Chapter 12 – He’s Going The Distance, He’s Going For
Speed.
The next morning I woke up and ascertained that Rob and Rick were both still sleeping. I could hear that Rob’s breathing was still deep and regular, and Rick had Hobbes clutched to his side while snoring softly. I walked to the kitchen to get a drink, it was late enough in the morning that I figured Aunt Susan had already gone to work on her office and decided that Uncle Steve must be working elsewhere as he was no where to be seen, either. I walked to the side door; peeked out the curtain neither was about and saw that his truck was indeed gone, too. After swallowing the last drop, I put my glass in the sink and I went back upstairs. I headed down the hall to the bathroom where I untapped my diaper and threw it into the trash before starting the water in the tub and rinsing out my plastic pants.
A small patch of morning sunlight streamed in through the bathroom window causing little dust motes to become visible as they swirled and danced in the air. The dust moats seemed to scatter when I turned the knob from faucet to shower. There was a bottle of Nair in the shower and I reapplied it to my diaper area as some of my hair was beginning to come back, I was careful to count so-as-to not leave it on any longer than necessary. When I had finished my shower the sun had apparently moved behind a cloud and the bathroom was thick with dense steam. I dried off as best I could in the humid conditions and returned to Rob’s bedroom.
Rick was just getting up when I walked in. “Good Morning!” he said as he folded the sheet up, sitting it and Hobbes in the floor.
“Morning!” I answered back as I reached beside the futon to grab a fresh diaper.
I laid the mat down and re-diapered myself in a flash.
“Wow, your getting pretty good at that, almost a pro!” Rick commented before heading off to return his tiger to his room and take his own shower.
Rick and I watched morning TV for a half-hour before Rob woke up and found us both in the playroom on the floor. Rick had come back fully dressed and I was still in just a diaper.
“Hey, ‘sup?” Rob asked.
“Hey there, it's sleeping beauty!” I joked.
“You should have gotten me up; I will sleep in if you let me.”
“Nah, doesn’t matter,” I said and then asked, “What you want to do today?”
“Let’s go walk the ridgeline into town; I still haven’t walked the whole thing and it sounds real cool to me,” I said sounding somewhat excited at my idea.
“Okay, but it’s going to be hot today I bet; so we need to get, if we are gonna go, before the sun comes up and bakes us,” Rob said moving toward the door.
Rob went and showered while I got dressed and within twenty minutes the three of us were ready to leave. Rick threw a couple of his diapers in my diaper bag and we lit out the side door like three wild kids heading off on an adventure.
We walked across their property to where it hit the ridgeline, a stretch of trail that runs around the perimeter of Simonsville on its west side. It took us a good two hours to get to town proper, but we were walking pretty slowly; it was only about 4 miles, but there was a lot to explore and look at in the woods. Including notable spots where we had built forts, seen animals, or found things abandoned in the woods. Once in town, it took us another fifteen minutes to get to the old business district where Aunt Sarah had her office. A large panel truck, with Renson remodeling painted across the side, was parked sideways in front of the building.
I didn’t know what to expect, but the progress on Aunt Sarah’s office was stunning. The walls had been redone with slightly textured cream-colored wallpaper, new carpeting installed, the light fixtures had been replaced. Even the doors had been refinished and the glass in the transoms replaced. I had no idea anything in Simonsville could look so nice.
We found Aunt Sarah in what was going to be the library and records room. She was showing a large man, probably the owner of the remodeling truck, where she wanted the shelving and how she wanted it affixed to the walls.
“Hi Mom!” Rick and Rob said as we enter the backroom.
Aunt Sarah spun around in surprise, “Oh hello Boys! Is your father here, too? I could use his help with some of this.”
“Dad was gone when we got up so we walked,” Rob Said.
“All the way here?” Aunt Sarah said with surprise, “Goodness, that’s a hike!”
“Na, we followed ridgeline trail around town, it’s quicker than the roads,” I offered.
“I see,” Aunt Sarah said, “Well what are you boys going to do now?”
“I think we are going to go see Kevin and Matt, if that’s okay?” Rob said to his mom’s question.
That was news to me, but it sounded like fun; I mean except for being around Phillip in diapers. I can only hope that police business was keeping him busy and away from home today.
“Okay, well have a good time and be careful!” Aunt Sarah said and then added, “Come back by here later if you want a ride home. Otherwise plan to be home by suppertime.” She started to turn back to what she had been doing when we came in but with one last thought she said, “Call me on my cell if you need anything!”
“Okay, mom!” Both Rob and Rick said.
“Okay, Aunt Sarah!” I added as we left the office and headed toward my house and the school, which we had to pass on the way to Kevin’s house. The walk took us the better part of 45 minutes, but we got to the Rosetick’s place only to find it unoccupied. Phillip Rosetick was thankfully at work and who knows where Mrs. Rosetick was, but it appeared Kevin and Matt were gone too, probably with their mom.
“Didn’t you say Glen was feeling bad?” Rob asked me.
“Well he had a seizure yesterday after school,” I explained.
“Well lets go see if he’s home then. We can make sure he’s feeling okay!” Rob said and he started to head back toward the main road.
“This way is quicker!” I announced, “We can cut out the back, walk through the woods and get to Glen’s house in just a few minutes,” I said, walking us through the Rosetick’s backyard. By cutting through the woods, we shaved off most of the trip. If we’d gone Rob’s way, which is the way we would have had to take if we’d been driving it would have taken us so much longer.
We came up on the backyard of Glen’s house, where the swing set was in use by Glen’s little sister Susan (just like my mom) and a friend of hers whom I recognized but couldn’t recall her name.
“Hi Todd!” Susan called to me as we walked up.
The other little girl had quit swinging and whispered something in Susan’s ear causing them to both to giggle. Susan whispered something back and the other girl smiled sweetly and said “Hi Matt!” It was obvious from where I stood that she was sweet on Matt.
Matt, without fidgeting and with perfect confidence replied “Oh, Hi Beth!”
I could tell that Matt knew she liked him, and as much as it pains me to admit this, I was a little jealous that at 12 he handled talking to a girl better than I do. He said more with just three words then what I couldn’t manage to say with twenty when I talk to Mandy.
“Is your brother here?” I asked Susan.
“Yup, he’s in the house playing games with,” her nose wrinkling as if she noticed some rotten smell “BB!”
“He’s so gross!” Beth agreed. They both giggled more.
We headed toward the side of the house, where a sliding glass door gave entrance to the basement. I could see Glen and BB’s heads as they sat on the couch watching the television. We knocked on the sliding glass door and BB got up to let us in.
I felt a slight pang of disappointment upon seeing BB and Glen, I guess in a way I had hoped they might not be home. All the way over here from Kevin’s I had struggled between giving myself a pep talk and wishing that we were going back to Aunt Sarah’s house. I know BB got an eye full of my diapers yesterday and I did realize that both BB and Glen had spent the night at Rob’s. I knew when I left the house diapered that we might run into someone, but still it seemed different somehow right here and right now. I mean even if BB (and no doubt Glen) knew what I was wearing at night, what would they think about me wearing them during the day too?
Self-consciously I put my backpack beside the door, instead of taking it into the house. I figured it would be safe enough there and wouldn’t be as awkward as walking around Glen’s house with it.
“Hey ya’ll, come in,” BB said as he slid the door open.
“Hey, what ya’ll doin’?” Glen asked us as we filed in. I tried to walk as discretely as possible, but with Rob and Rick both in diapers it was hard to tell who was crinkling, so I don’t know if I hid anything or not.
“Todd was showing us the ridgeline trail today and we decided to see what everyone was up to. We stopped by Kevin’s house but there was no one home.”
“Well, were just bored around here; there isn’t anything good on TV, either,” Glen said.
“Guess what? I got us some fireworks for tomorrow night! If it’s still damp out we can shoot them off,” Rob said completely ignoring the context of the conversation.
“Cool, I got some around at home, too! I will bring them over if you like?” BB said.
“That would rock! Then we’ll have that much more!” Rob said his excitement mounting. I wonder if he ever got fireworks in Chicago, probably not from the way he was acting.
“What are you guys doing tonight?” Glen asked.
“I don’t know,” I said shrugging and looking to Rob.
“Mom and Dad want us home tonight for some reason – we have to be home by suppertime – I think we are supposed to go out for dinner.” Rob answered and then asked Glenn, “Are you feeling any better?” Todd said you got sick yesterday afternoon?”
“Much better today. Thanks for asking.” Glen said, sounding genuinely touched that his new friends cared enough to ask.
BB suddenly piped up, “Hey, we got enough people to race the four wheelers and keep it interesting!”
For the last few year that had always been a favorite activity of ours, most especially BB who raced anything, but it had only been last summer that Glen’s folks had let us ride without adult supervision. Robs face lit up, and I realized he had probably never done anything like that either. “What kind of urban hell is it, in the big city?” I asked myself.
Rob’s voice pounded with excitement when he said, “Wow, that would be great! I’ve seen them on TV but I have never ridden one.”
“Let’s go then!” Glen said, and using the remote he turned off the TV, beckoning us to follow him upstairs.
“MOM! MOM! We’re going to go ride the quads for a while!” Glen called out.
“Oh okay, be careful and have...” Glen’s momma was saying as her voice carried like she was coming closer and closer. She stopped mid sentence when she rounded the corner from kitchen and saw us all standing there.
“I didn’t know you had company!” she said taking all of us in. Of course BB didn’t count as company and I don’t much think I did either. I think that was Mom-speak for ‘Rob and Rick’.
“Hi Momma Reed!” I said to her.
“Hello Todd. Hello Rob, is this your younger brother?”
“Yup he’s my kid brother, but he’s pretty cool, most of the time.” Rob joked.
“Hey!” Rick said indignantly before offering his hand “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Reed!”
“Nice to meet you, too, Rick,” she said shaking the boys hand before turning to Glen and BB, “And so well mannered too! You two heathens could learn a thing or two.”
“I got all the manners I need; I don’t scratch in public no more,” BB said drawing his accent out thicker as he went carried on. I have never figured out why being so smart BB enjoyed playing the hillbilly so much.
”So now you boys want to go run the quads? Have you or your brother ever ridden before Rob?”
“No ma’am, But I’m sure I can learn real quickly.” He answered obviously trying to keep a note of desperation from his voice.
I was surprised at his saying “ma’am”; guess a little of ‘When In Rome’ was rubbing off on Rob after all.
“Well it can be dangerous if you aren’t careful. Mind if I clear this with your Mom first?” she asked.
Rob tried hard not to show his disappointment. “That would be fine. Would you like me to call her for ya?” Rob asked.
We all followed Rob into the Kitchen and he called his Mom at the office.
“Mom? We’re at Glen’s house. Yea, Kevin wasn’t home. We want to ride Glen’s quads, but his momma wanted me to get your permission first.” Rob paused a moment listening then said, “It’s a four-wheeler thing like on TV.” Another paused then, “No, an off-road go kart kind of thing. They get to ride them all the time.” Rob was quiet for a little longer this time. When he spoke again it went something like this, “No [Pause] No [Pause] Yea [Pause] Okay.” And with that he handed the phone to Glen’s Momma who took the receiver with a smile.
I sat down at the table where some papers were scattered out. It looked like Glen’s mom was cutting out coupons from the sales circulars. Guess that’s why they have money.
The kitchen here hadn’t changed much since the first time I was here about 10 years ago. The walls were still the same bright yellow with a strawberry stencil design along the top. The linoleum was pristine and the kitchen looked like it was never used, which in fact it was and often! Glen’s mom was a bake-sale-queen and she baked more than anyone in town. I don’t think there was ever a wedding party around here that didn’t get their cake from this kitchen.
“Yes Todd rides real well too and...” I heard my name and that made me pay attention to this side of the conversation. “... those three know well enough not to horse around. I trust them to ride by themselves, but figured it would be best to clear it with you before letting your boys ride. Uhhuh. Sure. Don’t worry. I will. Okay!”
And with that Mrs. Reed handed the phone back to Rob who listened for a minute before agreeing profusely to something said on the other end. Rob then handed the phone to Rick who did the same.
Rick said, “Love you, too!” just before hanging up.
“We can go!” Rick said jumping and punching his fist triumphantly into the air.
“You boy’s best be real careful. And Rob and Rick, you make sure and listen real close so you don’t get hurt!” Glen’s momma said as we left.
“We will!” Rick and Rob both assured her prompting BB, Glen and I to also offer our own assurances of caution. I think Patsy Reed was only somewhat put at ease by our promises, and I am sure no small part of her unease came from Rick and Rob being the children of lawyers.
We opened the third garage door and filled the two ATVs with gasoline before pushing them out into the driveway to start them. Glen’s dad didn’t like us to start them in the garage as the smell from the exhaust got into the house. So I helped to push one out while Rob helped to push the other. Glen and BB stared the quads and drove slowly on the side of the road to the big field further down the street.
Once at the field we spent the better part of a half hour explaining how to work the gears. Rick got it much easier than his brother and he was riding in circles while Rick was still trying to keep his from stalling.
“Put it back in first;” Glen instructed, “you can’t start out in third.”
Rob pushed the gear pedal down twice.
“Naw, pull up on it with your foot. Pushing puts it in a higher gear,” BB said from beside his friend.
Rob clicked the pedal up until it was back in first and then throttled the quad propelling it forward. He finally seemed to catch on, and improved greatly with a few more minutes practice. Rob and Rick both drove around the field at a slow pace before finally opening the engine up and getting a little speed.
Glen motioned them over to where the three of us stood. I was standing ready to jump out of the way if it looked like Rob was going to hit me, but he did just fine stopping at the same time as Rick.
“Ready to race then? Here to just shy of the big post out yonder where that barn used to be,” BB said pointing to the single beam, which stood in the ground where an entire building was at one time.
“I race the winner!” I called out.
Rick drove around us to line up his quad where BB indicated and Rob got his ATV lined up even with Rick’s.
Glen took on the roll of announcer and with a big booming voice proclaimed, “Racers! Ready. Set. GO!”
The race was over pretty quick. Rick seemed to intuitively know when and where to shift and left his brother far behind. He made the finish a full second before his brother and just sat there smiling beneath his helmet.
Glen, BB and I got to the other side of the field a few seconds later having started our walk as soon the riders took off. Rob had dismounted and handed me his helmet, he was all grins despite having lost. I hopped on the quad and Rick and I both turned around and lined up facing back towards the street.
Rick gave me a real run for my money, which was surprising since he had never rode before, but I knew I was the more experienced rider and much more comfortable with the speed. So after I had clearly pulled ahead I couldn’t resist sliding the backend around as we got back to where the last race had started, my sliding backend slinging the still damp turf into the air in little clumps.
“Good race!” I told Rick who was grinning the same as his older brother had when he’d hopped of the quad.
“That was so cool! Dad has got to get us some of these!” Rick said as he removed his helmet and sprinted to his brother. He quickly recounted the entire race on the off chance that his brother had missed any detail.
Glen picked up the helmet and got on the quad. Most often Glen and I were evenly matched, Glen was probably a better rider than me, but his weight probably kept his times a little lower.
“This is gonna be close. Ya’ll wait for me to spot you from over there,” BB said as he ran back toward the post.
Glen secured his helmet and we waited for BB to cross the field. We both took turns revving the engine at each other.
BB stood at the beam; his arms out stretched like wings as he shouted, “Mark! Set!” and then with a drop of his arms, “GO!”
My hand slipped a bit on the handle bar and I got a bit of a sloppy start. Glen started perfectly; even though I corrected and even started to regain ground Glen cleanly beat me.
“Good race, Hoss, not good enough, but good race,” he said as I removed my helmet and sprung off the bike. The ground was a little squishy from all the traffic we had put the area through and I back peddled to get on firmer ground.
BB jumped into the seat I had just vacated. I knew my part, and just as BB had done for us, I went to work as the flag on the other side of the field. Rick and Rob had just managed to cross the field when I motioned them to turn around so we could get back to the other side.
“Aw we just got here!” Rick whined.
“We need to wait on the other side,” I said and we three trotted back across the field.
I stood in the middle and had Rick and Rob off to one side, where they wouldn’t be in any danger of being hit. It was only a few seconds ‘til I dropped my arms and the quads came speeding toward my side of the field. From straight on, I couldn’t see who was winning, but I guessed it was BB. BB was a natural when it came to driving anything. As a kid BB rode motocross, go-carts, quads, dirt bikes, you name it. His dad had even arranged for him to drive on the short track down around Roopberg, where he tied a lap record in the Rookie Roster. That’s not to say BB won every time; Glen did win their races sometimes, but I don’t think it would be a stretch to say it was often because BB let him win.
BB did end up winning, but Glen wasn’t too far behind him. Rick came running up to the quad anxious for another go when out of nowhere the sky opened up with a singular crack of thunder and dumped rain on us. Apparently inspired by our racing, Mother Nature herself was in a hurry as she went from sunny to torrent in one smooth stroke.
“Crap! We gotta go!” Glen said leaving the helmet on.
“Can’t ride in the rain and mud?” Rick asked.
“Not in the field. Too open!” Glen said, “We’ve got to bring them in if it thunders. Mom thinks we’ll get hit by lightning.”
We headed back towards Glen’s place, only this time Rob, Rick and myself were in the lead since we ran all the way back, while BB and Glen had to drive the quads slowly on the side of the road in case traffic was coming. His father, who said driving on the road was bad enough and that driving fast was far worse, had caught Glen once driving fast on the road. Glen lost the quads for a whole month and ever since then he has made it a point to drive carefully even in unpleasant conditions.
We got to the garage just ahead of the four wheelers, which Glen and BB both cut off in the drive so that they coasted into the garage. Mrs. Reed was in the doorway with a stack of bath towels.
“Came a squall, didn’t it?” She asked as she handed us each a towel. “You all are soaked, through!”
Soaked through, if she only knew how many times I had thought of myself in those terms over the last two weeks. I hadn’t thought of my diaper for at least an hour and I wasn’t even aware of how wet it might be. I’d let a little bit go here and there, but I couldn’t tell how much damage I had done. That rather scared me; how could I not have paid more attention? I wanted to reach into my pants and feel my diaper, but I couldn’t do so with everyone there.
“You boys; off with those wet shoes so you don’t track mud on my clean carpets!” Mrs. Reed told us as we all kicked our shoes off.
She then added, “To the kitchen with all of you! I made cupcakes, which is just what you need right now.”
She must have started on the cupcakes as soon as we left because there they sat on a plate in the middle of the table, which was now coupon and newspaper free. The only evidence of any activity in the kitchen was the still cracked oven door and a wire rack on the counter top.
We sat around the table and Mrs. Reed brought us each a can of Coke.
“What kind of cupcakes you make?” Glen asked his mom as he bent the tab on his coke back making a sharp hissing sound.
“Coca-Cola cake.” She answered.
Now, a quick tangent for those of you reading this not lucky enough to live here in the land of cotton, where Waffle House’s dot the landscape and Wal-Mart is almost a religion unto itself. There are a few pieces of indispensable southern wisdom when it comes to cooking, which I will now gladly share with you-my friends north of the Mason-Dixon. The first is that pork is a seasoning and should be used as such; fat back is good for you if used in beans and greens. The second is that there is no food, which isn’t improved when fried and covered in gravy, we should know we brought the world Country Fried Steak and Fried Chicken. Thirdly, that Coca-Cola isn’t just for drinking, it is the secret ingredient in much of southern cooking, Coca-Cola cake being just one such example. So if you have never had it, trust me and look up a recipe on Google, you won’t be disappointed, I promise!
We sated ourselves on cupcakes and coke, BB helping himself to two cupcakes. It has always astounded me that BB was toothpick thin ‘cause he ate twice as much as Glen, especially where sweets were concerned. Glen, who despite his corpulent appearance ate in moderation, which was no doubt difficult with a mother addicted to producing baked goods.
“Oh Rob, sweetheart.” Mrs. Reed said while we were talking at the table “I brought your bag in from outside when it started to rain.”
“My bag?” Rob asked, not getting it right away.
“Your knapsack by the basement door. I saw it when I called Suse and Beth inside,” she said.
“Oh, that bag! Thanks Mrs. Reed,” Rob said.
“Well I put it in the hall by the bathroom so you won’t forget to take it with you,” she said and I guess that was her way of being discreet.
“No ma’am, I won’t and thanks a lot though for looking after it for me.” He answered after quickly swallowing a mouthful of cupcake.
“Well you can bring it in next time and I can watch it for you if you like.” Patsy Reed offered.
“Will do Mrs. Reed!” Rob said.
My ears felt a little warm during this conversation, and I wondered if anyone else noticed. I am glad that Mrs. Reed had assumed the diaper bag was Robs, which meant she didn’t know as much as I assumed she did yesterday when she saw my baby powder and wipes.
We sat around the table and talked, relating our ATV experience to Glen’s momma who at least pretended to be interested as we recounted our racing stories. Rick excused himself and headed to the bathroom. While we talked the storm passed and the rain had eased up, but Mrs. Reed still insisted on driving us home so we wouldn’t have to walk all the way back to town to catch a ride.
“You boys wouldn’t want to walk ridgeline after that rain anyways. It’s probably muddier than ever right now,” she said.
We were just getting ready to leave when Susan came from her bedroom where she and Beth had been sequestered the whole time we were there.
“Ya’ll leaving?” She asked her mom.
“I’ll be gone just for a few minutes to take these boys back home so they don’t get all muddy and wet.” Mrs. Reed answered.
“Oh okay.” Suzy said before making eye contact with me, “Todd, I think momma brought in your backpack for you so don’t forget it.”
“Um, thanks,” I said as I turned beet red. “Smooth Todd!” I thought to myself, had I not lost my cool and blushed there, I’m certain Mrs. Reed would have assumed I was just carrying it for Rob. Now I bet she at least suspects it was mine; and with what she saw yesterday? I hope she doesn’t think me too weird to hang out with Glen anymore. “That’s stupid, Todd!” I thought, “Why would she even care?” I asked myself. Much to my relief Mrs. Reed didn’t say a word at all.
“Don’t worry, I got it on my way back!” Rick said showing Susan the backpack.
“Okay cool.” Susan said and smiled at Rick “Beth says goodbye, too!”
“Tell her I said bye and tell her she can call me if she wants too.” Rick said back.
“Grrrrr!” I growled to myself thinking that the stupid little kid was going to - as they say, ‘Get the girl’ and all I was ever going to get was sweaty palms.
Mrs. Reed drove us all the way back to the farmhouse. We said our goodbyes and thanked her for the ride. It looked like Uncle Steve had made it home while we were gone, but he must have been in the barn or in the fields, because the house was still empty when we went inside.
The first thing I did was rush upstairs to change my diaper. I had wanted to change at Glen’s, like Rick had done, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Especially not with the whole diaper bag incident, and how could I leave one of my diapers in their trashcan? I wonder if the girls could hear the noise Rick made while changing his diaper, Susan’s room being directly across the hall from the bathroom.
I had a fresh diaper in one hand and was about to drop my pants when Rob popped into his room.
“I’ll give you a hand if you want,” he offered.
I thought for a second and I decided to let him change me. “Sure thing, thanks!”
I let my pants down and lay down on the pad that I had put out on the futon.
“Damn, you pissed your pants big time, didn’t you?” Rob said looking at my yellow fronted diaper after he had pulled down my plastic pants.
He un-taped the diaper and got a wipe from the container. “I am surprised it didn’t leak!” Rob said as he started to clean me with the wipe, “But don’t you worry; we’ll get you in dry pants in just a minute.” I was erect again despite myself.
He cleaned me off, taking his time as he did so, until I became uncomfortable with the vulnerable feeling of being so exposed. I guess my expression relayed this to Rob because he looked down on me and smiled “Easy there, little fella, I’ve got to get you all cleaned off before I can put a dry diaper on you!”
“All right, squirt, knees up!” He told me and I complied.
He unfolded the diaper slowly pulling the sides out and running a finger in the leak guards to stand them up. I had gone to feeling more awkward then before, now with my butt raised in the air. Finally, Rob scooted the diaper up under me and told me to let my legs down. He brought the diaper up and instead of taping it down he folded it onto my groin and left it there over my erection.”
He went and opened his dresser drawer, and pulled a diaper-doubler from its package, it looked like what Uncle Steve had used to bulk up Rick’s diaper the night before. “We need some more absorbency for you I think. Otherwise it won’t be twenty minutes ‘till you leak.”
He sprinkled powder onto me and into the padding of the diaper before at-long-last he taped it tightly into place.
“There you go Todd, clean and dry!” He said before adding, “For a minute!” He kidded me as he grasped my arm and just like you would a toddler he helped me stand.
“Let’s get your pants back up.” He pulled my plastic pants up into my crotch. “And now your jeans,” he said as he pulled my jeans up. He settled my jeans a little lower on my waist so a bit of my plastic pants showed from the top. After he synched my belt one notch looser than I normally wear it he said, “All done there, Sport! You can run along and play now!”
I realized I was breathing heavy, I just felt so little. That was hot; I mean, being talked to like a toddler.
“That was incredible!” I said and then thinking reciprocation was only fair I offered, “You need help?”
“Nah, it’s never the same after I take the adult role. I just can’t shift gears that fast – it would be hard for me to be ‘The baby’ after being ‘The grown up’. But some other time sure, I would love it.” Rob paused a moment and I could tell he was forming another thought. “Rick tries to do it for me sometimes, but role play just isn’t his thing when it comes to changing anyone else. Plus, I think he is uncomfortable doing something so ‘almost’ sexual with his brother. At least we don’t have the problem do we?”
I sighed at myself and the irony fairy. “Nope I don’t guess we do.”
We spent the remaining couple of afternoon-hours in front of the tube. It was about 5:30 when Aunt Sarah got in.
“Boys! Come down here for a minute, please.” She called from the kitchen.
We found Aunt Sarah and Uncle Steve sitting at the table with a couple of boxes wrapped in birthday gift-wrap in front of them. Rick and Rob didn’t seem surprised, so I think they expected this.
“Okay, you two, here’s the plan. These are your birthday presents, which are somewhat private. We know it’s early for both of you, but we figured you could put these to good use and that you might like getting them now instead of in front of other people.” Uncle Steve explained.
“After you open those, we will drive into Jerson, get a Pizza at the Pizza Palace, and then maybe see a movie,” Aunt Susan said as she finished handing Rob and I each a box.
I can recognize a clothing box when I see one, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t mind what was tucked inside this particular box. Just as a kid on Christmas or his birthday I ripped the paper and pulled the lid off. I spread the tissue aside and saw a couple pairs of pants inside. I pulled the first pair out and found they were not pants, but shorts instead. They looked like regular blue jean shorts and it took me a minute to realize how they were different. The waist was elastic throughout and while it looked like a regular button at the waist it wasn’t functional.
“I have some like that already, they are real shorts,” Rob said while I looked them over.
I reached in the box and pulled out a pair of blue jeans made the same way, only these had snaps along the inseam.
“There is extra room in those to fit over your diapers and the elastic waist helps keep them up and makes changing easier.” Aunt Sarah demonstrated pulling the waist out on the shorts showing how much it stretched.
“Thanks so much!” I told them both, I know Mom had gotten me clothes to go over my diapers, but these were made just like little kids clothes.
Rob had a new pair of Jeans as well as squared off Onesie like my new one. Only this one had vertical stripes and a baseball motif.
My next box had a blue and grey striped t-shirt with contrasting cuffs on the arms and neck. The box also contained a pair of shortalls like the ones Rob had loaned me a couple of weeks ago.
I couldn’t have picked better had I tried, and I was almost speechless. “Thanks guys!” I said giving my Aunt and Uncle both a hug.
Rob looked at his mom, “Can I get his other present now too?”
“I don’t see why not!” Aunt Sarah said and Rob tore off to the front of the house and came back a couple of minutes later with a small softball size box.
“This is from Rick and me!” Rob offered as he handed me the package.
It contained a sippy-cup with my name stenciled across one side and Taz on the other side.
“It matches mine and Rob’s, too!” Rick said going to the cupboard and pulling out a similarly made up sippy cup. He displayed his with ‘Rick’ written across one side and Speedy Gonzales on the other.
“Todd gets the idea.” Aunt Sarah said before Rick could get down Rob’s sipper too.
I hugged both my cousins and whished I had something with me to give to Rob. Oh well I could get Mom to take me shopping when she gets back.
“Now we better get you boys ready for dinner.” Aunt Sarah said directing us back to the bedrooms. “You boys have a seat and I’ll be right there.”
It was actually Uncle Steve who came into the room. He had a couple of odd pad like things in one hand. “Okay birthday boy number one, come and get it,” he said and directed Rob to the stand in front of the futon.
He stripped his son there on the spot and had him lay on the futon. Steve started to diaper the boy like normal only this time he unfolded the large pad and stuffed it into the diaper.
“It’s a Moliform Liner, better than a doubler because it holds a lot more.” He explained for my benefit as he snapped on a pair of plastic pants over Rob’s diaper.
The extra bulk was evident when Rob stood up. Uncle Steve held out a pair of Rob’s new blue jeans and had his son step into them one leg at a time. He pulled them up around the boy’s waist where he pulled up the half zipper and snapped the waist closed. Robs diaper and pants were left exposed by a small amount, much as Rob had done for me earlier in the day, only these jeans couldn’t rise any higher even if Rob had wanted them to. Uncle Steve then got a shirt from Rob’s closet and pulled it over the boys’ head and arms. The shirt looked normal at first glance, a lot like my new shirt in fact, but then I noticed that it was cut just an inch or two shorter than normal, which meant that his shirt wouldn’t cover the bulk of his diaper and that when sitting or reaching for things his diaper would be exposed.
Rob admired himself in the mirror and for good reason too. He look all of three or four years old, only taller.
“Okay, Todd, you’re up. You want to wear your new clothes, too? Or is that too much, too soon for you?”
“You bet I do!” I said stepping out of my big boy jeans.
Once diapered, I was taken aback by the bulk of the booster pad. It was thick and added considerably to my diaper size, much more than the insert Rob had used earlier.
“You got a favorite pair of plastic pants?” Uncle Steve asked me.
“Fire trucks!” I said and laughed despite myself.
He opened my plastic pants drawer and pulled out the pants in question. He snapped my fire truck pants on me and then held out my new jeans for me to step into, which I did. I found myself dressed exactly like Rob. The more I looked at him the more I noticed how toddler like he looked, when you knew what to look for. A quick glance and he (Or me I suppose) would look like a normal kid, but any closer examination would leave no doubt in the viewers mind exactly what we were wearing. The elastic at the waist left our pants puffed out with no chance of hiding our diapers and the shirts were short enough to make sure our diapers and plastic pants were exposed when we were active.
I walked a few steps, well more like waddled. The other thing about these jeans that I couldn’t help but notice was that my diaper was particularly loud. So far wearing plastic pants had helped to muffle the crinkling sound a bit, but I guess that only worked with tight pants. It seemed that the extra room in the seat of the toddler style jeans kept the diaper from becoming compressed and silenced.
“All right, you two, let’s go!” Uncle Steve told us as he ushered us downstairs with a swat to our diapered rear ends.
We met Rick and Aunt Sarah back in the kitchen. Rick had been dressed in a similar fashion to Rob and I, and it made our age differences even less apparent. Aunt Sarah had an honest to goodness children’s diaper bag over her shoulder this time, its zipper opened and with our diapers peeking out the top for anyone to see.
We rode away from the house and headed toward the bright lights, well figuratively at least, of Jerson and before I knew it we were turning into the “Pizza Palace”. I had wanted to eat here for the last couple of months; Mom and I just hadn’t had the opportunity. The Pizza Palace, which looked like it might have been a Pizza Hut in its past life, was packed beyond capacity.
We circled the parking lot twice before finding a parking space. As we pushed our way into the small lobby we found that it was cramped and claustrophobic. Two arcade games sat against one wall, one an ageing Major Havoc machine and the other one looked like it had Tekken loaded, but the marquis was damaged and ripped behind the Plexiglas. I got to looking closer at the machine and I think it might have been a Centipede machine originally! I was dumbfounded, some Duffus tried to convert a Centipede cabinet to a Tekken cabinet. No wonder the game seemed in such sorry shape, who would do such a horrible thing to a classic game like Centipede?
Rick waddled through the group of people and pressed some quarters into Robs and my hands. I raised an eyebrow looking at the poor Tekken convert hoping that was not what they wanted to play. If I were by myself, I might have played a bit of Major Havoc, which in my humble opinion is one of Atari’s most underappreciated classic arcade games. Rob and Rick worked further back into the corner and when I got close Centipede cabinet had obviously not been let near the pristine low profile Jamma cabinet almost hidden in the back of the lobby near the Pick-up Window for the ‘To Go’ orders.
“It’s on now,” I said seeing the cabinet was playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2. I dropped my quarters in and selected Wolverine and Spiderman. Rick got in and selected Ryu and Iron Man. “He was so toast.” I’d said to myself.
I managed to hold both of them off several times, even to the point of giving them my extra quarters so they could play more too. After several rounds, I’m not exactly sure how many, Uncle Steve managed to get our attention and we understood that our table was ready. Rob and I finished the round and I won again, but I just left my play to get taken out by the computer by whoever played it next. Inside I was secretly smug and gloating at my victory especially considering the beating I normally take every time we play Rob’s Xbox.
We got a booth and I was scooted in against the wall with Rob sitting next to me on the open end. Uncle Steve sat opposite me and Aunt Sarah sat across from Rob. Rick sat in a chair at the end of the table. I could hardly believe it when Aunt Sarah had put the strap of the diaper bag over the back of Ricks chair, which meant it was visible to anyone in the restaurant who walked by or glanced our way.
Soon a middle-aged waitress who had been running frantically over the entire dining area stopped at our table. “Well, hello there, cuties!” She said as she put down a paper placemat in front of Rick and Rob before leaning over to put one down for me, too.
“Hi, Joyce!” Rick said brightly.
“Joyce waits on us whenever we come here,” Rob explained to me.
“Yes Sir, I do, and who’s your friend here? You two strike a remarkable resemblance.” She asked Rob as she put a small box of Crayons down on each placemat.
“This is my cousin Todd,” Rob said.
“I see. It’s nice to meet you, Todd!” she said.
“Nice to meet you, too!” I smiled back at her as I fumbled to open the box of crayons.
Joyce took the table’s drink order and melted back into the crowd to grab our beverages and to serve the other patrons. Examining the box of crayons, I saw the neat row of the eight primary colors. I slid the blue one out and rolled it in my fingers for a minute. The placemat was printed with some nonsensical Safety-First picture, but damn if it didn’t seem a bit bizarre, too. My placemat featured three boxes with ‘Avoid these hazards’ written across the top. One box had a child poised to plunge a butter knife into an electrical outlet. Another box depicted a child about to dash into the street to fetch a ball, which had rolled into the path of an oncoming car. The third design showed a kitchen cupboard opened to reveal cleansers all marked with the poison symbol and a kid with a water glass in his hand.
“Kinda gruesome, ain’t it?” I commented before starting to outline the soon to be electrified lad’s pants.
“Yup! Joyce has some special just for us. Rob printed them off the Internet and we brought them up here.” Rick said as he colored a car stalled on a set of railroad tracks.
“That’s um, very nice of her to do that,” I said at a loss.
“Well she’s kind of Mom’s friend, too,” Rick said, as if that should make everything clear.
“I met Joyce just after we moved here. I was at the fabric store looking for a local seamstress who could make some special orders for the boys. I asked the woman working there if she knew of anyone in the area who took commissions and she walked me over to Joyce. We got to talking and I found her husband was opening a restaurant, and needed some legal advice, so we swapped services. Joyce was more than a little surprised when I told her exactly what I wanted and why, but she really came through and made the cutest pair of shortalls in the world for Rick.”
I was so engrossed in coloring and listening to the story that I didn’t notice Joyce had returned and was setting our drinks out. The adult drinks came in normal glasses, but our drinks came in plastic tumblers with a lid and straw poking through.
Joyce picked up where Aunt Sarah left off, “I wondered if the boys liked the clothes, so I asked Sarah what the boys thought. I sure was surprised when, there on opening night, these four marched in the door big as life and these two,” she pointed at Rob and Rick, “wearing what I made ‘em! It was the cutest thing I ever done seen!” Joyce said as she leaned over the table handing out drinks. “Well, back with your pies in a minute!”
“Joyce took to the idea of making these special clothes, and as soon as I am certified to practice here in Alabama she has requested that I incorporate her for her own Internet business.” Aunt Sarah said obviously proud.
“Did she make my clothes, too?” I asked
“She sure did. She already had Rob’s measurements so making duplicates was pretty straight forward.”
Rob chuckled as he colored a soda machine poised to fall on the kid trying to rock the machine to get free drinks.
“Dude, where did you get these?” I asked him indicating the placemats.
“Somewhere on the web, Everyday tragedies it was called, but I don’t remember the exact site though.” Rob explained.
It had been probably close to 10-years since I colored at a restaurant table, and I had forgotten how effective it was at making time pass, because it didn’t seem to take anytime at all before the food got to us. Aunt Susan gathered the papers up and put them in the side pocket of the diaper bag and she had us put the crayons back in the boxes to be given back to Joyce.
“Okay I got one sausage, ham and pineapple and one bacon, beef and extra cheese.” Joyce said as she set the pizzas down and handed out plates to each of us. “Ya’ll enjoy, I’ll be back to check on you in a minute.”
Pineapple on pizza sounded kinda freaky so I stuck with the beef and bacon. I found the little round shaker of crushed red pepper and shook it out all over the pizza on my plate. I had been a capsaicin addict since I was 9 when Kevin and I both had gotten into a ‘Tabasco on our food’ phase. I’d since learned all about peppers; the different kinds and exactly how “hot” some peppers can be. Just for a point of reference Tabasco sauce rates at a capsaicin index of about 1000, while some of the peppers we bought at the farmers market rated in the tens of thousands.
The pizza while good was not great, but I decided that, if for no other reason than I loved how nice Joyce was, that I would make this my favorite pizza place and possibly my favorite place to eat in all of Jerson.
The meal passed quickly, with most of the dinner conversation being dedicated to, once again, the retelling of the afternoons racing exploits. I tried to remember if I had been that excited my first time, but the memory was too distant for me to judge.
Uncle Steve paid the tab and on our way out I made sure to thank Joyce for doing such a great job on my clothes.
“I’m glad you like them sug’. Ya’ll sure you can’t stay for a big slice of cheesecake?” she asked.
Is it any wonder kids are getting fatter each year? I mean in the span of one day that was the third time I had been offered something ‘desert like’ by an adult. Not that I’m complaining mind you, but gee-whiz, come up with something better than video games to blame weight gain on. BAH!
We walked across the parking lot and went right past the van, crossing over a small grassy median separating the Pizza Palace parking lot from the strip mall, which held the Jerson Cinema 8.
Adjoined to the movie theater was the Treasure World Arcade that we had to pass on our way. The Arcade looked to be filled with kids about my age playing games and having a good time. We all got in the line to the box-office to wait until Uncle Steve suggested to his wife. “Why don’t you take the boys inside and get drinks and stuff? I’ll be along in a minute with the tickets.”
So we split off and followed Aunt Sarah inside the theater and got in yet another line. “Anyone want anything besides a soda?” She asked us.
Soda and candy, right? Make that sugar quotient go up to four-times now. But even had I wanted, too, I was too stuffed even for popcorn. Normally, I considered viewing a movie without popcorn a sacrilege, which no doubt pissed God off immensely; I mean why else would he have invented popcorn? As it was, no one else was interested in anything else to eat either. So, with just five large Cokes we met up with Uncle Steve near the pimply-faced teenager, whose sole job in life revolved around ripping paper in half and pointing to a door.
We were going to see the third installment of the Harry Potter movies, and I think we were all excited; at least I sure was! I watched the first movie on DVD at Glen’s house and Mom took me to see the second one here in Jerson when it came out. I had read the third Harry Potter book and was anxious to see how they handled all the special effects.
We walked into the dark auditorium filled with the hushed murmurs of pre-movie conversations. Even amongst the talkers you could quite distinctly hear our diapers as we walked, or at least I could hear Rob and Ricks and they were a good six feet ahead of me. And even if it was just my imagination and no one did notice when we walked in, the people on our row sure had to notice as we scooted our way down in front of those sitting in the end seats.
We had made it in before the end of the trailers for the coming attractions, which was nice, since I generally enjoyed trailers. Words can’t express how happy and content I was sitting there with my cousins watching a movie, thickly diapered and wearing little kid clothes. Just as the movie began I managed to wet myself a bit, and I made a point of letting go whenever the urge hit during the next two hours.
At on point in the movie, when Harry is shown to be in bed in his dormitory with Ron and his other classmates in their respective beds, I had the most unusual little tangential runaway thought. I had only read a few diaper stories now, but it was enough to know that TB/AB/DL folk in England were even stranger than we were here in America. I mean what the hell does nappy mean anyways? Well suddenly, I am thinking about “What if Harry Potter was a diaper story?” I know I’m probably going straight to hell for thinking that but, I could see the scene perfectly in my mind “And Harry Strode about the room,” well strode because Harry strides everywhere! “Waiting for the firm head mistress rubber-nurse to visit their dormitory and thrash them for being naughty little nappy-boys.”
I leaned over to Rob, to explain my brilliant, if not a bit twisted imago, but a cautionary pause to try and phrase it right, gave me enough time to realize that I could not articulate the mental images and make it funny to anyone else but me. ‘Firm head mistress rubber nurse?’ Indeed!
Rob turned his head and looked at me leaning over him, “What?”
“Um nothing; never mind,” I said as I sat back in to the middle of my seat and settled for wetting myself a little more.
Anyways, all during the remainder of the movie I was distracted by lewd mental imagery of Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey-the school nurse, so much so, that I had to struggle to keep from chuckling and being the only laughing.
The great thing about wearing diapers to the movies comes from not having to miss anything because of a trip to the bathroom. Case in point, near the end when Dumbledore was giving his advice to Hermione and Harry, I was just as pleased as could be to sit there in my seat getting to watch the movie rather than dashing to the men’s room. I sighed and let go with another small flood.
Once the movie ended we followed the other folks in our row and pressed into the congestion of people leaving the theater. We got to the lobby and came to a standstill in midst of the throng of people heading in different directions. It looked like several movies had ended within the same span of time. I’d always figured they staggered the times better than that, but then again, what did I know?
”Mom! I’m wet can you change me before we ride back home please?” Rick said much louder than he absolutely needed to.
Aunt Sarah looked down at her son and put some exasperation in her voice “You’re wet eh? Well I suppose you boys will need changed sometime, better sooner than later.” She wasn’t as loud as Rick had been, but loud enough that I gathered that being overheard was the point.
Just on the one side of the concession stand and perpendicular to the normal restrooms was a family restroom. The picture in the center of the door showed a stick man, woman, and child holding what would have been hands. There was a line for this restroom, with two families groups ahead of us. The woman closest to the door had a crying two year old by the hand and a screaming infant in a carrier; I imagine her fellow theatergoers appreciated her kindness in not hiring a babysitter.
The door opened and even as another patron was trying to leave, Mrs. Manners and her noisemakers pushed their way inside and slammed the door shut with a thud.
The other person in line ahead of us had a little girl and a little boy who both looked to be a year or so beyond diaper age, but arguably I probably looked a good 12 years beyond diaper age, current clothing not withstanding. But I still wondered at what they were going into the group restroom for as she had no diaper bag with her. In the end I couldn’t say for sure ‘cause this was to be my first venture into this type of restroom and had no clues what to expect. A man and a boy of about six got in line behind us. The man had a folded up pull-up in one hand and the little boy seemed to squirm around like he was uncomfortable.
Seeing this, Rick started fidgeting himself, he pulled and pushed the velvet rope on the concession stand queue enough that his shirt kept riding up and exposing his diaper.
Rob turned on his brother “Stop it, dork! We’ll get changed in a minute, or do you want mom to get mad and make you ride home in a wet diaper?”
“Quit it, both of you! Right now!” Aunt Sarah scolded them both.
If I hadn’t known this to be a game I would have thought them really on the verge of trying her patience.
Suddenly Aunt Sarah turned on me. I was standing just behind her with Rob and Rick on the other side of her. She looked down at me and slowly shook her head back and forth “Todd, your shoe is untied again. Tie it before you trip and fall, or should I tie it for you so it won’t come undone again?”
“No ma’am I can get it,” I said marveling at the slick opening she gave me to play too, if I’d wanted. Lord she was crafty; no wonder she made such a good lawyer.
While I was getting the nerve to bend down and tie my shoe, the door to the restroom opened and Miss Mannerly came out again with both children in tow, their aforementioned state of displeasure still in tact with both children still crying and screaming.
Taking in a deep breath, I bent down over my waist before squatting down and instantly felt a bit of a draft as my shirt rode above my jeans and over the rise of my plastic pants above them. I tied my shoe, which had in reality only become partially untied. I lingered for a minute and when stood back up feeling my shirt fall back down, but I think it settled on the ridge at the top of my plastic pants, which left an inch or so gap between the top of my jeans and the bottom of my shirt.
Aunt Sarah left me like that for a second before she ‘noticed’ prompting her to yank my shirt down in the back. She looked at me and shook her head “I swear, you boys completely lack any sense at all!”
She smiled appraisingly at the man in line behind me and we all stepped closer to the door.
“Looks like you got a handful there,” he told her sympathetically.
“Don’t I know it! At least someday your little tyke will outgrow his accidents. Mine, well, I’ve given up on that.” Aunt Sarah said, again not at full volume, but loud enough for anyone to hear with out straining.
I didn’t know I could go from being an exhibitionist to beet-red so quickly but I did. I noticed Rob had hung his head as he too blushed deeply. I also think he was smiling, but it was hard to tell with his head hung so low. Rick just stood there un-phased by it all and I couldn’t help but wonder how he managed it.
The door opened and the lady and the two children filed past us. Aunt Susan held the door open for the three of us. Once we’d filed past her, she told the man from the line, “There are two tables and a stall in here... if you don’t mind sharing. I’m only going to use the one table.” She offered him with a smile.
“Thank you, that’s very kind,” he said and followed us into the restroom.
On one wall there was a typical fold-down baby changing station just like in nearly every public bathroom I’d been in. On the opposite wall was a long bench, where people could rest or feed an infant. Aunt Sarah led us to the bench and laid down an underpad that she had pulled from the diaper bag. “Okay Todd, hop on up there.” She instructed me.
Though my heart was about to stop, I did as she told me. She then unsnapped the legs of my jeans and folded them up exposing my plastic pants that covered my very wet diaper. “You really did need your diaper changed didn’t you?” She said and I knew the man could hear every word. “Well I’ll have you snug and dry in just a minute!” She said as she unsnapped my fire truck pants. When she started to untape my diaper I looked across the room to where the man had pulled his young sons pants off. The boy stood there, thumb in mouth, transfixed as he watching me getting changed. The man hooked his thumbs into the boy’s Pull-Up and started to pull them down when he heard a little grunt from the child.
“Daniel? Why didn’t you say you had to poop?” He exclaimed as he pulling the wet Pull-Up back into place. “I don’t have any way to clean this up!” He said exasperated as his boy squatted down and dropped a load into his Pull-Up. The man ran to the sink and started to grab at the towel dispenser.
Aunt Sarah wiped me down while I gawked at the kid. She then slid a fresh diaper up under me, but stopped just long enough to offer the man the tub of wipes. “Here these will work better than those paper towels,” she said holding out the little plastic box.
“Thank you very much!” the man said as he took the box of wipes from Aunt Sarah.
She slid another Moliform Liner in my diaper and taped me up and reapplied my fire truck pants before snapping the legs back on my jeans.
“Next!” She announced very matter-of-fact like as I climbed down. Like an over-enthused rabbit, Rob jumped at the opportunity.
The little boy, Daniel, after dropping into his squat had his father yank him up by the armpits and carry him into the stall where I can only assume he tore off the pull up and held the child over the toilet.
As Aunt Sarah was sprinkling powder onto Rob the man and boy reappeared with his son naked from the waist down. Most of it gone, but some of the foul smelling poo was still spread across the boy’s bottom. He had the boy stand as he said as he cleaned his son up with the wipes Aunt Sarah had given him.
When finished being changed, Rob joined me by the sink where I had been standing watching the man and his son. I couldn’t help but notice that the little boy was still watching all of the action on our side of the room.
Aunt Sarah was finishing Rick at the same time the man was pulling the new pull-up up onto his child’s diaper area. He had rolled up the boys’ pants and had him step back into his sandals leaving his Pull-Up fully exposed.
Aunt Sarah tossed our old diapers into the trash and ushered us to the door as she opening it for us. When we first walked into the restroom, had we been taking bets on who would be out first? I wouldn’t have guessed us, that is for sure!
Emerging from the restroom I saw that there was only one other family in line waiting to use the family restroom. What a sight that must have been for them as the door opened and three obviously diapered, older boys, followed by one younger boy in just a pull-up came strolling out!
Uncle Steve raised an eyebrow as we got near him. “Later!” was all Aunt Sarah said to him and with that five of us walked or some of us walked while three of us waddled our way back to the Pizza Palace parking lot.
As we climbed back into the van to drive home Rob and Rick both started to tell their dad about our little changing adventure. Aunt Susan clarified and filled in some gaps.
“Wow, sounds like you guys got to put on little show!” Uncle Steve said.
”Well,” Aunt Sarah started to say as she turning around in her chair to smile at the three of us, “they certainly got a show right back!”
When we got finally got back to the farmhouse, very much to my astonishment, I had one more surprise waiting in the wings.
“Mom can we get some new scrapbook pictures?” Rob asked as we were walking in the side door.
“I think that might be a nice idea!” Aunt Sarah said, “Why don’t you go bring your scrapbook down here to show Todd?” she added.
“I’ll get mine too!” Rick shouted as he ran up the stairs to the bedroom.
Rob got back first with what looked to be a large album book. The cover was a plain solid blue with a little card in the middle that simply read ‘Rob’. Rick wasn’t too far behind Rob carrying his own book that also had his name on the cover same as Rob’s did.
We sat at the table and Rob opened his book. There was a picture of Rob and Rick’s room along with a package of GoodNites on both the bottom and top bunk. A small printed piece of paper was next to the photo, which read:
“11/02/1999 – Mom and Dad are so cool; they bought me my own Pull-Ups so I wouldn’t have to take my little brothers.”
“That’s not really my first package.” Rob explained, “I didn’t start the scrapbook until sometime later and I didn’t have a picture of the first pack they bought, but I wanted to have a beginning in my book. So I took a picture that would have been just like the first time.”
The next few pages had pictures of Rob running around in GoodNites, others also had Rick in them, but they all centered around Rob. Nearly every picture had a label of some sort, most said thinks like ‘Getting ready for bed’ or ‘This will keep me dry’. The further we turned in the book the more Pull-Ups lost their prominence, replaced by diapers and soon after that diapers with plastic pants.
After the first third of the book another kid started showing up in the pictures, he was short and skinny with red hair and freckles. “That’s my friend Jerry from Chicago! I met him online looking at diaper sites and our parents let us get together for sleepovers and stuff,” Rob said.
Some of the later pictures looked like they were taken someplace else, and I can only assume they were taken at Jerry’s house but it didn’t seem important enough to ask. Toward the very back of the book there was a picture of this house here in Simonsville with Rob and Rick standing in diapers on the front porch with moving boxes in the background.
“I’m almost done with this book and will have to start on a second one soon,” Rob said sounding proud at his accomplishment.
We thumbed through Ricks scrapbook as well, which followed much the same format, and shared many of the same pictures. I noticed Rick didn’t have any diaper friends of his own, and when I asked about this he explained that Matt was the first kid his age he had met who showed any interest in diapers.
“So how’d you get an idea to start a scrapbook?” I asked Rob.
“Well I wanted to put pictures of me on the Internet, like other kids do; but Mom and Dad said that was a bad idea and wouldn’t let me. They told me that I could put all the pictures online that I wanted to, when I was 18. So instead of the Internet, I take the pictures of important events and put them in this book so I will always have them. Who knows I might share these picture someday too?” Rob said before adding, “Except for Jerry’s pictures, I wouldn’t put them out without his permission, same for any with Rick or anyone else in them.”
”I don’t care. You could put them on now and I won’t mind!” Rick said flipping a page in his book.
“Duh, I meant in principal I wouldn’t do it without your permission!” Rob countered sounding annoyed that Rick had missed the point.
“Well we should get some pictures of our new clothes! And fill up the last two pages” Rick said.
So the remainder of our evening was spent with the digital camera taking pictures of the three of us boys and printing them out on the computer’s printer to put in the scrapbooks. Uncle Steve and Aunt Sarah helped us to take one picture of all three of us with arms around each others shoulders and all smiling, that picture made the last page of Rob’s book complete! He printed a small caption and cut it out before pressing it into the page.
“6/5/04 – My cousin, my brother, and both my best friends. Diaper boys forever.”
Chapter
13A – Looking back, looking forward, and maybe just looking around.