Was It Worth It?

Written By: LJ

(A DP Philosophy Question posted on our WL Group: What do you feel was the most draconian sanction you ever imposed on your Brat?)


Hello, it’s Glen Chamberlain here. I realize I responded to the last DP Philosophy question, and I ask you to kindly bear with as I do so once again. The incident I’d like to share with you took place a couple of weeks after the end of TJ’s and my agreement to a six-month trial of incorporating discipline into our relationship. I was waiting for my partner to decide whether or not he wanted this to become a permanent aspect in our lives, but in the meantime we were continuing to adhere to the guidelines we had set up at the first of the year.

It was the second weekend in July, the start of the Calgary Stampede; an annual blowout TJ had eagerly awaited for several months. As a result of him having cashed in his accumulated overtime, he had ten days of freedom. He intended to put the time to good use by attending and participating in as many activities as possible. I will now attempt to explain the events leading up to my imposing some rather harsh penalties.

The very first afternoon of the Stampede, TJ arrived home much later than planned. That in itself was all right, as he had telephoned to let me know he’d been held up. However, he had failed to inform me of the altercation he had been involved in. The resulting conversation went something like this:

“I expect you to tell me everything that transpired, TJ. I want to know exactly why you came home in this condition.” I asked, gently pressing the bandage into place over the recently cleaned gash above his left eyebrow. I sighed heavily at the beginnings of a bruise discolouring the same side of his beautiful face. I had already administered first aid to the abrasions along the knuckles of his right hand.

“Not much really happened, Glen. Just a bit of a scuffle; you know, bumping shoulders and the like. It was so crowded down there.” TJ’s squirming clearly indicated his awareness that his stalling techniques were failing miserably.

I packed up and put away our small but adequate first aid kit, pulled out a chair and sat down facing him. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. You want me to believe a stranger from out of nowhere and completely unprovoked, punched you in the head. Was this the same person or was it someone else who then inadvertently rammed his face into your closed fist?”

“Well, noooo.” I’m sure he’d have been appalled had I told him he was whining. He continued to sit there in silence with his head bowed and picking at the sterile dressing I had just put on his hand.

“ONE!” A long drawn-out sigh and a bit of foot shuffling were the only responses.

“TWO!”

“Glennn…!” he wailed. He hates it when I count. “It wasn’t my idea. I told them I didn’t want to go to the beer tents!”

“Thomas Josiah! You went to the beer tents? After I told you not to because of the brawls that often takes place in those establishments?”

“Everyone else was going, Glen, even Sally. For shit sake, I’m a grown man! What was I supposed to say?” TJ jumped to his feet at this point and started pacing. “Don’t you think ‘because I’m not allowed’ would have sounded rather stupid?”

“There is no need to yell, young man!” I grabbed his hand and pulled him onto my lap. “TJ, you did not have to explain anything. You merely had to say you’d meet up with them this evening as pre-arranged and come home. And, yes I do know it would have been hard, but it was doable, wasn’t it?”

“Probably,” was all he begrudgingly acknowledged. He was getting more uncomfortable by the minute, trying to determine where this conversation was going. Another drawn-out sigh of defeat and he slowly told me what had transpired. “Your worst fears were realized. A couple of the guys got into a bit of a discussion with a couple of cowboys and things just escalated from there.”

“And you did absolutely nothing to bring about the attack on your person?” I retorted sarcastically and would have laughed at the expression on his face if I hadn’t been so annoyed at his blatant disobedience.

“Well, I guess it didn’t help matters when I told that loud-mouth I’d like to see things from his point of view but I couldn’t get my head that far up my ass.”

I was completely dumbfounded. I must have sat there staring at him for a full minute before asking for confirmation that I had heard him correctly.

“Up!” I patted his backside to get him off my lap. “We’re going to eat the meal I’ve been keeping warm and then you, TJ, are going to bed.”

“But I’m supposed to be meeting Sally and the others at the fair grounds just before dark to watch the fireworks! I’ve been waiting all year….” he tried to present his argument and was firmly told not to even go there.

After sulking halfway through dinner, he eventually got up the nerve to ask, “Are you going to spank me, Glen?”

I put down my fork, sat back and looked at him. I knew exactly what was going through his mind. A spanking, early bedtime and it would all be over and forgotten. Well, that Brat of mine had another thought coming.

“No! I am putting you on a short leash until the Stampede is over.” I was almost tempted to grip the sides of the table in preparation for the explosion. It didn’t come. It was his turn to be totally flabbergasted. He sat there in disbelief, wide-eyed, mouth opened and gulping in air.

“W-why?” he gasped out.

“Because you apparently refuse to keep yourself safe, so I will have to do so for you. You may only attend the events of my choosing and only when I am available to accompany you. Unfortunately, that will be next to none as I am extremely busy this coming week.”

“That’s not fair!”

“I consider the injury or loss of my beloved partner to an entirely avoidable altercation as even more unfair, TJ.” We remained seated; quietly staring at each other for several long moments before he pushed himself back from the table, walked into our bedroom and softly closed the door.

I cleaned up to the sounds of his sobs. I understood and emphasized with his disappointment and frustration but I stood by my decision.

The weekend seemed to drag by endlessly. TJ received numerous telephone calls from his friends pleading with him to join them. They also thoughtlessly kept him informed of all the good times he was missing. As much as my heart was aching for him, it was simultaneously bursting with pride at his quiet acceptance of the punishment handed out even if he wasn’t talking to me as much as he usually did. It set the precedence for the week to come.

I’d had to work Saturday but took him on a picnic at Elbow Falls on Sunday. The weather was perfect and because so many people were at the Stampede, we all but had the resort to ourselves. We silently strolled around hand in hand, keeping our thoughts to ourselves. I had given up trying to have a conversation when all I got was one or two word answers. We both knew it was not supposed to work like this. Our lifestyle changes had been made to put an end to these long, drawn-out periods of not speaking, but he needed time to deal with the severity of the sanctions I had placed on him.

That evening, TJ asked if he could cut his holiday short and return to work. The pharmacy was understaffed that week and enthusiastically welcomed him back early.

Late the following Saturday brought an end to the demanding contract I had been working on and I’d find it almost impossible to come up with a time when I had been more relieved to get home. I let myself into our apartment and headed for the study, intent on putting away my briefcase.

TJ was engrossed in what appeared to be a lengthy conversation with Sally. He had the speakerphone on and was sitting back in my desk chair with his feet on the window sill, swinging it slightly while nuzzling Miss Muffin. I smiled at his reflection but he didn’t notice me.

“Like I said, TJ, you didn’t miss that much. Past Stampedes were a lot better than this one,” Sally’s voice came through the telephone line. “You’re lucky you chose not to attend.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly my choice, Sally. As much as I would have like to, Glen preferred me not going down there without him.”

“Aaah, that’s nice. You guys like to do so many things together.”

“Yeah, but I would have gone if he hadn’t been so concerned about me getting hurt or something.”

“Are you saying that even though you wanted to go, you didn’t because Glen didn’t want you to?” There was a note of disbelief in Sally’s voice.

“Something like that.”

“Man, if my father had told my mother he didn’t want her to do something; she’d have done it out of spite. Then they would have spent days arguing and fighting which would have been followed by an eternity of silence. God, I hate it when they treat each other that way!”

“Glen and I don’t fight. We also do whatever it takes to avoid that cold-shoulder shit,” TJ said quietly. He lifted his head and our eyes met in the mirror-like image of the blackened window. “Ah, I have to say goodbye, Sally; Glen’s home.”

I saw his eyes fill as he stood up and slowly walked towards me. I returned his embrace and listened to him stammering out his tearful apologies for the weeklong, silent tantrum he had thrown.

“I-I’m so sorry, Glen! I-I didn’t mean to shut you out like that.”

“Sssh, I understand, sweetheart.” I steered him out to the living room and sat down on the chesterfield with him on my lap. “I can see where you would have found it an extremely difficult penalty to live with after having looked forward to this event for so long.”

“It was and realizing I’d earned it fair and square, didn’t make it any easier. But I also knew you were trying to keep me safe and protect me from my own worst enemy, who just happens to be me.” He slid off my knees, curled up against my side, wrapped his arms around my neck and gave me an embarrassed, watery smile. “Thank you,” he whispered before soundly kissing me.

I deepened the kiss when he went to pull away. One thing led to another as we spent the next little while making up for the past week of physical and emotional separation.

“Are you working tomorrow?” I asked sometime later.

“No. Why?”

“I was hoping you’d be available to join me for a day of activities starting with one of those pancake breakfasts held throughout the city, then to the Village Opening at eleven o’clock, followed by the flag raising ceremony and rodeo. In the evening we could attend the Village Closing ceremonies and watch the fireworks display.”

“Yeah, sounds like a fun time. I’d like that! And Glen?”

“What, baby?”

“I do want to continue what we started just over six months ago.” It wasn’t hard to pick up the sincerity in his statement.

************

So, folks; that is what I consider the most draconian sanction I have ever subjected my Brat to and in similar circumstances I’d do the very same thing all over again. To me, it is worth anything to keep him safe.

The End