“Oh wow, what a cute little girl!” a voice gushes. “Is she for sale?”
“No, she’s my boss’ kid.”
“What’s her name?”
“Crystal.” Laura opens her eyes and sits up. She’s in the playpen in the magic shop still. After a few moments of confusion, she realizes that it must be the next day. She’s in different clothes and no longer sucking on her pacifier. The woman standing by the playpen smiles at her.
“Aw, she’s waking up. Hello, Crystal!” the woman coos.
“Hewwo,” Laura squeaks. She gets to her feet unsteadily. To her surprise, her diaper is dry. The feeling of pride vanishes, however, as she feels herself squat. Her bladder and bowels both let loose, completely soiling her diaper.
“Ooh, stinky girl!” the woman says. She looks over at the counter, where the employee from yesterday is manning the register. “I can change her if you’d like.”
“That would be great. Thanks. Her bag is right next to the playpen,” the employee says. Laura is lifted from the playpen and carried to the bathroom. The woman coos over Laura as she removes Laura’s onesie and changes her diaper.
“Oh no, you leaked!” the woman says. Laura’s eyes widen. She filled her diaper that much? “Well, I’ll just bring you out in your diaper.” The woman pokes Laura’s nose. “Little girls like you are so lucky. You don’t need to wear anything except for a diaper.” The woman balls up Laura’s onesie and brings her back into the main area of the shop. Laura is deposited in the playpen and her dirty onesie brought over to the employee. The woman buys something, then leaves.
“Sorry, but I don’t have any other clothes,” the employee says to Laura. “Also, you never told me your name.”
“Lowa.”
“Laura?” Laura nods. “Got it. I’ll give your proper name to anyone who asks from now on.” The employee smiles apologetically at her. “But you’ll have to be in just your diaper for the day.” Laura shrugs. She doesn’t mind. It’s kind of nice. Her stomach rumbles.
“Hungwy.”
“Oh, right.” The employee looks behind him. “Mason, give Laura her bottle, will you?”
“Okay.” Mason appears from behind the counter and walks over to the playpen. He rummages in the nearby diaper bag, pulls out a bottle of milk, and hands it to Laura.
“Would you mind explaining things to her?” the employee says. “Another customer just pulled up.”
“Got it.” Mason sits next to Laura’s playpen. Laura eagerly guzzles down her milk. “So, you fell asleep yesterday.” Laura nods. “And Steve – he’s the employee – he said to let you sleep. So we did. We got taken to his house for the night. He gave you some diaper and clothes changes, and you kept on sleeping. You were still sleeping when we got ready to go, so we brought you to the shop and decided to wait for you to wake up on your own. Steve thinks that you probably slept so much because you lost so many years. I slept pretty heavy, too. But the good news is that the dice didn’t roll while you were sleeping. So you’re still two and your bond to the dice has been broken.” Laura removes her bottle of milk.
“Fix?” she asks.
“Oh, right. Yeah, the thing is…”