The Bet - Chapter 37 (Sunday – week 6 Part 2 of 7)

The Bet
by Karen Singer

Chapter 37 (Sunday – week 6 Part 2 of 7)

Chad had hoped that going to the grocery store with Mel, while dressed as her maid, would get easier, but somehow it still seemed terribly embarrassing. Yes, he had been wearing nothing but dresses – everywhere – for quite a while now. But still, these public outings were more than a bit unnerving. He still noticed all too many people staring at him everywhere he went… and today things were no different. Of course he couldn’t really blame any of them. Under normal circumstances, if he came across a man that was dressed like he was, he supposed that he would stare too.
As he pushed the grocery cart following Mel around the store, people stared at him on every aisle. He was also fairly certain that one or two were purposely following him just so they could keep watching him. Maybe he should have worn the ballet outfit that Mel was getting him instead of his maid’s uniform – and put on a real show for them. Then they’d have something to really look at! He certainly kept that thought to himself! If Mel ever picked up on the idea he had no doubt that he’d really be in for trouble! And it was a good thing that he didn’t have the whole ballet outfit… yet.
The cart filled up fast since both he and Mel were picking up items and throwing them in. Mel picked up things on a whim, the items he chose were all from his list. Once again, Mel loaded several boxes of the green tea bags into the cart – more boxes than usual. Chad was also glad to see Mel adding lots of jars of fruit juices. Since he was drinking so much more now than ever before, the juices were a pleasant break from her lousy tasting tea.
All morning long he had been wetting every few minutes. Not much was coming out, but he was going very often. He wasn’t trying to wet, and he certainly didn’t dare try to hold back at all. Since it was happening so often, he stopped worrying about trying to make himself go and just let it happen on its own – without any thought on his part. The way things seemed to be going, he figured that as long as he kept drinking plenty of fluids, he had very little to worry about as far as getting his diapers to leak on time. The diaper he was wearing now had been fairly fresh when they left Mel’s apartment, but it certainly wasn’t fresh now!
In the baby-food aisle, Chad wasn’t happy to see Mel pick up two more boxes of baby cereal and throw them into the cart. She didn’t even ask him what kind he preferred – not that it mattered since he couldn’t really tell much of a difference anyway. All of it was bad! She also added way too many jars of baby food. Something he was really not happy to see either. He did a good bit of the cooking for her and he looked forward to eating some of what he cooked. More baby food meant that he might not get to eat much that was decent.
While they were in the baby aisle, there seemed to be more people around than Chad was happy about. Some of them he recognized as people who had seemed to follow him around the store. They couldn’t all need stuff from this aisle, could they?
Chad’s thoughts about the people watching him were interrupted by Mel. “How is your diaper?”
“Getting wetter, Mistress,” he replied very quietly, but still in his sissy voice.
“Are you sure?” Mel asked, sounding like she was talking louder than before. “You haven’t had anything to drink since we left the house. Maybe you should be carrying your bottle around and drinking from it while we shop.”
Chad was horrified. Things were already bad enough! “I’m doing fine so far, Mistress,” he replied in just barely above a whisper. “I still seem to be wetting pretty often.”
Mel just looked at him, then she looked around at some of the other people in the aisle. The only child she saw was one very young baby sitting in his mother’s cart. When she turned back toward Chad, the glint in her eyes sent a quick shudder down his spine. “Let me see. Show me your diaper.”
Chad couldn’t believe it. “Here?” he asked. “Now?”
Mel instantly got stern. “Yes, here and now! I said show me your diaper!”
When Chad seemed to hesitate, she got angrier. “Show me your diaper right now… and you better do it the way you were taught last week!”
Chad’s eyes bulged. Everyone was looking at him… and Mel was making sure that half the store could hear her!
“Do it now!” Mel demanded angrily.
Her angry voice and the angry look on her face launched Chad into motion before she might do something he would really be sorry about. As he had practiced so many times in her living room last week, he quickly grabbed his skirt and pulled it as high as he could, blatantly showing off what he was wearing underneath – which was only an obviously very wet diaper. Chad’s face turned very red as he stood there holding his skirt up high. And Mel kept him standing there like that, much longer than necessary – making sure that everyone around got a real good look. And then Mel said, “Turn the other way and show the people behind you what you’re wearing too!”
Chad’s face was burning beet red as he slowly turned toward the other direction. He noticed a tangle of people standing at the far end of the aisle, all looking in his direction. Mel made him stand there like that for a few moments before she let him turn back again and lower his skirt before smoothing it back into place. Chad felt so small and humiliated.
“That’s one demerit for not doing as you were told right away!” Mel stated. And then she reached for her purse. “You better keep drinking,” she added as she reached inside and pulled out one of his bottles. I think it’s time to start cutting back on that two-hour time limit you have.”
Chad reluctantly accepted the baby bottle she handed him and put it to his lips. He felt like such an infant as he nursed the bottle while following her up and down the aisles. Why was it that the ground never seemed to open up and swallow him when it was supposed to? He had certainly wished for it enough!

When they got back to Mel’s apartment, Chad was kept busy for quite a while going up and down the steps carrying the groceries in and then finding places to put everything away. The problem was further compounded by all the baby bottles taking up so much space in Mel’s refrigerator. As he was putting away the boxes of baby cereal into her cabinet, a thought reached through to his brain. He had just finished peeing. But he didn’t really remember peeing. Yet he remembered finishing. He had been peeing so often and had been so busy with other things that the fact that he had been peeing didn’t even register in him till he was done. How strange!
His diaper leaked long before it was time. And when it started leaking, he had to think to remember if he had just peed or not. Yes, he definitely remembered it. He had just been too busy to pay much attention to it. Unfortunately, as soon as he was once again into a fresh diaper, Mel shaved fifteen minutes off of his usual two-hour time limit. “Since you seem to be getting so good at this, then let’s make sure you stay good at it,” Mel declared. “An hour and forty-five minutes!”
Chad wasn’t exactly happy!

While Mel ate a salad for lunch that he had fixed for her, Chad had to stand in the corner on his perch. The inactivity and lack of anything else to think about gave him a chance to concentrate more on what was going on with his peeing. Unlike before, when he might or might not pee while standing in his corner, today he was peeing frequently, which given his even shorter time limit was now a good thing. But what surprised him the most was that it seemed like all too often he didn’t know ahead of time that he was going to pee. If his mind was wandering even a little bit, he seemed to miss the usual pre-notification his body would give him and he wouldn’t realize that he was peeing till he was already doing it. It was something he found not only fascinating, but exciting as well. Unfortunately, it also meant that Mel was making all too much headway against the terms of the bet!
Every time he finished peeing, he found himself concentrating harder than ever on his body feelings, trying to notice that little bit of early notification that would tell him he was about to pee. Often, he succeeded. But other times, since it was almost impossible to concentrate on the same thing for so long and his mind would wander elsewhere, he missed the notification entirely and was only brought back to reality by the feeling of the pee escaping his body. It was fascinating. It was exciting. But it was also troubling… and frustrating!

As soon as Mel finished her lunch, she allowed Chad to get himself off of his perch and out of the corner. But Chad quickly found himself going from being confined in the corner to confined in his highchair. A few minutes later, he was colorfully adorned with not only his bib but a growing amount of colorful baby food that kept dropping from the tiny baby spoon Mel required him to use – holding it baby-style. But from all the baby food he had seen Mel buying earlier, he had suspected that he would get nothing but baby food for lunch. In fact, baby food was becoming more and more normal for him on the weekends. Unfortunately.
While Chad was eating, Mel busied herself looking through her music collection, which held a surprising collection of classical ballet music. She selected the music she wanted to hear but didn’t turn it on yet. As Chad was finishing his lunch, she glanced around at her apartment. There were a few things that needed to be done, but they all could wait. Besides, they would be Sissy’s problem to deal with, not hers.
As soon as she could, she cleaned Sissy up from his lunch – not an easy job considering the mess he was – and let him up out of the highchair. She led him into her living room where she again sat in her favorite chair. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s see what you remember about ballet from yesterday.” Chad quickly moved to where he could support himself by resting his arm against the back of her sofa. “First position!” Mel commanded. Since she had only shown him two positions yesterday, first position was easy to remember. Getting into it though was awkward as he attempted to put his heels together with his feet turned completely away from each other. The heels on his feet didn’t help matters either!
Over and over again, Mel had him go back and forth between first and second position, adding the little transition step in between. When she felt satisfied, she turned the music on – ballet music from her collection. Somehow, Chad found things all that much more difficult as he tried to keep up with her counting the time to the music that was playing all too loudly. Simple little steps, but they weren’t so simple – for him.
When she was satisfied, she stopped the music. “Okay,” she said. “Now it’s time for third position.”
Chad wasn’t too happy about that and wondered just how many positions there were to learn. He was betting a lot of them!
With his feet still turned outward at an impossible angle, she had him put the heel of one foot right up against the instep of his other foot. He really needed to hold onto the back of the couch for that one. She had him do it with both feet. Then she had him go back and forth using the same little transition step where he put his foot out with his toe pointed before moving to the next position. Over and over again she made him do it. Then she turned the music on to watch. Chad was ever so grateful when her phone rang and she quickly turned the music off before answering it.
“Hello?” she said into the phone. “Really? Of course! Come on over now. I can’t wait!”
Chad was instantly afraid. Who had called? Who was coming over? “Um… Mistress?” he asked uncertainly, worried about being seen by whoever was coming to her apartment.
Mel smiled, guessing by his fear that he was worried about who might see him. “I don’t know why you’re worried, you go out everywhere dressed like you are. People see you all the time looking like you do. I’d think you’d be used to it by now… and if not… then I suggest you get used to it! You’re going to be in that maid’s dress for a very, very long time!”
Chad seriously doubted that he’d ever get over the fear of wearing dresses in public – as much as he really did love it. And as for wearing his maid’s dress for a long time… well, not if he won the bet – which he was still very much determined to do! His thinking was suddenly interrupted when someone knocked at her door.
“You’re the maid,” Mel said to him, “go answer it!”