One sugar, no cream.

Chapter 4
Fun in the sun

The only thing Oliver remembered the next morning was a brief moment of hustle, then the lights faded and he was asleep again. He really awoke later in the airport, to the sound of two women talking.

“Security wasn’t too bad, luckily this little guy was asleep.” Debbie continued, then noticing Oliver becoming restless, signaling his return to consciousness.

“Well good morning!” The other lady chimed in. Oliver didn’t say anything, choosing to survey the surroundings and figure out where he was.

“Where are your manners?” Debbie joked, and the two women shared a smile. “I know why you’re grumpy, you need a diaper change.” She continued, and set Oliver to the ground. “I’ll be right back.” She said to the other woman, then picked some diapers and wipes out of the travel bag and carried Oliver to the restroom. A few minutes later, she had him deftly changed and brought him back up, Oliver now fully awake.

The first thing Oliver noticed was Tim, rather, his absence. He glanced around the airport and noticed him playing with another young boy.

“Where Tim?” Oliver asked.

“Oh he’s over there with his new friend,” then turning to the woman, “What’s his name again?” The woman answered, and Debbie turned back to Oliver, “Tim’s over there playing with Robby, you want to go play too?”

Oliver did not, and was still upset at the lack of information coming from Debbie’s answer. Why was Tim over there? Why was he playing with another young child? Why was he enjoying himself so much?

Oliver looked over and saw a genuine look of joy on Tim’s face. Not a look of going with the flow, but he was entranced by the set of army men that Robby had brought, and he was using his brain power to defeat the imagined rush of oncoming forces.

“Here let’s go,” Debbie continued, breaking Oliver’s thought. She led him over to the other two boys, instructed them to keep an eye on Oliver, and left to resume her conversation.

“That’s my little brother Oliver.” Tim said to Robby, who couldn’t care less.

“I don’t want to play with a baby.”

“He’s not a baby, he’s almost three.” Tim said nonchalantly.

Oliver became confused more with each passing moment. He stood and watched the two boys continue to play with the toys, not wanting to interfere. He was content with watching at the moment, trying to take everything in.

Half an hour later the plane was ready for boarding and parents with small children were informed to board first. Debbie gathered Oliver and Tim followed with Kyle. They found their seats and Debbie set the car seat up in the plane. Oliver was strapped in and they sat and awaited for the remaining passengers to board.

Normally, Oliver would wait till they were in flight to boot up his laptop and get some work done. Now, the seat back table wouldn’t even come down without hitting the plastic borders of the car seat, and he was confined to sit there and endure the ride in boredom. An hour into the flight he was fast asleep again. He awoke to the almost deafening sounds of a hustling airport.

The airport they came from was somewhat dull, and the international hub they found themselves in now was immense compared to the local airport. He was happy to have Debbie carry him around as everything loomed over him.

They got their rental car and made their way to the hotel, somewhat close to dinner time. The warm air was refreshing compared to the brisk temperatures back home. Their hotel was nice, a suite style, with Oliver and Tim sharing a room. Tim was excited. It was as if the youngster had his own fort. He was excited by the new environment and Oliver couldn’t figure out why. He had noticed a definite change in attitude in Tim. No longer was he thinking about his job or his old livelihood, but rather the nuances only a small boy would care about. Especially yesterday, and earlier this morning, Tim would apologize for his quick lapses and move on. As the day grew on, he apologized less and engrossed himself more. It was almost as if the child inside him would be denied no longer.

Oliver was noticing more of a change in Kyle and Debbie as well. Not only were they indulging Tim’s fantasies, not correcting his mistakes, and even, what seemed, to be egging him on. Enticing him to lose his grasp on reality.

In addition, their demeanor towards Oliver changed. They were treating him like the child he was. They coddled, pinched cheeks and lovingly blew raspberries prior to a diaper change. It wasn’t unwelcome to Oliver, he was mildly enjoying indulging, but it made him feel uneasy. They never differentiated between “pretend” toddler and “real” toddler. Most of the time they viewed Oliver as an authentic child, going so far as to be taken aback when Oliver tried to discuss current events. He thought they were going to scold him for watching CNN. It was alright if they wanted to keep up the charades in front of the public eye, but in the comfort of their hotel? They were beginning to take it too far.

The night passed uneventfully, and around nine o’clock the family retired to their quarters, Tim proud of his big-boy bed, and Oliver upset with his crib.

Oliver awoke in the morning to a quite room, but quickly heard clamoring from the outside. Upon realizing he had no way out of the crib, he called for Debbie.

“Wat’s all da noise coming fwom?”

“It turns out Robbie is staying in our hotel. His mommy saw Kyle and Tim at breakfast, and Robby’s spending the day over here, and tomorrow you and Tim get to spend the day with Robbie. It’ll give mommy and daddy some alone time.” She drifted off. Oliver got the picture, but wasn’t too thrilled about spending the entire day with Tim and his cronie.

He was led to the living room in a T-shirt and freshly changed diaper, bashfully greeting Tim and his new friend. He knew he was intellectually superior to Robby, but Robby was a good bit taller, and could probably muscle Oliver around. That combined with the infamous bully smirk, made Oliver slightly uncomfortable. He decided he would keep his distance from Robby as much as possible.

The morning passed by uneventfully, with Tim and Robby playing video games. Robby determined that babies were ineligible for competition, so Oliver sat on the couch and watched. They had a quick grilled cheese sandwich, and all of a sudden Kyle picked Oliver up and brought him into the other room and undressed him. The feeling of a wet diaper being removed was growing normal to Oliver, even though he had no idea it was wet. Kyle then stood Oliver up, and pulled up a swim diaper. Oliver stood there for a minute, waiting for the remainder of the clothes. Kyle wondered what Oliver was waiting for, and picked him up and carried him out.

“Where’s da west of my cwothes?”

“We’re going swimming big guy, you just need your pool diaper.” He replied gleefully, and set him down. He finished getting everything ready, and led the charges to the swimming area. The resort had a wonderful water park, including slides, a wave pool, and a splash zone. Oliver was anxious to try out some water slides, and became upset when Tim unleashed the two boys and led Oliver to the splash zone.

“I wanna go down da water swides!” he protested.

”Those are for big kids, come on we’ll have fun over here.” Kyle replied in an all too upbeat tone.

They compromised on the wave pool. Oliver always had fun in them, and decided he would now as well. He was a little upset when Kyle refused to let go of his hand as they walked deeper, but with his grossly reduced body weight he found it difficult not to be manipulated by the water, and was soon thankful for Kyle’s support. He playfully asked to go deeper, and Kyle picked him up and carried him to the four foot deep area. It seemed like a lot more water than Oliver remembered four foot zones to be, but then again, it would be a foot over his head.

For what seemed like twenty minutes, Kyle and Oliver enjoyed the wave pool, splashing and moving along with the water. They took a brief recess to their towel area, and Oliver was amazed to see that almost three hours had elapsed from the time they got there. The combination of the time of day and the energy he exerted in the wave pool was making him extremely sleepy at this point. Kyle found the two boys and informed them they were taking a quick break to the hotel. Though unhappy, they agreed, and gathered their things to make their way back. Luckily Kyle hadn’t set Oliver down to walk, as his tiresome legs couldn’t be trusted to complete the arduous walk. They got back and Kyle laid down the changing supplies. Oliver was asleep just before his new diaper was taped on.

He awoke to two screaming boys entering his room, with Debbie close behind trying to shush them.

“I only said you could play in here if you didn’t wake up Oliver!” she chimed. They were quick to quiet, but Oliver was awake nonetheless. He was forced to stand there a moment as Kyle came in with a box of pizza and the video game system. Apparently the boys were allowed to eat the pizza and use the video game in their own room. Oliver expected to see Robby excited, but was surprised with the eager level of enthusiasm Tim displayed.

He was carried to the kitchen to enjoy dinner with the adults. Oliver readily agreed, he could finally drop the act and discuss the trip, and catch up on news he might have missed.

“Tanks for getting me out of dere.”

“Oh don’t worry, after dinner you can go in and play with them.” Debbie replied.

”Well, I was actually hoping to stay out here wif you guys. You know, tawk about what’s going on in da weal world.”

Almost immediately a surprised look came over both Debbie and Kyle’s face.

“You know, I may be wittle, but I’m stiw capable of tawking wif you guys.”

Debbie paused, then pulled Kyle into the hallway. They talked for a moment, and came back in.

“What was dat aw about?”

She paused quickly, then regained her composure, “Oh, we were just thinking of staying an extra day. We, uh, think you’re still a little stressed out. What do you say Kyle, another day in paradise?”

“Uh, yeah, yeah that sounds good.” They looked at each other and both nodded and shrugged. Oliver was somewhat puzzled, but took seemed content with their answer and carried on his dinner. They bantered back and forth for a little bit, Debbie and Kyle indulged Oliver in adult talk, and soon they were talking about the new coffee conglomerate.

“Yeah I love their new Espressacuinnos, you like them Ollie?” Kyle asked.

”Nope, I don’t wike cweam in my coffee.”

Almost a deafening silence erupted after his last comment. Kyle and Debbie shared what seemed like a brief euphoric epiphany, then recaptured their poise and went on as if nothing happened. Had it not been so short-lived, Oliver would have paid more attention to it.

They cleaned up the dinner table and Oliver was told to join the other boys in the other room, and Debbie would be in shortly. He went along, and watched the boys play until Debbie came in and got him in his pajamas for the night. She then handed him a bottle.

“I don’t need a bottle.” Oliver angrily said.

“Honey you’ve been eating junk food all day. Now drink this so you stay healthy.”

There was something about her face that told Oliver he’d better drink the milk. He was almost frightened into it. She left and be began to suckle, noticing how much sweeter this was compared to his usual milk. He surmised the rubber nipple had tainted the taste a bit, but there was something else. It was a little heavier than milk usually was, almost thicker. It almost became a chore for him to finish it, but he did, for fear of scorn from Debbie.

The night passed on slowly. Oliver still wasn’t allowed to play video games, and he soon gave in to his full stomach. The milk had made him tired, and he was happy to give in to the sandman.