The Girl Who Wanted to Wear Diapers

Chapter 29: Moment of Truth

Any trace that I had wet myself in the laundry room was long gone by the time the doorbell rang several hours later.

I had put off the rest of my chores until the last minute and had only just stepped back into the kitchen after taking the garbage out to the bin in the garage when Grace arrived home.

Dad was the next to arrive home about five minutes later, followed by Mom, who had Jackson in tow.

My stomach grumbled loudly. Usually, when Grace was home in the afternoon, she would often help with getting a few things prepped for dinner so that it would be easier for our parents to finish quickly once they were home from work.

That wasn't the case with me. I had been expressly forbidden from touching the oven or the stove while they were away, and Dad didn't even feel comfortable with me chopping vegetables with his extra-sharp kitchen knives, even when he was around to supervise in the kitchen. It didn't seem likely that dinner prep was a responsibility I would be given anytime soon, not that it was something I was eager to add to my already more than long enough list of chores.

I hid away in my bedroom until dinner, partly to read Harry Potter without any judgmental glances from my parents, but mostly so that I could continue to sneak glances at the package of pull-ups in my dresser. It felt like bedtime was still way too far away. There were so many questions that needed answering. Would this generic brand live up to the lofty expectations I had built up over the past three years?

Dinner was spaghetti, steamed zucchini, and toasted garlic bread. I arrived at my spot at the table to a surprise. Unlike the past week, my glass was once again filled the same way as everyone else's.

That was a welcome, although unexpected, concession from my parents, who had been diligent in limiting my fluid intake at and after dinner. It made sense. If I was going to wet the bed regardless of how much I had to drink, it didn't make all that much sense to have me stay thirsty all night long.

Still, as much as I preferred having nice, filtered water to drink, I wasn't going to push my luck and go for a refill while still eating dinner. Jackson was too young and self-absorbed – rather like myself at his age – to even notice that something was different with my glass of water. On the other hand, I could see from the look on Grace's face as I took a large sip of water that she seemed to think this wasn't going to bode well for me come bedtime.

That did raise another concern. Under no circumstances did I want Grace to find out that I was wearing pull-ups to bed. It was enough for her to know that I had been wetting the bed. With any luck, once she noticed that I was no longer doing any laundry in the morning, she would simply think that my short-lived bedwetting phase must have come to an end.

I hadn't directly asked my parents to withhold that information from my older sister, but with how hush-hush they had been with all the bedwetting issues between us, not saying anything unless it was necessary to do so, I felt confident that my privacy would get respected in that matter.

Wouldn't she be surprised when the next few days passed without me doing any extra laundry? I wondered if it wasn't too late to get my old bed back. Surely, I wouldn't need that now that I had pull-ups to keep my sheets dry.

The rest of the evening ticked by all too slowly. Instead of hiding in her bedroom, as was her usual routine after dinner, Grace was in the living room with me and our parents.

I would have preferred that she wasn't around for the request I had for Dad, but I figured that it probably wouldn't make any difference. I needed something, anything, to pass the time. And I figured now was as good a time as ever to see if Dad would unblock that website Hannah had mentioned to me over the weekend so that I could access the supposed treasure trove of Harry Potter stories on it.