Chapter 32 – Did I ask you for attention when affection is what I need.

28 Floréal Year CCXXXI, Potat, South Windland, Libertalia - Amazonia

On Amazonia, a décade is three hundred and twenty hours. A little is expected to sleep at least twelve hours a day, and with naps some “newborns” easily sleep near sixteen. After less than a week of sleeping “twelve hours” a night on Ben’s couch, Oliver was starting to fray at parts of his sanity. He had not had such an unorthodox sleep schedule since high school. Today, the first day of the weekend, he had woken up three hours before sunrise. It was strange using the toilet in these twilight hours, cold dark colors and strange sounds came in through the windows and walls of his creaking old duplex. The toilet itself was less than three feet off the ground, barely manageable standing, and in a humiliating defeat it forced an exhausted Oliver to prefer hopping onto the small seat for both ways to relieve himself.

Ben had been accommodating. He would insist on taking ‘nap breaks’ from their work in translation and let Oliver sleep as long as he needed in the morning, and go to bed as early as he wanted, even if the sun was out.

Ben’s couch was an old hand-me-down, easily fifteen years of age and did not match the rest of his furniture. It had been worn down to the point it invited a man to lose himself in its contours to the joy of sleep. This was deceiving, since it was also not a real bed, Oliver had a habit of waking up sore, and this exasperated the permanent state of jetlag the Earthling found himself in. Despite this, the raw energy of visiting such a wonderous new place and meeting other versions of his friends and himself, carried him through the weariness.

Now though, the weekend (the décalend) had come, and Oliver was ground down. Retirement was supposed to be easy, but for Oliver the days were too long, and he went to bed (the couch) each night believing he had accomplished nothing.

As their trip in the car came to an end, Ben snapped his fingers a few inches from Oliver’s face, the gust of wind dragging the boy out of his stupor. Oliver tried to look around, confused where they had traveled, but the car windows were aimed at the sky. He undid his harness and landed forward into Ben’s waiting arms. Benjamin dropped Oliver into grass, and he was astounded by the size of the ‘mansion’ before him. Sixty or seventy feet tall, it had aging wooden sides and white paint that was clearly more than a decade since it had last been touched up. The house did not seem warm or inviting to the small man.

“This is the most important day of your life, Oliver. Please do not screw this up. I am going to have your back the whole time though,” Ben stated after closing the door to his small car.

“I have no idea how to interpret that, but I’ve been an assistant before in these kinds of negotiations. I’m sure I can wing it. What exactly is Victoria looking for?” Oliver yawned and then shook his head, forcing his face to be serious and ready. He would win this, through logic and negotiation, and the four of them would come to have mutual understanding, respect, and cooperation towards Oliver’s goals.

This wedding could even be good for his goals, he was expanding his support network to two academics, and he could lean on both of them to expand the reach of his budding intelligence agency.

“Oh sorry, you’ll be entertaining Jennifer. I guess you don’t actually have to do anything. Play nice though,” Benjamin had made it clear that Oliver’s future was no longer in his hands.

Before Oliver had time to process this new update, there was the sound of an opening screen door and a high-pitched squeal.

“There’s my baby boy!” A train hit Oliver before he heard her sound. He was thrown up six feet into the air. Fleshy globes encased in dark blue cotton denim filled both his eyes. His nose was filled with the scent of the ocean and sandalwood.

Victoria.

He remembered the smell, and he had not missed how she used to overload with perfume. His chest and arms were squeezed near the breaking point. He could not breathe the perfume was so strong. About two seconds before blackout his feet were back on the ground.

Oliver coughed and then looked up, straining his neck and still not seeing the woman’s face. He was trapped between her legs, and her heavy hand was on his shoulder.

“Hello, future mommy.”

It was the correct passcode to her phrasebook. The giant stepped back and let Oliver see Benjamin being attacked by Jennifer. She had worn a long white dress, with frills that covered her long white socks, and simple strap on shoes. She had taken to standing on his large feet and hugging his legs, keeping him immobilized. She had gotten her dark brown hair done professionally, and it hung long now like a miniature match for Victoria’s, and Jennifer corralled it with a long band that floated across the back of the top of her head.

“Let’s get you inside,” boomed the giantess, she lifted Oliver up and carried him near her face. Oliver stared deep into her dark brown eyes, and up and down her perky short nose. He tried to turn to look around but was effectively locked into her shoulder and elbow.

A few seconds later Oliver was dropped again in the tiled foyer of the front entrance. He knelt down carefully and started to work on his shoelaces. Ben lingered a moment before letting Jennifer down next to Oliver, and the short man gave Ben a concerned glance. He needed Ben to be strong here. This was a negotiation; his status would depend on Benjamin getting more than Victoria.

Victoria also knew how to do the dance, and began her complaint softly, “I see he’s still in pull-ups.”

Oliver nearly jumped at that, she had touched his butt for a few seconds and could tell the difference. It was not just the mastery she had shown, but the dedication to such an esoteric bit of knowledge.

Oliver’s mind briefly went to a commercial on ‘boxers or briefs’. Was this some natural affinity for the tall ones? Oliver looked up slightly at Ben, hoping the man would defend him.

Benjamin did not help him; his attention was on the girl.

Victoria continued, “Personally, I don’t see the point, pull-ups leak.”

Benjamin tried indifference, “Oliver has not had any issues.”

She tried another avenue, “He looks tired, is he getting enough sleep? Oliver if you need to go take a nap, I have a room for you.”

“Thank you for the offer. Just a bit of lag from adjusting to the time zone change. I think it will help if I stay up a bit.” Oliver stood up with both shoes in his hands. He held them up towards the nagging woman, hoping she would take him and focus on something else.

“I don’t know… Jennifer had sleeping issues for years, lots of littles do. She had surgery done. It’s a pretty simple operation on the hypothalamus, you’d be in and out in a day.”

Victoria had been with Oliver for less than ten minutes and she was already recommending brain surgery.

Benjamin must have realized she had just won the first round of the battle. He had been too focused on the lovely girl in front of him, helping her undo her white shoes, imagining all the fun he would have once he was her daddy. He snapped up and reoriented, “Right, right, Oliver might just need something simple, diet, exercise, let’s try to exhaust the natural options first.”

“Oh, I can think of one change to his diet, something that will help him with his sleeping,” Victoria rubbed Oliver’s hair slightly, grinning. A perfectly played feint. The first two skirmishes had been won easily, at this rate Ben would be lucky to have a say on the wedding venue or the honeymoon location.

Oliver gave his friend a serious look. You are flying the plane here! Get this right.

“Why don’t I take Jennifer away and have her show me around, I can entertain her for a few hours and then we’ll come back for lunch,” Oliver tried to rescue his friend.

Jennifer jumped in excitement, and grabbed Oliver’s arm, taking him off to explore the house. The master bedroom, her room, a guest room office, all upstairs, living room and dining room and kitchen on the entry floor, and family room in the basement.

Even the smallest bed would easily be King size on Earth. Every blanket and pillow were tucked in properly with fresh sheets. Every toy in Jennifer’s room was lined up and put away. The house had a generic flowery smell, like potpourri bags or maybe aromatic candles were in use.

To Oliver the house was excessively large, but for a big it was probably more on the cozy side.

“Your house is very nice Jennifer,” Oliver tried at conversation, as the two sat quietly in the cooler family room.

“Vicky wanted to paint the guest room, but she didn’t know what your favorite color was. I told her it was green because your name is Oliver. Like an Olive.”

Green was his favorite color, but he also hated that people thought it was green because of his name. Oliver did not respond to the prompt, he figured the nuance would be too much for her to handle, he just smiled and nodded along.

Jennifer was sitting on an old Amazon sized sofa, the dark tan color barely matching the long gray-brown carpet. Her feet barely hung over the edge as she relaxed against the tall back. Oliver had been offered her ‘child’ sized lazyboy. The dark red seat felt like it should recline, but no pushing by Oliver could get it to set into a relaxing position. He sat on the edge, looking across at Jennifer.

“She’s really put it all out for Ben and me. Is she excited about marrying Ben?” Oliver continued at small talk.

She was indifferent, “Not really. Every day she holds me up to the calendar and says, ‘This is the day Oliver comes over’. She’s been counting down. Three more days until Oliver comes. Two more days until Oliver comes.”

That caused Oliver to tense up a bit. He knew Vicky could be a bit obsessed, but he wanted that energy directed towards Ben, not him.

“We’ve been cleaning and getting things ready. She doesn’t want to go too crazy; she has been careful to not max out her cards on buying all the stuff she wants you to have. A lot depends on today, plus there’s the wedding to consider.”

“But what about your new dad. Benjamin,” Oliver tried to get back to Jennifer’s mood.

“He’s fine,” She shook her head slightly, tossing her hair.

“He is the best, and it’s a package deal,” Oliver hopped from the chair and came over to the couch. He pulled himself up and sat next to Jennifer.

“Are you at least excited to be for the wedding? Like, did she tell you if you going to be a flower girl?”

“Oliver, we're in the wedding,” she replied, confused.

“I mean like, the ceremony.”

“You don’t know? Haven’t you been to a wedding before?” Oliver decided it was best to shake his head, rather than explain he was from Earth.

She walked him through it, making gestures with her hands for each part. “The Priest will ask daddy if he wants to be my daddy and he’ll say yes, and he’ll ask me if I accept him as my daddy and I’ll say yes. Then he’ll ask mommy if she wants to be your mommy, she’ll say yes, and then you if you accept her as your mommy.”

“Oh, I… what happens if we say no? Can we call this whole thing off?” It seemed rude, but this whole wedding was looking more and more like a mistake.

She backed away slightly and blinked her eyes, “Are you planning on being naughty at the wedding? In front of mommy and daddy and God and the rest of your family. It is very important you are not naughty,” she was serious, her tone had a maturity and intensity that shrunk Oliver. Victoria had made it clear to Jennifer she was not to be naughty at the wedding, and the girl was relaying the message with just as much force.

The bigs tolerated misbehavior in the day to day; littles were stupid and did not know better. For the sacred and the symbolic, he did not want to risk how bad it would get if he threw a wrench in the process. They might did not need him to verbally agree and would have ways to force littles to accept the terms regardless.

Jennifer explained her sister’s motivations, “She wants a baby. It’s all she has ever wanted. She chose to be my caretaker because our parents passed away, to protect me, but that decision hurts her more and more as time goes on. I’ve seen her cry at night, it breaks her up.” Jennifer turned her head.

Oliver inched closer on the couch, “I’m not from around here, I’ll need some more to that Jenny,” he paused, Jenny was her Earth counterpart. Jennifer, despite dressing like a child seemed bigger, “I need more Jennifer.”

“Oliver, she’s a single woman, she is only allowed one. She can protect me, or she can have a baby.”

“I try to help where I can, she has urges and I can pretend, but I’m still her sister. It’s different, we grew up together, we’re related. She wants a baby Oliver.”

“And by marrying Ben, she gets me too,” a fresh young single dad, with a baby boy that was a bit too much for him to handle, who needed a mommy to set him straight, the one thing she always wanted. It was like something out of a Disney movie.

“Well, I’m sorry, you and your sister have something special and I’m,” Oliver was not even sure what he was talking about. Jennifer punched him in the arm.

“Get out of here, this is the best gift you could ever give me,” She had a certainty of how everything would play out. “Look, I can’t get a real job, or go to school or anything, but this will at least relieve some of the burden off me.”

Jennifer stood up and walked to the edge of the couch, picking up an oversized pillow and hugging it. She turned and placed it down between her and Oliver and set herself horizontally on it, staring up at the man.

“My parents took all that away from me, which is fine, they thought it was in my best interest, and at the time they thought they’d be here forever. But they aren’t here. I have a condition Oliver, and I need someone in my life to take care of me.”

“Being small is not a condition,” it just made Oliver and Jennifer unable to function in the world.

“It’s not that. I just have trouble reading people sometimes. I rely on tricks to make any conversation work. It doesn’t matter at daycare, because babies change on a dime, and they’re too dumb for subtlety. I know Brad is sad because he’s crying. I know Tiffany is hungry because she’s yelling about food. In the mornings I don’t have to think about dressing up, or what to wear, everything is decided for me. Nothing I do is sexy or romantic or adult, and I’m fine with that.” Jennifer spoke with a flat tone, and Oliver was uncertain how to read what she said. Was she actually comfortable with being treated as a baby or was she unable to convey the subtle range of emotions that were trapped in her brain.

He tried another topic, “Before your, um, condition, manifested. What’d you want to be? Like, if you could do anything what would you want to do?”

“I wanted to be a mommy,” She rolled her head, “Even when I was little, I would play with dolls and pretend. I want to meet a handsome prince, and the two of us have a big family.”

“Oh,” Oliver had not considered it, but being a parent was as far away a dream for a little as being an astronaut or an interdimensional spy. He tried to offer sympathy, “You would make a great mommy.”

“You would make a great daddy,” she giggled.

Oliver gave a friendly smile at the compliment, and then realized he was probably the first grown-up little boy she had ever talked with. This was her flirting. Jennifer even rolled over on the pillow so her face would beam up at him.

He could smell the baby powder and a light application of perfume, a delightful mix of ocean and sandalwood that made him want to just sit and breathe her in. He squirmed his legs and cheeks awkwardly on the couch, his pull-ups were too tight down below. The padding added an exotic comfortable twist he had never experienced before, the gentle caress of the thick material accentuating and enhancing the problem rather than providing space for it to die down.

He needed to get her to think of something else. “What do you do for fun around here? Besides dolls and tea parties, and cleaning,”

“Watch Tee Vee,” She pointed at the large black screen that dominated across the room. It was slightly larger than the one Oliver had on Earth.

“Not read books, or attend the theater, or karaoke,” Ben had strongly discouraged Oliver from watching television.

“You ever watch Loki?” She was excited. She had met a boy she liked, he had not seen her favorite show, and the two could watch it together. She wanted to Netflix and chill.

“I’m not sure I am supposed to,” Oliver stared at the black television. He had used a similar device to do considerable damage to Benjamin’s psyche on their first night together.

“It’s fine, it’s educational,” Jennifer hopped off the couch and then made to a center table. She pulled at a container that was at the center and pulled out a remote. She confidently spoke into it, “Loki Season One”.

As the television booted up, she ran over room lights and with a hop skip off the wall flipped the room to darkness. It was still the middle of the day, a small blue shine came from the room’s far windows, and from the upstairs, but it was comfortable to watch.

THE ADVENTURES OF LOKI, OUR FRIEND IN THE NESS

BROADCAST IN UV HD

A PRODUCT OF ALBION PUBLIC BROADCASTING COMPANY

She hopped onto the coach and bumped right up to Oliver; her dress gave a crinkled sound. Jennifer rotated slightly grabbing the pillow and placed it directly on her lap, her eyes were glued to the show.

The show began with a zoom in on a colorful animated forest lake. As the screen got closer, a large, long green neck started to rise out of the water. The monster had green skin, large white and blue eyes, and purple decorative plates along his back. The bright lime green dinosaur turned his neck and addressed the audience.

“Ahh, wee bairns! Gather ‘round, for we’ve a grand adventure awaitin’ ye this day! Hae ye e’er pondered what befalls yer wee nappies once they’ve served their noble purpose?”

The dinosaur’s voice was slightly high pitched, possibly a woman was attempting a man’s voice. It wasn’t deep or bellowing, it was comfortable and fun. Everything seemed cheap to Oliver, like those cartoons that used to appear on PBS in the mornings.

“I’ve seen this one!” Jennifer whispered.

“Am I going to miss any of the important details or backstory from earlier in the season? Will I need to listen to a podcast afterwards to understand what happened?” Oliver joked.

“Shh!” Jennifer was focused on her dino-pal-friend.

“Let’s give an easy shape for you today. Do you know what this symbol is?” It had eight sides at one hundred thirty-five degrees to each other.

“A stop sign,” Jennifer answered excitedly.

“An octagon,” Oliver corrected, joining in on the fun.

“That’s right. It’s a stop sign. And when it comes to recycling, this symbol is no joke. Only nappies can go into this container. DO NOT PUT ANY OF THE FOLLOWING IN A CONTAINER MARKED WITH THE STOP SIGN:”

The screen flashed, and the voice deepened, Oliver blinked hard, and his head started to hurt. He brought his palms up to his eyes to cover and clear them. He tried a mantra.

Don’t listen to him, he’s not real. Sauropterygia have been extinct for sixty-six million years.

A large box appeared over the screen, blocking most of the lake and dinosaur. The list was exhaustive.

Food, Metal, Wood, Paper, Household Products, Glass. There were pictures of each one and a big red circle and cross out of all of them. Nothing went into the bins with the stop sign except for diapers.

“Now that you know the rules, let’s make our way to the recycling plant and see the magic in action,” The plesiosaur’s head bobbed up and down in a poor attempt to give animation, and his body moved slowly off the screen to the right. The screen faded and shifted to camera footage from the real world.

A man with a yellow hardcover hat, and a heavy white lab coat stood before a handheld microphone. He had protective goggles on. Behind him was rows of large spinning containers, like giant vats for water, and the man had to speak loudly to drown out the constant rushing of water and spinning metal.

“This facility handles all of Caledonia’s recycling needs for nappies, that’s close to a hundred million dirty diapers a month,”

“That’s a Mesozoic sized load right there!”, Loki’s animated head popped on the screen to address the audience. Jennifer giggled.

The screen flickered in a bad edit, and the man answered the next question, his posture had changed slightly, “Recycling is important because it keeps millions of tons of diapers from clogging our garbage dumps and waterways. More than that we get useful products out of it. The waste is turned into night soil and ammonia derivatives for cleaning products, and the cloth and plastic can be cleaned and repurposed, eventually even turned into new nappies.”

Loki added color to the interview, “WOW! No part goes to waste! You know how you can help kids,”

The screen flashed again, the voice became deep, “Remind your parents to always recycle your dirty diapers in the Stop Sign bin.”

Throwing away trash in whatever bin I want is my God given right as an American.

“One more thing,” the green monster started, his body becoming large on the screen and his eyes staring directly into Oliver and Jennifer.

“Don’t use the toilet. Always poop into your nappies. Go ahead and poop right now! This way you can do your part to clean up the planet.”

I drive a huge ass truck that gets ten miles to the gallon. I buy fast food, take one bite, and throw it away. I am going to poop in the toilet you stupid dinosaur.

Oliver grinned, that was some weak sauce mind control. He could probably watch an entire season in one binge and not be affected. And yet there was a noise to his side.

It began with a humpf. Then a push, and just the slightest shift of crinkle. Oliver turned his head to the distressed lady beside him. She gave a loud pant and then her smile went wide as she shifted slightly in the seat. She reached over and gave Oliver a hug with her arm, pulling him closer.

Her compatriot took in a large breath with his nose. Baby powder, ocean, sandalwood, and the hint of something new. The combination was exotic, almost fun, almost enough to stir a bit down below.

“Something’s wrong,” Oliver looked at her, she had not changed. A block had moved in his own head.

“You didn’t like the show? Loki is my favorite,” she whispered, “We can watch something else if you did not like it.”

“Yeah, no more Tee Vee, at least for a bit,” Oliver tried. Jennifer was beautiful, she was perfect, his hand briefly went down her back, he wanted to touch, but stopped his hand. The smell was getting stronger.

It was gone. The disgust reflex. The alarms in his head that should be blaring to get away from what she had done were being sat upon by a fifty-ton dinosaur.

She had pooped herself. He poops in the toilet, she poops in her diapers, she was just doing her part to help the environment. Maybe one day if he was more conscientious, more aligned with the needs of the planet, he’d join her in the act. He was not that committed but could see why it was seen as better. Like choosing to become a vegetarian. He might take it up if he met the right girl.

Oliver shook, trying to shake the idea physically from his body. He looked around the room, unable to process the change in his thoughts. The stupid green plesiosaur had won. Earth used hypnosis like a monkey wielding a gun, but this was just a taste of what the masters could do.

Oliver was beaten, “No more Tee Vee. Let’s go, um, check on the others. Maybe get you changed, and we will see if they are ready for lunch.”

She gave a wicked smile, Oliver’s attempt to keep her from distracting Ben during the negotiations had failed. This morning had gone exactly as her sister had planned.

“I think daddy will be thrilled to change me for the first time. It’ll be like a taste of what is to come.”

* * *

“The weird part is, I had all my shields up against the television. Nothing should have gotten through. This did not even feel like hypnosis,” Oliver started once the two men were back in the isolation of Ben’s car. Oliver did not know if he should explain it, it was the same as the time in the hospital.

“I warned you,” Ben pushed back trying to hide the smile creeping across his face.

“How’d we do? Like what’s the damage here, with this whole wedding-mommy thing,” Oliver shifted topics.

Benjamin did not want to say terrible, bad, or any negative indicator, so he tried an oblique reference, “You know how we were told, ‘the bomber always gets through.’”

“Ouch,” Oliver got it, victory at tremendous cost, with little possibility of recovery.

“We’re aiming for the end of next décade, lines up with the holiday, we have a lot of packing to do, plus we need to get ourselves ready for the wedding, and I need to call and invite all my relatives. Oh, you’re going to meet your grandpa and grandma!”

“I already met your parents, Benjamin. They’re nice. It will be good to see them again,” If Oliver was hesitant to talk about his time with the Nitz, he was never going to talk about the circumstances he met Ben’s parents.

Benjamin moved his head at that, confused, and changed topics, “She didn’t think it was fair that I get to have you help my research. We’re going to do some load balancing. She has some ideas she wants you to help her work too. Once we get back from our honeymoon, she wants to spend a couple days with you, and I get to have Jennifer,” Benjamin was not specific in the details as he drove, just providing enough to assuage the command in his head.

“Sure, absolutely, I’ve run plenty of research teams at I.E.D.R. over the years, have her submit a proposal and I’ll be happy to act as administrator. After the wedding she can give a presentation, and I’ll help come up with goals and a timetable and try to work with her to narrow the scope while addressing potential weaknesses.” Oliver stretched a bit, and gave a long yawn, the words were getting stretched as the tired man spoke them. He did not hear Benjamin’s reply, as he was already asleep.

The rented tux was loose fitting, stretching past his arms slightly, and Oliver shifted nervously as he looked up to the tall priest, whose aging gray and black hair contrasted with his large balding spot which reflected brightly from a strong light from above. The priest’s clean white garments were thick like a window curtain and stiff against the giant’s exuberant movements in the ceremony. The man’s voice carried authority, otherworldly in deepness and location. Oliver let the words wash over him, feeling their tone rather than their language. The church could compete with the largest cathedrals back on Earth in size but not grandeur, with its echoing large ceilings over twenty feet tall. The room felt too modern, plastic, faux wood, concrete and carpet.

Sweat built up from the room’s heat and light in Oliver’s armpits and crotch, and he was glad for the extra padding down below, as he shifted slightly, trying desperately to stay as regal as the ceremony demanded. His legs and feet had pain from uncomfortable shoes and poor fitting pants, the clothing breathed poorly around his pull-up. Oliver let his eyes glance around, seeing Ben’s parents in the first row, and Ben’s younger sister in her bright pink-white dress, carelessly trying to escape out of grandpa’s hands over the pew railing. Past that the rest of the family here on Amazonia. It was as if the whole world was waiting for this moment.

Oliver’s attention returned forward, just in time to hear the proclamation. It came from a heavenly power, and shook into the core of his being,

“I now pronounce you mommy and daddy. You may kiss the bride.”

His body slid with a soldier’s professionalism in parade as one clean movement on the balls of his shoes. His mind was a mixture of confusion and eagerness, fear, and desire. Oliver’s breath tightened, and he finally saw the woman before him, her white dress gracefully covering her in near translucent purity. He did not get to kiss her, an alarm was blaring in his head, his breathing intensified, and the world became night.

Oliver found himself trapped in the couch cushions, his blanket half over his head and half kicked to the floor. He struggled, pushing hard in the darkness against the interior couch, confused. One arm and leg and half his body had fallen into the well of the couch and the other half was pushing the cushions over the ledge. For a moment he was trapped, but Oliver took a long breath and pushed hard against the interior and forced his body back up into a roll onto shaky cushions. With straining muscles, he elevated himself back onto the couch proper.

The clock in the entertainment council across the room alerted him it was nearly four hours to sunrise. He wanted to go back to the dream, it was foreign but delightful. Not once before had he ever dreamt of being married, but it had all the hallmarks of a well-worn book, like he had returned it time and again in summer daydreams. It was the type of vision he previously thought about a long time after waking, trying to get the details exactly right so he could revisit it again and again. He wanted to do that now, just sitting on the couch, thinking about the wonderful dream.

Growing pressure in his abdomen forced him to instead carefully throw his legs the two feet to the ground. Oliver trekked in the warm darkness to the bathroom, another long day awaited him. He hoped he got more done today than he did yesterday.