Carol, Marsha and Ashley, having finished their tasks came over and helped Mary and I finish up with the chairs. Martha told us to leave about half a dozen out. The lectern was also left out. Marsha Carpenter was thin, in her late thirties and a bit bitchy to most people. Her girls were about 3 to four years older than my girls and Anne frequently baby sat for me. We all got along well together. But then I seem to get along pretty well with everybody. �What are you here for suzy� Marsha enquired. She was severely dressed in a long-calf-length, black cotton skirt that buttoned down the center. The dark blue cotton hose she had on certainly didn’t improve her image. However she was wearing a really pretty white blouse with ruffles down the center and a big white bow adorning her collar. I couldn’t tell if she was wearing a bra or not because was blouse was so loose. Besides her titties are even smaller than mine and I bet they really sag when she is not supporting them with a bra. Ashley was dressed similarly to her mother although not quite as severely. Her blouse was certainly tighter. Over the last year it was becoming obvious that she didn’t inherit her mother’s skimpy breasts. I quietly said to Marsha �I got really walloped by my husband yesterday and today I have to show the bruises to Pastor Henry and Martha�. �Well� Marsha said �looks like you are getting off easy. I’m here for my fourth Sternie’. And I suppose that I will be getting a double dose. One set for my transgressions and another for the sins of my eldest Daughter the slut’�. She shook her blond head in the direction of the blooming fifteen-year-old Ashley to her right. �Well� Marsha continued �lucky for you. I will be lucky if my heinie is not bleeding by the time we drive home tonight. That’s why I always wear the darkest skirt I can for a sternie. If you’re bleeding a lot it doesn’t show.� Mary’s shaking got worse when she heard the word bleeding’.

�Well what are you here for dearie� Marsha said to Mary, �you seem scared shitless�. �I, I, I’ve never gotten a St, St, Str, Str, Stern Chastisement before� stuttered Mary. �Well it could be a lot worse, you could be getting Severe Chastisement� said Marsha �I hear that they really peel the skin off you in a Severie. Not that we’ve ever had one here. Well, I hear they only give you a Severie once a year. I wonder if her blue majesty over there has ever had a Severie?� Marsha pointed her head over in the direction of Martha who was fiddling with something in the front of the Church. Marsha’s monologue was hardly reassuring to Mary. �Well what are you here for fatso?� continued Marsha turning to Carol. The bleached blonde, heavyset young woman was obviously offended by Marsha. �Well, I’m not going to the well!� Carol said mocking Marsha. �My husband and Pastor Henry decided a month ago that the prospect of Church Chastisement would encourage me lose weight. So every Saturday afternoon is weigh-in time at the Pastor’s house. If I haven’t lost at least one pound that week, then its Stern Chastisement in Church the next day. Guess who the scale decided to be shitty to yesterday. I had actually gained a pound. So it looks like my behind will get fed a score or two dozen for lunch today.� Looking at Carol’s rear end, it certainly was big enough to absorb a considerable amount of punishment. Carol was wearing a white dress with three circumferential rows of flounching ruffles on the skirts. But that did not conceal that she had a butt that put mine to shame. Similarly, the tight fitting bodice of her dress left no doubt that a very substantial bra must be supporting breasts that must have required at least DD cups. She must have been a 44 or maybe even a 46’. It would be interesting to she how she behaved under Chastisement.

Stern Chastisement in Church

�OK Ladies� Martha proclaimed in a ringing voice. �Time to come to the front of the Church and get things started. I will tolerate no dawdling.� The paneling at the front of the Church was opened. I had never realized that there was a closet up there. I guess that this was where they stored the podium. Martha had already taken out a folding card table. �Marsha, set up the table� Martha commanded followed by �put your cards on the table�. By this she must have meant the eight and a half by eleven sheets printed on card stock like the one that Mary had shown me earlier. At this point Pastor Henry came in, accompanied by my Husband, Dominic, Marsha’s Husband Peter, and Carol’s Husband whom I didn’t know. Pastor Henry was carrying a manila folder into which he placed the cards that he picked up from the table. Then he put the folder on the lectern.

The other men began to move two pieces of furniture out of the closet at the front of the Church. When she saw what the men were moving, Mary’s knees buckled and I had to lend her an elbow to keep her up. First they brought out what looked to be a somewhat tall carpenter’s horse, maybe 36� high. But this was more sturdily constructed than any sawhorse I had ever seen. And varnished till it shined. The four legs were constructed out of four by fours and were attached to a rectangular base plate of two by sixes, flat to the polished wood floor. Attached at several places on each leg were belts that looked like sturdy leather dog collars. I was beginning to understand. Even scarier was what came out next. I remember as a child reading in school about the Pilgrims back in seventeenth century in New England. There was a picture in the History book that showed a Pillory. There in the front of the Church they set up a Pillory. Woagh! Lastly Martha started laying out switches on the card table. That was what she had been picking under the live oak tree yesterday evening. The switches were mostly cut from live oak shoots but there was one wicked one that looked like hackberry and a long one that looked like crepe myrtle. Wehw! As a girl I had been whupped with hackberry and knew how resilient and flexible they were. Hackberry never seemed to break. Most of the switches were about 36� long and had the thin bark and buds stripped off the last 18� or so. Others were shorter. The hackberry were about 18 to 24� long that still had the bark on and were tied into bundles of five to six. I hoped that Marsha was right in her hunch that I wasn’t scheduled to receive Stern Chastisement today. This stuff looked serious. Each switch or bundle had a tag attached to it by string and I could just make out family names written on the paper tags. Finally, Martha brought out the wickedest looking Implement of all. It was a piece of fishing rod. The very thin, final 28 or 30� of one. It had the metal ferules taken off but the black string wrappings were still on. It had a handle attached. I didn’t have to be told what that was for. My imagination was all too good. That and the bottle of rubbing alcohol and cotton balls that Dominic was setting out on the Table. Mary was now shaking so bad that only my arm was keeping her up.

After the �furniture� had been set up, Martha cleared her throat and announced. �Ladies and girls to the back of the Church and prepared yourselves. Half-slips are to be removed. Carol, remove your dress. Marsha, you and your Daughter are to remove your skirts. Mary, it is only necessary to button up the back of your dress. suzie, the same with you. Then everybody pass your water.� As we disrobed or hitched up our skirts, the men placed the half a dozen of the folding wooden chairs in the middle of the Church and sat down. I gathered up the back skirts of Mary’s red dress and used the inside loops to fasten them up to the buttons. Mary’s hands were shaking so badly that she fumbled with the back of my yellow dress for quite some time. Marsha and Ashley took off their skirts and half-slips and hung them on hooks at the back of the Church. Then Marsha did up Ashley’s blouse in the back and Ashley did the same for her mom. Carol morosely unzipped the back of her dress, slipped it off her shoulders, let it fall to the floor in a heap and stepped out of it. She removed a remarkably long and full petticoat, hung it up and then added the white dress to the hook.

None of us had made the mistake of wearing panties. Carol had on an industrial strength bra. Outside of her shoes and white stockings, this was all she was now wearing. Praise the Lord for that bra because otherwise I swear her nipples would have probably hung down around her knees. Carol was fat enough around the waist that I could barely see the remains of her blond bush. When Ashley’s blouse was done up, it became obvious that she was wearing a very nice, satin bra which enclosed beautiful breasts. On the other hand her Mother’s braless breasts thinly sagged down in front. The front of Marsha’s blouse had opened a quite bit from the gathering in the back and her nipples were just peaking out below. It was not very flattering to her. She probably would have looked better without a blouse at all.

Carol was the quickest to strip. I was beginning to suspect that her Husband ran a tight household. She went right over to an ottoman-sized box in the back of the Church, lifted the lid, and soon a tinkling was heard. Of course. No chances with accidents’. Ashley went over next and took some time to get going. She turned a bright red, probably with shame at having to urinate in front of all these people. Then finally, you could hear the pissing. Marsha made a quick job of it. It was obviously not the first time for her. Mary was still having trouble fastening up the back of my dress. Marsha came over, pointed Mary toward the piss pot and finished the job. �Sorry, this is the first time for me� Mary whispered as she sat on the commode but was unable to empty her bladder. This whisper elicited a number of bellowed commands from Martha up in front.

�Silence! If I hear any more chattering it will results in an increased level of Chastisement. Everybody up front, right now. No more dawdling�. She was swishing the fiberglass rod back and forth menacingly. �Kneel down starting here, in the following order. suzie, first. Here!� Martha pointed with the rod which made me nervous. I knelt facing the wall of the Church. �You are only here for Exposure and Inspection so we will deal with you first. Mary, this is your first Stern Chastisement so we will deal with next. Kneel here. Ashley, this is also your first so kneel to the right of Mary. OK pain slut, you’re next.� Martha must have been referring to Marsha since Marsha immediately knelt just to the right of her Daughter. �Fatso you’re last.� Carol was the last of us in line. Then everything became deathly silent. I didn’t even breath a sigh of relief at being spared Stern Chastisement because I was so scared. Mary’s trembling was very noticeable. My bladder was full and hurting but I guess since I if am being spared the rod, I can get by without tinkling.

Inspections

Pastor Henry came up to the front and placed the manila folder down on the lectern. �Let us open this session of Church Chastisements with a prayer� he began. After opening his Bible and mumbling about for what seemed like half an eternity, he summoned me to the front and instructed me to face the front of the Church. Then it was bend over, hold your ankles, and spread your legs’. There I was with my head between my knees looking out at the group. I kept getting progressively redder in the face from the strained position while my Pastor inspected the bruises on my buttocks, thighs and private parts. Then he called Martha over and she inspected me while Pastor went back to the lectern and mumbled into the Bible some more. Then he called my Husband over and he inspected. Then they called over Peter, John and Carol’s Husbands and they all inspected. And Pastor mumbled into his Bible some more All the while I kept getting more and more congested and red faced and my bladder was really killing me. I tried to distract myself my inspecting the behinds of the other women who were kneeling over by the wall. I particularly needed distraction when someone would poke and pinch at my puss to see how swollen it really was (yes it really is that swollen).