“Surprise!” “Happy Mother’s Day!”
I had just opened my bedroom door. Before me stood two of my daughters, Fall Flowers and Winter Warmth, both dressed for swimming. Each wore a bathing suit of some kind: Fall’s was a magenta and purple leotard that complemented her orange fur, while Winter’s was an orange two-piece affair that matched the jewel on her forehead.
“Sorry, you got stuck with us this year,” the white carbuncle –Winter– joked. Her straight blue hair was tied into short twintails, and aside from the thick glasses on her face, she wore swim goggles around her neck. The rather skimpy suit bottom did little to hide the cyan disposable swim diaper underneath; her sister must have made her take precautions again.
“I gather we’re going somewhere with water?” I chuckled.
The heavyset one, Fall, spoke up, “Spring and Summer are taking Other Mom to the movies, so we’re gonna take you out to-”
“The Ghost Coast!” the two said in unison.
Fall looked at her sister in surprise before grinning and turning back to me. “So yeah, we’re gonna have a girls’ day at the Sunken Sea!” Her curly golden hair –streaked with crimson and burgundy– was tied up in a hightail, not unlike how her other sister, Summer (not present for girls’ day), typically wore it. She, too, sported swim goggles, though these were on her head, resting above her sage-colored jewel. She had her usual mobility brace on her left hind leg, and I could see that like her sister, there was protection under her swimsuit.
“Oh, you two, that’s so thoughtful. I haven’t been out there in quite some time. You know, the Sunken Sea is…”
***
“...a vast network of caves perforates the underside of this desert, which houses the subterranean ocean!” I paused for breath.
We were on the train headed for Desert Harbor, the coastal town above the aforementioned Sunken Sea. I had changed into blue boardshorts (darker than my azure fur), striped in pink and coral; under this I had on a waterproof swim diaper (absorbent, unlike what the girls had on). A black swimsuit top complemented the shorts, and along with my daughters I wore flip-flops. My curly seafoam hair was short enough that it did not need to be tied back.
Behind her thick glasses Winter Warmth rolled her glassy blue eyes. “We know, Mom! You give us this lecture every time we come out here.” Where had she even picked up this behavior? I concluded her siblings must have specifically taught her the action to mess with her parents.
“Winter! This is Mother’s Day!” Fall Flowers admonished, “We gotta do what Mom wants. If Mom wants to lecture us on the cool underground ocean again, we gotta let her. It’s the rules.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Fall, I appreciate the support, even if you are secretly fed-up with my chatter.”
“Was it that obvious?” her ears drooped in self-disappointment.
A loud chime, and a voice over the intercom: “We are now arriving at Glacier Hot Springs Station. Glacier Hot Springs. End of the line. Everybody off!”
I looked up. “What? That can’t be! That’s seven stops past our destination!” How could I have allowed this to happen? I was usually more attentive than this. Perhaps Autumn Aria was right: maybe I do ramble on about things a bit too much sometimes.
“Great, Mom yapped so long we missed our stop. What now?” Winter whined while walking off the train, beach bag trailing behind in her orange aura.
“That’s easy-peasy!” Fall called back as she walked alongside me, “We just get on the next train back. Should be…” We reached the timetable posted in the station. “...four hours?!”
“Why is there such a long gap? What are they doing, changing the train’s diapers?!” Winter slouched on a nearby bench.
“I don’t believe this was a talking train,” I replied matter-of-factly.
Fall turned to us, “Girls, look on the bright side! Our feelings aren’t gonna change what happened, but they will affect how much we enjoy the rest of our day. This just means we get a good amount of time to check out this place and see what it has to offer! We’ve never been here before, or at least I haven’t.”
I beamed. It would appear I taught my daughter well.
“Where even is this dump?” Winter sat up, “Actually, yeah, where are we? It’s so cold. I kinda like it.”
We were in a small village at the base of an enormous, crystalline mountain. While there was snow on the ground and a sharp chill in the air, we were kept warm by covered walkways and frequently-spaced heaters.
“Ah, I can answer this one,” I jumped in excitedly, “This is Glacier Hot Springs, up in the Crystal Mountains. The entire mountain range is made up of raw elemental ice that doesn’t melt. Within its frozen caves are various mineral springs, both hot and cold. It is actually well known for its therapeutic spas and baths, and one of its attractions is a hotel made entirely of ice!”
“That’s our Mom!” Fall chimed in. “See? There’s loads of stuff for all of us to do, and it even agrees with our swimsuits! C’mon, let’s check out the resort.”
“Wait, I think I mighta heard of this place,” Winter’s jewel glowed as she focused her heat sense, her equivalent of looking around. “Doesn’t it boast a ‘subzero sauna’, or something like that?”
I grinned. Winter and I would often listen to science and travel audiobooks together; I was proud I had raised someone with such an inquisitive mind. “It indeed does.The science behind it is quite interesting-”
Fall gave me a pleading look.
“...Which I can go into more detail on later.”
***
“Gotta run, gotta run, gotta run, gotta run! Hurry up! I am not missing that train again!”
In a rare turn of events, Winter was the one leading the charge as we barrelled toward the terminal.
“Winter, dear, I really don’t want you hurdling yourself toward train tracks.” I called out, “Also, technically we haven’t missed any train yet; the first was a missed stop.”
“Not the time, Mom!” Fall Flowers’s green aura carried our supplies, but she was certainly not paying attention to them. I probably shouldn’t have been focusing on that right now, either.
I could feel my very full diaper hanging between my legs as I ran, noting that Fall’s and Winter’s similarly swayed. None of us had even had time to change before we realized our four hours were almost up. Also definitely not the thing to be dwelling on at the moment.
We reached the train with not a moment to spare, the doors closing mere seconds past our boarding.
“Phew!” Winter Warmth panted as she flung herself into a seat. I winced as her at-or-near-capacity swim diaper squished beneath her in the chair.
“Owowow…I’m gonna be feelin’...that one…later,” Fall gasped between breaths. She held her braced leg up so as not to put weight on it.
I looked around as I regained my breath. Thankfully we seemed to be the only ones in this car. That was fortunate, as all of our undergarments were, shall we say, fragrant. Individually our waste would actually be rather pleasant to smell: Fall’s gave off a scent of flowery perfume, my own had notes of salty sea breeze, and Winter’s smelled like a smoky campfire (actually, that last one might still raise concerns in an enclosed space). All three scents mixing, however, was rather nauseating.
“Aww, poopies! This train doesn’t have any changing rooms.” Fall elected to sit down on her heavy swim diaper a little more gingerly, grimacing as her weight compressed the mess and probably pushed more of it toward the front of the garment than she cared for.
I was content standing; as my swim diaper was absorbent, it was not only filled with solid waste, but saturated with liquid as well. The baths were incredibly relaxing, and suffice to say they did wonders for both Winter’s (self-inflicted) and Fall’s (not-self-inflicted) constipation.
The mountain resort had turned out to be quite stimulating. The icy architecture was fascinating, and the amount of different pools and baths and spas was staggering. Fall and I soaked in the warm water while Winter was able to abate the heat constantly coursing through her with the ice-cold offerings (Fall and I also tried the cold water, but it was not to her taste).
After a fashion Fall spoke up, “Wowie zowie, that was really fun, huh? Who knew a place as cool as that was just a train ride away?”
I did, but I was fairly certain her question was rhetorical.
“Yeah, that place was actually pretty awesome.” Winter interjected (no, I will not say ‘Winterjected’...beyond this instance), “Sucks that we didn’t get to take you to the ghost coast, though. I know you were really looking forward to that.”
I smiled. “Oh, don’t worry. It was my fault we didn’t get to do it. Regardless, I had a wonderful outing with you two. The what of the activity didn’t matter so much as the who of it. I’m just glad I got to spend time with daughters who love me; it’s all a mother could really ask for.”
“Aww, we love you too, Mom!” Fall rose from her seat and gave me a hug.
“Yeah, happy Mother’s Day!” Soon Winter had joined the embrace.
“We gotta take the others on a daytrip to Glacier Hot Springs sometime.” Fall bubbled.
“Hey, if it’s so close, how come we never went there when you were homeschooling us?” Winter wondered, her tone more puzzled than accusatory.
I didn’t have an answer for that one.
