A Wish Too Far

Chapter 8
Lollipops Playcentre

Chapter Description: He's getting closer to his goal, but Liam isn't done acting yet. In fact his most important performance is still to come.

Despite how close he was getting to his goal, there was still one more trial to overcome. If being on the street nude had been embarrassing, it was nothing compared to being led by the hand into the police station that way. Dozens of adults, some cops, others there to make statements, a few even hand-cuffed and sitting dishevelled on benches, watched as he ambled through the station naked. Many smiled, giggled a bit, made comments he couldn’t quite make out but was sure were at his expense. And yet he couldn’t glare back at them, couldn’t demand what they were looking at or even cover his bobbing pee-pee. He had to stay in character, had to smile and giggle and trot along like nothing was wrong.

Finally Eric stopped at a desk and directed him to take a seat in the swivel chair. “Now you stay put while I find you some clothes okay.”

Liam nodded, he had no intention of moving and giving anyone else a peak at his assets. Once he was dressed though, all bets were off. For a second he sat in the chair in silence, trying not to draw attention to himself. Then he noticed one of the female officers staring oddly at him. He realised the serious thoughtful look on his face looked completely out of place on a four-year old boy, or even a six-year old for that matter. Here he was sitting in a child’s dream, a spinning swivel chair, and he’d done nothing about it. Forcing a dumb grin onto his face Liam reached out to the desk with his bare foot and gave the chair a shove, sending it spinning in circles. He pretended to enjoy the spinning sensation, giggling his head off. The police woman smiled at him now and returned to her work.

As the chair’s revolutions slowed Eric reappeared with some clothing in hand. “Okay buddy, I’m sorry but jaybird time is over for now. Time we get you all dressed up like a big boy!” he enthused as though it would be necessary to convince Liam.

“Yep, just wike a big boy!” Liam agreed, reaching his hands out for the shirt.

To his surprise Eric didn’t hand him the white t-shirt, he instead threaded it over his hands, apparently not expecting the child to dress himself. Liam came within a hair’s breath of yelling out, “Hey I can dress myself!” But he held back, swallowed his words. He had to accept that if he acted like and looked like a small child, people would treat him like one.

Eric lifted the shirt over Liam’s head and helped him fit his arms and head through the proper holes. It was a tight fit, not even quite covering his belly-button. It made Liam feel even more childish in fact, like a baby. The white t-shirt had a big smiling print of cookie monster on the front. It was stained with food from some time ago. It looked like it belonged on a three year old at best. The cop seemed to recognise it was a tight fit but he just shrugged. “Sorry Liam, it’s the best we can do for now.”

Next he pulled out a pair of underoos. They were little white undies with navy blue piping, decorated with images of Bob the Builder. They too were a bit tight on Liam, but they fit nonetheless and more importantly they finally hid his shamefully tiny penis. Finally came the shorts. They were short black boardies with a big yellow rubber ducky design on the cargo pocket. As soon as he pulled them up it was clear that these too were meant for a boy a year or two younger than him. They only reached the middle of his thighs, making them barely better than the underoos.

“They too short!” he complained, sounding like the petulant preschooler he appeared to be.

“Nonsense, they fit you just fine, snug as a bug in a rug,” the man assured him.

Liam pouted, of course the cop would think them fine, no one expected a little kid to care what he wore. “What about shoes?” he asked, noticing Eric didn’t seem to have anything else with him.

Eric frowned. “Oh sorry buddy but we don’t have any shoes for kids your age. But don’t worry it’s a nice warm day out. Besides, my boy didn’t wear shoes in the summer till he was twelve and he was just fine.”

Liam nodded, he knew hoping for shoes would have been too much. No one in this country thought little kids needed or should even wear shoes until they were a good deal older than he was now.

“Right then, let’s see about getting you back to Lollipops then,” Eric declared, lifting Liam under the arms and setting him on his feet on the cool tile floor once again.

Liam let the officer take his hand and lead him back through the station. If anything his new outfit made him feel even more ridiculous. His t-shirt fell so high it revealed his whole tummy above the elastic waist of his shorts. Those shorts were so short and revealing he might as well have been wearing just undies anyway. He looked ridiculous, an absolute mockery. When they reached the front desk the woman behind it leant over and grinned down at him indulgently. “Well it looks like our little exhibitionist has a new outfit,” she quipped for Eric’s benefit, clearly not expecting Liam to understand.

“Yeah, had to get him dressed so he can go back to Lollipops. That’s where the big guy made his break from. Only problem is I’ve got no car seat in the cruiser.”

The woman cop seemed concerned by this. “Well that’s just no good, you can’t be driving him around without a car seat. Why don’t you have Jenny take him over? She has a car seat for Jamie, and he’s about the same size.”

Eric nodded, “Yeah that sounds perfect. You just wait here a moment buddy and we’ll have you sorted.”

As Eric left him standing alone Liam considered running for it right then. But he knew that would be a mistake. They’d catch him in no time and besides, he was about to get a car ride right over to the building next door to his target destination. So instead he stood still, squeaking his little feet back and forth on the floor until Eric returned with a woman dressed in civilian clothes. She knelt down and then tweaked his nose in that insufferable way grown-ups do to children they barely know. Liam had hated it when relatives and parent’s friends did that to him as a kid.

“Well aren’t you a cutie!” she gushed. “And look at that adorable outfit, I just have to get my Jamie some shorts like those!”

Liam prayed the crack in the floor would open and let him escape down it right now. How could she think these things were bloody adorable? He felt bad for her kid if she dressed him like this. But then, what would some dumb little kid care?

“Yeah, well I’ll take the credit for that Jenny, I’m afraid this little guy’s favourite outfit is his birthday suit. That’s how we found him scampering down the footpath a half an hour ago,” Eric explained.

“Oh how darling, sounds just like my little Jamie when he was two. Of course some boys take a little longer to grown out of their nakie phase than others.”

How could they talk about him like he wasn’t even there!? Here he was, standing right between them, staring up at them and they were chattering on about the most embarrassing subjects as though he were deaf or too dumb to understand. He couldn’t yell at them, but he needed this to end, now! So he grabbed the woman’s hand and pulled, imploring her to go.

“Uh-oh, looks like the little guy is eager to get going. Maybe there’s a tea time starting about now back at the kindy.” Turning to look down at Liam she changed her tone to a sugary sweet sing-song, “Okay little guy, ready to go back to play?”

“Uh-huh! I wanna go now!” he urged.

Jenny smiled and took hold of his hand and soon he was being strapped into a car seat in the back of a station wagon for the trip to the kindy. “There we go honey, good thing my Jamie is five, you’re a big boy for a four year-old,” Jenny commented.

After what had been an excruciatingly long adventure Liam was over the moon when he saw the primary school out his window. There several classroom blocks all faced onto a central tarmac court that was divided into a netball court, four square courts, and a simple play yard. Between two blocks was a sandpit and a large adventure playground. Grassy fields surrounded the buildings, lined by sizable trees perfect for climbing on. A couple classes worth of children were playing on the tarmac court as he passed by. They all looked identical in their light blue polo shirts and bucket hats. They wore a variety of shorts, pants, capris and skirts and all but one or two were barefoot. He scanned the yard for Lucy but didn’t see her. Those children looked older, maybe nine or ten year olds. Perhaps it wasn’t lunch-time yet. He still might have time to locate her.

The car passed the school grounds and slowed to a halt in front of a low building next to the school. It was a single-storey modern looking building with Lollipops Playcentre written across the top in big colourful letters. The grounds were surrounded by a low fence and within he could see play equipments and sandpits covered in little children enjoying the sun. Jenny came around to his door and opened it, unbuckling him and lifting him out onto. As his bare soles settled on the hot pavement again he wondered if now was the time to make a break for it. He was as close to the school as could be. No, if he ran now she’d catch him and he’d be in trouble. He’d just need to wait until he was inside and no one was watching. With that many kids there was no way to watch them all constantly.

“Here we are honey, thank you for behaving dear, you’ve been good as gold.”

Wearing his fake dumb little boy grin Liam let Jenny lead him through the gate and into the play area. Kids were running this way and that playing silly primitive versions of tag while others dug in the sand or dangled from the play place. Most appeared to be four year olds, maybe a few three-year olds here and there. All were dressed in t-shirts or tank-tops and baggy shorts or skirts, every one of them barefoot. A couple lacked shorts, showing off their cartoon print underoos, much like the ones Liam now wore concealed below his shorts. As embarrassing as they were, he was glad they at least covered Bob the Builder up.

A woman was exiting the building as they walked up. “Hello there, I’m afraid I have a little escapee here,” Jenny called to her.

“I’m sorry?” the woman asked, looking perplexed.

“I work with the police, one of our officers found this little one wandering the streets a few blocks away about an hour ago. He says he escaped from your kindy.”

The woman looked miffed by the claim and Liam was worried she’d quickly recognise he wasn’t a student here. He was hoping no one would notice right away because to him all little kids looked alike. But to people who cared for them every day that probably wasn’t true. Liam could see now that his lie was about to be exposed.

“There’s no way a child could have slipped out of here!” the woman insisted, getting angry.

“Hey, don’t tell me lady, I’m not a cop, I just work with them. Believe me an officer will be by later today to find out how it happened. But in the meantime we thought it would be best to return the child here so you could stop your frantic searching, though I don’t see much concern here at all. Had you even noticed a child was missing?”

“I... I wasn’t in this morning okay, so don’t ask me. Barbara was here until an hour ago, she was in charge. So don’t send any officers here to question me.”

“Right, and your name was?”

“Liz. Got it, Liz wasn’t here. Now we’ll take charge of the child but we’re not, I’m not accepting any blame for him getting out.”

“Hey, like I said, save it for the cops. Oh and by the way, when we found him wandering the streets he was also naked,” Jenny added harshly.

Liz frowned and waved her hand through the air dismissively. “Then he must be a pants-wetter!” she declared.

Liam was outraged. She was yelling out for anyone in earshot, including all these little kids, that he couldn’t control his bladder. His body may have shrunk but that was a total lie.

“He’s a what?” Jenny asked.

“When children wet their clothing and parents haven’t sent any back up clothes or even protection, we let them go nakie-bum for a bit, just until they dry out. He must have wandered out then, that’s all.”

Liam looked around furtively and saw that sure enough, a number of children had stopped their play to stare at him. Here he was, a grown man, being jeered at, looked down upon, by preschoolers! When he grew back up he was going to make sure Lucy was punished suitably for doing this to him.

Liz reached out her hand and Jenny led his hand to the woman’s, effectively passing control of a parcel. “Thank you for your help,” Liz spat.

“No worries, just make sure you keep an eye on him this time,” Jenny retorted.

Liz seethed and her grip on his little hand tightened almost painfully. She yanked his arm hard, leading him into the building. “What’s your name?” she asked curtly.

“Liam.”

“How old are you?”

“Um, four,” he answered, wondering if he should have upped it to five. Even though most kids started primary school on their fifth birthdays some parents kept them out for a few months after that to let them mature or just enjoy playing all day a little longer.

“Four?” she asked, smirking. “Well for a big four-year old you certainly aren’t very mature are you? Wetting your pants like a little toddler, like a baby,” she chided. “I can see why you ran away. Did you want mummy to kiss away all your boo-boos?” she asked as her voice turned mocking.

This woman was clearly not in the right line of work, Liam thought. She couldn’t hide her contempt for little kids. And yet he wasn’t that surprised to find someone like her here, he recalled meeting plenty of people like her over the course of his childhood, people who worked in childcare or education for lack of other options or simply because they liked the power trip. He just had to remind himself that he wasn’t really a kid and he would be out of here in a few minutes. There was nothing she could do to him.

“Clearly we can’t leave a carpet-tinkler like you inside, escape artist or not,” she continued, not expecting any answer from him. “Escape artist!” she chuckled, “Someone must have left the gate open. That’s the only way a boy like you could get away. Let’s see you make a break from the back yard. Yes I think spending the rest of the day with the Little Duckies group would be best for you.”

With that she led him out the back door and into another play area. Here several smaller play toys occupied a grassy lawn under the shade of a colourful canopy to protect the kids from harmful UV rays. Little toddlers, the oldest of them three year olds, played in a sandpit and around a little plastic play house. Others pushed toy trains and cars about in the grass. A couple were dressed in nothing but thick white disposable nappies while others wore t-shirts and exposed pull-ups. About half wore shorts over their undies.

“Here we are, the Little Duckies, I’m sure you’ll get along famously with them,” she mocked in her syrupy voice.

Liam forced himself to pout as though stung by her mocking, when in reality all he could think about was how low the fence was and how it was all that separated him from the primary school grounds. All he’d need to do was push the playhouse over to the fence, climb up it and hop over. He had been right all along, his functioning adult brain was the one factor his captors couldn’t take into account.

Liam was about to head over to the kids to pretend to play when Liz gripped him around his waist and stopped him. “Oops,” she declared, “We can’t have you wetting another set of clothes, especially ones that I’m guessing aren’t even yours.”

With that she yanked down on the short shorts, exposing his Bob the Builder underoos. Liam had just enough time to gasp and feel a wave of shame before it got worse. Liz hooked her thumbs in the elastic band of the undies and pulled swiftly down again. Liam was frozen as Liz grasped his ankles one at a time and lifted his feet out of the clothes pooled on the grass. She bunched them up and gently patted Liam’s bare bottom. “There we go, that’s much better isn’t it? I’m sure a big boy would be quite embarrassed right now, but a little nudist like you should be much more comfy right! Now go play with your friends sweetie.”

Liam felt disconnected from reality as he slowly ambled across the grass towards the other kids, wearing only a tight little Cookie Monster t-shirt that didn’t even cover his belly-button. Halfway to them he looked over his shoulder to find Liz had disappeared inside with his clothing. He had been so close! He couldn’t go over the fence now. Not like this.

“Nakie!” squealed a high-pitched little voice to his right. Looking over, Liam found one of the little 2 year olds, dressed in nothing but a nappy himself, pointing his stubby little finger at him and giggling merrily at his state of dress.

It seemed to Liam that all was lost. He’d be kept out here with no way to get dressed, forced to watch the primary schoolers come and go but unable to reach them. Maybe they’d come up to the fence to point and laugh at him, at the boy who looked old enough to be their classmate who was playing nearly naked in the grass with babies. Then the parents would come to pick kids up and soon enough they’d know he didn’t belong here. Then what? An orphanage if he continued the lie? A mental institution if he tried to tell them the truth?

He stood with his head in his hands, trying to block out the giggles around him when he heard another noise. It was a loud rip followed by a soft plop. Liam looked in the direction of the sound. The little 2-year old who’d pointed at him before was grinning from ear to ear now. He’d yanked the tabs of his nappy clear and it had dropped to the grass between his legs, leaving him even more naked than Liam. The little tyke giggled his head off and hopped around happy to be free. It gave Liam an idea.

Looking around the play area he spotted what he was looking for. A little boy of about three was sitting atop a little plastic slide wearing a simple baggy white t-shirt and very baggy red shorts that fell only a bit above his ankles. Liam took a deep breath to prepare for his performance. One last time he pushed aside his modesty, reminding himself they were just dumb drooling little tykes and it didn’t matter what they thought of him. Then he stood up proud and tall and skipped over to the bottom of the slide.

“Hi I’m Liam!” he proclaimed to the little boy.

The boy gazed down at Liam’s front, at his weenie, and giggled. “I Bwian,” he finally admitted between giggles.

“Hi Bwian! I’m a big kid, I’m four! How old are you?” Liam asked forcing himself to look comfortable, to look happy.

“Thwee,” Brian replied simply.

“Cool. You wanna pway with me?” Liam asked, hoping the chance to play with a ‘big’ kid would make the boy’s day.

“Kay!” Brian readily agreed, slipping down the slide and standing up before Liam.

Liam felt a bit bad about doing this as he looked at Brian’s face. His silly idiotic grin was real, his eyes filled with an honest desire to simply play with his new friend. But Liam had other plans, he couldn’t lose sight of the big picture. So he redoubled his grinning efforts and declared, “Gotta get nakie! Nakie feels better to pway!”

For a second Brian seemed confused, then he looked down at Liam’s nudity and the simple-minded grin returned. “’Kay-kay!” he announced, hooking a thumb in each side of his shorts and undies and yanking them down at once, then kicking his feet clear of them. “We nakie!” he declared in his cheerful little voice, hopping up and down.

“Yep, we sure are!” Liam agreed. “Now let’s play in the sand!” he suggested.

Brian seemed more than happy to comply, hurrying off at a quick pace for the sandpit. But Liam didn’t follow. He leant down and grabbed the boy’s shorts and underoos. Without hesitation he stepped into the leg holes and yanked them up. Despite being very baggy on a 3-year old they were quite tight and short on a 6-year old, even a small one. But the important thing was they fit and wouldn’t fall off.

Liam allowed himself one fleeting glance at the sandpit where Brian was standing there in just his t-shirt looking confused and rejected. Then he ran for the play house. He pushed it with all his little boy might up against the fence, then climbed atop it, his bare toes good at gripping the slippery plastic. Once that was done, it was easy to hop over the fence, though the landing was hard on his feet. He didn’t look back again. It was time to find Lucy, time to put an end to this runaway wish.