Category: Child
Word count: 500
Copyright is mine.

Richard's Rocket

Eight-year-old Cassie sat on her brother Richard's car and contemplated the rocket problem, but another pesky bee flew around her head.

"Buzz off!" she yelled and wished again that someone would do something about the hive. "If dad were alive . . ." she said to herself.

The bee flew along the shelves of the garage and hovered in front of the red container marked "GASOLINE." Cassie imagined filling her Super Soaker with gas. She could light an arrow on fire, and then ... And then her eyes fell on the trash can and the remains of her Barbie doll, which had not survived the maiden flight of Richard's 'Mighty Magg' rocket.

"Never even got off the ground," Cassie grumbled. "Just lit up like a yellow flare - nothing left but fried-black rocket, a lump of melted plastic and a burned up bungie cord."

She quietly rehearsed her lines: "I never touched your rocket. Maybe the kids next door stole it."

"Cassie!" yelled Richard from inside, "Dinner's almost done. Set the table."

She hurried to the trash can, intending to bury her doll.

"I'm comEEEEEEE," she screamed as a tiny stinger sank into her hand.

Richard raced out and immediately spotted the lump of flesh-colored plastic.

"What ...?" he began.

Then he spotted the blackened bungie cord and looked frantically to the counter where his rocket normally stood.

"What did you do?"

"I never ... a bee stung meee," she whined and tried to cry.

"Where is it?" he yelled.

"It's toast!" she yelled back. "I threw it in the field, under the beehive, which would be gone if Dad ...,"

"You're crazy out-of-hand," Richard interrupted. "And I know what Dad would have done!"

He yanked her over to his car, sat back on the hood and tossed the unhappy girl across his lap.

"Dad would definitely take your pants down for this," he said and promptly bared Cassie's bottom to the neighborhood.

"Dad would never ..." she shrieked, but Richard's hand fell with a smarting fury that rivaled her stinging hand.

"I didn't mean to," Cassie whimpered as another burst of smacks burned into her exposed, reddening bottom.

"Didn't mean to destroy hours of work?" he asked. "I - think - you - did!" he said, impressing each word into her tender skin with an angry slap.

Cassie broke down in a torrent of tears, and Richard was surprised to find his fury so quickly assuaged. He let Cassie up.

She wiggled and bounced, trying to pull her pants up with one hand, while cradling the bee-stung hand, and trying to avoid any contact with her painful bottom. Richard smirked at her awkward dance and pulled them up for her.

"If dad was alive, you'd have gotten worse than that," he assured her.

"I know," she sniffed. "I'm sorry."

Richard nodded forgiveness. "Now, let's put some baking soda on that hand and have dinner."

When Cassie went outside the next day, the beehive was gone. So was Richard's rocket.

Winks

This was a nice cute tale of a rather naughty little girl getting her come uppance in appropriate fashion. I was rather confused by the rocket. Richard drove a car so he was obviously a much older brother so was he building a mini space rocket which she tied her doll to or was this a firework? I suppose it doesn't matter much except I was trying to get age to jell with activities.  Anyway he competently handled the daddy role and coped with her bee-sting.

A nice little tale but somehow slightly odd.

An interesting story, which accurately caught a slice of childhood. It was unusual for a girl to be so interested in fire, at least in my experience, as it is usually the boys who are always setting toys on fire to see what will happen.  The fact that it was a girl made the story all that more interesting and raised all sorts of questions about Cassie in my mind.  The spanking was realistic and enjoyable - at least for the reader.

I enjoyed this story.

Cassie has a mischievous innocence about her that is quite endearing. Shame on her for ruining Richard's rocket!  It's a darn good thing Richard took her in hand.  This was a very fun story and I enjoyed it a lot, it was well thought out and well written.  I was left with the idea that poor Richard will have his hands full in the coming months and years.

Whimsical with that spot of meanness that (for me) makes child spanking stories feel real.  Not too cute, but fun.  It's also well written and told with a flare for dialogue that shows us, rather than tells us about the story's action.