Megan bit her lip in frustration and watched her mother do the same. At that moment, she could empathize perfectly. She couldn’t believe how blind her sister was. That women had given her birth and this was how she treated her? She felt as if she could spit on her. Instead, she did the next best thing.
Slowly, but without hesitation, Megan unzipped her jeans and revealed her diaper. She then waited for someone to comment.
Grandma Ida was the first to notice. Squinting, she looked at Megan confoundedly. “What’s that you’re wearing, dear?”
Megan blushed deeply for a moment, chuckled and answered. “Oh. A diaper.”
The impending standoff was halted and all eyes suddenly fell upon her. She felt her internal barometer rise by about 20 degrees and she tightly gripped the underside of the table to keep her sanity in check.
“Yeah…um….I had some problems with wetting the bed, so I wear them now,” she explained.
“Not during the day,” Stephen mumbled and Carrie quickly elbowed him as a cue to be silent.
“Megan?” Nancy asked, confused and just the slightest bit embarrassed.
“My therapist says there’s no harm in it,” Megan continued. She was sure to say the word ‘therapist’ loud and clear so Jess could hear it. Her sister had often used psychology as a means of blaming her parents for everything.
“Well…” Jessica began, and then fell silent. She was utterly unprepared for this.
“You know, I read an article….” said Ricard. He soon trailed off. For once, he was woefully aware of how disinterested everyone was in what he had to say.
“And Mom supports me all the way,” Megan concluded. “Right, Mom?”
Nancy appeared momentarily flustered, then nodded and smiled. “Yes, dear.” She wasn’t sure what had gotten into that girl or why she chose to pull such a crazy stunt, but whatever it was, it was working. Jessica’s inventory of insults had suddenly run dry and Ricard seemed almost uncomfortable to be there.
Shortly thereafter, two generations of Alder men returned carrying platefuls of burgers and hotdogs. Drew nearly dropped his platter when he saw what Megan had on.
“What?” Megan asked, as if her being diapered in the middle of the day was the most natural thing in the world.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Drew said sternly.
The past few family gatherings had not made for great conversation. To the pleasure of no one, Jessica and Ricard often spoke at great length about their last art gallery visit or the latest independent film they saw that adhered to the guidelines of Dogme95. Whenever anyone tried to gracefully change the subject, they were accused of unspeakable rudeness. Occasionally, the young couple would shift from coffeehouse chatter to questions that were pointedly condescending. A verbal sparring match would ensue and at least one person would develop a terrible headache before the gathering was through.

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