Free Ally and Jake by Laylah Roberts Page B

the room, this was followed quickly by a loud wail. Down one end of the room a boy/man was lying over a high stool, his legs wide apar t and his buttocks bare. An older woman stood behind him, a large paddle held in her hand. Slowly she raised her hand to bring it down on the boy ’ s quivering buttocks.
    “We usually hold the girls over our laps, but the boys need to go over the stool. So, any questions?” She turned to the men, ignoring the boy’s wails from behind her. Ally and Haley jumped with each sound of the paddle hitting the boy ’s buttocks and they turned to their daddies, clinging to them like limpets.
    “Now, now, enough of that.” Mrs Adamson briskly took hold of their hand s, and with a strength that belied her age, led them away out of the room and down the corridor. “We’ll see you tonight,” she called back to the two bemused men who watched them leave.
    “Well,” Jake turned to Seth. “I guess we better go.”
    Seth just shook his head. “I have a bad feeling about this my friend .”
    “I know. Me too.”
    *****
    “I hate this place,” Ally muttered as she played beside Haley in the sandpit. Haley looked over longingly at the swings and slides where the other kids played.
    “Me too,” she said kicking at the sand.
    “You can go play, Haley,” Ally said generously.
    “Nuh-uh, those kids are mean , ” Haley said.
    “I know. They called me a cry-baby , ” Ally said.
    “They called me a pee-baby.”
    Haley and Ally looked at each other and shared a brief grin. The trouble had all begun at lunchtime when Ally refused to eat her lunch. In front of all the other kids , one of the minders had pulled her over her lap, tugg ed down her training pants and begun spanking her. By the end of the spanking Ally was sobbing, sore and totally embarrassed, and once lunch had finished and they’d gone back out to play , Haley and Ally had gone from the ‘new kids’ to the butt of everyone’s jokes.
    “Why don’t we just sneak away? ” Haley whispered to Ally. Ally looked over at her in shock.
    “How?” she asked.
    “We wait for a moment when everyone is busy and then we sneak off. Then we’ll sneak back before our daddies come to pick us up. It’ll be perfect.”
    It sounded perfect. Ally nodded. “Okay.”
    Their moment came quicker than they thought. One of the children threw something at another child and soon there was a big figh t going on. A ll the minders rushed in to help . No one saw Haley and Ally sneak away and climb over the fence, or so they thought. One little boy saw them leave but decided to hold his tongue for the moment. After all, it was no fun if they got caught straight away.
    *****
    “We’re lost,” Haley said as she flopped down on the ground.
    “Uh-huh,” Ally agreed as she flopped beside her. “Why’d we decide to play in the trees?”
    “Seemed a good idea at the time,” Haley said. They’d wandered into the forest looking for the best place to set up a tree house; unfortunately they’d wandered too far and now had no idea where they were.
    “Think our daddies know we’re gone?” Ally asked, starting to feel a little frightened.
    “Don’t worry, I’ve been lost before, Daddy always finds me,” Haley’s voice was totally confident and Ally clasped her friend ’s hand as they sat in a patch of sunlight. But that small patch soon disappeared as evening hit and both girls grew more tired, cold and scared.
    It was just as Ally was starting to get seriously scared that she heard it. “Someone’s calling my name.” She nudged at Haley who’d been snuggling into her for warmth.
    “Huh?”
    The noise came again. “Here!” Ally called loudly. “We’re over here!”
    Both girls stood up now and begun yelling. The voices grew closer until two men in police uniforms crashed through the undergrowth. Ally had never been so pleased to see someone in her life.
    “Well, little girls, you have two very upset father’s looking for you,” the older