The Bet - Chapter 31 (Monday – week 5 Part 5 of 8)

The Bet
by Karen Singer

Chapter 31 (Monday – week 5 Part 5 of 8)

Mel spotted Gloria in the restaurant, already at one of the tables. She hurried over and sat down. “Well,” she asked immediately, “how did you enjoy my little surprise this morning?”
Gloria laughed at remembering it. “Oh God! I never dreamed! I know you were doing it all for me, but how in the world did you ever get him agree to do it?”
“Actually, I didn’t do it all just for you… although you were certainly high on my list.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… Let’s just say he’s been rather rude lately to some people that he shouldn’t have. This was a bit of punishment for him. Before we visited you, I took him to the gym where he put on a show and a half – believe me, you should have seen it!”
“I can imagine! So this wasn’t all just a ploy to convince me to hypnotize him again?”
Mel looked a bit embarrassed. “Well, not really. Although like I said, you were one of my primary considerations.”
Gloria shook her head. “Well, it was quite a show anyway. I’ll probably be laughing about it for days!” She looked more seriously. “But I’m not changing my mind. I’m not going to hypnotize him into wanting to be incontinent.”
“Even though you saw how much of a sissy baby he is today? First hand?”
Gloria shook her head again. “Like I said, I’m not buying it.”
“But you saw for yourself how much he wants it.”
“No, I saw someone who was acting like a fool!”
“But he does want it!”
“Will you let me hypnotize him – alone – without you – to let me find out for sure?”
That was the one thing that Mel didn’t want. “No. Not without me there.”
“Then no dice! I’m not going to do it. Besides, this bet is between you and him. I’m not supposed to figure into it at all.”
“There are no rules that say I can’t use any means I want to make him incontinent. And I intend to use anything and everything I can!”
“Why? Just so you can win?”
“Of course!”
“And what happens if he wins instead?”
The question made Mel shudder involuntarily. “He can’t win. I won’t allow it!”
“You may have no choice. If he wins, then you lose.”
“No, I’m not going to lose!”
“But if he wins?”
“No! That’s why I need your help… to make sure I win!”
Gloria sat back in her seat. “Aren’t you obsessing about this thing a bit?”
“No! Well… maybe. But that’s all the more reason for you to help me!”
“No it’s not! I feel bad enough about what I’ve already done. I shouldn’t have done it.”
“Yes you should!”
“Will you let me have him to find out?”
“No.”
“Then I shouldn’t have done it… and I’m not going to help you anymore.”
Mel sat back in her seat frustrated. The two women just looked at each other for a few moments.
Gloria broke the silence first. “Mel, if I remember correctly, if he loses, this bet is only for a year anyway. What are you going to do when that time is up?”
Mel shook her head. “Don’t worry. I’ll think of something. By that time I plan to have him so wrapped around my little finger that he’ll never think of quitting. I’m not going to lose him!”
“You may have no choice.”
“I won’t lose him!”
“Why?”
Mel stared at her again for a few moments. “I don’t know. I just know I don’t want to lose him.”
Gloria leaned forward. “Mel… Do you love him?”
Mel was clearly startled by the question. “Oh God no! Perish the thought! Don’t even think it! You know he’s all wrong for me! What would I do if I had to go to some swanky affair and bring my husband?” She laughed a bit. “I’d have to worry about his dress being nicer than mine!” She laughed again, but it was clearly a contrived laugh.
Gloria sat back again. She had no doubt that there were more reasons behind Mel’s obsession with him than what Mel herself even knew. She tried another argument. “Mel. Why are you so set on keeping him? Is it the baby thing? Does it turn you on?”
Again, Mel was startled by the question, only not as much as the last question. She had to consider her answer carefully. Finally she shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe. A little anyway,” she admitted. “But is that something so bad?”
“No,” Gloria answered. “But it’s hard to understand. I mean… look, you’re a grown woman. Most women your age have already had a baby… a real baby. I mean, it’s not like he’s a real baby that you can hold in your arms and love. A baby you can feed a bottle to and nurture. He’s a grown man for heaven’s sake!”
Gloria’s questions bothered Mel – a lot! She didn’t know why she liked Chad so much. She didn’t care! She just knew she had to win this bet and that she didn’t want to lose him. That’s all there was to it. None of these other things that Gloria was talking about mattered at all. She had come to present her arguments to Gloria… to get Gloria to agree to help her again. But instead, Gloria was pounding her with her own questions. Uncomfortable questions. Questions she wasn’t willing to think about.
She suddenly didn’t want to hear anymore of Gloria’s questions. She quickly got up from her seat. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I just remembered something. I’ve got to go.” She didn’t even wait for a reply from Gloria before she left, hurrying quickly out the way she had come.

Andrea had been working steadily all morning and was glad not to have any interruptions from Chad in the spare office. Mel was gone to lunch now and all was quiet – the perfect time to get a lot of work done. She was very startled when her phone buzzed, signaling an inner office call instead of one from the outside. She grabbed the phone and almost said, “Yes, Mel,” but she caught herself just in time. The light on the phone signaled that the call was from the spare office where Chad was. “Yes?” she asked, tentatively.
“Um…” Chad said into the phone, trying to find the words. He really didn’t want to talk to Andrea about this.
“What is it?” Andrea asked. “Do you need Mel?”
“Yes, please.”
“She’s out to lunch. Can I help you?”
“Um…” He really didn’t want to tell her his problem, but he wasn’t really sure about what he should do. “Um… I’m leaking,” he finally said.
“Leaking?” Andrea asked, not fully understanding.
“Yes.”
“Uh… Okay,” she replied uncertainly. Leaking? And then she finally realized exactly what he was talking about. She would have giggled if she didn’t feel so uncomfortable about not knowing what to do. “Um… Do you need me to do something about that, or can you wait for Mel?”
Chad thought about it. He really only needed Mel to know that he had made his diaper leak before the deadline in case she didn’t get back in time. But he guessed it wasn’t a major emergency. Still, his diaper was leaking and it would be much better to change it. But did he really want Andrea to do it? Not really.
“Uh… I’m not sure,” he finally replied.
Andrea figured that she could change his diaper for him, but she also knew without a doubt that she would rather not. It was fun seeing him all babied up, but to actually have to take care of changing him… well, that was another matter. She might be Mel’s assistant, but this wasn’t exactly part of her job description. “Look, is there any way you can possibly hold on till Mel get’s here?”
“Uh… Sure. No problem.” Chad replied.
“Okay. I’ll tell her as soon as she gets back then. Okay?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Andrea hung up the phone. He was leaking, but that wasn’t supposed to be something she was supposed to have to take care of… as far as she knew anyway. Besides, couldn’t he change himself?
Chad hung up the phone. Mel was still gone to lunch. Now what was he supposed to do? He briefly considered changing his own diaper, but the way Mel had been acting about that lately he was too afraid. He would have laid back down on the couch, except he was worried now that his leaking diaper might damage it. And then there was the nice carpet under his feet. So far, only a drop or two had gotten on that. But if he had to wait much longer then there would be bigger problems for sure.
In desperation, he grabbed one of the disposable diapers out of his diaper bag and opened it up wide. He placed it on the floor and stood on it. That should protect the carpet in case he peed again, which he knew was inevitable. He had been peeing so much for the last few days that he barely even knew he was going to do it anymore – if he knew at all. And if he didn’t keep peeing, then he got beat instead. And he had already seen Mel loading her yardstick into her car. No, he would just stand on the diaper and hope that she got back as soon as possible.

Gloria’s questions kept ringing in Mel’s ears. She tried to block them out, but they kept coming back. Gloria was all wrong! This was all about the bet… and nothing else! So what if she got a big kick out of Chad’s baby side. Besides, Gloria hadn’t yet seen his servant side… the side that could cook so wonderfully and that took such good care of her apartment for her. Her ultimate fantasy. Gloria had no idea at all what she was talking about!
She glanced at her watch. She needed to get back to work soon, even though she hadn’t had a single bite to eat yet. She looked again at the book in her hands. Yes, this one would be perfect for him. She walked a few steps further down the aisle and quickly grabbed one of the boxes from the shelf to go with the book. Now to hurry back.

Drip… Drip… Chad carefully stood over the spread-out diaper on the floor and watched as his soggy, leaking diaper slowly dripped down onto it. Where was Mel? How much longer was she going to take? He prayed it wouldn’t be much longer!
The building was fairly quiet, so he was able to hear when someone came in through the front door. He thought he heard voices, but he couldn’t make anything out. Was it Mel? Suddenly, someone opened the office door. He was relieved to see Mel walk in. She was carrying a plastic bag from a store in her hand.
Mel stopped dead in the doorway and took in the room. Chad was standing right in the middle of it… on top of a stretched-out diaper. The bag of baby toys she had delivered earlier was still sitting unopened on the floor. She wasn’t happy to see that, but she ignored it for now. Chad’s predicament was more urgent. She hadn’t thought about him dripping all over everything earlier. She should have thought about it. Luckily, Chad had used his head. He didn’t curtsey when she came in, but that was probably just as well. “Good thinking!” she said as she stood in the doorway.
Chad was glad she approved, but he would be more glad if she would close the door behind her. He would be even more glad if she would just get moving and change his diaper! “Thank you, Mistress,” he replied, carefully using his sissy voice.
“Just stay right there,” Mel said as she finally closed the door behind her and headed over to grab his diaper bag. Chad hadn’t planned on going anywhere. He was just glad that she was moving to help.
She removed his soggy diaper while he was still standing up, then she had him lay down on top of a fresh diaper. Since it was lunchtime, she took the time to shove another suppository up inside of him – according to her schedule for them. Then she finished diapering him in the single diaper. Chad felt relieved to be in a dry diaper again, especially since it didn’t drip!
“Okay, Sissy. This time you’ve only got two hours instead of two and a half.” Chad wanted to protest or even ask why since he had been trying hard to be really good today, but she beat him to it. “I know I said two and a half earlier, but you’ve got nothing much better to do today so you might as well concentrate on something.”
Chad felt frustrated and angry. Okay, the extra half hour wasn’t really all that long, but still… He reluctantly curtseyed and said a soft, “Yes, Mistress,” to show that he understood. Two hours! Ugh!
Instead of leaving, Mel walked over to the desk and started hunting through the bags on it. From one of them, she started pulling out jar after jar of baby food. Finally, she pulled out one of his tiny baby spoons and a bib. The bib she tied around his neck. She set all the baby food in the middle of the floor. “I’ll let you eat your lunch by yourself,” she told him. “I have to get back to work. When you’re done, I expect to see you playing with those toys and not just laying around.”
Chad nearly groaned out loud. Play with the toys? Talk about stupid!
“Oh! I nearly forgot,” she continued as she went back over to the desk and picked up the bag she had just brought in. She pulled a coloring book and a box of crayons out of it. She handed them to Chad. “Here, I expect to see you working on this book too.”
Chad took the book and the crayons and just stared at them for a moment. A Disney Princess coloring book. Oh joy! Not having much choice in the matter, he dropped yet another curtsey. “Thank you, Mistress,” he said yet again… although he didn’t much mean it. With hardly a glance backwards, Mel left the room.
Chad dropped the book and the crayons on the floor. At least the coloring book would be more interesting than the rest of the baby toys she had left him to occupy himself with. Having no other options for lunch, he sat down on the floor and began opening jars of baby food. Yuck!

Gloria followed her latest client back into the little studio where she usually worked with them one-on-one. She watched as he took off his shoes and laid down on the couch, preparing himself for a blissful relaxation session. But she herself felt anything but relaxed. It was a good thing that it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she could help her client to relieve his own stress. She didn’t know what she was going to do about hers.
She had been lucky at lunch… sort of. She hadn’t wanted to argue with Mel, but it had happened – again. She had been lucky because she had managed to spout off enough of her own questions and thoughts that Mel had never had a chance to really argue back. She was glad. She had meant everything she had said. She hadn’t really meant to hurt Mel’s feelings so much, but they were all things that she had wanted to say. And as a friend, if Mel could still think of her as that, she felt she had to say them. But still… she felt bad. Very bad.
If only Mel would let her have him alone for a little while. Just half an hour would be enough. Then she could put her own ghosts to rest – and maybe some of Mel’s too.