“You’ll be going there for a while!” Anna says cheerfully. Laura frowns, confused. Anna begins to push the stroller through the mall. “I wanted to wait until I had both of you with me to share the news.”
“Why will Laura be going there for a while?” Kaitlin asks.
“I spoke to the nice man who runs the store those dice came from, and he said that he can make a cure, but it will take a while. Until then, the two of you will be going to daycare.”
“Me, too?” Kaitlin asks, sounding aghast. Laura, however, is excited. She likes Haley as a friend, but thinks having Kaitlin at daycare too will be even more fun! Two friends to play with! “Why?”
“My daughter’s ballet school isn’t a form of childcare,” Anna says firmly. Kaitlin sulks. “Don’t worry, I know you had fun. You’ll still be going there. But you can’t be there the full eight hours I have to work. I’ll set it up so that when your ballet class is happening, a daycare employee will escort you there and then escort you back.”
“I gueth thath okay,” Kaitlin mumbles.
“Honestly, sweetie, daycare is the right choice for you,” Anna says. “I mean, my daughter did tell me that you had an accident during class.” Kaitlin turns red. Laura giggles.
“You poo-poo?” she teases. Kaitlin balls her hands into fists.
“No, I didn’t!” she snaps. “I went number one, not number two.”
“Speaking of…” Anna brought Kaitlin and Laura into a family bathroom. She then began to rummage through a bag underneath the stroller. “Go ahead and use the potty, sweetie.”
“But you’re here!” Kaitlin protests.
“Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
“Ugh. Fine.” Kaitlin removes her ballet outfit. To Laura’s surprise, the indicator on Kaitlin’s training pants shows she had wet herself. Anna clicks her tongue disapprovingly. “What?”
“You wet yourself again, sweetheart. Honestly, at this point, I think I need to put you in diapers at night. You can still stay in training pants during the day, though. Unless you mess yourself. If you do that even once, it’s time for diapers.”
“But-” Kaitlin tries. She sighs. “Fine.” When she gets on the toilet, Anna speaks again.
“I grabbed some fresh clothes for you to wear for the rest of the day. They’re very cute, you’ll love them.” After Kaitlin finishes using the toilet and washes her hands, Anna gives her the bag of clothes. Kaitlin looks inside. She frowns.
“Will thethe fit me?” she asks.
“Of course!”
“They look thmall…”
“Trust me, they’ll fit,” Anna says firmly.
“What age are they even for?” Kaitlin asks, starting to get a bit worried that Anna has bad intentions.