🛏️ Constance Medical
Part 6: Arrival at the store
⚠️ This is a work of fiction
⚠️ Reproduction and distribution prohibited
Charles and Amélie then arrive by car. They ask us how the night and morning went. We respond that everything went very well, without going into details.
"I got the confirmation that Johanna will come next week in the mornings," Amélie tells us as we are eating.
"Too cool," Constance responds happily.
"Who is she?" I ask.
"She's a neighbor," Amélie replies to me. "She will come in the morning from 10am to noon. You won't be alone like that. She can take care of you, do some cleaning and prepare meals. She did that last year already, it's her little summer job."
"She's really nice," says Constance, "you'll see."
"And this afternoon," says Charles, "as agreed you will come to the store."
"I didn't know," I say.
"That's what we agreed with your parents," Amélie tells me. "You won't stay here alone. We will see with Johanna if she is available to take care of you in the afternoon too, but if not, you will come with us."
After the meal, Constance and I are allowed to play for 30 minutes before we leave. The car ride is quick, and less than 10 minutes later, Charles stops the car in a parking lot. As soon as I get out, I see a fairly large store with the words written: "Constance Medical".
"They named the store after me," Constance jokes. "Isn't that cool?"
"So you're a star here then?" I reply, laughing.
"A little," she tells me as she walks toward the store, it's true.
The doors of the store are unlocked and left wide open. All four of us enter. For me, it's the first time I enter such a store. I quickly realize that it's a medical equipment store, but I have no idea what is sold inside.
"Come, Constance says to me, taking my hand, I'll show you around."
Constance, on the other hand, seems to know it very well. She must have accompanied her parents often. And so begins a detailed tour as we pass through the different areas of the store. She shows me everything related to home care for the elderly. She then shows me the wheelchairs while sitting in one of them and spinning the wheels with her hands. We pass by a section with canes, then another with shoes, to finally arrive in another section.
"And this area here," says Constance, "is for incontinence."
"What's that?" I ask, not understanding the word used.
"It's when someone can't hold their pee or poop," Constance tells me naturally. "We talk about incontinence when it's day and night. When it's only at night, we talk about bedwetting, or even peeing the bed."
Constance knows her stuff and seems very comfortable. Meanwhile, all I see in front of me are packages of diapers. I remember then that Mom wanted me to take advantage of my stay here to find new diapers to replace the ones I wear at home. So this is certainly where I will find something for myself.
"Here," Constance begins to show me, "are full changes. These are diapers with side fasteners, like those for babies who are still small. Here, she continues, are diapers that you pull on, we call them pants or briefs. Next to them are anatomical diapers. And next to them, straight diapers, like the ones we wore last night, but also bed pads.
Constance talks loud, and I turn around to see if anyone heard her. She is loudly saying that she and I wore diapers last night when some customers entered the store. I am a bit embarrassed, but she is not at all.
"Here you can see the stock of plastic pants, "Constance continues, "bodysuits here, rompers here."
She continues to detail, shelf by shelf, everything in that area. I am more interested in the people who have come closer to us than in what she is telling me.
We then finish our tour of the store, and I feel more comfortable now that we have left the diaper section. I know my little fear is not rational, but I had this small anxiety that people in the store might know that I wet the bed and wear diapers.
"Come here," Constance says, "I'll show you the back of the store. There is a break room, stock, and a changing room."
So, I follow Constance as she takes me to another part of the store. She goes through a door that reads "Private," and we find ourselves in a small room that looks like a break room. There's a table, chairs, a few pieces of furniture including a sink, a microwave, and a coffee maker. We pass through this room and, after passing through another door, we arrive at what must be the stockroom.
"Here is the stock," Constance confirms to me. "This is where we come to get what customers buy, including diapers."
As she says this, Constance points to everything on our right. I see dozens of brown boxes, with writing in different colors, as well as drawings of diapers on them. I am very impressed by the number of boxes. There are three huge shelves that go up several meters high, and on each of them, there are several levels and a large number of boxes on each. On the floor, in open boxes, I can see plastic bags that must certainly contain diapers.
"That's a lot of diapers," I say.
"And yet, there aren't many today. I think there should be a delivery soon. You should see the truck that comes to deliver, it's filled with boxes. And it's cool when they deliver because there are lots of samples."
"Samples?"
"Yes, they're test diapers in individual packaging. It's not often, but sometimes there are new diapers and I love trying them."
Once again, Constance talks about her pleasure in wearing diapers. I am no longer surprised as before, but it still makes me wonder. Constance takes me again, still holding my hand. We return to the store and I see Charles talking to people, probably customers. Constance heads to her mom who is sitting behind a desk with a computer, catalogs, and a credit card payment machine on it. I imagine that this is where customers come to pay.
"Can I put one on, Mom?" Constance asks.
"Did you explain to Denis?" her mom responds.
"Yes, I told him."
"You can, and you can also ask if he wants to."
I feel like I'm listening to a coded conversation. They are talking about something, but I don't know what.
"Come," Constance says to me.
We enter a small room, hidden behind a green curtain. Constance closes it as I look at the contents of the room. There is an examination table, like at the doctor's office, as well as a chair and a desk. Constance goes under the desk and pulls out two diapers from a small drawer.
"Do you want one?" she asks me, offering it to me.
"Why?" I ask without taking it.
"To put it on, of course. I wear one very often when I'm at the store."
"But there are no toilets here? I don't need diapers, I can hold it in."
"Yes, there are toilets, and I can hold it too. But like I told you this morning, I like wearing them. Besides being practical, they are also comfortable. And then I also feel like the people who come to buy diapers like this."
I take the time to think about what Constance is proposing to me. For me, diapers are only for night time and only because otherwise I wet the bed. Now I am being offered to wear one during the day, when I have no need for it.
"But aren't you afraid it will show?" I ask, thinking about that.
"No one has ever said anything in the store or anywhere else," she tells me. "And even if they saw it, what would it matter? It's not forbidden to wear them. And people would just think 'Oh, poor thing, she is incontinent in addition to having trouble walking'."
There are two things I understand in what Constance is telling me. First, that she sometimes wears them outside the store, and therefore outside her home. She must wear them when she is out, maybe when she goes shopping, when she walks with her parents, at school. The other thing is, she seems to not care at all about what others might think if they saw her diaper. Thinking about it a little more, I think she's right. It's sure that it wouldn't be such a big deal, especially if those people were strangers.
I then realize that Constance no longer hands me the diaper. She has placed both on the table next to us. She is now taking off her sandals, then pulling down her shorts. I understand then that she is undressing in front of me, probably to put on a diaper. I watch her, saying nothing. Constance has her back to me and she is quickly naked, at least from the waist down. She now grabs one of the diapers, opens it, and puts each foot through the openings one by one. She then pulls up her diaper to her waist. This white diaper, which is put on, looks a lot like the ones I wear at night at home. She then finishes by putting her shorts back on over it, and putting her sandals back on.
"You don't have to wear one," she tells me, putting the second diaper, mine, away in the drawer and putting on her panties that she took off. "If you change your mind, you'll know they're here."
I highly doubt that I will change my mind but nod when she looks at me. We then return to the store through the curtain, and there are more people now. While Constance looks around the store, I watch her. I try to see if the diaper she put on shows under her shorts. It's quite tight, but I admit I can't really make out its shape underneath. This diaper is certainly quite thin, like the one I wear at night, and has nothing to do with the diapers we wore last night.
"Come," she says, "there are customers, we'll take care of them."
"You want us to talk to people?" I ask, surprised.
"What do you think we came to the store for?" she responds. "Don't worry, I'm here."
I hadn't actually wondered why we were there. I had naively thought it was so that we would be under adult supervision, but not like this! As is often the case now, I follow Constance who confidently approaches an older couple who stand in front of walkers.
Just as if she were an adult and an experienced salesperson, Constance asks these people if they need help, advises them on this or that product, extols the virtues of one or the other. The customers, I think, are satisfied and then head towards the office where Amélie is, carrying a walker.
"You see," she tells me, "it's not complicated."
"You impress me," I say. "I never thought you would know how to do that and especially that you would know the store's products so well."
"I don't know them all," Constance admits. "Where I can best help is with the diapers. In fact, come, there are people waiting for us in the incontinence zone."
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