Re: Exchanged - Diaper Dimension - Chapters 15-16 - Added 6/10/2017
Chapter 17:
THE NEXT MORNING I woke up to Amanda picking me up, “Come on baby, let’s get you ready for today!”
I yawned and leaned against her, “I hate waking up…”
She laughed, “Don’t we all!”
She lay me down on the changing table and pulled the nightgown up to see a very soaked diaper. “Hmm… I’m surprised this held out last night. But, we definitely need to make sure you’re getting more to drink.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked sleepily.
“It’s a really yellow diaper sweetheart.”
I thought for a second and nodded, “Yeah you’re right, I didn’t drink a lot yesterday…”
She changed me quickly into a new pamper before bringing a cute sundress above my head. “I’d sure like you to help me a little bit here sweetie,” she told me with a smile as she said, “arms up.”
I sleepily put my arms up and apologized, “sorry, I think yesterday just drained me really badly. It was a long stressful day.”
“Yes it was,” she agreed with me as she worked the dress down over my chest and fussed with it for a moment. “We’ll do your hair after breakfast,” she told me with a smile.
I put my hand up to my long hair and was grateful she must have braided it into a light sleep braid when she put me down. Her breast milk was like the best sleeping pill known to mankind! Back home it would take me hours to fall asleep sometimes, the idea that I could do it before even getting put down in the crib amazed me. I blushed as I thought about the fact I had all but begged to at least get one hit of it a day!
Thankfully for me Amanda seemed to accept my lack of interaction with her in the mornings as normal and didn’t push interaction. She strapped me into the highchair and placed another me-sized mug of coffee on the tray. I looked at her questioningly and she responded, “We said only at night sweetheart, so I guess that means I’ll just give you your morning coffee like I take it.”
I nodded and sipped at the black liquid, letting its flavorful taste work its magic to wake me up! I was excited when she placed a plateful of French Toast in front of me - it was one of my favorites! Of course it was pre-cut for me… I daintily ate it with the offered fork as she had been kind enough to skip the bib again. Other than being strapped into the high chair, and the big size of the bread slices, this could have been a normal breakfast back home! Fred stopped by dressed in a set of scrubs and kissed me on the head before saying, “I’ll be late tonight, I have a pretty complex surgery scheduled this afternoon. Our team will probably be at it for at least six-hours. See you late tonight,” he told us both with a smile.
“Bye,” I told him.
I finished breakfast, then sat patiently as Amanda finished hers. After she took both of our plates to the sink she grabbed a hairbrush and began working on my hair. “I should have worked on your hair like this before… It’s way easier to reach you in your highchair!”
“Umm… Is there a chance maybe we could get me a haircut before next week?”
“We are not cutting off your pretty hair,” she said looking at me sternly.
“No, I don’t want it cut off – trust me it took me a long time to grow it out - I’m just thinking there has to be a style that would seem to make me look appropriately mature, but not too mature for a little going to school?”
She mulled that over as she tied a ribbon into my hair. “You’re right, we should do that. Why don’t you go to the living room and take care of finishing that diaper off and I’ll pump and make an appointment for your hair?”
I nodded, “Okay.”
She unbuckled me, hugged me, and sat me down with a slight tap to the back of my diaper to remind me exactly what she expected me to do. I sighed as I went to the living room and went to the other side of where my playpen was setup. I squatted and tried to go for several minutes, but all I could get out was a little more pee. When she came to get me she said, “You don’t smell like you went?”
I sighed as she picked me up, “I think it may take me a day or two to need to after Monday?”
She nodded, “You’ll have through tomorrow, if you haven’t gone by tomorrow night we’ll need to help you make sure you’re not constipated.”
“Great…” I muttered.
My wet diaper was changed quickly exchanged for a dry pamper and she gathered everything up for another trip out. Out in the car once I was buckled into the seat I asked, “So school clothes first, right?”
“Yep, we’ve got to make sure you’re in a proper uniform before you meet the Dean.”
I sat quietly and blushed as I wondered what exactly the girl’s uniform requirements were. Of course before coming here I’d researched as much as I could about the way littles were treated. There were only a few brief chances I had to get onto the website to look at uniforms, but I hadn’t paid a ton of attention to the girls uniform. I knew as a boy it would have been basically khakis, a button down shirt, a tie, and a blazer. The girls from what I had seen had a few more options that were allowed. I never looked closely, but I remember thinking it was a dress code that seemed straight from a British private school rather than an American school. Here in this new dimension it was apparent that the British influence was far more prevalent for uniforms.
‘Might just have to do with the fact that it looks cute and works to get someone feeling powerless,’ I admitted to myself.
The car came to a stop after about fifteen minutes, and Amanda came around for me. She helped me out of the car seat and sat me down on my own feet while extending her hand out to me. I took it and let her lead me inside a store labeled, “Jenny’s School Fashions.”
“Mandy!!!!” a voice screeched at our entry.
“Hi Jenny!” Amanda said letting go of my hand and hugging a lady that looked to be a tall inbetweener.
“How are you doing? It’s been so long since we’ve gotten together. I couldn’t believe when you called me last week!”
“Sorry about that Jenny, it really is hard to get outside of the lab most of the time. You know how obsessed I got around computers in high school…”
“Boy do I ever! Nerdiest girl ever!” She said and looked down at me for the first time, “when you called saying you needed to get clothes for a little I thought you were joking! But when you gave me her dimensions I thought you had to be really messing with me! There’s no way could a ‘little’ be that little! I guess you weren’t making it up though.” She smiled at me.
“You still made…?”
“Oh yes, I still made them. I figured it was for a doll or something else. Hi, I’m Jenny,” she said extending her bigger hand towards me.”
“Hi, I’m Stacy,” I said accepting the hand. She was smaller than Megan, but with my tiny size she might as well have been another gigantic Amazon.
“This crazy lady adopted you?” She asked incredulously.
I looked up at Amanda who nodded at me, “Sort of… I’m an exchange student from the other dimension. Amanda and Fred took me in as kind of a foster child I guess.”
“Well didn’t you hit the jackpot? Both of you really!” She said with a smile. “But enough of that you probably have other places to go today too?”
“Yes, she’s supposed to meet with her dean this morning for pre-registration.”
“Well come on back here sweetie,” she told me with a smile and led me to the back of her shop where she dug around on some racks for a moment.
She pulled out a number of plastic covered garments and set them on an empty rack before turning back around towards me. “Emerson has some rather odd uniform requirements for the little girls that attend. Really the boys uniforms aren’t that far away from business suits, but the girls are very old school! You have three options depending on the time of the year. For the entire year you may wear these green jumper dresses, a white blouse, knee high socks or tights, and black Mary Janes or Plimsolls.”
The green jumper was a dark forest green color and appeared to have a pleated skirt. It was clear that you needed a blouse to help make it appropriate with the round opening. It looked like something you would expect out of a British movie. The jumper itself looked to have a little bow accent detail on the left side of it and I had to admit I would probably look cute in it.
“That’s not too terrible,” I said.
“No, there are much worse sets of uniforms required by some of the schools out there,” she told me. “Some of the outfits for the littles in elementary schools in this area are just ridiculous… The university says that if the temperatures are below freezing for the highs you may switch out the jumper for a pair of these green pants,” she pointed them out. Somehow they didn’t inspire much liking from me even though it was the most masculine bit of clothing I’d been near since I arrived! I thought the elastic waist especially made them seem more babyish than the jumper dress…
“Yuck…” I heard Amanda say.
“I’m not a huge fan myself. Of course the university insists that the pants have snap crotches for easy checking and changing of littles, so these have the snaps through the crotch,” she said as she pointed them out.
I felt my face turn a bit red, but I knew I really needed to get over myself there. I sighed, “You said there’s a third option?”
“Yes, before September Thirtieth, and after April First of each year you may also wear these gingham summer dresses,” she said as she held up a very juvenile pale green checked dress with a white peter pan collar. It was almost nauseating to look at, but I had to admit I’d rather wear it than the pants.
“Those are adorable!” Amanda said, “I always love it when I see the littles wearing those on campus!”
For my part I looked up at her and said, “Really?”
Jenny laughed, “Yeah, I’m not going to lie – you wouldn’t catch me dead in one. But it at least gives you another option.”
I sighed, “I guess it does. I’m assuming I have to play dress-up doll now?”
Jenny laughed, “She’s perfect for you Mandy!”
“Don’t I know it,” Amanda said as she leaned down and tickled me for a moment. “You have a changing room somewhere?”
“We’re in it,” she said, “don’t worry, I’m closed for your appointment.”
I sighed and participated in the longest clothing try on session of my life! There were six sets of everything to get me through the weeks, and Jenny insisted that I had to check the fit of each one. She began with the jumper outfit and held out a white blouse to me. I pulled it on over my head and began buttoning it. Since it was a girls blouse, the buttons were on the opposite side than I was used to, so it took a moment to adjust my finger motions.
I had just finished buttoning the buttons, when Amanda said, “Arms up!” and pulled down the green jumper over the top. “It fits perfectly!” Amanda said with a smile, “You look adorable!”
A large mirror stood before me and I had to admit she was right there. It hugged my body as if it had been tailored just for me - which I guess it had. Jenny checked the outfit carefully, pinching and pulling at parts of it. “Amanda you measured her well, I don’t think this will require any other alterations.” They both beamed at me and I distracted myself with my image in the tall mirror in front of me. The skirt fell just below the knees so that you could see just a little bit of skin between my tall socks and the skirt. The blouses themselves fitted well to my torso and had cute puffy sleeves that ended just below my shoulder. I couldn’t help but think there was more danger of me being accused of skipping out of my elementary school in these outfits than being thought a college student!
I tried on all six sets before trying the pants on. Those weren’t nearly as form fitting as they had the elastic for the waistband like a pair of toddlers’ would back home. The diaper I was wearing was now damp, it poofed out the back of the pants; making it obvious I was diapered. At least with the jumper you couldn’t tell if I was wearing one!.
Next came the gingham dresses and I couldn’t help but feel like I was a doll when Amanda played with the skirt for several minutes to get it to sit just right. “You look so adorable in this!” She told me.
I sighed, “Yes, I know I do. What’s to stop someone from thinking I’m in the local elementary school instead of college?”
“Oh, didn’t you notice the little monograms on the sleeves of the blouses?” Jenny said with a smile. I looked questioningly as she showed me one of the blouses. As I examined it closer I could see ‘E.U.’ embroidered in flowery cursive on the left sleeve. “Also now that you’ve made sure the jumpers fit I’ll put the Emerson University shield on each of these real quick with this rapid embroiderer.”
Amanda picked me up and held me to watch as Jenny put the first jumper in a hoop and lined up a laser sight on the spot of the jumper she wanted to use. I had watched a regular embroidery machine before, but hers was basically instantaneous! From the time she pressed start until it dinged was about three seconds. The Emerson University shield sat on the left chest area and said ‘Emerson University’ above it and ‘Stacy’ below it. “Wow,” I said aloud.
Jenny giggled, “How have you not seen one of these before?”
“I’m not exactly from around here,” I reminded her.
“I use this machine for all of the mothers of the kids in daycares and preschools too. There’s actually a microchip that gets placed in the stitching that is scanned by the automated nurseries and attendance systems.”
“This has me labeled as a college student… right?” I asked nervously.
“Yes ma’am!” she said to me with a smile and I watched her feed the other jumpers and the gingham dresses through the machine.
“What about if I wear the pants?” I asked.
“Oh, I didn’t show you the blazer, did I?” She said, “Let me find it…”
A moment later I looked at the blazer thinking it would have looked right at home on Hermione in Harry Potter. It was tried on quickly before being embroidered too.
“Let’s get you changed back into the jumper for your meeting,” Amanda said after she paid for everything.
“I could use a diaper change while you’re at it too,” I said quietly to her.
“Jenny, may we use your bathroom really quickly?”
“Yeah, probably a good idea to change that wet diapee, huh?” She said with a smile. “Go ahead, there’s a counter in there for it.”
“Thanks,” she said and walked back there with me.
Quickly I was changed into the new diaper, the blouse, jumper, knee high socks, and the shiny Mary Janes. Before we got in the car Amanda said, “I have to send a picture of you to Daddy and Megan!” She brought her phone out and took a quick picture before looking at the time and saying, “We’d better get a move on, Doctor Butler won’t appreciate you being late…”
She practically shoved me into the car seat and strapped me in before hurriedly going to her side of the car. Thankfully we weren’t too far from the university, and after she parked she carried me most of the way to where the Dean had his offices in the Undergraduate Student Office. She sat me down and straightened my jumper, “I’ll wait for you out here so the Dean doesn’t necessarily immediately hate you because of me.”
“What?!?” I said in a worried voice.
“Just go up to the secretary and let her know you’re here for your appointment. You’re still fifteen minutes early.”
I sighed, “Okay.”
She gave me a pat to my backside and handed me my backpack, “This still has your ID and some other information you may need in the front pocket. I also put a copy of your CARE scores in there if you need them.”
“Thanks,” I told her. “Hopefully see you soon…”
I walked to the doors of the office and was grateful they were automatic and I was able to go towards the secretary who sat at a high counter. She looked down at me and said, “Oh my God! You are so adorable!!!”
“Thank you,” I said politely, “I’m Stacy Westerfield, I’m supposed to meet with Doctor Butler about my schedule?”
“You’re… a… that can’t be right. How is…?” She stuttered.
“Please check his appointment book?” I suggested politely, all while seeing a clear case of baby fever in her eyes.
She forced herself to look down and seemed dismayed that I was indeed scheduled to see the Dean. “I see you here… you’re a little bit early. If you’ll just wait out here in the lobby he’ll be out to see you shortly.”
I smiled, “Thank you ma’am.”
I walked over to the chairs and thought about climbing up them, but instead just leaned against one and absentmindedly looked through the bag. Amanda had packed two extra diapers, a package of wipes, a sealed bottle of water, and a few other odds and ends like pens and pencils she must have gotten from my old backpack since they seemed the right size for me. I zipped it back up and threw it over my right shoulder as soon as I heard a deep voice call, “Stacy Westerfield?”
I looked for the source of the voice and spotted an older gentleman with a salt and pepper beard wearing a crisp suit, “Yes sir,” I said.
He looked at me with a surprised look before saying, “I’m Doctor Butler, the Dean for the Computing Technologies department. Let’s see what’s going on with you and classes,” he said. He motioned down a hallway and I walked with him to a large door that he opened and found a very well appointed office with wood furnishings. He looked at me awkwardly for a moment before asking, “Do you have protection on?”
“What…?” I said not certain what he meant for a second before answering, “Oh that… yes I do.”
“Just wanted to make sure before I let you sit on my furniture, it is rather expensive I’m afraid.” He picked me up under my arms awkwardly and dropped me into a large seat that practically swallowed me, before he went to the other side of the desk. “Okay, so tell me about yourself…”
“Well I’m Stacy Westerfield, I’m eighteen years old and from the other dimension.”
“Were you this small there?”
I shook my head, “No, I was about six-feet tall there. Not sure why I shrank…”
“And why come here? You must know as a little you’re… well you’re in a little precarious position…” He chortled at his own joke there.
“The computing technologies here in this dimension are at least a decade ahead of my own. I figure if I can come here and learn everything I can and take it back I’ll be able to do very well for myself back home.”
“Fair enough,” he said skeptically. “You took your CAREs?”
“You should have a copy?” I asked.
“Let’s see…” He said before turning his head to the left and his computer and began typing quite rapidly. “Hmm… These are impressive… if you had taken these anywhere but our own testing center I would be certain you had cheated. These scores are through the roof from what our average littles score.”
“Thanks,” I said.
He looked at me skeptically, “Okay, what’s your background in coding languages?”
For the next half-hour he actually picked my brain and had a much more in-depth conversation than I think either of us expected. He sighed at the end, “This is all a waste of time, you’ll be adopted on the first day of school probably and it won’t matter what I schedule you into.”
“I’m already legally adopted,” I told him after thinking about it for a second.
“Wait… what?”
“I’ve been adopted by a host family, it’s all legal. They’re exercising their parental right to have me attend whatever schooling they feel appropriate.”
He looked at me like I was crazy before digging a bit more into my file on the screen and saying; “Well I’ll be damned, Doctor Westerfield you sure as Hell don’t disappoint with crazy ideas…”
I nervously sat there while he looked at me like I had two extra heads, “So may I sign up for classes?”
He laughed, “You must have found the only Amazon in the world who would go along with a crazy idea like this. I’m curious to see if this works out for both of your or not… You’re right she’s chosen for you to attend here so I don’t have to worry about you being adopted the first day – but you should plan on a dozen or more attempts to do so before lunch!”
I nodded, “I’m expecting it.”
“Well since you seem to be smart enough, and I shouldn’t have to worry about you instantly disappearing, let’s get you signed up for your classes…”
In the end I walked out with a copy of my schedule of seventeen credit hours.
MWF 8am-9am: Math 125 Calculus – 3 Credit Hours
MWF 9:15am-10:15am: EECS 115 Introduction to Computer Programming – 3 Credit Hours
MWF 11am-12pm: ENGL 140 Technical Writing – 3 Credit Hours
MWF 3:30pm-4:30pm: CHEM 115 Principles of Chemistry – 3 Credit Hours
TR 9:30am-11:00am: HIST 134 History of Amazonian Civilization – 3 Credit Hours
TR 1:00pm-2:00pm: Little Freshman Seminar – 1 Credit Hour
He had told me I needed to figure out a PE credit soon too. I asked if I could do an off campus study in Tae Kwon Do to count and he said he would look into that for me. He also been given my schedule for orientation events the next week. In the end I was fairly happy with the meeting as I walked out to where I could see Amanda sitting at a bench waiting patiently for me.
“Well aren’t you just cute as a button?” A girl's sweet voice said above me, making me cringe.
I turned to see a college student with a too short shirt and skirt that from my position I could see way too much looking down on me. “Umm… thanks,” I told her.
I began turning, “We can’t have a cutie like you walking around unescorted. Obviously you must need a mommy…”
I dodged the hand that she reached towards me and said, “I’m actually already adopted and that’s my Mommy over there,” I said pointing towards Amanda who had stood up. Her height was certainly above that of the baby-crazed girl and I saw her look in shock at me.
“She’s telling you the truth,” Amanda said as she came over and joined me.
“But she’s wearing a university uniform.”
“Yes she is, as well as protection. You’d have no reason to even try and adopt her even if she was still free, huh? The code of conduct for the university?” Amanda said.
The girl stuttered and apology and turned and ran. “How many times a day am I going to get that?” I asked her.
“A lot…” Amanda said with a smile and extended her hand to me. “How about some lunch at the Union and then we’ll go shop for some more school supplies. I trust Doctor Butler got you setup with classes?”
“Begrudgingly,” I told her. “Actually I don’t think he minded the idea of me taking classes so much as he thought there was less than a zero percent chance of me making it through one day unadopted… Basically meaning he didn’t want to waste his time.”
She laughed, “Well I can see his point there, if you weren’t already, you would have just been adopted by that kid…”
“She can’t even dress herself appropriately, how could she take care of a little?” I asked her.
Amanda laughed at that as we walked away. It seemed fairly far of a walk to my legs, but it couldn’t have been more than a half-mile to the student union. It was a beautiful old building that opened up into a food court with multiple restaurants inside. We passed several other littles who must have arrived early, or stayed over from the summer term. Most of the girls seemed to be dressed in the summer uniform, but a few wore the same more formal uniform as I had on. I noted that the uniforms seemed baggy on most of them and wondered if they knew it was a glowing welcome sign for bigs?
I noticed that they looked at Amanda and me with more than a little bit of terror in their eyes. Once we had ordered our food and dropped the trays off on the table I stood beside it while Amanda went to find a booster seat for me.
One of the littles came up to me nervously, “Hanging around someone like her isn’t good for you girl, you’ve got to run while her back is turned!”
I smiled at her, “I’m already adopted by her, so running isn’t something I’ll be doing.”
“But you’re in a university uniform? Did she just grab you?” The girl asked in shock.
“She’s letting me attend university still,” I told her with a smile. “Hi, I’m Stacy,” I told her.
“Umm… I’m Sarah,” she said nervously. I looked up at Sarah and took in her appearance in the regular school uniform. Hers hung baggily from her frame, but something about her stance and eyes said she had a powerful will to stay free. She stood about a foot taller than me, but that still made her tiny by Amazon standards. Brown hair hung loosely around her face, just brushing the top of her shoulders.
“So what are you majoring in?” I nervously asked the first free little I’d met since I’d arrived.
“Chemistry, I’m going to be a junior this year,” she told me. She looked around nervously, “you?”
“Computer Science,” I told her just as Amanda returned.
“Oh, did you make a friend Stacy?”
“Maybe if you don’t terrorize her too much,” I told her with a smile.
Sarah looked at me with terror evident her eyes! I guessed she was worried I was going to have the living daylights spanked out of me... or that she was in danger of being swept up right there to join the family. Amanda laughed at that look, “Sarah, you are safe – as safe as Stacy is. I’m not going to adopt you because you’re within arm's reach. Stacy is a special case and more of an exchange student we’re fostering. Why don’t you join us for lunch?” She suggested. I watched as she looked over at a group of other littles with horrified expressions on their faces.
“Umm… I think my friends are waiting. I hope you are telling the truth…” she said to Amanda, she looked back at me, “If you really are a full time student we’ll have to get together sometime and do something?”
“I’d like that,” I told her. “I just found out my university e-mail is swesterfield if you want to email me.”
“Umm… okay,” she said nervously running back to her friends. Amanda helped me into the booster seat and I watched as the group of littles nervously looked back at us multiple times.
I just sighed, “Am I like a leper since you’ve adopted me?”
“Some may see you like that,” Amanda said honestly.
“Great…”
“Others though may actually become a bit envious. You’ve got a protector that’s allowing you to go to college still – most of them would kill for that.”
I nodded at that as I picked small bites carefully out of the miniature cheesesteak sandwich I had gotten.
“I know, I’m just worried that I won’t have any friends?” I said softly.
She laughed at me, “Stacy, if I know anything about you after having you living with us this past week and a half I know this – you will have many friends both Little AND Amazon I’m guessing.”
“Why do you think anyone would want to be friends with me?” I asked her honestly. “It looked like hanging out with me made them think they were on a one-way trip to the nursery themselves.”
“Well aren’t they already?” she asked me honestly. “Sure they made it past their CARE test to get here - and they look to not be freshmen, so they’re probably at least on their second or third year of avoiding adoptions - but don’t kid yourself… Out of those ten littles over there at least nine of them will be adopted and messing their diapers within the next two years.”
I nodded, “And that’s just depressing,” I told her, “because they won’t find themselves a family like I have. They’re more likely to find a Chloe and have their brains turned to mush.”
Amanda smiled at me, “Well at least you’re safe,” she reminded me, “we can’t save the entire world…”
I nodded at that.
“So I have a schedule, and I know I have different orientation events to go to next week… but what else is up today?”
“Well we need to go to a store and pick up some things for you to have just in case something happens, and I want to go to a small supply store I heard about that sells little sized school and office supplies.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“Well if you’re done with lunch why don’t we find a bathroom to change you and we’ll get going?”
I looked over at the table of littles who occasionally still glanced at me and sighed, “Can we do that wherever we’re going?”
She laughed at me, “It’s either in the bathroom here or in the car?”
“Car,” I told her.
She looked surprised, but said, “Okay then, let’s go!”
She picked me up out of the booster seat and sat me on the ground. She then helped me put my backpack straps over my shoulder. I didn’t feel like an adult, but at least I did feel like more of one than the poor little we passed on the way back to the car. He wore a onesie splattered with baby food on the front. He was being being led with one of those backpack leashes in the shape of a monkey. I sighed knowing that it was quite possible that would be in my future on a non-school occasion!
I walked back alongside her to the car where she opened the back of the vehicle up and promptly picked me up and laid me back on the floor. Mercifully the diaper change was quick and the parking lot remained empty during it! “You really didn’t want those other littles to see me changing your diaper, did you?” She said as she buckled me into my seat.
“Well… not really. I feel like it’s kind of like when you’re a little kid and you want to hang out with the big kids…”
She laughed, “I’ll indulge you every now and then, but remember you are an adopted little. That means I’m expected to embarrass you and change your diapee in front of your friends from time to time.”
I blushed and said, “Sorry…”
She kissed me on the forehead, “It’s okay Stacy, I think it’s pretty natural. You’re going to have a tough time fitting in at school – you do have to understand that.” She paused, “Remember you are here for an education, not just for socializing.”
I sighed as she closed the door and got in to drive us wherever we were off to. I looked in the mirror and out the window as she drove hoping that moments like today would stop seeming like a big deal. When she stopped the car I was surprised to see we were in front of an electronics store that reminded me of a Fry’s. The storefront read Motherboards, and I simultaneously wondered if ‘Mother’ meant it had baby stuff too… Amanda unbuckled me and then held my hand as we walked towards the store. I was shocked as she skipped the carts and walked straight to what reminded me of a standalone cell kiosk just inside.
“Good afternoon Ma’am, how may I help you?” A polite older gentleman asked. He was shorter and looked to be eight-and-a-half feet tall with graying hair.
Amanda picked me up and sat me on top of the glass countertop. “My eighteen year-old daughter is going to college next week and I want her to have a new cell phone for me to call her. She’ll need to be able to look up homework stuff, and I guess probably text her friends with it too. I want to surprise her at her going away party this weekend.”
“I’m sure she’ll love that gift!” The man said, “Anything in particular you’re looking for?”
“Well she’s got a thing for wanting ridiculously tiny phones for some reason… What do you have in the compact sizes?”
“I’ve got just the thing for you! The Melon Corporation just put out this new CZ3 phone. It’s a tiny 4.6” screen that also makes it popular for littles. Not that one like yours ever needs one!” he smirked at me. “It’s kind of tough for a bigger hand to text on, but the voice recognition software is so solid you don’t really need it. You can also get the optional earpiece that taps into cognitive waves to do neuro-to-text to get even more accurate.”
“Well I’m not interested in the earpiece today, but show this phone to me.”
The man assumed I was the baby sister of the girl and didn’t matter at all, but Amanda was kind enough to hold the phone up for me to see. It looked something like an ultrathin iPhone with a modernized flexible display that bent all the way around if you wanted it to. It was more like a small phablet for my hands, but I couldn’t see doing any better. Its specs handily beat my phone from back home!
“I like it, we’ll take it!” She said.
“Great, is there anything else I can help you with today?”
“Well maybe…” she held my wrist up, “I’d like to get my daughter a wrist phone that can call me or I can locate her on…”
“Oh, little protection? That’s over there on aisle seventeen. There’s a bunch of models to choose from there!”
“Thanks! Do I need to pay for the phone here, or can I take it with me and pay up front?”
“Well it might be best to go find your little protection item over there and then we can setup the plans at the same time?”
“Sounds good,” she said as she picked me up by the armpits and sat me on the ground, “we’ll be back!”
Amanda grabbed my hand and held it as she led me around the store. The position really was awkward for both of us and I wasn’t sure why she didn’t just pick me up and carry me in the end. A part of me did appreciate her treating me a little more maturely even as my arm ached from the position…
We approached aisle seventeen and I instantly froze as I looked down an aisle that looked like something from a high-tech torture store!
Immediately my eyes focused on signs advertising, ‘Shock collars for little control,’ ‘Sound isolating earbuds – garble language recognition to condition your little to simple baby words only,’ and the horrifying list went on, and on, and on. I found myself gripping Amanda’s hand tighter and she actually instinctively picked me up and settled me on her hip, “It’s okay baby…”
I found myself shaking as we walked down an aisle of things I could only have imagined in my nightmares. ‘Special punishment’ tools were organized in a section complete with items that I was sure Chloe probably used on her littles for ‘release’ and punishment… I wanted to throw up at the sight of most of the items.
An employee in a bright orange polo spotted us and waved, “Can I help you Ma’am?”
“Umm… I hope so. I’m looking for a tracking device for my little girl here.”
“Oh, well have you seen our collars?” He said motioning towards the side, “This latest model is GPS sensitive to punish her if she leaves an area she’s supposed to be in. It can also put her to sleep by limiting air intake if you need to put her down to nap for a while…” I looked at a pink collar that looked to belong on a dog that was covered in lace on the edges. “Or we have…”
“Umm,” Amanda said interrupting, “my daughter is not a dog, I’m not a fan of collars.”
“Oh, well… That’s... an unusual opinion as they are quite popular right now… but okay, we have these down here,” he said bringing us to a section that included things that began to look like FitBit devices back home. “These have most of the same functionality. They’ll shock her if she misbehaves, leaves an area, and can be paired with some of our anal and vaginal…”
“Umm… still not what I’m looking for.”
The man was flustered, “Well what are you looking for?”
“Something she can wear on her wrist that can tell me where she is… maybe she can call me or I can call her on it?”
“Oh… you’re one of those…” he said condescendingly with a sigh. “Why would you want that?”
“If you can’t help me I’m sure I can find someone who can? Or maybe another store?” She suggested.
“No, I’ll help you, it’s just weird… It’s not like they’re intelligent adults or anything…” he muttered the last part.
I bit my tongue and didn’t say anything even as she gave me a tight squeeze, “To each their own. Now do you have something like I mentioned?”
“Yeah… come on down this way,” he said and led us all the way down the aisle to a small, almost forgotten looking, display.
I looked at a variety of colors of a few styles of devices called, “LittleProtect+” that seemed much less intimidating.
I started to read the signs and boxes but was distracted as he began a sales pitch. “These are designed primarily to be a GPS locator for your little. The bands,” he said as he grabbed a display model, “are made of a high-tech nano-carbon fiber and titanium mesh with a silicon covering for comfort. The bands can only be unlocked if the correct password is provided by an authorized device. Attempting to cut the band off will be all but impossible without surgical methods.”
I gulped at that and looked at the small display that reminded me of a cross between a narrow FitBit and an AppleWatch.
“What else does it do?”
“Well it does more than most parents want, including letting your little know the time by pressing on it. Of course it’ll say it for her since I’m sure she can’t read.” I fumed but didn’t say anything, “This one will also let the little wearing it video call up to four pre-set numbers. It also has an emergency button that when pressed three times rapidly and then held will send an emergency alert with the next minute of audio recorded and the location. You can then determine if it’s a real emergency or just the fact she didn’t like the color of her new diaper…”
I really wanted to hit him then as she asked, “Can I call it if I need to?”
“Oh yes, you can call it and look in on her. You can look up her location at any time too… It even has an option like the better devices that can be marked with GeoFencing and let you know if she goes out of bounds… Doesn’t have a shock capability sadly.”
“We’ll keep looking at it on our own, thanks,” she told him.
“You don’t need…?”
“No, we’ll be fine,” she said to him.
“Okay, I’ll be down the aisle if you need me…”
When he walked away I said, “He’s a total ass…”
She smirked at me, “Yes he is, but mind your manners and language…”
“Yes Mommy…”
She hugged me, “It looks like this one also does fitness tracking… ooh, how cute! It also has a built in tamagotchi style pet you can take care of. Seems like the best bet to me and the cellular contract should work well I hope.”
“It definitely seems to be the most humane …” I noted.
“Sweetie this could potentially save you if you get kidnapped. We’ll put it on just tight enough you can’t get it off without cutting it off. It says it can last for six-months on a charge, so we’ll be able to just leave it on to keep you safe.”
“Watching where I am all the time?” I grumbled.
“And just where do you think you would go?”
I sighed, “I know… just a little big brother’ish to me.”
“I get that…” she admitted, “but you have to admit you are too cute… someone will probably try something every day there at school.”
“Will this at least help make it clear I’m ‘adopted?’” I asked.
“Maybe… It’ll definitely make you safer, so we’re going to get one. What color do you want?”
I looked at the options and then looked down at my most definitely now feminine self. ‘I can give in to my favorite color now actually…’ I thought to myself. “That purple one,” I said while pointing to the dark purple band.
“Are you sure? Might be hard to coordinate with some of your outfits, the pink might…?”
“Purple,” I told her.
“How about this lighter purple?”
I shook my head, “the dark purple please.”
She sighed, “I guess I said you could choose.” I watched as she grabbed a box in her left hand and walked around the corner of the aisle and walked around I figured to avoid the man and the despicable aisle. She carried me back to the man at the counter and once again sat me down on it while he waited on us. The plans were setup for the cell phone and the watch with the carriers.
“Do you want to go ahead and put this on her now?” The man asked, far nicer than the ass in the aisle.
“Sure, what do I have to do?” Amanda asked.
I watched as she downloaded the app and connected to it before programming in a password that looked like the standard one around their house. “Hold out your hand baby,” she told me.
With my wrist outstretched she attached the watch on the opposite wrist from my charm bracelet. The device really wasn’t too much bigger on me than my old AppleWatch was back home. It felt comfortable and I watched as with the press of a button some sort of relay on the band closed and it cinched itself tight to my wrist. “Is that too tight?” She asked.
I felt it with my hand for a moment and realized there was a little bit of give at least. “I think it’s okay,” I told her.
“Great!” she told me and kissed me on my head. “Try calling me!”
I pressed the simple button to call contacts and pressed, ‘Mommy,’ while noting she had also quickly programmed ‘Daddy,’ and ‘Megan’ into it. Instantly I could see her face on my watch and she could see mine on her phone. We tested it for a second before she hung up on me and said, “Thank you!” to the guy at the counter.
“Any time, thanks for shopping at Motherboards!”
She carried me, and the bag with my new phone out to the car, “Okay, one more stop and then we’ll go home so I can get something going for dinner.”
“Okay,” I told her and began playing with my new watch.
The interface was cludgy and reminded me of something like a Chinese knock-off of a better product, but given the price she’d paid I knew that couldn’t really be the case. I pressed the time button and listened as it said that it was “Two-thirty in the afternoon,” in a vaguely Siri like voice. It was a little more motherly and condescending though in its tone. I shrugged that off though and pressed the button for ‘Pet’ and a menu came up asking me what kind of pet I would like to raise. I clicked through and decided to raise a tiger looking creature.
I was actually pretty enthralled apparently with naming it, feeding it, and a couple other little parts of the silly game, because I was startled when Amanda was suddenly unbuckling me.
“Having fun?” She asked with a smile.
I blushed, “For a little bit I guess…”
She laughed, “Don’t be embarrassed, I thought it sounded like a cute idea myself.”
“Where are we?”
“”Little Notes,” she told me, “it’s an office supply store for littles. I’m hoping we can find your school supplies and such here.”
“Oh,” I said as she lifted me up and sat me on my own two feet again.
“Hopefully I don’t bash my head too many times inside…” she grumbled.
“Huh?” I said as she motioned be forward without taking my hand.
She held the door open for me, but I could have reached up and grabbed the handle if I needed to! It made me look around and I immediately realized it felt like we were actually back home in my dimension almost. I turned and watched her duck her head and laughed when I saw she had to hunch over to not hit the ceiling with her head.
“Uh-huh, laugh it up little girl,” she told me while sticking my tongue out.
“Umm… Welcome to Little Notes…” a little that was about a foot and a half taller than me said as she approached.
“Hi,” I said.
“Umm… not to be rude ma’am, but we don’t get many big folk in here… how can we help you folks?”
Amanda nudged me forward, “Stacy needs some supplies for college and I’m hoping you have some items that are a it more in her size than we can find in a big store.”
“You’re her…?” The girl asked nervously as a man a little taller than her joined her. I realized the whole store felt much more mom and popish than like a chain.
“Foster mother?” I suggested helpfully. “I’m boarding with her and her husband while I go to school in this dimension.”
“That just makes my head hurt,” the man said.
The lady smacked him on the shoulder, “Don’t be rude you idiot…” she whispered.
For Amanda’s part she just laughed, “You’re safe from me trying to adopt you. So I don’t wreck half your ceiling, can you help out Stacy in finding her stuff? I’ll just have a seat over here on the floor while you do so?”
I turned and looked again at Amanda who looked like an adult who had just managed to squeeze into their child’s treehouse. I turned back at the lady and she said, “Umm… sure. What school is she going to?”
“Doesn’t my uniform give that away?” I asked.
“She could mean pre-school or elementary school in all honesty,” the man said kindly to me.
“I’m going to Emerson as a university student,” I told them and decided I was going to take the reigns here if Amanda was going to let me. “Can you show me your pens?”
I ended up making a pretty hefty pile during a few trips around the store with the girls help who was apparently named Bella. When we were down far from Amanda though she asked, “Do you want me to get someone to break you away from her? I have connections in the underground railroad…”
I shook my head, “No, she really is as good as it’s going to get and they’re letting me go to school. The deal is that they return me back home when I’m done.”
“Have you taken the CAREs text yet?” She asked nervously.
I looked at her closer and realized she was dressed mostly like an adult in my world with her hair in a low ponytail. She seemed genuinely concerned, “I did, I passed.”
“You passed?!?” she asked, “Only about one in a hundred do that… What did you do?”
“Well I’m in diapers for the long haul here – it’s one of the things she does want, but her husband’s a doctor and we used some laxatives and other things to clear me out before hand completely… It sucked, but I watched everyone else get carted I assume to the nearest orphanage to become a drooling baby.”
She nodded sadly, “It’s a major risk anymore to try and get in. They launched those tests a decade ago, but only last year mandated the no breaks rule… Not everyone has found out about that yet.”
That confirmed something I had thought about the books being really high on the shelves, “I kind of wondered…” I said as we brought back a fourth stack of notebooks and binders. “How are you still free?”
“I have a few friends that help out… but I wasn’t always free.” She whispered the last part to me, “Right out of high school one of the Amazons in my class took me as soon as I walked across the stage right in front of my parents.”
My mouth opened, “Oh my God… how’d you get free?”
“It was right when the laws changed the first time to being more free for us… my parents went to court and helped me out since I hadn’t given the girl permission, or cause by wetting my pants or anything. I still had to be her baby for six months while the case ran its course, lost all of my potty training, only ate baby food and breast milk, and wore clothes that didn’t let me so much as crawl… It sucked,” she told me with a lot of pain in her face.
“Sounds like Amanda’s sisters littles… now there’s a monster. Her one sister has taken all of her girls teeth… it’s scary.”
“Seems like you may have landed one of the few decent ones. Watch her though… I’m going to give you a card with a number on it. If you get in a jam send a text and we can possibly get you in touch with some help.”
“Not sure how much good it’ll do me since the alarms ring the second I get into the port,” I told her quietly as we finished grabbing the last few things I could think of.
“You’re chipped?” She asked nervously.
“Yeah…”
“Know where?”
“Yes.”
“They can probably help… but that won’t be easy.”
“I figured,” I said.
“Mommy I think we have it all,” I said to Amanda a moment later and she came over to use her credit card chip on the reader. The total made my eyes open, but I knew that was pretty normal getting ready for college.
Amanda grabbed six full bags from the counter and I grabbed two and led me outside after I said, “Thanks for your help!”
“Thank you all, good luck at school!” she told me.
Amanda placed the bags in the back before settling me back into my car seat. “Thirsty?” she asked me.
I sighed and nodded, “Kind of.”
She dug around underneath me in the diaper bag and handed me a sippy cup. “Here you go.”
I was surprised it wasn’t a bottle, but didn’t want to make her change her mind so I took it and said, “Thanks,” to her. The apple juice inside did taste really good and I reflected that today had so far been a very odd day.
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Thank you to all of your for posting comments! I really am glad you are enjoying the work enough to do so! I'm traveling right now and won't probably be able to post anything again until July 3rd or so. I can get on sporadically through Saturday to check for comments though. Thanks again for reading!
Chapter 17:
THE NEXT MORNING I woke up to Amanda picking me up, “Come on baby, let’s get you ready for today!”
I yawned and leaned against her, “I hate waking up…”
She laughed, “Don’t we all!”
She lay me down on the changing table and pulled the nightgown up to see a very soaked diaper. “Hmm… I’m surprised this held out last night. But, we definitely need to make sure you’re getting more to drink.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked sleepily.
“It’s a really yellow diaper sweetheart.”
I thought for a second and nodded, “Yeah you’re right, I didn’t drink a lot yesterday…”
She changed me quickly into a new pamper before bringing a cute sundress above my head. “I’d sure like you to help me a little bit here sweetie,” she told me with a smile as she said, “arms up.”
I sleepily put my arms up and apologized, “sorry, I think yesterday just drained me really badly. It was a long stressful day.”
“Yes it was,” she agreed with me as she worked the dress down over my chest and fussed with it for a moment. “We’ll do your hair after breakfast,” she told me with a smile.
I put my hand up to my long hair and was grateful she must have braided it into a light sleep braid when she put me down. Her breast milk was like the best sleeping pill known to mankind! Back home it would take me hours to fall asleep sometimes, the idea that I could do it before even getting put down in the crib amazed me. I blushed as I thought about the fact I had all but begged to at least get one hit of it a day!
Thankfully for me Amanda seemed to accept my lack of interaction with her in the mornings as normal and didn’t push interaction. She strapped me into the highchair and placed another me-sized mug of coffee on the tray. I looked at her questioningly and she responded, “We said only at night sweetheart, so I guess that means I’ll just give you your morning coffee like I take it.”
I nodded and sipped at the black liquid, letting its flavorful taste work its magic to wake me up! I was excited when she placed a plateful of French Toast in front of me - it was one of my favorites! Of course it was pre-cut for me… I daintily ate it with the offered fork as she had been kind enough to skip the bib again. Other than being strapped into the high chair, and the big size of the bread slices, this could have been a normal breakfast back home! Fred stopped by dressed in a set of scrubs and kissed me on the head before saying, “I’ll be late tonight, I have a pretty complex surgery scheduled this afternoon. Our team will probably be at it for at least six-hours. See you late tonight,” he told us both with a smile.
“Bye,” I told him.
I finished breakfast, then sat patiently as Amanda finished hers. After she took both of our plates to the sink she grabbed a hairbrush and began working on my hair. “I should have worked on your hair like this before… It’s way easier to reach you in your highchair!”
“Umm… Is there a chance maybe we could get me a haircut before next week?”
“We are not cutting off your pretty hair,” she said looking at me sternly.
“No, I don’t want it cut off – trust me it took me a long time to grow it out - I’m just thinking there has to be a style that would seem to make me look appropriately mature, but not too mature for a little going to school?”
She mulled that over as she tied a ribbon into my hair. “You’re right, we should do that. Why don’t you go to the living room and take care of finishing that diaper off and I’ll pump and make an appointment for your hair?”
I nodded, “Okay.”
She unbuckled me, hugged me, and sat me down with a slight tap to the back of my diaper to remind me exactly what she expected me to do. I sighed as I went to the living room and went to the other side of where my playpen was setup. I squatted and tried to go for several minutes, but all I could get out was a little more pee. When she came to get me she said, “You don’t smell like you went?”
I sighed as she picked me up, “I think it may take me a day or two to need to after Monday?”
She nodded, “You’ll have through tomorrow, if you haven’t gone by tomorrow night we’ll need to help you make sure you’re not constipated.”
“Great…” I muttered.
My wet diaper was changed quickly exchanged for a dry pamper and she gathered everything up for another trip out. Out in the car once I was buckled into the seat I asked, “So school clothes first, right?”
“Yep, we’ve got to make sure you’re in a proper uniform before you meet the Dean.”
I sat quietly and blushed as I wondered what exactly the girl’s uniform requirements were. Of course before coming here I’d researched as much as I could about the way littles were treated. There were only a few brief chances I had to get onto the website to look at uniforms, but I hadn’t paid a ton of attention to the girls uniform. I knew as a boy it would have been basically khakis, a button down shirt, a tie, and a blazer. The girls from what I had seen had a few more options that were allowed. I never looked closely, but I remember thinking it was a dress code that seemed straight from a British private school rather than an American school. Here in this new dimension it was apparent that the British influence was far more prevalent for uniforms.
‘Might just have to do with the fact that it looks cute and works to get someone feeling powerless,’ I admitted to myself.
The car came to a stop after about fifteen minutes, and Amanda came around for me. She helped me out of the car seat and sat me down on my own feet while extending her hand out to me. I took it and let her lead me inside a store labeled, “Jenny’s School Fashions.”
“Mandy!!!!” a voice screeched at our entry.
“Hi Jenny!” Amanda said letting go of my hand and hugging a lady that looked to be a tall inbetweener.
“How are you doing? It’s been so long since we’ve gotten together. I couldn’t believe when you called me last week!”
“Sorry about that Jenny, it really is hard to get outside of the lab most of the time. You know how obsessed I got around computers in high school…”
“Boy do I ever! Nerdiest girl ever!” She said and looked down at me for the first time, “when you called saying you needed to get clothes for a little I thought you were joking! But when you gave me her dimensions I thought you had to be really messing with me! There’s no way could a ‘little’ be that little! I guess you weren’t making it up though.” She smiled at me.
“You still made…?”
“Oh yes, I still made them. I figured it was for a doll or something else. Hi, I’m Jenny,” she said extending her bigger hand towards me.”
“Hi, I’m Stacy,” I said accepting the hand. She was smaller than Megan, but with my tiny size she might as well have been another gigantic Amazon.
“This crazy lady adopted you?” She asked incredulously.
I looked up at Amanda who nodded at me, “Sort of… I’m an exchange student from the other dimension. Amanda and Fred took me in as kind of a foster child I guess.”
“Well didn’t you hit the jackpot? Both of you really!” She said with a smile. “But enough of that you probably have other places to go today too?”
“Yes, she’s supposed to meet with her dean this morning for pre-registration.”
“Well come on back here sweetie,” she told me with a smile and led me to the back of her shop where she dug around on some racks for a moment.
She pulled out a number of plastic covered garments and set them on an empty rack before turning back around towards me. “Emerson has some rather odd uniform requirements for the little girls that attend. Really the boys uniforms aren’t that far away from business suits, but the girls are very old school! You have three options depending on the time of the year. For the entire year you may wear these green jumper dresses, a white blouse, knee high socks or tights, and black Mary Janes or Plimsolls.”
The green jumper was a dark forest green color and appeared to have a pleated skirt. It was clear that you needed a blouse to help make it appropriate with the round opening. It looked like something you would expect out of a British movie. The jumper itself looked to have a little bow accent detail on the left side of it and I had to admit I would probably look cute in it.
“That’s not too terrible,” I said.
“No, there are much worse sets of uniforms required by some of the schools out there,” she told me. “Some of the outfits for the littles in elementary schools in this area are just ridiculous… The university says that if the temperatures are below freezing for the highs you may switch out the jumper for a pair of these green pants,” she pointed them out. Somehow they didn’t inspire much liking from me even though it was the most masculine bit of clothing I’d been near since I arrived! I thought the elastic waist especially made them seem more babyish than the jumper dress…
“Yuck…” I heard Amanda say.
“I’m not a huge fan myself. Of course the university insists that the pants have snap crotches for easy checking and changing of littles, so these have the snaps through the crotch,” she said as she pointed them out.
I felt my face turn a bit red, but I knew I really needed to get over myself there. I sighed, “You said there’s a third option?”
“Yes, before September Thirtieth, and after April First of each year you may also wear these gingham summer dresses,” she said as she held up a very juvenile pale green checked dress with a white peter pan collar. It was almost nauseating to look at, but I had to admit I’d rather wear it than the pants.
“Those are adorable!” Amanda said, “I always love it when I see the littles wearing those on campus!”
For my part I looked up at her and said, “Really?”
Jenny laughed, “Yeah, I’m not going to lie – you wouldn’t catch me dead in one. But it at least gives you another option.”
I sighed, “I guess it does. I’m assuming I have to play dress-up doll now?”
Jenny laughed, “She’s perfect for you Mandy!”
“Don’t I know it,” Amanda said as she leaned down and tickled me for a moment. “You have a changing room somewhere?”
“We’re in it,” she said, “don’t worry, I’m closed for your appointment.”
I sighed and participated in the longest clothing try on session of my life! There were six sets of everything to get me through the weeks, and Jenny insisted that I had to check the fit of each one. She began with the jumper outfit and held out a white blouse to me. I pulled it on over my head and began buttoning it. Since it was a girls blouse, the buttons were on the opposite side than I was used to, so it took a moment to adjust my finger motions.
I had just finished buttoning the buttons, when Amanda said, “Arms up!” and pulled down the green jumper over the top. “It fits perfectly!” Amanda said with a smile, “You look adorable!”
A large mirror stood before me and I had to admit she was right there. It hugged my body as if it had been tailored just for me - which I guess it had. Jenny checked the outfit carefully, pinching and pulling at parts of it. “Amanda you measured her well, I don’t think this will require any other alterations.” They both beamed at me and I distracted myself with my image in the tall mirror in front of me. The skirt fell just below the knees so that you could see just a little bit of skin between my tall socks and the skirt. The blouses themselves fitted well to my torso and had cute puffy sleeves that ended just below my shoulder. I couldn’t help but think there was more danger of me being accused of skipping out of my elementary school in these outfits than being thought a college student!
I tried on all six sets before trying the pants on. Those weren’t nearly as form fitting as they had the elastic for the waistband like a pair of toddlers’ would back home. The diaper I was wearing was now damp, it poofed out the back of the pants; making it obvious I was diapered. At least with the jumper you couldn’t tell if I was wearing one!.
Next came the gingham dresses and I couldn’t help but feel like I was a doll when Amanda played with the skirt for several minutes to get it to sit just right. “You look so adorable in this!” She told me.
I sighed, “Yes, I know I do. What’s to stop someone from thinking I’m in the local elementary school instead of college?”
“Oh, didn’t you notice the little monograms on the sleeves of the blouses?” Jenny said with a smile. I looked questioningly as she showed me one of the blouses. As I examined it closer I could see ‘E.U.’ embroidered in flowery cursive on the left sleeve. “Also now that you’ve made sure the jumpers fit I’ll put the Emerson University shield on each of these real quick with this rapid embroiderer.”
Amanda picked me up and held me to watch as Jenny put the first jumper in a hoop and lined up a laser sight on the spot of the jumper she wanted to use. I had watched a regular embroidery machine before, but hers was basically instantaneous! From the time she pressed start until it dinged was about three seconds. The Emerson University shield sat on the left chest area and said ‘Emerson University’ above it and ‘Stacy’ below it. “Wow,” I said aloud.
Jenny giggled, “How have you not seen one of these before?”
“I’m not exactly from around here,” I reminded her.
“I use this machine for all of the mothers of the kids in daycares and preschools too. There’s actually a microchip that gets placed in the stitching that is scanned by the automated nurseries and attendance systems.”
“This has me labeled as a college student… right?” I asked nervously.
“Yes ma’am!” she said to me with a smile and I watched her feed the other jumpers and the gingham dresses through the machine.
“What about if I wear the pants?” I asked.
“Oh, I didn’t show you the blazer, did I?” She said, “Let me find it…”
A moment later I looked at the blazer thinking it would have looked right at home on Hermione in Harry Potter. It was tried on quickly before being embroidered too.
“Let’s get you changed back into the jumper for your meeting,” Amanda said after she paid for everything.
“I could use a diaper change while you’re at it too,” I said quietly to her.
“Jenny, may we use your bathroom really quickly?”
“Yeah, probably a good idea to change that wet diapee, huh?” She said with a smile. “Go ahead, there’s a counter in there for it.”
“Thanks,” she said and walked back there with me.
Quickly I was changed into the new diaper, the blouse, jumper, knee high socks, and the shiny Mary Janes. Before we got in the car Amanda said, “I have to send a picture of you to Daddy and Megan!” She brought her phone out and took a quick picture before looking at the time and saying, “We’d better get a move on, Doctor Butler won’t appreciate you being late…”
She practically shoved me into the car seat and strapped me in before hurriedly going to her side of the car. Thankfully we weren’t too far from the university, and after she parked she carried me most of the way to where the Dean had his offices in the Undergraduate Student Office. She sat me down and straightened my jumper, “I’ll wait for you out here so the Dean doesn’t necessarily immediately hate you because of me.”
“What?!?” I said in a worried voice.
“Just go up to the secretary and let her know you’re here for your appointment. You’re still fifteen minutes early.”
I sighed, “Okay.”
She gave me a pat to my backside and handed me my backpack, “This still has your ID and some other information you may need in the front pocket. I also put a copy of your CARE scores in there if you need them.”
“Thanks,” I told her. “Hopefully see you soon…”
I walked to the doors of the office and was grateful they were automatic and I was able to go towards the secretary who sat at a high counter. She looked down at me and said, “Oh my God! You are so adorable!!!”
“Thank you,” I said politely, “I’m Stacy Westerfield, I’m supposed to meet with Doctor Butler about my schedule?”
“You’re… a… that can’t be right. How is…?” She stuttered.
“Please check his appointment book?” I suggested politely, all while seeing a clear case of baby fever in her eyes.
She forced herself to look down and seemed dismayed that I was indeed scheduled to see the Dean. “I see you here… you’re a little bit early. If you’ll just wait out here in the lobby he’ll be out to see you shortly.”
I smiled, “Thank you ma’am.”
I walked over to the chairs and thought about climbing up them, but instead just leaned against one and absentmindedly looked through the bag. Amanda had packed two extra diapers, a package of wipes, a sealed bottle of water, and a few other odds and ends like pens and pencils she must have gotten from my old backpack since they seemed the right size for me. I zipped it back up and threw it over my right shoulder as soon as I heard a deep voice call, “Stacy Westerfield?”
I looked for the source of the voice and spotted an older gentleman with a salt and pepper beard wearing a crisp suit, “Yes sir,” I said.
He looked at me with a surprised look before saying, “I’m Doctor Butler, the Dean for the Computing Technologies department. Let’s see what’s going on with you and classes,” he said. He motioned down a hallway and I walked with him to a large door that he opened and found a very well appointed office with wood furnishings. He looked at me awkwardly for a moment before asking, “Do you have protection on?”
“What…?” I said not certain what he meant for a second before answering, “Oh that… yes I do.”
“Just wanted to make sure before I let you sit on my furniture, it is rather expensive I’m afraid.” He picked me up under my arms awkwardly and dropped me into a large seat that practically swallowed me, before he went to the other side of the desk. “Okay, so tell me about yourself…”
“Well I’m Stacy Westerfield, I’m eighteen years old and from the other dimension.”
“Were you this small there?”
I shook my head, “No, I was about six-feet tall there. Not sure why I shrank…”
“And why come here? You must know as a little you’re… well you’re in a little precarious position…” He chortled at his own joke there.
“The computing technologies here in this dimension are at least a decade ahead of my own. I figure if I can come here and learn everything I can and take it back I’ll be able to do very well for myself back home.”
“Fair enough,” he said skeptically. “You took your CAREs?”
“You should have a copy?” I asked.
“Let’s see…” He said before turning his head to the left and his computer and began typing quite rapidly. “Hmm… These are impressive… if you had taken these anywhere but our own testing center I would be certain you had cheated. These scores are through the roof from what our average littles score.”
“Thanks,” I said.
He looked at me skeptically, “Okay, what’s your background in coding languages?”
For the next half-hour he actually picked my brain and had a much more in-depth conversation than I think either of us expected. He sighed at the end, “This is all a waste of time, you’ll be adopted on the first day of school probably and it won’t matter what I schedule you into.”
“I’m already legally adopted,” I told him after thinking about it for a second.
“Wait… what?”
“I’ve been adopted by a host family, it’s all legal. They’re exercising their parental right to have me attend whatever schooling they feel appropriate.”
He looked at me like I was crazy before digging a bit more into my file on the screen and saying; “Well I’ll be damned, Doctor Westerfield you sure as Hell don’t disappoint with crazy ideas…”
I nervously sat there while he looked at me like I had two extra heads, “So may I sign up for classes?”
He laughed, “You must have found the only Amazon in the world who would go along with a crazy idea like this. I’m curious to see if this works out for both of your or not… You’re right she’s chosen for you to attend here so I don’t have to worry about you being adopted the first day – but you should plan on a dozen or more attempts to do so before lunch!”
I nodded, “I’m expecting it.”
“Well since you seem to be smart enough, and I shouldn’t have to worry about you instantly disappearing, let’s get you signed up for your classes…”
In the end I walked out with a copy of my schedule of seventeen credit hours.
MWF 8am-9am: Math 125 Calculus – 3 Credit Hours
MWF 9:15am-10:15am: EECS 115 Introduction to Computer Programming – 3 Credit Hours
MWF 11am-12pm: ENGL 140 Technical Writing – 3 Credit Hours
MWF 3:30pm-4:30pm: CHEM 115 Principles of Chemistry – 3 Credit Hours
TR 9:30am-11:00am: HIST 134 History of Amazonian Civilization – 3 Credit Hours
TR 1:00pm-2:00pm: Little Freshman Seminar – 1 Credit Hour
He had told me I needed to figure out a PE credit soon too. I asked if I could do an off campus study in Tae Kwon Do to count and he said he would look into that for me. He also been given my schedule for orientation events the next week. In the end I was fairly happy with the meeting as I walked out to where I could see Amanda sitting at a bench waiting patiently for me.
“Well aren’t you just cute as a button?” A girl's sweet voice said above me, making me cringe.
I turned to see a college student with a too short shirt and skirt that from my position I could see way too much looking down on me. “Umm… thanks,” I told her.
I began turning, “We can’t have a cutie like you walking around unescorted. Obviously you must need a mommy…”
I dodged the hand that she reached towards me and said, “I’m actually already adopted and that’s my Mommy over there,” I said pointing towards Amanda who had stood up. Her height was certainly above that of the baby-crazed girl and I saw her look in shock at me.
“She’s telling you the truth,” Amanda said as she came over and joined me.
“But she’s wearing a university uniform.”
“Yes she is, as well as protection. You’d have no reason to even try and adopt her even if she was still free, huh? The code of conduct for the university?” Amanda said.
The girl stuttered and apology and turned and ran. “How many times a day am I going to get that?” I asked her.
“A lot…” Amanda said with a smile and extended her hand to me. “How about some lunch at the Union and then we’ll go shop for some more school supplies. I trust Doctor Butler got you setup with classes?”
“Begrudgingly,” I told her. “Actually I don’t think he minded the idea of me taking classes so much as he thought there was less than a zero percent chance of me making it through one day unadopted… Basically meaning he didn’t want to waste his time.”
She laughed, “Well I can see his point there, if you weren’t already, you would have just been adopted by that kid…”
“She can’t even dress herself appropriately, how could she take care of a little?” I asked her.
Amanda laughed at that as we walked away. It seemed fairly far of a walk to my legs, but it couldn’t have been more than a half-mile to the student union. It was a beautiful old building that opened up into a food court with multiple restaurants inside. We passed several other littles who must have arrived early, or stayed over from the summer term. Most of the girls seemed to be dressed in the summer uniform, but a few wore the same more formal uniform as I had on. I noted that the uniforms seemed baggy on most of them and wondered if they knew it was a glowing welcome sign for bigs?
I noticed that they looked at Amanda and me with more than a little bit of terror in their eyes. Once we had ordered our food and dropped the trays off on the table I stood beside it while Amanda went to find a booster seat for me.
One of the littles came up to me nervously, “Hanging around someone like her isn’t good for you girl, you’ve got to run while her back is turned!”
I smiled at her, “I’m already adopted by her, so running isn’t something I’ll be doing.”
“But you’re in a university uniform? Did she just grab you?” The girl asked in shock.
“She’s letting me attend university still,” I told her with a smile. “Hi, I’m Stacy,” I told her.
“Umm… I’m Sarah,” she said nervously. I looked up at Sarah and took in her appearance in the regular school uniform. Hers hung baggily from her frame, but something about her stance and eyes said she had a powerful will to stay free. She stood about a foot taller than me, but that still made her tiny by Amazon standards. Brown hair hung loosely around her face, just brushing the top of her shoulders.
“So what are you majoring in?” I nervously asked the first free little I’d met since I’d arrived.
“Chemistry, I’m going to be a junior this year,” she told me. She looked around nervously, “you?”
“Computer Science,” I told her just as Amanda returned.
“Oh, did you make a friend Stacy?”
“Maybe if you don’t terrorize her too much,” I told her with a smile.
Sarah looked at me with terror evident her eyes! I guessed she was worried I was going to have the living daylights spanked out of me... or that she was in danger of being swept up right there to join the family. Amanda laughed at that look, “Sarah, you are safe – as safe as Stacy is. I’m not going to adopt you because you’re within arm's reach. Stacy is a special case and more of an exchange student we’re fostering. Why don’t you join us for lunch?” She suggested. I watched as she looked over at a group of other littles with horrified expressions on their faces.
“Umm… I think my friends are waiting. I hope you are telling the truth…” she said to Amanda, she looked back at me, “If you really are a full time student we’ll have to get together sometime and do something?”
“I’d like that,” I told her. “I just found out my university e-mail is swesterfield if you want to email me.”
“Umm… okay,” she said nervously running back to her friends. Amanda helped me into the booster seat and I watched as the group of littles nervously looked back at us multiple times.
I just sighed, “Am I like a leper since you’ve adopted me?”
“Some may see you like that,” Amanda said honestly.
“Great…”
“Others though may actually become a bit envious. You’ve got a protector that’s allowing you to go to college still – most of them would kill for that.”
I nodded at that as I picked small bites carefully out of the miniature cheesesteak sandwich I had gotten.
“I know, I’m just worried that I won’t have any friends?” I said softly.
She laughed at me, “Stacy, if I know anything about you after having you living with us this past week and a half I know this – you will have many friends both Little AND Amazon I’m guessing.”
“Why do you think anyone would want to be friends with me?” I asked her honestly. “It looked like hanging out with me made them think they were on a one-way trip to the nursery themselves.”
“Well aren’t they already?” she asked me honestly. “Sure they made it past their CARE test to get here - and they look to not be freshmen, so they’re probably at least on their second or third year of avoiding adoptions - but don’t kid yourself… Out of those ten littles over there at least nine of them will be adopted and messing their diapers within the next two years.”
I nodded, “And that’s just depressing,” I told her, “because they won’t find themselves a family like I have. They’re more likely to find a Chloe and have their brains turned to mush.”
Amanda smiled at me, “Well at least you’re safe,” she reminded me, “we can’t save the entire world…”
I nodded at that.
“So I have a schedule, and I know I have different orientation events to go to next week… but what else is up today?”
“Well we need to go to a store and pick up some things for you to have just in case something happens, and I want to go to a small supply store I heard about that sells little sized school and office supplies.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“Well if you’re done with lunch why don’t we find a bathroom to change you and we’ll get going?”
I looked over at the table of littles who occasionally still glanced at me and sighed, “Can we do that wherever we’re going?”
She laughed at me, “It’s either in the bathroom here or in the car?”
“Car,” I told her.
She looked surprised, but said, “Okay then, let’s go!”
She picked me up out of the booster seat and sat me on the ground. She then helped me put my backpack straps over my shoulder. I didn’t feel like an adult, but at least I did feel like more of one than the poor little we passed on the way back to the car. He wore a onesie splattered with baby food on the front. He was being being led with one of those backpack leashes in the shape of a monkey. I sighed knowing that it was quite possible that would be in my future on a non-school occasion!
I walked back alongside her to the car where she opened the back of the vehicle up and promptly picked me up and laid me back on the floor. Mercifully the diaper change was quick and the parking lot remained empty during it! “You really didn’t want those other littles to see me changing your diaper, did you?” She said as she buckled me into my seat.
“Well… not really. I feel like it’s kind of like when you’re a little kid and you want to hang out with the big kids…”
She laughed, “I’ll indulge you every now and then, but remember you are an adopted little. That means I’m expected to embarrass you and change your diapee in front of your friends from time to time.”
I blushed and said, “Sorry…”
She kissed me on the forehead, “It’s okay Stacy, I think it’s pretty natural. You’re going to have a tough time fitting in at school – you do have to understand that.” She paused, “Remember you are here for an education, not just for socializing.”
I sighed as she closed the door and got in to drive us wherever we were off to. I looked in the mirror and out the window as she drove hoping that moments like today would stop seeming like a big deal. When she stopped the car I was surprised to see we were in front of an electronics store that reminded me of a Fry’s. The storefront read Motherboards, and I simultaneously wondered if ‘Mother’ meant it had baby stuff too… Amanda unbuckled me and then held my hand as we walked towards the store. I was shocked as she skipped the carts and walked straight to what reminded me of a standalone cell kiosk just inside.
“Good afternoon Ma’am, how may I help you?” A polite older gentleman asked. He was shorter and looked to be eight-and-a-half feet tall with graying hair.
Amanda picked me up and sat me on top of the glass countertop. “My eighteen year-old daughter is going to college next week and I want her to have a new cell phone for me to call her. She’ll need to be able to look up homework stuff, and I guess probably text her friends with it too. I want to surprise her at her going away party this weekend.”
“I’m sure she’ll love that gift!” The man said, “Anything in particular you’re looking for?”
“Well she’s got a thing for wanting ridiculously tiny phones for some reason… What do you have in the compact sizes?”
“I’ve got just the thing for you! The Melon Corporation just put out this new CZ3 phone. It’s a tiny 4.6” screen that also makes it popular for littles. Not that one like yours ever needs one!” he smirked at me. “It’s kind of tough for a bigger hand to text on, but the voice recognition software is so solid you don’t really need it. You can also get the optional earpiece that taps into cognitive waves to do neuro-to-text to get even more accurate.”
“Well I’m not interested in the earpiece today, but show this phone to me.”
The man assumed I was the baby sister of the girl and didn’t matter at all, but Amanda was kind enough to hold the phone up for me to see. It looked something like an ultrathin iPhone with a modernized flexible display that bent all the way around if you wanted it to. It was more like a small phablet for my hands, but I couldn’t see doing any better. Its specs handily beat my phone from back home!
“I like it, we’ll take it!” She said.
“Great, is there anything else I can help you with today?”
“Well maybe…” she held my wrist up, “I’d like to get my daughter a wrist phone that can call me or I can locate her on…”
“Oh, little protection? That’s over there on aisle seventeen. There’s a bunch of models to choose from there!”
“Thanks! Do I need to pay for the phone here, or can I take it with me and pay up front?”
“Well it might be best to go find your little protection item over there and then we can setup the plans at the same time?”
“Sounds good,” she said as she picked me up by the armpits and sat me on the ground, “we’ll be back!”
Amanda grabbed my hand and held it as she led me around the store. The position really was awkward for both of us and I wasn’t sure why she didn’t just pick me up and carry me in the end. A part of me did appreciate her treating me a little more maturely even as my arm ached from the position…
We approached aisle seventeen and I instantly froze as I looked down an aisle that looked like something from a high-tech torture store!
Immediately my eyes focused on signs advertising, ‘Shock collars for little control,’ ‘Sound isolating earbuds – garble language recognition to condition your little to simple baby words only,’ and the horrifying list went on, and on, and on. I found myself gripping Amanda’s hand tighter and she actually instinctively picked me up and settled me on her hip, “It’s okay baby…”
I found myself shaking as we walked down an aisle of things I could only have imagined in my nightmares. ‘Special punishment’ tools were organized in a section complete with items that I was sure Chloe probably used on her littles for ‘release’ and punishment… I wanted to throw up at the sight of most of the items.
An employee in a bright orange polo spotted us and waved, “Can I help you Ma’am?”
“Umm… I hope so. I’m looking for a tracking device for my little girl here.”
“Oh, well have you seen our collars?” He said motioning towards the side, “This latest model is GPS sensitive to punish her if she leaves an area she’s supposed to be in. It can also put her to sleep by limiting air intake if you need to put her down to nap for a while…” I looked at a pink collar that looked to belong on a dog that was covered in lace on the edges. “Or we have…”
“Umm,” Amanda said interrupting, “my daughter is not a dog, I’m not a fan of collars.”
“Oh, well… That’s... an unusual opinion as they are quite popular right now… but okay, we have these down here,” he said bringing us to a section that included things that began to look like FitBit devices back home. “These have most of the same functionality. They’ll shock her if she misbehaves, leaves an area, and can be paired with some of our anal and vaginal…”
“Umm… still not what I’m looking for.”
The man was flustered, “Well what are you looking for?”
“Something she can wear on her wrist that can tell me where she is… maybe she can call me or I can call her on it?”
“Oh… you’re one of those…” he said condescendingly with a sigh. “Why would you want that?”
“If you can’t help me I’m sure I can find someone who can? Or maybe another store?” She suggested.
“No, I’ll help you, it’s just weird… It’s not like they’re intelligent adults or anything…” he muttered the last part.
I bit my tongue and didn’t say anything even as she gave me a tight squeeze, “To each their own. Now do you have something like I mentioned?”
“Yeah… come on down this way,” he said and led us all the way down the aisle to a small, almost forgotten looking, display.
I looked at a variety of colors of a few styles of devices called, “LittleProtect+” that seemed much less intimidating.
I started to read the signs and boxes but was distracted as he began a sales pitch. “These are designed primarily to be a GPS locator for your little. The bands,” he said as he grabbed a display model, “are made of a high-tech nano-carbon fiber and titanium mesh with a silicon covering for comfort. The bands can only be unlocked if the correct password is provided by an authorized device. Attempting to cut the band off will be all but impossible without surgical methods.”
I gulped at that and looked at the small display that reminded me of a cross between a narrow FitBit and an AppleWatch.
“What else does it do?”
“Well it does more than most parents want, including letting your little know the time by pressing on it. Of course it’ll say it for her since I’m sure she can’t read.” I fumed but didn’t say anything, “This one will also let the little wearing it video call up to four pre-set numbers. It also has an emergency button that when pressed three times rapidly and then held will send an emergency alert with the next minute of audio recorded and the location. You can then determine if it’s a real emergency or just the fact she didn’t like the color of her new diaper…”
I really wanted to hit him then as she asked, “Can I call it if I need to?”
“Oh yes, you can call it and look in on her. You can look up her location at any time too… It even has an option like the better devices that can be marked with GeoFencing and let you know if she goes out of bounds… Doesn’t have a shock capability sadly.”
“We’ll keep looking at it on our own, thanks,” she told him.
“You don’t need…?”
“No, we’ll be fine,” she said to him.
“Okay, I’ll be down the aisle if you need me…”
When he walked away I said, “He’s a total ass…”
She smirked at me, “Yes he is, but mind your manners and language…”
“Yes Mommy…”
She hugged me, “It looks like this one also does fitness tracking… ooh, how cute! It also has a built in tamagotchi style pet you can take care of. Seems like the best bet to me and the cellular contract should work well I hope.”
“It definitely seems to be the most humane …” I noted.
“Sweetie this could potentially save you if you get kidnapped. We’ll put it on just tight enough you can’t get it off without cutting it off. It says it can last for six-months on a charge, so we’ll be able to just leave it on to keep you safe.”
“Watching where I am all the time?” I grumbled.
“And just where do you think you would go?”
I sighed, “I know… just a little big brother’ish to me.”
“I get that…” she admitted, “but you have to admit you are too cute… someone will probably try something every day there at school.”
“Will this at least help make it clear I’m ‘adopted?’” I asked.
“Maybe… It’ll definitely make you safer, so we’re going to get one. What color do you want?”
I looked at the options and then looked down at my most definitely now feminine self. ‘I can give in to my favorite color now actually…’ I thought to myself. “That purple one,” I said while pointing to the dark purple band.
“Are you sure? Might be hard to coordinate with some of your outfits, the pink might…?”
“Purple,” I told her.
“How about this lighter purple?”
I shook my head, “the dark purple please.”
She sighed, “I guess I said you could choose.” I watched as she grabbed a box in her left hand and walked around the corner of the aisle and walked around I figured to avoid the man and the despicable aisle. She carried me back to the man at the counter and once again sat me down on it while he waited on us. The plans were setup for the cell phone and the watch with the carriers.
“Do you want to go ahead and put this on her now?” The man asked, far nicer than the ass in the aisle.
“Sure, what do I have to do?” Amanda asked.
I watched as she downloaded the app and connected to it before programming in a password that looked like the standard one around their house. “Hold out your hand baby,” she told me.
With my wrist outstretched she attached the watch on the opposite wrist from my charm bracelet. The device really wasn’t too much bigger on me than my old AppleWatch was back home. It felt comfortable and I watched as with the press of a button some sort of relay on the band closed and it cinched itself tight to my wrist. “Is that too tight?” She asked.
I felt it with my hand for a moment and realized there was a little bit of give at least. “I think it’s okay,” I told her.
“Great!” she told me and kissed me on my head. “Try calling me!”
I pressed the simple button to call contacts and pressed, ‘Mommy,’ while noting she had also quickly programmed ‘Daddy,’ and ‘Megan’ into it. Instantly I could see her face on my watch and she could see mine on her phone. We tested it for a second before she hung up on me and said, “Thank you!” to the guy at the counter.
“Any time, thanks for shopping at Motherboards!”
She carried me, and the bag with my new phone out to the car, “Okay, one more stop and then we’ll go home so I can get something going for dinner.”
“Okay,” I told her and began playing with my new watch.
The interface was cludgy and reminded me of something like a Chinese knock-off of a better product, but given the price she’d paid I knew that couldn’t really be the case. I pressed the time button and listened as it said that it was “Two-thirty in the afternoon,” in a vaguely Siri like voice. It was a little more motherly and condescending though in its tone. I shrugged that off though and pressed the button for ‘Pet’ and a menu came up asking me what kind of pet I would like to raise. I clicked through and decided to raise a tiger looking creature.
I was actually pretty enthralled apparently with naming it, feeding it, and a couple other little parts of the silly game, because I was startled when Amanda was suddenly unbuckling me.
“Having fun?” She asked with a smile.
I blushed, “For a little bit I guess…”
She laughed, “Don’t be embarrassed, I thought it sounded like a cute idea myself.”
“Where are we?”
“”Little Notes,” she told me, “it’s an office supply store for littles. I’m hoping we can find your school supplies and such here.”
“Oh,” I said as she lifted me up and sat me on my own two feet again.
“Hopefully I don’t bash my head too many times inside…” she grumbled.
“Huh?” I said as she motioned be forward without taking my hand.
She held the door open for me, but I could have reached up and grabbed the handle if I needed to! It made me look around and I immediately realized it felt like we were actually back home in my dimension almost. I turned and watched her duck her head and laughed when I saw she had to hunch over to not hit the ceiling with her head.
“Uh-huh, laugh it up little girl,” she told me while sticking my tongue out.
“Umm… Welcome to Little Notes…” a little that was about a foot and a half taller than me said as she approached.
“Hi,” I said.
“Umm… not to be rude ma’am, but we don’t get many big folk in here… how can we help you folks?”
Amanda nudged me forward, “Stacy needs some supplies for college and I’m hoping you have some items that are a it more in her size than we can find in a big store.”
“You’re her…?” The girl asked nervously as a man a little taller than her joined her. I realized the whole store felt much more mom and popish than like a chain.
“Foster mother?” I suggested helpfully. “I’m boarding with her and her husband while I go to school in this dimension.”
“That just makes my head hurt,” the man said.
The lady smacked him on the shoulder, “Don’t be rude you idiot…” she whispered.
For Amanda’s part she just laughed, “You’re safe from me trying to adopt you. So I don’t wreck half your ceiling, can you help out Stacy in finding her stuff? I’ll just have a seat over here on the floor while you do so?”
I turned and looked again at Amanda who looked like an adult who had just managed to squeeze into their child’s treehouse. I turned back at the lady and she said, “Umm… sure. What school is she going to?”
“Doesn’t my uniform give that away?” I asked.
“She could mean pre-school or elementary school in all honesty,” the man said kindly to me.
“I’m going to Emerson as a university student,” I told them and decided I was going to take the reigns here if Amanda was going to let me. “Can you show me your pens?”
I ended up making a pretty hefty pile during a few trips around the store with the girls help who was apparently named Bella. When we were down far from Amanda though she asked, “Do you want me to get someone to break you away from her? I have connections in the underground railroad…”
I shook my head, “No, she really is as good as it’s going to get and they’re letting me go to school. The deal is that they return me back home when I’m done.”
“Have you taken the CAREs text yet?” She asked nervously.
I looked at her closer and realized she was dressed mostly like an adult in my world with her hair in a low ponytail. She seemed genuinely concerned, “I did, I passed.”
“You passed?!?” she asked, “Only about one in a hundred do that… What did you do?”
“Well I’m in diapers for the long haul here – it’s one of the things she does want, but her husband’s a doctor and we used some laxatives and other things to clear me out before hand completely… It sucked, but I watched everyone else get carted I assume to the nearest orphanage to become a drooling baby.”
She nodded sadly, “It’s a major risk anymore to try and get in. They launched those tests a decade ago, but only last year mandated the no breaks rule… Not everyone has found out about that yet.”
That confirmed something I had thought about the books being really high on the shelves, “I kind of wondered…” I said as we brought back a fourth stack of notebooks and binders. “How are you still free?”
“I have a few friends that help out… but I wasn’t always free.” She whispered the last part to me, “Right out of high school one of the Amazons in my class took me as soon as I walked across the stage right in front of my parents.”
My mouth opened, “Oh my God… how’d you get free?”
“It was right when the laws changed the first time to being more free for us… my parents went to court and helped me out since I hadn’t given the girl permission, or cause by wetting my pants or anything. I still had to be her baby for six months while the case ran its course, lost all of my potty training, only ate baby food and breast milk, and wore clothes that didn’t let me so much as crawl… It sucked,” she told me with a lot of pain in her face.
“Sounds like Amanda’s sisters littles… now there’s a monster. Her one sister has taken all of her girls teeth… it’s scary.”
“Seems like you may have landed one of the few decent ones. Watch her though… I’m going to give you a card with a number on it. If you get in a jam send a text and we can possibly get you in touch with some help.”
“Not sure how much good it’ll do me since the alarms ring the second I get into the port,” I told her quietly as we finished grabbing the last few things I could think of.
“You’re chipped?” She asked nervously.
“Yeah…”
“Know where?”
“Yes.”
“They can probably help… but that won’t be easy.”
“I figured,” I said.
“Mommy I think we have it all,” I said to Amanda a moment later and she came over to use her credit card chip on the reader. The total made my eyes open, but I knew that was pretty normal getting ready for college.
Amanda grabbed six full bags from the counter and I grabbed two and led me outside after I said, “Thanks for your help!”
“Thank you all, good luck at school!” she told me.
Amanda placed the bags in the back before settling me back into my car seat. “Thirsty?” she asked me.
I sighed and nodded, “Kind of.”
She dug around underneath me in the diaper bag and handed me a sippy cup. “Here you go.”
I was surprised it wasn’t a bottle, but didn’t want to make her change her mind so I took it and said, “Thanks,” to her. The apple juice inside did taste really good and I reflected that today had so far been a very odd day.
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Thank you to all of your for posting comments! I really am glad you are enjoying the work enough to do so! I'm traveling right now and won't probably be able to post anything again until July 3rd or so. I can get on sporadically through Saturday to check for comments though. Thanks again for reading!
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