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?"
"Of course, Mom. I kinda feel I owe it to Jess after what I've done."
"Perhaps. Let's just hope that when Jess gets back, she won't take it the wrong way."
That night, as the dishes were being cleared away and a delicious caramel apple pie was being laid out for dessert, Mrs. Anderson took the envelope from her back pocket and took a deep breath.
"Jessica, honey, this came for you in the mail today," Mrs. Anderson said, handing Jessica the envelope.
"Why didn't Liz hand it to me when she took the mail in this morning? I was sitting right there," Jess inquired as she took the envelope.
"Yes, well..." Liz started.
"There's no need, Elizabeth," Mrs. Anderson chided. Mr. Anderson said nothing during the whole proceeding.
A look of utter shock grew over Jessica's face as she opened the envelope and examined the contents.
"What the hell is this? How did this all happen?"
"Well, Jess," Elizabeth began, stammering at first but then mastering her voice, "I kind of entered you in that contest. That letter came today, announcing that you've been chosen as a semi-finalist."
"And WHY did you enter me?" Jessica demanded. "Do you think I'm some kind of baby or something?"
"Jess," Elizabeth began nervously, "a few weeks back, we were around the house watching TV. As we were making lunch, I caught a glimpse of a white plastic waistband when you bent over to grab something from the fridge. I asked you to hand me the mustard, not believing my eyes, and, sure enough, I saw the waistband of your diaper. When you stood up, I could make out the outline of your diaper beneath your jeans. When I found out about this contest, I thought it would be good for you. You're my sister and my best friend, and I love you. I did this because I want what's best for you."
"Well, surely then you would have noticed that I stopped wearing diapers about two weeks ago," Jess retorted indignantly.
"Yes, Jess, I did notice. I also noticed the other day when you nearly wet your pants because you weren't wearing a diaper and didn't realize you needed to pee until it was almost too late."
Jess had to concede that point. It was true that she nearly wet her pants. This didn't forgive her sister's actions, however. Suddenly she raged at her sister.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU DID," Jess screamed. Her parents and Elizabeth were taken aback. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON IN MY LIFE. AND HERE YOU GO ENTERING ME INTO THIS CONTEST LIKE I'M SOME SORT OF BABY. WELL, I'M NOT GOING! I'M NOT GOING, AND I DON'T WEAR DIAPERS, AND I'M NOT A GODDAMNED BABY. SO STAY OUT OF MY LIFE!!!"
"Your father and I have both decided," Mrs. Anderson began, "that you will be going to this conference, sweetie. It will be good for you. We're not mad at you. We just want to support you. And the reason your sister doesn't know what's going on in your life is the same reason that your father and I don't. You won't tell us. We know that you snuck diapers from the Roberts' while babysitting, and you were a bit careless about hiding the diapers you had bought for yourself. Elizabeth is not the only one to have caught you. But you're missing the point. This is not a punishment. We're trying to help you to figure out what you want and what you need. If you go to this conference and come back deciding you want to be back in diapers, then that's fine by us. Your father, sister, and I will do what we can to accommodate you. If you want to be babied, we'll see what we can do. And if it's just diapers, that's fine as well. But you need to be honest, first with yourself but also with your family. We love you, diapers or not."
At this point, Jessica burst into tears. "I'm not a baby. I'm not a baby. I'm not a baby," she sobbed.
In spite of her words, urine was flooding into her shorts. She only noticed it as she was catching her breath and beginning to calm down. Elizabeth, Mr. Anderson, and Mrs. Anderson all caught each other's eyes and waited for Jess to recognize what she was doing.
Sure enough, no sooner had Jess's breath returned to normal and her heart rate slowed than she realized that she had indeed wet her pants just like the baby she said she wasn't. Horrifically ashamed, she ran upstairs to her room, slammed the door behind her, and flung herself on her bed, not even bothering to put on something dry, crying, utterly ashamed of herself.
"I'm proud of you, Liz," Mr. Anderson said. "It took a lot of courage to do what you did. I just hope, for Jess's sake, that the desired effect is achieved."
"I believe we all do, Dad," Liz remarked.
Upstairs, Jess was an utter disaster. Her emotions were at war with each other. She was horrified and angry with Elizabeth for entering her into that contest, yet she knew she wanted to go. Here was the opportunity she should be longing for, but it had awful timing and even worse delivery. Deep down, she knew that her sister and parents wanted what was best for her, but it was just the way it happened. Here she thought no one knew about her diaper-wearing, but apparently everyone knew. They had known for weeks. It was as if the bigger secret was that Jess's secret wasn't secret at all.
As if that weren't bad enough, just as she finished asserting that she wasn't a baby, Jess realized she was wetting her pants. That was real mature of her, wetting her pants like a three-year-old. Jess just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Yes, crawl. That would be awful fitting for a big baby who needs to be put back in diapers where she belongs.
Despite her incessant sobbing, Jess heard a soft knock at the door. "Go away! I don't want to talk to anyone!"
"Jess, it's your mother."
"I said I don't want to talk to anyone!"
"Jess, I love you. Do you know what you do when you love someone, Jess? You stand by them through thick and thin. If you think I'm going anywhere, you've got another thing coming."