Reaching For a Memory (F/m)

[goodgulf]

This was originally posted in the Woman Spanker section of the old board, and is one of a series of experiments I did while exploring that genre.

Reaching For a Memory

James P. Edwards checked the newest version of the script and sighed, seeing that scene was still in it. He made a good living acting. He wished he was in a series or an A list movie, but he wasn't, at least not yet. Working in front of the cameras meant he was better off that 99.9% of actors in the world, and he knew that the real fame would come in time.

In the meantime there were these limited releases or straight to DVD movies. With his slight build and small frame he had no problems playing young. Waxing his chest he was able to take on roles of boys in their teens, sometimes mid teen or younger, and bring all his years of building his craft to the role. James knew he couldn't do it forever, but until he was able to make the transition to better movies playing young was his bread and butter. It was almost like being one of the Lost Boys stuck in an on screen adolescence for years, but he had never had a problem with any production like the one he had with this one.

"Inherit the Moons and All the Stars" was an art house production being filmed in the middle of nowhere, mostly because one of the fly over states was offering a generous tax break to anyone who would shoot a film away from one of the coasts. It was a coming of age movie set in the early (pre-hippie) 60s as the lead character came to terms with her family's roll in the armament industry and its role in the growth of the Vietnam war. A film like that one could be made anywhere there were some old buildings, so they were stuck in some nameless town (technically a city, but it was smaller than the average LA suburb) during the shoot. It wasn't that bad of a movie - there had been talk that one of the lesser Baldwin Brothers had been interested in it. That hadn't panned out but there were enough names associated with the film to Green Light it.

James P. Edwards wasn't one of those names - he was playing the best friend of the lead character's younger brother, which was about the size of most his roles. At this stage of his career he was one of those "don't I know you" type actors who played supporting roles. He yearned to make the move to better roles before he was typecast as a character actor, but right now he was taking almost any work he could get.

But after all those years of playing teens, James P. Edwards was facing a new challenge. He had done 'first kiss' and countless other standard teen things, but this was his first time doing a scene like that this one. He'd more than half hoped that it would be cut from the script (it was minor scene, one of dubious value to the story) but here it was, scheduled for next week and still in the revised script.

Still reading the revised script, James P. Edwards stepped off the set and became plain old James. He needed the full name while he was working because of the acting guild rules, but when he wasn't working he thought of himself as plain old James, whose last name hasn't been Edwards and didn't have a middle name starting with P, but years ago his agent had changed his name and it had stuck.


A few minutes later, James ran into one of the other actors.

"Just the person I was looking for." Cathleen Abbott said with a concerned look on her face. "Have you seen the revised script?"

"Yes, and that's scene's still there. I'm sure it's wrong, that it will detract from both of our characters. Take your character - what kind of mother would do that? But the director just won't see how it breaks our characters."

"It's linked too closely to the topless scene for them to cut." Cathleen told him.

James had to agree. The movie didn't have a lot of skin showing but he was sure that they work out a way for the topless scene to be included without including the follow up scene.

"Anyway, since you've been so concerned about it, I thought we might do a run through." Cathleen continued. "I'll get one of the assistant producers to act as an audience and we can see if there's any rough spots we need to work through."

"Well, they might still cut the scene, so..."

"James, if there are problems with the scene we should find out now, not next week." Cathleen said. "So be at the green shed at 7:00. I'll have someone there to act as our audience and give us feedback."

"That might be workable." James nodded.

Watching her leave, James hoped she wasn't his future. Oh, she worked, but she was a character actor. She would never be the lead, just the supporting actress that made the leading actress shine. She might have been acting in two to three movies a year for longer than James cared to think, but he hated the thought of living her life. Being always a foil and never appearing as the gem.

But working through that scene might help - especially if it was done privately.


Seven o'clock found James at 'the green shed', which wasn't really a shed and only the door was green. It was a trailer, used mostly for storage but since the props that it normally held were on sets it was basically empty. James had tried to be early, but found that Cathleen was waiting for him, and with her was Jean Salter, one of the assistant producers. The two women were talking as Cathleen set up a folding chair.

"And here he is." Cathleen said as James entered. "Well the blocking isn't perfect, but this should do for a rough run through. So, do you have the motivation for your part in the scene?"

"More or less." James answered.

The scene was a simple one. James's character, the friend of the central character's little brother, spied on the main character as she and a friend were changing into swimsuits in a cabana. The camera made it clear that he had a terrible angle, that he could barely see anything below their shoulders, but he (and the view) did catch glimpses of breasts. Then he tried for a better angle and went crashing to the ground, alerting the girls to his presence. That was an important seen for the film because it reinforced how the lead character was practically a woman. The next scene, where the lead's mother chased James' character down, was supposed to show that the lead's character mother loved her and wanted to protect her daughter, but James didn't see the need for it. Sure, it might foreshadow something in the third act, but James still didn't like it. Not so much for the chase scene, but what followed it...

"We don't really have the room for the chase, but that's not what we need to check, is it?" Cathleen asked.

"Probably not." James admitted.

All three of them got out scripts.

"So, how about from page 63, line 7?" Cathleen suggested, nailing the part of the scene that James was uncomfortable.

"Um, sure. That's as good a place as ever." James agreed.

"Jean, could you handle stage direction?" Cathleen asked.

"Sure thing." Jean Salter said helpfully. "Okay, here goes. Martha catches up to Jacky, grabbing his arm."

Cathleen grabbed James' arm, saying her line: "How dare you spy my daughter?"

"Jacky struggles." Jean Salter read.

James didn't struggle, but he did read his line: "Hey, let go! You aren't my mother! You aren't the boss of me!"

"Martha drags a struggling Jacky to a nearby vintage lawn chair." Jean Salter read.

Holding him by the arm, Cathleen led Jacky to the chair she had set up.

"Martha sits and drags Jacky over her lap and begins to spank." Jean Salter read.

Cathleen sat and dragged James over her lap. He wasn't resisting, but he'd done enough fake fighting scenes that he could do the "you're moving me somewhere I don't want to go" struggle on the day without rehearsing it now.

Cathleen held one of James' arms while trapping the other against her body. Then she began to bring her arm down violently, but aiming at spot just above James' bum. It looked realistic, but her hand was barely patting the seat of James' jeans.

This was the part of the scene that James had dreaded. He squawked, squirmed, and kicked.

"I'm not buying it." Jean Salter said firmly. "Oh, Cathleen's doing fine. If James wasn't reacting so badly I'd be sure that you were really beating him, but I just don't buy his act."

"How about this?" James said, changing things slightly.

"No, it's still not working." Jean Salter told him. "Maybe if you tried to reach for a memory?"

They kept it up until Cathleen's arm was tired, but nothing James did convinced the assistant producer that James' character was being spanked. Reaching for a memory didn't help - when it came to this type of thing James lacked any memories to draw on.

"Let's call a break." Cathleen said, rubbing her arm. "We aren't getting anywhere."

"Maybe I could rent some movies and draw from that?" James suggested, rising from the older woman's lap.

"No, that would only make you look like you were copying a porn star." Cathleen told him. "And you don't want to do that. No, we'll think of something."

"I hope you do." Jean Salter added. "Because otherwise things could get messy."


A few days later, during a break in the action, Cathleen had a quiet word with James.

"Good news." Cathleen informed him. "I've found a consultant that can help as an acting coach."

"What, someone flew out here?" James P. Edwards said, glancing around.

"No, it's a local." Cathleen confided. "My neighbour. And she's less an acting coach than someone who, well, knows how that action works. What I can say? We're in the middle of nowhere and that sort of thing happens there. But I can't judge her because she said she would come over tonight to help you work on that scene."

James P. Edwards ran this through his mind. He found the entire idea distasteful, but if that scene was going to be in the movie then he had to nail it.

"Okay, what time should I be there?" James P. Edwards asked.

"Say around 8:00." Cathleen told him. "And I don't know how long we'll be so you might want to bring an overnight bag. The bed in the spare room is made, and it would give you a break from party central."

James P. Edwards nodded. He was in a block of rooms where all the young actors were staying and often the nights were noisy. Cathleen (and a few others) had gotten apartments or houses rented for them, and a night there would be a quiet one.

"Why would I need a bag?" James P. Edwards asked.

"Well you can't sleep in your clothing, and the house is small enough that if either of us get up in the night then we'll run into each other, and night clothes would be good if that happened." Cathleen explained. "Bring PJs or something."

James P. Edwards nodded again, having confirmed that Cathleen wasn't trying to seduce him. Not that she had that reputation, but he didn't want the reputation of someone who tried to sleep with ageing actresses to get parts.

"I'll be over by 8:00 then." James P. Edwards agreed, then focused on being Jacky once more.


James paid the cab driver and head to Cathleen's rented house. She hadn't been joking when she had said it was small - it was a two bedroom bungalow. Two bedrooms, a living room, small dining room, kitchen, and a single bathroom. In LA it would barely qualify as pool house, but here it was a cheap rental property for a visiting actress to live in.

Cathleen was waiting for him at the door.

"Hey there. Take off your shoes - the hard wood floor is part of the damage deposit - and put your stuff in the bedroom on the left, the left as you're walking there, and then I've got some great news." Cathleen said with a glowing smile.

James stowed his bag, tossing it on the floor near the bed, and head back.

"So what's the good news?" James asked.

"My agent is town." Cathleen beamed, looking much younger than her years. "She flew out here. She didn't call first, so that means she went at the last minute, which means she paid full fare, which means she has to have something that's big enough to justify a full fare return ticket and night at a hotel. If her commission will be big enough to justify that then it has to be something big."

"Congrats." James said, acting as if he happy for her. In a way he was, but if there was a major role in the offing then he'd prefer it to be for him.

"But don't worry. I'll introduce you to consultant before I dash off." Cathleen said, getting out her phone.

The phone call wasn't much more than "Hi. He's here." and then a woman was coming from the house next door. A house that it looked like it had started out as a bungalow then grew. The roof had been raised, giving it a second floor, then a couple of extensions had been added, giving it enough room for a large family.

"Thanks so much for doing this." Cathleen called as the woman approached. "I only wish I could stay, but my agent wants to see me at dinner so..."

"Dinner? This time of night?"

"Yes, it is a bit early, but there you go." Cathleen said. "James, this is Mrs. Christine Tickner. She's the person I was talking about. And now I really have to dash."

As Cathleen drove away, James was playing host in the living room.

"So, you're the expert?" James asked.

"Cathleen said you'd ask that, so I brought some photos." Mrs. Tickner said, reaching for her purse.

James fought off a grimace, but when the pictures emerged there were just, well, pictures.

"Now this is a photo of one of my son Geoffrey's birthday parties." Mrs. Tickner explained. "I have two boys, Geoffrey and Norman."

James nodded, studying the picture. It looked normal enough. Just your typical backyard birthday party.

"You'll notice that my son doesn't look completely happy? On his birthday? Well that's because he was spanked."

"A birthday spanking?" James guessed.

"One of those too." Mrs. Tickner nodded. "But I mean a pants down, bum burning spanking for back talking."

"Oh." James said, wishing this wasn't so depressing.

Then Mrs. Tickner was spreading out more pictures. They looked like neighbourhood gatherings, children's birthday parties, and the like.

"As for these, well, I've had most of them, not all but most, of those kids over my lap at least once. Does that prove to you that I'm an expert?"

"I guess it does." James answered.

"Good, then let's get on to 'rehearsing' that scene." Mrs. Tickner said, sitting down on the couch. "Now I can't find it believable that a boy your size don't know what's this's like, but that's growing up in La La Land for you."

"Um, by rehearse do you mean...."

"I mean you get those jeans down and scoot your bum over my knee." Mrs. Tickner told him.

James blinked, but the scene didn't change. The woman was still there, giving him that look.

"I think you're confused..." James began.

"I am not. I was talking to Cathleen, and if you're staying here then she had charge of you tonight, so I have her permission so this is happening." Mrs. Tickner informed him.

"But you don't understand..."

"I understand just fine. Now move." Mrs. Tickner commanded.

"But this just isn't..."

"Do I have to call my husband? Cause if that happens it's going be more of a hand spanking. Though why anyone would wear out a hand on someone your size, why that's beyond me. Why he has to come over then everyone in the neighbourhood will know and we won't be able to keep things secret like Cathleen said to."

James frowned at that. There wasn't much paparazzi in the town, but he didn't want to make the tabloids over this. When those bloodsuckers were done with the story it would look like he was visiting a professional Domme, and that wouldn't be good for his career.

"Now if you're worry about being bare, don't be." Mrs. Tickner told him. "I promised Cathleen that I wouldn't spank you bare but I'm not wasting my time spanking over jeans so get them down and get those buns over here."

The threat of her husband's involvement, and the more important, unspoken threat of the press getting the story, drove James over her lap.

"Now if you were one of my boys then I'd yank these down." Mrs. Tickner said, hooking her finger into the waistband of his underwear. She drew it up, then let it snap down. "But you're not my son and I promised Cathleen that I wouldn't do that. She was clear on that, nothing about bare bum spankings unless he asks."

"Well I'm not asking so let's get this over with." James said, bracing himself.

Moments later James was trying to get off her lap, but Mrs. Tickner held him down as she delivered a flurry of spanks.

"Now if this is really your first one then you gots lots to make up for." Mrs. Tickner said as she spanked. "And if it isn't then you're a liar and your pants are going to be on fire."

"But Christine ..." James began.

"It's Mrs. Tickner to you." Mrs. Tickner said, bringing her hand down extra hard. "No boy your age should call an adult by her first name."

James kicked, twisted, and squirmed. In the back of his mind he was telling himself to remember his moves, but he really wished that she would stop.

She didn't. As the minutes passed all she did was alter her pace a bit. Finally she explained things to him.

"Normally I stop when the bottom looks just right, but now I can't see your bum so I'm going to keep on spanking until it's glowing through your briefs." Mrs. Tickner informed him.

James wasn't sure what she meant by that, but as the pain and heat built the tears finally came. He was sure that tears were the cue that she had been looking for and cursed himself for not crying earlier. He needn't have bothered cursing himself because tears didn't bring a stop. Next he tried, through his sobs, to ask her to take down his underwear, but either he was crying too much to ask or she wasn't listening.

Time kept passing, marked only by the steady raise and fall of her arm and James' tears.


"Betcha you didn't think I could spank for over half an hour." Mrs. Tickner said, bring her down a final time. "But oh my hand. Well, let's get you to bed."

James was in a pain filled haze, barely aware of his surroundings as Mrs. Tickner half lead and half carried him to the spare room. Once there he collapsed sobbing on the bed, but Mrs. Tickner wasn't done yet. Opening his overnight bag she retrieve his pyjamas.

"Let's get you ready for bed." Mrs. Tickner declared.

Exhausted from his ordeal, James didn't have the energy to resist as she removed his shirt and replaced it with the pyjamas top. He barely noticed as she finally tugged his underwear down.

"Boy, did I ever do a number on that bum." Mrs. Tickner chuckled as she dressed him.

The last thing off were his socks, and once that was off Mrs. Tickner left him crying on his side in the bed.


Cathleen returned around midnight. Creeping quietly through the house she entered the spare room to find James asleep above the covers. The light drifting in through his window was enough to see that his PJs were down slightly in the back, where they had been shifted from his rubbing, and a hint of red was peaking out.

Holding her breath, Cathleen reached over and pulled his PJ's halfway down his bum, smiling at what she saw. That scene might be a garbage one for James, but it was a major one for Cathleen and she wasn't going to allow anyone to ruin it for her. It was possibly an award winning scene, if done right. After tonight, she was sure that James would be able to act just like a spanked teen when the time came.

The next morning, James awoke sore and stiff. A quick check showed that there were still marks on his bum, that last night hadn't been some awful nightmare. He quickly changed and went out to where he could hear Cathleen making breakfast.

"Eggs and bacon okay?" Cathleen asked, pretending that last night hadn't happened.

"Um, sure." James said, wondering what, if anything, Mrs. Tickner had told her.

"And last night was a bust for me." Cathleen said as she cooked. "One of my agent's other clients went psycho on her so she was using me as an excuse to get out of town. So, did Mrs. Tickner handling everything last night or did you want to see her again?"

"I think she explained thing enough." James said cautiously. "I don't think I'll need to talk to her again."

"Well hopefully, but if you, well, I called her this morning and she said she'd help out again anytime you needed it." Cathleen told him. "Only she phrased it weirdly, almost like I was the one deciding if you needed more coaching."

'That's weird." James responded. "But I don't I'll need to talk to her again. I'm sure I have it down right.:"

Cathleen caught the hint of desperation in James' voice, but she was good enough of an actress not to let it show.


A week later, James P. Edwards was squirming over Cathleen's lap as she smacked just above the seat of his pants. James P. Edwards could barely feel her hand as it connected, but he used his memories of Mre. Tickner to make his futile struggles believable. Later, Jean Salter tracked down Colleen for a private chat.

"Wow! Talk about an improvement." Jean Salter gushed. "The first time was okay, but this time it actually looked like you were spanking him."

"Well I wasn't." Colleen pointed out.

"I know! They did the scene where the boys moon the dance afterwards, and there wasn't the slightest sign of a spanking, but it looked so believable." Jean Salter went on. "When you told me what to say I thought that maybe you were setting him up to fail, but whatever you did it worked wonders! That might be the most plausible scene in the movie. A lot better than the groping scene. So, how did you do it?"

Colleen shrugged.

"I just asked around and found an acting couch for him. Someone who could describe what was involved." Colleen said, not quite lying. Technically Christine could have explains things out, talking James through the scene, and while it was Colleen's fault that it hadn't happened that way she hadn't said it had. All she had said was that Christine could describe things to him, not that she actually did so.


As for James, he was sure that if James P. Edwards was ever called on to do something like that again he could reach for that memory and nail the scene. And on the plus side, once he left this wasteland no one would ever know how he gained that memory. That woman had nothing to do with LA, nothing to do with the business, and no one would ever believe her story. She thought he was the same age as his character, and that meant that not even the tabloids would buy her story.

Thinking about it in hindsight, James concluded that the scene wasn't a bad one. It added screen time to his role and it did foreshadow that third act stuff. Yes, in hindsight it was one of his better scenes in the movie.

Then the pun hit him.

'Hindsight.' James thought. 'Hindsight about my heinie getting it.'

That pun left a smile on his face.


In a way, Colleen and James were both right. That scene was a wonderful one for their characters and showed off their acting talents. Alas, it slow down the pacing and diluted the main character's story line, and as such it was left on the cutting room floor.

Goodgulf

[philtalkin]

Great story

[goodgulf]

I'm glad you liked it.