This personal advertisement got into Ethan's mind and worked on it like yeast in dough. He'd punch it down, but back up it would rise. It wouldn't leave him alone. He wanted to get spanked.

He was guilty and deserved to be punished. Well, he was Catholic wasn't he? A queer, Catholic boy with thoughts that he tried so hard to stifle, but that returned over and over, tormenting him. Now this, an offer of everything he wanted, he supposed; everything he wanted delivered in a manner that was acceptable, in a way that he deserved.

Not quite immediately, Ethan wrote to Daddy.

*****

When he heard the buzzer indicating that he had a visitor in the foyer waiting for him to press the button and release the lock on the door to the building, Graham knew who it was. They had met previously at a water park. He could easily picture the gentle wave in the black hair of a slender youth of fourteen or fifteen, his fair complexion faintly colored by a smattering of the lightest freckles he had ever noticed.

Ethan had told the man that he would be there with his family on the morning of a certain day. He described himself and said that he would be wearing an intricate, orange and white gimp lanyard that he had made the previous year at summer camp. Graham knew better than to hang around the entrance watching for someone. He found some older folk spending most of their time sitting at white plastic tables under umbrellas. He blended in with them and kept his eyes open, going to the concession stand once and the toilet once, in order to have an excuse to walk about.

However, he was just sitting at the table when he spotted the dark haired boy with an orange and white necklace striding waist deep in the water, headed for the far end of the pool and away from the smaller children. He watched the boy's movements for a half hour and those of people around him. At one point the lad returned to the shallowest end where his family had set up their headquarters. There were a woman, two much younger children and what was, no doubt, a grandmother.

*****

Of course, Ethan was looking for Graham but had no idea what to look for, other than a fatherly sort of person and there were quite a few of those. On his way, once again, to the deep end of the pool he was about to pass a tall man of about fifty years, very fit for middle age, with craggy features, and curly, light reddish-brown hair. The man spoke, startling him.

"Hello, Ethan," Graham said.

The boy found his footing, neck deep. Choking on a mouth full or water, he sputtered out a "Hi."

They spoke briefly, parted, came together once again, as though by accident, conversed a little more. All was arranged.

*****

Graham answered the rap on his door, admitting Ethan. "Let's get right to it, shall we?" the man proposed.

"Yes," Ethan agreed.

Graham took a seat on the couch, leaving the teenager standing.

"It's best if you have something to tell me that you are really sorry about. Everyone has been unkind or unjust to someone at some time. It's specially keen if you've hurt someone you shouldn't have, repaid kindness with cruelty, done something mean that you're still ashamed of."

After a pause to permit the lad to reflect the man inquired, "Anything come to mind?"

Something did and Ethan told Graham about it.

"That's pretty bad all right. You really deserve to be punished for that don't you?"

"Yes," the boy asserted, surprised at how sorry he felt about it.

"Come here," the man said, sternly.

Accepting his chastisement, Ethan allowed the man to drop his trousers and lower his briefs. He was then laid over Graham's knees. The youngster buried his face in the seat cushion, wrapped his arms about his head, and waited for the first blow to fall.

It did, sharp and stinging, but more noisy than painful. The lad didn't count them as they came at the steady rate of about one a second. It was the latter ones that hurt, landing as they did on reddened flesh made more sensitive by the previous slaps delivered by a big hand and a strong arm. Ethan began to feel sorry for himself as well as for his transgressions.

Realizing that he didn't know how long the spanking would continue he began to cry. Now each crack of the man's hand on his bottom, sounded and felt worse than the one before. Worst of all, because of the certain rhythm, he knew when the next would descend.

The boy began to sob, followed by uncontrolled bawling as he suffered for his guilt, his shame, his anguish, and his humiliation. Then it was over. He was lifted up, held in an embrace. Daddy wiped the tears from his cheeks, kissed him, forgave him.

"Quiet now, it's all right, but you must never do that again, understand?"

"Yes," Ethan wept. Weak from emotion, but comforted by Graham's caresses, he was ready to concede anything Daddy wanted. And he did.

Graham held the yielding boy in his arms. He stroked the youth's body and removed his shirt. Pushing the hair back from his eyes he kissed the fevered brow. Ethan's arms went around his neck. They hugged while the heaving of the boy's chest subsided. Then Daddy carried the youngster into the bed room.

*****

After they returned to the sitting room, Graham took Ethan's chin between his thumb and finger, turned the boy's head and looked him in the eye. "I don't want you answering any more personal ads," he began. The youngster looked at Graham with an ironic expression on his face.

"It's not because I don't want you seeing anyone else. True Ö, I don't want to share you. But, more importantly, I don't want you to get hurt."

The boy waited for the rest. He could tell that there was more.

"There are some really dangerous people in the world. Some men for some reason like to hurt other people, seriously hurt them; cut them and burn them, terrible things. And there are others who don't intend to do serious harm, but just don't know when to stop."

Graham, on the other hand, knew enough not to let the lecture go on too long. He could tell the lad more another time, if there was another time. He concluded with, "You need to be a lot more careful than you were this time."

Then he kissed the top of the boy's head and said, "OK, scoot."

On the way down the stairs to the street, Corey said to himself, "Just like a daddy."

*****

The lecture was unnecessary because Daddy was enough for the youngster, at least for a little while. They got together weekly for three months. Then Ethan met a boy two years older than himself. Nick was big and strong, a bisexual who liked to receive fellatio, and he was kind to those who provided it. That is, he let the younger boy hang around.

Ethan thought he was in love with Nick and dropped Graham. That affair didn't last long either, but in the transition the lad's interest in being spanked had faded. He looked instead to subtler forms of domination. It wouldn't be until his fifties that he would again answer personal ads that offered spankings.

Graham was not upset by Ethan's defection. The youngster had been the exception to the rule. Most of the fellow's clients were middle aged gentlemen who wanted to recreate the feelings of being a child. For many of them it was the only way they were able to experience strong emotions. Most of them were married, or had been married, with children of their own.

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