✅ Younger Twin [NaNoWriMo2023]

15 - Our Moment of Shame

"In there," Mum said, pointing to a door next to the restrooms. The sign had a stylised picture of a baby being held by two adults; so it was easy to guess that this was a baby changing room. She held the door while we marched inside, Triana struggling ineffectually. Then Mum closed the door, and pushed on a latch that was clearly too high for most children to reach.

There was a fairly large space in there, with a toilet in one corner, a large trash receptacle, sinks, and a big changing table. Everything you'd need to get a baby cleaned up. As soon as we were in there, Mum turned and stared at us.

"I thought you'd know better than that," she said. "Now come on, let's get you cleaned up. Nik, sit down and don't cause trouble. We've got quite enough to deal with already. Taylor, look through the shopping and found something for your sister to wear. And you..." she turned to Triana and gave an over-dramatic sigh. "Lie down and we'll get you out of those wet things."

"I can do it myself!" Triana protested, but Mum wasn't having any of that.

"No. You're clearly not old enough, after that little mess. So lie down, I'll have to do this for you." Triana heard, but didn't listen. She started shifting position, fighting against Mum and Taylor as they manhandled her onto the changing table. There were a couple of loose straps at the side of the table, designed to stop a baby falling off, but it looked like they would be just as effective against a child who refused to cooperate.

Once Triana was restrained, Mum quickly pulled her jeans off, and then started cleaning her up with baby wipes. That must have been so humiliating, and there was nothing at all that she could do to change what was going to happen now. It was clear that there were no acceptable excuses, and no way she would get out of her punishment. On the other side of the little room, Taylor gripped Nik's reins and stood back, feeling as helpless as ever. And somehow it seemed to her that we were both responsible here; that she should have paid more attention to keep things from escalating this far.

"Diapers?" Mum asked, and held out a hand.

"Does she really need–"

"Yes. The twins were warned about this kind of behaviour earlier, and I will not have them embarrassing me in public like this. Now, I believe there's a pack in the bag, can you hand me one please?"

Taylor didn't argue again. She reached down into the shopping bags piled up on the stroller and found a pack of diapers. 'Girlzz Protec', the name on the pack said; and there was a little starburst on the pack to say that they were based on an underwear range designed by Luis Berthoud, a name she was vaguely familiar with as a fashion designer. There were two packs, one saying they were for girls ages 2-3, and one for ages 12-15, which she guessed were the right ones; Triana was probably slim enough to fit into them. Taylor took a deep breath, the whole situation around her still feeling a little unreal, and tore open the end of the packet to take a diaper out. Maybe she could have done it quicker, because she wasn't expecting the diapers to stick together quite so much as she pulled one out, but Mum didn't say anything about that. She was focused more on Triana, who was sobbing slightly now, and had her hands covering her face. She'd stopped screaming and fighting, but was now apparently resigned to her fate; while Nik watched with rapt fascination.

"I did warn you, didn't I, Triana dear?" Mum asked. Triana couldn't bring herself to answer at all, but it was clear she knew that this was all her own fault. Still, Mum kept on talking: "It you can't keep your pants dry, then you need to be in diapers, just like a little baby. But maybe you can stop wearing them again when you've grown up a little bit more. Okay?"

And before she knew it, the diapers were pulled up around Triana's waist. Mummy reached out and took her hands then, until her arms stopped flailing and she sat up with some kind of resignation on her face. And then Taylor was handing Mum some loose jeans, which would at least cover up the shameful diapers a little so that passers by wouldn't see what Triana was wearing as soon as they looked in her direction. She was still protesting a little this time, but it was easy enough for Mum to get her into her new outfit.