For Her Good

Chapter 4: Harriet

If there was anyone in Mari's life that reminded her most of Sir, it was Harriet. Harriet was a no-nonsense public defender, a sub-career within the legal profession that Harriet had chosen out of honor. Harriet claimed it the second most romantic calling after teaching, excluding selfless parenthood. What made it slightly less honorable than giving oneself over to chalkboards and grading homework was that it was much easier to 'go corporate,' and acquire the mula. Theoretically. But she didn't say 'mula' and she didn't plan to switch out of it. Instead, she was taking classes in behavioral therapy and psychology on the side. These enrichments were not to sharpen her rhetorical teeth, of which Mari was sure she had plenty. No, Harriet invested her time to further help her clients (not that being a better lawyer didn't help, of course). She wanted to fashion herself into a pillar of hope, to give them a way out of the judicial-system bullshit beyond what she as a lawyer could provide.

Aww...she's like a mom to her clients.

"She's a fucking mom to me. I've even called her that."

Mari had described to Sir how Harriet always sat her down for weekly chats, how she, in the midst of an overwhelming number of cases and clients who she also advised on a pro-bono basis, found the time to text Mari: "I'm free on Monday morning, hun," or to say: "hey hun, Brianna came to me about something, can we chat?" Mari also told Sir about how she never turned Harriet's requests down, no matter how much she was dreading getting her soul peeled back by her roommate's exacting analysis. She respected Harriet that much. She needed Harriet that much. She told Sir about how grounding it was to sit across from Harriet's neat, brown bangs, to gaze into her soft smile and watch her sip tea in one of their rooms. How calm she felt even as they talked about everything, almost everything, as soon as the door was closed.

What do you talk about together?

"About how Bri was mad I was coming home late drunk and noisy. About my issues at work. About the conflict with Roseanna and me. She's basically like a therapist lol. Except she's my roommate."

Is that all you do?

"No. I mean we're friends. I actually knew her before I moved in. She's why I moved in because I was looking to save money and she'd actually basically picked me up at a coffee shop. She came over to me in the shop and introduced herself and then we just kept chatting. And you want to know what's funniest? I was wearing a diaper that day, lmao. I was doing my favorite weekend activity. Going to get coffee and messing myself in the park on the way home."

She remembered she hadn't quite waited until the park to mess herself. But she was sure Harriet hadn't known. Neither Fetlife nor Sir knew about that level of her naughtiness.

Oh my. You were a little baby from the very start with her.

"Hey! No...it's legit, I am. Sometimes we'll be doing morning tea and I'll just basically be in love with her and she'll shift and she'll be like. Uh...Mari hun...your stomach is...and I'll realize I have to shit super bad and I'm super embarrassed."

Hahaha. That's hilarious.

"And the thing is, she does the therapy stuff with Roseanna and Brianna too. She just does it with everyone I guess. Harriet, short little twenty-five year old Harriet. Public defender, taking classes on the side, house mom. And what was super hot is that she roasted Roseanna for farting during one of her coffee mornings with her. She was like...this grown ass woman had to POOP. Brianna died laughing. I almost pissed myself, because I know I'm next. Roseanna blushed so hard, like I've never seen her. She recovered and dove into her potty humor but I could tell she was ROCKED haha."

I bet you want that to happen to you too.

"Terrified. It's all I can think about."

Would you be mad at her?

"No. I'm her little minion, lol. If she thought I needed a roasting I'll take it well done. For sure."

Cute.

You can't cum right now, by the way.

"Huh! But why! Please! How did you know? Grrrrrr....."

***

It took all of Mari's self control to refrain from opening her cardboard box of diapers before diaper Friday. On Tuesday night, a few days before the start of her agreement, she imagined herself falling asleep in a big, thick, and wet diaper. On Wednesday morning, Brianna went into work, into her actual office, leaving Mari alone in the apartment. She almost tore open the cardboard container to have one with her morning coffee. She used the toilet instead. Later that day she was practically bursting on a work call, and thought about begging Sir to move up the start of the agreement. But Sir had already delayed the time of diapering many times, and she was nervous about getting in trouble and delaying diaper Friday again. On Thursday morning she told herself she'd poop her underwear, but alas, she did not have to go until everyone was back home again, and she was just so close.

Mari encountered Roseanna in the kitchen on Thursday night. The marketing manager was still dressed from work. Her hair was stuck in place with a tactful amount of spray and she wore a thin skirt and leggings. She had taken off some of her jewelry to cook, but her neck still glittered in the kitchen's direct light.

"Hey Mari," she said, not looking up from stirring a pot on the stove. She licked her finger, glanced up and smiled before turning her attention back to the contents of the pot, as if it might explode if she did not watch it carefully.

Roseanna was the only non-family member in Mari's life who actually called her Mari. Bri only addressed her (and everyone) with heyo, sup, hi, yo, hola. Harriet called her 'hun'. And Sir, well...Sir did call her Mari. But what mattered far more was how often Sir called her little girl.

Mari slipped past Roseanna in the kitchen to get to the freezer. She took out a frozen meal and began to prepare it for the microwave. Then she had to slip past Roseanna again to get to the microwave. Their butts briefly touched. A day from now, that'll be my diaper touching her butt, she thought.

"Oh hey!" Roseanna said. "You watch it, silly goose!" Then Roseanna angled her body to make herself take up less space between the island and the stove. When her butt was turned away she examined Mari.

"Monster Mari, coming through!" Roseanna shouted after her.

"You're the one with the big butt." Mari opened the microwave door and placed her food onto the rotating plate. But she couldn't help but realize that soon she herself would be the one with the biggest butt in the apartment.

Just then, they heard a door open down the hall. Mari turned to see both Bri and Harriet coming towards the kitchen. Bri peeled off and headed to her spot on the couch and scooped up her book. Harriet came towards the two roommates in the kitchen, smiling.

"Hi hun," she said to Mari. Then she turned to Roseanna. "Rosie, you said you had something to show me?"

Roseanna stared into her pot and continued to stir. "Yes, but I can wait until after I finish making dinner." Her voice was suddenly higher, and Mari furrowed her brow.

Harriet leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen. She crossed her arms. "Yeah, but I have a call later. So if we gotta do it, let's do it. Mari can watch your pot."

Mari noticed Brianna watching intently from the hall. Almost like she was waiting for something dramatic to happen.

Roseanna swallowed. She wanted to run a hand through her sprayed hair, and stopped herself. She turned to Mari. "Just stir it, can you? And if it begins to bubble, just turn the heat off. Don't move it, don't do anything else."

Mari nodded, trying to take Roseanna's simplistic instructions with grace. Roseanna left with Harriet and they walked down the hall. She'd never seen them do that before. But whatever it was, it didn't take long. Roseanna was back well before the pot had begun to bubble. Harriet wouldn't emerge until much later.

By then, Mari was back in her room, counting down her last twenty-four hours until full time diapers.