His diaper is wet. Not just wet, soaked. Somehow, during his walk, he peed without noticing. To make matters worse, he now feels a familiar pressure in his abdomen. He needs to poop. Jacob looks around desperately for a bathroom to use, or at least a plant to duck behind. There’s nothing. But there’s also no one; the front desk isn’t even manned.
If he goes right now, he might be able to finish, and then find a new diaper, before anyone comes back. Satisfied by what he thinks of as being a foolproof plan, Jacob squats in the middle of the lobby and pushes. Promptly, his bowels empty into his pink, girly diaper. With a contented sigh, he stands. His diaper sags under him, though the dress thankfully conceals that.
“Hello, Little Miss Boom-Boom,” a voice says. Jacob freezes. He slowly turns. The person manning the front desk has returned. Along with Seth. “You made a stinky!” Jacob merely nods in response. The receptionist turns to Seth. “Is this the toddler you saw unattended at the pool?”
“I thought the kid I saw was a boy,” Seth says slowly. “But I must have been wrong, because this little girl looks exactly like the kid I saw.” Jacob’s mouth drops open in shock. Why is Seth pretending he doesn’t recognize Jacob?
“I have to get back to work. Would you mind taking her to the daycare? I’ll call ahead and let them know you’re coming,” the receptionist says. Seth nods. “Thank you so much.” While the receptionist takes her seat behind the front desk, Seth comes over to Jacob and picks him up.
“Wow, you really are smelly,” Seth remarks. He carries Jacob away from the lobby. “Don’t worry, the daycare people will give you a change and help you find your mommy and daddy.”
“Seth, it me,” Jacob begs. “Jacob.” Seth’s tendency to only half-listen has kicked in.
“Jacklyn, huh? That’s a pretty name for a pretty girl,” he says idly. Jacob huffs irritably.
“No, not-”
“We’re here!” Seth says, interrupting Jacob. They walk into the daycare center. Seth quickly hands Jacob over to the person at the front desk. “Did the receptionist call ahead?”
“Yes, she did.”
“Good, so you know the situation. By the way, the little girl told me her name was Jacklyn.”
“Jacklyn. Got it.” The daycare worker scribbles “Jacklyn” onto a name tag and pins it to Jacob’s dress. “I’ll get her changed and then work on tracking down her parents.”
“Awesome. Bye, Jacklyn!” Seth says cheerfully. He leaves the daycare. Jacob is filled with dread as the daycare worker carries him over to a changing station. Soon, this complete stranger will find out he’s a boy in girl clothes. It’s even worse than being a toddler. He just wishes that the daycare worker won’t see that his clothes don’t match his gender.
A strange tickling sensation passes over Jacob. The daycare worker lifts Jacob’s dress and removes the filthy diaper. Jacob closes his eyes, bracing himself for the discovery. But the daycare worker says nothing. The diaper change passes by without a single comment from the daycare worker on Jacob’s genitals, confusing him.
“All right, princess Jacklyn, go ahead and get some playing in while I find your mommy and daddy,” the daycare worker says, setting Jacob on the floor. Jacob gets a sudden suspicion. He waits until the daycare worker has left, then lifts his dress and pulls his diaper forward. He curses softly.
Or rather, she curses softly. Just before the diaper change, she was turned into a girl. The timing lines up with her wish that her clothes matches her gender. The same way that the timing of being a toddler lines up with wishing the swimsuit was loose. So, Seth probably wasn’t involved at all. That’s why he didn’t recognize Jacob.
No, that’s why he didn’t recognize Jacklyn. She didn’t like being called that at first, but now it feels weird to think of herself as Jacob. Jacklyn lowers her dress. Maybe she should test the limits of this wishing ability. It seems to be tied to clothes, so she’ll need other clothes to try. She looks around the play area. Her eyes land on a box of costumes.
Jacklyn toddles over to the box and begins to look through it for something fun to use as an experiment.