It's Just a Game (Commission) (Patreon)

As a preface! Thank you to Anonymous for this commission! I'm very excited to be writing commissions for so many of you because I get to work with typically some very interesting or fun and unusual (funsual?) ideas! This is one sort of erring on that point, where I probably never would have thought to have done this. Either way, didn't wanna sit on it for long and felt like sharing it sooner rather than later.

Don't think I'm gonna spoil you guys like this all the time, though!

Additionally, there was originally a different draft of this story that featured not world-changing differences, but what I'd consider some pretty decent supporting plot points that at the request of Anonymous was removed in place of making space for other stuff. Wink Wink.

Is there any interest in me releasing scrapped drafts and such? I know I have a small handful of unfinished Sheltered chapters that typically took a different route or was a completely different scenario altogether. (Though, I may not wanna share those so I can cheat and use them later)... Either way, let me know! Also, as of right now I'm always on the table to do stories, as long as I get some time in for sweet-sweet game development.

Okay, I've ranted enough. Now read the story!

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It’s Just a Game

The joys of a Friday night simply could not be beaten. Not by any other day of the week, at least.

Wednesdays were for the hump lovers, yet none of the instant gratification that the start of the weekend could give.

Saturdays were total lazy days, but without any of the joy from earning it the day prior.

Sundays just sucked. The last day before Monday.

Monday? Not a contest.

That’s exactly why Friday nights were so good, like a sip of cold, refreshing water in the midst of a hot Summer’s day. Instant relief, instant relaxation. No need to worry about tomorrow, no need to think about anything. Call your friends, play some games, or spend an extra long time in the hot shower.

Pure bliss.

Or that’s what it should’ve been.

On such a would-be glorious night, the minivan of Lola’s mom eased to a humbling halt outside one of the last places a Friday-goer would ever be seen.

“Okay, we’re here!”

Lola was slumped, literally and metaphorically in the passenger seat beside her mom. “Uggh…!” A look of genuine, totally real college-girl pain was plastered all over her face. “Mom! Please? Why does it have to be me!?”

“Because you’re back from school and already said that you needed money?” her mother, sharp as ever, raised a brow. “We don’t get to pick and choose all the time, Lola. It’s going to be quick and easy! All you have to do is read off numbers!”

“But, like–” Lola huffed for the split-second she stared out the window. “What if I read it wrong, or something? What if I mess up?” 22 years of life and even upper education hadn’t prepared the poor girl for any kind of stage that allotted an audience of more than two people, who specifically had to be her mom and dad. What was she even getting a degree for if they weren’t going to have stage-fright classes?! It was more important than financial literacy!

“Lola,” Mom rolled her eyes. “You’re being ridiculous. Nothing is going to happen!”

“But what if something does?” Something always did. Lola’s self-inflicted worry-wart nature always ensured that.

Mom sighed with a hand on the wheel. “Then something does, and you get over it, because everyone else in that room will too.” Mom suddenly chuckled. “Heck, they may not even remember it a few seconds later?”

“Mom!” Lola whined with urgency. This was no laughing matter! Her seatbelt was still fastened, like there was still a chance to drive away from all of this and reclaim her Friday night of huddling away in her room where people except herself didn’t exist.

“Why did you even volunteer me for this…?”

“Because,” Mom leaned across for a hug, kissing her daughter on the forehead, “my big college girl needs to start doing some grownup things if I’m ever gonna let her move out?”

Darn, that had Lola smirking.

“Besides, you’re doing Brenda a huge favor by covering for her tonight. You wouldn’t believe how feisty they get in there if Bingo gets canceled!”

And just a second ago she was saying it was all stress free. Genuine terror hung on Lola’s shoulders. But before she could react, Mom already reached over and undid her seatbelt. Lola gasped like her parachute had just been cut mid-fall.

“Go on! Shoo!” Mom chuckled with a shoulder pat. “There’s pizza with your name on it if you make it through the night?”

“That doesn’t help…” Lola sulked. It kind of did, but she was trying to garner sympathy, not calories.

And before Lola knew it, her petrified legs were walking her across the street.

“Proud of you~!” Mom called from the car. “Love ya!” And off she went.

Once Lola reached the sidewalk, she sighed heavily, staring up at the warm, orange sky, just barely visible beyond the tall building in front of her.

Riverdale’s Community Retirement Center

“It’ll be fine?” Lola quietly whispered, “It’ll be fine,” she said again with forced confidence.

“Fine…fine…I’ll be fine…I’ll–!”

The swing of a glass metal door caught the distracted girl. In a startled meep she fell on her backside.

“Oh! Sweetie!” A shrill, weathered voice that’d stood the long test of time sounded off at her.

Rubbing her head, Lola looked up, but not far at the senior citizen looming over her.

“Goodness, sweetheart!” the old woman fussed. Maybe she would’ve held her hand out, but based on the cane one of her wrinkled hands was holding, physically assisting others probably was against doctor’s orders. “Deary, I’m so sorry! I didn’t even notice! Are you alright, hon?”

“Y-yeah, I am,” Lola tried her best to smile, dusting herself off, unsure of how to handle the old woman giving her light taps as well. Lola wasn’t exactly a fan of being touched by strangers.

She’s old. Just forget about it.

“My name’s Meredyth, sweetheart,” she smiled with flawless teeth. Something about that didn’t add up…

“Nice to meet you, Meredyth…” Lola held open the assaulting door, waiting for her to slowly hobble in. “I’m Lola.”

Meredyth gasped, like war flashbacks had just been triggered, or something. “Lola! Oh, my granddaughter has a puppy named Lola! She’s the cutest; she’s a labradoodle!”

“Oh? That’s…nice…” Was it? Acting appreciative for sharing the same name as a dog? Everyone probably did, but we certainly don’t need reminding of it like it’s something prize-worthy.

“Are you here to play Bingo tonight, Laura, dear? Oh– all the girls love getting together to play!”

“It’s…” Lola started to correct the mispronunciation, but gave up as soon as the old woman was already moving ahead. “N-no, actually– I’m the caller for the game tonight?”

“Oh?” Something apparently did get the grandma to turn. Maybe it was wrinkles, or she really was frowning when she asked, “Brenda’s not going to be here tonight?”

“Uhm…no, just me. Heh…” She couldn’t have made it sound any worse if she tried.

“Mm…” Meredyth made an indecisive noise. “Well, I’m sure you’ll do just fine, sweetheart. Just make sure to read!”

Lola with no other conversational tricks left in her tiny bag, laughed in agreement.

“Yep! Will do!”

And making use of the minus fifty years she had on the woman, Lola trail-blazed ahead.

At the entrance of the hall was a disinterested girl admiring her nails. She had to have been a caretaker solely because she didn’t have wrinkles or sun spots. Of course, a second tip may have been the mint green scrubs, white sneakers and neckband ID.

By chance the one other youth was instantly noticed by her. “Oh!” The once disinterested woman perked up, then…quite simmered down. “Hey.”

“Hey…?” Lola fought the urge to make herself look stupid by waving. “I’m, uh–”

“Substitute, right?”

That made things easy. “Mhm,” Lola nodded. After brief acknowledgement, she entered the arena.

It was quite the spacious hall, furnished like a long banquet room. Like she’d reached the halls of Valhalla, except none of its resident heroes had actually kicked the bucket yet. Practically, it was a repurposed auditorium still with its old wall-fixture speakers and poked-hole wall paneling.

All she saw were long lines of plastic fold-out picnic tables they’d use at school events and pop-up buffets. Pockets of gray, light brown and obviously dyed hair were planted all over the room, amounting to easily over eighty of them!

The number alone put an uncomfortable thump on Lola’s quickly pacing heart.

Fingers that looked more bone than ligament, tendon and skin pointed at others like social norms had reached their expiration date. Thick perfumes from a bygone era loaded the space and old voices still talked and shouted over each other with such vibrance akin to a high school classroom

Nervously, Lola navigated the narrow aisle, avoiding walkers and canes, apologizing with each incidental an unavoidable brush. She could feel the stares and hear the whispers. She was fresh meat on the expired chopping block.

Just get me out of here, already…! The stage at the front was big and empty, save for more banquet tables draped in cheap, red, fuzzy-textured cloth, like they were trying to add some sort of prestige to an occasion as momentous as Bingo Night #47XX, or however long since the dinosaurs died…

And at that table was one lone folding chair, only a margin better than what the sea of grannies one level lower had by the way of back support.

Atop it was a rickety-looking metal ball cage, filled halfway with faded-yellow ping-pong balls, all with something in black marker scribbled on them. The cage was mounted on a rotisserie sort of thing that looked like it was from four decades prior. Was that rust on it?

But the best part she hadn’t even seen; hiding on the other end of the grand lottery machine was a halfway decent looking microphone, without any stand. It laid on its side with a thick black cable from its bottom snaking off the table, somewhere to the land of magic and mystery that somehow made it work..

One glance at the packed crowd already had her sitting..

Lola looked down at her lap, taking repeated breaths. “It’s fine…it’s fine…” This was fine. They probably didn’t even have good enough vision to see her! Yeah! That was inspiring!

And in her frenzied moment of social jitters, Lola finally noticed the one other thing waiting for her. Slipped underneath a metal leg on the cage was a white slip of paper. Afraid of catching some kind of disease from the rust, Lola used her sleeve as a proxy and removed the paper. Unfolding it, she read to herself:

Lola!

This is Brenda leaving you a message! Thank you SO much for bailing me out! I knew I could count on you! I always remember you as a kid having stage fright, and your mom reminded me too. Do one thing: DON’T WORRY! You have some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet in this whole town coming to play tonight!

Stay calm, take a nice deep breath, spin the cage, then just pick a ball and read what you see on it! Make sure to read it a couple times though! Some of their hearing isn’t as good as it used to be!

Once you get through five games, you’re done for the night! Have fun!

• Brenda

It was the first time tonight Lola truly could feel like she could breathe. Stay calm and just play the game. Give these old people what they want: letters and numbers off of ping pong balls. Easy! Easy…

She winced, bluntly scraping the rubber-tipped feet of her chair across the fake tiling. And while distracted, more had come. More eyes. More attention. Courtesy of the retirement home, she was dealing with the entire eldery population of Riverdale.

Lola squinted at a distant whiteboard with a marker-written sign.

“Tonight Only! Just Gals get the Glory!”

Half of the elderly population… And yet the room still looked near max capacity.

“T-Test–!” Lola gasped the moment the digital echo carried her voice. It sent shockwaves throughout the room. Crap! Who left the microphone on? Damnit, Brenda!

An instant silence befell the room, as if Lola forgot to turn on her hearing aids. Not only did she earn their ears, but their eyes too. Glasses of likely every thickness in existence could probably be found in this very room.

“Ah…ahm…” Lola’s voice trembled nervously, only making her quiver in her seat every time she heard her voice travel back to her ears. “Th…thank you all for uhm…co-ming tonight!” Was a Bingo commencement speech even necessary?

“So…uhh…” Silence. “Who’s…who’s ready for some Bingo?”

Lola put on her best winning smile.

And she couldn’t have lost any harder.

The faces she could see were sideways looks, judgemental gossips to their nearby neighbors and outright frowns. One was smiling, but she also looked like she didn’t even know where she was… What bliss Lola would’ve killed for right now.

Trying to at least get back some of the crowd, Lola stumbled and stammered out a poor attempt at laughing innocently, pausing midway just to not choke on her anxiety.

“D-don’t be like that!” Lola smiled her best plea that begged for forgiveness. Forgiveness for using the same stage as probably their favored caller. Was that it? Were they just upset with getting a substitute teacher?

And in a cackly, extra-skin warbling voice, an old woman shouted from the end of the room, “Just start the gosh-darn game!”

A warcry had been incited and the room erupted in old-people cheers. Lola flinched from the crowd’s fierceness, slapping her hand over the other just to keep the microphone straight. An earthquake was localized to her chair.

“O-oo…o-okay!” Lola giggled like a gag reflex for nervousness. “Then…” she weakly grabbed the rotisserie handle and started to turn. Bad move.

The rust wasn’t just for show and for sound included. Holding the mic too close sent a nail-biting, toe-curling screech through the microphone as the cage made the beginnings of a rusty revolution.

A cry of discomfort and annoyance made its wave through the crowd.

“S-sorry!” Lola meeped apologetically. Was getting a new one of these dependent on one of their life insurance policies?

With the mic now far from the cage, Lola with both hands endured the continuous screech, still going until the balls inside slowly started to tumble and tackle one another. But alas, maybe it was Lola’s nerves that fried her judgment of time or she simply hated the sound of grinding rust on rust, but she stopped quite early on in the spin.

Quietly, she spent a good minute finding and then fidgeting with the cage to get her ball. Already she was hearing discontented murmurs in the crowd. Everyone was watching her. Everyone.

Before she even got the ball out of the cage Lola had already seized the mic. “O-okay! L-let’s see who the winner–I mean! Who…whoever got the spot…?”

“Read it!” An impatient biddie screeched.

Lola nearly dropped the mic over the shout, her lower half quivering underneath the table from the pockets of chuckles obviously made at her expense.

But finally, reaching the easiest part of this whole ordeal, Lola spun the ball until she found the writing.

Finally with confidence, she announced, “Okay! The space is…B…w…wait…d-D…?”

What was she even looking at? Not a single person in that room could ever tell from being so far away, but Lola, a person who was actually confident in her eyesight, felt absolutely bewildered at the chicken scratch sprawled on the ping-pong ball. What shoestring kind of budget couldn’t even have gotten a volunteer capable of writing legibly?!

B? D? Shit, was it maybe even a G? A nervous sweat was starting to form the more Lola quietly tried to discern the Davinci-grade cypher before her very eyes.

It was all curves, and squiggles, like the person writing it had suffered from a store halfway through and was still expected to finish! And…was that even a number?! Was it double letter Bingo? B-B? D-C? G-H? Was that even a thing?! Confidence had instantly evaporated into confusion, and confusion was vaporizing into doubt, leaving only the anxiety in her stomach to fester.

“What does it say?!” An impatient lady cackled.

“We’re not gettin’ any younger!”

“I-I’m trying…!” Lola whispered to herself, squinting frantically at the ball, hoping the answer might come somehow. What if it was just a bad ball? Maybe the next one was fine?

“This…this one isn’t so good! Let’s uhm! Let’s try another!” Lola with her masterful solution was already reaching back into the cage. And already the crowd was erupting.

“What? What’s she doing? She can’t do that!”

“Read the first one ya picked!”

“What kinda cheat is this?!”

“N-no!” Lola squeaked over the mic, “I-I! Look! It’s a bad ball, see! Please?” And Lola, at her wits end and barely even able to think, held out the illegible ball, expecting a crowd of well-100 senior citizens to read a tiny scribble from across the room.

“It’s not our job ta read it!” An angry oldie heckled.

“If I wanted to do your job, I wouldn’t-ah retired!”

“Who let this girl do this? My great-granddaughter can read better than her!”

Deep breaths, Lola, deep breaths…!

Sniffling, Lola tried the next best thing.

She pretended to squint and carefully study it. “O-okay…uhm! Oh! Oh! Alright! Yep! Ah-huh! It says: B8!” Like hell it did, but like hell anyone had a chance of telling her otherwise.

“You’re supposed to repeat it!”

Nothing was good enough for these people.

“B. Eight!” Lola loudly repeated on the mic. “Beee-Eight!”

“Finally!”

“One square down…psh…”

“I better make it back in time for Wheel of Money…”

The crowd was no less tolerant, but she survived. She had survived the first ball of…the first game…of five total.

But the worst had happened. She survived! She made it through! That actually did put a smile on her face. And as embarrassing as it was to admit, she was already imagining the look on her mom’s face.

Depositing the horrid ball into a bucket underneath the table, Lola began another brief moment of screechy spins,

She even got a decent rotation this time, too! Finding her smile and voice again, Lola pulled out the ball.

“Okay! The ball says E…nin–...” Was…was that an L…?

Whatever! Plan B! Fake answer!

Right before the crowd could grow restless, Lola cleared her throat. “I-it says H7! H7!”

Unfortunately, Lola had a sinking feeling she was going to be using that strategy an awful lot tonight. Whatever she needed to survive.

And right as she discarded the ball, the restless crowd suddenly sounded more restless.

“H? I don’t see any H on my card?”

“Yeah, I don’t either!”

“She’s lying!”

“She didn’t even read the ball!”

“I-I did!” Lola was quick to the defense on the mic, arguing with not a sole individual, but a raging mob. “I swear! It says H7!”

“No way!”

“She’s cheating!”

“Where’s the other girl at?”

“E-everybody…please…please calm down!” Lola tried to keep the peace and regulate the unruly masses, but apparently once the sanctity of Bingo has been tarnished, none are safe.

“I’ve had enough of this silliness!” An old woman huffed, standing up from her seat yet somehow shrinking in the process.

“I’ve heard my great granddaughter read before, you know!” Another random woman gossipped to her friend by proximity, “I bet if we brought her in she could read better than this girl!”

“H-hey…!” she took that personally. “I can read!” But that argument didn’t work, simply because they played the old age card to rid themselves of the responsibility to back up any of their claims, ever so potent in their “years of wisdom.”

What Lola only accounted for in the last second however was a fat ball-capped marker hurdling her way. She yelped as she ducked for cover and flinched when the ink-filled plastic weakly clattered against the wall behind her.

Did they just try to attack her? Over a game of Bingo?! She swiped her hand blindly over the table, searching for the mic. And in waving her arm so frantically, she hit something hard on the table. Through the light landing on the thin table cloth, Lola watched in horror as an entire primitive machine fell off the far end of the table, clattering the moment it hit the floor farther below.

A resounding boo of awe and shock struck the crowd.

“Unbelievable! She broke the Bingo ball!”

“What’s she doing up there anyway?!”

“I think she’s crying!”

“I’d be too if I couldn’t read!”

“Can’t we get an actual adult up there? She was about to throw a tantrum earlier!”

No she wasn’t. No she wasn’t! Lola hugged her knees underneath the table, trying to convince herself that she most certainly was not crying, wiping away her endless amounts of eye sweat just to prove it.

Then she heard another marker hit the stage wall. Then another.

Okay, maybe she was sobbing. Maybe this had gotten out of hand. She lost the one and only way of recouping this crowd, and now it was pure anarchy.

What was she supposed to do? She couldn’t stop hiccuping as the tears and anxiety rained down on her like the bingo markers continually being hurled at the stage. Carefully, she peeked where the table cloth didn’t quite reach the stage floor.

The exit. The closed double doors. They closed them? Her one way of leaving was on the opposite side of the room. Between her and an army of old angry grandmothers in demand of the Bingo she just took away from them.

She was shaking as her toes became tight balls of panic in the socks and shoes.

This wasn’t easy at all.

What part of these grannie-devils was nice or forgiving about anything? Every mistake she made was scrutinized and exploited!

“Someone get this girl’s mother!”

“Is someone here her granny? I think she’s having a good cry!”

“No…I’m…not…!” Lola quietly heaved to herself, most absolutely crying.

What now? What was the plan?

A marker punted the tablecloth this time.

Run. Definitely run. No way any of them could actually run after her, right? Much less overpower her?

And so she bolted.

Before Lola could even stand, she half-leapt across the stage and to the stairs, clambering down the stairs, many old-folks were already on their walkers and canes, one even in a wheelchair, making the slow zombie-like walk towards her.

“Jesus! Please! Leave me alone!” Lola begged to no considerate citizen as she weaved through slow-moving hands and arms. She cringed each time she touched a sweater or potent blue or pink jacket. But she was doing it! She was making it! Just a little bit more; she could see the doors! She could–!

She couldn’t stand, precisely because in her moment of complete tunnelvision, she had sorely neglected to watch where her feet were headed. As unfortunate as it was for someone to have taken a tumble in that room, it was miraculous to have been suffered by the sole person that wasn’t risking a broken hip from it.

Lola had been tripped and she stumbled and fumbled forward, making it only halfway across the auditorium before sliding on the floor, coming to a frictioned halt.

Shit! Shit!

Lola scrambled, trying to get up, but she could hear and already see in her peripherals a walker mounted over her torso, locking her down like shackles and chains! Nearby grannies in their seats had turned around and wedged Lola’s feet and hands between their loafers and memory-foam insert shoes.

She struggled and she thrashed against the physically weakest demographic second only to legitimate children, but she was trapped. Overwhelmed. All she saw were pairs of legs locking her in the narrow aisle. She was breathing frantically, full-on bawling now. What was going to happen. They weren’t actually going to kill her over a Bingo game, were they?

“P-PLEASE!” Lola begged, “PLEASE DON’T! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!”

“Lola! Lola!” A sudden voice cooed. It kept speaking and speaking, continuing to repeat her name until Lola actually heard it and started to go quiet. The grannies parted like the Red Sea for a divine figure to appear, which was the grandest of them all.

Lola was barely able to, but she looked up, catching the full view of the short, familiar old woman. “M-Meredyth? Meredyth? Is that you?” From before this cultic ritual began?

The old woman smiled, then did the most characteristic thing out of any of these monsters by wincing with an “oof” as she knelt down in front of Lola. She still smelled like old perfume on steroids, but she was a somewhat familiar face that wasn’t scowling, and that meant the world to poor Lola.

“Lola, dearie… Shh…shh…” the woman’s cold, moisturized hands cupped Lola’s youthful cheeks. “It’s alllright…okay? Everything is going to be just fine,” she soothed in a sage-like voice, and the crowd was dead silent now. It was like Lola was witnessing her angel incarnate.

“R-really…?”

Meredyth did nothing but smile. “Yes, sweetheart,” then she reached up to her neck, tugging on a strap.

And something fell into her hand, then it was suspended from it, just a few inches off the floor, aimed right at Lola’s eyes.

A purple crystal. A shiny, purple crystal. A glowing one?

It started to pendulate, and Lola’s eyes traced it with each oscillating motion it made.

“That’s right…!” Meredyth spoke giddily. “Just watch…keep watching…be relaxed…be obedient…”

Like rapid-fire, Lola was quickly fading in and out of consciousness. What was happening? What were they doing? Wasn’t there a bingo game going on? Why…why was she on the floor? Why…? Why–

“Annnd, sleep!” Meredyth triumphantly commanded, and Lola in the same instant had gone stiff. Her eyes remained open, but the shine in them was gone. She made no noise. She was motionless.

“Is she under?” A skeptical voice asked.

Meredyth looked like she’d just been insulted. “Of course she is. How long have we been doing this for?”

The chief jailers that worked especially hard in pinning the girl down finally eased off her, removing walkers and stopping their pinches on her appendages.

Lola, or rather, Lola’s body didn’t so much as budge once a complete clearing had formed around her. Lola had been checked out completely, only with her naked and impressionable consciousness still left plugged into her husk.

“Lola? Stand.”

It wasn’t robotic, but it wasn’t quite natural either. Like marionette, all the right parts of her body moved, and something primal, something intuitive in the few preserved basics of her mind played the instructions on how to plant her hands, press off the ground, bring her feet forward, one at a time, erect her legs, and finally stand.

Meredyth smiled contently at the resounding noise of awe held in the Bingo hall. At least a couple times out of the year, Brenda always seemed to be out on Girl’s Night, but that’s what made room for this. Faces came and went, for only the most sad of reasons, but for the recurring folks it was just rare enough to always be impressed, or at least their declining memory always made it exciting no matter the time.

“When will we get a turn?” an eager-sounding grandmother asked from her bench, shoulders arched forward and hands balled on the knees of her pants, looks quite ready to murder whatever early-bird special lay before her.

“Everyone will get their chance!” Meredyth was quick to calm the rowdy nature of the crowd, slowly panning her gaze. The crowd had been silenced quickly and efficiently. A far better job than Lola had done. “Lola? Come along, now.”

“Since we have some new faces tonight,” Meredyth explained, strolling to the front of the hall as her youthful drone followed from behind, “I want to show you just what you can expect for tonight’s ‘Bingo’!”

Two grandmothers slowly approached from the side, creaking and cracking as they groaned from getting on their knees. It was a very slow and long process, but in their hands was the ping-pong ball cage Lola had clumsily pushed on the floor.

“Hm…” Meredyth, “Luckily she didn’t break it,” and like that warranted praise, Meredyth patted Lola’s head. “Set it back up, please?” Meredyth slightly waved her hand. “And use the real balls, please?” Meredyth sighed, gingerly leaning over to pick one of the faulties up.

“Poor thing actually tried to read it…” Meredyth almost gave a look of sympathy, not that it would have reached the actual person, though.

After a few minutes of stirring and women back in their seats, all who remained at the front was a new volunteer at the table, a former spectator among the crowd, and Meredyth beside a motionless Lola being advertised like a prize.

“Alright, ladies! Tonight’s Bingo has a special prize!”

An orderly applause quickly began.

“We’ll play five games; including the one this poor girl couldn’t finish~” Meredyth chuckled, pinching the girl’s cheek to the bemusement of the crowd. “The winner gets to do one thing to Lola; whatever they want, as long as it is within my power and it’s nothing too physically harmful, or too mentally intensive for the girl…” Meredyth wasn’t a monster, after all. She was an entertainer at heart. What harm was there in just having a tiny bit of fun with the youths of today?

“Now,” Meredyth’s hands came together, “are there any questions?”

“How do we know you can make her do anything?” A woman from the far back heckled.

Newcomers were certainly skeptical about that part, but Meredyth grinned for a different reason. Nancy was certainly not new to this and she was certainly a believer in what could be done, which is exactly why she always wanted to see “proof.”

“Lola, dear?” Meredyth called and Lola’s head slowly pivoted to look down at her.

“From now on, and forever, dear, one of your most loved things in the world will be candy. But not just any candy; only the candy from a sweet old lady like me,” Meredyth smiled kindly, though there was no beating around the bush; she was hardwiring the girl’s brain for life.

“It’ll make you feel so happy! All tingly inside! Like happy little butterflies won’t let you be still. It’ll make you feel so proud. Like you’re the biggest, most mature girl you’ve ever been. And if you understand the words that I’m saying, say ‘Yes, Grammy Meredyth’.”

And in a cold voice, one devoid of tone, Lola opened her mouth and droned back, “Yes, Grammy Meredyth.”

“Good girl,” Meredyth smiled, then faced the crowd. “Unfortunately, believing is sometimes the most important step. You’re all welcome to see just how effective that little tick that is now forever hers will be once we pull her out of trance!”

“That didn’t prove anything!”

Meredyth hung her mouth agape, doing barrel rolls with her pupils as she sighed.

“Lola, dear? Take off your pants, sweetheart. Shoes as well. Leave your undies on.”

Meredyth didn’t bother watching. This exact string of commands was always par for the course. Nancy could be such a broken record.

And the crowd chuckled and cooed like any doting grandmother would be, except it was all for a stranger they had no relation with.

Without straying far, Lola slipped off her shoes without a fuss, then hooked her fingers around her jeans, undoing the zipper and button, sliding them off, shamelessly advertising her polka-dot panties for all to see.

“Still wearing designs at that age?”

“Goodness, children these days…”

“I guess they never quite grow up…”

“There won’t be any more freebies,” Meredyth said with finality. “Now, let’s play some Bingo!”

All the women cheered.

One of the grandmothers must have had lubricant on them, because the new caller on-stage spun the cage with smooth, screech-less ease. Gone were the faded pong balls with scribbles on them that Lola had been deceived into using, and now were the much more vibrant orange ones in bold, black letter print. Friendly for the elderly’s eyes, of course.

“A3? Aye-3. Aye-Three.”

Not a fuss from the crowd this time. Only typical chatter and laughter. Reminiscing of the good old days, gossiping about grandkids, the ongoing weather and so much more mundanity. The hall facilitated like the pointed hostility to the emotionless, incognisant Lola had never even happened. Just like the pants on her hips that had ceased to be.

“C9?”

“D2”

“E6”

And so on, the completely normal game of bingo had continued.

“Oh! Oh! Bingo! Bingo!” Many groans had emerged; unfortunate losers caught in the crossfire of one woman’s overjoyed success. She moved with speed and purpose, or in other words at Lola’s normal walking pace. She hurried to the front of the room, dotted Bingo card in hand for the caller to inspect. She waited patiently and excitedly on one side of Lola, Meredyth on the other.

The room was silent. Waiting for the final announcement. Holding out hope for there to still be a chance. For there to–

“Bingo!” the caller confirmed. The woman in question was cheering, the rest of the room not so much.

“Congratulations, Marge,” Meredyth smiled earnestly, softly resting her hand on Lola’s shoulder. “Now, what would you like to do?”

“Kiss me from my cheek down to my feet!” Marge boldly declared. The crowd was obviously mixed, and Meredyth smiled as professionally as she could.

Meredyth’s smile lingered while she tried to think of the right words. Even now, having done this for so many years, she still managed to get surprises like this. “...Is that so?”

Marge was already taking off one of her slippers.

Meredyth looked at Lola for a moment. Contemplating.

“Lola, dear? Do you see this nice lady right in front of you? Her name is Marge,” and Marge was already grinning from ear to ear. “Lola, sweetheart…I want you to kiss Marge on the cheek. Then the neck…then her arm, then her leg…and finally her…foot.”

And without resistance, Lola complied. There wasn’t a moment’s hesitation once Lola puckered her lips, giving the woman a kiss on the cheek whom she knew nothing about. Marge giggled excitedly, and the kisses continued down and down until Lola was on all fours.

Meredyth sighed the tiniest amount, looking away. Thank goodness the girl wouldn’t be remembering this.

And with one last smooch, Lola kissed the old woman’s bare foot without a look of disgust or enjoyment. Purely neutral.

“Well, alright then,” Meredyth quickly stated, sending Marge back to her seat. “And to remind everyone, so there’s no thought that we’re being selfish,” Meredyth paused, making it quite the show of reaching into her oversized purse. Out came a neon red something wrapped in transparent plastic. She dropped it into a cup sitting on the stage. “A piece of yummy candy our special girl can have after we’re done playing.” And without as much of a show, Meredyth quickly reached back in and gave her a green piece as well for her troubles.

“Back to the game!”

And the game had gone, and another, thankfully different, woman had won. A new face, in fact.

“Oh, hi there,” Meredyth smiled, “I don’t think we’ve properly met before?”

“Joanne,” the woman said. She too was an old folk, but younger than the rest of the old folks. No cane needed, at least, and technically less wrinkles than anyone else in the room, save for the girl she was eyeing excitedly.

Like the girl somehow, deep down could feel any of the support, Meredyth stroked Lola’s back. “And what would you like to do, Joanne?”

“A spanking.”

“Spanking?”

She nodded. “I want to give this naughty girl a spanking. You saw the way she threw a tantrum up there!”

A soulful, solemn agreement hummed in many mouths of the crowd. Poor Lola had certainly been subjected to a stigma.

“Well…alright then. Could someone bring us a chair?”

Thankfully Joanne was one of the taller residents; at least she asked for something she could handle.

“Lola, dear? This nice lady here is named Joanne. Would you be a dear and lay over her knee?”

Walking over to her, Joanne made a noise of glee the moment Lola’s stomach touched her leg. The only difference from a traditional spanking, however, was that Lola wasn’t actually hinging off the grandmother’s leg. Her feet still touched the ground, yet she was bent at a ninety degree angle for maximum spankage.

“Ten spankings,” Meredyth decided on a whim.

Joanne did not complain. In fact, she flexed her hand just to diminish her lobster claw before tugging down the college girl’s panties.

And as she wound up her hand, raised the guillotine, she swung down and like a crack of thunder the hall echoed with a SMACK!

Lola had no visual indication on her face, yet she did take a momentary step forward before getting back into position.

Joanne looked like she was a kid again, staring at her hand like she’d found treasure!

“Nine more,” Meredyth reminded.

Smack!

Smack!

Joanne took her sweetest time with every collision, and the crowd could have been more appreciative.

“Put that naughty girl in her place!”

“We should keep her in the corner, afterward!”

But after seven spankings in, Joanne was all smiles, albeit clutching her wrist.

“I…think I’ll let her off with just that.”

Meredyth smiled, knowing all too well. “I suggest some ice and a cup of lemon-drop tea with bed, tonight, honey.” She sent Joanne back off to her seat with a smile.

“Lola? You may stand now.”

And so she did. However, Meredyth pulled her panties back up herself, noting the redness her cheeks now had. But alas, that was the fun of the game.

And so they continued.

Though, a peculiar “meta,” another equally as interesting word Meredyth had learned from her grandson, was recurring players bringing trinkets or tools in hopes of getting to use them. So, one might expect that it came as a great surprise to Meredyth when she saw Janet come forward with…quite the arsenal of items.

“Janet? And…what would you like to do?” Meredyth watched politely as the woman got on her knees, laying down a mat.

“I want to make her incontinent,” Janet spoke openly and unashamedly with a smile. Only not did Meredyth clearly see quite the infantile-looking diapers peeking through the translucent plastic. Goodness, they made diapers like that for such big children nowadays? And yet somehow it didn’t perturb her nearly as much as Marge’s request. But it did pose a problem.

“Janet, I think that would be an issue for poor Lola if we took away her potty training permanently.”

“How bad is a little diaper duty?” Janet frowned. “Plenty of folks here use them!”

Mixed reactions. All biddies of their own opinions, Meredyth as well.

“I can’t in good conscience do that, Janet. You’ll need to tweak the request.”

“Accidents, then? A leaky bladder?” Anything to make up for all that time she lost with her grandkids. Some poor epidemic had kept them separated for so long; she barely got to see them toddling around in their diapers;practically only once!

Meredyth pursed her lips. She frequented the bridge circles. She knew why this was so important to her friend. Sighing, she looked at Lola.

“Lola, dear?”

Attention locked on.

“From now on, and forever, holding in your pee-pee for the potty will not be easy at all anymore.” It was always trying to find the right words that made Meredyth sound so awkward. Thankfully the hypnosis cared not for tone. “Your bladder has been taken back to the time you just started potty training; when it was a time of genuine uncertainty whether you could hold it in time to reach the potty. And now, here you are, in the present, but your bladder is still stuck in time. Still the same baby bladder you had as a toddler. For now, and forever.” She looked displeased with Janet. “Happy now?”

“I’ll make extra sure my daughter bakes some extra cookies for you!” Janet spoke giddily, and suddenly the moment was interrupted by a pitter-pattering noise.

With a hand against her face, Meredyth sighed as Janet just caught on the uptake.

“Oh…I think she should have been diapered first.”

Merely glancing for just a moment at the dark stain on Lola’s wet panties and the stream streak going down her leg, she plucked three candy pieces from her purse, dropping them in the cup.

She’s earned it.

“Lola, dear? Be a good girl and let Janet get your diaper on you.” And on the mat she went.

Janet cooed, tickled Lola’s bare stomach, massaged a potent bottle of baby powder into her nether regions, and finally drew up the thick, infantile diaper. Four tapes and all with a cute design to boot. It would be a lie to say that Janet wasn’t disappointed by Lola’s lack of reaction to the teasing, coddling and comments, but permanent fixations couldn’t happen if the owner was in the driver seat.

“Where did you find these?” Meredyth finally subsided enough guilt to be intrigued as she inspected one of the folded diapers. Moons and suns. Puppies and cats. Cute, crinkly, and quite thick.

“I had my niece look them up for me. I said it was for a friend.”

Like that changed anything.

“Well, Janet, we’ll all be counting on you for the rest of the night if she leaks. Stay close by.

“Let…let the games continue.”

The next one was tame, thankfully. A poor woman who had outlived her children simply wanted a hug from someone young, and a hug she did get. As wholesome as it was, what likely made it all the more endearing for the woman was gingerly pressing her hand against the front of Lola’s diaper, having the “privilege” to declare her as wet. But after a quick double confirmation from Janet, certainly not wet enough.

It was so wholesome though, in fact, Meredyth was feeling controversial enough to offer her a second wish.

“And one other thing?” the lonely woman gasped. Discontent was clearly rife throughout the audience, but Meredyth always had the final say. After all, she’s what made this possible.

“Can…can she crawl on all fours? Around the hall?” The woman tried to seem reserved, but the giddy hope was obvious with the way she clasped her hands.

And merely with a smile, Meredyth spoke. “Lola, dear?”

Like a company dog that meandered around the office, on all fours Lola was crawling down aisles of doting elderly, giving her head pats, back pats, and especially bum bats on her wet, padded behind as she mosied on through.

“We better hurry with the games, ladies,” Meredyth ushered, “Unfortunately Janet has decided to limit us by the number of diapers we have left, and we’re certainly not sending our cutie home without any!”

While many had groaned at the warning of the final bell, apparently there was a tone quite favorable of the babyish treatment. Lola may have been sunken between the tables, but she was never hard to find when it was only the grannies around her that were ever cooing. Only a few games remained, but there was certainly a lot of room for a lot to happen…

Case and point: “Make her a thumbsucker! Permanently!”

Meredyth’s smile drooped a tiny bit, finding that using permanent hypnosis as an example probably wasn’t the best idea. Momentary pleasure for this entire crowd in exchange for imposing life-lasting habits on a poor girl not even halfway through her life.

Meredyth was sympathetic, certainly. But a small part of her did enjoy it as well.

“Lola, dear? For now, and forever, stressful situations or when you feel nervous are the exact times when you wish you were sucking on something.” And despite the request, Meredyth was at least willing to give the girl some options. Truly, her attitude must have left an impression on the crowd tonight. “...And the only thing you’d suck on second to a nice, calming pacifier, is one of your thumbs.” Hygiene was important, after all. And of course Lola’s hands didn’t budge because there was no one present yet to be nervous or stressed.

“Go sit.” Meredyth sent off the latest winner.

And then another winner, specifically a pre-planner.

“I want her to suck down this whole bottle,” Petricia displayed a large, stylized baby bottle for the audience. It was filled with milk.

“Lola, sweetie!” Meredyth cupped her hands, calling out to the crowd. “Come on over!” Soon enough she did emerge, though the next task hadn’t begun until a loving diaper check had been performed. Lola may have lost the mental battle, but at least her diaper was still hanging on.

“Have her drink the whole bottle of milk?” Meredyth confirmed.

“Formula milk!” Petricia seemed to speak with pride, like there were bonus points involved. How she’d gotten this was as much of a question as Janet somehow getting adult baby diapers, but by now Meredyth was done questioning and simply enjoying.

“Okay, Lola, see this yummy ba-ba? I want you to drink it all down.”

And so, parked on the woman’s knee, thick wet diaper squishing against her, Lola obediently nursed the bottle with both hands, sucking it down as the stranger sweetly rubbed gentle circles onto her stomach.

“Who’s a good girl? Who likes their ba-ba, huh? You? Is that you?”

And despite Meredyth’s final call, chalk it up to elderly memory, but zero extra games may have been mistaken for one or two more…

Lola may have played horsie on someone’s knee, and she may have smiled ear to ear, photo and all during a diaper change, but it was all in such good, loving, wholesome fun.

“Okay, ladies, last game…”

It was certainly a heated battle, and was the first time accusations of cheating had been made. After all, every woman of their own mind that night wanted the chance to do whatever they wanted to a young and bubbly youth. Well, she would be bubbly once her conscience came back to her, along with all the other “gifts” she’d been given.

And so, what was inevitable had come to pass. Cheaters had certainly been caught, chastised and set aside. Magically, answers that’d never been spoken had mysteriously been filled on their Bingo cards. Why they tried that Meredyth would never understand. It was the one day of the week where even the dementia ladies were as sharp as a tack.

But finally, the last winner of the night approached the front.

“Oh! You must be Paula from 217, yes?”

“That I am!” the woman sagely chuckled. She was up there with her purse.

“Ohh, I got to see pictures of your grandkids that one time! Such chubby cheeks!” Meredyth chuckled sweetly, and Paula did the same.

“Aren’t they?” Paula smiled, though her joy seemed to become more distant. “Unfortunately, they had to move states for my son’s work, so it hasn’t been as easy getting to see them. I always used to help out before I got here; when they were newborns…” Paula explained as she rummaged through her handbag.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Paula. I hope tonight’s been fun for you?”

“Oh certainly! I haven’t had this much fun since I got here!” she laughed. “And ‘Bingo’ is a whole lot more fun than I thought!”

Out from her purse came a decently sized glass jar of a dark,light greenish, maybe even yellow, goop. A spoon as well.

“And what would you like to do?”

“Oh, Meredyth, I used to make homemade food for my grandbabies all the time. Now that I can’t, I guess I’ve been feeling a little bit sluggish lately. Karen said I should make some just in case for tonight? I didn’t get what she meant,” Paula’s eyes fell on Lola, “but now I do!”

Even if Lola wasn’t actually present to understand, for a lot of the women here tonight, what she was being subjected to and “participating” in was purely therapeutic for so many seasoned souls of the community. In fact, she was giving back to the community, paying her dues, respecting her elders. This was all a kindness from her, really.

“Can I feed her?” Paula was already twisting off the cap of the mason jar with a grunt. “I want to make sure this goes to a good tummy…”

“It certainly will, Paula,” Meredyth smiled, glad to end the night on a wholesome note.

“Lola, dear? This nice lady is named Paula. She’s going to feed you your dinner. Eat and swallow every spoonful she gives you, understand?”

A silent nod came back.

“Good. Now go sit down over there.” Meredyth motioned to a vacant bench.

Lola and Paula were sitting side by side and a crowd had formed to watch.

Paula was hesitant at first, likely unsure if this was actually going to go the way she had hoped. Slowly, she scooped some of the slop from the jar, extending it out to Lola’s shut mouth.

“Come now, Lola, dearie!” Paula slipped into the excitement of the moment, “I made your favorite! Homemade applesauce!”

And in a moment of surprise, Paula’s spoon had hit some kind of proximity trigger, because Lola’s mouth opened the perfect size to take in a heaping helping of baby food.

Paula slipped the spoon into her mouth, resting it on her tongue. Lola closed, and Paula slowly extracted the spoon, taking not of the applesauce back out with it.

Like waiting for test results, Lola’s mouth moved and so did her tongue, but as soon as the audible gulp was made, Paula’s joy couldn’t have been any more potent.

All the watching grannies couldn’t help but fawn. One even reached out, pinching the zombie-girl’s cheek. Another rhythmically stroked her back.

And Paula gave her a spoonful, yet again uncontested.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And another until there was no applesauce left to scrape from the jar. An entire mason jar’s worth of baby food had vanished, and suddenly Lola’s tummy was looking ever so slightly expanded.

“Oh, you have some right here on your mouth, dearie…” Paula reached forward, swabbing some off the girl’s mouth, to which she surprisingly opened back up, awaiting the last remainder.

“Awhhh,” Paula smiled, almost moved to tears . It was everything she had hoped for. Everything she had missed. Gingerly, she wiped her finger across Lola’s lips, smearing the sauce for her to lick up herself. And she did so quite calmly.

Finally, rising from her place, Paula approached Meredyth, as happy as could be. A face worth a thousand years of gratitude.

“Thank you, so much!”

“Glad we could help.”

And one last piece of candy into the good-girl cup.

“Okay, ladies, that’s a wrap!” Meredyth announced, and the room erupted in applause. “Now, now, for the winners of tonight, please decide which one of you is going to be the caller for next month’s game! We need to give others a chance, after all.”

And yet, right as things were about to end, there was a sudden noise. A grunt.

Everyone turned to the source, and it was Lola, just slightly lurching forward, yet trying to resist so desperately just to obey the statuesque pose the hypnosis had committed her to.

“Uh-oh…”

“Plenty of diaper duty to know what that looks like…!”

“Lola, baby?” Meredyth lightly rested her hand on her back. “Do you need to go potty?”

And far from being able to say anything, much less a lie, Lola’s hypnotized head bobbed up and down with a crease in her brow.

Meredyth nodded simply with a smile. “Then you go right ahead, honey, okay? Lola, dear, poop your diaper.”

And once the invisible shackles were lifted, Lola squatted, grunting as her face turned red and a lump started to form on the back of her diaper. Slightly as it extruded, the girl nearly fell forward the moment it all came out at once, like a rocket expelling its fuel.

Many noses in that moment were pinched, but Meredyth remained, tickling the underside of Lola’s chin.

“Such a good girl!” she cooed, then turned her head. “Oh Janet! I have one last job for you!”

Maybe, just maybe, Janet by now was feeling an inklet of regret. Not for the fate of bladder uncertainty she’d condemned Lola to, but for having to get up from her seat so many times…

While Janet finished the stinky change, Meredyth slowly made her way over to a vacant spot that had a full angle on the stage. Vacant except for one old woman.

“Were you able to get it all?” Meredyth asked the granny.

“Oh, you bet I did!” and with a dencherless smile, the woman held out a smartphone with a shaky hand. “I think she was our best one yet!” Thank goodness these newfangled technologies made it steady in post.

Slipping the recording into her purse, Meredyth came back to the front. She let Janet finish Lola’s well-earned and needed diaper change, then started preparing to bring the girl back.

“Lola, dear?” It was to be the last command of the night. Meredyth brought her crystal back out, holding it up to Lola’s eyes. “When I say ‘awake’, I want you to come out of your trance for good, understood?”

She nodded.

“And once you come out of trance, I want you to remember all those tricks and habits we’ve given you tonight, understood? Your love for being rewarded, your leaky baby bladder, and your need to suck on something.”

Another nod. Poor Lola was in for quite the rude awakening.

“Good. Now it’s time to wake up, dear. Wake up in one…two…three…awake!”

Like a switch had been flipped, Lola gasped the second Meredyth finished her words. Bewildered, she spun her head, finding that she was still in the Bingo hall, with all…all these terrifying grandmothers!

Immediately she started to hyperventilate. Wasn’t she on the ground earlier? They had restrained her! They…what did they do to her? She saw Meredyth right next to her. Didn’t she pull something out? Didn’t…? Didn’t? Why…why couldn’t she remember?

As Lola tried to speak, the words didn’t come to her. No noise was made.

“Oh, Lola dearie,” Meredyth frowned, reaching up to her face. And just as Lola flinched, she realized something was filling her mouth and Meredyth had taken the initiative to remove it.

It was her thumb. She had just put her thumb in her mouth? When? It was wet. She’d just been sucking on it?

“You must be quite nervous, huh?” Meredyth smiled, and even if she could speak, Lola was too shocked and scared to. Only this time did she catch herself trying to put her thumb back in her mouth.

No! Stop! Did her body have a mind of its own?

“What…what’s going on here…?” Lola nervously stepped back, then a crinkle reached her ears. She looked down and gasped. A diaper? A thick baby diaper?! No, not for babies, because she was wearing it! In a worrisome groan, she turned all around, just to see that the diaper did in fact fully wrap around her. When…when did that happen? Why did that happen?

And just past that, she saw her knees, suddenly feeling the soreness in them. They looked red, redder than usual, like she’d been moving around on them for some time and distance.

But worst of all, her cheeks were a fiery red the moment she connected the dots. Everyone was watching her. Everyone!

The crowd, meanwhile, was murmuring in amazement.

“She actually sucked her thumb!”

“Poor girl didn’t even notice her diapies…”

“Lola?” Meredyth touched Lola’s hand, who nearly jerked it away in embarrassed fright.

“You must be feeling very scared right now, but can I show you something?”

While still holding her hand, Meredyth’s other arm grabbed the cup on the stage.

“You may not remember, but you were a very good girl for helping us all play bingo tonight?”

Good girl.

A wave of pleasure suddenly hit the college girl, like she could be knocked on her feet.

“H-...huh…?”

Meredyth knew it had worked. It always did. “That’s right! A good girl! You! And look at all these candies you can have because of it!”

Lola wasn’t a party girl, and she certainly wasn’t a substance user. But maybe she was, because just looking at the rainbow of neon candies in the cup was giving her pulses of ecstasy that were indescribable. She was good. A good girl. She made someone proud! And as her mouth quivered, trying to win over the embarrassment she thought that she should be feeling, joy was doubling down at an inhuman level and she couldn’t stop smiling.

“A-are those really for me?”

“Why yes they are!” Meredyth smiled.

Feeling an actual need to bounce on her feet, a tiny giggle escaped Lola the moment she was given the cup.

“Go on, have one!” Meredyth encouraged.

And she did. The moment Lola popped the candy in her mouth, she was certain that it was drugs. There was no legal sweet in the world that could give this kind of feeling. This pleasure. This pride, and this joy.

Somehow sucking on that rock made everything okay. Suddenly the botched Bingo game didn’t matter. The angry old ladies were gone, the thumbsucking was okay, and the diaper on her hips barely meant anything at all.

Though, Lola’s brow did twitch once she felt a tiny bit of sudden warmth in her underwear. Maybe she was just imagining it…

“We’re going to give you some other things, alright?” Meredyth explained as Janet packet all the changing supplies, diapers included into a large handbag. “You just take a look at those after you get home. Just keep on enjoying your candy, okay?”

Lola had questions, but she was too busy sucking, so she nodded anyway.

“Can we help her get her shoes back on?” Meredyth addressed the crowd.

“Buht my panhts…?” Lola looked back where they lay as she was guided over to the bench, spotting them, and…her panties? They looked darker than she remembered them being.

“Don’t you worry about that, honey, you’ll bring them with you when you leave.”

“I don’t think she’d be able to fit them over…”

Something had obviously happened, and Lola hardly remembered being a thumbsucking, diaper-wearing college girl, and yet she was already opening her mouth to accept another one of her candies. It tasted just as good as the other one, except it had a whole different flavor! Whatever it was, an irrational, yet strong feeling was telling the girl that deep down she was the winner of tonight.

And so, Bingo night had come to a close.

In a daze, but still sucking on her candy, Lola stood dumbly outside, like she was still mid-trance, too distracted to process the shock and embarrassment of her state of dress.

Thankfully the old women had been nice enough to not only part with a bag for her new diapering supplies, but one of them was nice enough to tie one of their sweaters around her waist. Move one leg too far forward and the white bulk would be obvious immediately, but it was good enough to wait for her mom to pick her up.

Maybe…maybe Bingo wasn’t that bad. Lola smiled to herself, drugged up on granny-candy and still yet to fully understand the permanent damage to her bladder. It was quietly absorbing another wick of leakage while the girl was mid-thought.

And soon enough, her mom’s minivan had arrived.

“Hey…!” Mom smiled from the driver’s seat, rolling down the passenger window. “Well? How was it? Did it go well?”

“Uhm…” Lola paused, her tongue too busy eliciting more sweetness from the candy. “Yeah…I guess it did,” she smiled.

“Well good! I’m glad to hear it! I’m so proud of you, you know? And I told you! You got to work with some of the sweetest ladies in this entire town!”

Yeah, maybe she did? Maybe the mob and the heckling was just in her imagination. Maybe the stage fright had just shocked her into some fever dream, when in reality she hosted a perfect five games and had a great time. Maybe…

Mom half-glanced at the bag and jeans Lola tossed in the back, then she came up to the front. And as she sat on the seat, she winced, feeling a warmth coming off her backside, like she’d been hit on it multiple times over. That was weird.

Mom noticed the look on her face. “Something wrong?” Then her eyes drooped down by chance, widening in surprise.

“L…Lola? Is that a…diaper you’re wearing?”

Lola looked down at herself, admittedly having forgotten about it. She just popped a new candy, after all. The sweater had come loose and failed to offer any coverage or modesty whatsoever now. Surprisingly, her mom’s hand was against the crotch.

“And you’re wet,” Mom stated in quiet disbelief. A weird tingle hit Lola once she squeezed it. “Very wet.”

“Uhm…” suddenly the candy didn’t feel so powerful anymore, and her cheeks were feeling warm, like just maybe, something about this wasn’t right after all.

And her mother was caught off guard again the moment she saw her daughter in a nervous state draw up her thumb.

Simultaneously, from Lola’s perspective, a bloated feeling had just caught up with her, like she’d just eaten a three-days feast worth of food. Full, uncomfortable, hard to sit. And while her tongue tried to play with the last of her candy, now both the dwindling sweet and her tongue had to play around the big-girl thumb sitting inside the same arena.

Sucking her thumb, side-glancing at her mother, she asked in a quiet voice,

“Can…can we still get pizza?”