Juvenalas Penitatas
Chapter 20 – A Stay At Home Day

In the Dafron household, the two young penitatas sat lamenting the unfairness of the world, languishing at the tail end of a Sunday afternoon. Soon it would be bedtime, and tomorrow would see them back to school; for now, there was nought to do but think on what might have been.
“I really wish Kost and Bubbles could have come round,” Talek's words were punctuated by the soft thud of a rubber ball striking the nearest wall, then rolling back to him.
From her beanbag, Rilka shrugged. “Just the way it goes, Talcum. If we're not misbehaving, our friends probably are. It's a miracle we get to hang out with anyone at all!”
Thud-bump. Thud-bump. The ball arched to the wall, bounced off at a downward angle, and bounced on the floor. The carpet bled most of its momentum. This time he had to fetch it. “We've not been getting into that much trouble lately.”
A smirk formed over Rilka's cream-scaled snout. “You will be if you keep throwing that at the wall! I bet dad's on his way up right now to-” her head snapped around as a parent appeared in the corner of her vision. Talek let out an anxious little whine, but there was no sign of disapproval in Shon's expression.
“Come on, you two! Bed time!” The boy's brief fears were dispelled in an instant as he hurried over to be put through the evening routine. The pair were undressed and scrubbed in warm, soapy bath water, potty needs tended to, and then they were pyjama'd and tucked into bed. A safe, and comfortable end to the week.
Alas, the morning that followed was anything but routine; having relieved himself and headed to the wardrobe to receive the day's clothes, Liki softly called his name and pointed to the door, “head on downstairs and wait at the table. Rilka will join you in a moment.”
The dread of yesterday returned. Anxiously fidgeting with the hem of his blue pyjama top, the Karrian boy padded downstairs and took his proper seat. Rilka descended in warm winter clothes to shield her from the unexpected overnight chill. Breakfast, thankfully, was a return to the much-welcomed old affair of cereal instead of Healthy Choice slop. When the bowls were cleaned, Liki's commanding finger thrust towards the stairs. “You go put yourself back in bed, Talek. Make sure you stay there until we come fetch you.”
Soft huffs escaped the boys pursing lips as he shuffled away from the table, cursing his luck inwardly. It seemed impossible for him to catch a break! There was always something to leave him sore and miserable; his teacher would deem him 'inattentive' in class and paddle him in front of everyone, or he'd become distracted by play and forget to do a chore that was asked of him, or not do it to the expected standard. Rarely, though not never, he would be spanked for no reason – an 'unearned' like Rilka and his hard-time friends received. Those were at least few and far between. He still hadn't decided what he'd done wrong by the time he reached his bed and crawled back under the covers, choosing to cuddle a pillow for a little extra physical and emotional support while he waited for whatever curse lay ahead.
Time rolled on. The shadows behind the curtains gave way to a stifled brightness, sunlight leaking through around the edges of the window. Rilka and Liki would be most of the way to school by now.
The boy rolled over and tried to sleep, as there seemed little else to do. It wasn't easy, having just woken from a restful night, so he turned to thinking about his friends and the missed opportunities for adventure; their little gaming group had left off on the edge of the poisonous waters of Blightbog, preparing to face the Eyeless Cyclops of Globgurgle. He tried to recall any little detail they might have missed, working through mental checklists of adventuring gear and magic potions they had amassed thus far. He so badly wanted to face that monster! The time spent at their gaming table was some of the happiest he'd known in Northrock, topped only by the more 'mature' pleasures he was sometimes allowed to enjoy with Rilka or Isabelle.
After what felt like hours of restlessness, his mother's snout appeared at the hallway window with a smile. The door opened, and at long last a claw beckoned him out of bed. “Come along now, time to help your mother with her chores.”
A shudder ran down Talek's spine at the c-word, but he was wise enough to hold his protests. He watched, sullen, as Liki brought in an assortment of cleaning tools and placed them near the bath space. “I'd like you to give everything a good scrub – sink, toilet, bath, the walls and the floor. Just your bathroom, the rest of the room is for later.”
“Yes, mom,” the boy acknowledged the instructions, though he let her head back upstairs before he set to work. Forefront in his mind as he set about brushing, scrubbing and polishing was the inherent unfairness of the primitive methods he had to use; back home in Newfounding the act of cleaning the bathroom would be handled by a maintenance drone, or if not, at least by using modern equipment. But in Northrock, cleaning had to be done with archaic brushes and sponges.
Although the bathroom was reasonably clean already, Talek wasn't going to skip an inch. That was how they got you – even if somewhere looked clean, you had to scrub it as if it were filthy. So scrub he did; he buffed the taps to a mirror sheen, scrubbed every inch of porcelain, polished every single panel until his arms ached. Then he had to deal with the floor. When it was all over, the boy dared to take himself over to the ever-comfy beanbag chair and flop into it, sighing as the little beads rearranged to better support him. Yet he found only a few minutes of respite there before Liki came to inspect his work.
“You've done a good job,” she said with a smile. “Sorry for disappearing all morning, but I've had some important calls to make. Thanks to you, I'm only a little behind schedule!”
The boy was waved over and steered downstairs. It took little imagination to guess what lay in store; more chores. “we'll start in the kitchen and work backwards,” Liki announced, the subtle bounce in her step almost like she were jolting herself into action. Talek at least took some comfort in not being alone this time; his mother put just as much effort in as he did. He was tasked with cleaning the bowls, plates, cups and cutlery left over from breakfast; then the surfaces were wiped and the floor mopped; both mother and child worked through one task after the next, working steadily through the monotonous routine of cleaning each and every corner of the downstairs. Halfway through vacuuming the living room, Shon came home with a sour look upon his face. Talek watched anxiously as his parents conspired together in whispered conversation. When they parted, Shon strode directly toward the boy. “Come help me outside, your mother can finish in here.”
By this point, Talek's mind was racing; Shon had returned to work after his stint as a stay-at-home dad, so having him back left the lizard boy fearing for his scales. What had he done wrong? Why wouldn't they tell him why he was being punished today? The questions persisted as he stepped out into the garden, dressed warmly in anticipation for whatever came next.
“We've been neglecting the garden,” Shon announced. He walked to the corner of the garden and tapped the raised corner of a paving flag with his boot. “We're going to have to take this up and see what's underneath. You wait here while I grab some tools.”
Talek merely nodded, keeping his questions to himself. He wasn't much for gardening, but there was a certain liberty in dumb labour; if you focused on the job in front of you, and let your muscles do the thinking for you, it was much easier to blot out the intrusive fears and anxieties over what might come next. It was hard work to pry the square of stone out of position, but thankfully Shon was the one to lift it clear. The culprit was a tree root that had grown under the fence. It fell to Talek to dig around it and uncover as much as he could before Shon hacked it out with an axe. The serpent-like intruder went much deeper than expected; by the time father and son had dug every last piece out both were tired and hungry, but food had to wait until the paving was reset correctly. “Funny how a simple looking job can turn into a right hassle, don't you think?” Shon asked.
The boy nodded along, more focused on his growling stomach. Perhaps Shon heard the noise, because he immediately smiled and added, “let's go wash up and grab some grub. Your sister will be home before you know it!”

Only two green lizards sat to eat at the dining table; Liki was once again preoccupied. Her absence bothered Talek, as he couldn't help but assume it had something to do with this day's mystery punishment. They'd already had him working all morning and well past his usual lunchtime – what more could they want to put him through? He finally cracked, summoning the courage to outright ask, “What did I do wrong?”
“When?” Shon asked in reply.
“Whenever it was you decided I deserved a punishment day,” the boy said.
Shon's brow furrowed. “You think you're being punished today?”
“Well, you've had me doing chores all day,” he answered, but doubt was creeping into his tone.
“Chores need doing every day, Talek. I know you don't think they do, but they do. Honestly, we're both surprised how well you've worked; you and Rilka are normally the 'quick and sloppy' types when it comes to housework.”
An embarrassed blush formed on the boy's face. “I was trying extra hard so I didn't earn any more punishments.”
“So you need extra 'encouragement' to do your best?” Talek flinched at his father's words. “That's what being a Penny is, Talek. We're trying to change your behaviour for the better. If that means we need to be pushing you harder, then push harder we will.”
A frusted little huff slipped from Talek's snout. The idea he'd just made life worse through his own stupid words gnawed at him, but also distracted him from the fact Shon had risen from his chair. He jumped at the unexpected touch on his shoulder. “Speaking of punishments, young man, I want you to come into the living room.”
That was the last straw. Talek's anxiety and frustration bubbled up into a sob, the nine-year-old unable to keep from breaking at the idea of being spanked on top of how tired he was from the day's chores. Shon calling for Liki to bring down the tail strap earned a second bout of blubbering as he trotted over to where his father sat, offering no resistance as his pants were pulled down to his ankles as he was set over a parental lap.
“This won't be as bad as you think,” Shon assured him. Talek felt his father's paw rest on his rear, giving his cheek a soft squeeze before rising up and slapping back against his light green scales. Quick and fierce, Talek barely had time to recentre himself when the next smack landed dead centre of his rear. He didn't try to hold back his yelps of pain; his parents were all too familiar with what they sounded like, and crying out helped cope with the spanking.
But as soon as it had started, it was over. Just four hard slaps on his rear, and then nothing. That barely counted as a warm-up! Yet the sight of the tail strap brought him back into despair, suspecting this was the real punishment they had in store. He clenched his eyes shut as Liki took hold of his tail and straightened it, then flinched at the whoosh of that evil piece of short, narrow leather. It cracked against the base of his tail and send a molten wave of hot agony through his entire body, even his fingers twitching and tingling at the strike. He arched his head up and howled, tears streaking from his eyes as the strap cracked a second line over the first, the delay between them just long enough that the first sting had lost its raw edge, only to be reignited twice as badly by the repetition.
And, again, that's all there was. Four smacks and two straps later, Talek was being cuddled by his father, sobbing into the man's shoulder. “Come on now, it can't have hurt that badly,” Shon whispered to him. Talek tried to answer, but after a pair of false starts he was shushed into silence.
When he'd calmed a little more, Shon said to him, “now do you believe me when I say today wasn't a punishment day?”
“Y-yes,” he whimpered back.
“We can be merciful too, as needed,” he added, alluding to the light spanking Talek had received. “What was it that made you believe this was a punishment day?”
“You kept me home...”
Shon nodded. “Fair enough. But we've kept you and Rilka home for other reasons before, haven't we? Why assume the worst?”
Talek had no answer to that, at least not right away. He stewed quietly for a few minutes before finding his train of thought. “It seems like there's something going on. Something you've not told me.”
“There's always a lot going on we don't tell you about,” Shon answered. There was a subtle force to his words. “Penitatas are kept out of the loop for a reason.”
“But you kept me home on purpose, right?” Talek probed his father as he would a loose tooth – compelled to be curious, yet dreading a sharp jolt of pain.
“Yes, we did. I would like you not to press the matter any further, Talek. Please.”
The boy's head hung low, quietly, albeit reluctantly accepting his father's will, but an olive branch was extended as Shon said, “Why don't we sit and watch the holo together for a while? Any leftover chores will keep.”
Relief radiated off of Talek's little green snout. Smiling, he followed his parent to the living room and settled onto the sofa, accepting a parental arm around him that pulled him close to Shon's side as they watched cartoons together, and the animated antics scared off Talek's lingering doubts.
Liki descended partway through the second episode. “Seems Talek won't be needed today,” she announced.
Both males glanced over, but only Shon spoke. “All done then?”
“From our end, yes.”
Shon's gaze lowered to Talek. The boy didn't have to speak to express his burning need to know what was going on. With a sigh, Shon paused the holo screen and gave all his focus to his Penny son. “Alright, we'll bring you up to speed. There's been an investigation into your little incident at the boundary. The Watchdog should never have allowed you to cross it, and we've been trying to figure out how it happened. I've personally gone over the device in question, and there was evidence of tampering.”
“Tampering?” Talek parroted.
His father nodded. “You know full well the kind of thing a penitatas might try in order to escape Northrock. What you might not have thought about is what happens outside; crime families try to spring members, or sometimes a vengeful victim wants to take justice into their own claws. People have tried to subvert the Watchdogs before, and they'll do so again. Don't think you're under suspicion!” he added quickly, seeing the rising panic in Talek's features.
“W-why would someone want to come after me though?” he blurted out.
“We don't think it was meant for you. Our working theory is that someone rigged the Watchdog so that another Penny could be assigned to it and use its lax settings to flee town. Believe me, Talek, there's no nasty surprise waiting for you at the end of all this. You've just been the unfortunate victim of bad luck, that's all.”
The boy hung his head, his butterfly-laden stomach unwilling to accept the answer so readily. As he mulled over his thoughts, Shon hugged him close once more. “Talek, it's okay. We'll get to the bottom of this, and we'll seal the cracks. This sort of thing has been going on forever.”
“Like with Jalia,” he mumbled, and felt his father stiffen.
“Yes. Like her. I promise you, hand on heart, you weren't being used in any way this time. We... we both regret how that played out.”
“It's true,” Liki confirmed.
With a sigh, Talek nuzzled up against his father. “I'd rather not have to use a Watchdog for a while.”
“Not a problem.”
“And... can we finish watching our cartoons?”
The request earned him a soft chuckle. “I'll have to go fetch Rilka soon anyway,” Liki announced.
“Then I guess the holo's ours until she gets home,” Shon answered, and Talek let himself smile again. Soon enough, all thoughts of nefarious actors faded, and all that mattered were the animated action heroes on the projected screen.