Long Story #15: The Nanny (P1)

Long Story #15: The Nanny (Content Tags: Sexism against boys, humiliation, infantilizing, diapers, wet and messy accidents via sabotage, spanking, twins, slice-of-life, wealthy protagonists, thumbsucking, sippy cups, baby clothes) Life in the rich lane was grand, at least for the most part. For Max and Molly, it was a life of privilege, but also a life that would've have been lonely without one another to keep company. Their parents worked constantly to create this affluent lifestyle, which meant they were rarely home long enough to dote on the twins they had brought into this world. Living long enough with these conditions had hardened them to the misery that one might expect to be rampant; their care was almost entirely handled by a nanny, which until recently had been the exceedingly neglectful 'Ruby'. The older woman had made sure that the essentials were taken care of, but she hadn't thought it necessary to keep the twins out of trouble. That trouble was pretty much entirely the fault of Max, who was the more mischievous of the pair. For as close as the twins were, their personalities were fairly opposite. Max was excitable, immature, loud, obnoxious, impulsive, confident, dirty, naive, and generally optimistic (though somewhat of a crybaby). Molly on the other hand was more subdued and mature; she was clever, soft-spoken, responsible, and fairly realistic in her views. The preteen pair were inseparable; Molly did what she could to mitigate her brother's poor decisions, and she humored his more childish side. Likewise, Max made his sister take more chances and he got her to loosen up from the rigidity that she had a hard time breaking. One stunt that Molly regretted not putting the kibosh on was the same thing that had gotten Ruby replaced; Max had insisted on sneaking out past curfew to go play some pranks with their friends. Getting nabbed by some patrolmen for the trouble had been mortifying to their parents, and that'd been the last strike for poor Ruby. The last week had actually seen them without a nanny at all, which had been liberating, even with Molly making sure to reign Max in during it. They both knew it wouldn't last long, and while the extra freedom was nice, it was a marginal improvement that didn't account for everything Ruby had done to keep them comfortable. They'd been walking home from school one afternoon when they saw an unfamiliar car in their driveway. Max made a joke about getting 'driving lessons' early, and Molly quickly deduced it must belong to their new nanny. Max shrugged it off. After how lenient their last one had been, he wasn't worried that a new one would make much of an impact on his afternoon plans. The first of which, as it was every day, was to get changed out of this stuffy school uniform and watch some cartoons! He kicked off his shoes and dropped his bag on the floor of the entryway; then off came his blazer, which got unceremoniously plopped onto the pile. "You gonna watch cartoons with me today, Molly?" It was hardly worth asking, since she almost always said yes, but keeping communication as open as possible was how their dynamic had bloomed over the years. The girl nodded and more neatly took her own shoes off. "Sure. Don't you think we should look for the new nanny first though?" "Nah. She'll find us whenever it's dinner time." Max replied, not stopping with his shoes or school blazer. Off came the collared shirt and then the dorky little shorts and dress socks; by the end, the boy was strutting further into the house in little more than his skidmarked cartoon briefs. Molly was used to her brother's shameless displays, so she wasn't particularly bothered, though she did find it likely inappropriate with a 'guest' in the house that they had yet to meet. She frowned and picked his shorts up off the ground. "Hey, Max, why don't you at least put these back on until we get to our room? Seems kind of rude to walk around like that before we've said hello to our new nanny." The rambunctious boy looked back at her with a clueless expression on his face. "Huh? Oh, I guess... Good call, sis!" With some semblance of dignity added back into Max's wardrobe, the pair continued on into the house. Their old nanny usually would have been waiting for them in the living room, with after-school snacks prepared, but no delicious odor hung in the air. Molly might not hang noticed it, but it felt like an omen of things to come for Max. Their new nanny was waiting for them, but she wasn't waiting with any cookies. Instead, she was in the middle of dusting a shelf in the next room. The woman looked much younger than Ruby had been, but that was still 'ancient' to a young pair of kids such as them. She had long blond hair and wore a sour expression. Upon hearing the pitter-patter of their tiny footsteps, the woman turned around and directed her attention to her charges. She first looked at Molly and smiled, but once she had shifted her gaze to Max, that smile did a full '180' and turned to a frown. "Young man, where are all your clothes? Ladies are present!" She scolded, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the shirtless lad; he was suddenly glad that Molly had convinced him to at least put his shorts back on! "H-huh? Next to the front door, I guess..." He shrugged carelessly, he was having a hard time in deciphering why it was such a big deal. Molly stepped in front of Max to shield him from the woman's criticism. "It's okay! It doesn't bother me; I know how much Max hates the school uniform. I'm Molly!" The woman's expression softened again and she reached down to give Molly a gentle pat on top of her head. "Yes, well, I suppose little boys are bound to do that. I think we might need to work on what's considered polite though, Max." The boy smiled bashfully, "Umm, okay. Sorry, miss...miss.." "My name is Mrs. Rhinehart, but you can just call me your new nanny." "What about your first name?" Max inquired, since that'd been how they'd addressed their old nanny. "That is unimportant. Children aren't to address adults by their full name; it is uncouth. Now, there will be plenty of time to go over everything, but for now I'd like for you to go get dressed." Max looked like he was going to ask another question, but his sister grabbed him by the hand and tugged him along. "Yes ma'am! We'll be right back." The pair headed upstairs and waited until they were at an appropriate distance before talking again. Molly had led the charge into their bedroom, with Max looking somewhat irritable that he'd been chewed out already. "She's mean." He announced plainly as he closed the door behind them. "You don't know that yet, maybe she's just really fancy, like some of mom and dad's friends." Molly retorted, less irked since she hadn't been the target of any of the woman's criticism. The room looked like it had been picked up for the first time all week, at least Max's side. Molly was much more neat and organized, so her things rarely caused a clutter, while her brother left clothes and toys strewn about. It'd always been that way, as long as either of them could remember. They didn't have to share a room. There were four other rooms upstairs, all of which would make for perfectly fine bedrooms, but they had never seen the point. They weren't yet at an age where the shared space felt awkward, and they enjoyed eachother's company too much to consider splitting apart. It was a big lonely house, and being in separate rooms would only emphasize that fact. Max tugged down his shorts again and kicked them off to the side. "Maybe...I don't think I like her so far though. I guess she did a good job cleaning up in here, so that's something..." Molly went to the closet to get a more casual shirt to change into. "I bet she'll be a lot nicer once we get to know her." "Yeah, maybe..." Instead of getting dressed immediately, Max had gotten himself distracted with looking around the room to make sure none of his things had been put in poor places. Sensing her brother's poor attention span, Nina quickly got changed and headed toward their shared dresser to pull some things out for him. Once she got there, she noticed something strange was sitting on top: it was a crinkly package of diapers. "I wonder how these got in here." She mumbled, reaching over to pick the package up, and quickly realizing they weren't sized for babies like she would have expected. "How what got in where?" Max turned his head and looked equally gobsmacked by the sight. "Whoa, are those diapers? Do you think Mrs. Rhinehart knows how old we are?" He joked. "Maybe she thought we were younger...?" Molly awkwardly shrugged, though by the larger size of the garments, that didn't sound likely. "Or there was some other kinda mix-up?" "Maybe she thinks that you're a bedwetter!" Max giggled. "Me? You're the one that wet the bed most recently!" Molly pointed out, reminding the boy of the soggy sheets he'd had some months ago. "She probably heard about that. Or she heard that you got out of diapers late." "Three isn't late, you were just early!" Max fussed with pink in his cheeks. "Three and three-quarters is basically four." Molly pointed out with a playful grin, "They don't look like they're specifically for boys or girls, so hard to say who she thought needed them. But if I were to bet on it..." "Maybe it's a prank! Maybe that crabby attitude is just an act, so that we wouldn't think she liked to play jokes on people!" Max interrupted, perhaps sounding a little too hopeful. "That could make sense." The girl was acquiescing, before her brother came up and took the package out of her hands. "Yeah! I mean, what's more funny that a diaper?" He nodded and then tore the top. He took one of the diapers out and unfurled it in front of him. "Wow, it looks so big!" Thinking that it'd be funny, Max put the package back down and began to sloppily put the diaper on himself over his underpants. The tapes were janky and it sagged to the side, but it'd do the job for a jape. "Lookit me, Molly! I'ma big baby with a big diaper!" He giggled, slapping his own seat and becoming amused by the crinkling that it caused. His sister laughed too, finding the immature antics to be funny. "Oh? Does my 'baby' bro need a bottle?" Max grinned and squatted down; he put his arm up to his mouth and blew a big raspberry to act as if was soiling himself. "Nope! Baby needs his poo-poo diapee changed on the double!" The juvenile potty humor was on-brand for a sophomoric kid like Max, and while Molly didn't find it very funny on its own, she always found Max's mannerisms to be hilarious themselves. "These things sure are poofy, Molly. I can see why babies like 'em so much! Must be like sittin' on a pillow, until they go poo at least." Max commented, giving the padding an exploratory squeeze, before untaping it and letting it drop to the floor. "They have to be all big and stuff, otherwise babies would be leaking all the time." The girl explained as she got some play clothes out for her brother to put on. The twins got dressed and went back downstairs. Max planned on grabbing some snacks and heading to the playroom to watch some toons, but Molly had a feeling that their plans may see some interruptions, since Mrs. Rhinehart had sounded like she wanted a more in-depth introduction. The diapers were certainly worth asking about, but neither twin was in a rush to get an answer for them. Max thought it was a prank and Molly thought it was a mistake; both children understood their theories may be flawed, and if that were to be the case, then they both thought that the diapers were intended for the other. If that theory was also flawed, then they didn't want to know what the real answer was. There was just enough anxiety around it to make them both willing to simply ignore what had shown up in their bedroom. The answer would soon come though, whether they wanted it or not. As the two came down the stairs, their nanny was indeed waiting for them with a somewhat sour look on her face. "I've put your school clothes in with the laundry, young man, but I expect that you won't simply be stripping them off and putting them in a pile by the front door any longer. Am I clear? Only toddlers leave their clothes on the floor and parade around in their underwear." Max got red in the face, but he quietly nodded that he understood her demand. He was really lucky that his sister had reeled him in earlier. "Now, I've made a snack for you two. Come sit at the kitchen table and eat." The woman beckoned them. The boy would have argued with her about it, since the plan had been to eat their snack while in the playroom, but he'd already been fussed at enough as it was. The twins followed her into the kitchen, where there were two juice boxes on the table with a plate of peanut-butter stuffed celery to share. "This looks yummy, thank you." Molly complimented before taking her seat. Max followed her lead and sat down as well, though he wouldn't join her in praising the treat that'd been made for them. "Well, you're welcome Molly." The nanny smiled, again changing her tone entirely when speaking with the girl. "...Thanks for cleanin' up our room." Max suddenly added, his mouth half-full of peanut butter. "Don't talk with your mouth full. I also expect that you won't leave your room such a pigsty next time, Max." She chided him. Max swallowed and huffed, "It's her room too!" "Yes, but I'm imagining that all the dirty clothed I picked up, and all the toys, were ones that belonged to you. Am I right to think that?" He slurped at his juice and looked away. Molly was the orderly one, and while they often dressed similarly, it was only his clothes that got carelessly tossed on the floor. His toy collection was also more extensive and more stereotypically male, whereas Molly had narrowed her own assortment down by a wide margin in the last year. "Which brings up something that I was curious about: why is it that you two are still sharing the same bedroom? There are plenty of other rooms upstairs to be in." (Continued in part 2)