A Trip to the Playa (Chapters)

The Bus was moving before Keeley awoke for the first time. Bleary-eyed, she took in the dim bedroom beyond her crib bars. Her nannies had added a pair of nightlights while she slept. Light was glimmering at the edges of the back window’s curtains too, making it easy for Keeley to spot the bedroom’s other addition, a baby monitor. The monitor sat across the bedroom’s narrow walking space, in a wall-mounted bracket that was purpose-made for it.

Keeley remembered resenting the baby monitor at the Beach House. It had appeared after her terrifying fight with her nannies and was an extra embarrassment when Trish had come to babysit her. The second time around, she found the monitor comforting. Keeley waved to the monitor, used her diaper, and drifted off to sleep.

The second time Keeley awoke, it was to Vidette ruffling her hair. “Wake up baby girl. Even on a baby day, you can’t sleep all day.”

“Says who?” Keeley climbed out of bed despite her protest. Her tummy was hollow and her throat dry. That Vidette ignored Keeley’s bratty question, in favor of leading her to the changing table, was on par for what Keeley remembered from her baby time at the beach house. Unlike the beach house, Vidette was in a mind for multitasking.

“Drink up.” Vidette pressed a baby bottle into Keeley’s hands before attending to her diaper. The protein shake in the bottle was a tasty strawberry-vanilla, but thick enough that breakfast promised to be a slow affair. While Keeley sucked diligently at her bottle, Vidette stripped her of her diaper and onesie. A warm sponge pressed to Keeley’s chest, making her giggle and spill some of her shake on her chin.

“Nana, you’re giving me a sponge bath?”

“That’s right, baby girl. We’re going to baby you as much as we want today, and that turns out to be a lot.” Vidette ran her fingers down Keeley’s sides with quick tickling taps.

“I’m only doing this because you were so nice yesterday, though. I’m not a baby.” Wiggle and squirm as she might, Keeley couldn’t get away from Vidette’s ticklish fingers or sponge.

“You’re a big girl, then?” Vidette smirked at Keeley’s fervent nod. “Some baby just piddled a little on the changing table, and I think that was you.”

“No I – I…” Keeley shoved her bottle’s nipple back in her mouth as a wave of heat flowed across her face. She was only teasing, I didn’t pee! Or if I did, it’s her fault for tickling me.

Vidette’s sponge would start out hot from the steaming tray of water she dipped it in, cooling while she scrubbed Keeley down. The repeated cycle of hot to warm combined nicely with the bus’s vibrations to relax Keeley. She was limply obedient in Vidette’s hands by the time her nanny brought a fresh tray of water to wash Keeley’s hair. Having super-hot water rubbed into her scalp took Keeley to a place she’d only achieved by getting a massage after meditating. A second dribble of pee ruined her peaceful state and sent Keeley hiding behind her hands.

“It’s a good thing this changing table has a waterproof pad.” Vidette mopped up Keeley’s little accident and put a thick diaper under the girl’s rear. After two accidents, Keeley couldn’t object to a nighttime diaper or the thick booster pad that went inside. Walking would be a pain with that much padding between her legs, but she suspected her nannies were going to make her crawl anyway.

Once Keeley was diapered, it was clear her nanny hadn’t been kidding about babying her. The first part of her outfit was a pair of plastic panties over her diaper, followed by a baby dress in pink with a fuzzy yellow lamb stitched on the front. The skirt flared out enough to keep Keeley’s padded butt permanently exposed. Fuzzy white knee-socks completed the outfit. The socks were Keeley’s favorite part of her outfit, owing mostly to the puppy face print on them – though the extra padding on her knees was nice for crawling.

She was not surprised by Vidette putting a pacifier in her mouth or putting her in her playpen. At least Vidette had given her coloring books and crayons to play with instead of full on baby toys. Keeley wasn’t feeling Little enough to play with blocks and rings, though she did snatch Gordo out of Vidette’s hands when she offered Keeley the stuffed rat.

With Gordo tucked firmly under one arm and a full belly, Keeley immersed herself in her coloring book. At the beach house, her nannies had given Keeley a faerie coloring book. This time it was packed patterns of similar objects, like a page full of flowers, or cupcakes. I bet they think I won’t be able to customize the pictures with everything so crowded. Nice try, nanas!

Keeley started with the cupcake page, using her black and grey crayons to tuck little rats amongst the overlapping cupcakes. Rats were delighted by cupcakes, as she knew well from her friendship with Gordo. The rumble of the road and dopplered buzz of passing cars mingled with the sounds of her nannies talking to make the perfect white noise for coloring. She was doing so well with concentrating on her art that she didn’t notice Dominika joining her in her playpen until Nika set a bag of cheerios next to her.

“Thanks Nana!” Keeley shoved a handful of cheerios in her mouth and returned to meticulously coloring the sprinkles on her page of cupcakes. When Dominika pulled Keeley’s plastic panties down and slipped a finger in her diaper’s leg-guard, Keeley was distracted enough to that her crayon slipped. “Nana! You made me smudge my sprinkle.”

“Sorry baby girl.” Dominika chuckled. “I’m just checking. You don’t need a change yet.”

“That’s because I’m dry, duh!” Keeley rolled her eyes at Dominika.

“I didn’t say you were dry, just that you didn’t need a change.”

No way, I haven’t pottied since I was on the changing table. Whatever, my nanas are just teasing me again. Keeley pouted at Dominika, “Now I have to redo all my sprinkles so they match the one with the smudge.”

“Can I see your picture so far?” Dominika pulled Keeley’s plastic panties up and patted her rear.

“Look! I bet you thought I wouldn’t be able to add on to the pictures, but I did.”

Dominica laughed, patting Keeley’s head with a proud smile. “I didn’t think about that, actually, it just looked like a fun book to color.”

“It is, but now this sprinkle is messed up and so they all have to get a smudge. It’s okay though, it’ll be kind of like they’re bleeding color onto the frosting.”

“That’s my baby artist. We have a surprise for you when we get to the festival, by the way.”

“What is it?” Keeley bounced on her padded butt, grinning at the ridiculous thickness of her diaper.

“It’s a surprise, silly girl. An art related one.”

Keeley blew a raspberry at Dominika and got back to her art. Fixing the sprinkles took forever, but she found she liked her cupcakes better with some coloring outside the lines. Moving on to the page of flowers, Keeley decided to offset her colors from the petals to give the page a watercolor look. With the flowers looking slightly blurred, the pixies that Keeley added to the page stood out all the more. Not long after her flower page was done, Vidette unceremoniously rolled Keeley over and checked her diaper. Keeley expected to be wet for her second check, and she was, though Vidette didn’t think a change was in order.

I don’t know why my dumb nannies put me in a super big diaper if they’re just going to check me all the time, Keeley grumped. Lunchtime followed Vidette’s diaper check, which brightened Keeley’s spirits considerably.

“Do I get another of Louis’ lunches?” Keeley drummed her palms eagerly on the table.

“You do, if you can be a good baby and let me feed it to you.” Vidette brought Keeley a steaming bowl who’s contents Keeley identified by smell before the cover came off. Braised short ribs and black barley with mushrooms was a huge favorite. Her dumb mom always vetoed the dish, because it mostly one color.

“I’ll be good!” Keeley fidgeted in anticipation while Vidette fixed a bib around her neck and was ready with her mouth open for the first bite! As always, Louis’s food was angelic, even reheated. He’d made the dish himself instead of delegating it, Keeley could tell. I didn’t realize he cared about me at all. It was really sweet of him to not use the other cooks, I bet it was a lot of work to make so many lunches. Keeley made Vidette scape every last bit of barley out of the bowl and leaned against her nanny while she was fed a water bottle.

“Nana, has it been this flat the whole time?” Keeley stared at the window at the expanse of fields which was dotted by the very occasional building or tree.

“We went through Chicago while you were coloring, though there wasn’t that much more to see since the freeway doesn’t go through the dense part of the city.” Vidette dipped a napkin in her water glass and scrubbed Keeley’s mouth and chin clean. “The Mississippi is coming up soon, I think that’s our only big landmark until our next stop.”

“This is a good day for a baby day.” Keeley said, yawning.

“Are you having fun?” Vidette squeezed Keeley, compressing her tummy uncomfortably.

“Nana, don’t, I’m super full.” Keeley wiggled out of her nanny’s grasp and kneeled on the booth seat to watch the corn roll by. “Today is fun but I don’t want to do it all the time.”

“Oh, what do you want to do all the time? Be our Little girl in pullups and play with coloring books, like you said yesterday?”

“I said no pullups yesterday, Nana. I don’t need diapers.”

“You liked the bath and diaper change I gave you this morning.”

“That was like – a spa treatment.”

“Interesting spas you’ve been going to.” Vidette chuckled as she rose to clear the lunch dishes. “Go sit on the couch and I’ll come snuggle you until we cross the river. Then it’s nap time.”

Keeley waddled to the lounge, glad it was right next to the dining area. Her diaper had gotten heavy since morning. There was nothing new out the window, so she took a squishy seat and watched Dominika drive.

“Nanny Nika, when do we get to the river?”

“We’ll cross the Mississippi around two.” Dominika glanced at the navigation tablet. “In about twenty minutes.”

“When did we start driving?” Keeley wasn’t sure where the Mississippi was, but it seemed middle-ish on the continent. A long, long way from New Hampshire, for certain.

“We left the campground at seven am sharp,” Dominika said proudly.

Keeley shook her head. “You’ve already been driving a really long time.”

“The whole trip is three thousand miles, we’ll never get there unless we put in the hours.” Dominika shrugged. “Vidette and I are switching off today, so it’s not too bad.”

“Why didn’t we just fly?”

“We wanted a lot of private time with our baby girl.” Vidette took a seat on the couch and pulled Keeley against her.

“Burning Man won’t be just the three of us, we’ll have servants and a ton of festival people around,” Dominika said. “Plus this is Vi’s not so sneaky way to keep me from checking my email.”

“It’s working too,” Vidette said. “You are way more relaxed.”

While Dominika grumbled her agreement, Keeley straddled Vidette’s lap so she could look out the window without losing her snuggles. She stared at the fields without really seeing them, focusing on the feel of Vidette’s arms around her.

“Nana…” Keeley said softly. “I still don’t understand why you like this baby game but – I see how much work you put in. Thank you.”

“We adore you, sweetie.” Vidette stroked Keeley’s back. “You make a great baby.”

“You’re such a nerd, Nana.”

“Be nice or I’ll put your pacifier in.”

Keeley rolled her eyes and settled in for a good snuggle. She was beginning to believe that there was nothing in the world but corn and wheat, when scattered houses and stores began to appear. The sparkling waters of the Mississippi were a soothing sight. Not that the river wowed Keeley, but at half a mile across it was the largest river she’d seen. Keeley was glad to take her nap in her playpen, the crib was fine, but too far away from everyone. Vidette pulled the curtains closed and brought down the lights, which combined with the pile of blankets Keeley was under, put her right to sleep.

Waking up in the middle of a diaper change was a bit embarrassing. Keeley’s diaper felt and smelled like she’d maxed it out. She blinked her bleary eyes to see that it was Dominika changing her.

“What time is it?” Keeley yawned.

“Almost six. Time for dinner and a movie if you want. Then it’ll be off to bed for our baby girl.” Dominika finished her wipe job and slid a bulky diaper under Keeley’s rear.

“Isn’t that early?” Keeley yawned again. “I’m not sleepy.”

“Considering how late you’ve been waking up, I think you’ll be fine.” Dominika set the tapes on Keeley’s diaper and patted the Little girl’s belly. “Babies have an early bedtime, so don’t argue.”

“Bleh.” Keeley stuck her tongue out at Dominika but crawled obediently to the dining booth. Dinner was Louis’ award winning duck curry and another bottle of water. Figuring she might as well indulge her baby side to round out the day, Keeley chose an animated princess movie to watch while she lay her head in Dominika’s lap.

She wasn’t sleepy at all when bedtime came – her yawns were the result of Dominika stroking her hair for the whole movie, and nothing else. Despite that, she graciously let Dominika brush her teeth and tuck her into her crib when they arrived at the night’s campground. As further proof of how not-tired she was, Keeley got through the whole story that Dominika read her. She watched her nannies extend the bedroom and lay their mattresses out, drifting off to sleep while Vidette was making the beds.

The next day, Keeley woke to her nannies collapsing the extendable bedroom and showering. A shower sounded lovely. Keeley fiddled with the latches on her crib until she got the bars to drop and hopped out of bed.

“Nanas, can I have a shower too? It’s not a baby day today, right?”

“It’s not a baby day, but you are going to be in diapers.” Vidette stepped out of the bathroom in a towel. “Do you want help getting your diaper and pajamas off?”

Keeley’s nighttime diaper was soaked, which was information she didn’t think her nannies needed. They’d just make fun of her, when it was clearly unreasonable for anyone to hold their pee for – however long it had been since her early bedtime.

“I can do it. What time is it anyway?” Keeley closed the bathroom door and locked it, before dumping her diaper in the trash.

“Six thirty. We’re going to get moving in a half hour, so take a quick shower if you want to have breakfast with us.” Vidette’s voice faded off with the sound of the bedroom door closing.

A short shower was still a shower. Keeley was impressed with how much heat and water pressure the RV shower offered, though its dimensions were a bit cramped. She wrapped a towel around herself on the way out of the bathroom like her nannies had, but she might as well not have bothered. As soon as she was out of the bathroom Dominika stripped Keeley of her towel and put her on the changing table. The day’s diaper was, at least, a fairly slim one. Keeley was excited to be in an overall dress and feeding herself at breakfast. Sure, her breakfast was pre-cut waffles and came with a sippy cup, but the waffles were loaded with butter and syrup so Keely didn’t care.

As her nannies started up the bus and set out on the endless road, Keeley reclaimed her coloring book and dug around in the art supplies she’d packed. Crayons were fun, but she wanted something with more precise control, which she found in her colored pencils. The window showed more grassy fields – Keeley was sick of those. She hunched over her coloring book at the dining table and tuned out the world.

When Dominika joined Keeley for her morning diaper check, the Little girl had a dry diaper and several completed coloring book pages to show her nanny. She was particularly proud of the tiny mouse people that she’d worked into a page full of overlapping birds. The mice were dressed in flight suits and wearing goggles as they navigated their avian landscape.

“Wow, you did this with colored pencils?” Dominika shook her head. “I had to double check that the mice weren’t part of the page to begin with.”

“I matched the style of the page pretty close, I think.” Keeley squirmed proudly. “You really like it?”

“I’m impressed, seriously. I think you’ll love how much art happens at Burning Man. I’m excited to see what you do there.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I’ve never taken any classes or anything.” Keeley ducked her head. Matching the style of a kid’s coloring book was cake. Putting her art up next to professional artists’ work? That was too scary an idea to contemplate.

“I don’t think making art requires classes. Anyway, why aren’t you using your diaper? You didn’t hesitate yesterday.”

“It’s not a baby day today.” Keeley rolled her eyes. “I don’t have to go all the time.”

“Is that how it works?” Dominika’s amused smile was irritating. Keeley wasn’t sure what her nanny was implying, but it was probably something about how Keeley was a dumb baby. “Well you’re still using your diapers for pee today, so you might as well when you need to go.”

“I don’t need to, I’m fine.”

“Mmm hmm. Do you want to play some more car games? We can play the sign game again, or I have some road-bingo sheets.”

“Road bingo sounds fun.” Keeley took her sheet of paper and kneeled by the window, keeping a sharp eye out for the various car models, state license plates, and roadside events printed on her sheet. Dominika had a cocktail and offered Keeley a sippy cup with soda in it. Keeley succumbed to using her diaper, but not because her nanny had reminded her it was inevitable.

Sharp observation skills won Keeley the game of road bingo along with a square of velvety dark chocolate. The prospect of prizes had Keeley champing at the bit to play the sign game again – at which she utterly dominated her nanny. Her second square of chocolate had to wait for lunch and a diaper change, but was all the sweeter for that. After lunch, Dominika took over driving and Keeley returned to her coloring book while she and Vidette chatted.

Vidette checked her phone, announced it was two pm, and then said something dumb, “When you finish up that page, it’s nap time.”

“I don’t need a nap today, it’s not a baby day.” Keeley’s pencil flew across the paper, abandoning care for speed. Starting another page before her discussion with Vidette was over would be good, in case her nanny somehow managed to sell her on the idea of a nap.

“You’re staying up late tonight, hon. Not only do you have a nap today but it’s going to be a long one, in your crib.”

“Nana, no!” Keeley glared at Vidette. “I stay up late all the time, I don’t need a dumb nap.”

“Yes you do. We’re getting to Burning Man really late tomorrow. Two late nights in a row will make for a cranky baby.”

“I’m not a baby! It’s just your dumb game!” Keeley threw her colored pencil at Vidette, she was done with that color anyway.

Vidette watched the pencil bounce off her shoulder and got up from the dining booth calmly. “Keeley, you know you’re not allowed to throw things. You also don’t get to tell your nannies what the rules are, or shout at us.”

“Nanny Vi, don’t be such a bitch. I’m playing along with – hey!”

Vidette grabbed Keeley under her armpit and hauled her out of her seat with surprising strength. Keeley staggered out of the dining booth, only to be bent over the table before she could catch her balance.

“You can’t call your nanny a bitch either, Little girl.”

“Hey no! No spanking! Stop! Ow!” Keeley’s wild wiggles came to an end when Vidette folded Keeley’s arm behind her back.

“You agreed to us being your nannies again, and you knew that included spankings for bad behavior.” Vidette pulled Keeley’s diaper down to her thighs, leaving the Little girl’s butt framed between her diaper and overall skirt.

“I don’t want a spanking or a nap! Why can’t we just hang out and – ow! Ow! Ow!” Keeley had always considered Dominika the big disciplinarian, but she’d either forgotten how hard her other nanny spanked, or Vidette had hidden stern depths. From the first few slaps, Keeley’s butt was on fire and her nanny was only getting warmed up. Keeley’s yelps quickly became shrieks, which in turn became sobs. Crying didn’t stop the spanking either, Vidette brought her hand down a good ten times after she’d already drawn tears.

Whimpering, sniffling, and hoping the spanking was done, Keeley didn’t dare move. Though Vidette stepped away from the table, Keeley kept her palms flat on it. Her nanny returned with soothing cream for Keeley’s rear that took away the bright sting but left the deep ache in her butt. With her diaper back up and skirt back in place, Keeley took a seat in response to Vidette imperiously pointing at the dining booth. Vidette took a seat on the table and looked down at Keeley with a serious expression.

“Do you know what you did wrong?”

“Nothing.” Keeley pouted sullenly.

“If you think you can’t get a second spanking right after the first one, you’re about to find out how wrong you are, Little girl.”

“I threw a pencil at you.”

“That’s right, but it’s not the only thing. What else did I say before I spanked you?”

“I yelled at you.”

“And?”

“I – was bossy.”

“Good enough. We’re not going to put up with any of that kind of behavior from you, understand?”

“I understand.” Keeley slumped in her chair. Stupid Vidette. I hate her.

“I don’t think you do.” Vidette lifted Keeley’s chin, forcing the Little girl to meet her gaze. “Being your nannies isn’t just about having fun and playing games.”

“Yeah, it’s about being mean to me too.”

“What are we doing that’s mean?”

“Making me wear diapers and spanking me.”

“You’re wearing diapers because it reinforces that you’re the Little girl, all the time. I spanked you because you misbehaved.”

“It hurt.” Keeley whimpered.

“Good. Then you won’t forget it right away. Do you know what I think about you, Keeley?”

“What?” Now’s the part where she tells me that I’m dumb and she doesn’t like me.

“I think you act out like a brat because you want to see if anyone will care, or set boundaries. When your mom stopped disciplining you, you ended up with Zach.” Vidette let go of Keeley’s chin and patted her cheek. “That ends now. Dominika and I are going to discipline you when you act out. We won’t let you be a bad girl.”

 “That’s stupid, you’re stupid. I don’t do that.” Keeley crossed her arms.

“Keeley, that’s enough. One more rude word out of you and you lose your big girl clothes. Next thing to go will be your potty privileges for going number two.”

Keeley opened her mouth to retort – and thought better of it. She wasn’t giving in to her nannies’ insanity, but she didn’t want to poop in a diaper either. Vidette waited Keeley out, staring sternly at her until the Little girl sighed and looked away.

“Sorry Nana.”

“I want to hear you say, I’ll try to be a good girl.”

Keeley rolled her eyes until she saw spots. Despite that, she said, “I’ll try to be a good girl.”

“Do you mean it?”

“I – yeah, okay.”

“Taking care of you includes keeping you out of trouble.” Vidette leaned down and kissed Keeley on the forehead. “Now, its naptime.”

“Okay, fine.” Keeley stumped down the hall to the bedroom – Vidette didn’t comment on her display of defiance, which was annoying. She let her nanny strip her of her overalls and climbed into her crib.

“You’re not to get up until one of us comes to get you.” Vidette said as she raised the bars. “If you need us, you can call out, the baby monitor will be on. There’s nothing to do in bed, so you might as well sleep.”

“You can’t make me sleep.”

“That’s right. If you want to, you can be grouchy and bored.” Vidette closed the blackout curtains and turned off the lights. The two nightlights glowed to life automatically. “I hope you nap and wake up in a better mood. Sleep well, sweetie.”

Keeley pouted first at Vidette, then at the baby monitor when her nanny stepped out of the bedroom. Neither pout had any effect. Worming her way into her blankets made her diaper rustle and her bottom ache. After some experimentation, Keeley managed to find a comfortable position without any pressure on her spanked rear.

Now they’re going to try to what – raise me? Once this vacation is over, the game is done too. They’ll go back to work and I’ll be alone again. A horrible heavy feeling settled on Keeley’s heart when she completed her thought. Her nannies had been way more attentive and sweet to her on their second round with the baby game. The thought of going back to her parents’ lonely house was almost scary.

Maybe I do act out on purpose sometimes. It’s not like I really said that Vi and Nika could parent me but – I guess it means they care what I do. Keeley sighed and snuggled her stuffed rat close. Her mind drifted to a hypothetical, where Zach invited her to a party with lots of drugs. My nannies would probably – spank me and ground me if they found out I was going. As unpleasant as the imagined punishment sounded – the thought of it made Keeley feel safe. Giving up on independence for the moment, Keeley used her diaper and closed her eyes.

~~~~*~~~~

After her nap, Keeley was on her best behavior. She knew behaving after a punishment would only encourage her nannies to be strict with her – but decided she preferred that to fighting with them. She didn’t even mind when they teased her about needing to be woken up after claiming she didn’t need a nap. It wasn’t like she could protest while she was still yawning.

“There it is, get Keeley to the window.” Vidette said from the driver’s seat.

“Up there, Keeley.” Dominika pointed upward. Keeley followed her nanny’s finger and was shocked to see a fully assembled pterodactyl skeleton atop a post on the side of the road.

“What is this place?”

“Dinosaur national monument.” Dominika pointed further down the road at a life-size T-Rex statue. “It’s also got some of the best stargazing in the country. Ready to eat dinner picnic style, while we watch the stars?”

Keeley was helpless to stop the happy giggle that bubbled out of her. She spotted more dinosaur skeletons and statues by the roadside, pointing each out to Dominika. Vidette found a quiet spot off the road and shut all the lights down while Dominika set up a blanket in the warm sunset light. The nannies wedged Keeley between them on the blanket while they all took turns feeding each other. Keeley took particular delight in “missing” her nannies’ mouths to get cheese on their chins. Vidette and Dominika took her antics in good humor, even turning dinner into a minor food fight. The only thing that would have made dinner more perfect was if Trish could have been there.

As the last rays of light vanished from the horizon, Keeley looked up and gasped. She’d never in her life imagined that there could be so many stars in the sky. The land around them was dark for miles and miles, without a single big city to put a glow on the horizon. The night sky with scattered pinpricks of stars was gone, replaced with rivers of multicolored twinkling lights. Keeley watched the stars and picked out satellites to show her nannies until she was yawning too much to keep track of what lights were moving and which were fixed.

Dominika put Keeley to bed without a story, which was fine. Keeley barely made it into her crib before her eyelids refused to stay open. Wrapped in blankets and a thick nighttime diaper, Keeley fell asleep feeling completely safe.