To her relief, no one stops Laura from entering the magic shop. A customer even holds the door open for her so she can waddle inside. She’s doing her best to minimize how dirty she gets from her filled diaper, but she can still feel it smearing all over her butt. It’s very unpleasant.
There’s a line when she gets inside. With a soft sigh, Laura decides to wait in line to talk to the shop owner. To her surprise, however, she feels herself getting lifted into the air by someone.
“Ooh, someone is stinky!” exclaims the woman that has picked her up. The woman carries Laura to a bathroom. “You’re lucky, little girl. I forgot to put my daughter’s spare diapers away, so I still have them in my purse!” The woman lays Laura on a changing table. Laura is too confused to fight against her sudden diaper change. “There we go! All clean.” The woman brings Laura back to the front part of the shop.
“Excuse me, are you this little girl’s parents?” the woman asks a couple waiting in line. The couple shakes their heads. “Huh.” The woman looks at Laura. “Who are your parents?”
“She might be related to someone who works here,” says one of the people the woman spoke to. “There’s a playpen in the corner.”
“Oh! That makes perfect sense!” The woman carries Laura over to the playpen and puts her in. “And even if you aren’t related to an employee, your mommy and daddy can find you fast here!” The woman walks away.
Laura’s not pleased to be in a playpen, but she figures that, at the end of the day, someone who works here will see her. She can ask for help then. She lays down, sucking on her pacifier, deciding to take an impromptu nap.
Laura is woken up when an employee walks over and puts a toddler slightly older than her into the playpen. She sits up. The employee sighs.
“Let me guess. You got screwed over by something here, too?” the employee asks tiredly. Laura nods. “I’ll call the boss. He’ll have to come over to help the two of you out. I can’t do anything on my own.” The employee walks away. Laura turns her attention to the boy in the playpen with her. Her jaw drops.
“Chad?” she squeaks. Her ex-boyfriend stares at her.
“Laura?” he responds. They gape at each other for a few moments. “You- you got-”
“Um, yeah.”
“How young?”
“Three.”
“Wow. I got turned four. Not, uh, not glad to be in pull-ups again, but it could be worse. I could be in diapers,” Chad says jovially. Laura turns red and looks away. “No way!” Chad laughs. “You’re in a diaper, aren’t you?”
“Shut up,” Laura mumbles.
“This is hilarious!” Chad says, still laughing. Laura sniffs. “Aw, are you gonna cry, little baby?” The employee overhears the ruckus and walks back to the playpen. He glares at Chad.
“Kid, do you want me to tell the boss you were teasing her? He doesn’t like it when that sort of thing happens. He might not want to return you to your proper age. Hell, he might make you even younger.” Chad pales. “So, are you going to behave?”
“Yes,” Chad squeaks.
“Good. Now, be quiet, both of you, unless you need a change. I’ve got to call the boss and deal with customers.” The employee walks away again. A tense silence falls between Laura and Chad. Laura curls up again, deciding to resume her nap.
“And you’re wet,” a voice mumbles, waking Laura up. She opens her eyes. “Think you can wait for a change until after I explain how the call with the boss went?” the employee asks. Laura sits up and nods. Chad is no longer in the playpen with her, instead, he’s toddling around the shop, looking at things. “Kid, get your butt over here. I don’t want to repeat myself.” Chad comes over.
“Well?” Chad asks. “What did your boss say?”