The Exchange,

Chapter 8
The exchange part 8

Chapter Description: Sandy meets her first exchange student

Anya was almost at the meeting point. She was feeling nervous, for herself and for Sandra. Sandra was still sleeping and gently she stroked Sandras head to wake her up. "Sweetie, you need to wake up now, we’re almost here." Anya’s back was beginning to ache, a combination of carrying the changing bag, Sandys toy dragon, and sandy herself, not to mention a restless nights sleep were beginning to take their toll. Anya decided she would use the baby stroller tomorrow to give her back a rest.

Sandras eyes opened groggily and she looked around. It was strange for her to fall asleep in one place only to wake up some place completely different, often in completely different clothes. She quickly checked herself and could see she was still wearing the yellow gingham dress. Sandra guessed her mummy hadn’t opted for the less cute outfit in the end. Sandra rubbed at her eyes trying to wake herself up

"Where are we going?" Sandra asked, forgetting once again that she was unintelligible outside of the apartment. Anya handed Sandra her dragon and ignored her gurgling noise as she rounded the last corner, finding their destination. Sandra looked up at the sign above the door, but couldn’t read it. Frustrated she pointed up at the sign. Her mummy nodded with a nervous smile on her face although Sandra couldn’t see that.

"That’s right Sweetie, we’re going to T.E.C. It means The Exchange Centre. Its where most exchange students go to help them adjust and make friends just like themselves. Exciting isn’t it"

Sandra hadn’t seen any other exchange students on their travels. At least she didn’t think so. She remembered seeing a couple of children splashing around in the stream at that wooded place yesterday, Had they been students? How did people tell the difference between real children and the genetically engineered ones? Perhaps they didn’t.

Anya walked towards the large glass doors and they automatically whooshed open as she approached. Inside was a reception desk with a petite young blonde woman sat typing in mid air. She looked up from what she was doing and plastered a fake smile across her face.

"Ah, Anya. hello there. And Sandra too, good morning." The woman smiled at them both with a condescending smile. "Settling in is she?" The woman asked Anya. Anya ruffled Sandras hair. "She’s getting along fine all things considered" Anya spoke, her voice full of pride. "She’s been a real delight to look after, haven’t you sweetie." Sandra tried to twist her neck so she could see her mummy but the harness had her restrained pretty well It was still weird being talked about when she was actually present. The woman seemed to be feigning interest in what Anya had to say. She then leant over the desk and pointed down a corridor.

"You’re in room 23, its just down that hallway to your left. The others are already there. Feel free to use anything in the room and enjoy yourselves." The woman sat back down on her seat and continued to type in mid-air. Sandy from her position couldn’t see what exactly it was that the woman was doing and it made her whine a little as she was curious as to what the woman was doing. Soon the woman was out of sight though as Anya walked down the corridor.

"Now remember Sandy to be on your best behaviour okay? We need to make a good impression, meeting other students might be a little scary at first, but be brave" Sandra felt sick. She was pretty scared right now. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting as Anya approached a door with some squiggles on the front panel, which Sandra had come to recognise as writing by now, and Anya paused Took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Sandra hadn’t known what to expect, and what greeted her certainly fell into the unexpected category. It was a large childrens play area. There were soft mats of different primary colours, tubes to clamber in, soft blocks to chew, nets to climb, slides to slide down and a ball pit. There was a sitting area with coloured crayons and pens littered across the table tops. There was a dress up area where there were clothes strewn across a children sized house, Sandra could see fake plastic food and dolls inside. Sandra surveyed it all. A drinks and vending machine stood in one corner right beside what looked like a lost property box full of junk and shelves stacked with jigsaws and board games. The walls were littered with drawings from various ages ranging from unintelligible scribbles to properly drawn animals. It was a large area and her large eyes tried to take it all in. There was a strange smell about the place, like lavender that had gone off. Sandra didn’t like it and she brought her hand up to her nose.

Sandra saw that there was a woman drinking a cup of what looked like coffee at one of the tables. She had blonde hair, styled in a neat perfect bob, she was very slender and Sandra thought she was quite pretty looking. Wearing a red blouse and a black pencil skirt with black high heeled shoes she sat reading a book whilst occasionally sipping her drink.

Anya recognised the woman and suddenly felt more awkward than before as she walked over to the table and sat down.

"Kimberley, how are you." The woman looked up from her book, studied the mother and daughter combo sat before her for a moment before closing the book and putting it to one side. She brushed an invisible strand of hair out of her eyes and smiled, although the smile did not reach her dark green eyes.

"Anya, so glad you could make it." Kimberley’s green eyes rested on Sandra.

"And this is the famous Sandra is it. Well congratulations Anya, she’s adorable. Can I hold her?" Anya nodded as she pulled Sandra from the carrier and handed her over to the woman. Sandra wasn’t sure she liked this woman, she clung to her dragon toy tightly, almost hiding behind Pea like a security blanket. " I was almost your mummy little one, yes I was. Yes I was." She looked at Anya. "Does she speak?"

Anya shook her head, "Not in the conventional sense although she has managed ma-ma and da-da"

Anya watched as Kimberley tickled Sandra and her baby squealed happily. There had only been two viable candidates to look after Sandy by the end of the extensive training process. Anya had only pipped Kimberley to the post because it had been decided that Anya’s day job as a scientist would help her assess Sandra as she progressed through the program. Anya felt bad for Kimberley but there was no reason why they couldn’t be friends. Kimberley didn’t seem like the type to be a sore loser. Anya watched Kimberley cooing at Sandra for a few minutes more, feeling incredibly lucky that she had been the one to win custody of the baby.

"where’s your little bundle of joy Kimberley?" Anya asked, breaking Kimberley out of her little moment with Sandra.

"oh, please, call me Kim. And my little horror should be around some place...."BECKY!!!!!!" Kim yelled which startled Sandra and she visibly flinched. "BECKY!! COME OVER HERE!!!"

There was a faint yell back and noise came from the ball pool then this little girl came rushing over, her face flushed red, a massive cheesy grin on her face. She had red hair that had been tied back into a ponytail but the hair had now half escaped in a cascading waterfall of messy locks. She wore a white jumper with a bear on it and a pair of jeans that had butterflies patterned on the knees.

"Hi Mummy.....Ooohh wassat?" The little girl tried to pull her mummys arms away so she could get a better look at Sandra.

"Be careful Becky, This is Sandy." Kim said as she lowered Sandra down onto the floor. "Be gentle with her, she’s littler than you." Sandra sat at the feet of Kim and looked up at Anya. Her mummy was looking directly at her. Anya smiled gently at Sandra, wondering how Sandra was feeling about her predicament. She leant over and plopped a pacifier into Sandys mouth and said "You can play with Becky, Sandy. The grown ups are going to sit here and talk so you can play with your new friend." Sandy looked at Becky. The girl had come round the other side of the chair and had plonked herself rather haphazardly down beside Sandy.

"hi Sandy. i’m Becky. I’m four" Becky held up 4 fingers just to emphasise her point. Sandra felt shy. She wondered if she’d be able to communicate with Becky. Her mummy had said she might be able to. She talked around the pacifier making her sound much closer to the age she was.

"hi"

"Wassat?" Becky asked pointing to the dragon Sandra held.

"This is Pea, he is my toy dragon" Sandra explained feeling relieved that Becky seemed to be understanding her

"He’s pretty, do you wanna play in the ball pool, its the bestest!" Becky beamed happily and grabbed Sandra by the hand trying to haul her to her feet, this only succeeded in pulling Sandy over into a tangled heap.

"Becky! What did I say" Kim snapped at her daughter. "be careful, she’s only a baby"

"A baybe?" Becky looked puzzled.

"She’s not as old as you so she can’t do everything you can do" Anya tried to gently explain

"OOOooooh" Becky seemed to be satisfied with this explanation.

"Sorree Sandy" She said patting Sandys head like a puppy. Sandy had untangled herself and had pushed herself to her feet. She didn’t mind being pulled over. It was nice having someone to talk to that wasn’t her mummy. Becky pointed to the ball pit and she rushed over there and threw herself into the squishy balls. "COME ON SAANDY!" She yelled. With one final look at her mummy Sandy managed two steps then collapsed onto her knees, giving up on the walking idea she crawled to the ball pool and clambered in. Crawling with her dragon had been tricky but she had managed She was actually quite surprised at how fast she could crawl. At least she wasn’t so young that she wasn’t able to crawl, now that would be intolerable.

She disappeared under the balls for a second then broke the surface, actually giggling. Becky giggled watching her new playmate then flailed her arms around wildly churning up balls everywhere. The balls bounced around the pit harmlessly. Sandra looked at Becky.

"How old are yoo?" She asked curiously. Becky held up 4 fingers. Sandra shook her head. "No I mean before all this? Where did yoo come from? What did yoo do?"

Becky didn’t understand the question and she giggled through her fingers as she brought her hands up to her mouth.

"sandy yoor silly."

Sandra didn’t understand. She had been told Becky was an exchange student, but she didn’t seem to be mentally all there. She crawled closer to Becky, through the balls. leaving Pea behind.

"Becky....whats the first thing yoo remember. think far far back."

Becky sat there, a far off look in her eyes as she racked her memories. When she spoke it had a more adult quality, up until this point her voice had been very childish.

"I remember...running. I loved running. I was good at it...I..." Quickly her voice lost its adult tone and degenerated back into a childish lisp. ".....I AM good at runnin’, watch me, watch me!" Becky hauled herself out of the ball pit and raced over to her mummy who was sat at the table. She slammed her hands down on the tabletop yelled ’TAG’ and raced back to the ball pool jumping in head first and showering Sandy in balls. Sandy had watched jealously at the manoeuvrability of Becky. Sandra longed to be able to walk, let alone run. She looked at Becky closer, trying to think why she would have been chosen as an exchange student. Perhaps Becky had been an athlete? Sandra didn’t follow any kinds of sports so she couldn’t think of any female athletes that Becky resembled.

"Do yoo wanna play dressup?" Becky was suddenly tugging on the sleeve of Sandras dress. Sandra nodded. She was feeling light headed and seemed to accept the idea of playing dress up more readily than she had expected herself to, in fact she was enjoying playing, her adult self seemed to be taking a back seat, her child side was certainly more prominent. She was finding it difficult to think straight, she knew that if they were playing dress up that she wanted to be an astronaut.

Becky was already over in the play pretend area, rummaging through the stack of dress up clothes, by the time Sandra had managed to crawl over there, Becky was already pulling on her first outfit. She was dressing up in a oversized long red dress and was trying on a pair of high heels.

"Lookitmeee. im mummy" She said proudly as she tottered on the shoes. "I’m gonna be mummy when I grow up" Becky beamed proudly. The irony was not lost on Sandra. Becky at some point had been a grown woman, and now she was a preschooler playing grown up. Sandra had to chuckle, or she would have cried.

"Yoo can be my Gliph" Becky said as she began tying a school neck tie she had found in the dress up box, around Sandras neck. "We will go for a walk" Sandra shook her head . "I dont wanna be a Gliph" but the knot was already tied and Becky began to walk over to the table her mummy sat at. Sandra began to resist but the knot tightened and suddenly she found herself being dragged along the floor. She began to choke as she tried to get her knees under herself so she could crawl alongside Becky and take some flack off of the neck tie, but Becky was moving too quickly to allow for Sandra to manoeuvre. She began to go red in the face and panic, she couldn’t even get enough air to start crying or to tell Becky to stop .

Becky was halfway across the room when Anya and Kim both seemed to notice what was going on at the same time.

"Oh dear lord!" Anya and Kim both jumped to their feet and rushed over. Anya scooped up Sandra and Kim grabbed Becky. Anya instantly had the tie off from around Sandras neck and she spluttered and coughed and began to cry really really loudly, meanwhile Becky was getting a sound telling off. She too was crying loudly after she had received a swift swat to the back of her legs.

"what did I tell you Rebecca. What did I tell you!" Kim scolded. Becky cried some more, feeling really bad that she had done something naughty. She had only been playing. She didn’t know it was wrong. With a massive sigh, Kim scooped her child up and put her on her lap. Gently rocking her distressed daughter. She didn’t like seeing her cry, but she had to learn she had doe something bad, she was more relieved Sandra was alright. She looked over at Anya who was trying to comfort the baby. "Is Sandy going to be okay?" Kim asked, her tone conveying her worry.

Anya nodded as she rocked Sandra, who was beginning to calm down.

"yes, there’s no damage done, I think it was just the shock of the situation. Isn’t that right sweetie. You’re okay" Sandra sniffled, feeling a little hard done by, but otherwise fine. Anya sat back down at the table and settled Sandra down in her lap, pulling some paper and crayons over she handed Sandra a blue crayon.

"How about we do something safer huh. Can you draw mummy a picture? And you too Becky. i’d very much like to see a picture of your favourite thing" Becky looked up at her mummy then at Anya. She nodded and wiped the rest of her tear away with the back of her hand.

"I can draw real good" Becky stated.

Anya smiled gently. "’I’m glad to hear it. show me." Kim had bent down and was rummaging around in her bag, she produced a non-spill cup and gave it to Becky.

"Don’t forget to drink your juice sweetheart." Kim said sweetily. Sandra noticed that the liquid in the cup was pink and her eyes widened in fear. It was no wonder Becky was acting like a real four year old, her mind had been wiped by the syrup. Sandra shuddered realising that if Kim had become her mother she really would have been a drooling infant by now. Anya felt Sandra stiffen on her lap and casually she asked.

"Is that syrup?"

Kim nodded. "Yep. Do you need some for Sandy. I have plenty." Sandra began to whimper, but Anya ignored her. "No its quite alright, but thank you anyway." Anya got her changing bag out and produced a bottle of milk. "This stuff is good enough." Anya shook the bottle. Kim smiled as she watched Becky drawing and drinking her drink like a good girl. She then looked over at Sandra struggling to hold the large blue chunky crayon and the bottle of milk. In the end Anya gently took the crayon off of her daughter and placed the nipple of the bottle in her baby’s mouth. . Kim watched Sandra but she spoke to Anya

"Whats it like, you know...lactating?"

Anya was a little shocked by the random question but smiled nevertheless. "Oh it was weird at first. They got really sore and swollen, and the leaking ruined one of my favourite jumpers, but now that I express most of what Sandra doesn’t finish off that seems to keep me comfortable. You should have seen Blake when he first saw my boobs this size. His eyes nearly popped out of his head" Both Kim and Anya burst into amicable laughter. There was a lull in conversation as the two parents watched their children colour. Then kim spoke, quietly.

"you know, if you ever want to go out, just you and Blake, I would quite happily watch Sandra for you. I went through the same training so I know what’s expected, and Becky would have a playmate for an evening or afternoon"

Anya grinned happily.

"Why thanks Kim, that’s really neat of you. I’d really appreciate that. And likewise if you ever need someone to take Becky off your hands for a while, you know where to call."

Kim nodded. "Okay, its a deal then."

Becky threw her picture up into the air, waving it around hyper actively.

"I did it I did it. I drewed it good." Kim corrected her child "You drew it good, Let me see then." Kim took the picture and smiled. Becky had drawn a picture of Kim and Becky holding balloons. "Aww Becky, thats lovely" Kim turned the picture round so Anya could see.

"yes very nice work there. You’re quite the artist" Anya praised the little girl.

After finishing her milk Sandra had been trying hard to draw a picture of her mummy but so far it looked like a blue deformed spider. She scribbled some more, feeling frustrated that what she wanted to draw on the paper didn’t seem to be what was actually coming out. In the end she gave up and dropped the crayon. Anya mistook her actions to mean she too had finished drawing. Anya looked at the picture.

"Aww sweetie thats a lovely picture for mummy." Anya was careful not to try an analyse what the picture was actually of, instead she hugged Sandra tightly and Sandra hugged her back, feeling suddenly happy. Becky giggled and pointed at Sandys picture. "But thats rubbish" Kim hushed Becky.

"Its good for her age, when you were her age you drew pictures like that."

Becky wasn’t convinced. She’d never draw that rubbish.

The girls drew a few more pictures, as the grown ups chatted, Sandra kept looking over at Kim and Becky. It was strange to think that even though Sandra couldn’t draw or walk or even talk to other people, she still had her adult mind, whereas here was another exchange student, sitting across the table, who could do all the things Sandra was jealous of, she could run, she could talk, she would probably be going to school in the not too distant future. But Beckys mind was mush. She had no recollection that she had even been a grown up. Sandra wondered if that was a better way to be? Sandra glared at kim She didn’t trust Kim, especially now that she knew she used syrup on Becky.

Sandra realised she was wetting herself as she sat on her mummys lap, the heat from the urine must have warmed her nappy as her mummy realised what she was doing.

"Uh-oh did someone have a little accident"Anya smiled at Sandra and pulled her daughter up so she was standing on Anyas lap. Becky looked up alarmed. "Is Sandy hurt?"

Anya laughed. "No becky, She’s not hurt, its not that kind of an accident. Little Sandy wet herself." Becky lost interest and continued to colour. She was looking down at her drawing but continued to talk.

"I don’ wet myself no more, ’sept sometimes at night. Mummy gives me special night time pants for just in case. I’m mainly a big girl" The last bit was said proudly, and Becky puffed her chest out just to make her point stronger.

"Of course you are you little terror. My big clever girl" Kim kissed the top of Beckys head.

Anya stuck a finger in the back of Sandras nappy cover. "i’ll leave you a little while longer, you’re not too wet" Sandra felt silly, and confused as to whether she was disappointed that she wasn’t going to be changed out of her wet nappy, or relieved that there wasn’t going to be a public changing display like yesterday. She squirmed on her mummys lap, the nappy more obvious to her now that it was wet. Getting used to this aspect of her new life was going to be a struggle.

Kim caught a glance at the time and she began gathering her things together.

"We’re going to have to make a move i’m afraid. But its been nice meeting you both properly and i’m sure Becky and Sandy are going to be the best of friends."

Anya looked at the time "It’s that time already? Today is just flying by"

Anya stood up, still holding Sandra as Kim took Becky by the hand.

"Said goodbye to your new friends Becky."

Becky looked up at Anya and Sandy and with a giant grin waved enthusiastically "Bye mrs Sandys mom, Buh bye Sandy."

Anya was waving Sandys hand for her as the mother and child left. Then she returned to her sitting position.

"Well, that wasn’t too bad now was it." She sighed happily at Sandra. Anya looked back at the time. They had ten minutes before the next student was due to arrive for Sandy to interact with. An older girl, a seven year old. Anya hoped she would be a little more gentle with poor Sandy.

"why don’t you draw mummy one last picture before our next new friends come to play. Theres a good girl"

Anya grabbed a green crayon and pushed it into Sandys hand. Sandy, glad to make her mummy happy began to scribble a new picture, but her mind was still on Becky, and that syrup.

Together they drew, as they waited for the next arrivals