The Head Girl Returns

I do not think we will ever fully understand the inner workings of the human psyche and they do say that we as humans are too close to it to be ever able to truly deduce the underlying rationale for our motivations. In simple terms, Andrew should have resented his slippering and the respect he held for Sarah after that should have been the false kind of respect which is, in reality, only fear alone. However, his upbringing had taught him to put a brave face on punishment and to even accept it as part and parcel of normal life. He was also a strong character and very confident in himself and was able to admire (quite unbegrudgingly) that which was stronger than himself. And, in Andrew's eyes, Sarah was just that.

During the slippering, a large part of his will fell under the Head Girl's tutelage and, from that time onwards, he found it comforting to be able to think that he was accountable to someone and that that someone (namely Sarah) was keeping an eye on him. To everyone else in this world, Andrew was a highly independent individual who knew his own mind and who was his own man. To Sarah, however, he was always the young boy who needed her to keep him in check. Sometimes years would pass without him seeing her and, after she left school in 1976, it was not until he was in his early twenties that he would learn what she was to him.

In his early twenties, Andrew earned a fair deal of money, drove a very nice car and was attractive to the ladies. He was married to an old school friend of Sarah's, but was not that aware they had been friends at all. His wife was a good person who did not deserve the treatment she got from him although Andrew still insists that his wife meant everything to him and it was the thrill of the chase that drove to other women than anything else. In short, he was seeing another woman and pretending to be working extra hours on a long-term project at work.

Sarah was the one who contacted Andrew. It was a friendly call. After the initial chat about old times, she told him that she had a business proposition and that he could make his way to her house after work one evening and they could discuss it along with old times.

When Andrew arrived at her house, he was curious to see her again. They sat down and laughed and joked for an hour. Sarah poured him a few doses of finest cognac, but hardly drank any herself. Andrew never noticed this detail. Once he was suitably sizzled, she sprung up form her chair and smiled broadly from cheek to cheek.

"You know what, Andrew?" she said merrily clapping her hands together, "I think it's that time of night when the old photos come out!"

Andrew laughed at her suggestion and found himself waiting for her to return to the sofa. As he waited, he felt that dull glow of muzzy well-being that only a finest of cognacs can give. He clapped his hands also when she returned with a large album and opened it on her lap and beckoned him to sit close beside her and look together.

As Sarah slowly turned the pages, both of them smiled and laughed as they viewed old friends and once familiar faces looking out from slightly faded photos. Eventually, the familiar faces ran out and the pages now contained photos of Sarah's life after school. Suddenly, she quickly turned a page without stopping. Andrew's heart raced. Had he seen what he thought he'd seen?

"What was that?" he said hesitantly.

"What was what, Andrew?" Sarah replied coyly. "Oh you mean THAT!" she added after some hesitation.

Sarah went back to the page. Andrew sat perched now on the edge of his seat. There were at least ten pictures of him, each one of them snapshots of him with somebody else!

"You'll never change, will you, Andrew," Sarah said with a long sad sigh. "It's just as well I'm here to make sure you don't ruin everything, really. Isn't it, Andrew!"

Andrew looked back at Sarah and squinted his eyes slightly. "How much?"

Sarah shot up from her seat and glared back at him. Then, a smile started to emanate from her lips and she laughed out loud. It was a long, knowing laugh that made Andrew feel extremely uneasy.

"Your life!" she finally replied in a quiet, yet perfectly audible voice. "Or rather that I have a say in it!"

Andrew looked back puzzled.

Sarah laughed at the expression on his face. "Dear Andrew," she said. "I'm no blackmailer, believe you me. I just know you too well, that's all. Left to your own devices you'll not only ruin your own life, but you'll have a good go at ruining everyone else's by the look of those photos!"

Andrew panicked at the mention of the word `photos'. he began to plead that she destroy the evidence wherever it was and insisted again and again that he would become a reformed character, that he would never cheat on his wife again.

Sarah just looked on and smiled as he spoke. When Andrew had finished talking, she stood up and looked down at him with both hands held firmly against her hips. "Too damn right, you'll never do it again!" she said with severity in her voice. She then walked over towards her dinning table and pulled out one of the wooden chairs and placed it in the middle of the room and pointed to it and looked straight back at Andrew and beckoned him with a nod of her head.

"You know the drill, Andrew!" she said with a hint of sad resignation in her voice.

Andrew felt as though somebody else's will had crept inside him and was now moving his body for him. He lifted himself from the sofa and walked towards the bare wooden dinning room chair. He stooped himself over and held the sides of its cushioned seat and waited. For some reason, he felt scared to leave his position and only dared to observe Sarah when he thought she was not looking.

Sarah stood behind him and began to speak. "You don't move an inch from there until I tell you to. Is that understood, Andrew?"

Andrew said nothing, but nodded his head very briskly. He understood perfectly well and even held his breath when he shifted his foot slightly to maintain the position more easily. His grip tightened around the edges of the chair as he thought about the photos and how Sarah could make them appear in very awkward and wholly unexpected places.

"Good Boy!" she added in a voice that denoted approval. Andrew heard Sarah move to another part of the room and open a cupboard door. She removed something and then came back to where she had been just before. She cleared her throat gently, drew in a deep breath and began to speak once again.

"I'm afraid that this is the only way to make you realise just how your actions might hurt those around you, Andrew. I've known you for a long time and you know just as well as I do that the only way to make you realise, I mean truly realise, is if you feel pain yourself."

Andrew's heart pounded as he caught sight of what was in Sarah's hands.

"Yes, Andrew," she said, noticing where he had glanced. "It's a cane, your cane, I got it especially for you and I do sincerely hope that it will help you to learn your lesson well this time."

Sarah then slowly raised her arm back, paused for a couple of seconds and then made the cane hiss against the air as she drove it against Andrew's backside. Andrew gasped several times as though catching his breath and then muttered inaudibly under his breath as the stinging line left on his bottom smarted unbearably beneath his pants.

"It's fortunate that I found you first, Andrew," said Sarah as she allowed Andrew a small respite. "I think you'll agree that what I'm doing to you is nothing compared to the hurt you would have caused if you had been found out. Do you understand that, Andrew?"

"Yes, Sarah!" replied a muffled voice.

Sarah drove in a second stroke. She managed to cause the end of the cane to whiplash against Andrew's left cheek. This time he released a very loud gasp indeed and let out a faint cry.

"And I think you're very lucky indeed to have me there to watch over you, Andrew," she added. "You need someone who's willing to say `no', someone to make sure you understand what is acceptable and what is plainly not acceptable. And I suppose that's who I am; that person who makes sure you don't ruin everything for yourself and others."

"Yes, Sarah!" repeated the same voice.

Sarah drove in the cane for a third time. She delivered a blow that resounded throughout the room as it scourged both of Andrew's buttocks with an audible and high pitched crack. Andrew jolted forward as he literally yelped with pain and then groaned miserably to himself.

"You've got a new job, Andrew!" Sarah suddenly announced with a smile. "Yes, that's right, you're coming to work for me now!"

Andrew suddenly raised his head in surprise and began to twist himself around. But, before he even managed to lift his shoulders, the cane hissed through the air and scourged his bottom. He immediately cried out and felt as though his knees were about to give.

"Stay put!" Sarah spat out the words with fearful anger. "I don't remember telling you that you could move, do you?"

"I'm sorry, Sarah," the voice replied and then, perplexed by what she had just said, went on to ask, "But what do you mean that I'm coming to work for you?"

Sarah replied in a calm voice this time. "Tomorrow, when you arrive at your present job, you will look through the trade magazine. You will find an advert in the job section, you'll know exactly which one I mean. You will send your CV to me and I shall hire you. Is that clear, Andrew?"

"But I'm happy where I . . ."

Andrew didn't manage to finish his sentence before the cane left yet another caustic, stinging line across his cheeks. His knees buckled slightly and his head filled with the white noise of pain.

"I asked you," repeated Sarah, now raising her voice pointedly. "if that was clear, Andrew?"

"Yes, Sarah!" came the reply, this time Andrew spoke a lot more hurriedly and sounded much more anxious to placate the former head girl.

"Good!" she said approvingly. "Of course, you will receive substantially more money, a better car and all manner of incentives not normally offered by companies in these days of recession. But you will be where I need you to be, under my watchful eye and hopefully I'll be able to keep you out of trouble's way, Andrew!"

Andrew closed his eyes and grimaced. The stinging in his bottom and Sarah's voice were the only two things that counted at that moment. He knew he had little choice other than to accept the job and accept that Sarah was to be his boss from this time forward. He knew that she would deliver him the full six and resigned himself to the inevitable fact.

Sarah flexed the cane in both hands and eyed Andrew's bottom at the same time. She then let go of its end and allowed the cane to spring back into its normal shape. She raised her arm and let it hiss through the air, it whacked across both cheeks. Andrew shouted at the top of his voice as both legs jolted his backside upwards. She then immediately hurled the cane back again and drove it in as hard as she could. Andrew wailed pitifully, bent his knees and slumped himself against the chair, muttering and moaning to himself.

Sarah looked down at him, pleased that he had learnt his lesson. Then, a few moments later, she gently touched his shoulder and told him that he could get up.

"Congratulations, Andrew. You've got the job!" she said somewhat ironically.

Andrew made no reply. He pushed himself onto his legs and walked slowly towards the sofa and laid himself down on it belly down of course and groaned a little.

"And if I see you with anyone else other than your poor wife, it won't be with your trousers on next time, Andrew," she said quietly as she poured him a cognac and pushed it into his hand.