✅ A Dose of Humiliation

60. Strict Parents Need Strict Rules

Dad seemed like he was really serious about getting a straight answer out of Mrs Miller; though I wasn't sure what kind of answers he was expecting. He didn't even give me time to stop the video properly, but walked out of the den and grabbed his coat from the rack. Mum got up and tried to persuade him to calm down a little, but it didn't seem like he had any intention of slowing down. He just told her not to worry, and walked out to the car. I didn't know what I should do or say, but Mum turned around and hugged me tight. I guessed that we were going to stay here, while Dad went to find out that woman's side of the story.

"What happens now?" I mumbled under my breath, and then winced as I shifted position. My butt was still sore from this morning, but I was getting used to the pain enough now that I could put it out of my mind until I moved carelessly and it made me yelp. "He's going to get into trouble, isn't he?"

"Maybe. Your friend was right, though. She said that you escaped without punishment, and we should make sure to give you a booster before you start making excuses. So that you'll know how serious it is. In the circumstances, I'm pretty sure that is a crime. Maybe Mrs Miller will try to make excuses, but I think it'll be pretty tough for her to say anything that will change your father's mind. Maybe he'll go to the police. Or maybe he'll lose his temper. I don't like it when he gets like that, it reminds me of the young man he used to be when we first met. But I'm sure he wouldn't get in any serious trouble. Remember all the fuss about Laura Bobbins on the news?"

I nodded slowly; the developments in that case had been public knowledge, and even if I didn't know the details, I knew that Mr Bobbins had received no punishment for breaking a priest's legs after he found out what had been going on. But it was a sobering thought to realise that Mum thought my situation was comparable to hers. And I was just a little worried when I remembered that we didn't have the benefits of significant wealth to put a thumb on the scales of justice.

"Now, I'm sure your father will do what he thinks is right," Mum said. "It's not something we need to worry about. But I think I would like to know the whole story. Did she punish you in the morning?"

"Yeah," I answered, and then thought back to all the things I still needed to say. Things I would need courage to admit to Mum, that I'd psyched myself up to admit before coming home, only to have them pushed completely out of my mind when I learned that Cecilia was here. "I woke up early. We all did, I guess because there's only so much time you can spend asleep, and the subliminal thing had messed with all our sleep cycles. And then I had to tell everybody what's been going on. About the Floodgates dose and all that."

"How did they take it?"

"I could see they were shocked. But nobody teased me about it, or anything. We're all friends still. Everybody helped me clean up, and nobody was mad. Except Marcie's mum, of course." I stopped when I said that, and thought about what it really meant. The woman hadn't just imposed ridiculous rules that guaranteed me waking up wet; she'd deliberately made it happen, and then arranged the situation so that she'd have an excuse to punish me. All her anger must have been fake, because she had wanted me to pee on the floor. If anything, I wondered if she was mad that we'd done so well at cleaning up; or that my friends hadn't turned away from me.

"You've got good friends," Mum agreed. "You attract good people. I think I should have taken that as a reason to trust your judgement more. Or not to believe the first person who told us you had done something bad."

"Yeah, and I–" I started, and then realised that I was distracting myself. I could already feel that I needed to pee, and I'd had enough accidents for one day already. "I'll show you the morning video, okay? I'm kind of glad Dad didn't see it, and it's embarrassing, but I think you need to know. I'll be right back."