Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood Chapter 6 and 7

Chapter Six: THE TRUTH

By Monday night DJ was a wreck.  She hadn’t said anything about what had happened Sunday to Austin.  She was simply too embarrassed to admit who or what her uncle had been and where it was they were now living.  Besides there was nothing Austin could do about it and the way he had been treating her lately she didn’t know if he’d believe her even if she did tell him.

Across the cul de sac Linda was feeling the same way as DJ only for different reasons.  She hadn’t heard from her friend since DJ had stormed out leaving them all sitting in Connie’s living room with silent looks of shock on their faces.  Surely DJ had known, hadn’t she?  After all she was an intelligent and highly educated woman who had lived with her uncle for nearly four years.  She must have wondered about all the different women coming and going from her uncle’s house.

Linda hadn’t actually known Rod in his early years but she had heard the stories from Connie and some of the other women who had been mentored by Rod.  He had been quite the ladies man from an early age.  In his college years the women had naturally flocked to him as the star quarterback.  Rod quickly learned that there were a lot of different types of women beyond those he had met in his small hometown growing up.  He liked them all, the shy ones, the smart ones, the funny ones, the aggressive ones and especially the naughty ones.  In his sophomore year he had began dating a girl from Florida who wasn’t quite like the other women he had been with in the past.  She liked her men dominating and her sex rough and through her a whole new world opened up to Rod.  Although they had remained together through their senior year it had never been an exclusive relationship, Rita didn’t want it that way.  She said she was too young to be tied down to one guy and wanted to be able to explore other relationships as well as hers and Rod’s.  A couple of times Rita brought her friends over for Rod to “experiment” his dominance on.  It was an eye opening and exciting time in Rod’s life and he decided that this was exactly how he wanted his life to remain.  He loved women way too much to settle down with just one.

After graduation Rod found a job with a large engineering firm in St. Louis.  It was there Rod had his first true experience within the world of BDSM.  Her name was Kathleen and she was almost nine years Rod’s elder, although to look at her no one would have ever guessed her age.  She worked as an architect at the firm where Rod had just been hired and she wasted no time getting to know the handsome new engineer.  On his second date with Kathleen she had taken him to his first BDSM social and he was hooked.  He had finally found a place where his interests were not only accepted by others but also appreciated.  It didn’t take long for Rod to establish himself as one of the most popular Dom’s in the St. Louis scene.  Rod felt as if he had finally found his calling.

Unsure what to do about DJ, Linda decided it would be best to give her some time to calm down before trying to talk to her.  Their next shift at the hospital was Tuesday night, hopefully on the way in they could talk a little about what had happened and hopefully clear the air.  It was too quiet without DJ around, they usually talked several times a day and she hadn’t heard anything from her in almost two days.  Linda hoped that DJ would eventually understand the lifestyle choices of her neighbors and that it wouldn’t be the end of the special friendship that had developed between the two of them.

On Tuesday night Linda pulled her car out from the garage and pulled in front of DJ’s and sounded the horn to let her know she was there.  Unsure if DJ would even be driving in with her she let out a sigh of relief when the door opened and DJ headed out towards the car.

“Hey.” DJ said to Linda quietly as she sat down and fastened her seat belt.

“Ready to go?” Linda asked trying to sound confident.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” DJ answered.

It didn’t take long for Linda to realize that DJ was not going to make this easy.  She was quiet and the tension in the car felt like it could be cut with a knife.

“DJ, can we talk about it?”  Linda questioned hesitantly.

“I don’t know if I’m ready to talk to you or anyone about this.  I’m sorry but I feel like I don’t know you, any of you anymore.”  DJ sounded truly hurt.

“We’re the same people we were before Sunday DJ.  Wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, friends, even  family in some cases.  None of that has changed.  It’s just that we all like or need to be spanked, it’s not a crime.”

“I never said it was a crime!” DJ was getting defensive, “It’s just weird and for all I know illegal and I don’t want to have any part of it.  Only I don’t have a choice do I?  My uncle saw to that.  I’m surrounded by people who, hell I don’t even know what you people do.”

“Then why judge us so quickly DJ.  We are not criminals, we are men and women living in consensual relationships where our husbands are the leaders.  And if you haven’t noticed we are all extremely happy in our marriages?”  Linda found herself becoming as defensive as DJ was.  She had never been confronted about her lifestyle before and she didn’t know how strongly she felt about it until it was suddenly challenged.

“I just can’t believe you let Marc hit you.  That’s abuse Linda, you’re an adult why would you allow this?”

“He doesn’t hit me DJ, well, I mean, he does, but not like you think.  It’s not abuse, its two people who love each other taking on separate role in their marriage.  Marc is the leader in our marriage.  He loves me, cares for me, supports me in all that I do, we are best friends who can laugh and cry together.  We enjoy every second that we are with one another and to keep that feeling alive I submit to him.  I do what he asks of me, within reason, I take care of him, I love him and support him just like he does me.  But when I have been disrespectful to him or have done something he doesn’t approve of he disciplines me. And believe me, I can be plenty strong willed and disrespectful towards him.  It got so bad it almost ruined our marriage.  Then a friend told me about how she and her husband had saved their marriage through domestic discipline and we tried it.  It was our last hope to keeping our marriage together.  We were skeptical in the beginning.  How could something as simple as disciplining your spouse save a marriage.  But it did DJ and Marc and I have never looked back.   And one last thing, just for clarity.  I am a spanked wife, not an abused wife.  Marc has never struck me anywhere but on the bottom and he never would.”

“I don’t know Linda, it just seems so.”

“So what?” Linda inquired defensively.

“So odd. I mean you are not a little kid, why in the world would you want to be treated like one?” DJ still couldn’t grasp what it was that all her neighbors found so enticing about being disciplined.

“Can I ask you something?”  Linda continued.  “Have you ever seen Marc treat me like a child?”

“Well, no.”  DJ answered.

“Then why would you say that domestic discipline treats a woman as if she were a child?  Marc and I are completely equal in all things but his leadership role.  We just grew tired of the fights and the distance that they caused.  We wanted, no we needed a way to put an end to them.  Now if we fight, and believe me we still do, just not as often, it is dealt with then and their.  Instead of the fight causing a rift between us that will just grow it is taken care of with discipline and we can put it behind us.  It’s over, done with and we can move past it.”

“But he spanks you Linda, how does that solve anything?” DJ was more confused then ever.

“Wow Deej, I don’t even know if I can answer that and make any sense out of it.  It’s more then just the spanking.  It’s the fact that we have a way to deal with things.  We stop, discuss it, either agree on a different solution then before the fight or agree to disagree.  I receive a punishment for arguing with him and then we make up.   It’s the reconnection time that really clears the air.  When the punishment is over the problem is resolved and we can’t get close enough to one another.  He holds me and makes me feel that things are okay again.  I hold him and feel his strength and love for me.  It’s not one particular part that solves the problem it’s the process as a whole.”  Linda hoped that some of what she said made sense to DJ.  It was just so hard to explain domestic discipline and why it worked to someone.  Heck sometimes Linda herself didn’t understand why it worked, she was just glad that it did.

“So if the two of you are fighting why are you the one who gets spanked?  It takes two to fight doesn’t it?”  DJ really wanted to understand what her friend was trying to explain to her but so much of it still didn’t make sense.

“Yes, it takes two to fight, but it takes one to start it and I am the one that usually does.  Since becoming head of our household Marc doesn’t instigate fights anymore, not that he did very often anyway.  If there is something he wants to talk about then we sit down and discuss it.  Open and honest communication is a big part of this thing we do.  You have to be willing to communicate on every level.  The fights happen if I am too stubborn to accept Marc’s decision.  All decisions are discussed between us but if we can’t agree he has the final say.  Someone has to or the fighting will just continue.  I’m the hothead DJ.  I’m the one who couldn’t let things go.  Now with Marc as the leader I have to learn to let them go or face the consequences.  It just is an easier way to live.”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”  DJ was finding herself becoming more and more curious about Linda’s lifestyle.

“Of course it does.  It’s a spanking.  As Marc always says; It’s suppose to hurt. I wouldn’t learn anything if it were enjoyable would I?”

“I guess not but I still can’t picture you laying there being spanked.”

“And that my friend is a good thing.  It’s not a pretty picture.”  Linda had to laugh at her friend.

DJ too had to laugh at Linda’s comeback.  She may be a spanked wife but she was still Linda and DJ was glad for a reprieve from the tension of earlier.

“Friends?”  Linda asked.

“Friends.”  DJ agreed.



Chapter 7: This Thing We Do.

“Linda?”  Marc called to his wife as she entered the house after a busy day at work, “I’m in the garage, I’ll be up in a second.”

“Take your time sweetheart.  I think I’m going to go run a bath and try to wind down before dinner.”  Between her nerves over the past few days about what was going to happen with her and DJ and the hectic day she had just encountered at work, Linda knew that she just needed to relax for a while.  It was another lesson she had learned since beginning domestic discipline.  If she was too uptight it could lead to a fight or her being disrespectful towards Marc.  None of what was causing her stress was Marc’s fault so why should he have to face the brunt of her foul mood.  It was best to step away from reality for awhile, if possible, and just relax until she could calm down.

Her new Jacuzzi tub was quickly becoming her favorite retreat.  Linda ran a warm bath, lit the candles that she had placed throughout her bathroom and turned on some soft music.  A little lavender bubble bath finished the scene off perfectly and soon she found herself soaking away all her troubles.

“How’d it go today?”  Marc asked interrupting her relaxation as he sat down next to her on the side of the bathtub.

Irritated at the interruption Linda tried to answer Marc as respectfully as she could.  “It was okay.  DJ and I had a good talk on the way in.”

“So did you tell her I beat you?”  Marc was in a playful mood, Linda was not.

“Yeah Marc, that’s exactly what I said!  Don’t be an idiot.  You don’t joke about this with some people. Can’t you just be serious for once!” Linda knew that she was treading a thin line with her attitude but she simply wanted to be left alone until she had a chance to relax.  She could have explained to Marc her feelings and he would have apologized and left.  He always gave her space when she needed it.  Marc knew that her job as a nurse could be extremely taxing some days and if she needed time alone all she had to do was say so.  Linda’s mood however was getting in the way of her judgment and when that happened she usually found herself bottoms up over Marc’s lap.

“You know if you need sometime alone all you have to do is ask.  You don’t need to give me an attitude.”  Marc warned.

“Oh you think this is an attitude?  Here, let me show you an attitude!”

After thirty years of marriage Marc knew Linda well enough to know that she was about to go off on one of her rants.  Sometimes she just needed to vent on someone to relieve some stress.  He didn’t understand why but he did understand that it was her way of letting him know that life had gotten just a little too stressful and that nothing but a good spanking could help her calm down.  Marc’s thoughts were broken by Linda continuing her outburst.

“I made it perfectly clear when I got home that I just wanted some time to relax.  Is that so much to ask?  I  have worked my ass off today and what do I get as soon as I am in the door, you up here in my face trying to make small talk.  Just leave me alone and let me take a bath!”

“Are you done?” Marc asked his wife.

“No, I’m not!”  Linda answered throwing her washcloth and knocking one of the candles into the tub.

“Oh yes you are!” Marc was angry.  She may be stressed but that little display was going to cost her.  What if the candle had fallen onto the carpet not into the tub.  It was time Linda got a reality check and a swift one.  With one hand Marc grabbed Linda’s arm and lifted her out of the tub as the other hand reached for the bath brush that had been laying next to him.  “I think somebody needs an attitude adjustment!”

“Let go of me Marc!” Linda protested.

“Not likely.  You need a little reminder of who is the head of the household in this house and that you need to speak to him with respect.  This little attitude of yours has made it perfectly clear to me what needs to happen.  Besides if you “worked your ass off today” like you said you did then it shouldn’t hurt a bit because I won’t have anywhere to apply the bath brush!”

Just the word bath brush instantly changed Linda’s attitude.  She went from struggling to release herself from Marc’s grip to being quiet and  cooperative.  Linda hated the bath brush.  It was her most feared of Marc’s implements that he used to punish her with.  He only used it in extreme cases when he was most angry with her.  That last little display of anger when she threw the wash cloth must have really angered Marc.  She thought to herself  as she complacently followed him into their bedroom.  It was what she needed, she knew it and he knew it, but it didn’t make it any easier for her or for the tightness she felt in her stomach that always seemed to accompany a spanking.

Usually at this point Linda would be told to bare her bottom but being she had just been removed from the bathtub it was a mute point.  Instead she heard the all too familiar words,  “Over my knees, now.”  She did as Marc asked of her not wanting to anger him further and the spanking began.  As Marc applied several stinging swats to her bottom he began to lecture her about her attitude towards him and her lack of respect.  When he moved onto the lecture about her knocking the candle over and what could have happened had it not fallen into the bath water the spanking became much more serious as his hand was replaced with the backside of the wooden bath brush.

Linda tried her best to remain in place.  She knew that Marc would not accept any struggling on her part, it would only lead to more serious consequences.  The strikes with the bath brush against her still damp skin sent a searing pain through her bottom and when Marc moved down to the area where her bottom met her upper thighs she couldn’t remain in place any longer.

“Ow, Marc please.  I’m sorry.  I know I disrespected you and you didn’t deserve it.  Please not so hard, it hurts.”  And it did, as the bath brush made contact with the sensitive skin of her sit spot Linda found herself wanting to flee.

“It’s suppose to hurt!”  Linda knew that response was coming, it seemed to be one of Marc’s all time favorite spanking responses but this time he simply swung one of his legs over hers to hold her in place and continued the assault on her bottom.  “Did you want to burn the entire house down?  Was that your plan?”

“No, Sir.” Linda answered.

“Then what were you thinking!”  Marc emphasized the word speaking with an extremely hard swat to her upper thighs as he continued the lecture. “ What if that candle had landed on the carpet?  You were completely out of line on this one and you are going to feel my disappointment in you.  Do you understand me?”  Marc continued as the bath brush reigned down harder and harder on Linda’s bottom and thighs.

“I’m sorry Sir.”  Linda always addressed Marc as Sir out of respect during a punishment. “I guess I wasn’t thinking and I just wanted to be left alone.”

“You could have simply told me and I would have given you some time wouldn’t I?”  Marc was making his point the best way he could as the bath brush continued more and more swiftly to impact Linda’s already bright red rear end.

“Yes Sir, I’m sorry Sir.”  Tears filled Linda’s eyes as the pain from the spanking and Marc’s disappointment in her began to register more and more.

Knowing he had reached the point where Linda was truly sorry for her actions Marc set the bath brush down and lifted Linda into his arms.  Instinctively Linda wrapped her arms around her husbands neck and cried.

“It’s okay now, I forgive you.  It’s behind us.”  Marc whispered into Linda’s damp hair as he held the woman that he loved.

“Come here.” he said laying back onto the bed and spooning as close to his wife as he could possibly be until their bodies were almost one.

This was the time Linda loved the most.  The reconnection time between them.  It was a time when although the pain and heat in her bottom was almost unbearable, the feeling of love and contentment in her heart over shadowed everything else.  It was these times that she truly felt as if she belonged no where else in the world but wrapped safely in the arms of the man she loved. 

“I love you, you know.”  Linda said gently placing a kiss on Marc’s hand as she held it.

“I love you too.”  Marc replied.

“Even if I get crabby and stupid at times?”  Linda asked.

“Especially if you get crabby and stupid at times.  If you didn’t there wouldn’t be any reason to have special times like these now would there?”  Marc had a good point there Linda thought to herself.

“This is exactly what I needed, you knew that didn’t you?”

“Yep.”  Marc stated sounding awfully smug.

“I don’t think I will ever understand the dynamics of this or why it works so well for us but I sure am glad we do this thing we do.” 

“So do I sweetheart, so do I.”  Marc answered as they lay peacefully on their bed side by side.  No more words needed to be spoken.  All that either of them needed was right there in each others arms and nothing else felt so good.