Kate Returns Home Ch. 31 – Caning Table

LTC Kate was now back at her command at the Disciplinary Retraining Unit of the Women’s Republic Correction Service. She had enjoyed her hectic visit to her home in the country’s second city, where she had to catch up on her duties as the “responsible woman” for both her own household, with her husband and her wife, and her family, which now included her stepmom, her dad and his girlfriend, and her brother and his new wife, and her older sister and her new husband.

She had not had a chance to stop by and see Meredith, the sister of Eleanor, Kate’s now friend and the creative director of Goose Cookers, the woman-owned firm that produced imaginative products mainly for women. Eleanor was married to GEN Annette, the chief of staff of the Corrections Service. Meredith’s situation now became her next challenge.

Meredith was married to Eleanor’s ex, Jackson, and the couple lived in Eleanor’s sumptuous apartment in the second city, where Goose Cookers was based. Eleanor, though, was in the capital, where she headed the firm’s office there. Kate received a phone call from Eleanor, asking her if she could meet her for lunch that day.

Kate knew that Eleanor didn’t call unless something important was at stake, so she readily agreed to meet Eleanor at her exclusive women’s club. When she arrived, in full uniform, the maitress’d smiled and recognized her immediately.

“Welcome, Colonel,” she addressed Kate. “Eleanor is waiting at her table for you.”

They walked into the stylish dining room where Kate spotted Eleanor at a choice table for two.

They hugged and sat down. Kate smiled and thanked Eleanor for inviting her.

“Well, I did call with a mission,” Eleanor conceded.

“Is it about the commercials we shot?” Kate asked. She and CPT Nicole had made another set of television commercials for Goose Cookers intimate apparel, which involved the two appearing in full uniform but allowing the cameras to catch upskirt shots of the range of Goose Cookers panties they were wearing.

Kate had worried about the commercials in terms of taste, but Nicole, with whom she had not always been on good terms, helped convince her that this gig would redound to the benefit of both of them as well in better recruitment for the Service.

“No,” Eleanor replied. “I need you to help me once more. It’s not about me; it’s for my sister Meredith. She’s having trouble with my ex, Jackson, again and I’d like you to go to see them and beat some sense into him or do whatever you need to get him to behave well with his wife, my sister.”

Kate knew that as much as she disliked getting involved in these kinds of personal matters, she had to oblige Eleanor, who was not only a good friend but had done a lot to help Kate professionally and socially.

“Tell you what, El,” Kate began. “First, have Meredith fill out a request form for an intervention, enter my name on it as the proposed assigned officer, and send it to me directly. You can arrange to have it picked up and delivered, I’m sure.

“This time, though,” she went on, “I want him to report to me here in my unit, and I want him to bring Meredith. Now I know that you once referred him to a camp and that Meredith sent him to the local reeducation center. I’ll then put through the paperwork to provide for them to get here by an air transport run by the Service.”

“I do have to be careful, though,” she said. “Remember what happened when you got me to take on your friend’s boyfriend?”

Eleanor knew what was coming.

“As you know, he sweet-talked one of my best noncoms,” Kate proclaimed. “He also managed to get her, a confirmed lesbian, into bed with him and fucked her well enough so that she married him. She got rewarded by being dispatched to the most remote camp in the Service, where I will concede she is doing well.”

“This time Meredith will be there with me and see him get retrained,” Kate declared. “I’d like her to participate in the process, too. That should result in their getting back together. I’ll arrange that they have a nice room to stay in together. If he acts up, you know we have places and ways to deal with that.”

“That’s great, Kate,” Eleanor grinned. “That’s all I can ask of you.”

“I’m glad we can do this as described,’ Kate observed. “You’re such a good friend, Ellie. I had to figure out how I could handle this for you. By the way, I’m also assuming you don’t mind and may even prefer that you will keep out of this totally?”

“Perfectly o.k.,” Eleanor replied. “I should feel grateful that you’re willing to do this.”

“I love you, El, and I like your sister a lot, too,” Kate said. “If I can help, that’s all I need.”

The two passed up an opportunity to go upstairs, where the club had rooms that could be reserved for private meetings. It was known that those rooms were where some of the top women in the capital went to engage in all kinds of sex, usually with other women.

Kate returned to her office and sent a letter and a request form to Meredith. She noted in the letter that she was setting this up at Eleanor’s request but looked forward to seeing Meredith and Jackson in her office per the request.

Meredith later received Service orders that scheduled her husband and herself on a transport two days hence. When Meredith explained to Jackson that she thought they needed this, he knew not to challenge her. He loved Meredith, because he and she were more compatible than her sister Eleanor had been when they were married.

They dressed nicely for the plane and soon were being ushered into LTC Kate’s private office.

“Good to see you both,” Kate smiled. “I really do hope we can help resolve the issues you two have been having in your married life. I’m going to talk to you first and although some of this may prove embarrassing, I want you to talk directly and fill me in so I can come up with a solution to your problems.”

Jackson knew that he had to let his wife go first.

“Kate,” Meredith said, “if I can call you that.” Kate nodded in the affirmative. She certainly wasn’t going to insist on formal protocol here.

“We’ve been snapping at each other,” Meredith went on. “He does come home inebriated. He behaves badly, even threatens me. It’s just gotten worse. I love you, Jackson, but you make it hard for me.”

“Did you hit her, Jackson?” Kate questioned him. “I want the truth here.”

“Yes,” he answered by way of confession. “I didn’t mean to, but I got so angry…”

“You never have an excuse to hit her or even make her feel bad,” Kate remonstrated. “You know that and yet you still did it. What will it take to get you to behave like a man, not an ogre?”

“That’s a rhetorical question,” she added. “I’m going to give you the answer.”

“You’re going to be disciplined by me, assisted by some of our staff noncoms,” Kate stated. “You’re not going to like this. Meredith will be there, too. This is out of her hands except I may have her give you some strokes. Are you ready?”

“Yes, I guess I deserve this,” he admitted. “Mer, I’m sorry that I’ve behaved so badly,” he went on. “I hope you’ll forgive me and give me another chance.”

“Let’s see how this goes,” Meredith said slowly, trying to keep a hard look on her face.

Kate picked up her phone and dialed 1SG Wendy, head of her noncom division. She told Wendy she needed SFC Denise to work with her for a few hours. Wendy told her she would have Denise report to her as soon as she could track her down.

“You’ve been sent previously to a camp and to your local reeducation center,” Kate said. “You’re running out of options, Jackson. If you offend again, you could be sent off to do time in the penitentiary. I hope that gets you thinking about changing the way you live and act.”

“I understand, Colonel,” he said with respect. “I mean to change my behavior and I’m sorry you have to take up your time with this.”

“I’m willing to put in some time here if it gets some better results,” Kate responded coolly.

The attractive, blonde SFC Denise appeared in the office, having been brought in by Kate’s secretary, Grace.

“Good,” Kate announced, “here’s SFC Denise. SFC Denise, this is Meredith, who has referred her husband, Jackson, here, because he has been continuously misbehaving and actually hit Meredith. He has previously been to a camp and a local reeducation center. I believe he was sent to the camp when married to Meredith’s sister Eleanor.”

Denise stared at both Meredith and Jackson. “I remember you,” she said, rather coldly, to Jackson. “I was your barracks sergeant at the camp. I really thought you had been a good prospect for reform, so I’m quite disappointed that you have continue to behave badly, and so much so that our Commandant, LTC Kate, has been asked to take on your current discipline.”

“I’m sorry,” Jackson said softly. “I’ve been a bad boy and am truly sorry to have disappointed you.”

“Let’s get on to the treatment room,” Kate declared. She walked out of her office and asked Grace to arrange for Jackson and Meredith to be escorted to the room. She said to have the noncom who took them to make Meredith comfortable in an armchair and to have Jackson strip to his underpants.

Kate returned and told Meredith and Jackson to go wait with Grace outside the office for their escort.

Then she spoke to Denise quietly. “We need to turn this man around for good or else he’s going to prison,” she said.

“I’m furious underneath, Ma’am,” Denise answered. “I hope you will permit me to discipline him with a high degree of severity. I don’t like seeing my failures return for having behaved egregiously.”

“I tend to agree with your view, Sergeant,” Kate confirmed. “We need to get this right. And you know, better than I do, how much Eleanor deserves to be able to feel that her sister is secure.”