The Babysitter

[baby_snow_white]

Kara looks at Miranda. "So you are bored." She gets up off the couch and pokes Miranda a few times. "Nope no part of you is a board. You are warm and squishy all over. That means you are all human. If you was stiff and hard. Then you would be a baord." Kara sets back down on the couch. "So what do you want to do? You keep shooting down every idea I have."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda squirmed grumpily as Kara poked her, glaring up at her. "I don't know what to do," she pouted. "You're the babysitter, you decide."

[baby_snow_white]

Kara looks down at Miranda. "Everything I suggested. You shot down. You didn't want to stay at the mall and go to the movies, You didn't want to stay in the bookstore and look around. You wanted to leave McDonalds because you was worried some girl would know who you was. You didn't want to go to the park, You didn't want to go outside and play in the pool. Nothing I suggest you want to do. Maybe I should put you to bed now and leave you there until morning. Maybe that will get rid of your grumpyness."

[Guest clinediap]

"No, don't do that," Miranda said quickly. If there was one thing that was bound to be more boring than this, it would be getting stuck in the crib. She sighed, thinking through her options again. "Well, I guess we could go to the park," she said. "That could be fun..." That, and it might be late enough that any of her old babysitting charges would've been taken back home by then. If she was lucky.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara smiles. "See you wasn't as bored as you thought you was. We can go to the park if you want to. What would you like to wear? A dress, a onsie, a t shirt and a pair of pants? The choice is your's" She puts her book down and sets up on the couch. "Since the park isn't that far away. I don't think we will need the stroller. I can just use Missy's baby harness on you while we walk to the park."

[Guest clinediap]

"A baby harness?" Miranda pouted. "I don't-" But she cut herself off, knowing that complaining about it wasn't going to do any good. "Jeans and a T-shirt or something like that would be fine," she said. "Or shorts..." It was probably a little warm for jeans, she knew - mostly, she just wanted to avoid anything -too- babyish, or anything that might reveal her diaper too much. Though, really, she thought, that was a bit silly considering she'd have a baby harness on anyway, which was babyish enough on its own.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "Ok t shirt and a pair of shorts." She scoops up Miranda and carries her like she was an airplane. Kara flies Miranda up the stairs and lands her on the changing table. She sets Miranda on the table and goes into the dresser. Kara takes out a t shirt and a pair of shorts. She lays them on the table and puts the t shirt over Miranda's head. The t shirt was pink and said Mommy's little angel on it. There was a halo over the top of the words. Kara puts the shorts on Miranda and buttons the shorts closed. She carries Miranda back downstairs and puts her into the baby harness. Kara walks Miranda to the front door and picks up Miranda's diaperbag. "I guess we are ready to go to the park."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda looked down at herself, seeing that despite her efforts, she still looked pretty babyish. She sighed, tugging lightly at her harness, and then at the hem of the T-shirt. For a moment, she started to whine, to change her mind about going to the park, but that would only make Kara annoyed, she was sure, and might not get her to agree. She just reminded herself that chances were nobody would be there that would recognize her. And if any of them were there, they likely wouldn't, since they surely wouldn't expect to see her dressed like this. "Let's go," she agreed.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nodded and opened the door. She closed and locked the door. The two of them walked down the sidewalk to the park. Kara saw some kids out in the front yards of the houses they passed. They waved at her and Kara waved back. When they got the crosswalk. A young teenage girl on a bike pulls up. "Hello Kara. Who is the little cutey with you?"

Kara looks over. "Hello Virgina. How is your mom doing? This is my cousin. She is spending a couple of weeks with me while her parents are out of town."

Virgina nods. "My mom is doing very well. She got the promotion she was after. Since you are babysitting your cousin for a couple of weeks. Why not bring her over to play with Amanda and Abby? I'm sure the three of them will have fun. Since they are all in the toddler/preschool age range. It would give you some time to relax and let someone else watch her for a little while. Speaking of toddlers. "Where is your shadow at?"

Kara looks down at Miranda and then at Virgina. "I'll give it some thought. Maybe Missy would have fun playing with some other toddlers. Maybe then she will not be bored at home with just me." She laughs. "Missy went on vacation with mom and dad. Mom didn't think it was right to leave both of them with me. She doesn't think I can watch and take care of both of them at the same time. We are heading to the park. You are welcome to ride to the park with us if it is ok with your mom."

Virgina gets off her bike and puts it on the sidewalk. She takes out her cellphone and calls her mom. Virigina talks to her mom and then hangs up. "Mom said it was ok with her. Looks like you have another one to babysit." The two of them laugh and Kara walks Miranda across the street towards the park. Virgnia goes riding pass them on her bike.

Once Virgina was out of earshot. "Miranda, you said you was bored. I think I have found a solution to keep you from getting bored. I have lined up a playdate with Virgina's sisters. They are two girls who like having fun and making new friends."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda shifted positions boredly as Kara and her friend talked above her, as if she weren't even there. She thought about interjecting a couple times, but could never seem to work up the courage to do so during any of the few, and short, breaks in the conversation. But she was ready to talk once she was alone with Kara. "I don't wanna play with a couple babies," she pouted. It wouldn't quite be like babysitting, since she wouldn't be the one in charge, but she still didn't like the idea. Perhaps -because- of that - in a group with a couple of little kids that thought she was one of them, she didn't like the idea of not being in control. "I can find stuff to do on my own to not get bored," she sulked.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara stopped walking. "Oh I'm sorry. You must have thought it was open to discussion. It wasn't. I was telling you that was what was going to happen." She starts laughing. "Oh I can see how you can entertain yourself. It was you who said she was bored and wanted to do something so I brought you to the park to play." Kara started walking with Miranda into the park. She lead Miranda to the part of the park that was set aside for the little kids. There was a fence around the playground to keep the kids from wandering off and getting lost or to keep them from getting abducted. Kara takes Miranda into the playground and takes off the harness. "Go play Missy. I'll be setting over there on one of the benches with the other mommies and babysitters." She walks over to one of the empty benches and sets down.

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda walked over to the playground grumpily, not liking getting denied, or getting sent off to do basically the same thing. There were a bunch of little kids there, too, more than she had expected - though, as she thought about it, she realized she'd never been to the park at this time of day, so it had been stupid to assume it would be more empty. At least there she didn't -have- to play with them... For her "playdate", she was sure Kara would make her play with the babies, to "be nice".

But there, she was pretty much free. She looked around first, to make sure she hadn't babysat anyone there. It was hard to tell, since they were all running around, but she didn't think she recognized any of them, so that was good. Then she went over to the always crowded swingset and sat down on the only empty swing. She swung herself back and forth slowly, just enjoying the feeling of air whooshing past her. It was a nice day, really, and it would have been a shame to waste it inside.

"Come on, you've been up there all day!" one of the kids demanded from behind her. Miranda started to point out that it could only have been a couple minutes, and she could stay up there as long as she wanted, but instead, she decided to be nice, getting off the swing and offering it to the little girl who'd asked for it. The girl smiled at her sweetly. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, she thought to herself, on her playdate. If she was just nice and let them do what they wanted, kids generally seemed to be happy.

She went over to the slide next, since it was empty for a moment. She giggled a little as she slid down, happy for the padding around her bottom as she got dumped out into the sand at the bottom. She got back up and hurried around to the ladder again, but as she got up the first step, she suddenly felt a sudden push, and then she was back down in the sand, surprised. There was a little boy standing over her when she looked up from her shock. "I was in line first!" he told her. "And you just went!"

"Well, you didn't have to push me," Miranda pouted, getting up, dusting the sand off of her bottom. "I didn't see you there, and..."

The little boy pushed her again. She'd seen it coming this time, but she still wasn't able to keep herself on her feet - she just couldn't get a good grip in the sand. "I can push you if I want," he informed her. And to illustrate it, he pushed her again when she tried to get up.

Miranda was starting to get annoyed now. "Hey, you little brat, I'm letting you use the slide! Leave me alone!" The boy just smirked down at her, looking very satisfied with himself. Miranda felt herself getting more and more pissed off, her hand clenching into a fist, sand trickling out between her fingers as they closed, her face starting to get red.

"You gonna cry for your mommy?" taunted the boy.

Instead, before she could stop herself, Miranda threw the sand upwards at the boy's face, then jumped forward, tackling him as well as she could. She did manage to take him down, but the wind had blown away most of her sand before it got to him, and she quickly found their positions reversed, with her on the ground, under the boy. She tried to shove him off of her, to no avail, which only made him smile as he reached out, grabbing his own handful of sand and smearing it into Miranda's hair. Miranda kept trying to get free, but as she kept failing, she started feeling more and more little, until finally she burst into tears and called for "Kara!"

"Cheater," the boy sulked, getting away from her quickly, to try to pretend it hadn't been her. Still angry, Miranda glared after him for a second, then hunted around, managing to find a rock that she threw at him as hard as she could, hitting him across the arm - not quite where she'd been aiming, but good enough - managing to give him a little cut, which started to bleed quickly. She wiped her eyes, feeling rather proud of herself, until she realized she'd just over-reacted and hurt a three or four year old kid, seeing that he'd just sat down and started to cry, sounding much more unhappy and pained than she had a few moments ago.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara gets up off the bench and ran over to Miranda as she saw the boy push Miranda down. She gets there after Miranda had hit the boy with the rock. "Missy, we do not throw things at other people even if they start it. Go tell the boy you are sorry for hurting him. If you can't behave yourself. We are going to have to go home and you will go straight to bed. Is that what you want me to do?"

[Guest clinediap]

"No," Miranda sighed, pouting. "It's just... He..." She shrugged, unsure what to say, then trudged over to the boy reluctantly. He was still crying, which made her feel bad, even if she was still sniffling a little herself. She stood behind him awkwardly for a moment, staring down at her feet, and then trying to brush the sand out of her hair. "Umm... I'm sorry about that," she said finally. "I didn't mean to hurt you, really..." She tried to think of something else to say, but he didn't really seem to be listening anyway, so she went back over to Kara, hurrying up a little as she saw someone - a babysitter or older sister by the looks of her - going towards the boy. "How was that?" Miranda asked Kara hopefully, not wanting to get put to bed so early.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "Thank you for telling the boy you was sorry. You can go play if you want to." She stands there and waits for the babysitter of the boy gets there. "I'm sorry my cousin hurt him,but he did get what he deserved. He was picking on her and pushing her down on the ground."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda hurries off to the jungle gym before the babysitter could get to her, not wanting to get into more trouble. She slipped inside the jungle gym easily, sitting down in the center. She never had been any good at actually climbing them, always afraid she'd get to the top and then fall through, but she liked to be inside. They just seemed so strange, like she was hiding in the middle of some alien tree. She waited there, watching the other kids climbing all around her, for the boy and his babysitter to leave before she went back over to the slide.

[baby_snow_white]

The babysitter chewed Kara out over what Miranda did and Kara did the same for what the boy did to Miranda. After the babysitter got out of earshot. "Bitch, Your little devil child started it." Kara walks over to the jungle gym and leans on the bar. "Why are you hiding in here? I'm not going to punish you for what you did. I don't approve of it,but you was just defending yourself against the boy."

[Guest clinediap]

"I'm not hiding," Miranda blushed. "I'm just... resting... in here..." She glanced around with a shrug. She crawled back out from inside the jungle gym, standing next to Kara, feeling a little nervous, despite Kara's assurance that she wasn't in trouble. She'd used that a time or two to lure out a kid she was babysitting, even - or rather, especially - when they really -were- in trouble. Then again, she didn't think Kara was the kind of person to use tricks like that. "Do you wanna play with me?" she asked after a quiet moment. "You could go push me on the swings or something..."

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "Yes I'll play with you. I wouldn't be much of a babysitter if I sat on the butt and watched you play." She takes Miranda's hand and leads her over to the swings. "Which one do you want to be push in. The swing that looks like a roller coaster seat or the one that is open?" Kara looks down at Miranda and waits for her decision.

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda looks back at Kara, sticking out her tongue playfully. "The open one... I'm not gonna fall out or anything." And she hurries over to it, hopping up onto the seat before Kara could decide she should be in the other one after all, waiting for Kara to start pushing her.

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "Ok the open one it is." She walks over to the swing that Miranda was in. Kara starts pushing her. She didn't want Miranda to fall out and get hurt. "Are you having fun Missy?"

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda smiled, holding onto the chains holding the seat up as she leaned back, watching the world whoosh back and forth. It was much funner with someone else doing all the work. "Uh-huh!" she called back in response to Kara's question. "Faster!"

[baby_snow_white]

Kara shakes her head. "No this is fast enough. I don't want you to fall out of the swing and get hurt. Would you want to go to the hospital to get your arm put into a cast if you fall out of the swing and break it."

[Guest clinediap]

Miranda pouted, annoyed at not getting her way. "I know how to ride a swing! I'm not gonna fall off - I wanna go faster!"

[baby_snow_white]

Kara nods. "Ok if you break your arm because you fall out. Then don't come crying to me. I tried to warn you." She pushes Miranda harder so she goes faster and higher. Kara sees the disapproval look the other females was giving her.