I woke up early, and I already knew that something was different. We were still at the beach house, where we'd been having so much fun on this holiday. But this time I wasn't wearing any babyish clothes in punishment for an 'accident' the day before; I wasn't wet from being put to sleep with Mister Tunes; and I knew there was no way that Mum would be waiting to help me eat breakfast like a little kid before I had to change for the day ahead.
Last night had turned out in the worst possible way; and this time it wasn't the fallout from me trying to get revenge, or even Lindy's attempts to humiliate me. This time it had been sheer bad luck that Mum had been in the bathroom when I woke up. She'd seen me coming to tip away a bowl of warm water, and wanted to know what it was for. I had tried to brush it off, making some lame excuse, because I had some kind of drowsy hope that I might be able to brush this one off without getting Lindy in trouble. But Mum had looked at the doors to our rooms, and seen that Lindy's handle was at an angle. A clear indication that I'd locked it from the outside, trying to make Lindy feel secure even though I'd been in her room. That much was true, but after years of prank wars I knew it would be hard for Mum to accept that I hadn't had some nefarious purpose. Those suspicions had been confirmed when Lindy came to the door, asking what the commotion was. She was wearing a soaked diaper, and there was a damp handprint faintly visible on her pyjamas.
I tried to tell Mum that the handprint was mine, but she wanted to know more. I'd been torn between telling the truth, and getting my little sister in trouble. Knowing that the punishment for misbehaving included elements that Mum was sure would be too much for me, I hadn't wanted either of us to suffer that fate. But apparently Lindy had less reservations. She quickly called for me to be punished, saying that she wouldn't have wet the bed without me doing something to cause it. She feigned ignorance of the handprint, and acted all surprised when Mum told her that I';d clearly put her hand in a bowl of water. When Mum explained that classic prank, Lindy pretended that she had never heard of it before, an act which I was sure would be too suspicious to be believable. But Mum just nodded, and told me how disappointed she was that I would consider something like that, after all the warnings she had given. I knew her opinions on retribution, and I should have known better.
I had tried telling the truth, but I knew that it would sound absurd. So I'd gone to sleep trying to think when Lindy could have wet herself. Like Mum said, after all the problems there could have been no way she would do it deliberately. Not even to prank me. Did the sound of the ocean sound more like running water in my room than it did in hers? Had she wet herself while waiting for me to do the same, and I hadn't even noticed as I carried her back? It was hard to believe, but it was the only option I could think of.
And now it was morning. Time for a big lecture, and time for me to find out what my punishment would be. When I left my room, I saw that Lindy was up at the same time. And I begged her to tell Mum the truth, or just to ask her to show mercy. If she said it wasn't a big deal, Mum would tone down the punishment a little. But Lindy said she couldn't believe that I'd done that to her after all the problems she'd had. She said she had really hoped that I was going to be nicer than I had been last time; and she hated that sisters couldn't trust each other. Like she really believed it; or like she thought I was trying to trap her for a recording. I didn't want to believe either option; I wanted her to trust me more than anything. I told her that I hadn't done anything, but there was no way she would believe me. And then she pointed out that I would be getting the full baby treatment now, complete with the things that Mum had kept secret from me so far. The mittens didn't seem so bad for a couple of hours, but I was sure I wouldn't enjoy having my hands taken away for a longer time. And the other surprise; I didn't even have a clue.
"Good morning, girls," Mum said at breakfast. She'd already gotten started in the kitchen while we were talking upstairs, and set a plate of waffles down in front of Lindy as soon as we reached the table. The stack was decorated with a mound of Nutella, slices of mixed fruit, and little pieces of crispy waffles. The kind of breakfast that would take a little extra effort, like she was trying to cheer Lindy up.
"Does Sally get to be a baby for the rest of the week?" Lindy said with a grin. "She deserves it after what she did."
"I didn't do anything," I said. "I woke up with my hand in a bowl of water, and went to tip it away."
"And you were in Lindy's room?"
"She was in my room. She was sitting on the floor, fell asleep leaning against the bookcase. I carried her back to bed. Even if she's trying to pull a stupid prank that doesn't work, I don't want her to be exhausted in the morning."
"So why did I wet myself?" Lindy asked. And then I knew that she'd done it deliberately. In all the times I'd pranked her, or when she was having a problem from stress last year, that was the first time she had ever admitted wetting herself. Before she'd always accused me of putting her hand in water, or said that I tried to embarrass her. Sometimes she might have said that her diaper was wet, or her sheets were wet, but it felt like a subtly important distinction that she had never acknowledged that she wet herself.
"I don't know," I said, not mentioning any of my suspicions. Even saying what I already knew would have gotten me in so much trouble. "I didn't do anything last night, it's nothing to do with me. You have to believe me, I just want a happy holiday with my family, I barely even thought about innocent pranks."
"You didn't do anything last night?" she leapt on my words in an instant. "So you did some other night? Is that what you're saying?"
"No! I... maybe the night before, okay? But I was so mad then because of your trick with the paprika. After you promised you wouldn't do that again. I know it was stupid, and you were happy to get out of punishment for that."
"How about you tell the truth? Then maybe I can forgive you."
"Okay," I sighed, and realised that she'd just been manipulating me. She wanted me to confess to the unforgivable. But the fact remained that I'd done something terrible, just to satisfy my own curiosity about diapers. And I'd kept on doing it every time I got angry with her, even after I promised myself again and again that I wouldn't. Perhaps admitting it would give me a little self-control; or at least the fear of punishment that might keep me from falling back into bad habits so easily.
"Okay, I was just being observant. There was one time you were more tired than usual. You fell asleep with the radio on in your room, instead of your audiobooks. And then that time in the lounge, there was a documentary on about a riverboat. And in the car, when I checked the history on what ambient sounds it had been playing, it was a waterfall noise. I think I'd already noticed, but that really confirmed it." Okay, so that was a long way from the truth. But I needed to tell Mum my secret, and how the trick had been done. The exact dates weren't important. "I checked online, and there's been scientific studies to show that sounds in certain phases of sleep, at exactly the right time, can make it into your dreams. And for some people, dreaming about running water can make... other things happen. It's like one person in two hundred that it works for, but the sound of running water at exactly the right point in your sleep cycle... You had that from the radio or TV a couple of times. And yesterday, after that cinnamon thing, I thought I'd test it. I checked your sleep cycle on your watch. Then played ten seconds of waterfall sounds through the speaker in your room at just the right time. I'm sorry. But when I was sitting in the bathroom suffering from your idea of a prak, it's hard not to have revenge on my mind."
"See Mum! She should be punished for more than a week, be a complete baby even when we get back–"
"You already agreed that you weren't going to push that further," Mum said sharply. "We had this conversation yesterday. And after what you tried to do to Sally with her allergies, I would say that's a step down in terms of revenge. Maybe I should still punish both of you. And continuing over your first days in high school? If you really think it's that serious then–"
"Okay I get it!" she said. "Yeah, that's smart. I never even knew that was a thing. Yeah, you got one over on me. But you got your revenge. So why last night? I still say that doing it again, when I did my best to make up for teasing you all day, is good for punishment."
Mum thought about it for a few minutes, and then turned to me.
"Sally? You know my views on retribution. You know that I just want what's best for my family, don't you? So will you take your punishment willingly, and perhaps we can be a happy family again before we go home? Can you do that for me?"
It wasn't fair. I wanted to protest; and when I thought about whatever mysterious things she had to add on, I wanted to scream. But I also knew that Mum was convinced of my guilt now. And if I fought against her, it would ruin the holiday for all of us. Being a baby for a week was bound to have some uncomfortable parts, but I was equally sure that there would be bits I enjoyed as well. And if that didn't cure me of this weird new obsession, maybe nothing would. It wouldn't be as bad as Lindy thought, I was sure, and then maybe I could talk to Hugo without thoughts of being babied polluting my mind's eye and distracting me; it might make the rest of our conversation a little easier. So even if it scared me a little, I knew that in the end this punishment was probably something I could live with.
"Yeah," I nodded. "I didn't do anything last night, I really didn't. But if I have to be punished, I'd rather get it over with. Where do we start?"