Academy T (Complete)

[Mia Moore]

Hi everyone, it's me again, coming at you with a new Academy Works story.   If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should maybe start by reading Academy I (Part 1) or Academy B (Part 2).  These stories aren't really linear, so you can skip those, but it might help you understand what's going on a little bit better.

Anyway, this is Academy T.  It kind of steps outside the precedents set by the first two stories, so I hope people realize that Academy Works is a lot more than just a series about a regression facility. ? 

Same as last time, if you want to support me there's a Patreon link you can go to.  Thanks for reading and leaving comments and stuff!!

~Mia~

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Academy T
By Mia Moore

"The tower built for the sun and the tower built for the moon are in pursuit of different heavens."
                                                     -The Source
 

Chapter One

Talita Campbell sat on her bed, staring blankly at the rails surrounding her. She was hungry. Her diaper was wet. She wanted to get out! But no matter how long she stared at the contraptions, she couldn't figure out how they worked. Every time Mommy lowered the bars, it seemed like magic.

So Talita did the only thing she could to get her Mommy's attention: she cried. The LED on her bedside baby monitor glowed softly in the morning light; Mommy was listening.

"And who’s a fussy baby this morning? The sun is barely awake and already you’re so eager to get up and go play, huh baby girl?"

Play. With the others. 

That was how Talita spent a good deal of her mornings and afternoons. Playing in the playpen with neighborhood kids, or playing outside in the grass, or being taken to the park. Her Mommy had told her that it was good for her to play with the other kids, and that did make sense, although Talita knew she wasn’t a kid and neither were the others. 

Her thoughts were derailed - as they so easily were nowadays - by Mommy reaching down and slipping her finger between her onesie and her skin to check what she already knew was going to be a wet diaper. Talita always woke up wet.

"Mommy…" Talita muttered as her Mommy took down the rails. 

She pressed a button, or kicked a lever, or something! But to Talita, it was magic all the same. She wiped her wet eyes and tried to close her legs, squishing the diaper between her thighs. She couldn't even remember the last time her knees touched.

"Hm?" Talita's Mommy helped her off the bed. She waddled across the room to the changing table. 

"Can I please wear undies, just this once...? I promise I won't have any accidents, I promise..." 

Every day for almost a month, Talita had asked that question. It almost felt routine, as was her Mommy’s quick dismissal. But today was different. Instead of an outright no, Mommy paused to think about it. Talita's heart raced and she jumped in with renewed confidence. 

"One time! One time, and I swear! If I have any accidents, I pinky promise I'll never ask again!"

"Oh, you pinky promise, do you? And you know what happens to little girls who break pinky promises, don’t you darling?" 

"...uh huh." Talita swallowed glumly. 

"And you want to make a pinky promise that if you have even a single accident today, you’ll never ask again?"

"Maybe…um… maybe not a single accident..." 

"And maybe you can show Mommy how dry you can keep this diaper today, and then we’ll talk?" 

"Mo-mmeeee, I want to wear undies! Pretty pleeeeeaaaase?"

The truth was, Talita wasn't sure she could keep up her end of the bargain. For well over a month, she had woken up in a wet diaper. Every day, it felt like a struggle to keep what little of her toilet training she had left. But if she truly was so helpless as to have an accident without even thinking, then maybe she didn't have the right to ask for underwear anyway. 

However, Talita had always been a risk taker. Sometimes things ended up bad and sometimes they didn’t, but Talita never regretted it. Life was more fun when she took her chances. Or, it was until she woke up in this place. 

"I can do it. Not any accidents." 

Though Talita's voice was full of confidence, her stomach was flipping with anxiety. Mommy helped her onto the changing table and looked her square in the eye. They were the same height when standing, down to the millimeter, but there was something diminutizing about sitting on the changing table that made Talita feel smaller. 

"Okay," Mommy said. "But if you fail, and you break your promise, then you'll be a Bad Girl for a month." 

Talita's eyes went wide and the color drained from her face. A month? But even if Talita had an accident, the least she could do was keep her promise. She could do that, for sure. 

"Otay..."

The ‘undies’ in question were far from being the kind of panties an adult might wear. These were thick, cotton, stuffed with a lining of padding with prints of strawberries and unicorns on them - training pants by any assessment. To Talita, they were the most mature thing in the whole world, so much so that it distracted her from her dread as she watched her Mommy pull them out of the drawer.

One day. Just one day. No accidents. She could do it. There was no way Talita was going to end up as a Bad Girl again!

Mommy changed her diaper and wiped her clean. Talita wouldn't be wearing a diaper for the first time in months, but her Mommy powdered her all the same. Then, without ceremony, she slid the strawberry training pants up her legs and around her hips. 

Talita looked down at her knees and touched them together, a shiver of delight rushing up her spine. She was a big girl now! Everyone at school was going to be jealous!

"Now it’s important you remember, Talita my darling girl, that you’re making a deal with Mommy." 

The woman held her finger up with all the earnest seriousness of... something serious. Talita couldn’t follow her own metaphor. So she linked pinkies with her Mommy, and just like that sealed the deal. 

"I’m so essited, I’m gonna be... gonna be so... so flippin’ cool, Mommy, you don’t even know!"

"Well, let's get you dressed then. Daddy is making breakfast." 

Talita was all sunshine as her Mommy dressed her. She wore a short dress with frills underneath, flashing the seat of her training pants when she so much as bent over. Frilly ankle socks adorned her feet, along with a set of white ballet flats. Her long hair was tied in loose pigtails with plastic bauble elastics. Finally, a pacifier was clipped to her dress and pressed firmly between her lips. She was a picturesque toddler in the body of an adult, but Talita didn't even seem to notice, let alone mind. 

Talita walked with one foot in front of the other - something she couldn't do when waddling in a diaper - all the way to the kitchen, where Daddy was plating eggs and toast. Though she and her Mommy were the same height, Daddy was a bit taller with mussed hair and a clean beard. The couple couldn't have been more than ten years older than Talita, but they were her parents nonetheless.

"Eggies!" Talita clapped her hands happily, then tried to reel in her enthusiasm. She wanted her Daddy to see just how cool and mature she was today. 

"That’s right, cupcake: eggs with toast." He flashed her a warm smile. 

"It’s not got seeds innit right, Daddy?" Talita screwed up her nose. "I dun’ like the toast with seeds innit." 

"Not a single seed as far as the eye can see, cupcake." Talita pursed her lips and looked skeptically, then nodded her head. 

"You took them all out, Daddy?"

Explaining that white bread didn’t have seeds in it was going to be an exercise in futility, as it often was with Talita. She was beautiful, immature, darling, and very very dumb; so her Daddy just smiled and nodded.

Breakfast in the Campbell household was all too ordinary. Talita ate bites of toast, spilling crumbs down her bib and into the little pocket at the bottom. Mommy told Daddy about Talita's promise and how she didn't need diapers anymore. Daddy got up early from the table to ready Talita's stroller for the trip to her school. Yes, breakfast in the Campbell house was all too ordinary, if Talita really had been a toddler and not a 29 year old woman.

"Can I walk instead?" Talita asked as Daddy buckled her into the stroller. "I'm a big girl today, so it makes sense." 

"How about," Daddy said, snapping the last belt in place with a metallic click, "if you can get out of the stroller before we get there, you can walk the rest of the way." 

Talita's eyes lit up at the challenge and nodded her head, immediately getting to work on the buckles wrapped over her shoulders and around her waist.

Ordinarily, perhaps a long time ago, Talita may have considered the best way to win this challenge. Like, for example, to wait until the last possible moment before getting out of the stroller so that she could have victory and get to show up to school walking on her own and not be so tired from the walk that she needed a nap as soon as she got there. Cool kids didn’t need a nap until at least lunchtime. 

Talita, though, was a very special variety of bimbaby. The kind of girl to whom such advanced machinations would never occur. In fact, they were only a few minutes from the house when she was so sure she’d managed to wriggle free already. 

"Daddy I did-" Her words were cut short by a frown and a gasp as the straps over her thighs and lap held fast. In all her excitement to work on the shoulder straps - which she could squirm out of and cheat her way to freedom - she’d completely forgotten to account for the others that held her firmly in place. 

"Did what, cupcake?" Her Daddy asked, slightly amused, as he pushed the stroller. 

"Nothing Daddy..." Efforts must be doubled!

[Bonsai]

3 hours ago, Mia Moore said:

Talita Campbell sat on her bed, staring blankly at the rails surrounding her. She was hungry. Her diaper was wet. She wanted to get out! But no matter how long she stared at the contraptions, she couldn't figure out how they worked. Every time Mommy lowered the bars, it seemed like magic.

I love how the desire to act is still there but the ability to do things is irreversibly placed out of reach.

I love Academy’s “magic”. ❤️ 

[Mia Moore]

Chapter Two

By the time Talita arrived at school, she was well and truly exhausted. Worse yet, she hadn't managed to escape the bonds of her stroller at all. No matter how much she fiddled with the mechanism around her hips, she couldn't figure out how to click it open. 

"I thought you wanted to walk, cupcake?" Daddy asked as he unbuckled the belt and helped Talita out of the stroller. 

"Changed my mind," she pouted. It was easier for her to change her mind than it was to admit she couldn't figure it out. And Daddy undid the buckle so easily... 

"Come on, Tali," Daddy said, taking her hand. "We have to go talk to your teacher about your special underwear today." 

On the way to school, Talita was too distracted to pay attention to the world around her. She didn't notice the other adults in strollers, pushed by their caregivers toward the Academy in the center of town. She didn't see her friend Claire wave to her, or her rival Shae stick out her tongue. She didn't even hear her classmate Yuki crying in the stroller next to hers as she begged to be changed. Talita was on task. 

But when she got to her feet, she didn't waddle or crinkle. A drop of fear gave way to a wave of excitement. She was a big girl today! How had she forgotten?

One day. One day to be a big girl! That could easily become two days, and then… um... the next day! The one after that. She could do this, she just knew she could. No waddling, no crinkling, no accidents! The first parts were easy, but that last part... well. 

Um. 

There was no room to doubt herself, because losing this privilege was a very big deal indeed. She just had to... pay attention!

Talita followed her Daddy into the building, hand in hand. They passed through the foyer and by the grand staircase, then took a left. The halls were decorated with finger paintings and macaroni art. Talita's eyes automatically scanned for her own work; she always seemed to forget where they hung it up. 

"I dun wanna," Talita heard, over the buzzing of conversations. She turned to see Claire talking to her Mommy. "Please, don't tell... please don't... everyone's gonna laugh and... and I..." 

Tears dripped down her cheeks. A fire flared up in Talita's chest. If there was anything Talita took seriously, it was defending her friends. She was a protector type, even before this place. But when she took a step toward Claire, Daddy tugged on her hand. The fire fizzled out and Talita was pulled into the classroom, feeling sick to her stomach as Claire vanished from her line of sight.

She would be there for Claire next time, Talita promised herself with a pinky rendered in her imagination. And just as that thought finished, she heard Daddy talking to her teacher, Miss Liv. 

"Tali is having one of those R-E-B-E-L phases," Daddy spelled out, knowing full well that Talita couldn't understand any of what that meant. She screwed up her nose in a silent pout, but also knew better than to talk over Daddy. 

"So," he continued, "she's wearing her big girl undies today, but if… W-H-E-N she has an accident, she's going to need to be taken to the nurse for a diaper."

"I won't," Talita said sharply, looking up at her teacher with as much certainty as she could muster. "I'm a big girl now!" 

Notably, no student at the Academy was a big girl. Or a big boy. Or any kind of big. The teachers were teachers. The nurses were nurses. But the Candies were all the same. They all wore diapers. They all learned their lessons. They all had Mommies or Daddies or both that would dress them and feed them. There was no deviation. Talita was an outlier, if only for now. If she could truly prove herself to be a big girl, it would be revolutionary.

"That's nice, sweetie," Daddy smiled warmly and tussled his little girl's hair - a gesture that never failed to make Tali blush bashfully, and he knew it too! He continued to play with her hair as he spoke to Miss Liv. 

"The #12's, please. I want her L-E-G-S to be completely unable to C-L-O-S-E and maybe the #12's will be her new N-O-R-M-A-L so we can start working on her C-R-A-W-L-I-N-G, you know?" 

"Absolutely! Tali, tell your Daddy you love him, and then move your desk up front where I can see you, okay?”

"I... I, um..." Talita tried to parse the language they were using. But every few words, it sounded like they were speaking in code. She bit her lip nervously and looked down shyly at her feet. "Yes, Miss Liv..." 

Talita finally let go of her Daddy's hand and went to move her desk to the front of the room. As class started, Talita knew she was under scrutiny. But she was going to prove to everyone in this whole stupid town that she wasn't the baby they thought she was!

"And do we remember what sound the cow makes? Who can tell me?" Miss Liv asked, her chipper tone bringing Talita back to reality. 

Oh! She knew this one! She knew it, she knew she did! Ummm... Ummmm….

"Quack?" a girl named Marie asked sheepishly from the back. She was always a goody goody type, looking to win the affection of the teachers.  But Miss Liv shook her head. 

"Anyone else? What about you, Talita? You're a big girl today, aren't you?" 

The room started to buzz with whispers. Talita was a big girl? But Talita felt ever so small as she sunk into her chair. She couldn't remember the answer, but she had to guess. If she didn't, she would look stupid in front of everyone! 

"Um... the cow? Cows say..." She tried to remember. She had met a cow once! On a farm. A family vacation, when she was twelve years old. She thought the whole thing was so beneath her, back then. Twelve year olds don't like farms. But that cow... it was so much bigger than she thought it would be. And then it made that sound. It was like... 

"Roooom... kind of like that..." But Talita wasn't feeling so confident.

"Oh, Talita, that's not quite right. Cows say moooo, and I'm disappointed that a big girl like you would get that wrong. Maybe your Daddy was wrong to let you wear knickers today?" 

No! No he wasn't wrong! And now the whole class knew, and that put so much extra pressure on her. But. BUT! She'd just have to rise to the occasion. She'd show them! She'd be their fairy queen, their savior, their idol, just like in all the stories. The evil empire of diapers would be overthrown and Tali and Claire and all her other friends; they'd be free. Even Shae! She just had to last the day.

Talita was quiet the rest of the morning. She didn't want to humiliate herself any further than she already had. When it was time for lunch, Miss Liv lined everyone up at the door. One by one, she lifted their dresses or pulled back the waistband of their pants. 

"Uh huh, you're a bit wet," Miss Liv said to Marie, squishing the front of her diaper. "But you're okay for now. Head to the cafeteria." A blush filled Marie’s cheeks and she nodded obediently at her teacher.

"Josh, let's see..." Miss Liv continued to the next boy. She tugged on the back of his pants to look into his diaper. "Goodness, you're a stinky little boy, hm? Go to the nurses." Josh rushed off and Talita stepped forward. 

"Ah, Talita. Let's check to see what a big girl you are, hm?" Miss Liv lifted Talita's dress and the whole room went silent. The Candies watched in awe as Miss Liv flashed Talita’s padded trainers to the whole room, sticking a finger in the leg band. Even Talita froze, awash with anxiety at the prospect that maybe she didn't realize she had wet herself. But when Miss Liv stood back up, she did so with a smile. 

"Very good, Talita. Head to the cafeteria.”

Murmurs of confusion echoed after her, but Talita was too relieved to notice. She had to find Claire and tell her everything! They were in different classes, so Talita thought her friend wouldn't know yet. But Talita hadn't accounted for the speed at which rumors spread.

"Cair!" Talita was so excited with her own news that she’d forgotten the apparent trouble her best friend had been in only this morning. "Cair, Cair, Cair!"

Claire looked up at her, cheeks pink as could be, and looked back down at the table.

"Cair! I’m in undies!" 

"I know, Talita... everyone knows…"

"They do...?" Talita looked around the cafeteria. It was a wide open space with round, colorful tables. Some of the Candies were looking her way, and others were taking glances up from their food trays. In such a short time, Talita had become the most popular student at the Academy. Her face flushed and she took a seat by her sad friend; she wasn't used to so much attention. 

"Um... is something wrong, Cair?”

Talita tilted her head to the side. Before her best friend could reply, one of the lunch aides - a Candy in a purple party dress and a noticeable waddle - placed a tray on the table in front of Talita. It had a small bowl of mac and cheese, some chicken nuggets, and a sippy cup of juice. She would have preferred pão de queijo, but Talita took a nugget anyway.

"Ummm..." Claire looked up, and then down at the table with a frown, before she whispered to her best friend, "Mommy um... Mommy said I’m too little to know how doors work. So I gotta ask um... if a teacher can open the door.”

Talita stared blankly at Claire. Doors? That was a new one… "Well, I'll teach you! Even if you forget, I won't." 

"You can't teach me," Claire scowled. "You aren't a teacher!" 

"Right, well..." Talita furrowed her brow in thought. "I could open your doors for you? I bet nobody is even gonna know.”

"Um... I think... yuhhuh, I think that would be okay. Mommy said I could try for daytime potty privileges if I could get to the bathroom in time some days but I can’t even open the door now..." Claire sighed. "You’re so lucky…"

"Uh huh!" Talita beamed. Despite her friend's predicament, she was too proud to hide it. As far as she knew, no one had ever worn underwear to the Academy before. She was a trailblazer!

When Talita got to Town a few months ago, she wanted to make a difference. She didn't want to be treated like a baby. She didn't want to wear diapers or have a new last name. Like so many others, she wanted to go home. Maybe this was a path toward a brighter future. If she could keep this up, if she could be a big kid, then maybe the Candies didn't have to be treated this way. Maybe she could change something around here that wasn't diapers. 

"Shae thinks you're gonna fail," Claire told Talita at the end of lunch. "Michael told me. She wanted to take bets or somethin', but she can't count anymore. Plus, Candies don't have money." 

"Well I'll show her," Talita said confidently. Candies were starting to line up at the door, where an Academy employee was checking diapers and sending students to the appropriate location. "The only thing Shae can count on is her diapers being stinky.”

All too quickly, lunch was over. Talita stepped up to the Academy employee and confidently crossed her arms, standing perfectly still. This would be her moment of glory!

The cafeteria was silent as the man stuck his hand up Talita's dress, slipping a finger into the leg band of her training pants. All the Candies hung on baited breath for the man's assessment. Talita stood nervously, all eyes on her, until the employee stood up again. 

"Head to class, Tali." 

A roar of discussion quickly erupted throughout the room. Murmurs of disbelief, whispers of excitement... this was new. Some of the Candies even mentioned asking their parents for undies when they got home. In a single morning, Talita Campbell was becoming a schoolyard legend.

[~Brian~]

On 3/16/2022 at 5:17 PM, Bonsai said:

I love how the desire to act is still there but the ability to do things is irreversibly placed out of reach.

I love Academy’s “magic”. ❤️ 

@Bonsai

that is what makes @Mia Moore’s stories so “Magical” A person could still have the ability to do something, and the will to do it, but they could just sit there and be held still, or laugh, or do whatever is placed within their available options. I’ve always liked her stories, because you never know what will happen, and you may for example in Academy I, ms Ai wanted to do something, for example, and had the thought to do it, but couldn’t do it. For example, she had a diaper on, she took it off, she thought she had it off, and the next thing you know, she has another one on, but for some reason sees the diaper, knows that it is on her, knows what she has to do to remove it, but can’t do it. These type of situation as well as others in her stories make some interesting because you don’t know what she will have somebody do next.

Through her magic I believe this young lady in this story will find herself in a situation where she will be wet before she knows what happened, and she will be IN diapers so thick, she won’t be able to resist them, but she knows she has it on, and for some reason she wants to do something about it, but cannot. It will all depend on what @Mia Moore decides to do next. I love these stories – it’s like playing a game of “truth or dare” that is like a “choose your own adventure book“

we shall see if the young lady can outlast her bladder or her bowels – I sincerely doubt it ?

Brian

Edited March 23, 2022 by ~Brian~
Corrected pronoun: corrected spelling and usage

[Mia Moore]

Thanks for the replies.  The Academy's "magic" is one of my favorite parts.  I don't really believe in "magic without rules" so there are some guidelines that they are required to follow.  Hopefully I can talk more about those rules in the future, and maybe the readers can infer some from this story?

I got more writing done on Spring Break so expect some upcoming chapters! 

~Mia~

[Mia Moore]

Chapter Three

Tali was so pleased with herself - she was a revolutionary, and all she had to do was stay dry for the rest of the day. Then one day would become two days and whichever amount was after that. And that was basically a whole year, as far as she knew, and that was a long time! Behind her, she saw Claire getting waylaid and pointed down the hall away from the classrooms. Talita sighed to herself. Poor Claire.

All afternoon was Good Girl class, something Talita had really struggled with in her first month here. She hated following the rules, and she refused to accept her condition. But after a few Bad Girl days, she learned her place.

Good Girl class was all girls. The boys went to Good Boy class. There was one Candy who wasn't a boy or a girl and their parents picked for them. Talita didn't mind the Good Girl class anymore. Actually, she preferred it over morning classes! Morning class made her feel stupid, but Good Girl class was easy. Plus, Claire was there.

"Good afternoon, my Good Girls."

"Good afternoon, Lady Scarlet," came the chorus of girls' voices, like any other schoolroom of little girls - only any other classroom would have had little girls who weren’t adults. But that was the norm here, so Talita didn’t mind so much. Though it did make her wonder if her being out of diapers might lead to the other kids being embarrassed. Oh well, she couldn’t worry about that, because this was Good Girl time. 

"Today we’re going to talk about gratitude," Lady Scarlet said. "Now we all know that gratitude rhymes with attitude, and that you’re all my Good Girls, so you have such a good attitude. But sometimes... it’s not enough to just be good." 

Lady Scarlet, who unexpectedly had blue hair, paced in front of the girls as she spoke. 

"Sometimes," she continued, "you must remember how much work grownups put into keeping you safe, happy, and healthy. And so, my darlings, we come back to gratitude. To thanking your Mommy or Daddy, if they, for example, put in the work to keep you safe from falling down the stairs, by teaching you not to open doors anymore." Her words were pointed, and Claire slunk deeper into her chair. "Remember, no one in Town is trying to embarrass you. We are doing what is best for you, right?" 

"Yes, Miss Scarlet," everyone replied at once. 

"Good girls. Now let's try some gratitude exercises. Pair up and practice saying thank you, no matter what the other girl says." 

Talita turned to Claire with a smile and waited for everyone to get into groups. Games like this were always fun for the girls, and Talita liked to push the limits as she often did with everything in her life. 

"You can't have cookies anymore," Talita told Claire in the bossiest tone she could muster without giggling. Claire rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, Tali." Claire sighed, and then shot back her own reply. "You can’t use colored pencils no more." 

"Thank you, Cair!" Talita giggled. The joke was on Claire anyway; Tali barely knew her colors anymore! "You can’t suck your thumb anymore." Take that, Claire!

"Thank you, Tali. You can't have your stuffed bear anymore," Claire responded.

"Thank you, Cair! You have to—" 

Talita paused mid-sentence. She felt a tinge of discomfort and squirmed in her seat. She knew that feeling well enough - she had been working hard for months to remember it. If she forgot that feeling, then there was no hope for her. Quickly, Talita raised her hand. 

"Miss Scarlet, can I use the potty?" Miss Scarlet turned to Talita and the whole room quieted down. No one had ever asked Miss Scarlet that before. 

"Hm... well, this lesson is very important," the teacher said slowly, thinking it over. "I wouldn't want you to miss anything." 

"I can be thankful," Talita countered. "I'm really good at it!" 

"So, if I told you to wet your undies right now, you'd do so and thank me?" 

Talita froze in place. She had gone most of the school day without needing to use the bathroom. But she couldn't ignore it. If she did, then she would have an accident for sure. If she had an accident, or if she listened to Miss Scarlet, she would be back in diapers and never allowed to ask about undies ever again - that was the deal she made with her Mommy. 

But to disobey a teacher... she couldn't bring herself to do it. So, with tears in her eyes, Talita nodded her head.

"Yes, Miss Scarlet..." 

"Well then." The teacher patted Talita on the head. "It seems you know this lesson very well. Head to the nurse's office and then hurry back to class when you're done.”

"Thank you!" Talita almost tripped over herself dashing out of the classroom, which wasn’t too uncommon even on her best days. Her time in Town had set Talita back a lot and her body felt like she was carrying a too-full bowl of cereal with one hand: one wrong move and the liquid inside would just slosh out everywhere. That happened to her a lot. If she ran, she’d spill. If she took too long, she’d spill. And the nurse’s office felt so far away.

But Talita was nothing if not determined. She kept a normal pace as she walked down the hall into the nurse's wing. Her bladder ached and she moved side to side with every step, until she made her way into the office. 

"E-excuse me," Talita muttered over the counter. It was on a platform so that Talita's head could barely see over it. The secretary peered down at her with a warm smile. 

"Ah, Talita Campbell, right? The girl in undies. I've been expecting you." 

"Uh huh." Talita bounced from foot to foot. "Bathroom, please?" 

Part of Talita expected the secretary to say no. She thought the woman would hold her down until she wet her trainers, and then her Mommy would keep her in diapers forever. Part of her still thought that the Town was her enemy. But the secretary got up from her chair right away and led Talita down the hall to the bathroom. She opened the door and led her inside. 

"I'll be at the desk if you need anything," the secretary said, closing the door behind her. And just like that, Talita was alone in the bathroom with nothing between her and the toilet. She had won! But her excitement quickly faded as she stared at the porcelain chair in confusion. It was right there. She could use it! But for some reason, she couldn't remember how.

Talita was paralyzed with her indecision. She stared at the toilet, until eventually she started to pace around it. Left. And right. 

How did this thing work? Where was the padding? What was going to hold her pee? Did she tell the nurse to change it when she was done? And when she peed it was always in little squirts over the space of time. Did she just stay here until she was done? How did she... how did people... she couldn’t figure it out. It didn’t make sense…

"Excuse me?" Talita stood awkwardly, halfway between the bathroom and the secretary's desk. She was bouncing in place, doing her best not to wet her undies. It got harder with every moment. 

"Oh, what can I do for you, sweetie?" The secretary stayed at her desk, so Talita took a few steps forward. 

"Um, I just... could you... I don't really know what... how it works..." 

"Oh?" The secretary tilted her head. "If you've already forgotten how to use the toilet, maybe diapers are—" 

"No!" Talita spoke a little too loudly. "I... I know how! I'm a big girl! I am!" 

"Well, okay." The secretary shrugged her shoulders and went back to work. Talita went back to the bathroom and closed the door. She had to figure it out on her own.

There were buttons on top of the thing, and maybe they were like... how it worked? Like maybe Talita could push the button and it would make more sense. But there was more than one button, and they had different pictures on them, and she didn’t know what any of it meant. Nervously, she sat down on top of the seat, facing the wall, and bit her lip. You got this, Tali! 

With confidence, she pushed one of the buttons. And there was an almighty noise that scared her so much she fell backwards off the toilet, scrambling to get away. Noise, and rushing water, and a cacophony of sensations as she hit the floor hard in surprise.

"No, no, no, no, no..." 

The sense of relief was short lived as the heat pooled around her bottom. Talita squeezed her legs shut, pressing her hands against the cotton between her legs. It grew warm and damp at her touch. She couldn't stop it. She couldn't stop anything. Mommy would find out, and she would be in diapers forever! Before Talita could come up with a plan, she was bawling her eyes out. The door opened a minute later and the secretary came in to find the crying girl in a puddle on the bathroom floor.

"Oh dear, sweetie," the secretary smiled and clicked her tongue, "baby girl, these are the kind of things your Mommy tries to keep you safe from, and you were so ungrateful. And now you’ve made a puddle on the floor. My goodness. Do you think you should be in undies, Talita?" 

Talita couldn’t stop crying.

The secretary called a nurse, who came in and scooped Talita up into his arms. If he cared about the wet dress or the wet underwear, he certainly didn't show it. He walked Talita past a few different changing stations - some of which were occupied - and into one on the end of the row. 

"Come on, peach," the nurse said. "Let's get you cleaned up, okay? You'll feel so much better when you're nice and dry." Talita shook her head and kicked her feet, trying to push the man away. Tears poured down her cheeks like raindrops on glass in a thunderstorm. 

"I'm a big girl," Talita cried out. "I am, I am! Dun tell Mommy, please... please!”

"Oh peach, you know I have to tell your Mommy, you know that I do. She works very hard to take care of you and if we didn’t tell her, that wouldn’t be kind." The nurse had such a warm, calming voice and he held the girl in his arms like she weighed nothing more than a doll.

The nurse placed Talita on the changing table and Talita got to her feet. She was hysterical and trembling. 

“It... it was just one time... one accident... it's not fair! It's not fair!" 

"Talita." 

"No! I didn't mean it! I don't need diapers, and I dun wan any of this stupid stuff! I wanna go home! I wanna go back to my real life! I hate this place!" 

With a sigh, the nurse reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny cylinder with pink liquid inside. In the middle of Talita's rant, he clicked down on the top and sprayed it in her face. The mist stuck to her cheeks and her nose. More importantly, some got into her mouth. Only seconds later, Talita's speech slurred to a stop and she looked up at the nurse with wide pupils.

"There, now that’s better, isn’t it? Pretty girls your age are better seen and not heard, especially during a temper tantrum." 

He warmly smiled and picked her back up to put her on the changing table. Her training pants squished against her skin, and this time he forced her to lay back with one strong hand on her chest. 

"Talita, you’re not a grown up, you’re not a big kid. You’re a Candy, and Candies wear diapers. Candies ride in strollers, and Candies wear the pretty dresses you love so much. Candies don’t make any decisions. That’s who you are, it’s your life. Your real life. You belong here, and I’d like you to think about how sad you’d make your Mommy and Daddy if you weren’t here?" 

The nurse didn’t just talk - he used the time he was talking to undress the girl from her wet clothes, to get a diaper out from the changing table cabinets, to dutifully wipe her skin clean.

Talita laid back on the changing table and tried to get her bearings. The room was swaying side to side and everything had an unusual brightness to it. Even the clinical lights of the nurse's office seemed to have a lot of color. Talita had become stupider and stupider over the past few months, but nothing quite compared to the complete absence of thought from the pink spray. 

"Imma... big..." Talita nodded, though she hardly knew what she was saying. She felt a shiver up her spine as the wipe took the place of her soaking wet trainers.

"You’re a little girl, darling, and you were made for diapers. You belong in diapers. If you were a little more clever, you might have already noticed that, but that’s quite okay. You’re beautiful, so you don’t need to be clever at all." His voice was warm like the sun, and it made her cheeks flush and glow.

"I'm... that's..." 

Talita couldn't piece together his words. She just shook her head and pouted as the nurse pulled out a thick #12 diaper and unfolded it in front of her. By the time she was dusted in powder and the diaper was taped around her hips, Talita forgot entirely what she was pouting about. 

"Arms up," the nurse said, pulling the dress up over Talita's head. She did as she was told with no understanding of why. She forgot that she got her dress wet. If she had remembered, she wouldn't have understood why it mattered.

"That feels better, doesn’t it, precious?" If the nurse expected an answer, he’d be disappointed, but Talita was smitten by the feeling of softness between her thighs, and the way her new dress ruffled and moved when she did. She found herself giggling happily in her obvious haze. She put her hand to her mouth and giggled again, putting her fingers between her lips to chew on.

[Bonsai]

Being allowed to get in front of the toilet, but without the knowledge on how to use it, is true sadism.

Well done! ?

[~Brian~]

4 hours ago, Bonsai said:

Being allowed to get in front of the toilet, but without the knowledge on how to use it, is true sadism.

Well done! ?

@Bonsai

I KNEW IT!  MAAAAAAAAAGIC!  Ms Talita Was not a big girl, and she wet herself! Again as in all of the Academy stories, we have a situation where a young girl you’re supposed to keep herself dry, continues to try to do so, and then when She asked to use the bathroom, and made it, but then “forgot how“. This is what I call “Mia’s Magic”.  She has the ability to remember what she needs to do, and tries to do it, but can’t complete her mission.

Again, we find something that is pink and color, and this stuff apparently has the same effect as the pink baby food that looked like applesauce in Academy I, The pink bottle substance in Academy A, and now pink spray comes out in Academy T.  I have a feeling that Miss Talita Will indeed become a “candy“ and she won’t actually be able to stop it, but she will be able to experience it to the extreme: meaning that she will have the feelings of extreme happiness, and as the nurse said in the story “people will be making decisions for her“ because she won’t have to, and she will be in her own world, wearing a diaper all the way: fantastic!  Number 12 diaper at that, and that will be interesting to see what type of diaper it is ?
 

I cannot wait for the rest of this: Ms. Talita Has been “pulled in” and now we shall see what happens: as I said: the magic of the pen is very powerful, and the magic of the mind is even more powerful: your mind can be tricked into doing things that you think are right, what you’re actually wrong, or the reverse - I have a feeling that Ms. Talita Will be laughing, having a blast, and she won’t even realize it. She will realize her life is not what she thinks it is, and she’s up for an interesting Show, but she won’t be able to remember very much, and if she does, it will probably be what they want her to remember, or she will remember things in your head, but will not be able to do something, even though she can still do it! That is why it is awesome that the story is proceeding the way it is, and I love the stories because you’re not sure what will happen!  ???

@Mia Moore well done! Bravo! ?

Edited March 29, 2022 by ~Brian~
General Edits

[Mia Moore]

Thank you so much for your thoughts and comments.  And yessss more pink stuff!  Like Baby said: never put anything pink in your mouth.  

Anyway, new chapter soon.  Today?  I've wanted to finish this chapter all week.

~Mia~

[Mia Moore]

Chapter Four

The nurse kissed Talita on the forehead, making her giggle, and helped her to her feet. The secretary had to lead Talita back to her classroom. She could walk just fine, but she wouldn't know where to go. When she arrived, the secretary explained in not-too-quiet tones what happened to Miss Scarlet. 

"She must have forgotten how to use the potty," the secretary sighed. 

"It's a shame," Miss Scarlet agreed. "She was doing so well today. But I guess Candies can't be grown-ups, hm?" 

Miss Scarlet led Talita back to her seat, but the tone of the room had changed. Soon, the tone of the whole school would change. Talita failed. She was meant to be the paragon for the Candies, and she proved to be their downfall. No one would go home that day and ask for undies. 

"You okay?" Claire asked, trying to get Talita's attention. She knew almost immediately that she had been sprayed, but it didn't last that long. Any minute now, she would come out of it.

"Umm... uhhuh, I..." Talita’s expression cracked like broken glass and she took her fingers out of her mouth slowly, looking down at what she was wearing - what she knew she was wearing underneath - and then back up at her best friend. "I goofed…"

"It's okay," Claire encouraged. "You did so much better than anybody else coulda." But it was plain on her face that Claire was heartbroken. She needed a hero. They all did. Only one person was happy that Talita failed, and she made sure to show it. 

"Poor baby," Shae teased, leaning over her desk toward Talita. Even if anyone hadn't heard the conversation between the secretary and Miss Scarlet, it was obvious: Talita’s dress was so short you could see the landing zone of her diaper.

"Go away, Shae!" Claire pouted defiantly, defensive of her best friend, but Shae didn’t take that as much of a deterrent. 

"Claire, I’m just being nice!" 

"No you’re not..." Talita mumbled quietly, and then looked up at Shae with daggers in her eyes. "You’re being bratty." 

"Miss Scarlet! Talita called me a brat!”

"Tattletale!" Talita hissed back, just before Miss Scarlet was in earshot.

"Talita," she said sharply. "I know that you're upset because you had an accident, but that's no way to behave. Do I make myself clear?" 

"Yes, Miss Scarlet," Talita muttered, sinking into her chair. 

"If I hear one more outburst from you, I'll send you back to the nurses."

That meant more spray. A shiver ran up Talita's spine and she closed her eyes tight. She tried to do the same with her legs, but failed miserably.

"Thank you, Miss Scarlet." Talita sighed, hoping to show that she was at least the kind of good girl who paid attention. The teacher's ears perked up and so did the corners of her lips. 

"Thank you for what, Talita? What are you showing your gratitude for?" 

"For... umm...for..." Talita looked hopefully up at her teacher and made her best guess. "Thank you for dizzy-plaining me.”

Miss Scarlet shot a stern stare towards Talita, then another to Shae, walking back to the front of the class. No pink spray, at least for now. Talita sunk down onto her desk and put her head on her arms. Now what was she supposed to do?

But Talita knew the answer already. She had tried to be a big girl, and she had failed. The adults were right about her and the rest of the Candies: they couldn't take care of themselves anymore. Town was here to protect them and keep them safe. Town was good for Talita.

Now what was she supposed to do? Give up.

Nobody said anything to Talita for the rest of the class, and after school finished for the day, her best friend sought her out with a strained smile. 

"You did betterer than anybody else, Tali..." 

"I was bad..." Tali replied softly. "I shoulda known better…"

"It's not your fault," Claire said in a soothing voice, wrapping her arm around Talita's shoulder. "We're sick, remember?" 

"I know, I just thought..." 

"You thought you could try really hard and get better. We all want that." 

Talita nodded and wiped tears from under her eyes. She could never admit it in front of Shae or her other classmates, but once Claire and Talita were alone, she felt like she could say it. 

"I was right there... I was standing right in front of the... the... the potty thing. And my mind just... went blank. I didn't know what I was supposed to do…"

"It’s the same as um..." Claire struggled for the metaphor. "It’s like if you hadda fly a rocket ship. You wouldn’t know what to do there either, and that’s not any different. Mommy says that some things just aren’t for us, and I think that makes a lotta sense." 

Like a rocket ship. Talita slowly nodded her head and mumbled: "Some things just aren’t for us…"

"Do you think your Mommy is gonna be mad?" Claire asked. She knew Talita had been pestering her parents for a while. 

"Nuh uh. I agreed that if I had an accident, I'd never ask for panties again. So... I think she's going to be happy." 

"You should milk it!" Claire said excitedly. 

"Milk it?" 

Both girls looked blankly at each other. Neither could quite remember where that phrase came from, or even what it meant. Claire tried again. 

"I mean, you had a bad day. So maybe your Mommy and Daddy will be really nice to you and give you extra treats or somethin'! Being a Candy doesn't all gotta be bad." Talita nodded quietly. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

"Candy for their Candy," Talita smiled softly, rubbing her red-rimmed eyes with a little giggle to herself. "Candies should get all the candy we want really, it’s in the name. So I’m gonna be all sad and whiny until Mommy and Daddy give me lots of candy for being such a good Candy.”

"Now you're thinkin’!" Claire encouraged. "And who ever said Candies were dumb, huh? Clearly they never met you." Despite Talita's awful day, Claire had really cheered her up. That was what best friends were for.

The mood in the pick-up room was somber. Discouraged Candies crawled into their strollers as their parents buckled them up. Even Shae wasn't happy after her Daddy checked her diaper in front of everyone. 

"Oh my, you're so stinky," he said, louder than Shae would have wanted it.

"Daddy!" she hissed. Most of the candies didn't pay it any attention, but Talita smirked from across the room. Shae managed to catch her eye and a blush filled her cheeks. 

"When we get home, we'll get you all cleaned up," her Daddy said in a warm tone. 

"When we get home? But—" Before Shae could protest another word, her Daddy picked her up under her arms and plopped her squarely on her bottom in the stroller. Her face flushed with embarrassment and her eyes filled with tears. 

"Not such a bad day after all," Talita whispered to her best friend, and they both giggled.

Claire and Talita hugged goodbye and they each toddled their separate ways to their own caregivers. Talita's Daddy was waiting by the door, and if he was surprised to see her new outfit he certainly didn't show it.

"Daddy, I..." Talita puffed her cheeks out, and straightened her back, and held her head up high. She hadn’t failed to be a big girl, she’d just been reminded of how important it was that she wasn’t a big girl. Right? Right! The rationalization didn’t stop her eyes from welling up with tears though. "Daddy, I’m notta big kid.”

"I know, princess," Daddy said with a small smile. He leaned down and picked Talita up under her arms with no effort at all and set her on his hip. Talita's Daddy was stronger than most of the adults, but the diet Candies were kept on also meant they were a lot lighter than they should have been. 

"I messed up, and..." Before Talita could continue, tears were dripping down her cheeks. She cried so regularly these days. 

"Shh, shh. It's okay, baby girl. We're gonna make sure to take extra good care of you from now on, okay? No more silly fantasies." There was something about being rocked on Daddy's hip that made Talita melt. She felt her anxieties ebbing away as she settled her head onto his shoulder.

"Nuhuh Daddy.... no more silly... um... no more silly..." Her mouth wouldn’t make the word "fantasies" happen - too many syllables for her soft little mind to put into mouth movements. It’s not like she could be understood all too well when she was blubbering anyway. 

Some of Tali’s classmates looked on at her in sadness, regretful of what might have been. Others looked at her knowingly, like they knew this would happen. And others, still, looked at her enviously at how tightly her Daddy held her and how he rocked her. To Tali, though, her entire world in that moment was her Daddy’s warm embrace.

When Talita was done crying, most of the pick-up room was empty. Claire was long gone. Talita was placed in the stroller and buckled in. Before they had left the Academy grounds, she had already fallen asleep. Talita had had a very long day.

[Sarah Penguin]

[~Brian~]

 

[Cya]

Didn't the dad tell the teacher to put her into the thickest diaper so that he could start training her to crawl?

[~Brian~]

@Mia Moore@Cya

Is that what is meant in the story when Mia talks about being placed in a #12 Diaper?   It would be interesting to see the thickest diaper available so you have a reference to compare to what the story speaks of......

Again, I await 'Mia Maaaaaaaaagic"

Brian

[diaperuser]

Thanks for another great chapter.

[Mia Moore]

Chapter Five

Talita had been holding onto her toilet training for over three months - maybe the last of the Candies to do so! But after that day, she gave up. Within a week, she was using her diapers without even knowing it. 

Things changed in the Campbell house, but they changed for the better. Talita was put in thicker diapers and constantly cared for. She never had to feed herself or bathe herself or dress herself. For the first time in Talita's life, she let go of all her worries and let them be someone else's problem. 

Talita lost track of the days. She hadn't been able to count very high since her illness began, but she was always smart with time. She could feel if it had been a day or a week or a month. But once she let go of everything else, that went too. 

Talita's reports home from the Academy were improving. Her rivalry with Shae had simmered down. Even the teachers would use Talita as a positive example of what all Candies could be. Then, one afternoon, the routine changed. As Talita's Mommy taped a fresh diaper around her hips, she said to her ersatz daughter: "You're going to be staying at Mrs. Hopper's house tonight." 

Hopper? Talita didn't recognize the name. 

"But I wanna go to Claire's!" 

On Saturdays, Mommy and Daddy would go out for the evening. It must have been a Saturday. 

"Her Mommy said that Claire is having a quiet day.”

A quiet day; Talita knew them all too well. Once in a while - maybe once a month - the sickness would flare up. The last time it happened to Talita, she couldn't think clearly for a whole day. She drooled all over herself and couldn't even stand up. It felt like she was trapped in her own body, like the controls were all mixed up. She hated it. All the Candies hated it. Talita didn't want to see her best friend like that.

"Yes Mommy." Talita intoned quietly, lost in her own gentle pool of thoughts. And truly, if Mommy said that she was going to stay with Mrs. Hopper tonight, then that must have been the right thing for her, because Mommy and Daddy always knew best. And in the few times she’d been silly enough to argue, she’d been proven quite wrong! 

"Umm... is Mrs. Hopper nice?”

"Uh huh, of course. She has a Candy, so you'll have someone to play with." 

Almost everyone in Town had a Candy. Some of the teachers and shop owners didn't, but that was about it. After all, Town was made for Candies; it wouldn't make sense to have a lot of adults without one. 

Luckily for Talita, she knew Shae's last name wasn't Hopper. Talita's Mommy left her little girl on the table while she started to pack a diaper bag. Pajamas. Extra diapers for changes. Talita's teddy bear. Talita put her thumb in her mouth and watched from on top of the changing table, not thinking about anything in particular.

"So you’ve seen Angela Hopper’s Candy in the daily memo, right?" Talita’s Mommy asked. Talita had several fingers in her mouth while Mommy and Daddy talked to each other, quietly. Even if she could have made out their words, she wasn’t really paying attention anyway. If they were talking to her, they’d make it clear. 

"I have, sweetheart, yes." 

"And you’re not worried about this being her first week with her Candy? Our little angel can be a handful too." 

"A little bit, dear, but Town Hall," a term that might have seemed strange and out of place, given that Academy Town had no such building, "knows what they’re doing.”

"I hate that Dennis and Marge left," Talita's Mommy said under her breath. Talita was only barely paying attention. "Don't they know how difficult it is for these kids? They need help, and uprooting them like that..." 

"Angela is a sweet lady," Daddy assured her. "Her Candy is in good hands." 

"Too sweet, I think," Mommy muttered, writing up a list of phone numbers on an index card. Talita remembered - months ago - when she tried to call the police. She got the phone in her hand and everything, but she couldn't figure out which numbers were which. In the end, she was caught and branded a Bad Girl for twelve hours. It was the worst twelve hours of her life.

"Alright my little sweetheart, let’s get you into your stroller and over to Mrs. Hopper’s house." Talita knew those words were for her, so she paid attention with a little happy smile. 

Her Daddy picked her up and carried her outside the house into the cool evening air. Her Mommy readied the stroller and buckled Talita into it. Nowadays, Tali didn’t even huff and puff about it. Why would she want to walk anywhere?

As her parents pushed the stroller down the street, Talita looked out at Academy Town. The sun was low in the sky, just cresting the top of the wall that surrounded the hamlet. It kept the Candies safe from the outside world, and safe from their own ambitions to leave. 

To her right, in the center of Town near the Academy, was a massive park with multiple playgrounds and swing sets. Talita tried to count them all, but lost track after three. 

On her left, along the outer ring of the city, were the houses. Each one was different - a different color, a different door, a different tile set on the roof - but not different enough in layout or style. 

It looked so American. Not the kind of American you see in America, but the kind of American you see in movies where everyone mows their lawn at the same time. It was picturesque. 

There were no cars in Academy Town, which was something that Talita didn't miss. Actually, without sirens or train horns, without cicadas or morning birds, Town would sometimes trick people into thinking it wasn't there at all. Talita's Mommy and Daddy pushed the stroller along the path, a few houses past Claire's place, to a house with red shingles and a brown door. 

The whole trip took no more than fifteen minutes, but if they had kept on pushing along the circular sidewalk they would have found themselves in front of their house again in less than an hour. Truth be told, Town wasn't all that big.

There were some social conventions that all the Mommies and Daddies followed when it came to having their night to themselves, or otherwise asking for someone to babysit their Candy. 

Always pack a diaper bag, an overnight bag, and your Candy’s favorite books and toys. Always change their afternoon poopy diaper, and then don’t feed them again before dropping them off. Always make sure they’re good friends with the resident Candy who lives there. 

It was that last one that the Campbells couldn’t quite adhere to, but Talita was seen as something of a success story. It was only for that reason that - after Claire's sudden illness - Talita’s parents got permission from Town Hall to forgo that particular rule.

Talita’s stroller was pushed up to the front door of the Hopper residence and Tali’s Mommy rang the doorbell.

"Oh hi, Belle! Marcus! It's been forever. Let's see, almost a month now since the pageant?" 

Talita recognized Mrs. Hopper immediately: she was one of the nurses at the Academy. But like all nurses and Candies, their relationship was more akin to that of a pediatrician and a toddler. 

The pageant in question was when Talita had spilled her juice box all over her dress and Mrs. Hopper recommended sippy cups to her parents. Since that day, she hadn't had a single juice box unless it was in a sippy cup or a bottle.

"A month, has it been that long? My goodness that’s far too long, Angela." Tali’s Mommy was jubilant and performative, the way a Mom on TV might have been. Her Daddy unbuckled her from the stroller and lifted her up into her arms to cradle her on a hip for the journey past the front door.

Strollers always stayed outside. The houses were all built with a small overhang and no steps. It was like a designated stroller docking area. Talita watched her stroller disappear as the door closed. 

Being in a stranger's house for the first time would have made the old Talita anxious. She was never great with people, and she liked to know where her exits were. But now, the worry hardly crossed her mind. 

She looked around the living room - a layout very similar to her own - and noticed a lump of blankets in the playpen. Was that Mrs. Hopper's Candy? It was awful late for nap time.

"Oh you’re just as beautiful as I remembered, Talita; look at that pretty smile! And such a lovely dress too, did you pick it out all by yourself?" Mrs. Hopper fawned and gushed and toted over Tali, who was still being held in her Daddy’s arms. 

"Umm... uhhuh, I like it cause... it’s has flowers, an’ bunbuns, an’ butterflies..." Tali used one of her hands to hold up the hem of her dress in demonstration, which from her position of being carried, flashed her diaper quite obviously. Not that she cared. 

"Well that’s lovely, Tali! Let’s have your Daddy take you to the playpen so the grown-ups can talk!"

Talita's Mommy was already rambling about what numbers to call and what her baby's schedule was like. She showed her the index card filled with times and instructions that Talita couldn't read. Her Daddy put Talita in the playpen and left her alone with the mass of blankets, which seemed to shift awkwardly. Talita fell forward on her hands and knees and crawled over to the blanket, poking it roughly with her finger. 

“Hello?" Talita said.

A moment's pause. 

"Hello," a voice said back. It was muffled by the blankets, but it sounded like a guy. 

"I'm Talita," Talita said, sitting back and waiting for the boy to come out.

"You sound like you chew on toys…" The voice came from under the blankets, though he didn't seem too interested in coming out.

Talita blinked in surprise. Chew on toys? 

"I do not," Talita said sharply. She was always a little too aggressive with new people. She had a habit of speaking her mind, and she wasn't ashamed of it. That was one of the reasons she and Shae were rivals - they kept butting heads over everything they did. 

"Are you scared I'm gonna bite your stuff? I have a paci when I wanna bite somethin’!"

"I knew you were a paci chewer, I could tell." The blankets pulled back a little, and a boy’s face appeared. He had a purple pacifier between his lips, and it moved gently as he chewed on the inner side of it. 

"I jus’ had to make sure. You can’t trust paci-suckers; pacis are for chewing on.”

Talita tilted her head to the side. She wasn't sure she understood why paci-suckers were a bad thing, but she didn't understand a lot of things these days. 

The boy himself looked about Talita's age. He was dressed in nothing but a thick diaper with a sea-shell print and a blue t-shirt with some letters that Talita couldn't read. He had fluffy dark hair and tan skin. Talita swore she had seen him before at school, but he definitely wasn't in her morning class and obviously he couldn't be in the Good Girl class either. She must have seen him at lunch. 

"I'm Talita," Talita repeated. "Nice to meet you.”

"It's nice to meet you, Talita. I've never met anyone wif that name before I don't think... it's a pretty name, and the start sounds like Tomás. T-omás. T-alita. T-t-t-." He made the sounds with his tongue, and smiled.

"Then you're Tomás?" Talita asked. The boy nodded. "Okay, then we can be friends. Talita and Tomás." 

"Tomás and Talita," he corrected. Talita stuck her tongue out in response.

"This is Henrietta, and this is Jacob, and this is Urlu, and this is... ummm..." Tomás had started to introduce his stuffies, but stopped when he apparently couldn't see one of them from his place under the blankets with only his head exposed. "Umm... Diaz likes to hide, she'll be here somewhere…"

Talita slid down onto her side in the playpen. All of the playpens seemed to be a standard size. When she was standing, they came just up to her breasts. She couldn't figure out how the latch worked, and climbing over it seemed impossible. She realized all this a long time ago. It was easier to stay put. And anyway, why would she need to get up? 

"I got a new Mommy," Tomás said out of the blue.

That piqued Talita’s curiosity. She hadn't ever heard of a Candy that got new parents before.  But she could have sworn her Mommy had said something about Mrs. Hopper being ‘new’. Was this what she meant? For a brief moment, Talita wondered if maybe she should listen more when other people were talking around her, and just as quickly she left that thought behind.

"Is that weird?" Talita asked. "It was weird when I got my Mommy and Daddy, but it would be weirder if I had to get new ones now…"

“Yuhhh…" Tomás nodded. "I want Mommy and Daddy to come back, but Mommy says they're not going to. It makes her sad when I ask about thems I think so now I don'ts." Inching like a worm, the boy crawled his blanketed cocoon closer to the girl.

"I wonder why they left..." Talita picked up one of the rings from Tomás's ring game. She had one just like it, and it was something she was really good at. She looked around for the others, maybe to show off. 

"They fought a lot," Tomás said quietly. "They wanted to go away. Um... Somewhere over the wall. Well, Mommy did. Daddy wanted to stay. And now they're both gone. Mommy says she doesn't want to go anywhere though... new Mommy I mean. She's really nice and I like her a lot." Tomás reached into his blanket, and helpfully retrieved the blue ring for the game.

"Thank you," Talita said, using her manners with pride. She crawled to the other side of the playpen until she found the stacker that you put the rings on, but she still needed to find the yellow one. 

"Your Mommy's a nurse, you know?" Talita called back at Tomás. "She told on me when I spilled juice and she sometimes changes me at school." It was hard for Talita to remember the different nurses - they kind of blurred together after a while.

"Mommy is good with changes. She has a warmy things for wipes so it's never cold..." The boy smiled, and then a wistful look crossed his face. "My other Mommy and Daddy didn't care as much, but that was just cause they were always yelling."

"Sorry..." Talita bit her lip and flipped over toys until she found the yellow ring. Finally, she had all the parts she needed. But she didn't know what to say to Tomás. Truth be told, her Mommy and Daddy never fought. They would sometimes say stern stuff to each other, but...

Oh! Suddenly, Talita thought of something. 

"When my parents fought, before this. Um. I mean, before I got sick and had to move? They fought all the time, like these really loud yelling matches. Well, my mom would yell and my dad just spoke really fast. But then they got to a point and they just started... laughing. I dunno why. I think 'cause maybe they saw that they were acting stupid but neither one wanted to admit it? They were really proud people, I think..." 

Talita was struggling to remember what it was like to be prideful. There's only so much an adult can understand when she's regressed to the mind of a child. 

"Anyway, um. I mean, sometimes fighting isn't bad and yelling isn't bad... it's just something... that... it happens. And then it doesn’t."

"That's how my parents were, umm... and my Dad would sometimes talk so fast that he'd mix up the letters in some words. Like once he said we couldn't go to Lisney Dand, and my Mom and me laughed so much..." That memory, faded as it was, seemed to make Tomás smile.

"Yeah, uh... I know what you mean..." Talita stared at Tomás with inflated curiosity. Her dad did the same thing when she was younger. Her mom made fun of him for years. But she had never told anyone in Town that story before. Talita put the red ring on the bottom. Memorizing the ring colors wasn't going to work - she'd forget far too quickly. But she learned to lay them all out in a row and put them on top of each other until she found the biggest one. That one went on first.

"So, um... where are you from?" Talita asked.

"Umm... from America, umm... Cawafawnya? Yuh. Um." He seemed to lose his train of thought, drifting off from trying to focus on the concept of where and when. Memories were hard for everyone here.

"Uh huh, me too. I lived on, um..." Talita paused, trying to think of the street name. It wouldn't come to her. She tried to remember the city she was near. No luck. She did remember something though. "There was an ice cream store at the end of the street. They gave me free samples when I stopped there on my way home from school."

"...and they had the villa ice cream with little dots innit..." Tomás mumbled, looking distant. How had Tomás and Talita grown up in such similar places?

"Hey, um... what was your name? Before this place? Like, you weren't always Tomás Hopper, right?" Talita certainly wasn't Talita Campbell. 

"Tomás Cardoso... why?”

"No reason..." Talita was officially spooked. They had the same story about their parents. The same ice cream shop down the street. The same last name. 

What was happening here?

[Mia Moore]

Chapter Six

"Kiddos, I made some fruit for you both. Don't worry Tomás, Mommy made extra kiwi because she knows it's your favorite. Just be sure to share!" Tomás's Mommy set the melamine plate down between the two ersatz babies and kissed each of them on the forehead, one after the other. "I'm so glad you're both getting along so well!"

Talita's parents must have left; she hadn't noticed. Tomás ate bites of kiwi and Talita ate little cubes of cheese. She didn't like kiwi. 

For a long time, Talita was quiet. She put the rings on the wooden rod in the wrong order. She was trying to understand why someone would have the same memories as her, but every time she got close to something, her mind would warp the thoughts. She just wasn't capable of that kind of thinking anymore, not with her illness as far along as it was. She had to talk out loud or she would lose her train of thought. 

"You're doing that wrong," Tomás said, pointing to the rings.

"I know!" Talita blushed. "I have a system, an... and um, I'm having trouble thinking because... umm..." Talita furrowed her brows in thought, and tipped the rings off the holder to avoid thinking about it. "Tomás could you tell me a secret only you and your family would know? Your old family, from before you were sick?"

"Uh..." Tomás blinked a few times and looked down at the floor. "I... I guess it doesn't matter now. So, um. When I was young, I wanted to be a baseball star. I didn't think I'd get sick like this..." 

"Baseball?" Talita didn't know much about baseball, though she had a few softball classes when she was younger. She hated it.

"My dad really liked baseball," Tomás continued. "He said it was…"

"The new football?" Talita asked, hoping she didn’t already know the answer. "My dad liked baseball too. Mamãe hated it when he tried to fit in with American stuff."

"Yeah…" Tomás paused for a moment, looked quizzically at Talita, and went on with his story.

"When I was eleven or twelve, I was playing in the house. Mom always said not to play in the house or I'd break something. And I guess one of the lamps got broken, and she blamed me." Tomás pouted. "I really didn't do it, but she didn't believe me..."

"I broke a lamp when I was little," Talita said, more to herself than to Tomás. "I threw a baseball and it broke. I never got in trouble though..." That was why she didn't like baseball. Suddenly, Tomás was starting to understand why Talita was asking these questions.

"The green and gold one by the stairs that—" Tomás recounted.

"—Vovó sent from Brazil," Talita finished for him. She bit her lip and looked up at Tomás. He stared at her with wide eyes; the same wide brown eyes that Talita had. The same thick, dark hair. What was going on?

"I should tell Momm—" 

"Don't," Talita said sharply. She'd given herself up to this place, she'd accepted that there was nothing she could do about her illness except to be here and do what she was told. But still, a voice inside of her screamed and told her not to let this boy tell his Mommy. "Please."

Tomás chewed harder on his pacifier and sunk into his blankets. Obviously he was just as concerned about this as Talita, but she needed someone to talk to. If she couldn't bounce her ideas off someone, she was going to get lost in her head. 

"I dunno who you are," Talita said. "Do you know me?"

Tomás shook his head. 

"But we have the same childhood," Talita continued. "The same memories. But not exactly the same. You liked baseball. You played in the house. I just threw a ball once, and I don't like baseball at all. Maybe I was playing with you? But why wouldn't I remember that..."

Talita shook her head and felt tears in her eyes. She had taken to crying when she was frustrated - an infantile response to stress. And once it started, she couldn’t turn it off.

"Oh no, baby girl, what's the matter?" Talita's crying didn't taken long to summon the boy's Mommy. She gave a pretty suspicious look to her own baby boy, but reached into the playpen nonetheless and picked Talita up in her arms to sooth her. "It's alright, baby girl, your Mommy and Daddy will be back before you know it!"

Talita kicked and fussed. She wanted her Mommy. She wanted her Daddy. She didn't want the mean woman that had tattled on her once at the pageant, the one that had relegated her to sippy cups and baby bottles.

Mrs. Hopper carried Talita to the kitchen on her hip with a little difficulty. Despite Talita's weight and size, Mrs. Hopper wasn't that big to begin with. By the time she was seated in the oversized high chair, her frustrated crying had devolved into full on bawling. 

"I wan my Mommy! I wan go home!" 

"Now, now," Mrs. Hopper said, locking the tray in place and trapping Talita in the high chair. "It's just for the evening. Aren't you a bigger girl than this? You aren't a baby, are you?" 

"No!" Talita shouted. Her face was red and puffy and the high chair flashed her diaper beneath her short dress. Her pigtails bounced as she slammed her hands down on the tray. Even though she denied it, Talita certainly had all the characteristics of a baby. 

Mrs. Hopper went over to the cupboard and pulled out a little medicine bottle and an eye dropper, fishing Talita's pacifier out of the diaper bag her parents left for her. With a press and a twist, Mrs. Hopper opened the button of the pacifier and filled it with a squirt of milky pink liquid from the medicine bottle. Closing the button, she went over to the crying baby she was sitting and plopped the nipple squarely inside her screaming mouth. 

Talita sucked instinctively. Pacifiers were so commonplace, there wasn't a Candy in Town that didn't have one clipped to their clothes. In her early days, she used to use her pacifier to keep from crying. She hated crying. Nowadays, it felt like it was the most ordinary, commonplace thing. Wetting herself was a close second. 

Immediately, Talita's cries started to lull. Her screams faded to whimpers. Then, after a minute, she was staring blankly up at Mrs. Hopper with glossy eyes and a very wet diaper.

"Now, isn’t that better? No more tears, sweetheart, it’s much better to smile. Everybody loves a smiling baby girl, after all."

Now that Talita had stopped her bawling - her eyes were puffy and red but glossy and distant - Mrs. Hopper thought to turn her attention to her own Candy, whom she’d left in the playpen. 

"Sweetie, Mommy is still here. Everything is okay. What about you, baby boy?"

Tomás nodded, looking awkwardly around the corner at the girl in the high chair. "Uh huh, I'm okay Mommy." 

"Do you know what made little Tali so upset?" Mrs. Hopper asked, giving a stern look at her baby boy. If he had done something, she needed to know about it.

Tomás didn't know what to make of Talita having the same memories as him, but she had asked him not to say anything. And they were friends now. New friends, but friends nonetheless. If he betrayed Talita's trust, then what kind of friend would he be? But Tomás was always ready to put a friendship first, even before coming to Town. 

"No, Mommy. She was jus' playin', an' got really sad. Maybe she couldn't figure out her rings?" Tomás pointed to the set of plastic colored rings on the ground. Only half of the rings were still on the pole, though they weren't in the proper order.

"If you say so," Mrs. Hopper sighed. Mrs. Hopper turned her attention back to the pacified girl in the high chair. "What got into you then? Oh, to be inside your head…"

By the time Talita's mind cleared of the fog, she had eaten four jars of baby food and had a fresh bottle between her lips. Her stomach was full and her diaper even fuller. Though Talita ordinarily had full control of that part of her diaper use, the pink medicine threw that control out the window. The whole thing seemed like a blurry dream, one she could remember with uncomfortable clarity. 

"Feeling better?" Mrs. Hopper asked. Talita nodded her head absentmindedly, sucking down the bottle. She was getting tired.

"I think you were just feeling cranky, right sweetheart? And combine that with a new house, and a new friend, and you just got a bit fussy, that’s all." Mrs. Hopper offered that explanation, although the way she worded it seemed like she was examining Talita for any kind of response or tell that it might not have been the case. Tali, for her part, didn’t seem to notice.

"I guess..." Talita couldn't even remember what she was upset about. She was talking to that Tomás boy, playing with her plastic rings, and... then she started to cry. But as she had learned with so many other things in Academy Town: it didn't matter anymore. 

"Come on you stinky girl, let's get you cleaned up for bedtime." Mrs. Hopper unlatched the tray and set it aside, helping Talita to her feet with a firm squeeze of her padded bottom. A shiver of disgust ran up Talita's spine and the room started to smell a little bit worse. 

Mrs. Hopper took Talita's hand and led the waddling girl up the stairs. By the time she got to the top, Talita was already exhausted. Walking around wasn’t something she was used to anymore. Mrs. Hopper seemed to notice, because she picked Talita up in her arms and cradled her butt, squishing the mess against her skin, and carried her into Tomás's bedroom.

"Your Mommy and Daddy didn't tell me you were such a devoted little producer, my little mushtush. They've got to be so proud of you." 

Talita didn't have a response to that one; every instinct in her bones told her to be humiliated, but the words being fed to her told her to be proud. Mrs. Hopper laid her down on the changing table that was pressed against the foot of the very large crib, which only made her feel smaller and shyer. 

"Now stay still, darling."

Mrs. Hopper untaped the girl and started to clean her up with baby wipes from the wipe warmer. The smell wasn't that bad - Talita was quick to acclimatize to it and Mrs. Hopper seemed no more bothered. A warm wipe passed between her legs and a heat filled Talita's cheeks. 

"Um... Mrs. Hopper?" 

"Yes, princess?" she cooed. 

"Tomás doesn't have a Daddy, right...? But Mrs. means you're married." 

"Yes, that's true." 

"So, um..." Talita didn't know how to bring up the topic, but she was curious about Mrs. Hopper's husband, whoever he was. And it was clear that Talita wasn't going to let it go. 

"Mr. Hopper doesn't live here. He's a busy man." 

"Oh..." Talita nodded, but she didn't understand at all. "Does he visit...?" 

"No, not... not right now." Mrs. Hopper almost sounded sad. "His company helped fund Academy Town. When he told me about people with your condition, I asked if I could help out here. I've always been very maternal, but we don't have any kids of our own." 

"That's why you worked at the school?" Talita asked. 

"Yep. Then, after Tomás's parents left, they didn't have anyone to take care of him. I thought I could be his Mommy." 

Talita thought about it for a moment, then asked quietly: "Are you going to leave him too? To go back to your husband?" 

"Certainly not," Mrs. Hopper said with conviction. "After Tomás gets used to things, and when my husband's work slows down a little, he will come and live here. Then Tomás can have two parents."

Talita seemed somewhat pleased with that answer, and it kept her quiet for a few more moments. But only a few. 

"Tomás used to have a Mommy and a Daddy." 

"Yes, dear, but they had to leave." Tali hadn't been talking about the boy's former parents from here, but from something that existed before this town came into their lives. 

"Do you think... we'll ever see our Mommy and Daddy from.... um... from before?”

"I don't know, sweetheart..." Mrs. Hopper sounded a little sad to say it. She didn't like not having the answers, but after working as a teacher for a decade she knew when to admit it. "Your condition is very... difficult. A lot of people don't understand it. That's why they built the Town. That's why we take care of you. But parents... they like to see their kids as perfect. It's hard to face this kind of thing, you know?"

Mrs. Hopper unfolded a fresh diaper and slid it under the little girl's bottom. She didn't want to have this conversation. Hadn't she spoken to her own parents about this? After powdering Talita and taping the diaper on, she patted the front and smiled. 

"Listen, Tali. No matter what happens with your old parents, I'm sure they love you and miss you and think about you all the time. But they know that this is the best thing for you. Haven't your new parents been good to you? Don't you feel safer here?”

"Uhhuh, I feel safe here. Um. I don't think my other parents um... would be very good at changing my diapers." Her cheeks were pink at that admission, but it was an entirely pragmatic thing for her to say. The thought had come into her head easily and seamlessly too, as though it had been placed there wholesale.

"That's probably true," Mrs. Hopper smiled. She sat Talita up on the changing table and lifted her dress off over her head. She replaced it with a snap-crotch onesie that Talita's parents had packed in the diaper bag for bedtime, then helped Talita to her feet. 

"Are you getting sleepy?" Mrs. Hopper asked, checking her watch. 

"Nuh uh," Talita lied, trying not to yawn. 

Mrs. Hopper gave her a quizzical look and relented. "Okay, I'll put on a movie for you and Tomás. Let's go - hand in mine.”

"Yes Mrs. Hopper." Tali nodded in compliance and put her hand in the woman's hand. Something told her that it ought to be weird that Mrs. Hopper was really only a little bit taller than she was, but that same thought got derailed by the very real fact that if she tried to quantify that value, she didn't know a single number to go along with it.

[Mia Moore]

Chapter Seven

Talita watched Mrs. Hopper fumble with the playpen latch like it was a magic trick until the door finally opened. Talita walked inside and Tomás looked up from the floor. 

"C'mon baby boy," Mrs. Hopper cooed. "Let's get you ready for bed too. Then I'll put a movie on for you and your new friend, okay?" 

Tomás nodded shyly and got up. The faint scent of a messy diaper filled the room and Talita wondered idly if that was her fault or not. But once Tomás and Mrs. Hopper were gone, the smell went away. Talita sat down on the floor and went about solving her ring puzzle. It bothered her that she had left it unfinished.

Red. Orange. Yellow. Green... there were two more colors that she couldn't remember the names of, but they were smaller than the others so that was how she was going to figure it all out. Talita liked puzzles, and she didn't like to ask for help. But... the idea of Tomás and her having the same parents... that wasn't a puzzle she loved. And maybe she had to ask for help.

Mrs. Hopper wasn't a dumb woman. She knew that the Campbells would be there to pick up their daughter late that night, as well as that Tomás's room was on the top floor. Instead, she let her two charges fall asleep in the playpen, watching a movie about talking cats. When Talita was lifted into her Daddy's arms, she barely stirred.

"Were there any problems?" Talita’s Daddy asked offhandedly, more of a routine than an actual question. 

"Nothing major," Mrs. Hopper said. "She was talking with Tomás earlier and then had quite a tantrum. I had to pink her bink, but she calmed right on down after that." 

"That's good. Strange that she'd have a tantrum though; she's been so well behaved recently.”

"New house, new situations," Talita's Mommy whispered, pushing her daughter's hair out of her face. "I'm sure she'll be right as rain in the morning." 

Talita's Daddy put her in the stroller and buckled her in while her Mommy thanked Mrs. Hopper. Then the three began the short journey home, through the quiet night of Academy Town. Streetlights lit the circular sidewalk and porch lights flickered out one by one. Talita woke up once, but before she could say a word fell right back asleep. She didn't wake up again until morning, when she was in her own crib.

"Mommyyyyy...." Talita whined from her crib, but her room was still and tranquil in the dim light of the morning. She'd had dreams, and not the sort that she was used to having, not dreams about Disneyland or pretty gingham skirts or playing with her best friend in the sandbox. Dreams about that boy…

“Mommmmmyyyyyyyy~"

It didn't take long for the tears to start. Mommy rarely ever got Talita out of her crib before she cried, and the intricate mechanisms of the latch was a memory long forgotten. Sometimes she hated being sick. 

Talita's Mommy came in with an apron around her waist and a baby monitor clipped to her pants. Talita stopped crying at the sight of her. Before addressing her little girl, Talita's Mommy went to the changing table. 

"Good morning, sweetie," she cooed, fluffing a diaper in her hands. "I heard Claire is feeling better today." 

"Yeah?" Talita's eyes lit up in excitement.

"That’s right, sweetie. Would you like to play with her today? Perhaps we could pack a picnic lunch and meet Claire and her parents down in the city square, and you two can play on the jungle gym? And in the sandbox? Would you like that, darling?" Talita nodded her head happily, shaking off the dream.

Talita's Mommy clicked something with her foot and lowered the crib rails. She picked up her baby girl and moved her over to the changing table with very little difficulty. 

"Can I have pancakes for breakfast?" Talita asked absentmindedly as her Mommy snapped open her onesie and untaped her soggy diaper. Pancakes were Talita’s favorite food, but they weren’t made like the American kind. They had tapioca and cheese.

"I'm making omelettes." 

"I wan' pancakes!" Talita pouted, squirming on the table. 

"If you act up, there won't be a picnic," her Mommy said. "There will be a spanking instead."

"But you looove meeee?" Talita batted her lashes cutely, too, putting on her best and most cutesiest voice she could muster. Though her Mommy’s stern look told her all she needed to know about pushing her luck. "Eggies is okaaay…"

Her Mommy rolled her eyes and leaned down to kiss Talita's tummy before lifting her legs and slipping a new diaper under her butt. Everything was so routine these days. 

"I'll make pancakes tomorrow," her Mommy said. "Before school." 

"What if I dun wan' them tomorrow?" Talita asked. 

"Well," Mommy mused, "I'll put a little dish of flour by your crib tonight so you dream of pancakes."

Dream of pancakes. Dream. Gosh, her dreams had been so... 

"I hadda bad dreams, Mommy." She liked the idea of telling her Mommy, but maybe... maybe that wasn't the best idea. "It had monsters.”

"Monsters aren't real, hunny. And even if they were, we would never let them into Town." She patted the front of Talita's diaper - taped snug around her hips - and helped her off the table. "Let's get you dressed before Daddy burns all the food I've worked so hard to make.”

"Daddy says that burning food is the way that cavemen used to make it and that things must have worked out for them cause we’re all here, Mommy." Tali nodded her head proudly at having recalled that particular fact that her Daddy had told her. The problem was... she was thinking of the wrong Daddy.

"Hmm..." Talita's Mommy nodded. 

It wasn't uncommon for Candies to talk about their past lives, and maybe Talita was tripping up because of her illness. But it seemed awfully out of character for her. Her Mommy decided to make a report at the end of the day, just in case. 

Talita's Mommy dressed her in a snap-crotch onesie with airplanes on it, a light-blue skirt-all for easy diaper checks, and pigtails to keep her hair out of her face. Talita accessorized with candy bracelets and inside-out frilly rainbow socks. She had to fold the tops down so the frills would stick out. By the time they both came down to breakfast, Talita's Daddy had already plated up the omelettes with a pile of hash browns.

"Oh my gosh and golly!! Eggies! An’ an’ an’ tatoes! Daddy! Those are my favorites!" Just like any other child, Talita was fickle when it came to her food tastes, and her short term memory was notoriously poor. Pancakes? What were those again? She ran up to the table and started trying to fumble with her high chair.

"Hang on, angel cake," her Daddy sighed, putting down the plates and picking up his little girl. He set her properly in the high chair and latched the tray in place. 

"I wan' eat it on my own!" Talita's parents exchanged a look and both of them shrugged. Her Daddy put the plate of food - along with a children's fork - on the tray and each took a seat at the table.

It was going to be a mess. Nobody had any doubts that it was going to be a mess. But it was important to let girls Tali’s age have a little bit of autonomy, even if it meant a little bit of extra work for her parents. Talita proved the point too, because neither omelettes nor hash browns were foods that were particularly easy to keep on a fork.

Before either of her parents could finish their meals, Talita had given up. Every time she got some hash browns balanced on her fork, they would fall off. The trip to her mouth was too far. She tried to lean forward, but it didn't help. Her bib was covered in eggs and she finally threw her fork off the tray. She picked up the bites of omelette with her fingers and pushed them into her mouth. Her parents exchanged another look, but they didn't say anything.

Why did people even use forks, anyway? Or spoons? People had hands for a reason, that’s what Talita figured. And! Even though it made a mess, that’s what Mommy and Daddy were for - to clean her mouth and face and hands and neck and lower arms, after she finished eating. 

"I love eggies!"

"Pancakes tomorrow," Mommy smiled, sipping her coffee. 

"I hope you're giving her a bath afterward," Daddy laughed, getting up from the table to wash up his little girl.

It took a better part of the morning to make Talita presentable again, and by then her Mommy was already making a picnic basket for the afternoon. Weekends were great days for park visits - all the parents thought so. And the best part was, the park was just across the street from every single house!

Talita really liked the slides; there was a red one that was a bit taller, and a green one that was lower to the ground, and they were so fun! But she loved the monkey-bars, too; the girls would often hang upside down from them, which meant all the boys would see their diapers when their skirts and dresses flipped down, but nobody really cared about that here in Town. She loved climbing the jungle gym, and she loved building sandcastles in the large sandbox. Most of all, she loved seeing her best friend. 

"I’mma hug Claire so so so so tight!" Tali was positively vibrating as her parents got ready by the front door for them to leave.

"I'm sure she'd love that," her Mommy said. "She had a rough day yesterday." 

The quiet day. Talita nodded in understanding. But when everyone was out the front door, they ran into a new problem. 

"But I don't wanna ride the stroller!" Talita whined. "It's just across the street!" 

"You know the rules, Talita," her Mommy said sternly. 

"And you'll be happy to have it later today, on our way home," her Daddy said, taking the rational approach.

Between the two of them, it seemed to do the trick. Talita climbed into the stroller and pouted as her Daddy buckled her in. 

"So dumb," Talita muttered under her breath.

"There’s a good girl," her Daddy smiled, and leaned down to kiss her on the forehead, because he was nothing if not encouraging. He just so happened to also overlook his little girl's pouty comment. 

It was just a normal everyday scene here in Town - two loving parents, a lovely baby in the stroller, all heading to the park. 

It was all so idyllic.

[Bonsai]

With all the tension you have built up, I have high hopes for next chapter to be much less idyllic than this one.

Good job.

[Mia Moore]

2 hours ago, Bonsai said:

With all the tension you have built up, I have high hopes for next chapter to be much less idyllic than this one.

Good job.

It may well be.  

Thank you!! I feel like I never have time to write these days but I'm so into this setting!!  I daydream about it in the shower. ?

[Mia Moore]

Chapter Eight

"Cair! Cai—" 

Talita kicked her feet and fussed with the buckles. She saw her friend on the swing set with a few other Candies and she was still strapped in the stroller. 

"Lemme out! Daddyyyyy lemme out!" Talita's Daddy rolled his eyes and stopped the stroller. They were just in the grassy part of the park. Technically, according to the rules, she didn't need to be in a stroller in this part of Town, so her Daddy unbuckled her and helped her get to her feet. 

"Find us when you get hungry," he said to her. "We'll be over here, watching you." 

"Okay, okay, okay." Talita hurried through the conversation and just as quickly ran off to the swings.

"...umm..." Claire looked a little bit confused at first by the sudden and very loud appearance of her best friend, but her mind and eyes focused after just a moment. She broke out into a smile the way the sun breaks through grey clouds when the rain is over and done with. 

"Oh! Tali! Tali Tali!" 

She slipped down off her swing and tumbled forward to cuddle her best friend just as close as possible and as tight as can be. With the relative lack of stability afforded to two grown girls in diapers, they both wound up falling over together.

They giggled in the grass and sat up together with big smiles on their faces. It had only been two days since school, but it had felt like a lifetime. Concepts of time were so abstract to Candies in Academy Town. 

"Are you feelin' any better?" Tali asked. "I know yesterday you..." She didn't say it. Quiet days were notoriously terrifying and even the thought made her skin crawl. She didn't want to bring up any bad memories.

"Today is today and that’s the best thing it can be," Claire replied. "Yuh, that’s what Mommy says." 

Honestly, Quiet Days were something never really discussed in polite conversation, as nobody was really happy with the fact they happened and nobody really knew why they did. To Candies, they were an inevitable - if thankfully uncommon - occurrence. 

Everybody knew about them, everybody would have them, and everybody was both afraid of and resigned to them. But it was really only when newer Candies moved to the Town that there was much ruckus about it. 

"I missed you lots and lots and lots," Claire continued, getting back to her rather unstable footing. "An’ I wan’ try an’ get over the top of the swings today, I knows I can do it."

Claire had been trying since the day she got to Town to fly over the top of the swings. Back then, she was hoping to get a glimpse of what was beyond the wall. Nowadays, she could barely remember why it was so important to her in the first place. It was a long-lost reason, but the urge stayed. Those kinds of things made up a lot of Candies. 

"Well you seem better," Talita said with a half smile. There was some speculation that Quiet Days could worsen a Candy's condition, but Claire seemed as Claire as ever, if a little more spacey. That should pass though. 

"Wanna know about my night?" Talita asked, climbing to her feet and brushing off her dress. "It was very... uh..." A slight pause as Talita tried to find the word and ultimately gave up. "Weird."

"Oh no did your Mommy make you eat broccoli again?" Claire screwed up her nose at the idea. No Candies really liked vegetables. Tali, as it turned out, was slightly allergic to broccoli, and it made for some very unpleasant diaper changes for her Mommy and Daddy.

"No nothing like that..." Actually her relationship with her Mommy and Daddy had only gotten better and better since the accident at school. Talita was coming into her own as a dumb little girl. 

"You know how my Mommy and Daddy go out on dates when I'm not at school? On the first night?" 

"Uh huh, Sat-a-day," Claire agreed, though a sudden flash of anxiety washed across her face. "Did you... uh... come over?" 

"Nuh uh! Don't worry. I went somewhere else." 

"Oh, okay." Claire's anxiety faded a little, but she wasn't entirely thrilled about Tali having a new friend. What if she got a new best friend? 

"His name was, um. Tomás. His parents left Town, so he got a new Mommy.”

"Oh!" He. He. That meant Tali couldn’t have a new best friend because what girl their age ever had a boy for a best friend? "Tha’s really sad that his parents left! I bet he’s sad. I’d be sad foreber and eber without Mommy and Daddy…"

"Uh huh..." Talita couldn't even imagine living a day without her parents. The last time she was a Bad Girl, it only lasted twenty-four hours and she was bawling for most of them. But Tomás seemed to be taking it pretty well. Maybe he didn't like his old parents as much as Talita liked hers. 

"Do you ever think about your other parents?" Talita asked. "Before we got sick? I wonder why they don't visit…"

"It’s ‘cuz they could get sick too if they visit so they can’t visit," Claire said. She used to wonder what made her new parents any different, but those thoughts were distant memories now. "I used to think about them a lot, but not so much now..." 

"What do you remember about them?" Talita asked, taking a wobbly step up onto the playscape. It was busy today - lots of kids were playing. There was a game of tag going on and the place was exploding with laughter and footsteps. The slide had a line.

"Umm... they were..." Claire narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and then rubbed the side of her head, ruffling her own hair with a tiny grimace. "They didn’ live together, and Dad was really tall. Ummm..." Honestly, it seemed like she really had trouble remembering.

"What about any ice cream shops? Did you live by one of those?" Talita was probing for information. After finding out that her and Tomás had so many similarities, she wondered if maybe she was similar to the other Candies as well. Maybe their illness was locational? Or maybe there was something else going on. 

"Nuh uh. Our house was in a big..." Claire blanked on the word. "There were lots of other houses. No stores or shops for a ways." 

"Hmm..." Talita toddled across the rickety bridge and climbed a few more steps toward the rolly slide. When she first got here, she could stand on it while she slid down. These days, she could barely stand upright on level ground, and the thickness of her diapers certainly didn't help.

"Oh!" Claire did remember something, and it came to her as she almost lost her footing on the bridge, following her best friend. "I think there was a um... a thing, like um...."

She gestured a shape with her hands, brows furrowed, and almost lost her balance so she gave up on the gesturing.

"A thingy... where you play, I mean, where people play but it's their job. But um, it wasn’t too far away from Dad, but Mom lived somewhere else…"

"A park? Like this one?" Talita looked around the wide open area littered with swingsets and slides, playscapes and picnics, monkey bars and benches, trees and bushes. Then, far off in the distance in every direction,  rows of houses, and behind those, the wall. The only thing that looked out of place was the school, near the north end of the park. But Claire shook her head all the same. 

"Not a park. It has more seats. All around it, and raised up." 

"Like where they play baseball?" Talita asked. 

"Yeah, that! What's that called?" 

Talita opened her mouth to answer the question, but the word didn't form in her mind. It felt like walking into the playroom to get your dolly and forgetting why you went in there at all. 

"Did you play baseball?" Talita asked, not entirely jumping topics. "At home, maybe?" 

"Nuh uh. That was a boy thing." 

"Right..." Talita was clearly thinking about something. It was impossible to hide, when even the simplest thoughts required the utmost concentration. Her brow furrowed and her lips pursed. Even when it was her turn to go down the rolly slide, Talita didn't move.

"Is something a matter?" Claire tilted her head perceptively, and nudged her best friend toward the rolly slide with a gentle push on her crinkling padded butt. "You seem worried an’ maybe even a bit ascared." Her voice lowered, and she whispered almost. "Do you wants to go to the fort?" 

The fort was the walled off area under a slide on the edge of the playground, which was never occupied because there was nothing to do in there except from an oversized noughts and crosses board.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Talita knew she wasn't doing anything wrong, not really. But when she was uncertain about something, she was supposed to talk to an adult. Why wasn't she going to an adult with this? Why didn't she tell Mrs. Hopper when she was confused? Maybe there was still a part of Talita's obstinance left inside her. 

Talita slid down the slide and the thoughts of Tomás and her past life seemed to slide away just as quickly. By the time she reached the bottom and fell flat on her padded butt, she was giggling with joy. Claire slid down after her. 

In the end, the two didn’t make it to the fort, instead joining a game of tag. Claire was terrible, because she had smaller legs and thicker diapers. Talita was never tagged even once. Then the two friends went to the swings and tried to get over the top. Only after a few minutes of trying did they remember that they didn't know how to swing anymore. 

"C'mon!" Talita said, climbing off her swing. "My Mommy and Daddy will push us - let's go ask."

"Okay!" Claire followed after Tali, all the way over to the seats where the parents gathered, and neither of them were out of breath when they got there. Like most kids, they had a lot of energy, and then suddenly they didn’t and would need a nap. Right now, they didn’t yet need a nap.

"Mommy Mommy Daddy Daddy! Push us on the swings, puh-lease!" Tali whined and begged, oblivious to the diaper check she was receiving at the very same time.

Talita's Mommy sighed a little and pulled her hand out from under her daughter's skirt-all. She and her husband were sitting on a picnic blanket, a stone's throw from a few other sets of parents. The stroller was parked a few feet away with a basket of food in the undercarriage. 

"You need a change first," her Mommy said. "Then lunch. You've been running around for a few hours now." Talita and Claire looked at each other in surprise. It only felt like a handful of minutes.

"But Mommy..." 

"No buts, little miss," Daddy interjected. He pulled Claire close and flipped up her skirt, sticking a finger in the leg-band of her diaper. Whatever the state of her diaper - for Claire certainly didn't know! - his response was the same. 

"Both of you, lie down.”

The two of them made little huffing sounds and danced in place for approximately four seconds, before relenting and laying down next to one another on the picnic blanket. Talita took Claire by the hand and sighed, looking up at the clouds. 

"I see a spaceship." 

"I see a flower," Claire responded. 

"Where? I don’t see OH!" 

"Stay still, you two. Less squirming," Tali’s Daddy scolded, softly, but firmly.

Skirts were easy for diaper changes, but boys had it a lot harder. Some wore shorts, and a lot of them had those straps that went over the shoulders. Their Mommies or Daddies would have to unbuckle the straps and pull the shorts all the way down. As for Talita and Claire, they were accessible with an easy flip of the skirt. 

Talita's Mommy unsnapped Talita's onesie while her Daddy unsnapped Claire’s. A long time ago, the idea of a diaper change in the middle of the park would have been unacceptable; Talita would throw tantrums and run off the playground. But after months of public diaper changes and days upon days of Bad Girl time, Talita had stopped caring. Every adult in Town had changed a diaper before and every Candy had had their diaper changed in public. Why had she been so resistant?

Talita felt a cold breeze between her legs as her Mommy untaped the front of her diaper, then wiped her clean with one of the wipes from her diaper bag. Talita shifted awkwardly in place and felt a heat on her cheeks. She wasn't sure why, but embarrassment still lingered, much the same as Claire's goal for swinging over the top of the swingset. She held her friend's hand tighter.

"I wanna play inna fort." Talita mumbled quietly to her best friend, as though the embarrassment had brought her back a moment of clarity. Whether or not that would last from now until the end of the diaper change was anyone’s guess. 

"Oh are you two going to play noughts and crosses?" Mommy asked. Tali bit her lip and nodded. She didn’t lie to her Mommy, so she’d have to play a game. But she could play and talk!

Talita's legs were lifted up by one of her Mommy's hands and she could see Claire's shoes high above her as well. Talita stole a glance at her best friend, who was blushing all the same. Neither could really put into perspective why the other one was so shy about this ordinary everyday thing. 

"Hey Belle! It's nice seeing you out on a Sunday." 

As Talita's legs were set back down, a fresh diaper beneath her bottom, Talita could make out a familiar face. An older woman, one of her Mommy's friends. Unfortunately, this particular friend was also the Mommy of her mortal enemy. With a tilt of her head, Talita could see Shae strapped into the stroller, smiling smugly at the two half-naked girls in the middle of the park. 

"Yeah we decided to switch it up this week," Talita’s Mommy said. "Claire was feeling unwell yesterday and you know how Tali gets when she doesn't have someone to play with." Bored easily. 

"Mommy..." Talita whined quietly, wiggling to close her legs. Her protests were met with a sharp slap on her thigh.

"Be good, Tali." 

"Yeah!" Shae giggled. "Be good, Tali!" 

"Mommyyyyyyyyy, Shae is being mean!" 

"That’s not a nice thing to call your friend, Tali. You apologize to Shae right now." During all of this, the routine wasn’t broken, the diaper change continued, and it was the most normal thing in the whole world. 

"Nuh! Mommy she’s NOT my friend!”

"Talita Rose, you apologize right this instant!" Mommy chastised. 

"No!" Talita huffed defiantly.

"I'm sorry, Meg," Talita's Mommy said in embarrassment up at Shae's Mommy. "She's been so cooperative all week. I don't know what's gotten into her." 

"It's no trouble," Shae's Mommy laughed. "The amount of times I've had to punish Shae is tantamount to diaper changes at this point." 

Talita didn't know what 'tantamount' meant, but she stuck her tongue out at Shae all the same. Shae blushed and sunk into her stroller. But just when Talita thought she'd won, her Mommy grabbed her by the ankles and pulled her sharply over her lap. Talita's hand slipped out of Claire's amidst the shock and her Mommy flipped Talita over so her bare butt was high in the air. 

"W-wait! Mommy! I—"

"Talita Rose," Spank. 

"You will not be rude to your friends," Spank. 

"You are my little," Spank. 

"Precious," Spank. 

"Polite," Spank. 

"Darling Princess, and you know better than to be so," Spank. 

"So," Spank. 

"SO," SPANK! 

"Disobedient!"

The sting on her behind was nothing compared to the public humiliation. Talita was being spanked in front of her nemesis, in front of her best friend, in front of the entire park of parents and Candies! All her friends at school, all her classmates. It didn't take long for Talita to start bawling. The strikes barely hurt - that wasn’t the point, after all. But after ten swift and punctuated blows to the little girl's backside, she was clearly feeling very sorry. 

"Now, Tarling," her Mommy said, inventing that mix of Tali and Darling on the spot, which would no doubt give Shae lots to work with in the future, "do you have something you’d like to say to your friend?" 

Tali was sniffling, blubbering, nose snotty and eyes red and she couldn’t keep her thumb out of her mouth in search of comfort. She looked at her nemesis through her tears and mumbled, softly:

"So’y Shae…"

"Thass okay, Tali," Shae said with a bright smile of victory. "I forgive you." 

Talita was flipped onto her back once more, wiping tears from her face with the back of her hand. Next to her, Claire tried to reassure her with a smile, but Talita was too embarrassed to look. Her Mommy repositioned the diaper under her butt and sprinkled baby powder between her thighs.

Talita couldn’t believe that Mommy had done that! Here! In the park! In front of Shae! 

But the stinging on her behind as the diaper was taped up didn’t soften Talita - it did the opposite: Tali was determined to talk about that boy with her best friend in the fort. Something was berry berry wrong here, and she was going to figure out what it was.

[Cya]

If Tali keeps digging she'll probably end up in a giant bassinet and a pram instead of a crib and stroller...

 

I wonder what is going to happen next.

[Personalias]

Kudos to you on creating an anthology series that both does variation on a basic theme yet seems to give hints at a wider world beyond the confines of each plot, as well as making each protagonist character have defining traits from another that makes them seem like more than place holders for stuff to happen to them.  

Your patrons are very lucky.

[Mia Moore]

On 6/5/2022 at 10:31 AM, Personalias said:

Kudos to you on creating an anthology series that both does variation on a basic theme yet seems to give hints at a wider world beyond the confines of each plot, as well as making each protagonist character have defining traits from another that makes them seem like more than place holders for stuff to happen to them.  

Your patrons are very lucky.

This is such a huge compliment from you!!  Your writing is incredible and a huge inspiration for some of my ideas.   I'm so flattered that you're enjoying the story and I hope to continue to live up to your expectations. ?

On 6/2/2022 at 5:33 PM, Cya said:

If Tali keeps digging she'll probably end up in a giant bassinet and a pram instead of a crib and stroller...

 

I wonder what is going to happen next.

It does seem inevitable... 

Thanks for reading!!

[Mia Moore]

Chapter Nine

"Did you want to go on the swings?" Talita's Mommy asked her pouting little girl. Tali hadn't said more than two words since the spanking, but the promise of more fun at the park was quick to draw her out of her introspection. 

"Yeah..." Talita sighed and climbed up to her feet, wobbling a little from the thickness of her diaper. She was so used to them by now, but it always took her a moment to find her center of gravity when standing up. Maybe in the future, her illness would get so bad that she wouldn't be able to walk at all. 

"Let's go then." 

Talita's Mommy grabbed her by the hand and her Daddy lifted Claire onto his hip. They went over to the swing sets together; not the ones Claire had been trying to swing on earlier, but the row of infantile chairs that looked like big plastic car seats. If Tali wasn't so wrapped up in her own thoughts, maybe she would have objected. Or maybe this was normal now.

There was something about swings that adults seemed to forget about when they grew up; a kind of magic that only kids and Candies seemed to be able to remember. It was like flying: a sense of helplessness with dangling feet and forward momentum. A defiance of gravity and an embracing of the unknown. Like every swing forward could just launch you into space! 

Talita loved that feeling. Claire loved it, too. Honestly, most of the Candies here seemed to. That was why the swing sets were some of the most popular equipment in the park, although there must have been some unspoken agreement between the Mommies and Daddies because neither Tali nor Claire could remember a time they’d had to wait to swing. 

These little plastic swings, though... they were for the littlest Candies. But even so, there was something there. A sense of adventure. Or acceptance. 

"I want Daddy to push me..." Talita mumbled.

"Darling, Mommy is going to push you. Daddy is going to push Claire; she’s a bit older than you."

When had that happened? Talita thought.

Mommy set Talita in the chair and pulled the harness down over her shoulders like it was a roller coaster. She buckled the latch and walked around behind her charge. Tali and Claire looked sideways at each other with an ounce of nervousness, their feet dangling lazily beneath them.

Then with a sharp shove, both of them were jolted forward. They swung back down and a second shove sent them lurching toward the sky. A third, and they went higher. Their rhythm was quickly out of sync - Daddy always pushed a little harder than Mommy did. 

Adrenaline forced a laugh out of Talita's lungs. She held tight onto the chair as the clouds grew closer, then further away again. She watched the horizon, where the looming wall lilted ever so slightly, as if she could see an inch more over the top than she could before. It felt so refreshing and exciting and new, though she had done it a dozen times before. 

Wind rushed through Talita's hair and she kicked her feet wildly, trying to get higher and higher. The swing began to crest the semicircle, so that she was looking straight up at the sky. The chair would hover, just for a second, before the ropes caught it and guided it back to the ground. Heat pooled between Tali's legs and soaked the seat of her diaper. How could something so terrifying be so freeing?

Maybe that should have been the motto of Academy Town. Freedom found through fear, through surrender. Talita often thought about how lucky she was that a place like this existed for girls and boys like her that were so ill. 

Once upon a time, she’d have wondered about things like who was behind this place? Who was paying? What happened to Candies who went away? If she could have still counted above the fingers on her hands, she might have been able to count how many Candies were there, how many families. The illness had taken that ability away though. Thank goodness for the Town.

By the time the swings came to a stop, Talita was truly exhausted. Afternoon naps weren't entirely uncommon, but she knew her parents would take her home to have one. So when her Mommy helped her out of the swing, and asked "Feeling sleepy?", Talita shook her head and forced a smile. 

"You know where we are when you get hungry," Talita's Daddy said, ruffling his little girl's hair. Then the two parents walked hand in hand back to the picnic blanket. 

"Sleepy," Claire muttered. 

"No, we just gotta get, um. Jumpy! Tag, you're it!" Talita tapped her best friend on the shoulder and waddled toward the playground. Talita was a much better runner and a lot more coordinated than Claire, but she was caught off guard by the sight of a boy nursing nearby. His head rested in the crook of a lady's arm and his lips were latched around her breast. Claire tapped her back. 

"Tag, you're it!" 

"Huh?" Talita turned away from the boy on the blanket. Tomás. Then she remembered. "We gotta talk! Race you to the fort?”

"Okay but I get a head start!" Why did Claire get a headstart? Because she’d won in tag, so obviously that meant she got a head start if they were going to race. And she knew that Talita was faster than she was, and better at running, and walking even for that matter, so it seemed only fair to Claire.

Despite her head start, Claire still got to the fort second! She huffed and puffed and giggled and pouted as she collapsed onto the ground on her squishy diapered tush and leaned up against the noughts and crosses board. 

"You won!"

"I always win," Talita said proudly. 

Part of the reason her relationship with Claire worked so well was because Claire didn't mind losing. Talita spun one of the cross tiles so it went blank and sat down next to her friend. The fort was predictably empty. It had a good view of the playground from the top of the slide, and sometimes Candies would climb up there and play Kings and Queens. But the underside was murky and boring, and the only place to sit was the rubbery ground. It was a perfect spot for secrets. 

"Do you know that Tomás boy? Um. Mrs. Hopper's Candy?" Though that transition was new, within the past few weeks. If Talita knew Tomás old last name, she definitely didn't anymore.

"Um.... I think so? I think I saw him earlier. He’s pretty! For a boy. Too pretty." Claire narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and then grinned and giggled as she spun one of the noughts and crosses tiles over to a nought, because she was always noughts and Tali was always crosses. Talita rolled her eyes.

"Well I was over his house yesterday, 'cuz you were sick." Sick was a kind word for what Claire had been through, and Talita opted to stay as far away from that topic as possible. "And I... I'm not sure why, but we..." 

"Hm?" Claire waited curiously, but Talita couldn't explain it. How could she convey what had happened? 

"It's like we have the same parents, and we grew up in the same place. But I never met him before..." Talita looked down at her shoes and played with the velcro. "He said stuff nobody else knows about my mom and dad…"

"Well... um... he’s Mrs. Hopper's Candy, so I don’t think he and you have the same parents, and..." But mom and dad meant something different to Mommy and Daddy, and Claire picked up on that as well. "Oh you mean... before? Before you got sick?" Her voice got quiet.

"Yeah..." Talita sunk further down on the wall and crossed her arms. "I tried to figure it out, but I got scared and started to cry. Tomás wanted to tell Mrs. Hopper but I said not to..." 

That was such a Talita thing to do. Don't tell the grown ups! They are the bad guys in all this. But they had done nothing but help since Tali got to Town. It just took her longer than most to figure it out. Not saying anything to Mrs. Hopper was a reflex. 

"I dunno. Maybe it's nothing?" Talita was hoping it was nothing, because the alternatives were too complicated to comprehend.

"Well maybe umm..." Claire furrowed her brow in concentration, although it wasn’t clear if she was thinking about the problem, about noughts and crosses, or about the fact she was presently filling her diaper. "Maybe just like we forget how to um... count? And words, sometimes, and use’a potty... maybe you forgot? Maybe um... before you were sick, you knew each other?”

"I guess so..."

Talita bit the inside of her cheek in thought. She had been forgetting a lot of stuff since her illness started. But she never forgot people or places, not like this. And then for the one person she did forget to wind up in Town with her? 

"Maybe we forget other sick people too?" Talita asked, tilting her head. That was the best thing she could come up with.

"Iono..." Claire mulled that one over, "that seems awfully pacif… paci… binkie… um..." Clearly, Claire was struggling to find the specific word she was looking for. But that kind of struggle, the day-to-day fight with words and concepts and memories, that wasn’t anything out of the ordinary here.

"If I forgot about Tomás..." Talita was still following the thread of logic through the massacre of her mind, stepping over shattered glass and broken floorboards. Before she lost her footing, she found the end of the string. "Do you think other people forgot about us? Like our other parents?" But they weren't sick, were they? Why would they forget? None of this made any sense to Talita.

"If we forgot cause we're sick then other people won't forget us unless being sick makes people forget you but umm..." This look of concentration on Claire’s face was definitely diaper related. "Umm... I don't know about how memories work and stuff. Maybe when we get sick, people’s memories of us get sick too. Like not just us are sick... but the words and thoughts of us are sick." Claire was making no sense, and she knew it; she was just babbling and trying to be supportive.

"Maybe that's how it works..." At one point in her life, Talita knew that wasn't how memory or illness worked, but these days she wasn't so sure. But if it were true...  "So our parents... our old parents... they aren't ever gonna visit us, are they? If they forgot?" Talita and Claire shared a forlorn look. Some of the Candies didn't like their old parents, but Talita and Claire were not amongst them. All in all, they missed their old lives very much.

"If they forgot... maybe it's better," Claire said, "'cause I don't want them to be sad." That right there was an entirely un-Candy-teristic perspective on things: it was a mature, adult, and selfless point of view. Therefore, it sounded as foreign as could be when it came from Claire's lips.

Tali sat for a moment in thought before nodding her head in agreement.

"Maybe you're right..."

That should have been the end of the whole thing. For a few days, it was. But Claire didn't have the level of self-preservation that Talita did. Claire didn't grow up in southern California in low-income housing. Claire didn't have to play her cards close to her chest; her parents could always buy her way out of any problem she got herself into. So when Shae started running her mouth in the cafeteria, Claire had ammunition ready. 

"You'll be crawling around soon," Shae teased, sitting across from the two girls at the lunch table. Seats weren't assigned - Shae had waddled over just to start a fight. If she riled Tali up, she knew she could get her in trouble. That was half the reason Shae picked on Talita to begin with. 

"Shuttup, Shae," Tali muttered under her breath. She didn't want to think about morning class, and how she fell flat on her butt walking up to the front of the room. It was the fault of her new diapers; they were too thick! She wasn't losing her ability to walk. But even Talita couldn't be sure of that anymore.

"Oh, you want me to shut up?" Shae smirked, utterly proud of herself. "Does the fact I can still talk make you jealous? Little baby babblers~" 

"Hey Shae, how do you think your old parents would feel knowing that you poop your diapers three times a day and can't even count that high?" Claire retorted, her words dripping with snark and venom. "Oh wait..." she added, dramatically, "they don't even remember you, so it doesn't matter! You're the least rememorablest person ever. Who are you again?”

Shae's face flushed pink and she balled her hands on the table. Of all the Candies in Town, Shae's relationship with her old parents was probably the most complicated. Some might say she was better off here, even without her illness. Others would say she lived the best life of anyone. 

"They do so remember me," Shae said sharply. 

"Nuh uh," Claire taunted. "When you get sick, everybody forgets you. Tali says so. Right?" 

Shae turned to Talita with a mixture of irritation and confusion, or maybe curiosity. She knew Talita could lie, but gullibility was a part of all children - and in turn, all Candies. Talita saw an opening, so she took it. 

"Yep," Talita said plainly. "They don' remember you. Nobody does." Talita didn't regret what she said right away; she simply didn't understand the ramifications. But then she saw tears in Shae's eyes. Shae got up from the table and stormed out of the cafeteria. 

"Too much?" Talita asked her best friend. 

"She had it comin'," Claire encouraged.

Rumors thrived in schools, and Candies were some of the worst; they whispered secrets and lacked discretion in doing so. Did you hear that Talita made Shae cry? was paired with Claire's pretty mean and When you get sick, nobody remembers you. By the end of the day, the entire school - Candies and grownups alike - had heard the rumors. Talita’s action would have consequences.