One April Fool (2 page)

“Thanks, Mr. Baker.  I’ll try not to take up too much of your time.  May I speak first to April Burnside…?” Derrick asked, looking around the room until she waved her hand.  “Come with me,” he ordered sharply.

“Oh dear!”  She heard Maureen gasp in sympathy.  April gave her a bracing smile and went to follow the man to a row of offices that were never used, but were there for company growth and expansion,

“Please sit down, Miss Burnside, and tell me if you recall seeing anything suspicious yesterday.”

“I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary… until the singing telegram lady came in.”

“My Aunt was mortified.”

“Really?”

“Father Smith scolded her for the damage to his reputation and said that enough of the parish believed that he was having an affair with her that the Archbishop’s office had been flooded with calls on the subject.”

“Oh my, they surely didn’t believe that, did they?”  April felt a twinge of conscience. She never thought anyone would believe such obvious foolishness. 

“They most certainly did,” he answered as he folded his arms across his chest and looked down at her.  “My Aunt is crying, and she begged me to come and see if I could find out who set her up, and why they would do such a thing.”

“So why are you
here
, Mr. Winslow?” April demanded, trying to look as innocent as possible under the circumstances.  The room she was in had no appeal whatsoever.  It was four beige walls, and a desk with a telephone/intercom sitting on it.  There was a swivel office chair behind the desk, and in front, two sitting chairs, that were certainly not comfortable in any way.  The windows were clean, but the views from them were boring as could be.  There was a view of the brick wall behind their office building. “The incident happened at St. Bernadette’s.”

“I’m here to ask questions.  Do you know anything at all about the prank played on my Aunt yesterday?  If you do, I assure you it will go easier on you if you are honest and tell me what you know.  Mr. Brimley is a good friend of our family’s, and he has given me every blessing to ask questions and deal firmly with those responsible for upsetting my Aunt in front of her church.”

“It is my church, too, Mr. Winslow,” April said quietly.

“Do you volunteer like my Aunt does?” he asked, his eyes telling her he found it hard to believe.

“Yes, I do.  I am one of the greeters,” April told him.  “A couple Sundays each month, I stand in the vestibule and welcome people, especially people that are new.  I make sure they get a bulletin, and if they are new, I answer their immediate questions… such as how to get to the restrooms, and where the quiet room is located.  Once a month we have a ‘greet and meet’ after each Mass.  It is for new members to meet those who’ve gone to church here for some time.  It is how new members get their questions answered and are encouraged to feel a part of the church family.”

“I am impressed,” Derrick said, nodding.  “Then I am sure you know how much my Aunt values her standing within the church family…?”

“Of course,” April answered, feeling just a bit more guilty, but certainly not guilty enough to confess.

Her lower back and her feet were starting to ache from standing in one place for so long, but April couldn’t call him just yet.  Her poor bottom was so sore, and it still burned!  She couldn’t believe he intended to punish her further!  It wasn’t fair!  But, her conscience interrupted her pity party; maybe it
was
fair and just.  She’d had no idea that her prank would snowball so rapidly.

Derrick Winslow questioned everyone from the office that went to St. Bernadette’s, which was almost everyone.  Mr. Brimley tended to hire from within the church when possible.  He felt it made for a better work environment if everyone was raised within the Church, but that didn’t account for Miss Winslow’s meanness, April decided.  Derrick wasn’t happy when he left the office that day, but April breathed a sigh of relief.  Maybe now things could get back to normal… minus one Penelope Winslow!

However, Derrick was back the next morning, asking more questions.  He told her that his Aunt suspected she might have something to do with the prank!  April pretended to be insulted, and he merely shook his head in frustration.

“April, I am tired of your stalling!” he said from the doorway of her bedroom.

Chapter Two

“I am not stalling,” April insisted.  “I am trying to come to terms with how a simple prank turned into something I would never do to another person!  I will call you when I am ready to talk.  Will you please be patient with me?  I’ve never done something that spiraled out of control as quickly as this did.”

“Okay.  I’ll give you more time, but there is a limit to my patience,” he warned.

“I understand.” April’s voice was low.  “I don’t enjoy standing here…”

“Too bad.  You’ll stay there until you are ready to face me and talk about this.  You make sure to keep your nose against the walls, and your backside bare and on display.” 

April couldn’t see why he insisted she do that when he kept leaving the room, but she decided that it would only hold in the heat if she covered up her rear, and she didn’t need more heat there!  She was still on fire from the hand spanking he’d given her.  Tears came to her eyes again, and her thoughts returned to work and the two women she’d
thought
to be her friends.

“All we have to do is keep quiet if Derrick comes asking questions again this morning, ladies.”

“April, he scares me!” Maureen whispered.

“He’s just a man,” April said, exasperated.  She took a big swallow of her Pepsi, and chewed off another piece of her Snickers bar. 

“He’s just a man on a mission,” Charity said thoughtfully.  “He wants to clear his Aunt.  He’s upset because she is so distraught.  My goodness, April, this is the third day that she has missed work this week.  She’s afraid to step outside the house!  Derrick is determined to find out who played the prank.”

“As long as we all keep our mouths shut, there isn’t a thing he can do.”

“We’d best get back to work before Mr. Baker comes looking for us,” Maureen whispered, jumping to her feet and rinsing out her coffee mug and setting it on the counter.  April and Charity followed.

Sure enough, Derrick came in shortly before lunch, his dark eyes going straight to her for a hard look.  He then went to Maureen’s desk, and asked to speak to her in the office he was using to interrogate them.  April tried to concentrate on her work, but it was impossible.  When Maureen came out, she wouldn’t even look at April.  Charity was next, and she was in tears when she returned to her desk.  She grabbed her handbag and hurried out the door, not stopping to answer questions from either April or Maureen.

“Miss Burnside, in my office, now!” Derrick called from the doorway of the borrowed room.

“You do not need to yell, Mr. Winslow!” she snapped at him as she got to her feet.  She heard Maureen gasp, which was nothing new.  Maureen was always afraid of her own shadow.

“Do not try my patience, young lady,” Derrick warned, and April wanted to stick her tongue out at him, but restrained herself.  Certainly this would all be over soon and he would leave…!

“Sit down, Miss Burnside,” Derrick ordered, pointing at the chair.  His tone of voice was gruff and firm.

“I am not a dog, Mr. Winslow.  Stop barking orders at me and expecting me to jump at your commands.  I don’t like it.”

“I don’t like your snippy attitude, young lady; especially since you are the one who set out to deliberately humiliate my Aunt Penny!”

“I don’t know what you are talking about!” April denied any knowledge of the prank.

“Do not add lying to your list of bad behavior.  I have all the proof I need; once I found the man you hired to video the whole thing it was easy.  He had no qualms at all about giving me your name and his exact instructions to capture the entire program, but especially when Penelope Winslow was receiving her award and the April Fools prank that followed.  He gave me a copy of the cd, Miss Burnside, and the smug smirk on your face while my Aunt Penny was being humiliated told all.  Have you watched the cd?” he asked.  “No…?  After spending all that money, you didn’t even watch it…?  Why?” he demanded, giving April a stern look.

April looked down at her hands and did not answer Derrick.  Her mind was already dealing with the loss of her job, cleaning out her desk, and updating her resume.  With the economy the way it was she would be lucky to find a job at all…and it wouldn’t be in this town… not after the news leaked out that she was the one responsible for insulting half the members of St. Bridgette’s.  April felt tears sting her eyes.  This was one April Fools prank she wished she hadn’t played.

“Very well.  If you won’t answer that question, then please tell me why you singled out my Aunt for such a prank?  She told me you hated her, but I couldn’t believe that.  My Aunt is a sweet, loving woman.”

“You’ve never worked with her.  She’s mean and spiteful and always criticizing!” April finally spoke up, defending herself.  “You see her as an indulgent Aunt, but she is mean spirited and constantly finding fault.  She never ever gives one word of praise, either!  And, I wasn’t alone in feeling this way.”

“I don’t believe a thing you have to say.”

“Of course you don’t!  You’ve never worked for her!”  April was very upset.  “I guess I won’t have to worry about that now.  Thanks to your meddling I won’t even have this job!”

“No, Miss Burnside, none of this is my fault.  It is yours for behaving like a vindictive child. You have ruined a good woman’s reputation in front of her Church and her place of work since so many of the people who work here are also members of St. Bernadette’s.  Get your coat, if you have one, and anything else you need right now, and come with me.  While I ought to deal with this right here in this glass fronted office, I won’t.  I do have some respect for other people and their reputations.”

April didn’t know what to do.  If she stayed, anything might happen, given Derrick’s anger with her.  She wished she could deny culpability in the whole mess, but she couldn’t.  And why didn’t she simply apologize and explain that things simply didn’t go the way she intended?  Meekly, she got her jacket, her purse, and then walked out of the office with Derrick right behind her.  He insisted she ride in his car, and he drove straight to her apartment.

“You may leave now,” April said when he walked her to the door.

“I’m sure you would like that, Miss Burnside, but this matter isn’t going to disappear just because you would like it to.  Hand me your keys,” he bossed, and April obeyed him.  He opened the door and gently pushed her inside.  “Take off your coat,” he bossed again.  April complied, vowing she was not going to offer to cook for him, no matter what!

Derrick stood there, looking at her as if he were waiting for something.  April merely shrugged and looked back, meeting his gaze and waiting for him to start lecturing and yelling at her.  He did neither, but he did finally move to grab her arm and haul her over to her sofa.  He sat down, pulling her face-down over his lap, and she cried out in pain as the first spank fell on her bottom. “I am appalled by your lack of concern for my Aunt Penny and her reputation,” he stated, accompanying his words with sound spanks all over the rounded spot under her skirt.

“I was appalled by the way she treated us at work!” April promptly answered, angered that he would dare to turn her over his knee.  She was a grown woman, not a child, and surely losing her job was enough of a punishment…?

“You are impertinent as well as unrepentant,” he stated, his voice full of shocked surprise.  “I have a cure for that, and perhaps this will make more of an impression. 

April screamed when Derrick pushed up her skirt to reveal her pink nylon panties.  He landed another barrage of spanks all across her bottom.  “Do you still feel defiant?”

“I am going to have you arrested!” April proclaimed.  “You have no right to do this to me!”

“No right?”  He jerked down her panties next, and his spanks fell even harder on her bare skin.  He concentrated on her sit spots and upper thighs, and spanked until she was sobbing incoherently.  “I am going to put you in the corner to think, young lady, and you are not to come out until your attitude has undergone a major change.  Do you hear me?”

April nodded, crying much too hard to say anything to him.  He put her on her feet and marched her into her bedroom, and then he found an empty corner and told her she was to keep her nose right there, her skirt pulled up to her waist, and think about how she was going to answer his questions.  Only then would he punish her for the way she’d treated his Aunt.

April knew it was time to call for Derrick.  She took a deep breath and called his name.  She heard footsteps approaching the bedroom and that he stopped in the doorway.

“Well?” he asked.  “Are you ready to discuss this matter like an adult?”

April flinched, but she knew what she needed to say.  “Yes, I’m ready.”

“Then drop your skirt and come out into the living room and talk to me.”  Derrick turned on his heel and walked through her apartment as though he owned it to take a seat on her sofa, a used sofa that she’d obviously inherited from a family member, or purchased at a thrift shop.  It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it served a purpose.  Her apartment was meticulously neat, and for some reason that surprised him.  There was nothing out of the ordinary in her small home, and since he’d searched extensively, trying to figure her out, he knew that April was in reality a nice girl.  So why had she done something so absolutely devastating to his Aunt Penny?  Derrick wanted answers and he wasn’t leaving until he got them, and until April was so sore she wouldn’t be able to sit comfortably for a good while without thinking about
why
she couldn’t sit.

When April walked out of her bedroom and crossed the hall and into the living room, she was barefoot.  She’d kicked her shoes and her panties across the room when he was spanking her before.  Derrick tried to look at her face, but she had her eyes down, and her long hair fell down, preventing him from seeing her expression.  He couldn’t tell if she was angry, repentant, which she should be, or merely trying to placate him so that he would leave.  She was a pretty young woman, and his Aunt Penny had mentioned her often, telling him that he should come and meet her and ask her out on a date.  He simply couldn’t believe the things that April had said about his Aunt!  Especially after the glowing way Aunt Penny spoke of her!  Something simply didn’t add up!

“Sit down, April,” he said, trying to sound kind.  This was a time for talking and for trying to understand.  April still had a punishment coming, but he wanted answers.

“I can’t sit down,” she whispered.

“Yes you can.  It might not feel great, but you can sit,” Derrick insisted.  When she remained standing, he shook his head.  “Are you honestly trying to be difficult, young lady?  Do I need to spank you once again before you are willing to sit down and talk to me?”

“No!” She immediately shook her head back and forth.  “I’ll sit,” she promised, then gingerly eased herself down in her favorite rocking chair.  The fabric that was usually so soft did nothing to relieve the burning ache of her cheeks, and her sit spots and upper thighs protested contact, too!  “Oh, this is awful!” April didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud until Derrick said.

“It will be even more awful once you accept the punishment you have earned.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” April insisted.  “Everything took on a life of its own.  I let co-workers talk me into doing more than I originally planned, which was safe for them,” she added matter-of-factly.  “I kept adding to my prank, and when I realized that the first fell on a Sunday, I should have realized it was out of line to take it to church.”

“Why did you do this at all?”

“I already told you; your Aunt is demanding and critical all of the time.  She never allows any of us to explain our side of things.  And, she never praises anyone.  It is difficult to work for her.”  She saw his expression darken, and she quickly added, “However, that doesn’t excuse playing a prank that snowballed beyond my wildest imagination.  I saw it happening and felt powerless to stop it.  At first it seemed funny and fitting, but then the complaints started, and several people were crying at the mean-spirited things I said about them in the program that was passed out.  I not only embarrassed Miss Winslow, but Father Smith as well.  In retrospect, it wasn’t a bit funny, and I have a lot of apologies to make.”  April stopped speaking then, and started crying once more.

Derrick didn’t know what to think.  It was obvious that the pretty redhead felt terrible, but why did she keep insisting that his Aunt Penny was such a dragon to work for?

“I don’t know where your Aunt lives, Derrick.  Would you take me there so that I can apologize in person?  Calling her on the telephone would be the chicken way out, and I don’t dare do that.  Also, I need to go and speak with Father Smith and offer my apologies.  I’ve already written an apology to the entire congregation for this Sunday’s bulletin.  I was going to take it to Father Smith after work today,” she surprised him by the admission.