Free Domesticated by Jettie Woodruff

prodigious ship. My six-year-old excitement soared, even if I was told to wear the red boy shorts. I didn’t care. The ocean was majestic to me. I was fascinated by its magnitude.
    That may have been the longest five days of my life. I wasn’t expecting to get sea sick. Katie and I both were green from motion sickness. The only difference is, Katie got the medicine, I wasn’t allowed. Most of my time was spent in my bunk, curled in a little ball and trying to keep from throwing up again. It only made things worse when I had to clean it up. Drown the thought at sea to make it easy on me with a trashcan. Watching me clean it up was more fun.
    I didn’t really get to enjoy the trip like I had hoped. I did see a dolphin, and a fin I was sure was a shark, through my little round window. I’m sure I lost five pounds that week. Stale saltine crackers seemed to be the only thing my sea stomach could handle. One good thing about it was I was alone most of the time. I didn’t have to deal with Adriana until she brought sleepy Katie in to sleep in her custom designed crib. She should have been out of the crib anyway by two, but the new baby coming in seven months explained that.
    The very last day on the yacht, my belly decided it would tolerate the waves. I woke feeling better than I had since my feet hit the wooden deck. I was famished and managed to keep down oatmeal and toast. My father was locked away inside with the air conditioning, working. I would bet my pinky finger he was there the entire week. I spent the entire day on the bow, pretending to be a pirate looking for sunken treasure.
    It wasn’t until I went to bed that night that I received my first spanking that week. I wasn’t being a lady when we ate supper. I was begging for attention from my father when I asked a million questions about the ocean, what lay beneath it, and if he thought there really could be buried treasure. I was a normal, excited six-year-old little girl that night, and my daddy happily told me about the treasure of Lima. It was buried by pirates on Cocos Island, somewhere in the Pacific.
    “Can we take our boat there?” I asked.
    “Maybe we already did, while you were sleeping your trip away,” Adriana meddled her nose in the conversation, using her fake ass tone. I really couldn’t help it. I wanted to make her look stupid. She was stupid.
    “Doubtful,” I said, turning my attention back to my father. “Can we, Dad?”
    “I don’t know. I think maybe we did pass a little island. I bet that was Cocos Island,” The dumb bitch continued, not about to let my father have a conversation with me.
    “What ocean is this?” I asked, wishing I could take it back. She didn’t know. Adriana was the exception to the rule. My father never met her at Yale, she didn’t come from good stock, and she wasn’t the same class as we were. She was the help. She had to try harder to fit the role.
    “Adriana knows we’re in the Atlantic. That’s a silly question. Eat your pasta,” My father ordered. The fire coming from Adriana’s eyes warned me of what to expect. I, of course, was right.
    She was sitting on my bed when I came in from my one and only shower the whole trip. I’m not sure where Katie was, probably with one of the maids. Adriana pushed herself back and raised her arms with a glare.
    “What?” I feigned ignorance.
    “You think you’re smart? You like making me look like an idiot in front of your father? Lay across my lap, Sewer Rat. I’m going to show you who is in control here. I promise. It’s not you.”
    Taking a deep breath, I walked toward the inevitable and lay across her lap, taking the slaps from her hand on my bare ass like a trooper. I didn’t cry, though. I used the blows to count how many times my father and I had to shovel sand to get to the treasure. Pretending I was somewhere else always helped with the spankings.
    I jumped when Sam poured more wine into my glass, startling me from my sore bottom.
    “Sorry, just