Hopper

Shopping

Eventually, we stopped moving and a hand opened and reached into the bag. I would normally have assumed Jenny because of the nail polish on the nails but she painted Brandon's the same color. A sippy cup was removed from the bag, I decided to latch on to see what was happening.
I heard Jenny giggle about picking me up too before handing me to Brandon. Brandon grabbed me and squeezed me- he felt different. I couldn't get a good read on him, because it was like he wasn't himself. His demons and thoughts and worries were all away from him- and it was just him. Jenny reached in her backpack, pulling out two lunches.

We were sitting at a table in the middle of a pretty vacant shopping center. Various people were walking in and out of the grocery stores in the area but most of the shops were closed. Jenny pulled down Brandon's mask and took the pacifier in his mouth away, which was no longer clipped to his dress. As she handed him his sippy cup, she also wrapped a bib around his neck- claiming he didn't want to get his pretty dress dirty. She then sat down next to him, feeding him his lunch and eating some of hers in between bites.

After eating, she cleaned him up with a wipe and then grabbed his hand. They walked towards a shopping cart that had some stuff in it- Brandon asked to go home. Jenny giggled and told him that he only had one more store but he could ride in the cart so they moved faster. He didn't even flinch, as she moved behind him and told him to climb up. She helped a little, unintentionally lifting his dress up. That reminded me when Beth's mom used to tell her to sit like a princess- because she always forgot she was wearing a skirt. The cotton tights, didn't hide his diaper very well.

He got into the big part of the shopping cart, which is where Beth always wanted to ride when she was little. He sat down, as Jenny came back for me and handed me to Brandon. She began pushing the cart towards the super market. We walked by some people walking out and the gave a few second glances, but it didn't seem like Brandon cared. He wasn't even paying attention, instead he was looking through one of the other bags.

Jenny went to the food section of the store and grabbed whatever she needed. She went down the snacks aisle and asked Brandon if he wanted things. There were only two elderly people we ran into the whole time, neither which had said anything. After getting food, they went down the toys aisle. Brandon pointed at a few things that he wanted when Jenny asked, but he was acting strange. He wasn't being very talkative and he was pretty unaware of his surroundings. The cart was getting pretty full, so Jenny asked him to get out. She helped him climb out and grabbed his hand as he clutched on to me. They walked towards the clothing section, stopping in the girls.
"Let's get you some stuff that you won't mind wearing 'in public'" she said. They started looking through some of the clothes. Jenny a fuzzy jacket, along with some jeans. She grabbed a checkerboard pullover, before grabbing some dresses and leggings. Brandon was grabbing plain shirts, but Jenny noticed him stopping and admiring some Minnie Mouse print shirts. She followed behind him and grabbed anything he stopped at but didn't grab.

She piled in pajamas, sweats, shirts- most of which were obviously meant for girls, so not according to what they originally were looking for. Jenny added snow pants, a coat, hats and gloves, socks, and grabbed a pack of princess underwear. She giggled as they walked towards the dressing room- which was closed because of the pandemic. Jenny sighed, saying that she had no idea what was going to fit- grabbing his hand and taking him in the shoe aisle.
After having him sit down, as she tried on pink winter boots on his feet, she then started grabbing some of the pants and sliding them on over his tights. She would lift up his dress and make sure they fit over the diaper and do the same thing. This wasn't that odd, but she then took off his dress, leaving him exposed in just a shirt and white cotton tights. She had him try on a few of the questionable sized shirts.

Suddenly, as store employee popped their head around. "Excuse me guys, due to the pandemic- we can't have you trying on clothes; that's why the dressing rooms aren't open." Brandon stood there, frozen- wearing nothing but very see through white tights and a purple Minions shirt. Jenny spoke up and apologized, saying that she planned on buying everything. The man just started at them for a second before telling them both to get dressed. He walked away and Brandon's mood changed instantly.

He started to complain to Jenny that he knew that it was a bad idea and that he wanted to just go back to his old life. Jenny seemed unfazed, helping him get undressed and then redressed. He told her to put the clothes back and Jenny told him that he was overreacting. She told him to go wait on the bench outside, as she bought all of the clothes. After that, I was stuffed back into the bag and was on the way back home.