Email by donniem72

 

 

Mrs. Cadman stared at the message on her screen. She had already received essentially the same email several days in a row and had deleted each one in disgust. This last one, however, was slightly different. The first ones had said, “Click below to find out what your son has been up to,” followed by a password. This one bore almost the same message except that ‘your son’ now read ‘Jared.’ This was unnerving. She did indeed have a son named Jared. She looked again at the sender—who could this ‘lettingyouknow1993’ be? This sender’s knowledge of her son’s name angered her and filled her with dread. She felt compelled to follow the link.

A page of thumbnail pictures filled the screen. Even before clicking one, she recognized Jared with his room in the background. She squinted but couldn’t quite make out the details. She randomly clicked on one in the middle of the page. She gasped. She went back and clicked another, and then another. She became more agitated by each photo she viewed.  Who had done this? And why were they trying to embarrass Jared… for what other explanation could there be? What could someone possibly gain by altering pictures to make it appear that her son wore diapers and used pacifiers and baby bottles?

She went to the kitchen to brew a nice cup of tea and to think. How had this been done? Who could have taken pictures of Jared in his room? She didn’t know much about digital photography but she had heard that it was possible to convincingly alter reality. She went back to the computer and continued examining the collection. She looked carefully at the poses and tried to visualize other pictures of Jared. Could he have been “cut out” of them and “inserted” into these? If so, it still didn’t explain how the backgrounds were so accurate. The angle of the photos varied greatly. Someone would have needed to have a dozen pictures of the room. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. She went back to the first picture and studied the built-in shelves. They were dark green. This picture had to be more than a year old, before they had been repainted white. Looking at Jared more carefully, she realized that his features matched that time period. She decided to go over the pictures again. She discovered a couple of interesting facts. First, they were arranged chronologically. Not only could she tell this by Jared’s appearance but the bookcase, bedspread, and carpeting also changed over time. Most importantly, she picked up on a reflection in Jared’s mirror that she could identify as Jared’s friend, Wade. He was out-of-focus and the flash obscured his face but there was no way to mistake the rich brown tone of his skin. Mrs. Cadman had always thought he was a very handsome African-American boy.

“So,” she wondered, “what does this mean? Why did Wade take these pictures and alter them? Had he and Jared had a falling out?”

That didn’t make sense. Jared and Wade had left together for baseball practice less than an hour before. Besides, she simply couldn’t imagine Wade doing anything the least bit mean. The whole thing was making less and less sense. She decided to say nothing, not even to her husband. She hoped that it would go away or that further messages might give her a clue as to the identity of the sender. She even decided that she would bring the matter to the police if things took a dark turn.

______

Two days later, she received another message: “So, you visited the album. Cute, huh? Why not visit again and check out the updates?”

There were twice as many pictures as before. She was astonished that Wade was pictured in many of them. The whole thing seemed to have ratcheted up: Jared and Wade now wore Gerber-style plastic pants over their diapers. It was time to contact Wade’s mother.

“Hello…Violet Madding? This is Janet Cadman. How are you? …”

Fifteen minutes later, Violet and Janet sat together in front of the computer.

“Who could be doing this?” Janet asked.

Violet paused for a moment before answering slowly, “I’m no authority, but it seems to me that it would take an incredibly skilled expert to forge pictures of such high quality.”

“What are you saying?”

“These aren’t forgeries.”

“What! You believe that our boys took these pictures of themselves?” Janet asked incredulously.

“Let’s go back over them.”

Violet meticulously explained her reasoning. Who could have gotten into the Cadman’s house and taken pictures of Jared’s room from so many angles? How likely was it that this person would return to take pictures of the room as it was redecorated over the course of a year? Where would a person get pictures of Jared and Wade, alter them to make it look like they were wearing diapers, and then overlay them onto the backgrounds?

“These are too perfect,” Violet concluded. “These couldn’t have been taken without our boys’ cooperation.”

An icy chill passed through Mrs. Cadman.

“What if they’re being manipulated by some sick adult?”

Violet expressed her doubts but agreed that they ought to check it out.

“How?” Janet wondered.

“I think we have been remiss in letting our kids have their own computers in their rooms. I think we ought to install tracking software to find out who they’re talking to online and what sites they visit.”

“You seem very knowledgeable about these things,” Janet remarked.

“Wade’s father is a programmer. Even though we’ve been divorced for five years, we keep in touch. He suggested such a thing to me several months ago but I dismissed it as unnecessary. I guess he was right.”

Downloading and installing the software was easy.

“We have to be careful not to give the game away,” Violet remarked. “No matter what we discover, we’ve got to keep it to ourselves until we’re sure what’s going on.”

Janet agreed but added that she would tell her husband what they had discovered.

“Absolutely,” Violet concurred. “I’ll be telling everything to Tom. As Wade’s father he needs to know, too.”

They struck pay dirt the very next day. Jared went to Wade’s after school. Violet knew that they had logged onto the computer before leaving for baseball practice. She resisted the urge to check out what they had been doing until the next morning when the boys were back in school.

“Janet, do you have a minute to come over? …”

Their examination of the record made everything clear. The boys had visited several sites containing diaper stories and another one selling diapers and related products where they placed an order for four pairs of plastic pants.

“I think it’s time I found out where Wade is hiding his diapers and other things,” Mrs. Madding announced.

She invited Mrs. Cadman to join in. They found what they were looking for hidden in the closet.

“Twelve store-brand diapers, three plastic pants, four baby bottles, and two pacifiers,” Mrs. Madding commented.

The mothers looked at each other wondering what to do next.

“If you have a moment, we may as well investigate Jared’s computer and find out where he hides his things.”

The record showed that Jared had spent an hour and-a-half reading a story about a boy who had been forced into diapers because he had wet his bed.

“At least it isn’t pornographic,” Janet commented. “I guess we’d better find his supplies.”

They started with the closet and found what they were looking for almost immediately.

“Just about the same as Wade,” Violet commented.

“Yes, except for these two baby-print plastic pants.”

She held up the first pair and couldn’t resist smiling.

“They are cute, aren’t they?” Wade’s mom commented.

“Yes,” Jared’s mom agreed. “But one thing is bothering me. Where are they getting the money? You saw the bill for the plastic pants they just ordered—over $40, with shipping.”

“You’re right. Even given the fact that they probably have been buying things for over a year, it still averages out to a lot more money than they should have available. That’s one more thing we’ll have to add to our list to investigate. Right now, I would like to visit the mailbox drop that they’ve apparently rented. The first thing I want to know is how they could rent it without parental approval.”

They were pleasantly surprised that the manager of the mailbox rental facility was so cooperative after they identified themselves and explained their concern that their sons were receiving packages there. They provided him with the box number, which he entered into his computer and for which he printed out a report.

“The box was originally rented on February 16^th of last year,” he said. “Payments have been made on a quarterly basis, always by money order.”

“Doesn’t that seem suspicious? Paying by money order, I mean,” Mrs. Madding asked.

“Not really,” the manager answered. “We have several customers who, for various reasons, pay by money order. Some have had bankruptcies and some are home-business owners who haven’t established themselves yet.”

“I see,” she answered. “And what are the ethics of renting to thirteen year-old boys?”

“Our contract states that the signatory must be at least eighteen years old,” he answered somewhat defensively.

“One look at our boys will tell you that they are not eighteen,” Mrs. Cadman answered coolly.

“I understand,” he answered. “Let me check how this account was set up.”

He returned with a manila folder.

“Let’s see now,” he said to himself as he perused one of the papers. “Ah! I see. This contract was received through the mail. It authorized us to deliver the key to a Janet, William, or Jared Cadman. Is your son William or Jared?”

“Jared is my son. William is my husband. What sort of identification would you accept from a thirteen year-old?”

“I think I’m beginning to remember something,” the manager said. “There was one time when  an employee asked me what she should do about turning over a key to a boy.  I’m pretty sure that I gave her our stock answer that he would have to produce some credible evidence that he was who he said he was.”

Mrs. Cadman and Mrs. Madding waited patiently while the manager thought some more.

“I’m pretty sure that it was Margaret,” he said. “She’s off today but let me call her and see if she can shed any light on this.”

Five minutes later, the manager reported.

“Margaret did remember the incident. She says that there were two boys—and that one of them could have been African-American. She told your son that his parents would have to come in with identification for her to hand over the key. Apparently, they returned within minutes with a library card in your son’s name and a recent gas bill. She doesn’t remember everything but she remembers that he said that his parents were shopping in another store and they didn’t want to have to stop by here, too. The gas bill with your name and address, combined with his library card, seemed sufficient identification. She also said that she didn’t want to deal with parents who might be upset because their son wasn’t believed. I’m sorry,” the manager apologized.

“No apology necessary,” Mrs. Cadman answered. “I think your employee acted with due diligence... We believe that a package is due to arrive soon. Would you please notify us when it does?”

They provided him with their home phone numbers. He thanked them for their understanding and they thanked him for his cooperation in not delivering any more packages to the box.

“Well, that explains that,” Mrs. Madding said as they drove home.

“Yes, but there’s still the question of the money. I hate to ask, but could the boys be stealing from us?”

“I don’t see how. I might not miss an occasional five dollar bill here or there, but I certainly would notice a five dollar bill every week.”

“Same here. So where are they getting it?”

That question got answered quite accidentally during the following week. They were on their way back from the mailbox facility (after receiving the manager’s call that a package had arrived) when Mrs. Madding suddenly became agitated.

“Keep driving normally!” she exclaimed.

“OK,” Mrs. Cadman agreed, somewhat mystified.

“Make a right at this next corner and pull over.”

Mrs. Cadman did as requested. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Wade and Jared. I just saw them carrying boxes out of a house on Winslow Avenue. Aren’t they supposed to be at baseball practice?”

“Yes. Are you sure? I mean that you saw Jared and Wade.”

“Almost positive. We’ve got to check it out but without the boys seeing us.”

The ladies felt like spies as they cautiously walked back to the corner. Luckily, there were high shrubs to conceal them.

“Can you see them?” Mrs. Cadman asked.

“No, I can’t even see the house. We’ll have to get closer.”

They walked down the street and stopped at the next driveway. They still couldn’t see anything but they heard the voice of an older lady giving directions.

“Jared, put that box in the back seat. Wade, you can bring that box to the trash.”

There was no doubt that the answering voices belonged to their sons. They retreated to the car.

“OK, we know that they do odd jobs for at least one lady. I wonder who else they work for.”

“We’ll come back and ask,” Mrs. Madding answered. “At least we know that this lady’s name is Mrs. Pitulski.”

The box contained four baby-print plastic pants. Now that the ladies were more certain that their sons were earning money honestly, they were becoming more comfortable with the whole scene.

“I wonder which ones Wade picked out for himself?” Mrs. Madding mused.

“Well, they’re all rather cute,” Mrs. Cadman responded.

“Yes, but where do we go from here?” the ever-practical Mrs. Madding asked.

They reviewed what they had discovered. It was obvious that the boys wanted their parents to know about their baby activities. It had to have been the boys who sent the emails to Mrs. Cadman, knowing that she would report them to Mrs. Madding. Continued monitoring of their computer activities gave no indication that anyone else was involved. They were particularly relieved that no adult was in the background, egging them on to do this.

“At least they seem to have developed a good work ethic,” Mrs. Madding pointed out. “When they needed money, they found ways to earn it.”

“Yes, I suppose that that’s good. But I still don’t like the way they’ve snuck around behind our backs and how they nearly scared us to death with those emails. I don’t think we should let them easily off the hook.”

“I guess you’re right,” Mrs. Madding agreed tentatively. “What do you have in mind?”

“I think that we should ignore them for a while longer. I want to learn more about the odd jobs they’ve been accepting.”

“OK. What about these new baby pants?”

“Let’s return the box to the mail facility and let the boys collect it themselves. They are probably already wondering why we haven’t confronted them about the pictures. I’m sure that these new baby pants will prompt them to pose for more. Let’s catch them in the act and move forward as if we’d never seen their electronic album or known anything about their diaper wearing.”

The boys’ dads signed off on the plan. They agreed that their sons needed to be taught a lesson about manipulating people and acting behind their backs.

______

The boys fell into the trap their moms laid. The Saturday after the box arrived, Mrs. Cadman announced that she was going shopping and that Jared should make his own lunch. (Jared’s dad had already left to play golf and wouldn’t return until after two o’clock.) The truth, however, was that Mrs. Cadman only needed to pick up dry cleaning. After she had done this one errand, she called Mrs. Madding on her cell phone.

“I think it’s working,” Mrs. Madding said. “Jared called about twenty minutes ago and asked Wade if he could go over to your house.”

“Good. I’ll pick you up right away.”

Mrs. Cadman parked a short distance from home.

“We can sneak in without them hearing us.”

It worked perfectly. Jared’s door was ajar and they saw a camera flash as they approached. The boys were giggling and teasing each other.

“OK, put on the other baby pants for the next pictures. Oh! And you have to drink out of your baby bottle, too.”

“Cool!” Wade answered.

The ladies waited until they heard him pull on his plastic pants and get set for the pictures. They opened the door in one swift movement. Wade, who was lying on the floor with the baby bottle in his mouth saw them first. His eyes grew round and he yelped. Jared turned around and yelped, too.

“Mom!” they both screeched.

“What in the world is going on here? Why are you dressed in diapers and baby pants?” Mrs. Cadman demanded.

“And why are you taking pictures?” Mrs. Madding added.

Despite the serious looks on their faces, Mrs. Cadman and Mrs. Madding were very amused by the embarrassment that the boys were experiencing. They were obviously weighing their options: how much of the truth should they divulge?

“We thought you knew…” Jared started to say.

“Knew? Knew what?” Mrs. Cadman asked, appearing completely befuddled and mystified.

“Didn’t you get the emails?”

“Emails?” she continued. “What are you talking about? What do emails have to do with your wearing diapers and baby pants?”

The boys were at wits end. Obviously, their mothers knew nothing about the preparatory work they had done to soften them up.

“Get up off the floor,” Mrs. Madding ordered. “And there had better not be any alcohol in that baby bottle, young man!”

“It’s only apple juice!” Wade protested. “Honest!”

“Honest, huh? How can I believe anything you say after catching you doing something like this?”

“It’s just for fun!” Jared said.

“Yeah,” Wade agreed. “Just for fun!”

“You think that dressing up like babies is fun?” Mrs. Madding asked skeptically.

The boys didn’t know how to follow up on their last admission. How could they explain the happiness and security they felt wearing diapers and playing baby games? They turned away in embarrassment and began crying.

“Hush, now,” Mrs. Madding said, turning Wade around and hugging him.

Mrs. Cadman did the same to Jared. The ladies looked at each with smiles turning up the corners of their mouths. Neither boy objected to their maternal attentions. They took things one step further by patting them gently on their diapered bottoms. This brought no objections, either.

“Let’s go downstairs,” Mrs. Cadman suggested.

The boys meekly accepted their baby bottles and allowed their moms to lead them out of the room. Mrs. Cadman grabbed a handful of tissues as they passed the bathroom.

“Here. Wipe your eyes and blow your noses,” she suggested.

The boys had recovered their composure by the time they reached the foot of the stairs.

“We’ll be more comfortable on the patio.”

“Outside! Someone might see us!” Jared screeched.

The expression on Wade’s face and the fact that his hands moved to the front of his plastic pants indicated that he feared the same thing. Their mothers remained unmoved. The boys scurried to claim two chairs that offered the most protection from the neighbors’ line of sight. Twenty minutes was enough time for their mothers to extract a complete confession, including how they earned money to buy their diapers and other supplies. There was a pause of several seconds.

“Well, I suppose it’s good for boys to have a hobby,” Mrs. Madding commented.

“Yes,” Mrs. Cadman agreed. “I’m not inclined to take this one away from Jared. In fact, just the opposite… I insist that he keep it.”

“I agree,” Mrs. Madding concluded with finality.

The boys looked at each other with hope-filled eyes. Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a fiasco after all.

“You boys will still have to fund your own hobby. I compliment you on having found people who will give you jobs to do around their homes,” Jared’s mom said. “Tell us, have you been earning enough to buy the things you need?”

The boys became quite chatty and relaxed, describing where and how often they bought diapers.  They even acknowledged watching the newspapers and magazines to clip coupons when they could.

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the problems,” Jared’s mom said.

“Problems?” the boys asked.

“Yes. Let’s see: hiding things, spending money without permission, lying to us about where you’ve been spending your time…”

“But you said it was a good thing for us to have found jobs to earn money!” Jared objected.

“Of course it is,” his mother answered. “But you still lied to us. Dad and I will have to talk about your punishment.”

A gloom began to settle over the boys.

“Right now, however, Mrs. Madding and I have shopping to do. You boys are to stay here in the backyard until we return. Is that alright with you, Violet?”

“Why do we have to stay outside?” Jared objected before Wade’s mother could answer.

“Because I want you away from your computer, the camera and anything else that could distract you from remembering that you are being punished,” his mom answered.

“We can’t stay outside like this!”

“You’re right. Mrs. Madding and I will bring your things down.”

Their ‘things’ consisted of shoes and socks– and nothing else.

______

“What if somebody sees us?” Wade asked.

“Shut up!” Jared answered. “Don’t even think it,” he added, looking around cautiously.

“Why couldn’t this have happened at my house? Our fence is real high.”

“Yeah, but it didn’t.” Jared said petulantly. “And keep your voice down. Harper might hear.”

Harper, a friend of theirs, lived next door. He was known to come barging over whenever he knew that Jared was home. Wade picked up his baby bottle and began drinking.

“This is soooo boring,” he said. “How long do you think our moms will be gone?”

“I don’t know,” Jared whispered, hoping that Wade would catch the hint to keep his voice down.

Wade sighed and drank some more. He started to giggle.

“What’s so funny? Jared asked.

“I don’t know. Everything… we got what we wanted.”

“Sort of,” Jared agreed. “But how come our moms didn’t already know? Why didn’t my mom read her email?”

They pondered this mystery for a short time.

“Maybe she was afraid that she would get a virus if she followed the link,” Wade suggested.

“I guess. Do you think that they’re mad?”

“Kind of. I think it means trouble that they left to go shopping right away.”

“Huh?” Jared wondered.

“Before the divorce, when my mom and dad had fights, my mom would always leave to go shopping. She’d usually buy stuff that would annoy my dad.”

“Oh.”

Jared couldn’t imagine what that could mean for them but he shivered all the same. The minutes dragged on and Wade began giggling again.

“Would you stop that? What if Harper hears?”

“OK,” Wade answered, “but I can’t help it. You look so funny in your teddy bear pants.”

“And you’re so mature in your baby block pants?” Jared shot back.

“At least mine have letters on them!”

“Yeah, and they spell B-A-B-Y,” Jared sneered.

“So?” Wade responded, refusing to let Jared’s bad mood affect him. “You’re still a baby, too!” he added gleefully.

“Quit it!”

But Wade didn’t. He crossed over to Jared and began tickling him.

“No!” Jared (who was extremely ticklish) screeched. “Stop!”

His chair fell over onto the lawn and Wade was on top of him immediately. Jared was now laughing uncontrollably.

“I’ll get you for this! Get off me!”

Wade didn’t even pause. He kept up his tickling assault for a couple more minutes. Jared was desperate to get him off.

“Stop! I’m going to pee!” he gasped.

“So what? I’ve already peed!” Wade answered.

“You’re a pervert,” Jared answered. Then, in another attempt to get him off, “Please! My sides hurt!”

Wade stopped the tickling but continued to prevent Jared from getting up. Jared didn’t object as he slowly caught his breath.

“Shit!” he suddenly exclaimed. “Harper!”

Wade, still pinning Jared down, laughed.

“Forget about him. He’s not home. He told me yesterday that he had to visit his aunt and uncle all day.”

“You knew?” Jared scowled.

“Duh… of course I knew! Do you think that I want him to see us dressed in diapers and baby pants?”

______

Their mothers didn’t come back until lunchtime.

“Ah! There you are!” Mrs. Cadman exclaimed (as if they would be anywhere else!). “I bet you’re getting hungry.”

They fixed sandwiches and fresh baby bottles of juice for the boys. Also, intending to make Wade and Jared nervous, they assiduously avoided references to their shopping trip. This was because they had had very little shopping to do. Most of the boys’ new things had been bought days ago.

“Mom, Wade and I have to work for Mrs. Abramson this afternoon.”

“That’s nice. Where does she live?”

“On Stellar Drive,” Wade answered.

“That’s nice. You’ll take your bikes, of course. At what time?”

“One-thirty,” Jared announced.

“In that case, finish your lunch quickly. We have a lot to do.”

The first thing was a diaper change, which the boys normally would have accepted eagerly.

“We have to go to Mrs. Abramson’s house,” Wade pointed out.

“Of course, you do,” his mom answered. “You need to continue earning money for your diapers and other things.”

“This will be wasting a diaper,” he continued.

“Wasting? How so?”

“Because we’ll have to take them off before we leave.”

“Take them off? Where did you get that idea?” she asked pointedly.

It took a few seconds before the boys understood what she meant.

“We have to wear diapers while we work for Mrs. Abramson?” Wade asked in a shocked voice. “We were just playing this morning!”

“Then, you should feel very lucky. You’re getting the chance to play all the time.”

“All the time!” the boys gasped.

“Yes,” Mrs. Cadman confirmed. “You’re in diapers until we say otherwise.”

The boys were shocked into silence. They went up to Jared’s room.

“Hmm,” Mrs. Cadman said as she removed Jared’s diaper. “You were ready to leak. These diapers aren’t absorbent enough.”

“The same goes for you,” Wade’s mom commented. “I don’t think we can send you out of the house dressed in diapers like these.”

The boys breathed a sigh of relief.

 “I’ll get their new diapers,” Mrs. Cadman smiled.

She returned with a package of very thick overnight diapers. The boys gasped when they saw them. They were huge!

“These are guaranteed to hold you through the night. They should be more than adequate for daytime.”

Tears pooled in the boys’ eyes.

“Don’t make us go to Mrs. Abramson’s in these!” Jared begged.

“I don’t understand you boys. First you want diapers and then you don’t. Well, it’s too late now. We’ve made up our minds.”

They boys stood up and nearly lost it when they heard the loud crinkling their diapers made.

“Alright. Which of these new baby pants is yours, Jared?” his mom asked.

“Those are all Wade’s,” he answered.

“Are you sure?” she responded suspiciously.

“Yes,” Jared insisted. Then, accepting the inevitable, he admitted that he already had two other pairs of baby pants.

“I see. You’d better show me.”

Of course, she already knew everything about his hidden stash. She decided to dress him in his blue baby pants, which were imprinted with toy cars and trains. In the meantime, Wade was put into his new yellow pair, featuring farm animals. The boys started getting dressed.

“Not those,” Mrs. Madding said. “We’ve got other clothes for you.”

The broad-stripe t-shirts weren’t too awful, except for the bright colors (Wade’s was lime green and Jared’s bright orange). The matching cotton gym shorts, however, brought peals of protests.

“Nobody wears shorts like this,” Jared complained.

Their mothers were ready for them.

“Oh, really? Look at this,” Mrs. Cadman said extending an open magazine.

It showed a toddler boy dressed in the same style of elastic-waist short shorts, except that his diaper bulge was less prominent.

“Now,” Mrs. Cadman added sternly, “Hand me the camera. And I want you to clean up your room before leaving.”

“You, too, Wade. Fold your clothes neatly and help Jared.”

It was all too much for Jared who began sniffling.

“Listen to us,” he said. “Our diapers make a huge noise every time we move. And I can see your baby pants whenever you bend over even a little bit.”

“Yeah, but crying is only going to make it worse,” Wade pointed out.

“I am not crying!” Jared answered angrily.

Wade let it drop.

“Now what?” he asked after they had finished.

“I guess we go downstairs and wait.”

Their mothers greeted them with smiles.

“Good. Just in time,” Jared’s mother said. “You don’t want to be late.”

Their mothers then handed over white nylon bags.

“Here are your diaper bags. Make sure that you give them to Mrs. Abramson as soon as you arrive.”

“Mrs. Abramson knows!” Jared gasped.

“Not yet, but she will as soon as you give me her number.”

“No!” Jared screeched.

“Jared!” Mrs. Cadman answered sharply. “I already know she lives on Stellar Drive. Don’t make me look it up!”

Wade intervened and gave Mrs. Cadman the number. Jared and Wade walked to the garage to retrieve their bikes.

“Man! What are you trying to do? Don’t you get it? Our mom’s could make us leave wearing nothing but our diapers if we argue with them!”

“I ... I didn’t think that our moms would make us wear them in public,” Jared stammered.

He was very confused. He was scared of what people would say and very excited, all at the same time.

“Come on! We don’t want to be late.” Wade said. “And don’t complain that our baby pants are really obvious!”

“Quit yelling at me! I’m coming... Boy, I sure hope we know what we’re doing!”

“I doubt it,” Wade giggled. “Babies don’t ever think about consequences!”

______

Mrs. Cadman & Mrs. Madding congratulated themselves. They had once again thrown their boys off balance. There had been no need to ask for Mrs. Abramson’s number; in fact, they had already traced the addresses and phone numbers of all the ladies the boys worked for. All had been informed of the boys impending diapered state and they were unanimously anxious to make their contributions to their babying. Mrs. Abramson was particularly thrilled to be first. She sat on the porch waiting for their arrival. They were absolutely darling in their new outfits, especially with their baby pants so prominently exposed.

“Ah, there you are!” she said as casually as she could. “Give me your diaper bags for safe keeping.”

She could barely resist taking the boys into her arms and giving them big hugs and kisses. She noticed that Wade was obviously more relaxed than Jared. That was cute in itself, too.

“Are you boys ready to work?” she asked.

“Yes. Mrs. Abramson,” Wade answered.

She looked expectantly at Jared.

“Yes, ma’am,” he squeaked.

“Good. We’re inside today.”

She followed the boys through the kitchen door, enjoying the view of their rounded bottoms and the crinkling and swishing of their diapers and baby pants. A stepladder was already set up.

“There are things on the top shelves of the cabinets that I haven’t seen (much less used) in years. We’re going to take everything down and wash and sort it all. We’ll put back the things I want and box the rest for the thrift shop. Who wants to go up the ladder first?”

“I do!” Jared answered quickly.

“OK,” she agreed. “Be careful, now. Some of the things are heavy and some are fragile. Hand them down carefully to Wade and I’ll put them on the counter.”

Jared went up the ladder and reached for the first item. Mrs. Abramson and Wade looked up at Jared and his exposed baby pants. She winked at Wade who was also enjoying the view. It took Jared a second to figure out what they were looking at. He turned scarlet in embarrassment.

“Come along, Jared. Hand that to Wade.”

Jared came down after emptying the top shelves of two cabinets. He was somewhat miffed at Wade for having stared so obviously at his baby pants. Unfortunately, he couldn’t say anything in front of Mrs. Abramson. He only calmed down a little bit when it was Wade’s turn to go up the ladder and he saw how impossible it was to not stare. They were more than half finished when Mrs. Abramson called a break and served lemonade.

“Well, we’re progressing nicely,” Mrs. Abramson said approvingly. Switching topics, she asked, “How are your diapers holding out?”

Wade immediately began giggling while Jared choked on his lemonade.

“Be careful, dear. Drink slowly,” she said, patting him on the back. “What was I saying? … Oh, yes. Your diapers. Make sure you let me know when you need to be changed. I wouldn’t want your mothers to think that I wasn’t caring for you boys properly.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Abramson,” Wade responded.

He stared at Jared until he, too, thanked Mrs. Abramson for offering to change his diapers. They went back to work. Mrs. Abramson was at the sink washing serving trays when an odd sound made her turn around.

“Uh oh,” Jared said.

“Oh, dear!” Mrs. Abramson added.

The front of Jared’s shirt and shorts were covered in fine black powder. Worse yet, a large quantity of the powder had sprinkled down onto Wade, covering him head to foot.

“Don’t move… either of you! And try not to breathe!” Mrs. Abramson ordered.

She picked up a towel and had Jared hand the box to her. She placed it carefully on the counter.

“Thank goodness it’s nothing dangerous,” she said. “I used to keep an aquarium and this box was filled with charcoal for the filter. It must have disintegrated over the years. Now, let’s get you boys outside and cleaned up.”

She started by wiping Wade’s forehead and face so that none of the charcoal would get into his eyes. She brought the boys out to the driveway and told Jared to stand quietly while she brushed the powder out of Wade’s hair.

“I’ll have to wash your clothes,” she said. “Take them off and shake them out. That includes your socks.”

 The boys were very anxious to get back inside. Not only were they in full view of the street but also their diapers were sagging low in their baby pants. Mrs. Abramson, however, exhibited no urgency in getting back inside. She meticulously cleaned their shoes of every speck of the offending black powder.

“That’s better,” she said. “Let’s get your clothes into the washer.” After loading the machine, she turned to the boys. “Your diapers certainly need changing and a good bath is in order.”

The bathroom featured an old fashioned claw-footed tub. Mrs. Abramson added bubble bath to the gently steaming water.

“Alright. Diapers off and in you go!”

Jared, who started out seemingly on the verge of tears, relaxed as Mrs. Abramson gently washed and rinsed his hair.

“OK, Wade, let me wash your hair.” When she was finished, she said, “You boys finish cleaning yourselves while I dispose of your wet diapers and rinse out your baby pants. I’ll be back in five minutes.”

“See, I told you it would be fun!” Wade chided Jared. “I think Mrs. Abramson likes taking care of babies.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Jared giggled.

______

“Thank you. Mrs. Abramson. We’ll be expecting the boys in a few minutes,” Mrs. Cadman said.

“Well, how did it go?” Mrs. Madding asked eagerly.

“Just as planned. The boys got themselves covered from head to foot in charcoal. Mrs. Abramson got them outside to strip down to their baby pants before bathing them. Jared was upset at first but was quite relaxed after the bath. He even accepted the pacifier while he was being re-diapered.”

“And Wade?”

“Exactly as you predicted. He was uninhibited, although she says he seemed a little nervous while outside. Ah! … I hear the boys parking their bikes.”

The ladies composed themselves for the upcoming scene.

“What’s this?” Mrs. Madding asked as Wade and Jared came through the door? “Where are the shirts and shorts you had on when you left?”

“It’s not our fault,” Jared answered defensively. “I was taking a box down for Mrs. Abramson and it was full of old charcoal and it got all over Wade and me.”

“Yeah,” Wade agreed, picking up the story. “And then Mrs. Abramson made us give her our clothes to wash. Only, the dryer didn’t work and our clothes were still wet when it was time to leave.”

“So where did those onesies come from?” Mrs. Cadman asked.

“Mrs. Abramson called a lady who makes clothes and she brought them,” Wade explained.

“I wanted to wear our shorts over them but Mrs. Abramson wouldn’t let us. She made us come back like this,” Jared added.

“Well, I guess it’s the best she could do under the circumstances,” Mrs. Cadman said, assessing how cute they looked with their diapers and baby pants bulging out of the leg openings. “At least your onesies are the same color as your baby pants.”

“Looking at them, I occurs to me that onesies would be a practical way to dress the boys when they’re not in school,” Mrs. Madding suggested.

“Yes, I agree. We’ll have to talk to Mrs. Abramson and find out where her friend lives. Now, you boys run along to the den. Your fathers are waiting to talk to you.”

This took the boys by surprise, especially Wade.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Mrs. Madding asked. “Don’t keep them waiting.”

The boys looked at each other, each grateful to see that he wasn’t alone in his fear.

“Is dad mad?” Wade asked.

“You’ll have to ask him,” his mom answered.

The boys approached the den. They looked at each other again but could think of nothing to say.

“Jared, is that you? Come in here, please.”

They stood in the doorway.

“Aren’t you going to say hello?” Wade’s dad asked.

Wade, who hadn’t seen his dad in about two weeks, walked over and gave him a hug. His dad ended the hug by sliding his hand down to Wade’s well-padded bottom.

“So, is this really what you want?” he asked.

“I guess so.”

“You need to be more positive than ‘I guess so,’ his dad said. “If your mom and I begin buying you more of these clothes, you’re going to wear them until you outgrow them. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Wade responded.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, I want to wear baby clothes.”

“That means diapers and baby pants all the time, even in school,” his dad said.

“I know.”

“What about you?” Jared’s dad asked.

“The same as Wade,” he answered.

“Are you agreeing that you’ll wear diapers all the time and be dressed in baby clothes whenever you’re not in school?”

“Yes.”

And that was that. Their dads invited them to watch the rest of the game but the boys wanted to be alone for a while.

“I can’t believe how easy that was!” Jared exclaimed.

“Well,” Wade answered, “that was the easy part.”

“What do you mean?”

“School… our friends…” Wade answered cryptically.

“Oh, yeah. We’re probably going to get killed. I hope we can stay out of fights. My mom and dad will kill me.”

“Mine, too. But, I don’t think we’ll get into fights. I just don’t want to be made fun of.”

“That’s impossible,” Jared responded. “Everybody’s going to make fun of us.”

“Yeah,” Wade agreed sadly. “At least we’ll still be friends with each other.”

______

The boys were amazed by how much shopping their moms had done. (It wouldn’t have been so surprising if they’d known that their mothers had been at it for over a week and that most of the truly ‘baby’ things had been ordered online.) They discussed it when they met up at Wade’s house the next morning.

“I wonder where they sell baby pants around here?” Wade wondered. “It would have saved time and money not having to wait for them or to rent a mailbox.”

“Yeah, but would we really have gone to a store and bought baby pants publicly? I wouldn’t”

“I guess you’re right.”

Wade showed Jared the things he’d gotten: well over two dozen baby pants, a full case of extra-thick [and, it so happened, extra-crinkly] diapers, four shirts/shorts sets like they had worn the previous day, two pairs of school pants with larger waists to accommodate the extra bulk, and the pièce de résistance—a brightly colored changing pad.

“I’ve got the same stuff,” Jared said. “And my mom says that we’re each getting six onesies today. Did your mom tell you the rules about wearing this stuff?”

“Yeah. I’m OK with them, except for the part about wearing onesies around the house and in the neighborhood,” Wade sighed.

 “Exactly. Everybody is going to see our baby pants,” Jared agreed.

“I guess it would be the same if we could wear our shorts,” Wade added philosophically.

They had an appointment to work at Mrs. Pitulski’s that afternoon. They left shortly after their mothers returned from picking up their onesies.

“Why do we have to wear these over to Mrs. Pitulski’s?” Jared whined. “You said that these were for at home and in the neighborhood.”

“Well, Mrs. Pitulski only lives four blocks away. That’s part of the general neighborhood.”

The boys knew they didn’t have a chance of changing their mothers’ minds.

“Don’t be so nervous,” Wade said encouragingly. “We came back from Mrs. Abramson’s like this yesterday.”

“Yeah, but she only lives around the corner! We have to cross the boulevard to get to Mrs. Pitulski’s! And, did you think about it? The park is closer than her house. I bet our moms are going to make us wear onesies to the park, too!”

“At least Harper hasn’t seen us yet,” Wade pointed out as the coasted toward the boulevard.

“Why did you have to say that?” Jarred answered in an irritated voice. “Look!”

Harper had just turned a corner and was headed toward them.

“Don’t stop!” Jared said.

Harper did a double take.

“Hey!” he called to his friends.

“Gotta go! We’re late,” Jared answered.

Harper wasn’t about to be ignored. He made a U-turn and started pursuing them. Jared and Wade had to stop for the light at the boulevard. Jared was beet red and his hands were shaking. Wade felt weak in the knees and lightheaded.

“What gives?” Harper asked. “Why are you guys dressed like that?”

“It’s our moms,” Jared said. “They got this stuff for us.”

“Why?” Harper asked. “Did you do something?”

“It’s complicated,” Wade answered. “We gotta go.”

Harper was consumed with curiosity but he didn’t cross the boulevard with them. However, he did watch where they went and crossed at the next opportunity. He found their bikes parked in front of a house. He watched from a safe distance before getting bored and going home. But, he wasn’t going to let this go… that was for certain.

Mrs. Pitulski started them in the house, cleaning out bookshelves.

“That’s wonderful!” she exclaimed. “I’ve been wanting to do this for months. Now for today’s main job—the front garden!”

The boys would have gotten a lot more done it they hadn’t been constantly interrupted. About fifteen ladies stopped to chat and Mrs. Pitulski introduced the boys to each one of them. After a while, they got the idea that she was doing it on purpose. Had she called her friends to come over to see the ‘big babies?’ They talked about it on the way home.

“None of them teased us,” Jared pointed out.

“And we got paid for the full time even though we worked for only about half of it!” Wade said.

In the meantime, Mrs. Pitulski reported to Mrs. Cadman.

“The boys did wonderfully. They are such good workers!”

“I’m glad to hear it. I’ll pass the comment on to Wade’s mother. How did they behave during the introductions?”

“Like little angels! I think that they were nervous at first, but after three or four they got into the swing of things. The ladies were all charmed!”

“Thank you for the information. It sounds to me like the boys are progressing well. I guess the next step is reintroducing them to their friends.”

______

“What are we going to do about Harper?” Jared asked.

“I don’t know,” Wade answered. “We don’t have a lot of choices, do we?”

“Maybe he won’t ask again. We told him that our moms are giving us this stuff to wear.”

“Get real! Harper is going to push and push until he gets the whole story. We’d just better make sure that it’s the same story everybody else is going to hear.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that our moms are going to talk to our friends’ parents. We’d better find out what they’re going to say.”

Jared worried about this for the rest of the way back to his house. At least no one they knew spotted them, which is not to say that strangers didn’t stare.

“Mom,” Jared said soon after arriving home, “Harper saw Jared and me going to Mrs. Pitulski’s!”

“Yes, dear,” she answered.

“Well, Wade and me were wondering what we should tell him.”

“What’s to wonder? You know that you’re supposed to tell the truth.”

“But he’ll laugh at us!” Jared whined.

“Then what do you want from me?”

“Are you going to tell everybody the whole truth?”

“Oh, I see. You want to know what we adults are going to say about you being back in diapers.”

“Yeah,” Jared admitted.

“You’ll find out in a little while, I guess.”

“Why in a little while?”

“Because that’s when the barbecue is going to start.”

“Barbecue? What barbecue?” Jared asked fearfully.

“The one that Dad is helping Mr. & Mrs. Manning prepare for a few friends in the neighborhood.”

“What friends?” Jared asked in a near panic.

“Let’s see… the Holtons, the Meslers, the Kadowskis, and the Millers.”

This list included four boys (Harper, Lazlo, Tim and Rupert) who were on the same baseball team as Jared and Wade.

“I don’t want to go!” Jared exclaimed.

“Well, you are… and so are you,” she added turning to Wade, “as soon as I change you.”

Jared started peppering him mother with questions.

“Look,” she said in an exasperated tone, “you guys wanted us to trust you in this whole diaper business. Well, we have. It’s time for you to trust us. Got it?”

Mrs. Cadman dressed them in plain white baby pants, topped off with baby print onesies. They arrived before anyone else and went up to Wade’s room. A little while later, they heard the first guests being greeted. Mrs. Manning called for them to come downstairs. It turned out to be Lazlo and his parents. Wade and Jared barely looked up as they welcomed them.

“Why don’t you guys go out back,” Mrs. Manning suggested. “We have things to talk about.”

“When my mom told me that you guys were being punished for abusing the Internet, I never thought they would do this to you!” Lazlo exclaimed wide-eyed. “What did you do?”

“It’s kind of complicated and our moms don’t want us to talk about it. They say that we’ll be in even bigger trouble if we give anyone ideas,” Wade lied.

“Come on… you can tell me. I won’t tell anyone,” Lazlo pressed.

The other three families arrived within the next few minutes. Each time, the adults stayed inside and sent the boys outside. The boys all asked essentially the same questions and got the same answers. Jared and Wade were getting quite exasperated. Luckily, their parents joined them at this point.

“I hope you boys understand the seriousness of Jared and Wade’s punishment,” Wade’s mom said. “Sending anonymous emails to frighten people is incredibly irresponsible. Did they tell you that they are going to be dressed like this until they outgrow these things?”

“ I think you acted appropriately,” Harper’s mom agreed. “Take careful note of this, Harper. Any serious misbehavior from you and you’ll wind up in diapers, too. And that includes allowing anyone to tease Jared or Wade.”

Harper looked over to his dad who said, “Don’t look at me. You heard your mother.”

This was enough to frighten the boys into good behavior. They sometimes find it hard to protect Jared and Wade from taunts and teasing but, as Harper noted once, things would be a lot harder if their parents punished them in diapers and they had to defend themselves, too. Jared and Wade were thrilled to be getting away with living out their dream.

______

“You know, our parents tricked us,” Jared said a few days after the barbecue.

“Yeah, I know. They couldn’t have told the guys that we were being punished for misusing the Internet if your mom hadn’t received the emails. Do you care?”

“Not really,” Jared answered.

“Me either,” Wade added. “Besides, I think that something really good is going to happen because of it.”

“What’s that?” Jared wondered.

“Ever since we got put into diapers my parents have been talking. They even went out to dinner… alone… last night.”

“Really?”

“Uh huh,” Wade smiled. “Wouldn’t it be great if my dad moved back in? I’d wear diapers forever to have that happen!”

Jared giggled in agreement.

 

 

 

The End