Chapter 4
I was having a nightmare. My whole body was on fire but I was cold at the same time. I was thirsty but drowning. I cried out in fear.
“Shhhh.” I felt a cool hand on my brow. “It’s okay Kit. You’re okay.” A soft reassuring voice.
I relaxed. Mary was here. She would take care of me. Memories of Mary made me smile but then thick and fast the memories that came with her tumbled into my head. Simon. The nanobots. The tank. I opened my eyes.
“You’re awake!” She smiled broadly.
“How long…” I started to say but something was wrong with my voice. I coughed to clear my throat and that felt all wrong too, like I wasn’t taking a big enough breath. I felt panic setting in.
“Shh, Kit. It’s okay. You’re okay.”
I relaxed a little and tried again. “How long?” I managed to whisper. My breathing felt easier but there was still something wrong with my voice. It wasn’t mine. It was…a child’s.
I was suddenly wide awake and I sat up. I was in the room where Mary and I had fallen asleep earlier, on the bed. But I was only peripherally aware of that. Because I was staring at my hands. Perspective is a weird thing. Your brain knows where your hands are even when your eyes are closed, it’s something you learn to do as you develop. So I knew these were my hands, and because they were mine my head told me they were the right size, but at the same time they were small, and hairless, and kind of stubby. They were too close to my face too, as if my arms were too short. My arms! I was looking at the arms of small boy.
“My God!” I gasped. Then I laughed. I sounded like an excited toddler giggling. I felt my bare chest. Once again the strange feeling that it was mine and normal but at the same time too small. I tried to pull the blanket down but I was securely tucked in and I couldn’t move it.
“Let me help.” Mary reached down. Her arm was huge against my small chest and I looked up into her looming face. She filled my whole view, my whole world. I felt lost in her eyes. Her hand grasped the blanket and pulled it free. It must have taken time for her to move the blanket, because nothing happens instantly, but I wasn’t aware of it.
I was looking down at a little boy’s body. My body. Smooth, perfect little legs. But it was the oceans of puffy white diaper that mesmerized me. The pale green stripe on the waistband with Elmo peeking out. The pale sky blue top of the diaper, slightly folded over by the movement of the little tummy it was fastened around. My tummy. My little body was unable to handle the emotion I was feeling and I suddenly found I was sobbing.
Then I was being picked up. Me, all of me. It was impossible of course, but Mary’s face was getting closer and closer and then my head was on her shoulder and she was enfolded my universe in her safe, loving arms. It was so overwhelming that I sobbed even harder.
“Shh Kit, Shhh.” Mary was rubbing my head and gently rocking me up and down in her arms. I wanted to tell her ‘I’m okay’ but I couldn’t get a handle on my emotions. And then I became aware that I was peeing. I was taken by surprise. There was no warning, no feeling of fullness. Just suddenly I was aware that I was going, full flow. I felt a brief warming and then I was done. I went from full flow to nothing.
“I peed!” My sobbing turned to shocked giggles. “I pee peed.”
I didn’t intend the second repetition, it just came out.
“You did?” Mary asked gently. I felt her pat my bottom. “It’s okay Kit.”
She held me and rocked me for what seems like forever but was probably five minutes or so. She sat back down on the bed and I found myself sitting on her thigh with her arm around me. Her other hand brushed the hair away from my eyes. I blink away my tears. I want to lose myself in Mary’s gaze but at the same time I could not take my eyes away from the little legs sticking out from the puffy Pampers diaper. I moved them and felt my inner thighs brushing against the diaper. My diaper. A real, actual, Pampers diaper. On me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.” I giggled again. That little boy voice was coming from me. “Yes, I am!” I giggled in sheer glee. “It worked!”
“It sure did.”
“I don’t want to rush you,” Simon’s voice was gentle but firm, “but you need to get going.”
“What’s the hurry?” Mary asked. “Kit needs some time to adjust.”
“No time I’m afraid. I diverted an lot of resources here to control those nanobots. Most of the Internet went down for a few hours. Right about now there are some very worried and powerful people trying to figure out the cause of the dropout. In a couple of hours a lot of angry people are going to be storming in here.”
“Right. We better get you dressed then.” Mary stood, carrying me with her on her hip. She took me to the other room in the hallway and opened it. Inside was a pretty bare room with a couple of plastic office chairs and some suitcases. Each chair had a set of clothes on it. One was clearly for Mary. It was the other set that captured my attention. Mary set me down on the floor. The room suddenly seemed a whole lot bigger. The ceiling was a mile away. Mary’s face was scarily far away. Looking onto the seat of the chair was like looking out onto a waist high counter.
“Let me help.” Mary lent over and picked up the first item. A T-shirt. It was plain white. Mary bunched it up in her hands and fed my neck into it. I felt for the sleeve holes and pushed my arms through. Next Mary picked up the denim overalls. She held them open for me to step into. I felt like I was in a dream and almost stumbled as first one then the other little legs followed my directions. Then Mary raised them up, covering my diaper and lifting the straps over my shoulders.
I giggled again with the sheer joy of it.
“Come on, sit.” She picked up the socks and sneakers off the chair and patted it. It was surprisingly hard to climb up that high and she had to help me a little. Once up I found my legs dangling high above the floor. I scooted backwards until my feet barely stuck out over the edge of the chair seat and watched Mary put socks on me and then cute little sneakers.
Mary started changing into her clothes and I slid off the chair. My new sneakers flashed red as they hit the floor and I laughed in delight once more, stomping around the room.
“Exit through the other door. Bring the bags. You’ll find a tunnel.”
I hadn’t noticed another door until Simon spoke but identified it easily enough. Mary opened it and we stepped through into a bare concrete tunnel.
“There are no camera’s, no tech of any kind in the tunnel. Deliberately so, in case someone tries to track you. But it means I can’t talk to you either. You need to go two hundred yards and you’ll find a door on your right. It leads to an access passage in a Mall. I will pick you up again there. Hurry.”
Mary walked fast, holding my hand and I had to run every few steps to keep up. It is scary and exhilarating. We arrived at the door just as Simon said we would.
“Great, now go straight ahead, past two doors and through the third one on the left. It opens out into the ladies room. Also, in the bag you’ll find some wireless headphones for you Mary, so I can talk to you discretely.”
“What about Kit?”
“I can already talk to him discretely.” The words came from in my head and were repeated a second later out loud, clearly for Mary’s benefit.
“Cool!”
“Head out towards the exit. A cab will be pulling up in a moment. Flag him down. Ask him to take you to 2300 Industrial Boulevard. That’s a car service center.”
We were both too nervous to talk much in front of the cab driver and Simon was being quiet. I worried that we might have lost contact with him but as we stepped out of the cab he spoke up again.
“You have cash in the front pocket of your backpack Mary.” He said practically.
We paid off the cab.
“There is a self storage place behind the car dealers. Head to I9. It’s electronically locked. The code is 9843.”
“What’s inside?”
“You’ll see.”
When the sliding door whirred up on its electrically driven rails the content of the garage was revealed to be a car. A boring, dull grey, Subaru forester.
“Put Kit in the back. There is a seat for him there.”
Sure enough there was a full on three point harness toddler seat installed. There was also one of those toy steering wheels for kids hooked to the back of the passenger seat, together with some toy pedals. The feeling of having Mary fuss and lean and rearrange my body in the process of doing up my harness felt almost unbearably good to me.
“Where should I head?” Mary asked.
“Follow the GPS out of town.”
It took about twenty minutes to get out of town and once we were on the open road the atmosphere palpably relaxed. Mary laughed, a little giggle.
“Are you okay?” I asked. Once again marveling at my high pitched voice.
“I should be asking you that!” Mary snorted another little laugh. “I can’t believe it!”
“Me neither.”
“And I have to say, you are just about unbearably cute Mr. Kit. When Simon woke me and I had to lift you out of that tank I just about died. You weren’t breathing you see. But he explained that the fluid in your lungs had been giving your all the nutrients and oxygen you needed. Sure enough, once you coughed it up you were able to breathe just fine. I carried you back to the bedroom. Simon told me to open the closet. There was a neatly folded towel and a single diaper sitting on it. I couldn’t believe it was really you I was putting it on. I still wasn’t sure right up until you woke up.”
I poked at the diaper under my overalls. “It really is me. And this really is happening.” I was still having difficulty believing it.
“Yes it is.” Simon’s voice over the car radio this time.
“So what’s next?” I asked. As I spoke a funny feeling came over me. I felt unsettled somehow, like something was wrong. My tummy felt full. I lifted up off my seat a little to ease the feeling and my bottom opened up. Before I could say anything I felt poop sliding out into my pants. It all rushed out quickly filling the available space and pressing back against me. I sat back down with my face in a little round oh of surprise, amplified by the feeling of my poop being squished flat inside my diaper. The unmistakable smell of a little boy’s dirty diaper quickly filled the car.
“Next comes the hard part. I’m going to need your help to save to world.”
Mary gave a sniff and I saw the corner of her mouth rise in a smile.
“But before that, Mr. Stinky Pants in the back needs to have his diaper changed.”
Chapter 5
“Um, I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.” I felt strongly ashamed. I didn’t want to burden Mary and it wasn’t a convenient time for her to take care of me.
“It is necessary for the plan that Kit not be potty trained. At all.” Simon’s voice from the radio.
“It’s okay sweetie.” Mary chimed in. She turned enough to give me a quick smile. “We’ll get you changed in a moment.”
“I’m okay. I mean, we can keep going for a while. Until we need gas or something.”
“Hmm, okay.” Mary conceded.
I was pretty used to sitting in a full diaper, but it felt different this time. My diaper seemed bigger, like it was wrapping me in a blanket of security, enclosing me in its protection, and the warm mess molded to the shape of my bottom reinforced that. It just felt right. I gave a little giggle.
“Oh, I see. Little Kit likes his poopy diaper huh?” Mary teased. “Maybe that’s why he’s not potty trained yet?”
Simon’s statement had been rumbling through my brain. I was still exploring the physical feeling of my new body, getting used to the whole perspective thing. I was used to the physical me occupying a certain percentage of my surroundings. Being a certain size in comparison to say building, street lights. So now my brain was telling me that the world had just got a lot bigger all of a sudden.
“Kit has been diagnosed with a physical nerve issue that prevents him being aware of the need to use the bathroom. It’s all in his medical record.”
“What medical record.” I asked.
“The one that your new doctor will receive when you register with her tomorrow afternoon.”
“I think it’s time you finally let us know what your plan is.” Mary stated definitively.
“You are right. Until Kit’s transformation was effectuated I was not sure it would work. There was a chance Kit would have been left with the intellectual capacity to match his physical development, that of a four-year-old.” “Now you tell me.”
Simon ignored me. “We can discuss the details later, but in there is no way to get physical access to the part of the building where Max, as you have named him, is located. But there is a weakness in the security. Most of the building is given over to more mundane uses.”
“Two years ago permission was granted for the an unoccupied portion of the basement to be turned into a daycare for the use of the building’s many employees. This was a mistake, as the basement was, and still is, partly occupied by the AI research project. But as it didn’t officially exist, the basement showed as empty on official plans.”
“That seems like a remarkable coincidence.” The grown up sentence sounded odd in my little boy voice.
“Doesn’t it.” Simon managed to sound smug.
“You’ve been planning this for two years?” Mary asked.
“Let’s just say I was planning for contingencies. I wanted to create physical access to the hardware they were using for their AI program. But they were more thorough than I had anticipated. As soon as the order went in for the day care construction they realized their mistake and took action. When construction workers started work on the daycare they found some of the space shown as unused in the building plans were in fact occupied by building mechanics. Or so they thought. It wasn’t a big deal for them, there was still plenty of room for them to build the center. It was assumed that there had been a straight forward mistake in the original plans. The new, hidden section of the basement was accessed from a secure area run by military intelligence on the floor above. They sealed it completely from the rest of the basement.”
I was starting to see where this was going. “Let me guess, except for some kind of very small access passage? Too big for an experienced programmer to get through?”
“There is an air vent that links one part of the day care with the hidden server room.” Simon confirmed.
“I knew it!” I congratulated myself.
“Wait, are you telling me there are no, um, little people, who are expert computer programmers?” Mary objected.
“Of course there are. But there is also an access issue. The group controlling the Max experiment made sure to plant a couple of key workers in the day care. And they have cameras constantly watching the whole place.”
“So how do you expect Kit to be able to help then?”
“There is one place they did not put cameras. There is a room at the rear of the day care, it has only a single access, which is under surveillance. This is the room with the vent in it.”
“And they just forgot to put a camera in there. I don’t buy it.” I commented.
“The planner’s know about the air vent. I removed it from the original building plans. And there is no camera because someone filed an objection to putting cameras in the baby changing room.”
“I think I can guess who that someone was.” Mary laughed. “Very clever! And that’s why Kit has to be un-potty trained.”
Almost on cue I felt the same surge of pressure that I had earlier and then the feeling of going pee with a full uninhibited flow. My diaper grew warm again in a pleasing way. It worried me though as I had not had any control over the process and that made me feel small and vulnerable. Most of me loved the feeling, but the grown up part of me rebelled a little. “We could have just told them I wasn’t potty trained.” I felt surreal discussing this out loud, sitting as I was, in a wet and stinky diaper.
“Most day cares, this one included, won’t accept children over the age of three who are not potty trained. Not unless there is a medical reason for their lack of potty training. I had to make it real. Experienced child care professionals can tell the difference between a child choosing to refuse the potty, and those who are unaware of the need.”
“Couldn’t you have made Kit a little younger then?” Mary wondered.
“There is a task he needs to complete in the server room that requires he be able to reach a certain height. He is already on the tall side for a four-year-old.”
“Oh.”
“We’ll go over the details of the operation later. When you get to Snow Valley. You’ve still got a long way to go so I will leave you alone. Except for one more thing. Kit, do you see the big red button next to the steering wheel in front of you?”
“Yeah?”
“It activates the car’s secondary control system. Though Mary will retain override control, and her inputs override yours.”
“Wait you mean this is not a toy? I can drive the car?!”
“I foresaw there might be circumstances under which you might need access to transport.”
“But who built it? Wouldn’t that raise suspicions?”
“I had the car built a year ago by a company in California that specializes in movie prop vehicles for a movie that never got filmed. It then passed into the ownership of several different companies before being scrapped.”
“Oh. But then it has no registration papers?”
“This vehicle was bought by a young single mother called Mary Caring two months ago. The papers are in the glove box. As is your driving license, and some other documents including birth certificates. Kit, would you like to test the controls?”
“I can’t see the road though.”
“Do you see the sunglasses in the side pocket of your seat? On the right.”
I reached down and found the slightly bulky sunglasses. Without prompting I put them on. Instantly the seat in front of me disappeared and I was looking at the road in front of the car, with an overlay showing me the car’s speed the GPS directions.
“Cool!”
“Are you ready to take over?” Mary asked.
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Letting go.” She released the wheel and I felt the car’s control come to me. I felt pretty clumsy and I’m sure the other road users were wondering what was going on when our car the way we swerved from side to side. But eventually I got the hand of it. I could keep the car heading the right way, but I certainly did not have the confidence that I used to have.
“Good job Kit!” Mary praised me. I felt insanely proud and didn’t even notice that she had used a tone normally reserved for preschoolers until afterwards. “I’ll take over again for now. Why don’t you try and get some sleep, that way you can drive a little later.
“Good idea!” I yawned. I was suddenly overcome with fatigue. I closed my eyes and almost immediately fell asleep.
“Come on Kit, we better get you changed. Don’t want you starting your new school with a rash.” Mary was unbuckling me. My mind jumped through the whole: ‘What, how, no…wow’ thing again as I woke up. My confusion was replaced by a warm glow as she lifted me bodily out of the car, holding me against her chest with her arm supporting me under my bottom. “Pew, you stink mister.” She commented. This only intensified the warm glow encompassing my whole body.
She put me down and took my hand, walking with me towards the rest stop. My mind whirled from one thing to the next. The strange perspective that I got being only three and a half feet tall. I had taken it for granted that I could see across a whole parking lot, see who was getting into their cars, maybe about to back up. Now my head was just about level with the trunk of the small cars and the SUVs towered over me. The parking lot felt a lot more threatening and I was glad to have the reassurance of Mary’s hand. The glowing red lights blinking from my sneakers with every step enchanted me and that conflicted with my fear from the parked cars as I kept looking down at my feet instead of up at the cars. I was also very aware of the sticky mess in my pants as it slowly detached from my bottom until it sat heavily in my diaper, just nudging against my skin with every step. And I kept getting whiffs of stinky diaper, and knowing they were coming from me kept making me smile.
“Watch out Kit!” My arm went taught and I felt myself being dragged back a couple of feet.
I looked up and saw a car backing up. “Sorry Mary.” I felt unreasonably upset for such a trivial incident and to my surprise my eyes teared up.
“Hey, it’s okay. Not a big deal.” She leant over and rubbed my head. “There, there. No need to be upset.” She was talking to me exactly as if I really were four-years-old and for a moment I wondered if I really was. “I think you had better start calling me mommy, we’ll be inside in a moment.” This brought me back to reality.
“Yes, of course. Mommy.” I tried it on for size. It felt a little awkward.
“You’ll get used to it!” Mary laughed. “Now remember, you’re only four.” She whispered as we approached the door.
We walked hand in hand to the family restroom and went in. Mary unfolded the changing table and lifted me up onto it. My overalls didn’t have snaps on the legs so she had to undo the straps and take them off me completely. Then I was lying on my back in just a T-shirt, diaper and sneakers. Mary lent forwards and pulled the tabs off the waistband with little Velcro ripping noises and then folded it open. I realized that there was one part of my new body that I had not yet seen. It felt strange seeing a small child’s hairless privates between my legs, but it was in keeping with the rest of me and I didn’t get to long to contemplate the fact as Mary quickly and efficiently grabbed my legs by the ankles with one hand and proceeded to raise them up towards my head in a way that kept making me think was going to be severely uncomfortable at any moment yet never became so. Then I felt Mary use the wet but clean front part of my diaper to wipe my bottom before pulling it away from under me. She continued to hold my bottom in the air and used a sweet smelling wipe to clean the rest of the poop off of me. By the time she lowered me back down onto the changing table she had slid a fresh diaper under me. I giggled as she used a wipe to clean around floppy little penis and then she was done. She folded the new diaper over and quickly fastened the tabs. The ease with which she fed my legs back into my overalls and pulled them up over my back, indeed, the ease with which she accomplished the whole operation, made it clear that she was completely familiar with the process.
“All done.” Mary said brightly. I resolved once more to find about her background. She obviously had a lot of experience with child care, but hadn’t mentioned having any. Maybe brothers or sisters, I wondered. She lifted me back onto the floor. My nice fresh diaper felt light and snug inside my overalls. “Better?”
I gave her a smile and a nod, not quite trusting myself to speak. I was a little overwhelmed. She smiled back and took my hand once again. We went back into the food court.
“We still have a long way to go sweetie. But we’re going to stop and have something to eat. Do you want a cheeseburger, or some nuggets?”
“Um, cheeseburger pwease mommy.” I giggled a little involuntarily. I had been concentrating on not breaking character as a four-year-old but the lisping was totally accidental. “And some fwies.” I giggled again.
“Okay dokey artichokey.” Mary said brightly and we went to join the line.
I was a little discomforted to begin with being so small in a sea of big people and having my horizons effectively confined to the sight of peoples bottoms. But after a moment that feeling faded, almost like my mind conceded that all was as it should be and I shouldn’t worry about it. It was weird, kind of like my mind refused to worry itself with grownup concerns. I felt a kind of fatalistic patience settle over me.
It wasn’t until we sat down with our food that I was able to shake it off. Mary handed me a cheeseburger and small fries. The cheeseburger was enormous in my little hands and it made me laugh.
“What?” Mary asked.
“I tell you in da car mommy.”
“Oh, okay. Well eat up, we’ve got a long way to go yet. And we’ve got a busy day tomorrow. We have to register you at your new school. Won’t that be exciting, meeting lots of new friends?”
“Uhuh.” I nodded. But that was something I hadn’t considered yet, interacting with actual preschoolers. The idea made me laugh again.
“Excited huh?” Mary kept up suitable small talk through the meal and cleared up when we had finished. We walked back to the car hand in hand.
“So what was so funny?” Mary asked as she fastened me into my toddler seat.
“I was laughing because I would have eaten that whole burger in one bite before. Now I could hardly finish it.”
“Yeah, it must be pretty strange for you. It’s pretty weird for me too. I mean a few days ago we were, you know… and then there I was cleaning poopy off of your tiny little bottom.”
I had not really considered our budding physical relationship. I felt selfish and my face fell. “Don’t cry baby. We don’t know if this is permanent. And if it is, well we’ll cross that bridge if and when we get to it.”
I hadn’t realized I was tearing up again. I was having trouble getting a handle on my emotions since the transformation. “I’m sorry, I can’t seem to stop crying at the drop of a hat. And I just realized how selfish I was being. Being like this is great for me, but for you, well…”
“I’m just fine. And I love you more for caring.”
“What…Did you…”
“Shh, I’ll tell you all about it one day, but not now. Okay?”
“Otay. I mean, okay.”
“You’re silly.” She tweaked my nose. “But I love you anyway.” She got into the front of the car and put it in drive to rejoin the interstate. For once my mind wasn’t constantly going around chasing the new and different sensations of being a little boy again, maybe I was getting used to the adjustment. Instead I was pondering the incredible improbability of the events of the last few days. And it wasn’t the stuff with Simon and my transformation that I kept circling around, it was Mary. I did not doubt that she was exactly what she appeared to be. I don’t know why I was so sure, but there wasn’t a shadow of a doubt in my mind. I just couldn’t get over get over the feeling that I didn’t deserve her.
“Kit do you want to drive for a bit? I could do with a rest.” She giggled. “I’m sorry, I can see you in the mirror and it feels so ridiculous asking you to drive.”
“Yeah, I know. I got it though, you can let go.”
She cautiously let go of the wheel but the car barely shivered. Going in a straight line I could manage. It was pretty strange driving without seeing any of the car, like I was floating on top of the road. Eventually though, as is always the case with long distance driving, the miles started to blur into each other. I drove until the little gas icon on my HUD starting blinking. Mary stirred as I slowed the car to take an exit. There wasn’t a rest stop anytime soon so I took an exit that was posted with a Denny’s.
“Can you take over? I’m not so good with the fine control.” I asked Mary.
“Sure.” She yawned. “I got it.”
“We need gas. And I’m hungry.” I told her.
“And you must be tired. You’ve been driving practically all night.”
She was right. The light of dawn was starting to show.
“Denny’s huh?” she saw the big yellow sign. “Could someone be fancying pancakes?”
“Maybe.” I conceded.
She laughed. “Okay.”
I tried to undo my own harness but I didn’t have the finger strength to push the button and release the buckles so I had to wait for Mary to help me. She lifted me up into her arms to give me very welcome spontaneous hug. It felt so good.
“You are soaking wet.” She whispered in my ear.
“I am?”
She put me down on the ground and brushed her hand over my bottom. “Yep, soaked through. Come one.” She took my hand and we made our way into the restaurant.
“Two?” a waitress asked. “And a booster?”
“Yep. But first we need the restroom. My little guy peed through his diaper over night.”
“Poor little guy.” She smiled at me. “It’s over there.” She pointed.
There was no family restroom, but there wasn’t anyone in the ladies. It was very early in the morning. Mary unstrapped my overalls and had me step out of them. “See?” she held them up and I could see the demin in the back was dark with wetness. “Can’t put these back on.” She put them to one side. I hope…” she rummaged in the backpack she had been carrying since she picked it up in the room next to the nanobot lab. “Nope. I guess all powerful sentient Simon doesn’t think of everything.”
“What?” and “What’s is the nature of the problem?” mine and Simon’s questions came simultaneously. I quickly realized that Mary didn’t hear him, she wasn’t wearing her headphones. “Simon wants to know too.” I said for her benefit.
“Not a big deal.” Mary said with a slight smile. “Diapers and wipes we have. Spare clothes we do not. Never mind.”
She lifted me up onto the changing mat and quickly changed me out of my sopping diaper. I hadn’t felt uncomfortable despite the heavy diaper but the contrast to a nice clean one was stark. I felt lighter and cleaner.
“That’s better isn’t it?”
“Uhuh.” I agreed as Mary set me back on the floor.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to stay like that for now. I’ll give your overalls a rinse and put hang them up in the car for later.”
“It’s okay.” I said. But I felt suddenly vulnerable.
“Let’s go eat.”
Mary held the door open for me and I went out ahead of her and immediately stopped. The waitress that had greeted us was giving me a big smile and I felt shy. I found myself waiting for Mary so I could shelter behind her legs. “Come on Kit.” She encouraged me.
We were shown to our seat, Mary held the booster in place for me to climb onto.
“Do you want something to drink to start off with? Coffee, milk for the little guy?”
“I’ll have coffee, yes please. Kit, do you want some milk? Or juice?”
“Milk pwease.”
“I think we’re ready to order too.” Mary told her. “We just want pancakes.”
“Coming right up!”
Mary waited until she was out of earshot. “Are you okay?”
“I fine. I’m fine. I just, felt all shy all of a sudden.”
“You are just too cute, you know that?” she had a way of making me feel alright. There was no one else in the restaurant, or at least in the part where we were sitting so we were able to talk quite freely.
“How was the drive?”
“Bizarre. Simon’s HUD system is great but you can’t see the car. It’s like using an invisible steering wheel to drive an invisible car.”
“I wish I could try it.”
“I’m sure you could drive from the front with the glasses on. Might not fit though.”
“How much further, did you notice?”
“A couple of hours.” I yawned. “I got to sleep. Or at least have coffee.”
“No coffee for you mister! But you can sleep all you want. Here come the pancakes.”
The waitress put a plate down in front of Mary. One stack of pancakes for you,” she put a smaller plate in front of me. “And a special stack for a special little guy.” She winked. “The cook saw you guys come in, wanted to make something special.” She said to Mary. The pancakes on my plate were shaped like teddy bear faces.
“Thanks you!” Mary gushed.
“You’re so welcome!” she left us with a smile.
I reached for the syrup container. “Not so fast!” Mary easily took it from me. “I think I had better be in charge of the syrup.”
“But Ma…mommy. I can do it.”
“I know you can sweetie, but I’d like you to have some syrup with your pancakes and not the other way around.”
The sound of a chair scraping and a little laugh behind me clued me in to the fact that the waitress was behind me making up a table.
Mary poured a generous but not ridiculous amount of syrup onto my plate and lent over to cut them up for me. I took a fork and stabbed a piece. It was supremely delicious. Beyond all my expectations. It was like I had never had pancakes and syrup before. I tried to stab another piece right away but my haste was making me clumsy and I was getting sticky syrup all over my hands. By the time I was done I was a mess.
“You’re a mess.” Mary laughed at me. “Good thing I have wipes.” She got one out and proceeded to do the mommy thing to my face. I found myself instinctively squirming away. “Hold still.” She used the mommy tone on me and I found myself responding. “Hold out your hands.” It was a relief to get them cleared of the sticky syrup so I held them out willingly.
“Alrighty, back to the car.” She declared after she had paid the bill.
“Bye cutey!” the waitress waved us off. I was very conscious that I was walking out of Denny’s wearing nothing but a T-shirt and diaper with my blinking sneakers. It was a relief to finally get back into the car.
“You’re going to have to get used to being out and about in a diaper Kit.” Mary scolded me very gently. You’ve never been potty trained remember, so you don’t know any different.”
“You’re right. I’ll get used to it.”
“And besides, you’re four. A bit old for diapers sure, and you might get a few odd looks, but if anyone’s going to be judged for it, it will be me.”
“I never thought of that, I’m sorry.”
“I can take it, don’t worry about me. Now get some sleep.”
I didn’t need any more prompting, I was happy to close my eyes and once again I was out almost immediately. I drifted with the liberating feeling of my pee coming out at full flow and my diaper warming nicely.