âAww, now arenât you just precious, Sheila? Such a sweet little honey bunch! Iâve half a mind to become a baby sitter myself, just to take care of you!â
Sheila smiled sheepishly up at her cousin Shannon, five years her senior and clearly far more capable in every way. Not even the most perceptive observer would have guessed, however, that the two werenât exactly the best of friends. Neither of them had been exactly overjoyed when events had transpired to force the twenty-two-year-old college dropout to move in with her married cousin. What the hell was she supposed to do with stuffy old Shannon and her husband?, Sheila had complained. And Shannon, for her part, had similarly grumbled about what on earth she could be expected to do with such an irresponsible slacker of a cousinâŚ
Not that it had taken too long for her to find a solution.
Shannon had soon formed plans for her kombucha-sipping, Netflix-bingeing little cousin, you see. âThereâs always a need for nannies,â sheâd proclaimed, touting statistics about the rising number of women in the workforce, stable birthrates, and the exorbitant cost of institutional child care centers. âGet yourself some experience, a few certifications, and boom! You may not be wealthy, but youâll at least be able to afford a roof over your head.â A roof thatâs not shared with me, sheâd added silently, dreaming fervently of the day when their household would again be back to its ordinary two.
But that was before sheâd come to see just how hopeless her cousin really was. Not a whiff of real interest, not a trace of maternal instinct, not even the decency to bother reading the chapters of early child development handbooks Shannon had borrowed from the library specially for her. âTheyâre just so boorrinnggâŚâ Sheila had drawled, flopped on the couch in her customary position. âI mean, like, canât I just watch a video tutorial or something?â
Shannon had thrown in the towel right then and there. Yet, on Jerryâs advice, sheâd bitten back the angry words that threatened to flood out and instead adopted a far more conciliar - and insidious - approach. âLearning by doing is a better way for you, girl,â sheâd chirped the very next day. âAnd if youâre going to learn to be a nanny, I think weâd better give you some real life experience. I know we donât have a kid in the house. But you see, Iâve got this ideaâŚâ
And thatâs when the diapers and the binkies had emerged.
Not that Sheila had even stood a chance, Shannon now mused, casting her honeyed smile down at the blushing, freshly diapered form of her supposedly adult cousin. She was simply too silly and lazy to ever bother standing up to her older cousin - certainly when it seemed to run the risk of losing her this free room and board. As far as Sheila was concerned, what was a little juvenile embarrassment if it meant she could chill all day in someone elseâs house - for free?
Yeah, about that. It didnât seem like the plan was working quite as Shannon had intended, as even she had to admit. So much for making her cousinâs life so unbearable and humiliating that sheâd be glad to move out. On the contrary, it was almost as if- as if she actually enjoyed being the baby of the house, as absurd as that soundedâŚ
Well, nothing for it but to double down, Shannon mused now, eyeing the fresh, bulging padding around the young womanâs groin. Her new rule was clear: diapers not just for demonstrations anymore, but for day and night. And back came the honeyed smile. âWhat a cute little baby you make, sweetie! You know, I bet youâre already getting ready to make me a stinky little present in those pampers, arenât you?â
As the nervous smile froze on Sheilaâs lips, Shannon chortled internally. Oh, hell, yeah. She might stand a chance of getting this loser out of here after all. Or at least if not, sheâd give her one hell of a humiliating summerâŚ
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