Memoirs of a Diaper Boy II
Chapter 8
School Time Blues
“Anna, have you seen Brad? I looked into his room to wake him up for school but he’s not there.” Brian asked their housekeeper/nanny as he walked into the kitchen.
“He’s out back with your brother.” Brian was informed as Anna pointed out the nearby door. Looking out the door he saw David and Brad climbing out of the three-quarter sized Olympic pool that had replaced the smaller one over the summer.
“Yeah, I guess I should have looked there first.” Brian chuckled as he took his seat at the breakfast table.
“Do you have everything ready for school?”
“Almost.”
“Well, get upstairs and finish getting things ready and get ready for school as well.” Brian was told sternly when Anna saw that he was still dressed in his T-shirt and diaper from the night before.
“And Make it quick Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Brian replied as he got to his feet and started heading back up to his room.
“Hurry up, boys, breakfast will be done in about fifteen minutes!” Anna Called through the open door to the backyard. David waved to show that he had heard Anna calling. Moments later Brad and David were rushing past to go get a quick shower and get ready for school.
“I’ve already laid things out for you so don’t dawdle any!”
“Where’s dad?” Brian asked as all the boys finished eating.
“They both had some things to do this morning. Now you three better get a move on or you’ll miss the bus.” Anna said firmly as the boys got up and moved to take their dishes into the kitchen.
“Just leave those in the sink. I’ll take care of them later.”
After saying good bye to the Trips and the dogs and grabbing their back packs all three of the boys went racing out the door and down to the corner to wait for the bus. As luck would have it the bus was just pulling up as they got there.
“Brad don’t worry about being nervous a lot of the new people will be. Just follow your schedule and you should be fine. Besides, from what I’ve seen of yours and Brian’s schedule you both are almost in all the same classes.” David informed his brother during the bus ride to school.
“What about if someone finds out about my problem?”
“Let a teacher know about it and let them handle it. Truthfully though, I think a lot of people will already be aware of it from your gym classes from last year. Just remember that if someone does give you a hard time about it not to start anything. Dad would be pissed if you were to get suspended for fighting.”
“Yeah, they already explained all that to me. But I’m still nervous about it.”
“I know. Just don’t let other people know it bothers you and you should be fine.” Brian interjected from his seat across the aisle from his brothers.
David took this time to change the subject to other things that their dads might not have covered. By the time the bus arrived at the school Brad was a bit more relaxed.
“All students need to report to the auditorium before going to their homerooms.” a teacher informed the boys as they got off the bus.
“That’s odd.” David commented with a shrug. As he led Brad and Brian into the building. On seeing a couple of his friends Brian split off right away. Brad started to follow his brother but felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him.
“Don’t worry about him. I’ll make sure you get to where you need to before classes start.”
“Okay.” Brad replied nervously as they walked into the auditorium and found some seats with a couple of David’s friends.
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen lets quiet down.” One of the teachers called into the microphone in front of them, to little effect. After several more tries with little success Ian stood up and asked if he could give it a try. With a nod the teacher handed him the microphone.
“OK people, Let’s zip it up and pay attention.” Ian announced calmly and clearly. Within moments the room was dead silent. Though before sitting down, Ian could have sworn he had heard a couple of people mutter “oh shit” when they saw him.
“Thank you Mr. Miller.” The mousey teacher stated as he took the floor back.
“I’d like to take this time to welcome you all back to another year with us. As you can tell, Mrs. Dubov is not with us this morning. This is due to a family crisis that came up over the weekend. She will be hopefully be back by the end of the week. In the mean time Mr. Hanson will be filling in for her. I’d also like to point out three new additions to our staff. Dr. Will Robinson , who will be the school’s physician, Mr. Steve Levinson, who will be taking over for Mrs. Simmons as school nurse, and Mr. Ian Miller who will be helping out with our computer sciences department as well as heading up our new N.J.R.O.T.C. program. I’ll now turn the floor over to Mr. Miller so he can fill you in more about what the program is about.”
“Thank you, Mr. Ford.” Ian replied as he took the floor again. Over the next twenty minutes Ian filled in the students what the program would entail and then answered a few questions.
“This could get interesting.” David muttered to Hutch, who was sitting next to him.
“You’re telling me. You going to try out for it?”
“Probably, but I’ll need to talk to dad about it first.”
“That’d probably a good idea.” David was told with a chuckle. Twenty minutes later Ian was handing the microphone back to Mr. Ford.
“Thank you for that presentation Mr. Miller. For those of you interested, the program will be open to Seventh grade and above. A more detailed meeting for the class will be held after school in the west auditorium. Now you’re all dismissed for your home rooms. I will ask that all new students stay behind for Orientation and to get your class schedules.” On hearing this, the auditorium filled with sounds of people moving around.
“Just stay where you are, Brad. They’ll fill you in on what you need to know from here.” David said as he grabbed his bag and left to get to his homeroom. Brad nodded at this and waited for the few minutes.
“I’ll need those of you remaining to move closer to me so I don’t need to use the microphone.” The students were told once only the new students remained.
“Now for those of you who don’t know who I am, I’m Mr. Ford, and I’m the Dean of Admissions here at Stonehenge. Now before I get started I’d like you to all to come up here on stage and line up at each of the tables you see behind me. You’ll need to go to the table with the first letter of your last name and the person the will give you your class schedule and school handbook. You can leave your bags where they are you’ll be returning to your seats after you have your schedules and handbooks.” The remaining students were informed.
“So who do you have for Gym?” The boy sitting next to Brad asked once they sat back down.
“Dunbar. Though, my schedule says Swim/Dive instead of gym.” Brad replied.
“Oh. You must have done good on your Swim test last semester then. My brother told me that most people have to try out for the teams before the coaches make that change. I’m Jacob by the way.” The boy announced holding his hand out.
“Brad. Weren’t you in my gym class last year?” Brad asked when Jacob’s face finally clicked into place.
“Kind of. I was just here the couple days to take the admissions tests and my dad had them run me through the swim tests at the same time. The rest of the time I just came by to watch my brother practice.”
“That’s cool. What other classes do you have?” Brad asked. In the next few minutes the boys found out that they had almost half of their classes together. Soon Mr. Ford was calling for their attention again and started going through their handbooks with them. Several hours later they were being released for lunch and told to come back here when it was over.
“OK people, that’s it for the day. Those of you that have a blue medical form with you will be required to have them turned in to either Mr. Levinson or Dr. Robinson by the end of the week. If you have any trouble with that please see Dr. Robinson to get something worked out. Well, since we only have a couple of minutes till the end of the day go ahead and consider yourself dismissed for the day. But keep it quiet in the halls since the other classes are still going on.” The group was told in the way of dismissal. Brad wasn’t surprised to see that he had the previously mentioned medical form. Since they had the extra time he decided to go ahead and take the form up to the Drs. Office and have Steve fill the thing out.
“Hey Dad.” Brad stated as he walked into the doctors office.
“Hey Brad. I assume you’re here to get your medical forms taken care of?” Brad was asked.
“That and something else.” Steve just nodded at this last part knowing what Brad was talking about.
“OK. Go ahead and get the other thing taken care of and wait till I come and get you before you put your pants back on.” Steve said while getting out of his chair.
“Ok, but why?” Brad asked with some confusion.
“I’m going to see if Dr. Robinson can give you your Sports physical.”
“But I just had one with Dr. Grant a couple of weeks ago.”
“I’m aware of that. However the school now requires Dr. Robinson to complete one as well just to make sure nothing was missed.” The look Brad gave his dad at this told him how unlikely he felt this would be.
“I know. Now get a long and go get changed.” Steve chuckled as he gave Brad a light swat to the backside to send him on his way.
On entering the room that his dad opened for him, Brad marveled at the sight that stood before him. Along one wall stood rows of cubby holes filled with all manners of changing supplies, including diapers that ranged in size from size 5 infant diapers up to Large sized adult diapers. While the infant diapers looked to be Pampers or Huggies Brand, the rest of them were Jordan’s Inc. School diapers. With a chuckle, Brad grabbed one of the X-Small Jordan’s and headed over to the nearest changing station. After getting all the cleaning supplies situated, Brad dropped his shorts and climbed up on the table. Brad froze about halfway through his change when he heard the lock on the door click and the door opened up. A moment later he was face to face with the kid he had been sitting next to all day.
“Hey.” The boy said simply as he walked over to the wall and after locating the diapers in his size grabbed one and walked over to the table that was next to Brad’s.
“Uh, not wanting to be nosey or anything, but you might want to finish want you’re doing before you spring a leak. I’m Jacob, again, by the way.” Jacob said with a grin as he dropped his own pants. Exposing a diaper that was almost as wet as the one Brad had just removed.
“Brad.” Brad mumbled. Still looking at Jacob in shock.
“You wanting some help with that or something?” Jake asked pointing to the diaper Brad was still holding in his hand.
“Huh, wha?” Brad stuttered. Starting to come out of the shock he was in.
“I asked if you were needing some help.” Jacob said again
“No. I mean, I’m ok.” Brad finally managed as he continued with his change.
“I guess you’re kind of new to this whole diaper thing huh?” Brad was asked as Jacob started undoing his own diaper.
“A little. How could you tell?”
“Because most people who’ve been doing this for a while wouldn’t have frozen up like you did. Though I will admit, the look on your face when I first came in was priceless.” Jacob laughed as the door opened once again.
“You having problems in here Brad?” Steve asked as he came into the room.
“Uh..” Brad replied with a small look towards Jacob who hadn’t even paid Steve’s entry into the room one bit of notice.
“Right. Well the doc is waiting on you so let’s see what we can do to speed you along here.” Brad was told as Steve took the diaper Brad was just getting ready to place under himself.
“Well, looks like it’s a good thing I came in. Looks like you’re starting to get a rash.” Steve announced as he re-folded the diaper Brad had gotten out and took it back over to the shelves and grabbed one of the thicker diapers that Brad hadn’t noticed before along with a tube of rash cream. Before Brad could utter one word of protest, Steve had the thicker diaper under him and was getting ready to apply some of the rash cream.
“Don’t even bother, it won’t help you any.” Steve told Brad with a smile, seeing the bit of a smile that Jacob had as well. In just a matter of a few more minutes Brad was being led from the room sans pants, and shirt. He turned an even brighter shade of red when one of the boys standing nearby whistled. And Brad recognized him as the Captain of the swim team.
“Aaron cut that out. Unless you want me to do the same thing to you.” Dr. Robinson stated as he walked past the boy and gave him a light slap to the back of his head.
“Sorry dad.” Aaron said with a sad looking face, though Brad could have sworn he saw a smile on the older boy’s face at his father’s threat.
“Don’t pay any attention to my son. He thinks that all boys in diapers look sexy, though don’t ask me why.” Brad was told with a laugh as Dr. Robinson led him into another room.
Brad was surprised at how thorough the exam he was given was. Not to mention how quickly it was performed.
“Well, Brad, I’d say you’re all set. I don’t see anything wrong that would prevent you from going out for sports.” Brad was informed after being told that he could get dressed.
“I’m sure Coach Dunbar will be happy to hear that.” came the reply as Brad struggled a bit to pull his pants over the thicker diaper he was sporting.
“I’ll bet. He’s a bit manic when it comes to coaching.” Brad was told with a chuckle.
“Well, get going. I’m sure my sons are still waiting for us to finish up so you can get down to the pool.” Brad nodded at this but looked rather embarrassed by how noticeable the diaper he had on was through his pants. As Dr. Robinson had guessed, both Aaron and Jacob were waiting for Brad when he come out of the back office.
“Robinson, why is it that you’re always the one that comes in late?” Coach Dunbar called as Aaron, Jacob, and Brad walked into the pool area.
“Don’t know coach. Just lucky I guess, besides I thought I’d go out and shanghai some more fish bait for you.” Aaron called.
“Yeah, I guess that’ll work.” Came the reply as he looked over the two younger boys.
“Hey coach, your not really thinking of letting a couple of babies join the team are you?” one of the swimmers called out.
“And what if I am Thompson. I don’t see what there is you could do about it.”
“We could always walk out. I doubt there are many people here that want a couple of babies on the team.” Thompson called back. At this point Brad realized that this was the same kid that tried to start the fight with at the end of the previous school year.
“Fine by me. There’s the door for anyone who wants to use it.” The group was told calmly.
“Coach, I don’t think we need to go that far. I think a simple race should be able to settle this since it looks like Shelby is the only one that wants to walk out.” Aaron called out.
“Good point. Well Brad, what do you think?” Coach Dunbar asked as the older boy walked down from where he was sitting .
“Fine by me. I’ll even sweeten the deal. If I lose, I’ll walk out the door. But if I win, I expect you to keep your damn mouth shut about my problem got it.” Brad stated looking the older boy in the eye as he did so.
“Then it’s settled. Tomorrow afternoon we’ll get this little spat taken care of. And I better not hear of any tricks to take either one out. Got it.” The boys were informed. Both Boys nodded, though still glaring at each other.
Thirty minutes later Brad was walking out of the pool area. Since he knew the buses had already left, Brad headed over to the West auditorium. Ian was just finishing up his presentation as he walked in. Seeing Brian in one of the back rows he walked over.
“Hey Brad. How’s it going so far?” Brian asked softly as Brad took the seat next to him.
“Not bad so far.”
“I hear you already caused some trouble.” Brad was informed with a smile.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” came the nervous reply. With a knowing grin Brian pulled out his phone/PDA combo and after hitting a few buttons showed his brother the message that was on the screen. Brad was shocked to see a photo of him and Shelby glaring at each other with “MILLER Vs. THOMPSON SWIM OFF 3P.M. TOMORROW!!” written under it.
“Ah Crap. You don’t think many people will show up do you?” Brad asked as he handed the PDA back.
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire school shows up for it. Thompson is one of the most stuck-up jerks on campus.”
“Great. I just hope dad doesn’t get wind of this.” With Brad looking down at the time he missed the look of disbelief on Brian’s face when he heard this. Before anything else could be said David walked up to them.
“Dad will be ready to go in a minute so you might want to pack things up.” They were told, though the last part of the comment was directed more towards Brian. As Brad stood up Brian and David both got a look at how puffed out his pants looked.
“Jeez, Brad, if you’re going to go for the thicker diapers like that you might want to start wearing some looser fitting pants,” David laughed while giving the front of his brother’s pants a playful slap with the back of his hand.
“Oh Shut up. Steve was the one that did this, not me.” Brad shot back moodily.
“Oh. OK.” David responded as he walked off.
“Well, don’t just stand there let’s go.” Ian called a few minutes later as he finished packing some papers into his briefcase. Brad was glad that nothing was said about the slight altercation that he had during his last class of the day.
“Brad!!” Devon yelled as he came running up to his brother as Brad came through the front door.
“Hey Kiddo.” Brad called back as he knelt down to get the hug he knew was going to be coming. What Brad didn’t see was that Devon was being closely followed by all three of the dogs. As Devon jumped into his brother’s arms the dogs did the same which knocked Brad back on to his diapered butt.
“OK OK guys get off!” Brad laughed after a few minutes of the welcome home dog pile he had been treated to.
“UH guys, some help here would be nice.” Brad added to David and Brian, who were standing around with Andy and Ryan, as he tried to push the three dogs off him.
“I don’t know Brad. Dad gets kind of mad if we get our school clothes dirty.” David informed his brother.
“C’mon guys.”
“OK, I guess we should give him a hand.” Brian said after a few moments more. Soon after this Brad felt the three dogs get pulled off him. Though he still had a giggling toddler to deal with. Looking down he saw what Devon was giggling about. While rolling around with the dogs, the shorts Brad was wearing had been pulled down to around his knees.
“Oh you think that’s funny huh?” Brad asked with a smile of his own.
“Uh huh.”
“Well how about I go drop us in the pool? How about that?”
“Huh uh.”
“Yeah, I think I will.” Brad laughed as he kicked his shorts the rest of the way off and started running for the back door.
“What’s all this yelling about?” Steve asked as he came out of the kitchen and nearly got run over by Brad followed closely by the dogs who had decided to join in on the fun.
Devon hardly had time to grip Brad tighter as the older boy ran of the edge of the deck and right into the deep end of the pool. They were followed closely by all of the dogs. As well as, Steve, David, and Brian. Seeing Brad run right into the pool the pool holding Devon, Steve though he was going to have to deal with a hysterical kid given what had happened last time some one had done this with Devon. He was wrong. By the time Brad managed to surface and swim back to the edge of the pool, Devon was laughing his head off. Once Brad was back on the deck himself, Steve couldn’t decide whether he wanted to be mad or laugh his head off What happened moments after Brad climbed out made the choice for him. Before Steve could say one word Brad’s flooded out diaper slid down his legs and hit the pool deck with a audible splat breaking the tension. Steve found that trying to keep a straight face while looking at his son standing there naked from the waist down with a maxed out diaper down around his ankles impossible. With a shake of his head, Steve turned around and walked back in to the house and headed for the office he shared with Ian. Once the door was closed behind him, he started laughing his head off.
“Want to let me in on the joke?” Ian asked, looking up from the paper work he was working on.
“Devon and the dogs decided to welcome Brad home by ganging up in him in the family room.”
“OK.”
“Well, sometime during this Brad’s shorts got worked down to around his knees and Dev thought this was funny so Brad commented about dropping them both in the pool.”
“Well, I hoped the other boys stopped him.”
“The didn’t get a chance. As soon as Dev said no. Brad kicked his shorts the rest of the way off and ran for the pool followed by all three of the dogs.”
“I hope you talked to him about that.”
“I couldn’t. First, Dev was laughing that he wanted to do it again, and second Brad no sooner got out of the pool than the diaper he had on slid down his legs and landed with a splat right at his feet. It was all I could do to keep a straight face long enough to walk away. I will talk to him about it later but I don’t plan on punishing him over this.” Ian just nodded at this with a smile of his own as he pictured the sight Steve had just described to him.
“So Brad, David tells me you had a bit of a run in during swim practice today.” Ian stated as they were finishing up dinner.
“It’s nothing. One of the older guys don’t like the idea of me being on the team because of my needing diapers.”
“And when were you planning on telling Steve or I about it?”
“I wasn’t. At this point anyway. The team Captain and Coach Dunbar came up with a way to take care of problem.” Ian was informed while Brad gave is older brother a dirty look.
“I’ll assume that this is the swim off that David mentioned?”
“It is.”
“What are you going to do if you happen to lose?”
“I already told them that if I lose then I’ll walk out the door and not come back. Because I don’t want to be part of a team with people that are openly hostile to me.”
“OK. I can live with that. I just ask that next time something like this takes place that you let Steve or I know about it regardless of what else might have been devised to try and take care of the situation . Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh and Brad, Next time you decide to take a swim after school I would prefer if you at least take your diaper or Pull-ups off first.” Steve added as Brad got up to take his dishes into the kitchen.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Brad replied after a brief pause.
Most of the next day all Brad heard talked about was the Swim off that he and Shelby was going to be dealing with after school.
“Brad, they want to see you in the office.” The teacher informed him as he walked into his next to last class of the day.
“Ok. Let me put my bags down and I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Brad replied as he started to set his stuff down at a seat next to Brian.
“That won’t be necessary. I was told that you won’t be back.” Brad nodded to this then leaned over to Brian.
“Would you mind getting my books and tonight’s homework assignment for me?” Brad asked his brother softly.
“I’ll get it taken care of.” Brad nodded to this and walked out of the class room.
Several minutes later he walked into office a bit nervously.
“Can I help you?” one of the secretaries asked seeing Brad look around nervously.
“Uh, Yeah. I’m Brad Miller. I was told someone wanted to see me.”
“Oh yes. They’re waiting for you inside.” Brad was told as he was pointed towards the door to the principal’s office.
“You wanted to see me, sir?” Brad asked after opening the door.
“Yes we were waiting for you have a seat.” Brad was told as he walked in to the room further. Brad stopped cold when he saw that his dad was in the room along with Shelby, his father, Coach Dunbar, and Aaron.
“Well have a seat and we can get this little meeting started. Brad slowly took his seat.
“Now I want to know what the hell is going on with this Swim Off I’ve been hearing about all day.” Mr. Hadley stated without preamble.
“That idea was mine sir.” Aaron stated.
“Ok, I’m listening.”
“Yesterday when Brad showed up for swim practice Shelby here made his displeasure know about having a person with Brad’s problem on the team and threatened a walk out if the coach kept Brad on the team.”
“I see. Though from what I’ve heard that wasn’t the term used. Now how about you tell me what term was used.”
“I believe the term Shelby used was “babies”.”
“And why was the word used plurally?”
“That would have to do with the fact that Aaron’s younger brother was there as well.” Coach Dunbar added before Aaron could.
“And what was your reaction to all this going on? Since it sounds to me like you were standing right there when all this happened.” Coach Dunbar was asked reasonably.
“I was there and I informed Mr. Thompson where the door was and he was more than free to use it along with anyone else that felt the need to do so. No one made the move to leave so I assumed that Thompson was the only one with a problem with having Brad and Jacob on the team. I was about to go ahead and dismiss Shelby from the team when Aaron came up with his idea for the swim off. I thought this idea had merit so I agreed to it. As you already know I’ve turned in the forms to have Shelby here served with and Article 15 pending your approval.” Mr. Hadley was informed calmly.
“Yes I know. I have it in front of me here We’ll get to that in a minute. Do either of you have anything to add to this?” Brad and Shelby were asked.
“No sir.” Brad answered simply looking Mr. Hadley in the eye as he did so.
“No sir. But I still don’t think that people like him should be allowed to represent the school.” Shelby mumbled no looking at anyone as he did so.
“I see and what do you gentlemen have to say about all this?” The fathers were asked.
“If Brad doesn’t have a problem with what’s been decided then I don’t either.” Ian said with a look towards Brad to let him know that he meant what he was saying.
“Mr. Thompson?”
“I don’t see a problem with either. Though I do have a serious problem concerning my son’s attitude But that is something I’ll be dealing with at home.” The group was told while Shelby was given a hard look by his father.
“That is entirely up to you. Well, then, since no school rules were broken in setting up this little match I’ll let it go on as planned. Mr. Thompson if you and your father could stay a few extra moments we’ll get the matter of this Article 15 taken care of.” The group was told. Everyone nodded at this and got up to leave the room.
“Brad, since this hour is almost over go ahead and follow me down to the pool so Aaron and I can see where you stand on your diving skills.” Dunbar said as they walked out into the office.
“Ok, but wouldn’t it be better to wait and see how the match turns out?” Brad asked looking over towards his teacher.
“It would be, but frankly I don’t think that there will even be a contest.” Brad was told with a smile.
“Brad, I must say that it seems like you’re an even better diver than you are a swimmer. I think you’ll be an even bigger asset to the team than I previously thought.” Ivan announced with a manic gleam in his eyes as Brad pulled himself out of the pool.
“I guess so. I don’t think I did very well though.” Brad replied as he dried himself off. This caused everyone who heard him to stop what they were doing and look at him with stunned expressions.
“Let me be the judge of that. Go take breather for a few minutes. Shelby should be here soon then I can lay down the rules for this little meet.”
“Ok.” Brad replied as he took off for the locker room. Just as he hit the door he heard the last bell ring for the day. A few minutes later Shelby came into the room and started getting ready without saying a word. Brad felt that it would be best for him to stay as far away from Shelby as possible for the time being so he walked down to the far end of the room and started doing some stretches to limber up.
“Ok, you two, this is how things are going to work. There are going to be four events the 500 and 1500 Breast Stroke, then one high and low dive. The best overall score wins. And to make sure that no complaints of favoritism can be made, I’ve called in a small favor and had some judges brought in from the local Swim association. They’ll be grading this just like they would a normal meet so I expect both of you to get out there and do your best. Coach Romanov will be the fifth judge. If there are no questions, let’s get out there and have some fun.” The boys were informed.
“Hey coach could you pass this to the judges and see if this will be accepted as a dive.” Brad asked as they walked towards the door.
“I’ll pass this along and see what they say.” Brad was informed as the coach looked at the folded piece of paper like he had just been handed a grenade with the pin pulled.
“Thanks coach.” Brad said with a smile as he headed for the door.
“He’s got to be cheating somehow.” Shelby muttered to some of his friends during a small break forty-five minutes later. Looking sourly towards the score board and seeing that Brad had blown him out of the water in the 500 meter race and was only a tenth of a second behind him in the 1500.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. I plan on taking him out during the dives.” The boys were told cruelly. The guys sitting around him just nodded at this, but all of them though he was just acting like a spoiled little kid.
“Brad, the judges Okayed the dive you wanted them to. I don’t know what was on the paper I gave them but they seemed really interested in seeing it.” Brad was informed before the coach turned to Shelby.
“Well, what are you waiting for Thompson, an invitation? Get up on the board and show us something.”
“Just a second, coach. I’ve got a bit of a cramp.” Shelby answered as he bent down to act like he was rubbing his calf but was really putting some KY on it so he could smear it on the board once he got up there.
“Good dive, but you pulled up to soon.” Shelby was told by the coach as he climbed out of the water.
“C’mon coach that dive was perfect.” Shelby argued.
“The judges don’t think so.” Came the calm retort as Coach Dunbar pointed towards the Scoreboard and Shelby saw that the highest score he got was a Nine even.
“OK Brad anytime you’re ready.” The coach yelled over the crowd. Like before, the crowd went silent as Brad got ready for his dive. After taking a few calming breaths, Brad started running down the board and looked like had stumbled a bit just before the end, Luckily, this didn’t affect the dive he planned on doing.
“Jesus Christ! What the hell was that!?” Ian yelled as Brad climbed out of the pool. The crowd that had gathered to see this little match was still sitting in stunned silence at what they had just seen.
“Fun.” Brad answered with a slight grin which faded quickly when he saw the look on his dad’s face.
“Well, ‘fun’, or not, I better not see you do that dive again. Your dad damn near killed himself the last time I saw him try it. Where did you learn that from anyway?” Ian finished in a slightly calmer tone.
“I don’t know. I just remember seeing it a lot when I went to the pool with my dad” Brad answered nervously.
“I see. Well, I want you to promise me right now that you’ll never try that dive again. I wouldn’t be able to take it if you got seriously hurt trying it. OK?”
“Yeah, I do. And I promise I won’t do it again.” Brad said softly as his dad pulled him into a hug Oblivious to the cheering around them. Looking up, Brad saw that his scores had been posted and saw that the lowest he got was a 9.6.
“I guess they had to take off for that little stumble I had.” Brad commented to his dad.
“They did. I was a little shocked to see you stumble a bit. I’d never seen you do that before.”
“I hit a bit of a slick spot near the end of the board. I guess Shelby still had some of the ointment on his hand when he got into position for his dive.” Brad stated with a shrug.
“I see. Well go get dressed and we can get home. I’m sure the Trips and Dogs are wondering where we are.” Ian said as he steered his son towards the locker room door.
“Just a minute Brad, we have a slight presentation to make first.” Aaron said as he steered the younger boy back over to were Coach Dunbar and Romanov were standing.
“Alright people settle down.” Mr. Hadley called to get the place quiet enough for the coaches Once this was done, Coach Dunbar stepped forward and started speaking.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to your 2040 Druids Varsity Swim Team. Your Team Captain Aaron Robinson, Casey Brandt, Greg Cortez, Daniel Elliott, Matthew Kiplinger, Anthony Lindburgh, Bradley Miller..” Brad was so shocked at hearing his name that his dad had to give him a slight nudge before he had the presence of mind to step into line with the others. He didn’t eve catch the names of the other people on the team as they were read off. Brad felt great relief when he realized that Shelby hadn’t been called up. It suddenly dawned on Brad that this little contest was also to pick the final spot for the Varsity team.
The next several weeks were very hectic for Brad as he found what he was going to be up against when it came to keeping up with the other guys on the team. The one thing that did make him happy was the extra friends he made through the course of this. Most of the guys on the team treated him like a younger brother Than a true friend but this was fine with Brad given the age differences between him and most of the other people on the team. He did manage to make several new friends from the younger brothers and sisters of his new teammates not to mention the people he had gotten to know on the JV squad. What Pleased Brad even more than all the new friendships he had started was the fact that nobody was bothered by his needing to wear diapers. Though they did crack jokes about it from time to time but it was all in fun when they did. Especially with some of the others that still wore them at night and such. This little fact caught Brad totally of guard when he found out about it during the first team sleepover he had gone to at Aaron’s and found that over half of the JV and Varsity team members either need to wear them to bed or just liked to. With the not so subtle change David saw in his brother made him glad that he had bullied Brad into going to the sleepover. I mean you can’t very well spend a weekend romping around a house in just a diaper with almost a dozen other guys for a weekend and not have it change you.
“We’re Home!” Brad and David yelled as they walked through the door from the extra swim practice the coach had them doing to prepare for the swim meet that was going to be happening over the coming weekend.
“Brad!” came the familiar yell as he caught a glimpse of Devon coming at him with his brothers and the dogs hot on his tail.
“Oh great, here we go again.” Brad thought with a smile as Dev slammed into him Brad actually managed to stay on his feet this time till the dogs got there. David just laughed at this as we walked around the mass of Dogs and bodies that was now in front of him.
“Okay guys, let your brother up.” Ian stated with a slight chuckle as he looked at the mass of boys and dogs rolling around just inside the doorway.
“C’mon Dev you too.” Ian laughed as he saw that his youngest son was still clinging to his older brother like a barnacle.
“Nope.” Dev laughed as he tightened his grip around Brad’s neck and waist.”
“C’mon now. Dinner is about ready and we don’t want Anna to get mad now do we?” the younger boy was asked.
“Nope.” came the answer as Dev still refused to release his grip. With a smirk of his own Ian stepped up behind the younger boy and instead of trying to remove him forcefully like he had tried the first couple of times, Ian started tickling the boys’ exposed armpits and ribs. Dev released his grip after just a few seconds of this treatment and fell in into his dad’s arms in laughter.
“Uh dad, if you’re going to keep doing that you might want to make sure Dev is padded first.” Brad commented when he saw the growing wet spot on the front of Dev’s pants.
“Ooops.”
“Yeah, that about covers it.” Brad laughed while getting a few tickles in on his brother’s exposed belly since the damage was already done.
“Oh well, to late now. Anyway dinner is about ready so you better get upstairs and change for dinner.” Brad was informed. He just nodded at this since he knew that Anna only allowed school clothes to be worn to the table for breakfast.
“How’d practice go, and where did Dev and your dad disappear to?” Steve asked as Brad joined them at the table.
“Went just great. Coach Dunbar is really pushing us now that the meet is coming up this weekend. And Dad caused Dev to have a slight accident so he’s helping him get cleaned up.” To prove this point Dev and Ian walked into the dinning room with Dev now sporting just a T-shirt and a pair of pull-ups.
“You know Ian you really have to stop doing that.” Steve smirked at his husband while he helped Dev into his booster seat.
“I know. But I figured that Dev was going to end up wet anyway so there was no harm done.” Ian replied. Steve just conceded the point with a nod of his head as Anna brought out what was being served for dinner that night.
“Guys, I just wanted to let you know that in a couple of weeks we’re going to be having some house guests for a couple of weeks.” Ian announced over desert.
“Who’s that, dad?” David asked before Brian or Brad could.
“Daniel, Jackson, and the twins. Jason and Madge are going over seas for a bit and they felt it would be better to have the boys come out here than to stay at home while they’re gone.” They were told.
“What about Anna?” Brian asked.
“She’s going with her parents. They figure she’s old enough now to put up with what something like this would be like.” The boys just nodded at this.
“Now this does mean we’re going to have to put up with some changes while they’re here. Mainly that we’ll be having to abide by Secret Service rules while they’re here. That means you guys can’t just have your friends pop in like they do now. All visits will probably need to be Okayed in advance.” This announcement was met with groans from the older boys.
“I know you’re not to happy about this but whether you like it or not it’s going to be happening. And Brad the second piece of news is for you. We got a call a couple of days ago from a Swim Coach he saw a copy of the match you had against Shelby a few weeks back and is interested in taking you on.” Ian stated while looking at his middle son.
“But I already have a swim coach.”
“True, but this coach is different he helps train swimmers for the Olympics.” Brad’s reaction was interrupted by David gagging on the mouthful of milk he was taking when he heard this.
“You Okay there David?” Steve asked with a smile as he pounded David on the back to help clear the milk from the boy’s airway.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” David rasped as he turned to face his dad.
“Someone wants to train Brad for the Olympics?”
“That’s what they say. Brad, if you don’t mind, I asked him to come over Sunday for Dinner. He’ll probably show up early to catch your meet this weekend. I guess he wants to see how well you do in competition.”
“I won’t have to move will I?”
“No. If he chooses to take you on he’ll need to come here or be close enough that we can take you to him.” Ian replied. Not at all surprised that that subject came up.
“Do you think I should do it?”
“I think you have the potential to make it that far. But I think you should see what the man has to say and go from there. Steve and I will support you with whatever you decide to do.” Brad was informed. With a look of relief, Brad turned back to his half eaten desert. The rest of the meal conversation centered around Brian and David trying to get more information out of their dads concerning what restrictions they’d have to put up with while their cousins where here.
“Okay guys, once the dishes are done I want you upstairs and getting any homework you have done. I want it ready for Steve or me to inspect it before you turn in.” David, Brian, and Brad were informed as they got up from the table.
“I’ve already finished my work dad. The only thing I have is a project for CompSci and I need to get with Jacob first though so we can decide what to do for it. I can let you see the rest of my work now if you want. All I was going to do is go back over everything to make sure I didn’t have any mistakes.” Brad replied over the low groans at their dads’ announcement. Steve and Ian both looked a bit surprised at this comment. Ian decided to make some discreet inquires about how Brad was doing in his classes since he never seemed to have that much homework to do at home compared to Brian.
“Well, if you’ve already done it go ahead and bring it down for me to check. I’ll need your planner as well.” Brad was told. Brad nodded at this and went to get the assignments and his planner for his dad . As Brad handed the pages over to his dad, Steve noticed that Brad’s shorts seemed a bit fuller than normal and figured that Brad was due for a change.
“Hey Brad, let’s go get you into some dry pants while your dad looks over all that stuff.” Steve said as he placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“That’s okay Steve, I was going to go up in a minute anyway and take care of it.” came the slightly embarrassed reply.
“I don’t mind doing this every now and then. Besides, we never get that much one on one time.” Steve told his nephew with a smile as he steered the boy towards the stairs. A moment later Brad felt himself getting lifted up off the ground and tossed over his uncle’s shoulder.
“Uh, Uncle Steve, I think you better let me down for a second .” Brad informed his uncle as he felt his bowels start to rumble.
“That’s okay, you’re not that heavy.” came the chuckled reply as Steve prepared to drop his nephew down on his changing table.
“It’s not that. I have to go number two.” Brad answered as he felt his bottom hit the table.
“That’s alright. I don’t mind cleaning up a messy bottom every now and then.” Brad was informed as Steve continued to lay Brad out and strap him down.
“But..”
“It’s Okay Brad. I don’t mind.” the boy was told as his shorts were pulled off.
“I hope you know how much I hate doing this.” Brad told his uncle with great disgust as he raised his butt off the table and gave a push.
“There that wasn’t so bad now was it?” Brad was asked rhetorically.
“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one laying here with a couple of pounds of fudge in your shorts.” Brad shot back acidly as he felt the solid mass spread out as he lowered his bottom back down on the table. Steve just cocked an eyebrow in response to tone his nephew used but let it pass since he knew perfectly well how much Brad hated having to use his diapers for number two.
In minutes, Brad felt his legs being lifted up after his diaper had been unfastened and pulled down.
“Well, kiddo, the damage isn’t nearly as bad as you think it was.” Steve chuckled as he grabbed a couple of wipes to clean Brad’s backside with.
“Maybe, but I still don’t like having to mess myself.” This reply came with a slight shiver as Brad reacted to the cold wipe being run over his bottom.
“I’ll take your word for it, but your brother and dad don’t seem to mind it so much.” Brad shot a look at his uncle when he heard his dad being mentioned.
“Don’t mention that to anyone. It’s supposed to be a secret.” Steve told the boy seriously. Brad just nodded at this with a slight grin at the thought of his dad going around the house with a diaper on.
“There you go all done.” Brad was informed a short time later. Brad was a bit surprised when he went to sit up to find that his uncle had decided to use a couple of his thick cloth diapers and plastic pants.
“I thought you’d be more comfortable in those if you start playing any video games or start reading..” Steve said with a smile as he helped Brad off of the table and with a pat to the boy’s thickly padded posterior sent him on his way.
“How was my homework, dad?” Brad asked when he entered the game room and saw his dad reading the paper.
“Everything looked just fine. There were a few small mistakes on a couple of things but nothing to be concerned about.” On hearing this Brad turned around to head back upstairs to get his homework and find where the mistakes were so he could fix them.
“Brad, don’t worry about it. It’s nothing that will cause that big of a drop in the grade you get. Steve and I have both noticed that you’ve been working to hard since school started. I know you want to make sure that you don’t disappoint Steve or I but if you keep going like this you’ll be burned out before to long. Now I know you have a swim meet coming up but for the rest of the week I want you to keep your workouts light. Lord knows you’re probably in better shape than half the people in your grade.” Ian informed his son as he pulled the boy into a snuggle. Silently adding that Brad was probably in better shape than most of the people in grades above him as well. Brad just giggled a bit at the hug his dad gave him. And started to think that maybe his dad was right about him pushing himself to hard.
“Brad, story?” Came a request in stereo. Looking over, Brad found the Trips standing next to his bed with Dev holding a book. With a smile, Brad laid down the book he was reading and patted the bed on either side of him in moments he felt three warm bodies snuggling next to him. Brad had to admit that he probably liked this time of night the most. His uncles enjoyed it as well, since Brad had taken over giving the Trips their nightly story the boys were a lot easier to get into bed. Not to mention that they thought it was down right funny the way Brad would come up with funny voices for each of the characters in whatever story the boys were having him read to them.
“You think we should bother waking them up?” Steve asked his hubby while looking into Brad’s room and saw Brad and the Trips fast asleep and cuddled up next to each other.
“Nah, they aren’t hurting any thing and I don’t think the Trips sleeping with Brad for one night will cause any problems came the reply as Ian stepped into the room holding the younger boys’ teddy bears. With a smile, he placed each of the bears in the arms of its owner and gave each of the boys a small kiss on the forehead as he covered them up.
Brad was a bit surprised when he woke up the next morning and found Dev, Andy, and Ryan still in bed with him. Since each of the boys had their bears with them he figured his dad must have placed them with the boys at some time during the night. After getting outing out of bed, and removing the soaked night diaper he was sporting, Brad changed into a pair of his pull-ups and some shorts and headed down to the weight room just off the pool deck. Keeping in mind of what his dad said about keeping his workouts light Brad set the machines to half of what he would normally do. Which for a kid his size was still impressive.
“Brad, I thought Ian said to keep your training light this week?” Steve asked when he and David came down thirty minutes later for their own workouts.
“He did and I am. This is only about half of what I normally do. and I’m only doing ten minutes on each station instead of twenty ” Brad replied with out breaking the reps he was doing on the bench press.
“Brad could you stop for a second. You’re making me tired just looking at you.” Brad just nodded at this and did six more reps doing each one slower than the last to cool down a bit.
“Hold on a second there David I want to check something first.” Steve informed his nephew as David started to change the setting on the machine Brad had just vacated. Steve was stunned when he saw the weight setting that Brad was using.
“Jesus, Brad. You have this set at over your body weight and you say this is only half way for you?” Steve asked in amazement.
“Yeah, I guess so. I never really paid much attention to it. I just had David or Brian add five to ten pounds to the stack every week or so since dad had me start using them. Dad told me never to do more than I felt comfortable doing. He’s joined me a few times since he changed jobs and never said anything about it. So I didn’t think anything of it.” Steve was informed as Brad did some stretching exercises to limber up a bit before he hit the next machine. About this time Ian came out to do some laps before getting ready for work.
“What we going to start making this a family affair?” Ian chuckled as he came over to where everyone was standing.
“We might as well. I was wondering have you ever paid attention to how much Brad has been benching when you’ve worked out with him?”
“No, not really. He’s normally already on one of the machines when I get down here and he resets them when he’s done like we ask all the boys do. Why?”
“Well, David and I just came down to do some sets ourselves and what the machine is set at now is what Brad was doing.” Steve informed his husband while still giving Brad an appraising look.
“Brad, I thought I asked you to go light on the weights this week?” Ian asked when he saw what the machine was set at.
“Ian, Brad informed me that this is half of what he normally does and David’s already confirmed this.” Steve announced jumping in before Brad could say anything.
“Are you trying to tell me that Brad regularly benches over twice his body weight?” David was asked.
“Yes, sir. We never go more than what feels comfortable for us like you tell us.”
“I still find that hard to believe.” Ian said in awe. At this point Brad spoke up thinking that his dads were calling him and David liars.
“David set up my normal stack, please.” Brad asked his brother since he was still standing by the machine. Once this was done, Brad gave his dad a nasty glare as he walked over to the machine and after getting comfortable started pumping out reps of ten.
“Say when.” Brad told his dad half way through the third set.
“Okay, Okay. I’m sorry I doubted you.” Ian stated a moment later when he saw that Brad was barely even breathing hard from this and looked like he could keep going for a good while longer. Brad just nodded at this and finished the set that he was on.
“Who’s up for some laps?” Brad asked as he stripped off his shorts and, now wet, pull-up.
“I’m game.” David answered as he dropped his shorts to reveal a pair of Speedos.
“Sure, why not. Steve and Ian answered at the same time as Steve dropped his own shorts. Thirty minutes later Anna announced that Breakfast would be ready in Twenty minutes and it better not be kept waiting once it was done. This was all the encouragement that Brad and David needed as they hopped out of the pool and ran for their rooms. Brad stopped only long enough to grab the garments he left by the pool’s edge.
“We better double up on the shower or we’ll never get done in time.” David said as they walked into Brad’s room.
“I can live with that.” David was glad with how Brad had loosened up about showering together since he first came to live with them. Of course there was that little misunderstanding a few weeks back when Brad thought David was making a pass at him in the shower and let David know that that would be a very bad judgment call should he try it again.
Steve and Ian had the same idea about showering together as the boys did but they did worry about any funny business that might happen.
“Steve, is it me or are we slowing down?” Ian asked while Steve was nice enough to wash his back for him.
“How do you mean?”
“In the pool, do you think we’re slowing down because both Brad and David made it look like we were standing still.”
“You noticed that to, huh. Don’t worry about it. We’re not teenagers any longer remember but I doubt we need to worry about looking at rest homes yet.” Steve chuckled.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Ian said with a chuckle of his own as he returned the favor that Steve just gave him.
“You boys late. You get KP tonight.” Anna informed Brad and David as they walked into the kitchen followed by the Trips.
“We had to get the Trips cleaned up. Or would you have preferred they come down in their soggy pants?” Brad asked reasonably.
“Okay, you not have KP but watch tone.” Anna said after a few seconds of thought. Brad nodded at this and as he walked past Anna she gave him a hard slap to his rear to let Brad know what she thought of his tone.
“You really should watch how you talk to Anna there Brad you know she doesn’t put up with any crap.” Ian laughed as he thought back to the hell he used to give her when she used to baby sit him. Brad just nodded at this.
“So what are you boys up to?” a voice called as Brad felt a hand take his.
“Angie, would you mind telling me what you think you’re doing?” Brad asked as he removed his hand from the grip the girl was putting on it.
“What? A girl can’t even give her guy a little affection every now and then?” Brad was asked as he felt Angie’s hand go to the seat of his pants and give it a squeeze firm enough to be felt through the diaper he had on.
“Angie, I don’t know what game you’re playing here but I suggest you remove your had right now before we both regret it.”
“Fine, I understand you don’t want to be seen breaking school policy.” Brad was told slyly as Angie released the grip she had on him and walked off with a group of the more popular girls in the school.
“Trouble in paradise, Miller?” A voice called a few seconds later.
“Not quite. I’m still trying to figure out what just happened.” Brad replied as he looked over his shoulder and found Ryan walking up to him.
“With her, I can believe it. She’s got this habit of picking jocks out at random and telling them that they’re now her boyfriend.”
“And what happens then?”
“The guy normally goes with her for a while till she manages to get in their pants and then she dumps them. But this normally after the guy ends up with one of the more interesting social diseases.” Ryan said with a wink so Brad knew what he was talking about.
“Of course, she tends to get rather ugly towards the guys that either dump her before she can get in their pants or the guy in question is smart enough to tell her to blow right at the beginning. It looks like she might be gunning for you next so I’d watch that diapered ass of yours.”
“Gotcha, and thanks for the heads up.”
“No problem. I’ll see you at practice.” Brad nodded at this and walked into his own classroom as Ryan headed of down the hall. Of course, by lunch the whole school seemed to be under the impression that Brad and Angie were now going out.
“So Brad, what’s this I hear about you and Angie going out now?” David joked when Brad showed up at the table that the swim team staked out during lunch.
“We aren’t going out.” Brad replied tersely while shooting his brother a dirty look.
“Easy there. I’m only yanking your chain.” David replied quickly seeing the underlying look his brother was giving him.
“Sorry. It’s just that everyone’s been giving me a hard time about it ever since she came up said she was making me her boyfriend.”
“I know. Ryan told me about it right after it happened. Just remember what he told you about her.” David reminded his brother.
“I know I will. So how do you like the promotion that Coach Dunbar gave you?” Brad asked, changing the subject over to the announcement the coach had made that moved David on to the JV swim team after one of the other members had been kicked off because he had been found using drugs.
“I still think he’s making a mistake.”
“No, he’s not. You think I would have suggested your name to him if I didn’t think you could do it” David was informed with a grin.
“You suggested my name to him?”
“In a way, You remember last week when I told you I wanted to get a little more time in and I talked the coach into letting me stay after.”
“Yeah, I remember. You insisted I join you and like normal we ended up getting into a race, and like normal you blew my as out of the water.”
“True. But what you didn’t know is that the coach was watching the entire thing on his office monitor. While I may have won you were only a couple of seconds behind me. While it may not have been good enough for Varsity, it was certainly good enough for J.V.. So here you are.” Brad said with a smile. Everyone else just laughed at this, since David always said that he could never be suckered like that. After a moment David started laughing as well when he realized how easily he brother suckered him in.
The rest of the week went by with little problems, except for Angie seeming to get more clingy towards Brad. Who of course kept telling her that he wasn’t interested.
“Brad, you really should eat something more than that.” Steve told him when he saw that all Brad had was a small bowl of oatmeal and fruit and some toast.
“I’m to nervous.” Brad replied as he thought about the meet that was going to be starting in a few hours.
“I can tell but you really need to eat something more.”
“Don’t worry about it Steve. I’ve got some energy bars in the Trips bag if he gets hungry later.” Ian said as he gave Brad an understanding look having been there himself.
“If it’s OK, I’m going to go limber up for a little bit.” Steve and Ian were told.
“That’s fine. We’ll let you know when it’s time to go.” Ian said excusing the boy. With a nod, Brad got up and headed out to the work out room.
“Hey look that kid is wearing a pull-up!” Brad heard someone yell as he and David dropped their pants to get dressed for the meet.
“Yeah I am. What’s your point?” Brad shot back as he pulled his shirt off then started to step out of the pull-ups he had on.
“What?” The kid asked in confusion, since he was expecting Brad to start crying or something.
“I mean What’s your point. You just stated the obvious so I figured you must have a point to your comment.” Brad answered calmly.
“Look if you were just what to state the obvious about my choice of underwear just say so. We don’t have all day and I need to finish getting ready.” Brad added after a few seconds of silence. When they other kid still didn’t say anything Brad turned and started heading for the showers so he could wash up before climbing into his suit. This set the kid off and Brad felt the kid rushing up behind him. At the last minute, Brad stepped out of the way and the kid ran right into the edge of an open locker door giving himself a nasty cut above his eye as well as knocking himself senseless.
“Great.” David mumbled as he walked over to senseless boy.
“Brad could you go get Steve. I think this kid is going to need some stitches.” David stated after looking at the gash really quick before grabbing a towel and placed it over the cut.
“Yeah sure.” Brad said as he walked over to locker room door after pulling a towel around his waist.
Thinking that Brad would be smart enough to try and be discrete about this David was shocked by what Brad did.
“CORPSMAN UP!!” Brad yell at the top of his lungs after opening up the door. This got the attention of several people in the immediate area Steve and “Doc” Robinson among them since the two were on duty for the event.
“What’s going on Brad?” Coach Dunbar asked being the first on the scene.
“There’s been a slight accident.”
“Right.” the coach answered as he waved Steve and the “Doc” over before following Brad in to see what was going on.
“Jeez, Brad what happened this time?” Steve and the coach asked at almost the same time when they saw David leaning over one of the other swimmers holding a bloody towel to the kid’s head.
“The kid made a comment when he saw me wearing the pull-ups I had on under my shorts. I agreed with him on that fact and asked him what his point was and when he didn’t answer I started to walk to the showers so I could finish getting ready and the kid rushed me from behind. I stepped out of the way to let the kid go past but someone opened a locker at the same time as I did this and he ran right into the edge of it.” Brad explained. Looking around Coach Dunbar saw people from, not only his team ,but from several of the visiting teams as well nodding agreement to this explanation.
“OK.” Brad was told with a nod.
“If you aren’t already finished getting dressed hurry up and do so. If you are finished then clear out so we have room to work.” Steve called out. The tone being used caused a mad rush for either the showers or the exit.
When Brad came back in from getting his shower the room was mostly empty and the kid was now sitting up against a locker waiting for the ambulance to get there.
“I might have known it’d be you.” a disgusted sounding voice announced. Thinking he was the one being spoken to Brad turned and saw that it was the kid being talked to and the person Brad assumed was the boy’s coach did look at all happy. Not wanting to cause anymore embarrassment for the kid Brad finished dressing his a hurry and quickly made his way out of the room.
“Well, that was an interesting way to start the Season.” Aaron chuckled once Brad join them in the team area.
“Tell me about it.” a couple of people answered at the same time.
“Well, let’s get our game faces on.” With this, Brad started doing the calming exercises that his dad had been showing him over the past week.
Over the course of the next several hours Brad’s, and the rest of the new guys on the squad, times kept getting better and better as their nerves settled and they found their groove.
“Boys, I can’t say when I’ve been prouder of a team. You’ve all done great, but don’t let this go to your head this is only the beginning of the season. I expect to see all of you here tomorrow to support our divers. And to the divers, I expect all of you to get a good night’s sleep and be ready to blow the other teams out of the water.” The boys were informed by their coach after the meet had ended for the day before they headed off to the showers.
When Brad and David came back out, Brad saw Steve and his dad talking to the coach of the boy that had gotten injured
“Brad, I’d like you to meet Mr. Alexander. He’s the father and coach of the boy that you had that altercation with earlier.” Steve said.
“Pleased to meet you, sir. Just wish it was under different circumstances. How’s your son doing?” Brad asked while shaking the man’s hand.
“He’s doing fine. They decided to keep him overnight for observation. Thanks for asking. I’m sorry about the trouble he gave you concerning your “underwear”. I would have thought he’d know better than that. But I can assure you the matter will be addressed.” Brad was informed. While he didn’t show it, Mr. Alexander was stunned by how firm of grip Brad had for someone his size and glad that his son didn’t try anything more than he did or things might have turned out a good deal worse.
“It’s all right, sir. I’m used to comments like that.” Brad replied simply.
“It’s not “all right” by a long shot, but thank you for your understanding. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get my boys back to the hotel.” The Millers were told as Mr. Alexander started walking away.
“Dad, I know this is kind of last minute, but since we planned on having that party for the team tonight anyway do you think it would be okay to invite them. Just to show that there aren’t any hard feelings?” Brad asked his dads when he saw the slightly slumped shoulders on the man walking away from them.
“Well, lord knows we have enough food on hand for it. I don’t see a problem with it and he did seem kind of upset about the way his son acted. If you’re sure about this go ahead if you can catch him in time.” Ian said after a quick glance to Steve to make sure he didn’t have a problem.
“Fine by me.” Steve replied seeing the look in Ian’s eyes.
“Mr. Alexander! Wait up for a second!” Brad called just as the man started getting on to a bus.
“Yes?”
“I was wondering if you and your team would like to come to a barbecue this evening? My dads have one set up for my teammates and I, and I thought you might like to join us.” Brad asked noting the surprised look in the man’s face.
“Well thank you very much for the offer, but..” the coach started to say before getting cut off by Brad.
“Good. The party starts at 5pm and here’s the address. I’ll you then. And be sure to have them bring their swim trunks.” Brad answered as he handed the bus driver a slip of paper with the address on it. Stepping off the bus, Brad waved to the other team as the bus pulled away.
“That was a mean way to do that.” David stated from behind his brother causing Brad to jump a bit.
“What?” Brad asked in feigned innocence.
“Giving a party invitation loud enough for most of the guys to hear it then not giving their coach a chance to decline.
“Well, I’ll admit it was a bit underhanded but it worked.”
“True. If their coach tries to back out of it know he’ll have a full fledged riot on his hands from the boys on his team.” David laughed as they headed off to meet up with their dads and brothers.
“Hey Brad, think fast!” A voice called just as Brad finished introducing his teammates to his guests. Turning around, Brad had just enough time to catch sight of the kid running at him.
“Ah shit.” Brad muttered as his cousin stopped just short of him and pulled him into a bear hug but failed to notice that all three of the dogs were following close behind him. Before the older boy knew what was going on Otto slammed into his back followed closely by Sam and Clancy causing all five of them to end up in the pool. By the time Brad and Tim made it back to the edge of the pool all of Brad’s teammates, uncles, cousins, and brothers were laughing there heads off. Mr. Alexander and his team were kind of quiet since they didn’t really know what to make of just what happened. Though several of the boys seemed to be straining not to laugh as well.
“Very funny Tim.” Brad told his cousin as he started to help him out of the pool.
“Here Brad, I think you need this.” Steve stated as he tossed a towel towards him.
“Thanks Steve.” Brad said as he caught the towel but let go of his cousin’s hand in the process causing the older boy to fall back into the pool. This time, the boys from the visiting team joined in the laughter.
“You’ll have to forgive my cousin he has a lousy sense of humor.” Brad explained to Mr. Alexander, when he saw that he still had a shocked look on his face. Not realizing that the expression was actually from him seeing the state’s governor walk out onto the patio. Before Brad could make an introduction, a young boy that Brad remembered was Coach Alexander’s other son walked up.
“Dad, I have a problem that needs to be taken care of and I accidentally grabbed the wrong bag.” The boy said softly.
“Josh, I thought I told you to make sure you had the right bag before we left. Now we’ll have to leave to get you taken care of.”
“I’m sorry. You said you were in a hurry and I didn’t realize I had the wrong one till now.” The boy replied, starting to cry softly.
“Not meaning to interrupt but is there anything I could help with?” Brad asked.
“It’s nothing, Josh grabbed the wrong bag when we left the hotel and is now needing a change of pants.” Brad was told. The caused Josh to really start crying since he didn’t know that Brad had the same problem.
“That’s no problem. Josh and I look to be about the same size so you’re more than welcome to use some of my supplies. In fact, I have to go change myself now so you can just follow me and we can get everything taken care of.” Brad informed them, as he started towards the house. Before he got to far out of hearing he heard Josh being informed that Brad had the same problem as he did and it was nothing to worry about.
Josh and his dad were both a bit shocked when Brad led them into his room and they saw the changing table and supplies right out in plain view.
“So Josh, were you going to want to get into the pool any?” Brad asked the younger boy as he grabbed some wipes and a fresh diaper.
“I was wanting to but my trunks were in my other bag.” Brad was informed softly.
“Oh that’s no problem you can borrow a pair of my trunks.” Josh was informed as his dad lifted him up onto the table and started removing his pants.
“These should fit you just fine once you have a diaper on.” Josh flinched a bit when he heard the word diaper but Brad ignored it.
“There are swim diapers on the bottom shelf to your right.” Mr. Alexander was informed as Brad stepped into the bathroom to change so that his guests could have a bit of privacy.
“See Josh, I told you that there’s no reason to be ashamed just because you need to wear diapers. Brad and his brother seem relaxed about the matter and you’ve seen that none of the other boys are saying anything about it.” Josh was informed as his dad untapped the wet diaper Josh was sporting.
“I know. It’s just that Alex keeps giving me such a hard time about it. And he seems to have just gotten worse over the last couple of years. Especially when his friends are around.” Josh explained as his dad fitted one of the Swim diapers onto him.
“I know that and I plan on having a long talk with your brother about that when we get home. Even more so with what happened this morning.”
“What did happen ? All you’ve told me is that Alex got injured at the meet and needed to stay overnight at the hospital.”
“You’re brother started giving one of the boys a hard time about their choice of “underwear”, only this time your brother bit off more than he could chew.”
“Oh. So he got into a fight and lost?”
“In a manner of speaking, it was more a verbal fight and your brother lost and tried to finish it with his fists.”
“Figures.” Josh said with a smile as his dad finished taping the swim diaper on and after helping Josh off the table handed him the trunks Brad was loaning him.
“Those fit you pretty good.” Brad commented from the bathroom door way as Josh finished pulling up the trunks.
“You’ll probably want to tie the strings though so they don’t fall off.” Brad added with a grin thinking back to the first time that happened to him at camp.
“I think you’re right. I better.” Josh said after checking the trunks and noticed they were a bit on the loose side.
“Thanks for helping us out on this Brad. I really appreciate it.” Brad was told by Mr. Alexander as they walked out of Brad’s room.
“Yeah, thanks.” Josh echoed.
“Glad I could help.” Brad replied. As they reached the stairs they saw Brad get an evil kind of look to his face when he saw Brian and one of his younger brother standing at the bottom. With surprising speed and silence Brad went running down the stairs and before anyone knew what was happening had grabbed the younger boy and tossed him over his shoulder and ran for the back door.
“MAKE A HOLE!!! COMING THROUGH!!!” Brad yelled as he hit the pool deck people scattered when they looked over and saw Brad running right at them. Before anyone knew what was going on Brad was launching him and Dev into the pool. The resulting splash soaked several people. This signaled that the pool party was now in full swing.
“Well, Justin, I have to say the boys seem to be having a good time.” Ian said to their guest shortly after they had finished eating.
“They sure are. I have to admit that I was kind of mad the way your son extended the invitation but I’m kind of glad he did. This sure beats having the boys going crazy at the hotel.”
“Depending what hotel you’re staying at I could believe it. And just out of curiosity how did Brad extend the invitation?” Ian asked, wondering if he was going to have to have a talk with him about the matter.
“Well, he made the offer in a kind of load voice so the boys sitting near us would hear the invitation and when I tried to thank him for the it and decline he said great and gave the driver the time and address of course by this time all the boys were whispering about it.”
“I see well it looks like I’ll be needing to have a talk to him about how he makes offers like this in the future.”
“I know what you mean. I’ll be needing to have a talk with oldest son about his attitude and such from earlier today.”
“Yeah, Steve mentioned that to me on our way home. Given your younger son needing them, I’m kind of surprised that his brother would be like that. If you don’t mind my asking, what happened to him?” Justin was asked.
“He was involved in a car wreck with my wife back in January. Mara didn’t make it and Josh’s back was injured. He’s only managed to be back on his feet for a couple of weeks.” Justin informed his hosts with some tears in his eyes.
“Now I remember where I’ve seen your son before.” Steve said after a few moments of silence.
“How so?” Mr. Alexander asked.
“Before taking the nurses post at Stonehenge , I worked at Children’s General as an OR nurse. I was in the emergency room when your son was brought in. I have to say that it was really touch and go for a while there but I’m glad to see he’s up on his feet again.” Steve said looking over at the pool and say Josh getting tossed around by some of the larger members of both teams.
“It may not be any of my business, but depending on when your oldest son started acting out it could be that he’s trying to figure why his brother survived the crash and his mom didn’t. If you’d like I could give you the card of a very good psychologist. He deals with mostly trauma in children. He’s helped us out greatly with David and Brad deal with personal issues.” Ian said.
“I think I’d like that. I had both boys seeing a counselor just after the accident and it seemed to cause more problems than it solved.” The other men just nodded at this and after a few more minutes of talking decided to join the boys in the pool. What none of them knew is how this one simple party would start friendships that would span decades. Mr. Alexander and his group left a couple of hours later since they still had the diving portion of the meet to contend with the next day.
“Relax Brad, you’ll do fine. Just think of this as another practice.” Aaron said as he gave the smaller boy a slight shoulder rub to get him to relax. Brad just nodded to this but still jumped a bit when his name was called. Slipping into a kind of zone Brad didn’t realize what was going on till he came back to the surface of the pool following his dive.
“That wasn’t the dive we agreed on.” Brad was told quietly as he was led back to the team area by his coach.
“I know, but after seeing some of the other dives I thought I’d give something else a try.” Brad said turning a bit red.
“That’s fine, but next time I need you to give me some warning so I can tell the judges. This might affect your score.” Brad was told .
“What’s talking so long?” Brad asked nervously when his score still hadn’t been posted after a couple of minutes.
“I don’t know. Let me go check.” Brad was informed as he coach started walking towards the judges area. Before he got more than two steps, Brad’s score came up on the board and everyone looked at it in stunned silence. The lowest score Brad got was a 9.8. Once all the cheering from the Stonehenge supporters died down the divers got lined up for their high dives. Driven by how well Brad did the rest of his teammates pulled off near perfect dives. When Brad finally got his second dive there was only a one point difference between him and the leader.
“Nothing fancy Brad. Just stick with what we practiced.” Dunbar told the boy as he stood up to walk over to the platform. Brad just nodded at this and like the times before entered a zone that only ended when he surfaced and started swimming to the pool’s edge. Brad’s score came quicker this time and once all the points were tallied Brad found himself a good five points ahead of the next nearest diver and that was Aaron. After a few minutes rest, the award ceremony started. Once it was over, for the first time since Brad’s father had been there, Stonehenge had dominated the meet. Some of Brad’s Teammates had walked away with more awards than some teams combined. As for Brad himself, he ended up walking away with three Gold and two Silver medals.
The meeting with the Olympic coach went well Brad started getting some vibes he didn’t like from the man as the meeting progressed but chose to ignore them.