The Ingram-Lewis Chronicles Pt. 06

As they were leaving and limping back tearfully to the showers, where their backsides would be the centre of attention, Mr. Godber said: "Well, gentlemen; let that be a lesson to you; actions speak louder than words as I think you now appreciate. But make no mistake; even though the end of term is near, if any of you break another rule, you will be back in this room and will again enjoy the doubtful pleasure of mounting the Rigby Horse. I trust I make myself clear: I will not have my words taken in vain!"

Mr. Godber thanked Patrick and Atkins for their part in the the proceedings and then went off to his own quarters. Atkins said to Patrick: "My god, Ingram-Lewis, that was one hell of a punishment session we just witnessed. I never realised that old Godber was such an expert with the cane. He beat me several times when I was younger, but I never remember such severity; the old boy was clearly hopping mad. But you know, that was one of the most erotic things I have ever experienced, I had a hard time keeping my cock down as Godber laid on his cane. Ingram-Lewis, I don't know about you but I need a bit of relaxation after that; how about you?"

"You know Atkins, I don't know what you mean by relaxation, but if it is a quick fuck you are looking for, then let's get to it." Which is exactly what the two young men did. They went back to Patrick's study, locked the door behind them and it was after midnight, and a delicious couple of hours of mutually gratifying copulation, that Atkins quietly crept away back to his own bed. As he saw his partner leave, Patrick reflected on the injustice life at the school. He and Atkins had just participated in a monumental beating session of six of their schoolmates and had then gone on themselves to break yet another of the school's cardinal rules; but they did not get caught: that was the difference. As Mr. Godber had told him; one had to accept and live with the hypocrisies of life.

CHAPTER 9

The mass beating of the upper sixth formers was the focal point of the end of the school year; it defined discipline and punishment at Rigby School for the coming year: It was the legacy which Mr. Godber left for his, as yet unnamed, successor. Mr. Godber, retired at the end of the school year, after some forty odd years in the service of the school. The new Headmaster would find a well run, well disciplined and obedient establishment on which he could make his own mark; something he surely would do, both literally and metaphorically; for make no mistake the cane and the birch would remain very much in regular use fat Rigby for or many, many years to come.

Evans and company served as an example to the entire school, for never had any group of boys been so severely punished. After that exceptional evening when seventy two strokes of the senior maple birch, wielded by Patrick Ingram-Lewis, followed by seventy two strokes of the senior cane wielded by the Headmaster, the whole school went in aware of what might happen to them if the crossed the fine red line and broke any rule. It was a watershed moment, as it brought home to everyone how the Sword of Damocles was hanging over all their heads and conditioned their behaviour for months to come.

As or Evans and his friends, well they nursed their wounds as boys since time immemorial have done at English public schools and ultimately rationalised their feelings, a boys do. They acknowledged that they had been stupid to break such cardinal rules and accepted the fact that they had stupidly allowed themselves to be taken in flagrante, so to speak by flaunting their defiance of the rules in the principal public house of the town. Their arses were sore for a good week but by the end of term all six lads were again fit and well with no ill effects or scars of what had been an exceptional dose of corporal punishment. And with the attitude which boys so often show towards their masters, even after being punished, they bore neither the Headmaster nor the Head Boy in loco domini any ill will. In fact they were a prime example of what Mr. Godber hoped to turn out from his school: young gentlemen.

Patrick Ingram-Lewis also left Rigby aged eighteen plus at the end of that term and embarked on the next step of his career as an adult: the Royal Navy. He had not yet told his mother of his plans and that was the next hurdle he had to face. But at the end of the day, sour as vinegar thought she was, she had to be faced down. Patrick was his own man and he had no intention of allowing the mildewed character and views of his mother to influence his future life.

And so Patrick arrived back at Ingram House, looking forward to the summer spent renewing his activities with with Geoffrey, the footman and Tom the assistant gardener, not forgetting of course, the nubile kitchen-maid, Rose. As he descended from the horse drawn cab which had brought him from the station, he surveyed his home and felt sure that for the next few months, until time came to take up his cadetship in the Royal Navy, he would have enough to occupy his mind, not to mention other more important parts of his anatomy.

THE END