“Stay right here, I need to go back for something,” Tina says, stopping the stroller in an aisle. Leah rolls her eyes.
“Like I’m going to go anywhere dressed like this,” she retorts. Tina chuckles and walks away. As Leah waits, eating her crackers, a woman enters the aisle, pushing the same kind of stroller Leah is in. Leah eyes the child in the stroller. To her distress, the little girl is dressed just like her, and even has features similar to hers, down to the freckles and hair. The woman stops her stroller next to Leah’s and steps away to grab something off the shelf.
Leah finishes her crackers. Bored, she leans back and closes her eyes. Shortly after, she feels the stroller begin to move.
“Tina?” she says, intending to ask her stepmother when she’ll finally be allowed out of the stroller.
“Aw, that’s right, baby, that’s your name!” coos a voice Leah doesn’t recognize. Her eyes shoot open. She looks back in the aisle she was in before, catching sight of Tina taking the stroller with the actual little girl in it and walking away.
If Tina took the other stroller, then the person pushing Leah’s is… Leah looks up. Sure enough, the woman has mistaken her stroller for Leah’s, and Leah for her daughter.
“Uh…” Leah starts. Without looking, the woman digs a pacifier out of her purse and pops it into Leah’s mouth.
“No fussing right now, Tina. Mommy has to finish the shopping.” The woman’s voice is firm. Cowed by the woman’s firm tone, Leah settles back in the stroller. The woman will figure out the mistake sooner or later, right? At the very least, Tina should catch onto the switch. Although, now that Leah thinks about it, the little girl was asleep.
Leah sucks on the pacifier, yearning for some comfort, wondering when the switch will be discovered.