Hi!  My name is Clara and I am Uncle Mark's fictitious niece.  I am ten years old and I go to fifth grade.  I used to live with my Mommy and Daddy and my sister Ginger, but Mommy and Daddy's car got in a crash.  So now Uncle Mark is going to raise me and Ginny lives with my Grandma.  When I think about Mommy and Daddy in Heaven I feel really really sad.  I wish I could talk to them on the phone or something, but God says No.

    Back when I still lived with my mother and father, Uncle Mark used to come visit us.  Me and Ginny were always glad to see him because he would always bring us a treat or a present or something and he was always real nice.  Sometimes he took us to fun places like the Ice Follies and the Children's Museum.  Sometimes he would baby-sit for us too.  Those were super fun times.  He would wrestle with us and pretend we were stronger so we won.   He would let us stay up past our bedtimes and watch extra TV and stuff.  If we were bad, he would just shake his finger and go "now you girls know better than that!"  Sometimes he pretended he was going to spank us but he would just do it real soft and go "Ow! My hand hurts!" and we would all laugh.

     When they said I was going to live with Uncle Mark from now on I thought I would have ice cream for breakfast and go to the circus every day.  But it isn't like I thought.  Uncle Mark says that now it is like I am his kid and he is my Daddy now, and that I have to eat right because I am growing and that going places every day is too expensive.

    As soon as I moved in, he sat me on his knee and said he loved me and that he would always take care of me and never send me away, even if I was bad.  Then he said if I was bad, like if I was disobedient or disrespectful or broke the rules or something, he would spank me just like Mommy would have done.  I thought maybe he was just pretending, but he said it like he really meant it.  And he asked if I understood.  So I'm like, "Yes, Uncle Mark," but I still wasn't sure if I believed him.

    Well guess what?  He really wasn't pretending!   My bedtime is 9 o'clock, but when Uncle Mark used to baby-sit us he would always let me stay up half an hour later.  But my very first night after I move in I brush my teeth and put on my jammies and I'm lying on the living room rug watching TV.  And Uncle Mark says I can watch until that show is over but then it's 9 o'clock and time for bed.   So I go "Aw Uncle Mark.." and he's like "No! I want you in bed promptly at 9!  It's a school night.  No ifs ands or buts!"  And then he walks out of the room.

    When the show ended a way cool show came on so I kept watching.  And Uncle Mark comes in and he's like "Clara!  What are you doing up past your bedtime?"  And I go "None of your business."  So  he tromps over and picks me up by my waist and swings me around and then plonks me face down again.  He's sitting on the sofa and now I'm over his knee!  I can't move my legs and he's holding my wrists with his hand so I can't move them either.  And then I remember what Uncle Mark said he was going to do if I was bad and I'm thinking like "Uh oh! I'm in tro-ouble!"  And then I think, maybe it wouldn't hurt very much.  But I'm also I wishing I hadn't said it was none of his business.

    And you know what he does then??  He unfastens the drop seat of my jammies!  So he can see me naked and everything!  And I'm so embarrassed I don't know what to do!  And then he starts spanking me right on my bare bottom with his hand - hard!

    So he keeps spanking and spanking me in the same spot and it keeps hurting worse and worse and pretty soon I'm really crying and stuff because it hurts as much as my Mommy's hairbrush used to hurt even though it's just his hand.      I'm really wishing I didn't sass him.  And I'm really really wishing he would stop spanking me but he keeps on doing it.
 
 

    Then he finally stops and fastens my drop seat again.  So at least he can't see me naked any more!  And he lets me lie there and cry and rub my behind through my jammies.  But even though I keep rubbing the spot where he spanked me, it still hurts, a lot!

    When it's not hurting as much and I'm not crying as much, Uncle Mark makes me stand up in front of him.  He puts his hands on my shoulders and he goes "Clara, it is past your bedtime.  You know the rules.  Please go to bed at once."  And I'm like "Yes Uncle Mark" even though I can't say the words very good because I am still sort of crying.  And I go straight to my room right away because I don't want to have to get another spanking!

    So I'm lying in bed and I'm still trying to rub the owie feeling from my bottom.  And that's when I realize that living with Uncle Mark won't be like living with Santa Claus.   So I'm crying really hard now and I'm like "I want my Mommy!  I want my Daddy" again and again.  And then the door opens and Uncle Mark comes in.  So I get real quiet because I'm not sure what he's going to do.  And I don't know if I'm in trouble or not.

     But he didn't spank me or anything.  He just sat down on the side of my bed and smoothed my hair and brushed away my tears with his hand and said my name real soft and stuff.  Then he said that Mommy and Daddy weren't coming back and that he wished he could change that but he couldn't.  I thought he was going to cry too, and then I remembered that Mommy was Uncle Mark's sister.

    Then he says he is sorry he had had to spank me and all but that I'd been bad so he didn't have any choice.  Then he asks, would Mommy have spanked me if I acted that way with her?  So I have to say 'yes' because he knows she would have. And then he says he's going to raise me just the way Mommy would have wanted.  Now I really really feel sorry for the way I acted.  And I start crying and saying I'll be a good girl now and stuff like that and then Uncle Mark hugs me for a long time until I stop.  I  still felt sad and I still missed my parents and everything, but I didn't feel so alone as I did before.  So then I know maybe Uncle Mark isn't Santa Claus but he's not Freddie Kruger either.

    So I've been living with Uncle Mark for a week now and you know what?  He has already spanked me two whole times!  The other time all I did was forget to do the dumb old dishes.  It isn't fair!  I think I am too mature for spankings now.  I just want to be scolded and sent to my room or something like that.  Don't you think a great big 10 year old girl like me is too old for a spanking?  Especially on her bare behind!

    If you think I am too old, Mr Handprince, please write to my Uncle Mark real soon and tell him!  Maybe he will listen to you because you are a grownup.  He sure won't listen to me!   He just says that if I'm a good girl every day he will never ever spank me.  How can I be good all the time?  That's too hard!  So please write back real fast and tell him before I get any more spankin's, okay?
 

                        Love and kisses,

                   Clara
 

P.S.  If you think I'm still not too old to spank please don't tell my Uncle Mark okay?  I don't want him to know another grownup agrees with him!