第1回
爸爸得到的教训
几个月前，爸爸搬进家中和我们一起生活。母亲去世已经半年了，爸爸却还是没法克服自己一个人生活遇上的麻烦，尤其是因为从四十年前结婚到母亲去世前一个月父亲退休，这段时间一直都是母亲在照料家事。现在一我儿子Zachariah、我爸爸和我住在了一起。不幸的是，Zach的母亲已经在天国了。我们几个住在一起不仅比较好相互照应，花销也能节省不少。
我想我需要先介绍一下一些背景：四年前，当Zach仅有十岁时，他的母亲——我心爱的妻子去世了。这对我们俩都是刻骨铭心的痛苦回忆，但是我们不得不继续混乱的生活，Zach因此变得很早熟。我尽最大的努力试图同时扮演父亲和母亲的角色，但显然没法做到。那之后的两年，我看着我的儿子渐渐成熟，超过了所有他身边的同龄人。失去了能够照顾他、为他收拾烂摊子的母亲角色，他学会自力更生，也早早理解了自己需要承担的责任。我为他感到自豪。
使我注意到Zach飞速的成长的事情是在他十三岁生日派对之后。家里只剩下我们俩后，他对我说：“爸爸，我觉得你不该再打我了。我现在已经长大了。”事实上，我有一年多没有打他了，我很诧异他突然提起这件事。
“好吧，要知道你爷爷在我二十一岁时还因为我大二那一年糟糕的表现而打我的屁股呢，儿子。打屁股对犯错误的人来说永远都合适。”我这么回答他时，并没有考虑到这些话可能带来的影响。然而这个星期内，我将惊讶地发现Zach完全理解了我的意思。
在这难忘的一天，我回到家时屋子里很黑。三个月以来我一直忘了缴纳电费，并且电信公司的人白天来家里时没能联系到我们。他们只好通过电话告知我们这件事。今天早上我赶紧去银行付清了电费。我认为这样一切就都结束了，但是Zach不这么认为。我们事后长谈了一番关于我平日最爱提及的责任的问题，但是只有只一次，谈话内容不是围绕Zach的错误，而是我的。
谈话很快就迫使我不得不承认如果情形在我们俩之中转换过来，Zach现在就该趴在我的腿上接受惩罚了。“要讲公平啊，爸爸。你这几个月来一直不尽自己应尽的义务，现在你应该得到像爷爷在你大二的时候赏给你的那一顿皮带。”——我猜想在这么暗的房间里他应该看不到我脸上惊讶的表情——“把你的皮带给我，然后在沙发扶手上趴好，爸爸。”
我试图辩解但是立刻得到打屁股惩罚中对待反抗者标准的回答：“你越拖延，这顿惩罚就将越严厉。”
我退让了。我儿子是正确的，毕竟我也清楚自己之前的言行。我把外裤和内裤一并脱掉，俯下身趴在了沙发扶手上。Zach找了个舒适的位置站好，用皮带狠狠地打了我十二下。这种疼痛就像是屁股上着了火一般难耐，我忍不住叫出声来。当我起身时，我儿子告诉我因为我像一个真正的男人一样勇敢地接受了惩罚，没有逃避责任，他将给我一个拥抱以称赞我的表现。当我在他的怀里感觉自己像个淘气的小男孩时，我没能鼓起勇气告诉他我是多么为他的成熟而骄傲。
两个月后的一天，Zach走到我跟前将他的皮带递给我：“爸爸，我昨天做错事了，我对老师顶嘴了。请打我吧。”我又问了一次，他很坚决地要求我惩罚他，于是我结结实实地给了他六皮带。我知道如果故意放水只会让他觉得被侮辱了。
从两年前那次生日之后，他总共挨打过三次，而我是九次。更让我狼狈的是，每一次他犯错误之后都会在我发现之前就主动承认，并且决定自己该受的惩罚、亲自将皮带交给我。换句话说，在我明白自己该做什么之前，他就都替我考虑好了并且提前做好一切准备。
也许在我父亲搬进来之前我得先告诉他我和Zach这种特殊的关系。毕竟儿子会打父亲的屁股这种事不太寻常。我们从不刻意隐瞒但也不会随便说出去。父亲搬进来住之后，我们俩都认为为了让这层关系更稳定，有些规则不得不做些调整。父亲失去爱妻后，好不容易逐渐形成了一个人生活的习惯，但是现在他必须重新调整以融入一个全新的家庭环境。这的确很不容易，但是鉴于Zach要上学、要应付他们那个年龄所拥有的复杂的社交关系，而我得靠工作养活家人，我们一致认为父亲应该承担家务活。父亲在这样的年龄，更应该努力做事让自己成为有价值的人、对家庭有帮助的人，并且时刻保持忙碌不让生活被无尽的空虚填满。这对我们来说是最合适的安排。
父亲花了很长一段时间掌握所有家务活的方法，这些都是过去他从来没有做过的，即使在母亲去世的几个月后。但是他学的很快，这是个好的开始。当然，在学习的最初阶段我和Zach替他改掉了很多懒惰的习惯。真正的问题出现在足球的赛季开始时。赛季有比感恩节更多的频道在播放足球赛，这令父亲很惊喜。他常常一整天都抱着电视把家务活丢到一边，使得我们好不容易稳定的生活又艰难起来。就连Zach也不止一次提醒他：“你已经不是一个可以把每场比赛都砍下来的小孩子了，也不是什么由女佣伺候的富豪的妻子，可以把所有的时间泡在肥皂剧上，爷爷！爸爸和我都要依靠你呢，你要承担起自己的责任！”父亲当时答应了。遗憾的是，他的行为没法像他的回答那样让我们满意。
当Zach已经没有可以穿去上学的干净衣服、我们不得不在叫外卖来应付晚餐的时候，我们觉得这件事情必须到此为止了。
“爷爷，你将因为你的疏忽被打一顿屁股。”Zach对爷爷说，“脱掉你的裤子和内裤然后趴到沙发扶手上，准备好挨打吧。”他这么说的时候从腰间取下自己的皮带。
父亲被激怒了：“有够傲慢的啊，年轻人？Jeremiah，给我好好修理一下你那没礼貌的儿子。”
“我不会那么做的，爸爸。Zach说的没错，他并没有对您无礼。”我犹豫了一下接着说：“过去两年内他打我的次数是我打他的三倍。，您这次做的实在糟糕透了，要知道教会我和Zach‘打屁股对犯错误的人来说永远都合适’的人就是您啊。”父亲有点语无伦次了，我继续说道：“现在，请您按照Zach说的趴好，否则您将受到更多惩罚。”
过了很久，父亲终于对无法逃避的判决屈服了。我在旁边亲眼看着Zach用力地用皮带打了父亲的屁股整整十二下。每打一下，皮带亲吻裸露的屁股发出的清脆的响声在房间里回响着，父亲尖叫着，他的屁股慢慢变红，就像小时候被父亲打和成年以后被Zach打的我一样。
惩罚结束后，父亲飞奔进自己的房间不愿意正视我们，但是这之后他的表现一直很好。一个月后他终于能够坦然面对这次经历，并且真心感谢Zach给他上的一课。
完
Dad Learns His Lesson
By
YLeeCoyote@mail.com
My dad moved in with us a few months ago. It was a half year after mother died and he just couldnt deal with the hassles of living alone after forty years of marriage especially with so much time on his hands resulting from retirement just a month before her death. "Us" is my son, Zachariah, and, of course, myself. Unfortunately, Zachs mother and my mother are together in the next world. Not only is it nicer that we guys are all together but it is even cheaper.
I guess that I should give you some background. It was when Zach was only ten, just four years ago that we lost his mother. It was, of course, traumatic for both of us. But we muddled through and Zach was forced to grow up fast. I did my best to be both a father and mother to my son but that is just not the same thing. After two years, I could see that my son had matured a lot more than his friends. Without his mother to pickup after him and do tons of other stuff that moms do, he learnt to be self-reliant and responsible early. I was very proud of him.
One of the things that made me notice how fast Zach was growing was what he did on his thirteenth birthday after the party and we were alone at home. "Father, I dont think that you should spank me anymore. Im grown up now." he explained. Well, I hadnt spanked him in more than a year so I was surprised that he even brought it up.
"Well, your granddad spanked me when I was twenty-one when I messed up in my senior year in college. Youre never too old for a spanking, son." I answered not realizing the full ramifications of what I said. Zach understood, however, as I would find to my surprise within the week.
The house was dark when I got home that faithful day. I had missed paying the electric bill for three months and they came by during the day and disconnected us. A phone call let us know the details and in the morning I went to the bank, got the cash and paid them. I thought it was over since all would be corrected but Zach was on my case. We had a long discussion about one of my favorite topics – responsibility. Only this time it was all about my failures rather than Zachs.
Zach quickly got me into the unpleasant position of having to admit that if the positions were reversed he would be getting over my lap. "Fair is fair, dad. You were most irresponsible for months and truly deserve a strapping like Gramps gave you in college." I dont think he could easily see my shocked look in the dark house as he continued. "Give me your belt and get over the end of the couch, please, for your due, Father."
I tried to argue but got that standard response – "The more you delay, the harder the spanking will be."
I gave in. After all was said and done, he was right. I dropped my pants and underwear and got over the end of the couch. Zach found the right place to stand and gave me a dozen hard cuts. They hurt like the blazes and I yelled. I got up when he told me I might and got a hug and praise for taking my punishment like a man and not copping out. I could not muster the courage to tell him how proud I was of his maturity while feeling like a naughty little boy.
It was a couple of months later that Zach came to me and handed me his belt. "Father, I was naughty yesterday and talked back to one of my teachers. Please strap me." When I questioned him, he was adamant and I gave him six honest cuts. I knew that he would be insulted if I did not do it hard.
Since his birthday, over two years ago, he has gotten strapped three times and I have nine times. Even worse, it was Zach who decided that it should happen each and every time rather than I. In other words, he always owned up before I could say anything and got me before I could get to do it.
Perhaps I should have told father about the special relationship Zach and I have when he moved in for, after all, it is not usual for a son to spank his father. We really did not hide this but we did not flaunt it either. After Dad moved in we both expected there would be some adjustment time for things to come to a steady course. Dad was set in his ways and now he had to adjust to an entirely different household for the second time within a traumatic year. All of us thought that Dad dealing with the household was a good thing. Zach had school and the complex life of a teenage youth while I had work that was frequently very demanding of my time. Dad needed stuff to do to make him feel useful, needed and to keep busy. It was a good arrangement for us all.
It took Dad a while to learn everything for running a household was not what he had done before except for the few months after Mother died. But, he was managing pretty well and things were improving. Of course, Zach and I cut him a lot of slack at the beginning during the learning process. The problems started right after the football season started. We had something that was new to Dad – more channels with football everyday than on Thanksgiving. He was hooked within day and kept neglecting his work making life difficult for Zach and I. I mentioned it to him and so did Zach. "You are not a little boy anymore with time to watch every game, Grandfather, nor a rich mans wife with servants who can watch TV soaps all day. Father and I depend on you. You have responsibilities." Father agreed. Unfortunately, his actions did not speak as loudly as his words.
It was after Zach did not have clean clothes for school and we had to order in dinner that things came to a head.
"Grandfather, you have negligent and have earned a spanking." said Zach. "Drop your trousers and underwear and get over the end of the coach for your spanking." He said as he removed his belt.
Dad was incensed to put it mildly. "What is this insolence, young man? Jeremiah, spank your impertinent son immediately."
"I cant, Father. Zach is right and he is not being impertinent." I paused before I could continue. "He has strapped me – most correctly three time as often as I have strapped him in the last two years. Unfortunately, you have messed up and Zach knows just as you taught me that one is never too old for a spanking." Dad sputtered a bit and I continued. "Please get into position NOW as Zach said or you will get extras."
It took a while before Dad submitted to the inevitable demands of justice. I watched as Zach bought his belt down hard on Fathers butt a dozen times. Each cut resounded in the house and Dad yelled while his butt turned red just as mine did when I was a boy and when Zach strapped me as a man.
When it was over, Dad dashed to his room but after that he did what he was supposed to on time. It was a month later before he could talk about the experience where he could actual praise Zach for calling him.
The End
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