Soon afterwards, I was sitting at a table with Danielle eating a kid’s meal of chicken nuggets and fries. Thankfully I had the motor skills to eat my food by myself. Danielle attempted to start a conversation with me several times, but any dialog quickly teetered off.
I couldn’t stand the slightly disappointed look in her eyes whenever a vein of conversation failed, and grabbed my cup of soda to quickly and spilled most of the contents right on my shirt. Danielle quickly reached into a pack she was carrying around and brought out an extra shirt.
“You’re lucky I packed an extra shirt, otherwise we would have to go all the way back to the care center.” Danielle said. She quickly pulled off my cold, stained shirt and quickly wiped me off with a baby wipe. She gestured to me to raise my arms over my head, my vision sudden obscured with a mass of cotton as she pulled the new shirt down over my head. I felt a finger suddenly check inside my diaper, and nearly jumped out of the seat and letting out a little scream.
“Woah, calm down, I was just checking if you needed a change, you kinda do.” Danielle said to me softly, a little put off by my sudden scream.
“Umm…yeah…just…don’t do that please” I asked curtly. “Or at least ask before you do it.” I added after seeing a stern look come across her face.
“Please.” I added finally. She seemed to warm up after I said please, even
carrying me over to the restroom to get changed.
I watched as Danielle pulled down a changing table in the bathroom and laid me down on the cold plastic. I shivered for a few moments before I realized I was getting changed in a public bathroom. My cheeks flushed crimson as Danielle pulled down my pants and untapped my soggy diaper. I saw a young girl walk past and felt the heat in my cheeks get even hotter, but she paid me no attention to me as she walked straight out of the bathroom door.
My world was suddenly inverted as Danielle lifted me up and slid a new diaper beneath me. She gave me a heavy dusting of powder and the smell did wonders in calming my stressed mind. I sighed contently at the smell as she ripped open the Velcro flaps of my diaper and snuggly padded me. Danielle let me pull up my own pants (Small victories) before putting me back down on the floor.
“Alright, I want you to wait right by the door; I need to wash my hands really quick. Can you stay in one spot and not run away? I’ll get you a treat if you follow my directions.” Danielle said, as if the offering of candy was akin to a free trade agreement with Europe. I nodded my head and dashed outside, waiting at the door and looking back at Danielle who smiled at me. I saw her disappear from view and leaned up against the wall as I waited for her.
People streamed by numerous times, paying my little form no heed whatsoever. I smiled as I realized I could easily dash away and not be found for quite awhile, but didn’t do anything because I didn’t want Danielle to get in trouble. Almost on cue, I saw her walk out of the bathroom, slipping a phone into her pocket, before taking my hand and leading me away from the bathrooms.
“Alright, so I only have three more changes in my pack, so we’ll go play in the park until we run out. By then Richard wants to talk to you, does that sound okay?” Danielle said to me. I shake my head in disagreement at the idea of talking to Richard again.
“Haha! Kids say the dandiest things” Danielle said laughing. I giggled along with her as the two of us walked through Disney land, almost looking like a family.