Moving

Summary: Sky is a semi-typical seven-year-old. He is kind of shy, likes 
school, and boy things. He is pretty stable with a mom and dad who 
understand his insecurities, but reassignment threatens to destroy 
Sky's life.

With school fast approaching, Sky Whitman thought back to last year. He 
was so excited to head to kindergarten. His cousins were all school 
aged and told him how great it was. New friends, toys, and lots of 
activities. Best of all, he could come home right afterwards. This year 
was a bit different. He was going to be in the first grade. That 
territory was unknown. In a few short weeks he would be going to school 
all day and coming home a lot later than when he was in kindergarten.

Sky was a bit worried. He still took naps and got tired out, but it 
couldn't really be helped. He put all of his effort into everything and 
drained himself so much that he was exhausted by lunchtime. He also had 
a few embarrassing secrets. The worst one was that every time he fell 
asleep, Sky would wet his pants. He was seven years old and a bed 
wetter. Although Sky knew he was perfectly normal and that his 
bedwetting was no big deal, it was still embarrassing if it happened in 
front of peers.

Another of his secrets was that he still sucked his thumb. Whenever Sky 
was unsure of something he gently placed his thumb in his mouth and 
relaxed. If he was tired, his thumb was there, if he was sick, sad, 
bored, or missing his mommy he always had his thumb, but what would 
they say at school? He knew he could just hide this. Sky also knew that 
no one would ever find out about blankie.

Other than his few worries, Sky was excited to go to school. Until his 
father announced his reassignment. Sky's grandpa had been on active 
duty in the military for as long as he could remember. His son, Sky's 
father, Mike, felt the need to defend his country and joined the 
military in the early 90's. Being young parents was hard enough, but 
they survived well enough. Sky's mother, Emily, worked in the local 
offices.

"Honey, oh honey I have wonderful news!" Mike exclaimed, "I've been 
reassigned. You know how you always wanted to see Europe? Well, we're 
moving to England!"

"WHAT!" Emily exclaimed. "You have got to be kidding me. OH honey I'm 
so excited. When do we leave?"

"Three days from now," was the reply. Emily naturally went into fits of 
hysteria about how they would sell their house, pack their stuff, and 
get to England in three days.

"Oh, there's better news for you too!" Ever since Mike joined the 
military, they had bought, sold, packed, unpacked, and repacked more 
houses than they could count.

"MY offices said I could keep the house. Since they badly need people 
at the base to sort out supplies and keep records and this is so 
rushed, they are giving us a fully furnished house. Sky can attend a 
private school and you can finish off your degree if you wish or you 
can choose whichever line of work you like, honey!"

"Oh this is wonderful, what are we going to tell Sky?" Emily was a bit 
concerned. Sky was used to the moves, but still had a hard time 
adjusting. This was going to be a major culture shock for him.

Sky had just gotten ready for bed. He was curled up on his bed, 
clutching blankie tightly, with his thumb planted firmly in his mouth. 
He closed his eyes and thought about how great his life was. He had a 
few friends and loved his room.

"Skylar, sweetie are you awake?"

"Yes mommy" Sky sat up and began to suck his thumb harder. He was 
really sleepy and was feeling kind of cranky.

"Sweetie, daddy has been reassigned. We are moving to England in three 
days" With this Skylar began to suck even harder. He lay back down and 
buried his face into his blankie. The familiar smell and his thumb made 
him feel a bit better, but his efforts at fighting back tears were 
diminishing. "We get to keep our house and your room will still be 
here. Don't worry, we'll come back here often to visit grandma and your 
cousins. I know this is hard, but we have to go. Can you help mommy out 
by picking the things you want to bring to your new room?" Sky sat up 
and crawled into his mom's lap. The tears started to flood down his 
cheeks. For a long time, his mom rocked him until he fell asleep.

Throughout the night Sky dreamt of what his new school was going to be 
like. He saw older boys laughing at him for not knowing as much as they 
did. They laughed at him for being small and they poked him and pulled 
his thumb out of his mouth when he tried to comfort himself. In his 
dream, Sky ran away and hid in a corner. He cried and cried, but no one 
came to help him. His mommy was far away and couldn't hear him. His 
cries turned into screams and his body felt as if it were raining in 
his corner.

Sky woke up screaming and shrieking. He yelled and cried for mommy and 
daddy.

"Sky, sweetie, what's the matter." asked Daddy. He sounded really 
worried and ran into the room without even flicking on the light. He 
reached over to his 7-year-old son and as soon as he touched his baby 
soft skin, it felt as though he was putting his hand on ice.

"Sky, sweetie. You're so cold." He reached further and found that 
almost every inch of his pajamas were soaking. Sky just sat there and 
cried. He was so scared that he kept frantically crying. He was so 
disorientated that he couldn't bring his thumb to his mouth to calm 
down. Sky's dad quickly removed his soaked pajamas. He got out the baby 
wipes in the closet along with some new pajamas.

This wasn't the first time Sky had wet the bed. It happened every 
night. The usual morning routine was Sky's responsibility. He would 
strip off his wet pj's, pull off the sheets, send them down the laundry 
shoot, and then get into the warm bath his mother had drawn. He would 
then put on his school clothes, grab blankie, and go down for 
breakfast. THis night was a bit different. Never in the 7 yrs. Sky had 
been alive had he ever shrieked and cried so much. He'd sounded like he 
was in terrible pain and the fact that he was ice cold scared Mike. 
After changing the sheets on his son's bed, Mike went to wake Emily.

"Sweetie, Sky had a nightmare. He was screaming and soaked from head to 
toe. I've got him cleaned up, but he is shivering like crazy. I think 
he's sick."

Emily jumped out of bed as fast as she could and got the thermometer. 
She and Mike hurried to Sky's room.

"Do you not feel well sweetie?" Emily asked a completely naked Sky.

"He nodded sleepily and continued to shiver." Emily took his 
temperature and found it to be a little low. Sky continued to cry and 
shake. He wanted blankie, but couldn't find it. Sky calmed down a bit 
and placed his thumb in his mouth. Emily dug in her son's closet and 
found a spare package. She had kept some of the diapers from when Sky 
was six. They had decided to take him out of nighttime diapers since 
they felt he was ready to handle the decision himself. The diapers were 
kept around for emergencies like this.

Sky knew what was coming and didn't protest. He didn't mind diapers and 
like the extra comfort when he was sick. He also knew that diapers 
meant he would be warm and dry in the morning. Mike told Emily to go 
back to bed and he proceeded to change Sky. After Sky was diapered and 
put into a warm sleeper, Mike found blankie and took Sky into his lap.

"Sweetie, I know you are nervous about this move, but it will be a good 
thing. You'll see." With that said Sky fell asleep to the repetitive 
rocking.

He awoke the next morning with a sore throat and stuffy nose. He felt 
tired and rolled over and put his thumb back in. He still couldn't 
believe that they were moving all the way across the ocean. The urge to 
go potty suddenly appeared and Sky held it for a bit. He didn't feel 
well enough to get out of bed so he held it for a bit hoping that his 
mommy or daddy would come get him.

A little bit for Sky was about 2 minutes and after that the urge became 
extreme. He tried to hold it in and got up and tried to run, but his 
attempts failed. He let go and flooded his already soaked diaper. 
Accidents weren't uncommon, and whenever he was sick, Mommy or Daddy 
always diapered him so he didn't worry, but he felt really dizzy and 
crawled into bed. Mom came in with a tray of breakfast and a sippy cup 
of juice. Sky ate his food and lay back down with his cup. He soon fell 
asleep and awoke to Mommy packing up his toys and clothes.

Sky started to feel kind of sad and whimpered a bit. Mommy turned 
around and told him that everything was alright and just to rest. She 
knew that he needed to get better as they would be on a plane the day 
after tomorrow. She had a doctors appointment scheduled and hoped there 
was a way to make him better. Sky awoke to his mom changing him. She 
picked him and wrapped him up in a blanket. Emily handed Sky his 
special blankie to cuddle with and carried him downstairs and out the 
door to the car. Sky was too groggy to realize where they were going, 
but once inside was alert.

"Mommy, I don't want to be here" he protested.

"You need to get better and if there is any medicine we can get you 
then that is what we're going to do. He knew she was right, but was 
*NOT* happy. Dr. Johnson came and greeted Sky after their short wait. 
Emily chatted with her about their move and Dr. Johnson was concerned 
about him getting sicker in England. She suggested an injection and 
knew it would work much faster along with oral antibiotics. Emily 
Agreed right away and Sky began to cry.

The nurse entered the room and prepped his arm, she inserted the need, 
and injected the liquid. All the while, Sky emitted horrifying shrieks 
and announced that he hated everything. Mommy carried Sky to the car 
and tried to calm him down. She gave up trying to comfort him and 
placed his thumb in his mouth. She never disapproved of his prolong 
thumb sucking, but she always used other means to calm him rather than 
putting in his thumb. Sky knew that she didn't mind his thumb, but he 
always felt a bit off when it came to that. He was really able to enjoy 
the comfort his thumb brought when he sensed Emily's acceptance at his 
sucking as the only way to make him feel better. "Well, since your 
throat is so sore, I had Daddy go pick up your favorite ice cream. 
After a bit of lunch you can eat as much as you wish." Sky suddenly 
felt sympathetic toward his mom. He ate his lunch without complaint and 
downed two bowls of ice cream before he nodded off to sleep on the 
couch.

During this time Mike and Emily had finally gotten the house packed up. 
They had all they essentials in boxes, addressed, and post marked. The 
shipping service arrived and picked them up and brought them to the 
cargo port of the international airport. The Whitman's were finally on 
their way to England.

Chapter Two-

Emily and Mike put Sky to bed that night. They put him in a diaper and 
sleeper and cuddled him extra that night. His medicine made him sleepy 
so he was out right after the first page of his story. Another thought 
was weighing in the back of Mike's head. How on earth was he going to 
tell Sky that they both *HAD* to travel to bases around Europe for the 
first six months. While this thought passed through Mike's mind, it 
constantly weighed on Emily's heart. In just one day, they would leave 
America, and have to find a boarding school for their beloved seven 
year old, but they had no choice. They needed the money desperately to 
survive once Mike was deployed in a year and no longer had a job. For 
medical benefits and the fact that the military would pay for her to go 
to college for another four years, Emily decided to take a job as a 
supply manager. She wanted a Masters and wanted to complete a second 
major and the best way she could do this was by joining the military. 
She never would have to be on active duty because of her student 
status, but along with Mike she needed to do paperwork and restock the 
bases, this meant traveling throughout Europe...WITHOUT Sky.

The Whitman's awoke bright and early the next morning. Sky felt a ton 
better, but he was soaking wet. His nervousness caused him to wet 
himself. He'd never been on an airplane and he was afraid of what would 
happen at school. His right hand began to quiver and his thumb was soon 
resting firmly again his soft lips.

To Be Continued