Hard Wood and Soft Cotton

       Kath didn't really have to break much of a sweat when she played
her sister, which was just as well today as it was over 90 already and
she'd been out pretty late last night.  The courts were deserted because
it was Wednesday and not everyone got Wednesdays off like she did. 
Her sister, Lynn, graduated from high school last June and was still
living at home, trying to figure out what to do with her life.  Lynn was
absolutely gorgeous in the classic southern California beach blonde
way, thank God she had taken Kath's advice and never worn much
makeup, it gave her this wild natural look that drove men, not to
mention the boys her own age, just crazy.  Kath wasn't jealous or
anything, she was rather proud of Lynn and how level headed she was
about it all, and she knew Lynn would get her act together and make
something of herself, no doubt about it.  

       Lynn at the moment was wondering why she agreed to play this
morning, it was really hot for March and Kath always beat her
anyway.  She was just so *methodical*, making Lynn look like an
idiot running clear cross court to return each shot, running hard left,
then running hard right, while Kath just stood there in the middle of
her baseline grinning at her.  Finally she just walked over to the side
bench and sat down.

      "I quit.  You could at least *act* like this was a challenge for
you!"

      "Awww, come on, Lynn, I only get to play on Wednesdays, the
courts are so full on the weekend... look, let's get out of the sun and
cool off for awhile.  I'll buy you a drink."

      The drink was some bottled water inside the clubhouse, which was
wonderfully air conditioned, and the two sisters toweled off their faces
and sat down to soak up the cool.

      "So, Martina," teased Lynn, "what's going on at the hospital these
days?  I hear that they might start laying off some people?  Kath? 
Kathy!  What's wrong?"

      Kathy was staring at her sister with wide eyes and wider mouth,
which she now managed to cover with both hands.  "Omigod!  Lynn! 
The hospital!  Jeezus, they changed the schedule, I don't have today
off! ohhhh, Goddd......"  Kath jumped up and raced to the pay phone
over by the clubhouse door, and then raced back to her table when she
realized she didn't have any change on her.

      "Kath, it'll be OK, just call to let them know you are running
late..."

      "Oh, right, Lynn.  Give me a sec, OK? "  and she ran back to the
phone.

      "Hello, Trish?  Yeah, I know, what?  Oh God, ok, ok, I'm really
sorry, Trish, I -- ok ok I'll get there right away!"

      She walked quickly back to her sister's table.  "Kath, what is it?"

      "Lynn, I gotta run, I'll call you tonight.  I was supposed to be in
surgery prep at 6 this morning, Lynn, they do all the surgery early in
the day, and Trish said that there was a bad accident late last night,
and ...   Oh, Lynn, I'm in deep shit, and Trish says with the layoffs my
timing couldn't be worse!"  Kath was close to tears as she blurted all of
this to Lynn.

       "God, Kath, just get over there.  Look, you're upset, I'll drive,
OK?"

       "Thanks, kid, but then you'll be stranded.  I'll be OK.  Call you
tonight."  And Kath gave Lynn a sweaty hug, grabbed her bag, and
headed to the parking lot.

       She made it to the hospital in record time, and walked as quickly
as she could to the locker room, to change into her nurse's uniform. But
she never made it.

      "Oh, good morning, Kath" came a voice to her side as she waited for
the elevator down to the locker room.  "Nice morning for tennis, hmmm?"

      "Oh, uh, good morning, Dr. James, um look sir, I'm really sorry
about being late, I just forgot about the schedule change, and as soon
as I realized it..."

      "Save it, Kath.  And no need to rush, surgery's over for the day. 
We called your apartment a million times and finally got Mary to
come back in, which she wasn't so thrilled about since she pulled the
night shift last night."

      "Oh, no, poor Mary, geez, Doctor, I know I blew it, I really am
sorry..."

      "Look, Kath, I'm very tired, I don't know if you heard but it was a
mess in surgery today.  I'm going to be frank, a lot of people are pretty
disappointed in you, to say the least.  Trish is among them."

      This was bad news.  "Yes, sir"  Kath said quietly.  Trish was
Kathy's supervisor.

      "She is waiting in my office, and she and I want to talk to you,
right away.  But I'm going to have a shower and get some coffee first,
so why don't you go to my office and wait for me there."

      "I'd better change first, Doctor."

      "No, I don't think you'd be wise to go down to the locker room
right now, Kath, especially dressed the way you are."  Kath blushed. 
Of all days to wear her skimpiest tennis outfit, if she so much as took
a drink from the water fountain her panties were visible!  

      Kathy sighed.  "Yes, sir."  And the elevator finally showed up. 
Ken James looked hard at Kath, turned and got on.  She turned and
headed for his office, close to tears, her stomach in knots.  

      They're going to fire me, or lay me off, or whatever, she thought. 
Great, just great!  There goes the job, the apartment, the car... I'll
have
to move back in at home, they'll want to know why... oh how
humiliating!

      But Kath was about to learn what real humiliation was all about...


     Kath headed for Dr. James' office.  She felt extremely foolish to be
walking the corridors in her tennis outfit, which signaled to anyone who
knew her what she had been doing while they were dealing with the
emergencies of the morning without her.

     The door was ajar so she walked in, and Trish was sitting in the
chair next to Dr. James' desk.  "Oh, there you are, Kath" said Trish, not
smiling.  "Sit down.  I have quite a bit to say to you and I want to do it
before Dr.James gets back.

     "I know that you did not intend to miss work today, Kath, but you
were not careful enough to make sure you kept to the new schedule.  Your
mind was elsewhere and you just fell into your old habits for your day
off."  Kath just nodded dumbly, that feeling in the pit of her stomach
getting stronger every minute.

     "Good intentions are not good enough around here, Kath.  This is not
the first time this has happened with you.  You are an excellent nurse
trainee and show a lot of promise.  You are a quick thinker and you work
hard.  But from time to time your concentration wanders.  And others have
to cover for you.  Am I right?"

     Again Kath just nodded.  It was true, she had been saved from some
real foulups by other nurses and once by Trish herself.  That time she had
left a sponge in a patient and Trish noticed it just before the stitching
up!

     "Look, Kath, Dr. James is very upset.  As supervisor of the surgery
staff he has enough stress and things to worry about to be able to worry
about whether you are paying attention to your work.  And frankly, he has
told me in no uncertain terms he holds me responsible for my nurses, and
he should, dammit, because i am your supervisor!"  Kath had never seen
Trish this angry, and it frightened her.  "I'm not going to put my job on
the line for you Kath.  Sorry, I like you, but not enough to get fired
over your carelessness!"

     Kath felt so horrible.  "Trish, I am so so sorry, really.  I'll never
slip up again, I know I let you down, I won't let this happen again, I
promise you!"

     Trish smiled wanly and shook her head.  "Kath, I do hope you get
another chance to show me you mean that, but I don't know.  With the
layoffs your timing could not have been worse.  It may well be that Dr.
James is going to fire you when he gets back, or lay you off.  And,
frankly, Kath, he would not be wrong for doing so."

     Kath knew this was coming, down deep, but hearing it said caused her
to start to cry.  Silently, tears rolled down her cheek, and she bit her
lip to stop from sobbing out loud.  Her life was coming down around her,
and there was nothing she could do to stop it, to make things like they
were just yesterday...

     Trish took pity on her 23 year old trainee.  "Hey, Kath, look maybe
I'm wrong.  I hope so, dear.  I hope you get a second chance.  And if you
do, you sure as hell better make the most of it!  Now, I'm outta here,
it's been a long morning and I'm going home to sleep for a week.  Well, at
least til the night shift" she said with a grin, and patting Kath on the
shoulder, left the office.

     Kath stared out the window, not seeing anything, in a bit of shock. 
A few minutes later, Dr. James walked into his office.

     "Ah, Kath, hope I didn't keep you waiting too long" said Dr. James as
he strode into the office, coming around to sit behind his desk.  He
looked fit and relaxed, and younger than his 43 years, though Kathy, who
had a lot of respect for him ever since he became Chief of Surgery before
he was even 40.

     "No, sir.  Trish just left."

     "Oh, all right then so she has already told you the situation we have
here."

     "Yes, sir, and I am really very sorry and embarrassed about my slip
up today."

     "Kath, I won't beat around the bush.  Running the surgery department
is enough for me to have to worry about, I can't wonder whether my nurses
will be there when scheduled or not.  You put us in a real bind today, and
Trish tells me it is not the first time you've forgotten or didn't pay
attention.  

     "No, let me finish, Kath.  I know you are sorry.  But that does not
matter if your inattention or absent mindedness affects the health and
perhaps even the life of one or more of our patients.  

     "On the other hand, I have always been an admirer of your work here
at the hospital.  I always thought you'd make nurse in no time and I
looked forward to your being here on my staff for a long time."

      Kath perked up at this, at the same time she felt so ashamed she had
let Dr. James down...

      "So, Kath, I am afraid I have to give you an unpleasant choice."

     "Yes, sir?"  Kath's heart beat faster, here it came...  but what was
her choice?

      "I really ought to let you go, Kath.  I'd give you an all right but
honest recommendation letter, and I would have to mention why you are
departing, because I'm not about to be responsible for another hospital
paying the price for your behavior.  But I have an alternative.  If you
are willing to accept it, that is."

      "Oh, yes, sir, please, Dr. James, I so much want to work here for
you!  I'll do anything!"

      "Oh, would you?"  he said, and reached into a drawer in his desk. 
Out of it he pulled a wooden hairbrush, and set it on the desk.

      Kath's eyes grew wide.  This wasn't what she thought, was it? 
Couldn't be!

     "Yes, Kath.  I see that you know what a hairbrush can be used for
besides brushing hair..."

     "But you can't mean that -- that was so long ago, I was maybe 5 or 6.
 Dr. James you can't mean you are going to spank me with that!"

     "Your choice, Kath.  You know, don't you, that you deserve to be
punished.  And if you walk out of here, fine, a lot of people who have had
to put up with your irresponsibility and even cover for you won't mind too
much.  But I believe in second chances, Kath.

     "I have a 15 year old daughter.  You remind me of her in many ways. 
She can be scatter brained at times and forget that she has to be
somewhere, and that kind of thing.  But I've found that when she really
slips up, blistering the seat of her underpants with a hairbrush does
wonders for her attention span."

     Kath gulped.  At least it sounded like he wouldn't do it on the bare!

     "Of course, when she really needs to be taught a lesson, I send her
to the corner after she is well spanked, and if I think she deserves it, I
call her back over to my lap.

     "And then she really pleads with me for no more, Kath, because if I
call her back, she knows that next spanking is on the bare."

     Kath felt like her heart had stopped.  "Dr. James, I know I deserve
it, but only on the panties, please, sir.  It would be too embarassing if
you spanked me on, on the b-bare bottom..."   Kath felt herself blushing
furiously, she almost couldn't get those last words out.

     "That's for me to decide, Kath, but if I think you deserve it, that
is what I'll do.  It is that or leave my office right now.  What will it
be?"

      Kath froze, she didn't want to stay and be spanked, but she couldn't
leave.  Her body decided the question for her, with no words, she didn't
move.  After half a minute, Dr. James nodded and went to close the door.

     "Good girl, Kath.  Now let's get this over with."  And he pulled a
chair into the middle of his office, and motioned for Kath to come over to
his side.  Somehow, she didn't know how, she stood and slowly walked over
to him.



     Dr. James patted his right thigh, and Kath, with a groan, obediently
bent over.  This was soooo humiliating, she thought, she could feel her
very short tennis skirt riding high up so that her panties were uncovered,
and her bottom was sticking right up almost in his face!  

      He raised her skirt all the way up, leaving Kath naked from waist to
knee except for the full cut stretch cotton panties she wore as part of
her tennis outfit.  Down near the plush carpet of the office, Kath's face
was burning red with embarassment and shame.  Dr. James admired her tan
athletic legs, and the whiteness of her lower bottom cheeks where they
peeked out from her panties.

       He took a firm grip on her waist, and with a gasp from Kath brought
the back of the hairbrush down hard on her full right bottomcheek.  SMACK!
and so began Kath's first spanking since she was 6 and bawling naked over
her mother's knee in the bathroom for refusing to get into the bathtub. 
Ohhh how it stung!  And SPLAT SMACK SMACK again, on both full pouting
cheeks.

      Kath started to plead right away, crying soon after that, promising
as the unbearable heat and sting and soreness built and built without
respite in her upturned bottom.  Relentlessly he chastised her with the
brush, bringing loud yelps and yells when he smacked the backs of her
upper thighs as well.  The entire area glowed red through the thin cotton
underpants, and Kath was sobbing and feeling very sorry for herself when
finally, after many minutes, he stopped.

      "Get into that corner, young lady.  I haven't decided yet if I am
through with you or if you deserve more punishment.  You should be ashamed
of yourself, you are a disgrace to my staff.  And she stiffly got off his
lap, and with an open handed smack to her bottom, he sent her to the
corner of his office.

      ...and made her stand there for at least a quarter hour while he
made phone calls and did other office business.  Kath felt so embarassed
to be standing there, holding up her skirt on his command, crying softly. 
Once his secretary came in, and though she didn't say anything, Kath knew
she must have seen her, standing in the corner like a child in disgrace.

     All along though, Kath was terrified that he would call her back
over.  She knew what that meant, he would take her underpants down!  She
remembered what that was like as a child, how she would just hope hope
hope as her father or mother scolded her, that they wouldn't pull down her
underpants and spank her bare bottom!

     But her hopes were dashed.  After a lengthy phone call, Dr. James
hung up the phone.  "All right, young lady" he said.  "Get back over here.
 I've decided you haven't really learned your lesson yet, and you are
about to now!"

     "Ohhh, please, please Dr. James, really I've learned it!  I'm so
sore, an-and... oh, no more please!!"

     "This minute, Kathy, or you can just leave and not come back to this
hospital!"

      With a groan, Kathy walked slowly back to where he had re-seated
himself, in the "punishment chair" in the middle of the floor.  He had
that hairbrush in his hand again, and a stern look on his face.  She
stopped and stood again at his right side.

     Dr. James set the brush down on his lap.  "Now, Kath" he said, "you
are about to learn what happens to naughty and irresponsible nurse
trainees who let down everyone else with their thoughtlessness.   And
before she knew it or could react, he reached out and with both hands,
yanked her white cotton panties down around her knees.

     "Ohhh!!! Dr. James, no, you can't, oh noo..." and Kath broke out in
fresh tears.  She instinctively covered herself in front, but he told her
to get her hands on top of her head, so she had to stand there, bare in
front, her tan lines very distinct, her pale white skin only a foot from
his face, as he scolded her some more.

     "You should be ashamed and embarassed, Kath, and I am glad this
upsets you so much, it means you are learning your lesson and will do
anything to avoid a repeat of this experience.  Now, get back over my
knee." 

     Kath eagerly did so, to hide her nakedness in front, but her bottom
was now bare, and Dr James could not help but admire it, shapely and soft
and round, and very very red from the initial spanking.  He again took
hold of her waist, and brought the brush down hard on her bare skin.

      "Owwww!!!"  Oh, this hurt so much more on the bare, YooWWWW!!!  Kath
began to sob again quickly as the brush made its sonorous impact
repeatedly on her upturned naked backside.  Soon Kath was kicking and
beating her fists on the floor, the panties twisted around her ankles...

       "So SMACK young SMACK lady SMACK how does it feel SMACK SMACK SMACK
to have your SMACK underpants pulled down SMACK SMACK like a naughty
little girl SMACK SMACK and your bare bottom spanked SMACK SMACK SMACK for
your misbehavior? "  SMACK SPANK SPANK...

      Kath was howling when he finally set down the brush.  She didn't
stop sobbing for several minutes and he held her across his knee until she
had calmed down.  Her bottom was blazing red and he resisted the urge to
rub it to comfort her; he knew that was not appropriate and besides, she
was being punished.  But when he finally told her to get up, and pull up
her panties, he couldn't help but hold her gently against him as she
cried, telling her it was all right now, that she had paid the price and
it was forgotten.

     "Th-thank you, Dr. James, i-I know I deserved it, an-and I won't let
you d-down again, I pr-promise!" 

      "I know you won't, Kath.  But any more slip-ups, even the slightest
bad report from Trish about you, and you will be back here over my knee. 
Capische, Kath?"

      "Yes, sir.  Thank you, sir..."  and with a quick kiss on his cheek,
she fled his office and took the quickest exit possible to the parking
lot, feeling the burning stares of everyone in that wing of the possible. 
God, they must have heard everything! she thought, and her face again
burned in embarassment.

      In his office, Dr. James put away the hairbrush, and sat down
heavily in his leather desk chair.  What a day!  he thought.  He suspected
that wouldn't be the last time Kathy paid a visit to his office.

    And he was right.