"Ballet restaurants are stupid! I hate you Alexandra!" Wendy's little sister in the wet diaper yelled for the third time. He looked like a tired toddler in a complete meltdown tantrum. Wendy didn't laugh this time. She decided to try and hold it in for once.
Then, Elena suggested they might need to have him checked out at the hospital and he yelled, "In public like this? Better blind or deaf than ballet chef!"
Wendy couldn't help it, she laughed. When her mother glared at her, she did feel a little bit guilty though. "He's exaggerating, come on. He's still making jokes!"
"You know that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, Wendy!" Elena shouted, before slamming the door to the bathroom.
Wendy had been incredibly suspicious of Rebekah's motives for sending her out to the trash. However, now she was beginning to think she was being very unfair to her brother. There could be no question he had absolutely poured his heart and soul into getting the chili absolutely right. He had kept everything neat and clean as he cooked too and had all around just taken the opportunity to toe the line.
Wendy felt it was the sort of heartfelt gesture that could let both her and her mother see that he was ready to behave now. It would have been trivially easy for Rebekah to screw up the chili again and get away with it. All he had to do was just do it the way he always had before. Instead, this time, he learned to do better than his best.
Wendy sighed to herself with satisfaction and thought yet again, "Petticoating just works."
Meanwhile, in the bathroom, "Whoever came up with these things is either completely incompetent or a deranged sadist," Elena announced while shining a pen light into Rebekah's ear.
"ÂżWhy not the two of them?" Rebekah wailed.
"Okay, Rebekah...'and/or', okay?" asked Elena as she very carefully pulled the speakers out with a pair of tweezers.
"Can you leave me alone now so I can take a shower and get this stuff off?" Rebekah asked. "I don't wanna be a bal..."
"You were an excellent ballet chef, Becky-Bow. Yes, but first I need to have quick little talk with you. It's umm, awkward."
"Oh no, not awkward," said the individual in the wet diaper involuntarily costumed as a "ballet chef" in a monotone.
Elena sighed deeply. She tried to put on her best professional, businesslike face, "It's about touching yourself...down there."
"Not you too, Mom! Please not you too! Why can't we just not talk about my down there anymore..."
"I wish...I very much wish that, Rebekah. But circ-umstances that can no longer be altered have led us to the point we are approaching. Listen, I have a bottle of hot sauce in the back of the cabinet above the stove that I have never tried before because there is a health warning on the side of it. There is a health warning because it contains pure capsaicin crystals. Now, I know you tried to be careful and you did your best because you love us so much and wanted to make it up to us," She paused and took a breath. "But...if that bottle happened to be your little secret ingredient, then your hands may still be quite dangerous to you, my precious little bal...my precious little spice baby."
"Awww, Mom, I'll wash them first...I guess they do feel like they're burning too now..."
"Now, Becky-Bow, I can see why you think that washing your hands would be enough. Go ahead and do that."
He did, and Elena continued, "Just like I can see why you thought latex would be enough. It seems totally reasonable. But I can not impress upon you enough, my mild little muffin," She took another breath, "Do. Not. Touch. Yourself. Down. There. Wait at least twenty-four hours, okay, Becky-Bow? Knowing you, I would personally advise forty-eight."
Rebekah Rainbow again reached his hand toward his eye to wipe away another tear. Elena grabbed his hand first with wide eyes, "Do not touch yourself anywhere, Becky-Bow."
"But how am I supposed to..." He gestured both hands in a confused circle.
Elena translated the gesture meaning, "Anything?"
"Well, you're going to need a little bit of help," Elena said.
"Awwwww, from you or Wendy?" he groaned. "After all this? You two almost made me go deaf and now I need to depend on you completely for two days for...everything?"
"For anything you need. Look, we'll call a little ceasefire on this thing and talk about a new plan. Maybe you can make peace with Wendy."
"Fat chance."
"She's gonna listen, the chili means a lot to us."
"Mom," he said, "I was trying to hurt you guys. Okay? I was mad. It's not fair to make me a ballet chef! It's not fair! It doesn't make any sense, Alexandra! I was angry."
"It's silly and fun and you are the best ballet chef who's ever cooked for me. Becky-Bow, we want the chili to hurt."
"What?" he demanded in confusion. "All this time that's what you meant when you said it was too bland? You WANTED me to hurt you?"
"It reminds us of the good times with your father, so we make it hurt more so we remember that all of that came with the pain too."
"Oh," he said. "Pain and pleasure together. That doesn't make any sense, Mom. They shouldn't be together. It's not right." He wiped away a tear again and Elena didn't stop him. "And I don't wanna hurt anyone anymore," he said after a few minutes of crying on Elena's shoulder.
She gave him a tender and burning kiss on the cheek. "It makes total sense. Love and pain are best friends. It's emotional numbness and death that don't get along with anybody. You need to open up and let yourself feel. Let yourself feel vulnerable."
"Stop it with the stupid hippy talk, Mom. I'm not in the mood," he whined.
Rebekah Rainbow was left to bathe himself with a promise to be very, very careful. Elena knew that Rebekah would be unable to keep from making a scene if he disobeyed the instructions to be mindful of where he put his hands. Elena felt the urge to tell him again just to be sure, but rather than offer yet another warning of how serious the consequences would be if she was disobeyed, she simply resolved to give Rebekah the best, "I told you so," she could if necessary.
When Wendy was told of the potential problem with Rebekah Rainbow's hands she, with only pure adoration and love for her little sister in her heart one assumes, said that she had an excellent solution to help him keep from touching his face or other sensitive areas with his dangerous hands.
That is how Rebekah Rainbow ended up dressed for the rest of the night in a silky knee length mint green nightie with pink lace trimmings, mint green diaper cover and a new pull up diaper, tight fitted mint green bonnet, and warm fluffy pink bunny slippers. Rebekah found watching Alexandra even more irritating when he couldn't at least distract himself by following along. Applying any makeup was prevented for Rebekah by the large mint green mittens which completely covered his hands and rendered them totally useless.
Meanwhile, Elena had a discussion with Wendy.