The Article

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.  For most of us stateside it was a three days. The weather here was perfectly summer and I hope those of you along the east coast weren't too bothered by Arthur. We had a fun weekend filled with friends, food and lots of other stuff.  Enjoy the week and hope you like the story.



Maxie had a deadline, and it wasn’t helping her too focus on the subject.  Deadlines made her more of a procrastinator if anything.   She was in the midst of writer’s block and she had a 10,000 word article due Thursday for the next months' magazine issue.  Her editor had been leaving her cryptic messages since last Tuesday.  She planned to write it over the weekend, but that went out the window when her friend Jessica called and invited her to spend a couple of days with her at her beach cottage. She said her husband was on an out-of-town job, and they would have the place to themselves.

There was no way she could turn down Jessica.  They had been best friends since forever and now that Jess was married, they rarely got an opportunity to spend any time alone.  Two days together, drinking beer, lying on the beach, gossiping and reliving old times was too many temptations to ignore.

Maxie didn’t have to check with anyone because she was on a break with her fiancé.  She was engaged to John Brennan for two years.  He kept pressuring her to set a wedding date, and she kept blowing him off.  He finally had it and told her that until she was ready to commit, she could consider herself single. She loved Josh but saw no reason to rush into marriage.  They got along great, had fun together in and out of bed, and since she was unable to have children, she didn’t see any need to rush.  Truth be told, she really didn’t care if they ever married.  Growing up she watched her mother marry and divorce four guys, she was now on her fifth.  Obviously she wasn’t a poster child for marriage so it meant little to Maxie.  Unfortunately, Josh Brennan was one of those upright guys who did everything that was expected of him.  It probably came from being raised in an Irish Catholic family and going to a school taught by Jesuits.  Not that she had anything against Jesuits or Irish Catholics, it’s just they seemed so uptight.

Anyway, she missed Josh and she never thought he was serious about this breakup.  She figured he would have called her by now, but it had been six weeks, and she hadn’t heard from him.  That probably had something to do with her writer’s block so a stress-free weekend at the beach should do the trick.

Maxie arrived at Jess’ wearing her bathing suit and a cover up  with a twelve-pack of Corona, a bag of chips and guacamole and a large tote containing her cosmetics, sun screen and a change of clothes.  Jess was already sunning on her deck; Maxie popped the top off a couple of Corona’s and joined her.

“So what’s been happening in your life?”  Jess asked Maxie.

“It’s been pretty boring.  I haven’t heard from Josh, and I was sure he would call;  I have an article due by Thursday that I haven’t even started yet, and I broke my favorite vibrator.  Other than that, everything’s good.”

“How about you?  How’s married life.” Maxie asked Jess.

“I’m okay.  Married life is not so good at the moment. Cam went away this weekend because we had a huge fight, and I thought we could put some space between us.”

“What’s the problem?” 

“There’s tons of little things but the biggest issue is he wants me to quit my job.”

“Why?”

“For one thing, I foolishly told him about this jerk that keeps hitting on me and secondly, we want to have a baby, and I haven’t been able to get pregnant.  We’ve been through all the tests, and the doctors say everything’s fine, he thinks it may be stress, and we should just relax and let nature take its course. But Cam thinks my job is putting added pressure on me.   Obviously, not getting pregnant is stressing me out, but Cam being on it all the time isn’t helping.”

“I’m sorry, let’s forget about all of it and pretend we are young and carefree again like we were in high school.  Just with alcohol” and they both laughed.

Jess was reading on her e-reader and Maxie was people watching.  One of her favorite things to do at this cottage, which was right on the beach provided so many interesting things and people, Maxie eyes were tired.  She was about to doze off when she saw this couple walking together, holding hands, when he let go and swatted her backside, not once or twice, but continually as they walked up the beach toward the parking lot.

“Jess, put down that book and watch this.”

“Watch what?”

“See that couple, he’s spanking her bottom right here in public.” 

They were drawing attention, and she could hear other people yelling him to stop.  The funny thing was the girl was not trying to get away.  It would have been very easy for her to take off, but she didn't; she continued to walk right next to him as he swatted away.

“Don’t you find it fascinating that she is allowing him to continue?” Maxie asked Jess.

“Not necessarily, haven’t you ever read anything about traditional marriage or domestic discipline or any other names given to that lifestyle.”

“I read Fifty Shades of Grey, but that was a novel.  This is real life.”

“Many people, in real life, have that kind of relationship.  It comes in all sizes and degrees.  Some couples just like to spank or be spanked and it is part of their lovemaking.  Other couples choose to have one partner, most notably; the husband lead the relationship as head of household.  And then, there are other couples, that have rules and regulations the submissive partner must adhere to or he/she gets punished.”

“How do you know so much about this Jess.  Are you and Cam one of those couples you referred to.” Maxie asked.

“When I first met Cam he asked me if I liked to be spanked. I told him he was out of his mind; that no one in their right mind liked spanking.  He told me I was wrong, but he didn’t bring up the subject again until about a year ago.  He gave me some websites to check out, which led me to blogs, and I think there may be more of them than there are of us.” Jess told her.

“Have you and Cam ever tried it.”

“No, but I’ve been thinking about because I think it’s something Cam would like to try. Do you think its something you would ever try?”

“I never gave it a thought.  Josh would give me a bottom slap occasionally. Once when we made love, he gave my bottom a good whack and asked “Whose your daddy?” because he said it was something he saw in a movie.  I didn’t mind, it was kind of sexy, so I probably would give it a try.” 

Jess said that in her research, she found that once upon a time in the not too distant past, it was an accepted behavior.  Men often spanked their wives.  Along came the sixties and woman’s lib and the practice of wives obeying their husbands and getting spanked if they didn’t, went the way of black-and-white television. 

Maxie laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Jess asked.

“I was merely picturing my mom obeying any one of her past four husbands and that maybe if one of them had taken her over his knee, he might still be around.  Perhaps I should suggest to Bob, he do exactly that, and he might be around for longer than the others. What the hell, she’s probably getting ready to boot him out soon anyway, it’s been over two years now, and she has to be getting close.” 

They both laughed.

“I can just hear that conversation now.  ‘Hey Bob, I think you should take my mom over your knee and give her a good spanking occasionally.’” Jess said.

Jess went back to reading her book and Maxie back to people watching.  Their last conversation kept rolling around in her head.  Her phone rang, it was her mom. 

“Hey, Mom,” and she started giggling.

“What so funny?”

“I’m with Jess at the beach cottage and we were just having a conversation about you.”

“And that’s funny.”

“Well, the topic was funny.  I saw a man spanking his girlfriend and Jess was telling me about some research she did on the topic and that years ago men routinely spanked their wives.  Now, don’t get all in a huff, but I suggested that perchance if any of your four previous husbands had spanked you, you might not be on number 5.  I said perhaps I should talk to Bob.”

“You think that’s funny.  How did you find out?  I know we didn’t say anything to you.”

“Find out wha…, you mean he actually spanks you?”  Maxie was incredulous.

“This topic is closed, Maxie.  Don’t ever bring it up again, do you hear me.”

“Oh, mom, this is too good.  I’ve got to tell Jess.  She won’t believe it.

“Tell me what?” Jess piped up.

“Bob already spanks my mom.”  Maxie was beside herself and trying very hard to hold back her laughter, especially when Jess was hooting and hollering in the background.

“That’s it, Maxie.  I’m hanging up now and don’t you dare repeat this conversation to anyone else.  Tell Jess too, and be sure to tell her I know where she lives,” and click went the phone.

Maxie was laughing so hard, she had tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Can you believe it?” she asked Jess.

“No, but stranger things have happened.  Maybe it works.  As you said they’ve been married over two years now.  This one might last.”

“You know Jess; I think I just found the topic for my article.  This will practically write itself,” she said as she lay back in the lounge chair to soak up more sunshine.

See you later for more Aimless Ramblings.