"Can we trust the boy's? They are a little crazy."
"Didn't you see her tonight! She knew what she was doing. I'll bet the boys have taught her everything and we have never heard her complain. I think she is ready for wednesday church."
"Well maybe. But I am going to tell her not to volunteer for anything."
"Yeah it won't hurt if she just watches the first night."
Wednesday finally came. Naturally I was dying of curiosity since it was just for "adults".
Mom had me put on my best dress which was a little short and tight around the chest as I had grown up and out so fast. She had me bend over and said my panties didn't show. She unbuttoned the top three buttons on my dress. I was a little embarrassed to go out in public that way as my new bra was so low cut even though there was a lot of cleavage the bra didn't show. I said,
"Mom it looks like I am not wearing a bra. The men will stare at me."
"They will stare anyway honey, Just because you are so pretty. As soon as you move and your breasts don't shake they will know you are wearing one."
I was proud that she thought I was pretty and decided not to get shy when they looked.
We didn't go to the church for the wednesday night service. I found they held it in the barn behind the preachers house.
The place was more like a stage than a church. There were metal chairs for us to sit on while the preacher stood on a stage behind a podium with curtains behind him.
The preacher did his usual hellfire and damnation sermon stressing the need to please God by children minding their parents and wives being obedient to their husbands. I had heard it all before on sundays and was getting a little bored until he wound up the sermon by saying.
"I know there are those out there that have been disobedient or have offended our Lord. Who will be the first to be saved from eternity in Hell."
In a few moments a woman I didn't know stood up and said,
"Preacher, I bumped my shin the other day and spoke the Lords name in vain."
"What did you say, sister?"
"Jesus Christ, that hurt. Sir."
"Alright come up here to atone for your sins."
My boredom vanished as she went up on the stage and started taking off her clothes. Meanwhile the preacher moved the podium to one side and opened the curtains. When the curtains opened there was an "X" shaped frame with cuffs on the ends of the X. There was a big wheel with cuffs on it I deduced could turn the person upside down. There were chains with cuffs coming from the ceiling.
The thing I didn't recognize was a "T" shaped thing with a big hole in the center and two smaller holes at the end of the horizontal plank. My mom told me later it was called the stocks.
When the woman was naked he led her over to the stocks and I saw the vertical upright was adjustable. He opened the top part of the horizontal plank and had her put her neck and wrists in the hole then locked it back down. Then he lowered the thing so she was bent at a 90 degree angle.
He then called out to the audience. "What say you to this sinner?"
Men began calling out numbers from five to forty while the preacher made marks in a tablet he was holding. When everyone who wanted to had called out a number he said.
"Most of you feel twenty will achieve atonement."
Then he picked out one of the men in the audience and waved him up on the stage.
My mom explained later that after sunday service the preacher drew names out of a box to decide who would mete out the punishment the next wednesday. This guaranteed good attendance because if the man was not there when his name was called they would draw another name.
They turned the stock around so her big round butt was facing the audience. This all took some time. I could see the waiting was getting to the woman as she was rubbing her legs together. The man who had been picked started paddling her butt with a big wood paddle.That didn't seem very hard but her butt jumped with each one causing her to squeal and when it was over her butt was really red. When it was over the audience applauded in congratulation for being saved. She had tears in her eyes but was smiling as she stood there naked enjoying the applause. I began to think that a great deal of glory was involved. If they applauded that hard for a few spanks that I thought were next to nothing they would raise the rafters when they saw what I could withstand.
When they turned her loose she didn't go back to her chair. They took her over to the back wall and tied her to some hooks above her head. She seemed proud of herself and kept her legs open so nothing would be hidden.
Some more women admitted to what I thought were very minor infractions that got them some swats with the paddle and occasionally lashes with a riding quirt. All of them were to their butt or legs and I actually was hoping for more. I had decided to confess to something just for the thrill of being naked in front of all those people. I finally decided to confess to skipping school. Considering the other sins that should get me a whipping.
As I started to stand up Mom grabbed me and pulled me back in my seat saying,
"Just sit still. You don't know what you are letting yourself in for. It gets worse. If you still want to confess next time I won't stop you."
Just then a girl about two years older than me I knew from school stood up and stole my glory by admitting she had skipped school. I didn't think that was too awful a sin, but the preacher seemed outraged saying,
"Girl. You could be working to help support the family. Your folks are good enough to let you go to school and this is the way you show your gratitude."
When she was naked and I was comparing her body to mine the preacher called out for numbers. The lowest number I heard was twenty and a few called for fifty. The preacher announced most of the votes were for thirty.
The girl must have had second thoughts as she saw the preacher pick up the whip to be used as she struggled and was crying "No" as they lifted her up from the floor with her wrist cuffs attached to the chains.
I looked from her to take another look at the whip the preacher handed to the next whipper. I had never seen anything like it and it did look nasty. It consisted of nine tightly braided leather boot strings with knots on the ends.
They turned the girl so her back was to us and when I saw the first lash I was really grateful my mom had stopped me. It turned her back red for the whole four inch wide area it hit and left dark red polka-dots on her back for each knot. All of them hit her back, butt and upper legs. My least favorite area to have punished. She screamed at the top of her lungs on the first one and continued to scream at each slowly spaced lash till she became hoarse.
She fainted at the end and they carried her back stage. Most likely to treat her wounds as some of them were bleeding.
I had decided I would not confess to anything when something interesting came up.
A young woman with a great body stood up and confessed that she had missed her husband when he was out of town and had masturbated. I didn't even know this was a sin but the preacher had her come up on the stage.
Then she was naked, displaying her thirty-six, twenty-one, thirty-five body. The preacher stood behind her and lifted and fondled her left breast.
"Did you play with this, Dear."
"Oh yes," she moaned."
Then he picked up her right breast and sunk his fingers in it till you could only see the tops of his fingers.