Caitlin Austin sat sprawled in the lawn chair she had pulled to the very edge of the pool. It was an Adirondack chair...you know, one of those wooden ones that dot the lawns of proper eastern families during the hot, sticky summers. She was, with the fatalistic air only a seventeen year old girl can affect, bored. "Aunt Meg!!" she bellowed toward the open french doors at the back of the house. "Come on, Aunt Meg!!! Where _are_ you?? I need something!! It's too _hot_ out here!" she whined, looking irritably at the empty doorway. Her aunt appeared, none too pleased by the summons. Her niece, headstrong, beautiful, and far too full of herself, was hers for the summer. She had made the offer last winter, when her brother John seemed overwhelmed by the task of caring for Cait alone after her mother's unseemly departure. No one in the family would talk about Catherine and her Costa Rican pool-man lover, and, hemmed in by the shameful silence, Cait had been acting out. That's what the social workers and the psychologists called it anyway..."acting out." Her grades had slipped, she had been caught smoking twice, and she had, against her father's express orders, been seeing the Allen boy who lived on Woodward near the old Benson place. He was nice enough, in a lanky, prickly sort of way, but John had never trusted him, and his family was, of course, strictly below the salt. Meg's place for the summer, an hour removed from the temptations of the city, and with a private tutor to catch her up on her classes, seemed the perfect answer for the pouty Cait. John had gratefully air-kissed his sister's proffered cheek, and accepted with a sigh. Now Meg wasn't certain that she hadn't bitten off more than she could chew. She picked up Cait's overstuffed bag from the corner into which her niece had tossed it, and stode out toward the pool. She wasn't tall, only 5'4", and certainly wasn't the rail-thin fashion of the day, but she was enormously appealing to all in her circle. A pragmatic, funny, unpretentious woman, she was everything the rest of her overstuffed family was not. Cait liked her enormously...a fact that did not prevent her from treating her Aunt as rudely as she treated everyone else. "Is this what you are looking for, Caity?" said Meg, coming up on the back of the chair. Cait wheeled around in the chair, facing her aunt with the corners of her mouth turned down. "Well, yes, but you might have been quicker about it...it's broiling out here and I am roasting to death! I've been calling you for _hours_!!" she huffed, snatching the bag from Meg's outstretched hand. "You're welcome!" said Meg, turning on her heel. "No, please, Aunt Meg...I...I'm sorry...please sit with me for a bit?" Meg turned around again, her frown easing. Her niece looked radiant and apologetic at the same time. She took after her profligate mother, who was, if nothing more substantial, beautiful. Cait was close to 5'8", with long, supple, tanned legs that eventually disappeared, today, into a tiny pair of cotton red-and-white checked shorts. She wore a matching top that was tied under her firm, rose-tipped breasts, leaving her taut, tanned stomach bare. Her face looked as if it had been painted by a pre-Raphaelite...a baby face, smooth and full, but with an excellent jaw and high cheekbones. Her eyes were a coppery brown, and her hair...well. Her hair was her chief vanity...lush and chestnut brown, thick and naturally wavy, it swung heavily to the apex of the high, round cheeks of her bottom. Cait fished around in the bag as she spoke, finally producing a length of red scarf which she twisted around and around, finally gathering her heavy hair into a tail at the nape of her neck, and securing it with the twisted scarf. "Ooohhh, that's better!" she exclaimed, feeling a cool breeze on her neck. "Caity," her aunt began, "You know your tutor is due here today, and..." "Oh, yes, Aunt Meg, I know...I am really looking forward to it. I do need to catch up on my studies!" she said, a shade too brightly, Meg thought. Her brow knitted quizzically. "Really, Cait? Well. That's good to hear. Hmmm. I thought I would leave you two the front parlour in which to study, instead of the library. There's a breeze through there that should make things easier. All right?" "Oh, yes! That sounds perfect! And if it's ok, I'd like to ask Martine to make up a pitcher of her lemonade. And you...you're still going out this afternoon, aren't you, Aunt Meg?" Cait looked at her, her copper eyes wide and innocent. "Yes, that's fine" Meg said faintly, trying to determine if there was something wrong here, "and yes, I am going out. I imagine you and your tutor will be busy for a couple of hours at least. I told the placement office to expect three hours' work three days a week, and they recommended a woman with excellent credentials. You should be in good academic shape in no time!" Cait beamed happily at her aunt, who rose to go back to the house, still puzzling over this change in her prickly niece. Cait put her hand over her mouth and snickered at her aunt's retreating back. They were all _so_ stupid, she thought. It hadn't taken much to call the placement office herself and cancel the tutor...she sounded enough like her aunt to pull it off, the dummy hadn't even questioned her. Then the call to Eddy...from the pay phone in town, of course, so there'd be no bill...and she was guaranteed at least three hours of bliss, today anyway. She'd have to see how often her aunt could be persuaded to go out on a "tutor" day, and she'd have to study herself a little, she supposed, to make it look good... Scarcely 90 minutes later, the front door slammed open, and Meg thundered into the entryway, nearly running down a startled Martine in the process. "CAIT!!" she hollered, then grabbed Martine's arm and spoke quietly, through clenched teeth. "Where is my niece, Martine?" "Upstairs, Madame," replied the quaking woman. Meg released her, and, too impatient to wait for the elevator, ran up the stairs to the third floor. She needed only to see the look on Martine's face to know that Cait was not in the second floor library. Her niece had been too preoccupied to hear her shout. When Meg burst into the large, airy bedroom, Cait sat up...or tried to...entangled as she was in the spindly arms and legs of what had to be the Allen boy. "Ohmigod" he kept repeating, fumbling for his glasses on the bedside table, clutching the sheets to his ribs. Cait slid out from beneath him and stood, half terrified, half defiant, and stark naked, facing her aunt. "You were supposed to be OUT!" she said plaintively. "I WAS out, Caitlin. I stopped at the placement office on my way to my appointment, in order to pay the balance of your tuition charges. I was told that they had been preparing my refund check for the deposit, since I had cancelled so promptly. CANCELLED, Caitlin??" She backed away from her advancing aunt. Meg had grabbed the wide-backed antique hairbrush from the dresser as she came toward her niece, and was tapping it against her thigh. As she drew abreast of the bed, she noticed the still quaking Eddy Allen half standing, half kneeling, wrapped in the wrinkled sheet. She grabbed his skinny arm and pulled him off the bed, whacking his small round behind with the hairbrush as she gave him orders. "You get out of here and don't let me hear about you coming anywhere near my niece ever again, DO YOU HEAR ME???? He jumped and twisted frantically, trying to get away, his bottom crimson with spanks. "Yes, yes, ma'am, no ma'am, owwww owwwww please, I won't ma'am, please let me gooooooo..." She released him and he fled, grabbing his clothes as he ran. She turned her attention to her niece, who was cowering in the corner of the bedroom. "I...I'm sorry, Aunt Meg, really, but Daddy won't let me..I mean..I love Eddy, I do, and I know that..." You don't know anything, young lady. You are a silly, spoiled child, and I am about to see that you learn a lesson you won't forget. You are going to get the spanking of your life, Caitlin Braybrooke Austin. And when I have finished paddling your fanny, you are going to get a haircut, a nice swim, and a change of wardrobe that will help you remember that you are still a child!!" "A HAIRcut?" Cait screeched, putting her hands to her head. "What are you TALKING about, Aunt Meg...you can't cut my hair, please, you CAN'T!!" "Oh yes, I can, young lady," she said, grabbing Cait with her iron grip. "You think you are so irresistable in your tiny shorts and your flowing tresses...well, we are not about to let you end up like Catherine did, and I am going to see to it right now!!" Grimly, Meg led the wiggling, crying, protesting girl down the stairs, still holding the hairbrush. They stopped once, on the ground floor, to take Martine's big sewing shears from her basket, and for Meg to give the woman some hurried instructions. Cait howled even louder when she saw the shears, fighting frantically, begging and screaming to be let off. Meg shook her like a rag doll and continued dragging her naked niece right out the french doors and onto the lawn. Meg took one of the stools from the front of the cabana and sat down, pulling Cait right over her knees. Cait was nearly insensible with crying, terrified of her furious aunt and not knowing exactly what was coming. She'd never been spanked in her life, and the one Meg had given Eddy was the first one she'd ever seen. But her hair? Her HAIR? She was sick to her stomach with dread. "No, Aunty Meg, please...please...oh god I am so sorry, I'll study hard, I will...I won't see Eddy for a while, I'll be a good girl, only pleeeeease don't do this, please!!!!" Meg smiled grimly at being called "Aunty"...something Cait hadn't done since she was in sixth grade. Well, when she got through with her, Cait would feel like a sixth grader again! Meg arranged the squalling girl so that her bottom was high and upthrust, bending her over her left thigh and clamping her right leg across both of her niece's. Cait had to grab the crossbar of the stool to balance. Meg wrapped her arm around Cait's waist and nodded to Martine, who had come from the house carrying a small pile of clothes of her own. Martine was close to Cait's size, though considerably more conservative. She put the clothes and a large towel on the poolside table, moving the shears to the top of the pile. "All right, young lady, let's begin the first part of today's lesson!!" Meg lifted her arm and brought the hairbrush cracking down on the crest of Cait's left bottom cheek. The firm flesh whitened, then reddened, and the girl screeched at the firey sting. "NOOOOOOOOOOO, oh god it stings owwwwww owwwwww oooohhhhh nooooo, please no more, please no more Aunty Meg, nooooooo!!!!" she wailed and twisted her hips, trying to evade the rain of spanks her aunt was laying on her lush bottom. With her legs pinned, she couldn't kick, couldn't get much leverage to avoid the painful spanks. "I'm going to teach you a lesson you're NEVER going to forget young lady!!!!" The hairbrush came down again and again, Cait screaming she would be good and had learned her lesson, her face red and streaked with tears, her nose running, her hair plastered to her cheeks. When it was finally over, Cait lay limp and sobbing over her aunt's knee. "I'm sorry, Aunty Meg, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." was all she could say. "Shhh, I know you are, Caity, and I am sorry I had to spank you so hard. But you are going to have to learn your place, young lady, and this is where you are going to learn. Now you stay in position, or I will start spanking again, do you understand?" "Yes, ma'am," Caity sniffed, puzzled. She was still bent over, her hair spilling down over her head into a chestnut pool on the concrete. "Now, Martine!" commanded Meg. The woman picked up the shears and the towel and stood at Cait's head. She took the hairbrush from Meg's hand and brushed Cait's hair in long, smooth strokes, until it fell, shining and even, all around. In an instant, Cait realized what was about to happen and shook her head violently, renewing her stuggle to escape her aunt's hold. "No, Aunty Meg, no, oh god please no, please, anything but this, please...." Meg took the hairbrush from Martine and spanked her niece another dozen times, eliciting more wails and pleas for mercy. When she handed the brush back to Martine, Cait lay sobbing quietly, resigned to her punishment. Martine stooped to the level of Cait's head, lifted her heavy hair and spread the towel on the concrete beneath it, then gathered the silky curtain into her hand. Cait tensed, and Meg slapped her bottom with her open palm. "Martine is an excellent seamstress, Cait, I am certain she will do a better job than I might have done. You may thank her. NOW, Caitlin!" "Thank you, Martine," the miserable girl whispered. Martine smiled and said "You are welcome, missy," softly. The shears sliced through Cait's hair with a hiss like a sword bade through air, and a large swatch fell to the towel. Cait groaned and cried, but the threat of her aunt's hand on her blazing bottom kept her still. Martine worked carefully, slicing and laying down the thick tails of hair, slicing again, pausing now and again to brush. She had to move her hand quickly more than once to avoid the streams of tears and the runny nose, but at last she was finished. Cait's head felt so light she was dizzy. Her ears were roaring with the rush of blood, and her aunt steadied her as she stood up. Martine fussed over her, brushing and fluffing with her fingers. Because of Cait's position for the cut, the front and sides were very short, the hair tapering to cover just the nape of her neck in back. Meg's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at her niece. With the tresses gone, her hair a soft, short, shining cap of chestnut, the girl looked many years younger. "Time to cool off that bottom, young lady!" Meg moved her niece backward toward the pool. Cait shrieked as she lost her footing and fell in with a huge splash. In a moment, she was grateful for the cool water on her blistered behind. She was sorry when Meg motioned her out after a minute or two, but she dared not disobey. She kept feeling her head, fresh tears starting each time she felt the stubby ends of her beautiful hair. How the kids would laugh when they saw this! Miserable, she climbed out of the pool, and stood submissively as her aunt and Martine toweled her off and began to dress her. She shuddered as Meg held out a plain, full-cut pair of white cotton briefs, but one look at her aunt's face convinced her to step in and pull them up. Next, the bra, plain white cotton again, full-cut, three hooks in back. A slip...a SLIP?? She sighed and put it on, followed by a pale blue cotton dress of Martine's that had a little round collar and buttons down the front, had little puff sleeves, and came to her knees. A sensible pair of espadrilles, her own watch...and...what was this? She picked it up from the table and looked at her aunt inquiringly. "It's a barrette," Meg said, taking the piece of blue plastic shaped like a bow. "In fact, it's one of yours. You left it here once years ago when you were in sixth grade and spent a week with me, do you remember?" Cait didn't, really, but she said nothing. She sat obediently in the Adirondack chair while her aunt brushed and brushed the shining cap of hair until it dried in the sun, chattering all the while about good behaviour and lessons learned. When her hair was dry, Meg pulled the top hair over to the side and fastened it with the barrette. She took the girl's chin in her hand and kissed her quickly. "Let's go in, Cait. I want to introduce you to your tutor. She should be here by now. We're going to start the summer all over again, Caity, right now! Understand?" "Yes, ma'am," replied the chastened Cait, still walking a bit stiffly. In the entry way stood Mrs. Cullen. Cait winced when she saw her aunt shake the woman's hand...and pass her the hairbrush.