Chapters 21 and 22 by Sofia Hammerstein

'Little Hope' continues the story of Stacy's journey from 'Exchanged.' Stacy is a young college student who chose to travel to a new dimension to study their advanced computing technology at a prestigious university as an exchange student. Stacy thought he knew what he was getting into when he traveled, having visited before with his family and pre-arranged a sort of Amazonian foster family to take him in. Shrinking more than he had on his previous visit, he finds himself the size of a tiny Amazonian baby instead of the near Betweener size he had hoped to be. A further misunderstanding on his gender due to his name resulted in the need for a radical change to make him match the gender the university believed him to be, to maintain his scholarship. Having survived the initial CARES exam, now she and her adopted parents work to make sure she's ready to begin orientation at Emerson University. Can Stacy survive this new world? (Story set in the Diaper Dimension)

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The Legal Stuff: Exchanged © 2017-2024 By Sofia Hammerstein
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 

Chapter 21: Ventures
 

“COME ON, BELLA! Let’s go find Mommy,” I told her. I pulled her quickly towards Amanda and Fred. They were on the opposite side of the splash area from the man.

I didn’t turn around to watch for the guy but quickly walked up to Amanda with Bella and said, “Bella poopy!” I said it loudly enough for others to hear before putting my hands in the ‘pick me up’ motion towards Fred. “Daddy uppy!”

Fred and Amanda looked at me with concern before I was picked up and in Fred’s arms. “The man that lured Bella is over there watching us!”

By the time we both turned to look again though he was gone. “I don’t see him. Are you sure?” He asked.

I nodded, “Bella saw him first, and it scared her…” ‘Shitless,’ I added in my own brain.

Amanda had picked Bella up at that point and asked, “So you don’t feel like playing like a big girl out there?” She asked her loudly.

Fred had closed into her and told Amanda, “They both just saw the man that lured her out here… What do you want to do?”

I watched Amanda’s face tighten, and a scowl I’d never seen on her face popped up. She was angrier now than she had been when Chloe had that stupid swing thing spank me!

“We can change Bella and move on to the exhibits?” She said. “I suppose we could go home early, but this place does have pretty good security. Go talk to them?”

“Bella, does your cell phone have any pictures of the guy you were talking to? Any logs of him on your computer?” I asked her quietly.

She shook her head, “I never thought to keep a record of that.”

“Screenname or number?” I asked.

She nodded to that, “It’s on my laptop in my suitcases.”

“Mommy, I want to swim with the dolphins like you promised. Is that soon or a long time from now?”

Amanda looked at me oddly, “It’s supposed to be when the little hand hits the four on the clock; it’s on the one right now.”

“Maybe we go back and take naps? I think Bella is tired. Mommy, you and I could play together?”

“That’s not a bad idea, Mommy,” Fred told her.

Amanda nodded, and the two of them walked hand-in-hand, each holding one of us, back to the stroller and changing room. After a quick change into a new diaper and her romper for Bella, we were put back in the stroller. They quickly started the walk back to the entrance of the parks and the hotel from there. I was left in my swimsuit and a mostly dry swim diaper.

Fred pushed the stroller back, and Amanda walked to the side. Occasionally, I could see her come forward to check on us, but it was a quiet walk back. Once in the hotel, they maneuvered the large stroller into the elevator and down the hallway to our room. Inside, Amanda gave us the quiet sign again and pulled her bug detector out from somewhere. As we quietly watched her search, she stopped twice to pick out little devices from hiding spots. Eventually, sure she had them all, she went to the bathroom with them and said, “I think I got them all. Seriously, who was this guy Bella?”

We were both picked up out of the stroller and sat on the bed.

“I don’t know…?” Bella said, “He said his name was Collin Munson and CEO for a clothing company here in Selegnasol. He said he liked my clothing design ideas for Littles. He told me that he felt like his chain of stores would be interested in picking up the line of designs?” Bella shrugged, “Other than making stuff directly for Littles who knew me, or the occasional Betweener, I didn’t have a lot of opportunities coming up. Once in a while, I could sell some designs online to companies overseas… I was having trouble doing much more than paying rent. This guy got me hook, line, and sinker,” she had tears leaving her eyes, and I leaned over and hugged her.

“It’s okay,” I told her.

“If you want to just drop me off at an orphanage or something, I’ll completely understand,” Bella told Amanda, who had sat down next to us.

She enveloped both of us in a hug and said, “I couldn’t possibly do that to you, sweetheart. I did what I did to protect you - my reasons to do so haven’t changed, and now that you’re a part of our family, you should know that we protect our own! Now, where is your computer?”

“In that black suitcase over there,” she told Amanda.

Amanda grabbed the one in question and brought it over to the bed. Underneath a pile of bras and panties that I assumed Bella would never wear again was a black computer more suited for me than Amanda. Amanda picked it up and handed it to her, “Can you log in?”

“I need the power cord plugged in too; it’s kind of ancient, and the battery doesn’t work anymore…” she said, embarrassed.

Amanda dug in and handed the end back to her after finding an outlet. The three of us had to move to a spot on the bed closer to the wall since her cord was pretty short. Amanda said, “Hold on one second before you turn it on, Bella,” as she looked at the front-facing camera of the computer. She got off the bed and grabbed a small band-aid that she placed on the camera. “Go ahead now,” she told her.

Once she logged in, she started to hand it to Amanda, but she just pointed to me instead.

I smiled, “You sure?” I asked her.

“You’re more than decent at this, and that keyboard is better for your hands than mine. I’ll have to get a pencil almost to type on those keys!”

I laughed, and Bella looked at both of us like we had grown extra heads. I just ignored her and started looking for the logs of her contacts with the guy. I first checked her computer over for things like keyloggers and sadly was rewarded quickly, “Wow, these guys are thorough,” I told them. “They’ve been logging everything done with her computer and have been streaming photo captures every five minutes to their server to track her.”

“Here,” Amanda said as she handed me a thumb drive that mated easily in the slot of Bella’s computer. On the drive was an executable program that quickly cleared that spyware off, and she looked over my shoulder as I rechecked it. I locked down everything that wasn’t going through my direct commands with a firewall to be safe. I also switched ports for internet access to a non-standard one to avoid something slipping by me. Eventually, with the computer fully secured, I directed my attention to finding the guy. The Skype-like software she had used to talk to this ‘Collin’ guy had a lot more data saved on it than it probably should have. It gave his location info, and I was able to find a picture from his profile information that I quickly saved over to a folder of gathered data. He was a dead ringer for the guy we had seen at the park and the day before!

“How do you move your fingers so fast?” Bella asked beside me, now being comforted in Amanda’s arms.

I looked over at her and just shrugged before getting back to work.

There was a log of information on the calls, and I gathered an IP address. Then, using my knowledge from home and the tricks I’d picked up online and from Amanda here, it was practically child’s play to track it back to a company since they hadn’t even tried hiding it.

“This must be the company,” I said, pointing to the screen that was on a company’s website. ‘Venture Little B and E’ was the name of the company.

“What does ‘B and E’ stand for?” Bella asked next to me.

“Breeding and Exports,” I told her with a wince. “These are the kind of guys Doctor Nimitz mentioned putting you all in touch with.”

“Fuck,” Fred breathed next to us.

“Fred!” Amanda warned.

“Amanda, these aren’t some small-time crooks. I’ve heard of these guys through some of the ER docs. We’re in pretty deep here!”

“What do you want to do about it?” Amanda asked, “It’s not like we can leave Bella?”

“Go to the police?” I suggested tentatively.

Amanda laughed, “Stacy, especially where we’re at right now, I’m guessing most of the police here would be happy to take a bribe. Selegnasol is not known for being friendly to Littles other than Looney World. If they went through this much trouble over Bella, I’m guessing they also…?”

“Think I would make an even better breeder?” I finished.

She just nodded, and we were quiet for a long minute. “Fred, would you hand me my computer? When you’re done, would you change Stacy into a new diaper? I’m guessing she’s gone at least a little in her swim diaper, and those don’t hold a lot.”

“Okay…” he said with a questioning look.

Once she had her laptop in hand, she told me, “Let Daddy change your diapee, and then I may need your help.”

Fred started moving and quickly handed her the requested computer while she logged into hers, and I assumed I did some checking of it like I had. If they could plant bugs in the room while we were gone, there was no reason they couldn’t do something with her computer. Of course, as soon as her screen came on, she hissed. Meanwhile, Fred had my swimsuit off and my butt in the air, wiping it pretty quickly. “Amanda, do I put another swim diaper on her or a regular pamper like Bella has on?”

“She’s going swimming with the dolphins in a bit; just put another swim diaper on her. She can actually do that herself if you want,” she reminded him.

He put my legs down and handed me the diaper and the swimsuit, “go for it, kiddo.”

I smiled and stood up carefully on the counter he had sat me and pulled up the diaper before putting the swimsuit back on. Bella looked at me like I was a creature from another universe. “You let her dress herself?”

“Bella, I’m not sure what we’re going to be able to do for you, especially with these guys on your trail, but Stacy is going to be attending college next week… we don’t want her to have extra problems because she’s not used to taking care of herself,” Fred responded. Amanda grunted in assent as Fred carried me back over to the bed.

“What do you need me to do?” I asked her.

“Well… can you get me that picture you found?”

I nodded. In the next thirty minutes, I could see what Amanda was doing and had to giggle. Bella looked back and forth at me, and Amanda then when she started to laugh too, and asked, “What’s so funny?”

“Amanda just set it up to where Looney World will associate this guy’s picture with a missing adopted ‘baby.’”

“But he’s an Amazon…?” Bella said.

“I’ve seen bigger Amazons than him forced by the courts into an adoption,” Fred said with a chuckle. “Unfortunately, without a chip, he’ll be able to talk his way out of getting sent to an orphanage.”

“It’ll be enough to get him kicked out of the park, though,” Amanda said.

“What about away from there?” Bella asked nervously.

“Well, I think we’ll be fine at the airport and back home. It’ll just be the drive to the airport that we really have to worry about,” Amanda said nervously.

“We’ll figure it out,” Fred said as he gave Amanda a hug. “Now, why don’t we change Bella and then get to that dolphin encounter for Stacy?”

“Sounds good! Let’s leave the stroller here - it’s been more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Okay,” he said.

I smiled at that, “You sure you don’t want to come?” I asked Bella as she had the new regular diaper taped shut.

“I really don’t swim… those things have got to be scary too! Have you ever seen one? They could probably swallow you in a bite!”

I laughed, “I’m sure I am small enough, but I’ll be fine, right, Mommy?”

“Yep!” she said, “They have them well trained not to eat the little fish!”

I giggled as she tickled me. Amanda quickly braided my hair for swimming and seemed to gather a few more things into our diaper bag. She repositioned me back in the sling when she was done while Fred put Bella into her backpack-like carrier on his chest. He grabbed my pink diaper bag and then put it over his shoulder. I broke out in more giggles.

“What’s so funny?” He asked me with a glare.

“Umm… pink’s just not your color?” I suggested.

He sighed, “I know, Amanda, first thing when we get home, I am finding a manlier diaper bag.”

That set everyone off into giggles as we were carried out of the hotel and back to the park. I sat upright in the sling and watched all of the people we passed to spot the man Bella had been told to call Collin. Digging through her video logs had shown me how she had been baited in. Loneliness, fear, and the hope of getting a business deal off the ground seemed an easy ruse to catch her. She seemed to have been just desperate enough to risk it… To be fair, she had done her checks. On the surface, the guy had seemed to be on the up-and-up.

My skills and Amanda’s skills were just way above hers… Sadly without them, she nearly fell into their trap.

‘Now I have a sister whether I want her or not!’ I grumbled internally. I knew I shouldn’t be jealous of Bella, but it was hard not to be at times. The only good thing about this whole scheme had been the attention Amanda had been giving me for the past hour.

I sighed, ‘I’m seriously going to get a complex… I was just getting used to being a baby - not to mention I was an only child back home too!’

Amanda and Fred held hands as they passed into Mr. Limpet’s area of the park. ‘How could they change him to a dolphin? His name was the reason for him turning into a limpet!’ I groused as we passed into the area. ‘This dimension is just infuriating sometimes!’

I saw signs pointing towards a dolphin experience leading me to believe we were close. Soon we came upon a booth that Amanda walked up to. “Well, hello! You here to watch Mommy or Daddy swim with the dolphins?” the lady asked patronizingly to me.

Amanda hugged me, “Actually, we have a booking for myself and my little girl here.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but we only allow really strong swimmers to swim with the dolphins.”

“That’s your only concern?” Fred asked in a calm voice.

“Umm… well yes, I guess?”

“Well, then Stacy will be just fine swimming with the dolphins. She’s probably a stronger swimmer than you are.”

“Umm… I doubt that… Will you let me get my manager?”

“Okay,” Amanda said, “We’d be happy for Stacy to take a swim test if needed?”

I giggled as the girl ducked out of the booth for a moment and came back in with an older Amazonian man. “Ma’am, what seems to be the issue?”

“Apparently, your cast member here seems to be concerned that our daughter can swim well enough for the encounter?”

“Well, we don’t allow Littles…?”

“Where’s the sign for that?” Amanda asked. “We prepaid for this encounter, and I’ve promised her she’ll get to swim with the dolphins.”

“Ma’am, really, there’s no way your little girl can swim well enough to be in the tank with them safely.”

“How about she proves it to you?”

 
 

Chapter 22: Dolphins
 

THE MANAGER LOOKED at Amanda like she was crazy, but I knew we were better off with a man in this case since they seemed to be saner. “If she can swim a lap in the tank without the dolphins, we’ll let her do it.” He looked doubtfully. “But you take all risks and must swim next to her to rescue her if need be.”

“Shouldn’t she wear a life vest at least?” The other lady asked, astonished and a bit outraged.

“She seems sure of her Little; if she signs the waiver, I don’t care.” He said to her while giving papers to Amanda to sign.

A moment later, he looked at her and said, “I hope you’re right about your little girl… But we’ll see in this swim test. If she looks the slightest bit like she’s struggling, we don’t let her swim with the dolphins.”

“Sounds good,” I told him, “Thank you, sir!”

He looked at me a little bit odd but said, “She does have a swim diaper on, right?”

“Of course, we know no one would ever let a Little into their pool without one!” Amanda told him with a smile.

“Right this way then,” he said and opened a door. I could see that we were being led into the water level of a large amphitheater-like I remembered SeaWorld using for shows. Rows and rows of seats were above us, and a massive tank extended in front of us. “Umm… we require wetsuits normally in these pools since they’re saltwater…?”

“And you don’t have one in her size?” Fred asked with an amused grin.

He nodded, “no.”

“Well, good thing we have one for her then, huh?” Amanda said with a smile. Then she dressed me in the purple full-body wetsuit, holding a pair of matching goggles that matched my suit.

She even pulled out a set of fins then, but the man said, “For her test, I don’t want her using fins.”

“Fair enough,” she said, “then she’s ready to take your test? You said one lap of the tank?”

He looked at me incredulously. I could sort of understand since the tank looked to be the size of a football field back home. “You’ll need to get into a wetsuit too… There’s some to borrow over there?” he directed the girl from the counter to help her out.

In the meantime, Amanda sat me down next to Fred, who still had Bella latched to his chest. Amanda made me wait there way too long, I thought; I really wanted to get into the water! Instead, I was left looking around at the pavilion, which seemed completely covered and lit only artificially. I looked up at Bella in her carrier, and she just shook her head at me. Fred bounced a little to soothe her while she nervously nursed the pacifier in her mouth.

Eventually, Amanda returned, and he said, “Like I said, this is on you.”

“Just over there and back?” I asked him while pointing to the far side.

“Umm… yeah.”

I smiled and dove into the water without waiting for any other doubts from him. It was a much cooler temperature than I expected, and I could see why the wetsuits were needed. I didn’t wait around for Amanda to catch up and began my swim as if it was a race. I went to the other side and decided to circle the pool instead of going straight back. It was so nice to swim in such a large pool! Amanda wasn’t far behind me as I approached the platform we left on and climbed up on my own.

“Am I a good enough swimmer?” I asked the man.

He shook his head, “Definitely... Okay, you booked this to be private, so I’ll get my trainer to bring a couple of friends out for you to meet.”

“Yay! Friends!” I squealed a bit with a smile on my face just to mess with him.

Amanda sat down on the platform with me in her lap to wait while Fred found a seat in a nearby chair. Bella stared at me again like horns were sticking out of my head. I just giggled. I didn’t have time to have a conversation with either of them before I heard noises of grates opening, and a young Amazonian woman came out.

She laughed when she saw me, and somehow, I had a feeling this was going to be a good experience. “Wow, so you got past Megan, through Jason, and apparently get to be the first Little I know of to swim with our friends.”

I smiled, “I can’t wait!”

She laughed, “I’m Makayla, the trainer. I also run the shows here.”

“I’m Amanda, this is my husband Fred, Stacy, who will be swimming, and that’s Bella.”

“It’s nice to meet you! Please know that I’m in charge of everything. I understand you can swim, but we do have some guidelines that you’re going to have to follow.”

I nodded, and I could feel Amanda doing the same. She went over some rules that made sense before two gigantic dolphins suddenly swam up to the platform we were on and splashed all of us.

I laughed and stood up to see them better while Makayla tossed them some fish that had to have been half my size. “Meet Suzy and Maggie,” she told us while pointing to each in turn. “They’re both known as bottlenose dolphins, Suzy is fifteen feet in length, and Maggie is twenty-feet. Both are full-grown adults.” She showed me how I could safely pet Suzy and feel her skin before having her do a few tricks jumping in the water and even having them play with a giant beach ball. “You want to swim with them now?” she asked me with a smile.

I smiled, “Uh-huh,” and only partially registered that Fred had their nice camera out but tuned out the rapid shutter. Instead, I focused on the gigantic creature in the water and dove in next to Suzy. She swam up to me and chattered loudly while she bobbed her head to look at me like I was nuts. She seemed to like the idea of playing, though, because she jumped in the air and splashed me again while I treaded water. I giggled and then reached out and gently took hold of her fin as Makayla instructed me to. As if that was her cue, she took me for a ride around the tank. Just as we went back by the platform, I sensed she was doing something different and instinctively took a breath.

I was glad I did as she dove beneath the surface a moment later! Instead of letting go, I hung on and enjoyed the ride as she descended and then returned to the surface, popping us both out into the air. I giggled as I let go and returned to the water with a splash. She made her own laughing chatter sound and pushed me back to the platform with her nose. I let her push me onto it and turned to pat her nose. Makayla handed me a fish that I carefully tossed to her. Suzy seemed to appreciate it and came up to me again, and I patted her gently. I watched as Amanda was delivered back to the side there again too.

“How much more time do we have?” I asked Makayla.

She looked at her watch, “Ten minutes? Then we have to clear the pavilion for the show that’s in an hour.

“Awesome!” I said and dove back into the water and began swimming around the tank with Suzy by my side. She seemed to think I was a little dolphin pup and dove in and around me gently while watching me. After a lap of that, she leaned her fin towards me, and I let her pull me for a little bit more before realizing Amanda and Makayla were signaling time was up.

Suzy seemed to have caught a cue because she beached me on the platform a second later. I was able to give her another fish and posed for a quick photo with Amanda and her finned friend before we were led to the locker room that Amanda had used.

“Thank you so much!” I told Makayla.

“You’re so very welcome, Stacy. You have to be one of the most talented Little swimmers I’ve ever seen!”

“Thanks,” I told her with a smile.

“Maybe you can catch my show here in a bit?” She suggested with a smile.

I looked at Amanda, who nodded, “We’ll be there!”

After a quick rinse in their staff shower, Amanda stripped out from her wetsuit first and into her dry clothes. She then stripped me down to the diaper I was in. “Hmm… I forgot to grab a regular pamper for you… you’ll just have to wear another swim diaper for a bit…” she told me.

I shrugged, “Okay,” I had nothing else I could do and stood up with the only new diaper on.

When I was dressed, she said, “We’ll have to give you a bath later. You smell like fish!” she told me.

“Like dolphins, Mommy!” I told her with a smile and a hug. “Can I wash my hands, please?” I asked, thinking of the fish I had just been touching. She picked me up and put me up to the sink with some soap on my hands.

She smiled at me and gave me a hug when I was done, “Let’s go rejoin Daddy and Bella.”

I walked out beside her, and I was a little relieved to see both of them waiting for us, “Here’s your sling Amanda,” Fred said as I watched Bella look at me like I was crazy.

“Thanks, Fred,” she said, “Did you get some good pictures of her?”

“Both of you,” he said with a smile.

“I can’t wait to see them,” I told him with a smile, “Thank you both for setting this up!”

“You’re very welcome,” he said.

Amanda squeezed me, “I thought you would enjoy it.”

“You okay, Bella?” I asked her.

She nodded, “You’re crazy, though.”

I smiled, “Yep!”

“Let’s go see if we can get the girls something at the gift store?”

“Yay!” I said with a smile.

Fred had Bella in her harness, and I was in the sling attached to Amanda a quick moment later. It wasn’t far to ‘Mr. Limpet’s Incredible Shop.’ I immediately noticed there were some stuffed dolphins on a wall.

“Mommy! Look, dolphins!” I told her and pointed.

“Just like Suzy, huh?” She asked me while tickling my side.

I squirmed and giggled a bit, “Stop that… May I have one?”

She smiled and hugged me, “Sure, which one?”

“That one please?” I told her, pointing to one that was as long as I was tall.

“It’s as big as you!” She smiled at me. “You sure?”

“Please?”

“Well then, here you go,” She said and handed me the massive stuffed animal. I hugged it tightly from my perch with her help.

“What does Bella want?” Amanda asked her where she looked on next to us.

“I don’t need anything,” Bella said quietly.

Amanda turned and tilted her head closer to her, leaving me squished close to Bella too. “Sweetie, I want to get you something. It doesn’t have to be a dolphin or a stuffed animal; it could be anything.”

Bella looked genuinely uncomfortable but said, “Okay… Umm… Daddy, can you walk around?” She asked.

Amanda gave her a kiss on the top of her head as Fred gave her a reassuring hug. Then, we walked around while I clung to my new stuffed animal. After a long while of walking around, Bella said, “The mermaid, Mommy?” she asked.

I followed where she pointed and saw a plush mermaid doll that seemed to be as tall as my dolphin, but she was taller than me, so it didn’t seem quite so gigantic in her hands. Amanda walked through some more then. She grabbed a couple of onesies with dolphin characters on them for me and then a mermaid outfit for Bella. You could tell she was having a great time having two babies to shop for, but eventually, I began squirming while trying to hold onto my dolphin, and she decided it was time to check out.

“I get it,” she told me with a smile, “let’s check out, and we’ll go watch Makayla’s show.”

I turned my head a bit and smiled at her.

The lady at the register looked at Bella and me, “Looks like you must have two very good little girls!”

“We do,” Amanda said with a squeeze on me. “Here, let’s hand the nice lady your dolphin, and then you can have her back.” She pushed it forward to a scanner and then handed it back to my arms which were honestly kind of wearing out a bit.

“Would you like a bag for this, or would you like us to deliver your purchase to the hotel?”

“We’ll take it in a couple bags,” Amanda told her, “I don’t think this one wants to let go of her dolphin.”

“Here’s an extra bag in case they get tired of holding them,” the lady said helpfully as she handed her a bag with the other items in it.

“Thanks!” Amanda said and led Fred by the hand back to the amphitheater, this time coming in from the main entrance through a queue line. To my disappointment, they walked above the splash zone before Bella and I were freed from the carriers and situated on Fred and Amanda’s laps.

“Girls, are you thirsty?” Amanda asked.

I looked up and nodded, “Yes, especially after swimming,” I mentioned.

“Fred, can you find their juice bottles in the bag?”

He reached into the pink bag beside him and withdrew a smaller bottle for me and a larger bottle for Bella. Once the caps were pulled off, he handed the smaller bottle to Amanda and the larger one to Bella. I still had the dolphin in my arms, so it was tough to hold my bottle when she tried to hand it to me. I held it up to her, “Okay, since you’re a little bit occupied,” Amanda said with a smile, and she held it to my mouth while I nursed.

I had about half of the bottle down when Makayla came out to the platform we had used earlier, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome…” she started as several dolphins came out and began performing flips in front of the crowd. The show was very cool and featured several dolphins, whales, sea lions, and a few new-to-me creatures that she introduced and the trainers interacted with.

Makayla herself honestly was the reason the show was entertaining, though. She was a fantastic MC, and I was entranced by her and the animal’s antics. Several times the people in the splash zone received a good soaking moment. Once, it almost reached us, and I giggled when Bella shrieked loudly about it. At the end of the show, they invited people to come down to one side to take pictures with Suzy and a couple other dolphins.

Amanda and Fred, meanwhile, began packing up to leave the show. My dolphin was placed into one of the spare bags and Bella’s mermaid doll before Bella was put into her carrier. The diaper bag slung over Fred’s left shoulder and carried the shopping bags in his left hand.

“You want to go say bye to Makayla?” Amanda asked me.

“Can we?” I asked before taking a quick sip out of my still half-full bottle.

“Sure, she was definitely kind with you earlier.”

“And she did an excellent job with the show,” I told her.

“Yes, she did,” Amanda said. Then, instead of placing me into the sling, she held me on her hip as we waited for the line of fans to pass by. It took a while, but soon just us and an Amazon family with an excited little girl who looked to be about five remained.

Suddenly I saw ‘Collin’ approach us and came menacingly up to Amanda, “Well, well, well, looks like we have two lovely Littles to collect since you decided to interfere,” he hissed.

I didn’t see a weapon in his hands, but the physical threat was implied as I looked at the giant in horror. He was slightly shorter than Fred, but he seemed to radiate a serious physical threat like a trained soldier. I looked at the bottle in my hand, the only real weapon I had. I thought about something for a couple seconds before carefully digging my fingers into the edge of the nipple of the bottle. I tried not to move too much as I could pull it loose from its ring and open the bottle.

“What are you talking about?” Amanda played dumb.

“Bella there; she’s meant for my organization. We recruited her and had a plan to catch her here,” he said quietly.

While this was going on, the family with the young amazon child approached Makayla and Suzy. They were posing for a picture that the dad was taking. Everyone else seemed to be clueless about the less-than-happy situation going on next to them.

“But she’s our little baby girl, I’m sorry you didn’t get her first, but she’s a part of our family now.”

“No, you’ll all be coming with me. You’ll be giving me the information on where their adoption chips are, the codes to change their adoption records, and we might consider letting you two go back home.”

“I will not be giving up my babies,” Amanda said with all of the fury of a mother bear.

With that, I took advantage of his not paying attention to me and flung the remaining contents of my bottle onto the man’s pants. It landed perfectly on his groin area, and I shouted, “Mommy! That man had an accident! Isn’t he a baby then? Why isn’t he in diapers like Bella and me?”

My voice carried, and I watched as he looked humorously at me for a second as if I was crazy, just before security guards seemed to be paying attention and approached us all.

“Bitch,” he hissed to me and turned to leave. Seeing him surrounded, I watched as he ran by the Amazon family, who was starting to walk away.

Makayla had just disappeared backstage. The family was trying to pack up their stuff when I watched in horror as he shoved the little Amazon girl into the tank.

“My baby!!!!!!!!” The Amazon woman shrieked.

The little girl instantly seemed to struggle in the water and was sinking. Amanda had been standing right next to the rail of the protective fence. I grabbed firmly and pulled loose of her grip, hopped onto the railing, and dived into the pool after the little girl.

I hit the water with a perfect entry and kicked down below the surface. I could see that the girl was already sinking! Using the skills that I’d learned a couple summers ago in lifeguard training, I pulled her to the surface before turning her around and using my legs to help push us towards the platform we’d used earlier. The girl was at least twice my size, and I had to work really hard to make progress and keep her head above the water. Her deadweight was not easy to handle, but my adrenaline was pumping, and I wasn’t about to give up!

I was worried that the girl was completely limp in my arms but kept pushing my legs to kick as fast as possible. It was taking forever, though!

 

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