After a moment to recover from the abrupt downgrade to diapers and subsequent bath and change, Laura gets to her feet. She’s done with the party. It’s time to head to the shop. She toddles over to the table she left her backpack at to grab it. To her horror, she sees someone grab it.
“No!” she shouts, now running. She grabs one of the backpack’s straps. The child that had grabbed it glared at her and attempted to tug it out of her hands. “No! It’s mine!”
“It’s on the present table, it’s mine!” shouts back the other child. Laura pales. This is the birthday girl. Getting into a fight with the birthday girl will attract an enormous amount of attention she doesn’t want right now. But she can’t lose the dice.
“No, mine!” Laura responds. Somehow, she pulls the backpack free of the birthday girl’s grip. They both go flying and land on their butts. Laura’s fall is cushioned by her diaper, but tears still spring to her eyes from the resulting pain. The birthday girl lets out a loud wail.
So fast it makes her head spin, the grownup who helped Laura before swoops in, takes the side of the birthday girl, takes Laura’s backpack from her, and scoops her up, bringing her inside, where she is placed in a playpen.
“Naughty girl!” scolds the grownup. Laura opens her mouth to make her case. Before she can say anything, the grownup pops a pacifier into Laura’s mouth. Laura sucks on it instinctively. “You’re going to stay in timeout until your mommy picks you up!” With that, she goes back outside, leaving the backpack on the couch next to the playpen.