After breaking up a drunken brawl between Sub-Lieutenants Alex and Diego and seeing them off for punishment, Lieutenant Riley remembers his own brush with Commodore Coburn years earlier for a similar offense: one that included a solid dose of the slipper and cane.
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Normally, like many senior officers, the commodore considers condemning cocky crewmen to copious corporal correction colouring their clothless cur-cones crimson, to compel contrition, compliance and corrected conduct from cringing crew-kids, a crucial key competence of command, with precious perk to peek at poor penitent puerile puppies’ perky posteriors piously pantsed and perfectly-perilously presented for pitiless pantless-poop-pain-purple-painting-punishment, plus privacy-privated-private-parts-prominence-progression.
None of that in Riley’s raggedy case, which kind of kids Sir actually prefers delegating to his XO, alas on sick leave for a week, as this colourless cadet never gets up to any eventful trouble, suggesting neither guts nor imagination or sense of initiative required for a future officer, he had never considered joining the military if not a tenth generation legacy, being duller then an accountancy clerk, and about as athletic as that petty job requires, perhaps all he actually aspires, abhorring adventure, only never back-talked parental career guidance by decree.
Still, Riley gets dull but passing grades, while the commodore has a reputation no cadet ever graduates under him without a few floggings to recall all his naval career and XO has no reason to go beyond the dutiful dozens on dacks, so after starting with a sissy slippering, symbolic of his sincere disdain for spineless squirts, Sir switches to seriously scarlet-striping the stripped sissy-scoundrel-stern soundly, seeking a silly shambles-cause in supposedly regulations-contrary wardrobe, although Navy-issued underpants are provided, not obligatory, yet- Sir is adding a full dress code codicil to the academy rulebook, and has a great idea for further flailing: Riley won’t even think of back-talking being told he’s volunteering as demo subject for Sir to read each rule in next assembly and see administered the maximal punishment by his hand, XO’s or a representative of any other disciplinary authority.
Riley may never brag about the best-ever bare-butt beating he got, but(t) the rest of his class will ridicule him for it and amuse audiences in naval units on all ships and shores, bragging how their dreaded CO even found a flick to flail foremost the dullest dumbo in their year, most publicly, and the resulting unwritten rule was passed-on informally ever-after that giving no cause for CP at all is a capital cause for cruelly-copious-cones-cuts-covering without some naughty fun to actually deserve it for.