Chapter Twenty-Four:

I didn't feel well. The bottle made me queasy and I had nothing but baby food all day. My stomach grumbled and I felt a familiar need on my bladder. But wetting myself in public was different than the studio, or the hotel, or at Jessie's house. I looked around nervously as Betsy pushed the stroller into a toy store. It was well after noon, but all the kids were still in school. Thankfully, I thought.

My poor Leona, she looked so distressed. So when we got to the toy store, I kicked into gear. Without concern for being seen on camera, I leaned down and unbuckled her from the stroller and spoke in an excited tone. "Okay, you can walk, and we can go look at the dollies and the legos. But you gotta promise to hold my hand, okay? You're too little to be on your own." I knew the cameraman would follow me and her, but I would do anything to cut out Betsy. Bitch.

I pouted up at Jackie as she helped me out of the stroller and took my hand. But... well, I guess it was better than being pushed around like a baby. I tugged down the dress as far as I could, but no matter what I did, the padding poked out underneath the hem. The camera followed me and swooped in low to get a shot. I curled up to Jackie's arm shyly.

"This is so dumb," I muttered.

"Luvs," I hated using that name, "you're one of the cleverest girls I know, especially at your age." Which was a kind of code for 'be clever, realize I'm giving you an out' or something like that. "Which toys do you want to look at first?" Truth be told, most of the audio here would probably be edited out, overlaid with babyish music and lots of up-skirt shots of her diaper. But it was fun to play a little too, especially knowing how I could make her feel.

"This dolly is cute," I said in my baby voice and smiled for the camera, playing up the shy attitude perfectly. I was an amazing actress. Honestly, I should be in movies. "Ohh, but dis one too!" I hurried to another shelf and picked up a box. But each harsh step in my Mary Jane shoes made my stomach turn. Oh, I had to pee...

"How about this one down here?" Honestly, I didn't know much about the human body. I was a photographer, not a doctor, and that meant that I didn't know the stresses all the ups and downs would put on her. I didn't know all the strain it might cause for her to have to kneel down. That, I was afraid, was Betsy’s forte and not mine.

I looked around first, careful to scope out the aisle. No sales associates. No one had even approached me yet. Probably because it was a bigger store, I told myself. So I climbed down on my hands and knees, which flashed the seat of my diaper perfectly for the camera. I got up on my feet, on my tippy toes, and reached for high shelves. On one hand, this was super embarrassing. But on the other, well... I was going to be very popular online.

"Show me which ones you like, okay?" For my part, I tried to stay out of view. She was the star of the show, and I think I had faith that most shots with me in them would be edited out anyway - I wasn't a part of this. But I liked interacting with her, too. "Oh hold still, peach." I took her by the cheek, licked my finger, and rubbed away a spot of food from her cheek. "There we go, much better."

"This one is my favorite," I told Jackie in my babyish lisp, holding up a dolly. "She gots diapers, juss like me!"

"Okay, well put the other one back then."

I took the second baby doll and put her back on the lower shelf, but when I stood back up, I felt a little sick. I leaned against the racks of toys to hold myself up. Ow... when I got back to Jackie, I tugged on her sleeve.

"Dun feel good," I muttered.

"I bet it's just because you had a big lunch, honey." Or Betsy had something to do with it. But there was no point getting her upset about that, especially when she was already struggling to stay in character, while out in public. "Did you want to look at legos now? Remember, you have to hold my hand."

"Uh huh..." I held Jackie's hand as she walked me to the other side of the store. I saw a woman at the counter, but she was on her phone, texting or something. Thankfully.

"What do you think about that one?" Jackie asked, pointing to a big lego set on the bottom. I tried to crawl down there to take a better look, to give the camera a better shot, but my tummy grumbled and I was hit by a wave of cramps. Oh... oh no.

"I wanna go," I told Jackie as seriously as I could. "I wanna go home now please."

"Well," I looked at Betsy, who had a knowing smile on her face. "That's not up to me, sweetie, not today - so let's just focus on looking at toys, okay? Do you like Brio Trains? I loved those when I was a kid, did you want me to show you? And I bet they have Calico Critters. You can buy whole families of animals."

"Jackie, I really want to leave. I really-" She gave me a look, then looked behind me. I turned around and saw Betsy by the stroller, watching with a smile on her face. My cheeks turned crimson. She... she did this?! I puffed out my cheeks and stormed over to her and spoke as quietly and sternly as I could.

"I wanna go home!"

"Oh didn't you hear, my little lovely girl? You should listen to your little playmate over there and focus on toys and worries your own age. Don't you worry, girls your age are always ignorant and clueless when it comes to what happens in their diapers." Her smile deepened. "Maybe you can't find the toy you'd like? I could call for an assistant? Would you like that?"

My hands were balled at my sides. I kept eye contact with Betsy and her stupid smile. But if she called someone over... I felt another cramp in my tummy and dropped my gaze to the floor. Damnit... I walked back over to Jackie and bit my lip. I really didn't feel good now... but what was I supposed to do? Find a toy I wanted... then we could leave, right? Right... I just had to hold it until then...

"Come on, let's go look at the Calicos okay?" I took her by the hand and lead her through the aisle, to the end of one, turned right, went through another, and found the little section for the wooden and boutique toys that only rich parents brought for their kids that probably wanted Xbox anyway. "Ta-da!"

"I like this one," I said immediately, pointing to the first thing I saw. "Less go now." I picked it up off the shelf and felt another cramp. My tummy was aching and bubbling. I was already out of breath... "C-come on..."

"Oh, this one is your favorite, huh?" Betsy took the little Puppy Family from her charge and held it up. "And who are these lovely people? I'm sure if they're your favorite, you must know all their names? Tell me about them, tell me about their family, Baby Luvs. Which one of these little puppies is the baby?"

Gosh I hated that woman.

I whimpered and shifted from foot to foot, wincing whenever the cramps would hit me, which was more and more often. "I... I dunno. Um, that one... um..." I tried to look up at the box and make up names on the spot. "That's Bingo, and that's Rally, and she's Megan, and... and can we go now? Please...?" I hadn't meant to, but I sounded no different to a child asking their mommy for permission.

"Oh come now, you've been such a good girl recently, you know, with your playdates, and sleeping in your crib, wearing your diapers, making big stinky messies in them…" Her words were all picked out so perfectly. "You deserve a lot more than just one toy, let's keep looking. Go on, ask your little friend Jackie to help."

I couldn't believe she said my name!! I was so furious! Ugh!

"I..."

"Go on now, little one."

I looked up at her with pleading eyes, but Betsy didn't budge. I looked nervously at the camera and went back to the shelves. The ache in my stomach was constant and I saw stars in the corners of my eyes. "Th-this one," I muttered, pointing to another family of animals, but Betsy knew better.

"How about that house on the bottom shelf?"

I looked up at Jackie. She... she'd save me, right?

I did all I could do to push Betsy's hand and force her action: I hit her where it would hurt Abe. "This one, and this one, and how about this one? You can have them all, Luvs, as many as you want - Uncle Abe is paying for all this, after all, and Miss Betsy has to explain to him how much you spend, so you pick out as many as you like!" Betsy would have to say no. Abe would throttle her if she didn't. And with no reason left to be here, she'd have to let us leave. I'd be Leona's savior, and she'd kiss me. And the light in her eyes, despite the sweat on her forehead, gave me hope that she knew what I was doing.

"Uh huh," I said with a faint smile, picking up two different sets and putting them in the stroller. Betsy crossed her arms and looked at me sternly, and then her scowl turned into a smile.

"If you're going to get so many things, you might as well get the biggest one."

I looked at her with bewilderment and she pointed to the wooden train set on the bottom shelf.

"Grab that and let's get going."

Going? Oh, thank god...

I was so sure that we'd won. I was so sure that we'd beaten her. What I didn't count on was Betsy’s wording, her cunning, her talent at this. That she asked a girl who was fighting back shitting her diaper by sheer willpower, to pick up something heavy. Heavy enough for her to struggle and strain to lift it, heavy enough that when she dropped it into the cart, she'd lose her battle and the cameras would be watching. I didn't know it, but we were about to be outplayed.