They fell into a silent coexistence, Sarah texting on her phone, Sammy suc-king his thumb while playing on his tablet. Every now and again, his tablet would play some sound, giving Sarah an excuse to look up and remind him to keep his thumb in his mouth.
To Sammy’s annoyance, the game seemed to go on forever. Worse, it seemed to love nothing more than going in circles. It would go from teaching him how to spell simple three letter words to asking him what letter apple starts with. Back and forth, with him seemingly never getting anywhere. Mr. Bunny’s Number Garden was even worse, constantly making him count things or say what number comes next, but never going above ten and rarely even above five.
Time slowed to a crawl and it seemed like Sammy was sitting there for hours, playing the games and sneaking glares at Sarah, who presided over him on the couch, seemingly unaware of how upset he was. Every once in a while, his gaze would fall on his humiliatingly childish underwear. How on earth did they fit him? Why had mom even thought to try them? If he had been more careful, he could have gotten rid of them before Sarah found out, but now that she knew about them...
“I'll probably be wearing them in college.” He mumbled.
“What was that, baby Sammy?”
“Nothing.” He quickly returned his attention to Mr. Bunny asking him to count the carrots on the screen. The doorbell chimed and Sammy nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Oh, my! Did the scary doorbell startle baby Sammy?” Sarah stood over him, smiling.
“Shuddup.” He mumbled into his fist. He quickly pulled his thumb out of his mouth, but knew that there was no time to hide from the person delivering the pizza. He tried his best not to look over to the door, employing the childish logic of ‘if I can’t see you, you can’t see me’. It seemed to work. The teenager delivering the pizza did not say anything although he did stare for a moment before taking the money from Sarah, who chuckled.
“Just doing some babysitting.” She said, too softly for Sammy to hear. “Have a good night!” She said a bit more loudly. She turned back toward Sammy, but realized there was a problem. How could she feed pizza to her baby brother? He was a baby after all and needed to be fed so he did not make a mess. “It’s finger food.” She mused to herself. “I’ll just feed him all day tomorrow.” She nodded. Besides, being in just his underwear was babyish enough, at least for the night, right?
“Come sit at the table, baby Sammy. You’re allowed to leave your blankie.” Sammy stood up and walked over. “Go back and do it right.”
“Huh?”
“Thumb in your mouth, baby Sammy.” She instructed. Sammy’s eyes flashed angrily, but he obeyed, muttering into his fist. “Tonight, I’m going to allow you to feed yourself, but if one single bit of tomato sauce or anything ends up on your chest, tummy, or anywhere other than your face, you will be wearing a bib for all meals, do I make myself clear?” He did not answer. “Say, yes, big sister.”
“Yes, big sister.” He mumbled.
“We need to do something about your mumbling.”Sarah remarked, but she left it at that.
Pulling her chair close to his, she wiped his face between nearly every bite, as if to remind him of her presence. She even picked up little bits of crust and fed them to him, smiling as the little boy accepted them. Give me a week, she thought, and he won’t even be able to feed himself.
With dinner done, she took a napkin and gave his face a very thorough wiping, followed by his hands. There was no reason to explain or ask him if she could. These things just needed to be done, no matter how the little baby protested.
“What’s next?” She asked with a grin.
“TV?”
“Nope. Bath time!” Sammy sighed. “Baths are very important. You should want to be clean, baby Sammy.” He only grunted in response. “And what’s our goal for your bath tonight? Come on, you know this!” Sammy looked at her, baffled. “No piddling in the tub, right?” He grumbled. “Well? Promise me you won’t go peepees in the tub.”
“I promise.”
“We need to work on your mumbling, but that’ll do for tonight.” Sarah said thoughtfully. “Into the tub you go, baby Sammy!” He complied, noticing that Sarah already had the washcloth in her hand. “Now, remember, baby Sammy doesn’t bathe himself. To help keep your little hands busy, I found some bath toys for you!” She handed him three of her old Mermaid Barbies. “You can make them swim around in the tub while I get you all squeaky clean!”
“But”
“We used to play Barbies all the time!” It was true. Sarah had been obsessed with them for a full year, during which time she had forced Sammy to play Barbies with her, watch the movies, and various other things that probably made her brother an honorary Barbie Girl.
“How do I?” He asked.
“Use your imagination, baby.” She said, wetting the washcloth and getting to work. It did not matter to Sarah if he played with them or not. She just wanted to keep his hands busy, like she had said.
As she bathed him, she marveled at just how tiny his feet, hands, everything was. She knew, deep down, that he was older than her, but it was hard to believe with him there in front of her. Her mom had told her time and again that girls grow up faster than boys, but surely Sammy really was behind Jaxon and all the other boys who were years younger than him. She wondered if maybe there was something wrong with Sammy, but that did not matter for the time being. It only proved that she was right, Sammy was a baby in need of a big sister to take care of him.
“Who are you?” She asked as she finished her second full round of his body. She had wanted to be thorough, but to also make it clear to Sammy that she was in charge of his bath.
“A little boy who needs his big sister.”
“And your name?”
“Baby Sammy.”
“That’s right! I bet after our whole summer of fun, you’ll be so used to that, you’ll even correct Gavin.”
“No” Sammy whined.
“It’s always been weird to me that he calls you Sam. Everyone calls you Sammy, thanks to me.” She grabbed a towel. “Stand up.” He obeyed, even though his bottom lip trembled. “And by the end of the summer, maybe I’ll have them all calling you your new name.”
“Sarah!”
“No, your name’s not Sarah!” She teased as she vigorously dried him off. Seeing a pout forming, she tapped her cheek, grinning as he dutifully kissed it. Setting the towel aside, she grinned at the naked boy in front of her.
“That bath took a long time! I think it’s bedtime for you, Sammy!”
“What? No way is it” Sammy stopped and blushed. Even with everything else, the word ‘bedtime’ struck him as childish, so he simply cut off the first half. “Time.” Sarah smiled and showed him her watch, which she had worn especially for this.
“See?”
“Sarah, you know I can’t” he sighed, staring at the arrows pointing between numbers. “Read a clock like that.”
“Well, that’s why I’m here. If you ask nicely, that is.”
“Big sister,” Sammy said with a sigh, knowing exactly what she wanted. “What time is it?”
“It’s nearly eight o’clock, Sammy.” She said, trying her hardest to sound convincing. “Which means it’s definitely past bedtime.” She gave his bottom a little swat. “Off to bed, baby!” She followed Sammy to his room, quickly snatching up his Elmo briefs before he could try to put them on. “Here, I’ll hold them for you.” He grumbled, but stepped into them. “Tomorrow, do you want to spend the day in just your diaper or should we do one of your dresses?”
“Neither.”
“You can’t spend the day naked, baby!” She teased. “I think we’ll do one of your dresses, but maybe I’ll change my mind.” She grinned at his Elmo bed. “Forgot about that.” She mused. “Oh, speaking of things I almost forgot about” she grabbed his white nightgown. “Arms up!”
“I am not wearing a” he growled. “That!”
“It’s your nightie, Sammy. You’ll wear it to bed, just like always.”
“I only just started!”
“Then you admit you wear them. Good.” She pulled it over his head, grabbing the struggling boy’s wrists and pulling them through the short bubble sleeves. “And I thought you wanted to hide Elmo from me.” Sammy grumbled and glared at her. “Now into bed, baby. It’s very late for baby Sammy.” She shepherded him into bed, pulling the covers up and over his sissy nightwear. “Sweet dreams, baby. We’ll have another fun day tomorrow!”
Sarah left him, but his knobless door did not close all the way, giving her easy access to peek in on him not ten minutes later. Despite it only being about 7:30, she could see the boy fast asleep and smiled to herself. Not even the sun high in the sky could keep him awake. He really was a baby.
Topic: Boys Don't Wear Dresses (Read 70694 times)
