroke with just a cry out, but little movement. Somehow, it seemed better to keep still.

Within moments, the cane whistled down and struck her bottom low down. The force of the stroke made her lurch forward involuntarily.

As she was about to apologise yet again and to settle back onto the table, she heard the words, “That’s it, Jane. All over.”

At first the message didn’t sink in, and it was only when the sergeant said, “I’ll give you some time to sort yourself out, Jane. I’ll come back in ten minutes and see how you’re getting on.”

Now alone with Eleanor, Jane stood up and massaged her aching bottom. Eleanor sat quietly watching. In a curious way, Jane felt more at ease with her superior than she had ever done while working in the office.

“Better get my knickers on!” Jane eventually said, her face suddenly blushing.

She stepped into her underwear and carefully eased the panties up her legs. Though they were quite brief, they still made her gasp when she slid them around her bottom. Her trousers followed.

“These trousers seem tight somehow,” she declared as she tried to refasten the trousers.

“I expect your bottom is a bit swollen,” Eleanor explained. “There’s no rush. Leave them undone for a bit if you want.”

“No, I’ll manage. I’m still very sore but the initial pain is wearing off slightly.”

“Take a few more minutes.”

“Thanks, I will. Have you seen this being done to your other clients before?”

“You’re staff, not a client! But yes, I have witnessed them receiving the cane when they’ve asked me to go with them.”

“It’s certainly a sharp punishment. It’s funny, I originally thought I’d be getting a fine to pay. It never entered my head I might go to prison or get something like this.”

“As a seventeen year old, you would be in a juvenile wing of the prison, but it’s still being locked up. It’s not a pleasant experience.”

“No, I’d hate that, even though this is pretty painful.”

“Yes, I know.”

“You know? From watching, you mean?”

“Actually, when they were about to introduce corporal punishment in the new system, I attended a meeting along with other solicitors and they asked if anyone wanted to see how it felt. I volunteered.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I took three strokes, and it certainly made my bottom smart, I can tell you.”

“I bet. Can we leave now? I’d like to get a bit of fresh air.”

At that moment, Sergeant Willis opened the door, making Jane wonder if she’d been listening. They were soon walking, slowly, back to the office and Jane felt great relief that it was all over.

The End

© Kenny Walters 2026