“Five to six.”
“That’s better than three to four, I supposed,” Leah muttered. Unfortunately for Tina, the three to four group had already been filled by the time she found the flier. She had no choice but to enroll Leah in the older group.
“Since you’re even smaller than the average six-year-old, however, I did put your age down as five,” Tina said.
“I can’t really argue with that logic,” Leah mumbled. “And even five is way better than four.”
“Exactly. Now, let’s get those supplies!”
The first thing Tina went to grab were new clothes for Leah. If she was going to pretend to be a preschooler, she needed to dress like one. And she needed a preschool ballet outfit, too. Leah actually seemed to enjoy this part of the shopping trip, actively participating and getting excited over some of the cute clothes she was going to get to wear. Tina felt like this was a good sign for her mission to make Leah the baby she was meant to be. Yes, preschool was a far cry from the diapers and bottles that were Tina’s end goal. But it was an important step.
They headed into the toddler and baby supplies aisle.
“What are you doing?” Leah asked as Tina tossed a few packages of training pants and baby wipes into the cart. “If I’m pretending to be five, I don’t need those!”
“I’m getting them for the daycare, don’t be silly,” Tina lied. The daycare had plenty of training pants. These were part of Tina’s plan to make Leah feel even younger than preschool by the end of the day. In fact, she could see it working.
That morning, Tina snuck a diuretic into Leah’s frappe, which was already the largest size available. The girl was going to need to pee urgently very soon. Leah had already begun to squirm in her seat slightly. Tina decided to ignore Leah’s body language. For her plan to work, she couldn’t let Leah use the bathroom.
They went to the check-out. The cashier smiled at Leah, clearly not recognizing her as a teenager. After buying everything, Tina walked right past the restrooms.
“Um, Tina-” Leah started.
“If you’re going to pretend to be five at the camp, you need to start now,” Tina scolded. “A five-year-old wouldn’t call me Tina. What would she call me?”
“…Mommy,” Leah said reluctantly.
“Exactly.”
“Mommy, I-” Leah started again, but they had already left the store. “Never mind.”
“What is it?”
“I needed the bathroom.”
“You’ll just have to hold it,” Tina said dismissively, knowing full well Leah couldn’t hold it any longer. She pushed the cart to the car, removed Leah from the seat, and began to load up the purchases. When she finished, she looked over at Leah. Yellow liquid dripped down her legs. “Oh, Leah!”
“I tried to tell you, Mommy,” Leah whined.
“Well, we didn’t buy any new undies for you. Guess it’s a good thing I got those training pants, huh?” Before Leah could respond, Tina grabbed her step-daughter, removed her urine-soaked dress, wiped her down with baby wipes, and put training pants on her. She moved so quickly that Leah seemed shell-shocked when she finished.
“How- you-”
“No child of mine will go commando,” Tina sniffed. Leah crossed her arms, pouting. “Now, don’t get upset. How about you try on one of your cute new outfits?”
“…Okay,” Leah said reluctantly. She picked out a cute sparkly pink sundress. Tina resisted the urge to dress her stepdaughter herself. When Leah was dressed, Tina wiped the makeup from her face and put her hair back with a headband to match her dress. The girl looked too young even for kindergarten. It was perfect. “Can we go home now?”
“Hmm, no. Like I said, you need to practice acting five. And you’re going to start that practice right now. We’re going to…”