"So, what do you think?"

The man was probably about 50 years old, his hair turning gray. He wore a work shirt that had a patch for "Saf-Lok Service" on the sleeve. He was sizing up one of the most unusual safes he'd seen in his career.

"Damned if I know," he finally replied.

The woman, Alice, was young, mid-twenties. She was wearing a loose sundress and was standing impatiently while waiting for the man's advice.

"What the hell do you mean? They told me you were the best. Can you open the damn thing or not?"

The man, whose name was apparently "John", as noted by the other patch on his shirt, nodded. "Well, sure, I mean, I can get in there eventually. But it's going to take some doing. I mean, where the hell's the combo?"

Alice sighed. She had hoped to avoid telling the story, to avoid further embarrassment, but that was not to be. She walked over to the "safe" and pointed to two odd, rounded indentations.

"This is the combination." She knew the man wouldn't understand, and sure enough he gave her a quizzical look.

"It's geared to my posterior. I sit here, the vault figures out whether it's my butt, and gives me 5 gold coins, worth about $1500 at today's prices. I can do it once a day."

The man raised his eyebrow. "Well that don't sound too bad. I'd sit down for $1500 a day."

"That's not all. I have to be, well, my butt has to be red, and hot. I have to have gotten a spanking."

The man's eyebrow went even higher. Alice sighed again.

"My husband, god rest his soul, designed this vault for me."

"I know who your husband was. I worked with him about 20 years ago." John said.

"Well, good. He liked spanking me, and thought I liked it as well. I did it to keep him happy, I mean, he as in his seventies, right? But instead of just leaving me his money when he died, he set this thing up. It checks the heat and color of my butt, and it has to be in a range that shows I've been spanked. Then it coughs up the coins."

"Can't you just hire someone who don't mind being spanked?"

"It has to be my butt, and it only works once a day."

"Well, hell, this is going to be a bitch to crack. He could really design safes. The kind you want to give crooks a run for the money."

"I understand all that, I just want to know if you can open it up."

The man sized up the vault again. "Well, I reckon I can get in there eventually. Gonna to be a bitch, and it ain't gonna cheap."

The woman smiled, a bit of hope lighting her face. "I won't be able to actually pay you until you get it open."

"Well, I don't know about that, ma'am. I got costs up front and equipment to rent and all."

She sighed yet again. She was hoping it wouldn't come to this. "Let me show you how it works," she told John. She went over to the indentions on the safe, pulled up her dress and sat down. The curves fit her bottom precisely. The vault spoke.

"Alice has not achieved the correct color.  Please try again!" it said in her former husband's voice.

"Now, come over to this chair and sit down," She told John. He obliged.

"Now, I want you to spank me, pretty hard, for about fifty swats," she told him, preparing to lay across his lap.

"Hey, now wait a minute, missy. I got a wife and all, and I don't get into any kinky stuff."

"I'm only asking you to spank me, not screw me. I have to be spanked to get the coins. Trust me, I don't like this any more than you."

"Well, I don't know about this. I suppose if that's the only way the coins come out, it's like part of my job." Alice sighed again. She was doing a lot of that lately. She lay down across his lap and pulled her dress up. She was not wearing panties.

John gave her a swat. "Harder, you have to put some muscle into it. It's got to be very red and hot, trust me. I've been doing this for years so you're not going to hurt me."

He tried again, and she said, "Better." He began hitting her harder, and she told him to try harder still. The sound of slapping echoed in the room. After about ten blows, she told him, "That's good, now about fifty of those."

John shook his head as she began counting, hoping this would not get back to his wife, who would whoop him like this if she found out.

John had fairly strong arms, but he was getting tired by the time he got to fifty. Alice got up off his lap and went over the to safe again. She lifted her dress again, sat in the depressions and waited. A green light flashed.  "Thank you Alice, you always were a good girl!" Five gold coins fell into a receptacle. Alice got up from her embarrassing position and retrieved the coins. She walked over and showed one to John.

"Keep it, as a down payment. Although I'd prefer if you could melt it down so it didn't have the picture on the back." He turned it over and there was a picture of a woman bearing a striking resemblance to Alice, being spanked. On the front was her husband.

John looked at the safe and back at the coin and shook his head. "All right. I can start next week."

Alice frowned. She was hoping he could start sooner but she'd take what she could get. "How long do you think it's going to take?" she asked.

"Can't rightly say, but I'd guess a week, maybe longer. Your husband could really design these, you know."

Alice thought about her finances. A week without the coins would be pushing it, she wasn't sure she could maintain the house and all if the flow of coins was cut off. On the other hand, surely she could get credit for that long? And maybe the vault would still work while John was cutting into it.

"Okay," she said finally. "Give me a call when you're ready to start."

"Will do. Oh, and lady, I ain't gonna be able to, you know, spank you like that no more."

"Trust me, that's what I'm trying to avoid as well."

She showed John out of the large house. Her large house. Her large and expensive house, that took a lot of money to keep up. So she'd have to continue to have someone spank her for at least two more weeks. Or maybe not. She had a few ideas about that.

---

Cooper and Alice were in the cellar where the vault was located. Alice was preparing something and Cooper was curious.

"So, if you have this, then why do I need to be here?"

"First, I'm not sure it's going to work, so I need a back up. Second, for moral support."

"Well, I don't know about that. You're trying to circumvent dad's wishes here."

"Come on, Cooper. I tried hard to keep your father happy. He wanted to spank me, I let him. But this is just cruel and unusual. Do you know how long it's been since I've sat down for any length of time? Or worn pants,for christsakes. I can't take a vacation, because I have to be around here. And besides you, I don't have anyone else to spank me. The butler did it once and after that refused. I thought about asking the maid, but I don't think she's strong enough. Should I hire someone? How much do I pay them to come everyday and spank me?"

"All right, all right, I agree. I think dad might have gone a little overboard here."

"And what if I get fat or skinny or something, and it doesn't recognize me any more. What then?"

"I said I agreed."

"You're right. Sorry. And thanks."

Alice had another motive for asking Cooper over yet again. While he had become a very good - that is, hard - spanker, he was also pleasant company otherwise. And even when he was spanking her, Cooper would touch her in ways that her husband, Cooper's father, never did. Alice wondered if Cooper himself realize that his free hand would wander, rubbing her back, caressing her side. He never did anything overtly sexual, but it was pleasing to Alice all the same.

Alice had tried to find someone else to give her spankings. She wondered who her husband had thought might do it. Cooper said he understood her problem, and didn't mind coming by to help her out until she came up with a better solution. Alice had asked her butler once, and managed to talk him into spanking her.

"If you don't do it, then I won't be able to pay you this week!" she'd said. The butler had reluctantly acquiesced but said it would be only that once. Alice had no idea how to go about getting someone to come every day to spank her, and figured it would cost a bit, cutting into her funds.

She'd called Cooper frantic one night. "It's getting late and I can't get anyone. If I don't do it soon, I'll lose today's allotment of coins." Cooper had agreed to come over, and had been coming every night since, for about two weeks.

Alice had tried a few other times to use a heating pad, or makeup, or even spank herself with a paddle. None of them had worked so far. She had finally managed to contact a male prostitute who said he would do it, but his price was almost as much as one of her coins would bring her. She wasn't ready for that yet. If this attempt didn't work, she had something more drastic in mind.

Cooper watched her for a minute. "What is it you're doing?"

"I'm sitting on a heating pad. After that, I have some rouge makeup to brush on."

"I see," Cooper replied, shaking his head. Alice sat for a few more minutes.

"I think that's hot enough." She bent over and lifted her skirt. She had a mirror propped up in the chair and attempted to brush the rouge over her buttocks. The awkward position made it hard, and Cooper laughed at her antics. She gave him a raspberry and continued until she was finally satisfied. She went to the vault and sat in the appropriate depressions.

"Alice has not achieved the correct color.  Please try again!" it told her.

"Damn, this isn't going to work. I've already tried this a few other times. The heating pads don't heat it up the right way." She sighed, it was becoming a habit. "Could you please...?" she asked.

Cooper went over and removed the heating pad and mirror from the chair and sat down. Alice lay across his lap. "You know," he said, spanking her fiercely, "I think this is improving my tennis game."

"Ha - ow - ha," she replied. After he did fifty swats, she went and sat back on the vault's "seat", and was rewarded with five gold coins. "Thank you Alice, you always were a good girl!" the vault told her.

"Well, there you go, another day's worth. And, uh, speaking of vacations, I'm going to be out of town next week, sorry." He thought she might be upset he wouldn't be around to spank her. Instead she was smiling as she rubbed her sore butt.

"That's okay. I think I can manage. Besides, it won't be a problem soon. I've called in a safe-cracker."

"Oh, really? I don't know, dad was pretty good at these things," Cooper said, waving his hand toward the vault.

"I know, but the guy is John Wilkins, from Saf-Lok. He thinks he can get in."

Cooper though about the name. "Seems like I've heard that name before. I think he might have worked for dad a long time ago."

Alice smiled. "That's what he said. He should have some insight about how your old man did things." She didn't notice Cooper watching her rub her butt and finally lower her dress, or if she did, she didn't think anything of it. He'd seen practically naked, and spanked her many times. She trusted Cooper.

"Say, since you're here, can I make you some coffee or a sandwich or something?"

"Don't you mean, have James do it?" She punched him in the arm.

"Hey! Just because I'm this rich, pampered girl your dad kept, doesn't mean I don't know my way around a kitchen. Besides, my coffee is a lot better than James's is." She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Just don't tell him I said that. He gets kind of touchy about that kind of stuff."

"Well, that sounds fine. Coffee, and, well, you wouldn't happen to have any pie?"

"I think there's some apple pie in the fridge. Let's go check." She hooked her arm in his and they went up the stairs.

---

"I'd like to remind you that I expect you both to be discrete about this," Alice said. She was talking to John Wilkins and his assistant while rubbing her freshly spanked rear. She was a bit annoyed that the assistant, whose name was apparently "Joe", was grinning, and sported an obvious hard-on. Joe had been the one who spanked her.

"We need to hear the inner workings of this thing," John had said. They had a bunch of equipment in the room, making it hard to get around. Much of it was microphones, attached to many spots on the vault. John told Alice that she needed to activate the vault, and for that she needed to be spanked. Joe had offered to help out in that regard. At first, Alice suspected Joe was just along so that he could feel her up and get some kicks, but he seemed to know what he was doing with all the equipment, so Alice let him spank her.

There wasn't anyone else she could get to do it right then anyway. Cooper was out of town, and her butler James had quit just a few days before.

"I never minded the master's eccentricities, but I don't wish to take part in them myself," he had told her rather haughtily. She actually hadn't minded too much, it gave her a little more money to use everyday, most of which went to help Wilkins rent some high-tech equipment.

Bending over a computer screen, John Wilkins spoke to her without looking back. "You can trust us to be discrete, ma'am. Joe here won't tell anyone. If'n he does, I'll whoop the boy's ass worse'n he did yours."

"I promise I won't tell anyone, miss. Doubt anyone would believe me if I did," Joe offered.

"Well, good," Alice said. "You certainly have a strong arm. Almost as strong as my deceased husband's."

Joe was unsure whether it had been a compliment or not, so he returned to his work. The two of them were doing things she didn't understand, so she left them and went upstairs to get a soda, taking her newly earned gold coins with her.

John Wilkins had told her that today would probably only be spent finding facts. She told them to do whatever they needed to. They were considering busting down parts of the walls. Actually, they might have to dig out around the vault, since it was buried in the ground.

Wilkins had not spent the last week idle. He'd researched the type of safes and vaults Alice's husband had made. He was looking for patterns in design, and believed he had a good idea of what was inside this one. While never having designed another one that required a spanking to open it, the old man had done similar dispensing type vaults before.

Wilkins had already ruled out trying to use brute force and blow the vault open. There was too much likelihood that the house above would be damaged as well. Drilling with a diamond drill, then using limited charges to make a hole inside seemed to be the best bet so far. He was trying not to damage the mechanisms of the safe too much, so that even if it took him a few days to work, the safe could still be used.

Alice leaned against the kitchen counter nursing her soda. She'd had lunch with the maid and a pleasant conversation. The older woman had worked for the her husband for some time, and had hinted that she might retire in a year or so. The old man had actually provided for that and so Alice would not have to worry about any retirement benefits for the long-time maid. The maid had been a little sad to see the butler go - it meant a little more work for her until a new butler could be found - but she'd never been all that friendly with him.

Alice was now alone in the kitchen. She thought back on her marriage. It had actually been a pretty good marriage. He treated her wonderfully. He had worked her up to the level of spankings they had done. She'd never gotten used to them, but could at least stand them, and she accepted them because she really cared about him, not for the eventual reward. Of course, she was attracted to him because of his money, but she eventually discovered he was a nice guy, and she enjoyed their time together. Her tears at his passing were genuine.

Nevertheless, that didn't mean she wanted to put up with daily spankings for the rest of her life.

---

John Wilkins and his assistant, Joe, sat at one end of the large dining room table, papers spread out before them. Alice stood nearby. It kind of bugged John that she never sat, until he realized that it was probably pretty painful for her to do that.

"Well," Wilkins told her, "it ain't pretty." He pointed to the papers. There were graphs and charts, detailed drawings, and analysis of their findings. "It's built damn well, and the old man knew what he was doing. The upshot is this. We're going to have to drill into 'er and then plant some explosives. It will take the front off, and we should be able to get to the mechanism inside. It's a pretty damn big vault, have to be to hold a hundred and fifty thousand gold coins. Must go down into the ground a ways. In any case, we blow the front off."

"I sense a 'however' coming," Alice said.

"Well, ma'am, it's gonna take us like a day for each hole we drill. And we don't know that the drilling ain't gonna brake something inside. She might stop working after the first hole. It ain't gonna be pleasant to be in the house while the drilling is going on either. Drill's going to make a hell of a racket."

"But then after you drill, you blow it open and we've got the gold, right."

"As near as we can tell, yeah. Might be say another day of work, cleaning things up enough to get inside. And there's going to be a bit of damage to that room down there, and I can't say that it ain't going to weaken the floor above it. We're gonna have to take a bunch of precautions."

"Well, I say go for it. I can last four or five days for this kind of payoff."

"We'll go get the drill then and get started tomorrow, then." Wilkins got up and collected his papers together.

"Um, before you go, uh, do you think Joe could, well, you know," Alice muttered.

"Well, I suppose so, ma'am," Joe said, trying not to seem too eager.

He and Alice headed down to the vault, Alice bracing for yet another sore butt.

---

They had not been lying about the noise. The drill created a high-pitched whine that was impossible to ignore, and could not be escaped anywhere in the house. Alice let the maid take the week off. If she had to go to the house she wore protection over her ears. She learned from Wilkins that after a day of drilling, he thought his estimates were the same. She was also was both happy and sad that the drilling had not yet seemed to have an affect on the vault. As far as they could tell it still worked. There was, of course, only one way to find out. Joe took his place in the chair, and Alice lay across his lap, trying to ignore his growing hard-on. Joe didn't have any finesse in his spanking, but he had force. Alice thought he was enjoying himself entirely too much.

After the second whole was drilled, and after another requisite spanking, the mechanism in the vault only gave out four coins. This concerned Alice a bit until John explained that it was actually a good sign, that they were affecting the safe. In fact, after a few minutes, the fifth coin tumbled out of the slot.

On the third day, a new sound played, and Wilkins didn't notice it until it was almost over. Luckily, it started again. He ran to get Alice so she could hear it.

The recording was her now-dead husband. "I though you might wait a little longer before resorting to this, but I figured it would probably come eventually. I'll bet you got John Wilkins to help you out. He's one of the best. Hello, John, if that's you. Anyway, I didn't realize that there were problems with my vault until after it was mostly built. I started to think about it, and realized it wasn't quite fair to you, Alice. But, even though I'd be dead, I wanted to see how long it would take you to get drastic.

"I've decided to save John, or whoever, the trouble of blowing the vault like they were going to. I know it's the only way to get in, and I had some sensors installed to test if anyone got this far. Instead, if Alice will sit in the depressions one last time, it'll unlock some bolts that will make it easier to take off the front. That way at least the house won't get damaged. Have a good life, Alice, and I hope you'll be thoughtful when spending your money. Try to give some to charity. I love you."

The recording started playing over yet again.

Alice was both elated and a bit saddened. But, she thought, just one more time. "The last time, Joe," she said, pointing to the chair. Joe nodded, his face neutral. He spanked her for the last time giving it all he could. Her butt glowed.

"Damn, I won't be able to sit for a week, Joe." Alice went over and sat into the depressions. The recording changed.

"You didn't need to get a spanking for this time, Alice, but thanks for humoring me one last time anyway."

That bastard, she thought. Then she started laughing, and John and Joe joined in.

A clicking noise could be heard inside the vault. Alice jumped up out of her seat and ran to the stairs, afraid of what might happen if the safe fell open. The door of the vault popped out a few inches. John and Joe moved their equipment out of the way and then pried open the door of the vault. "I'd say she's open now," John said.

Alice approached and looked inside at all the rows of shiny gold coins.

---

Cooper came up the driveway of the house and parked out front. He walked past an armored car with an armed guard standing beside it. Before he could get into the house he had to stop and wait for a guard that was carrying a heavy satchel. Inside, Cooper called out for Alice. She came out of the living room to greet him.

"Cooper, it's great to see you. I'm glad you could come by."

"So, I suppose you don't need your daily spankings any more?"

"Nope. Your dad actually opened it up after he realize that John Wilkins, safe-cracker extraordinaire was on the job. I called the bank and they sent a truck out to get the gold."

"My dad opened it up?"

"It was built in to the safe. I guess there were some kind of sensors to detect it being broken into."

"So I guess you're happy now."

"For sure. Your father planned for many contingencies. In fact, if I'd have just gone on with it, after six months I'd have gotten double my allotment. Still, it's obviously easier just to have it all. There's a CD with all his recordings on it, it's pretty neat to listen to. I'll loan it to you sometime."

"I'd like that. But actually, the reason I came by was to see if you wanted to go to lunch."

"I'd like to, but I need to stay and supervise this, and sign off on it. Then I need to go to the bank and take care of some things. Rain check?"

"Sure. Maybe next week, then. You take care."

"I'll see you later, Cooper."

---

It was almost a month before Cooper saw her again. She came into his offices just before lunch. She was wearing an expensive blouse and pants outfit that looked great on her. And she sat down when he offered her a chair, something he realized he probably had not seen her do much before that. Maybe not since his father had died. He also noticed that she didn't really seem to be wearing the clothes to show off. Rather she just looked comfortable in them.

"I'm sorry I've not been available lately. There were more things than I realized that I needed to take care of. I kind of got caught up for a while."

"That's okay. I've been a little busy as well."

"I had heard you retired? You don't look retired."

Cooper laughed. "Semi-retired. I'm more or less a type-A person, but I wanted to cut back on my responsibilities and have a bit more fun. I don't have to be in the office very often. You're lucky you caught me here.

"Actually, luck had nothing to do with it. I asked your secretary to call me when you got in. I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay," Cooper replied. He waited for Alice to start, but she seemed to be getting her courage up.

"I've got lots of money now, more than I know what to do with. I've given some to a charitable foundation in mine and your dad's name. I'm thinking of giving more, in fact. Also, it's been a month since I've been, well, you know." She paused. Cooper sat expectantly.

"I guess I kind of miss it. I mean, I had to have that Joe safe-cracker guy do it when you were gone, and he doesn't know the first thing about how to spank someone, really. I miss it, Cooper, at least, the way you do it. You and your dad, well, you're a lot like him."

"I see," was all Cooper said.

"Mainly though, I missed you. You treated me well, and I think we got along great. So tell me if I'm nuts or not, but I was wondering if you might want to, you know, come over sometime and ..." She'd been looking down at her purse for most of her dialog. She looked up and into his eyes. He saw desire there. Desire and need. She glanced back down to her lap.

"I mean, it doesn't have to be every night, I don't think I'd want it every night, but, you know - "

"Hey," he said. She looked up.

"Yes?"

"I think we need to go to lunch. But first, you need to come over here and pull those pants down."

A big smile lit up her face.

"Yes, sir!" she replied.
 

Copyright 2001