Keeley woke the next day to find out that Vidette was on baby duty, and that her naughty babysitter had been up all night. It was tempting to be a brat and wake Trish up. Keeley still remembered being dragged out of bed at the start of her trip and decided to spare her girlfriend. After everything that had happened on the trip, Keeley didn’t bat an eye at her morning diaper change or the onesie that Vidette put her in. Honestly, she was delighted at the purple unicorns decorating the main component of her outfit. The white background of the onesie was a bit plain, however. The nannies said they’d brought a bunch of art stuff – Keeley hoped that included some fabric pens to spice up her baby clothes.
Halfway through a baby-food breakfast, Keeley realized she was glad she wasn’t eating a dull slice of toast. The playa’s inevitable dust had already percolated into every part of the bus, giving it the smell of a ceramics studio or a warehouse basement. The bright taste of pureed carrots and sweet potatoes made an excellent counterpoint.
“Finish your breakfast, baby girl.” Vidette fondly tucked Keeley’s hair behind her ear. “I have a surprise, but it’s only for babies that clean their bowl.”
“What kinda surprise?” Keeley blushed when Vidette put a hand under her chin and deliberately closed her mouth. Maybe she hadn’t finished swallowing before she started talking, but so what?
“An art surprise. Hurry up hon, you need finish your water too.”
Keeley gobbled up the rest of her puree and drained her sippy cup in time for Dominika to exit the shower. In contrast to Trish and Keeley, the nannies were insisting on showers every day. It wasn’t a lack of water stopping Keeley from requesting a shower. Only a certain type of Burner had clean skin in the mornings. Regular folk were constantly smudged with dust, the ones that were pristine got held at arm’s length. Though she was too posh for her own good, Dominika lovingly gentle when she put Keeley’s sandals on.
As soon as they were outside, Keeley danced in the morning sunlight, luxuriating in the stark heat that soaked through her skin into her bones. Her nannies were messing around with something large and loud the bus’s cargo compartment, so she figured she had time to play on her own. She frolicked her way through the neighbors’ camp, getting a few laughs and even a hug from Carmen. The simple fact that she had friendly people to say good morning to warmed Keeley’s heart more than the sun had warmed her body. When her nannies called for her, Keeley left her neighbors with a promise to bring popsicles over later.
“You making friends?” Vidette was standing next to a pile of pink and purple plastic. The colors clashed with the metallic bronze bikini she had on – the overall effect with the burning man backdrop made her look like she was in a low budget cyberpunk movie.
“Yeah, have you met them?” Keeley frowned at Vidette’s shake of her head. “You should! They’re really nice, especially Carmen and John. I’m going to take popsicles over for them later.”
“Maybe I will.” Vidette shrugged. “Anyway, your surprise is ready, if Nika ever gets here with the tools.”
“They’re heavy, bitch.” Dominika grinned as she hauled a box and a bucket over to the pile of plastic. She’d gone with a catsuit that was a wild swirl of colors from surrealist paintings mashed together.
“Is this stuff the surprise?” Keeley peered more curiously at the plastic bits. They were all sizes, from an inch across to big two foot panels, though it was all a quarter inch thick. Most of the shapes were sharp angled, though a few circles were scattered throughout. It looked like a jumbled mess – a mess that Keeley’s brain couldn’t help but begin to piece together.
“That’s right!” Vidette proudly stomped on a heavy metal disc with a metal pole rising up ten feet or more. “A big art project for our big baby. You get to make your first real sculpture and show it off where everyone’s doing cool art installations.”
“The bucket has some quick acting resin, it needs to stay in the shade. We’ve got some tools to help you cut the plastic if you need to, and to put the resin on. Be careful, okay? Tell whoever’s watching you if you get the resin on your skin, and go slow with the knife.” Dominika laid out the tools on a waist height little table as she mentioned them.
The plastic bits took on three dimensions in Keeley’s mind, whirling together in a multitude of shapes. As her gaze wandered up the pole, her eyes grew wider. Before walking around the festival, she would have been intimidated by the idea of making art, but she’d seen an incredible variety the day before. Some of it was slick and professional, but most was simply people having fun with their imaginations.
Squealing, Keeley clapped her hands before hugging both of her nannies. “Nanas, this is so cool! I didn’t think I’d get to participate like this. Thank you!”
“We’re glad you like it, kiddo.” Vidette gave Keeley a squeeze and turned her to face the area shaded by their netted tarp. “There’s a cooler there with water in it. I’ll remind you, but if you’re thirsty at all, drink. If you feel hot or dizzy, get in the shade, okay?”
“I will, I will!” Keeley grinned and hugged her nannies again. “Can I get started right now?”
“Go for it!” Dominika grinned. “I’m going to explore for a bit, but I’ll be back for lunch and I’ll take over watching you then.”
“I’ll be on the lounge chair in the shade,” Vidette said. “I was up almost as late as Trish last night.”
“Kay!” Keeley rummaged through the plastic without further preamble.
She wasn’t sure what to make, yet, but whatever she made was going to need a decent sized base. The pole was nice, but looked too bendy for her to rely on it alone. Her first few tries with spreading the resin were ugly disasters, but were easily covered up by more bits of plastic. In no time she was sticking plastic bits to her sculpture or the pole with fluid motions. As she worked, a shape resolved in her mind’s eye. Without worrying too much about the end state, Keeley followed the rough idea in her head. Whenever she didn’t have a piece to match the shape in her head, it was easy to correct with another, often leading Keeley in a better direction than her first thought.
It was under protest that Keeley let Vidette drag her into the shady area for a diaper check and a bottle of water. She was shocked to discover that it’d already been an hour and a half of working on her sculpture. Sure, there was a lot of plastic stuck to the base, but there were armloads of pieces left in the pile. The swirling bowl-shape she’d created so far was only a tiny part of the figure that now dominated Keeley’s thoughts.
“Lie down on the lounge chair. You’re a little baked.” Vidette had apparently meant baby bottle when she’d said water bottle, which made Keeley giggle as she laid back.
“I wish I was baked for real. Did you at least bring weed gummies?”
“What would your babysitter say about that?” Vidette chuckled and put the bottle to Keeley’s lips. “Anyway, we didn’t. Booze only, and it’s not for babies.”
As much as she wanted to get back to work on her sculpture, Keeley had to admit she felt a little desiccated. Her diaper hadn’t been wet enough to change, but her skin was covered in playa dust streaked by sweat. Fifteen minutes in the shade, sucking on ice cold water, restored Keeley in ways she hadn’t realized she needed. The moment the bottle was done, though, Keeley was on her feet and back at her sculpture. She took a moment to sort her materials, moving some of the plastic shapes into the shade with the resin, and spreading the others out in the sun.
The next interruption to her work came at lunchtime, when Dominika returned and Trish stumbled sleepily out of the bus. Trish looked tantalizing in a flowing white robe of sparse fabric, that easily showed off the red bikini she had on underneath. Snuggling with her girlfriend made taking an art break bearable for Keeley, since she wasn’t hungry at all. They were all low on appetite, the sun had baked it out of them. Even so, Trish insisted that Keeley eat at least one bratwurst and some veggies. She managed half the sausage and some cauliflower before even Trish couldn’t make her eat another bite. Part of her non-appetite was her stomach full of water. They’d all gulped it down at lunch. Water tasted sweeter on the playa than Keeley could have imagined.
“Hey Keeley, I’m going to move this plastic stuff for you. The pieces are getting soft in the sun.” Trish reached for Keeley’s art supplies, only to be stopped by a squawk from the diapered girl.
“No! Those are there on purpose. The sun is bleaching them out extra, it changes the color.” Scurrying over, Keeley tested the plastic with her fingers. “It’s a little bendy but it’ll be okay. I can work with it.”
“Sorry for questioning the great artist.” Trish grinned proudly at Keeley and gave her a dusty kiss on the lips. “I’m going to wander with Vidette a little, you be good for Dominika, okay? Keep drinking water and put some more sunscreen on soon.”
“Okay have fun!” Keeley was back at her sculpture instantly, excitedly adding the pieces that would put a woman’s waist on top of the cylinder she’d created, and make it clear that the base of her sculpture was a skirt.
“So what is it?” Dominika peered around and inside the sculpture while Trish and Vidette wandered off.
“You’ll see! It’ll be easier to explain when it’s done.” The softened pieces turned out to be perfect for sculpting the curves of a waist, to Keeley’s delight.
“Hah, alright. I’ll be taking a break in the shade.” Dominika hugged Keeley, right in the middle of her placing a sculpture piece. She squirmed out of her nanny’s grasp and got back to work.
Dominika made it through an hour of trying to use her tablet reader in the dust and one water break for Keeley before she gave up in disgust. “Keeley, are you going to be okay if I hop inside the bus for a bit? The dust is driving me crazy.”
“Yup, have fun!” Keeley spread some more plastic in the sun eagerly. A sigh of relief left her when the bus door closed behind Dominika. Without any more dumb interruptions from her nanny, she was going to be able to make real progress!
The sculpture had acquired a torso and stumpy arms by the time Keeley had her next visitor. Jose, from the neighbor camp, wandered over as Keeley was hacking at the plastic pieces with a heavy vinyl knife.
“Hey girl, mind if I look at your project?”
“Go ahead.” Keeley grunted, stripping another shard off the purple triangle she was butchering.
“This is cool.” Jose ran his fingers lightly over the skirt and squatted down to peer at it with one eye. “Proportions are bang on too. The plastic pieces are kind of like the scrap metal sculpture I do. You want help, or would you rather work solo?”
Keeley wiped her soaked brow and came away with a cake of muddy dust on the back of her hand. It was important for the sculpture to be done before her bedtime, and the cutting work was going more slowly than she’d hoped. I’ve never shared an art project before, Keeley thought, with sudden excitement.
“Yeah! Um, I know it’s not the super fun part, but can you help me with the cutting?”
“Sure!” Jose held out his hand for the knife. “It’s your project, I’ll be the assistant.”
“Deal.” Keeley grinned and handed the knife off. “I need long shards cut off purple pieces like this. They should be kind of feather shaped, but simple spikes, don’t cut detail into them.”
“Got it, jefe.” Jose’s strong hands sent the knife through the plastic like butter.
Delighted to have that task out of the way, Keeley set about building the statue’s arms. She gave them a huge plastic rectangle to hold, which made them droop alarmingly. Jose guffawed and made a descending “woooop” sound as Keeley tried to hold the arms up to no avail. She giggled along with him, grinning while the two of them rigged a rope around the pole to take the weight of the big panel. It was bliss to work with Jose adding feathers between the sculpture’s arms. The effect was glorious! Keeley had realized her vision of the statue tearing apart a pair of wings better than she’d hoped. The only thing that wasn’t perfect was the way the dust kept making her cough.
“Hey, you two are getting burnt to hell. Come in the shade, come on.” Maria lead Keeley and Jose back to her tent and handed them both a bottle of ice water.
Keeley had been irritated – unsure of why she was following Maria’s orders – until she stepped into the shade. Leaving the sun’s glare made the headache it had given her stand out in high relief. She was so parched that Maria had to stop her from chugging the whole water bottle in one go.
“Tontos, were you trying to get heat stroke?” Maria shook her head, wiping Jose and Keeley’s foreheads with a wet cloth in turn.
“We got caught up in the art. This baby girl is a heck of an artist.”
“Eh, it’s just a hobby thing.” Keeley blushed, or assumed she had. It was hard to feel any heat in her cheeks over the heat in her skin.
“What does that matter?” Jose grinned. “I’m not a professional artist either.”
“It looks cool as hell.” Maria nodded, popping an ice cube in her mouth. “But it won’t get finished if you two fall over. Promise me you’ll take a long break, okay?”
“I can do that.” Jose nodded. “You want to let me in on where the sculpture is going, Keeley?”
“Yeah! But just you.” She made a shooing motion at Maria. “It’s a surprise for everyone who’s not working on it.”
Maria laughed. “Okay, no worries. I’m going to take a nap anyway. We’re right in the middle of the afternoon heat. I’ll let you two chill here. Jose, can I use your tent?”
“Be my guest.” Jose nodded, leaning back on Maria’s rolled up sleeping bag.
Chatting with Jose about the sculpture – and its purpose – was almost as fun as building. He didn’t talk down to her at all, far from it. Jose was excited about the sculpture, praising Keeley for some of the decisions she’d struggled with as she’d designed it. Eventually, though, they ran out of conversation on the piece and relaxed in silence.
“Man,” Jose sat up abruptly. “I can almost see our sculpture come alive in my head. I just need a little boost before we go back to work.” He fumbled in his pocket and produced a bag of what looked like hard candies, but the pale yellow lozenges were obviously hand-wrapped in thin wax paper.
“What are those?” Keeley scooted closer to Jose.
“Shroom edibles, homemade. Hey, I can share with you, but you have to be cool. There’s cops all up in this bitch. Don’t be talking about how you’re high outside the camp, cool?” Jose grinned when Keeley nodded. “You want one or two? Two is pretty hardcore, so if you’re a lightweight…”
“I know how to party.” Keeley grinned. “Two please!”
“Never thought I’d be handing these to someone in a onesie and a diaper.” Jose laughed, dropping a pair of lozenges in Keeley’s palm. He popped a pair in his mouth and crunched them before washing them down with water.
“I’m not really a baby, obviously.” Keeley followed Jose’s example, wincing as she swallowed the sugary shards. “It’s just a fun game.”
“You really like it? Even though uh – it looks like you used the diaper?”
Keeley shrugged. “You get used to that part pretty fast, actually. It’s nice because – because my nannies take care of me. Way more than my mom ever used to.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.” Jose nodded. “You mind if I lay quiet for a bit? I like it to kick in when I’m chilled out to make sure I have a good trip.”
“No problem, that’s a good idea.” Keeley sighed and laid back.
It was still hot in the tent, hotter than it had been outside her house when her nannies had showed up to spring the trip on her. The shade kept things bearable, as did the icy water, but Keeley wasn’t in a rush to get out in the sun again. With any luck, the day would at least be starting to cool by the time their trip started. Luck wasn’t on Keeley’s side. Not only did she end up with an annoying case of mushroom yawn, her babysitter arrived at the same time the yawns began.
At first sight of Trish, Keeley was too delighted to see her girlfriend to remember that she had something to hide. She lept into her babysitter’s arms with a happy squeal. “Trish! Triiiish! Oh, you’re glowy, you’re all made of lights.”
“I am?” Trish grinned, giving Keeley a quick kiss.
“Yeah!” Keeley gazed dreamily at Trish. Kneeling in the doorway of the tent, her girlfriend was covered in shifting blobs of light and shadow. The light play distorted and deepened Trish’s form, revealing beautiful depths that Keeley hadn’t noticed before. “I can see all the way into you, you’re beautiful. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
A frown sprouted on Trish’s ethereal face, creating intriguing dark crevices on her forehead. “Are you okay Keels? You didn’t get sunstroke did you? Shit, you are burnt, your skin is still hot.”
“No it’s fine, I’ve been drinking water and hanging out with Jose.” Keeley motioned to her art buddy, who sat up and waved, before yawning hugely. That set Keeley off into another round of yawns. As best she could, she finished her explanation around her yawns. “Maria made us – come inside and – gave us water so we’re – totally fine.”
“Something isn’t fine. Your pupils are blown out.” Trish’s frown became a scowl when Keeley giggled.
“Shh! Trish, we’re not supposed to tell, there’s cops everywhere.”
“Did you take something?” Trish bit her lip angrily. “Jose, did you give her something?”
“What, are you a cop? She’s an adult, even if she’s in a diaper, right?” Jose shook his head. “I seriously need you to chill before my trip goes sour.”
“Jose…” Trish balled up her hands and took a deep breath before relaxing them. “Keeley has problems with drugs. She needs to be sober. She was supposed to tell you that if you offered anything.”
“Oh shit. Hey, I’m really sorry.” Jose sighed, then yawned. “Seriously, I didn’t realize.”
“It’s not your fault, it’s Keeley’s – and Dominika’s. Where is she, anyway?”
Keeley whimpered. “She went into the bus to read. Please don’t be mad at me, Trish, please? Please don’t break up with me.”
“Nobody is breaking up.” Trish sighed. “Come on, I’ll get you sorted out.”
“But we have to finish the sculpture!”
“Not tonight you don’t.”
“You don’t understand, it has to be done before bedtime!”
“Keeley, I promise you that you don’t want to be grounded at a festival.”
“Oh shit.” Jose blinked, wide-eyed. “That sounds fucked up, you better do what she says.”
“Don’t finish it without me.” Keeley whimpered at Jose. The tent was full of sad, drippy shadows. They whispered guilt inducing stuff at Keeley, making her huddle against Trish for comfort.
“I won’t touch it, it’s your project, promise.” Jose held up a peace sign.
“Say goodbye Keeley. You can see Jose tomorrow, but you’ll be in the bus until morning.” Trish grabbed Keeley’s arm firmly – she hissed at the contact on her burnt skin.
“Bye. Sorry!” Keeley stumbled out of the tent and swayed as soon as she was on her feet. There was so much going on, whirling colors, pounding sounds, the sun piercing down at her like a giant shiny bullet. She had to lean on Trish to walk fifty feet to the bus, retching once when a passing party vehicle overwhelmed her with sirens and music.
The relative quiet of the bus was wonderful, as were the shades over its windows and the softness of the couch. Within the engine hum was the whole of the long memory of the road trip. The walls of the bus glimmered with little scenes of her playing with her nannies if she looked hard enough. She clung to those images, seeking solace in whatever happy moments she could get before Trish stated screaming at her. Of course, Keely knew she deserved to be yelled at, spanked, whatever Trish thought was right, but she wasn’t sure how she’d be able to handle it in her current state.
To her surprise, Trish went completely off script. Keeley’s babysitter put her hands on her hips and glared down the length of the bus, calling out, “Dominika, get your ass out here.”
It was a very surprised and slightly sunburnt nanny that stepped out of the bedroom, staring at Trish. “What exactly are you…”
“Shut up.” Trish radiated the kind of flat anger that Keeley had only ever seen on her parents when they lost a business deal. It was a look and tone that spoke of disappointment and rage with a side order of disgust.
“You left Keeley alone, totally unsupervised, so of course now she’s high.” Trish’s merciless gaze seemed to pierce Dominika as much as her words did, Keeley watched in disbelief as the shadows collected around Dominika and she bowed her head in shame.
“Shit, I am really sorry. She was doing her art thing, I didn’t think…”
“Yeah, you didn’t think. You dragged her out here, promising her and me that you were going to take care of her.” Trish crossed her arms over her chest. “On day ONE of watching her at the festival you fucked off.”
“I uh… I’ve got nothing.” Dominika sighed and dropped into a dining booth seat. “Fuck. I’m sorry.”
“What’s all this?” Vidette stood at the top of the stairs, frowning.
“You’re almost as deep in the shit as Dominika is, go sit with her, now.” Trish said, whirling on Vidette. Taken aback, Vidette stared in confusion at Trish – looked over at Dominica’s hangdog expression – and back at Trish before sidling awkwardly down the bus aisle.
As she squeezed past Trish, Vidette said, “Look, Trish, I don’t know what exactly happened but you’re a little over…”
The way Trish’s jaw muscles bulged stopped Vidette cold. Trish pointed at the dining booth. “Sit. Do NOT fuck with me right now. I‘m this close to blowing my stack on you two.”
Again, Keeley was flabbergasted to see her nanny meekly scurry to take a seat. The sunny glow on Trish’s skin flickered like fire in the corners of her vision. She braced herself for Trish to finally turn on her, but instead her babysitter took a few steps toward the nannies.
“Both of you totally neglected Keeley, when you explicitly promised me you would be careful with her.” Trish’s shoulders flexed angrily. “She’s high off her ass, sunburnt from head to toe, and dried out. What the fuck?”
“Hey, I made sure she took shade and water breaks when I was watching her!” Vidette protested.
“Yeah? And did you put sunscreen on her?” Trish seemed to swell as Vidette shrank. “Her skin is lobster pink! She’s burned under her onesie. You’re wearing sunscreen, Vidette, why isn’t Keeley?”
“I uh – shit, I forgot.”
“And you…” Trish shook her head at Dominika. “You already know what you did.” Dominika opened her mouth to respond, then closed it, nodding shamefacedly.
“So what now?” Vidette asked, with a sigh.
“I don’t know. I’m the youngest person here – it’s driving me crazy that I feel like the only adult. Do you know how much Keeley trusts and loves you two? Do you have any idea?” Trish yanked at her hair. “She wishes you two were her parents!”
Keeley opened her mouth to yell at Trish for telling her nannies a secret – and stalled out when she saw her nannies’ expressions shift from surprise, to love – to overwhelmed tears. Hopeful, excited warmth blossomed in Keeley’s chest. Propelled by the psychedelics in her system, the feeling met the sunburnt tingles on her skin and covered her in a feeling of soft bunny fur.
“Yeah,” Trish said softly. “So what now, Mom? Mom?”
“I guess… there should be consequences for us.” Dominika said softly. “We impose them on Keeley – and we screwed up.”
Trish nodded and looked at Vidette. Reluctantly, Vi nodded as well. Trish sighed. “Fine. I’ve got one for you. I’m putting you both in a diaper. You’ll wear it until you wake up tomorrow.”
“WHAT?!” Dominika eyes bugged out, covering half her face.
“It’s not like you never have before, if what you told me about the Delta Lambda Gamma sorority is true.” Trish crossed her arms.
“Fuck it, sure.” Vidette giggled. “I haven’t worn since sophomore year. It’ll be a blast from the past I guess.”
“I haven’t since halfway through Freshman year.” Dominika grumbled. “And I’m not going out in it – but I guess that’s the point. Fine. Yeah.”
Keeley giggled, her giggles grew big and burst into laughter that pinged off the walls of the bus like a bouncy-ball. “Everybody’s a baby tonight!”
“Except me. Somebody has to mind the store.” Trish shook her head ruefully.
“But wait, Trish.” Keeley whimpered and tugged at Trish’s once-white robe, which was now mottled grey and brown. “I need my sculpture. It’s going to protect me from the scary bird people in the middle of the city.”
“You’re not going back outside, sunburnt and tripping.” Trish crouched down, looking luminous and soft in Keeley’s altered vision. “I’ll be right by your side all night, and you can sleep in my bed, okay? No bad dreams will get you.”
“O-okay.” Keeley shuddered, tears pouring out of her parched eyes.
Trish turned back to the nannies. “Okay, who’s up on the changing table first?”
“Keeley may wish that we’re her parents, but I kind of wish you were my sister.” Dominika snorted. “I guess you will be soon. You’re going to make a hell of a Delta-G. I’ll go first.”
With both nannies in the biggest, fluffiest diapers Trish could find, it was an inside night for everyone. Keeley couldn’t stop grinning, even when the extra senses the shrooms had granted her faded away. It felt like a family night – not the kind of family night she’d ever had, but the kind she’d seen on TV shows and desperately longed for. They played a board game, drank juice, and laughed every time someone wet their diaper. Unlike her nannies, Keeley somehow escaped punishment and got a diaper change when she was wet. The nannies were stuck in diapers that were in no danger of leaking, but probably weren’t the most comfortable things in the world.
Trish restricted both the nannies from alcohol that night too, they were on Keeley rules, right down to their bedtime. By the time the three diapered girls went to bed, Keeley could see that the punishment was wearing thin for her nannies – but they put up with it surprisingly well. It wouldn’t be a punishment if they like it, I guess. Keeley thought. It was fun having other diapered girls to hang out with. Maybe I really will visit Trish at her sorority.