After a bit of moaning, Peter sat back down. Being desperate for a wee was also a good distraction from the bog awful princess story we sat watching. Eventually I had to let go which was as humiliating as it was a relief. “Now what do I do?” I wondered. Do I tell mum I’ve wet my nappy and need a new one, or just sit here in its warmth? I decided to focus on the film.
“Oh mu-um!” we moaned when she stopped the DVD bang on eight o’clock. “That had almost finished.” I said.
“Well if you’re good girls you can watch it again before bedtime tomorrow.” she said.
“Oh… don’t call us girls.” Peter moaned.
“Sorry, princesses.” mum replied. “If you’re good little princesses and go straight to bed, I’ll let you watch it again tomorrow.”
“I don’t wanna watch that ever again.” Peter said defiantly.
Mum ignored him. “Now… do either of you need a clean nappy before bed?”
I didn’t reply. Neither did my brother. But our faces must have said it all. Mum took us to the bathroom where we removed our nighties and hung them neatly on the radiator, then our over knickers and rubber knickers. Mum told us where the perforations were and we ripped them apart and placed the nappy, along with the rubber knickers in a lidded bucket. Then mum showed us how to clean ourselves with ‘baby’ wipes, how to apply our own dusting of talc, before showing us where our nappies were kept. We both moaned that we neither wanted to, nor needed to wear nappies for bed, but mum was adamant we wore them regardless. She reinforced this by showing us a massive pink nappy, “If you don’t want to wear your pull-ups, I’ll put you in one of these.” she said, before explaining that unlike our pull-up nappies, this one isn’t disposable. “Which means it needs to be washed in the morning to make sure it’s clean and dry ready for tomorrow night.” she said. “…and believe me boys, I won’t be washing it for you.”
In light of that, the pull-up nappies didn’t seem so bad. Once we had a clean pair of rubbers and our over-knickers and nighties back on, mum said, “Oh look at the time… it’s almost twenty minutes past your bedtime.” before shuffling us out of the bathroom.
It felt so weird having the light flowing nightie waft around my legs. It was nice and warm after being on the radiator though. Mum made a point of locking the bathroom door. “Now, you’ve got to make sure your nighties are nice and straight when you get in to bed… you don’t want them all scrunched up around your waist.” she said as if talking to a couple of toddlers.I gulped as Mum tucked my brother into bed, then turned towoards me.
“I’m nine for ****’s sake!” I silently screamed as she tucked me in too.
“Now I want to make it clear boys… if either of you take off your nightie or nappy before I say so, you’ll both be going to school in your new uniforms.” she said, looking at each of us in turn. “In fact…” she added is she stood up. With an air of determination, she strides to the wardrobe and pulled its doors wide open. “…I’ll get them out ready because I have a feeling you don’t believe me.” she explained as she hung the two identical gingham school dresses from the picture rail opposite our beads. I gulped as Mum spent a moment admiring them. “Girl’s uniforms are so much nicer than boy’s uniforms.” Mum said as she turned to us and smiled wryly. “Don’t you think?” she added. I gulped. I’m not sure how my brother replied. “Now I don’t want you two up all night talking.” she said as she turned on a lamp. “My princesses need their beauty sleep.” she said in a teasing, taunting tone of voice. “Nightie night girls… and sweet dreams.” Were her parting words. Although she did pause to admire the brace of gingham school dresses before turning out thelight and leaving.
The lamp she’d turned on is a new one, and I don’t like it. It’s too bright for a start, and has a revolving shade that casts a pink & lilac glow across the walls and ceiling. “At least it’s not Princesses.” I said as I followed a silhouette of Tinker Bell scroll across the wall.
“This is all your fault.” Peter said.
I gulped, turned onto my side and wished with all my heart that I’d wake up and it would all have been a dream. I fell asleep to the sound of my twin brother quietly sobbing.
No sooner had I fallen to sleep I woke up. It was early, but I wasn’t sure how early. I looked at the window. It was day light. My nightie had scrunched up to my waist, which meant it really wasn’t a dream. I straightened it out as best I could. I hadn’t noticed the curtains last night. They were much thinner than our old ones, and like our bedding they too have the Disney princess all over them. I felt guilty for feeling kind of nice waking up wearing a slinky slidey nightie, under an equally slidey duvet cover. After a while of dwelling in my silky bliss… I began to feel an urge. This brought the sudden realisation that I was also wearing a nappy, and that the bathroom door was locked. I hung on for as long as I could, but eventually had to let go. It was weird. After the initial flood had lost it’s warmth, it felt strangely dry down there.. full, yet dry.
Eventually my brother woke up. “What time is it?” he groaned when he noticed I was awake.
“Dunno… we haven’t got a clock any more.” I replied.
“Do you think Mum’ll make go to school wearing those?” he asked as he stared at the two school dresses hanging opposite our beds.
“Not if we’re good.” I gulped. I imagined the shame I’d experience, entering the bustling schoolyard wearing he girl’s uniform and everyone pointing and laughing at me. I buried my head beneath my duvet and longed for another reality, but all I could think about was the prospect of having to wear girls clothes bnoth in and out of school.
A short while later, Mum entered and said “Good morning girls… I hope you’ve have a nice sleep!” in an altogether too chirpy a tone as she opened the curtains and flooded the room with light.
She made us wear our nighties whilst we ate breakfast, then announced it was time to get ready for school. Peter asked if we had to dress as girls.
“Well, since you’ve both been good girls… so far.” she said, looking at each of us sternly. “I’ll let you go to school as boys today.” she replied, emphasising ‘today’.
This was a great relief for my brother. I however knew she wouldn’t really make us go to school dressed as girls. As we’d done at bedtime, we removed our nappies and dumped them in the bucket. Then mum told us to put our ‘knickers’ on, before coming to her room. “They’re in your top drawer.” she said.
Of course we protested, but the threat of going to school in gingham dresses swiftly assured our compliance. Between our beds was a chest of drawers, and on opening the top drawer we found a host of frilly knickers. To add insult to injury, those on my side of the drawer had my name embroidered on them, and Peter’s all had ‘Peter’ embroidered on the front. There’s no question about who they belong to, I thought as I picked up the top pair. “Are they all pink?” I said.
“Looks like it.” Peter replied. “Better than a dress though.” he said as he stepped in to a pair.