Lauren's Neighbor

At the door stood Ms. Wilma Fields, Lauren’s near-sighted, seventy-six-year old neighbor. Lauren blushed hard at the sight of someone who knew her looking at her dressed in only a diaper, bib, and bonnet. She prayed that Ms. Fields wouldn’t notice her.

“Excuse me, Lauren, but I was wondering if I could – “Ms. Fields stopped short when she saw Vanessa standing in front of her. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry! I thought that this was Lauren’s apartment.”

“It is.” Vanessa responded, a sweet looking smile on her face. “I’m her sister, Vanessa.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Vanessa. My name is Wilma Fields.” Ms. Fields introduced herself, shaking Vanessa’s hand. Looking over Vanessa’s shoulder, she smiled widely as she looked at the diaper clad Lauren, who merely stood there nervously. “And who is this cute, little munchkin?”

“Oh, that’s our baby sister,” Vanessa paused for a second before concluding with, “Sally. Lauren was supposed to be watching her today, but she said that she had more important things to be doing on her day off. Something about a club…”

“Typical. Leave it to Lauren to put her own entertainment over the safety of her own family members!” Ms. Fields scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Why if she was here right now, I would pull that selfish brat over my lap and give her sorry butt the mother of all spankings.” Lauren merely looked at the old woman in a mixture of anger and fear. Chuckling Ms. Fields added, “And you can ask my daughter to vouch for that! Her butt was so red she couldn’t sit for three months!”

“Really…?” Vanessa asked intriguingly, looking over her shoulder to her diaper clad older sister. Lauren gulped nervously; she didn’t like where this was going.

“Oh, I almost forgot why I’m here!” Ms. Fields said as she held up a measuring cup. “I’m making a batch of my homemade cookies for my grandchildren, Tammy and Jackson. Do you think Lauren would mind if I were to borrow a cup of sugar?”

“Oh, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” Vanessa said with a smirk as she took the cup from Wilma and headed to the kitchen, leaving the old woman with her sister.

“Hmm.” Wilma said as she looked Lauren up and down, “You know, it’s funny, but your sweet little sister looks almost identical to your bratty older sister!”

Lauren gulped as she began to shake nervously. Had she been discovered? Would Vanessa spill the beans on her? From the kitchen, Lauren could hear Vanessa stifle a laugh.

“Oh, we get that a lot.” Vanessa said as she returned from the kitchen with the measuring cup. “She’s like a tiny version of Lauren! We just hope she doesn’t grow up to be as big of a brat as she is.”

Lauren glared angrily at Vanessa’s non-subtle jab at her, particularly her emphasis on tiny.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Ms. Fields whispered as she took the measuring cup from Vanessa, “isn’t she a little too old for diapers? She looks like my granddaughter when she was four, and she was out of diapers by then.”

Lauren turned completely red at this. It was bad enough that Ms. Fields actually thought she was a kid, but she actually believed that she was four? At oldest?! Yes, Lauren was small for her age, but she should have at least looked older than that!

“Oh, that?” Vanessa responded, whispering just loud enough for the red-faced Lauren to hear as she smirked evilly at her sister. “She’s still in potty-training. She’s terrified of the dang thing!”

“Still in – Terrified of the – “? WHAT?! Lauren thought as she felt like she was going to pass out from humiliation.

“Oh, I see.” Wilma responded with a nod. “Well, we shouldn’t embarrass her about it.”

YOU’RE A BIT LATE FOR THAT, YOU OLD GOAT! Lauren screamed inwardly. Suddenly, Lauren looked up to see Wilma kneeling in front of her, looking her in the eyes with a warm smile.

“Hi, Sally. I’m Ms. Fields, but you can call me Wilma.” Wilma introduced herself, talking to the little woman like she was talking to an actual toddler.

Lauren averted her eyes as she hung her head. Not wanting to be rude, she muttered a childlike, “Hello…”

“Don’t be shy, Sugarplum.” Wilma said. She then added, “I bet your bored waiting for your mean big sister Lauren to come back. Maybe you would like to come have a playdate with my grandkids while you have some cookies and milk?”

“That’s a great idea!” Vanessa chimed in, wrapping an arm around Lauren. “Sally, go with Ms. Fields and have a snack. I’ll deal with Lauren when she gets back!”

“Are you nuts?!” Lauren hissed quietly, glaring angrily at her sister. “I’m not going over to that woman’s apartment!”

“Oh, I think you are.” Vanessa whispered evilly, “Unless you really want me to post those pictures on every social media outlet on the internet. How does “Lil' Baby Laurie, age twenty” sound for a title?”

“You wouldn’t…” Lauren whispered in terror, but one look at Vanessa’s cruel smile told her that her sister would. Lauren sighed in defeat as she looked over to Ms. Fields and nodded.

“Wonderful!” Wilma said, grabbing hold of Lauren’s hand. Smiling down at her new charge, she added, “Don’t worry, Tammy is a sweet girl! You’ll get along well with her.”

Lauren whimpered as she looked over her shoulder at Vanessa, the younger sister smiling mockingly as she waved goodbye to her. “Bye, Sally. Be good for Ms. Fields! And remember, if you misbehave, she has full permission to punish you as she sees fit!”

Lauren paled in fear as Wilma chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t come to that.” She responded as Vanessa shut the door, locking it.

Lauren could only let out a small whimper as Wilma lead her to her apartment.