✅ My Sister's Problem

125. My Baby Sister

"Huh?"

"After your outburst, I had to tell Hugo about the punishment. And he said he'd like to be my babysitter. I think he felt guilty about that, but... you know? It's not that bad. I can forget about chores, play with toys, and have this nice guy giving me all his attention."

After that, I looked around quickly. Suddenly terrified that Hugo might have been close enough to hear, but he was watching us play from a deckchair on the other side of the area, and I didn't think our voices would carry that far.

"Yeah," Lindy admitted a second later. "Maybe I can enjoy it a bit. Just play along, right? Imagine what I would have done when I was a little kid, and keep doing that. It's only a couple of days, I can do that." And then her shoulders slumped again.

"What's wrong, sis?" I asked.

"The thought of keeping this up for two days scares me. I don't know if I could handle it. And I made you go through this for way longer. I didn't realise it could be such a big deal. And you couldn't even talk about it. That makes a big difference. I've been a monster, haven't I? Almost all summer."

"And you've learned. I'm pretty sure you won't do that again now."

"Yeah. No way. I can manage a day of this, anyway. Maybe two. And I think I learned the difference between a prank and being cruel. I'll stick with this now, being the baby. I know I deserve it really, and I'm not..."

Her voice trailed off, but I could guess what was going through her mind this time. After I'd been babied for most of the week, it would be a big blow to her pride if she was begging for forgiveness after just a couple of hours. She knew that if she asked nicely, she probably wouldn't have to go through this anymore. But she didn't want us to think she was weaker than me, so she felt like she had to keep going.

So I played with my sister. We built a sandcastle together. I seemed to be better at making moats and walls; getting a pile of sand just damp enough to stick together, so that it would be stable. I could build almost twice as fast as Lindy's best efforts. But she knew all the stuff about proportions and stuff, so she could decide where the different bits should go to make it look good. And between us, we managed to make a pretty nice little castle. When we were finished, Mum and Hugo were both praising us. More blushes; and I could see that Lindy had managed to find a smile as well. So long as she was doing something creative, maybe she didn't feel so bad about being treated like a baby.

After we'd been playing for a while, Lindy shuffled over to me. She'd been crawling for a while now; Mum hadn't scolded her for standing, but she seemed to have realised that I'd had to stay on the floor for most of my time as a baby. Lindy still didn't seem to like it, but she was determined to prove that she could cope with the same things I had. Or perhaps this was her way of trying to make it up to me; that she really regretted what she had done.

"You okay?" I asked. I could tell there was something she wanted to say, but I didn't have a clue what it could have been. Whatever it was, she was having trouble finding the words.

"I need to pee," she mumbled eventually. "Do I have to... I said that you weren't allowed to use the bathroom, didn't I? Mum kept on asking if I thought it was fair, and I always pushed for the harshest thing I could think of. But that's so gross, I don't want to..."

"If you tell Mum, she'll probably let you go," I said. "Punishment isn't supposed to hurt you. It's just to make sure you don't do it again."

"But that's not fair..." Lindy whimpered, and for a moment that only seemed to upset her more. "I just wanted to hurt you. And I made you do things I'd never do myself. Why do I always get the easy choice? You should be nasty sometimes."

"Not to my little sister. I mean... it's gross! It's bad enough waking up, but I can't..."

"I'm sure you can get out of it," I reassured her. "But if you feel like you have to do it, I will too. We're in this together." It was probably the weirdest thing I'd ever offered her, but it was the only way I could think of to show my support. She thought about it for a moment, and then nodded.

"I should," she said. "I made you. And I laughed at you when you said it was hard. I didn't think about it." And after she said that, she let herself stare into space, obviously trying to persuade her body to relax. I remembered how hard I'd found it to wet a diaper the first time I tried wearing one... now I'd gotten used to it, and it no longer seemed like such a big deal. But for Lindy, who didn't even want to, it must be tough.

"I can't," she said after a while.

"Did you try imagining you're in the bathroom?"

"Yeah, but..."

"I know. You could ask Mommy or Hugo to say those words?"

"It's too embarrassing," she said, cheeks already turning pink. "Can you say it? I think... you were the babysitter before, I can't remember if that's over. It might work?"

"Maybe," I said, thinking back to a moment during the marathon. "If you think back to the times it worked, how it felt the first time Mommy made you pee. Try to imagine me saying it, and just going with the flow. Let yourself get carried away with what's happening in your imagination, right? That might be easier."

"Okay, Mommy," she said, and I could see her blushing then. This was hard for her, but she wanted to prove that she was really turning over a new leaf.

"Pee for Mommy," I said. "Just let it go." And after a second, she managed to find that place in her mind where it was okay to let it happen. And because I'd promised, I knew that I had to do the same. I imagined Mommy saying the words, and how helpless it always made me feel. Even without her actually there to say it, I could feel the warmth filling my diaper.

"What now?" Lindy squeaked, nervously.

"I guess we wait for the grown-ups to change us. I mean, unless you're really uncomfortable. We don't need to think about that stuff, do we? We're just babies."

"Okay," she said, and we crawled back to the sandcastle, to keep on trying to decorate our creation until Mum called us in for dinner. It was a bit of a weird feeling, but I knew that I could trust my sister now. Just babies, with nothing to think about but playing on the beach.