Jennifer was already at a table on the patio as Sandy swept in, all high-heels, floating summer dress and wide-mouth smile. She took off her sunglasses, waved at the waiter and touched Jenny on the arm.

"Hi gorgeous," she said.

Other drinkers and diners on the patio turned back to their cocktails; the men with regret that they didn't know either of the two beautiful young women at the corner table, the women with thanks that their men didn't know them.

"So, how's that hunk you introduced me to a couple of weeks ago?" Sandy asked. "How's he in the sack?"

"Michael? Oh, fine," Jennifer replied. "I'm mean, I guess he's still fine; I ditched him three nights ago."

"What!"

"Yes," Jenny said. "I was lying there on the bed in my teddy and he looked at me gravely and said he had something to ask. He said he wanted to spank me; not just a little pat on the bum, but spank me hard enough to make me cry. He said he wanted 'after spank sex.'

"So what did you do?" Sandy asked.

"I got off the bed, put my suit back on and told him he'd seen the last of me; that was it."

"And you never plan to see him or date him again?"

"Right. Never.

"What's his number?" Sandy asked, smiling, "I don't mind a little discipline."

"Sandy! You wouldn't!" Jennifer gasped.

"Sure I would," Sandy said. "It wouldn't be the first time, that's for sure."

The waiter arrived and took their order; a white wine spritzer and a Becks beer.

"Oh, tell me all about it," Jennifer said when he had gone.

"Well, it was when I was 17 and a bit of a flirt ..."

"That's sure changed," Jenny interjected.

"... and I got caught by one of the boys I was two-timing; Jack was his name. Anyway, Jack took me out to one of the Lovers' Lanes in our area, accused me of cheating on him, walked around the car, pulled me out, bent me over the fender and spanked the crap out of me."

"And?"

"And then we had 'after spank sex.' I cried right till I came."

Their drinks arrived. Jennifer sipped her spritzer and Sandy took a mouthful of beer. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand and smiled.

"Are you going to give me Mike's number?" she asked.

Jennifer rolled her eyes, checked her Blackberry, and told her. Sandy pulled her cell out of her purse and punched in the number.

"Hello, Michael?" she said. "I'm Sandy Cawson. You may not remember me, but I met you a couple of weeks ago when Jennifer introduced you to me and Jill. I was the brunette on the left. No, the short one. Yes, hi. Well, I'm a really good friend of Jenny's and she's just told me the two of you have broken up. Well, actually she told me why you'd broken up."

Jennifer looked a little peculuar at this comment.

"Yes, the spanking thing; she said you asked if she minded spanking her till she cried. Remember?"

Jennifer couldn't hear the other end of the conversation, but she could guess. It was fascinating.

"Well," Sandy said, "what I'm trying to tell you is that I don't mind a little discipline, myself. Yes. Yes, I would. Yes, and that too. But you'd have to feed me first; no sex without sustenance. OK, tonight. OK. Nine o'clock. Pick me up at the Wendover Hotel. Right. See you then."

Sandy clicked shut her cell phone.

"I don't believe it," Jennifer said. "You've agreed to get smacked. You've agreed to have sex with him and you're going out to dinner."

"Sure, why not," Sandy said. "I think he's the best looking guy you've ever dated."

Jennifer was completely nonplussed; which was, not surprisingly, exactly what Sandy had hoped.

That night, Michael picked Sandy up at the hotel and drove her to a resturant overlooking the ocean. Once again she found herself seated at a small glass table, only this time there was a centrepiece of flowers with a guttering candle lamp. To her left, the sun was sinking slowly into the horizon as a container ship left port with a distant thrubbing of its engines. Michael looked at her over their drinks.

"You're a first, I have to say," he began. "Calling me up like that. I don't think that's ever happened to me before."

"You've never had a women say 'yes' before you asked the question?" Sandy smiled.

"Right. Never."

"So how does it feel knowing you can fuck me, when you haven't even kissed me yet?"

"Very interesting."

Michael looked closely at his companion. She was wearing her hair up, had high heels and was wearing a very low cut, very short, evening dress, coloured deep magenta. Actually it looked more like a slip, than a dress.

"That looks more like a slip than a dress," Michael remarked.

"Two points," Sandy replied. "It is a slip and I have nothing on underneath it."

The waiter arrived to take their dinner order. As Sandy studied her menu, Michael could see both her nipples straining against the sheer fabric. That was very naughty, he thought, smiling.

When the waiter left, the idea that had been rolling around in Micahel's mind unexpectedly came out of his mouth.

"You look so hot, I should spank you right now," he said.

"I dare you," Sandy replied.

What happened next was a blur to everyone involved. First, Michael got up, walked around the small table, pulled Sandy to her feet, sat down on her chair, put her over his knee, pulled up her dress and began spanking. Secondly, Sandy, who hadn't been expecting him to do anything, began squirming and yelling, "stop that!" And thirdly, a construction worker named John Hamderson, who was sitting with his girlfriend Rosie at a nearby table, got up to render assistance. When he put his hand on Michael's arm, Michael pushed him away. Hamderson then pulled Michael up and punched him. Sandy, beside herself, tried to intervene and grabbed Hamderson. Rosie, seeing this, walked across the patio and grabbed Sandy by the back of her hair. This caused Sandy to release her grip on Hamderson and she twisted around, just in time to catch a straight right to the eye. A third man, who had been seated at the far end of the patio now arrived and jumped on the two others. This caused two of the tables to go down, spilling the candle lamps and igniting a tablecloth. It also caused the three men to fall in a mass towards the railing, whcih gave way. One second there was a fight underway; the next; nothing. Rosie screemed. Sandy, now on the patio floor reached for her purse and scrambled away from the flames. The waiter, seeing this, sprinted for a fire extinguisher. Sandy got to her feet, realized her dress was torn, and made for the door. She didn't know what had happened but she had a strong desire to get out of there.

The restaurant was built on a steep hillside, so, for a moment, Michael felt weightless as he fell. Then he hit some bushes and felt his arm break. His two assailants crashed into the dirt beside him and continued on down the slope, swearing and gasping as they went. Just as he felt his body slow, his head hit a rock and Michael blacked out.

Meanwhile, Sandy had exited the restaurant and was walking quickly down the dark sidewalk. She could see another restaurant several doors down and made for it, ducking inside. There was a waiting area, so she sat down, grabbed her cell phone and called a cab. As she did so she saw a police car scream by, followed by an ambulance. Then a fire truck roared down the street and came to a stop in front of the other restaurant. Sandy waited, daubing at her eye with a handkerchief. Finally, her cab slid to a stop and she left the restaurant, got in and gave the driver an address near to Jennifer's building.

"Are you all right lady?" the cabbie asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Sandy replied. "I've just got something in my eye."

'I've just got a fist in my eye,' she thought, her head spinning. She almost forgot her bum was also hot and stinging. Finally, the cab arrived at the address she'd given it. She paid the driver, tipped him too much, and got out. When he drove off, she walked back down the street to Jennifer's apartment, pushed her buzzer and waited. Jennifer came on the line."

"Hi Jenny," Sandy said, "Can I come up?"

"Yes, sure," Jenney replied. "Are you OK?"

"No, I'm not," Sandy wailed as Jennifer buzzed her in.

Whe Sandy got to Jenny's door, it was open with Jenny waiting.

"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed. "What happend to you?"

"It's a long story," Sandy said, and then burst into tears.

Gradually, as she ministered to Sandy's cuts, her red bum and her spreading black eye, Jennifer got the whole story out of her. How a little sexual energy had led to a fight, a fire and who knows what else. Jenny got a cold compress for the eye, put lotion on Sandy's bum, found some flannel PJs, and put her friend to bed with a Valium.

Later, as Sandy slept soundly, Jenny watched the late local TV news. The fight at the resturant already had a name; the 'Resturant Spanking.' She learned her ex had a broken arm and all three men had scrapes and cuts. Two of them had to be winched up the cliff by fire department rescure personnel. Charges, of varous kinds were pending. The police, the girl reported said, were anxious to speak to the woman who had been spanked; the 'spankette' she called her. Jenny laughed; Sandy would like that.

The next morning, over cornflakes, the two women discussed what they should do. It was decided Sandy should see her lawyer and then go with him to the main police station. Sandy called him on his cell and, when she explained she was the notorious 'spankette,' he readily agreed to accompany her. Jennifer said she would drive Sandy to the lawyer's office and then take both of them to the police station. What she did not say was that she also planned to phone a friend of hers at the newspaper and alert him to the visit.

The result was that Sandy, wearing a pretty dress, dark glasses and a wide brimmed hat, was photographed entering the police station on the arm of a lawyer and briefly scrummed by the reporter.

"Are you the spankette?" he asked.

"That's me," Sandy replied.

"So how does it feel to be spanked in public?" the reporter asked with a smile.

"Very embarassing," Sandy said. "I'd agreed to being spanked, but not in public."

"You'd agreed?" the reporter asked, incredulously.

"Yes," Sandy said -- they were almost at the door of the station -- we were going to have some 'after spank sex,'" she said.

"That's quite enough," the lawyer interjected, and steered his client inside the building.

A flury of skirt, a smear of lipstick and a hat and she was gone. Jenny watched it all from where she was parked across the street. The reporter spotted her and walked over, followed by the cameraman.

"Thanks Jenny," he said. "I owe you one."

"You're welcome," she said.

The next day a third-of-a-page photo that showed a good deal of leg was placed under the headline: "Spankette agreed to 'After Spank Sex' along with a story on how Sandy and Michael's plans went off the rails. There was a picture too of Michael on page three with his arm in a cast, looking sheepish.

San Francisco being a big city, the paper was one of those that daily hit the desk of a producer for Oprah Winfrey. The moment she saw it, she knew Oprah had to have Sandy and Michael on the show. After a flurry of phonecalls, it was all arranged. A week later Sandy and Michael boarded separate airplanes and flew to Chicago where they were put up at separate fancy hotels and then brought in separate limos to the studio to be reunited on stage. The event proved to be a high point of the week's programming.

"So tell me," Oprah said, "what exactly was your plan when Michael took you out for dinner?"

Sandy, still wearing dark glasses, blushed.

"Well, Michael had asked my girlfriend if he could spank her till she cried because he wanted some 'after spank sex.'

"Your girlfriend Jenny."

"Yes."

"Jenny, you're here in the audience. Please stand up." Oprah requested.

Jenny, who had flown in with Sandy, stood up, to applause. Then resumed here seat.

"OK, so she said no and you ..."

"I said yes," Sandy continued. "But I said I'd like to be fed first; it's a rule of mine."

"No sex without dinner?"

"Exactly."

"OK, go on."

"Well, we went to this very nice restaurant overlookin the harbour and after the waiter took our order and before the food arrived, Michael said I looked so hot he felt like spanking me right then and there."

"And then he got up and spanked you?" Oprah asked.

"Yes. I wasn't expecting it and I protested and made a fuss. Then this guy came over and tried to stop Michael and they got into a fight and I tried to stop it and then his girlfriend came over and punched me; and then there was a fire and the men -- there was another man by this point -- went over the railing. I just got out of there; I was humiliated and a bit frightened."

"Michael," Oprah said, "what have you got to say for yourself?"

"Well, I'm sorry I caused what happened," he said. "Sandy dared me, and I rose to the challenge. It probably wan't a wise thing to do."

"Because it could be taken the wrong way?" Oprah asked.

"Yes, exactly."

"Well, stay tuned everyone," Oprah went on, "because after the break, we're going to give these two lovebirds the chance they missed a week ago. Yes, that's right, Michael is going to spank Sandy right here on national television. Stay tuned."

You can guess the rest. Sandy got a good whacking on Oprah; she got the 'after spank sex' with Michael; she got her face on the cover of TIME magazine, she got a movie offer, she moved to LA and she now has her own line of cosmetics.

All it took was a little discipline.

[End]