⌚ New Experiences

24. The Other Side

"Now, what shall we play today?" Lulu asked, "Anybody got any ideas?"

"That's a new one," Paper whispered, close enough that she thought the little girls couldn't hear. "You're not taking charge today?"

"Shush, or you'll get a spanking in front of your kittens," Lulu answered with a flash of anger that it was obvious she didn't really feel. "I'm just not so good with this kind of thing. Like, he's more childish than last time. Acting like a real kid. How will he feel about dominance? We shouldn't have made him too young to..." then she glanced over, and it was obvious she'd seen Spanky staring at her lips. She continued: "You know what I mean. But this nurturing side isn't my kind of game. What activities have we got if they're acting like cubs?"

"I think there were toys in the cupboard. Building blocks, I think, they could entertain them a little. Or we could find out what's in some more of the surprises Master left them."

"You like blocks?" Lulu called to the cubs. "I don't know if you got any other toys round here."

"Yeah," Spanky and Dawn nodded enthusiastically. Spanky couldn't remember what toys he had, but he was sure the blocks would be fun. They were big wooden ones, bigger than his fist, and they had a different letter on every side. He'd tried to spell out Master's name when he first got them, but he hadn't been able to remember what order to put the letters in, or which way up they went. But he knew he'd grown up since then. Maybe if he was smarter, he might be able to do it right this time.

Once Paper gave him permission, he waddled over to the cupboard again and opened the special lock. He felt really proud as he did that, knowing that he had done well if Mommy would let him in there. That was a special place, full of grown-up stuff.

He took the blocks out one by one, and put them in a little pile behind him. He tried to make them neat, to show what a good girl he was. But sometimes he couldn't bend down in the right place, the thickness of the diaper between his legs getting in the way, and the wooden blocks tumbled onto the carpet.

He turned around, and saw that Dawn had already gathered a little pile of them, and was trying to put them into a tower.

"Aww, are you a little baby?" he giggled, forgetting for a minute that he was trying to be nice. "I mean, sorry Dawn. But see, the blocks have got letters on. You can't put them just any way up, they're supposed to say something. Are you old enough to read?"

"I did!" she pouted, butting her hands on her hips and glaring at him, "I made a word!"

Spanky looked at her tower again, and tried hard to read it. The 'W' was upside down, and the 'L' was on its side, but he still managed to read them well enough to say "Wo-mlee".

"Dawn," he squatted down next to his sister, "I think that's not a real word."

"Silly!" she giggled, losing her bad mood right away, "On the other side!"

This time Spanky got up and waddled round. He was sure that Dawn must be playing some trick on him, because she couldn't even see the other side of the tower from where she was sitting. But when he got there, he could see it quite clearly. From top to bottom, the letters spelled out 'P∀PER'.

"You got it wrong," he said, pouting. "You spelled it wrong, you gotta start again."

"No she hasn't," Paper shook her head. She could see, of course. The word was pointing right towards her. "You shouldn't tease your sister like that."

"She got a letter the wrong way up!" Spanky insisted. "If you make a mistake you gotta do it again."

"I don't remember that being a rule," Paper said, "Dawn can change it if she wants, but I can still read it."