Nanny Diaries 2 - The New Litter

Busman's Holiday

"Support her head against your shoulder, Emily...and squeeze the bottle a little to encourage her to suckle," I suggested, as the senior struggled with Nicola on her lap. I had picked my two up from the senior special care dorm after breakfast, as it was a Saturday, so that dear Nicola in particular could spend some time with some old friends. Not as an equal, of course. The girls in the level two senior dorm were not nurslings, although they were enjoying a modicum of special care under the new Charlesfield regime, which was all Nicola's fault. As a consequence of that, several of the girls were rather keen to help look after her, and my charge was having a predictably horrible time. "She needs to know that you are in control, dear...nurslings like Nicola need a firm hand, you see."

"Is she going to mess after her bottle, Miss?" Emily asked, brightly. Again, obviously, Emily was quite accustomed to the idea of nurslings, even if she had never really spent much time with one. I guessed that there were quite a lot of girls at Charlesfield that term who came from moderate families, living far away from Meadvale, who would have never have even met a girl like Nicola. But they knew what they were, unlike heathens.

"She messes when she is told to mess, Emily." I replied, giving Nicola a firm look. She was not very happy, of course. No one was being nasty to her, as such, because I would not let that happen and an adult would always be with her, even if I was taking some time off, but the girls who blamed her for their own fates at Charlesfield were taking a great delight in humiliating her as much as possible. Which was good for her. Nicola needed to let go of her old life and embrace her new one, and she would only do that when she was thinking like a nursling, not just behaving like one. It was for her own good, really. And it was a punishment richly deserved considering the trouble she had caused. "You can tell her to do so once she has finished her formula, and then we can change her and take her out in her pushchair for some fresh air."

"Is she doing well at Deepdene, Miss?" Gabriella asked as she fed Bella, who was making it all so much easier for her carer than Nicola was. Emily and Gabriella were both looking smart in their green blazers, whilst my two were dressed up to the nines, as always. Nicola was in a sweet green tartan dress, and Bella was wearing a patchwork frock with her hair in pigtails to make her look younger.

"She gets good grades...as she always did here...but she has got far too many demerits for silly little things...and it is ten strokes of my paddle for every single one." I informed the dorm with some relish, because spanking Nicola regularly was a perk of my job. She was a stubborn little thing and needed the regular reminders to keep her progressing. "But she has only been in the nursery for five months, and she has a good two years to go...longer if she doesn't do a lot better."

I was enjoying my visit immensely. Not only had I enjoyed a nice dinner with Sheila and her senior staff, discussing the levels of care they were offering at Charlesfield, but I had some much-needed time off from looking after my girls. I had not had a day off for over five months and before then I had been sitting my exams, so I think I needed the break. And it was very flattering to be asked my opinions about the new Charlesfield, of course. Sheila quite rightly wanted an outside view. Charlesfield tended to attract more liberal Reformists, and despite the reawakening of the more traditionally minded caused by Nicola, most of her customers did not want their daughters to be turned into real nurslings. But they were paying for their little angels to get a brilliant academic education and leave with the qualifications they needed for the rest of their lives, and they did expect their girls to be protected and safe, whilst getting a solid Reformist foundation to their lives. In a way, as Sheila had said over our chicken, the sort of parents who were prepared to let their little darlings board wanted the school to do what they could not be bothered to do themselves. They expected their daughters to work hard, and learn a little discipline, whilst eating healthily and having some fun, I suppose. I had never attended a boarding school, and would not have liked to do so, being a bit of a homebird, but there was something to be said for living with your friends. Nicola had just taken the fun aspect a long way too far, and that had meant that Sheila had to change things, initially to satisfy the horrified Church of Christian Reform, who owned the school, but also to please her customers. Some of the parents had been equally horrified, causing some to move their girls to Deepdene and other similar day schools, whilst others expected a real crackdown. But the rest, perhaps the majority of them, still had liberal tendencies, so Sheila had to find the right balance.