✅ Unusual Vacancy

Part 11 - The Negotiation

"I'm not a kitten. I'm a big girl," Amy pouted, "I'm gonna prove it, I'm a big girl." She knew that she didn't sound like a big girl, but she never heard her words until they came out of her mouth. "It's embarrassing! I can go potty by myself." She blushed crimson at the last line. She was losing more and more grown-up words, she was sure.

"Not now you can't. You just need an adult to help you with your diaper. I might have let you try to go by yourself, but you couldn't behave. So you'll have to ask for our help until you're ready to accept your position here. Are you going to be good now?"

"Okay," Amy nodded, "I'm gonna show you! I'm a big girl."

"Good girl," Auburn ran a hand over the toddler's head, petting her like a kitten. Amy knew she'd normally be upset if somebody did that, because she didn't like being looked down on. But it felt nice, and for a few seconds she couldn't help purring.

"I think maybe you got a problem, though," Auburn continued, while Amy sought for a happy medium between her delighted grin and the aura of professionalism she wanted to present. "You keep on trying to be a grown-up. Are you planning to carry on with that?"

"I am!" Amy nodded. "I am growned up."

"And that's a good thing, something to be proud of. But for your first session here, you're a little girl again. Even I had to be a little girl the first month I worked here, so I could learn how the system worked. Fighting against the rules will just make you frustrated; you need to relax so that you can enjoy it. I'm sure you won't get as much out of it if you keep on trying to be grown-up when you're not. We want you to enjoy yourself, and you can do that better if you just accept being little for now. Do you understand?"

Amy thought about it, and then nodded. She could go out and play like a little kid, and forget her life before. She was sure she would enjoy it, but she didn't know if she could get over the embarrassment enough to try. Even thinking about it, she couldn't help blushing a little. And she was sure she couldn't face the embarrassment of coming right back inside in five or ten minutes so she could ask to use the restroom. At the very least she wanted to wait until a different member of staff was on duty. Even someone she could persuade to remove these restrictions. But for now she was stuck here, and she knew that showing open opposition would only make things harder.

"Maybe," she mumbled.

"How about you think about that for me? Try to decide what you want to do now. I'll let you remember some big words now, so we can talk about it properly. Just for a little while, okay?" she tapped on her tablet again. Amy didn't feel any different, but then she hadn't realised her vocabulary was shrinking until she'd tried to use bigger words and found out she couldn't remember them

"Now, you can understand me a little more easily? We usually try not to do this, but I want to give you the choice. See, you've signed up for a twenty-two-day assignment, and once you're in the system there's quite a few problems trying to bring in somebody else. Because of the way the money's set up, we can only pay you in chunks for that many days, because of some complicated tax thing that I'm sure you won't understand now. So, you're here for the duration."

"Do I have to be this little?" Amy asked, "I could be a nurse like you?"

"I'm afraid that the adult carers have a whole lot more career requirements. And... this is a bit of a secret, but most of us do both. Seeing how much fun the little ones have, we would want to try it at least once. And we have, because they asked us all to do this for our first rotation. To ensure that we all have a thorough understanding of what happens here. So if you stick around, you might see me when we're the same age next time. I'm not an adult talking down to you, I've been there. And I promise you, if you give it a try, you will enjoy it."

"I can't, though. It's embarrassing. I can do playing, and running around like a little kid. Playing the part, I can see already how much fun they're having. But pretending to be helpless? Like, you said I have to wear diapers and I have to ask for help any time I need to use the bathroom, because I'm locked into them? I don't know if I could bring myself to ask something like that. Please, I'll be a little kid, but let me keep my dignity?"

There. She'd said it. That was as far as Amy felt she could compromise, and she still held out a little hope that her pleas would be heard. Everything else she could cope with, but this was one line she would never be prepared to cross.