Daniela took Aja’s hand and led her to the dreaded diaper station. She picked up a clean diaper from the stack,
thank God they are disposable
, and handed it to her. As she did so she glanced at Aja’s face and laughed at the expression of distaste.
“
Va bene
.”
Aja wished she could ask Daniela questions about herself, but they’d just have to muddle their way along. As Daniela led Aja to the next area, the door opened and a woman came in with her little boy. He looked to be about a year old. She put him on the floor. He was at least old enough to walk.
Daniela went to greet the woman and they chatted for a minute. She waved Aja forward - and Aja assumed - introduced her. Daniela and Aja continued in this fashion, as the mothers all came in to drop off their children. What they thought of Aja, she couldn’t tell, but they were all receptive and cordial. Daniela’s attitude helped a lot, as she was so positive. They must have wondered about leaving their children with a foreigner, but Daniela’s familiar face would have eased their discomfort.
The first crisis came when a little boy started to cry. Aja panicked. It must have been obvious because Daniela laughed at her. She went to the little boy and picked him up. He stopped crying.
“
Va bene
,” she said again.
Aja sighed. How could a twelve-year-old be so good with children? She felt pathetic.
They carried on, with Daniela showing Aja how to take care of the children’s needs. Then came the time to change her first diaper. So much for just getting her helper to do it. Daniela got wise to that plan after the third one. Aja pointed at the baby, a very tiny one, and plugged her nose, the universal sign for “God that reeks!”
Daniela laughed and shook her head no at Aja. “You do.” Ah, the little scoundrel knew some English after all.
Aja shook her head at Daniela, who simply nodded in reply and put the baby in her arms. It was so tiny, Aja froze. She didn’t know what to do; what if she dropped it?
Daniela took her by the arm and led her to the diaper changing table. It looked like an instrument of torture. She gagged just looking at it. She couldn’t do it.
“
Potete farcela
,” Daniela said with a smile.
Aja had no idea what that meant, but it had to be something encouraging like, “You can do it”, judging from the look on her face.
She carefully placed the baby on the table. Daniela showed her how to set the safety straps around the baby’s tummy.
What a great idea.
At least with that she didn’t have to worry about the baby falling off. Daniela handed her a clean diaper and motioned to take off the dirty one. Aja’s hands hovered over the front of the diaper.
Daniela sighed and opened one of the sticky tabs.
Oh. Well, how was I supposed to know?
Aja pulled open the second one and gently lifted the diaper open. Daniela opened a box, pulled out a wet cloth and handed it to Aja, motioning at the baby boy’s yucky bum.
I wish I could tell her I shouldn’t be allowed near male apparatus. I’m too dangerous.
But, then, she’d just make her clean all the girls’ bums. “Little Hitler,” she muttered to herself.
Once the baby was clean, Daniela handed a clean diaper to Aja, who held it, looking from the baby to the diaper and feeling panic well up again.
Long-suffering Daniela took the diaper, opened it, lifted the baby by both legs and slid the clean diaper in place. She grabbed a bottle, opened it and sprinkled powder over his bottom. She put his legs down, opened the top of the diaper, spread it over his front and taped it down. She was bloody amazing. Aja clapped.
Daniela laughed and shook her head again. “Silly.”
Aja made a, “Who me?” face and Daniela laughed again. They were going to get along just fine.
When it was time to change the next diaper, Daniela wouldn’t help at all. She was so mean. It was a girl this time. Aja figured it would be much easier as she didn’t have all the little sneaky spots a boy did. She was wrong. She soon realized a little girl’s bottom has more creases than a granny’s face. It took her almost ten minutes to find every hiding spot. In the end she prevailed. The little girl was clean, dry and happy. Aja felt proud of herself.
Maybe I can do this job after all.
It was near the end of the day when disaster struck. She was well into her fifth diaper of the day and feeling pretty smug and motherly when the door opened and Marco walked in… just as the baby she was changing exploded. There was poop everywhere, but mostly on her. Marco froze inside the door and stared. Aja stared back and Daniela stared at both of them. Then he started laughing. Daniela joined him.
Traitors!
They both laughed so hard they had to sit on the floor. Even some of the babies started laughing too. Aja felt humiliated. She had to finish cleaning up the baby because Daniela was laughing too hard to help her.
She had just finished wiping him up and swiping at the mess on her arms and face, when a stream of pee went straight up in the air, over the baby’s head and filled the box of cotton balls behind him. Both Daniela and Marco lost it again, while she frantically grabbed a diaper and slapped it over his front. The baby gurgled to himself.
The little devil. Acting all innocent.
By the time Daniela had regained her composure, and came to take over, the baby’s diaper was on and Aja had started dressing him. Aja didn’t want to look at Marco, but had no choice. He had the widest grin on his face. “Shut up!” was all she could say in front of innocent ears.
“It looks good on you,” Marco said, snorting.
She glared at him, wishing she could fry him on the spot.
“I meant mothering.”
“Whatever.” Aja picked the damp smelly t-shirt away from her skin. “Would you mind asking Daniela if she can handle things while I go change?”
“She’s fine. She’s been doing this since she was nine.”
Aja frowned. To be shown up by a little girl was humiliating. After all the successful diaper changes, he just had to show up at the wrong time.
Aja waved at Daniela and motioned that she was leaving. She smiled and waved. “
Ci vediamo domani.
”
“I’ll walk you back,” Marco said. He was probably being nice, but Aja wasn’t feeling too accommodating. He had seen her humiliated too many times.
“I’ll be fine, Marco. I know my way back.” She left him there and fled to the villa. It was a lovely first day on the job.
I can’t wait till tomorrow
, she thought.
Chapter 18
When Aja was born, her family celebrated. Her father had been sure he was going to end up with four sons. When the doctor announced it was a girl, her mother said, “Your father pushed the doctor out of the way and had a look for himself. As a cut-throat businessman, your father is used to making up his own mind. When he saw the absence of certain equipment, he let out a holler that had the nurses running for the delivery room, thinking someone was being attacked. All they saw was his beaming face, holding his little treasure high and shouting to the whole room that he had a daughter.”
Aja could picture the scene as her mother had described it. She could see the nurses gathered around, patting her father’s back and congratulating him while her mother fumed in the bed and wondered why her husband was getting all the attention when she’d done the hard work. It was always that way with Daddy. He drew a crowd wherever he went. His personality was so large and - combined with his six-foot four-inch frame - he was a man few dared to cross.
From her auspicious birth onward, Aja was Daddy’s girl. She followed him everywhere as if he were Mary and she his little lamb. It was a good thing her mother had no desire to play dolls, because her Daddy was her world, and next came The Brothers. They did their best to turn her into one of them, but her father tempered it by insisting she was a girl and needed to act like one. When she turned twelve, he hired a governess for her as if they were an old British family. Aja remembered feeling embarrassed. Her friends teased her relentlessly. But her father wouldn’t give in to her whining; one of the few times she couldn’t get her way with him. He insisted she needed to learn to act like a lady and - because she loved her father - she gave in.
Her governess taught her a lot of things, but the most important message was, “Aja, you need to have respect for yourself. Don’t let anyone make you a fool. That includes you.”
Aja stomped up the stairs to her room, the blood pounding in her ears. As she pulled off her filthy clothing, she battled anger. She had done nothing but make a complete fool of herself since she arrived in Italy. Her governess would be ashamed of her. Her whole life had been about trying to find something important about her that had nothing to do with anyone else. She still hadn’t found it. So far she was important because of her parents, brothers, or even her best friend. She wanted to find significance all on her own, and that was one reason why she’d come to Italy. She hadn’t realized it until that moment. Yet, she was still acting precisely as she had always acted at home: like a child who needed someone to take care of her.
No more. It’s time to grow up.
She stared into the cloudy mirror and locked eyes with herself. “Grow up, Aja.”
The face looking back at her was the same one she’d seen for many, many years. She hadn’t changed much since babyhood. Her parents always wanted her to stay the same, so she never cut her hair and wore little makeup. Aja looked very much like a little girl. Considering her stature, it was a wonder anyone took her seriously, but she was finally ready to do something about it.
Aja pulled on clean jeans and shirt and stuffed her feet into comfortable shoes. It was late afternoon, but she was going to walk to town. She needed to find a hairdresser.
Two hours later, her new best friend swung the chair around and Aja stared at the mirror in shock. And delight. She didn’t look like herself anymore. She looked chic and sexy and… even more Italian. Sonia, the hairdresser, grinned at her in the mirror and Aja grinned back. Sonia had done her makeup as well, and Aja was amazed at the change.
Her hair fell in soft waves around her face, grazing the tips of her ears and falling to just above her shoulder blades. It was glossy and soft, and changed her completely. She loved it. She looked like a woman and not a little girl.
Wait till my family sees me. What will Marco think?
As soon as that traitorous thought entered her brain, she shut it down and turned to Sonia with a smile.
“
Grazie
.”
“
Benvenuta
. Come again.”
“Oh, I will,” Aja said as she handed over yet more of the trust fund. It wouldn’t even notice the dent, she assured herself.
Aja spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets and thinking about her life. She realized things were going to have to change, and it was up to her to do it.
She thought of Mia and how she was getting her life together; getting married and having a baby. She was all grown up and it suited her. Aja wanted the same thing, but every time she tried to be a grownup she felt like she failed miserably.
Why is it so damn difficult to be a woman?
“
Ciao, bella
.” A man stopped in front of her and let out a long whistle.
Embarrassed, she dropped her eyes and rushed by him.
Okay, so I look like a woman. I just have to figure out how to act like one.
Before she knew it, she was standing in front of Julianna’s
ristorante
. Pietro would still be working, so she felt it was safe to visit. There was no way there would be a repeat of the night before.
What had I been thinking? Or, more precisely, why wasn’t I thinking?
“Aja!” Julianna beamed at her and waved her inside. Aja felt better just seeing her. It was like they’d been friends for years.
“You, beautiful!” Julianna reached out a hand and touched Aja’s hair. She struggled with the word for a minute, then said, “Pretty. Veddy pretty.”
“
Grazie
,” Aja said, thinking how Julianna was good for her.
“Pietro like.” Julianna grinned at her and Aja rolled her eyes, deigning to reply. Pietro was the last person she wanted to talk about at the moment.
“How are you?” Aja asked as Julianna seated her.
“
Bene, Grazie
. And you?”
“Good, thanks. What do you have for me today?”
Julianna cocked her head, studying Aja. “Today, you will have…” The rest was unintelligible. Julianna obviously didn’t know any English names for her food. Aja didn’t care. English or Italian, it still spelled yummy.
There were a few other diners in the tiny
ristorante
. She smiled at them, then turned to stare out the window. The new look was making her feel more confident. She hoped it would help her act more confident in her job. Time would tell.
“
Ciao
.”