Weeping Willow (Spanking Story)

Prologue, Part 2: Penny's POV

(Age 5)

The Magic Man came back to our house today.

It was the zillionth time he'd showed up unannounced and uninvited, but that didn't keep my brothers from opening the door and welcoming him in. The look on The Magic Man's face the first time he stepped inside was one of shock—he seemed appalled by the state of array everything was in, disgusted by the weird smells coming out of most rooms, and outraged after he found Mommy and Daddy's candy. Honestly, I was just shocked that he was so shocked. That was my normal, my every day living—what was so shocking about it?

The Magic Man had introduced himself to us as "Peter", but that didn't stop me from giving him his nickname. One day he was walking around writing pages of notes on his notepad and pointing out everything that was wrong with our house, and the next day Mommy and Daddy were gone. My parents used to run off into their own little world all the time, but this was different—I knew that this time, it wasn't really their choice to leave. The Magic Man had threatened to take Owen and me away if Mommy and Daddy didn't get out of the house. So they left, quickly.

I'd never seen my parents move so hastily—just a hug and a kiss and they were gone with a few suitcases in the back seat of the minivan. Because of that, Peter would always be The Magic Man in my eyes—who else could make my parents disappear, the family minivan disappear, and all the grownup candy disappear? Mommy and Daddy didn't seem to like him, but I wondered if my brothers could convince them to invite The Magic Man to my next birthday party.

This morning, The Magic Man actually had a look of approval on his face—he even cracked a little bit of a smile. He praised my brothers for having done such a good job of cleaning up the pigsty (though I made sure to tell him that I cleaned up the toys in my bedroom all by myself); he congratulated Owen and me on having gone to school every day in the last month (though I wasn't sure why—I actually liked going to kindergarten every day because I got to show off how good of a drawer and colorer I was); and he even liked all the yucky, healthy food that Dana had put in the fridge (which I guess was an improvement from having no food at all).

Another trick The Magic Man had up his sleeve: making Benny reappear. After Mommy and Daddy left, Benny came back to the house and never ever left again (well, except to go to work). I was happy about that because I missed him when he was gone. I missed him a lot. When all of my brothers were with me, it felt like things were how they were supposed to be.

But it also felt like something was missing.

"When are Mommy and Daddy coming back?" I asked while me, Benny, Dana, Cooper, and Owen were eating dinner. It'd only been the five of us sitting at the kitchen table for a while now, and it was obvious from the two empty chairs that two very important people were missing.

All of my brothers looked at each other. Owen looked like he wanted to know the answer to that question too, while my other brothers all looked worried, scared, and somewhat annoyed.

"Today Peter told me Mommy and Daddy don't live here anymore," Owen said. "Is that true?"

Benny cleared his throat as he put his fork down. "Well ... Mommy and Daddy need to get help," he said.

"What kind of help?" Owen asked.

"I can help them," I offered. "My teacher said that I'm a good helper."

Dana shook his head. "You can't help them, Penny," he said.

I frowned. "Why not?"

"Mommy and Daddy need special grownup help," Benny explained, "so you wouldn't be able to help them."

"None of us could," Cooper muttered.

"But if we don't help them, who will?" I asked.

Mommy and Daddy didn't have any friends, at least, none that I had met. One time I was in the minivan when Daddy stopped at an old, beat-up house so that Mommy could run inside to get some more of their favorite candy ... but they told me that it was just an old convenient store, not a friend's house.

"If they want help, they'll find it," Dana said.

"And maybe once they get that help, they can come back," Benny said. "But it will be a long time before that happens."

"But, but, but ..." I couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face. A long time was ... well, a long time. "What are we gonna do until then?"

Even though I was five years old—a whole hand of fingers—that didn't mean I was ready to be without Mommy and Daddy. I thought big girls were supposed to have their parents with them until they were all grownup, married, and Mommies themselves.

"Don't cry, Penny" Owen said as I put my face in my hands. His chair scraped across the floor as he climbed out of it to come over and give me a hug. Since I was still sitting in my chair, his arms ended up going around my waist.

"I can't help it," I said through my hands. "I miss Mommy and Daddy."

I stopped audibly crying once I felt my body be lifted off the chair.

I looked up to see that I was now wrapped in Cooper's arms. His hug felt warm, comforting, and reassuring—something I rarely felt whenever Mommy or Daddy held me.

"I know you miss them," Cooper said as he pulled me closer to his chest. "We all do."

"And it's okay to miss them," Benny said as he got up out of his chair. He then came over and hugged Cooper and me.

"The five of us will just have to make do without them," Dana said. I was surprised when he came over and hugged us because he wasn't much of a hugger.

"We can and we will," Benny promised.

"Hey," Owen whined, stomping his foot as if he were about to throw a temper tantrum. "I was hugging Penny first."

Benny then picked up my youngest brother so that he could join in on the group hug.

The only sound that could be heard was my sniffles, but none of them seemed to mind.

As my four brothers surrounded me, I remembered an art project I did shortly before Mommy and Daddy left. My teacher had asked everybody in my class to draw a picture of their family. Some kids drew a family with only one mommy, some kids drew a family with two daddies, some kids drew a family picture with doggies and kitties and fish and other family pets, and some kids drew a family with cousins and uncles and aunts and grandparents.

I drew a picture of me, my parents, and my four big brothers. I remember putting Daddy and Mommy standing together on one side, then Owen and me in the middle, and then Cooper, Dana, and Benny standing on the other side of us. I drew it that way because that was how I always pictured our family photo would be if we ever took one.

This group hug certainly wasn't anything like the family picture I'd drawn at the beginning of kindergarten. But the five of us stayed in the embrace for so long that it felt like we were making a new family picture. A better family picture. And maybe even, a better family.