Chapter 11 - An evening with Dr. Jim Halsey

Ruth Burnside quietly finished putting away Cecilia's papers and locked her file cabinets. She pondered the strange events that had transpired over the last 24 hours. It was about 9:00 p.m., exactly 24 hours since she had received that ominous e-mail from the director of the department concerning her computer. The e-mail had brought about a day of crisis in the life of the scholarship student, but fortunately that crisis now was over. Tomorrow Cecilia would be safely back in class, and Burnside would have to sign an acknowledgement of the written reprimand. No big deal. She had been reprimanded before and always got past it.

Burnside knew the three professors on the ethics panel. She had nominated one of them and had voted for the other two. She knew them well enough to have been able to predict how they would vote. Brenda always voted to expel, Bob usually voted in favor of the student, so the committee's director always cast the tie-breaking vote. Normally he simply deferred to whatever the professor in question wanted, which in this case, was to leave Cecilia Sanchez enrolled.

Still, the committee's vote was a serious matter. Cecilia's life literally hung in the balance, because Burnside correctly suspected her student would attempt suicide if she were expelled from the university. Going into the meeting Burnside had no guarantee that Cecilia would be allowed to stay enrolled, so she had to take the hearing very seriously. Burnside was a pessimist by nature, so she always prepared for the worst outcome. She was hugely relieved to have managed to keep Cecilia enrolled, but at the same time remained very angry at her. More than anything else was the hassle of having to re-write the midterm. There were other unpleasant concerns facing her, including the reprimand and invariable department gossip and discussions behind her back about her choice of a scholarship student.

Burnside somewhat sympathized with Cecilia, because the girl had no way of knowing that a few mouse clicks would set off such a crisis. She had found out the hard way something that she really wasn't supposed to know, because the university examination tracking system was a strictly kept secret. Burnside expected Cecilia not to say anything to other students about the examination tracking system...which she had forgotten to mention before the chastised student left her office. She typed out a quick e-mail to Cecilia with that detail; under no circumstances was she to discuss the tracking system with other students.

Burnside heard a knock on her outer office door. She was expecting her visitor, so she grabbed her purse and locked up. The visitor was Dr. Jim Halsey, her co-worker, her friend, her mentor, and her lover.

Halsey was 15 years older than Burnside, which made him 62. However, he still was full of vigor, in excellent physical shape (Burnside could attest to that), and a long way from retiring. He was dressed, as always, in a very expensive dark suit. His steel-gray hair and sharp features gave him a very severe appearance to his students, but his blue eyes always glinted mischeviously at Ruth. Jim Halsey was the only person in Ruth Burnside's life who dared address her as "Ruth". Everyone else, everyone else, including her other lovers, always addressed her as "Dr. Burnside"

Jim Halsey kissed Burnside's hand, and then took her hands and lightly kissed her mouth. Burnside's heart pounded, however. She knew she was in trouble and facing punishment from her lover, in spite of his courteous manner of greeting her.

He asked her how the ethics committee meeting went. Burnside responded in detail, because every professor wanted to know what the ethics committee reasoning was whenever it rendered a decision about a student's continued enrollment. Burnside recounted Cecilia's actions in detail, partly in hopes of getting her lover's perspective on how trustworthy he thought she really was. After listening to Burnside for a while, Halsey finally countered:

"You know Ruth, my girl, this incident is your fault. You understand that, correct?"

"Yes sir. I understand that I was irresponsible and my student suffered as a result."

Burnside's next words indicated the unusual nature of the relationship she had with her old lover. "Sir, am I to be punished for my carelessness?"

Halsey caressed Burnside's cheek with the back of his hand and looked her in the eye.

"Ruth, my girl, what do you think? Were you irresponsible enough to warrant a severe punishment?"

Burnside's heart pounded from that familiar mixture of fear and arousal she always felt before she faced a whipping from her lover. She was terrified, but, as always, also felt warm tingling all over her body and an anxious, comfortable warmth between her legs. She was about to be punished by the only man she loved, and that knowledge drove her wild with sexual pleasure.

"Sir, I've been irresponsible. I violated my contract. So I'm letting you decide what's best for me."

"Well, my girl, we both know what's best for you is a punishment on you bare body. You've earned it."

"Yes sir. I've earned a punishment on my bare body. I'll submit to you, sir."

With that Ruth Burnside, one of the most feared professors in the economics department and dressed in one of her best teaching outfits, got on her knees and kissed her lover's hand. That same hand soon enough would be inflicting both intense pain and intense pleasure on her unprotected body.

The two professors, Dr. Ruth Burnside and Dr. Jim Halsey, walked arm-in-arm to his car. Burnside's house was relatively close to the university, so normally she walked any day the weather permitted. Halsey lived somewhat further away, so normally he drove. On any evening Ruth had to stay late, he always gave her a ride home. Tonight he would come into her house, the two would have a glass of wine, and then there would be a night of discipline and lovemaking.

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Ruth Burnside had met Dr. Halsey during her final year as an undergraduate. She was an exceptional student who caught his attention, having completed her Bachelor's of Arts degree in just two and a half years with a GPA of 3.8. Halsey could tell the young woman was very different from most of his other students. She had a very serious, intense manner of carrying herself, a detail that intimidated many of her classmates. He could tell that she had not come from a privileged background and was not surprised to learn that Ruth had financed her studies with a stint in the Navy. Yes, she did indeed have the military in her personality. He knew, having been an officer in the Army himself before becoming a professor.

Dr. Halsey helped Ruth organize the paperwork and applications she needed to get into graduate school. The young professor and the student took a liking to each other, but at first it was the result of shared interests and shared experiences. Halsey was going through a divorce at the time, while Ruth Burnside confided that she had left the Navy because she became pregnant while at sea. Halsey was the only person to whom Burnside ever willingly shared that detail of her life, apart from a few doctors, nurses, and social workers.

There was another detail about herself that Burnside was able to confide with her professor, that she had to give the child up for adoption. It wasn't her financial situation that forced Burnside to give up her baby; it was her violent temper. She knew from the beginning she did not have the personality to raise a child. She took the only logical step she could think of at the time, she made arrangements for the child to be adopted before she was born. Within three hours of giving birth the baby disappeared from Ruth's life, adopted by a wealthy couple from New Hampshire.

Ruth spent the next two and a half years studying, desperate to catch up and graduate at the same age as most of her classmates. She didn't do badly; she started her studies at age 21 and finished them at age 24.

Shortly after Ruth graduated she began to explore her sexual fantasies by joining a Chicago sex and fetish group. The first time she went to a meeting she had a huge surprise; Dr. Jim Halsey was there, wearing a tuxedo and carrying a leather paddle. Ruth and Jim discovered another common interest, a love of S&M. That night they stepped away from their roles as student and professor. They entered a playroom and closed the door. Halsey took Ruth's hand and lightly kissed her cheek. Then he pulled her skirt off and gently lowered her panties. She went wet immediately. He could smell her arousal, and to make sure about it, he ran his finger over her very wet vagina. He held the wet finger up in triumph.

"Ruth, my girl, you know what you need from me."

"Yes sir...its what I want, and only you can give it to me."

With that Halsey forced the young woman to bend over the back of a sofa. He studied her pleasantly shaped backside for a few moments, and then started spanking her with the paddle. He started gently at first, gauging her desire for a more serious punishment. She kept her bottom in position as the scent of her arousal assaulted his senses. He struck harder and harder, as the satisfying CRACK!... CRACK!... CRACK!... of the paddle filled the room.

That was the beginning of their relationship. For several years they navigated their awkward situation, fulfilling their conflicting roles as professor and graduate student, as friends, as lovers, and as fetish partners. They kept their relationship secret from the outside world and were forced to keep each other at arm's length emotionally. Each gave the other permission to have other lovers and fetish partners, partly to avoid suspicions about a relationship that violated university rules prohibiting liaisons between professors and students. In the end the arrangement worked out admirably for both of them, because they could maintain their independence and freedom, and yet still know that each was a stabile presence in the other's life.

Ruth Burnside and Jim Halsey loved the world of pain and sexual pleasure. Ruth was mostly a dominant and enjoyed punishing other people. Her submission to Jim Halsey was a mystery to her, because she never felt the desire to submit to punishment at any other time in her life, and never from anyone else other than Jim Halsey. But with her lover she had discovered the frightening truth about herself; she enjoyed pain, if it was inflicted by the right person. The only right person to inflict that pain was Jim Halsey, the only person she trusted for pain and discipline.

Jim Halsey was much more of a switch than Ruth. Sometimes he liked to play a dominant role and inflict punishment, and sometimes he liked to submit and be punished. Over time he and Ruth took turns role-playing and punishing each other, but he could tell that Ruth really did not enjoy role-playing. She needed something more real, not pretend.

Finally the two lovers worked out an arrangement that satisfied both their needs. Each would hold the other accountable for everything having to do with their careers, research, publications, and over-all responsibilities teaching. Each granted the other permission to inflict punishment for any mistakes or irresponsible acts. Once one of the lovers declared that the other deserved a punishment, the offender had to submit immediately and unconditionally, and remain submissive until the punishment was declared completed. The element of role-play was removed, because the punishments were real, only to be given for real offenses. The lovers took responsibility for disciplining each other and each had to submit to their mutual relationship.

Tonight it was Ruth's turn to be punished, for having allowed Cecilia to use her computer unsupervised. It turned out that both guilty parties would be punished that night; the student by her professor, and then the professor by her lover. It was for that reason Burnside was kneeling in front of Halsey and addressing him as "sir". Whenever he was at fault for something, the roles were reversed, with him kneeling and addressing her as "ma'am".

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Upon entering her house, Burnside quietly pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses. She filled both glasses and dimmed the living room lights slightly. She knelt in front of Halsey and handed him a glass, taking the other herself. Saying nothing, the couple drank their wine, in a symbolic act that would initiate her punishment.

"Very well, young lady, you will stand up and turn away from me."

Burnside did as instructed. He placed a scarf over her eyes and lightly tied it. Over the years he had discovered that depriving her of the sense of sight during the preparation of a punishment heightened her anxiety and her arousal. He slowly undressed her, allowing her to feel more and more vulnerable with the removal of each piece of clothing. Finally she stood naked in the middle of a pile of fallen clothes.

Halsey stood back to admire his lover's large breasts and fit body. Burnside worked out aggressively on a daily basis and had the figure of a much younger woman. Her arms and legs were trim and muscular, her stomach was flat, and her bottom and breasts just beginning to show the effects of her age.

Halsey went into one of Burnside's back rooms and returned dragging a piece of furniture that looked something like a gymnastics horse. It had a padded leather surface and rings attached to the bottoms of its metal legs. The piece of furniture was Burnside's favorite punishment bench, or "horse", where she had restrained innumerable students and lovers for punishment. Now it would be her turn to bend over that bench, to stretch herself as best she could for a severe whipping.

Halsey then briefly left to retrieve something from his car, the item with which he would punish Ruth. The implement was something he had received in the mail only a few days before, and was guaranteed to give Ruth a totally new experience in painful discipline. It was a genuine leather police switch imported from the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia. Halsey slashed the switch through the air, satisfied with the loud, sinister whoosh.

He returned to find Ruth quietly standing in her living room, still blindfolded with her clothing clumped around her feet. He touched the tip of the switch against her breasts, gently massaging her nipples until they became hard. Burnside knew that her breasts were being touched by the implement her lover would use to punish her. Her mind raced, trying to figure out what exactly was making contact with her skin.

"Hold your hands out in front of you, Ruth my girl."

Burnside complied, and Halsey laid the switch in her hands. He then removed the blindfold, allowing her to see what implement would be used on her unprotected body that night. She shuddered, never having seen a real Danubian police switch before. She had heard about the scary switches, but had not seen one in real life. Halsey picked it up and showed the handle to his lover. Burnside read:

"Mil�tzya Dan�bik - Nom. 3394"

"A real Danubian police switch, Ruth. A Ministry of Justice issue with its own serial number. The real thing; not some pathetic adult shop imitation. Now tell me, how do they punish criminals in Upper Danubia?"

"T...the police...give them 50 strokes, sir. They strap criminals to tables and punish them...with the switch."

"That is correct, Ruth. Tonight I want to give you a bit of a challenge. I'm giving you the standard punishment for a Danubian criminal...50 vigorous strokes on the naked buttocks. Are you up for that?"

"Yes sir, I'll do my best."

"50 vigorous strokes on the naked buttocks, and I've been practicing. Think about that."

"Yes sir."

"I'm giving you another challenge tonight. Unlike a Danubian criminal, I will not tie you down. You will stay in position, under your own free will. I will punish you every bit as hard as a Danubian police officer punishes a criminal, but I am holding you accountable for staying in position."

"Yes sir."

"And another thing. At the end of the 25th stroke, we will stop, and you will present your bottom for my pleasure. Once your lovely bottom has given me the pleasure I deserve, we shall continue."

"Yes sir."

With that Halsey took his lover's hand and kissed it. He then led her to the bench. She gave him a very nervous look, but dutifully draped her body over the padded leather surface. She shifted herself forward, spreading her legs and grabbing the bar in front with her hands. Her large breasts dangled and wobbled slightly as she moved about, attracting her lover's attention. As a preliminary to her punishment, Halsey gently caressed his lover's hanging breasts with the tip of the switch. The touch was very gentle, and teased her until she became wet again from anticipating the pain from her upcoming switching. Burnside was terrified, but the terror was part of the experience that made it so special. She wouldn't have traded what was about to happen to her for anything.

The woman's ample buttocks were spread and stretched tight. The wet, secret, sensitive area in between her bottom-cheeks was on full display, and her bottom was damp with the sweat of anticipation. She reeked of arousal and struggled to breathe normally. Before cruelly marking it up, Halsey gently passed his hand over his lover's sweaty posterior, enjoying the feel of her firm flesh and trembling muscles. Then he stepped back and lightly tapped her bottom with the switch. He left the implement in place for a couple of seconds to increase her anticipation.

Halsey drew back and struck hard across both sides of Burnside's bottom. She had anticipated the first blow would hurt, but was a bit surprised at the intensity of the pain tearing into her. She gasped and struggled to stay quiet. Burnside rarely cried during a punishment. However, her lover's switch was the real thing, a professional punishment implement designed to inflict maximum pain without inflicting permanent injury. Tonight he wanted to challenge her, to inflict a judicial whipping and push her endurance to its limits.

The professor had done his research concerning how judicial punishments were administered in Upper Danubia. Danubian police officers were trained how to use their switches to maximum effectiveness. The goal was to deliver 50 severe blows against the criminal's body without breaking the skin or causing any permanent scarring. The police officer could take up to 50 minutes slowly striking the criminal's bottom, upper thighs, and upper back with the switch. The blows where severe, leaving cruel welts that lasted for days.

Halsey had received a police instruction manual that explained proper punishment technique along with the switch. The manual was in Danubian, but had many illustrations. He studied the diagrams in the manual and practiced swinging the switch against an armchair in his living room. He was shocked when he tore the fabric, making him realize that if he did want to use the switch on his lover, he needed to do it properly and be extremely careful.

The switch left a nasty-looking weal on Burnside's bare backside. Halsey stepped back and stuck again, laying a second blow immediately beneath the first one. Halsey was an experienced disciplinarian and knew how to strike with precision. Armed with the additional information from the instruction manual, he could punish her in exactly the same manner as if she were a convicted criminal in Danube City.

Halsey stepped back and carefully struck his lover a third, a fourth, and a fifth time, laying five dark reddish stripes very close together across the lower part of Ruth Burnside's unprotected bottom. The pain mounted as she began sweating and clenching her teeth. Yes indeed, it would be a real challenge for her to make it through 50 strokes without crying or moving out of position.

Halsey tapped the lower part of Burnside's right bottom-cheek. The next portion of the punishment would be to concentrate strokes on the spot where his lover's bottom met her upper thighs. He would strike one side at a time, to maximize the force of the blow and concentrate the pain in a very small area. He would strike her three times at the base of her right bottom-cheek, then three times at the base of her left bottom-cheek, and then work his way down the upper parts of each thigh.

Very slowly he struck, as three sinister-sounding whooshes announced three new welts on Ruth's lower right bottom, and three whooshes announce three new welts on the left side. He continued striking the upper parts of her thighs, laying four very severe welts on the upper part of each of her legs. He then returned to the upper part of her bottom, laying a final six welts across immediately above the first stroke.

Tears were flowing down Burnside's cheeks, but she had managed not to cry so far. She couldn't believe how much that Danubian switch hurt, but the very intensity of the experience was a huge turn-on to her. Still, it would be a long time before the sexual arousal would be relieved. There would be a break, but it would only be to allow Jim to continue the punishment in a different manner.

He took Ruth's hand and helped her up. As she stood twisting in agony and holding on to her punishment bench, her lover laid a towel on her floor and then a hard cylinder-shaped pillow on top of the towel. She dutifully draped herself over the pillow and spread her legs, exposing her bottom-hole.

Halsey took off his pants and underwear. Already he had a furious erection, excited at the sight of his lover so submissive and cruelly marked up. Now her punishment would shift to her bottom-hole. He dabbed some medical jelly over the back entrance to her body. He positioned himself over her and pressed down, allowing his body weight to force his way into his lover. Jim rarely entered her in this manner, even when she was being punished. However, tonight he had decided the punishment needed to be extra severe and having her bottom violated was part of the extra severity.

Burnside gasped from the discomfort of having Jim's penis moving inside her intestines and her anus stretched to accommodate the intrusion. The welts stung horribly as the weight of her lover pressed down on her entire backside. However, it was what he demanded from her, and thus what she was expected to do. To present her bottom to him was a gesture of ultimate submission, and a sign that, during a punishment, she truly would do anything for him. She trusted him, knowing that when he needed to hurt her, the pain was simply a manifestation of the unusual love the couple had for each other.

He finished and pulled out, but his sexual drive ensured that within a half an hour he would be ready to give Ruth the reward that always followed a painful punishment. He cleaned her as she continued to lie over her pillow, treating her abused bottom gently as he soaped and rinsed her in preparation for the second part of her whipping.

Halsey guided Burnside back over the punishment bench. She quietly and dutifully took hold of the bars in front and waited for the 26th stroke. Halsey finished getting undressed before taking up the switch for the final portion of his lover's punishment.

He began very methodically, laying strokes over her already punished bottom. After laying a few strokes to cover the spots he had not marked during the first part of the switching, Halsey paused to study his lover's cruelly-marked backside. After the 35th stroke he punished her somewhat less severely, afraid to break the skin over the welts, which already were raised and formed painful ridges. However, the new strokes laid over the previous set of welts hurt horribly and Burnside's voice began breaking with each new blow. Halsey watched carefully what he was doing to his lover's body, mindful of his torn chair. By the 43rd stroke, Burnside was quietly crying. As her marked body jerked from the suppressed sobs, she became a perfect picture of erotic submission.

Halsey knew that a Danubian judicial switching usually ended with the final five or six full-force strokes laid across the criminal's shoulder blades. He would finish up with Ruth in the same manner, extending the painful region to the woman's back. He ordered her to kneel on the floor and place her hands in front of her on the punishment bench. He struck hard against her shoulders six times, his efforts rewarded by a cry from his lover with each stroke.

Halsey set down the switch and took his lover's hand to help her stand up. The pain was continuing to mount in her body. She felt like she had been torn apart and found it hard to believe she wasn't seriously injured. Still, this type of experience was what she expected from her lover whenever she made a career-related mistake. The pain tearing into her only made her love him all that much more.

She stood hugging him for a long time, enjoying being comforted as the tears continued to roll down her cheeks and the welts throbbed. Finally the pain subsided slightly and gave way to intense sexual arousal. It was after a severe punishment from her lover that Burnside's senses truly came alive. The intensity of the experience and the fact that it came from the only man she loved opened up every pleasure center in the woman's body. She reached down to touch her lover's penis, and sure enough, he was hard again and ready to give her the long-anticipated reward.

Halsey pressed Burnside to the floor. Her body protested from having her body weight pushing down on her welts, but the combination of pain and sexual gratification was what made a post-punishment love-making session so special. He entered her and for a very long time moved back and forth, grinding against her very wet and very aroused body. Yes...yes...yes... this savagely intense pleasure was indeed worth the horrible pain from the last hour...

Halsey continued thrusting. There were times that Burnside wondered if he supplemented his sexual drive with Viagra or some other sexual stimulant, but she was not one to question a good thing. Halsey's body was a reliable as a clock, always ready to give her the pleasure she needed as a woman.

Finally the exhausted couple got in bed. Normally they did not sleep together, but a punishment for either of them always was followed by a night in Burnside's bed and breakfast at her house the next day.

He fell asleep, but Burnside found it hard to relax with the continuing throbbing from the mass of welts and blood blisters covering her backside. Still, she was very happy and immensely satisfied with the experience she had endured that night. She contemplated her old lover as she stroked his hair and shifted uncomfortably on the bed. She loved Jim Halsey, because he was the only man in the world who could give her what she needed, and at the same time give her the space and independence in her life that she also needed. It was a strange relationship, but it brought fulfillment and pleasure to the lives of both professors, which was what mattered.