Unwed Mom Home

"Ratched, as far as we could guess, was administering corporal punishment to a grown man!"

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When I was a pregnant teen, back in the day, I was at a facility for unwed mothers where we were sent to finish high school while waiting to give birth. I had just turned eighteen as had all the other girls there, most of whom had never been away from home before. So we formed a close-knit group and tight bond as we did all the things we needed to do to prepare for motherhood and finish our education.

One of those duties, it turned out, was trying to decide whether we were going to keep our children or give them up for adoption. This, I think, was the thing that caused the most stress as we sat in our group counseling meetings. Of course, we spoke of other things as well in private, mostly about how we had gotten there in the first place. There were some pretty scary stories about rape and sexual misconduct by trusted men, but most of us had been duped or coerced in some way by guys our own age, only a few of which were taking responsibility for their parts in the situation. As a result, most of us had become somewhat jaded and angry in our feelings toward the male of the species!

To add to the tension of the situation, we had a very strict nurse/administrator by the name of Mrs. Strauss who we referred to as Nurse Ratched after the character from the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. She ran the place like a military installation, and we had to figure out lots of creative ways to navigate her. But what bothered us most was how she picked on poor Marigold, a girl who always spoke highly of her baby’s father and was actually happy about her status as a mother-to-be.

Marigold made herself an easy target with her silly pronouncements though. For example, whenever her boyfriend would show up for a visit she’d dramatically spout, “My knight has arrived!” And then she’d go on about their plans to visit Bora Bora after the baby was born and we would all have a laugh, mainly because her boyfriend, Tim, looked like anything BUT a knight with his slight build and mealy-mouthed demeanor.

One particular time when Tim arrived, Nurse Ratched immediately confronted him and began to read him the riot act for not signing in at the front desk. It was all nonsense, but she played it up because she liked to humiliate people. Five or six of us were in the hallway when it happened so we watched as Ratched took him away down to her office. We waited out of curiosity until he reappeared with her ten minutes later wearing the strangest expression on his face. We couldn’t figure it out. As he went past us, he said nothing, and all we heard was a weird swishing sound coming from him as he walked. Ratched, however, did give us a look of pompous satisfaction as she passed, her ramrod straight posture and icy blue eyes condescending as usual.

That night, I remember, we all talked and tried to figure it out as we watched Kojak. But when Marigold came in, we got quiet. Then Susan, a cute, little WASP who’d been compromised by her nextdoor neighbor, asked her the question we all wanted to know.

“Did Tim say anything to you about his run-in with Ratched today?” she asked Marigold.

Marigold looked confused.

“Tim was here?”

We all stared at each other and then back at Marigold.

“Ah, yeah, he came in and she gave him the fifth degree and took him to her office.” I chimed.

“What?” she responded as she sat up and looked at us with trepidation.

“She said something about him not signing in.” Anabella, a dark-eyed, full-lipped beauty, reported.

“That’s bullshit! He’s a regular visitor here! They all know him!”

“Yeah, we thought so too- but you know how she is.” I said.

“I wonder why he didn’t stay?” she asked, “She must have forced him to leave!”

“Maybe.” Susan agreed.

“But he looked like he was in a trance when he left.” Anabella elaborated.

“That bitch!” Marigold swore as her freckled face reddened.

She got up immediately and went out to the front desk. There, she got permission to use the phone and called him. When she returned, she reported to all of us that it had just been a mistake and that he had forgotten his wallet at his house and had left to retrieve it but was kept from returning by car trouble.

“Oh, okay. That makes sense, I guess.” Susan replied.

But we all had a problem with this excuse since we had seen his face coming down that hall.

The issue was dropped after this, and we went back to our routines, one of which was listening to Anabelle as she talked to her boyfriend on one of the office phones after hours. She had this Italian guy, who wasn’t even the father of the baby, all wrapped around her finger. She’d say things like:

“How’s my big stallion today? Does he need a little help from Mama? Does he?”

We loved to listen as she got him all worked up using her pouty voice.

“Does he want to come on Mama’s big belly? Oh yeah! You got Mama all wet now!”

She’d pretend to diddle herself then and we’d always hear the guy groaning loadly on the other end of the line. The best part was, I think she knew we were listening all along!

Tim did eventually return a week later, but denied again that there had been any issue that day with Ratched and we all concluded he was saying this because he didn’t want to upset Marigold. But it was Annabelle who kept pushing the issue, wanting us to somehow uncover the truth. So she hatched a plan to alert Ratched the next time he arrived and accuse him of not following procedure. It ended up working well, and Tim was soon on his way back to her office as we looked on.

So imagine four pregnant girls, eight to nine months along, huddled outside Ratched’s office door listening as she gave him a dressing down! But the most amazing part was when we overheard the sound of a hand coming down on bare skin! We stared at each other wide-eyed.

“What the hell is she doing in there!” Anabella whispered.

“Sounds like spanking!” Susan figured.

Next came the voice of Tim.

“No ma’am! Sorry ma’am!” he bleated.

“I think she’s beating his ass!” I chimed in.

“Jesus! Can she get away with this?” Lupe, the fourth girl with us that day, wondered.

We heard the sound of whimpering after this and we decided to retreat out of fear and excitement. We went back to our spot down the hall and waited for her door to open. When it did, Tim appeared with a devastated expression on his face. They both walked past us without a word and the same swishing noise rose from him as before.

Later we tried to piece it all together, being careful not to let Marigold overhear us. Ratched, as far as we could guess, was administering corporal punishment to a grown man! But why was he going along with it?

We found out why a week later when, during our baby care class with Ratched, it was announced that a live volunteer would assist us that day. So imagine our surprise when Tim walked into the class wearing a diaper!