Paul Gets a "D.A.D." Daddy - Part 4

Author: Writer8322@aol.com

Chapter 4: Quirted by Johnny Langley

Paul's lessons weren't long that day, because - as Shep explained - they would usually be divided between a session after morning chores and a session after lunch. Although Paul spent the time 'standing up' he was surprised to find that Shep was both an interesting and knowledgable teacher. The lessons that Shep gave Paul were math and literature. Shep had a box filled with manipulatives that he gave to Paul as they worked on geometry. The book they started, and which they would be studying together, was TREASURE ISLAND by Robert Louis Stevenson. Shep was a wonderful oral reader who made his voice different as he read each character. Paul looked at the burly farmer and was surprised to find him changing, in his mind, into young Jim Hawkins, the old seaman Billy Bones and even Mrs. Trelawny, Jim's mother.

After the lesson Shep said that they were going to go back to work, but that first he wanted to take a look at Paul's backside. Paul turned around, surprised at how he was already 'not' embarrassed to be bare in front of Shep.

Shep patted the boy's bottom and said, "I'm just gonna put a little cream back there which will make you feel a lot more comfortable."

Shep got a little pot of ointment from the bedroom, sat on the couch and told Paul to come over to him. He pulled the boy across his lap, and for a moment Paul got very nervous and started to struggle fearing more spanking, but almost immediately he relaxed as Shep applied soothing salve to his sore bottom. Shep rubbed the salve all over Paul's behind and then put the boy back on his feet again.

"There ya are," Shep said, rubbing his own hands together. "Now, let's get going, we've still got a lot of daylight and more work to do. A farm's a full time job, son."

As they headed for the door, Shep's hand on Paul's shoulder, Paul asked, "Where are we? I don't even know where you took me to?"

"This is a real working farm on an Island," Shep said, as he guided Paul back into the barnyard. He explained that D. A.D. Inc. had established special communities on several islands and that his farm was on one of them. The communities were all inside of huge glass domes that included farms, forests, laboratories, schools, towns, rivers, small cities, zoos and parks. People worked, learned, lived and were 're-trained' to a D. A.D. lifestyle on the Islands.

Across the barnyard was a horse corral, and it was towards this that Shep lead Paul. A young man, in his early twenties, was working in the pen, leading a horse around the corral. The man was shirtless and Paul could see the sun glistening off of his sweaty chest.

"Hey, Johnny," Shep called, "Johnny Langley. Come on over here and meet my son, Paul!"

The young man wound the horse's reins around a fence post, pushed back the cowboy hat on his head, and headed towards Shep and Paul. The young man was good-looking in a rangy sort of way and Paul thought that he looked a little like a blond curly-haired horse himself.

The young man brushed the sweat off of the curly blond hair on his chest and then wiped his hands on the seat of his jeans.

"How ya doin'?" he asked, extending his open hand to Paul.

Paul looked at Johnny's hand but didn't extend his own. Paul didn't want to shake the hand that had just wiped at the perspiration.

Shep frowned and gave Paul a resounding smack on his bare bottom. The boy shot forward, right into Johnny Langley's arms. Johnny caught Paul and held him a moment before standing him up again.

"Put out your hand, son," Shep said, "when a man offers his. Go on now."

Paul grabbed his backside with one hand and stuck out his other. Johnny received it and shook it for a while. When he let go of Paul's hand, his own went to the front of his belt where, Paul noticed, he had a short leather strap hanging.

"Johnny," Shep said, "I'm going to do some work out by the stream, will you take Paul in hand and show him how to groom the horses."

Johnny looked at Paul and a corner of his mouth curled up in a wry smile, "Sure will, Shep," he said. Johnny put his hand on Paul's shoulder and left it there.

"I'll be back in about two hours," Shep said and headed off. Paul saw him reach for his beloved pipe. As he did so, he turned back and called to Paul, "Be good now and do what Johnny tell ya. Johnny," Shep added to the young cowboy, "Paul's in D. A.D. training, so you're his daddy in my absence."

Johnny grinned broadly and clapped Paul's shoulder. "I'm proud to be it," the young man said. His hand dropped from Paul's shoulder and he patted the boy's lower back, "Let's get to work, son." He said.

Johnny took Paul into the stable and where six beautiful horses stood in stalls contentedly munching the contents of feedsacks or just milling about.

"They've been eatin' and now I'm going to give 'em some exercise. What I need you to do, boy, is give 'em a good rub down when I'm done and then dry 'em off."

Johnny showed Paul the curry comb and brush and demonstrated on one of the horses. Paul had never been close to a horse before and although he found the animals generally appealing, he didn't like their teeth, feet or smell. Paul found himself moving in a kind of circle to avoid all of the three.

Johnny chuckled, "Boy, you can't tend to a horse properly if you're in 'orbit.' If you don't hurt the animal, it's not gonna bite ya or kick ya."

Johnny worked with Paul for awhile explaining how to hold the horse's mane with one hand so it wouldn't pull with the brush was passed through it. "Jest like brushin' yer girl friend's hair," Johnny said winking at Paul. Paul grimaced. He had never been made to give his time to a task and although he was starting to like the horses and what he was going, he wasn't sure that he ought to like it. He shouldn't be made to work like this....should he?

Johnny went out to finish exercising the horse that he had tied to the fence and had Paul continue with the horse they had been demonstrating on. This animal had been exercised earlier.

Paul did a thorough job on the animal and even, without being told about it, checked to see if the horse's water pail was full. It wasn't and Johnny came in with the next animal as Paul was filling it from a hose on the side of the stable wall.

Johnny grinned, and Paul thought he looked very friendly when he did that. "Good man," Johnn said. He gave Paul an affectionate pat on his bottom. Paul had almost forgotten he was bare until he felt Johnny's hand on his backside.

Johnny put the second horse in its stall and took out another. Paul went into the next stall and started to work on the horse. The animal was feeling frisky after exercising and wasn't as still as the first horse had been.

Despite his efforts to not flinch, Paul found himself getting more and more nervous and this, in turn, seemed to communicate itself to the animal. The horse began to nip at Paul playfully and Paul was soon in 'orbit' again.

For awhile, Paul tried to stay with it, but instead of leaving the stall and collecting himself, and allowing the horse some reflective time, Paul began to get frustrated.

"Stand still, you stupid damn horse," he said between clenched teeth, "and I'll get this done as fast as possible."

Johnny had recommended that Paul speak in a low, soothing tone, but now Paul was almost growling at the animal.

Paul forgot about holding the horse's mane as he brushed it and tried to stand at arm's distance from the animal and brush the mane without holding it. The horse whinnied several times, as the long hairs pulled, and finally - after a hard tug - really snapped at Paul.

Paul jumped back but his temper flared. He grabbed the towl that he was supposed to use for drying the horse and whacked the animal across the flanks with it.

The horse gay a loud cry and kicked out with its back legs. Paul fell over but scrambled up quickly, his face scarlet.

"You fucking asshole!" the boy screamed. He whipped the towel across the horse's back and then tried to jump out of the stall door before the animal could react. Paul jumped.....right into Johnny Langley's chest. Paul got a faceful of wet, curly, blond chest hair. Paul pushed back spluttering and wiping at his face when a hand grabbed a fistful of his hair.

"OW!" Paul screamed flailing out.

Johnny dragged the boy away from the stall and toward a stool. "Saw it all!" Johnny said tersely. "You abusin' that poor animal. Ain't you got no sense. That animal is just respondin' to you, boy!"

"Get off me!" Paul cried, more in anger than fear or pain.

"I ain't on ya, kid," Johnny said, "but you're about to be on me....on my lap that is. That's where a young'un goes when he steps off the right road, and boy.....you jumped off it with both feet!"

Johnny sat on the stool and boosted Paul across his long legs with a fistful of hair in one hand and a handful of bare bottom in the other.

Paul felt Johnny's jeans beneath him and got the familiar feeling of panic as his feet left the ground and he found himself laying, suspended, on the man's lap.

Johnny's left hand stayed on the back of Paul's head holding him down, while his right hand pulled the leather quirt off of his belt.

"You done good giving that horse water, but you were down right vicious to that animal just now. How come you to do that?"

Paul stopped struggling and said, "He was trying to bite me!"

"How come," Johnny said calmly. He was in no hurry, and the boy might just as well get used to his present position.

"Let me up and I'll tell you," Paul said. "You ain't goin' nowhere anytime soon," Johnny said simply. He rested his right hand, with the quirt, across the boy's backside.

"How come you whipped that dumb animal?"

"I told you!" Paul said. "I was trying to do what you told me to do (all of Paul's cynical side poured out in the word "told") and he kept trying to bite me."

"What should you have done then?" Johnny asked.

Paul felt a reasonable answer forming in his mind, but he pushed it away, "I don't know," he said stubbornly, "you told me to groom him and I was doing that. LET ME UP!"

Johnny repressed an urge to ram a branding iron onto Paul's tail and just kept him in place. "Told you you weren't goin' nowhere. What should you have done?"

"I don't know. Let the horse rot!" Paul said angrily.

Johnny shook his head. 'One more time,' he thought. "Paul, if that animal was skittish, what should you have done 'stead of whipping him?"

"I don't know....you didn't tell me what to do," Paul snapped.

"Son," Johnny said calmly, "you are a pure glutton for punishment. I can see by the site of your hienie that you've been whupped more than once this day, yet you just ask for more. Well, sometimes askin' is gettin'! I'm gonna quirt you boy, and when you're fanny is smartin' maybe you'll do some better answering."

Johnny set to work with the leather quirt and Paul began to kick and squirm. The strap was a perfect length. Each time Johnny brought it down across Paul's bottom, it seemed to conform to the shape of his butt cheeks and to be just long enough to leave a red band across both sides.

"OW!" Paul cried. "Let go of me. It hurts!"

Johnny gave one of his one-sided little grins, "It's supposed to hurt, son, it's supposed to hurt somethin' fierce."

Johnny licked Paul for five minutes without saying anything. Paul went from screaming and cursing, to crying and finally to laying limply over the young cowboy's knees.

Johnny stopped whaling Paul and let him cry for about two minutes. When the boy's sobbing had diminished to hiccups and chest heaving, Johnny said, "How could you have done it differently?"

Paul was silent for a moment and then said, "I...I...(sob) should have given the horse more time to ......to...calm (sniff)...down. Ooooh!!"

Johnny laid his hand gently across the boy's hot, red-banded backside, "That's a good answer. What else could you have done, 'stead of whippin' the creature?"

Paul thought for a moment, sniffled and said, "Ask you for help."

Johnny lifted Paul from his lap and stood the little boy in front of him. "That's right, son, we're all here to help ya. No need to take yer frustrations out on an animal. I ain't whuppin' you because I'm frustrated; you got this larrupin' because you have to have the consequences of a bad act. Understand?"

Paul squirmed a bit, but nodded his head. He reached back and gribbed is smarting backside tightly.

"I got some linament for your hienie that'll help a bit," Johnny said, "and then you finish your chore."

For the second time that day, Paul was placed across a man's lap while something soothing was rubbed into his bottom. It did help, and when Johnny lifted Paul up the young man tousled his hair and gave him a full grin.

"I been in your shoes, boy," Johnny shared, "and they can smart some at first. But you'll learn it."

Johnny put Paul back to work and all went well. When Shep returned, Johnny did not mention the quirting, which surprised and pleased Paul.

"He worked hard on those horses," Johnny said to Shep. "I think he might just turn out to be a proper hand here." Johnny grinned and Shep smiled with pleasure. He looked at Paul with pride and cupped the back of the boy's head.

Then he looked at his watch. We got two things to do before supper, so come on with me, son, and thank Johnny for his guidance.

Paul looked at Johnny who winked at him. Paul was surprised to find that he liked Johnny.

"Thanks," he said.

Johnny's mouth curled up, "Anytime," he added meaningfully, and Paul felt his bottom tingle a little.

"C'mon, son," Shep said, and he lead Paul out of the stable.

(to be continued)