After a moment, Mike has made his decision. Remembering that he needs to avoid talking too much to keep up his normal kid façade, he wordlessly points to his pacifier.
“You want a new binky?” Jim asks. Mike nods. “That’s easy enough. You can pick out the one you want yourself.” The three head for the baby supplies aisle. Jim pushes the shopping cart over to the wide selection of pacifiers. “Which one do you want, little buddy?” Mike looks the pacifiers over thoughtfully. He points at one, a bright red with lightning bolts on it. “Good choice!” Jim grabs the pacifier and tosses it into the cart.
“While we’re here, we might as well get some more supplies for him,” Stacy comments. They go down the baby supplies aisle, Stacy and Jim grabbing things here and there, with Mike providing some input as to what he likes the look of more. Even though he’s still upset to be in diapers, Mike is glad he can choose which patterned diapers they get. He points to the ones patterned with dinosaurs, and it is summarily tossed into the cart.
Finally, long after the five minutes Stacy had claimed they would be in the store, they check out and head for the car. Jim buckles Mike into the car seat while Stacy mixes the laxative with some juice in a sippy cup.
“Drink up, Mikey,” she instructs. Mike reluctantly removes his pacifier and sips the juice. The pharmacist was right; he can’t taste the laxative at all. After handing Mike his new pacifier, Stacy and Jim get into the car as well.
Mike finishes his sippy cup of juice, pops his new pacifier into his mouth, and leans back in the car seat. He suckles casually, his eyes closed, and slowly drifts off to sleep.
When he wakes up, he’s in…