Diapers for Jessica

Chapter 13

The sun pried its way through the clouds to reveal a warm Saturday morning. Yawning, Elizabeth stretched and opened her eyes. Realizing what day it was, she nearly jumped out of bed and ran for the shower. After getting dressed, the wait officially began.

"You okay, sis?" Jess asked, noticing her sister's anticipation.

"Yeah, I'm just full of energy today for some reason," Liz replied.

"Ah. I see."

Liz felt like she had ADD for the first time in her life. She couldn't sit still, and she couldn't focus on anything for longer than five minutes.

Three hours later, the mail still hadn't come. Liz sat in front of the TV, feeling dejected. Her mind suddenly clouded with doubts. Would Jessica even become a semi-finalist in the contest? Then, it started to sink in that if Jess were to get in, it would cause a rift between herself and Jess for the first time in her life. Better to prepare herself for that instead of just waiting for the mail.

She wondered what Jess's reaction would be. She suspected it wouldn't be pretty and hoped she could convince Jess that she had the best intentions. All she could do now was wait and hope for the best.

As luck would have it, just as Liz was about to give up hope, she heard the familiar sound of the mailbox being opened and closed again. Like lightning, she was up and at the front door, opening it and grabbing the mail.

Mom, Dad, Mom, Dad, Dad, Dad, Mom, she thought as she sorted through the envelopes. Of course, it was the last one in the pile. It was a thick pink envelope addressed to Ms. Jessica Anderson. The return address was the pink Pampers logo that everyone was all too familiar with.

Stuffing the envelope into her back pocket, Liz put the rest of the mail on the table in the living room and made her way upstairs ever so nonchalantly.

"Anything exciting?" Jess asked, peering away from the television.

"No, I got a thing about some college though, or it looks like that anyway," Liz replied. Her heart was pounding, and she tried very hard not to betray her excitement to her sister. Liz forced herself to walk slowly back up to her room. Shutting the door behind her, she grabbed the envelope from her back pocket and flung herself onto her bed.

"Dear Ms. Jessica Anderson," Elizabeth read, unfolding the first page of the letter. "Thank you for entering our Pampers Princess Sweepstakes. We are pleased to announce that you have been selected as one of the one hundred semi-finalists. You will find all the necessary information within this packet. We look forward to seeing you in two weeks at the start of this conference. Sincerely, Susan Valentine."

Looking through the rest of the packet, Elizabeth noted descriptions of the various activities, courses, and panels to be conducted at the conference. There was also a description of the accommodations and benefits the participants would receive. There was a diaper size request form both for conference use and the two years' free diapers. Also on that form was a space for t-shirt size so that each baby would receive the correct size for their uniform shirts. Just then, there was a knock at Liz's door. Shoving the paperwork underneath her pillow, Liz opened the door to find her mother standing there. She let her mother pass into the room and shut the door behind her.

"Well?" Mrs. Anderson asked conspiratorially.

"She's in," Elizabeth replied while blushing at the thought. She was responsible for all this, after all. "Here's the information," she said as she handed her mother the information packet. "Any idea how we're going to break the news to her?"

"I've got an idea, but I'm not sure how well it's going to work. I told your father about the whole thing and, while he wasn't too happy with you at first, I was able to persuade him that you had Jess's best interests at heart and that this experience might help Jess sort out her feelings about diapers, and he's behind me 100%. The three of us will have to talk about how things will be when she gets back as soon as she's gone. I trust I can still count on you to be the big sister, Elizabeth?"