The Bottom Line Read Online Free PDF Page A

marred by a minor and a major drop in the standards required, so your punishment will be twelve minor and four major.’
    â€˜P-punishment?’ Helen blurted, shocked by the turn of events. ‘I’m not being punished. Who do you think you are to tell me that I’m going to be punished? You go on and play your little games if you want to, but you’re not punishing me. I’m off to bed!’
    â€˜I think you’d better tell her, Dolly,’ Carla said. ‘And you can sit down while you’re waiting,’ she added to Helen.
    â€˜It’s a sort of game,’ Dolly explained. ‘Rites of passage, I suppose. We’ve all been through it in the past.’
    â€˜And what if I refuse these... these rites of passage, as you call them?’ Helen asked. ‘What can you do about it?’
    â€˜We can’t do anything if you absolutely refuse,’ Dolly told her, ‘but you’d be very unwise to. You might find that your probation lasts longer than six months if you do. Or you might even fail it. You see,’ she lowered her voice and spoke conspiratorially, ‘we’re all part of a team here and our success depends on working together. This little game is part of that working together. You have to show that you can take the rough with the smooth. So come on, it won’t last long and you’ll soon get over it.’
    â€˜I still don’t understand,’ Helen said. ‘Suppose I go along with your silly little ritual? What won’t last long and what will I soon get over? What sort of punishment is this?’
    â€˜I think you’d better show her, Louise,’ Carla said. ‘Then you can take your pick, Helen. Either you go along with our silly little ritual, as you call it, or I tell those who need to know that you don’t want to be one of us.’
    Louise had disappeared into the dressing room, whence she emerged bearing a cushion upon which were two leather objects, one quite short and the other much longer. Helen gulped, recognising now what form her punishment was going to take.
    â€˜If I go along with this,’ she said, addressing Carla, ‘just what is going to happen?’
    â€˜Now that’s a sensible question, Helen,’ Carla said. ‘You see this?’ She held aloft the smaller object. ‘This is called a paddle, and it’s quite a soft and gentle one. I believe it used to be quite popular in the States for disciplining unruly children. Perhaps it still is.
    â€˜This, on the other hand, is a tawse.’ She held up the long strip of leather, perhaps two feet long, three inches wide and probably a quarter of an inch thick, with one end split into four strands. ‘A Lochgelly tawse, to be precise, presumably named after the town of manufacture. It used to be used widely in Scotland,’ she continued, ‘though it was used across the palm of the hand. We prefer a different target, some would say a more appropriate one.’
    â€˜I see,’ said Helen. ‘So I have to accept my punishment with one of these instruments, and then we can all go quietly to bed, is that it?’
    â€˜I don’t think you’re in a position to be sarcastic,’ Carla admonished her. ‘And you’re wrong, anyway. You will be punished with both of these instruments. Twelve minor means you will receive twelve strokes of the paddle, and four major means you will receive four strokes of the tawse. Bridget, Karen, Dolly and Louise will each give you three strokes with the paddle, and I shall administer the four strokes of the tawse.’
    â€˜This is outrageous,’ Helen complained, ‘but if it’s part of your game I suppose I’d better play along with it. And where am I supposed to stand while you amuse yourselves with me? Or do I have to bend over and touch my toes?’
    â€˜First of all,’ said Carla, ‘you have to take your pyjamas off.’
    â€˜Take them