Aye, Aye, Corporal Punishment

I was an only child so attention was something that I never really lacked.

One day I aggravated my father to the point that he “threatened” to spank me. Now understand this period... In all my life my father had NEVER laid a hand on me... NOT ONCE! But this particular day, I took my father at his word.

I ask myself, “What am I going to do to keep this from happening?” In my 6-year-old mind, I thought, if I could just hide all of his belts then that would solve the problem and he would never be able to follow through with his threat. So, I collected every one of his belts, found an old wooden Coke crate, gently rolled each belt into a circle and placed them in the Coke crate... Under the kitchen sink... Pushed way back up against the wall.

 My father, getting dressed for work the next morning, asked me where his belts were. I said, “I'm not giving them to you until you promise not to spank me.” One week later and still without his belts to hold up his pants he said, “I promise not to spank you if you will just tell me where my belts are hidden.”

 I led him into the kitchen, opened the cabinet, showed him the crate and there, still tucked into the Coke crate were his belts. He looked at me and smiling, just shook his head. “Who would have ever thought to hide these?”

My dad got his belts. I got his promise – No spanking!

And I never purchased a single belt for my dad for Father’s Day.

~ Jeannie Joyner