Chapter 1
“Adopted!?” everyone shouted at once.
Abigail nodded. “They’re really nice and they both have experience with child psychology and mental health and they have a pool. They were apparently looking to adopt her for a while and after she was doing so well they decided it was time. It had nothing to do with her running away.”
“So it had nothing to do with your mom?” Mimi asked.
“Nope,” Abigail shook her head. “Sad to see her go, but she’s just a few towns over.”
“But she’s not here,” Emma pouted as she idled on the swings.
“It’s okay, Emma,” Izzy said next to her. “We can still invite her to parties and stuff.”
“We were all finally together again and now she’s gone,” Emma said. “Who will it be next?”
Everyone looked around.
Lilly spoke up first. “No one is going anywhere, Emma.”
The last of the Harmony Hills snowfall had melted away and flowers and grass were growing back as the sky turned blue and bees began buzzing around. There weren’t as many bees as there used to be but that literally has nothing to do with this.
“Well I guess that explains that,” Mimi said, “Nicole suddenly leaving makes perfect sense now.”
Penny asked, “Abigail, since when are your mom and your dad foster parents anyway? I mean they did a good job but-”
“I said it all makes perfect sense now!” Mimi shouted.
***
While Emma and the rest of the girls played out in the neighborhood on a nice day, her little sister remained at home. Josie made her way downstairs. It was a lazy Saturday and no one bothered to wake her up or even come say hello.
She descended the stairs in a pajama top that was on inside out, her hair a tangled mess, and a Pull-Up sagging down toward her knees.
As she rounded the corner to the kitchen, she started to hear voice.
“It sounds like a nice place,” Mrs. Shepard said, “But I don’t know how I feel about religion classes.”
“Honestly they’re the ones that the school pays the less attention to,” another voice said. “The music teacher sits in on them and the kids just do worksheets out of a book. It’s the most liberal Catholic school on the planet.”
Josie peeked her head around and saw her mother sitting at the kitchen table with a woman she had never seen before. Suddenly, Josie felt a breath on the back of her neck.
“How come you wear a diaper?”
Josie watched her mom and the woman jump before she even processed what had happened. she turned around and saw a girl, about her age, with big blond pigtails and a dress that looked like a watermelon.
“Josie?” Mrs. Shepard called. "Sweetie come here I want you to meet someone."
Josie took one step into the kitchen and her mother said, "On second thought go change first."
"Andromeda, come here," the women said.
Watermelon Girl ran into the kitchen as Josie went back upstairs to change. She returned minutes later with a fresh Pull-Up hidden under her denim shorts.
"Josie this is my friend Ashley," Mrs. Shepard said, "And this is her daughter Andromeda. Andromeda is in the same grade as you."
"Okay?" Josie didn't know what to say. But the three pairs of eyes staring at her made her realize what this was.
She was being forced to socialize with someone else simply because their parents were friends. Every child's worst dream. Josie's nightmare.
Up in her room, Josie observed the strange alien that was invited into her home.
Andromeda had nothing in common with Josie beyond their close age. She wore a green dress speckled in black triangles with red trim. Her hair was so blond it was disgusting, and tied up in big pigtails that even the old Abigail Shepard wouldn't be caught dead in.
"Where are your toys?" Andromeda asked.
"Where are yours?" Josie asked back.
"At home," Watermelon Girl said. She turned to Josie's dresser and saw a distinctive pink package on top. "What are those for?"
"Wearing," Josie responded.
"Just at night?" Andromeda asked. "Or..."
"Are you asking me what kind of underwear I've got on?" Josie asked.
"You really don't have any toys?" Andromeda pouted, instantly disinterested in the contents of Josie’s pants.
Chapter 2
Josie's mid morning play date with Andromeda slowly turned into an afternoon affair and before they knew it it was dinner time and the two of them were sitting in the back patio as Mr. Shepard grilled burgers.
“Who is that girl dressed like a watermelon?” Mimi asked.
Emma looked over from the table where she sat with her neighborhood friends and saw Andromeda sitting with Josie.
“My mom’s friend’s daughter,” Emma said, “Or maybe it’s my dad’s friend’s daughter.” Emma looked around and then pointed at Ashley, “She’s that lady’s daughter.”
“Who’s that lady?” Penny asked.
“Well she’s either Emma’s dad’s friend,” Lilly said, “Or she’s Emma’s mom’s friend. Who cares, let’s talk about something else.”
“Like what?” Emma asked.
“We’re graduating soon,” Lilly said, “What’s our class prank gonna be?”
“Graduating?” Mimi asked.
“Moving from the fourth grade to fifth grade isn’t graduating,” Emma said.
“What, really?” Lilly asked, turning to Penny.
“Yeah you just clear out your locker and then after summer you go to the other building,” Penny explained.
“So we don’t get a banquet with a presentation and a big dinner?” Lilly asked.
“How did I know you were just looking for a reason to eat chocolate?” Mimi asked.
“Am I the only one who thinks this is a proud moment in our academic careers?” Lilly asked.
“Girls!” Mr. Shepard called, “Who wants ice cream?”
“MEEEEEEEE!” Lilly leapt out of her chair and ran off.
Josie rolled her eyes as Lilly ran off to get ice cream.
“Who’s that girl with the bandana?” Andromeda asked.
“You’re not supposed to ask about the bandana,” Josie said.
“Why?” Andromeda asked.
“It’s sensitive,” Josie replied, still watching Lilly.
“Why?”
“She doesn’t like being reminded about her hair.”
“Why?”
“Because it makes her look like a boy.”
“Why?”
“Because it all got cut off.”
“Why?”
“So that the doctors could cut into her head.”
“Why?”
“Because,” Josie turned and looked at Andromeda, who was clearly not paying attention. “You’re annoying,” Josie said.
“Why?”
Chapter 3
“Did you have fun playing with Andromeda yesterday?”
Josie sat in the back seat as her mom drove them down to the market. She felt naked with just a thin pair of cotton between her bottom and her shorts. She was out of Pull-Ups and offered to be her mother’s helper on shopping day.
“I guess.”
“If you want we can arrange for her to come over again someday,” Josie’s mother was not dropping it. "Or you could go over to her house." Something was up.
Josie had all the friends she wanted at school, she didn’t need anymore. After that one time she locked her sister and her friends in a shed, Josie started spending her afternoons in a special class where she got to meet all kinds of cool people.
There was Cassandra, the biter. There was Albert, the fat kid who couldn’t count. There was Miko, who the teachers all claimed had speech issues but Josie was certain she was just Japanese. And then of course, up until recently, there was Nicole, who tended to act like a three year old.
Nicole’s presence in Josie’s special afternoon class did not exactly make them the best of friends. Half the time it didn’t even seem like Nicole knew who she was. Additionally, Nicole’s occasional need to have a diaper change made everyone think Josie’s Pull-Ups were the cause of some other issue.
The aids in the special afternoon class treated Josie like Nicole. They thought she had issues. Well, she did have issues but they thought she had other kinds of issues. Nicole couldn’t grasp her own identity and would shift in and out of different personas. Sometimes that made her poop in her pants.
But Josie wasn’t like Nicole at all. She didn’t have voices in her head. She didn’t change into other personalities. Instead, Josie just wanted to see the world burn. She wanted to sit back and watch chaos. She wanted to pull people’s hair, trip them when they’re not looking, stick signs on their backs, go up the down escalator.
She also liked wearing diapers, which was totally unrelated.
The special afternoon actually made Josie’s diaper wearing more difficult. She was constantly being asked if she needed to go potty or if she wanted a change. Every time she insisted she could handle it herself, the aides would double check and them celebrate after they waited outside the bathroom for her.
She wondered if it would be easier to just give in. Let them carry her away, wipe her butt for her, give her a kiss on the forehead, and let her run along like it was no big deal. Nicole did seem to be happy whenever she was acting like she was Three.
She knew her mother would never do any of that. Mrs. Shepard had made it very clear to Emma and Josie that they could wear all the diapers they wanted and do whatever they wanted with them, so long as they came out of their allowance and they changed and cleaned themselves up.
As Josie picked out her desired brand and set them in the shopping cart, she wondered why her mother was cool about letting her pee on an image of Dora the Explorer, but would not help to change her. It had not been that long ago since the last time Josie needed to be changed.
Chapter 4
Josie looked out at the playground. From the top of the slide she could see everyone. There were almost a dozen kids playing on the hot summer day. There was a line for the slide, so she had to be quick.
She leaned forward.
Let go.
And made her way down the plastic slope, hopping up off the end and landing on her feet, giggling instantly.
She continued to run around, joining in games of tag with the other children. Even though she was the youngest kid in the neighborhood, Josie still had a good time.
Until her bladder filled up like a balloon that was ready to pop.
Instantly, Josie knew she had to take care of it. There was no stopping it, no more holding it in,. She had to pee and she had to pee now.
There were no bathrooms at the playground. She could only think of one logical thing to do.
“Emma,” she said, slowly approaching her sister.
“What is it?” Emma asked, standing with her friends Lilly and Mimi.
“I have-,” Josie leaned in and whispered. “I hafta pee!”
“So go home and do it,” Emma said, looking away.
“But,” Josie didn’t continue, her sister was walking away.
Looking around, Josie knew she would have to walk across the playground, which was only a couple acres, through the trail in the woods, which was about as a big as a parking space, and across their backyard, which was actually small compared to most suburban homes.
She would never make it.
She looked around and saw nothing but their playground structures and a few bushes. She had seen boys pee discreetly before, without even removing their pants. But Josie wasn’t dumb enough to try that. Not again.
Josie knew she would have to completely lower her pants and underwear to be able to do her business. But there were other kids everywhere, there was no way she could do it. Someone would see her.
And then, Josie got a brilliant idea. Or rather, she thought it was brilliant at the time.
Since there was no way to get away with peeing with her pants off, she would have to pee with her pants on.
She crouched down, in the middle of the field, and let it rip.
Instantly, Josie realized this was a mistake, but it was a satisfying and liberating mistake. Her sweat pants turned dark on the bottom, and the lower back, and the lower front, and down her legs. As Josie felt her sweats sag down, she felt her panties cling to her skin in the other direction.
“Hey this girl is wetting her pants!”
Josie stood up and turned in the direction of the voice. She saw a boy, she did not know his name, and he was pointing and smiling and attracting attention.
“Nuh-uh!” Josie declared, pee still running down her legs.
“Then why are your pants wet?” another kid asked. A crowd was forming.
“It smells like pee,” someone else said.
“Ew!” another kid added.
Josie blushed and started to tear up. Behind the main circle of the crowd, Josie could make out the face of her sister. Josie hoped Emma would come to save the day, but after a moment she gave up that hope.
With tears running down her cheeks and pee still running down her legs, Josie ran through the crowd and headed for home.
When she arrived, her mother didn’t say much about the accident. She helped her clean up and that was that.
Later, when watching cartoons to soothe the traumatic pain, Josie saw a commercial for Pull-Ups.
If she had been wearing a Pull-Up, none of this would have happened. She marched up to her mother and asked her if she could wear Pull-Ups again, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen.
Josie was heartbroken, but understanding. She knew that she was a big girl now. Everyone made fun of her for one little accident, they would obviously give her hell for wearing a diaper. It simply wasn't going to work out. She resented her mother for saying no, but over time she got over it and moved on.
A few years later, Emma asked if she could wear Pull-Ups again and their mother said yes.
Chapter 5
Josie woke to shouting. As she gradually became more lucid, she was able to make out the details of the argument.
There father had gone shopping and forgot to pick up the eggs their mother wanted for breakfast the next day. Their father suggested that he forgot and wouldn’t have even known which eggs to get in the first place. Their mother reminded him that they get the same eggs all the time. Their father suggested that perhaps she should have done the shopping herself. Their mother felt as though she always does the shopping. Their father declared that as a good reason, since she always gets the right eggs.
Josie was fairly certain this wasn’t really about eggs.
The shouting did not stop.
Josie hopped out of bed and waddled out into the hall, eventually making it to Emma’s door. She tapped on it just once, and it slowly and silently opened.
Emma was still for a moment, Josie watched her sleep as the shouting continued. She wanted to ask if she could sleep in their for the night, but Josie had a fresh memory of the last time she asked Emma for help.
However, before Josie could even say anything, Emma pulled the covers aside and made room for her little sister to join her in bed.
Josie closed the door, muffling the shouting match downstairs, and leapt onto the bed as Emma pulled her in for an embrace.
“They’ve been fighting a lot lately,” Josie whispered.
“Couples fight,” Emma said, “All the time for no reason.”
“Do you think it’s about us?” Josie asked. “About our Pull-Ups?”
Emma shook her head, “They don’t care about those, I promise.”
“So it’s about the eggs?”
“Tonight it’s about the eggs,” Emma said. “Tomorrow it’ll be about something else. And they’ll get over that too.”
“You promise?” Josie asked. “You promise everything is going to be okay?”
Emma stuck out her pinky, Josie reached out with her own and the two fingers interlocked.
“When have I ever let you down?” Emma asked.
Josie relaxed her finger and turned around so she wasn’t looking directly at Emma. But her sister inched forward and wrapped her arm around her little sister.
Josie felt warm and safe in Emma’s bed that night, but it wasn’t because of Emma. The Pull-Up she wore that night provided her all the comfort she needed, more than Emma could ever provide.
She didn’t even have to use it to feel at peace, simply the act of wearing it gave her a better sense of hope than her sister did.
That night, Josie fell asleep in a dry Pull-Up. When she woke up, it was wet.
***
Josie didn’t exactly need to hide her accident, but she still felt embarrassed and ashamed about it. She had always been in control, she would pee whenever she felt like it, and only if she actually wanted to. She tried to remember the previous night back and forth in her head to make sure she didn’t just forget wetting it, but that only reminded her of the shouting that had forced her into Emma’s bed.
As she got dressed for the day, Josie was getting hungry. She was in the mood for eggs.
“Emma, Josie!” she heard their mother call from downstairs. “Come down here please.”
Josie bumped into her sister out in the hallway and the two walked downstairs at the same time. They found their parents sitting on opposite sides of the couch together.
“Girls,” their father said. “We need to talk.”
“First off” their mother said, “We want you to know that we love you both very much.”
“Is something wrong?” Emma asked.
Josie didn’t need to ask.
Josie already knew.
“Adopted!?” everyone shouted at once.
Abigail nodded. “They’re really nice and they both have experience with child psychology and mental health and they have a pool. They were apparently looking to adopt her for a while and after she was doing so well they decided it was time. It had nothing to do with her running away.”
“So it had nothing to do with your mom?” Mimi asked.
“Nope,” Abigail shook her head. “Sad to see her go, but she’s just a few towns over.”
“But she’s not here,” Emma pouted as she idled on the swings.
“It’s okay, Emma,” Izzy said next to her. “We can still invite her to parties and stuff.”
“We were all finally together again and now she’s gone,” Emma said. “Who will it be next?”
Everyone looked around.
Lilly spoke up first. “No one is going anywhere, Emma.”
The last of the Harmony Hills snowfall had melted away and flowers and grass were growing back as the sky turned blue and bees began buzzing around. There weren’t as many bees as there used to be but that literally has nothing to do with this.
“Well I guess that explains that,” Mimi said, “Nicole suddenly leaving makes perfect sense now.”
Penny asked, “Abigail, since when are your mom and your dad foster parents anyway? I mean they did a good job but-”
“I said it all makes perfect sense now!” Mimi shouted.
***
While Emma and the rest of the girls played out in the neighborhood on a nice day, her little sister remained at home. Josie made her way downstairs. It was a lazy Saturday and no one bothered to wake her up or even come say hello.
She descended the stairs in a pajama top that was on inside out, her hair a tangled mess, and a Pull-Up sagging down toward her knees.
As she rounded the corner to the kitchen, she started to hear voice.
“It sounds like a nice place,” Mrs. Shepard said, “But I don’t know how I feel about religion classes.”
“Honestly they’re the ones that the school pays the less attention to,” another voice said. “The music teacher sits in on them and the kids just do worksheets out of a book. It’s the most liberal Catholic school on the planet.”
Josie peeked her head around and saw her mother sitting at the kitchen table with a woman she had never seen before. Suddenly, Josie felt a breath on the back of her neck.
“How come you wear a diaper?”
Josie watched her mom and the woman jump before she even processed what had happened. she turned around and saw a girl, about her age, with big blond pigtails and a dress that looked like a watermelon.
“Josie?” Mrs. Shepard called. "Sweetie come here I want you to meet someone."
Josie took one step into the kitchen and her mother said, "On second thought go change first."
"Andromeda, come here," the women said.
Watermelon Girl ran into the kitchen as Josie went back upstairs to change. She returned minutes later with a fresh Pull-Up hidden under her denim shorts.
"Josie this is my friend Ashley," Mrs. Shepard said, "And this is her daughter Andromeda. Andromeda is in the same grade as you."
"Okay?" Josie didn't know what to say. But the three pairs of eyes staring at her made her realize what this was.
She was being forced to socialize with someone else simply because their parents were friends. Every child's worst dream. Josie's nightmare.
Up in her room, Josie observed the strange alien that was invited into her home.
Andromeda had nothing in common with Josie beyond their close age. She wore a green dress speckled in black triangles with red trim. Her hair was so blond it was disgusting, and tied up in big pigtails that even the old Abigail Shepard wouldn't be caught dead in.
"Where are your toys?" Andromeda asked.
"Where are yours?" Josie asked back.
"At home," Watermelon Girl said. She turned to Josie's dresser and saw a distinctive pink package on top. "What are those for?"
"Wearing," Josie responded.
"Just at night?" Andromeda asked. "Or..."
"Are you asking me what kind of underwear I've got on?" Josie asked.
"You really don't have any toys?" Andromeda pouted, instantly disinterested in the contents of Josie’s pants.
Chapter 2
Josie's mid morning play date with Andromeda slowly turned into an afternoon affair and before they knew it it was dinner time and the two of them were sitting in the back patio as Mr. Shepard grilled burgers.
“Who is that girl dressed like a watermelon?” Mimi asked.
Emma looked over from the table where she sat with her neighborhood friends and saw Andromeda sitting with Josie.
“My mom’s friend’s daughter,” Emma said, “Or maybe it’s my dad’s friend’s daughter.” Emma looked around and then pointed at Ashley, “She’s that lady’s daughter.”
“Who’s that lady?” Penny asked.
“Well she’s either Emma’s dad’s friend,” Lilly said, “Or she’s Emma’s mom’s friend. Who cares, let’s talk about something else.”
“Like what?” Emma asked.
“We’re graduating soon,” Lilly said, “What’s our class prank gonna be?”
“Graduating?” Mimi asked.
“Moving from the fourth grade to fifth grade isn’t graduating,” Emma said.
“What, really?” Lilly asked, turning to Penny.
“Yeah you just clear out your locker and then after summer you go to the other building,” Penny explained.
“So we don’t get a banquet with a presentation and a big dinner?” Lilly asked.
“How did I know you were just looking for a reason to eat chocolate?” Mimi asked.
“Am I the only one who thinks this is a proud moment in our academic careers?” Lilly asked.
“Girls!” Mr. Shepard called, “Who wants ice cream?”
“MEEEEEEEE!” Lilly leapt out of her chair and ran off.
Josie rolled her eyes as Lilly ran off to get ice cream.
“Who’s that girl with the bandana?” Andromeda asked.
“You’re not supposed to ask about the bandana,” Josie said.
“Why?” Andromeda asked.
“It’s sensitive,” Josie replied, still watching Lilly.
“Why?”
“She doesn’t like being reminded about her hair.”
“Why?”
“Because it makes her look like a boy.”
“Why?”
“Because it all got cut off.”
“Why?”
“So that the doctors could cut into her head.”
“Why?”
“Because,” Josie turned and looked at Andromeda, who was clearly not paying attention. “You’re annoying,” Josie said.
“Why?”
Chapter 3
“Did you have fun playing with Andromeda yesterday?”
Josie sat in the back seat as her mom drove them down to the market. She felt naked with just a thin pair of cotton between her bottom and her shorts. She was out of Pull-Ups and offered to be her mother’s helper on shopping day.
“I guess.”
“If you want we can arrange for her to come over again someday,” Josie’s mother was not dropping it. "Or you could go over to her house." Something was up.
Josie had all the friends she wanted at school, she didn’t need anymore. After that one time she locked her sister and her friends in a shed, Josie started spending her afternoons in a special class where she got to meet all kinds of cool people.
There was Cassandra, the biter. There was Albert, the fat kid who couldn’t count. There was Miko, who the teachers all claimed had speech issues but Josie was certain she was just Japanese. And then of course, up until recently, there was Nicole, who tended to act like a three year old.
Nicole’s presence in Josie’s special afternoon class did not exactly make them the best of friends. Half the time it didn’t even seem like Nicole knew who she was. Additionally, Nicole’s occasional need to have a diaper change made everyone think Josie’s Pull-Ups were the cause of some other issue.
The aids in the special afternoon class treated Josie like Nicole. They thought she had issues. Well, she did have issues but they thought she had other kinds of issues. Nicole couldn’t grasp her own identity and would shift in and out of different personas. Sometimes that made her poop in her pants.
But Josie wasn’t like Nicole at all. She didn’t have voices in her head. She didn’t change into other personalities. Instead, Josie just wanted to see the world burn. She wanted to sit back and watch chaos. She wanted to pull people’s hair, trip them when they’re not looking, stick signs on their backs, go up the down escalator.
She also liked wearing diapers, which was totally unrelated.
The special afternoon actually made Josie’s diaper wearing more difficult. She was constantly being asked if she needed to go potty or if she wanted a change. Every time she insisted she could handle it herself, the aides would double check and them celebrate after they waited outside the bathroom for her.
She wondered if it would be easier to just give in. Let them carry her away, wipe her butt for her, give her a kiss on the forehead, and let her run along like it was no big deal. Nicole did seem to be happy whenever she was acting like she was Three.
She knew her mother would never do any of that. Mrs. Shepard had made it very clear to Emma and Josie that they could wear all the diapers they wanted and do whatever they wanted with them, so long as they came out of their allowance and they changed and cleaned themselves up.
As Josie picked out her desired brand and set them in the shopping cart, she wondered why her mother was cool about letting her pee on an image of Dora the Explorer, but would not help to change her. It had not been that long ago since the last time Josie needed to be changed.
Chapter 4
Josie looked out at the playground. From the top of the slide she could see everyone. There were almost a dozen kids playing on the hot summer day. There was a line for the slide, so she had to be quick.
She leaned forward.
Let go.
And made her way down the plastic slope, hopping up off the end and landing on her feet, giggling instantly.
She continued to run around, joining in games of tag with the other children. Even though she was the youngest kid in the neighborhood, Josie still had a good time.
Until her bladder filled up like a balloon that was ready to pop.
Instantly, Josie knew she had to take care of it. There was no stopping it, no more holding it in,. She had to pee and she had to pee now.
There were no bathrooms at the playground. She could only think of one logical thing to do.
“Emma,” she said, slowly approaching her sister.
“What is it?” Emma asked, standing with her friends Lilly and Mimi.
“I have-,” Josie leaned in and whispered. “I hafta pee!”
“So go home and do it,” Emma said, looking away.
“But,” Josie didn’t continue, her sister was walking away.
Looking around, Josie knew she would have to walk across the playground, which was only a couple acres, through the trail in the woods, which was about as a big as a parking space, and across their backyard, which was actually small compared to most suburban homes.
She would never make it.
She looked around and saw nothing but their playground structures and a few bushes. She had seen boys pee discreetly before, without even removing their pants. But Josie wasn’t dumb enough to try that. Not again.
Josie knew she would have to completely lower her pants and underwear to be able to do her business. But there were other kids everywhere, there was no way she could do it. Someone would see her.
And then, Josie got a brilliant idea. Or rather, she thought it was brilliant at the time.
Since there was no way to get away with peeing with her pants off, she would have to pee with her pants on.
She crouched down, in the middle of the field, and let it rip.
Instantly, Josie realized this was a mistake, but it was a satisfying and liberating mistake. Her sweat pants turned dark on the bottom, and the lower back, and the lower front, and down her legs. As Josie felt her sweats sag down, she felt her panties cling to her skin in the other direction.
“Hey this girl is wetting her pants!”
Josie stood up and turned in the direction of the voice. She saw a boy, she did not know his name, and he was pointing and smiling and attracting attention.
“Nuh-uh!” Josie declared, pee still running down her legs.
“Then why are your pants wet?” another kid asked. A crowd was forming.
“It smells like pee,” someone else said.
“Ew!” another kid added.
Josie blushed and started to tear up. Behind the main circle of the crowd, Josie could make out the face of her sister. Josie hoped Emma would come to save the day, but after a moment she gave up that hope.
With tears running down her cheeks and pee still running down her legs, Josie ran through the crowd and headed for home.
When she arrived, her mother didn’t say much about the accident. She helped her clean up and that was that.
Later, when watching cartoons to soothe the traumatic pain, Josie saw a commercial for Pull-Ups.
If she had been wearing a Pull-Up, none of this would have happened. She marched up to her mother and asked her if she could wear Pull-Ups again, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen.
Josie was heartbroken, but understanding. She knew that she was a big girl now. Everyone made fun of her for one little accident, they would obviously give her hell for wearing a diaper. It simply wasn't going to work out. She resented her mother for saying no, but over time she got over it and moved on.
A few years later, Emma asked if she could wear Pull-Ups again and their mother said yes.
Chapter 5
Josie woke to shouting. As she gradually became more lucid, she was able to make out the details of the argument.
There father had gone shopping and forgot to pick up the eggs their mother wanted for breakfast the next day. Their father suggested that he forgot and wouldn’t have even known which eggs to get in the first place. Their mother reminded him that they get the same eggs all the time. Their father suggested that perhaps she should have done the shopping herself. Their mother felt as though she always does the shopping. Their father declared that as a good reason, since she always gets the right eggs.
Josie was fairly certain this wasn’t really about eggs.
The shouting did not stop.
Josie hopped out of bed and waddled out into the hall, eventually making it to Emma’s door. She tapped on it just once, and it slowly and silently opened.
Emma was still for a moment, Josie watched her sleep as the shouting continued. She wanted to ask if she could sleep in their for the night, but Josie had a fresh memory of the last time she asked Emma for help.
However, before Josie could even say anything, Emma pulled the covers aside and made room for her little sister to join her in bed.
Josie closed the door, muffling the shouting match downstairs, and leapt onto the bed as Emma pulled her in for an embrace.
“They’ve been fighting a lot lately,” Josie whispered.
“Couples fight,” Emma said, “All the time for no reason.”
“Do you think it’s about us?” Josie asked. “About our Pull-Ups?”
Emma shook her head, “They don’t care about those, I promise.”
“So it’s about the eggs?”
“Tonight it’s about the eggs,” Emma said. “Tomorrow it’ll be about something else. And they’ll get over that too.”
“You promise?” Josie asked. “You promise everything is going to be okay?”
Emma stuck out her pinky, Josie reached out with her own and the two fingers interlocked.
“When have I ever let you down?” Emma asked.
Josie relaxed her finger and turned around so she wasn’t looking directly at Emma. But her sister inched forward and wrapped her arm around her little sister.
Josie felt warm and safe in Emma’s bed that night, but it wasn’t because of Emma. The Pull-Up she wore that night provided her all the comfort she needed, more than Emma could ever provide.
She didn’t even have to use it to feel at peace, simply the act of wearing it gave her a better sense of hope than her sister did.
That night, Josie fell asleep in a dry Pull-Up. When she woke up, it was wet.
***
Josie didn’t exactly need to hide her accident, but she still felt embarrassed and ashamed about it. She had always been in control, she would pee whenever she felt like it, and only if she actually wanted to. She tried to remember the previous night back and forth in her head to make sure she didn’t just forget wetting it, but that only reminded her of the shouting that had forced her into Emma’s bed.
As she got dressed for the day, Josie was getting hungry. She was in the mood for eggs.
“Emma, Josie!” she heard their mother call from downstairs. “Come down here please.”
Josie bumped into her sister out in the hallway and the two walked downstairs at the same time. They found their parents sitting on opposite sides of the couch together.
“Girls,” their father said. “We need to talk.”
“First off” their mother said, “We want you to know that we love you both very much.”
“Is something wrong?” Emma asked.
Josie didn’t need to ask.
Josie already knew.