Detective Dad and Daniel's Disappearing DS

"Daaaa---aaaa---aaa---aaad!"

I really, absolutely, positively, without a doubt, hate it when the kids start screaming like that. My first instinct is always to jump up and run to see who’s being killed. With the exception of one severely wounded teddy bear, there’s never been so much as an attempted murder, and usually it’s not even mayhem with intent to inflict severe bodily harm. (That’s largely because, when they’re actually trying to kill each other, they really don’t want me to notice them).

It was Saturday afternoon, and I was sprawled across one of the living room couches, rereading one of the Wheel of Time novels, so I’ll remember most of what’s happening when the new one is released this month. Bryce was sprawled out on the other end, his legs propped up across mine, reading the next Percy Jackson novel (he got tired of me reading one chapter a night, so has taken over for himself). Gordy was sitting on the couch in front of Bryce and me, half playing a DS (Nintendo Dual Screen-- a hand-held video game system), half watching the college football game that PJ, Caleb, and Mickey were watching. The weather wasn’t great, and some of the other kids were sprawled around doing different things.

"Dad!" the cry repeated, this time without all the reverb and echo effect. I sighed and pushed myself off the coach, much to the irritation of both Madge, the Siamese matriarch or our household, and Bryce. Even as I came up, Daniel came to the landing and looked down to see me getting up. I think he started to yell again but must have seen the look on my face, because he circled around and came downstairs instead.

I walked over to the staircase, and as soon as he was close enough to speak to in a normal voice, I said, "I thought you wanted to spend the night with Quint tonight."

"I do… Oh, sorry." Hispanic boys just don’t blush as well as we Irish, but he still managed to look embarrassed. "I can’t find my DS."

Sigh again. I should have known all the fuss would be over something really important like a handheld video game. "Well, where did you have it last?"

"In my bedroom. I played for a little bit when I woke up this morning, and I had it plugged in on the charger. Now it’s gone."

"And you’re sure you didn’t use it somewhere else today?"

"YES, I’m…." He stopped as he caught the look in my eyes. "I mean, yes, sir. I’m sure."

I reached up and mussed his hair. He doesn’t exactly like it, but he takes it in the spirit it’s meant. "Thank you. One day we’ll even have you fit for decent company."

He snorted, but I ignored it.

"Okay, so you’re sure you didn’t use it since this morning. Did you check to see if it fell off your headboard?"

Daniel has a bookcase headboard with a couple of little drawers and plenty of space on top. Still, he keeps it a little messy, so I could see something sliding off it or falling on top of it.

"No. It’s gone. I mean, I know I was charging it, and the cord’s still there, but the game’s gone."

"Okay, let’s go double check there and see if we can figure out what’s going on."

Much to Daniel’s disgust, we start looking by going back to his bedroom. I’d been hassling him about his room a bit, so he’d skipped going to a soccer game that day to clean, which meant I wasn’t too worried about it having been left somewhere. He might not have the best memory in the family, but that was mostly with chores, so there was no reason to doubt he’d played it that morning, unless he was deliberately lying to me for some reason, which would be a different issue all together.

The game was most definitely not where it was supposed to be (and he’d actually cleaned his headboard, like I’d been asking). The connection end of cord to the game was lying on the side of his headboard, though he told me he’d found it on the floor. I took a quick look to make sure the game hadn’t fallen and the cord had just come loose.

I suppose Sherlock Holmes would have found fibers on the headboard or footprints in the carpet that would reveal the culprit, but the best we came up with was that Daniel remembered having to move the game when he dusted his headboard, which meant it had only disappeared in the last couple of hours.

With that as a starting point, I mentally eliminated those who’d not been around. Because of the weather, we didn’t have a lot of guests, so I was quickly able to put together a list of who might have helped the game walk off, and Daniel and I started running down it. I was trying to do it in a way that led us around the house, so I could also look for a poor, defenseless NDS lying on its own, waiting for its owner to retrieve it—just in case Daniel had suffered a memory lapse.

I checked the upstairs bedrooms. Charlie was working on a report for his government class. While his door was open, he hadn’t noticed any suspicious behavior around Daniel’s room, and he certainly hadn’t borrowed the game himself. (Charlie shows a bit of compulsive behavior in his video gaming. He’ll get heavily into a new game until he’s beaten it, then he just quits playing for a while). Charlie was the only boy upstairs, so we went to the living room.

Gordy was the obvious suspect. Not only was he playing a DS, but he didn’t own one. He and Dex had both asked for Play Station Portables (PSP) for Christmas. "Gordy," I asked quietly, so as not to disturb the others or alert other suspects, "whose game is that?"

"Bryce’s," he responded nonchalantly.

"I told him he could borrow it while I read, Dad," Bryce informed me, looking up from his book.

"May I see it for a second?"

"Hang on," Gordy responded, but in a polite tone, before making a few clicks. After a brief wait, he hit the pause button and handed it to me. On the back, lightly scratched on the lower left hand corner where I’d marked all the hand helds, was BRW (Bryce Radley Wells). I had a list of serial numbers with pictures in my office but didn’t think we needed to go that far.

I handed the game back to Gordy, thanking him, then motioned for Daniel to wait. I watched the TV a couple of moments until they cut away from the game, then raised my voice. "Daniel can’t find his DS. Has anyone seen it?"

There was some movement as people looked around and checked under cushions, but no one had. Next stop was the playroom and younger boys’ bedrooms.

Most of the guys were in the living room, but Ryan, Cam, and Pete Dempsey were playing a three-way Heroclix scenario I’d suggested to them. I wanted to see how it was going and make sure the teams were pretty even, but Daniel dragged me out by the arm as soon as he saw what they were doing. We weren’t in that big a hurry.

The only other guys in their room were Van and Dex. The two of them were huddled down by the side of the beds. I couldn’t see what they were doing, so I asked.

"Battling Pokemon," the both answered.

I nodded and started to turn away. Then I stopped. If I’d been a cartoon coyote, a light bulb would have appeared and lit up over my head.

Fact: Pokemon is a Nintendo proprietary game, so you can only play it on Game Boy and NDS.

Fact: Van and Bryce each had an NDS and a PSP, but Gordy and Dex only had PSPs.

Fact: Bryce’s NDS was in the living room with Gordy.

"Hurry, Watson. The game’s afoot."

"Huh?"

"Never mind for now, Daniel, but remind me to show you some old Sherlock Holmes movies before Christmas."

"I don’t wanna watch that old crap," he answered, even as he was following me back into the little kids’ room.

I popped him gently upside the head, as we stepped back in. Van and Dex saw me, but this time they must have also seen Daniel, because they suddenly looked a little guilty. They looked at him, at each other, then at me. Both of them snapped the screens shut, and Van asked, "Do you need your game back now, Daniel?"

"Yeah, it’d be nice, thank you," he said in a pretty sarcastic tone that I couldn’t blame him for this time.

"Who has his?"

"I do," Dex answered, raising the hand with the game in it.

"Okay, we’ll you can give it back to him right after your spanking."

Both boys got that panicky, deer-in-the-headlights look and started to stammer, as they climbed to their feet. Dex was wearing standard jeans and a Spider-man t-shirt, but Van was wearing his favorite overalls with a dark green, long sleeved t-shirt. Both of them were in their stocking feet and cute as ever, though the panicky look spoiled it a bit.

"We just wanted to duel Pokemon Dad, and Gordy had Bryce’s game," Van assured me.

"Yeah, Uncle Jack. We only borrowed it," Dex added.

"You borrowed it?"

Both boys nodded, obviously relieved at how my tone had relaxed.

Part of me really wanted to take it easy on them, remind them of the rules, and tell them not to do it again. The fact is, however, that when I was growing up, I saw a lot of bad feelings arise because of my brother’s ‘borrowing’ stuff without notice; stuff that might or might not ever be returned. Since my family was just a little harder than Dad’s, I’d made a hard and fast rule that you did not borrow things without permission. As a matter of fact, you really weren’t even supposed to go into someone else’s room without permission, though I was a bit more lax on that one.

"Well, that’s a different story," I said, then turned around to face Daniel.

"Daniel Quincy," I said, my tone once more sharp, "why’d you make such a big deal about this if they just borrowed it? Get upstairs and get your clothes off. I’m going to blister your rear."

Daniel’s eyes had gone wide as soon as he heard his middle name. Even as I was saying it, though, I was raising my hand. To the little ones, it should have looked like I was wagging my finger in his face (something I don’t do often, but it has happened a time or two, though mostly as a joke). Since Daniel was right in front of me, he saw the finger come up and rest across my lips, then I winked at him. Daniel’s not the genius that a couple of my boys are, but he’s not dumb either. He might not have known what I was intending, but he went along with it.

"No, Dad! Please, I’m sorry…."

He wasn’t sure where to go, so I gave him a slight nod, and his voice trailed away. Then I turned back to the younger guys.

"I’m sorry, you two. I don’t know why Daniel made a fuss about someone taking his game if you asked him to borrow it." I let the pause draw out just long enough to be blatant before setting the hook. "You did ask to borrow it, didn’t you?"

Okay, maybe I was being a jerk, but I really wanted to make a point to them, not just talk at them for a while. To their credit, the little guys looked nearly as upset at the idea that Daniel was going to get spanked as they did when I’d announced their own spankings. When I dropped the last line, they both realized I wasn’t buying it. Van just looked defeated, knowing things were inevitable, but Dex seemed to feel the need for one last try.

"We were gonna give it back, Uncle Jack. We didn’t know he wanted it."

"It doesn’t matter, Dex. It’s not yours, and you didn’t ask. If you don’t ask, it’s not borrowing, it’s stealing."

As I spoke to them, I walked over to the bed and Daniel followed me. The two of them reluctantly climbed to their feet when I motioned them up.

"I believe that you were going to give it back," I assured them, "but that still doesn’t make it right. You can’t go around taking things that don’t belong to you whether you mean to give them back or not."

I paused again letting that sink in before I dropped the worst and final bomb. "You did steal that, and that’s against the law, so I should take you both in the living room and switch your little bottoms."

Dex’s lower lip started to tremble and tears began to overflow his eyes. It’d been a while since anyone had been switched, but Van obviously knew the details and burst into tears. Daniel, who’d been the volunteer for our last, full scale switching, didn’t look far behind him.

"Dad…."

I raised a finger and Daniel trailed to a halt. I’d already heard the ‘go easy on them’-tone in his voice, and really hated it. Not that I minded him looking out for the little guys, but that, if he was going to play the good guy, it was going to take away my position and make me look harsher. They’d both known the rules and deserved a spanking, but I was trying to make them understand how serious I took this.

"I believe you were going to give it back, so I’m going to assume—this time!— that you didn’t mean to steal; so no switch. But you still knew you weren’t supposed to go into Daniel’s room and take anything, whether you were going to give it back or not. Didn’t you?"

The crying had started to settle down as soon as ‘no switch’ had passed my lips, and both boys reluctantly nodded.

"Who got it?"

"We both did, Daddy," Van replied, his voice quivering and wet. Dex looked at him, then nodded.

"I’m not going to switch you, but this is very serious, and I think you both need an extra hard spanking to make sure you remember not to do it again. Understand?"

The crying started to pick up again, but they both nodded, however reluctantly Dex’s head might have been moving. I stepped over to the desks and pulled my chair from between them, turning it to face the boys, and I sat. Both of them were watching me like little birds watching a snake.

I had the two of them step in front of me and started to undress them. Dex has been part of the family long enough that he didn’t have to be told to lift his t-shirt. Van stood there, unsure of what to do with his hands as I reached over to unfasten the hip buttons on his overalls. When those were done, I reached over and opened Dex’s fly, spreading the jeans open to reveal his matching Spider-man briefs, but leaving the jeans up. I went back to Van and undid the straps. As soon as the second one came undone, the overalls hit his ankles. I nodded at his t-shirt, and he lifted it to his underarms. Going back to Dex, I slid the jeans down and off, then let Spider-man join them, before turning back to Van to remove the overalls, then his briefs.

Left in nothing but socks and t-shirts, the two of them were particularly cute. Not as though I hadn’t seen them like this often, and naked even more often, but it was still a cute sight, even though they were in trouble. Dex is a bit older than Van (just over a couple of weeks before he turns eight, I reminded myself). They’re usually about the same size, but Dex is usually a little heavier than Van. Van is a lean and firm, while Dex is just a little round and soft. Not to say Dex is fat. He’s pretty active. At that size, I’ll bet it’s only a difference of two or three pounds. Still, with them standing there like that, I couldn’t help but notice that Van seemed a little plump. I had to look for a few seconds to realize that Dex was actually a little taller than Van now. I’m guessing that Dex must have just put on an inch or two, and Van was getting ready to. I wanted to smile at them and might have pointed it out with some of the older boys, but didn’t want to break the mood with these two, thinking the shift back and forth would be too abrupt and rough on them.

After a few seconds quiet while I studied them, Van finally asked, "Do you want me to go get Mr. Spanky?"

"No, son. I told you this was going to be harder than a normal spanking."

I’d sat the chair where it was deliberately, and now turned and opened the bottom drawer in Bryce‘s desk. I had to dig around for a second among old toys, rubber balls, and miscellaneous junk, before I found Bryce’s old ‘Apply B4 Corner Time’ paddle that we’d stashed there when I decided he was ready for the Little Deer.

As I turned and they saw what was in my hands, one of them moaned. It must have been Dex because I recognized the quick, quiet sob that escaped from Van. I felt like I’d lectured enough to make my point, and with boys this young, you can’t berate them too much or it loses its meaning. Instead, I asked Daniel to hold the paddle for me.

Daniel just looked at the paddle, then at the two younger boys, then stepped back, holding up his hands and shaking his head. I hated to keep the little guys waiting but needed to deal with this minor rebellion before I could move on. I stood up, draped my arm around Daniel’s shoulders, and took him aside a bit.

"What’s the problem, Daniel?"

"They weren’t stealing it, Dad. I don’t mind. You don’t have to spank them."

"I know I don’t have to, Daniel. I know they weren’t going to steal it, and if you’d not been packing to go to Quint’s, you probably would never have noticed it. The problem is that they know they’re not supposed to go in other peoples’ rooms without permission or take stuff without asking. You shouldn’t feel guilty because of this, Dan. Okay?"

He just shook his head and studied the floor like he was the one about to go over my lap. I had to work not to get irritated with him. It’s impossible to be ‘good cop’ when you’re about to give a spanking, but I try hard not to be bad cop, either. The way Daniel was acting was making me feel even worse about this spanking than I normally do. I took a deep breath and tried one more time, trying to take his feelings into account.

"Daniel, they’re going to get spanked no matter what. I think, considering what they did, it would be better if you can watch so they can apologize to you as soon as the spanking’s over, and you can tell them you forgive them; but if you don’t think you can stand it, you can go, and I’ll have them bring the game to you. Do you need to go?"

"You really think it’ll be better if I stay?" he mumbled without looking at me.

"Yeah, I really do."

He reluctantly held out his hand and took the paddle. Once he had it, I sat down again and turned back to the two nearly nude little miscreants.

"Van, come here."

He sobbed again, took a half step towards me, then stopped. He leaned back and whispered something to Dex, who nodded. I was trying not to be irritated with the delay but have always felt that when you’re about to get a spanking anyway, it’s not the best time to be disobedient. Before I could say anything, Van turned back to me. "Daddy, can we get Spanky Bear?"

I almost smiled. I’d really thought Van had outgrown his bear, but I guess the bigger paddle must have been rather scary for him. The smile wasn’t for him still using it, though, but for thought of "The Necessary Bear" that I’d just written. It seemed somehow appropriate.

Trying my best to be solemn, I nodded. Van and Dex looked at each other, then Van turned and walked back to his dresser. When he turned, I saw that his little bottom was clenched as tight as a miser’s fist on a hundred dollar bill. The thought of how scared he was killed any amusement on my part.

At his dresser, Van very carefully picked up Mr. Spanky and set it aside. Then he lifted Spanky Bear into his arms and they clung tightly to each other for a minute before Van turned and came back to us. When Van reached his friend, he gave Spanky one last squeeze, then handed the furry fellow to Dex, who clung to him almost as desperately as Van had.

"You ready now, Van?"

The boy nodded, took his bear back from Dex, and stepped to my side. Knowing the drill, Van turned away from me and lifted his arms a bit. I took him by the sides, right under his arms, lifted and turned him, then laid him across my lap, as close to my hips as I could get. I looked up at Dex and nodded. He clenched his eyes and sobbed a bit, then took a step back.

"Dexter, don't make this harder than it has to be. Just come here, and let’s get over with as quick as we can."

He started to cry softly but stepped forward and turned. I placed him over my lap like I had Van.

The two of them had to wiggle a bit to share my lap, then Van switched Spanky so they could hold him together. After a second, I saw Spanky come back to Van’s left arm.

"Daddy, can you move us up a little more please?"

I’d never been asked so politely to reposition someone for a spanking. Taking each boy by the hips, I scooted them up a bit, then watched as they tried again. I guess it had fixed the problem, because the two of them squirmed around a bit, then inside arms came up and around each other’s shoulders. Dex isn’t the only boy who’s shared my lap with Van, but he’s probably shared as many times as the other boys put together—well, except maybe Scooter.

Dex was just as tense as Van, so I took a moment to gently rub both little bottoms. The boys knew what was coming and resisted it, but the gentle massage started to soothe them and they slowly relaxed, letting their cheeks unclench and their legs fall slack. When I was satisfied, I leaned a bit forward to wrap my left hand around Dex’s waist, gave each bottom a little pat, and was ready.

I looked up at Daniel to ask for the paddle and was surprised by the look on his face. I knew he wasn’t happy about them getting spanked and thought maybe he was blaming himself for it. I expected him to look unhappy, distressed, or guilty. What he actually looked was like he was lost in a daydream.

I tried to picture what he must have been seeing. Daniel moved in with me when he was eleven-and-a-half, and he was teetering on the edge of adolescence. Since moving in with me, he had been spanked a lot with a few of his friends, and had been side by side with Quint over Quint’s bed and the arm of my office couch, having their bottoms warmed, but I suddenly realized how different this was. Here he was looking at a little boy sharing his daddy’s lap and his teddy bear with his best friend, and I think he was thinking about what he’d missed in his childhood. I’ve never had any reason to believe Daniel had been abused by his real parents, but I was beginning to wonder how much attention he might have had.

Shaking my head to put thoughts of Daniel and how much attention (and what kind) he might need aside for another time, I quietly said his name. He jerked like he’d been a million miles away. I nodded at the paddle. He handed it to me, looking like I’d caught him doing something embarrassing.

I try not to drag things out too much with the younger kids. The same anticipation and tension that helps the older boys learn a lesson is just torture for the younger ones, so I went to work as soon as I had the paddle.

The real problem I had was making the spanking memorable without making it too harsh. Still, Van and Dex aren’t too much smaller than Bryce was when I started using B4 on him, even though they were still a fair amount younger. Also, even though Dex had just grown a bit, both boys seemed to have bottoms a little chubbier than I remember Bryce’s ever being, so I decided I could do a regular spanking with the slightly heavier paddle without worrying too much.

I started off with my normal pattern, two right down Van’s crack, but then ran the next two the same way on Dex. Both boys knew what to expect and didn’t react much. I think they were surprised that B4 wasn’t as bad as they’d been anticipating. Which isn’t to say that there wasn’t some yelping and squirming as the spanking began.

Back and forth, I switched from one boy to the other. B4 is only slightly bigger than Mr. Spanky, and that’s mostly in thickness, so they got the same pattern to which they’re accustomed, and three more swats rained down on each cheek, Van then Dex, left, then right, before going back to another row down the middle. That second track left a nice, rosy trail down the center of their bottoms.

Because they were pressed right up against each other, I couldn’t get to the sides like I normally would, so I skipped right down to the legs, giving one to the back of each of Van’s, then the same to Dex, before giving a second set to each of them. Dex was crying before I even started on his legs, but Van was crying before I finished there.

Both boys were crying, but not really hard, and I felt they needed more so they’d understand just how serious I thought this was. The threat of the switch and the larger paddle had gotten through to them, but if I let them off too easily, they might feel it was all a bluff. Besides, as much as they hated it, this hadn’t been as hard as a normal spanking for them, even with the larger paddle.

The tears, kicking, and squirming just kept getting louder and harder as the paddle began to trace its way back over the already rosy places it’d already visited. The pattern was an exact repeat of the first covering, but this time I was going back and forth, one for one. Van and Dex are almost the same size and age, so I knew they were going to get exactly the same number of spanks, which made it much easier to split it up. Van got one, Dex got the next, then back to Van. I was even able to land the paddle in exactly the same spot for both boys.

As I finished covering their bottoms the second time, both boys were crying hard and loud and, looking at those deep red bottoms, there was no doubt why. The kicking died down as they became too sore to keep it up, but Dex’s arm was waving around, trying to escape from under Van’s arm and protect his toasted little bottom. I could see that Van was fighting the same urge with a tight grip on Dex’s shirt.

With the two of them over my lap together, they were getting off a few smacks more lightly than they normally would, but I could tell they were both right on the edge of really bawling. I don’t think a boy has to totally break down every time he gets into trouble, but I thought these two needed it this time, so I didn’t take it easy as I darkened those rosy red thighs.

One, two, left leg, right, Van and Dex, and a second time and Van was wailing before I finished. Another smack on each of Van’s sit spots, then each of Dex’s, before doing Dex again and coming back to Van, and Dex was bawling every bit as loudly as his friend was, but that didn’t stop me from repeating the pattern again. Four smacks left those sit spots glowing a dull red, and I stopped without placing the last couple of swats right in the middle of the smile, which I’d been planning. Both boys were too worn out to struggle. They’d obviously had enough.

I handed the paddle back to Daniel and began to rub both boys on their backs. I was rubbing Van and Dex, but looking at Daniel. I’m not going to say he looked sick, but I think he really felt bad for the shorties, even though, added together, they’d not gotten as bad a spanking as he would have had. I think that, if it had been Noah or Mickey or Caleb, Daniel might have been watching with glee. If it had been Quinten and Daniel had been awaiting his turn, it would have been dread. As it was, he looked mesmerized at the performance, but sorry for the performers.

I held the little guys over my lap until they started to show some life, then helped them up. They were too sore for a vigorous fire dance, but they were both interested in rubbing away some sting. I was going to give them a minute to do that, but Van suddenly thrust himself towards me, so I wrapped him in a hug, only opening my arms to let Dex in as well. After a minute, I felt another body shove up against us and looked up to see that Daniel had knelt down and wrapped the boys from the other side, so he and I were hugging each other with them between us.

Once the boys had their crying under control, I told them what to do. Dex got Daniel’s game and returned it to him. Both of them apologized for going into his room and taking his game, making what sounded to be very sincere promises to never do anything remotely like that again. Van also informed his big brother that they’d be handling some of his chores in the morning, so he could enjoy his time at Quint’s a little more. Daniel had been protesting the apology, but was happy to accept that part, anyway.

With apologies out of the way, Daniel left to pack. Van handed Spanky Bear to Dex, then hugged the both of them for a minute, before taking Spanky back and reverently replacing him on the dresser top, pausing to give the old bear a kiss, before putting him down and giving Mr. Spanky back to the bear to hold until it was needed again.



Daniel was still packed and ready to go when Quint’s dad arrived to pick him up. Quint came in to say hello (I’m not ‘Uncle Jack’ to him, but he’s still one of my kids), and I was later informed they had a great time (they usually do, as long as they can avoid spankings, which is growing a little easier as they grow up—but only a little).

As for Van, he started to protest when I informed him that since Dex didn’t have a DS to play, rather than asking to borrow someone else’s, I was taking Van’s away for the weekend, as well. He was pretty upset about that for about five seconds, until Dex suggested playing Lego Star Wars on their PSPs instead. For some reason, though, instead of sitting on the floor to play this time, they decided to lie down on the bed instead.





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