I'm a Little Penguin

Wednesday's Child Is Full Of Woe

Dashi was very creative with Peso's new clothes. She made onesies and t shirts, sleepers and even some cute baby dresses. Peso had lots of soft, cozy pajamas, decorated in all sorts of different themes.

This did not make him feel better.

"Couldn't she have just made smawwer gwonup cwothes?" Peso whined, watching the captain hang up his new wardrobe in the closet. Barnacles glanced over his shoulder. "I think these are cute! Don't you think they're cute?"

"Not a baby." Barnacles sighed. This would clearly take a while. Peso was refusing to cooperate for fear of being picked on. A lifetime of bullying had scarred him, leaving him desperate to prove he was not a baby. But Barnacles knew him better. "Calm down, Peso. They're cozy. I bet you'll feel warm and comfy in these." He chuckled lightly, pulling out a little penguin sleeper. It looked like a baby's penguin costume. "Look at all the animals, Peso."

Peso turned away, pouting on the floor. Barnacles smiled lightly. Peso was just like a pouty child.

"How about we stick with this one for now?" He asked, holding up the sleeper, smiling fondly. Peso sighed, knowing he hadn't much choice. "Why do you always baby me?"

"Because," Barnacles explained, carefully threading Peso's pudgy form through the sleeper, "We want you to feel safe and happy. We know you never got to be a child during your life..." Peso glanced at the floor, suddenly overcome by bad memories, "...And we want to give you a chance to be one. You shouldn't be working so hard. You're too young. You have to accept the fact that you're not an adult yet, and it looks like you won't be for a long time."

Peso squirmed away from him. "Not a baby!" he whined. Barnacles watched him, sympathy rising in his gut. He knew Peso wanted to be little again, careworn and scarred from the cruelty and judgement of the grownup world. But, he would never admit it.

"Peso, it's okay." Barnacles kept his voice soft and gentle. "No one's going to hurt you here." He turned around at a knock on the door. "The baby stuff we ordered arrived, captain."

"Thank you, Kwazii." Barnacles turned to Peso, smiling in what he hoped was a reassuring way. "Now, let's get you settled." He opened the door, and smiled at the boxes in front of him. He lifted the largest one first, setting it down in the middle of the room. "First things first, Peso. We'd better get you situated." Peso, still fighting off bad memories, didn't look at him. Depression and fear swirled in the little one's gut. What had he done to deserve all this? Why did he always have to be the butt of everyone's jokes?

"Here you go, Peso. Lay down." Peso glanced up to see the captain smoothing out a soft, pink little mattress with a built in pillow. It was very small. Only about two feet in length.

"What awe you gonna do?" He asked, crawling slowly towards it. He had discovered, quite painfully, that he could not walk yet.

"I just need to diaper you." Barnacles explained, calmly and patiently, making sure his voice was gentle and nonthreatening.

It didn't work. Peso froze, humiliating memories flooding back...

'Peso hated these days. The days he wished he could just stay home and wonder what he'd done to deserve all this. What had he done to provoke his father's anger?

The schoolyard loomed ahead, looking almost like a monster, waiting to swallow him up. Missing school was out of the question. It would only invoke his father's wrath even more.

Yesterday had not gone to great. Peso was forced to do all the chores in his house, dawn to dusk, but he never seemed to do them fast enough for his father. The day before, he had accidentally dropped a late on the floor, causing it to break into three pieces. As a punishment, his father forced him to wear a diaper and tutu to school that day.