Up to her waist in hot water and soap bubbles, Briana sat back to admire the forest of suction-cup jungle animals she’d managed to stick to the tile wall. Her tongue protruded from between her teeth as she lifted Alanna – her stuffed Lioness and Knight Captain of the Kingdom of Cloudland, of which Briana was a princess – and carefully suspended her in the tangle. She let go and gasped as the suction cups held.
“See Grandma? See? If they can hold Alanna they could totally hold crayons!”
“Alanna looks nervous to me.” Grandma expertly scrubbed the inside of Briana’s ears with a soapy washcloth, totally unhindered by the Little girl’s squirms.
“She’s not nervous, Alanna is a knight and they’re brave!” Briana’s attempt to slide down to the waterline to escape the washcloth seemed quite clever until Grandma caught her foot and pulled. Before she knew what was happening, Briana was dunked under the water, had her hair rinsed out, and was back up and sputtering.
“Bravery isn’t about not being scared.” Grandma deftly wiped soap off Briana’s face. “It’s about facing fears – especially realistic ones like being put in a food dehydrator.”
“That was only one time!” Briana looked up at Alanna, who’s stitched-on expression seemed less than impressed. “Anyway, it worked.”
“Worked so well you cried for a whole evening about locking your friend up.” Grandma held up three fingers. “There are three reasons why you can’t play with the crayons that Gary got you for your birthday while you bathe.” Briana folded her arms across her soapy chest and stared skeptically at Grandma.
Michelle cleared her throat and said, “First off, they are very nice crayons, made from beeswax, which you’d be sad if you ruined. The second is that we don’t have any surfaces that can be colored on with crayon and survive bath water.”
“Yes we do! You can color on parchment paper.”
“Finally,” Grandma said relentlessly, “Your bath is over anyway.”
Briana had her mouth open to retort when Grandma turned on the shower, raining terribly cold water down on the Little girl. She shrieked at the top of her lungs, launching herself upward with a mighty splash. Suction cup animals were strewn everywhere in the confusion. Like she’d choreographed it, Grandma rose to her feet, caught Alanna, and held up a fluffy towel.
Lip trembling, Briana stared aghast at her grandma. As the shock wore off, she realized she wasn’t standing under freezing water, but merely warm water that had been a sharp contrast to the near-scalding tub. All was forgiven when she stepped out of the tub into a freshly warmed towel. Grandma wrapped Briana up and dried the Little girl from head to toe, before wrapping her in a second warm towel. There really is no getting spoiled like getting spoiled by Grandma.
“Good girl, getting out of the tub so fast,” Grandma said, as if she’d given Briana any choice. “Let’s get you on the potty now.”
“Huh? How come?” Briana sat anyway – accepting the casual authority Michelle wielded as she always ended up doing when her Grandma babysat her.
“You should try to use the potty tonight, even if Kiara is prepared to change you.” Grandma brushed most of the wet out of Briana’s hair while they waited to see if she needed to go. “This is to get you in the mindset.”
“Oh right, the charity thing.” Briana managed a small tinkle in the toilet, beaming when Grandma rewarded her with a pat on the cheek.
“I know you didn’t forget – and that you didn’t forget any of the times you dodged Emeline on campus.”
“I’m sorry!” Briana didn’t sound convincingly sorry, even to herself. To cover, she rushed into her next statement. “It’s just hard to connect with this stuff when I don’t know much about it.”
“It’s work dear, just like you do at school.” Grandma stood Briana up, wiped her, and lead her down the hall to her bedroom changing table. “Community and political work will often be tedious or uncomfortable, but it’s of great benefit to the people you’re helping.”
Unsure of how she should reply to what was starting to sound like a lecture, Briana was saved the trouble by the pacifier Grandma pressed to her lips. She closed her eyes and relaxed onto the fluffy diaper Michelle scooted under her hips, letting Grandma’s soothing voice and gentle hands take away the last of the end of bath shock.
“I’m proud of you for picking a research project designed to clean up the planet – you could have chosen any number of things other than plastic-eating bacteria. By the same token, I’m sure you’ll stop making Emeline’s job awkward and enthusiastically help your aunt.”
Briana winced when Grandma lifted her legs – only to receive baby powder on her rear instead of a swat. She popped her pacifier out in surprise and stared up at Grandma. “I thought you were going to spank me. That sounded like a pre-spanking lecture.”
“There’s no need to spank you because I know you won’t disappoint me on something this important.” Grandma patted the powder onto Briana’s skin matter-of-factly, her expression never wavering from it’s caring calm.
On the whole, Briana would have preferred a spanking. When Grandma had volunteered to give Briana her bath, the Little girl hadn’t expected to be speared by guilt. Pinned to her changing table like a butterfly in a display case by possible disappointment, Briana had to admire her Grandma’s experience in handling kids.
To her delight, she got a color-matched diaper for the dress her Grandma put her in. The diaper was a pretty pastel yellow, a nice compliment to the dress’s yellow top – even if no one at the event was supposed to know she was diapered. The boldly colored rainbow embroidered on the dress’s top, along with the tulle rainbow skirt was proof that Grandma paid attention to her. It’d been one of many fancy dresses Briana had gotten from Michelle for her birthday, and she loved them all.
Love overflowed from Briana’s heart – she threw herself into a big hug with her Grandma which was returned with the same bottomless affection Michelle always hugged with. “Thanks for the bath, and the dress – and even the talk.”
Grandma laughed. “You’re a good girl Briana. Go play with your sibling. You’ve a while yet before Emeline arrives.”
~~~*~~~
Melody, to Briana’s great exasperation, didn’t want to play. They were “busy” with “a personal project” and no amount of sarcastic air quotes from their Little sister could get them to put down their laptop. At least they were in the living room, instead of at their desk in their room. Along with Melody’s Middle-ish outfit of a dinosaur t-shirt and bright blue shorts, Briana felt the situation ought to be negotiable. Appeals to the local authority were Briana’s next tactic, but they weren’t working out the way she wanted either.
“But Daddy, Grandma told me to play with Melody.” Briana smiled endearingly at Jane, hoping that her dad’s outfit of a button up blouse and nice slacks wasn’t indicative of an uptight mood – but rather just her father’s anti-casual personality.
“I’m sure that was more of a suggestion than a command, and non-binding on Melody in any case.” Jane scooped Briana up into her lap, which Briana tolerated because it let her burrow into her Dad’s warm arms.
“I’m just debugging,” Melody said, without taking their eyes off the screen. “We can hang out, I just can’t play until later.”
“But later I’m going to be out with Kiara!”
“Oh yeah, you two are raising money to stall the orphan crushing machine, right?”
“The what?!”
“It’s an internet meme about how Americans throw money at systemic injustices that should get fixed.”
“Well – I’m literally an orphan, or I was, so can you not do that meme, please sib? It icked me.”
Briana’s plaintive tone was successful in getting Melody to look up sheepishly. “Sorry sis. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s okay.” Briana nuzzled Jane’s cheek. “Daddy, will you play with me?”
“Of course. We can engage in a good German game, such as Würstchenschnappen.”
“Daddy, you’re gross. I don’t think you ever ate sausages off a clothesline as a little girl.”
Jane laughed. “You’ll have to ask my parents to be sure.”
“When are they coming?” Briana bounced on Jane’s lap. “I want to meet all my grandparents.”
“Unlike the Rasmussens, the Müllers cannot fly to another continent on a whim. However, they should be here after the high traveling season ends, in September.”
“Really? They picked a date?” Briana’s bounces hit a high point – whereupon she shifted to clinging to her dad. “Are they – are they going to be okay with me?”
“They are going to love you as much as anyone else in the family does.” Jane gave Briana a squeeze. “The visit is some months away, don’t spin yourself up with anxiety.”
“That’s a Mom phrase, you’re staring to sound like your fiancé.” Briana hopped restlessly off Jane’s lap and skipped around the room.
“I suppose so.” Jane smiled fondly – she had the best dreamy happy expressions whenever Briana mentioned the wedding. Naturally, that meant she talked about it as much as the rest of the family would put up with.
“Mom said you and Grandma and Kiara were talking about the guest list, did you decide how many people are going to be…”
“OH – EM – GEE.” Melody beaned Briana with an expertly tossed stuffie. “You need to get off the wedding topic, sis, that was our whole afternoon.”
Briana caught the stuffed giraffe on the bounce. “How dare you treat Chuck so cavalierly?”
“Isn’t he a knight of Cloudland? He should be used to it.” Melody had a terribly smug smirk on their face.
“What does being a knight have to do with…”
“I think your sibling is referring to the French chevalier,” Dad said, rolling her eyes.
“OH – EM – GEE, sib!” Briana held her stern expression until Melody burst into giggles and she couldn’t help laughing herself.
The doorbell rang, prompting Briana to cast a surprised look at the clock. “It’s time to go already? But we didn’t even play!”
“Then why did we have such a good time?” Jane patted Briana fondly on her rear. “Go answer the door, mein Tochter.”
Briana skipped over to the door and flung it open, reveling in the surprised look on Emeline’s face – though it lasted only a moment before she was back to her trademark professionalism. She had on one of her innumerable pinstriped suit-dresses, the model of the day being a slightly lighter blue than the last one Briana had seen Emeline in. Sure, Mom wore variations on the same dress, but at least her style was goth instead of corporate.
Remembering Grandma’s epic guilt attack, Briana put on a bright smile that was only a tiny bit false. “Hi Emeline. Come in!”
“If you’re ready, we should head out right away, but thank you for the invitation.” Emeline waved from the door. “Hello Ms. Müller, Melody.”
“Emeline.” Dad reverted to German stoicism in the face of Emeline’s formality, spoiling any good that would come from dragging the French woman inside in an effort to make her unwind.
“Yup, I’m ready, take me to Airforce One!”
“Oh non, we’re meeting with the President next week, remember?” Emeline’s deadpan delivery got a smile out of Jane and a giggling-snort out of Melody. Anyone who could manage that couldn’t be all bad.
Briana felt her spirits rise enough for her to bounce a circle around Emeline. “Then let’s go. I haven’t seen Aunt Kiara in ages.”
“It would be unwise to say that to Ms. Rasmussen, considering the reason you haven’t.” Emeline chuckled, taking Briana’s hand firmly. She looked up at Jane and said, “Kiara will be bringing her home after the country club event is over.”
“Thank you Emeline,” Jane said. “You’re welcome to join us then as well – but please don’t feel pressure to attend if you’d rather not.”
Emeline nodded before leading Briana to her car. At Veronica’s insistence, both Kiara and Emeline had outfitted their vehicles with a Briana-sized car seat. While Emeline strapped her in, Briana kicked her feet and wondered what the country club people would say if they saw her in a car seat. Such concerns hadn’t been part of Briana’s life for a while, but they were creeping back in with disturbing regularity. I wonder how much of my nervousness about Kiara’s events is about being Little in public?
As Emeline pulled out of the driveway, Briana was struck with the guilty realization that she’d put a lot of pressure on Ava to come to her birthday as a Little. It was a bit of a struggle to reach her sequined purse, strapped in as she was, but Briana managed to snag her phone and send an apology text anyway.
“Emeline, what’s the event about tonight?”
“Changing the city ordinances to require businesses and public buildings to provide better access to people with physical disabilities.”
“Isn’t that already a law?”
“It is, but Kiara’s proposal would set a higher standard than the law currently requires, because it’s not always enough.”
Briana chewed on her lip, remembering that Ava had been basically shut out of the cool upper floor of Vakhaven because of the steep stairways. Is that why Kiara’s doing this – and is she doing anything to make our house better for people like Ava? If people really were having trouble despite the law in place, it seemed like a common sense thing to fix – hardly worth a meeting. Melody’s horrible orphan machine comment floated to Briana’s mind in counterpoint.
“But the business people don’t want to do it because it’ll cost them money, right?”
“Oui.” Emeline nodded. “Also the politicians don’t want to have to raise taxes during an election season.”
Briana frowned, searching her memory. “But – the city council is elected every two years, right? They’re always doing election stuff.”
“Exactement.”
“Right, so what do I do?” Briana sat up seriously – or as seriously as she could with her car seat straps holding her shoulders.
“I’m glad to see enthusiasm.” Emeline smiled. “You could offer to track the issue for those who’s political campaigns your family contributes to. They know that Kiara is too busy to closely follow such a minor issue. It’s much more likely that they will keep their promises if they know there is an interested Rasmussen who doesn’t have any other causes.”
“That means a lot more meetings – some of them on my own, doesn’t it?”
“It would, yes.”
With a sigh, Briana considered her options. It was true that while family restroom access was very good across town – Ardenthill as a whole didn’t have good disability access. The campus buildings were top notch, but the downtown core was downright inaccessible. Briana had heard from more than one person that the town’s landlords like to declare a building “historic” to get out of making improvements. With Ava’s expression of forcibly patient frustration in her mind’s eye, Briana bravely lifted her chin.
“Okay, I’ll do it! You’ll have to help me with the words.”
“Naturalment.” Emeline smiled. “Let us keep this a secret from Ms. Rasmussen. It will be more fun if she is surprised by your enthusiasm in the moment.”
“I didn’t realize she liked surprises so much.”
“She doesn’t hate them – but I meant it would be more fun for us, not Kiara.”
Briana giggled. “Emeline, you’re naughty!”
“Ms. Rasmussen encourages self-expression among her staff.” Emeline pulled the car into the country club parking lot, choosing a spot near the back of the lot.
“That’s true of all of them. It’s confusing when you call Aunt Kiara Ms. Rasmussen.”
“They are very similar women when it comes to their business affairs, true.” Emeline helped Briana out of the car. “As are you, Miss Rasmussen.”
“You think so?” Briana clasped her hands nervously in front of her, wishing she had Alanna along to buoy her confidence.
“Oui.” Emeline gently untangled Briana’s hands and clasped one of them. “Now, let us go surprise your aunt.”
If Briana gripped Emeline’s hand extra hard on the way into the club, the French woman didn’t say anything about it. She was torn between regretting her Little dress and being glad that she’d worn it. As long as no one laughed at her, debuting in Little attire would keep her from having to dress up at all the rest of the meetings.
They wouldn’t laugh at a Rasmussen – would they?