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Edited October 2023 & February 2024 to fix grammar issues.
Saturday, Katie realized that the mail hadn’t been checked all week. Allison usually did it, but she went home for the weekend.
She decided to see if Tiff was available, and after knocking on the door, she was greeted with permission to come in. She noticed that her adopted big sister was looking at some pictures on the computer. Tiffany, seeing it was Katie Ann, quickly closed her web browser.
Katie inquired, “What am I distracting you from?”
“Designing a theater costume for class,” was Tiffany’s reply.
“Oh, I was hoping you could help me get my mail. I am too short to reach it, and Ally is gone,” the little girl sadly answered as she turned to leave, “I guess I will lugg my stool down to the lobby,” she continued out loud to herself as she started across the cluster.
Tiff demanded, “Katie Ann Telgenhof, get back here.”
After the girl meekly returned, Tiffany pointed out, “I always have time for my little sister.” Taking Katie’s hand, they headed down to the lobby.
She took Katie’s and Allison’s mail out of the box after opening it. “Let see, you can get a deal on a car,” flipping to the next item, “Our state Congressman Bullard is keeping us informed on what he has been doing,” flipping again, “You and Ally got your bills from the college,” flipping again, “Free coupons,” flipping to the last item, “A magazine addressed to Katie Ann.”
Katie's response to all that was, “Got one,” puzzled over the fact the Bullard name sounded familiar. Where had she heard that before, “I will make sure my parents get mine,” “You can have them,” and “A magazine?”
While they headed back upstairs, she handed the smaller girl the bills and the magazine and then started flipping through the coupon ad.
Meanwhile, Katie noticed that the magazine was Reminisce and hugged it tightly to her body. She never told anyone about the magazine she had enjoyed at the resort, so the only one this could have come from is Daddie. She wasn’t aware he even knew or cared what she was reading that day. Why here instead of his house where her other two magazines go to? The only difference was that they were meant for the regressed her. This magazine was meant for the adult her, maybe.
Tiffany distracted her with, “Oh, a coupon for two dollars off a douch product, a free happy meal with the purchase of a combo, seventy-five cents off a pack of pull-ups, my little sister really needs that.”
With the last statement, Katie realized that Tiff was trying to embarrass her, so she replied, “You welcomed to the first coupon,” in a really excited tone, “When are you taking me?” back to her usual tone, “And I already get as many free pull-ups as I need, maybe you need a pack,” she had a smirk on her face from the last statement.
Tiffany just shook her head and said, “Let’s put your mail away so we can walk to McDonald’s,” After dropping the mail off in Katie’s room, she said, “Come on, little sister, let's get you a happy meal.”
Katie had a smile on her face that went from ear to ear as they walked the three to four blocks to McDonald’s. She took stock of how she got here, the beginning of August, heck, the end of August, if you told her, the college student, would willingly go for a happy meal while being called little sister, she would have said you were crazy.
Daddie really hadn’t done anything other than show her that it was okay to embrace what everyone already thought she was. Her two sizes too big shoes and clothes, which really swam on her, wouldn’t make people think she was nineteen, no matter how much she tried.
Going inside the fast food joint when Tiffany opened the door for her, Katie continued in her thoughts. The scary thing was how quickly Daddie did it. She didn’t think that even he expected it to go that fast. She was basically regressed by the end of the first weekend.
“We have a coupon. I will have a number two, and she will have a girl’s cheeseburger happy meal with apple slices,” she heard Tiffany order.
Just after her last class, on Monday, she was checking her text messages because she thought she felt that her phone had vibrated earlier. It was Daddie letting her know that the doctor had prescribed her some pills and asked if she was available to drop them off today.
Since it was Monday, she replied that classes were over and she should be around the cluster most of the day.
Later that day, sprawled out on her bed doing homework, she heard a knock on her door, thinking it might be Tiffany to check up on her. She told her big sister to come in.
When her Daddie walked into her room, she couldn’t get up fast enough to run and hug him.
He played with her pigtails that she had put in her hair today. “Katie Ann, I can’t stay long. I got an appointment in a few hours but thought this was too important to wait ‘til the weekend,” he told her.
Katie nodded as she felt a pill bottle being handed to her. Taking it, Daddie instructed her, “Take one every morning at breakfast with food.”
“I really can’t stay, but I love your hair, Buttercup.”
“Thank you. I can’t braid it like you can, though,” Katie replied with a blush at the compliment.
“That’s ok, it just needs some bows,” he replied with a smile.
He put two white bows in her hair after he was told where she kept her hair accessories. With the medication task done and his little girl looking pretty, he was gone.
As the cluster sat down to eat breakfast in the Reynolds food hall the next day, Katie took out her new pill bottle addressed to Katie Ann Telgenhof. Taking a pill out of it, she caught Tiffany's eye.
“What is that, Katie?” Tiffany asked.
Katie answered, “New pills I was prescribed,” as she was taking the pill. Katie gave it to Tiff after she demanded it.
Examining it, Tiff saw it was Ferrous Sulfate tablets. She put it in her pocket and instructed, “You will get it back later.”
Meekly, Katie just nodded and went back to her food.
After the cluster split up from breakfast as a whole, Tiffany went to Katie and said, “Little Sister, do you have time before class?”
Looking at the clock, Katie said, “Forty-five minutes to an hour.”
“Perfect, you will come with me to my room,” Tiffany demanded.
Katie Ann just meekly nodded again.
Once the two girls got to Tiffany’s room, Tiff promptly sat down at the computer and started googling what the tablets treated. Reading one page, she found that the prescription was for iron supplement tablets. She then looked up low iron and symptoms of it.
Reading that it was dizziness, headaches, and shortness of breath, she tossed the pill bottle back to the smaller girl and instructed, “You better take these. I don’t need any more heart attacks that you are going to die again, like last month,” thinking about that scare in the middle of August.
Katie Ann, after catching the bottle, just meekly nodded and asked if she was excused to go to class.
Author's Note:Comments and questions are always welcomed -- Thanks Becky
