✅ The Baby Makers

41. Beginning of the End

"What's that?" Stacie jumped when she heard Cassie's voice behind her, and she almost dropped the flowers she was working on. She'd tried lots of times, but it still kept breaking. She knew she could have asked Phil for help, but she wanted to do this by herself. It was her present, after all. She knew it was possible because the other kids had some.

"I'm... uhh... I made you a present. But it broked." She held out a little chain of flowers, most of them missing petals. She knew she should be able to do so much better than that, but she wasn't sure how to start.

"Oh, that's cute!" Cass grinned and took it from her. "Thank you! I should make you one too. Oh! Do you want to do one together? I bet we could make it even longer if we both do some."

Stacie perked up at that. She couldn't wait to show Cass how to pick up flowers, so she bent down and got some from the grass.

"Look, I can picked them up!" she said proudly. "So we can make a thing." Cass clapped in excitement, and the little bracelet Stacie had made flew out of her hands. But that didn't matter; they were making a better one, and Stacie was too excited to think about anything else. She started by showing Cass how to pick up flowers properly. She said that they might get angry if you touch the pretty bits, which wasn't quite what Phil had told her, but she kind of remembered. Somehow, repeating the instructions was harder than just doing it. When she was trying to talk about it at the same time, it took her three or four tries to do it right. But Cass was so impressed, and told Stacie that it was wonderful, so she didn't give up.

"Oh, oh!" Cass giggled. "I got a trick to show you as well. Look at this!" She took a little flower in her hands, and then with her tongue sticking out from the corner of her mouth in concentration she pinched the bottom of the green stem bit.

"Oh, that wasn't right," she giggled. "Hold on, I can remember how to do this." She tried a few times, but the flowers kept breaking, and Stacie didn't know what she was trying to do. But then she squealed in excitement, and cheered "Look, look, I did it!"

Stacie peered at the flower, not sure what she was seeing. It was just like Cassie had cut the stem again with her thumb nail. She pressed on it, and got plant juice on her nail that made it look a little bit green. She'd done that a lot of times already.

"What is it?"

"Look, I cut it along the middle," she said, and twisted the flower a little bit, still holding it by the middle of the stem. "So as you can put another one in the hole. Let me show you." She held out her hand, and Stacie tickled it for a second before she realised that Cass wanted another flower. So she picked a pretty pink one for her. Cass took it carefully, and then pushed it through the stem of the first one. Stacie found it hard to understand, but when she looked again she could see two flowers together. They weren't tied together, but somehow Cass was holding one of them and that held up the other one.

It took a long time to show Stacie how it worked, and even longer before she could do it. But then she could stick all the flowers she wanted together by splitting the stem and threading another flower through. They both started making little chains of flowers, using all the different types. They learned that some types worked better than others, and Stacie felt really proud of learning another neat trick. Maybe this was a super secret one that even Phil didn't know!

They sat together and made flowers into strings. The sun was coming up higher now, and some of the other little ones went back inside the house. There were others who were sitting down on a blanket while a grown-up brought them cookies and juice boxes, but Stacie didn't look at them much. She wanted to make a thing with Cass, and she wasn't going to give up until it was finished.

Eventually, with both girls working on different ends of the same string of flowers, Cass said she thought it was long enough. And then she gently tied the ends together; it was easier to tie knots without touching it when it was longer. She dangled it over Stacie's head, which took a couple of tries, but then it fell down so she was wearing it like a necklace.

"This is super cool!" Cass said. "It's so pretty. Thank you, I had loads of fun, and it really suits you."

"I was gonna give it to you," Stacie said, blushing.

"You can have this one. The next time we come and play we can do one for me. Okay?"

"Yeah! Promise we can do it again. Oh, do you wanna do it now? There's lots of flowers!" She gestured at the carpet of white, yellow, and blue all around them. Most of the flowers within reach were already used up, but there were lots more just a few steps away.

"Oh wow," Phil said, prompting Stacie to do a twirl so he could see her new necklace properly. She spun around twice, and then fell over and landed on her knees again because she was getting dizzy. But she didn't want to stop, so she jumped up and spun the other way.

"Did you make that all by yourself?" Phil asked, and got a couple of vigorous nods, as well as two little girls talking excitedly, and so fast that he couldn't make out what either of them was saying. "Wow, you really are clever! That's beautiful. Do you know what you want to play next?"

"Nope!" Cassie answered first. "But I think somebody needs a diaper change,"

"Yes, I was thinking that too. Somebody's a little bit stinky here, and I think she'll need a change before she goes home."

"Who's somebody?" Stacie said, blushing a little bit. She knew it was probably her. she could feel how heavy her diaper was, soggy and heavy with poop. And she knew she was a good girl for learning how to be a little baby for Phil, but she was still embarrassed when he said it out loud like that, and she didn't want Cassie to talk to her like she was the only little one. "Who did you mean? Is it Cassie? She's a little pottypants. Is she stinky now?"

Cassie half-squatted and blushed furiously; almost as much as Stacie.

"I'm not!" she protested. "I didn't gotta go 'cause I pooped in my big girl pants before."

"I think you're a soggy baby, though," Phil said after quickly checking her diaper. "You could do with a change soon, I think. And you..." he patted Stacie's butt, and he must have been able to feel the size of the mess in there. "I think somebody got a very stinky diaper. I didn't want to interrupt you before when you were playing, but I think you need a change soon. Can you be good for me and come inside, or do you want to play a few minutes more?"

"I wanna..." Stacie started to answer. "I wanna be a good girl. But it's all sunny! Do I gotta go in?"

"Well, I think maybe I can change your diaper out here, if you want to stay in the sun. But it's nearly time to get you ready for going home. Do you think your mommy and daddy will be waiting? Will they be excited to see you?"

Stacie blushed again, and fidgeted where she was standing.

"I dunno. I've not got a mommy anymore. I'm happy now. Can I get a change in the sunshine?"

"Me too," Cassie giggled. "That'll be something new."

"Okay girls," Phil grinned. "Whatever you want, for as long as you stay, that's what I'm here for. Let's get you both changed."