At the center of the nursery is the form of a woman. She stands motionless, eyes closed. Not breathing.No heartbeat. When the outer doors are touched, her heart beats. She takes in a deep breath. She moves her hands to hold them in front of herself. She opens her dark blue eyes and watches and waits for the inner door to open.

  As Jacob touches the inner door to the nursery, she steps forward, ready to protect and nurture. Her white heels click on the linoleum floor. Her red polka dot dress was flowing gently behind her. She smiles warmly, holding out her arms to hold and hug Jacob.

  Jacob watches the door to the nursery open itself and the women inside walking towards him with open hands. Her blond hair and the 50s housewife dress some sort of humor about the perfect wife or, in this case, the perfect caretaker. She puts on a happy smile. Her fantastic mind has digested everything on the network reted to Jacob.

  and as the doors open, she says, “Jacob its great to finally meet you.” She finishes the walk across the nursery and gives Jacob a hug.

  She looks him over. While she does, Jacob is looking around the room and notices that everything in the room is sized for adults. ‘What kind of nursery is this?’. She is warm against him.

  "You're so cute! And you're a big one, aren't you?" She slides a hand down and pats his butt. Jacob's cheeks grow red with embarrassment.

  “So I have to stay here for 24 hours? Uh, what's your name?” He says to the women in front of him, ‘Something about her: something about her is off; the way she moves is human but stiff,’ he thinks, waiting for her to let go of him. She finally does.

  “My name is Audrey, and I am your caretaker for the next 24 hours.” she says with confidence, then asks, “Why are you not wearing a diaper?” She waits a moment for a reply, then turns to Izzy.

  “Don’t look at me; he is in charge of his own underwear,” Izzy holds back a ugh. ‘This is too much. Oh Jacob, it's going to be a long 24 hours for you.’

  “We will have to fix that right away.” She takes Jacob's hand and leads him to a rge changing table. Jacob tries to resist, but despite her only being slightly taller than him, she is far stronger.

  “Ms.” Audrey says, turning to Izzy, “You can leave him in my capable hands. If you wish to check in on him, return in 3 hours. He should be settled in by then.”

  “Uh, yeah, sure, you okay, Jacob?” She asks. The joke is no longer funny. ‘He should be okay, right? The Hawaiian-shirted man would never send him here if it wasn't safe, right?’

  “I love you, Izzy. See you soon.” He says his gaze is fixed on the changing table in front of him and the neat stacks of diapers below; fshes of his mother and how she would ugh at him whenever he couldn't make it to the toilet or when someone would tickle him or when they went on a car ride, a childhood filled with pain, are dragged up from wherever his waking mind had locked them away.

  “I love you too, thanks. For doing this for me,” Izzy says with a frown at the sad and hollow look on Jacob's face.

  Izzy's flip-flops. Flop and flip on the soft rubber floor. She walks into the hallway, then back into the waiting area, where Nurse Happy is idly filing her nails behind the desk. “Is he going to be ok in there? What is she?” Izzy asks.

  Nurse Happy looks up. “audery… audery is… Audrey is a professional. She is the best at what she does. Jacob will be fine. Go get yourself a drink.”

  Izzy walks to the elevator and turns to Nurse Happy. “Promise?” she asks.

  “I can't promise, but I wouldn't worry.” She goes back to filling her nails as the doors shut.

  Back in the nursery, Audrey motions for Jacob to get up on the changing table: “Hop up.”.

  "and what if I don't want to," Jacob says, spreading his legs and pnting himself in defiance.

  ‘I see this one is going to be difficult,’ she thinks. "Well then I will be sad, and so will the scary man in the Hawaiian shirt.”

  “So what?” Jacob retorts, his hands balling up.

  “There is no need for anger, Jacob,” she says soothingly, “but I must warn you I was granted full permission to spank you if necessary.”.

  She smiles at Jacob, “And I will. Now if you feel you must leave, the doors are there, she gestures. “I won't stop you, but I don't think that will be an issue. You seem like a really good boy.”

  Jacobs cringes at the comment about him being a good boy, then he realizes she means it. His fears are somewhat beaten back, but he is trepidatious. ‘This is going to be fine; it's only 24 hours,’ he thinks.

  She pats the changing table again. “Now hop up for me unless you're not big enough; then I will help you.”

  Jacob eyes the teddy bear-patterned, waterproof diaper-changing mat. And the wide variety of diapers down below.

  “I don’t need help, but why?” He asks, gesturing to the changing table.

  “Because I have decided you need to wear a diaper,” she says casually, unaware of the knife she just embedded in his heart. “And judging from the smell you're giving off, you have a proclivity for accidents.”

  I don't have accidents,” he throws back at her. The nightmare of his mom pulling the diaper out of the package and teasing him with it. ‘Because you need it, you keep pissing in the car like a baby,’ rings in his head.

  Audrey is confused by the reaction she is getting from Jacob. She reaches out and touches his shoulder. “Are you ok, Jacob?” she asks, her face showing her concern.

  Jacob's eyes are wet with the start of tears. ’You're being crazy, Jacob,’ he thinks.

  He pictures the scene over and over the way she would ugh at him about it. He hates to admit it, but it was traumatic, and he has trauma.

  “Oh Jacob. I'm sure it wasn't intentional.” She responds, her voice soft, comforting, and not at all patronizing.

  Jacob stands silent. He really wants to tell her where to shove it and just leave. But he keeps thinking about how happy Izzy is here. ‘It's just a diaper. I don't have to use it. I am not a child.

  He hops up on the changing table. The dy takes off his shoes and his shorts and underwear. "Oh, this will not do. We will have to shower you first. Let's go, little one," she says, reaching over and helping him off the changing table. He is relieved but confused. He had worked himself up to putting on the diaper, and now she wants him to shower?

  “I showered st night. What are you talking about?” He protests, looking down at himself.

  “Let's go, Jacob, it's shower time. You're a big boy; you get to use the shower,” she says with her soft, disarming voice at the same time she is looking at the mess of body hair and pubic hair with internal disgust.

  She leads him to the nursery shower. It's in the back of the room. He notices there isn't a toilet, just a sink and a shower. Everything about the room is scaled up. He covers his privates to regain a sense of modesty. The shower turns on and adjusts the temperature automatically as Audery helps him remove his shirt.

  She puts on a clear pstic raincoat and follows him into the spacious shower.

  “What are you doing? I can shower myself, he says, feeling the simmering anger grow.

  “Now it's rude to stare, Jacob. Let me wash you up.” The water turns off, and she scrubs him from eyebrows down with a stinky soap.

  “What's wrong with the soap?” Jacob asks as she liberally coats his privates and butt with the foul-smelling soap.

  “Nothing. I am shocked you are unfamiliar with it.” Audrey shows Jacob the bottle of hair removal cream.

  “Hair removal cream? You didn't…… " He looks down at his covered body. “You did,” he looks at her upset. ‘It's too te to back out now,’ he thinks to himself, not believing it, but he touches his pubic hair, and a hunk of it comes loose, stuck to his hand.

  They wait in awkward silence. After 2 minutes of staring at the floor tiles as Audery fusses over him, spreading the cream, the water turns on again, and

  His body hair starts to fall out and washes down the drain. She slowly wipes it away with her hand, leaving a pile on the floor.

  He looks down at his bald penis, the first time it has ever been bald since he was 10. “This isn't permanent, is it?” He asks, shocked and surprised at how clean and tidy it looks. ‘Well, at least it makes it look bigger,’ he thinks.

  "Oh no, it shouldn't be, but it may take 4 months to fully regrow. However, I would recommend not letting it grow and just redoing this process once every two weeks," she says as she soaps up his hair with baby shampoo. "Littles don't need body hair”.