Dad dug a hole on the north side of our cabin so we could have running water inside and the waste water would have someplace to go. This became our sewer. At first the sewer didn’t work very well, so one day he uncovered the hole and climbed down inside it with his shovel to dig it deeper.
“I don’t want anyone to use the toilet,” Dad told us, because if we flushed it the water would spill out on top of him.
Dad worked all morning digging in the hole. It took longer than he thought it would. After awhile, the kids began to need to go to the bathroom. Mom told them to go downstairs and use the outhouse. After Dad had built our cabin and fixed a bathroom inside, no one had needed to use the outhouse. Now it had big cobwebs stretched across the corners of the walls and inside the hole. Daddy-long-leg spiders crawled over the seat. The hinges on the door were getting old. It hung kind-of crooked and didn’t shut tight. All in all, it was a spooky place.
I had never liked going to the outhouse, even when it was new. I used to be afraid snakes would crawl up from the hole and bite me on the bottom when I sat on the seat. Now I really didn’t want to use it because of the spiders, but i really needed to go to the bathroom. At first I thought I could wait until Dad got finished with the sewer. I waited and waited, but dad didn’t get done.
After a while my stomach started to hurt, but I still waited to use the bathroom. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I needed to go so badly I couldn’t even walk down the hill, I just had to use the bathroom in the cabin. Then I had a problem. Dad had said not to use the toilet. I didn’t want him to know I had disobeyed, but he would see I had if I didn’t flush the toilet. So I flushed it.
All of a sudden, I heard dad yell.
“Who flushed the toilet?” he shouted.
No one answered. I was afraid to say it was me, so I didn’t say anything at all.
Now dad was getting really mad. “I want everyone outside right now!” he demanded.
We all came. We could tell we'd better do what he said, or else. When we were all outside he asked, “Which one of you used the bathroom when I told you not to?”
We all looked at each other. I didn’t want Dad to know it was me, so I looked at the other kids too.
Dad asked Phillip, “Did you flush the toilet?”
“No, dad, it wasn’t me,” he said.
“Linda, did you do it?”
“No. You told us not to.”
“Was it you?” dad asked me.
“Uh-uh,” I murmured, shaking my head.
“Keith?”
“I didn’t do it,” he answered.
Dad looked at us for a long time. Then he looked at Mom, who had come outside when he called. She was pretty sure who had flushed the toilet, because she knew I had needed to go. She nodded her head at Dad, then looked at me. Dad understood.
“Ok,” he said. “Since no one is going to admit disobeying me, I guess you are all going to have to be punished.”
“But I didn’t do it,” Linda cried, as she saw Dad start to take off his belt.
“That’s not fair,” Phillip said in alarm, and Keith agreed with him.
“You can’t spank us when we didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’ll have to if someone doesn’t tell me the truth,” Dad warned, hitting his belt against his hand.
I watched in horror as dad took a step toward Keith, then I cried, “I did it, don’t spank them. I’m sorry, really, I’m sorry. Please don’t spank them.”
Dad turned slowly towards me. The other kids let out big sighs of relief and stepped back out of the way. I turned to mom, who put her arms around me and held me tight.
“I’m sorry daddy,” I sobbed. “I tried to wait, but I couldn’t. Really and truly. I’m sorry.”
Dad looked at me for another second, then he let the belt drop down by his side. He put his hand on my shoulder. “Ok,” he finally said. “I’m glad you told me the truth. But remember, from now on I want you to do what you’re told.”
“Yes, daddy,” I whispered. “I will.”
Mom looked at Dad and smiled. He winked at her, then looked down at his muddy shoes and dirty pants. He wrinkled his nose and said, “I think that hole is deep enough. Maybe I should go take a bath.”
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