It appeared that Janice’s mum, the solicitor, had plenty of money. Apart from ordering a number of elaborate baby dresses from Jake’s mum she had a pair of large strollers made. “On longer walks it can be a bit tedious waiting for them to waddle along”, she explained.
Jake’s was wheeled into his nursery. He sat into the stroller as ordered and his mother pulled the straps over his arms and snapped them together on his chest. She tugged the ends of the straps until he was tightly strapped in.
He couldn’t see below his voluminous petticoats but she knelt before him and pulled a pair of straps tightly around his ankles that were held in place with Velcro. She fluffed out the lace trim on his booties so that they concealed the ankle straps.
Jake was wheeled out past the hall mirror where he could see how people would see him, peering out from his lace trimmed pink bonnet, suc-king hard on his soother from the embarrassment. Janice was strapped into her stroller outside the front door. The teenagers were in their complementary pink and blue baby dresses. Jake could see she was testing the strength of the straps confining her to the stroller. She sat back with a sigh when she saw him, having to accept that she was firmly strapped in.
The strollers were lined up beside each other facing the gate. They were manoeuvred so that connecting clips on the side snapped together and now their strollers were attached.
The mothers knelt before their teenage babies to settle their petticoats and straighten their bonnets. Jake’s pink and blue tights needed straightening too. “So! We’re off to the school garden fete!” Janice’s mum announced. The teenagers both stopped suc-king on their soothers momentarily in shock.
The whole town turned out for the annual garden fete in the school grounds. All of their class mates and tormentors would be there. The teenagers started whimpering through their soothers and struggling against the straps keeping them in their strollers. Their mothers calmly started pushing the strollers down the street.
Jake desperately tried to free his ankles from the Velcro-secured straps so he could put his foot down, literally, and halt the stroller. “Nnnnnggggghhhh!” He looked over at Janice and she back at him as she squirmed and pawed at the catch on her chest. All they could see was each other’s face framed prettily by their bonnets as they suc-ked desperately on their soothers.
They simultaneously gave each other helpless looks and stopped their pointless struggling. They settled down and suc-ked hard on their soothers against the inevitable. As they approached the main road they could see the growing crowds all heading in the same direction.
Everyone seemed to know about their situation now. Everyone was in a good mood anticipating a fun day. “Hello! Oh look at the big babies in their matching dresses!” “They’ve got their own strollers now!” “Oh don’t they look so happy to be out and about!” one lady tittered sarcastically. Jake had resumed tugging against the ankle straps but they were well concealed under the thick lace of his booties so nobody could tell.
There was no missing the double stroller and the crowds had to part as it was pushed around the grounds of the fete. Jake and Janice could only sit and stew under their petticoats as people smiled and laughed at them. A few people stopped and asked questions of their mothers. They were only too happy to lift their petticoats to show off the frilly nappy covers and ultra-thick nappies.
“It’s much easier to push them around in the stroller rather than wait for them to waddle about”, Janice’s mother kept telling people. “In these nappies they only need to be changed when they soil themselves”, Jake’s mother told shocked passers-by.
“Oh look!” she blurted at one point. “There’s a Bonny Baby competition!” The teenagers once again stopped suc-king on their soothers momentarily, looked at each other through the lace trims of their bonnets and sighed heavily.
Their mothers joined the queue to sign up. Other mothers, babes in arms or holding toddlers by the hand, were amused at the potential new entrants. “Aren’t they really a bit old?” they tittered.
When they got to the registration table the lady there smiled and was clearly amused at the prospect. “In fairness, they are a bit old for this”, she said sweetly. “What are the categories?” Jake’s mum asked, not to be put off so easily. “Well … under 1s, 1 to 2 and over 2s.” “OK then – over 2s”, his mother insisted. The lady shrugged and took two big badges marked with “Bonny Baby” to write the competitor numbers on them. She wrote a big “8” on the first. “Can they be a joint entry?” Janice’s mum asked. “They are inseparable.” Again, the lady shrugged and wrote an “8” on the second sticker.
The big “Bonny Baby” badges were pinned to the big babies’ dresses. This provided more amusement for people who met them being strolled around the fete. People were nudging each other and giggling when they saw their competition badges. “That’ll be funny.”
It wasn’t long before they ran in to some of their school mates. “Can we look after them for a while?” Jake and Janice winced at the prospect but their mothers were glad of a break. “Do you want to take them in their harnesses – let them get some exercise?”
It had got rather stifling sitting amidst their layers of petticoats with thick tights underneath but as soon as they were freed from their strollers and stood up, people could now get a full view of their frilly nappy covers beneath their short dresses and see the extent of their thick nappies.
The way they had to waddle was also mortifying and their classmates loved exercising complete control and tugging them this way and that in their harnesses. Noticing Jake trying to push his petticoats down as much as possible to attempt to conceal some of his nappy cover one of the girls giggled and said “don’t worry when you are up on stage in front of everyone, they will see everything anyway!” Jake whimpered. Stage?