Chapter 13A – Looking
back, looking forward, and maybe just looking around.
The morning sun, working its way through a place where the blinds were not closed properly, woke me up annoyingly early. A small single patch of sunlight came through the window and fell right across my face forcing me to roll over on my side to avoid the harsh beam. Even if I couldn’t see the sun after turning away, I still could feel the small swatch as it cut across the back of my head and over one ear, its summer heat just barely detectable in contrast to the room’s temperature. I pushed my eyes closed trying to force myself back to sleep, but it was too late, I was awake and I knew there was no hope of getting back into a restful sleep. So, it was with more than a little reluctance that I tossed back the sheet and rolled off the bed. I checked that Rob was still sleeping soundly on the top bunk before I quietly opened the bedroom door and crept downstairs.
Making my way down the stairs, the only noise coming from the wet squish of my diapers, I could already smell coffee wafting up from the kitchen and for some reason I though a cup sounded ideal this morning. In the kitchen, I found Uncle Steve sitting at the table alone with a mug of coffee, a pad of paper and a pencil.
“Good morning Todd, you’re up early.” He said.
“Yeah, I kinda woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.” I said as I walked over to the little stand, which had coffee mugs hanging on it. I picked a mug off and poured a cup from the Mr. Coffee before I sat down at the table.
“I didn’t know you liked coffee. Neither of my boys will drink the stuff.” Uncle Steve observed as I sat down at the table.
I took a draw of the bitter liquid and frowned a bit at the taste. UGH! It defiantly did not taste as good as it smelled. “I don’t drink it often, but it smelled good this morning.”
“I see. I’m just figuring out what all I have to do this month. I want to have at least two of the fields ready to plant in the spring.” He said pointing at the paper that he had been writing on.
“Lot of work, but you can get this place started back up!” I said trying to sound positive.
“Well thanks for the vote of confidence.” Uncle Steve said before changing the subject on me, “You guys are having your friends from school over tonight?”
“Uh, yes sir. Glen and BB are supposed to come and so is my friend Kevin.” I said.
“I met Glen and BB last weekend, they both seemed like good kids to me. However, this Kevin I haven’t heard much about him.” He paused a second before asking, “Weren’t the two of you estranged until recently?”
It took me a second to realize what ‘estranged’ meant; it wasn’t a word I heard often. “You take the man out of law office, but you can’t take the law office out of the man.” I thought to myself. “Uh, we hadn’t got along for the last two years. But we patched things up this week.” I said.
“Wow that must have been some reconciliation, if it made up for two years of being at odds.” He said frowning slightly as he sipped at his coffee.
I figured Uncle Steve must be pumping me for information and I can’t blame him, he must be worried about Kevin coming over and being an unknown element and all. I can see where it would take just one wrong person to make things tough on all of us. Moreover, I do have to concede that it did sound odd to an outsider who didn’t know our situation, to not talk for two years and then suddenly everything is supposed to be okay. In addition, Matt had made friends with Rick, and yet Kevin stayed aloof and didn’t befriend Rob or even try.
So taking a deep breath and a swallow of coffee I repeated most of the conversation Kevin and I had on Tuesday afternoon in the schoolyard. “I guess I really had pushed him away.” I said at one point to emphasize that I agreed with Kevin.
“So was it a sleepover, which drove a wedge in your friendship to begin with? I take it that this was the sleepover that your Mom said was such a rough experience for you?” Uncle Steve asked with one eyebrow raised higher than the other.
“Yes sir. It was Glen’s birthday sleepover, we were having it at Kevin’s house and I, well, I woke up wet that morning. I had never done that before and I was so shocked and embarrassed. My friends said it was no big deal, but I thought they were just saying that. Especially when Mr. Rosetick started to yell at Kevin calling him a little pants pisser.”
“He did what? In front of you?” Uncle Steve asked, his voice momentarily betraying his shock.
“We’ll I don’t think he knew it was me who had wet the bed.” I paused just long enough to take a breath, “See, when we were little, around five or six, Kevin had daytime accidents every now and then. If Mr. Rosetick was around when it happened, he would get furious and punish Kevin severely.” I paused again to gauge Uncle Steve’s reaction before I continued, “This usually involved spanking Kevin and then taking away his pants for the rest of the day. Mr. Rosetick would yell and scream about ‘Still having a piss baby in the house!’ and would ask Kevin questions like, “Why can’t you stay dry like your baby brother?” I paused and took another sip of the coffee; this gave Uncle Steve a chance to say something.
“Wow that sounds like it had to be rough on your friend.” Uncle Steve said before nodding for me to continue.
I nodded, “It was, but he eventually outgrew it and I had all but forgotten about those incidents until that morning when I wet the bed. So there I was, wet and freaked out, and Mr. Rosetick just assumes that Kevin did it.” I said looking down into my cup of coffee. “There I was, feeling an inch tall because I had wet myself and then feeling even smaller yet for my friend getting in trouble because of me!”
I looked back up at Uncle Steve who was sitting there quietly listening, “By this time Mr. Rosetick was so red in his face and acting like he was going to give Kevin ‘What for’ right there in front of all of his friends! I tried to show Mr. Rosetick my wet shorts, to tell him I had done it and explain that it wasn’t Kevin’s fault! But, he didn’t want to hear anything I had to say. He completely ignored me and kept yelling at Kevin until finally he must have understood what I was saying, because, after the briefest pause, he stopped yelling at his son and instead commanded him to ‘Change his pissy bed before his whole room smelled like pee!’”
“I can certainly understand why you were embarrassed. Poor Kevin too, I can only imagine what that must have been like for him.” Uncle Steve said.
I was hit with an epiphany of sorts. “That’s just the thing! Kevin wouldn’t speak up! At the time, I think I assumed it was because he was mad at me for getting him into trouble, but I guess he was really trying to take the blame for me.” I said understanding, for the first time, some of Kevin’s motivation.
I continued to relate the account for Uncle Steve, “After I had changed my clothes I helped Kevin with the bed, and we got the sheets stripped. Kevin took the whole bundle off to the laundry room, but after he left, I noticed a pillowcase on the floor. I rushed to catch up to him, but I came up short when I heard angry voices from the kitchen. Mrs. Rosetick was pleading with her husband to calm down and keep quiet, but he kept on anyways, ‘Probably going to go back to his old ways of pissing his pants every day!’ I heard him say.”
I took take another drink from my coffee and then said, “Now, I couldn’t see Kevin, but I could hear him crying. I felt so bad for getting him in trouble, I promised myself to keep that from happening ever again.”
“I see and that was your last sleepover?” Uncle Steve asked.
“Uh-huh. I dropped the pillowcase where I stood and ran outside and all the way home. I think that at that moment, I could have dealt with the embarrassment, but I couldn’t stand having Kevin take the heat from his dad because of me; especially when his dad seemed so mean about it.” I realized I was staring down into my coffee cup again so I redirected my eyes to Uncle Steven, “It hadn’t dawned on me that Kevin might be just as embarrassed about the way his dad acted and was trying to shield me from it. So I guess I just drew a line around my life at that point and tried to keep everyone away from my bed-wetting problem. I was so, self absorbed, that when Kevin and my friendship fell apart, I assumed that it was because he had stopped liking me.” I took a second to think before I said, “I had always suspected that his father told him that he couldn’t be friends with a bed-wetter.”
“But as you said earlier it turned out that Kevin actually felt that you abandoned him? Is it fair to say that your fear of Kevin’s father was greater than his own?” Uncle Steve asked.
I had to think about that for a couple seconds before answering, “I... had never thought of it that way... but yeah, I guess I did. But I don’t think that it was the only reason. It’s just became easier the longer I pushed everyone away.”
I looked back into my coffee feeling a little ashamed of myself, “I guess I made my wetting into a bigger deal than it was.”
“I’m still surprised an apology was all it took to make things better between you two.” Uncle Steve commented not letting me dodge his original question.
I hadn’t really wanted to tell him the whole story, but I had already got this far, and beside it felt good to talk through this with someone. So very carefully, I told him an edited version of what happened at my house that afternoon. I told him about Kevin admitting to being a TB, and wearing one of my diapers. Of course, I left out the part where Kevin whacked me off! However, I told most of the rest of it as it had happened. The entire time I was talking, I felt as though I were breaking a confidence – that it wasn’t my place to tell Kevin’s secret, but at the same time I wanted Uncle Steve to understand.
“I think the real cincher though was when I asked him to spend the night. I think that more than anything made everything alright between us again.” I said, finishing my story and taking another swallow of my coffee.
Uncles Steve warmed our coffee up as he said, “Well that explains a great deal Todd. But it still doesn’t explain why, as a TB, he would have gotten his little brother in trouble over diapers. From the way you tell it, Kevin doesn’t sound like the petty or jealous type. He, of all people, should know first hand about the consequences and not bring that down on his brother.”
“Uncle Steve doesn’t miss much!” I thought to myself, making a note to be extra cautious around him with what I say - especially if I am trying to get away with something. I filled in the remaining details of how Matt had coaxed his big brother into telling his parents.
“So the sneaky little devil thought to play the ends against the middle did he? It’s a good thing Sarah stepped in, or it might have really backfired on him.” He said to me before saying, “Well, I feel much better about this Kevin! It sounds like you are lucky to have such a friend!”
“Thanks Uncle Steve, I didn’t know how much talking about all of this would put things in perspective for me.” I told him as I downed the last of the coffee in my cup, which burned slightly going down since Uncle Steve had only just warmed it up by pouring a little more into my cup.
“Morning men!” Aunt Sarah said surprising me and I jumped a bit in my seat at the unexpected sound.
“Good morning.” I said as I went and placed my coffee cup in the dishwasher before giving Aunt Sarah a hug.
After my talk with Uncle Steve I realized just how much I owed my friends for sticking with me, and to my cousins for introducing me to all of this. I really needed to start showing those people around me how much I appreciate them. I though back to how Rob had changed me yesterday and then I marched back upstairs.
Seeing Rob still asleep, I went ahead, quietly as I could, and got the diaper supplies out along with a couple of other things I wanted. I arranged things around the futon and once everything was just right I reached up to his bunk and shook his shoulder. “Hey man, get up.” I said half whispering.
“Whas-up?” He slurred, half asleep the third time I shook him.
“Chickens and pigs and cows are up, everyone is up but you.” I prodded.
“’Kay, I’m up.” He said pulling back the sheet and climbing the ladder down.
Soon as Rob got to the bottom he got a glassy-eyed faraway look and I could tell he was flooding his diaper right there in front of me. Hmmm, I know outside of that first night I slept over Rob never mentioned bed wetting again, “So was his whole story of being a bed wetter a ruse then, just to make his diaper wearing acceptable to me?” I thought to myself and almost immediately I answered my own question within my head, “It might have been, since he said in his own story about how he stole his brother’s Pull-Ups out of attraction, not need.”
It’s kind of funny, but it hadn’t dawned on me until now that he had to deliberately wet his diaper each morning, at least the mornings I’ve been around to witness it. I made a mental note for future reference that it might be nice for him to wake up wet sometime, so I told myself that one night soon I am going to try the ‘Hand in the warm water trick’ to see if I can get him to wet himself while he’s still sleeping. It’ll be my little gift.
I tugged his PJ pants down while he was still engrossed in wetting. “Looks like someone woke up wet this morning.” I teased, “Look at that saggy diaper. It’s a wonder you don’t have to be changed during the night. You just stand there while I get things ready!”
I picked up the pair of his jockey shorts I had fetched from his drawer earlier and held them out for him to see. “I had got these out for you to change into, but I think big-boy pants would be a waste of time, they’d be wet the minute I turned my back!”
I made a big production of putting his underwear back in his drawer, folding it up and taking my time about it. I shook my head and sighed as I got a diaper from the open bag. “Well, come here so I can get you in the kind of underwear you can’t ruin.”
I un-taped his old diaper and made sure to wipe him off thoroughly before folding the wipes into the used diaper and setting it aside. I slipped the new diaper under him and put a doubler into it, just as I’d seen Uncle Steve do before taping it closed. Since I’d not taken his plastic pants all the way off but had only pulled them down his legs, I pulled them back up into place and removed his PJ bottoms from around his ankles.
He stood up, but I wasn’t quite done with him yet. “Here, you need to throw this away.” I said handing him the rolled up disposable.
Rob walked to his trashcan and tossed the diaper. “NOT in here, Rob! Haven’t you got half a brain? It’s going to smell like pee in here soon enough the way you wet yourself every few minutes. Throw it away downstairs.” I had a hard time not breaking into a grin, but I managed somehow to hold myself together, I think it might have ruined the moment otherwise.
Rob, in his shirt and diaper only, went downstairs to throw his diaper away. I took the opportunity of him being absent to change myself, only I pulled a pair of gym shorts on over my diaper. I pulled the little side bits of plastic above the waistband of my over pants, like Rob had showed me, so they peeked out like little handles and then I headed back downstairs myself.
Rob was at the counter getting bowls from the cupboard, which he put on the table along with some spoons. The carton of milk was already there so I am guessing he got that out prier to going for the bowls. Before sitting down he grabbed a couple of boxes of cereal from the small pantry by the fridge and put them in the middle of the table. I looked over the two boxes and grabbed the Golden Grahams; Cheerios are okay but far from my favorite cereal. I poured myself a bowl and replaced the box on the table.
Rick came tromping down the stairs to join us a few minutes later and seeing the bowls on the table he sat down and poured himself a bowl of cereal. “Morning everyone!” Rick said happily.
“Morning sweetie!” Aunt Sarah told him with a smile.
“What time am I going over to Matt’s house?” Rick asked between mouthfuls of breakfast.
“Well about that, champ. Your mother and I have discussed it, and we think it might be better if Matt slept over here tonight.” Uncle Steve told his son.
“Well that was quick, where did they have time to discuss anything?” I thought to myself, “I mean, I was only gone long enough to change Rob’s diaper. Unless ‘they’ was used to convey a sense of ‘don’t argue because both of us feel this way’ when in fact only might have felt that way.
“Oh okay, I guess.” Matt said looking at Rob to make sure he wasn’t going to get blamed for being home tonight.
Rob saw the look and just shrugged, “It was your idea to go over to Matt’s, not mine.”
“When you finish your cereal you boys need your showers.” Aunt Sarah told us.
I got to the hall bath first and pulled my diaper down like underwear thinking I could just pull it back on when I was out of the shower. I started water in the tub to wash my plastic pants and left them on the back of the tub to dry before getting under the shower myself. I cleaned up quickly, hurrying as best I could to save some hot water for everyone else, better to be first for a shower than last I suppose.
When I got done I could still hear water running somewhere so I figured Rob was still in the other shower. I pulled on my diaper again, grabbed my gym shorts off the counter and met Rick in the hall, with me wearing just a diaper. I don’t know what Rick was wearing, if anything, as he had a towel wrapped around his waist. Rick closed the door to the hall bath and I was only alone for the few feet of hallway to Rob’s Room where I found that Aunt Sarah was waiting for me and somehow or another I figured she wanted to talk.
“Todd, I think it is only fair to tell you, I heard a large part of your conversation with your Uncle this morning. I heard you describe the awful way Mr. Rosetick treated you. That’s why we can’t let Rick stay over there. I won’t put Rick in that kind of situation.” She paused a minute to gather herself, “It’s just awful! I don’t know how you handled Phillip Rosetick as well as you did, but it’s a shame you even had too!”
“Me—handle it well?” I said more then asked, “Aunt Sarah, I ran away! And I didn’t have anything to do with my best friend for two years!” I sighed before saying, “I think I could have handled it better.” and I was a little taken back by how bitter I suddenly felt.
Aunt Sarah went over and closed Rob’s door before saying, “Oh but don’t you see Todd? Yes, you made a mistake in judgment regarding your friend, but you did what you did out of concern. So as you said, you ran away, sometimes running away is brave thing to do. That should count for something!”
I shifted my weight so that most of it was on one leg, “Yeah, I know it sounds that way; that I wanted to keep Kevin from getting into trouble because of me... but really I didn’t want anyone to know about my wetting either and to be honest, I don’t know which I wanted more?”
Aunt Sarah looked on lovingly as I continued, “If all I cared about was Kevin? Then why didn’t I have him come to sleep over at my house?” I thought for a second and then shaking my head I said, “No Aunt Sarah, I think protecting Kevin was just an excuse I used.”
Aunt Sarah smiled, “Well I’m very proud of you either way! And I know your Mom is very proud of you too!” She said.
I smiled back, “Thanks Aunt Sarah, but it almost feels wrong letting anyone be proud of me right now.” I shifted my feet around again, “Mom thinks I have adapted real well right? Well what would she think if she knew it was a big turn-on for me to wear diapers? She wouldn’t be so proud then I bet!” I could sense my voice rising a bit.
In a tone only a mother could achieve, Aunt Sarah spoke, “She knows, Todd.” She gave me a couple seconds to absorb that before continuing, “In her own way she knows. She might not know all the terms for it, and she probably doesn’t know the extent to which you enjoy yourself when you wear diapers. But what other force can compel a 15-year-old boy to go out in public, in a diaper, voluntarily?” She gave me time to think about that one too and then she added, “So I’m sure she thinks they make you feel secure and safe, and isn’t that true too?”
I started to nod but she didn’t stop, “And she doesn’t need to know too much either, you’re at an age where things, like this, are private and I think your Mom will respect your choices.”
Aunt Sarah finally stopped long enough for me to say something, “Yes ma’am,” I was nodding my head as I talked, “that’s probably true. It’s just... well... I don’t know.” I took a second to get my thoughts straight in my head before I continued, “I look back at last night...” I paused long enough to make sure she knew I was referring to our outing to the pizza place and the movie before I continued, “and how much fun I had doing that stuff! And well, I don’t know.” I had to stop to get my get my thoughts together yet again, “It’s just that, well, the only reason my friendship is back on with Kevin is because I have somehow discovered or embraced this fetish of mine, and not ‘cause I grew-up or ‘cause I realized what kind of mistake I was making. I-I didn’t really fix anything Aunt Sarah! It was just an accident!”
Again Aunt Sarah smiled as she said, “Todd, don’t forget you were the one who approached Kevin! And besides, would you do anything differently if what happened two years ago happened again today?”
Almost without thinking I said, “Yes, I think I would!”
“Then you did learn something and you did grow!” She said, “Just think what kind of a difference you made in your friend’s life!”
I had to ask her, “What do you mean? What kind of
difference? I mean what difference have I made for Kevin besides hurting his
feelings for two years?”
“Todd don’t be so self-deprecating, it doesn’t suit you.” She said and though I wasn’t curtain what ‘self deprecating’ meant, I chose not to interrupt her. She went on, “For one thing, Kevin got rewarded for his patience. He waited on you and it seems his faith in you paid off after all. That has to feel good, right?”
I shrugged.
“And secondly, had he not reconciled with you, he wouldn’t be staying over here and he wouldn’t be getting a chance at having something he has probably only been able to dream about!” She finished with a knowing little smile.
I smiled back understanding what she meant and yet, I still felt bad at the same time. I was still feeling that I probably shouldn’t have said anything to Uncle Steve this morning. I mean, about what Kevin said about him being a TB. “But Aunt Sarah, I don’t think I shouldn’t have said what I did, I mean about him being a TB. Please don’t let Kevin find out I told his secret.”
“Shhh, Don’t worry! If he is a TB, he won’t be able to hide it in THIS household! And if he does manage too, well then that’s his loss!” Aunt Sarah said giving me a steady hug before re-opening Rob’s door and leaving me alone to get dressed.
Rob and I spent the morning straightening his room up along with the hall bath and the play room. Rick likewise had to clean his room and help in the kitchen.
“Todd?” Rick started to ask, “You going to stay diapered today?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I answered and then added, “I was wearing ‘em at Glen’s yesterday, so it’s not like I have anything to hide.” I said.
“No one noticed!” Rob added, “Except maybe Glen’s mom.”
“Momma” I corrected
“Huh?” Rob said a look of confusion.
“That’s Glens Momma – you said Mom. I have a mom, you have a mom, Glen has a momma. It’s simple”
“I don’t get it. Why?” Rob asked
“Never mind. It probably doesn’t matter one way or another.” I said, “BB saw my diapers in my room the other day after school. And Kevin knows too, so I’m just not going to hide it. Besides, trying to hide stuff like this was why Kevin and I almost lost our friendship!”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Rob was saying, “and I know I have more fun when I don’t have to hide anything.” Rob took a second to think before adding, “But we can go any way you want to. When Glen and BB spend the night, Rick and I just wore diapers ‘for protection’, no TB stuff. Rick and I always use how we dress to tell Mom and Dad how to handle things at sleepovers.” Rob explained.
“Meaning?” I asked him for clarification.
Rob went on to explain it all out, “Well for the most part, if we dress TB then we’re going to get changed like one, but if we are wearing big boy clothes, or tell Mom and Dad ahead of time, we can change ourselves or get them to do it discreetly; you know, behind closed doors. I just think that it would probably be best if we are all on the same page before they arrive, is all.”
“Talk a bout a dilemma!” I thought. I wasn’t too anxious to flaunt things in front of Glen or BB, but at the same time I couldn’t help but think how fun things would be for Kevin and Matt; I mean if they joined in by wearing diapers too. It was my thoughts on Kevin and maybe a small way to help make things right between us that lead me to my decision. Plus I imagine that acting TB will be an enticement to Kevin and seeing Rob freak out when Kevin decides to do the TB thing too was going to be absolutely priceless.
“Well let’s do it then!” I said with a bounce of excitement, which caused Rob to break out in a big grin.
“You know, I was so worried when we moved here that you would hate us.” Rob said rubbing the back of his head kind of nervous like, “I was worried you would think we were freaks or something. I didn’t want to move here, but Mom kept telling me how important it was for me to know my other brother...” Rob suddenly froze and looked like he knew he’d said too much. A sheer look of extreme panic was evident in both of his eyes. “C-Cousin. Sorry, I meant cousin.” Rob tried to quickly cover up his slip-up.
“You know?” I said incredulously.
“Know what? I just misspoke!” Rob said but he sounded to me like he was backpedaling as fast as he could.
“Dude! I know too! I-I just didn’t know you knew!” I said excitedly.
“Oh... Um, really? You know?” He said not sounding too sure.
“Yes, I do know!” I said feeling like I was going to bust!
“Mom said I couldn’t say anything to you.” Rob said but he still didn’t look to sure that it was ok to talk about it, “She said that Aunt Susan might not have told you.”
I laughed, “Mom said the same thing to me! She said that Aunt Sarah probably hadn’t told you! Oh god, I’ve been so afraid of saying the wrong thing, or letting something slip ever since I found out!”
Rob took a second to let it sink into his head before saying, “Well cool, we both know! Adults can make the biggest deal about things sometimes.” Rob smiled but I still sensed a hint of caution in his body language. “But back to the matter at hand. What do we do tonight?” he asked.
“Wait. How long have you known?” I asked while ignoring his question.
“Since forever I think! Does it matter?” He asked.
Feeling kind of silly I said, “Well no, I don’t guess it does matter, I just found out, though.”
“Cool, I guess I am just used to it, with having Rick being my brother, I guess it just doesn’t seem too odd to me.” Rob said.
“I guess not. It’s just still a surprise to me, that’s all.” I said.
“Well cousin or brother or friend, we still gotta figure out what we are going to do tonight!” Rob said again.
“I dunno!” I said, “But at this point? I’d just as soon do like we did last night.” As scary as that was for me to admit, part of me really did want to do just that. I don’t know how comfortable I am going to be around Glen and BB in snap crotch clothes, but I knew I had to make the effort for Kevin. Even so, I was still halfway hoping Rob would veto me.
“Well, I will if you will.” Rob said, “I’ve never done that around non-TB friends before. You think they’ll be okay with it?” Rob asked probably thinking more about Kevin than anything.
“I hope so!” I answered, “And besides, everyone made a big point of how I pushed my friends away, how much more open can I be? If someone doesn’t like it, oh well, they can’t say I’m pushing them away can they? I’m not going to be able to keep my diapers and stuff a secret in this town much longer anyways!”
“True enough, but I don’t want to make them uncomfortable either?” Rob asked and then added, “Anyways, I’m in if you are, and I’m sure Rick will be too. I wonder if Matt will? I mean in front of his big brother. Oh and especially after Kevin got him in trouble with his folks!” Rob cocked his head slightly to one side, “Did you ask Kevin about that? That wasn’t a very cool thing to do, if you ask me!”
“Yeah I did, but it’s a long story. Suffice it to say Matt forced him to do it; Matt thought his folks would punish him by making him wear them. Kevin didn’t want too and tried to talk him out of it but Matt forced the issue until Kev gave in.”
“Oh, well that’s different then.” Rob said as he stood on the ladder and made the top bunk.
While he did that I went over and filled the diaper bags with the remaining diapers from the open bag before I got a new bag of diapers from the closet. I opened the new bag and set them by the futon, but that didn’t seem quite right, so I moved them a little more out in the open and placed them at the end of the dresser on the floor where anyone could see them.
I went a head and made up the bottom bunk and then ran the vacuum across the floor. When we were finished, Rob surveyed the room and nodded approvingly. “Awesome! Let’s get the bathroom done now, too.”
The two of us attacked the bathroom and since there were two of us it didn’t take us very long at all to get it. Rob carried all our plastic pants back to his room, except for two pair which he left hanging over the shower curtain rod to ‘dry’. They weren’t really wet, but I think he left them there for effect. I found myself growing more excited with each passing minute knowing that my friends would be here soon and that they would see my baby pants hanging, drying in the bathroom. It was almost more excitement then I could stand.
We ate a quick lunch and decided since we were done cleaning to spend the hour or so before anyone arrived to play some cards. So Rick, Rob, and I plopped ourselves down on the floor and played poker with pennies. Our game kind of dissolved when we couldn’t remember whether Rick’s flush was better than my straight. Rick got up to go look up the answer on the Internet and so we left the cards and the big pile of change in the floor.
I watched Rick run over to the computer and something about his half-walk half-waddle reminded me of Rick getting changed last night before going to Jerson.
“Dude, I just had a really cool idea!” I said quite excited at the thought that just popped into my head. “I can’t believe I am thinking this, much less going to do it!”
I explained to Rob what I wanted to do and he looked increasingly interested as I outlined my plan.
“That’s going to so rock! I wish it had been my idea!” Rob said as he laid out the clothes I asked for.
Chapter
13B – Looking back, looking forward, and maybe just looking around (continued)