The Pickett Family Holiday, Part 07

Stephanie faced her father, hands nursing her well-spanked buttocks. Her eyes focused on the basket holding her clothing on top of the workbench just beyond her father. It would be so easy to take the few steps to the bench and get dressed. Her legs trembled with the desire to take those steps, but defying her father more than she already had seemed a bad idea. She forced her gaze from the basket to her father’s disappointed face and braced herself for another lecture.

Dad said, “Your mother has informed me she does not need your assistance in the kitchen today.”

“I can spend the day in my room,” Stephanie said. She doubted the suggestion would go anywhere, but there was no harm in offering it.

The hint of a smile slipped onto his lips before he could hide it within the mask of sternness he was trying to display. “I’m sure you’d like that,” he said, “but I have other plans for you.”

She dropped her gaze from his face and shrugged. Her bare toes came directly into her line of sight and then her exposed nipples and naked legs. A fresh pulse of embarrassment washed over her body, pumping more hot blood into her cheeks. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and concentrated on massaging the sting and fire out of her buttocks.

Dad made a show of looking at his wrist watch. “We’ve got about six hours before dinner will be on the table. I figure that’s plenty of time for you to rake up the leaves in the yard, shovel them into the green bin, clean out the empty wood stack on the porch, fill it up with the wood I cut this morning, and sweep off the porch when you’re done.”

Stephanie’s jaw dropped. Her eyes opened wide, staring into her father’s face, and fresh tears pooled just shy of spilling out onto her damp cheeks. “That’ll take all afternoon.”

Dad folded his arms across his chest and nodded.

“I’m naked,” she said.

He nodded.

She stomped her foot on the wood floor and immediately regretted the choice, feeling the sharp poke of a small grain of hard dirt into the bottom of her foot. “Someone might see me!”

He said, “Maybe you’ll remember this the next time you think about deliberately defying the rules around here.”

Her eyes narrowed and a hint of anger colored her cheeks. “I’m not going out there like this,” she said. “If you think I am, you’re fucking nuts.”

The sternness disappeared from his face and a large smile grew on his lips. He laughed. “I’m not a chipmunk.”

Stephanie blushed, realizing he was teasing her. “I’m not joking,” she said. A slight smile turned the corners of her lips upward as she shook her head at the ground and contained the laughter that might have otherwise slipped out. The situation was far from funny, her bottom still stung and undoubtedly glowed like a stoplight, but her father wasn’t angry and that was a good thing.

“Relax,” Dad said. “Todd’s bringing you one of your mother’s aprons from the kitchen and you can wear that while you’re doing your chores. As long as you do a good job and finish in the next six hours, you can get dressed for dinner.”

Stephanie parked her hands on her hips, momentarily forgetting her nudity. “And if I don’t?”

The sternness came back to his face. “Do a bad job or waste time and you’ll be getting another dose of my strap and standing in the corner while the rest of us eat. Is that understood?”

Stephanie looked up into his face. The smiles were gone on both of their faces. She nodded slowly, her narrow eyes conveying her dislike for his terms. “Yes,” she said.

“Good,” he said, nodding his head at her, “cause I’m not joking either.”

The sound of approaching footsteps pulled Stephanie’s attention away from her father. Awareness of her nudity returned and her hands moved from their place on her hips to snake across her body attempting to cover her crotch and breasts as best she could. She turned her back toward the door and looked over her shoulder, waiting with held breath to see the owner of the footsteps.

Todd entered the shed with apron in hand. His gaze immediately drifted toward Stephanie’s spanked buttocks. He whistled. “Those look hot enough to start a fire,” he said and shook the apron in the air for Stephanie and her father to see. “I think this thing might be flammable. We should probably wait a little bit before letting her put it on.”

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “It’s made for kitchen use.”

Todd’s eyebrows shot up. “So?”

“So,” she said, “it’s not flammable.”

“I’m not so sure,” Todd said. The grin on his face betrayed the seriousness his voice attempted to convey.

Stephanie reached out with her left hand, avoiding turning to expose any more of herself to his view than was necessary. “Give it to me.”

Todd unfolded the apron and hung it by the neck strap from his fingers just out of Stephanie’s reach. He studied the apron from the back, tilting his head from side to side and making humming sounds. “Well it is an open back design.”

She huffed and stomped a foot on the wood floor. “Give it to me.”

Todd looked to Charles. “It almost sounds like she’s asking for another spanking.”

Stephanie glanced at her father in time to see him nodding agreement. She shook her head and forgot about modesty. Her eyes sprang open wide and her hands shot to protect her butt. She pivoted away from facing the wall and walked backwards until the shed’s far wall kept her from getting any farther from the two men.

Dad said, “You would think a young lady in her position would remember her manners.”

Todd nodded and turned himself to look straight on at Stephanie. His eyes wandered over her naked front. He smiled making his enjoyment of the view obvious. “Now that’s an idea,” he said.

Stephanie blushed from head to toe. His teasing had been deliberate. She’d done exactly what he expected, given him the show he wanted. And apparently he wasn’t finished teasing. She moved her arms and hands back to cover her nakedness though she knew it was too little too late. “What?” she asked, not certain she wanted to know what else he was thinking.

Todd said, “I think if you want to wear this apron to do your chores, you should ask me politely.”

Stephanie glared at him. If there had been anything handy to throw, she would have thrown it.

Todd chuckled as if reading her thoughts. “If you’d rather do your chores in the buff, I don’t think anyone would stop you.”

Stephanie glanced at her father. His arms were folded across his chest again and he showed no signs of disagreeing with Todd. She looked outside the shed, reminding herself that the neighbors were not so far away. The distant murmur of voices from the neighborhood carried on the breeze. It irked her to let Todd win his childish game, but the consequences of losing were too humiliating for her to risk.

“May I please have the apron?” she asked.

Todd laughed and stepped closer to her with the apron held out in her direction. “Why yes, you may,” he said.

She took it without a word. The apron had the same autumn leaf design as she’d seen her mother and Amanda wearing in the kitchen, not the sort of thing she’d normally choose, but under the circumstances it was infinitely better than the alternative of nothing. It required less than a minute to don the flimsy garment. She tied the string in the back as tight as she could, doing her best to allow the backless garment to cover as much of her naked skin as possible. Still, she could feel the cool air caressing her bare back and buttocks, not to mention her legs and arms.

Her father took a wood handled rake with dark green tongs down from its place on the shed’s wall. He held it out to her. She stared at the handle, contemplating what she would like to do with the tool. Her father tapped the tongs on the floor. She pushed aside her inappropriate daydreams and took the rake from him. He stepped closer, laying his calloused hand on her shoulder and gently turning her toward the exit. They stepped outside together. She stopped walking only three feet outside of the shed and glared at the leaves on the ground as if they were to blame for all her troubles.

The swat of her father’s open palm against her tender, bare butt interrupted her moment of self-pity. She sprung into the air, dropping the rake and grabbing behind her to block any additional swats and massage away the new sting imparted by the single swat. “Ow!” she exclaimed and turned her head sharply toward her father.

Her father met her gaze with unwavering sternness and a wagging index finger. Any further protest she might have made slipped away into silence. She turned away, bit her lip and knelt down to retrieve the fallen rake. The swat had made her painfully aware of her rear exposure, but the way her butt pushed past the hemmed edges of the apron as she bent made it all the more pronounced in her mind. Her face flushed red.

“Don’t dally,” he said and walked away with Todd toward the house.

When they were out of earshot she turned her attention to the yard full of fallen leaves surrounding her. The sun shined bright, sitting near on straight overhead casting few shadows, but the way the light streamed through the barren branches it seemed to sparkle on the fluttering leaves. A gust rustled the leaves and sent them rolling across the grass while bringing a few new ones down from above.

“How the hell am I going to finish this in six hours?” she asked.