✅ My Sister's Problem

129. Walk in the Woods

Instead of piling out of the car and rushing to get an amazing lunch, the first few minutes at Gresham Wold were spent sitting in the car, peering at a hive of activity around one of the toilet blocks. There were a dozen vehicles, and flashing lights that made it hard to see what was going on, but we could still make out the uniforms.

"Think they had a robbery?" Lindy said. "It's like when that guy drove his truck into the Walkerville post office."

"I don't think there's anything to steal there," Mum said with a laugh. "Maybe there was an accident? I feel bad just staring, I hope nobody was hurt. Is there an ambulance up there, or is it just police?"

"Right," Hugo nodded. "We can't guess, can we. We'd better mind our own business for now. Maybe we'll hear something when we go to get food. Do you know what they serve here?"

"Bacon!" I cheered. "Sausages! All the good stuff!"

"We always stop here," Mum explained with a laugh. "It's the first and last highlight of the trip for these two. Their breakfast items are pretty legendary. I do hope they're still open."

"But I think..." I mumbled, leaning forward a little so I could see Lindy in the front seat. She hadn't said anything yet, which was unusual even if she had a pacifier in her mouth. "I think maybe we need diaper changes first. Don't want to get a rash."

Lindy nodded slightly, though she was still too embarrassed to say it. Mum lay her down in the back of the car to change, and Lindy put her hands over her face, as if hiding her blushes would diminish her embarrassment. The mittens made it a little easier to conceal her face, but I could tell just how embarrassed she was. I was doubting my judgement again, not sure whether she would secretly be enjoying this. I thought that I should try to offer her a little choice, so that she could be comfortable without having to say anything.

"Have we got time to go for a walk in the woods?" I said. "While it's not too late in the afternoon. It might be better to go without diapers for a half hour or something, get changed again before we set off."

"Yeah," Lindy said. "So it's easier to walk around. We can have food, get a little walk, then get changed again before we head home."

"Okay," Mum said, after a few seconds looking back and forth between us. "If I can trust both of you to act like big girls. We'll save some time, I think."

She helped Lindy out of the car, and then we set off along one of the wood-chip paths that criss-crossed the parking area. I was waddling slightly, still in my diaper; but Mum thought that if we were being big girls for lunch, it would be easier to change me when we got to the facilities. It gave us an excuse to take a closer look at all the cops, as well. One of them came up and asked us if we had seen anything abnormal; but of course they knew that we had arrived after whatever they were looking into. One guy showed us a picture of a little girl, and asked us to keep an eye out for her while we were in the area. They were searching the woods, but I knew that there were so many paths here that a comprehensive search would be difficult.

I changed out of my diaper quickly enough, using the more-spacious disabled stall. It felt weird not to have any protection now; I half wished that I'd brought one of the pull-ups with me. But I knew that I should get used to being dressed normally again, before I had to go back to school. When I came back, we got sandwiches and coffee, and sat on one of the picnic tables spread around the clearing. The food was excellent as always; enough to take our minds off the search for a lost child going on around us.

"Why don't we walk around while we eat?" Lindy said, after a few minutes. "I mean, we could walk around the woods, watch for squirrels, and maybe help them look for this little girl as well."