“So what are we celebrating this time,” Jamie asked.
“Harvest Day,” Becky explained. “Each neighborhood holds a big potluck dinner to celebrate the harvest.”
“Do people do much harvesting around here?”
“Not that far away, but you know, it’s an old tradition.”
“So what are you bringing?”
“We’re bringing brownies. Do you want to help me make them?”
“Can I lick the beaters?”
“’Til your heart’s content.” Rebecca...
2022-08-19 12:47:51 +0000 UTC View PostI’m a lake girl. Don’t get me wrong – the ocean is great, but my heart belongs to freshwater (and Mary). Bear Lake isn’t Lake Michigan, but it’s big enough you can’t see the far shore, and the beach is wide and sandy. Mary gave me carte blanche to book any vacation rental I wanted, and I chose a house across the street from the beach (we’re not beachfront-rich … or any other kind of rich, which is such a bummer. Haven’t I earned it by being such a good girl?).
We got t...
2022-08-19 00:21:21 +0000 UTC View PostAutumn days are good days to rest. The cooler air reinvigorates, but it does so best when well rested and in no hurry. That first real autumn day, that intruder that doesn’t know it’s not quite time for clouds and cold, is a prime candidate for such a day.
Rebecca found Jamie asleep still, unusual for him, when she went into his nursery to get him up, and he didn’t assist much in getting into something dry and warm. He opted to stay in his room and fell back asleep in his recliner...
2022-08-18 13:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post“I don’t know about this,” Jamie said as he paced back and forth in his mom’s room. “I think we’re making a serious mistake.” Becky watched him pace, his hands folded behind his back, becoming more agitated each time he reached a wall and turned on his heel. “This could … We should have stopped this.”
“She’s twenty,” Becky responded.
“Exactly! That’s … Teen brides are only a few months younger than her!”
“Jamie, it’s just a date.”
<... 2022-08-17 12:56:23 +0000 UTC View PostRight after nap time was still the worst time at daycare for Jamie. Too many people were crying, and at least half the littles woke up in serious need of a change. Each day when he woke up, he went straight outside. When the wind blew these days, sometimes it was cold. The occasional dry leaf was turning into several. Autumn was closing in.
“What are you so moody about today,” Ella asked. Jamie’s ability to brood for such long stretches was a marvel to her. Her day-to-day life did...
2022-08-15 13:22:43 +0000 UTC View PostFreshman year, a townie friend of mine who decided to live on campus went to a frat party with a boy, and he proceeded to get shitfaced. She got drunk too, but, like, a reasonable degree of drunk. She took him back to her dorm, let him sleep in her bed with her, and she woke up to find he had peed all over her. Know how dorm mattresses are waterproof? She described it as waking up in “standing pee.”
She made a much bigger deal out of it than was necessary. She’d “never felt so g...
2022-08-14 15:23:33 +0000 UTC View Post“I don’t think you appreciate that sometimes the things you say to me are mean.” There, I said it.
“Daffy,” Mary tried to say, but nope, I was having none of it.
“Seriously, Mary. Think about how that makes me feel.” I was not being dramatic, for the record.
“Daphne Ann, all I said was take a bite of your vegetables.” I may have been a smidge dramatic; the teeniest, tiniest amount at most (minus infinity).
“There you go again! We’re on vacation. G...
2022-08-14 00:11:10 +0000 UTC View Post“So, Jamie, tell me about what’s been going on since I last saw you,” Dr. Mary said.
Jamie caught her up. He missed a session because he was sick, but then they went a couple weeks while she was on vacation. He told her about Mel, about his questions about why littles were treated differently, and his sudden needle phobia.
“Let’s talk about the needles first,” she said. “You weren’t scared of them before you came here?”
“No. It’s just that they hurt so ...
2022-08-13 23:57:51 +0000 UTC View Post
For those of you who like having a kindle version of my stories, the illustrated version of The Best Babysitter in Town Volume 1 is now available!
If you already bought the first version, go here for instructions on how to update it. If it's not showing an available update, please reach out to Amazon.
And new content on several of my stories is coming thi...
2022-08-13 17:49:17 +0000 UTC View PostBack when I was a working stiff, I worked so that I could afford to go on vacation. Also, food and housing, but mostly so I could go on vacation. All the best things are on vacation: total license to not give a honkin’ heck what you eat or drink, beautiful scenery, entertainment of many kinds, people to people-watch, new things to experience, old things to get reacquainted with, all your daily chores and troubles left behind. If you don’t enjoy vacations, I’m sorry to be the one to brea...
2022-08-11 13:17:01 +0000 UTC View PostJamie was getting tired of drawing so much at daycare. “Do you wanna play a game, Ella?”
“Um, sure. What do you wanna play?”
Jamie hadn’t thought this far ahead. “How about Game of Thrones,” he joked.
“How do we play?”
We take turns getting naked for no reason, and then George R. R. Martin kills us off one by one, he thought.
“Maybe we can find a board game instead.”
(That's it. That's the joke. And the joke is the ...
2022-08-10 02:01:33 +0000 UTC View PostEver have a dream where you’re peeing and you wake up and you actually were peeing? Me neither. But I have had a dream where someone was smacking me on the butt with vigor, and when I came to (quickly and with confusion) sure enough, there was Mary wearing her I’m-not-done-with-your-butt face swinging away. Not the playful version but the serious version. Thank goodness for the comforter or she might’ve actually made my butt hurt or something.
“Get this out of the way,” she mu...
2022-08-08 13:01:04 +0000 UTC View Post“But I don’t wanna!” Jamie didn’t wanna and was feeling pretty adamant about it.
“I’m sorry, baby, but you have to. It’s past time.”
“Well, if it’s past time then clearly I’m fine and this isn’t necessary.”
“James Patrick, this isn’t up for discussion.” Becky wasn’t going to relent.
“But …”
“Uh-uh. You have two choices right now. You can walk inside, or I can carry you inside.”
“Fine,” Jamie huffed. He’d wal...
2022-08-08 02:13:41 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Jamie woke up the next morning, for the first time since he arrived he felt himself aroused to the point of needing to do something about it. As quietly as he could, he unbuttoned his sleeper and reached into his wet diaper, taking himself out and doing what he needed. It didn’t take more than a minute, and Jamie hadn’t counted on the effect of not having done it in months. He made quite an unmistakable mess.
“Well,” he said as he thought about what Becky and Amanda would s...
2022-08-06 14:15:34 +0000 UTC View Post“So you’re good with this,” Becky asked as she put in her earrings.
“Yeah. Definitely,” Jamie answered. He wasn’t really certain he was good with it, but he understood she needed a life outside of their home, and so did Amanda. It was just that the two of them happened to be needing that life on the same evening.
“It’s just that you’ve never gone to sleep without us before.”
“I know. Are you sure you’re good with it?” She seemed nervous leaving him ...
2022-08-05 21:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi all,
Happy August and thank you for your continued support! For those of you who like to have a kindle or paperback version of my stories, the latest volume of Mary and Daphne is on Amazon.
For new patrons (who are awesome!), Patreon is where first drafts of all my stories go first, and I publish them to kindle later. There's no content in the kindles books that isn't on my Patreon. It's just edited and revised. Some people like having it as a kindle book or paperback (an...
2022-08-04 15:40:51 +0000 UTC View PostThe day after the fair had been normal; there were no lingering questions or assertions or complaints. Jamie didn’t care about the beer. That seemed to matter a lot more to everyone else than it did to him. He didn’t need it, and he had never been much of a drinker. It was just the symbolism of it, and symbolism was pretty much all it was. He didn’t get in trouble much, and he didn’t disagree with Mom or Amanda much, so to the extent he had given up most of his autonomy, that didn’t...
2022-08-04 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“So, all in all, did you have fun today?” Amanda was in the rocking chair with Jamie in her lap. She’d made a point of making sure she put him to bed so she could talk about the day without their mom there. They talked quietly, knowing a secret is a delicate thing.
“Yeah, I did. Even with Danny.”
“Or especially with Danny?”
Jamie shrugged. “Not like he set out to get me drunk. He just didn’t think, and I guess neither did I. But I don’t see what the big d...
2022-08-03 13:33:56 +0000 UTC View PostNothing much doing, just laying on my Mary who was laying on the sofa, stroking my hair and humming. If you’ve never laid your head on your lover’s chest when they hum love songs, I highly recommend it. Eleven out of ten.
“What’s V stand for,” I asked.
“Hmm?”
“The song you’re humming. What’s V stand for? I can’t remember.”
“Very, very extraordinary.”
“O, that’s definitely me. I don’t know if you knew this about ...
2022-08-03 02:46:24 +0000 UTC View Post“Hey! What’d we miss,” Lauren asked when she, Becky and Daniel approached the table. Daniel was walking behind them, strategically positioned to run if need be.
“What did you guys miss? Buhahaha! You and your questions,” Donna said like the goody two-shoes she was, completely inexperienced at carrying a perfectly good lie through to its conclusion. Mel and Amanda stared daggers at her. Mel discreetly pinched her legs and mouthed ‘shut up’ when Donna turned toward her.
<... 2022-08-02 21:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostI carried Gordy’s used diapers to the outside trash, and though it wasn’t my first time emptying a diaper pail, it was my first time emptying an adult diaper pail. I was kinda low key amazed at how heavy it was, and it didn’t even seem like there were a lot of diapers in it. Not that I counted, but only a couple days’ worth probably.
I washed my hands at the kitchen sink twice, even though I’d worn gloves, and tried to process what had just happened. I’d just changed a poopy...
2022-08-01 22:32:53 +0000 UTC View Post“I don’t mind staying home with you. You sure you wanna go,” Becky asked for the third time since dinner the night before.
“Yes, definitely. I’ve been either at home or daycare for two weeks.”
“Sorry, but …”
“I know, I know: I was a very sick little boy,” he smiled. “You mentioned that a few times.” Jamie suspected Becky was more traumatized by his illness than he was. Once he was out of the woods, she had been a lot more emotive, and there was hard...
2022-08-01 01:48:39 +0000 UTC View Post“You got it too, huh,” Ella said when Jamie walked into daycare.
“You had it?”
“I think everyone had it. But I didn’t get it as bad as you newbies did. You look like you lost ten pounds.”
“Felt like I was dying. Or at least wished I was.”
“Been there,” she said as they walked toward the reading corner. “You’re walking funny.”
Jamie blushed. “Mom put me in double diapers again, just in case.”
“Hmm. Why do you wear diapers?...
2022-07-31 14:41:10 +0000 UTC View PostBy the third day, Jamie was alert and standing on his own feet and had more than a moment’s notice when he needed to empty his bowels, though Rebecca and Amanda kept him in double diapers to be safe. It saved at least one outfit from ruin. His head hurt, he felt like he’d never catch up on hydration, and he slept all but a few hours that day, but he was feeling and looking noticeably better.
The morning of the fourth day, Amanda woke him by placing the back of her hand on his forehe...
2022-07-30 21:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostThat time I bought the oversized inflatable pool had to be one of my best ever decisions. Did I spend too much and get spanked for it? Yeah, but it was a little spanking (and I didn’t hate it nearly as much as my words mayhaps implied). Does it take up too much of our patio and make it difficult to get from the door to the yard? You betcha. Does it contain a couple hundred gallons of water we have no good way to dispose of? Yep. Is it cool and wet and behind a privacy fence where there’s ...
2022-07-28 12:47:24 +0000 UTC View Post“Yes, I need to make an appointment for my little ... for this morning ... he’s got a high fever, vomiting, chills, sweats, upset stomach, headache ... yeah, sounds like it ... well, I talked to Dr. Bowers’ assistant, but he hasn’t actually seen him yet, so I guess he’s a new patient ... no, his PA would be fine ... thank you. We’ll see you soon.”
“What time,” Amanda asked.
“Two hours. I’m going to run to the store and get some LittleAde for him and something...
2022-07-27 13:09:49 +0000 UTC View PostI’m not a flopper, but I did flop over Mary’s lap today. I was outside gardening, I was tired, it was hot, I was sweaty, the air conditioning made all these goose bumps appear, and there was Mary, sitting on the couch with her legs propped on the coffee table with her shorts all ridden up on her thighs. What better place to flop in all the land? None. That’s how many.
“Hi,” I said because it’s polite to greet a person whose lap you’re sprawled over, ideally beforehand but ...
2022-07-26 12:08:17 +0000 UTC View PostJamie woke up shivering and wet and hot all at the same time with his head pounding and his stomach lurching.
“Mom!” He tried to shout. He needed to get out of his crib before he … “MOM!” Jamie fought his way to his knees and gagged, gagged again, and let nature take its course. It wasn’t one of those times you feel better right afterward. “MANDA!” He started to cry, something he never did when he was sick back home, but now he had someone to take care of him and had no ...
2022-07-25 22:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostIt was hot in the car, even with the window down, the sun in front hanging in the sky refusing to go down at its hour. He drove anyway, down his familiar highway past communities no one remembers except in back-in-the-day nostalgia that never put a dollar in the pockets of anyone left behind in places superfluous to the forces that move until he pulled off the highway and felt that bright-burn sun and the dust of the road behind filled his rearview and there was nothing to see anyway. Pas...
2022-07-25 13:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostI’m a morning person. I’m also a night owl. I get to be both of those things because I’m twenty, but not all my fellow 20-year-olds are so blessed. Like Gordy, who stumbled downstairs a little after eight rubbing his palms into his eyes and yawning, his hair in four different directions and still in his pajamas. If he did have a crush on me, it apparently was not the kind that would motivate a boy to clean himself up a little before I saw him. He could’ve been any four-year-old I’ve...
2022-07-25 02:32:54 +0000 UTC View Post