In-Between (Diaper Dimension)

Chapter 24
Why?

WHEN WE WALKED downstairs an hour later to her car, I couldn’t help but wonder what she had been thinking. She opened the door in the back for me and I climbed onto the booster seat. It was a faded purple backless booster, and that morning she’d apologized that it was the only one she had still from her daughter. I had just shrugged, but noted in my mind that the padding was quite worn! She’d told me that until the end of Jenny’s eighth-grade year of middle school, she had forced her daughter to sit in it. It was only then that she had a final growth spurt that got her over the line further to eight-feet and fully legal to not use it.

I sighed.

“What’s that sigh about?” she asked me.

“Honestly, trying to process today? I really expected just to be watching some cases today and maybe getting to read briefs like this morning… Why…?”

She was at a stoplight and looked up at me in the rearview mirror, “Why what?”

“I guess there’s multiple… Why do we even have these slave laws as a part of our constitution? Why does someone like that have to live in fear of being kidnapped, and taken from her children as some sort of fake baby?” I grimaced, hoping I wasn’t offending her, “And… I guess I’m wondering, why did you help her?”

She nodded as she pressed the gas pedal. “Well, the constitutional amendment about slavery, as you refer to it, was a direct consequence of our country discovering the new race not long after the last century began… I don’t disagree with you in the slightest that it should be gone. The problem is there’s no way to make that happen without another constitutional amendment. I am doubtful that enough of the states would ever consider ratifying that amendment, even if it did manage to pass through congress…”

I sighed, “I’m definitely aware of that. I’m also aware of the Maturosis decisions that have come down about Littles, and even Mids, but that doesn’t make it right?”

She shook her head, “It’s not. You asked why did I help her?”

“Yes ma’am?”

She laughed, “You’re going to have to stop the ma’am stuff when we get in the car to go home Cameron. You’re too polite for your own good!” She laughed lightly.

We were heading out of the city proper and she engaged the autopilot in the car, before turning her seat around. A holographic display hovered in front of her so she could still monitor the vehicle, but it was a given like my car that it would drive itself just fine. “When I was about two years old my mom adopted a Little, Charlotte she renamed her, and proceeded to diaper her and dress her exactly like I was dressed. At the time we were exactly the same sizes, so mom just bought two of everything and dressed us like we were twins.

That went on for some time before Mom declared it was time for ‘us’ to be potty trained!” She sighed, “I was young, but I very much remember Mom making fun of Charlotte for having an accident while I sat on my potty and went like a good girl! Meanwhile Charlotte’s training pants would be soaked or messy, and Mom would spank her and berate her about being more of a baby than me.”

She wiped a tear from her eye, “I was potty trained in about a month from what Mom told me, Charlotte was given one last set of training panties the day I was given my big girl panties. She was told if she could keep them clean and dry until bedtime, she would get to keep wearing training panties and using the potty like her big sis. If she didn’t, she’d go on a vacation from worrying about the potty.”

She sighed, “During dinner she begged to get out of her highchair and use the potty, but Mom told her ‘big girls can hold it…’” I watched as she shook her head, “She didn’t really stand a chance, my mom really just wanted a baby that never grew up – since she felt I had to. I felt so bad for her as she cried and was dressed in a diaper after dinner. The messy Pull-Up had doomed her…”

I watched her face fall into a grimace, and she wiped her eyes. “Ten years later, on my thirteenth birthday, we found her hung by the sheets in her crib having finally had enough and committed suicide.”

“That’s awful,” I told her, “I’m sorry…”

She said, “Thanks… I think the fact that I was officially a teenager, and really no longer a kid, finally pushed her over the edge. To this day my birthday is a day I mourn… I don’t celebrate it.”

“How did your mom take it?”

She laughed, clearly not thinking whatever it was funny for real, “She found herself another Little. Immediately removed her ability to walk, talk, use the potty… It was awful! She didn’t want to have to worry about Kelly following in Charlotte’s footsteps.”

“I’m guessing you don’t approve… That’s why you helped her?”

She nodded, “I’m okay with the Littles who genuinely give themselves up for adoption… I’m even somewhat okay with the Littles who are adopted out rather than spending the rest of their lives in prison… but some poor Little who managed to escape a life of Hell, after being sentenced to that life for no more than a skid mark in her panties?” She shook her head, “I can’t usually do much, but you gave me a path forward. Thank you for that!”

“You’re welcome… I hope it at least buys that family some time.”

We pulled up to her house about ten minutes later, parked her car in the garage, and both carried our briefcases inside the house. I smiled as I watched her receive a kiss from her husband to welcome her home. “How was your day?” He asked her.

“You know, with the help of Cameron here it was pretty good!”

“Huh?”

“Tell you over dinner sweetheart, just let us both go change into something more comfortable and we’ll join you down here. What’s for dinner anyway?”

“Stuffed salmon,” he told her with a smile. He looked down at me, “Hope you like fish?”

I nodded, “I eat just about everything.”

He laughed, “As a student I figured that would be the case!”

Judge Jones and I went upstairs and I came back down dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I’d debated about putting on something more comfortable than that, but as much as I figured now that I could really trust her, I didn’t want to risk maturity signs!

When I walked over to the table, I discovered they’d dug up an old booster seat from somewhere that day. It looked like straps had long since been removed from it, so I deemed it fairly harmless in the big picture. The color was a pretty hideous faded purple, but given I knew it had to have been Jenny’s as well, I wasn’t surprised by that! With a sigh I climbed up onto it, blushing, but was kind grateful since their table had been kind of difficult to reach the past couple of days! A plate was put down in front of me that could have come from a restaurant. “Wow! I thought you were an engineer…” I said with a smile, “not a professional chef.”

He and Judge Jones both laughed, “I joke that his retirement job is cooking for me and being my personal chef. It’s been a hobby of his all his life.”

“My mom insisted I be able to cook when I grew up so I could impress the ladies,” he joked.

“I may have to get some lessons, this looks amazing!”

I began eating the piece of fish, which I noted was smaller than theirs by a little bit, and took an amazing bite of stuffing that must have had crab, mushrooms, and some sort of cheese! It was to die for! The diner conversation was quiet to begin, but they started asking me about my own background some more.

“So, anyone special in your life?” Judge Jones asked. “You’re not married yet, right?”

I shook my head, “I have had some bad luck on the love front. I had a girlfriend from freshman year until the end of my last fall semester at Emerson, that I ended up proposing to... She turned me down though because her parents had actually insisted that she break up with me before she came home for Christmas that year.”

“That’s awful! Why would they do that?” she asked me.

I sighed, “She was much taller than me, and with the family being rich, didn’t want me marrying her.”

“How rich?” He asked me.

“Billions?”

“Whoa, what family?” He followed up.

“The Harris family?”

“SafeFoods?” Judge Jones asked, some scorn present in her voice.

“Yeah… Though Addy wasn’t like the rest of them.”

“I can see her family not approving of a Mid though,” Judge Jones said. “You may have been better off though…”

I shrugged, “I really did love her… and I think she probably really loved me. It was just tragic that her family was her family.”

She nodded, “So anyone since then?”

I blushed, “Well… yeah.”

“Who is she?”

“Complicated…” I said with a sigh. I debated about telling her, but after that day she’d earned some trust. “Her name is Beth… and I grew up down the street from her.”

“Ooh… high school sweetheart?”

“Could have been, but I never made a move back then. I guess I didn’t even really know I loved her until…”

“Until?” She asked.

“She was nearly demerited out, and chose to go the student services route and give herself up for adoption.”

“Demerited out?” Her husband asked.

I gave him a strange look, “I thought this was everywhere… Littles at Emerson are allowed a total of ten demerits a year for discipline infractions. If they run through them, then they are automatically demoted to the daycare until they are adopted…”

Judge Jones gave a grimace and a nod, “It’s not something that you see in Hartford, but Ames isn’t the only state with schools like that. So, she was close… and decided she was better off allowing herself to be adopted?”

I nodded, “When I saw her next, she’d talked the woman who ran the program into letting her say goodbye to me. I don’t think I really knew I loved her until then.”

“Works that way sometimes,” she nodded, “So what happened to her?”

I explained how her dad had re-adopted her and dealt with the courts. I was a little leery of telling her how he had let her grow up, but since he was in a different state with her then, I felt a bit safer. “So, her dad moved her to somewhere in New Albany where he’s been helping her get her life back together so she can try for being emancipated.”

“You talk often?”

“Usually at least once a day if we can,” I told her.

“If she gets emancipated?”

“I want to ask her to marry me,” I told her.

“You know New Albany is right next to this state. Do you know which city she lives in?”

I shook my head, “Her dad is really paranoid about someone investigating them, so he hasn’t told me where they are to be safe more than the state.”

“You should invite him to bring her here over a weekend or something!”

I gave her a weird look, “You’re okay with this? Me having a relationship with her?”

“She’s what, an inch from being a Mid?”

I nodded.

“As far as I’m concerned if she’s emancipated again it’s perfectly legal. I’d love to meet this girl who managed to capture your heart though.”

I blushed, “I’ll mention it…”

“Do it!” she said with a smile.

We talked for a bit longer and then I helped with the dishes. While the meal was amazing, I was also amazed at how many dishes he managed to use to make the meal! When I finally had the dishwasher running most of it, and the rest drying in a rack, I went and joined them in the living room where they had a news channel on. His face looked nervous, and her face just looked angry.

“I’m here in Crescent City where protestors have gathered in front of the Courthouse to protest a decision that Judge Ruth Jones issued from the 3^rd Circuit Court of Appeal today…” I watched them talk about the decision, but from a decidedly more unhappy approach. An interview was played of a woman, Jennifer Bennett, “I’m here with Jennifer Bennett, the head of ELNAP. Mrs. Bennett, what are you all saying about this unusual decision to issue the warrant for a Fugitive Little’s return, but to put a time stamp on it for years in the future?”

“It’s unconscionable! How in the world would a judge in their right mind even consider that an adopted Little can safely raise two babies?!? All four of their ‘family’ should be getting on a plane in matching diapers and be headed back to Oak City to be with her mommy.”

Another picture pulled up, and I understood this was going to be a cluster of a panel. A tall Amazon, and a little dressed in a business suit joined on that screen. “With us now, I have Rebecca Washington and Nadine Key, both of the movement CAMOL. We’ve heard what Mrs. Bennett has to say, what do you think about this decision? I assume that you approve?”

“Well, I don’t approve that she would even theoretically have to go back to her mommy when her kids reach their majority,” the shorter Little, Nadine, stated. “I do however admire Judge Jones attempting to thread morality with the immorality of the constitution of this country that encourages this slavery of Littles.”

“Additionally, I believe it’s unconscionable to even consider sending a Little back to a mommy that has so obviously physically abused and neglected the Little when she was under her care,” Rebecca, the big said.

“Those allegations, do we have any proof of them?” The reporter asked.

Rebecca nodded, “Medical exams and signed affidavits were submitted as evidence in today’s hearing…”

The TV turned off then, and I looked at Mr. Jones who was sitting in an armchair next to the couch I saw on with Judge Jones, “Well, you two upset the applecart today, huh?”

I nodded at that, but was happy when he told her he was proud of her! Before I went to sleep that night, I looked up more of the stories going on about the case. ELNAP was an extremist group in my mind, who believed Every Little Needs a Parent… In their view every single Little, and a majority of Mids like myself, needed to be safely dressed in diapers and cared for in a nursery according to their manifesto. They specifically believed that Littles should have teeth removed and mobility impairments to help care for them the best… Their site even referred to it as being as routine as spaying and neutering pets... I had just about vomited at that.

CAMOL, or Citizens Against Mistreatment Of Littles, on the other hand was decidedly against those procedures. They seemed to support total emancipation of Littles everywhere, but were more realistic on their efforts, and were currently focused on getting Little Rights Bills passed like were present in New Haven and Hartford. Both of those jurisdictions of course were part of the 3^rd Circuit.

As I went to bed that night, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride for whatever part I played in trying to help that family!

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Thanks to those of you who keep reading/commenting. Please continue to do so! I'll post the next chapters on Wednesday. Thanks for reading!