Larry's Find

[liddlekitkat]

The swat startles her and she realizes he's not going to believe her if she says anything that deviates from what he did. And regardless hes right she neither felt nor has been acting like an adult this whole day. she looks into his eyes and even feels smaller, she makes a big gulp and once again start biting her nails they were getting pretty raw. she starts to formulate a story he might believe. "you're right i just ran away..... my parents are addicts and a neighbor threatened to call cps so i just ran i know foster homes aren't good places cause i was in one when i was younger and i just can't go back to one." she looks at his wallet and sighs, "I'm not a thief okay that wasn't even a thought!" 

[Ishigreensa]

He shook his head.  "Honey, I didn't mean to accuse you of being a thief," he told her.  "But as I told you earlier when we were waiting for the bus, people in your situation often end up stealing because that's all they can do to survive, and I hoped I caught you before you got use to stealing.  Certainly, you being so scared that you just peed your pants at the bus stop instead of telling me you had to go gave me some hope that I'd got you before this situation had corrupted you."

He sighed.

"You just ran away?" he asked her not quite believing that either.  "You know what, I think it's safe to say, whatever happened, you don't have a safe place to return to.  You are scared of social services because you didn't have a good foster home experience, and now, you are in trouble.  I think that sums it up."

He stood up and lifted her under her arms and put her in his arms, holding her like she was a little child.  "Well, for a little while, you are going to stay with Uncle Larry," he told her.  "And since your pants were so wet, I'm guessing you'll be wetting the bed tonight, so don't worry about that.  I'll put a bunch of towels under you and let you just sleep in your panties and maybe one of my old shirts for pajamas so we keep your limited supply of clothes clean.  I'll get you some bed time diapers when I get paid, but until then, towels under you and my old shirts will have to do."

He smiled.

"Now, before the mood is ruined for the whole night, how about we order some pizza for now, and then we'll gather up your things and wash them for you."

He smiled as he finally put her back down.  "And remember, you do something wrong, make a mistake, or have an accident, you don't get spanked unless you lie about it.  I might be mad and yell at you, but I don't believe in spanking over mistakes that you didn't mean to happen, like when you were too scared to tell you had to go potty in time at the bus stop."

He walked her around got all her clothes together, and then took her to the laundry room to start her wash.  

"Don't worry, I'm the adult so I'll take care of your laundry.  I just wanted you to see what I was doing with your stuff so you didn't get scared you'd lose it, and when I pick it up after it's ready to come back in the room, you can come with me to see your stuff is all there."

[liddlekitkat]

Her heart starts to race, if she couldn't convince him he might kick her out anyway but as he drifts off into conversation. The fear subsides. But with her chest next to his she was sure he could feel the residual pounding from her heart beat before it starts to calm down as he lays out his plan. She smiles and nods at the thought of a hot pizza. Everything shed eaten in the last week had been cold or stale. 

She just nods as he lays out the his standards, "okay I won't lie" she starts biting her lip realizing that is basically impossible now that she living as a lie. But she must admit it was nice to actually be taken care of. She hopes she can keep it up at least till she can find a way to charge her phone. 

As he talks about the bedwetting she looks down. She didn't expect it to be a problem but she also didn't expect to wet herself at the bus stop or on the way to the motel. And she had been having trouble getting to a bathroom this week but she just figured it was because she had no place to go. She had been able to find a corner to pull her pants down most time but it some would occasionally dribble into her pants, either before she got her pants down or after she pulled them up and started to walk again  she would feel the urgency again and small spurt would escape But a diaper seems a bit dramatic, she wondered. She figured if she stayed dry tonight he'd forget all about it by time he got paid. And with a bathroom in the room she figured she wouldn't have the problems anymore. 

As she stands in the laundry watching him load her stained clothing she feels an overwhelming sense of embarrassment yet relief. The stitch shirt the Disney socks combined with the pee stained pants. If she didn't know the clothes were hers she would've thought it was all for a child too. "Thank you" she says ina soft voice. looking down as she fiddles with her thumbs her left leg turning in it's spot slowly. She has the size of adult but her demeanor screamed child even now. 

[Ishigreensa]

The poor little girl was so embarrassed to have to have him wash her things.  He could see that as clear as day, the way she played with her feet while he loaded the washer, and the way she looked guilty and she fiddled with her thumbs.  He couldn't fix the embarrassment.  It was hard for anyone to unsee that her pants were peed in, but they will be clean soon enough, and then she could put that behind her.

"Well," he smiled at her as he put the coins in the laundry machine to get it started.  "Let's go up and order that pizza now.  There's nothing embarrassing left to see.  Your clothes are just getting cleaned along with mine," he took her by the hand.  Being a teenager, she probably didn't want people to see Uncle Larry carrying her out of the laundry room, so he just held her hand as he brought her back to the room.

"What do you like on your pizza?" he asked her.  "Anything you want.  If you choose something I don't like, I'll just get two small ones instead of one large one."

He already had orange soda to drink, something he had bought along with the new clothes he would wear on Monday to try to convince the school district to let him substitute for the rest of the year.

[liddlekitkat]

She lags behind him in as they walk back. "um cheese is is fine." She pauses "I mean like like ham and pineapple but if you don't have a lot that's fine I don't want to be a burden." 

[Ishigreensa]

Larry shook his head and patted the baby girl's back.  She really didn't understand anything about money.  No wonder the little baby wouldn't have had any money left on her even if she had been given anything to start with, which he doubted.  Loving people don't just abandon a child like that.

"Sweetheart, it doesn't work exactly like that.  Most places, we can get a pizza with one or two toppings for minimal price, and extra doesn't really cost that much.  I'd rather get you something you like than you waste it because you don't like it.  I'm sure you wouldn't waste it though, even if you didn't like it, but I'm not going to force you to eat something you don't like.  I don't know what kind of place you came from, but if I have the money to get me what I want, then I have the money to get you something you like."

He hugged the little child...? "You are safe now, sweetheart.  And I actually like ham and pineapple too.  Are you okay if I get green peppers on it, because one large one is a little cheaper than two small ones.  Don't say yes, though if you hate green peppers, baby.  I'm trying to get you food you want to eat."

He shook his head to think that someone would be so cruel to her as to make it seem she would be wasting money to get something she wants to eat. The poor little baby!

He went to the phone, and he waited to make sure she told him if she liked green peppers, and he made her look him in the eye and he watched her for any nervous signs that would tell if she really didn't want them.  Even though he had just started to take care of her because she was in trouble and on the streets, and it became she was a helpless child on the streets--the child was growing on him, and he was starting to actually care about her as if she was his niece.

"After we order the pizza, I want you to go potty," he told her.  "I don't want you to get embarrassed, scared, or upset because you are too nervous to realize it, but if you are wet again, just tell Uncle Larry you had an accident.  You won't be in trouble, honey."

[liddlekitkat]

She smiles and says its fine for the green peppers just not a lot. she smiles that he mistook her offering to eat a plain cheese as confusion. She absolutely would have ate anything but she didn't want him to spend extra getting 2 smalls instead of one large. and she knows that cheese is always the cheapest type. 

"okay," she says to the reminder to go to the bathroom. she did find it slightly annoying as she was a grown woman and shouldn't have to be told these things but reasoned the assistance might help her keep her new cloths clean and dry. she had spent the last week holding it till she absolutely couldn't hold it anymore after being denied entry to so many establishments. then running going in whatever alley or behind a nearby bush whenever the became to much. Today when she actually wet her pants she just couldn't get to the alley in time anymore and then the next time she tried to hold it at the bus stop she couldn't even do that, she worried it actually might end up as a problem but maybe with reminders she could start to hold it again. He was so kind and nice she didn't really want to upset him anyway. No one not even her own parents had been this kind to her in years.

"I'm not scared anymore, I don't think I have to go again but i'll try"

[Ishigreensa]

Larry smiled at her and nodded.

"Well, you're my baby niece now," he told her.  "And I actually want to be your uncle, so there is no reason to be scared of me, baby."

He put an arm around her as he ordered the larger Hawaiian pizza, and then he picked her up carried her into the bathroom.  "I'm not saying you are too little to get here on your own," he whispered to her.  "But somehow, I'm not sure if you even knew if you had a right to go at that foster home of yours, if you are so used to wetting yourself that you peed at the bus stop without even telling me you had to go, baby."

He put her down by the toilet.

"I believe you, that you don't feel like you have to go," he touched her nose.  "But a lot has happened to you recently, so just to make sure you don't have an accident, sweetheart."  He touched her nose again.  "I'll go wait on the other side of the door so you have some privacy, but I want you to try to go when I ask you, at least for the night and maybe tomorrow.  If you don't have any daytime accidents by tomorrow night, I'll stop worrying about whether you'll wet your pants or not."

After he had let her try to go, and then when she came out he felt her bottom to make sure she wasn't wet and he hugged her.

[liddlekitkat]

Her cheeks flush red with embarrassment as she dropped off at the toilet. She remembers doing the same to toddlers who were potty training when she babysat as a teen. 

She stands in front of the toilet with half an inclination to just flush and wash her hand and go back out. It has been only a little over an hour since she emptied her bladder and couldn't imagine having to go again so soon. But she didn't want to lie when he asked she felt like he would just know like adults can tell when toddlers lie. So she pulls her pants down and tries, but nothing comes out. She doesnt  try anymore cause she feels vindicated. She washes her hands and emerges from the bathroom 

She is startled by the check of her bottom but into the hug she realizes he is checking if she was dry "he doesn't think I can hold it at all" she thinks. She hopes she can prove his concerns unwarranted but if he's so concerned should she also worry.  

 

[Ishigreensa]

Seeing the little's cheeks get a little red, and she acted a little squirmy when he checked her pants, he frown and lifted her up to carry her back into the main room.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart.  I know you're a big girl, about twelve or thirteen, but you've been on the street for a while, and by the way you didn't want to talk about how abusive your foster home was to you, I can only imagine the shame, guilt, and problems they gave you over little stuff, and you didn't even tell you had to pee at the bus stop, so....  Well, yeah, I thought they did cause you to wet your pants sometimes with impossible rules and then used that to punish you.  I mean, why else would a junior high school girl just sit there at the bus stop wetting herself without telling her uncle she was about to wet her pants, baby?"

He hugged her tighter.

"I'm not going to hit you or scold you though, baby.  Once you realize going potty is a right here, and that I won't be mean about little accidents that obviously you can't help if you are not used to being allowed to talk about your needs, then maybe you can relax and won't feel so scared to tell Uncle Larry if you had an accident."

He took her over and sat her in front of the television.  

"Thirteen is a tricky age," he told her.  "Some kids were into watching music videos, some kids still liked cartoons of all kinds, and some kids like sitcoms like adults, so I'll let you use the remote, but if I ask you to turn it when I'm letting you have control of the remote, it means that the show you are watching..., well I'm a little old fashion and don't think kids need to hear or see certain things on TV, okay?"

He gave her the remote control.  The motel still used a very basic cable system, so they had about forty channels including 6 kids channels, 2 Disney channels, and 6 news channels. They had 4 movie channels as well and 2 Pay Per View channels.

"For a while, until I get used to knowing if you understand your rights here, I will check to make sure you are not scared and sitting in wet pants scared to tell Uncle Larry  you're wet.  You won't be punished for wetting unless you lie about it.  I don't like lying and you are old enough to understand what a lie is, okay?"

[liddlekitkat]

She sighs a bit, she doesn't know how many more times she can be told she's a child even if she acting like one. She takes the remote, "I get it I told you I'm not a liar okay. And you need to check my pants to see if I wet them. I had a couple accidents so that makes sense too ".

She absentmindedly flips through the channels one after the other stopping for a few seconds realizing it's boring and switching again. After her 3rd time around she doesn't even stop on the news stations anymore. Now switching between the kid programs and speeding pass the ppv channels cause theyre locked anyway. She finally sees Stitch on the screen on the Disney channel and stops her channel flipping after about 30 attempts  around the channels. I guess this will have to do.  

[Ishigreensa]

He smiled at the little teen-like adult, fully convinced she was a child.  He loved the way she didn't fight about stuff, but he did wonder if her foster family had been more abusive with her, even.  He didn't know many kids her age that liked to admit that they were children, let alone be okay with being checked if they are wet without some kind of temper tantrum, but then again given how she was too shy to even ask, it made sense they had probably programmed natural behavior out of her.

He also noticed how she tried to pretend not to want to watch Stitch, and how in the end, she landed on that channel as if she was saying "If I must, I must," but it was on that children's show and not a more adult show.  He liked that happened though, because that meant one less fight he had to have with her.

"Sweetheart, you don't have to be ashamed of liking to watch cartoons.  I like to watch them too, and I'm nearly a teacher now."

He smiled.

"Anyway, you watch this, and when the pizza comes, then we can go sit at the table."  His main room had a tiny kitchen like space in the back, though it didn't have a stove or anything for actual cooking.  It just had an ice box, a small table, and a sink where he could wash up stuff.  He had some cold cereal for breakfast the next morning, and he had things for making sandwiches for lunch to save a bit on the money he had left.

He smiled when the pizza arrived.

"Baby, go wash your hands for me, and then sit at the table so we can eat," he told her.  Then he went to the door to get the pizza.

[liddlekitkat]

"I'm not ashamed i like stitch there just weren't a lot of options was hoping something else came on"

She raises from the couch and goes toward the bathroom and quickly washes her hands as she hears the door close and the smell of pizza starts to permeate the small hotel space. She returns to find the pizza on the table and her seat pulled out from the table. she takes her seat and hurriedly grabs a slice. its the first warm meal she'd had in days. She bites through the slice at rapid place making more of a mess than any adult would make shoot even a teenage wouldn't dare be so sloppy. as she finshes her slice she looks at the sauce that is covering her fingers along with drops that have fallen on the table. a couple drops even made it onto her brand new shirt. She feels a rush of embarrassment  over the mess her cheeks flare red. 
"i'm sorry about the mess, i just haven't had a warm meal in a few days and got ahead of myself. I can wash it myself i think i have enough change,' she says ina rushed cadence. 

[Ishigreensa]

"Nonsense, sweetie.  You are a child.  Children shouldn't be doing their own laundry.  I don't care what the foster people did to you before, around Uncle Larry, I am responsible for keeping my little baby niece clean, understand?"

He smiled at her.

"Now, I would like you to slow down, not because I care if you get your clothes a little messy, or I care about the table.  Those things need to be cleaned up anyway even if you don't get a crumb on them.  But I don't want my little one choking on the food.  You take your time, and don't worry about your clothes, baby.  We'll wash them off a little bit after you eat with some warm water and a little soap so you don't need to change right away.  Your other things are not dry yet, so you have to either wear those, or be naked." 

He smiled at her.

"Remember, when I got you?  I promised you that you that you wouldn't have to be naked in front me, right?  I am going to take care of you the best I can, but I won't do anything that's scary for a little child.  Understand?"

He pushed the rest of pizza towards her after he got a second piece.

"I want you to finish as much of that as you can without feeling sick, okay?  I don't like that you hadn't had much food in the last few days."

[liddlekitkat]

She takes a deep breath and smiles at his understanding nature, "thank you" she says softly. She picks up her next slice and takes her time feeling better already with food in her system. Little one this and  baby that at some point i'm going to have to fix this at some point but he wont believe me. she takes another bite She thinks to her License thats in her bag she could try showing him that. But he hates liars, she takes another bite. he'll prolly call it fake and destroy it and i cant risk losing my only form of identification. she takes a few more bites. Not that i made being taken care of. She finishes the second slice and picks up another. Even him checking if i had an accident wasn't so bad that. But it'll be annoying if we ever leave this hotel and he does it. Shes halfway through the slice, "maybe i can get my phone charged and just show him a picture from school. but its probably dead now. Maybe i can convince him to get me a charger But i'll worry about this tomorrow  she finishes the third slice. and picks up a forth takes 2 bites before realizing shes stuffed, "Um can i have something to drink"

[Ishigreensa]

Larry smiled as he saw her eating her food.  She was certainly eating like a greedy little girl, even a ten year old, but he didn't mind it at all.  It was actually kind of cute.

"Of course, sweetheart.  There's orange soda in the fridge, remember?"

He got up and walked over to get her some pop, and he reached above the sink, got a glass from the cabinet and rinsed it out, and then poured the pop in on his way to the table to sit down again.

The baby seems so scared to just let me take care of her, Larry thought to himself.  Those fosters did a real number on this child.  I'm going to definitely have to find a way to make sure she doesn't go back to them.  I will have to report her, eventually.  I know it, but I cannot let them just take her back to that abusive place.  It would be wrong.  She'd just run away again, and she's not too smart about strangers.  She went with me so easily.  She's lucky I didn't intend to hurt her.  But she was starving.  You can't blame a person, especially a child for making a stupid mistake that could lead to them getting food.  At least she hadn't started stealing yet....

Coming out of his thoughts for a moment, he saw the time.

"Honey, come here for a minute," he motioned to her.  He wanted to make sure the child hadn't wet her pants before he took her out of the room to go put their clothes in the dryer.  He figured having her help him with the clothes would give her confidence that she wasn't going to lose anything in the wash.

When she came over, he grabbed her around the waist, and put a hand on the back of her butt to see if she was wet.

"You feel dry," he told her.  "Try to go to the bathroom, then we need to go down and get our clothes into the dryers, okay?"

[liddlekitkat]

She drinks the soda. Watching him across the table she wonders whats going through his head. When he tells her to come over she rises and walks over wondering what he wanted but not wanting to cause trouble. When her waist he grabbed she instinctively flinches, "I get you feel the need to check but I just met you can you at least say that's what you're doing or just ask me to turn around or something. Besides I don't have a problem today was just really stressful for me. But I'll try" she walks off with heavy steps trying to contain her frustration. 

She goes into the bathroom closes the door. She's confident  she doesn't have to go and feels the need to prove herself to herself and him that she is fine. She just flushes the unused toilet to pacify him and washes her hands and emerges from the bathroom. "All good" 

[Ishigreensa]

Larry nodded.

Well, if she was thirteen, and she was just scared, maybe he was being a bit hard and strange to her.  Maybe he should back off on checking her all the time.  He thought she had wet herself a few times, but then again, she was on the street.  It's gotta be harder to fin a toilet when you are stuck on the street.

He smiled at her.

"Okay, I'll back off on you during the day," he told her.  "But I would like to check in the morning, just in case, okay?"

He smiled at her.

"I would like you to tell me though if you have a mishap, even if it's not something that usually happens, and I'm sorry I was weird about it.  I haven't had my own kids yet, and I guess I got a little bit worried you were scared, and I wondered if you did have problems, but I can see, you seen normal.  I'm sorry, sweetie."

He looked up at to her.

Taking her down to the laundry, he helped her load her things with his, into a dryer.

[liddlekitkat]

She smiles, "Its fine i understood  why you felt it was necessary. But I hope it was a one day thing its been rough. but even place this is a lot better than being on the streets, or fighting for a spot at the shelter." She picks up a napkin and while they walk down to the laundry she vigorously tries to get the stain out of her shirt 

[Ishigreensa]

"If you've never had any problems with this before then I'm sure it is just a one time thing, honey."

Seeing the little one trying to get the stain out of her shirt, he shook his head and put an arm around her.  "That's not going to work, sweetheart.  I'll tell you what, if you are okay with it.  When we go back upstairs, you can take your shirt off, and I'll show you how to deal with the stain."

He led her to the laundry, and after they got the clothes put in the dryer, he took her by both hands.

"Don't worry, sweetheart.  We'll have money soon and I'll get you more clothes if you end up staying longer with me.  I mean, if you like staying with me.  I'll figure out what to tell social services or whoever, so they don't send you back where you came from."

The he walked her back up to the room.

"So, do you want me to show you how to deal with that, or do you want to wait until you are in bed, and then I can deal with it when you are covered up?  I don't mind either way, but if you are planning on leaving and not staying with me very long, then you need to know how to take care of yourself."

[liddlekitkat]

She fidgets with her fingers. She knew it wouldn't have fixed the stain but she felt compelled to try after he was nice enough to buy it in the first place. 

"Yea I you can show me. I mean you've already seen me at my worse" she says with he cheeks flush red. 

She strips off the shirt revealing the tank top she was wearing in lieu of a bra. And hands it to him. She didn't know how long she would stay but he at least it more together than her and she might as well pick up a few things along the way. But she hated feeling she was being selfish toward someone who already didn't have a lot

[Ishigreensa]

Despite her feeling of selfishness, he had always wanted a child to dote on, but he didn't get along well enough with his peers to make that happen.  He didn't want to tell her anything about that though, because guilt tripped or forceful kidnapping, it would all be the same to him, wrong.  He wanted to help, and her being a child, let him feel like he had a child, even if just for short time.

To tell the truth, that's why he really didn't matter that she had wet or might wet the bed, and that she might need help with cleaning things up, and getting her clothes.  Kids ruined clothes.  That's what they did, though usually not on purpose, and she was no exception.  He knew she had not meant to stain the shirt by her reaction of trying so hard to remove the stain the best way a child would know how.  He didn't know she wasn't a kid, but somehow, even if she was an adult, pretending right now for the protection that being a kid afforded her, he would easily forgive her because she wasn't a brat at all, and she played the part so well, that he actually felt like he had child right now.

"Okay, sweetheart.  This is how you do this," he told her.  He ran some water over it, and used some laundry soap rubbing against the stain.  Eventually it came out because it was a pretty fresh stain.  "The big thing is, you shouldn't run a stain into the clothes without water and soap because you make it settle and set in, sweetie."

He smiled at her.

"I'm sorry you're just wearing an undershirt right now, but we'll get you under some blankets and I'll pick up your clean clothes after they are done, baby.  You know, I've always wondered what it would be like to take care of a child.  I have to thank you for giving me the chance to take care of you if even for just a short while."

He got her back to their room, and wrapped a blanket around her to protect her modesty.  He saw a child, and nothing more, and as far as he was concerned, you protect older children's modesty unless they are comfortable calling you their parent, and then only if you were helping them because they needed it, like if they were hurt or upset because of something they couldn't help.

[liddlekitkat]

She watches as he cleans the shirt. Smiling when its cleaned nearly like it was new again. "Thank you" as she takes the shirt back. she walks with him back and takes the blanket she sat back n the couch and picked up the remote and flipped through the channels again.

[Ishigreensa]

"See anything good on?" Larry asked Sarah.  I think it's probably getting close to bedtime, so maybe you should wear this," he showed her his longer tshirt that would easily fall to around her knee length.  "That will help keep your other clothes clean and have you something to put on fresh in the morning.  When I'm done with our clothes, I'll be taking a shower and turning in myself."

He smiled.

"You can have another can of pop if you get thirsty, but after that, it's just water for the rest of the night, okay?"

Larry hoped she was okay with how he was taking care of her.  Once he had this substitute teaching position locked in, he was sure he could do a lot more for her, and possibly move her into a house.

[liddlekitkat]

She pauses on some random news channel, "no nothing good on right now" tossing the remote on the couch to her side. she looks at the shirt amazed he would have something so long available. "thanks for this"
She was still thirsty actually she haddn't had much to drink all day, "I'll have the soda for now" she went over to the small kitchenette and picked up her glass from earlier and then poured some more of the soda into the glass. She sat back at the table and began drinking from the glass.