“Fine, if you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it,” Laura said firmly. She took a single die out of her pocket and rolled it, praying that it only rolled a one. Her heart sunk.
“Nine years you have walked this Earth, now this number is but three, each roll of the dice shall restore more of what you have lost.”
Kaitlin watched in shock as the child sunk before her eyes, going from elementary school to preschool in a matter of seconds. Laura sunk onto the ground, tears in her eyes.
“See?” Laura demanded. She sniffed. “Now- now me three!” She let out a sob, realizing that her ability to speak had been greatly reduced. Kaitlin swore under her breath. She dropped the meals onto the ground.
“How did this happen?” she asked. Laura opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything, her eyes widened in shock and horror. “Laura?” Kaitlin looked down. A puddle was slowly spreading from where Laura sat. “Oh, gross!” Kaitlin stepped back. “You just peed yourself!”
“I- I not potty-trained ’til four,” Laura wailed. Kaitlin stepped closer again, holding her hands up placatingly.
“Okay, okay, don’t worry, it’ll be fine. We, um, we just need to get you cleaned up and stuff.” Kaitlin ran a hand through her hair. “I’ve never taken care of a kid before,” she muttered to herself. She carefully picked Laura up and brought her into the office, where she rushed to the daycare. She set Laura on a changing table.
“What do?” Laura asked, watching Kaitlin rummage through drawers.
“Trying to find…ah-ha!” Kaitlin removed a diaper from the drawer. Laura’s eyes widened.
“No! No diaper!”
“You said yourself that you weren’t potty-trained until you were four,” Kaitlin said. “I’m not going to clean puddles of pee up for however long it takes to fix this.” Laura grumpily accepted what her friend told her and allowed the diapering to commence without fighting it. “Okay. Diaper’s on. Now…” Kaitlin began to rummage through drawers again. “This’ll have to do.” She removed a pink footed onesie with butterflies on it and brought it over to Laura.
Once she had been dressed, Kaitlin set Laura on the ground.
“I’m going to grab some extra diapers and things, you stay here,” she instructed. Laura sat on the floor, watching Kaitlin dart around the daycare, grabbing various items and stuffing them into a diaper bag. When she had finished, she picked Laura up again. They exited the office.
“Clothes!” Laura said, spotting her urine-soaked attire that was too big for her now.
“What about them?” Kaitlin asked.
“Dice!”
“You mean the one that you rolled to turn into a toddler?”
“Yes! Both do.”
“You have two dice, and they both make you younger when you roll it?” Kaitlin asked. Laura nodded. “Okay, give me one second, I’ll grab them.” Kaitlin set Laura on the ground, retrieved the dice, and then picked Laura up again. They went to Kaitlin’s car. Kaitlin grimaced.
“What wrong?”
“I don’t have a car seat, and you’re definitely little enough to need one.” Kaitlin sighed. “Oh well. Guess this means that you’ll just have to sit on my lap.” She tossed the diaper bag into the back seat and then got in, setting Laura on her lap.
As they pulled out of the parking lot, Laura began to feel a strange urge. She wiggled uncomfortably.
“Stop squirming,” Kaitlin scolded. Laura did as she was told. She swallowed nervously as she identified the urge she was feeling. Quickly, she clenched all the muscles she could, but a small fart snuck out. “That’s a rancid smell,” Kaitlin remarked. “What, did you eat beans for lunch or something?” Laura didn’t reply, focusing all her concentration on holding.
Unfortunately, Kaitlin hit a pothole. The resulting jolt broke Laura’s concentration, and she began to let loose the poop she was holding back. Alerted by the smell and sound of Laura grunting softly, Kaitlin looked down. Her jaw dropped.
“Laura, are you pooping right now?” she demanded. In the middle of her bowel movement, Laura was unable to reply. “Oh, that’s disgusting!” After a couple moments, Laura finished. She sniffed loudly.
“I poopoo,” she mumbled.
“Yeah, I can tell, you did it on my lap,” Kaitlin snapped. She shuddered. “Well. At least I can change you, now that we’re here.”