Classified: A New Life

Chapter IX: Day 18: Morning

Emory wakes up in her car seat.

It's a little jarring, since she'd gone to sleep in her crib, and she's dressed in comfortable gray sweats and a loose sweatshirt. Her cheeks heat up a little bit at the realization that she must've slept through her morning diaper change and getting dressed; she hadn't thought playing on the playground after story time would tire her out so much.

Opening her eyes, she discovers that it's a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining, and the fields on either side of the road are full of grazing cows, sheep, and other livestock. Even as a child, Emory had never really spent much time out of the city, apart from a disastrous camping trip with her father one summer. So it's nice to be able to see a different side of like and breathe the fresh--or maybe not-so-fresh--country air.

"It smells like poop." Emory realizes, pinching her nose.

"Are you sure that's not you, little one?" Melody teases from the driver's seat, taking a sip of her coffee.

Emory pouts. "No!" she says indignantly.

"You're not sure?" Melody continues, smiling at her in the rearview mirror. Maybe we'd better find a rest stop and make sure..."

Emory huffs. "Mellie, don't be a butt...I just waked up..."

"You just woke up? Yeah, I know, sweetheart, I'm only teasing you. I know it isn't you, I changed you about an hour or so ago and you slept through the whole thing."

"I did?" Emory wonders.

"Yep. You were out like a light. Anyway, it's the time of year for farmers to be spreading fertilizer on their fields so their crops can grow. That's why it smells bad." Melody explains.

"Oh." Emory replies, looking back out the window at the grazing animals. She wonders idly if the sheep are as fluffy and soft as they look.

"Good morning, by the way, I was just about to wake you up to ask what you wanted for breakfast. We've still got a while left to go before we get to my parents house. We can either stop at a nice, sit-down place so you can stretch your legs for a bit, or we can go to a drive-thru so we can make better time. What do you think?" Melody says.

Emory yawns and stretches, thinking. "I wanna get out and stretch." She says. She isn't sure how long they've been driving for, but her legs are stiff from sitting, so at least a few hours must have gone by.

"Okay. I'm kinda hungry for pancakes, and there's a restaurant in the shopping center up here. We can get you some swim diapers and some water wings while we're there too. My parents have a big pond that I used to swim in as a kid, so I can still teach you if you want."

"Yeah!" Emory says, wiggling excitedly. "I'd really like that Mellie!"

"I thought so. Do you want your bottle for now? It'll be about an hour until we stop." Melody asks. "I'm not going to bring the stroller while we're at my parents' house, and I won't feed you unless you want me to, even though you still have two more days until your punishment is over. You've been very good for the whole week, so I'm going to ease up a bit, but expect you to be on your absolute best behavior while we're here."

"Yes, Mellie. I'll be good. And I would like my bottle please." Emory says, glad that Melody'd thought to bring them. Even though it's sort of embarrassing to admit, she'd probably be upset about not having it.

Melody passes her bottle back to her, though it's filled with water and not milk like it usually is.

Emory's thirsty enough that she doesn't care, and quickly sucks it down. She leans back in her car seat, looking at the animals as they pass by for a few minutes before speaking up.