Orphan Petal

July 2023 - Part 4

Shirley has changed and is doing things he would never have done a few months ago

This is a spin-off to the story "The Teenage Years of Alexander Horten"

Doctor Mary
Some have asked about my role in this documentary and how I know what is going on. I get a preview of what was said in the last part, and I suppose my job is to give a summary of what I read. Anyhow, I have read the last part and here is what I think...Shirley is now wearing diapers to bed and has been experimenting with wearing a dress. I do not see a problem here. It can be a phase he is going through. I still wonder how much of this is to impress Aunty. What worries me more is that Miss Hawthorne wants to treat him like a baby and a girl. Will making him live in a nursery help Shirley? Will treating him like a girl help him any? Would it not be better to give him the freedom and space to do what he wants? The question is how will Aunty react to Miss Hawthorne's plan?

Aunty
Miss Hawthorne wants me to put Shirley in a baby nursery and even treat him as a girl. Is this not punishing Shirley or at the best, it would manipulate him and force an identity on him? I think that he is just going through a phase of trying to be this diaper girl in his dreams. Susan says that he has one of her dresses. All this is his choice. No one has forced him to wear a dress or be a bedwetter. Let me tell you this, this morning, I looked at old pictures of my nephew when he was acting and dressing like a girl. It was a confusing time for him. Everyone was judging him if he should be feminine or not feminine. I do not want Shirley confused and feel Miss Hawthorne's plan would force something on Shirley that he did not want. Still, I suspect that Shirley has been wetting on purpose, so maybe he would love this treatment. I will do what Miss Hawthorne suggested. If it does not work, I can always use it against her.

Shirley:
Aunty told me that I would be getting a new room. When she showed me I just stared at it with my mouth open. It now had a bed, where the sides could go up. I suppose it's like a toddler cot. There was a changing table. In the corner, there was a box of baby toys. I just stood there and looked at it not knowing what to think. Aunty told me that she hoped I liked my new bedroom. It would help me find my identity and feel happy and content. She told me that she would come every day and help me get ready for bed. I just stood there in shock. I was moved to a baby nursery! I suppose that I started wetting the bed on purpose and was happy to be in diapers. Aunty was just trying to give me support and attention. I should not complain!

Austin:
I am only starting in my teens and maybe this is why I do not understand some things that adults do. Shirley was moved to another room. It is a baby's room. I feel sorry for Shirley. Yes, he wets the bed. Is just strange he now has a cot and baby things. Not only this, but everything looks so girly. You know everything is so pink and frilly. Does this place not have boy things? I would hate it if this was done to me. Shirley did not seem to mind. The way I see it, this is now Shirley's problem. Maybe it's good we do not share a room anymore. Jason has been asking me a lot if I wet the bed. He did not believe me when I told him no. Now that I was not sharing a room with a bedwetter, maybe people would not think that I also was one. It's bad enough that people bully me because they think I am gay.

Miss Hawthorne:
Things used to be so good between Aunty and me. Now I do not trust her. She always questions me when I decide something. She accused me of not caring for the children here and not having a clue what was going on. I have a feeling she thinks I am incompetent. Does she want my job? I am not ready to retire yet. That woman will not get rid of me. I will do anything to keep my job.

Jason:
I do not consider myself evil, but I do find it fun tormenting Austin. I do think he is gay and I even teased him for being a bedwetter. He pretends that he does not care what is said to him. I doubt that very much. I bet that he sits in his room and cries. I thought that Shirley could no longer tolerate Austin, as I heard that he was given a new room. Shirley put a sign on his bedroom door to keep out. I thought this was to keep Austin out. My plan was easy. I would be friendly with him and he could help me torment Austin. So when I went to Shirley's room and saw it, I was shocked. Shirley sleeps in a baby room. It is he who needs diapers and not Austin! The room is also so girly! Why are there so many weird boys in this world?

Susan
Shirley now lives in a nursery. I am so happy that this did not happen that time I wet the bed. It must be some sort of punishment, Maybe it is because he wet himself on purpose. It seems as if it is a weird punishment. It must be against the law. But who cares what happens in an orphanage? We are just orphans and a burden to society. Shirley seems OK with it. He has not complained at all and had no problem showing me the room. He did ask me not to tell others about his new room. The thing is that they would find out sooner or later. What would the other children here think of him? I just wanted Shirley to be happy, so I would support him no matter what. Who cares if he is a baby? I always wanted to be a big sister.

Shirley:
Susan and I were playing dress-up today. She let me loan one of her tops and shorts. The T-shirt had a pink elephant on it. The shorts were pink cotton ones. When I looked in her mirror, I looked so pretty. Susan did my hair in a ponytail and put a ribbon in it. We then played with some of her dolls. I could see that Susan wanted to talk about the way I changed. I did not wait until she asked. I told her that I did not consider the new baby room as a punishment. For some strange reason, I like it. I have no clue why I liked being treated like a baby. As for the dress-up games we played, that was just for fun. She told me that she admired that I was so brave, but what would I do when the others here at the orphanage found out? What would I say to Logan when he visits? Susan also suggested that I think why I felt comfortable being treated like a baby.

Aunty:
Susan had been telling me that she had been playing dress up with her and Shirley did not mind his new nursery. This makes me think that it is not like Allie (my nephew). In many ways, my nephew was pushed to be girly. He would never have worn a dress if it was not for me persuading him to do it. At times, he had an internal fight if he was a boy or a girl. He was told what he should be. Now I can see that Shirley is different. He has chosen his own path and is willing to decide his own journey. The baby room he got was a way to support him. I will support Shirley in any way I can. I just hope the others here will accept him in whatever he decides. I myself must admit that so far, Shirley is a cute baby. He only wears diapers in bed so not a full-time baby. I am sure he enjoys the dress-up games with Susan. One thing that I also like is that since Shirley started this journey, he has been well-behaved. We can no longer see the judgemental bully that he once was.

Logan:
I decided that I would visit Shirley. I know that he was mean to me. I always thought he hated me. So it was more out of curiosity that I met him. We met in his friend's room. Her name is Susan. This was my first surprise as I never expected him to be friends with a girl. Shirley told me that he would not hurt me and he was sorry for everything that he did. He told me that at the time, he did not understand me. Since then he has changed. He even tried to wear a dress. I was shocked and did not know what to say. Hard to imagine Shirley in a dress. It could explain why his hair was now well on the way down to his shoulders. Shirley was very interested in how I found out that I wanted to live as a girl and what it was like. I told him my story and that I am very lucky as no one ever gave me a tough time about it, Everyone accepted me. Shirley had a lot of questions about being a girl. After this, he showed me his room. He smiled at me and said I was no longer the only weird boy. I admitted that I don’t think I could ever accept sleeping in a nursery!

Susan:
I knew that logan is a sissy, but he looks nice and he is a nice person. I do not know why Shirley would ever bully a person like that. I was confused with logan. Do I think of him as a boy or do I think of him as a girl? Do I say he or she? Will Shirley end up like Logan? I think Logan had the same thoughts. He seemed to be wondering if this was the same Shirley that he once knew. Later Logan talked to me in private and said he wanted to know if Shirley was ok. Logan said that he had never seen Shirley smile as he done today and he was so kind and understanding. I admitted that Shirley did change a lot and it was hard to understand at times. Logan did enjoy the visit and hoped that Shirley wanted to be friends, and all this was just not an act to get back in his family. I never thought about this. Was this just Shirley's way of becoming Logan's stepbrother again?

Jason:
I had to tell everyone about Shirley's baby room. At first, I told them that he wore diapers. The only response was that who cares, he is only 11 years old and some do wet the bed. Then I told them that his room was a baby room. They did not believe this, so when Shirley was in Susan's room, we sneaked a peak in the room. It was so funny that my friends were speechless. I know that all this probably has ruined Shirley's reputation and he will be called names and whatnot. Everyone will think that he is a baby. This is not my problem. He is the one who does not care that he sleeps in a cot.

Miss Hawthorne:
This girl came to visit me today. She told me that her name was Susan. She told me that she was worried about Shirley. I had to sigh when Susan mentioned his name. At any rate, she is worried that Aunty is treating him like a baby and he now sleeps in a nursery. This was interesting. Aunty did what I suggested. She could not resist the temptation to do it when I suggested it. Another thing is that Shirley did not protest. I got a bit mad at the small girl and told her I wish people stopped talking about Shirley. There are other children here.

Shirley:
I wish that people would stop bothering me. Everyone is calling me a baby and some are asking if I am a sissy. The thing is they may be right. Am I becoming a baby and a sissy? What would my parents say if they were alive? They would see their son who wets the bed, wears a diaper and sleeps in a cot. They would see their son wearing a dress when he plays dress up. They would see other children calling him names. They would be so ashamed of me. Is this how I want to be happy? Do I want to be happy the way I am now or the way my parents wanted me to be?

Victoria Temple
Thanks for reading this part. I hope you will comment. What would you think if you were Logan? What advice would you give Shirley? I hope to see you in the next part of “Orphan Petal"