Chapter 12

A crack of thunder boomed, shaking the house and startling me out of sleep. I shot up in bed, looking around the dark room frantically. Rain beat the windows and caused them to rattle in their panes.

“It’s just a storm,” I murmured to myself, but my heart kept racing and I flinched and let out a scared squeak as another peel of thunder shook the house. Nervously, I got out of bed and made my way to the light switch, my diaper sagging heavily between my legs. I flipped the switch up and down a few times, but nothing happened. The power was out.

“Sabrina?” I called out tentatively as I stepped into the hall. “Madison? Are you here?” I listened for a reply but could only hear the rain pelting the house. I ventured down the hall and down the stairs, thinking to make for the phone in the living room and trying to call Madison. The stairwell was dark, and I could barely see the steps. I didn’t know where to even begin looking for a flashlight in this house, so instead I gripped the bannister tightly with one hand and carefully felt for each step with my foot. I sucked steadily on the thumb of my free hand to keep myself calm, but still I flinched at every stray sound in the house.

There was more light on the bottom floor, thankfully, but I still had to move slowly and gently to navigate across the living room. Halfway to the phone, the room was suddenly brilliantly lit up and, just a mere moment later, the house shook from another, monstrous clap of thunder. I let out a low whimper, but it was the loud banging on the front door following quickly on the heels of the thunder that turned the whimper to a shriek. I felt warmth flood into my already soaked diaper.

“Claire?” I heard a voice call from the other side of the door, “Claire, it’s Madison and Sabrina!”

Still shaky from fright, I almost tripped over my own feet getting to the door. I practically threw myself at Madison, wrapping my arms around her.

“Aww, it looks like someone is a little scared of the storm,” Madison said with a hint of laughter, “it’s okay, sweetheart, we’re here now.” She was wearing a raincoat that was dripping with rainwater and holding a folded umbrella that was equally soaked. “Come on,” she said, gently disengaging from the hug, “let’s get inside before you get all wet.”

Madison led me inside and sat me down on the couch, making soothing noises the whole way. Sabrina say next to me and laid a hand on my shoulder, “It’s okay Claire there’s no need to be scared of the storm,” she said, sounding not entirely convinced of her words.

“Is the power out, Claire?” Madison asked me, kneeling in front of me. I nodded in response. “Thought so. Sabrina, keep Claire company while I go see if I can get the power on. Don’t worry my brave girls, I’ll be back soon.” She kissed us both on the forehead and left the room, carrying the toolbox she had brought with her.

I couldn’t be sure how long Madison was gone, but it couldn’t have been too long. Sabrina and I huddled together on the couch waiting for her and listening to the rain. A few claps of thunder made us jump and whimper, but the worst of the storm seemed to have passed. It was still raining hard though.

Eventually, Madison came back, but the power was still out. “It looks like we’ll have to get a new fuse,” she announced. “How are my girls doing?”

“Good,” Sabrina said shakily, I nodded in agreement.

“I’m sure you are, and I’m so proud of you for being so brave. Since we can’t cook, why don’t we go out for pancakes as a reward for being so brave?”

I found myself grinning at the prospect of pancakes dripping with syrup despite the lingering tension and fear. Sabrina exclaimed in agreement and nodded her head.

“Looks like we need to get Claire dressed first,” Madison said as she crossed the room and helped me to my feet. “Not to mention in a fresh diaper,” she added as she checked to see how wet I was. “What about you, Sabrina? Still dry?”

“Yes Mommy!” Sabrina declared proudly, lifting the dress she was wearing to show her dry pull-up.

“Good girl, but why don’t you try to use the potty while I get Claire ready?”

Sabrina nodded in agreement and headed off to the bathroom while Madison led me upstairs by the hand. Once in my room, she slid the changing mat out from under my bed and laid me down before going to my dresser and pulling out a fresh diaper and changing supplies. Almost as an afterthought, she grabbed the pacifier from on top of the dresser. Madison knelt on the floor, setting everything down, and then pulled my thumb out of my mouth and replacing it with the pacifier. Finally, she set to working changing my diaper. With that done, Madison went into my closet and found a sundress not unlike the ones Sabrina usually wore and slipped it over my head.

I opened my mouth to protest that the dress didn’t fully cover my diaper, but Madison laid her finger across my mouth and gently hushed me. “No one is going to care that your diaper is showing; it won’t be the first time they’ve seen a little baby in a diaper.”

Something about what she was saying didn’t make sense, but…no, no, she was definitely right. Who cares if my diaper showed? Babies wore diapers, everyone knew that.

Sabrina was eagerly waiting by the door when we finally came back downstairs. The rain was beginning to slow, but Madison still held the umbrella over her and me to keep us from getting soaked on our way to the car. Once there, Madison buckled me in and we were off.

Between the motion of the car and the soothing sound the much gentler rain, I must have been lulled into a doze, because the next thing I knew, Madison was unbuckling me and shaking me awake. Getting out of the car, I realized I recognized the diner Madison had brought us to. I must have seen it a few days before when I was in town.

Wait, when was that? I know I couldn’t have come by myself, but I didn’t remember Madison or Sabrina being with me. Before I could think about it too long, Sabrina was tugging my hand and urging me inside. I smiled and followed her inside, where we were greeted by a cheerful looking woman with dark, curly hair.

She looked at Sabrina and me and her face split into a smile as she waved at us, “Hi there, girls,” she said “Sabrina, who’s your friend?”

“This is my new friend, Claire!” Sabrina announced.

I was momentarily confused, until I remembered Sabrina and Madison must come here frequently. Still, I suddenly felt very self-conscious as the young woman turned her eyes to me. I let go of Sabrina’s hand and tugged at the hem of my dress, hoping my diaper wasn’t showing.

“Hi Claire, I’m Julia!” She held out her hand to me and, after a moment of hesitation, I let go of the hem of my dress long enough to shake her hand, but I couldn’t quite make myself respond vocally.

“Aw, I guess she’s a little shy,” Julia said with a smile, turning towards Madison. “Hey Madison, usual table?”

“Yes, please,” Madison agreed and the three of us followed Julia to a booth towards the back of the restaurant. I slid into the booth and Sabrina sat next to me, Madison sat across from us.

Julia began to set down menus, but Madison waved them away, “No thanks, Julia. Sabrina and I will just take the usual and Claire will take the same as Sabrina.”

“Sounds great! I’ll be right back with drinks!”

Before departing, however, she did set coloring pages and crayons in front of Sabrina and me. Both of us eagerly tore into the packages of crayons and started coloring and talking about our favorite parts of the movies we had watched the day before. I barely noticed Julia setting a plastic cup with a lid and straw in front of me a few moments later.

By the time the pancakes arrived, we had moved on to what movies we wanted to watch today, although over the course of stuffing out mouths we moved from that, to pestering Madison to read to us when we got back home to debating on what board games we wanted to play. Perhaps only because that’s what we were stilling discussing with Madison announced that it was time to go, board games seemed to be out decided activity for the day. At least for now.

“Come on girls,” Madison said as she stood up from the table, “let’s get going. Do you need to use the potty first, Sabrina?”

Sabrina seemed to consider for a moment, then nodded her head. Madison took her by the hand and led her away. Not sure what else to do, I followed closely behind. Once there, Sabrina disappeared into a stall, reassuring Madison that she could go potty by herself. Meanwhile, Madison turned to me, lifted my skirt, and patted the outside of my diaper.

“Mmm, wet,” Madison announced, “but only a little. I think we can hold of on a change for a while.”

Wet? Really? When had that happened? I felt certain I would have noticed if I had wet my diapers, except…would I have? Wasn’t the whole reason I wore diapers because I couldn’t keep myself from having accidents? But I had always known when I had accidents in the past. I had known when I had to pee in the past, didn’t I? But that was all before I wore diapers, before I was a baby. Before? That’s didn’t make sense, but…it dug at the back of my mind…

“Claire?” Madison’s voice jarred me back to the present and I lost my train of thought. “Ready to go, sweetie?” I smiled and ran after them.

By the time we got back to Madison and Sabrina’s house, Sabrina and I had almost decided what board game to play, but the problem was quickly resolved as we ran into the nursery and picked up the board game on the very top of the pile. Madison followed us into the nursery shortly after with a bottle for me and a sippy cup for Sabrina.