I began to cry in frustration and fear. "Oh no! I can't go to jail. I graduate from college next year. It isn't fair! You said you would let me off if I confessed. You have punished and humiliated me! Isn't that enough?"
"Well, there is a chance I can still let you off easier if you are willing to make restitution."
Fifteen hundred would leave me broke but that was better than jail. I said eagerly, "I'll do it. I'll go to the bank tomorrow and pay back every cent."
"No that is no good, the stores don't want the money it will just screw up their bookkeeping since the losses have already been written off. What I had in mind was corporal punishment with you paying off at a dollar a lash."
"Oh God I couldn't take fifteen hundred lashes I would have no skin left."
"I didn't mean all at once. I was thinking of installments of fifty per week."
I tried to determine how many weeks that was but I just couldn't think. He told me that would be thirty weeks and then went on to say, "I know a judge who has been willing to settle for punishment other than jail time. I will run this by him tomorrow and do my best to sell him on the idea.
If I had any doubt that settled it. I rationalized that in spite of the humiliation the experience had simply excited me and although I felt perverse it was certainly better than jail. I thanked him profusely and said I would be glad to make restitution rather than go to jail.
He gave me a sheet of paper and a pen and dictated the following for me to write down.
"Dear Judge Hooker,
I am willing to be subjected to fifteen hundred lashes to atone for the thefts in my confession. I hope and pray you will agree that this will be sufficient atonement for my crimes."
I signed it and gave it to him where he notarized my signature.
He gave me a piece of paper with his name, Ted Devers, and his address and told me to be there at six PM the next day to find out if the judge agreed.
The wait was endless I couldn't sleep that night and there was no use going to school the next day since I would never be able to concentrate on my classes.
Of course I was too embarrassed to discuss this with anyone. No-one I knew would be sympathetic, especially my parents. I was sure they would prefer me dead rather than a convict. If I had anyone to confide in I would have known better.
It was not till months later that I discovered this whole thing was phoney. I could only have been charged with the underwear which would have been just a misdemeanor and as a first offence I would have just had to pay a fine. Also no judge would make a decision on a discussion with a cop especially a security guard. At the time I could only think of the headline I had seen where a man was sentenced to fifteen years for grand theft. If I had read further I would have found he was a habitual offender.
At the time I just huddled in my bed praying the judge would go along with Ted's proposition. Although the orgasms I had received from the spanking were fantastic I felt really quilty I had reacted that way and actually hoped the rest of my whippings would just hurt so I would be normal.
I was on his doorstep promptly at six.
He met me with a big hug. "I did a hell of a sales job baby. He went for it. Here is the judgement."
It really looked legal. It was typed on county letterhead and had a case number and was written in legal jargon. It said I was sentenced to fifteen hundred lashes to be applied over a thirty week period or less at my option with the stipulation that if I missed an appointment I would be arrested and would begin a sentence of ten years at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary.
I was so relieved I hugged and kissed him. He kissed me back then said, "I know why you are so happy. You think you are getting out of a jail sentence by having orgasms."
I blushed and told him that I had no idea why I had reacted that way. Normally I hated to be hurt and had tried my best to avoid spankings from my dad.
"I don't know either. You must just be lucky but I won't be able to go as easy on you as I did at the store. As part of the deal the judge said I was to bring him pictures after your sessions and that you had better be good and red and they have to be spread around so he can count the stripes to be sure you got the whole fifty lashes. If he thinks I am being too easy he will have you go to jail so their guards can do it."
I had a flashback of a picture I saw in a history book where a man was being flogged by a sheriff in colonial times. There was blood on his back and several people watching. I was scared to death.
"Oh Ted, please don't let that happen. You must hit me very hard. I am being punished I shouldn't have orgasms anyway."
"Don't worry Joanie we have a lot of lashes I'll work you up gradually so you will be excited and a little numb when the hard ones come for the judge to see. Do you think you can stand still for them or would you rather be tied?"
I thought about it. Fifty lashes was less than I had taken the day before and I had not fought my bonds but then I knew they would not be that easy. On that session I had just turned red and to my amazement even that was gone the next day. If the judge wanted to count the lashes I would have to be hit hard enough to leave welts at least long enough for the photos. I said, "This will hurt a lot more than yesterday. I am not that brave, you should tie me up so I can't move to spoil your aim."
"Yes that will probably be best." He went to the closet for a big box and took out padded cuffs and rope saying "The judge gave me these cuffs. They will keep you from getting rope burns on your wrists and ankles. He also gave me this."
He held up a whip with a braided leather thong about a foot and a half long coming out of a handle.
I had a flashback to the picture of the man being flogged and cringed, "Oh God! That will hurt awful! Will I bleed?"
"Don't worry I will never hit you hard enough to make you bleed. It is no worse than the belt except it is skinnier and heavier to make definite stripes that will be easy to count but it is soft. Here, feel it."
I took it from him and pulled the thong through my fist. It did feel pretty soft as if it had been soaked in oil but the fact remained it was thinner so the pain would be concentrated instead of the wide belt.
"Ted, I don't know if I can stand all of them on my butt. I won't be able to sit down."
"I know. Also they would be so close together they would be hard to count.I will spread them around so to make it easier for you because welts on top of welts are really painful."
I was convinced it was him and me against the judge and believed he would hurt me no more than necessary.
"Joan. We had better get on with this. The more you think about it the more frightened you will get."
He led me to a room that was brightly lit with no furniture except an easy chair, large mirrors on all four walls and ropes hanging ominously from pulleys in the ceiling and chains with padded cuffs attached to rings in the floor.
He told me to take off my clothes after positioning me under the ropes in front of the mirror while he sat in the easy chair watching me. Even though he had seen me naked before it was still very embarrassing and I removed them slowly. Rather than tell me to hurry he seemed to enjoy the slow strip. It suddenly occurred to me that I was doing a strip tease and hurriedly removed the bra and panties only to be humiliated further by being told to remove my shoes and stockings while now totally nude. He complimented me on my body as I removed clothing especially when I took off my bra. He loved the way they stood up firmly with no sag even though I wore a "D" cup. I had mixed feelings over the compliments, they made me proud that he thought I was beautiful but his compliments on my flat stomach, my firm boobs, and my round firm butt as they appeared just emphasized the fact that I would soon be totally naked and The skin I was baring would soon be covered in red stinging stripes.