The Headmaster's Wife - The Xmas Present Part 1

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Alexis, the Headmaster’s wife, opened the door to the study and strode in like she owned the place. In her mind, she did.

“Oh, there you are, Alexis,” William Thomas said, glancing at the gigantic grandfather clock that had been keeping time in the study for two hundred years. “Only 20 minutes late. Better than your average.”

“Traffic in London is simply dreadful and the new driver Jack hired is an idiot and doesn’t even know how to drive the stick on my Duesenberg. Good help is impossible to find! Except for you, of course, William.”

William Thomas smiled; she hadn’t apologized for being late, and indeed, after blaming her husband Jack had actually insulted him. It was classic Alexis. “Well, I hope you’re not going to give poor old Jack the boot over it,” he said. “Good husbands are hard to find, too. Did you want me to get your coat?”

“No, I’m fine,” Alexis said. Alex looked disdainfully at the two plain wooden craftsman chairs in front of the Headmaster’s desk. As if she had every right to redecorate, she moved them to the side wall, then dragged the large leather Chesterfield chair across the floor to the Headmaster’s desk, heedless of the scraping she gave the old wooden floor as she dragged the chair like an ant moving a sugar cube.

“May I help you with that?” the Headmaster said, wincing as Alex scraped the floor.

“No, you’re too slow. There! All done”

It was classic Alexis. William Thomas had arranged his study so that visitors seated – or in the case of the students, standing – would see face in his leather power chair. But Alexis had turned the tables, and had placed the fireplace’s large throne chair directly in front of his desk, making it clear precisely who was in charge.

“Good of you to see me, Tommy.” Alexis said as she sank into the sofa chair. “I know how busy you are, tippling at the whiskey and whacking girl’s bums! Oh, might you be a good boy and fetch me some tea? And a biscuit would be nice. I’m positively famished.”

Alexis, who had a talent for turning everyone into her servant, watched as William Thomas, the Headmaster of the school they were now sitting in, set about waiting on her. Jack, Alexis’s husband, was also a Headmaster, and had been friends with William Thomas for years. She knew that like the other members of Jack’s social circle, William didn’t approve of Jack’s marriage to his much younger wife, but that was too bad, wasn’t it? She was rich, after all, and smarter than the lot of them, and that was that.

Alexis had transformed her husband’s school, and after she had that running in tip-top shape, put the other schools in the area in her sites. As William was a bit dull and elderly, Alexis had no problem placing him squarely under her very controlling thumb.

As soon as her tea was in hand, she started. “I wanted to meet you before Christmas, to settle accounts, as it were. I know I’ve introduced a lot of change over the last few months, and change can be hard, especially for older people who have been doing everything wrong for so many years.”

"There is no need to apologize, Alexis," the old Headmaster said, handing the pretty young woman her tea and biscuits. "Truth be told, your youth and gender ruffled quite a few feathers on the board, mine included. However the reforms you have pushed upon us have been quite beneficial. To be candid I kept some of the old codgers on too long, and letting the students review their performance gave me the documentation I needed to get their early retirement packages through."

"Yes, well I’m certainly not apologizing, even if I was rather tactless in calling them over-the-hill and senile," Alexis conceded. "My directness sometimes offends people who can’t think clearly. I know at times you’ve thought I was being quite disrespectful of you, and I’m sorry if you mistakenly took offense, Tommy."

William Thomas chuckled and shook his head. Alexis always called him, “Tommy”, the pet nickname she had made up for him, rather than “Headmaster” or “William” or “Mr. Thomas”. It was so like her to use an impertinent nickname she had conjured up for him even as she quasi-un-apologized for being grossly insulting.

“Are you sure I can’t get your coat, Alexis?” the Headmaster said. “You must be warm, particularly with the fireplace roaring full blast.”

“Perhaps later,” Alexis said. “It’s Christmas, and a good time to enjoy the warmth of your hearth.”

William Thomas chuckled. Alexis, obnoxious as she could be, was quite attractive in her smart designer coat, and he was very much enjoying looking at her lovely legs. Still, she was a handful, and she had no idea how her husband Jack put up with her incessant meddling in school affairs. She must be good in bed.

William Thomas had originally allowed Alexis onto the school board because of the money the wealthy heiress had promised to pump into the facilities, and in short order the newest board member did indeed purchase new science labs, sports equipment and a new gym, a pool, and the latest computers for faculty and staff. The maintenance budget got an enormous boost as well, and the school had never looked so good. Indeed, even the study they were now sitting in had benefited from a restoration, and sitting in the room one might well suppose it was 1850 again, which would have suited William Thomas just fine. It was a time where men ruled the roost, and brash young women like Alexis were seen-but-not-heard, or suffered the consequences for their impertinence.

However the money Alex had provided had been far from free. Alexis used her financial muscle to replace several board members that she crossed swords with, and the others quickly fell into line. The teachers were next, and with Alexis in charge of the hiring process the school soon had a much more modern curriculum, emphasizing math and science over etiquette and “lady like” decorum.

“I know I’ve changed this place for the better,” Alexis said, modesty never having been one of her faults. “Still, I know it must have been difficult for you to have taken direction from a forward thinking young woman in her twenties. I’m glad that you’ve come to respect my authority.”

William Thomas bristled a bit at the phrase, “respect my authority”; Alexis often spoke as if she WAS the board, rather than merely it’s most vocal member. However in the name of Christmas cheer he decided to let the school’s wealthy benefactor have her way, which she always did anyway.

"The school is grateful for your financial assistance, Alexis, and even if your approach is sometimes a bit rough-around-the-edges, your intentions are good. Even that annoying financial audit you insisted on revealed a number of areas where vendors were taking advantage of us under the old agreements negotiated by my predecessors."

Alexis smiled at the compliment. "The audit was a good idea, but it was wrong of me to suggest that you were involved in financial impropriety without any evidence. I feel I besmirched your name."

The Headmaster grimaced at the memory. Alexis had effectively accused him of being a criminal and had threatened with the police during a board meeting, charges that were late proved to be entirely unsubstantiated. Still, it was Christmas!

"Indeed you did. Truth be told, that was quite obnoxious of you, but your apology was made, and your apology was accepted, difficult as it was at the time. The Board and I know that you are a young lady eager to make a good impression. Your enthusiasm is commendable, even if you do sometimes get a bit ahead of the facts. But it’s nothing I’m not used to. I have a school full of challenging young women like you."

“Indeed you do. Of course you have a cupboard filed with canes to deal with them!” she said, glancing at the enormous wardrobe a few feet from the desk that served as the Headmaster’s toolbox for dealing with impertinent young women. “I’m sure there was more than one occasion you wished I was one of your students, so might deal with my bumptious approach by ordering me to bend over your desk for six-of-the-best.”

“I’ll admit the thought did cross my mind,” he chuckled, “For challenging students is what the cane was made for. You’re not much older than the girls I bend over this desk everyday, and there are times when I have thought you might greatly benefit from a… shall we say, “attitude adjustment?”

“I’m sure you have. So you bend them over this desk, then?” Alexis said, reaching forward to run her hand over the smooth oak antique. “Oh, this desk is lovely.. almost an honor to bend over it. Look! It’s worn smooth here, a little groove. Is this where the girl’s hips and tummies go, when they stick their naughty bums up in the air?”

“Yes,” the Headmaster said, warming to his favorite subject. I make them reach across and grab the bottom of the drawer where I’m sitting, and if you crawled underneath you could see the scratch marks they’ve left over the last few centuries as they dug their little fingernails in with each stroke. The desk proceeded my term as Headmaster, and was worn that way when I got it. Although I’m proud to say it’s quite a bit more worn after my 40 years on the job, ha-ha!”

The Headmaster watched as Alexis, clearly transfixed, ran her hand over the smooth convex indentation in the wood. “Oh, my! How dreadfully exciting. There must have been hundreds of girls bent over this desk to wear it down this way.”

“Yes, scores of them, up on their toes, bottoms stuck up and bare, wiggling under the kiss of the cane or strap as they promised to be good little girls. I imagine it must be quite painful and humiliating for them. Still, the cane is the only thing these girls really understand.”

Alexis felt herself blush as she felt for a moment as if the Headmaster was addressing her rather than some unfortunate schoolgirl due for a good thrashing.

“Take your niece, Alex. Although I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting her, I’ve heard that she can be quite the little hellion, and that Charles Martin had to give her quite a skinning while your husband was away at conference.”

As she usually did when the subject of her niece was mentioned, Alexis looked away, clearly abashed. William Thomas smiled at her discomfort; her obvious embarrassment at the mention of her naughty niece was precisely why he worked her embarrassing relation into the conversation.

“There, there, Alexis,” the Headmaster said, offering false sympathy even as he ratcheted up the young woman’s discomfort. “I know it must be embarrassing for you, having a close female relative so near your own age forced to touch her toes for bare benders. But as I said, challenging, disrespectful young women is what the cane was made for. Don’t you agree?”

“Yes, Sir,” Alexis said, biting her lip as she stared at her shoes. “If you say so, Sir.”

William Thomas felt a stirring in his pants. Had Alexis really just called him “Sir”? Oh, this was delicious! Enjoying himself immensely, he decided to pile on. “It’s a pity I’ve never had a chance to meet your niece. I hear there’s a strong family resemblance, and the thought of a younger version of you scampering about in a school uniform is MOST intriguing, ha-ha!”

Alexis, still staring at the floor, gripped the sides of her wide chair tightly, as if struggling not to fall out. “If she were here, Sir… under your authority, I mean… how would you deal with her?”

“I think you know how I’d deal with her,” the Headmaster said, smiling tightly. “My cupboard is filled with tools for dealing with brash, impertinent, headstrong women who don’t mind their betters.”

The Headmaster had never met Alexis’s niece, so both knew who the bill of grievances was really directed at.

“I know I’ve been critical of the school's corporal punishment policy," Alexis conceded. "However I’ve been thinking it over quite a bit, and now I see the value of it. From talking to the girls I've come to see that your quite right that it's a good way to settle accounts and wipe the slate clean."

"Indeed, when you put it that way, it’s an excellent Christmas gift," the Headmaster agreed. "Quite cathartic, and an excellent tool for resolving both any feelings of guilt on the part of the perpetrator and lingering feelings of resentment that might do lasting damage if left unresolved. I actually finished up some pre-Christmas canings today. A bit of a chore, due to the sheer number of them, but enormously satisfying, I must say."

"Yes, Sir… I know how you enjoy your work. In fact, that’s why I'm here. Tell me: Do you agree with Mr. Roberts that I might have benefited from, as he so delicately put it, a damn good thrashing?" Or as Mr. Peters put it, "A good striping, right on the bare?"

The Headmaster smiled at the blushing young wife. How delicious it was to see her put back on her heels. "Yes, truth be told I heartily agree," he replied, "but it's a late day for regrets, and your excessively lenient upbringing hardly matters now. What's done is done. As I tell my students: if school does not provide you with the knowledge you seek then you must educate yourself by other means."

"I quite agree, Sir," Alexis said. "That's why I’m here."

The Headmaster watched in amazement as the 27-year-old woman rose out of her chair and removed her tailored trench coat to reveal that she was dressed in the complete girl school's uniform of the school they were in right now, from the green blazer with the school logo on the breast right down to her short green skirt.

Hand’s trembling, Alexis removed her stylish Gucci shoes, quickly stuffing them into her Prada shoulder bag. The Headmaster watched as Alexis put on a pair of green crew socks, then slipped on a simple but well polished pair of shiny, black Mary Jane style school shoes.

Walking to the Headmaster's cupboard Alexis opened the left door and hung up her coat, and placed the bag with her adult footwear and purse inside. Closing the left door she opened the right, revealing the Headmaster's arsenal of straps, paddles, and school canes.

Alex left the cabinet door revealing the canes wide open.

Returning to stand in front of the Headmaster's desk she buttoned the top button of her crisply ironed white shirt and tightly knotted her green-with-a-white-stripe school tie. As the final step in her transformation, she undid her hair, and vigorously shook it until it was hanging loose around her shoulders. Then using two green scrunchies – in the approved color that matched her bottle green school uniform – she quickly arranged what a moment before had been her stylishly coiffed hair into two pigtails.

Looking down at her shoes she said softly, “My name is Alex, Sir. I understand you wanted to meet me.”

If he hadn’t seen the transformation with his own eyes he would not have believed it. She was the same, but somehow everything about her was different. The brash, self-confident woman who had been pushing him around like a pawn on her chessboard was now a nervous schoolgirl trembling before the Headmaster’s desk.

The Headmaster took a moment to let his eyes slowly roam up and down her tremulous form, from her polished Mary Jane shoes, over her white knee socks, to her bare knees, which were literally knocking together. Her bottle green skirt was cut several inches above her knees, as per his standard, for shorter skirts was the single aspect of women’s liberation which Mr. Thomas heartily approved.

Noticing the way the old Headmaster’s beady eyes seemed to be drinking in every button, seam, fold, and crease in her school uniform Alex asked him nervously, “Is my uniform quite proper, Sir? I did try SO hard to get everything right!”

The Headmaster, dumbstruck, nodded, for her uniform was very proper indeed, perfect, even, and from head-to-toe she was every inch the proper schoolgirl. Even her accent had changed; gone was the haughty, annoying rolling high RP “Aren’t I clever” intonation that made her seem like she was auditioning for Downton Abbey, replaced with a more standard London English. And then there was her voice – softer, slower, more tentative, like a girl afraid she might say the wrong thing, something Alexis simply didn’t care about because in her world mistakes simply didn’t exist.

The Headmaster watched closely as the nervous schoolgirl before him kneaded her hands, playing with her long slender fingers in an attempt to distract herself from her own nervousness. And something he hadn’t noticed before – her enormous rock of a wedding ring and expensive watch were nowhere to be seen.

Her tie was expertly knotted – two points for that – and her hair, although not combed, was regulation. The Headmaster hadn’t noticed Alexis lack of makeup or earrings, for in truth she was the sort of young woman who required neither to look wonderful, but he noticed them now, as they were conspicuous by their absence.

"Alexis, what is the meaning of this?" he asked, unsure as to where this was going.

"It's your Christmas present, Sir," Alexis said, staring at her shoes. "I'm very, very sorry for all I've done. But now it's end of term, and it's time to clear the slate, and to make amends.”

She swallowed hard, then reached into her blazer pocked and handed him the schools' dreaded pink DISCIPLINE REQUEST FORM.

Alexis's name and form were at the top of the form, and below were numerous check boxes listing her offenses, of which she was blazingly guilty.

IMPERTENANCE
RUDE, DISCOURTEOUS
MISCHIEF
FAILURE TO WORK WELL WITH OTHERS
LYING/FALSE ACCUSATIONS
ATTENTION SEEKING

Next to each offense the “M” column was checked, indicating that the infraction had been committed Multiple times, and “R”, indicating that the young woman had been punished for this offense before, to little effect.

William Thomas’s eyes quickly dropped to the “Approval on File” section, which was completed by the school secretary and listed the sorts of punishments that might be inflicted on you the young woman in question based on the signed approvals by her guardians.

Approval on File For
Tawse, Paddle, Hand, Strap, Cane
No Prior Authorization Needed
BARE BOTTOM

The astonished Headmaster looked up at the blushing schoolgirl fidgeting in front of his desk. “You forgot ‘tardy’”, he said, half joking.

“You can write it in,” she replied, giving him a feint smile. Her smile quickly faded as she watched him pick up an old fashioned fountain pen off his desk and dutifully record the forgotten transgression on her official punishment slip!

Putting down the pen, William Thomas returned his attention to the fidgeting schoolgirl standing in front of him, struggling to wrap his head around her magical metamorphosis and the rapid way the tables had turned. When she had strode into the room a few minutes before Alexis had been the master of her domain, but now her power and authority had been stripped from her as quickly as her trench coat. The domineering young woman who had terrorized and bullied everyone at the school was now simply another new student trembling under the shadow of the cane.

“These are very serious charges, Alex. Do you have anything to say before we begin?

“Merry Christmas, Sir”, she said softly.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

[Switchbott]

Well done!