Ally woke early the following morning, pleased to find her diaper still dry. She got up to find her mother, eager to be released from her pajamas, but also unsure as to what her mother’s reaction would be.

“Uh, mum” she stumbled, finding her finishing up a coffee.

“Ally, I’m glad you’re up. We need to talk about last night” Sue said. Ally tried but failed to read the tone in her voice.

“Mum it was horrible, she even made me wet my diaper!” Ally exclaimed.

“Lorraine’s already told me all about it” Sue silenced her daughter. “And while I don’t agree with everything that she did, I would have expected better from you as well”

“But mum!” Ally cried. This hadn’t been her fault! “It all started because she wouldn’t even let me watch Star Wars. She treated me like a little kid”

“Different families have different rules” Sue explained. “And since Lorraine didn’t have a chance to talk to me beforehand, she thought it best to be safe rather than sorry. I would have thought you might have realized that and not kicked up such as fuss. Anyway, you’ve seen that movie so many times before”

Ally bristled, that wasn’t the point.

“Then she made me stand in the corner for hours” Ally exaggerated. “She wouldn’t even let me use the toilet”

“I heard about that too” Sue told her. “But she only asked you for 13 minutes, which you dragged on and on . And with the way you were behaving, I can understand why she thought you were faking needing to go to the toilet.”

“I can’t believe you’re taking her side!” Ally exclaimed.

“I’m not taking her side” Sue replied, more gently. “Lorraine has apologized to me for her part in yesterday’s events, and she knows that she won’t be getting any further work from me”. That was something, at least, Ally thought.

“But I’m trying to make you see that you’re not blameless in this either. Nothing would’ve gone wrong if you’d just done as you were told.” Sue reinforced.

“Nothing would’ve gone wrong if she hadn’t been so unreasonable!” Ally exclaimed, not agreeing with her mother’s line of thought one bit. “Did she tell you that even after everything that happened she still wanted me to write 100 lines for her!”

“Well, I’m disappointed in you. I had thought you might find it in yourself to apologize for your part” Sue continued. Ally bristled. “And as for the lines, yes, she did tell me. I told her no, of course, but given your reaction now I think it might be a good idea after all.”

“What?” Ally screeched.

“It’s still early, you can do it before you get dressed for breakfast.” Sue declared, in a tone that showed that this was not up for negotiation. “I might even send them off to Lorraine. Go on now.”

Ally smarted. Her mother hadn’t actually started it, but the reference to getting dressed implied that she wasn’t getting out of her pajamas either until the task was done. She knew, though, that her mother wouldn’t change her mind, and had nothing to gain by dragging it out. Dejected, she returned to her room and began to write as fast as she could. ‘I must respect my elders and obey my caregivers’, ‘I must respect my elders and obey my caregivers’, ‘I must respect my elders and obey my caregivers’, Arghh! this was the most frustrating thing she’d ever had to do. It took her about an hour, but eventually, she presented the pages to her mother.

“There, happy now?” she asked, as annoyed as ever.

“Yes, that’ll do nicely.” Sue ignored her tone as she flipped through the pages, checking to see they were all there. Now, turn around, and let’s get that off. It’s past time for breakfast. Relieved, Ally let her mother undo her pajamas and changed into some more normal clothes.

“By the way, I’m going to meet Nathan again tonight” Sue declared later that day.

“OK” Ally agreed. Her bag had arrived a few hours earlier and little could dampen her mood because of it. Even the morning’s events seemed almost trivial. “You’re not getting Mrs. Haines back?” the dark thought crossed her mind.

“No, no” Sue reassured her. “But I have been thinking about what you said yesterday”

“You’ll let me stay home on my own?” Ally was excited.

“No. After yesterday, I’m not sure that would be a good idea either.” Ally was depressed, as much by the notion that her mother thought less of her than by anything else.

“No, but I remembered what you said about not minding Kristy because she was like a friend. Well, Laura’s mum told me that Laura’s been trying to find a job babysitting. We thought that she could stay with you”

“Mum!” I cried. That wasn’t what she’d meant at all.

“What? I thought you’d be pleased” Sue was genuinely taken aback by Ally’s reaction. “You did say you liked Kirsty because she was like a friend. Well, Laura’s a friend”

“But she’s the same age as me!” Ally exclaimed. “She can’t be my babysitter”

“Well then, don’t think of her as a babysitter” Sue told her. “Anyway, she’s four months older than you and very mature”

“And I’m not mature?” Ally replied. Sue’s platitudes didn’t help.

“After yesterday, do you really want to ask me that?” Sue quipped. Ally had no answer for that. She was annoyed at her mum for arranging this without even thinking to ask her but was even more annoyed at Laura for accepting.

 

Laura arrived promptly, displaying her usual jovial attitude. She seemed quite excited by the whole idea, although Ally of course was not.

“Now, are you sure you girls will be OK?” Sue asked, always the concerned parent.

“Yes, yes, of course” Laura chimed back, full of confidence. Still as annoyed as ever, Ally didn’t say anything.

“What happened last night?” Laura asked after Sue had left. I tried to drop off some pyjamas for you, but that woman said you already had some. Did your luggage arrive at night or something?

“No” Ally replied, shortly.

“Then you didn’t want to borrow them?” Laura pressed.

“That wasn’t it” Ally replied.

“Then what?” Laura sounded confused.

“Look, Mrs. Haines made me wear the other ones. It was horrible all night, she treated me like a little kid. Even made me do corner time when I complained – 13 minutes!” Ally blurted out, not keen on Laura’s constant questioning.

“Huh, you’ve got to give me the detail!” Laura pressed, smiling broadly. Under other circumstances, Ally would have been chomping at the bit to complain to Laura about just how mean and unreasonable Mrs. Haines had been, but right now it felt to her more like complaining to one babysitter about another.

“I really don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Ally said, in a tone designed to shut down the conversation.

“OK, OK, but now that you’ve got your luggage back, you’ve got to show me everything from your trip!” Laura insisted, changing the subject. Laura was acting as if tonight was no different from any other time they spent together, which seemed to upset Ally even further.

“I’d rather watch TV, but take a look for yourself” Ally tossed the camera towards her nonchalantly.

“Oh, well, OK then” Laura replied, sounding hurt. Ally flicked through the various stations, not finding too much of interest.

“Come on Ally, don’t you want to tell me what these were all about?” Laura asked. She was holding Ally’s camera displaying the set of photos from the segment of the trip in Rome.

“Not really” Ally shot back, indifferently.

“Oh. Can you pass the remote then, maybe there’s something better on that we’d both like?” Laura seemed to be ignoring the whole issue, which caused Ally’s frustration to build further and further.

“Here” Ally replied curtly, not so much passing her the remote as throwing it. Laura was unprepared for the velocity of the flying remote, and it hit her squarely in the face.

“Oww, what did you do that for? Why are you acting like such a bitch all of a sudden?” Laura snapped.

“How could you just agree to be my babysitter like that?” Ally’s temper had been pushed over the edge by Laura’s words.

“What?” Laura responded, sounding genuinely confused.

“Don’t give me that” Ally continued. “Mum told me that she was getting you to babysit for me after last night!”

Laura’s began to grin as she tried hard to suppress a laugh. “Oh Ally, is that why you’re so upset? I think you’ve got it all wrong.”

“Well, what is it then?” Ally replied, still angry but now less sure of herself.

“You know how my mum has been trying to get me into babysitting?” Laura started. Ally nodded. Laura had told her of this several times before.

“Well, my biggest problem’s been a lack of references. No one will hire a babysitter my age without good references. So, my mum thought that perhaps I could spend the evening here and we could call it babysitting. That way, your mum could legitimately be a reference for me, and I can claim to have some experience as well. Your mum thought it was a good idea too. I mean, I know the idea was to tell anyone looking to hire me that I’d babysat for you, but I didn’t think your mum would tell You that. That’s all there is, I promise. It’s not like I’m getting paid for it or anything.”

Ally’s anger turned to relief. This put the whole situation in a much more reasonable light.

“What, did you think I was really going to be babysitting you?” Laura asked, now laughing openly.

“Well, I guess I didn’t know what to think. I’m sorry about the remote, by the way.” Ally apologized.

“13 minutes in the corner!” Laura barked at her in jest, combining Mrs Haines’s punishment with a passable impression of our strict Vice Principal, Mrs.Caplain. She pulled her watch from her wrist and exaggeratedly set the timer to 13 minutes, further absurd flying the situation.

“Yes, sir” Ally saluted her, laughing along. Ally and Laura had always jokingly referred to Mrs Caplain as Mrs Captain between themselves, telling each other that her strict demeanor and uncompromising attitudes belonged more in the army than a school.

Ally marched to the corner, making a show of taking up the position Mrs Haines had assigned her to. Laura laughed further.

“I’m going to take a shower here. I don’t know if I’ll have time after your mum gets back.” Laura declared, leaving the room. “I’m glad we’re still friends, though”

Ally continued to stand in the corner, contemplating her friendship with Laura and how she had almost ruined it over a simple misunderstanding. She was sorry she had thrown the remote at her and immensely glad she had taken it all so well. She was tempted to run back to the TV, but was ashamed of her earlier actions and attitude. Even though the punishment Laura had assigned had been purely in jest, she nonetheless felt that shirking it would be wrong. Lost in thought and paralyzed by indecision, she held her position.

“Beep beep”. Laura had discarded her watch on the table before leaving for a shower, and the gentle but insistent beeping prompted her back to reality. She moved to turn it off, noticing Laura returning as she did so. She wasn’t sure whether or not Laura had seen her standing there.