Shifting Sands - Chapter 63 - 04/27

[little won]

Thank you for the story. I'm truly enjoying your writing.

[Little Sherri]

Chapter 25 – The Mystery Box

Zack was so emotionally drained from the day that his position on the ride home, slouched over against the door so that his pacifier was out of view, caused him to fall asleep. He woke up with Kelly leaning over him to unbuckle his seatbelt. She stood back so that he could get out of the car, and then wiped the drool from his cheek with her hand as he walked by. He went to bolt up to the front door so that he wouldn’t have to stand on the driveway any longer than necessary, but Kelly halted him in his tracks.

“Hang on, little man. This box is for you – you can carry it inside.”

Zack said nothing. A car came driving over the hill at the top of the road, so Zack turned his face away from the road to try to shield his pacifier from view. He pulled his t-shirt down at the back. Once the car had passed, he walked to the back of the car, and Kelly handed him an eighteen-inch by eighteen-inch, unmarked box. It was relatively heavy, but squat.

Not more diapers, anyway.

He stood on the porch holding it, while Kelly unlocked the front door, mentally imploring her to hurry up, so that he could disappear from the public eye. The keypad beeped as Kelly punched in the code, and then they stepped into the foyer. Kelly pointed at the kitchen table, so he carried it over and put it down. Next, she unclipped his pacifier from his shirt, causing him to put his hand up to take it out, but then she grasped the hem of his t-shirt, and started pulling it up, instead. Zack raised his hands and tilted his head back so that the tether rolled over the rising collar of his t-shirt, and fell against his chest. Then Kelly hooked her thumbs in the waistband of the snug shorts she’d put him in, and tugged them down in one motion.

This material does not resist sliding down.

He stepped out of the shorts, which Kelly picked up. She walked over to the stairs and dropped both items he’d been wearing on the bottom step, then went to the kitchen and came back with a knife. She pierced the packing tape holding the top of the box shut, and then opened the cardboard flaps.

Mercifully, he didn’t need to try on every item in the box, as he had last time; now, Kelly trusted their sizing guide. She pulled out two pairs of clear locking plastic panties, holding them briefly in the air in front of him. Then, a pair of white silence panties, two white snap-suits, then a white and a light blue sunsuit. Zack’s eyes bulged and his heart lurched when she extracted two pairs of plastic panties in light pink, but  she did not hold them up in front of him, instead putting them to the side. She rummaged inside the box and extracted a sealed plastic bag, and then three more, placing them on the table in a stack before taking the knife and slitting open the side of the top bag. To Zack, it looked like the bag contained folded bedding or something. 

Kelly extracted two squares of thick white material that were stitched around the edges, and then unfolded one of them and held it up in front of Zack before folding it back into a smaller square and placing it on the pile. Zack was mystified. Kelly saw the quizzical look on his face and spoke.

“They’re cloth diapers, sweetheart, for the cottage trip. At my sister’s place, you can wear your disposables, because they take their garbage to the dump. But when we go to my mother’s trailer, it’s deep in the woods. They try to reduce their trash output as much as possible, because they have to burn everything that they toss away that doesn’t compost, or, they have to drive it back into town with them. I don’t think we want to stand around the firepit while he tries to burn your plastic baby diapers every night.”

Zack studied the white cloth squares. He had no idea how they became diapers.

“On little babies, we’d fold these over to create layers before pinning them on, but they’ll fit on bigger babies if they’re left flat – we’ll just use a couple of them for absorbency.”

Kelly unfolded one of the white cloth squares and held the corners against Zack’s hips. “Yup, these will fit.”

Next, she reached back into the box, pulling out a cardboard blister package of safety pins with pink plastic heads. “Sorry, buddy, they were out of blue and white ones. You’re going to have to put up with pink pins. But I don’t think you’ll mind. Your sister is going to be wearing them as well, if it’s any consolation.”

Kelly gave him a wink. Next, she pulled what looked like puffy cotton mittens out of the box, in light blue.

“Here, give me your hands. Be happy I didn’t get the pink ones.”

Zack held his hands out in front of him, and Kelly slid one of the mittens on each. They didn’t have thumbs and it didn’t seem to matter which hand they went on. At his wrist, she pulled a perforated plastic strap through a clasp with one of the plastic buttons on it, like on the snap-suits, until it was snug, then she pressed down on the button before moving to the other hand and performing the same action.

“There you go, little man. Try and get those off.”

Zack held them up and looked at them, pacifier strap hanging limply as he eyed them curiously. He tried to use one hand to pull the mitten off the other, but he realized that inside the cotton was a layer of thick plastic that was hard to bend. He could not form a grip. Next, he tried pinning one mitten against his belly with the other mitten, and then pulling his hand out, but the wrist closures were too snug. Finally, he dropped his hands to his sides and looked at Kelly from behind his pacifier.

“Those are tamper mitts, my sneaky friend. From now on, if you’re not wearing tamper-proof clothes, you’ll be wearing those. Try and get your diaper off now.”

Zack looked down at his diaper but didn’t motion to attempt to remove it.

“That’s it for the fashion show, little man. Based on how sleepy you were in the car, I think it’s nap time. Head on up to your room and get into bed. I’ll come and get you up in a bit for your bottle.”

Kelly reached up in front of his face and unfastened the dangling tether strap from his pacifier. “That’ll be a bit more comfortable, I’d imagine.” She said. She gave him a light swat on the seat of his diaper, then turned and walked into the kitchen, essentially dismissing him. Zack walked away, slowly making his way up the stairs to his room.

His bedroom door was open. Once he got inside, he absentmindedly pushed it shut. Only once it had latched shut did he consider whether or not he still had it within his power to open it again. He tried squeezing the doorknob between his two hands and turning it, but the light blue cotton exterior fabric had no grip to it, and slid around the knob. If he really pressed his hands together, he thought he might be able to turn it far enough to open the door, although he’d probably have to rotate his upper body to do it. He decided that for now, it wasn’t worth the noise he might make. He was tired of Kelly, and, despite the fact that it was only late morning, he was tired of the day as a whole. He walked over to his bed and flopped down on top of the covers, pressing his face into his pillow, which only served to cause the shield from the soother to tickle the base of his nose. He turned his face to the side, concentrated on sucking the smooth silicon nipple, and quickly fell asleep.

Sometime later, Kelly tiptoed into Zack’s room, hoping to catch him unaware. That turned out to be a simple mission, as Zack was passed out on top of his covers, gloved hands under his head, breath whistling lightly around his pacifier. She placed a hand on his shoulder and rocked his placid form gently back and forth. Zack stirred and opened his eyes. He lifted his head and went to wipe his eyes with his right hand, then realized he was still wearing the mitts.

“Ready for lunch, little man?”

Zack looked at his bedside clock, nodded, and got up out of bed. He realized that his diaper had a bit more heft to it than when he’d gone to bed, but it still felt mostly dry at the back. He didn’t even make a gesture towards getting dressed, instead just following Kelly downstairs. He stopped, however, when she walked toward the sliding door, and rolled it open before stepping through.

“Whaf?” He said around the soother.

Kelly waived her hand around in a circle. “None of these people are home, Zack, and, all the upper windows are on bedrooms. Do you see one pair of blinds or curtains open? Because I don’t. And anyway, you’re going to have to start getting over yourself. You’d be surprised how little concern people have about what you’re wearing at any given moment, my friend. Nobody around here cares that you’re back in diapers.”

Zack stuck his head through the door and looked around. All of the windows were indeed covered, and this was a bedroom community. The odds were that Kelly was right about most of the rooms being vacant during the day. However, he was pretty sure she was wrong about one thing she’d said. He knew some of the kids that occupied some of those bedrooms went to his school. And he knew that they would most certainly be very interested if they saw him in a big toddler diaper. He’d probably break the internet. They’d have to put his phone in a bucket of water to cool it down.

He remained standing on the threshold, considering his predicament. Kelly had set out a plastic bowl of what looked like macaroni and cheese, and his milk bottle from the car had been refilled. Maddy’s bib from yesterday was waiting next to his bowl. But Kelly had opened the umbrella on the patio table, which probably blocked the sightlines from at least some of the windows. Zack stepped down onto the concrete patio. He felt the sun warming his shoulders. Hesitantly, he took another step. The sun began warming his legs. The air was still.

Zack sat down on the chair in front of the purple plastic bowl full of bright orange pasta. Kelly picked up Maddy’s bib and fastened it around his neck, and then removed his pacifier, putting it next to the umbrella pole in the middle of the table.

Zack slid his chair in toward the table as far as he could, figuring that anyone who might look out one of the windows flanking the backyard wouldn’t see much of his diaper.

Kelly picked up the matching plastic spoon that she had placed next to the bowl, and started spooning the macaroni into Zack’s mouth. The pasta was bland but inoffensive, and Zack was hungry, so he quickly finished the bowl, matching his chewing speed to Kelly’s rapid spooning.

When the bowl was empty, she wiped his face with the bib. Then, Kelly picked up the bottle she’d placed on the table and carried it over to a lounger on the edge of the patio that had another umbrella over it, her preferred reading chair. She sat down on the edge of it and then invited Zack over.

“Come, Zack. It’ll be easier for you to finish your bottle if you’re lying back.”

Zack pushed his chair back, stood up, and quickly darted between umbrellas, hoping that nobody in any of the neighbouring homes were watching. He sat down on the lounger and then swung his feet up onto it and leaned against its reclined backrest. Kelly pressed the bottle’s nipple to his lips, and he reluctantly latched onto it. He went to reach for the bottle, planning to trap it between his tamper mitts, but Kelly said, “I’ve got it, Zack.” His hands fell to his sides and he fell into a rhythm. Minute spurts of warm milk hit the back of his tongue, compelling him to swallow.

“You know, Zack, part of this process involves us building a batter relationship. You have to learn to trust and work with me, and I have to learn to trust and care for you. We didn’t have much of a bond before, and Dr. Paige thinks that might have been part of our problem. I didn’t know you when you were little, and we didn’t have these bonding moments to build that trust.”  She tilted the bottle a little higher.

“These nursing sessions are part of us building that trust and that relationship. Keep sucking, Zackie. Good boy. I’m thinking that I’m going to keep you and Maddy out of school tomorrow, and we’ll head up to the cottage a little early, to beat the traffic. It’s the last day, so you’re not going to be doing much, anyway, I’d imagine. Unless you want to go and say goodbye to some of your friends?”

Zack shook his head, causing the bottle to pivot in Kelly’s hand. Dread had been slowly building in him, as he imagined what tomorrow was going to be like, trying to navigate through the last day of school without anyone noticing that he was wearing a big diaper, which, he assumed, was how Kelly was going to send him. Skipping the day was a mercy. The bottle gurgled as he sucked the last drops out of it, and Kelly put it aside, and then again used his bib to wipe his face. She walked over to the table and fetched his pacifier, before putting it straight into his mouth.

“Good boy.” She said, as she checked the snugness of the straps on his mitts. “You play outside for a while, and I’m going to go into the house and pack for a bit. One more thing – say ‘Thank you, mommy’ for me, Zack.”

Zack shook his head.

“That’s fine. You can spend the afternoon in pink plastic panties, then. I’ll get them.”

Kelly moved as though she was going to stand up.

“Sank yew mommy.” Zack whispered around his soother. Wobbly tears threatened to spill from his eyes.

“Good baby. Enjoy the sun.”

She got up, walked in through the patio door, and slid it shut. Zack heard the snicking sound of the lock. He got up and walked over to a bare section of fence between stands of shrubbery. Sitting on the grass and leaning back against the fence, he looked around. It seemed to be the spot in the yard that was best shielded from view. He felt the rough wood against his back, and the tickly grass against the back of his thighs, and wondered how long he’d be sitting there.

Zack studied the front of his diaper, the yellow excavator partially obscured by the white tapes that Kelly had carefully stretched over his hips. The wetness indicator dashes were turning from yellow, to either green or blue, down the center. He put his elbows on his knees and pressed his face into his mitts, with their soft covers and strangely stiff interiors.

 

[A_Pale_Spirit]

Another excellent chapter!

[Cute_Kitten]

I think Kelly is pressing ever closer to full blown stepmonster. There's some moments like when she wipes Zack's tears she almost seems to care- or she wants to care but maybe doesn't know how. Then there she is with putting him outside in his diapers. Perhaps she wants him to get used to them, but that's a cold and callous way to go about it. She doesn't care about the consequences of other kids seeing him. It's things like that that put her in stepmonster territory. She's trying to force a bond with Zack like the program says to do, but your can't force those kind of relationships. Unless she's aiming for Stockholm Syndrome. 

[Little Sherri]

59 minutes ago, Cute_Kitten said:

There's some moments like when she wipes Zack's tears she almost seems to care- or she wants to care but maybe doesn't know how.

I'm going to explore Kelly's background a bit in some upcoming chapters. Good observation and thanks for your feedback. 

[Cute_Kitten]

23 minutes ago, Little Sherri said:

I'm going to explore Kelly's background a bit in some upcoming chapters. Good observation and thanks for your feedback. 

Learning about Kelly's background will shed some light on her motivations and perhaps answer some questions about her character. 

[Little Sherri]

3 hours ago, Babypants said:

One thing about Dr. Paige.  Her office has a lot of square footage, and at least three staff members.  This is far removed from the offices of the psychiatrists with whom I have collaborated over the years on various academic projects.  She seems to be making a fortune here. 

This is true. I have a friend who is a child psychologist, and her office is nice enough, but it's basically two rooms, a waiting area the size of an average living room, and the office where she works. She has one receptionist/secretary. 

[Little Sherri]

Chapter 26 – Playtime

Kelly went down to the basement and pulled two tote bags off a shelf, one for Zack and one for Maddy. She decided to pack lightly for them, since they’d probably be running around in swimwear a lot of the time, anyway. They didn’t need a lot of wardrobe options for playing on the beach, sitting by the fire, or sleeping, and in any case, she had to leave room in her small car for Zack’s diapers, day and night, and his swim diapers, AND cloth diapers for the trailer. Plus Maddy’s pull-ups. Zack’s baby pants were taking up so much room in the car that he didn’t really deserve much clothing at all, she concluded. Some t-shirts, plastic panties, his tamper mitts, and a nightie, just in case he got defiant. His diapers were cute enough to be his primary wardrobe. Maybe a lockable sunsuit and a snap-T. No shorts, no pants.

She decided that instead of taking whole boxes of diapers, she would use a suitcase, and try to consolidate them into that. She started doing some mental mathematics.

Hmmm… ten days at the cottage plus maybe four days at the trailer, and a few hours of travel each way. Fourteen days and nights. Maybe two daytime diapers for every day, a swim diaper, and an overnight diaper, times ten days…. That’s twenty Mighty Diggers, ten Little Lambs, ten swim diapers… might be able to reuse some of them, though. Maybe five, then. And ten Goodnites for Maddy, maybe a couple more for car trips.  At the trailer they’d be cycling through the cloth diapers, maybe two changes a day for Zack and one per night for Maddy, then they could rinse them in the creek and hang them to dry.

She decided to pack a few extra of each, just in case. So, a large suitcase would have to be employed. It would still take up less space in the car than bringing all the boxes with her. Then she had a thought.

What if it gets cool up there at night?

She ran up to the kitchen, taking a quick look out the patio door. Zack was sitting in the grass, up against the fence on the far side of the yard. He had his face in his hands, so Kelly gave a quick knock on the glass with the back of her hand. He looked up. His pacifier was still in his mouth. She flashed him a thumbs-up and then went over to her computer. If she placed an order now, they could pick it up tomorrow on the way to the cottage. Flipping through Dr. Paige’s website, she found the one-piece sleepers she’d seen previously, that zipped up the back, and placed an order for one of them in a baby blue gingham pattern, with a lock, in size 10, and one in a pink gingham pattern with the zipper in the front, and no lock.  

Order placed, she decided to take Roofus for a walk around the neighbourhood before it was time to go meet Maddy at the bus stop. She took one more look at Zack, who was still sitting against the fence, now looking up at the sky. It would be good for his skin to get some fresh air, she decided. She put shoes and a hat on, picked up Roofus’ leash, and flicked the clasp a couple of times, which caused him to come running. She clipped the leash to his collar, and then walked over to the patio door, unlocked it, and slid it open far enough to lean her head through the gap.

“Zackie, I’m going to take Roofus for a walk and go meet your sister at the bus stop. You can play outside until I get back. Paci stays in.” She closed and relocked the door and disappeared inside the house.

Zack sat in the grass and watched birds land and take off from the roof of the house. He had no idea what he was supposed to be ‘playing’ out here. There was a sandbox in the shape of a turtle in one corner, that Maddy used a few times, but digging in the sand held little fascination for him, and even less so, when he couldn’t really use his hands very well.

Zack’s ears were drawn to a sound through the fence behind him. A patio door was sliding open.

Great.

Two indistinct voices drifted over to him, ladies, he thought. He heard the sound of chairs sliding back on patio stones, and the hiss of a carbonated beverage being opened. He decided to stay where he was, flat up against the fence, as low as possible. Unless one of them walked over and looked directly over the top of the fence, there was no way that they would see him. He resumed watching birds, and made no effort to listen to what was being said on the other side of the fence. Their conversation rose and fell, and Zack fell into a lull.

An unknown time later, Zack felt a poke in the small of his back, and he nearly jumped straight up, it startled him so much. He scrambled up onto his knees and turned around to look at the fence. Between the boards, which overlapped on alternating sides of the fence, a small hand was reaching into his side of the yard. An eye peered through the gap, from a face pressed up against the boards, about two feet above the ground. Zack could not make out the age of the person, or if it was a boy or a girl, but whoever they were, they had blond hair, and the one eye he could see was blue.

“Hello.” Came a voice from behind the fence. It was the voice of a small child. The hand waved. Zack, self-conscious about his diaper, sat on his heels and crossed his arms in front of him. The voice said “Hi” again, louder this time. The last thing that Zack wanted was the ladies sipping their sodas to come over and see who the kid was talking to, so, he whispered back, hoping the kid would follow suit.

“Hewwo.” He spit the pacifier out into the grass, angry that he’d forgotten it was there.

“Whatcha doin?” Came the whispered reply.

Good. The kid is getting it. Quiet.

Zack thought about how to reply. He figured a simple answer would probably be best – he was not looking for a long conversation. “Playin’ outside.” He said, in a very low voice.

The eye blinked. “Okay.” Came the response, and then the hand, and the eye, vanished. Zack was just about to cautiously stand up and look for somewhere else to sit, maybe in the bushes on the side of the house where he’d hidden his underclothes the other night, when the hand came back through the fence, this time with a small, black metal car in it. The hand dropped the car in the grass, and then the eye reappeared.

Zack wasn’t sure what his next move should be. If he took the car, would the kid get upset? Or would he go away? What about if he ignored it? Would the kid start trying to talk to him, and maybe get the attention of the ladies, who might walk over to have a look at the boy on the other side of the fence?

He crawled over to the car, but he didn’t pick it up.

“Let’s have a race.” The kid whispered from behind the fence, and then Zack heard a furious rustling sound, which he guessed must be the kid propelling a car through the grass on the other side. Then, the hand appeared from between fence boards again, a bit further down the fence. From his current vantage point, Zack couldn’t see the eye, but he knew it must be there. Reluctantly, he crawled along the fence, urging along the car with his mitt, until he caught up with disembodied hand, and then he placed the car into it via using both mitts to pick it up.

“You won.” He whispered.

“Yay!” came the response.

The kid took the car back, then pressed his face up to the fence again. “Why ya wearin’ a diaper?” he whispered. Zack’s head fell like it had become disengaged from his shoulders. His cheeks turned bright red, and he sat back on his heels again and crossed his arms in front of him. Then he heard one of the ladies’ voices from beyond the fence.

“Come over here, Warren, it’s time to go.”

The face disappeared, and Zack heard footsteps receding across the yard, and the sound of the patio door being slid open, and then closed. Once again, he had only birds for company. He crawled back over to where he’d been seated originally, and awkwardly picked up his pacifier with two gloved hands, and blew the grass off it, before taking it from his cupped hands with his mouth. He hoped that Warren didn’t tell anyone about the new friend he had made. Zack had never noticed a kid over there before, so he was fairly certain that Warren had been visiting.

Time ticked slowly by. Zach heard the buzz of a cicada from somewhere beyond the yard, and the occasional car passing by. The din of air conditioners formed a constant auditory backdrop. Then, he discerned the heavier sound of a large vehicle making its way up the street. Zack thought it was probably the school bus, a theory that was confirmed by the sound of children’s voices crossing the air around him as a gaggle of returning schoolkids marched up both sides of the street from the bus stop.

A few minutes later, Kelly, Maddy and Roofus appeared behind the sliding glass door, Maddy taking off her backpack and putting it on a kitchen chair. She and Kelly disappeared from view as they walked toward the staircase, and a couple of minutes later, reappeared. Maddy now had the pacifier in her mouth, and Kelly carried a small handful of pink clothing over to the laundry room.

Maddy is back in a pull-up.

Returning from the laundry room, Kelly opened the patio door and addressed Zack:

“Zackie, do you want to come inside and try making poopoo on the potty, and then we can get you changed? I have too much still to do to worry about cleaning your bum for you.”

Zack didn’t need to be asked twice about coming inside, if nothing else. He stood right up and trotted through the patio door, rounding the corner to get out of view of the surrounding houses. Maddy was seated at the kitchen table, drinking from a sippy cup. She eyed Zack’s mittens, and said “What’re those?”

Kelly walked over to Zack with her keys in her hand and started removing them from Zacks hands.

“These are tamper mitts, sweetie. They’re so your brother wasn’t tempted to try taking his diaper off while I was out getting you from the bus stop. But we can take them off now that we’re home.”

Kelly removed the mitts and placed them on the kitchen table. Maddy reached for one and picked it up briefly.

“It looks like you’ve been a good boy while I was out. So, you get to try going potty, Zackie.”

“Okaw.” Zack said around the pacifier.

Kelly pulled the upper and lower righthand tabs off of Zack’s diaper, folding the lower one backwards, and then reseating part of the upper one loosely. His diaper sagged a little to that side.

“I left your bathroom unlocked. Head upstairs and do your business, and then choose another diaper, and send me a text when you’re ready. Your phone is still in your room.”

 

Chapter 27 – A Negotiation

Zack reached down to hold the right side of his diaper up, while he turned and climbed the stairs. He went into the washroom, tore the loose tab off the righthand side, and let the diaper slide down to the floor, before balling it up and using one of the open tabs to seal it. He sat on the toilet and did his level best to make sure that he was empty in both departments, before washing his hands, and carrying his old diaper back to the bin in his room. Then he opened his old underwear drawer and sighed. Inside it were rows of white plastic diapers with drawings of construction equipment on them in bright yellow. He pulled his pajama drawer open next, and in it were rows of Little Lambs. He closed the pajama drawer again, and took one of the Mighty Diggers over to his bed to lay it out. The Lambs were simply huge.

Once he was positioned on the diaper and had the front pulled over himself, he picked up his phone and texted Kelly with a simple “Ready.” When she opened the door a few minutes later, he studied the ceiling with a close eye as she applied baby powder and then snugged up his diaper. She had brought in one of the new wardrobe items from Dr. Paige’s site, a white snap suit, which she held up for him when he got off the bed. He threaded his legs through the openings and put his arms into the sleeves, and then turned around so she could zip it closed. He felt the click as she snapped the fastener tight at the collar. Kelly turned and walked out of the room, saying “I’m making a bottle for you,” as she left.

Not given specific instructions to follow at that moment, Zack decided to go into the bathroom and look at himself in the mirror. She had left it unlocked, maybe because he was wearing the locking garment. The top half of the snap-suit looked like a white t-shirt from the front, albeit one with a bit of heavier collar. From the back, the flap covering the zipper looked odd, but only if examined closely. Below the waist, it was cut like one of the bodysuits that Maddy wore to dance. The outer edges of the rear of his diaper protruded from under the fabric. A ghost of a yellow excavator could be seen through the front of the material. Zack walked back and forth in the bathroom. The suit did seem to quiet things down some.

Zack decided to take a gamble. He went back to his room and pulled a dark blue pair of gym shorts from his dresser, carrying them down the stairs with him. He made sure to emphasize the slight slurring of his speech caused by his soother, when he entered the kitchen and spoke with Kelly.

“Can I pleathe puf thome thorts on, Kelly?”

“You can leave them on the stairs by the front door. I’m not in a mood to cook tonight, so we’re going to go out somewhere to eat. You can wear them when we leave. Deal?”

Zack nodded his head.

“Say ‘thank you, mommy’, please.”

Zack murmured a heavily-slurred version of what she requested around the silicon nipple. He wondered what the hell she was planning before he’d brought the shorts down. He walked over and put the shorts on the staircase, then went back to the kitchen, where Kelly handed him a baby bottle with water in it and directed him to go sit on the couch. Maddy was already seated, watching a show about undersea heroes of some kind. Zack sat down at the opposite end of the couch, put his soother on the coffee table, and quietly worked on emptying his bottle. Maddy glanced over from time to time but offered no commentary, as she would have had to speak around her pacifier, which, Zack imagined, took much of the zing out whatever quip she might think up.

Once his bottle was drained, he put the pacifier back in his mouth, and sat looking at his phone. He had to use his pin number to open it because the facial recognition software couldn’t work around the pacifier, apparently. After about an hour of flipping through videos, Kelly looked around the corner from the kitchen and summoned them over to the front stairs. She held two hands out in front of her and said “Paci’s, please.” Zack and Maddy both handed their pacifiers over. Zack had a thought that maybe Kelly thought she’d made her point, and their time with plastic plugs in their mouths was over, but then Kelly laid them on the table beside the door, reached into her purse, and pulled out two small plastic bags.

“I got you new lanyards, kids.” She said with a smile. She opened Maddy’s first; it featured a pink ribbon with light blue dots on it. She wrapped it through the handle of her pacifier, and then clipped it to the collar of her dress, before placing the teat back in Maddy’s mouth.

“There you go. Don’t you look adorable?”

Next, Kelly performed the same process with Zack’s pacifier. His tether was light blue with small pink dots all over it. After placing it in his mouth, she tussled his hair.

“When we get to the restaurant, both of you can drop those down the front of your outfits, and that way they won’t get lost, and we’ll know exactly where they are if anyone needs some quiet time because their mouth or their emotions get away from them.”

Kelly picked Zack’s blue shorts up off the stairs and held them at shin level for him, so he stepped into them, and she pulled them up and tied off the drawstring on the front. Maddy and Zack put flipflops on, and Kelly lead them over to the car. Zack kept his face turned away from the road as much as he could, even walking backwards down the driveway, in case anyone he knew drove by and saw him with a pacifier in his mouth. Maddy seemed unconcerned and skipped long behind Kelly.

Once they were buckled into the rear of the car, Zack sunk low in his seat and spent much of the drive studying the carpeting around his feet. It was a quick trip over to a restaurant that specialized in organic wraps and salads. Zack was hoping that takeout was the order of the day, however, Kelly did not pull into one of the curbside pickup spots. She parked the car, shut it down, and let them out. Zack immediately dropped his pacifier down the front of his shirt. Maddy kept hers in her mouth for a few steps before catching her reflection in the window of a car, and then dropping hers into the front of her sundress as well.

When they entered the restaurant, they had to walk past several tables to get to an open one, and Zack was conscious of the sounds his diaper was making, although they were fairly muted, and nobody around seemed to notice. When they reached their table, Zack chose a chair that allowed his back to be against a wall, because he suspected that a ghost of the fringe at the top of his diaper might be visible through the white material of his diaper shirt, above the waist of his shorts.

It's not something anyone would likely notice, but still.

A waitress came over and asked if they wanted any drinks to start, and Kelly ordered an herbal tea for herself, and two glasses of milk. Zack had vague designs on an iced tea, but he decided to stay quiet about it. The waitress placed packets of crayons and paper placemats in front of Maddy and Zack. Kelly reached into her purse and pulled out two plastic sippy cups, both green.

Oh no…

She took the lids off of them and placed them in front of her. When the waitress brought the kids’ glasses of milk, she carefully poured them into the sippy cups, capped them, and placed them between Zack and Maddy. Maddy picked hers up and took a drink right away, but Zack didn’t make a move towards his.

“Uh… Kelly… do I have to use that thing?”

Kelly reached into her purse and pulled a baby bottle out a quarter of the way, before letting it drop back in. “Would you prefer this?” she asked.

Zack said nothing, but he slid the sippy cup over toward his place setting. He picked up the packet of four crayons that had accompanied his placemat, and began playing tic tac toe with himself. The waitress asked what they wanted for dinner, and Zack made no move to examine the menu or reply; he figured that Kelly had already planned out what they were going to eat. Sure enough, she placed the orders herself, without consulting them, ordering both him and Maddy chicken California wraps from the kids’ menu.

When the wraps came, he ate his readily, realizing that he was hungry, but he tried to ignore his sippy cup, because there was a table across from them with to kids at it a bit younger than Maddy, and both were drinking what looked like a clear soda, from glasses. Kelly tapped the top of his sippy with her fingernail without saying anything, and Zack sighed inwardly and began drinking from it, while avoiding all eye contact with the kids at the other table.

Kelly tucked into what looked like a bean salad. When she was finished, she motioned for the waitress to bring over the bill, and then addressed Maddy across the table.

“Maddy, do you want to try going potty before we go?”

Maddy looked up with wide eyes and smiled. “Could I…?”

Kelly patted her on the hand. “You may.”

Maddy pushed back from the table, stood up, and half skipped, half ran over to the women’s washroom. Zack watched her back disappear through the door. There was no offer for him to go to the washroom, which was fine, because he would have needed help with his diaper shirt, anyway. He felt the stirrings of a need to pee and did his best not to give any outward sign to Kelly as he used his diaper. One of the pamphlets that Mr. Burke gave to Kelly when they picked up his diapers had explained that waiting until you really needed to go before flooding a diaper was more likely to cause a leak. She’d told him that he was better off to just go whenever he thought of it, than to try to hold it for very long. He did not want to contend with a leak out in public, because he had the feeling that Kelly would have been only too happy to assist.

With dinner finished, they piled back into the car. Kelly looked at both of them in the rearview mirror, and didn’t start the car. Maddy got it first and fished her soother out of her dress, putting it into her mouth. She elbowed Zack, who looked at her, and then realized what Kelly was waiting for, so he followed suit. Once both kids had their soothers in place, Kelly nodded and fired the engine.

The drive home was quick and uneventful. Zack held his hand in front of his face like he was stifling a yawn, as he speed-walked up the driveway, because he could see someone on a bike coming up the street. Once inside the house, Kelly asked Zack for his shorts. He shot her a quizzical look.

“Your dad is coming home a bit later tonight, and I know he’ll be really pleased to see you wearing your diaper like a good little boy. He’ll be happy that we’re getting along.” She turned to Maddy next. “Maddy, go put on a nightie.”

Maddy shot a glance at the clock on the wall oven in the kitchen. It read 6:45.

As though reading her mind, Kelly said: “We’ll change your pull-up right before bed, sweetie. You can stay in that one for now.” Maddy nodded and ran upstairs to change, returning a few minutes later in a longish white t-shirt and pink slippers. Zack reluctantly slid his shorts down and stepped out of them, before handing them to Kelly.

Kelly walked over and slid the patio door open. “It’s lovely outside with the sun setting; let’s go sit out there for a bit.” Maddy and Zack filed out, and Kelly followed, after pouring herself a glass of white wine.

Out in the yard, there was quite a bit more background noise than there had been during the afternoon, Zack noted with some dismay. People were barbecuing and talking in adjacent backyards, and some of the second floor windows had lights on behind them, although nobody had opened their blinds. He heard dogs barking and kids yelling. He didn’t feel quite as exposed as he had earlier, wearing just a diaper, but he still looked felt an oversized toddler, and anyone taking a second look would probably figure out what he had on under his outfit pretty quickly, as the seat of his diaper was notably larger than the seat of the diaper shirt. He wished that Kelly had put him in one of the sunsuits instead.

Maddy went over to the sandbox, pulled her t-shirt up, and plunked herself down in the sand, reasoning that she was going to be changing anyway, so it didn’t matter if some grit stuck to her pull-up. Zack sat down on the patio with his back against the barbecue, remembering how startled he’d been when he was poked in the small of his back by that kid through the fence. He was pretty sure there was nobody hiding in the barbecue. He looked at his phone and willed the sun to descend faster. He absentmindedly took the occasional pull on his pacifier.

In what felt like about an hour, Roofus started barking, and then moments later, a light came on in the kitchen. Zack & Maddy’s dad materialized behind the patio door and slid it open, before stepping through. Kelly stood up to give him a hug, and then Maddy ran over from the sandbox and was swept up in his arms for a moment. She pulled her pacifier out and gave him a hearty kiss on the cheek.

Finally, Chris turned and looked at Zack, still sitting against the barbecue. “Look at you, Maddy, ready for bed, and enjoying the sunset. Zack, your outfit looks like it’s pretty light and comfortable on a warm night.”

Zack looked back and said nothing, so Kelly filled the conversational void. “Yup, Zack’s already getting pretty comfortable in his new outfits, aren’t you, little man? I think that starting their bedtime routine a little earlier is helping to ease the transition into winding down.”

Chris held his hands apart, looked at Zack, and said “Can I get a hug?”

Zack stood, walked over, and pressed his face into his dad’s chest, feeling the pacifier shield press his lips against his teeth. Chris hugged him and then gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“I’m really glad to see everyone getting along. Thanks for cooperating and being so mature about this, big guy.”

Zack looked up and nodded. It was hard to see his facial expression behind the plastic soother.

Kelly walked up behind Zack and put an arm over his shoulders, addressing Chris. “Why don’t you take him upstairs and change his diaper, and I’ll go get Maddy changed, and then we can switch rooms for a last goodnight hug?”

Chris looked at Zack. “Do you need a new diaper, son?” 

Zack dropped his eyes. His diaper was a bit wet, and he preferred to go to bed dry, if he had the option. He nodded.

“He’ll run up and get onto his overnight diaper, and you just have to tape it onto him. Here, Zack – turn around, and I’ll unlock your snap-suit.” Kelly lifted her keys to the back of Zack’s outfit and unsnapped the latching mechanism, unclipped his pacifier from the collar, then ran the zipper down until it was just below the white plastic of his diaper, before sliding the sleeves forward over his arms, and then she bent over and took the suit down to his ankles in one motion. Zack stepped out of it, feeling exposed to again be wearing just a sagging diaper, while outdoors, although the light was fading rapidly. “Don’t forget baby powder, Zack – I left your bathroom unlocked, and there’s a bottle on the counter. And here – take this.” She handed him the snap-suit.

Zack crinkled his way into the house, and Maddy, after brushing sand off her pull-up, followed.

Chris looked at Kelly again. “It’s amazing… he does seem to be getting comfortable being in those things, considering that it’s only been a few days now.”

“He’s feeling comfortable because he’s feeling secure, in my opinion. He knows that I’m there for him, and that he’s protected.”

Chris shook his head. “I don’t think you’d have gotten me into a diaper for a million bucks when I was his age. I have to hand it to you, Kelly. You’re doing a good job with him. Hopefully this Dr. Paige is right with her theories on this.”

[A_Pale_Spirit]

Great two chapters! Excellent writing!

[D503]

Oh poor Zack, he's really in a pickle that he didn't deserve. Now his Dad is almost fully on the wicked witches' side (and the dubious, profiteering? company). "The program" is equal parts gaslighting and a trap it seems - having been given terrible advice to learn to just let go whenever to avoid leaks, his nappies may become a fait accompli. Plus, these insane parents would like it, because of course such a mortifying punishment would be effective. 

The presence of Heather and Laurie suggests this program may be far more widespread than we know and possibly bordering on acceptable in this seemingly broken or anachronistic society. The more program participants also dangerously normalises the practice for Zack who must assume its sanctioned despite being utterly unfair.

[D503]

We were spoiled with regular updates, but I hope we can get an update soon. ❤️

[Little Sherri]

Sorry, folks - things have gone a bit off the rails with my parents' health, and I've had no time. I will try to post another chapter this week if I can. 

[Pierry Louys]

2 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

Sorry, folks - things have gone a bit off the rails with my parents' health, and I've had no time. I will try to post another chapter this week if I can. 

Take your time ! Family first 

[Little Sherri]

Chapter 28 – Test Drive

Zack walked upstairs to his room and tossed his snap-suit over the back of a chair. He opened his pajama drawer and pulled out a Little Lambs for the overnight shift. He laid it out on his bed, and then realized that Kelly hadn’t unfastened the tabs on his sagging Mighty Digger.

Is this a test…?

He felt more than qualified to pull the sticky tabs back on one side and drop the diaper, but doing so would technically be a violation of Kelly’s protocols. Zack was tempted to do it anyway, out of expediency, however, given that he was going to be spending the next week at her family’s cottage and trailer, it didn’t seem wise to test how strict she was planning on being. He walked out of his room towards the stairs, running into Kelly, who was on her way up. His dad was standing in the foyer below, looking at his phone.

“Kelly, I needth my thiaper openthed.” Zack enunciated around his soother.

Kelly put her hand on the side of his face for a moment. “Look at you, little man. Good job.” She leaned down and pulled the lower tab off the right side of his Mighty Digger. “You can pull the other one off.”

Zack turned and walked back to his room, feeling some satisfaction. While it had been slightly demeaning to have to request that his diaper be opened, he was now fairly convinced that leaving it securely taped HAD been a test. Which he had figured out. He’d outsmarted her, or at least matched wits.

He stepped into the bathroom to retrieve the baby powder, which he’d also forgotten, then he walked into his room, tore the upper tab off, dropped the diaper, and rolled it up for the Genie to eat. He thoroughly powdered his new diaper, then climbed up onto it, folded the front forward, and scrolled through social media posts, waiting for his dad.

After what felt like a half-hour but was probably fifteen minutes, Zack was contemplating texting Kelly and asking if he could maybe tape it on himself, when his door opened, and his dad walked in. Chris walked over to where Zack was lying and stood over him, with some visible awkwardness in his posture.

“Hey, big guy… I’m not sure of what I’m doing here. It’s been a long time since I put a diaper on anyone. Can you, uh, give me some guidance?”

Zack sat up partially, careful to keep the front of the diaper from falling forward. He took his pacifier out and placed it next to his pillow. “Well, what you have to do is kinda this…” He slid his fingers over to right side of the front panel, then he used his other hand to tug the left rear wing far enough forward that it snugly wrapped over his hip. “Then you put the lower tape on, and then the upper one, and then the same for the other side.”

His dad leaned over, hovering from the side of the bed, and Zack realized that he’d positioned himself in the center based on Kelly’s preference for sitting on the mattress beside him. His dad was standing, so he held onto his diaper with one hand and slid it, and himself over toward the edge of the bed by pushing off with his other hand and propping up with his feet. A puff of baby powder dust scented the air.

Chris grasped the side of the front panel of the Little Lamb, and pulled it until it smoothed out against Zack’s belly, and then he tugged the rear panel the opposite way, until it was snug against Zack’s hip. Then he fastened the lower tape onto the front of the diaper.

“How’s that?”

“That’s good dad.”

“Not too tight?”

“Nope, not too tight.”

Chris applied the upper tab with equal force, then moved over to his right hip.

“Good enough?”

“Good enough.”

Zack heard Maddy’s door open, and he quickly jammed his pacifier back into his mouth. Kelly came walking into the room with the tamper mitts in her left hand.

“How’s my little man?”

“Goodth” Zack answered.

Kelly turned to Chris. “Do you want to go give Maddy a kiss goodnight while I tuck Zack in?”

“Sure.. Hey, listen, I wanted to mention that Kelly has been good enough to offer to take the two of you up to her sister’s cottage tomorrow morning. I have to travel for work this weekend, but I’m hoping to be able to make it up for at least a couple of days at some point. I’ll let you know when I think I can make it, but in the meantime, just keep cooperating with Kelly, okay? I’m really happy to hear about how well this is going. Goodnight, Zack.”

“Goodthnithe.”

Chris walked out of the room, and Kelly came over and sat on the edge of Zack’s mattress. Zack slid over to allow her a bit of room. Wordlessly, she began putting his tamper mitts over his hands.

“It’s going to be warm tonight, so I think that you’ll be more comfortable without anything else on. I assume you’ll be fine without your nightie.” It was a statement rather than a question. She tapped his pacifier with the end of her index finger, saying “Goodnight, Zackie.” Then she turned off his overhead light and walked out. Zack rolled around on top of the covers, trying to get used to sleeping with entrapped hands. When he slid them up under his head, they felt bulky, but he wasn’t used to sleeping with his hands at his side, either. Eventually, he settled on sleeping on his side, with his hands in front of his face, rather than under his head. He pulled intently on his pacifier as sleep descended over him.

 

[A_Pale_Spirit]

Sorry to hear about your family's health issues, hopefully they're doing fine now.

Great new chapter again but as everyone has said, your family is more important than regular chapter updates.

[Alutheria]

Another great chapter, as always.  I hope things are going alright with your family.

[littlebopeeper]

Has Stockholm Syndrome set in?

[Little Sherri]

Chapter 29 – Travel Prep

 Zack slept fitfully. He wasn’t used to having the mitts on yet, and whenever he tried to place his hands under his head or under his pillow, it didn’t feel quite right, and he had to shift to another position, but once he fell asleep, his hands would go back up under his head again, and he’d wake back up.

When his phone read 7:00 am, he decided to throw in the towel on falling back to sleep. However, he couldn’t use his phone with the mitts on, and, he wasn’t sure if he was permitted to get up under Kelly’s new regime, or not. He decided to treat the morning as another possible test. Sure enough, at a quarter to eight, Kelly opened his door a crack as she walked by. He guessed that was to signal that he was free to come and go as he pleased. He sat up in bed and slid his thighs open and closed a couple of times. It was hard to tell by feel how wet his diaper was, but it didn’t seem to be particularly bulky. He wondered if Kelly would change it anyway, just on principal.

He stood up and wished, not for the first time, that he could pull a shirt on, but realized that it would probably be a struggle getting into one with the tamper mitts still on. His best bet was probably to head downstairs as he was, and request that the mitts be removed. He yawned around his pacifier, and made his way toward the staircase.

Downstairs, Maddy was up and sitting at the kitchen table, still in her sleeping shirt, drinking milk from a sippy cup. Zack noticed that a sippy cup full of milk was sitting at his chair as well.

So apparently I’ve graduated from baby bottles…

He walked over and sat down, then said: “Kelly, can I geth these miths thaken off?”

In response, Kelly addressed Maddy. “Maddy, why don’t you go get my keys from the foyer and help your brother get out of his mitts?”

Maddy put down her sippy cup, smiled, and streaked off toward the front entrance, returning with Kelly’s keys a moment later.

“Remember what I showed you, Maddy. You’re going to be my little helper when we’re up at the cottage.”

Maddy nodded vigorously, and then walked over to Zack. Very methodically, she took the cylindrical release tool and pressed it against the matching circle on the mitts’ latching mechanism, producing an audible click, when then allowed her to pull the strap back through until it was loose enough for Zack to pull his hand through. When she was finished, she took the mitts and Kelly’s keys and put them on the table by the front door. Zack removed his pacifier and took a pull from his sippy cup, saying nothing.

At least she didn’t warm it up.

When Maddy sat back down, Kelly carried over two plates with toast on them, both cut into squares, both with peanut butter on them. She put one in front of each of them, then spoke to Maddy.

“Sweetie, how is your pull-up? Do you think you can wear it in the car, or do you want it changed?”

Maddy furrowed her brow and put down the square of toast she’d picked up. “Do I have to wear a pull-up in the car?” she asked plaintively.

“It’s a long drive, honey. Anytime we stop, you can try going potty, how’s that? And if you make it up there dry, you can take it off until bedtime.”

Maddy thought about it, then nodded, as though her agreement were key to settling the question at hand.

“So, do you need a new pull-up before we go?”

Maddy shook her head. “Nope. I’m dry-dry.” She used the doubling of the word that she’d favoured when she was a toddler.

Kelly looked over at Zack. “What about you, little man? How wet are you?”

Well, considering that I wasn’t allowed to leave my room, you probably won’t be shocked to note that, yes, I have wet my diaper.

Zack didn’t say what he was thinking; it probably would have lengthened his day considerably. Instead, he reached down and probed the front of his diaper for a moment. “I think I’m okay in this one for now.”

“Do you want to try making a poopoo on the potty, so we don’t have to do any roadside cleanups in the back of the car?”

“Ewwww.” Maddy intoned.

Zack made eye contact with Kelly and nodded.

Once he’d finished his toast, he carried his plate and sippy cup to the sink, then went over to stand beside Kelly, who was on her computer again.

“Go see Maddy. She’s going to be my little helper while we’re away. And Zack…” Kelly tapped him on the lips with a raised index finger… “Don’t forget your paci. Once you’ve gone potty, send me a text and I’ll come up and get you dressed.”

Zack turned toward the table where Maddy was still eating. She was looking at him expectantly as he walked back. She handed him his pacifier, before positioning herself sideways on her chair. Zack’s cheeks burned slightly, and he hoped that she caught the displeasure in his posture, but he said nothing as she reached up and loudly opened a lower tab on his diaper, and then an upper, which she lightly tacked closer to the edge.

“Good boy.” Maddy said loudly.

What fresh hell is this…?

“Thankths,” he said around the soother.

Zacked made his way upstairs to the washroom, carefully slid his diaper down, and did his best to once again ensure that he wouldn’t need to pass anything else for the rest of the day. Sitting on the toilet with a pacifier in his mouth felt wrong, somehow, like drinking in the bathroom, or chewing gum. He decided to rinse it off when he washed his hands. When he was finished on the toilet, he slid his diaper back up on the closed side but did not try to refasten the side that had been opened. He carried his paci with him toward his bedroom in one hand, holding his diaper closed with the other, but he felt a twinge of concern at the last moment, and popped it into his mouth just before entering his room.

Sure enough, Kelly was standing in front of his dresser, packing a bag for him. She walked over toward him with one of the charcoal grey sunsuits hung over her arm. She dropped to her knees in front of him, and proceeded to tighten the opened side of his diaper, before opening the back of the sunsuit and holding it just above the floor, so that he could direct his feet through the openings. Once he was standing in it, Kelly pulled it up around his hips, and then she stood up and helped him thread his arms into the sleeves. Then she walked around behind him and ran the zipper up to the top, before engaging the locking mechanism.

“Don’t you look smart? And that’s going to be nice and cool, and it will protect you from the sun.” She reached for the handle on his pacifier, and Zack noted that she had a tether in her hand. Instead of taking it from him, she reattached the tether and then clipped it to his collar at the front, before going back to packing his bag. Zack stood for a few moments, and not having been given anything further to address, he decided to go and look at himself in the bathroom mirror, to get an idea of what Kelly thought ‘smart’ looked like.

Assuming the bathroom isn’t locked.

It wasn’t. He didn’t like what he saw in the mirror. The dark high-tech material completely obscured the pattern on his diaper, unlike the white snap-suit he’d had on yesterday, but the fabric, which had a bit of a spandex quality to it, conformed snuggly to his silhouette, which meant that his midsection had a bulky outline to it that was unmistakable. The crunch-crunch-crunch of the plastic was muted but still discernable.

The stupid pacifier completes the picture. I look like a four-foot-six toddler who surfs.

Zack shuffled back to his room. Kelly had just zipped his bag shut.

“Kelly, can I thake outh my pathifier and thalk thu you?”

“No, sweetie. Paci stays in.”

Zack looked down. “Can I weawr thumthing ober dis?”

“I think you look lovely in your sunsuit, Zackie. We don’t need to create any more laundry. Here, you can give me a hand.” Kelly slung the bag she’d packed over her shoulder, and then walked over to his closet. She rolled out a wheeled medium-sized hard-shell suitcase. “This is going to be where we store your baby diapers for the trip, Zack. You can carry it down to the front door for me in a moment – I also wanted to show you something else.”

Kelly went back into Zack’s closet and pulled a white leather tote bag from an upper shelf. It had pink and blue leather stars sewn onto it, and multiple outer pockets with zippers, as well as a shoulder strap.

“So, I thought it was time to get a proper diaper bag for you. I’ve just been using a shopping bag or my purse up to now, but for this trip to the cottage, I wanted something that we could carry around that can hold a day’s worth of diapers, plus changing stuff, and space to store a used one, pacifiers, and all the supplies needed to keep you dry and happy.”

Kelly slung the strap over Zack’s head and positioned it on his shoulder, then she adjusted the length on the strap a bit, so that the bag hung at about waist level.

“And since you’re the one wearing diapers, it makes sense to me that you should be the one carrying them!” Kelly tussled his hair. “So, if you could, please take your fancy new diaper bag, your overnight bag, and the suitcase down to the front door.”

Zack hung his head. Leaving the diaper bag over his shoulder, he went and took the handle on the suitcase with one hand and picked up his overnight bag with the other. He couldn’t help but note that the weight of the diapers he was bringing far eclipsed the weight of the rest of his clothes.

[littlebopeeper]

Sad.  It sure looks like Kelly has Zack so isolated that he has nowhere to go and no one to turn to for help.  He seems totally beaten.

[A_Pale_Spirit]

Another incredible chapter!

Very well written!

[D503]

Surfing toddler lol. Poor little man, he's now go Maddy against him as well as the new diaper bag and no pants.

[Little Sherri]

Chapter 30 – The Yellow Line

The silver Mini unwound the highway, while Maddy watched a princess movie on her tablet, and Zack busied himself with wondering what life was like in the houses and cars they were passing. He sat low in the seat for the first hour, but eventually got tired of being in that position, and gradually shed his concerns about people in passing cars seeing his pacifier. This far out of the city, the odds of any of them knowing who he was were slim, he reckoned. He took intermittent drinks from his sippy cup, happy that at least it didn’t take forever to get anything out of it, as with baby bottles. Eventually, the motion of the car got the best of him, and he leaned against the door and fell asleep.

He was awakened when the car slowed down, and he sat up and looked around. They were pulling into a travel plaza. He realized that he had drool pooling under the shield of his soother, so he pulled it out briefly to wipe his face with a tissue. Maddy was asleep in her booster seat as well, also drooling around her soother. Her tablet lay face down on her lap, still playing a video. Zack flipped it over and pressed pause, then put the screen to sleep.

No point wasting the battery. There’s still lots of boring miles to go.

Roofus had been sleeping on the front seat but now stood on the armrest to get a better view. Kelly piloted the car up to a gas pump with an attendant, rolled down her window, and requested premium fuel. The man walked beside the car and turned on the pump, then made brief eye contact with Zack through the window as he scanned the side of the car for a fuel door. Zack rushed his hand to his face and pulled out his pacifier quickly, while looking down at his phone as though he had something important to attend to. He kept his eyes locked on it as Kelly paid the bill, and then she drove over to a parking lot and backed into a spot.

She opened the passenger door, leaned in and unbuckled their seatbelts.

I don’t know why she keeps doing that.

Zack clambered out while Maddy followed. As soon as he stood up, Kelly reached for his pacifier tether, and Zack opened his mouth, anticipating it being reinserted, but instead, Kelly pulled his collar forward and dropped it down the front of his sunsuit, where it formed an irregular lump under the form-fitting material. Next, then she did the same for Maddy, plucking her soother from her mouth and dropping it down the front of her dress with a smile. She left the sunroof wide open and the side windows partially down for the dog. Taking both kids by the hand, she led them across a short pathway and through wide doors, into a large atrium flanked by numerous fast-food outlets.

“Maddy, how’s your pull-up?” She asked.

“It’s fine.”

“Do you want to try and go potty?”

“Yes, please.”

“Okay, sweetie, you go ahead. Zack and I will get in line for some lunch.”

Maddy ran off towards the entrance to the women’s washroom while Kelly took Zack by the hand into a lineup in front of a sandwich outlet. Zack watched as kids his age and younger than him filed in from the parking lot and headed straight for the washrooms. He felt his bladder twinge and knew that the best approach was to wet his diaper in small doses. Another family got into line behind them, and Zack became distractingly aware of the bulk of his outfit, and the low but audible crinkling emanating from it. Unconsciously, he squeezed Kelly’s hand.

After a couple of minutes of steadfastly staring in front of him, Zack decided to hazard a look back. The family consisted of a boy and a girl, and a mom and a dad, but the kids were a bit younger. The mom and the dad were talking over the menu with the girl, but the boy was standing, staring at Zack. Zack looked quickly away.

He knows.

A few minutes later, Maddy made her way over to them.

“How’d it go, Maddy?” Kelly asked.

“I went P-O-T-T-Y!” Maddy exclaimed.

“Good girl.”

Zack thought about asking if saying her pull-up was ‘fine’ meant it was actually dry or not, but stifled the reflex. She’d probably ask him the same question in return, all of it playing out in front of the staring eyes of that kid.

After what felt like an eternity, they got their sandwiches, sat down at a table, and ate them. Kelly asked Maddy to collect the trash and take it to a bin, which she did with great enthusiasm. Then, she stood up, so Maddy and Zack did as well. She took both of them by the hand, and threaded her way through the food court toward doors that were opposite of the ones they’d come in through. Zack was perplexed.

When they exited, he saw why they’d taken that route. Behind the travel plaza was a grassy field with a playground in the middle of it, on which about a dozen kids were climbing, jumping and swinging.

Oh God.

Kelly walked them over to the edge of the playground, then let go of their hands.

“Go play, kids. I have a couple of phone calls to make. You might as well stretch your legs.”

Maddy ran off and immediately started climbing a ladder that led up to a slide, unconcerned that her pull-up showed as she got higher up. Kelly walked over to a bench, sat down, and pulled her phone out. Zack stood stalk-still where she’d left him, unsure what to do. Running and climbing and sliding were out of the question. He might have tried to bury himself in the mulch below the playground equipment, if he’d had the tools. Eventually, he sat down cross-legged on the grass, right at the verge of the mulch, and watched the other kids run around. Having his butt pressed into the ground presented the least possible view of its increasing bulk. He could feel a generalized dampness beneath him but it was not at a concerning level, from a physical comfort perspective. However, he knew his diaper had some weight to it that would be visible through the thin garment stretched over him, and it.

He saw Maddy strike up a conversation with a couple of boys around her age, and a girl a bit younger. They started running around playing a disorganized game of Grounders. One of the boys walked up to Maddy and pointed at Zack while saying something, to which Maddy replied, and then the boy looked over at him again, and then went back to the game. A new boy came walking over from the parking lot, and very quickly got involved as well. After several minutes of dashing left and right, with kids holding their hands against objects, screaming, running, and getting chased, the new kid came sauntering toward Zack. Then, the kid Maddy had talked to intervened, yelling from on top of the play structure.

“Don’t bother – he won’t play ‘cause he’s wearin’ diapers.”

The kid froze in his tracks, gave Zack a wide-eyed stare, then turned and ran back to the group. Zack wrapped his arms around his knees and pressed his forehead down on top of them, trying to tune out their screams and laughter. It took Kelly a long time to finish her calls.

 

[A_Pale_Spirit]

Excellent chapter again!

I can't say enough good things about this story!

[Alutheria]

Oh poor Zack. Things just keep getting worse and worse for him, don't they?

[littlebopeeper]

One has to wonder whether Kelly's phone calls will result in still further humiliation for young Zack.  And I keep wondering where Zack's birth mother fits into all of this.  It's remarkable that neither Zack nor Maddie ever says something like "I miss Mom."