Shutes and Ladders, A Shelly Brooks Story, F/F (Part 1)

[chardt]

To those of you who have been waiting, I'm sorry this took so long, but as they say, good things come to those who wait. Enjoy!



Shelly Brooks stomped on the break and spun the wheel to the right, whipping the black Corolla into the driveway of the quaint three bedroom town house that was her college home away from home. She glanced again at her watch. Damn, I’m really going to be cutting it close, she thought.

She was supposed to drive home for a weekend with her mom and maternal grandma at her grandma’s place in the country. Unfortunately, a quick question for her economics professor after class turned into a twenty minute dissertation on post cold-war financial paradigms. Now she was going to be rushed packing.

She sent her athletic five-eight frame up the steps two at a time and opened the door. At least my clothes will be done in the washer, she thought. I should just have time to dry them and get packed and still get on the road by 3:00.

She threw her purse on the kitchen table and ducked into the adjoining utility room. Sure enough, the load she’d started just before leaving for her class was done washing. She yanked the dryer door open intent on transferring the wet load from the washer only to be confronted by a solid wall of clothing. Her jaw muscles immediately tightened. They were Cheyenne’s of course. “This is it, I’m going to kill her,” she said, staring daggers at the jammed dryer.

She briefly considered yanking them out and leaving them on the counter, but she knew Cheyenne should be home any minute and she wanted to confront her with the overloaded machine.

I’ll give her ten minutes before I pry them out of there myself and when she does get here, I am so going to tan her chubby little Texas butt for her. I don’t care if I am late getting on the road.

Cheyenne would not have been her first choice for a roommate. They didn’t have much in common. Shelly was a tall, athletic, brunet New Englander and most of the time at least, she was a sober, responsible young woman. Cheyenne was a short and curvy, green eyed, redhead from Lubbock, Texas. She played saxophone in the marching band and most of time, she was overly boisterous, sloppy and scatter brained.

It was Shelly’s cross country teammate, Linda LaRue who brought them together. Linda’s father rented the three bedroom townhouse for her with the understanding that she find two friends willing to share the rent.

Linda had already invited her friend Cheyenne. When she asked Shelly if she wanted to be the third she jumped at the chance to get out of the dorms.

Things went fine at first. After a week or two Shelly was aware that Cheyenne was a bit of a slob and could be a bit lazy about her household chores, but Linda was the maternal type and she routinely picked up after Cheyenne and sometimes even did her chores.

Unfortunately, after a few months, Linda shacked up with her boyfriend. She still paid her rent because she didn’t want her dad to know that she was living with a boyfriend, but she had otherwise absented herself from the house.


Tension between Shelly and Cheyenne started almost immediately. Shelly was not at all of a mind to pick up after her roommate and she certainly wasn’t going to do her chores for her. The result was a constant battle. Shelly would nag, cajole, and even threaten Cheyenne to pick up after herself and do her assigned chores and even then Cheyenne’s compliance was halfhearted at best.

Things only improved between them when Shelly, quite by accident, discovered that they shared a mutual kink, namely a penchant for having their firm, young bottoms spanked. The revelation had been quite a shock.

Shelly returned one Friday night after a football game to find band instruments and uniforms strewn about the living room. She marched upstairs to Cheyenne’s bedroom to complain but when she got to the door she was greeted with the unmistakable sound of a spanking being carried out. Cheyenne was evidently over the knee of her boyfriend, Kevin.

It was hard to picture. Kevin was a skinny kid from Kansas and a fellow bandsman who played trombone. Like Cheyenne, he was red haired and freckled, almost a real life version of Howdy Doody. He was the last guy on earth she could imagine taking a stubborn, feisty thing like Cheyenne across his knee for a spanking; she would actually have found it easier to picture it the other way around. It was definitely happening though and it sounded like he was doing a pretty competent job of it.

She was immediately green with envy. Up to that time her own experience with actual spankings had been received across the sturdy lap of her formidable mom, Susan Brooks and even those spankings had only started three years earlier when her mother, also by accident, discovered her daughters shocking appetite for internet spanking porn. As mortifying as that had been, it led to a long overdue heart to heart talk between them and later that same night it led to her first trip to the maternal woodshed where her mother treated her to a real old fashioned barn burner of a spanking!

It had been an eye opening experience for her, more intense both mentally and physically then she ever imagined but when it was over and she had caught her breath and dried her tears she realized that stories were never going to be enough anymore. It was a moot point anyway as from that day forward her mother had spanked her and spanked her soundly each and every time her behavior merited such punishment.

Three years later however, her yen for maternal discipline having been thoroughly sated she found her thoughts turning more and more to spankings of a more carnal nature. Spankings like the one she’d heard Cheyenne getting.

She had a boyfriend of her own, Scott Spencer and he was an Adonis, quarterback of the football team, and in most respects an assertive take charge guy. Unfortunately, in spite of all her hinting and bratting she had yet to find herself sprawled face down across his magnificently muscled thighs getting the spanking she so desperately craved.

Ironically it was Cheyenne who ultimately solved that problem for her. The morning after Shelly had overheard Cheyenne’s bedroom fanny warming she had subtly teased her annoying roommate at the breakfast table by casually mentioning that she’d overheard both the spanking and the mattress gymnastics that followed.

She spent a few minutes thoroughly enjoying the girl’s brick-red blush and stammered attempts to explain that Kevin wasn’t and abusive boyfriend before she let her off the hook, admitting that she understood exactly what was going on and was even a little jealous.

It was the beginning of the first real conversation they’d ever had. Cheyenne listened wide eyed as Shelly described exactly what it was like to be a grown girl turned over the lap of a strong willed mother and spanked on the bare seat with a wood brush until you made every plea and promise you could think of and ultimately cried tears all over the carpet. Cheyenne, for her part, described her quest, begun in middle school, to find the perfect spanking boyfriend, Kevin being her first real success.

When Shelly lamented her failure to get the otherwise assertive Scott to take the bait, Cheyenne proposed a devious plan wherein they went on a double date together and behaved like the girlfriends from hell, drinking too much and bratting the boys at every opportunity. When they returned to Shelly and Cheyenne’s town house, Scott was allowed to overhear the inevitable spanking Cheyenne receive from Kevin. From that point it only took a minimum of goading from Shelly to get Scott to follow the lead of the less physically impressive male.

It wasn’t a perfect spanking, but it was an impressive start and Shelly had generously rewarded Scott’s fledgling efforts in bed. Cheyenne had made it clear that if the plan worked Shelly would owe her a favor, but she hadn’t given much thought to that, supposing that her less motivated roommate would simply want to be let off some of her chores; a price Shelly would gladly pay for her first boyfriend spanking.

She was quite shocked the next day when by way of payment Cheyenne had asked to be initiated into the realm of real old fashioned discipline spankings, even going so far as to provide a solid wood hairbrush with which to do the honors.

Although Cheyenne had expressed some envy during their earlier talk at that fact that Shelly had a spanking mom, she never anticipated Cheyenne making such a request of her and she wasn’t sure how to respond. Cheyenne actually made a good argument for why she felt she needed it and why Shelly should be the one to do the honors. She could easily sympathize with the girl, but so far as spanking went she had always seen herself as a submissive. The closest she’d ever come to giving a spanking had been a few playful birthday whacks given to her friends Katie and Jill back home.

She begged a few hours to consider the situation, a request Cheyenne thankfully understood. She examined the prospect of spanking her roommate from every angle and ultimately she decided to go through with it. Partly because she was just plain curious to see if she could really do it properly the way her mother did and she also figured that if a sound spanking would actually get Cheyenne’s lazy butt in gear around the house then so much the better.


Although she seemed modestly surprised, Cheyenne accepted the news calmly enough. Remembering her own mother’s technique, Shelly marched her errant roomy into her bedroom, seated her on the side of the bed and standing in front of her delivered a very firm talking too about just how unacceptable her behavior had been and how dramatically she expected to see it improved. That done, she pulled the vanity table bench out far enough to facilitate some energetic kicking and squirming, seated herself and informed the curvy little redhead that it was time to drop pants and panties and assume the position.

Cheyenne complied quickly; evidently eager to get it over with and for the first time in her life Shelly had another young woman over her lap, fanny bared for some badly needed discipline. She felt plenty nervous going in. She was quite unsure of her own untested abilities as a disciplinarian, but she had to admit that seeing those plump white cheeks presented so submissively across her lap made her feel more than a little wolfish. She was determined to serve up a spanking that wouldn’t be mistaken for anything but the serious discipline it was meant to be.

Still, she decided to temper justice with a modicum of mercy. She set the hairbrush on the vanity top and commenced the spanking with her bare hand, partly so Cheyenne’s first taste of real discipline wouldn’t be too overwhelming and partly because she was just plane curious to see what it was like to spank someone that way. She didn’t go easy though. She was a tall solid athlete and she put everything she had into that hand spanking. In short order she had her recalcitrant roomy squirming and squealing with plenty of enthusiasm and she kept it up until the burning sensation in her own palm became too intense to continue that way. Informing Cheyenne that the lesson was about to begin in earnest, she picked up the brush, pinned Cheyenne’s right hand out of the way and banged out fifty solid swats, making sure to visit every inch of her roomies frantically squirming backside.

It had the desired effect. By the time she reached forty, Cheyenne had kicked her jeans all the way off and was making frantic pleas for mercy and promises of improved behavior. By fifty the tears was starting to flow.

Again remembering her mother’s technique, she gave Cheyenne a final talking to about the dramatic improvement she expected to see and then she brought the lesson home with ten blistering smacks right across the lowest curves of the girl’s now fire engine red fanny.

That brought on full blown sobbing that took a good minute to subside before Cheyenne slid off her lap on to her knees and brought both hands back to sooth her still blazing seat.

Shelly felt vindicated while she was bouncing the brush off her annoying roomies plump, bare cheeks but looking at her on her knees, panting, nose running and unruly red hair matted to her tear stained face she worried that she had taken the thing too far.

Thankfully that wasn’t the case. Cheyenne recovered her composure quickly and admitted that while it had been a lot more intense than she imagined she had indeed deserved it and promised that she would make an honest effort to mend her less flattering behavior. She even agreed to further such spankings any time she fell short of keeping her promise.

That was how they left things and Shelly had to give credit where it was due. Cheyenne’s behavior had improved dramatically. She was a lot better about getting her chores done and she rarely left messes in the common areas anymore. She had spanked her twice since that first memorable blistering, but those had only been what her mother would refer to as little reminder spankings. That was to say a short sharp hand spanking given at the moment an offence was discovered. It was meant to be a warning to shape up or something a lot more unpleasant would follow. So far, nothing more dramatic had been needed. The girl’s first real bare fanny session with the hairbrush seemed to have substantially scared her straight. Her infractions since then were mostly the result of absent mindedness. The girl was just easily distracted and Shelly figured that was most likely what had happened today. She put the load in the dryer and just plain forgot about it, but it wasn’t the first time she had done it. Just a week earlier Shelly had opened the washer to find it full of Cheyenne’s sopping wet clothes and Cheyenne nowhere to be found. She even let her off with a warning that time, but today was just the last straw. This time it was definitely going to be a spanking!

It really should be with the brush this time too, Shelly thought as she stared at the clogged dryer. Unfortunately, I just don’t have time for that much drama.

She was still contemplating the situation when she heard the door slam and Cheyenne thundering up the stairs.

“Cheyenne Kaylee Kurger,” she called out, “get your butt down here!”

She heard her coming back down the stairs a lot slower than she went up and a minute later she slinked into the kitchen. “Man, why am I gettin’ full named?” she asked in her usual Texas drawl.

“Step into the laundry room with me,” Shelly said.

Cheyenne complied and the look on the girls face told Shelly that she had instantly realized her mistake. “Can you explain this?” Shelly asked, pointing to the dryer.

“Well, you put way too many clothes in there. It’ll take forever to get them dry like that.”

“They’re your clothes and you know it and if you knew it was too many then why did you do it?”

“Oh, I lost track and the next thing I knew I was out of clothes and I needed them for the weekend so I put them all in at once. I ran them twice but they still weren’t dry so I started them a third time before I went to bed. I was going to take them out this morning, but I forgot.”

“And now I’m going to be late getting mine done. Damn it, Cheyenne, I told you this morning I need to be on the road by 3:00.”

“I know, I know, I’ll take them out right now.”


Shelly fixed her gaze on her scattered brained roomy and folded her arms over her breast, a gesture Cheyenne had learned to fear. “Oh, you’ll take them out all right, but not until after you and I have had a little discussion about this in my room.”

“Shelly, no, please.”

“Was this not on the list you and I sat down together and made? You know, the list of things that will get a girl spanked in this house; leaving laundry unattended. Sound familiar?”

“Yes, it’s on the list,” Cheyenne admitted looking at her shoes.

“And did I not let you off with a warning about this just last week?”

“Well that was about the washing machine so it wasn’t really the same thing and…”

“Do you really want to split hairs with me right now?”

Cheyenne’s lower lip came out in a pout. “No.”

“Upstairs. March!”

“Are you going to use the brush?”

“I guess you’ll find out when I get there.”

“Man, I can’t believe I’m gettin’ another spankin’,” Cheyenne said as she turned and started trudging toward the stairs.


Shelly watched her go and then she took a deep breath and counted slowly to twenty. Her mother always took pains not to spank her in a moment of anger and she tried to show Cheyenne the same consideration. Once she had her own nerves calmed she followed her errant roomy up the stairs.

When she entered her room, Cheyenne was sitting on the side of her bed with a familiar hand dog look on her face. She had shed the hoodie and Ugg boots she was wearing when she came in and was now clad in jeans and tee shirt. Shelly walked over to stand in front of her. “To answer your question, no I’m not going to use the brush, but I think you know darn well that I should, especially after I let you off with a warning the last time. Lucky for you I’m really pressed for time now so we’ll just make this another quick little reminder with my hand, but you can consider this a suspended sentence, young lady. If I find clothes in the washer or dryer again I’ll take the brush to your butt until you can’t sit for a week! Is that clear?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Shelly, do I have to?”

“That doesn’t sound much like a girl who wants to get off with a hand spanking.”

“Okay, okay, yes MA’AM. I understand.”

“Good. Do you have anything to say for yourself before I spank your butt?”

“I know I screwed up and I’m really sorry, now can we please get this over with?”

“Gladly.” Shelly turned and walked to the vanity. She made a brief show of pushing the sleeves of her sweat shirt up above her elbows and then she pulled the bench out were they’d have some room, seated herself and crooked a finger at Cheyenne who was still sitting on the bed chewing her lower lip.

With a heavy sigh, Cheyenne pushed herself up off the bed and made the now familiar walk to the bench.

“Pants and panties, you know the drill,” Shelly said when Cheyenne reached her side.

“I know, I know, I’m doing it already.” She fumbled for a few seconds with the button and zipper and then shoved both garments down to her knees and obediently flopped face down across Shelly’s denim clad thighs.

Shelly shoved her a little further over her lap so the girls condemned fanny cheeks were positioned more to her liking. She always felt an odd thrill at this point. So far as her little spanking kink went, she had always thought of herself as submissive, but as she looked down on the plump, white cheeks presented across her lap she had to admit that she had developed a taste for spanking Cheyenne. It wasn’t a sexual thrill at all, just a bit of a power trip having a girl her own age bare bottomed across her knee for some real discipline.

Of course it was cathartic too. There was something very satisfying about turning the girl who so often caused her aggravation over her knee and whacking her bare seat fire engine red while she squealed out apologies and promises of improved behavior.

Shelly put a steadying arm around Cheyenne’s ribcage and gave the snowy globs a firm pat. “Why are you getting this spanking, Cheyenne?”

“Because you just like spanking me,” she said, pouting even more than she usually did at this point.

“All right,” Shelly said. She reached behind her, opened the draw, extracted the much feared spanking brush and pressed it against her roomies bare right cheek.

“No, please, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll say it right, I’ll say it right,” Cheyenne pleaded.

“I’m waiting,” Shelly said still tapping the Cheyenne’s flinching butt cheeks with the brush.

“I’m getting spanked because I left my clothes in the dryer and now you’re going to be late and I deserve it and I’m really, really sorry. Now, please put the brush down.”

Shelly finally relented setting the brush back on the vanity top. “It’s going to be right there where I can’t get it if I need it, Cheyenne. Honestly, why are you being such a baby about this today? You’d think you’ve never been spanked before.”

“Because it’s a real spanking, okay? I know I screwed up again and I feel ashamed and embarrassed.”

Her aggravating roomies candor caught her off guard and softened her resolve just a little. “Well, I know all about that. I feel the same way when I have to get a real one, but you know what, that’s part of what makes this work. You don’t want to feel like that again anytime soon and that should motivate you to do better. It sure does for me.”

“I know and I’m sorry I’m being such a whiner. Just go ahead and wail my butt and get it over with.”

Shelly couldn’t help but chuckle at the remark. “All right. I’ll make this one short and sweet, but I mean for you to remember it too so you better hang on tight, miss.”

“Oh, God,” Cheyenne muttered.

Shelly tightened her grip on her reluctant victim, cocked her arm and started laying the swats on hard and fast. Hand spanking or not she was determined to make Cheyenne sorry for her carelessness.


It was immediately evident that her efforts were having the desired effect. Cheyenne was a fair skinned red head and the plump fanny cheeks quickly morphed from white to pink to rosy red as Shelly kept up a vigorous tattoo.

“Owwieeee! Oh! Ah! Ouch! I’m sorry, please! Owe!” Cheyenne howled out her misery. She was already flailing her legs wildly giving testimony to Shelly’s growing abilities as a disciplinarian.

“You earned it, miss.” Shelly said as she wailed away at the chubby cheeks imprisoned on her lap. “I’ve told you over and over about the laundry and now I’m going to be late getting home.”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Yeeeoooww! Shelliiiiieee, you said just a reminder. Owwwiiieee!”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t going to be a really good reminder, did I! You’re lucky you didn’t burn out the motor overloading the machine like that,” Shelly said as she continued to wallop the tar out of the bucking bottom on her lap.

Cheyenne’s kicking became so energetic she kicker her jeans all the way off. They fell in a puddle on the floor. “Ouch! Ah! Owe! Please, I get it, I get it, I’ll remember. Yeeeoowwwee!”

Shelly stopped to shake out her badly stinging hand. “What are you going to remember?” she asked.

“My clothes,” Cheyenne said, panting. “I’ll remember my clothes in the dyer.”

“What about the washer?”

“That too, that too, I’ll remember both! I swear!”

“Let’s just make good and sure of that,” Shelly said. She reached behind her, picked up the brush and pressed the still cool wood to her roomies burning rump.

“No! Please, not that! Please!” She shot a hand back to cover her seat, but Shelly caught it and pinned it against the small of her back.

WHACK! CRACK! SMACK! WHACK! She doled out ten crisp smacks with the brush across Cheyenne’s sit spots.

“OWWWIIIIEEEE!” Cheyenne squealed. “No fair! You said just with your hand!”

“That was just a little taste to remind you how much you don’t want to get the whole spanking with the brush! I hope it worked.”

Cheyenne nodded her head vigorously. “It did! Trust me, it did! Message received, loud and clear!”

Shelly tapped the rosy cheeks with the brush making them flinch. “I don’t know, Cheyenne, I feel like I’m letting you off pretty easy here. I think maybe ten more good cracks with the brush so it’ll really sink in.”

“No, no,” Cheyenne begged, “I learned my lesson. I swear it won’t happen again!”

“Oh come on, Cheyenne, ten more good hard cracks just to make sure we don’t have to do this again anytime soon.”

“No, Shelly, please, I’ll remember. It won’t happen again, I swear. Please no more with the brush!”

“And you understand that if it does I’m going to remind you what it means to get a real spanking with this thing?”

“Yes, ma’am, I understand.”

Shelly let her sweat for a few more seconds before letting her off the hook. “Okay, you can get up,” she said, finally. She released her grip on Cheyenne’s hand and set the brush back on the vanity top.

Cheyenne scrambled back to her feet and backed away from Shelly rubbing her bottom with both hands. “Dang, Shelly,” she said, “I don’t think Kevin ever spanked me that hard with just his bare hand!”

“You’re lucky you only have to answer to me for things like that. As far as dishing out spankings goes I’m still a big softy compared to my mom. Now she would’ve blistered your butt, especially after you got off with a warning the last time.”

“Any chance she’ll be wailing on your butt when you get home?” Cheyenne asked as she eased her panties back into place.

“Nope.” Shelly said grinning. “I don’t have any sins to confess and I’ll be staying at my grandma’s so I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“Too bad.”

“I really wasn’t that hard on you.”

“Says you,” Cheyenne said stepping back into her pants. “Made me kick my jeans off and everything!”

Shelly crossed her arms over her chest and fixed an icy stare on her whining roomie. “Don’t you have laundry to attend to or would you prefer some more spanking?”

“Okay, I’m going, I’m going. And when did you get so strong anyway?” she asked rubbing her bottom through the snug denim.

“Scott’s been working on my upper body strength with me. I got some serious guns now, huh.”

Cheyenne rolled her eyes as she headed for the door. “Yeah, great, I might just have to have a word with him about that.”

“You go criticizing his efforts and he might just spank you too!”

“Then I’ll definitely do it!” she said. She stuck her tongue out at Shelly and slammed the door before she could react.

Shelly shook her head as she heard Cheyenne galloping down the stairs. She went to the closet and pulled out her suitcase.





Thirty minutes later Shelly had most of the items she was taking on her trip sorted out. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It read 2:45. Maybe I won’t be as late as I feared, she thought.

She had just decided to check on her things in the dryer when there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” she said.

The door swung open and Cheyenne entered carrying a basket with Shelly’s laundry in it already folded. She crossed to Shelly’s bed and set the load down. “Your stuff was done so I brought it up for you.”

“You didn’t have to do that but thank you.”

“It was the least I could do after I screwed up and made you late.”

“Well, it looks like I won’t be as late as I thought.”

“So you’re not mad at me?”

“I wasn’t mad at you; I was just frustrated because we just talked about that last week. Anyway you know how it works. You took your spanking and you’re forgiven. Just please don’t let it happen again. I meant what I said about the brush and I don’t want to have to do that.”

“Neither do I. Trust me!”

“I want to trust you, so don’t disappoint me.”

“I won’t.” She started pulling items out of the laundry basket and handing them to Shelly so she could pack them. “So is your mom really as strict as you say?”

“She sure is.”

“Does she know you spank me?”

“God no, I don’t know how I’d even start to explain that to her.”

“Does she know your boyfriend spanks you?”

“No, I don’t really plan to bring that up either.”

“But I thought you talk about stuff like that with her. She knows you’re a spanko right? I mean, she caught you going to those spanking sites and reading stories and stuff. She knows you’re into it.”

“Yeah, she knows all right. She calls it my little obsession.”

“But you don’t like to talk about it with her?”

“Well, she knows but I don’t know how much she really understands it. For her it’s just discipline. She’s not a spanko, not like we are.”

“As far as you know,” Cheyenne said with a mischievous wink.

“Please, I couldn’t imagine my dad giving a spanking if his life depended on it.”

“Maybe she spanks him. She’s sounds pretty toppy.”

“Now you’re putting really disturbing pictures in my head.”

“Sorry, but at least your mom knows and she’s sort of okay with it. If I told my mom she’d send me to a shrink or something.”

“Yeah, it’s not something a lot of people get and it’s not easy to explain. Hell, I’m not even sure why I have those feelings. I just always have.”

“Yeah, me too, but it can be pretty fun, you know, when you’re not in trouble for real.”

Shelly couldn’t help grinning at the thought. “Those boyfriend spankings are pretty hot.”

“So Scott’s coming along okay? Gettin’ his top on?”

“He sure is. He even initiates a spanking occasionally.”

“Good for him.”

Shelly placed the last item in her suitcase and zipped it closed. “Well, I better get moving,” she said. “I guess you and Kevin have the place to yourselves. Have fun but please don’t let me find a big mess when I get back.”

“Oh don’t worry. I’ll behave.”

“Good, I’ll see you Monday night,” Shelly said, hefting the suitcase off the bed.

“Have fun, but be a good girl. You don’t want to get one of those Shelly spankings.”

“I’ll be on my best behavior. I wouldn’t want to get spanked in front of my Grammy. She thinks I’m a little angle.” She turned and headed for the stairs.

“Bring back some of Grammy’s apple pies,” Cheyenne called after her.

“Will do,” Shelly said.

To Be Continued.

[shimon]

The way I rememder it, Kate and Jill's birthday whacks from Shelly were not playful.
Since you took so long to post the story, I thought you were going to post the whole thing at once.

[chardt]

Katie and Jill's whacks were playful by Brooks family standards. I'll have some more up tonight. It's too long to post in one piece.

[roland45]

I remember the first one well enough. Its a great story and am looking forward to reading the rest.