To Laura’s relief, she rolls a two.
“Four years you have walked this Earth, now this number is but two. Each roll of the dice returns more of what you have lost.” Laura shrinks out of her clothes, hopefully for the final time. The man scoops up the dice and tucks them away behind the counter.
“First things first, we need to get you into a diaper,” the man says, picking Laura up and bringing her into the backroom where she’d changed herself earlier. He quickly and efficiently tapes a diaper onto Laura, just as she lets out a loud fart. Her bowels evacuate. “…And I need to get you into another one.” Laura blushes as he removes the diaper, wipes her down, and puts a fresh one on her. “There!”
The man grabs a diaper bag, picks up Laura, and leaves the shop. Laura is buckled into a car seat next to the booster seat she sat in earlier. They drive away.
At the man’s house, Laura is placed in a playpen until dinner, at which time she is spoonfed baby food and given a bottle of milk. Then the man gives her a bath, tapes a new diaper on her, and places her in a crib in his bedroom. Laura curls up and falls asleep immediately.
The next morning goes by in a blur, as the man wakes Laura up, changes her wet diaper, feeds her, puts her in a sundress, and then brings her to the car. When he checks on her diaper, he hums quietly to himself, visibly concerned, though Laura isn’t sure why.
At the store, Laura is placed in the playpen and given toys to occupy herself with. She spots a pacifier, pops it into her mouth, and suckles on it eagerly.
Just when Laura is going to start playing with the toys, the store door opens. Two little girls walk in, one about three, and the other about the same age as Laura. The older one was wearing a very sparkly and yellow dress patterned with glittery butterflies while the other one was wearing a pink footed onesie. And they both also seem to be wearing diapers.
Both toddlers walk up to the counter.
“Sir, we had an issue with some dice,” says the older girl. The man sighs heavily. “We brought them with us.”
“Well, that’s good. I won’t be able to re-age you right away, however,” the man says. “Another dice victim is also in a similar situation.”
“Oh.” Both girls seem disappointed. “Um. What are we supposed to do, then?”
“You can stay with me until things get resolved for you. Give me your dice, and I’ll be able to work a spell that adjusts reality slightly so that no one will think oddly of the two of you being missing.” Both girls place two dice cases onto the counter. The man tucks them into a pocket. “In the meantime, what are your names?”
“I’m Jessica, and this is Sarah,” the older girl says.
"Well Jessica and Sarah, now I'm going to take you both to the playpen so you can get settled and wait while I work at the store".
At that moment, the man carries both Jessica and Sarah and leads them over to the corner where the playpen and diaper bag are.
Laura was busy playing with a teddy bear but she stops when the man arrives with the other two toddlers and start to placed them in the playpen.
Before the man leaves, he tells the two toddlers about Laura quickly.
“By the way, the other young girl in the playpen is Laura,” the man says, nodding at Laura. “She’s the one whose situation is similar to yours. So be nice to her, okay?"
And in that instant ...