Breaking Ground (A Shifting Sands Fanfic) Chapter 5

[Alutheria]

Well, here goes. I've been a lurker on this site for quite some time, and whilst I've enjoyed reading a great many of the stories people have posted here, I've struggled to pick up a metaphorical pen and write something myself. Whilst I never struggle for ideas, motivating myself to sit down and actually flesh them out into actual stories has always been a problem for me. Now though, I've got something written and edited to where I'm comfortable sharing it. This isn't the first bit of ABDL fiction I've ever written, but it is the first I've published here.

So, without letting this awkward ramble go on any longer, here's chapter 1 of Breaking Ground. A fanfic set in the same world as @Little Sherri's Shifting Sands. Written with very kind permission from the author. 

Any and all feedback, criticism, advice and even suggestions would be greatly welcomed.

 

Breaking Ground

Chapter 1 - Stranger in a Strange Land

“George?  Earth to George, we’re here buddy.”

The boy in question pulled his face up from where it had been buried in the backlit screen of his Nintendo 3DS. He’d been too busy losing himself in the game to hear the voice of his godmother. Or even realise that the car had stopped moving.

Hastily, he slid the plastic stylus he’d been using to dictate battle commands back into the slot on the back of the console and closed the screen, the colourful, pixelated Pokémon adventure cutting to instant black.

“Sorry.” He spoke quietly as he sheepishly slid the metallic blue rectangle into the pocket of his jeans and met her expectant gaze in the driver's mirror. Blue eyes looked at him as he fumbled to undo the seatbelt and shuffle over towards the door of the absurdly large SUV to pull on the handle and let himself out, only to find it wouldn’t budge. It took him another try to realise that just shoving wasn’t going to accomplish anything as he looked around for what was keeping him locked in, as his godmother let herself out without issue and moved over to the back passenger side of the car.

With a click, the mystery was answered, as the little lock thingy on the door popped up, and George felt a little embarrassed that he’d not realised the child lock was engaged. Did she really need to use that? He wasn’t some toddler.

There was a soft clunk as the door pulled open and George was free to leave, swinging his legs around and half jumping out of the car onto the pavement next to the spot they’d parked in. Or sidewalk, as everyone else here would call it. 

“Let's go.” His guardian smiled reassuringly at him in the way adults do when they’re trying to get you to think something won’t be a big deal, but never really make you feel any better. She’d slipped a pair of sunglasses on, and George was starting to wish he’d said yes when she’d offered to bring him a pair when they’d left the house. 

Alice – it was always Alice, she insisted he not call her Mrs Warding – had dressed for the hot summer weather in a pair of bright blue jeans and a light grey tank top. 

George was dressed in jeans as well, along with a plain green shirt that fitted snugly enough under the jeans that he didn’t need to bother with a belt. Both items of clothing were brand new. He’d ripped the tags off them himself just this morning.

He’d been rather surprised to discover them, and an entire wardrobe’s worth of new clothes waiting for him when he’d arrived at Alice’s home two days ago. Between the new clothes, the fancy car, the massive house and idyllic suburb it resided in, one thing had become clear to George in his short time spent in her care – his godmother was absolutely loaded. 

It wasn’t a total surprise to discover that. He’d never had much of an interest or knowledge of his mother's circle of friends, least of all one whom he’d never really met before and who lived on the other side of the world. But he’d picked up enough to know that she was some successful businessperson of some sort. Now, it was his mother who was now on the other side of the world and felt so distant from him, even after just a few days. 

He raised up a hand to shield the worst of the sun's gaze as he followed along besides Alice. He stuck close beside her, in a manner perhaps not quite befitting an eleven-year-old boy as they passed by a few buildings towards their destination. George knew that he should probably be more excited to be here, but recent events had dampened his attitude somewhat.

When his mum had first floated the idea of him spending the summer holidays in America with his godmother, he had jumped at the idea. Sure, he didn’t really know Alice, but she was someone that his mother trusted. And any further concerns were overshadowed by the amazing prospect of escaping to a whole other country for seven weeks. For George, the chance to swap another dull and dreary summer in Northern England, for somewhere as cool as the States was a no-brainer. Any of his peers or friends would have jumped at the chance to go. 

What George hadn’t counted on was that Washington State was a ten-hour flight from London, which had meant an additional domestic flight to deal with to get down south. Multiple flights, stopovers, and half the day spent listening to the drone of engines had combined with acute jetlag to make George very tired and somewhat grouchy by the time it was all over. 

Alice had taken it in stride, but George could tell at the time that even she was strained by the days travel, and he’d been glad to simply be driven to his new home for the summer and stumble into bed, not even bothering to change clothes before falling asleep in the middle of the Cascadian day.

What he’d woken up to in the middle of the night, and the night again after that, was the reason they were out shopping now.

“Um, Alice.... Alice.” He repeated himself to grab her attention as they got towards the automatic doors to the convenience store. 

“Everything ok George?”

“I just, uh. Well, do we have to?” He asked, smiling and pleading for his sentence to be reconsidered. “I’m really sorry. I swear it's never happened before, like ever. It was probably just all the jetlag, and all the coke I had with dinner, right? I don’t really need to bother with all of this...” He trailed off and started blushing, afraid of speaking any louder with strangers around or getting into specifics.

Alice smiled and leaned down slightly to give his shoulder a squeeze. “Hey, it's not a big deal buddy, I promise. And you definitely don’t need to be sorry about it. These things happen, alright?”

“But-

“Buts are for ashtrays, as my grandmother used to say. You’re not in trouble for anything George, is that what’s bothering you?” She asked, concern in her voice.

George knew this wasn’t him being in trouble and getting punished for it. But that wasn’t the point. He didn’t need this. They didn’t need to be here.

“No...” He mumbled. He wished he could go back to the Pokémon gym battle that had taken his mind off things for the drive over here. 

“I know you think this is embarrassing. That’s ok. But you really don’t need to be. You’re far from the only boy in the world dealing with it. Now come on, the sooner we start, the sooner we finish, and we can go get a burger for lunch afterwards. Sound good?” She tried to tempt him.

George managed a small smile at the offer. That did sound good. They practically never ate out at home. Mostly because his mom always fussed over his diet being high enough in fat and sodium already.

Alice didn’t give him the chance to hesitate further, as she walked through into the store, and George followed, quickly stepping out of the way of a large man pushing a full shopping cart coming the other way. Having narrowly avoided getting his toes crushed, he realised that this probably wasn’t the best place to try and restart an argument about the necessity of this trip.

His well-worn white and grey trainers squeaked slightly on the dull red-and-black-chequered tiling on the floor as he caught up to Alice, who had already acquired a red plastic basket from a nearby stack and slung it over her arm. 

He didn’t say anything further as he walked beside her down the main artery of the store. It was a local convenience place, not one of the big American chains. Or at least not one George had ever heard of. Still, it was a store, and since this trip was meant to be for him, he didn’t pull his game out of his pocket but instead settled for letting his eyes wander over the rows of shelves and occasionally the people who roamed them. 

Window shopping was perhaps one of the dullest forms of entertainment a boy like Geroge could imagine, but his circumstances at least made this occasion interesting. The many unfamiliar brands and names, stuff he’d only ever heard of like Twinkies, or stuff they never really got a lot of back home, like pop tarts. And stuff he was plenty familiar with, especially as they passed the crisp aisle and a half dozen familiar brands could be seen. At one point they passed what seemed to be an entire row dedicated to peanut butter, and George couldn’t help but wonder who could possibly need so many flavours and versions of the stuff.

The food section came to an end as they entered an aisle offering fishing gear, tools, batteries, and other such supplies. It reminded him of the one rather miserable camping experience he’d had in his life – A rain and mud filled weekend spent in a freezing forest with a few other unfortunate members of the local Boy's Brigade chapter. It had been advertised as an adventure, but George mostly remembered the unending rain that soaked them to the skin and the portable stove that never seemed to stay on. Now he was with Alice, he wondered if a camping trip was something she might have planned for them. He knew there were a lot of woods and wilderness around this part of the country.

It took so long to get to where they were going that it felt like it was almost deliberate. Rapidly running out of store, he felt almost like a prisoner being led to the gallows as they moved down the main aisle, with Alice as his cheery jailer. It seemed it was now or never to ask for a stay of execution.

“I don’t need this.” He said quietly, a slight bitterness to his tone. Alice didn’t seem to hear. “Alice, we don’t need to -”

“George, we’re right here, come on.” She reached out her hand that wasn’t cradling the basket and took his unexpectedly, her warm palm pressing into his as she pulled him down a side aisle. He felt her give him a gentle squeeze of reassurance that only served to make him feel even smaller, as he looked up and saw the wooden sign attached to the top of the shelving unit.

Medicine & Hygiene 

Such an innocuous term still left blushes of crimson forming in his cheeks as he consciously took a breath and looked around him. He could see stacks of shampoo and bars of soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes in plastic wrappers. Various packs of pills and painkillers. Something called Tylenol, which it took him a second to remember was what they called Paracetamol over here. Cotton swabs, a few bottles of face lotion. It seemed they had a bit of everything here, and George felt his sense of dread grow as he waited to catch sight of what they had come for, and what he deduced had to be here somewhere.

“Oh, here we go!” Alice sounded far too chipper for George's liking, and he looked over to see what she was looking at. Portraits of smiling toddlers and younger kids looked back at him through shiny plastic or cardboard packaging,flanked by white numbers and colourful images and patterns. “Let's see here then, what do they have?” Alice browsed for a few seconds as George developed a sudden fascination with the ingredients list on a bottle of shampoo.

“They might be a bit snug, but I think these will probably fit you.”

George blinked slowly, and felt his heart start to sink as he saw the pink plastic package Alice was holding out to present to him. His eyes shifted from looking at the packaging to Alice, then back again as he tried to figure out if she was joking. 

“These are for girls!” He blurted out. Alice tried to hand the package of Girls’ Goodnights to him, but he adamantly refused to take hold of it, letting go of her hand. He felt the heat of anger building within him. This wasn’t fair, it was total crap! He didn’t need any of this! He wasn’t a bedwetter, never had been, his entire life! It was just jet lag, or being somewhere new, or his parents' troubles, or some other bullshit. 

I. Don’t. Need. It.

He took a shaky breath. This wasn’t fair. This was meant to be an amazing summer. A seven-week long holiday of trying cool new stuff in a cool new place. Meeting the godmother that he’d never met before, maybe make some new friends and explore a whole new world that all seemed so interesting. Instead, he’d screwed it all up on the very first night. He still felt humiliated by that episode, and thinking more intently about it was poking at a very raw psychological wound. 

“Sorry buddy, they don’t have a lot here that would fit you.” Alice told him. “It won’t make a difference whether it's for boys or girls, the protection is all the same.”

 Protection. George winced as she spoke the word. He didn’t need protection! He didn’t wet the bed! He didn’t!

“I’m not wearing that.” He declared, his attempt to sound assertive betrayed by the slight shake in his voice. Alice blinked slowly and George could detect a barely audible sigh from his godmother as she leaned down to get at eye level with him.

“George, look at me.” Her voice was soft, but compelling in its demands. He met her look. “I’m on your side here George. I’m trying to help solve a problem with a solution. If you had a headache, and I asked you to take a painkiller for it, would you be so reluctant to take it? Would you rather be going around with something you can fix because you’re scared to take a pill?”

“I’m not scared.” He huffed.

“Then what’s the issue, big guy?”

He looked down at the package she was holding and hoped he wouldn’t be made to spell out the obvious. Alice continued to look at him like she was waiting on him, and with a renewed feeling of dread George realised he was going to have to say it. “They’re nappies! Girls' nappies! I'm not a baby!” He tried to sum it up in as few words as possible. Like every syllable made it more real.

“George, I never said you were a baby. And acting like one in the supermarket isn’t helping anyone now, is it?” She spoke like she was talking to someone half his age. “Listen to me George. I’m trying to help you here, but I can’t do that if you don’t let me. I made a promise to your mother that I would look after you this summer, and make sure you had an amazing holiday. Now I can’t keep that promise without your help, understand?” 

The defiance seemed to deflate out of George as he listened to his godmother, replaced with a pang of guilt at the mention of his mother. He wasn’t privy to everything going on at home, but he wasn’t stupid either. He knew things were worse than usual right now, and part of him was suspicious that it might have something to do with why she’d so readily accepted the idea of him spending the summer in Washington. 

He felt obliged to nod slightly at Alice's question before she continued. “You’re meant to be having fun this summer George. And how much fun can you be having if you’re waking up to wet sheets every morning, hm? If I’m changing those sheets every morning, that’s less time for me to take you places and more time spent doing work we could avoid, isn’t it?”

He felt another pang of guilt. Alice might have said she didn’t blame him for the extra laundry, but it didn’t change the fact that it was extra laundry. She was doing a lot for him, he supposed. There was no way he’d even be here if Alice wasn’t the one paying for everything.

“But these are girls ones...” He protested the secondary point weakly, as he looked over at the mostly bare shelf Alice had picked the Goodnites up from. It was slim pickings. Apart from four other packs of Goodnites – all girls ones – there were a dozen or so packs of proper baby nappies in various sizes, and a solitary pack of pull-ups training pants. The cartoon smile of Dora the Explorer seemed to mock him from the soft plastic packaging.

“Well, this is all they have.” Alice stated the obvious, as George moved over and began to look through the rest of the packages more closely. Spending any time at all rooting through the nappy aisle was beyond humiliating, and he couldn’t help making repeated paranoid glances down either end of the shelves in case someone was coming their way. His hopes reduced to the idea of finding some form of protection that wouldn’t completely make him die of embarrassment. Just one stupid pack of boys Goodnites. Just one. That he might at least be able to tolerate, and it would satisfy Alice’s requirements.

There was nothing of the sort. The absolute best he could find was a pack of Easy-Ups training pants themed after Thomas the Tank Engine. The anthropomorphic train wasn’t something he’d ever thought he’d see again after he turned five. Least of all like this. At least it wasn’t Dora.

Alice must have seen him looking at the package, because she reached forward and picked that one up as well. A look crossed her face as she seemed to look over the alternative with a critical eye that quickly glanced back at George before returning to the examination. “Hm. I suppose they might work as well. They’ll probably be a bit on the snug side, but if you really don’t want to wear the Goodnites, I suppose we can give them a go.”

Now George found himself looking between the Easy-Ups and the Goodnites. His godmother’s concession didn’t feel like one. It left him picking between two humiliating options and he couldn’t decide which one was worse right now. Girly Butterflies or babyish trains. He’d have to pick his poison that night it seemed.

Without another word, she picked both packages up and dropped them into the basket, mercifully out of open view. They were still stuck in that part of the store however, and George found himself going right back to glancing around for other shoppers as Alice took her sweet time leisurely looking over one of the shampoo bottles.

“Is that all?” 

George didn’t want to sound rude, but his anxiety was still waxing, his fingernails digging into his palm as he tried to prod his guardian. He didn’t want to be here a second longer than they needed to.

“I was hoping we could pick up some snacks while we’re here. I saw you staring earlier, you know.” She smiled at him then motioned for him to take her hand again, which he did reluctantly. Did she think he was going to get lost here or something?

As they passed back the way that had come, George caught sight of one of those cardboard signs that hung down from a shelf. It had been right on the dividing line between the nappies section and the other toiletries. The distinctive green banner of the Pampers branding looked back at him, framing a picture of a pair of the training pants hanging around the ankles of a set of disembodied lower legs that hovered slightly off the ground, clearly meant to imply the owner of the legs was sitting on the toilet that was framed behind them. Going from left to right, the picture of the training pants changed halfway through to become a pair of plain blue Y fronts with thick white rims around the waist and leg hole. The slogan, split on either side of the picture, read: “They think it's underwear. You know it's Pampers.”

Ironically, the branding on the training pants in the advertisement were for something called “PJ Masks.” Which to George seemed to be a little kids superhero show, but still looked leagues less babyish than the Thomas themed ones he was now stuck with.

They think it's underwear. You know it's Pampers. George felt his face burning as he read the line, and quickly forced himself to look elsewhere. It didn’t mean anything; it was just a dumb line from an advert. 

[Apache Raccoon]

Good start

[Alutheria]

On 7/23/2023 at 2:33 AM, Apache Raccoon said:

Good start

Thank you!

[007specialk]

Great start enjoyed the chapter.

[Alutheria]

20 hours ago, 007specialk said:

Great start enjoyed the chapter.

Thanks!

[Alutheria]

Chapter 2 should be up sometime tomorrow. Unfortunately I've been sick with a nasty cold that's left me less than productive lately. But I'm getting better. I'm aiming to try and get something out roughly every couple of weeks, so there should be updates with some sense of regularity. 

[CDfm]

Just saw this and had add my two cents worth.  Fantastic start!  Haven’t really been able to see enough to get a feel for the story line but you have done a great job writing it so far. You can tell there’s been some proofreading which makes it so pleasant to read and not have to read over the mistakes. The story flows nice and smooth with natural conversion. I am looking forward to reading more. 

[Alutheria]

 

Chapter 2

The prospect of snacks was a welcome distraction, so he nodded back at Alice. “Yeah, sounds good.” He spoke mutely and walked with her willingly out of the medicine and hygiene aisle and back down where they’d previously come from towards the racks of colourfully wrapped junk food. 

George’s morose attitude faded as he started browsing, the novelty of looking through an entirely foreign selection of treats and goodies was enough to take his mind off the recent humiliating pickups. To his surprise, Alice was happy to let him get whatever he wanted - within reason at least – as he quickly found himself picking through rows of chocolates and crisps. Some he’d heard of and some were utterly new. Most came in at least a few flavours he’d not expected to find, especially in a more general shop like this. 

The small shopping basket Alice was holding quickly found itself home to Hershy's Bars and Milk Duds, pop tarts, and then various flavours of Cheetos and Lays crisps. Not wanting to miss out on what he viewed as classic American foods, he also grabbed a pack of Twinkies. He would have wanted to grab one of the peanut butter jars as well, but sadly his peanut allergy made that quite impossible. They’d discovered he suffered from it when he was less than four years old, and George had carried an EpiPen with him for so long now that it didn’t feel normal to not have one on him whenever he was out of the house. His was currently resting in the pocket that wasn’t holding his Nintendo, whilst Alice had insisted on carrying his spare in her purse.  

“Can’t believe I’m asking this, but are you sure this is all alright? My mum would go ballistic if she saw me getting all of this.” He asked as he tossed one last bag of chips into the basket. The pile of junk food helping to obscure the two bulky packages at the bottom from view.  

Alice thought for a moment, but shrugged. “You’re on summer vacation, I’m sure she’d allow it. You’re meant to be having fun here buddy, and it's not like she’s gonna know, is it?” She winked slowly and deliberately at him, and George found himself smirking a little. Whatever else he could say about his godmother, she at least didn’t seem to be a constant worrier like his mum was. “Besides, you'll burn it all off, I’m sure. I’ve got a lot of activities packed into your schedule this summer. That reminds me, we need to get you swimwear as soon as possible. Oh, and uniform for baseball. I know you’ve never played before, but there’s a local team for kids your age, I’m sure they’d love to have you...” 

George listened as she went on to list some of what she wanted to do with him. Mentions of camping, beach trips, a local theme park she wanted to take him to were just a few. George’s previously grumpy mood fully evaporated as he started to get excited at all the cool stuff he was meant to be getting up to soon. Alice was right, this was meant to be for him to have fun. The stupid bedwetting was a one off, he was sure of it. Even if it had happened twice. He could live with wearing some protection for a night or two to satisfy his Godmother that he wasn’t going to ruin another set of sheets, then he could dump them at the bottom of the bins.  

They ended up browsing a few other areas before Alice finally declared that they were done. She let his hand go again once she stopped to rearrange their purchases in the basket, and George was happy he didn’t have to find an excuse to break the hand holding himself. Alice was cool as far as parental figures went, sure. But he was eleven, and he was rather sure that being seen to hold hands with your mum – or godmother – was as embarrassing here as it was back home. 

Still, he was feeling slightly alright about things now, as they found their way to the checkout area. There were four Checkouts, but only two of them were manned at the moment. Off to the far right was a self-checkout area, with the screens covered up with taped on sheets of paper with “Out of Order” written in blown up comic sans. Thankfully the store wasn’t that busy, so they weren’t left waiting long. George’s eyes wandered past racks of magazines and newspapers trying to tempt shoppers into last second purchases. Mostly stuff about celebrities or cooking, or just outright tabloids boasting about proof of aliens and such. One magazine purported to be about the psychology of sleep, and George could almost feel his jet lag rear its head again as he glanced at the cover. It was all stuff that would bore a kid to tears. Nothing remotely of interest.  

If they’d been in the longer in, he’d have pulled out his Nintendo to try and win a few more battles with his team. But the shopper in front of them only had a couple of items, and before he knew it, they were next. He stood aside as Alice began to empty her basket onto the belt, as the cashier gave a smile and asked if she wanted paper or plastic. She asked for the former, and George saw an opportunity to squeeze past her to the area behind the Checkout where there was more room, leaning on the side of the checkout. 

From there, he caught a clear view of Alice removing their two bulky purchases from under the pile of junk food and push them to the front, as the now disinterested looking cashier swiftly scanned them with a pair of blips from the machine, before she pushed them past her and onto the second part of the checkout, gravity pulling both of them down the slightly sloping metal section to where the bags were. They came to a stop right where he was leaning, and George glanced back up at the cashier, anticipating some sort of comment or acknowledgement from her as feelings of embarrassment resurfaced. But she was busy scanning his bounty of chocolates and crisps, and didn’t seem to notice him looking. 

His attention turned to the two packages, as he kept looking at them thinking about how anyone could see them, as he tried to fake disinterest. He tried to tell himself that no one noticed or cared, and even if they did, they didn’t have to be for him, did they? But all his reasoning rang hollow against his feelings as his eyes were locked onto the babyish and girly packaging right in front of him. It was as if the two bags were broadcasting to the entire world that they were for him, and all it would take was for someone to notice for him to be branded as a humiliated bed wetting baby. 

The seconds felt like minutes as he just waited there, feeling frozen in place as his heart raced and pangs of anxiety washed over him. What was taking so long? Couldn’t Alice just pay and get them out of here? Whatever the reason, she and the cashier were taking an age to rack up and pay for their stuff. 

He could see the stand with folded brown paper bags hanging from it for people to take, opposite its twin that had the same for plastic ones. Alice had said she wanted paper, right? 

It felt weird packing shopping into paper bags – back home, it was always either cheap plastic ones that would rip if you put anything heavier than a pack of crisps in them, or those big canvas ones that his mother always seemed to forget on their weekly trips to Tesco. There was a pile of them that cluttered the floor of the downstairs cupboard where they kept shoes and coats. It was one of those little things that served as constant little reminders he was in a foreign country now.  

“George, just leave those will you? We don’t need extra bags; you can just carry your diapers to the car.” He froze like a deer in headlights as her attention turned to him, and took a second to process what she had just said. His hand still holding the package of training pants he’d slid halfway into a bag. 

“Y-yeah.” He managed to choke out the syllables after a few moments. Reluctantly and slowly, he pulled the pampers out from where he’d almost managed to hide them from view. The cashier gave him a quick smile of sympathy before she returned to ringing up their bill, and George found himself wishing the ground would open and swallow him whole.  

At last, Alice paid and they were free to go. She’d quickly scooped the junk food into the bag he’d already opened, and he hesitantly picked up the two packages, trying to figure out a way to hold them that would hide them from view without It looking like he was trying to shoplift or something. 

Your diapers. Why did she have to say it like that? Who needed to know?  

Diapers. Nappies. There was another thing that was different. He didn’t find this one cool at all. 

He resorted to holding the training pants to his chest under one arm, with the Goodnites on top. It obscured most of the more babyish of the two packs from view, and the Goodnites at least didn’t draw as much attention, their packaging being more muted in their colour. 

Scurry along sullenly next to Alice, he found himself impatient at every tiny delay on their way back to the car. Having to stand aside outside the entrance of the store again, to make way for some employee pulling a large pallet of goods inside. Then being forced to wait for an age before Alice deemed it acceptable for them to cross the road in the car park (jaywalking serious here). They had to stop again right outside the car as he waited for her to retrieve her car keys from the bottom of her purse, and he let out an audible sigh of frustration as she started rummaging around for them. 

“Two seconds and we'll be in the car George, don’t get pouty with me like that.” She warned him with a glance as she at last retrieved her keys and the doors opened. George threw the packages onto the far seat as soon as she did, getting another disapproving look for his efforts.  

“I suppose you’d be fine with me throwing these around as well then?” She held the bag of assorted candies out in front of him.  

“Sorry...” He apologised. With the training pants and Goodnites out of public view, his anxiety abated a bit, as he realised he probably had been a bit rude with her. But wouldn’t anyone? He didn’t need any so-called “protection”. Why’d she call him out about It like that back there anyway? If his actual mum had done that, he’d have started a full argument over it by now, one that likely would have ended with a shouting match and half a day of not talking to each other before he ended up apologising and making up.  

But Alice was his godmother. She was taking care of him for the next seven weeks and he didn’t want to think about what his mum would say if she heard he’d started arguing and being rude with someone who was hosting him, never mind if that host was also her closest friend.  

He clambered into the seat and turned around to get the door, only for Alice to close it for him with a firm clunk. She took the bag with her into the front of the car as she started the engine and began a slow drive out of the car park.  

“Best if we save the candy for after lunch, don’t you think?” She asked as she glanced at him through the mirror.  

“Yeah.” George replied, feeling deflated.  

They drove on quietly for a while longer, the silence only interrupted by the car radio playing song after song. The twang of the hosts accents another reminder to George of where he was. He didn’t feel like resuming his Pokémon game, and instead passed the time glancing out the window, amusing himself with all the little differences he could see there as well. The way the traffic lights were different, the adverts that listed everything in dollars, or the red and blue flags that fluttered in the summer breeze. It was actually kind of cool. To a boy raised on a steady media diet of American films and TV shows, it felt almost like being on a film set or something. He felt a little better as he remembered that he was meant to be on holiday here, and watched the outside world go by. His idle observations only intruded on by a slowly growing need to pee. He’d gone before they’d left the house, but that had been hours ago.  

Now you tell me that I need to go, huh? 

The car slowed down and turned as Alice pulled them into another car park, this one serving a cluster of buildings just off the nearby motorway, that George quickly realised must be a large service station. They got out, and once again George found himself following her like a lost duckling as she led him towards a set of doors that lead into a large atrium area with people who were either mingling around or lining up to be served at one of the many fast-food places surrounding the atrium square.  

“I know I said Burgers before, but pick whatever place you like.” She told George as he looked around and mulled over options. Some were familiar chains, most were not. Feeling pressured he picked one of the latter and joined the line with Alice besides him. 

“There’s a kid's area out past those doors. If you know what you want, you could go and play. I'll pick up our order and come find you” Alice turned her head and motioned over towards the other end of the dining area as George thought about it, but hesitated. “Come on buddy, it would do you good to meet some new people. If you wanted to spend all summer indoors on your Gameboy, you could have just stayed home.”  

George resisted the reflexive urge to correct her – it was a 3DS, not a Gameboy that he had – but he had no counter to her actual point, so didn’t say it. He knew he shouldn’t be rude to his guardian. No doubt his mum would give Alice a thorough questioning about his behaviour once summer was over, and if his report wasn’t absolutely sterling, he’d be in for it. He was still on thin ice as it was. 

“Uh, yeah. Alright I'll go say hi to some people.” He told her, reluctantly. George was a rather introverted boy, and so this seemed rather daunting. He glanced up at the menu boards and quickly picked out one of the meal combos for Alice to get him, then set off towards the doors and stepping through. 

 There was maybe a dozen or so kids playing around in there, a decent sized climbing frame and typical playground fixtures dotting the field. He could see a small group playing some game on the grass that reminded him of rounders, and thought about asking if they needed another player. Then he saw one of the boys talking to one of the girls, who pointed over in his general direction.  

He was caught off guard for a second and worried that she was pointing at him, before he looked around and realised, he was pointing at another boy, sitting and looking rather miserable at the edge of the play area sitting cross legged and hunched over, like he was self-conscious about being out here or something. 

At least I’m not the only one who doesn’t like crowds 

He made his way past the sad looking boy, giving him a sympathetic glance as he got to the climbing frame, and tried to focus on having fun. Part of him thought he should go and say hi to the boy, but he looked like he wanted to be left alone. Or not to be there at all. George could sympathise. He’d felt the same way when he’d been dragged along to a friend's parents wedding a few weeks back and felt overwhelmed being around all those strangers trying to make small talk with him. 

He exchanged a few curt “Hi’s” with a few of the other kids climbing around him, but otherwise stayed quiet, content with focusing on more elaborate climbing paths. Challenging himself to only grab bars of a certain colour, or try and jump up as high as he could in as few moves as possible. After a few minutes he pulled himself up to the top of the frame and sat there, enjoying the rather high view as he looked around at the domain below him. 

“You wanna race down and back up again?”  

He turned to face a dark-haired girl who was looking at him from the other edge of the top platform he was now resting on. He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could form a syllable, he heard another voice call out.  

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

George almost fell off the platform at the sudden announcement coming from one of the boys nearby, as blind panic took hold of him and the vocalisation of the word diaper ricocheted through his head. The stupid bedwetting nappies were still in the back of the car, had this kid seen them somehow? 

His eyes darted frantically about to try and see what was going on, as he realised it was the sad looking kid from earlier who he’d been talking about. One of the kids playing the game of rounders was yelling it to another boy who was trying to approach the sad kid. 

Maybe he’s special needs or something? I’m sorry mate.  

He looked down at the kid whose fate seemed uncomfortably close to his own, and who now looked like he was trying to turn himself invisible. George would probably be doing the same if he was in the same position.  

He tried to forget about it as he went back to climbing with the girl. Other kids came and went as the time passed, and it wasn’t long before he caught sight of Alice walking out of the doors and towards an outdoor seating area. 

“I’ve got to go.” He told the dark-haired girl, and began to clamber down the frame to the ground to go and meet his godmother, who was setting two red plastic trays stacked with greasy food for them. He turned around and saw that the girl from before was smiling and waving at him, and he paused for a second before giving a quiet wave back. Today had had its ups and downs. But it was nice to have made a friend.  

[CDfm]

Great new chapter.  Even caught me off guard when the boy yelled out that he won’t play because he’s wearing diapers.  I can only imagine how red his face must have been until he realized they didn’t mean he was wearing diapers.  For some reason I don’t think the pull ups or goodnights are going to be effective for George and they are going to have to go out again and find a better solution to his little problem. 
I am already looking forward to seeing the next chapter. 

[Andyman3]

Oooh a fanfic it is an epic story, I know another one. What I loved about the original was it had a realistic feel to it and went over the basics so every moment made sense. And the main character was quite a independent tough free thinking young boy, it made everything that happened so enjoyable. 

 

And your fanfic: It's wonderful. I love the setting and story, makes perfect sense. The scenario is wonderful, he had some bedwettering from jetlag and then the kids at the playground. And your characters really do it of course. Similar tough 11 year old boy with those straightforward kid thoughts. And a nice understanding and forgiving godmother. 

 

It's the small things but let's say it has infinite possibilities 😄. I can't wait to see what happens next. 

[Alutheria]

6 hours ago, Andyman3 said:

And your fanfic: It's wonderful. I love the setting and story, makes perfect sense. The scenario is wonderful, he had some bedwettering from jetlag and then the kids at the playground. And your characters really do it of course. Similar tough 11 year old boy with those straightforward kid thoughts. And a nice understanding and forgiving godmother. 

It's the small things but let's say it has infinite possibilities 😄. I can't wait to see what happens next. 

Thank you, you're too kind! 😊

Will be interesting to see what people make of Chapter 3. Alice will be getting a bit more of a spotlight there.

[Andyman3]

On 8/9/2023 at 12:41 PM, Alutheria said:

Thank you, you're too kind! 😊

Will be interesting to see what people make of Chapter 3. Alice will be getting a bit more of a spotlight there.

Love it. Can't wait 

[Andyman3]

Like I said elsewhere, when an artist doesn't post for a bit I get worried. The fun of being a fan 😄

[Alutheria]

18 hours ago, Andyman3 said:

Like I said elsewhere, when an artist doesn't post for a bit I get worried. The fun of being a fan 😄

I'm working away on Chapter 3, don't you worry. Just taking a bit longer than I'd like. IRL stuff doesn't leave me with as much time to write as I would like, unfortunately.

[007specialk]

I agree with the other people can't wait Thank you

[Andyman3]

Good glad your ok. Yes real life stuff can be destructive for artist. I believe in you. 😊

[A_Pale_Spirit]

Wow I just stumbled across this story, it's great so far!

I love Shifting Sands (and Going Green), so I know I'm going to like this story a lot too! Looking forward to more!

[Alutheria]

On 8/15/2023 at 5:59 AM, Andyman3 said:

Like I said elsewhere, when an artist doesn't post for a bit I get worried. The fun of being a fan 😄

Thanks! I'm glad that people are enjoying this. If you ever have any thoughts or feedback, I'd love to hear it.

[Andyman3]

6 hours ago, Alutheria said:

Thanks! I'm glad that people are enjoying this. If you ever have any thoughts or feedback, I'd love to hear it.

Yes. Feedback, I would say many things but many stories get ruined by being consumed by there topic. Gotta take it slow and enjoy every moment and character. 

Your story is really understandable with realistic parts so easy to follow. So many endless possibilities already so im hooked. Can't wait 😊

[Andyman3]

The suspense 😄

[Alutheria]

On 8/24/2023 at 10:11 PM, Andyman3 said:

The suspense 😄

Next chapter is in the works! Been having some writers block with parts of it unfortunately, but it should be out soon!

[Andyman3]

8 hours ago, Alutheria said:

Next chapter is in the works! Been having some writers block with parts of it unfortunately, but it should be out soon!

Oh great, writers block oh no. Well you story is wonderful already and it has near perfect ideas. Don't overthink it😄

[Andyman3]

Don't stop, it's way to good😊

[Alutheria]

2 hours ago, Andyman3 said:

Don't stop, it's way to good😊

Rest assured I have no plans to. 😊

Chapter 3 is about 75% or so done now. And it might be long enough that I end up splitting it in two. 

Sorry this is taking so long. Life has been busy lately and I struggle sometimes to block out dedicated time in my schedule to write.

[Andyman3]

1 hour ago, Alutheria said:

Rest assured I have no plans to. 😊

Chapter 3 is about 75% or so done now. And it might be long enough that I end up splitting it in two. 

Sorry this is taking so long. Life has been busy lately and I struggle sometimes to block out dedicated time in my schedule to write.

Oh a big one, gonna surprise us nice😄. Yes I know, I've got physical problems that get in the way. But I love making art