Alvin Ever After:

Alvin in the Second

A novel by Danny

AND ON WE GO...

Hello, my name is Alvin Holloway and what you are about to read is just a small excerpt from my life here in Lewiston, Maine. You see, up until recently I lived with my parents, John and Melody in the glorious town of Chula Vista, California, but when John had lost his job, he sunk into a deep depression and began drinking... a lot. To keep us from ending up on the street, my Mom had to take two jobs waiting tables, but it all got to be too much for both of them. Therefore, when my grandparents offered to pay for us to move east to Lewiston, Maine, my parents jumped at the chance for a new beginning without consulting me at all.

Back in Chula Vista, right up to the point where John had lost his job, I had for the most part, lived the life of a California prince. Yeah, I know I’m being overly dramatic and romanticizing it to some extent. Then again, these are the accounts of my life and I can tell them anyway I darn well feel like, now can’t I?

Sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent there. Now, what was I saying? Oh yes, I lived the life of a prince in Chula Vista. I had several really good friends, teachers that liked me and best of all, the ocean was my playground. For the past two years, I’d won the Junior Surfing Competition and I was the odds on favorite, to become the youngest surfer, to ever hold the teen championship title. However, that dream was snatched away from me when my parents forced me to leave California.

Allow me to interrupt myself again, so that I might share a little fact I picked up on since we moved here. Did you know that most of Steven King’s novels are set in the state of Maine? And, in case you’ve never read one of his books, let me tell you that most of them center on someone or something killing younger people!!!! OK, sorry but I just had to point that out and now I will get back to what I was saying.

Something had occurred during our trip across the country that had a profound impact on how my life has played out here in Lewiston, Maine. You see, I have a problem with wetting my sheets at night. I’m sure you can guess that sleeping in the backseat of our car for a week and a half, with someone who wets at night, wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience for my parents. John was seemingly unreservedly vocal about it.

Through a series of events, we had ended up as overnight guests of a really nice African-American family in Ohio. There, my mother had put me back into diapers for the first time since being potty-trained. Ok, that isn’t exactly how it happened. Saying it like that makes it sound like she had forced me to wear them. But in fact, what she did was much more devious; she tricked me into trying on a diaper and once I was in it, she made me sleep in it. Of course, the inevitable happened that night but to my surprise, when I woke up the following morning, I found that my bedding and pajamas were completely dry!

Much to my horror, my parents decided, they liked the idea of me in diapers and I suppose, I have to admit that waking up in a wet diaper beats waking up with wet sheets. However, the part that I didn’t like was the fact that for the remainder of our trip, John and my mom kept me in diapers day and night. That’s right; they gave me no choice but to wear them all stinking day long, so that we would not have to make as many stops for me to go to the bathroom. At least, that was the excuse they gave me.

Putting the whole thing with the diapers aside there were some cool things that happened, while we were on the road. I got to meet a lot of nice people, including the African-American family I mentioned before. They are the Doleshire’s and live in West Dayton, which is kind of down in the southwest part of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Doleshire have a grand total of eight children, seven boys and just one daughter, who was about my age. It was their daughter Jacquelyn, which I became instant friends with and to this very day, she is still my friend. We write back and forth all the time and I even got to talk to her on the phone once. There is more to tell about Jacquelyn but I’ll save that for later.

Jacquelyn wasn’t the only lasting friend that I made during our journey. You see, because of the diapers, I had the chance to meet another boy a couple years younger then me, who also wears diapers. His name is Joey and despite the fact, that he and his mom live in Canada, the two of us have remained friends threw letters and postcards. Once I got settled into school, I discovered that there were computers in the library that I could use to send Joey emails. That made keeping in touch so much easier for the two of us.

Though Joey is younger then me, we have quite a lot in common, with the most obvious being that we have problems with wetting our sheets. Now, unlike me, he had been wearing diapers forever; and not just at night but during the daytime too. Where as I have only been wearing them a relatively short time and, except for when we were traveling, I only wear them when I am sleeping.

Life in Maine is nothing like life was in California. For one thing, it is always cold here. Back in California, what we called a cold winter day, is what the people in Maine call a typical summer day. I mean, for the love of Pete, I’ve been walking around with a runny nose and a scratchy throat since stepping foot in this retched state. Heck, I can’t even go for a short walk around the block without putting on a wool sweater or a jacket. You can be sure that I’ll never run around butt naked in Maine, the way I sometimes did in California! Man, I just want to go back home!!!!

My parents on the other hand, have fallen head over heals in love with this half-frozen suburb of hell! They love the city, the state and all the people. My mother forbid me from ever saying again that this city, state and all the people that live here both suck and blow at the same time! Of course I still say it, just not when my parents or grandparents are around.

John is working again and he stopped drinking too. So, I guess, those are two really good things. However, I honestly believe, that if he could have got a good job in Southern California, he would have done just as good as he is doing here. Then again, that is why we are here. Around where we lived, if you weren’t of Mexican decent, the best paying job you could hope for would be a minimum-wage job with part-time hours. I don’t know if that is true or not but that is, what John always used to say.

John’s now working in my grandparents’ seafood restaurant. I’m not exactly sure what it is, he’s doing there, but he seems to be thriving at it.

My mom is also working in the restaurant, but she’s not waiting tables anymore, like she was in California. Now she’s helping with their books and managing their many employees.

As for me? I have yet to find anything here that I like, but then again, maybe you have already figured that out. From the first second after we arrived here, my life has managed to sink lower then any submarine has ever been. When we pulled up in front of my grandparent’s home, I actually got somewhat excited, but that only lasted a feeble instant. You see, besides owning their own restaurant, my grandparents also own a decent sized fleet of crab and lobster boats and let me tell you, there is serious money to be made, fishing for shell fish. Yeah, my grandparents are loaded, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to meaning, that my parents and I are loaded now too. I wish it did, but it doesn’t.

For now, my grandparents are allowing us to live with them until mom and John can save up enough money to get us a place of our own. My grandparents are nice enough, but they are also strict and firm believers in the old school teachings; that children should not be seen or heard. Therefore, when I’m home, I spend nearly all of my spare time in the room they put me in, except for when I’m allowed to go outside to play. The room is nice and it’s bigger then my room had been back in Chula-Vista. Oh and the furnishings are much, much, much nicer then what I had. However, the room is always chilly and the bed is so big and soft that, when I get into it, I have a great deal of difficulty getting back out again. .”

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Chapter 2

When John had stopped the car in front of my grandparents’ home, I started to get out. However, instead of stepping onto solid pavement or a concrete curb, I stepped right into a puddle of water. Cold Water flooded into my shoe soaking my sock and freezing my toes.

“Ah crap!” I complained loudly and got popped upside the ear by John.

“Hey, what was that for?” I complained even louder.

“Watch your mouth!” John warned, “You’re grandparents won’t put up with any of that kind of language, so I’d suggest you wipe all words like it from your mind!” I shot him a nasty look and thankfully, he hadn’t seen when I stuck my tongue out at him.

Mom came around the car and I guess she was excited or something, because she had forgotten to whisper. Either that or she purposefully wanted to embarrass the heck out of me. “Alvin, do you want me to change your diaper before we go in?”

“Moooooom!” I whined and looked around to make sure, no one had heard or were looking to see, whom she was talking about. Thankfully, the only other person I saw was in a passing car, with the windows all rolled up. Actually, I didn’t need a diaper change because I wasn’t wearing one, but neither of my parents knew that. As we were nearing the end of our road trip, I had struck a deal with John, that he would stop before we arrived at my grandparents and let me put back on regular underwear. However, John had gone back on his word and thus, I had to take matters into my own hands. Sitting in the back seat, I had quietly pulled off my pants, removed the diaper and then put my pants back on, without them being any the wiser.

“What?” mom said innocently.

“Do you have to say it so loud?” I asked with an insistent moan.

Thankfully, the front door to my grandparent’s home swung open and that ended the whole diaper subject... or so I thought.

Now, you need to remember, that I said my grandparents are strict; you do remember me telling you that, right? Well, I wasn’t even inside the front door, when I was being ordered to take off my shoes and socks by my grandfather. I had just lifted my foot to step over the threshold, when he had reached out and placed a hand over my heart to stop me from entering.

“You’ll get water all over the tile boy! Off with those shoes and be quick about it.” He grumped.

Oh yeah and I’m not Alvin anymore—at least not according to my grandfather. Not once since we arrived, has he called me by name; it’s either ‘boy’ or ‘you there’. Worse yet, ‘that one’ and let me tell you that I’m getting sick of it too.

You know something else that was weird? They didn’t hug us when we arrived. They hadn’t seen any of us in ages, so you would think that they would be glad to see us, but we didn’t even get a welcoming smile. The only greeting I got was, when I was told to take off my shoes and socks and then, my grandmother showed me to the room I’d be staying in.

Upon entering the room, my grandmother promptly took hold of my shoulders, leaned down, placed her ruby-red lips next to my left ear and asked in more of a horsed tone then a whisper, “I suppose, you’re still peeing the bed every night?”

I was a little taken aback by her abrupt nature concerning such a sensitive subject, but before I could reply, she pulled back only a few inches, flicked my chin with her manicured nails and said, “Want to know a secret?”

Her smile, at least I think it was a smile, was kind of creepy and as she stroked the side of my face with her nail, I felt goose bumps forming on my arms.

She spoke again and I noticed that her breath smelled of liquor and coffee. “Your grandfather used to pee the bed when he was little, just like you.”

Talk about taking the wind out of your sails. I was honestly stunned and totally without words to say. I was shaken to my core at the thought, that my grandfather, her husband, had been a sheet wetter just like me and I was equally horrified at knowing that about him.

She leaned close again and took hold of my ear to inspect behind it. After making a disapproving ticking sound with her tongue against her teeth, she then inspected my fingernails.

“How about if I show you, where you can wash up?” she said with that same creepy smile.

She then crossed the room to open a set of beautifully carved oak doors, revealing a large white marbled bathroom. Never in my life had I seen a bathroom like that one. White marble tiles adorned the floor and walls. Along the right side of the bath was a long white marble slab, which sat atop a magnificent white cabinet. The fixtures were all gold tones, with black accents and they matched perfectly with the bathtub and shower faucet. Yes, that is right; there was a bathtub and a shower in the same bathroom. The bathtub reminded me of the one, which Joey and I had played in, in his mother’s bathroom back in Canada, except this one was about half as big again and it was at floor level. At first I didn’t see, how someone could get in without jumping or dropping into the tub, but then I saw, that opposite the faucet were three small steps that lead down into the tub. The shower has glass on three sides, with the back being a solid slab of white marble.

While I was gaping at the wonders of the bathroom, grandmother had pulled a white towel and washcloth out from under the sink cabinet.

“I am sure you would like to clean up after your long journey.” She said, depositing the towel and washcloth in my arms.

“You can put your dirty clothes in there.” Grandmother pointed to a door flap at the far end of the sink cabinet. With that, she smiled again and left me standing alone in that... that... palace!

At first, I didn’t do anything. I suppose, I was in a state of shock and wonder, but I quickly snapped out of it and set the towel on the sink, so that I could get undressed.

I had just pulled my shirt over my head, when I heard the double doors to the bathroom open again. I quickly pulled my shirt back down, thinking that my grandmother had returned, but it turned out to be my mom.

“Mom, you scared the life out of me!” I said, grabbing hold of the marble counter for support.

Then I saw, that she looked upset and was holding a diaper. I guessed right, that it was the one I had taken off in the car, just before we had arrived.

“Want to explain this?” she said, holding it out to be sure I had noticed it.

We commenced to argue for the next ten minutes or so. I tried to make her see, that I didn’t need to wear diapers during the daytime, especially now that we were here. She on the other hand kept saying that I was only a boy and that she would tell me what I do and don’t need.

The argument got pretty heated and came to a boil when I shouted, “I liked you better when we lived in California!”

And then I said it! The words came out and there was nothing I could do to shove them back down my throat. I was so mad, so worked up and I screamed at her, “I HATE YOU NOW!”

What mom did next tore my heart into tiny peaces. She didn’t yell back, she didn’t hit me or punish me. She simply looked at me with glassy eyes, dropped the diaper onto the polished white marble floor and walked away.

“Mom, I’m sorry!” I said, as she turned away, but she didn’t stop.

I ran out of the bathroom after her. “Mom, I didn’t mean it!”

The door to the bedroom closed behind her and I fell to the bedroom floor crying.

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Chapter 3

I don’t know how long I sat there bawling my eyes out, but it felt like a long time. Eventually, the door to my room opened again and for a brief moment I had hoped, it would be mom, but it was John who walked in.

“Hey there.” He said timidly.

When I didn’t respond, he closed the door and continued talking. “You’re mother is pretty upset.”

“I’m sorry! I tried to tell her I was sorry.” I began to cry harder, “I didn’t mean it!”

“Yeah, well, sometimes saying you’re sorry isn’t enough.” John said definitely but somberly.

I looked up at him. He was standing directly above me, peering down on me.

“W-w-what am I supposed to do then?” I blubbered.

“Son, I really don’t know.” John said honestly, “But for starters, I think you should do as your grandmother asked and take a bath.”

I watched in disbelief as he too walked out of the door and left me alone. Sobbing heavily, I managed to get myself back into the bathroom and stripped off my clothes. I remembered grandmother telling me to put them inside the door flap and when I did, they vanished down a long rectangular chute. I assumed that it was a laundry chute; at least I hope that is what it was.

I decided that I would take a shower and ended up being scalded, because I didn’t know how to operate the shower faucet. When the hot water burned into my flash I screamed something like, “Holy loving puss buckets from hell!” as I pressed my body in the corner of the shower in an attempt to hide from the falling drops of lava water until I managed to figure out, that I needed to not only turn the single control, but also push it upward, to get a tolerable temperature.

By the time I was done showering, I had for the most part stopped crying, but was still feeling horrible for what I had said to my mom. As I dried myself off, I decided, that I would go in search of her and apologies again.

Once dry, I dropped the washcloth and towel into, what I was now sure was, the laundry chute. I then returned to the bedroom, only to discover that I had no clothes.

“Ah Alvin, you idiot!” I verbally reprimand myself, as it struck me, that I should have at least held onto the towel until I found something to cover my nudity!

In the bedroom, there is a very large arch top armoire and since there didn’t seem to be anywhere else to look, I opened the single wide arched door with hopes, that I might find a bathrobe or something else to wear.

The interior of the armoire was divided into four equal sections on the left side by three wooden shelves. On the right side was a long section for hanging clothes. There were several fancy wooden hangers on the clothes rod, but no bathrobe. In fact, there wasn’t a single item of clothing in the roomy armoire; however, it was by no means empty! On the top shelf, which was beyond my reach, were six apparently unopened blue packages that said GoodNites on the side. My heart began to race at the thought that my grandparents had prepared for my arrival by purchasing those for me. What got me was the number of packages. I mean, did they really think I wet that much?

However, the six packages of GoodNites on the top shelf were not all that was inside the armoire. The next shelf down was empty, but the third shelf from the top wasn’t empty. It had been cram packed with stacks of, what I could only guess were GoodNites, seeing how they were already out of their packages. A bit more than a week ago, I probably wouldn’t have guessed that they were GoodNites, but things are different now; I’m different too.

As I stood there staring at all those GoodNites, I think my heart stopped beating. Then I spotted something residing at the very bottom of the armoire. Below all those GoodNites was what appeared to be a large green thermos. No kidding, it looked like someone had left me a family sized green thermos and by the look of it, I was guessing it could hold at least three gallons of bug juice. I eventually figured out, that it wasn’t a thermos at all, but a container for disposing of used diapers; or in this case, used GoodNites.

OK, curiosity got the better of me and I just had to figure out why there was a big thermos inside a cabinet filled with dozens and dozens of GoodNites. I dragged the container out of the armoire and quickly figured out, what it really was and it sure wasn’t a thermos. Once I figured out what it was and how it worked, I actually found the big green container down right cool. You see, when you have a wet diaper, you roll it into a ball like the one I’d seen John do when we were on the road. You then lift the clear plastic lid from the top, drop the rolled up diaper in, close the lid, give it half a turn clockwise and the diaper is sealed inside a white plastic bag, so that the smells can’t get out. Cool, huh? You know something? I bet the next thing they come up with, will be self-cleaning diapers!

Once my curiosity had been satisfied, I returned the... at the time I didn’t know what to call it, so I just called it the big green thermos, but later I took to calling it the diaper pail. Anyway, I returned the diaper pail to the bottom of the armoire and just stood there butt naked, staring at all those GoodNites. It simply baffled me why there were so many in there. I mean, there is no way that I could use that many GoodNites in my lifetime. Ok, so I am exaggerating a bit here, but come on! There were just so many! How else was I supposed to react to such a find than complete dismay?

When the shock of the find had for the most part worn off, I returned to my original idea that I needed something to wear, so that I could go find my mom and apologize properly.

For the briefest of moments, and I’m talking nanoseconds here, the thought flashed in my mind, that I could try to put on one of the GoodNites. At least wearing a diaper, I wouldn’t be naked anymore and then I could go find my clothes or something else to wear. But no sooner had the thought occurred then it was immediately expelled from my mind.

Then something else occurred to me. The diaper that mom had dropped on the bathroom floor, was still lying were it had fallen.

I raced back to the bathroom, retrieved the crumpled diaper and returned to the open armoire. In some kind of perverted way, I enjoyed wadding the diaper into a sad resemblance of a ball, so that I could drop it into the big green diaper pail. Something totally awesome happened when I closed the clear plastic lid and gave it a quarter turn clock wise. The container made a sort of soft humming sound and I heard a sound, I can only compare to the sound of opening a brand new bag of potato chips. When the container had gone quiet again, I lifted the clear lid and looked down inside, but I couldn’t tell what had made the sound. Later I found out that, what I had heard was the container automatically sealing the plastic around the used diaper, so that when the container was emptied, the contents resembled a chain of diaper balls, linked together like spherical sausages.

Maybe I am just simple minded, but I found the diaper pail completely fascinating. I get a kick out of the way it seals each diaper.

So there I was, staring at the endless bounty of GoodNites, when I realized just how stupid I really am!

“Oh my goodness Alvin!” I said angrily to myself, “Why don’t you just get another towel out of the bathroom vanity cabinet?” For good measure, I thumped myself in the forehead for being so dumb!

For the record, I found plenty of white towels, washcloths and hand towels under the sink. I tell you that if I didn’t have rocks for brains, I wouldn’t have brains at all.

The towel was big enough, that I was able to wrap it around my waist three times before tucking it in. And, as I was leaving the bathroom again, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My hair looked like I’d combed it with an eggbeater and I had a stupid expression on my face. I pointed at my reflection and said, “You have got to get it together, or you’ll never survive here!” I then flicked off the light switch and set out to find my parents.

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Chapter 4

Have you ever been in a big house or building and got yourself lost? Boy, I sure did! I honestly thought that when Grandmother had led me to what was to be my bedroom, I had paid attention to the path we took to get there, so that I could find it again later, but apparently, I hadn’t paid close enough attention. Either that or I made a wrong turn somewhere, because before too long, I found myself inside a huge study with lots of books on really tall shelves and some comfortable looking leather furniture.

“You there! What are you doing? You’re not supposed to be in there!”

I spun around so fast, that I nearly fell down in the process.

“Grandfather!” I said, clutching at my thumping heart, “You startled me!”

“What on earth are you wearing?” he asked while giving his nose a flick.

I looked down at my bare chest and the towel that hung on me like a heavy white drapery. “G-grandmother told me to take a bath and I did, but then I realized, that I didn’t have my clothes from the car.” I said nervously.

Before he spoke again, Grandfather cleared his throat, straightened his tie and combed one side of his salt and pepper mustache with his thumb and forefinger. “So you thought it would be proper to run around the house in nothing more than the suit God gave you? Highly irregular boy! Highly irregular, indeed!”

He cleared his throat louder and combed the other side of his mustache, “And what, might I ask, were you doing in my study?”

Something in the way Grandfather looks at me causes me, to go weak in the knees. I guess he scares me a little with those big bushy gray eyebrows atop his steely blue eyes.

“Honest Grandfather, I didn’t know! I-I was lost!” I said, trying not to fall apart under his reproachful stare.

“Lost?” he asked.

“Yes sir, I was trying to find my mom and John to get my clothes and things.” I said, feeling less and less control over myself.

Grandfather shook his head while turning away, “Highly irregular.” He said, sort of mumbling to himself.

He stopped and looked back at me, “Well don’t dilly-dally boy! Hop to! Time wasted is time lost!”

I took his words to mean, that I was supposed to follow him; so I scurried after him.

As I followed, I noticed that the way Grandfather walks, isn’t like I’d ever seen someone else walk; he sort of marches in a somewhat dignified sort of way. You know what comes to mind? A man of royalty, like in the movies.

I guess I hadn’t been paying attention to where we were going, because when he came to an abrupt stop, I ran right into the back of him.

“Oomph!” I exclaimed as I fell back onto my butt.

Grandfather turned around looking very displeased with me and said, “Boy, you’ll never get anywhere in life sitting on your backside!”

I nervously nodded, “Yes sir, sorry sir!” and rubbed my now aching butt.

He gave himself a little shake, kind of the way a dog does to dry off, only not nearly as vigorously. “Right then.” he rapped his knuckles on the door he was standing beside, “This is the door to the room you will be staying in, while you are with us.”

“Oh we’re back.” I butted in.

“What?!” he said with annoyance, “Now, stop interrupting boy!” and the old guy popped me on the top of my head with his knuckle. Granted it didn’t hurt much, but still he didn’t have to thump me like that.

Again, he rapped on the door, “This is the door to the room you will be staying in while you are with us.”

I rubbed the top of my head and shot him my meanest look, “What’d you go and do that for?”

He recoiled, scrunched up his nose and looked at me, as if I had suddenly just transformed into a hideous spider.

“Now listen here boy!” Grandfather started to say, “If you interrupt me again, I shall become quite cross.”

I nervously stopped rubbing my head, nodded and waited, for what I thought would be instructions on how to go find my parents, but instead he said, “You are to wait inside until your parents come. I shall send them up directly.”

Then he left me standing there alone. I went back into the room and with nothing else to do but wait, I climbed up on the bed to sit down. However, I hadn’t expected the bed to be as soft as it was. With my back to the bed, I gave a little hop, thinking that my bottom would land on the mattress, but instead I fell over backward into the downy bedding. I was nearly swallowed alive by that darn bed and by the time I was able to free myself, I had made a mess of the bed coverings. As it was, while thrashing about, I had also managed to loose my towel. Therefore, when John came in, with his arms loaded down, I was sliding off the far side of the bed, totally naked again.

“Alvin? What are you doing?” John asked.

“John! That bed tried to eat me!” I said as I smacked the bedpost out of spite.

John must have thought I was playing, because he didn’t say anything further about it. He put all my things down on the floor at the foot of my bed and sensing, that he wasn’t going to say anything more, I quickly asked, “Is mom still mad at me?”

He ran his hand through his hair and blew out a lungful of air.

“I tried to find you guys a few minutes ago, but I got lost and Grandfather brought me back here.” I said.

John nodded, which told me, that he already knew about that. “He told me, that he had found you snooping around in his study.” He said.

“I wasn’t snooping!” I nearly shouted in defense, “I didn’t even go inside! All I did was open the door, because I was lost!”

John sat down on one of the suitcases and just looked at me for a good, long time. When he finally spoke, he sounded upset and tired too.

“Alvin, we have a chance at a new life here. I know you didn’t want to come here. Heck I didn’t want to come here too, but none of us had much of a choice. Now that we’re here, we have to make the best of it. And your mom and I need you to help us with that.”

He paused, massaged his brow to reorganize his thoughts and then continued, “It’s not going to be easy for any of us at first. You’ll be going to a new school and making new friends. Your mother and I will be starting new jobs, while trying to carve out a life for ourselves here.”

He stopped talking again and I thought he was thinking, but then he looked at me and he seemed like he was about to start crying, but he didn’t.

“Alvin, I’ve not been a good dad to you or a good husband recently, but I want to change that. I need to change that! I love you and your mother so much, that it hurts right here,” he thumped his chest with his fist, “knowing that I’ve caused you both so much pain.”

He stood up and crossed to the window to look out. He didn’t say anything else along those lines, nor did I. I only watched him until he turned to me and said, “Well it’s about time to eat. Let’s get you dressed and we’ll head down.”

John didn’t say a word when I fished out a pair of my underwear and put them on. I also found a pair of pants and a shirt, but I skipped socks, seeing how my shoes were still downstairs. At least, that is where I’d left them. Instead, I found my sandals and put those on.

The meal can be described with just five words, mostly gross and totally boring. I don’t think anyone said more then five words all through the meal and then there was the food. First, they served me a bowl of cold green soup, that they called Shrimp Cocktail Soup. Ok, for starters, soup is not supposed to be cold and I’ve had Shrimp Cocktails before, and that soup tasted nothing like that.

Then I was given a bowl of some yellow round vegetable with mushy seeds in the middle and a plate, of what I was told was fish. I know fish; I think you know that I know fish! I could write a whole book about fish and I’m here to tell you, that I have never seen or smelled fish like that stuff. I think I only ate maybe two bites of it; the first bite was bad, the second was worse! However, I ate all of the yellow vegetable stuff. At first, I was hesitant, but after I tasted it, I found out, that I really liked it. I had been told what it was called, but I don’t remember now and we haven’t had it again since that first evening. Whatever it was, it was bright yellow and crunchy on the outside, kind of pale yellow and mushy inside and it tasted like... well, I have never had anything like it. It was ever so slightly sweet, with a hint of butter; oh, it was so lip smackingly yummy!

When we were done eating, I tried to talk to mom, but all she said to me was, “Go get yourself ready for bed.”

When I tried to apologize again, she stomped her foot, pointed the way out of the room and said, “Bed, now mister!”

I dropped my head and slunk from the room, but I didn’t go directly to my room, because yet again, I got lost. However, this time I ended up in the kitchen, where this slightly overweight woman was washing out a shiny copper pot.

“Excuse me.” I said timidly.

Boy, I scared that lady so bad, that she nearly jumped out of her skin. She let go a screech and turned on me, like she was going to brain me with that copper pot.

“OH!” she exclaimed as she clutched at her heaving breast. “Oh my, you gave Micah such a fright!” she said with a thick foreign accent.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean,” I tried to say.

She then became stern with me. “W-what you doing in Micah’s kitchen? You should not be in here!” she said, waving that pot at me and for the second time I thought, I was about to feel it upside my head.

I held up my hands in defense, as I closed my eyes tightly and waited for her to hit me.

“What you doing?” she asked with just as much feeling as before.

I opened just one eye to see, that she was standing there, looking dumbly at me.

“I'm not going to hit you.” She said laying a hand to her heart.

“W-well, I would be more likely to believe you, if you put down that pot.” I said with more bravery then I was feeling just then.

The heavy lady then burst into a loud, rumpus laughter, that seemed to rebound off the kitchen walls like cannon fire.

“Oh you are brave boy no?” she said, while setting the pot down on the stone counter.

“Ok! I put down pot. Now you tell Micah why you in Micah’s kitchen.” I noticed each time she said Micah, she would thump her round belly.

“Uh,” I grunted while trying to find something to say, “Is that your name? Micah?” I asked.

“Yes, am Micah and you,” she pointed a sausage like finger at me, “are in Micah’s kitchen.”

“Ok, I get it. So you are my grandparent’s maid?” I said and oh, you would have thought I had uttered some kind of racial slur against her.

She began to rant in some language I didn’t understand, while angrily returning the copper pot to the soapy water in the sink.

And then she scared me as much, if not more, then I had scared her before. She came charging at me with a large ladle in one hand and a dripping wet rag in the other. She stopped short of running me down, held the ladle right up to my nose and continued to spew angry foreign words at me.

“I’m sorry Micah,” I said, with quite a bit of fear poring out with my words, “but I don’t understand what you are saying.”

She stomped her foot the way my mother had done only a few minutes before, but when Micah had done it, I felt the floor beneath us shake.

“I no maid!” She said as if she were speaking a curse upon me.

“I NO MAID!” she shouted right into my face.

Scared? Yep, I was scared. Terrified even and though I tried to stop myself, I felt tears welling up in my eyes and I got a hard lump stuck in my throat.

“I-I’m sorry!” I stammered and she must have sensed that I was close to tears, because she suddenly became calm and smiled at me.

“Oh, now look. Micah has scared the boy!” she said and I flinched, as she threw her arms around me, nearly suffocating me in a bear hug. My face had become buried in her breasts, as she squeezed me so hard, I thought my head was going to pop off.

When she released me, I gasped for air, as she said, “You good boy, so Micah no kill you today!” and she pinched my cheek really hard.

“But I no maid!” she said, brandishing that ladle in my face again, “Micah is chef.”

She lowered the ladle and turned, as though she were about to return to washing her pots. “Micah cook good food and you eat. That is, what Micah do.”

I had a sudden flashback to that repulsive fish stuff that had been placed before me earlier and if that is, what Micah called good food, then I didn’t want any part of her cooking again.

“What they call you?” Micah asked me.

“Alvin,” I answered.

“Aben?” she tried repeating.

“No Al-Vin,” I corrected her.

“Al-Ben?” she tried again, trying to sound it out the way I had done.

“Close enough.” I muttered.

“Al-ben like Machewie that Micah cook tonight?” she said, while plunging her hand into the water.

I had no idea what Machuee... whatever, was, but I was honestly afraid of upsetting Micah again, so I simply grunted, “Uh huh” and left it at that. Or so I thought.

She stopped what she was doing and looked at me. Actually, it was more like she was looking threw me.

“Al-ben no like Machewie?” she said, as if she had just read my mind.

I shrugged, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you are asking me.”

“Machewie! Machewie!” she said.

I simply shook my head to indicate, that I still didn’t understand.

Frustrated she threw down the towel she was using to dry that same copper pot and crossed the kitchen. She pulled open an enormous stainless steel refrigerator door and pulled out, what I recognized as the leftovers of that fish we’d had.

“Oh that’s, uh.” I started to say.

“Machewie!” she said for me.

She smiled at me while holding it out, as though she wanted me to eat more of it.

I smiled back and decided in that instant, to tell her the truth, “Um, if I tell you that I didn’t like it, are you going to kill me, like you said before?”

Oh, she thought that was so funny and laughed loudly again. She then reached under the plastic wrap, picked off a large chunk of the fish and then popped it into her mouth.

“Mmmm!” she said.

I shook my head as I said, “Yuck!”

“What Al-ben like then?” she asked me.

“Well, pizza, spaghetti, chili and stuff like that.” I said honestly.

She looked at me kind of funny like and then said, “I bet, I know what Al-ben like.”

After returning the fish to the refrigerator, she pulled out a large blue clay bowl that looked, like it had been hand made.

“What’s that?” I asked with a hint of anxiety, in my voice.

“Oh, you taste first then Micah tell you.” She said coyly.

I groaned, “Do I have to?”

Micah looked hurt.

“Oh ok, but you have to promise not to hit me with a pan, or anything else, if I spit it out.” I said, trying to inject some humor. Thankfully, Micah laughed again, as she stuck a big wooden spoon into the bowl and scooped out a healthy portion. Whatever it was, it was brown and goopy, with chunks of something.

“Open!” she instructed and I hesitantly parted my lips, to allow her to insert the jiggling brown lump.

“HEY!” I exclaimed, “Now that’s good stuff!”

It tasted a bit like a chilidog, but different too.

“See! Micah not such bad chef after all, huh?” she said.

“No way, that was really good.” I said, licking my lips.

Micah then asked, if I was still hungry and when I told her I was, she scooped a bunch of the stuff into that same copper pot and said, “Micah make it hot for Al-ben.”

She never did tell me, what was in it and I guess that’s better, because if it had turned out to be something gross, like goats brains or cows balls, I probably would have barfed all over Micah’s kitchen floor.

With a full stomach and another hug from Micah, she pushed me out of her kitchen and I’m not sure if she was joking or not, when she said to me, “Al-ben not belong in Micah’s kitchen! Al-ben go away and not come back.”

Actually, come to think about it, Micah was the first friend I made here. I mean, if you can even say that she is my friend, because most of the time, if I try to go into her kitchen, she chases me out with a pot or some other cooking utensil. However, on occasion, like if I come in after school or just before bed, she will let me sit off to the side and eat a little something that she would give to me.

It was during those times together that I would tell her about, how it was in California and she would tell me about herself. I found out that Micah was born and raised in Austria and she has only been in the United States for two years. She’s the oldest of twelve children and the last of her brothers and sisters to leave Austria. Micah really is a remarkable woman and I like her a lot.

__________

Chapter 5

After leaving the kitchen that first night, I wandered around my grandparents home until, completely by chance, I happened upon the door to my room. What was amazing is that during all my wandering, I didn’t once run into either of my grandparents or my own parents. That first run-in with my grandfather was enough to last me a while.

Once safely in my room, I got undressed down to my underwear and was about to get into bed, when I remembered all those GoodNites in the armoire. At first, I didn’t open the armoire; I only stood there contemplating. Eventually, I did open the door, but I didn’t grab a GoodNite; at least not right away. I was having a real mental struggle, but in the end, commonsense won out and I let my underwear drop to the floor. Boy that first GoodNite felt strange, but not so much, that I wasn’t able to get used to it quick enough. I think, I was feeling kind of embarrassed, because where as I was willing at first to get into bed wearing only my underwear, I wasn’t willing to get into bed wearing only the GoodNite. That is when it hit me that all of my clothes were no longer sitting on the floor at the foot of my bed, where John had left them before we went to eat.

I went back to the armoire and swung open the door. I couldn’t believe that before, I had been so focused on the GoodNites, that I hadn’t noticed my clothes. Someone had come into the room and put all of my stuff away in the armoire. What was more amazing was the fact, that all of my clothes, including the hand-me-downs that Mrs. Doleshire had given me, fit into the armoire with all my regular clothes.

“These will do.” I said, pulling out a pair of shorts and slipping them on over the GoodNite.

As I closed the armoire again, I decided, that I needed to clean up after myself. I took the clothes I had been wearing to the bathroom and pushed them all down the laundry shoot.

I also found the best way to get into that man-eating bed. I carefully climbed up and stood at the foot of the bed. Then I dived in.

Maybe only ten minutes had passed, before I heard a soft knock on my bedroom door. Of course, there was no way I could get out of that bed easily, so I just called out, “Come in!”

The door opened and in walked mom, wearing her robe and looking like she had been crying. Without saying a word, she crossed over to the bed, found me down inside all those covers and kissed my forehead.

“Sorry I was so mean before. I didn’t mean it. I was having a butt-brain moment.” I said and she kissed me again.

“I know and I love you too.” She said, “Now you better get some sleep. You have school in the morning.”

__________

Chapter 6

Sure enough, the day after we arrived in this God forsaken city, I had to go to school and my first day at my new school was just as bad, as you might guess it would be.

Things started going wrong, right after I got out of the shower that morning, but I didn’t really know, that it was going to be a bad day, until I was standing at the bus stop, waiting for the school bus and this girl, whom I thought might be flirting with me, bursts out laughing. She proceeded to point out to everyone at the bus stop, that I was wearing two different socks. I mean, not just different colors, but different kinds; one white tube-sock and one brown argyle sock.

“It’s not my fault!” I wanted to say, but I didn’t.

Back in California, I knew were everything was in my room, but here in Maine I had felt lucky, that I was able to find two socks to wear that morning. I had rummaged threw that whole dang armoire, looking for socks. What I was wearing, was what I was able to find and the only reason I found them was, because they had been wadded up and stuffed into the pocket of two different pairs of pants. Don’t ask me why or how, just believe me when I say, that is where I found them.

The socks weren’t the worst of it. At least, no one at the bus stop knew that I wasn’t wearing any underwear, because all of my underwear also seemed to be suspiciously absent from the armoire. My, you know what, was so cold that it would have taken the Hubble Telescope to find it; that’s how cold I was without underwear.

Later that same day, after returning from school, I had the chance to ask about my socks and underwear. Come to find out, my socks, underwear and t-shirts had all been put into the drawers in the bathroom vanity under the sink. Now it seems logical, that I should have looked there, but at the time, I didn’t have a clue.

All the way to school, people were pointing at me and snickering. I really wanted to say something, but most of them were bigger and older then I was, so I had no choice but to sit there and take it.

Heck, even the bus driver had some wisecrack, as I was getting off the bus. “Nice fashion statement kid! Next time you should try wearing your underpants on your head and your socks as a necktie.”

Then, on the way into the school, I stepped on someone’s freshly discarded bubblegum and it stuck to the bottom of my shoe. When I leaned against the flag pole to pick it off, this crabapple of a teacher began to yell at me.

“You there!” she shouted.

I looked around and seen this flabby skinned old woman with big white curly hair and so much loose skin under her chin, that she looked like a featherless turkey. She was pointing at me from across the quad, with a long judgmental finger. When I looked around and didn’t see anyone else nearby, I pointed at myself.

“Yes you!” she started to walk toward me, all the while pointing her accusing finger my way. I don’t know, maybe she thought, that her finger has some sort of magical powers, to keep wrong doers like myself from fleeing the scene of the crime.

“You’re not supposed to walk on the grass! Can’t you read?” she croaked and I could see the skin under her chin flapping with each step she took.

“Not supposed to walk on the grass?” I thought; “If I hadn’t stepped aside, I would have been trampled to death by the herd of students poring into the school.” However, I didn’t want any trouble, so I quickly grabbed the mashed wad of gum, pulled the majority of it off my shoe, flung it hard to the ground and slipped back into the crowd, before the old hag could get close enough to see, who I was. At least, I hope she didn’t get a good look at me. Maybe that finger of hers wasn’t meant to keep me from escaping, but maybe it had marked me somehow, so that she could later hunt me down.

Now, in my old school, on the first day of the school year, everyone went to the main auditorium, to stand in line to find out, what classroom you were supposed to be in that year. However, in Boyd Junior High, everyone seemed to already know where to go, except for me. They were running to their lockers, dialing in their combinations and then racing off to different classrooms. When the bell rang, I found myself standing alone by a row of lockers, feeling lost and scared.

“Why aren’t you in class?!” a high-pitched voice blasted behind me.

I must have jumped ten feet in the air and spun around, before I touched down again. I was standing face-to-face with a Hall Monitor. We had those in California too and I have had more then my share of run-ins with them.

“Didn’t you hear the bell?” she asked, while waving a pencil eraser in my face.

She had spiked blonde hair that pointed in every direction with the back was long and hanging down to her shoulders. I think they used to call that hairstyle a Mullet or something like that. It isn’t a particularly flattering way to wear ones hair, but on her, it somehow worked. When she spoke, her head jiggled like an enormous blob of Jell-O. She was also built like a linebacker, with the broad shoulders and thick neck that typically comes with those types of sports people. I instantly assumed that, besides being a dorky Hall Monitor, she must also be a jock, either volleyball or... do they let girls play football in Maine?

Sure, Hall Monitor slash jock is a weird combination, but it’s not unheard of. Back in my old school, we called the Hall Monitors, Hall Nazi’s, among many other, equally derogatory names. I must confess that besides my many encounters with the Hall Nazi’s... back in the fourth grade, I also used to be one of them for all of about two days, before I got busted for sneaking out of school to go surfing. Gosh, I miss surfing!

So there I was, being stared down by the She-Nazi and wondering, if she was going to jab me in the eye with her pencil, or put me into a headlock. It turned out that the big sport here in Maine isn’t volleyball or football; it’s hockey and of course, I know less then nothing about hockey.

“Let me guess, you’re the captain of the football team?” I said, trying to sound cool.

“What? Are you some kind of retard? I wouldn’t be caught dead, playing that pansy sport.” She said and I noted the throbbing vain, that had sprouted above her left eyebrow.

She turned to show me the back of her sweater. It read, ‘Boyd Bears’ and had an embroidered image of a bear wearing a hockey mask and holding a hockey stick.

“Sorry, I-I’m new here.” I managed to say without my voice cracking and giving away, how scared I was at that moment.

“No excuse!” She said pulling a red card out of her shirt pocket and handing it to me. “Homeroom assignments have been hanging on the front doors for over a month!”

“Huh?” I moaned in confusion.

She pointed down the hall to the doors I’d walked through only minutes before. I could see several sheets of paper, taped to the insides of the glass.

“But I didn’t know. We just moved here yesterday.” I said.

The girl sighed, “Alright, what’s your name?”

“Alvin, Alvin Holloway.” I said nervously.

“So Alvin-Alvin Holloway,” man, I couldn’t believe she used that old lame joke, “go look at the lists. Find your name and beside your name, there is a class room number and a locker number.” She stopped and scratched her left ear, “Well, seeing how you’re already here, you can’t very well find out the combination the normal way.” she said and I got the idea, that she was talking to herself more than to me just then.

“Normally, you call a special number.” She said, while scratching her head with the eraser, “and get the combination before school starts, but now you’ll have to go to the office to get it.”

I looked at the red card; it was just a normal piece of construction paper. It didn’t say anything; it was completely blank.

Now, what I wanted to say, was, “Hey thanks for the new book mark!” but what I actually said was, “Uh, what am I supposed to do with this?”

She wrinkled her nose, as if I smelled of dog droppings. “Why do you look and talk so weird?”

I looked down at myself to make sure, my fly wasn’t open and then said defensively, “I don’t!”

“Yes you do! Where are you from?” She looked, like she was getting tired of talking to me.

“California,” I answered proudly.

I must have surprised her with that answer, because her eyebrows jumped to the top of her forehead and her eyes got really big.

“No kidding?” she said in a higher pitch, “I never met anyone from California. Is everyone as lazy out there, as they say?”

Now I was tired of talking to this girl and I probably should have kept my mouth shut, but I didn’t. “No more then the people here in Maine are rude jerks.” With that, she spun around and walked away, without saying another word to me.

I was left to fin for myself yet again. I walked back to the doors, found my name and my locker number and then spent the next ten minutes wandering the halls, trying to find the office. I finally did locate it, but when I opened the door, I saw, that there were twenty or more kids in there. It was nearly a half-hour before it was my turn to ask for help, but when I stepped up to the lady that was sitting behind a big wooden desk, she saw the red card in my hand and pointed down the hallway behind me. “You’re in the wrong line! Down that hall and sit on one of the yellow chairs. Mr. Casting will be with you shortly.”

“But I just need my combination.” I said.

The lady repeated herself word for word, “Down that hall and sit on one of the yellow chairs. Mr. Castings will be with you shortly.”

“But I...” I tried again.

Once again, she repeated, “Down that hall and sit on one of the yellow chairs. Mr. Castings will be with you shortly.”

I figured that the line for locker combinations must be down the hall, so I did, what the lady told me to do. Five minutes later, I was standing in the Principles office, receiving a lecture about why students are not supposed to be wandering the halls after the class bell rings. Principle Casting was a short, partially bald man, with a bad comb-over and wickedly crooked teeth. Never once did Principle Castings look at me, while he recited, what must have been a memorized speech. He ended with, “And seeing how this is the first day of school, I will let you off with a warning, but only this one time. Now get to class.”

I was heading back up the hallway to the open area of the office, to once again, try to get my locker combination, when a door to my right opened and a boy taller then me came out. Our eyes met and he suddenly blushed so red, he looked like he had a wicked case of sunburn. He made a sound like someone had just kicked him in the jewels, turned, ran back into the room and quickly closed the door. I had no idea why he had been so embarrassed when he saw me, but then I was quickly learning that the people living in Maine are quite a different sort of folk then what I am accustomed to.

At first, I didn’t give this any thought at all, but while I was standing in line, waiting to talk to the lady about my locker combination, I saw no less then a dozen boys and girls going in and out of that room. However, I never saw that first boy come back out again.

It was during lunch period, that I saw that same guy again and just as before, when he spotted me, he spun around and took off in the opposite direction. I got a better look at him this time and though I couldn’t put my finger on it, something about him seemed ... well, something just didn’t seem right about him.

Believe it or not, I was actually wishing I had Micah’s horrible Machewie fish stuff instead of, what the school was serving for lunch. I sat alone, eating my rubbery, tasteless macaroni and cheese, with limp broccoli and milk so cold, it had ice crystals in it. Maybe it was just me, but it felt like I was being watched the whole time I sat there, trying to choke down that awful stuff. Then again, I was probably just being paranoid.

It was nearly at the end of the day, when things really got interesting, and I don’t mean in a good way. Despite missing nearly all of my first class, I was beginning to get a little more comfortable and getting the hang of the schools layout. I had all my textbooks piled into my locker, except for my last class, Social Studies, which was were I was heading, when I got the sudden urge to pee. As luck would have it, the bathroom was all the way at the other end of the hall and I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it through the crowded hallway to the bathroom and then back again before the bell, but I also knew that there was no way I would make it through a 45-minute class, without having to ask for permission to go to the restroom. I decided to chance it and try for the bathroom. I put myself against the far wall and squeezed past everyone, only getting rammed into three times.

Of course, you know, that the bathroom was packed, mostly with other boys flapping their gums, while others stood around doing the pee-pee dance, as they waited for a toilet or urinal to become available. There were still three kids ahead of me when the bell rang, but by then I was in extreme distress. I was so glad when all but the three boys ahead of me vacated the bathroom in a hurry to get to their classrooms before final bell. The four of us manned a urinal and let loose our bladder contents, like yellow laser beams firing against the white porcelain. The boy furthest from me let loose a fart loud enough to wake the dead and all four of us started laughing.

“Ahhhh that felt good!” he said.

One of the others shot back with, “Yeah and by the sound of it, you might need to wipe now!”

The boy who farted laughed, as he said, “Who wipes!”

The boy closest to me piped in with, “Man Larry, you stole that from the movie Madagascar!”

“No, they stole it from me!” Larry laughed back.

Almost in unison, the three of them zipped back up and flushed. I expected the three of them to haul butt for their classes, but instead the boy who had farted, the one they had called Larry, stopped behind me while I was still peeing.

“What’s your name kid?” he asked.

“Alvin, Alvin Holloway.” I answered.

“I’m Larry, this here is Fish and that is BB.” Larry said.

I finally finished peeing and zipped up before turning around.

“You new here or something?” the boy named Fish asked me.

I nodded, “Just moved here yesterday.”

“Yesterday? Whoa, so where from?” Larry asked.

They seemed fairly nice so I didn’t mind the third degree and continued to answer their questions.

“California,” I answered.

“Is that why you talk so weird?” BB asked, trying to imitate me.

I suddenly got the feeling, that maybe they weren’t the friendly sort I’d thought them to be.

“Listen, I better get to class.” I said, trying to squeeze past Larry who was partially blocking my escape route.

“Wait a sec’,” Larry said, putting a hand against my chest, “You didn’t flush.”

“Oh yeah, sorry.” I said turning my back on them, so that I could give the flush button on the wall a push.

However, the second I pressed the button all three of them rushed on me and shoved me forward into the urinal. Before I could react, they zoomed out of the bathroom. When I regained my balance, I looked down and saw, that the lower part of my shirt and the front of my pants were completely soaked.

“Son of a bitch!” I cussed aloud.

“HEY!” someone shouted behind me.

Momentarily forgetting about my pants and shirt being wet, I spun around to see, that it was my good friend, the Hall-Nazi from this morning.

“Cussing is an automatic Red Ca...” she started to say, but stopped short when it dawned on her, that we’d already had a run-in with each other earlier in the day. “Oh hey, I remember you!” she said and then she noticed my obvious wet spot.

“You piss yourself?” she asked.

Trying to cover the front of my pants with my hands I snapped back, “No I didn’t piss myself!” and because we were in the bathroom, my voice echoed off the tiled walls and sounded louder, then I’d meant for it too. “Some mother fu...” I started to say, but the girl cut me off with, “Hey-Hey man! No cussing or I’ll have no choice but to Red Card you.”

Was I just imaging it, or was that girl actually trying to be nice to me? Anyway, I was too mad and too worked up to care. If my good friend Gary from back in California had been around right then, he probably would have chewed me out for cussing. Gosh, I miss Gary!

“Some GUYS,” I said with strong emphasis on the word GUYS, “shoved me into the urinal!”

But then something occurred to me, “Hold on a second! You’re a girl! You can’t come into the boy’s bathroom!”

“Never mind that,” she said with a snap of her fingers, “let me guess, you didn’t even see who they were, right?”

“I can do you one better then that; they told me their names, Larry...” I started to say, but then she finished for me.

“Fish and BB?” she knowingly asked.

“Yeah, that’s right!” I agreed.

“Well, you’ve just had the pleasure of meeting the worst we have here at Boyd’s.” she said and then she smiled, stepped toward me and stuck out his hand. “Names Hillary Thennings, but most everyone just calls me Stacks.”

I sort of held out my hands and shrugged, “I’ve not even washed my hands yet.”

“Don’t matter! Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a little pee on my hands.” She said, eagerly taking hold of my right hand and shaking it vigorously. “I’ve got two younger brothers at home.” She announced as if I needed to know that about her.

“I’m guessing you’ve had a fairly horrible first day?” she said, releasing my hand and stepping back to get another full view of my wet clothes.

“You can say that again!” I said, sounding practically defeated.

She pointed at me and cocked her head to one side, “It’s Alvin-Alvin, right?” she asked with a smirk.

I nodded and grimaced at the same time.

“Thought so, I’m good with names and faces.” She said proudly.

“What did you say they call you?” I asked.

“Stacks,” she answered quickly.

“Is that because you’re built like a brick smoke stack?” I asked, hoping that it sounded halfway humorous.

“Nah, nothing like that. I got the nick Stacks because I’m known for stacking up the goals, one right after the other.”

“So, you are on the football team?” I joked, knowing full well, that she was into Hockey.

“Anyone, who’s anyone around here, plays hockey.” She said and then asked me, “You play?”

“I don’t think I have ever seen a game, unless you count the movies. Uh, they do call them games, right?” I asked sheepishly.

“Yeah, a game or a match.” She said with a slight shrug.

“Say, why don’t you come with me. I’ll escort you to the office and we can get you some dry clothes.” Stacks said.

For nearly a full minute, I had actually forgotten that I was standing there, wearing clothes that looked, as though I had peed in them.

“I don’t suppose you’d look the other way and let me hide out in one of the stalls, until my clothes dry or school ends.” I asked hopefully.

“No need to worry.” Stacks continued, “You’re not the first to fall victim to Larry and those other hooligans. They’re well known by the staff, so when I tell who did it to you, no one will even second guess it.”

“Whoa, hold the phone... Did you just say hooligans?” I asked.

“Uh, yeah!” Stacks said, as if I’d just asked the world’s dumbest question.

I waved my hands in the air as if erasing my words from a chalkboard. “Never mind,” I mumbled.

Thankfully, Stacks had been right. Once she told the lady in the office, the one I’d seen early, who was still sitting behind the same big wooden desk, what had happened, she grimaced and said, “If you ask me, they should take those three and that girl they hangout with and lock them away.”

She then waved us off with the back of her hand, “Go on; take him back.”

Down the office hall and to the right we stopped before a flat wooden door, stained a dark honey color. Smack-dab in the middle of the door, was a poster of a large green frowny-face. You know, like a smiley-face only it was frowning. Just under the frowny-face, it read...

Is It Friday Yet!

I’m not sure what I was expecting to find behind the door, but what I saw when Stacks opened it, was not something I would have ever expected to see in a school. How do I describe it? Oh I know: Pepto-Bismol! The entire room looked, as though it had been hosed down with Pepto-Bismol. Pink walls, pink ceiling, pink shaggy area rug, pink metal desk with a pink vinyl high-back office chair and on the pink desk was a lamp with a pink lampshade.

There wasn’t anyone in the... uh... office, but that didn’t seem to alarm Stacks who sashayed right in like she owned the place. When I didn’t follow, she reached out, took hold of the front of my shirt and pulled me into the room.

Stacks left me standing near the door, while she went behind the desk to a low, wide filing cabinet. She was rummaging through the cabinet and stopped every few seconds to look back at me, as if she expected me to abruptly disappear from the room.

“She always keeps extra clothes in here for just such an emergency.” Stacks said.

“She who?” I asked.

“Oh, the school nurse.” She said off handedly, “This is her office.”

“Why’s it pink?” I asked, not really meaning for the words to come out of my mouth.

Stacks turned back around with some clothes in her arms. “Because she likes pink, silly.” She said with a humorous snort.

She held a white shirt with bright blue buttons up to me.

“That should fit, though it might be a bit big on you.” She said and had she left it at that, it would have been just fine, but she had to go and add, “Are all the boys in California scrawny like you?”

I sucked in my bottom lip and chomped down on it with my teeth to keep me from saying something smart back to her.

She didn’t seem to notice as she held a pair of green, yes I said green, pants up to me. “Oh no, way too big.” After holding up a pair of blue jeans and a pair of dark blue slacks, she unobtrusively announced, “Guess you can roll up the jeans.”

After setting the shirt and jeans down on the desk, she said, “I’m afraid there aren’t any underpants in the cabinet so you’ll have to go Commando.”

“Excuse me?” I said with a nervous cough.

“Commando... you know,” she blushed slightly as she flicked her hair back.

I shrugged.

“Commando means, you wear your pants without underpants.” She said and now she was really blushing.

Why I said what I said next, I don’t know, but oh how I wish I hadn’t. “I’m not wearing any anyhow.”

Oh my gosh, I thought my face was going to burst into flames, it got that hot. Even my ears felt like they were burning.

Thankfully, Stacks left me alone to change and I had time to recover from my embarrassment, but she returned quicker then I expected. With a gentle knock, she announced her return and without me saying a word, she came back into the room. I had on the pants and was buttoning up the shirt.

“Oh most definitely, we’ll need to roll up those pants.” She said and knelt before me, to begin rolling up the hem of the pants.

I felt really uncomfortable, having this strange girl helping me dress, but I didn’t feel like it would be right to object, seeing how she had just saved me from a fatal case of embarrassment, had any other student seen me with my clothes wet. However, when Stacks started to tuck the shirt in for me, I jumped back, “No, I can do it myself.”

“Oh sorry, I’m just used to helping my brothers.” She said, blushing again. “You look a little bit like them, in the eyes.”

She picked up my wet clothes and said, “I’ll put these in a bag and you can put them in your locker.”

“Sweet!” I said.

“What?” She said back.

“Oh, I meant to say thanks.” I said.

“You can have your mom wash that shirt and pants and bring them back tomorrow.” Stacks said.

The rest of the day, I didn’t see Stacks or those three jerks. Anyway, it’s probably a good thing I didn’t see Larry, Fish and BB, because I would have had to attempt to beat the crap out of them. Yeah, I would have lost but that wouldn’t have stopped me from getting a few good licks in before they pummeled me to death.

__________

Chapter 7

After what happened on the bus to school that first day, I decided, I wasn’t riding the bus anymore, but would instead walk to and from school. It isn’t really all that far, except there is one fairly busy street to cross. And besides, walking is good for you, right?

After about a week, I started to fall into an after-school routine. I would come home, do my homework, write a short letter to one or more of my distant friends and then I would set off to explore the house. I was careful not to be seen or heard by anyone, so that I wouldn’t get in trouble like I had that first day. I never really found anything scandalous or interesting to write to my friends about. Mostly, I was just learning the layout of my grandparent’s house and I guess that was a good thing. At least I was less likely to get lost again.

On Monday of that second week in hell, I mean Lewiston, I was having a particularly rotten day. During lunch, I’d had another run in with Larry, BB, Fish and the girl I had heard about. Oh was she a wonderful piece of work and I don’t mean wonderful in a good way. She has jet-black hair that looks, as if it has never seen shampoo or a brush. She wears black plastic frame eyeglasses, which make her dark doll-like eyes seem larger then normal. And Heaven help us all, she sure does like to show off those oversized, brown, furry, teeth of hers. However, by far her worst trait is the smell that seemed to encompass her like a cloud of green mist. Oh man she absolutely reeks of cigarettes and B.O. all the time. What amazes me is the remarkable fact that Larry, Fish and BB don’t seem to be affected, or even mind her constant olfactory assault.

Somehow, I had lucked out to be right in the middle of them in the lunch line, with BB and Bertha, which is the girls’ name, in front of me and Larry and Fish behind me.

“Hey, it’s the California kid I was telling you about!” BB said elbowing Bertha to get her attention.

“Oh, he’s scrawny!” Bertha said with a belch so loud that she could have woke up old Rip-Van-Winkle.

“If one more person calls me scrawny!” I thought to myself.

I found it ironic, that she was calling me scrawny, when she looked as though she were nothing more than skin, stretched over a wire skeleton.

I happen to noticed, a few of the other kids in line were holding their noses, or pulling the collar of their shirts up over their mouth and noses like old time bandits, to act as makeshift air filters.

She reached out to touch me and instinctively I recoiled.

“Hold still!” she growled at me.

“Drop dead!” I snapped and blew past them before I hurled.

I only had a bologna sandwich on my tray but I didn’t care. If I had stayed in line any longer, I might have barfed from the horrific odor emanating form Bertha.

“Hey California!” Bertha shouted, “Where you going? I wasn’t done talking to you!”

I quickly paid for my sandwich and walked as fast as I could get away with, to the far side of the lunchroom, where I sat and slouched down in hopes, that they couldn’t see me.

__________

Chapter 8

The rest of the school day was uneventful, but something else occurred while walking home from school. I was about to the halfway point between school and my grandparents’ home, which also happens to be, where the entrance to Memorial Gardens Park is, when I had the oddest feeling wash over me. It was as if I knew that I was being watched. For a panic filled second, I thought maybe Bertha and those guys had followed me, but when I spun around, no one was there.

I didn’t think much about it until it happened again the following afternoon, except this time, the feeling was ten times stronger.

In a lot of ways, Tuesday was a repeat of Monday. Once more at lunchtime, I found myself smack-dab in between Larry and Bertha. Where Fish and BB were, I didn’t know and frankly, I was glad they weren’t around. Larry and Bertha were enough trouble. Heaven knows way, but they have taken a liking to me and unlike Monday, I wasn’t able to shake them. They stuck right with me, as I found a place to sit and eat. However, I couldn’t eat. The toxic fumes that swirled around Bertha, made me loose my appetite. I wish, I could have just got up and walked away, like everyone else around us had done, but I knew Larry and Bertha would have followed me.

After school, as I was walking home, I felt that peculiar tingling on the back of my neck and the hairs on my arm stood up again. Like I said before, the feeling was much stronger then it had been on Monday. I stopped in mid-stride and threw my head around so fast, that my neck cracked. But same as the afternoon before, there was no one anywhere within sight. It took longer for me to shake off the feeling. I don’t think it left me, until after I was within sight of my grandparents’ home.

Wednesday was different, in at least, that I didn’t run into Bertha and the others, but luck wasn’t totally on my side that day. On the way to fifth period I felt, like I needed to pee, but I knew that I wouldn’t have time to pee and go to my locker too. So I made the decision, that I didn’t need to pee that badly and that I could hold it until after fifth period was over. I was so wrong.

Ten minutes into class and the small urge to pee had become a three-alarm emergency.

“Please open your books to the questions at the end of chapter two. And who would like to give me the answer to question one?” our teacher had asked.

I hadn’t really heard what she said, because I had to pee so badly, so when I raised my hand to ask if I could go to the bathroom, I was caught off guard, when she called on me for the answer.

“Alvin, good! I don’t think we’ve heard from you yet this year. What do you think the answer is?” she said.

“What? Uh, I don’t know. I-I need to go to the bathroom!” I said and everyone laughed; everyone except for our teacher and me.

Thankfully, she read in my face how painfully urgent it was, because she didn’t give me a hard time about it. She simply held out the bathroom pass and waited for me to come get it. The pass was a large piece of wood, with ocean green painted letters, which read BATHROOM PASS on both sides.

Everyone was still giggling as I did the pee-pee walk up to the front of the room, but I didn’t care. Well actually, I did care, but my need to pee canceled out my embarrassment. I grabbed the pass, race-walked out the door and started down the hallway toward the boys’ bathroom.

Oh man, that was the longest walk from the classroom to the bathroom. I was scared, that I wasn’t going to make it to the door, but when I swung open the bathroom door, I ran face first into a wall of cigarette smoke. I’ve been around school bathrooms enough to know, that they are not just used for peeing and pooping, but on that day, at that very moment in time, I had one thing, and one thing only, on my mind... PEE! Therefore, when that smoke slapped me in the face, I hadn’t been expecting it. I coughed only once and then it happened. It was like someone had just blew-up the Hoover Dam and released the zillions of gallons of water that it had held back for all those years. My bladder suddenly let loose a torrent of pee onto my pants that would have made the Colorado River look like a backyard stream.

I coughed a second time and heard from inside the bathroom, “Someone’s coming!” and then I heard the flush of a toilet, which I knew meant that whoever was in the bathroom smoking, had just flushed their cigarettes down the commode. If I hadn’t been choking on the smoke, I would have found that fact funny, because even though the cigarettes were gone, they couldn’t hide the fact that the bathroom was literally swallowed up in smoke.

I coughed a third time and those that had been inside the bathroom, rushed out of the door to escape. They must have thought I was a teacher or, I am sure, they wouldn’t have panicked like that. I was knocked backwards onto my butt with a splash, as three boys bolted out the door and ran down the hallways, without slowing down to see, who they had just run over. I had the presents of mind to look to see, who it was and sure enough, it was Larry, Fish and BB.

I think I swore as I stood up and realized what had just happened.

“Oh no!” I whimpered, as I looked down and saw that my pants weren’t just wet, they were soaked. There was even pee dripping from the hem of my pants onto my shoes and a large puddle had formed beneath me.

Despite the smoke, there was no way I was going to stand there in the hallway wearing pee pants. I mean, what if someone else came along?

For half a second I thought about the pink room, that Stacks had taken me to, in the school office. However, as soon as I thought about it, I also thought about, how it would be to walk into the office and have everyone see me in wet pants again.

I took a deep breath, held it and ran into the bathroom to the furthest stall, where I locked myself inside. The tears flowed down my face, much the way the pee had flowed down my legs seconds before. When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I let my breath out and gasped, then coughed hard, causing a short shot of pee to shoot from my penis again.

“What am I going to do?” I sobbed and huffed, “I can’t let anyone see me like this!”

And that easily it was decided; I wasn’t going back to class! I was going to run out of the school and I wasn’t going to stop running until I was safely in my room.

I opened the door to the stall and began running with no care for how much noise I was making as my shoes pounded the polished floors.

My tears never slowed as I crashed into the school door and threw them open. They banged like a gun as they flew all the way open. My knees pumped like a well-designed machine but had I not been crying so hard, I might have been able to run faster.

I was totally intent on running all the way to my grandparents’ house, but when I neared the park, I had to slow down to catch my breath. I stopped near the entrance to the park and leaned against a lamppost. I was panting hard as I wiped the snot from my nose and the tears from my face with the sleeve of my shirt.

As I stood there, wearing pee soaked pants and no jacket, the chill in the air became quite apparent. Then, that feeling that I was being watched occurred again and I’m sorry but three days in a row is too creepy to dismiss! In an instant, I all but stopped crying and I wanted to quickly look around, but this time I dropped to one knee. Under the guise of tying my shoe, I scanned the area around me. From out of the corners of my eye, I saw some kids head poking out from around a large tree on the other side of the street.

Whoever it was, they didn’t want me to know, that they were spying on me. At first, I was a bit scared. I hadn’t made any friends. Heck, except for Stacks, I hadn’t met anyone that could remotely be considered a possibility for becoming a friend.

I stood back up, adjusted my shirt and started to walk slowly at first, while trying to keep a watchful eye on the tree. Though I couldn’t see it clearly, I mean I didn’t want to give away, that I knew someone was there, I did see someone move out from behind the tree. Whoever it was, they were trying to keep pace with me, while still slipping behind bushes, trees and parked cars.

When I turned onto my grandparents’ street, I got my chance to get a better look at my shadow. I saw it was a boy, who looked to be about my size, with hair on the long side. I don’t mean long like a girl, but it was longer then what most guys here in Maine usually wear. From that distance, his hair appeared to be brownish and he was wearing a dark blue jersey with faded blue jeans.

Once I had rounded the corner and knew, that I was temporarily out of sigh of whoever that guy was, I ducked behind a parked car and waited. However, no one ever appeared. When I decided to peek, he had vanished. I guess, whoever he was, had given up the cloak and dagger stuff.

__________

Chapter 9

As I walked in the door to my grandparents’ house, I was greeted by my grandmother.

“What on earth do you think you are doing young man?” she snapped at me. “Your school just called to say, that you went to the bathroom, but you never returned to class. They have the police and everyone looking for you!”

Maybe it was because I was so upset at wetting my pants, or maybe I had just about had it with the way my grandparents treated me. At any rate, I lost it. I mean, I got farting-in-your-face, peeing-into-the-wind, and wiping-a-booger-on-someone, rude. Things started flying out of my mouth that, had I been talking like that to my older surfing buddy Gary, back in California, he would have knocked me into next week.

Grandmother looked down on me with revulsion as I cussed and ranted. Finally, I finished with, “And has it escaped your notice, that my damn pants are soaked in piss?”

She didn’t get mad. She didn’t yell. All she did was say, “Please remove your wet things, so that you don’t drip all over the house.”

“Remove my wet things?” I screamed, “Fine! FINE!”

I began pulling off every stitch of clothing right there in front of All of heaven, the neighbors and everyone, throwing them to the ground so hard, that pee splashed in every direction. Once I was completely naked, I stood there breathing hard as my grandmother calmly bent down, picked up all of my things and then said, “Please go take a shower and wait in your room until your parents get home.” And that is all that was said... at least until John and mom returned home from work that evening.

After having another good long cry while standing under a skin-roasting shower, I sat at the bottom of the shower until they came home.

John was the first to arrive and by the sound of him, Grandmother had already informed him of everything. He had burst into the bedroom shouting, “ALVIN!”

Only then did I realize that I had fallen asleep, while sitting on the floor of the shower.

John found me, but at first, he just stood there with the most remarkable expression of puzzlement.

He spoke slowly, as though the words were difficult for him to say, “What are you doing in there?”

I must have cried myself out earlier, because though I felt like I was going to cry, the tears didn’t return.

I sighed heavily, then without looking up I said, “I peed my pants at school!”

“You did what?” He said with shock and awe.

“I peed my pants at school and I didn’t want anyone to see, so I ran all the way home.” I said as my voice cracked. I then pounded my leg with my fist, only I didn’t realize, how much that would hurt.

John surprised me by what he did next. I was expecting to get spanked or at the very least yelled at, but instead he stepped into the shower, lowered himself down beside me and hugged me close to him, like he use to when I was little. That is when the tears returned.

When mom came home, John told her what happened and she didn’t get mad either. As a matter of fact, she came up to my room, crying too. She kept telling me how sorry she was, that it happened and how it would be alright. I didn’t believe it would be alright. Actually, I believed, that by the next morning, it would be all over the school, that I had peed my pants and ran home crying like a baby.

Well, that is partially what happened. Though no one had seen me, most everyone was able to put the clues together in such a way, that by the end of the day, which wasn’t long at all, rumors were running rampant. The one thing all the rumors seemed to have in common, was that I had wet my pants. Some of the rumors were stupid, like I’d attacked a teacher, or that someone had got into the school and kidnapped me.

I did not go down for supper that evening. I just didn’t feel like eating. Living here was bad enough, now I went and made it downright horrendous! Around ten o’clock at night there was a soft tapping at my bedroom door. I was supposed to be in bed sleeping, but I couldn’t sleep and had taken to sitting on the floor at the foot of my bed, with my surfboard lying on the floor in front of me. I had my knees up to my chest and my arms wrapped around my legs, because I was being too stubborn to get up and find something to keep me warmer.

“Come in,” I whimpered.

I’d been expecting it to be mom or John, but it was neither of them. Instead it was Micah, the cook... uh, I mean chef.

“Micah!” I said with surprise.

In her hands, she held a silver tray that contained a plate and glass under a glass dome.

“I tink Al-ben maybe hungry, so I brought Al-ben special treat.” She said, as she pushed the door closed with one foot.

To be honest, I was happier to see her, then the tray of food she brought for me; that was until I saw what she had for me.

“Wow, thanks Micah!” I said.

“I tink to myself, what Al-ben like most for Micah to bring for him. So I bring greatest treat ever in history of all peoples.” She said, squatting down and setting the tray before me.

She lifted the silver dome from the plate to reveal a chilidog with cheese, curly fries and pickle wedges.

“Ah Micah you are the best!” I exclaimed, as I eyed that chilidog like a hungry shark.

“Yes I am best! That is why I am Micah!” she said and then chuckled quietly.

She then grabbed my face with both hands. I thought for a second she was going to squeeze my head like a pimple, but she didn’t. Instead, she planted a kiss right between my eyes.

“If you leave tray by door, I get in morning.” She said, patting my cheek.

“Thanks so much Micah!” I said, as she was leaving the room.

I guess, I was hungry, because not only did I eat that entire Chilidog, I also ate every last fry and all of the pickle wedges. I don’t think I have ever in my life had a Chilidog as good as that one. The cheese, the chili, the dog, they were all so... well, so good!

It wasn’t until I was guzzling down the last of the chocolate milk, that it dawned on me, that Micah had just seen me wearing nothing more then a GoodNite. I didn’t have on a shirt, socks or pants! That little revelation only added to the humiliation that was already coursing through my veins and pounding against the inside of my skull.

Sleep quickly overtook me there on the floor. The following morning I was awakened by Micah, coming in to get the tray.

“Al-ben! Al-ben!” she said, gently shaking my shoulder.

Groggy and yawning I opened one eye and asked, “Is it morning already?”

“You catch death chill sleepin’ on floor all necked.” She said, but I guess I was still too sleepy; either that or I thought I was dreaming, because I had re-closed my eye and gone back to sleep.

I only awoke again when mom was pulling my covers off my head and telling me that it was time to get up for school. I was back in my own bed and I could only assume that Micah had put me there.

What was even odder, even after drinking that big glass of the chocolate milk, I hadn’t wet my GoodNite.

“Mom!” I gasped with excitement while leaning against the edge of the bed. “I didn’t wet the sheet last night!”

“Oh Alvin, that is wonderful!” she said and then gave me a congratulatory peck on the cheek.

“Mom?” I said, as the previous days events flooded back into my conscious mind.

“Yes sweetheart?” she said while making up my bed.

“I don’t ever want to go back to that school again.” I griped.

“Alvin, I have never known you to run away from a challenge. What sort of mom would I be, if I let you run away from this one?” she said.

“Mom this isn’t a challenge! Surfing is a challenge! Not wetting my sheets is a huge challenge! But going to school today isn’t a challenge; it is going to be everyone in my school laughing at me and making fun of me.” I whined.

“Alvin, even if one or two of the kids find out, in a few days, no one is going to even remember.” She said.

I crowed out with, “Moooom! Something like this, will never go away!”

But no matter how much I whined or pleaded, I couldn’t change her mind and I had to go to school. What was worse was that she somehow talked me into wearing a GoodNite to school under my clothes.

Since I hadn’t wet that night I felt, that I didn’t need to take a shower, but I did have a wicked case of morning breath. I’m sure, that late night chilidog was partially to blame for my rancid breath.

As I stepped into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I saw a used, yes I mean wet, GoodNite sitting on the vanity counter beside the sink.

That puzzled me to no end and the only conclusion I could come to was, that I must have got up in the middle of the night and changed into a dry GoodNite without remembering that I had done so. Well, so much for my dry night, huh?

I skipped breakfast because I was just too upset about having to go back to school. With every step I took while walking to school, I had to convince myself, that everything was going to be alright. However, once I was within sight of the school, I started to panic, I mean really panic. My heart raced, my breathing was labored and I felt like at any second I was going to be sick. It felt, like everyone knew that I had the GoodNite on and I kept screaming at my mother inside my mind for talking me into wearing it. Of course, no one could see it, but the irrational mind cannot be made to believe in rational things.

I was sure that everyone I passed was eyeballing me and whispering behind my back. It was probably just my imagination, or at least that is what I kept telling myself all the way to my locker. Then I saw it. Taped on the outside of my locker door, was a piece of notebook paper that read,

GOO-GOO! GAA-GAA!

BABY NEEDS HIS

DIAPER CHANGED!

Quick as a flash, I ripped the paper off my locker and crumpled it up, but there was nothing I could do about my glowing red face.

As if nothing was out of the ordinary, I spun the combination lock, opened my locker, stuffed my jacket in and slammed the door closed again.

In those few seconds, I became surrounded by students who were staring at me. I turned to go to class and saw them. When I saw, that I was cornered there in the hallway, a stab of pain shot through my chest, as if someone had just rammed a wooden stake through my heart. Then it started...

“Does the widdle, bitty, baby need his pee-pee pants changed?” someone mocked.

Someone else then chimed in with, “We better stand back or we might all get peed on!”

Embarrassment was slowly morphing into unrefined anger, but before I could begin fighting my way free, someone from the far side of the crowd whistled incredibly loud!

Everyone turned on the spot and, as if someone had just yelled fire, the mob of hecklers scattered in every direction, leaving me standing there with my knees knocking together and my back plastered against the row of lockers.

Now I had expected to see a teacher, but what I saw was Larry, BB, Fish and Bertha. All four stood there, looking tough and firing mental daggers at anyone who dared to look back or hesitate to run away.

Fish came over to me and picked up my books, which I had dropped. I hadn’t even known I had dropped them until he was tucking them under my arm.

Larry glanced to Bertha, and I was beginning to understand, that she was the leader of their little gang. Then he walked up to me, put a hand on my shoulder and smiled.

“Relax,” he said, patting the front of my shoulder once, “We got your back.”

“Huh?” I said.

Bertha gave me a half cocked head bob of acknowledgement.

“Yeah, anyone messes with you...” there was a smacking sound as BB punched his fist into his hand, “then we’re going to have something to say about it.”

“W-w-why?” I managed to say despite the fact that my tongue didn’t seem to be working properly.

“Would you get this one?” Fish said, sliding his arm around the back of my neck and leaning against me.

“Ah, let him be Fish.” Bertha said, “He’ll snap out of it.”

She then faked a jab to my gut, but I was still frozen with fear, so I didn’t react. “Solid Alvin, solid as a rock!” She patted my cheek, “Hey, we’ll catch you at lunch ok?”

“Uh, yeah sure; lunch.” I said with a squeak in my voice.

From then ‘til lunch, I could see other students looking at me, even murmuring when they thought, I wasn’t looking, but no one said another word to me, good or bad.

At lunch Larry, BB, Fish and Bertha were standing in the hallway near the entrance to get our food. They were waiting for me and when I came into view, BB called out to me. “Yo Alvin buddy! Over here!”

What could I do at that point? If I turned to walk away, I was dooming myself to three years of Jr. High School teasing. However, if I joined them, I was allying myself with the four most disliked students in the school.

“Hey Alvin! Come on! We saved you a place in line!” BB called out again. He then turned and shoved some kid out of line.

The decision was made for me; I had become the fifth... what had Stacks called them? Hooligans?

By the end of the day, the word had spread all over the school that I was hanging out with Larry, BB, Fish and Bertha. Even when they were not with me, everyone cleared away from me, as if Bertha’s odiferous aura had somehow spread to me.

After school, as I was getting my jacket from my locker, BB and Fish came up to me.

Fish spoke first, “So you doing better?”

Knowing the reason they had become so chummy with me, still caused me to flush red, but still I answered with an unconvincing, “Yeah.”

“Oh yeah, that sounded positive!” BB said, giving me a playful shove.

“So, no one has been teasing you or leaving any more notes, right?” Fish asked, while pointing an accusing finger in my face.

I shook my head.

“Good, because I just got these new gloves and I don’t want to get them all bloody. You know what I mean?” He said with a laugh and a backhanded slap to my arm.

“So you’ll be back tomorrow?” BB asked in a way, which made it sound more like an order then a question.

I hesitantly nodded.

“We’ll see you then!” Fish said, slapping my bicep.

While waking home from school, I didn’t see or sense anyone. And believe me, I was keeping a keen eye out for anyone or anything remotely suspicious.

At home, I was greeted at the door by my Grandmother, who promptly asked me, “How did your day go?”

The second I saw her, I was overwhelmed with feelings of guilt for the way, I had dumped on her just one day before. I didn’t answer her right away. However, I began to apologies profusely for my tantrum and the horrible language I had used.

She embraced me and hugged me tightly to her. “You are a very good boy and I knew you were just reacting to a terrible situation.” She said.

Then, taking hold of my hand, she asked again, “But how did today go?”

So I told her exactly what happened. I told her about the note on my locker, about being called names and then about, how four of the students came to my rescue. I did however leave out the part about those four students being the most feared bullies in the school.

__________

Chapter 10

The following Monday, while walking to school, I spotted someone walking around the back of the school, which kind of looked like... I mean, I’d only seen him from a distance before. However, I thought maybe he was the same kid, that had been spying on me last week.

That particular day in English class, I got in trouble, because I had done the wrong homework assignment. My teacher had instructed me, that at the end of the school day, I was to return to class. I nearly forgot to. I mean, I was on my way out the front doors when I remembered. Boy, I would hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t showed up.

As it turned out, my teacher only gave me a warning and said that I had to turn in the missing assignment the follow day before the start of school or I would get an automatic failing grade on the assignment. She also said that if it happens again, then I would loose a full letter grade for each day that an assignment is late. Boy, I was relieved, because I was expecting to have to do lines or stay for detention or something like that. Actually, I had already completed the assignment during math class, but I wasn’t going to tell my teacher that. I decided to wait until the following morning to hand it in.

Therefore, I was a little late leaving school and when I walked out of the doors, there was maybe seven or ten students left out there. I slung my backpack over my right shoulder and started for home. Sure enough, as I neared that point where I’d sensed someone watching me before, I saw that same boy. However, this time he wasn’t even trying to hide himself from me. He was leaning against that same tree and looking in the opposite direction. I guess, he was wondering where I was or how he had missed seeing me today. Anyway, I decided that it was time to confront him. I ducked low and did a sort of duck walk behind the park cars until I reached a point were I could cross the street with very little chance of being seen. Once on his side, I found it more difficult to sneak up on him, as there wasn’t as much cover to duck behind.

I was less then thirty feet away, hiding behind a large metal trashcan that smelled like old pee. I pinched my nose closed and gave him a quick scan. He was wearing blue jeans with the knees torn out, that same jersey shirt I’d seen him in before and dark colored shoes. He seemed to be watching intently toward the other direction, as if he expected me to come from that way.

As I stood up to try to get closer, I accidentally bumped the trashcan with my knee. The boy heard me, looked right at me and then took off running in the opposite direction.

I didn’t chase after him because I had got close enough to see his face clearly. I was right, I had seen him that morning going behind the school and now, that I had his face in my head, it was just a matter of time before I would spot him at school.

However, I didn’t see him at school or after school for a long time and believe me I was trying to. I even asked a couple of my teachers if they knew who he was, but from my description, they didn’t have a clue as to his identity.

Then on a Sunday, while I was sitting out front of my Grandparents house, waxing my surfboard for the zillionth time, I heard a twig snap. I looked up and there he was, standing less then twenty feet from me. He was looking right at me, leaning on a hockey stick and sucking on a sucker.

At first, I didn’t say anything. I think I was somewhat shocked to see, that he had finally got up the nerve to approach me.

He was wearing blue jeans again, with the knees ripped out and that same jersey, which had the name CHRIS across the front in large midnight blue, Roman style block letters.

“Hi,” I said.

He gave me a jerk of his head as a greeting.

“You Chris?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Cool, I’m Alvin.” I said.

Chris looked up at the front of my grandparent’s big home as though he was studying it.

“It’s my grandparent’s house. My parents and I are staying with them. We just moved here.” I said.

Chris only shrugged.

“So do you talk much?” I asked.

Chris again shrugged and then nodded, causing the stick of his sucker to bob up and down like a music conductor’s baton.

He looked at me intently, then to his hockey stick and then back to me. I got the feeling that he was asking if I played hockey.

“No, never played.” I patted my surfboard, “Surfing’s my thing.” I said and when I said it, I felt a twinge of longing in my heart, to hit the waves again. I’d been feeling that way for a while now and it didn’t seem to be going away. Actually, it was getting so bad, that I was dreaming about surfing nearly every night now.

Chris surprised me, when he timidly walked up to me, knelt down and placed a single finger on my board.

“You ever do any surfing?” I asked.

Chris shook his head slightly.

“My folks and I used to live in California, not too far from the ocean. I used to surf all the time, but here I can’t, because the water is too cold.” I said solemnly.

Chris stood back up, waved and walked away.

“Ok, now that was weird!” I said aloud, once Chris was out of earshot.

The following morning, as I was walking to school, who came walking up behind me? Yep you guessed it, Chris.

“Good morning.” I said sleepily.

Chris gave me a small wave and half a grin. He then yawned really big, which caused me to yawn too. Chris gave a silent chuckle at that.

“So you live close by?” I asked.

Chris simply shrugged and pointed over his shoulder.

I stopped dead and put it right out there, “Come on, what’s the deal? Why haven’t you said anything?”

Chris got a concerned look on his face and gently shook his head.

“Wait, can’t you talk?” I asked.

Chris shook his head.

“You can talk?” I asked next.

Chris nodded.

“But you don’t want to talk?” I felt, like I was getting somewhere with him.

Chris shook his head.

“Ok, that didn’t make any sense!” I said, not really meaning for it to be so abrupt.

Chris shrugged and gave me a bit of a reassuring smile. I shrugged too and we then continued on to school. As we neared school, Chris waved as he jogged away and was lost in the sea of students poring off the school buses.

Sure enough, I found Chris leaning against the same tree after school, but this time we saw each other simultaneously. However, he didn’t run away or try to hide. Instead, he smiled and waited for me to cross over to his side of the street.

“Hey, how was school?” I asked.

Chris shrugged and grimaced.

“Yeah, same here.” I said, not really knowing what Chris’s grimace had meant.

“Boy, I hate how much homework they give us here. It’s all I can do to keep up.” I said, as the two of us walked toward my grandparent’s.

When we reached the point that I had to turn left toward home, Chris gave me a smile and a wave, as he continued walking in the same general direction we had been heading.

As I walked into the house, I was greeted by my mom.

“Mom, you’re home!” I exclaimed.

“I took the afternoon off.” She said, “I thought maybe you and I could spend some time together.”

“Yeah!” I said enthusiastically and then, the realization that I had so much homework to do, settled in on me.

“But, I have tons and tons of homework today.” I sulked.

“Oh, well,” I could tell that she was thinking, “how about if you do it when we get back?” She finally offered.

“Really?” I said, surprised that she would offer something like that.

“Yeah! Where we going?” I asked.

“Well, go put your things in your room, get changed into something nice and then we’ll go.” Mom said.

“Yeah, but where?” I asked impatiently.

Mom gave me a mysterious expression as she said, “You’ll see.”

I started to run to my room, but I had remembered that the day before, I had another run in with Grandfather while I was running up the stairs. He had lectured me for nearly ten minutes about running in the house, before letting me continue toward the bathroom to relieve my aching bowels.

Walking quick, but not running, I scurried up the steps and made it to the room I was staying in. I quickly kicked off my shoes and had my shirt and pants off nearly before my shoes hit the floor. I think I got redressed and back downstairs in less then three minutes, but mom wasn’t where I had left her. I waited around for five minutes, then ten and then, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, I went looking for her. I found her in the front room talking with Grandmother, who seemed to be really upset about something.

Now, there was no way I wanted to be seen. I’d already learned that when grandmother is upset, everyone around her gets pulled into it too. So, I did a hasty retreat, back out the way I came in, without being noticed.

It was nearly ten minute before mom came back out of the room, looking harassed and hot under the collar.

“Alvin, sweetheart I’m sorry, but we’ll have to plan on going another day. I am sorry.” was all she said, as she crossed the foyer and disappeared around the backside of the steps. From the direction she was headed, I could only guess that she was heading back to the garages to return to work.

Though I hadn’t actually heard what was being said I could guess that Grandmother must have chewed mom out for taking time off from work.

Now I was mad. Since we moved here I hadn’t seen much of my mom or John except at meal times or when they would stop in of an evening to help me get ready for bed. The opportunity to spend some time with mom sounded so good but now that it had been snatched away from us both, I was really ticked.

Since I already had my jacket on, I decided, that I didn’t care if my homework was done or not. In a huff, I stormed out the front door, purposefully leaving it standing wide open.

About halfway between my grandparent’s home and my school is a small community park. I think I have told you about it already. It’s called Memorial Gardens Park and though I hadn’t been in it yet, I had looked from the entrance gate and knew, that it had a nice cobblestone walkway that leads to a wishing fountain. There are also some swings and a lame metal slide. It even has a nice little wooded area, which I’d been itching to explore.

As I was entering the park, I met up with Chris, who was coming out carrying his hockey stick again. Only this time, he looked like he’d just been swimming. He was soaked from head to toe and boy he looked mad.

I greeted him with a dull, “Hey Chris. Everything alright?”

He jumped sideways in surprise and dropped his hockey stick. The look he gave me was, as if I had just sprouted fangs and bat wings from my ears.

“Whoa dude! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!” I said, reaching out for him, but he shied away from me as if I were some stranger.

“Hey, you ok?” I asked and then I saw recognition in his eyes.

“What? Didn’t you know it was me?” I asked with a jovial chuckle.

He shook his head hard and bent over to get his hockey stick. When he straightened back up, he looked really scared again.

“Yo Chris, it’s just me, Alvin.” I said, motioning toward myself with both hands.

With no warning at all, Chris took off running as fast as he could, back into the park. I had the horrible feeling, that something was really wrong with Chris so I ran after him. But boy, he is fast, faster than I am and I lost him as he entered the wooded area.

“Chris!” I shouted and then listened for him, but there wasn’t a single sound. Not even the sound of crunching dead leaves and then I realized that there wasn’t even any sound from the trees overhead, or the wind that I could see was obviously blowing through the golden brown leaves.

An icy chill crept up my spine and goose bumps sprouted all over my arms.

“Listen, I’m sorry I startled you!” I shouted again into the gathering of trees, “I really didn’t mean too!”

But, there was no reply, no sound at all and I was getting seriously creeped out.

I had been feeling really bad before bumping into Chris, now I felt even worse. Have you ever got that feeling inside, like you’re going to cry, but you don’t actually cry? And no matter how much you try to cry, it just won’t come? Well, that’s how I felt, as I dragged my feet across the grass and fallen leaves. Not really meaning to, I had made my way to the wishing fountain and sat down on the edge. I looked up into the trees and noticed that once more, I could hear the wind as it caused the autumn leaves to dance.

The wishing fountain is a big round fountain, with only a couple inches of slimy green water from the decaying leaves, which had fallen into it. The pool part of the fountain is made of stones, cemented together and in the middle of the fountain is a statue of a fawn. A Fawn is a mythical being, which looks to be human from the waste up and has the lower half of a goat, with hoofs and tail. What I found particularly surprising was the fact, that the Fawn is anatomically correct, if you get my drift. Moreover, it is a male Fawn. The male fountain statue I think is made of bronze and is playing a long flute like instrument, which resembled the shape of the letter ‘Y’. However, instead of music coming out of the flute, a few small droplets of water dripped out and fell into the pool below.

I stood back up, dug down into the pocket of my pants and found a quarter. I gave it a squeeze in my fist, then held up to my mouth and whispered, “I wish we could move back to California.” Then, with the flip of my thumb the coin arced through the air but didn’t fall into the fountain’s pool. Instead, it sailed up and landed on the fawns left shoulder.

“Ah rats!” I grumbled as I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets and walked away feeling as though I’d been cheated out of my wish.

__________

Chapter 11

The following morning I had expected Chris to catch up and walk with me to school, but he didn’t make an appearance. As a matter of fact, I didn’t see him at all for several days and I was really starting to get concerned, not just because of what had happened in the park, but because, except for Chris, I didn’t have anyone else that I considered a true friend. Oh sure, I have my hoodlum buddies, but I wouldn’t call them friends. Then again, I’m not sure I can call Chris a friend, since he’d never once said a single word to me and the only times I ever saw him was, when walking to and from school or the occasional unexpected meeting around the neighborhood or in the park.

After a while, I started asking around about him. No one seemed to know him or remember ever seeing someone matching his description. I even asked the lunch lady who seems to know everyone by name, but even she shrugged her shoulders at my inquiry. It was as if Chris didn’t really exist, except in my own head and to be honest, I was even having my own doubts about his existence.

I think it was like two weeks after I saw him in the park when I spotted him again. He was leaning against that same tree I had seen him at so many times before.

For a second or two I wondered if I should approach him. I mean, what if all this time he had been avoiding me for some reason? In the end, I crossed the street and made my way to the tree. To my immense relief, Chris flashed me a big welcoming smile when he’d seen me approaching.

“Hey,” I said, trying not to come off to strong.

He gave me a happy little nod and patted the ground next to him to indicate, that he wanted me to sit with him.

“Been looking for you the past couple weeks, but you didn’t seem to be anywhere around.” I said.

He picked up a fallen leaf as he nodded knowingly.

“Sorry about scaring you in the park that one day.” I said apologetically.

He shrugged and waved me off as if to say, “Don’t give it a second thought Alvin.” I took that as his way of saying, that everything was cool between us. But still I couldn’t help wondering where the heck he had been for the last couple of weeks and why no one seemed to know anything about him.

“Hey, want to come over?” I asked, trying to break the silence between us. “I just got a new comic book! It’s the latest edition of the Fantastic 4.”

To my delight, Chris smiled, picked up his hockey stick and the two of us walked toward my grandparents.

Like happens most days when I arrived home, there wasn’t anyone to greet me. Oh sure, I knew one or maybe both of my grandparents were around somewhere, but they rarely welcomed me home from a hard day at school.

Chris seemed to be in awe of my grandparents’ enormous home. His eyes seemed to dart this way and that, while trying to take it all in. I led him to the room I was staying in, tossed my backpack on the floor and he dropped his hockey stick beside it. Chris didn’t seem too interested in my latest copy of the Fantastic 4 comic. He had produced a spiral notebook. I hadn’t seen him with it before, so I assumed he had it rolled up in his back pocket or something. He plopped down on the floor near the foot of my bed, gave me a wink and buried his face in his notebook. Whatever it was he was reading, it seemed to interest him, so I sat across from him and reread my comic book for like the tenth time.

After a while, Chris stood up, grabbed his hockey stick, laid it across his chest with the end of the handle resting on top of his left foot and gave me another wink.

“You need to go home now?” I asked and he nodded that he did.

“Ok, I’ll show you the way out.” I said as I tossed my comic onto my bed.

As Chris was walking away from the house, I called out, “See you tomorrow on the way to school?”

Chris turned, nodded kind of goofily and waved sort of like he was trying to clear the fog from a window pain.

As he slipped out of sight I shouted, “Cool, see ya then buddy!”

At supper that night, John struck up a conversation with me. That rarely happened at the table, because, as I said before, my grandparents are firm believers, that kids shouldn’t be seen or heard.

“So Alvin, how’s school been?” John asked.

I was a little caught off guard by the question, but I quickly recovered, “Huh, oh yeah, it’s mostly ok.” I said while trying to cut my chicken breast. It took me a second or two to realize I was using the wrong side of the knife.

“Making lots of friends, I expect?” John said, even though he knew I hadn’t been.

I shook my head, “Nah, just one. But I got a few school buds I hang out with between classes, but just the one friend.”

“You have a new friend?” Mom asked a little too loudly and excitedly.

I nodded since I’d just jammed a large bit of chicken into my mouth. I chewed several times and swallowed part of it before I responded.

“Yeah, he came over after school today for a while.” I said, reaching for my glass of water.

I caught grandmother gazing at me disapprovingly. Apparently she didn’t like the fact that I’d brought a stranger into her house.

“Does this boy have a name?” John asked after taking a sip of whatever it was he was drinking. I knew it wasn’t water because it wasn’t clear.

I nodded again, “Chris.”

I guzzled down another gulp of water as mom asked me, “What’s his last name?”

“Uh,” I stalled out, realizing that I didn’t have a clue what Chris’s last name was. “I don’t know.” I said honestly.

Realizing, how that must have sounded, I quickly injected the conversation with, “We walk back and forth from school most days. He’s a really nice guy and he’s real quiet.”

Grandfather finally spoke up and what he had to say was actually relevant to the conversation. Well, mostly. “You have to watch out for the quiet ones.”

Mom tried not to let grandfather see her smile, as she stuffed her mouth with a chunk of German Seasoned Tomato.

I hazard another glance grandmothers way. She still was looking displeased with the conversation, but she didn’t stop us.

Trying to be cute, I said to grandfather, “I bet you would like him grandfather.”

“What? Why do you say that, boy?” Grandfather asked with what I took to be genuine surprise.

“He doesn’t make any noise. He doesn’t talk at all.” I said.

Grandmother seemed to find her voice, because she sat down her glass and, directing her words right at me, said, “You could learn a thing or two from that boy.”

Oh, I so wanted to come back with, “You trying to say something over there granny?” but I knew better. That, and I kind of like my head attached to my body; thank you very much!

Mom didn’t seem to give grandmother any notice at all, because she went right on talking with me. “You’ll have to bring him by again sometime and let us meet him.” She said.

“Ok!” I said, “I’ll see if he wants to.”

“Is he deaf?” John asked.

I shook my head, “No, he can hear me fine. He just doesn’t like to talk, I guess.”

And that was the end of our conversation, as the five of us finished our meal in silence.

__________

Chapter 12

That night, as John was helping me get ready for bed, actually, he was just sitting on my bed as I pulled on my GoodNite, he told me something that nearly made me scream with joy.

“Your mother and I have been invited to spend the weekend out of town and we thought you might like to come along.” He said coyly.

“Where?” I asked.

“To your friend Joey’s, up in Canada.” he said so smoothly, that it took an entire half-second for it, to sink in.

Excited? Um, maybe just a bit. My entire body began to tremble so much so, that it made John laugh. I was hopping around the room, wearing nothing more then my GoodNite and chanting over and over, “I get to see Joey again! I get to see Joey again!”

I hopped all the way around the room and hopped right into Johns arms.

“I’ll take that as a yes then?” he chuckled and tickled me under my arms.

Laughing, I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out.

“Uh, breathe!” he joked and blew in my face.

“Oh my gosh!” I gasped, “Please, say you are serious!” I grabbed the front of his shirt and shook him, “S-A-Y I-T!”

John laughed harder, “We were thinking about leaving this Friday, after your mom and I get home from work.”

I was so charged that I leapt off his lap and began to once again jump up and down, while punching my fists into the air triumphantly.

“Are we going to stay all weekend?” I asked.

“I think, we’ll drive up Friday and come back Sunday evening.” He said, trying to get me to stand still while he pulled my pajama bottoms up.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! This is sooo great!” I squealed as he gave my pajamas a final tug.

The following morning I told Chris the good news, but he didn’t seem too happy for me.

“Don’t worry! I’ll be back before Monday. I promise!” I said, faking like I was going to give him a push.

That seemed to appease him and we continued on to school. As always, when we got onto school grounds, Chris went his way while I went mine.

“You know, someday I need to ask him why he always enters the school from around back.” I said to myself.

During school, I managed to get a few minutes to slip into the school library, so that I could email Joey and let him know we were coming. I was shocked, when he replied within minutes that his mom had told him about it that very morning. We started making plans via email for everything we were going to do that weekend. Of course, we would need a month to do it all, but it helped make the remainder of the week almost bearable.

After school on Friday, I waited around a couple of minutes for Chris to show up, but he never came out of school. I figured that he probably got held behind by one of his teachers, so I took off running for my grandparents instead.

When I got there, of course, mom and John were not home yet, but I hadn’t expected them too be. I forgot that I wasn’t supposed to run in the house as I ran up the stairs and into my room. I think I did all of my weekend homework in less than an hour. I probably did a lot of it wrong, but at least it was done, so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it over the weekend.

Now, I hadn’t noticed when I came in, that there was a suitcase lying on my bed. Except when I had to sleep, I usually didn’t bother with my bed, because it just wasn’t very comfortable to me. I spend most of my time sitting on the floor, to do my schoolwork or if it is cold, I’ll pull the comforter off the bed and spread it out on the floor. I’m sure, if my grandparents knew I did that, they would have a fit.

I really started getting excited, when it was getting close to the time my parents usually came home, but they surprised me by getting home about half an hour earlier than normal.

Mom came into the room, looking tired but happy to be getting away for a couple of days.

“You ready to go?” she asked and I sprang to my feet.

“Don’t we need to pack?” I asked.

“I already packed all your things this morning.” She said, pointing to the black suitcase lying on my bed.

“Oh!” I said, scratching my head and wondering, how I missed that big thing.

John appeared in the doorway and said, “I’ll get that honey.” And mom kissed his cheek as he passed her.

“I am soooo excited!” I said, pulling at the front of my shirt.

John took the suitcase and disappeared again.

“Ok, let’s get you ready for the trip, so we can get going before traffic gets to heavy.” Mom said.

“Huh?” I grunted, because didn’t she just say, that she had already packed all my stuff?

When she opened the doors to the armoire, I realized just what she had in mind. There, on the top shelf, was a brand new package of ... GULP ... diapers!

“Ah mom! No! I don’t need...” but I didn’t get to finish.

She stopped me with, “Alvin, you wear them every night and wore them halfway across the country. Wearing a diaper for a few hours in the car isn’t going to kill you.”

“But moooom!” I whined.

Then she did something that really was mean. She blackmailed me. “Well, if you would rather stay here with your grandparents, while your father and I have a nice weekend in Canada, then be my guest.”

She acted like she was going to leave the room and I guess, I felt like there was too much of a chance that she was serious.

“Moooom! That’s not fair!” I griped, but in the end, she won out.

I assumed the position on the floor, while mom clad me in a disposable diaper and then helped me to get redressed in relatively quick order.

“There, now we’re ready!” she announced, as she pulled the front of my shirt back down and helped me to my feet.

“Your father should have the car out front, waiting for us by now.” She said, patting me on my diapered bottom and kissing my cheek. I couldn’t help noticing that when she swatted my bottom that the diaper seemed to crinkle a lot more then I remembered them doing before.

Walking down the stairs proved rather difficult in a thick disposable diaper and I had to hang onto the stair railing to get down. As I stepped out the front door, all I was thinking about was, the great time I was going to have at Joey’s. So, when I saw Chris standing in the middle of the front lawn, holding his hockey stick, I nearly dropped dead of a heart attack right then and there. I just knew he could see that I was wearing a diaper under my pants. He probably couldn’t, but that’s not what my irrational mind was telling me.

Chris waved at me and I froze, which caused mom to nearly knock me over, as she closed the door behind us.

“Alvin, don’t stop right on the stoop! Go get in the car.” I looked back at mom, as I waddled a couple steps forward, to keep from being trampled. When I looked back to Chris, he was running away, toward the corner of the street.

“See you Monday Chris!” I shouted and he turned to wave, before disappearing around the corner of the street.

Mom gave me a shove, “Come on Alvin!” she said, sounding mildly irritated.

“Mom did you see him? That was my friend Chris I told you about.” I said.

“Where honey?” She said, looking around.

“He just left, over there.” I said, pointing in the general direction of the street corner.

“Sorry sweetie, I didn’t see him. Oh well, get in the car, please.” She said hoisting her purse strap back up on her shoulder.

With Chris gone, I figured, it was best to limit my exposure to any other possible on lookers, so I put on a bit of speed, ran as best I could wearing the diaper and with a final leap, I flew into the backseat superman style. However, I failed to take into account that my dear old dad had covered the backseat with heavy clear plastic. Nothing that followed resembled anything, Superman might do. I slid across the seat and collided with the door on the other side of the car, with my hands and head first and the rest of me crumpling up behind them. I ended up backwards and upside-down, with my head partially wedged under the driver’s seat, along with all of my left arm while my diapered butt stuck up in the air and my feet just sort of swayed precariously above me.

What was mom’s response? “Alvin, stop fooling around and get yourself buckled in.”

Luckily, I didn’t get hurt. Well, except for my pride and the top of my head, which was kind of tender for a minute or two, after I righted myself.

__________

Chapter 13

I don’t know why, but the road trip to Joey’s was as boring as it could possible be. It seemed like it took three times longer to get there, then it should have. I’m guessing that we were nearing the halfway point when I started to feel the need to pee and at first, I dismissed it, but it kept returning until I finally sighed and silently gave into it. Initially, I felt kind of stupid for wetting my diaper while sitting there in the backseat, but that feeling didn’t last too long. However, about thirty minutes later, the other feeling arose.

“Mom?” I asked timidly.

“What do you need sweetie?” she asked from the front passenger seat.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” I moaned.

John piped up, “Alvin, you’re wearing your bathroom! Just go pee! That’s why I had your mother put you into a diaper before we left, so we wouldn’t have to stop every fifteen minutes.”

“I already peed, now I need to do number two!” I said with more then just a little whining note to my voice.

Neither of them offered any rebuttal so I sat there grumbling to myself, “Every fifteen minutes?! I don’t need to go every fifteen minutes!”

“But I need to go number two!” I whined loudly hoping they would get the idea that I was in dire distress.

No longer able to just ignore me, Mom gave John a look which he returned. Whatever that silent message between them was, I didn’t care. I needed to poop and I needed them to pull the car over.

“Please, can we stop?” I begged.

“You can either go now or hold it ‘til we get there.” Mom said with finality.

“How long is that going to be?” I asked with an even louder whimper.

“It’s going to be a while yet.” John answered.

“How long is a while?” I moaned.

Ten minutes passed and the feeling only intensified. I kept thinking to myself, that I should have gone to the bathroom before we left, but I hadn’t thought to do so. Besides, isn’t it a parent’s responsibility, to remind their kids to go potty, before leaving the house?

Fifteen more minutes went by and my stomach was cramping so bad, that I knew there was no way I could hold it much longer.

I saw a sign that read ‘Rest Area - 2 Miles’.

“There’s a rest stop, John! Can we please stop?” I implored.

“Oh, all right!” John surrendered while impatiently thumping the wheel with his thumbs.

We passed the sign that read, ‘Rest Area - Next Right’ and that’s when it happened. I’m talking about an explosion that would have rivaled the Big Bang, which gave birth to the universe. When my butt cheeks parted, to give way to the pressures within my bowls, it was so loud and so powerful, that I swear it felt as though I was lifted off the backseat seat and if I hadn’t been wearing my seatbelt, I probably would have been blasted right through the car roof.

“Oh!” John said with a blasting laugh, “You know that had to hurt!”

“Oh son of a...” I started to cuss, but was cut off by mom.

Her head quickly snapped around and she shouted, “Alvin Colton Holloway! Don’t you dare use that kind of language or so help me.”

I was so humiliated and so angry that tears began to well up in my eyes, “See! I told you I had to go!” I blinked and the tears managed to escape my eyes and began flowing down my cheek as if they were raging rivers, “Why didn’t you just stop!”

“Alvin, now there’s absolutely nothing to cry about. You’ve got on a diaper and your mother will help you get cleaned up and into a nice clean diaper.” John said, as he steered the car into a parking space.

“Why do I have to be the one to change him?” Mom scoffed and chuckled at the same time, “I do believe that the diaper was your idea?” she said to him.

“I’m glad you think it’s funny!” I screamed at the two of them, as I gave myself over to my emotions.

What happened next was the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to me!

__________

Chapter 14

Mad and crying, I fumbled with my seatbelt, but I couldn’t get the dang thing to let me go. While I had been trying to free myself, mom calmly got out, walked around the front of the car and opened the back drivers’ side door I was sitting, pounding on the seatbelt buckle with my fist. When the door opened I froze, expecting to get smacked or something, but mom simply and calmly leaned in to help me with the seatbelt.

She didn’t get upset with me or scold me. She simply took my hand and helped me out of the car. Standing beside the car it felt like I had a brick in the back of my pants and though they weren’t falling off, I still felt like I needed to hold onto the waistband of my pants. Mom reached back into the car again, to retrieve her purse. That is when I saw inside it and knew that it wasn’t a purse. It was a diaper bag made up for me!

“Wait mom! No, please don’t!” I said under the direst of knowing, that she intended to drag me off to the rest stop bathroom to change my diaper and get me cleaned up. Worse yet, I knew that she had no intention of taking me into the guy’s bathroom, but into the ... ‘GULP’ ... ladies bathroom!!!

“Mom, can’t you do it right here?” I pleaded as though I were pleading for her to spare my life.

“Alvin! Go with your Mother!” John said vehemently, and for all practical purposes, he’d sealed my doom.

All the way to the bathroom, I pleaded with her not to take me into the ladies bathroom, but she seemed to have gone deaf. She held my wrist so tightly, that it hurt, as she dragged me along behind her.

Before we reached the main door into the rest stop, I had another rear blowout. It wasn’t nearly as loud or violent as the first one had been, but it was loud enough that two teenaged girls, who were standing by the doors, heard it and began giggling and pointing at me.

I looked up at the fluffy white clouds and prayed a quick silent prayer, “Dear God, if you really love me, then kill me now!”

God must have been out golfing or was busy looking after someone else, because he didn’t stop mom from dragging me all the way into the ladies room.

You know, I’ve always been told women are cleaner and their bathrooms are always nice, but I’m here to tell you, that is not the case at all. The floor was sticky, the sinks looked like some kind of biology experiment had gone all wrong and then there was the smell. OK, granted I didn’t smell like a field of springtime daisies, but come on, even I didn’t smell as bad as that bathroom did.

To my horror, as we walked in, there were at least a dozen or more women in the bathroom and probably twice that many younger girls of every age. There were even a few very young boys in there, but none were even close to my age.

As we walked in, a girl who looked to be seven or eight, squealed and shouted, “Mommy theirs a boy in here!” and then jumped into the only unoccupied stall.

Every eye in the place turned in our direction, but mom ignored them all as she opened the diaper changing station. I hadn’t noticed her doing that, because I was too busy having a full-on stroke. Of course, I’m exaggerating a little, but not by much.

However, I think I really lost it when mom said, “Come on sweetheart. Let me help you up.”

My face, my ears, even my neck felt hot, as my heart went into overdrive to pump every ounce of blood in my body up to my head.

I heard another girl say, “Mommy look, I think that boy is wearing a diaper.” I can only assume that it was her mother who said, “Cindy, it’s not nice to point and stare at disabled people.”

“Disabled people?” I thought, “I’m not disabled!”

Mom strained to lift me up to the changing table, but I was too heavy for her. “Alvin sweaty, you need to help mommy.” She said, but she might as well have saved her breath, because I’d checked out of my body and was floating somewhere near the ceiling.

Looking down on the scene, a woman with an infant on her back began speaking to mom, but I couldn’t hear what either of them said. Mom smiled at the lady and the two of them lifted trembling body and laid it on the changing table. When the lady started helping mom to take off my pants, I began screaming down at them, but since I wasn’t in my body, they couldn’t hear me.

From my vantage point, I could see everyone in the bathroom, except for the ones in the stalls. Boy, I am so glad I couldn’t see that! Some of the women and children didn’t even bother to hide the fact that they were staring, as mom and that stranger pulled open my diaper. Others at least had the decency to try to act like they weren’t watching, as mom exposed my poop covered diaper area.

Several occupants of the bathroom ran out, when they were slapped in the face by the horrible stench, which had been released when my diaper was opened.

The girl, that had first seen me, had only just opened the stall door and stepped out, when the smell overtook her. She puffed out her cheeks and her face turned a sickening green color, as she quickly cupped both hands over her mouth. She turned back into the stall and I can only assume that she blew junks.

Oddly enough, it was at that very moment, that I was suddenly sucked back into my body. I’m not sure why it was at that instant, that I went back into my body, other then the fact that mom had started to wipe my private parts clean, while the lady held my legs up and apart.

When I turned my head toward the wall, trying to hide my eyes from all the lurkers, I noticed, that the back of the diaper changing station was mirrored. Whose bright idea was it to put a mirror inside a changing station? What purpose could it be meant for? No really, I’m asking, because I don’t have a clue!

Anyway, instead of finding a small place to hide my humiliation, I found the reflection of a teenaged girl looking right into my reflected eyes. When our eyes locked, she smiled and winked at me. No kidding, she honestly winked. I quickly slammed my eyelids shut, not because the girl winked at me, but because mom had thrust her hand, wrapped with a baby wipe, between my butt cheeks.

“Alvin, relax your bottom!” mom said, and maybe it was my imagination, but it sounded like her words echoed around the bathroom for an eternity. Apparently, I had been clenching my butt cheeks together without my knowing I was doing it.

“Alvin!” Mom said, snapping her fingers only inches from my nose. I don’t know where she got the idea of snapping her fingers at me, but it was getting old really fast.

I turned my head to look at her.

“Please stop tightening up your bottom. I can’t get you wiped clean otherwise.” she said, as if she were doing nothing more then tying my shoes or combing my hair. If it was possible, I think I grew even more embarrassed. It felt, as if someone was inside my head, pressing on the back of my eyeballs, so that he might escape.

I think time jumped forward from there, either that or I blacked out for a while, because the next thing I knew, that strange lady, who had been assisting mom, was tugging my pants back up on me. I opened my eyes and saw, that mom was standing between my feet, stuffing the diapering supplies back into the makeshift diaper bag which she had made up for the trip.

“Jessica, I can’t thank you enough for your help.” I heard mom saying, as the lady helped me down off the changing station.

“Oh, like I said, I’ve got my two at home still in diapers. They’re just about his age too.” The lady said, as she crossed over to the sink to wash her hands.

Leaving me standing next to the open station, mom went over to the sinks too.

“Could I get you to write down that number for me?” Mom said to her.

A lady with one of the young boys walked out past us and as she did she shot me a hateful expression of disgust. I was feeling like I couldn’t take much more humiliation, but it wasn’t over yet. We still had to get out of that ladies room and back to the car and hopefully soon.

Mom and that lady turned back toward me, as another girl came walking past me. She looked to be maybe twelve years old and in her own way she was kind of pretty. She surprised all of us, but especially me, when she stopped to slip a small note in my hand and then pat me on the head like I was some dang mutt. Any other time, I would have probably knocked her hand away, but I was still paralyzed with fear and humiliation, so I just stood there like an idiot, until mom started herding me out the door.

As I excited the building and the sun caressed my face it was as thought I had just emerged from a long dark tunnel. I sweented at the bright light and cupped my hands over my eyes to shade them. That’s when I saw the bit of paper in my hand.

I looked back at mom, but she wasn’t there. Apparently she hadn’t left the bathroom after all. Seizing the moment, I unfolded the paper and read what the girl had scribbled onto the paper. I had to read it four times before it dawned on me, that it was a website address...

Www.ild.com

The door behind me opened again and fearing that it was mom, I quickly wadded up the paper and stuffed it into my pants pocket. I then promptly forgot all about that dang note, because of what happened next.

It wasn’t mom coming out, it was some oriental lady with five, count them, five girls of about six or seven years of age. What was remarkable about them was the fact that, all five of the girls looked exactly the same; from their long jet-black hair, slanted eyes and yellowish skin, to their identical outfits of red shirts with snow white skirts. Now, I’ve seen twins and even triplets but never have I seen... uh... what do you call five identical people? One thing is for sure, I hadn’t seen them in the bathroom, so I don’t know where they came from.

As the woman with her five indistinguishable daughters passed me, the last one turned her head and locked her gaze on me. I guess instinct took over, because without thinking about it, I smiled at her, but she didn’t return my smile. Instead, she asked in a very clear and extremely loud voice, “Momma, why is that boy wearing a diaper?”

Someone screamed and I realized that someone was me. I was running toward our car, screaming like... well, like a girl. John, who had been leaning against the car, heard me screaming and ran to meet me, but instead of jumping into his arms, I ducked past him. I didn’t stop running until I reached our car, wrenched open the door and dove in, out of site of everyone. I slid on the plastic like I’d done before but not as far or as painfully. I laid myself down on the seat to keep anyone from seeing me through the car windows.

You know, mom and John didn’t even ask me why I ran screaming to the car. Maybe they guessed why, or maybe they just don’t care that my soul was just scared for all of eternity! Even now, as I recall those memories, I’ve broken out in a cold sweat and my bottom lip is quivering.

__________

Chapter 15

With all three of us back in the car, we hit the highway again and for the next twenty minutes, mom and I had to listen to John, grumbling about how much time we’d lost at the rest stop. Now, I was thinking to myself, if he would have pulled over when I asked him to in the first place and let me go on the side of the road like I did that one time, then we wouldn’t have lost as much time as we ended up losing, but I didn’t dare say what I was thinking.

He went on and on until mom finally come back with, “For the love of Pete! Would you let it go already?” I’m sure, had she thought it out she wouldn’t have said it like that, but like myself, she was getting really irritated with listening to him go on and on. However, mom didn’t leave it at that. No, she was caught up in the moment and let him have it with both barrels. “It’s over and done with! I know you might think so, but all the belly aching in the world won’t rollback the hands of time. So cram a sock in it and drive!”

That stopped Johns complaining, but it also stopped all conversations for the rest of the trip. That actually turned out to be a good thing, because I was actually able to fall asleep for a while. However, before taking a not so little snooze, mom handed me one of those insulated cups. You know, the kind people use for sipping their coffee while driving to work.

Let me ask you something. Have you ever started to drink something, thinking it was one thing, only to discover that it wasn’t what you were expecting at all? Looking back, there really was no reason for my brain and tongue to have been expecting chocolate milk, but never-the-less they were. So, when I put the cup to my lips and chugged, I nearly spat the contents all over the back of John’s head. Somehow, I don’t think he would have appreciated that too much. Despite my natural reflex to spit it out, I managed to swallow it before blurting out, “Oh, what is this?”

Mom had been watching me the whole time and she smiled a jovial but loving smile. “Oh honey,” she chuckled, “I am sorry, but that was so funny. You should have seen your face.”

I licked my upper lip and realized that the spill-proof cup was filled with fruit punch. Once I got over the initial shock, I enjoyed the cold punch and I think I fell asleep almost immediately after finishing it. I awoke again, as we were turning into the long gravel driveway, which winds its way up to Joey’s house.

“Is this it? Are we there?” I said, going from groggy to exuberantly energized, in less then a millisecond. Nothing seemed the same as it had been before. Nearly all of the trees were bare and the grown, once vibrantly green, was now covered with shades of gold and brown from all the fallen leaves. Though there was no sign of it now, I later found out that they had already seen their first snow, but it all melted away.

“Yep, we’re here.” Mom said, and I noticed for the first time, that Mom was sitting behind the wheel and John was sitting in the passenger seat. I wanted to ask when we had stopped for them to switch places, but I decided I’d be better off not poking that fire.

As the car bounced down the gravel drive, I became aware of yet another surprise. I was no longer wearing pants.

“Hey! Where are my pants?” I said with alarm.

John turned in his seat; he looked groggy, like he’d just woken up too. “Sorry bud, you had a leak in your sleep.” He turned forward again as he added, “See, putting the plastic on the seat wasn’t such a crazy idea.” I’m not sure if he was saying it for my benefit of mom’s but I guess it doesn’t much matter.

I was honestly stunned that I hadn’t regained consciousness while my pants were being removed. The question kept repeating in my mind, “How could I sleep through something like that?”

Apparently mom could see me in the rear view mirror and guessed the question that was perplexing me, because she answered it without me having to ask. “You slept right through the changing, just like you used to do when you were tiny.”

“Oh look, there’s the house.” John said, sounding almost as excited as I should have been had I not been suddenly overtake with panic as I realized, that Joey and his mom were about to see me and my diaper without any pants.

“I need to put on my pants!” I screamed, as the car slowed to a stop, but no sooner had the car stopped, then the car door beside me opened.

I was sitting there wearing a shirt and diaper and that was it; no pants, no shoes and no socks. And Joey was standing right there, looking at me with wide gleeful eyes.

“Hi Alvin! Boy, I am so glad you are here! I been waiting and waiting and waiting all day for you.” He said tugging on my arm to get me out of the car but my seatbelt was holding me firmly in place.

“Take off your seat belt! Come on, I got to show you what I made!” He said, tugging so hard, my arm felt like he was going to pull it off.

I don’t remember pressing the seatbelt button, but I must have, because the next thing I knew, Joey was dragging me across the grass toward the house. I don’t even remember having to walk barefooted across the gravel. However, I do remember how cold the grass felt against my feet. It was like walking through icy cold razorblades.

The two of us were all the way up on the porch before Joey’s mom came out of the house while wiping her hands with what I took to be a dishtowel, but I later learned it was one of Joey’s older cloth diapers that he’d outgrown. Joey did a sort of end run around his mom and I nearly fell flat on my face. As it was, I stumbled and had to grab onto the back of Joey’s shirt to keep from falling. That is when I noticed, that Joey was dressed much the same as I was, except he had on shoes and socks and a blue ball cap with a red maple leaf on the front.

“Whoa, whoa!” his mother said, “Slow it down boys!”

“I am going to show him what I made!” Joey said impatiently.

“Well, that can wait for a minute, can’t it?” She said pulling my arm free from Joey’s grasp and giving me the biggest, warmest hug I’ve had in a very long time. It felt sooo good, that I didn’t want her to stop. She loosened her embrace just enough, so that she could pull my head back and look me in the eyes.

“We are so glad you came back to visit us.” She said just before kissing me below my right eye.

“I missed you guys too.” I said burying my face against her soft shirt once more.

We finally broke our embrace but she still held onto one of my hands like I was a small child. She began talking with mom and John who were still getting out of the car. Without her realizing it, Joey reached up, took my hand away from his mothers and spirited me into the house.

__________

Chapter 16

In Joey’s room, I saw right away what he was so excited about. He’d built an enormous fort out of cardboard boxes which took up his entire room. It was so big that he and I could sleep in it together quite comfortably. Inside and out he’d colored it with markers and crayons to make it look like a real Wild West Wooden Fort. He even drew some Indian arrows on the front to make it look like the Indians had recently mounted an attack.

I know Joey is younger then I am, but, for some reason, when I am with him I feel younger too. It’s almost like we become the same age. I even enjoy playing with his toys and stuff. I can’t really explain it too well; it just happens and though I would probably die if any of my friends back in California ever knew about it, I still like it.

The two of us lost track of time inside his fort and before long his mom was calling for us to come back downstairs.

Joey led the way as we raced down the hallway and tromped down the steps like a herd of stampeding buffalo. When we neared the bottom of the steps, Joey, with only three steps to go, leapt to the floor below, landing with a solid thump. Of course, I couldn’t be shown up by someone younger and smaller than me, so I did the same thing only from four steps up; I mean if you’re going to outdo someone, you can’t very well do what they just did. That would have just made me a copycat.

However, I shouldn’t have done it. The launch was flawless; the flight couldn’t have been more majestic, but my landing left a lot to be desired. I hit the floor at an odd angle, cart-wheeled forward, crashed into Joey’s back and sent the two of us sprawling across the floor with me lying on top of him. Luckily neither of us was hurt and we both popped right back up laughing, but still, we could have got hurt bad, so then and there I decided that I wasn’t going to attempt anymore jumps from off the steps.

We found his mom in the kitchen but my parents weren’t anywhere in site.

Looking around I asked, “Where’s mom and John?”

“They’re in the other room waiting to say goodbye. You better hurry.” Joey’s mom, Beth, said to me.

“Goodbye?” I squawked, causing my voice to crack, “Where are they going?”

Beth looked at me with concern, “Alvin, you’re staying here with us this weekend.” She said as though this were old news. But then she dropped the bomb, the real reason we’d come to Canada, “So your folks can have a couple of days alone.”

I leaned on the kitchen counter to keep from falling over.

Beth then asked me, “Didn’t they explain that to you?”

I raced into the other room where I found mom kissing John really mushy like. I’m talking about the two of them being in full face sucking mode! If I wasn’t so upset over the fact that they were about to leave me stranded in some strange country, I would have been completely and unreservedly repulsed by the way the two of them were slobbering all over each other.

“You are leaving me here?” I lamented as I ran up to them.

“Alvin sweetie, I told you all about it in the car on the way up here.” Mom said.

“Nuhuh!” I argued, “You didn’t say nothing about abandoning me here!”

Yeah I was being overly dramatic but I was worked up, so cut me some slack ok?!

John was hanging all over mom and nuzzling her neck as he said, “I bet he had already dozed off by then.”

Mom wriggled free from John’s groping hands, knelt down in front of me, took hold of both of my wrists and explained, “Your father and I want to spend some time alone and,” she paused to look over her shoulder at John and then trying to make it sound like she’d coated this next part in ten tons of syrup, she sang, “we thought you would like spending the weekend with your new little friend Joey.”

“Yeah I do... but you said we were going to visit together!” I whined and well, I really didn’t have any idea as to why I was so upset about them leaving me with Beth and Joey.

I didn’t want to hurt Joey’s feelings or his mom’s for that matter, so I whispered softly, “Mom, please don’t go?”

She hugged me, kissed my cheek and told me she loved me. However, in the end, she and John did leave me in Beth’s care for the entire weekend. What was even worst, when I tried to plead my case to John he made it all to clear that he would make me sorry if I spoiled their plans.

And as John was heading for the door he bent down like he was going to give me a goodbye hug, but he didn’t hug me. Instead, he leaned over me, pulled the back of my shirt up, tugged on the back of my diaper and pronounced in a clear loud voice, “He’s still clean and dry!”

He and mom thanked Beth for letting me stay, then they left me.

Oddly enough, and I supposed I should be grateful for this fact, within a few minutes Joey had me completely distracted. I even forgot that I was supposed to be upset about being left behind. He politely took my hand, led me to the table and began telling me about the wild goose that got into their house the day after we had left.

“Mom and I chased it all over the house and it just kept pooping everywhere! I never thought so much poop could come out of one goose!” Joey laughed.

“How did you catch it then?” I asked.

“Well that is the gross part.” Joey said, lowering his voice a bit. “It was about to fly into mom’s room and when she tried to close the door before it could get in there, she accidentally chopped off its head with the door.”

“Oh sick!” I said covering my mouth.

“Yeah, the poop was gross but the blood was so much grosser!” Joey was rocking back and forth in his chair laughing.

“That dang thing was just like a chicken. Boy Alvin, you should’a seen it! Its body kept flapping and spraying blood everywhere. Some even went in my mouth!” Joey said while proudly pointing at his mouth.

“Sick!” I said, trying not to gag, “Then, what happened?”

“Then it tumbled down the steps and when mom and I got down to it, it already stopped moving.” Joey said imitating the dead bird.

“Gross, gross, and triple gross! So, did you guys bury it?” I asked.

Joey looked at me as though I had a gnarly booger hanging out of my nose.

“No, we didn’t bury it!” he grumbled, “Mom cooked it and we had it for supper!”

“No you didn’t!” I said doubtfully.

“Yeah huh!” he said nodding his head aggressively. “Mom, didn’t we eat that old goose that got in?”

“Oh no, you’re not telling him about that are you?” Beth said as she walked into the kitchen again.

“Why didn’t you tell me about that on the computer?” I asked him.

Beth answered for him, “Because I told him he didn’t need to send that sort of story to you.”

__________

Chapter 17

Beth proceeded to make us lunch, which consisted of baloney sandwiches on Oatnut Bread with the crusts cut off, three pickle wedges apiece and a heaping pile of BBQ potato chips on a plate for us to share. I think I ate more of the chips then Joey did but he ate my pickles for me. I normally like pickles but, for some reason, theirs were extra sour.

You know something I learned about eating Oatnut Bread? Well, actually I learned two things about it. The first is that it is super yummy. It’s got little oat nuts in it that makes it a little crunchy, kind of the way crunchy peanut butter is. However, the really important thing I learned about Oatnut Bread is, it seems, that it has loads and loads of what my mom calls fiber and you know what fiber does to you? It makes you poop and I mean lots and lots and lots of poop! Know what you get when you mix fiber rich Oatnut Bread with BBQ chips and pickles? You get extraordinarily stenchified poop!

By the way, that’s my new favorite word, ‘Stenchified’. I stole it from Joey, because it made me laugh the way he says it. Of ‘course I must be extra careful that I don’t use it around you know who, when I get back to Maine. She’d probably crucify me on the school flag pole if I said something like that about her.

Anyway, when we had our fill, the two of us raced back to his room and played to our hearts content. I didn’t seem to be at all fazed by the idea that I was running around his house wearing a diaper that was in full view of Joey and his mom. I guess since that is how Joey was dressed; it made me feel more at ease with it.

We spent the afternoon hours playing inside the fort. After we successfully defended the fort from Native American Zombies armed with laser rifles and riding mechanical jet engine powered horses, Joey let me draw and color an awesomely cool blue dragon on the cardboard wall inside the fort. He helped me color it in and that is what we were doing when his mom called for us to come down for dinner.

I didn’t even know I was hungry until we started down the steps and smelt the delicious aromas that wafted into our faces.

“What are we having?” Joey asked after jumping from the third step again. I didn’t jump, but walked down slowly and carefully.

Beth turned around to face us, “We’re hav...” but stopped as she caught herself in mid-thought. “Oh my boys, you are both soaking wet!” she cried out.

In unison, Joey and I looked at each others diapers. They were sagging and bloated in the front. Joey thought it was kind of funny but I was mildly horrified over the situation.

Joey groaned humorously as he said, “Oops, sorry mom!”

I just stood there wishing I was a ghost so that I could disappear.

“Back upstairs! Both of you! March, hup-two-three-four!” Beth chanted as she followed us up.

Joey began singing out, “Keep it up, two, three, four. Oh, the aim of our patrol is a question rather droll. For to march and drill, over field and hill, is a military goal!

I tugged on the back of Joey’s shirt as we neared the top of the steps, “What are you singing?”

“It’s from Disney’s The Jungle Book.” He said proudly.

Letting go of his shirt again I said, “Oh yeah! I remember that! The elephants were singing it, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Beth said, giving me a little push to get me moving faster.

Now you might remember I said that the cardboard fort that Joey built took up his entire room. Well, that meant that there wasn’t anywhere for her to change us in his room but she had already been prepared for that. In the guest room was a large changing table. No kidding, an honest to goodness changing table. It was bigger then a baby’s changing table by a lot but it was plane to see that, that was what it was!

I was very nervous when she said I was first and made me climb up on the changing table and lay down like a tiny baby. I think I became part chameleon because I could feel my face, ears, neck and forehead turning deeper and deeper shades of red as she opened my diaper and proceeded to wipe my skin with a cool baby wipe.

Joey then piped up with, “Speaking of elephants, I know a way funny joke.”

But his mom jumped him with, “If that’s the one with the elephants and the rhinoceroses then you better think twice before you get yourself into a heap of trouble mister.”

“Ah, mom! But it’s a good joke!” Joey whined.

“You heard me!” was her response.

Joey stomped his foot in protest and Beth gave him a look that I’d seen from my own mother before. It’s that look that mom’s give us when we’re half a second away from getting a spanking.

That look shut him up! He folded his arms over his chest and puffed out his bottom lip as he silently sulked.

Before I knew it, Beth had me cleaned up and into a nice warm diaper. Heck, I didn’t even die of embarrassment either! But when I stood up I knew instantly that I wasn’t wearing the same kind of diaper as before.

In fact, it wasn’t even a disposable diaper. It was one of those cloth kind of diapers and over it she’d used one of those snap on plastic diaper cover things like babies use. It was kind of a see through green color which oddly enough, reminded me of Christmas.

When I didn’t move out of the way quick enough Joey gave me a shove as he said in rough caveman grunting, “Out me way! Me next! Me next!”

As he shoved me I took a step forward but lost my balance and would have probably fallen on my face had Beth not caught me by the arm. She steadied me and put my hand on the side of the changing table so that I could support myself.

She changed Joey who not only had peed but had also pooped. I didn’t see it but I didn’t need too because boy did I smell it. While he got changed it gave me a moment or two to get used to all the bulky fabric that was bunched up between my legs.

Oddly enough, it was then that I started to get really embarrassed. I could feel my face burning read and it felt like my ears were going to burst. My heart was beating really fast too like I’d been running a long distance but wasn’t moving at all. I could also hear Joey’s mom saying something to him but she sounded so very far away. An overwhelming empty feeling began to grow in the pit of my stomach that quickly overtook me.

“Alvin, are you feeling ok?” Beth asked me.

“Mom, he don’t look so good.” Joey said and right then and there I vomited.

“OH SICK!” Joey exclaimed with odd reverence in his voice.

I was surprised how much came out of me, seeing how I’d not had my dinner yet. For a dreaded moment, I thought Beth was going to get irate with me for blowing chunks in her bedroom, but she did just the opposite. She felt bad for me and mothered me like I was her own child. She even gave me another one of her amazing hugs.

“Oh you poor thing.” She fussed as she wiped at my mouth with one of the clean cloth diapers. “It’s no wonder your belly is all messed up.”

I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, but it didn’t really matter because all I wanted to do was lie down.

She led me over to her bed and laid me down on it. Joey seemed genuinely concerned too and insisted on staying with me.

After Beth had cleaned up my mess, she slipped downstairs and brought up something for us both to eat. Mine was chicken broth with soda crackers; Joey’s was the regular dinner. I wish she would have let me have the regular stuff too because I wasn’t sick, I just sort of got a nervous belly for a minute there, but I was fine now.

Beth turned on the television in her room for Joey and me to watch while we ate. She put it on some stupid kids cartoon channel that had these weird green Ompaloopa Muppet looking things dancing and singing about washing behind your ears, under your arms and between your toes. However, neither of us complained. We just waited until she left the room and then Joey got up to change the channel over to one of the movie channels. The movie we watched turned out to be ‘The Sixth Sense’ with Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment. Actually, I’d seen it before but somehow it seemed scarier as the two of us sat in his mothers’ room watching it. Watching it this time got me to thinking and what I was thinking about made a cold chill run up and down my spine.

It turned out to be a good thing that Beth hadn’t given me the regular dinner food, because apparently, my getting sick all over her rug, wasn’t just from a nervous belly, because even the broth and crackers made me feel queasy again. I’m just glad I didn’t barf again.

After a particular scary scene in the movie Joey scooted closer to me and asked, “Do you believe in ghosts?”

“I-I guess.” I said not really sure if I did or didn’t.

“Ever see one?” he asked me as he scooted even closer.

Now, how was I supposed to answer that question? First off, was he reading my mind? Did he have any clue that I was just thinking about that very question. I knew that if I told him yes, then he’d start asking me more questions and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go there just yet. On the other hand, if I said I didn’t know, he’d probably want me to explain that too. However, I didn’t want to lie to Joey, so I settled for shrugging my shoulders and not saying anything at all.

After a few minutes Joey softly said, “I saw a ghost dog one time.”

“How do you know it was a ghost and not a real dog?” I asked him.

“Because, I saw it walk right through a stone wall.” He said and I became aware of the fact that Joey was clutching my left arm fairly tightly while gazing at the television, unable to take his eyes off the screen.

I had the same problem; fear was filling my head and causing my heart to beat dreadfully fast. However, at the same time my mind was hundreds of miles away in Maine, thinking about my mute friend Chris.

“It was really early in the morning,” Joey began to recount his ghost dog encounter. Also when he started talking, it startled me a bit but I was hoping he hadn’t noticed.

In truth, he did an exceptional job of telling his ghost story, because I’d gone from being a little bit scared to trembling with fear. Despite the fact that my brain was telling me that it couldn’t have been real, my heart believed every word of it.

When the movie got to the scene in the school, when Haley Joel Osment’s character sees the ghosts hanging in the school, Joey and I held each other for comfort. It was at that very instant that Beth walked back into the room. She walked in and started to ask us if we were done with our dinner but all she got out was, “Are you two...”

Joey and I both screamed like a couple of frightened girls who’d just seen a mouse.

Boy, Beth sure was upset with us for watching that movie. She yelled at Joey the most, because she said that she’d already told him he wasn’t allowed to watch movies like that. She also said that she was going to let us camp out downstairs in Joey’s little tent, but since Joey had disobeyed her, we didn’t get to. Instead, she made us sleep in Joey’s room. However, we didn’t tell her that was where we wanted to sleep anyway. We just didn’t want to go to sleep quiet that early.

After making sure we were both lying down and being quiet, Beth gave one warning, “If you have a nightmare tonight, then you will get a spanking in the morning.”

I couldn’t believe that Joey asked this next question, “Even Alvin too?”

Beth answered with a strong, “Yes!” as she clicked off the light switch.

“Sorry I got you in trouble.” I said after the two of us had laid there quite for a minute.

“It wasn’t your fault. I turned on the movie and besides, she wasn’t really mad.” Joey said.

I made a disbelieving grunting sound and then said, “Really? Because she sure sounded mad to me.”

“Trust me!” Joey chuckled, “When she gets really mad, she makes me sleep on the floor in her room where she can watch me all night.”

The two of us laid quietly inside the cardboard fort for quite a while until Joey whispered, “Alvin, you awake still?”

Into the darkness I answered, “Yeah, are you?” and we both giggled.

“You didn’t tell me.” Joey said.

I thought for an instant before asking, “Tell you what?”

“If you ever seen a ghost.” He whispered kind of loudly.

So I took a deep breath, let it out and then began to tell him all about my friend Chris and how the movie had got me thinking about how Chris acts. I even told him about the time in the park when I’d seen Chris and he’d run away. We talked a long time about Chris and by the time I fell asleep I had become convinced that Chris was a member of the lingering dead.

__________

Chapter 18

The following morning the three of us woke up to a tremendous shock. During the night an ice storm had come through and encased the world in a half inch or more of ice. What was worse was that mom and John called around eight in the morning to say, that they were stranded inside their motel room too.

So, our short weekend visit to Joey’s turned out to be not so short. It was five whole days before mom and John were able to finally make it back, because it wouldn’t stop snowing long enough for all the ice to melt!

Have I told you yet how much I miss California?

Those extra days I spent with Joey and his mom were all spent in diapers. I cannot tell you why, but except for that first morning, it never occurred to me to object to being wrapped in cloth diapers every hour of every day. Why only that one morning? Well that is because, up until that icy morning, I’d not felt the need to poop.

I woke up feeling like my bowels were going to explode out of my stomach; boy, I really hate being woke up by my screaming bowels. Remember the Oatnut Bread with BBQ chips and pickles we’d had the day before? Well, now they wanting back out and they were angry.

Worried that I might not make it, (that’s how bad I needed to go), I clamped my butt cheeks together and started to get up.

Getting out of the cardboard fort without waking up Joey was a real chore, but I managed to do it.

As I stood just outside the entrance of the cardboard fort, trying to concentrate on holding it in, I was again reminded that I was wearing a cloth diaper. Beth had done a great job pinning it on, because even though it was sagging between my legs, it was still holding tightly around my middle.

I had to do a sort of butt clenching duck waddle all the way to the bathroom and then nearly lost containment as I searched for the light switch.

I cheered myself on by saying allowed, “Hold it in one more minute, Alvin!”

With the light on, I crossed to the toilet and pulled off the plastic pants, which felt oddly cold and clammy against my bare legs. It was a really weird feeling, like someone rubbing a dead squid against my thighs. But then I was faced with a new challenge, one for which I had no experience with. Diaper Pins!

“Oh come on you stupid thing!” I growled with frustration as my fingers kept slipping off the wet metal.

The safety pin finally opened but it was too late. With a painful groan I bent forward and filled the back of the cloth diaper. As the poop continued to flow out of me, so did my tears.

“No, not again!” I moaned.

My words must have traveled down the hallway to Beth’s room and woke her up because half a minute later she was standing at the door to the bathroom.

“Alvin is everything alright in here?” she asked.

But no sooner did she ask it than my bottom let out a loud, juicy fart followed by more poop.

I was doubled over, holding my cramping stomach while tears of humiliation flowed out of my eyes and slashed down on the toilet seat.

“Oh you poor thing.” Beth said with genuine sympathy.

If things weren’t bad enough, I’d also awakened Joey too.

“What’s going on mom?” I heard him ask from out in the hallway.

First his hair, which looked as though it had been combed with an egg beater, appeared around the edge of the door and then his face. He was only trying to peek into the bathroom to see what was happening, but he got more than what he bargained for. Like a slap in the face the stench accosted him. Quick as a wink, a hand appeared and covered his nose and mouth just before his head disappeared from sight.

His disgusted voice sang out, “Aw gross! Did something die in there?”

Yep, that helped the situation...NOT! However, Beth remained just as sweet and kind as she almost always seems to be. Using some toilet paper she wiped my tears while telling me that it is just a little accident.

A minute or two later, Joey reappeared, in full view this time. Around his mouth and nose he’d wrapped a clean diaper and was holding it in place with one hand.

“Golly Alvin, you smell worse than the goose poop did!” he said.

“Joey!” Beth snapped at him.

“Well he does!” Joey said in his own defense.

“Pipe down and go get me your bag from the changing table.” She said with a hint of annoyance with him.

He soon returned with a very infantile looking diaper bag in one hand and his other hand was still holding the diaper around his face.

After taking the bag from him, she sent him away again. I’m assuming she did this to save what little dignity I had left.

She had me step into the bathtub so that she could remove the diaper. I can’t describe to you the stench that filled the room once the diaper was allowed to fall to my feet. Beth didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the odor, but I on the other hand was gagging and probably would have puked again if there had been something in my belly.

She washed all traces of poop from my skin and then proceeded to bathe me proper like. I don’t remember when I stopped crying and I didn’t mind at all that she was bathing me as if I were a small child.

Once that bath was over she had me step out of the tub so that she could dry me off.

“No don’t you feel so much better?” she asked while drying my hair.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so much trouble for you.” I apologized.

She stopped drying me and held onto both of my hands so that I was forced to look her right in the eyes.

“Now listen to me.” She said gently tugging on my arms.

“You’ve been no trouble at all. Nothing that has happened was your fault and besides.” She smiled coyly, “Mothering little boys is what I do best.” She then leaned in and kissed my right cheek just below my eye.

When she next told me to lie on the floor so that she could get me rediapered, I think my eyes nearly fell out of my head. But there is something in the way she looks at me and the way she speaks that seems to zap away all my powers of resistance.

Without a single objection or complaint on my part, I lowered by bare bottom to the floor, stretched out my legs and let my shoulders and head come to rest. Quicker than you can say the tongue twister ‘Rubber—Baby—Buggy—Bumper’ three times, she had me clad in a thick, warm cotton diaper. When I got to my feet and looked down I saw that she had also snapped a pair of crystal-clear plastic pants on me as well.

“Tell you what,” Beth started to say as she lovingly stroked my tummy above the diaper, “how about if you let me do my part as the mommy and in turn you will do your part and be the little boy that you are?”

I already told you that she has a way with words, right?

And so, from that moment until mom and John returned, just like Joey, I wore cloth diapers and even used them for their intended purpose. Those few days were sort of like a dream or a fantasy. It was almost like I wasn’t me, but had become someone else temporarily.

When mom and John finally did return, John stupidly parked the car right on top of a big patch of ice. About twenty minutes after they arrived, John looked out the window and the car was gone.

John ran to the door and threw it open. “Our car’s been stolen!” he stupidly said.

Of course our car hadn’t been stolen. It simply slid back down the drive about thirty feet and backed right into the mound of snow that Beth had piled up when she was clearing the snow with their tractor.

Joey and I helped dig it out too, but mostly John did all the work. Once John had dug the car out, we could see that the whole backend of our car was crunched and twisted.

We ended up staying one more day so that John could bend and bang the metal away from the rear passenger side tire. Oddly enough, during that extra day, Beth continued to treat me exactly as she had been and mom didn’t seem to mind in the least. I’m not sure what I had expected but I suppose I thought that maybe mom maybe should have stepped up and at the very least offered to change me or put me back into regular disposable diapers or let me have GoodNites to wear. But she didn’t do any of that. Just like all the other days, Joey and I were kept in cloth diapers right up until it was time to leave.

Finally, John decided that we had to try to get back home. Now don’t get me wrong! I totally loved spending all that time with Joey and we had an absolute ball every single second of every single day. But I was ready to go home, I mean back to Maine.

I was surprised that I got so choked up when I had to say goodbye to Joey and his mom. However, it helped to ease some of my sorrow when mom, as she hugged Joey, said to him, “Next time you’ll have to come visit us in Maine.”

Boy, let me tell you, I didn’t sleep a single wink all the way home. I also didn’t object when mom said I had to wear one of the plastic disposable diapers for the trip home. I do, however, remember thinking how thin and inadequate the disposable diaper felt compared to the cloth diapers I’d been wearing all week. It didn’t even feel like I had a diaper on at all.

Once we were in the car and moving, I didn’t say a word except for when we got on the highway; I was too scared to say anything. Our car tires kept spinning and making an awful racket until we finally got on the highway again.

“This is much better!” John announced as we merged from the onramp into the slow lane.

“I’m glad you think so.” Mom said sarcastically.

I leaned forward and patted John’s left shoulder, “That was good driving.”

“Thanks, now sit back please.” he said as he flipped on his turn signal to merge into the fast lane.

Once we were on the highway, traffic was heavy and the roads left much to be desired, but for the most part the return trip was uneventful.

Now, our homecoming is a different story. No sooner did we step in the door than Grandmother started raging on my parents. I don’t know where Grandfather was, but I didn’t care.

John handed me my bags and said, “Take these to your room, would you. That’s a good boy.” And I didn’t even hesitate. I wanted nothing to do with what was sure to be a heated conversation.

Would you believe I was in Canada long enough that I almost forgot how to get to my room in my grandparents house? However, I did find my room and none too soon, because as I opened the door, I could hear John’s voice echoing throughout the house. I quickly stepped into my room and closed myself in so that I didn’t have to listen to them arguing and screaming at one another. Even though it wasn’t actually said, I think all three of us knew that there would be hell to pay for having been gone nearly a full week.

Even with my bedroom door closed I could still partially hear them. So to distract myself from what was being said, I busied myself with unpacking my things and putting them away.

That was when I found the surprise that Joey had hidden inside my suitcase. Under all my clothes and things, folded neatly was a large piece of cardboard. I took it out and unfolded it to reveal the dragon that he and I had drawn and colored together on the inside of his cardboard fort.

I have no idea why, but I got all teary eyes when I saw that Joey had cut that section from his fort and hid it in my suitcase for me to find when I got home.

If I was back in my room in California, I would have hung that dragon on the wall above my bed. I didn’t think that would go over too well here in my grandparents’ place so instead I folded it back up and put it inside the armoire, where it would be safe.

Unfortunately, unpacking didn’t take all that long and before I knew it, I was standing in the middle of my room with nothing to do.

“I know! I’ll take a bath!” I said aloud.

“That’s a good idea Alvin!” I answered myself.

I went into the bathroom, closed the door and before taking off my clothes, I turned on the shower and the sink faucets. That did the trick; I could no longer hear anything but the running of water.

As I began to strip I became aware of the fact that the diaper, which mom had put on me before we left Joey’s, was wet. And when I say wet, I mean WET!

When I unbuttoned and unzipped my pants, not only did my pants fall off of me, so did the diaper. I stepped backward out of my pants and the wet diaper and just stood there looking down at the white soggy blob.

Now, the fact that it was so wet didn’t disturb me as much as the fact, that I didn’t remember peeing even once during our drive home. However, the evidence was lying right there on the bathroom floor. A testament that I’d not subconsciously wet once, but many times to get it that wet.

When I leaned down and picked it up, it was heavy; heavier than any GoodNite or diaper that I’d ever taken off before then. It smelled a bit too.

I laid it on the marble vanity top and rolled it up before carrying it to the armoire to dispose of inside the big green diaper pail. It was so soggy that it felt like I was stuffing a Ziploc baggy filled with warm pudding into the green diaper pail.

Now that I was back in my room I could once again hear the shouting voices as they managed to filter through the closed door. So, I quickly closed the clear plastic lid of the diaper pail, give it a half turn clockwise to seal the diaper inside a white plastic bag and then ran back to the bathroom.

I stepped into the shower and the warm water hit my skin which only minutes before had been encased in the diaper. I let out a yelp and jumped back from the spraying water. It’s not that the water was too hot, it’s that my skin seemed extra sensitive to the temperature.

When I looked down at my penis and the skin around it, I could see that it was pinker then normal... almost red even. At first I thought maybe I’d got some sort of stain on my skin from the diaper but that thought vanished almost as fast as it had appeared.

“Gee-whiz, Alvin! How could you get a red stain from a white diaper?! How stupid can you get?” I rebuked myself for even thinking something so dim-witted.

Once I readjusted the water, so that it was cooler, I was able to continue my shower. I had to adjust it again about halfway through to make it even colder. By the time I stepped out of the shower, my little balls were so shriveled up that it hardly looked like I had a sack at all.

It wasn’t until I was looking at my body in the mirror that I realized that what I was seeing was the onset of a bad diaper rash. My mind flashed back to Joey’s house and to mom as she hurried to get me diapered before we left. In her haste she hadn’t taken the time to properly clean my diaper area the way Beth always did. Mom also didn’t apply diaper cream or powder either. She had removed the wet cloth diaper, quickly wiped around my privates with a cry cloth diaper and then taped on the disposable diaper.

I reached down and pulled on the skin of my sack. “OOOUCH!” I cried out in pain.

“Alvin, you ok in there?” I heard John say from the other side of the bathroom door.

I turned off the sink faucet, which had been running that entire time, before answering him.

“Um, I’m not sure.” I answered.

The door opened and John stepped in. One look at him and I could tell that he was still burning mad, but when he saw me standing butt naked in the middle of the bathroom, he seemed to soften some.

“Wow, that doesn’t look good.” Was his first comment, “Does it itch?”

I shook my head.

He surprised me by what he did next. He stepped toward me and before I knew what he was doing, he hugged my head against his stomach. He didn’t say anything at first; he just hugged me for a long time. When he stopped hugging me I took half a step back and looked up at him. I was completely shocked to see, that he was crying... my dad was crying and I don’t mean a single tear either.

“You ok?” I asked him.

He smiled and rubbed my face with one hand.

“Come on,” he said putting that same hand behind my head and ushering me out of the bathroom and back into my room, “let’s get something on that rash before it does start itching.”

I suppose it was because I had sort of got used to Beth changing me and cleaning me which is why I didn’t get too freaked out when John knelt down in front of me and began rubbing cream all over my diaper area. He asked me to turn around so that he could do my backside and when I did I started giggling because it tickled so much. It never tickled when Beth did it.

“Alright you little hyena.” John said giving the back of my knee a playful little pinch. I did a little hop-skip as I spun back around.

John examined my genitals and the rash closely before saying, “We really should let the air get to that rash for a while.” And almost as quickly as he’d said it, he reached into the closet and grabbed one of the diapers, and not a GoodNite. For maybe a second I thought about objecting, but I decided that I didn’t feel like arguing with him about it.

Amazingly, John didn’t make me lie down on the floor so that he could tape the diaper on me. No, he did it while I was standing there. It was quite remarkable to look down and watch as he slipped it between my legs, pulled it up and taped it into place.

“There, how’s that?” he asked.

I nodded again and gave a simple answer of, “It’s good.”

Thankfully, he reached back into the armoire and pulled out a pair of pants and a crisp clean white button up shirt. It seemed that he was helping me get dressed up more than what I thought I needed to be, but it wasn’t until he was zipping up my pants that he reviled why.

“We’re going out for dinner this evening, just the three of us.” John said.

“Really?” I said and though I tried not to let on what I was thinking, I’m sure John knew I was thinking it. He and mom probably didn’t want to eat supper at the same table with grandmother after that big argument and neither did I for that matter.

“Where’re we going?” I asked.

“Pichaloe’s,” he said while combing my hair with his fingers.

“What’s Picka... whatever.” I said.

“Pichaloe’s,” he said again, “It’s a very nice restaurant. I know the owner and he’s been begging your mother and me to come by,” he went back into the armoire looking for something else. “and tonight seems like the perfect night for a family dinner.” He said from within the armoire.

A few seconds later he reemerged holding a neck tie.

“Oh man! Do I have to wear that?” I whined.

“Yep!” he said with a grin. I was happy to see him smile.

“They won’t let you in without the tie.” He said.

He began to lace it under my collar and tie it for me.

“You know, there’s a McDonalds that’s close and they don’t make you wear a tie.” I joked with him.

“I’d rather eat a rat-burger.” He said and then he tried to take a bite out of my ear.

“Hey, I’m no rat!” I said trying to pull away but John had both hands wrapped around me, trying to get the tie just right.

“Alright, hold still.” He said while spinning me around and putting my back against his chest.

“Ok, but no more biting!” I said in an imitative dad like voice.

The door to my bedroom opened again and there stood mom looking positively stunning.

“Hubba-Hubba!” I said and tried to whistle but I was smiling too much to whistle.

“Wow, you don’t look half bad yourself handsome.” She said as she leaned down and gave me a kiss on my cheek.

John stood up and gave mom a one armed squeeze followed by a peck on the lips.

“I’ll only be a minute.” He said.

While mom and I waited for John to get changed I went into the armoire and retrieved the cardboard dragon to show her.

“He didn’t even tell me he was giving it to me.” I said and I almost got choked up again.

“Wow Alvin, that’s really good. You and Joey make a great artistic team.” She said, “You should hang it up.”

“Nah, I don’t think grandmother or grandfather would like it if I did that.” I said, folding it carefully and returning it to the armoire.

“Oh honey!” mom exclaimed when John reappeared in the doorway wearing a brown suit coat over a white shirt like I had on. He was also wearing a pair of kaki pants and a striped tie which was kind of loud.

“Hey, that’s the tie I bought you for Christmas a long time ago.” I exclaimed.

John looked down at the tie and smoothed it with his hands.

“So it is.” He said, as if he hadn’t already known that.

__________

Chapter 19

The entire way to the restaurant, both John and mom kept telling me how I had to be on my best behavior. They also kept schooling me on what eating utensil I’m supposed to use when. So when we arrived I was wound up so tight that I was scared to even move for fear of touching or getting close to something I shouldn’t.

We arrived at the restaurant just as the sun was about to kiss the horizon. Fancy isn’t the word for Pichaloe’s. I’ve never in my life been in such a high class place. I’d never been anywhere that had people out front to park your car for you. John told me what you call those guys, but I’ve already forgot. Anyway, we pulled up and got out of the car as John handed his keys to some pimple cursed teenage girl with a lopsided ponytail. She was wearing a bright red vest with a black and green embroidered patch on the front that read, ‘Pichaloe’. At the base of her ponytail was an oversized red scrunchy that matched her vest perfectly. And just incase you don’t know what a scrunchy is... it’s a ring of fabric with elastic that girls use to gather or fasten their hair into ponytails. They come in an endless number of colors and styles.

At first, I didn’t recognize the girl; that is, until she spoke to me.

“Hey Alvin!” she said in a heavy Maine accent.

“Huh, oh hi Stacks.” I said, shocked to see her outside of school. Actually, I am surprised I recognized her at all because she hardly looked anything like she did before. In a way, she looked kind of hot. I mean if it is possible to look hot when dressed like a red vested penguin.

I then asked the dumbest question ever, “You work here?”

“Oh yeah! My dad makes me work here every weekend and sometimes during the week; when it is really busy like tonight. He says it will help build round out my character; whatever that means.” She said, giving her ponytail a flip.

Mom placed a hand on my shoulder and asked, “Alvin, who’s your little friend?” and I could have died when she said ‘little friend’.

“Um, oh yeah.” I said trying to keep myself from blushing, “Mom, this here is Stacks. She goes to my school.” I said trying not to sound or act dorky. And then I introduced my parents to Stacks, “This here is my mom and John... I mean my dad.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet one of Alvin’s friends,” John said and I was remarkably shocked at how he wasn’t doing or saying anything stupid to embarrassed me like he has always done in the past when meeting one of my friends for the first time.

Stacks smiled politely at my parents and said, “Actually, it’s Hillary. Stacks is just a nickname.”

One of the other guys in a red vest loudly cleared his throat and Stacks fired an annoyed look his way before saying, “I better get back to work. It was nice to meet you and I hope you enjoy your dinner.”

As we started to walk away from Stacks I glanced back over my shoulder and caught Stacks eyeing me from behind. I instantly became worried that she might be able to see the tell tail signs of the diaper I was wearing under my clothes.

“Oh Man, please don’t let her notice!” I prayed quietly and quickened my step so that I could get in front of John and mom.

If you remember, the day before, our car had slid backward into a partially petrified mound of snow. So, it wasn’t exactly the nicest looking vehicle in the parking lot. I looked back as Stacks got in and pulled away from the curb and I caught a momentary glance of the other red vested parking people. They were looking at our car and snickering to themselves. I wanted to go over and kick them all in the shins.

As we stepped into the restaurant my jaw hit the floor. I’d never seen a place so... well I can’t think of a lavish enough word to describe that place. All the walls were made of darkly stained wood; the ceiling looked to be made of gold and the floor looked to be wood encased within an inch of glass.

We were greeted by a man in a black tuxedo. He first greeted John with a hug and a kiss on the left cheek. That one kind of took me by surprise and all I could think of was, “I hope he doesn’t kiss me!”

He then turned his attention to mom. He said something I didn’t understand at all. I later found out that the guy was speaking French. He took hold of mom’s hand and kissed it as though he was giving the kiss of life to a rose petal.

Finally he looked down at me and for some reason, my toes curled up inside my shoes.

“This must be your charming son,” The man said, sounding like the candlestick in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, “whom I’ve heard so much about.”

Apparently one or maybe both of my parents had been bragging about me. Oh man, I just had a horrible thought; what if they hadn’t been bragging but instead telling people about all the really embarrassing parts of my life. “NO! No! I’m just being paranoid.” I told myself.

See, I told you mom and John had got me wound up tighter then a Swiss watch.

John politely introduced us, “Alvin, this is Mr. Rawnwe. He owns Pichaloe’s.”

I extended my hand to shake his but he didn’t shake my hand. Instead he grasped it with both hands, leaned down to my level and spoke in weird, French-used-car-salesman kind of voice. “It is a pleasure to finally meet the boy that has stolen my daughters’ heart.”

Honestly, I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. Out of all the people I’d met in Maine, none of them talked like this guy; but still there was that odd feeling inside, that this guy reminded me of someone.

He stood back up again, smiled and glanced back to John as he said, “Come, allow me to show you to your table and please, everything is on me tonight. Tonight you are my royal guests.”

After he, ever so politely, took our coats and my hat and gloves, he excused himself with a slight bow.

“What did he say to you?” Mom asked quietly from across the table.

I didn’t have a chance to answer because Mr. Rawnwe returned along with another guy in a tux. However this guy also had a gleaming white towel draped over his left arm. I’d seen that done in movies so I knew he must be our waiter.

I’ve been to restaurants that put water on the table when you arrive, but I’ve never been to a place that brings out a glass bottle that was half my size and pours sparkling water into a chilled tall, slender glass. I swear, the water even looked better then any water I’d ever seen.

Mr. Rawnwe had a bottle of wine sent to our table. John went through this elaborate sniffing, poring and tasting ceremony with the waiter before giving him an approving nod. Only then did the waiter fill two extremely fancy wine glasses for them.

For me, of course I didn’t get to have wine but I did have something just as special. Mr. Rawnwe had personally brought me a bottle of gourmet soda. He went through the same ceremony with me that John and the waiter had gone through. I did my best to imitate everything I’d seen John do, including sniffing the bottle cap and swishing the first sip of soda around in my mouth. I gave Mr. Rawnwe a nod that the soda, which by the way was the best tasting liquid I have ever put into my mouth, was satisfactory and only then did he pour it in a whine glass like mom and Johns.

I hadn’t really thought before asking for a straw, because if I had thought, I would have kept my mouth shut. At first Mr. Rawnwe looked insulted but then he smiled, disappeared for a moment or two and then returned with a straw. However, it wasn’t a straw like any straw I’d ever seen. I mean, it was a straw and it worked exactly like a straw, but that is where its similarity to those plastic tubes you get at McDonalds ends. For starters it was made of glass that was not round but octagonal and the glass had been twisted kind of the way the red stripe of a candy cane is twisted around the white part. And either end of the glass straw was tipped with gold. Now I don’t know if it was real gold or not, because I didn’t think it was right to ask, but I’m pretty sure that it was.

“Wow! That’s wicked.” I said as he set the glass straw, which was partially encased in a folded green velvet napkin, onto the table. When my fingers touched the straw it too was chilled.

“Oh that’s cold!” I said carefully pulling it out of the green napkin and lowering it into the soda filled wineglass.

I never knew that in super fancy restaurants, they don’t bring you all of your food at one time. They bring you one item at a time and the whole meal takes over an hour to be served and consumed. So when the waiter brought me a tiny bowl of soup, I thought it was the whole meal.

I even whispered across the table, “Is this all we get?” to which John and mom both shot me looks that said I should shut up and eat my soup.

At first I was caught off guard when I tasted the soup. It wasn’t even remotely warm. Actually I’d go as far as to say it was cold and any other time or place I would have said something about the cold soup but this one time I kept my mouth shut. Well, for the time being.

I only tried a few spoonfuls of the soup. It tasted like shrimp that had sat around for a few days; that and bad cheese.

When the waiter came to take our bowls he saw that I hadn’t eaten my soup. He politely asked me, “Did you not enjoy the soup.”

I glanced at mom and John before I answered in as soft a whisper as I could, “It’s cold.”

The waiter smiled and chuckled. “It is Bouillabaisse!” he said as if that would explain everything.

“Alvin,” John said, trying not to look too embarrassed by my comment, “It is supposed to be cold. It’s a wonderful French stew made of fish, shellfish, onions, tomatoes, white wine, olive oil, and different spices like saffron and garlic.”

“What’s a saffron?” I asked.

John didn’t answer, instead he motioned for the waiter to go ahead and remove my bowl.

A few minutes later Mr. Rawnwe returned to our table, flashing that phony smile of his.

“Did you enjoy the Bouillabaisse?” he asked mom and John.

They both said that they did. When he looked to me for a response I didn’t want to say that it tasted like cold road kill soup. So instead I looked to mom to rescue me.

“Well, you know how kids are. If it doesn’t come from a can or deep fried then they won’t eat it.” Mom said.

Mr. Rawnwe chuckled as though that thought humored him. However, it might be my imagination, but I got the feeling that he didn’t much like having a kid in his big fancy restaurant. That is when I noticed that there wasn’t another person in that place anywhere near my age. There was a girl and guy on the other side of the restaurant sitting with an older couple that looked as though they might still be teenagers but only barely.

The second bit of food they brought to our table was positively revolting. The thought crossed my mind that we never once saw a menu and we hadn’t actually ordered the slop they were serving us. They were just bringing stuff out.

The grey-brown lumps that sat on the plate like mushy rocks looked about as appetizing as a steaming pile of dog poop.

Honestly, I really was trying not to be a royal pain in the butt. But come on, their chef must have really been trying to make me puke! I imagined him standing just out of sight laughing and giggling as I stabbed at the lumps of grey matter on my plate.

The waiter had said that it was a seasonal French delicacy loved by French children. He called them Truffles, I call them junk. They tasted like dirty feet, not that I’ve ever licked someone’s dirty feet but if I had, their foot would have tasted like French Truffles. I always thought that Truffles were a type of chocolate candy thing.

It was all I could do to force myself to eat one of the chewy balls but that was all I could get down. I made it a point to not make eye contact with the waiter when he came to take our plates.

Sure enough, Mr. Rawnwe returned a moment later and this time he addressed me first. “What did you think of the Truffles?”

Without looking up at him, I shook my head ever so slightly.

He spoke a moment with mom and John but I didn’t really pay any attention to what they were saying. It was taking all of my mental powers to keep that Truffle down.

After all the excitement of coming to a fancy restaurant, I was feeling less than impressed. I just wanted to go home and have some real food. Heck, I’d even settle for some of Micah’s Machewie.

To my immense horror, when I finally looked up to see what mom and John where doing, I saw this big man dressed... well, dressed exactly the way you would expect a French chef to dress. He emerged from the kitchen and walked directly to our table.

A little voice inside my head uttered, “Oh no! Alvin, you are a dead man!”

I hadn’t even noticed the waiter, who stood next to the chef. Standing beside that gargantuan, the waiter looked like a stick man. The chef spoke in what I took as a polite tone but it was all in French and it was apparent that he was talking to me.

The waiter smiled and translated for the chef, “Hello, I am Chef, Acel Destrie. I am very sorry you did not enjoy the Bouillabaisse or the Truffles.”

As the waiter spoke for the chef, the chef smiled and unlike Mr. Rawnwe, his smile seemed genuine.

Acel said something else to which the waiter translated, “I was not aware of your age. Please accept my apologies and I personally promise you that you will thoroughly enjoy the remainder of your meal.”

Chef Acel spoke again, followed by a hearty chuckle as he elbowed the waiter amusingly. The waiter didn’t seem to enjoy whatever Acel had said but he translated it anyway, “If you do not enjoy it, we’ll take your waiter out and stone him in the alley.” That one made me laugh too.

Then Chef Acel motioned for me to stand up and come with him. I looked nervously to John who smiled and said, “Well don’t just sit there, get going!”

My mouth went dry and my throat felt like it was coated with sand as I rose from my seat. Acel reached around, placed his big hand on the small of my back and pushed me into the kitchen while saying something over his shoulder in French to mom and John. I didn’t get to hear what the waiter translated because Acel and I had already slipped into the kitchen.

I was totally shocked by what I saw. Now when you think of a fancy restaurant, what sort of kitchen comes to mind? Yeah well that is exactly what I envisioned it would look like too. But it didn’t look anything like that. Instead of walking into a stainless steel jungle of industrial ovens and stoves, we walked into what could have been anyone’s home kitchen. Granted, there weren’t any wood cabinets, but even still, it looked like a kitchen out of some high priced home.

There were three other chefs in there, but it was completely obvious that Chef Acel was ‘The Man’. One of the chefs, a younger looking man of maybe twenty-something, walked past us only momentarily glancing my way. Without saying a single word Chef Acel had reached up and stole the tall white hat from the guys head. For half a second the guy stopped and looked at Acel but then he exhaled loudly through his nose and continued on his way.

Chef Acel placed the hat on my head. It was too big but my ears kept it from slipping down over my eyes. The only girl chef smiled at me and then said to Chef Acel, “It’s about time you replaced Onre’!”

In one of the worst French accents, Acel said to me in English, “I shall teach you to make Crepes.”

He must have guessed that I had no idea what a Crepe was because he made a thoughtful grunting sound and then looked at one of the other chefs, the one whose hat I was wearing, and said something in French to him. The younger guy looked up and with out any expression at all he said, “Really thin pancakes.”

Chef Acel smiled and held out his hands and said in a questioning sort of fashion, “Qui, thin pancakes?”

By the way, as I am writing this I had to ask mom how to spell ‘qui’. That is the way the French spell it but it is pronounced, ‘wee’.

“Oh wee, I love pancakes!” I told him while trying to sound French. I think he got a kick out of that.

“Good! We make thin pancakes.” He said slapping me on the back so hard that the hat nearly fell off my head.

“Careful Acel. You’ll snap that little thing in half.” The lady chef said.

The thought popped into my head, “Who’s she calling a little thing?”

Acel waived her off with a groan, “Aah!”

Chef Acel and I both washed our hands and then he hung an apron around my neck that once tied around behind me, that made it look as though I was wearing a white monks robe. And with that tall chef hat I bet I could have passed for a short Pope.

It was really fun getting to cook. And even though it was crazy busy in that kitchen, I didn’t feel as if I was in the way at all.

I saw our waiter come into the kitchen; Chef Acel said something to him in French and he did an about-face right back out into the dining room. I later learned that Chef Acel had sent him out to tell my parents what we were doing. Mom also told me on our way back home that she and John enjoyed having some time alone. So I guess we all came out as winners.

“We are going to make three kinds of stuffed Crepes.” Chef Acel said, as he took hold of my wrists and thrust my hands into a tin of brownish looking flower. He smiled really big and chuckled; “Now you look like chef.” I realized that it was a joke when the other chef’s laughed too.

The actual Crepes were super simple to make. It was just a little flour, eggs, milk, butter and a pinch of salt all mixed up and you fry them just like regular pancakes. The first stuffing we made was made from three different kinds of cheeses. Before we spread it on the Crepe, Chef Acel let me stick my finger in and taste it.

“Oh that’s good.” I announced.

“Qui, we make good team, you and me.” He told me and then shouting, so that everyone in the kitchen could hear he announced, “Onre’, you are fired! I have replacement right here!”

Acel leaned down giggling, “He no like’a cheese.”

Feeling confident I too offered my own loud comment, “How could a chef not like cheese?”

Mr. Rawnwe came in and his normally faux smile had been replaced by an honest grin. He said something in French to Acel and Acel said something serious to one of the other chef guys who turned away and began quickly cooking something.

Mr. Rawnwe smiled at me and then asked Chef Acel something in French.

“Qui!” Chef Acel said loudly and then he proudly slapped me on the back again as he added, “A week with me and he will be almost as good as Acel!”

Mr. Rawnwe left the kitchen and we began to make the second Crepe stuffing, which at first I wasn’t too keen on, but Chef Acel assured me that I’d like it. It was made with spinach, mushrooms, a little bit of shredded chicken and cream cheese.

“Ok, I like that!” I said after taking a timid taste.

“Why you not believe Acel?” he teased me. “Now we will make Acel’s favorite when he was boy like you.”

I took another bite of the first Crepe. “Mmm!” I moaned with delight.

“You like bananas?” he asked me.

“Oh yeah I love bananas. They are like the food of the gods!” I added.

Acel slammed his hand on the counter, “Onre’, I tell you! Even this boy says bananas are god food!”

I was quickly developing an idea that Onre’ must be the one that everyone in the kitchen picks on. I’m glad he had a good sense of humor about it though.

The third and final Crepe that we made was a banana and Strawberry concoction and we sprinkled the outside of the Crepe with powdered sugar and drizzled chocolate syrup overtops that.

Chef Acel then escorted me back to our table in the dining room and though he removed my apron, he let me keep the hat. I told mom and John all about the kitchen and how I’d just learned how to make Crepes.

“Maybe Micah will let me make them for you one day.” I said taking a big bite of my three-cheese Crepe.

I was about half way done eating my desert Crepe when Onre’ came out of the kitchen, walked right up to me and stood there tapping his foot.

Sheepishly, I took off the chef hat and handed it to him. He stuffed it on his head rather roughly and huffed as he comically stormed back to the kitchen. Some of the others that were in the dining room, got a good laugh out of his spectacle too.

“That was Chef Onre’. Everyone in the kitchen picks on him but I think he like it.” I told to mom and John.

And then the kitchen door opened again and Onre’ stuck his head out, smiled and waved at me. I waved too before he vanished back into the kitchen.

All in all, our visit to Pichaloe’s turned out to be really nice and I’m glad that they weren’t upset that I didn’t like their fancy foods.

Now, had the extravagant evening ended there, I would have been quiet happy but as with everything good in my life, it couldn’t end happily. Mr. Rawnwe came back to our table as mom and John were getting up and they thanked him profusely for the meal. I started to stand up too and as I did I remembered for the first time that evening that I was wearing a normal diaper. What made me conscious of it again was the fact that it felt oddly heavy between my thighs. Apparently I had once again wet in my diaper without knowing it.

“Not again!” I thought to myself.

I was really getting unnerved over the whole wetting without knowing it, thing.

As I stood I started to feel the need to go number two and it must have shown on my face because mom asked Mr. Rawnwe where the facilities were.

I took off like a flash for the bathroom. I’m sure I was a spectacle for all the other dinners who watched me do a running penguin dance as I bobbed and weaved between tables.

No, I didn’t have another blowout in my pants but what happened next was just as bad, if not worse!

“Alvin?” I heard John’s voice coming from the other side of the stall door.

“Yeah,” I answered.

“You ok in there.” He asked.

I knew that what he was really asking was if I had pooped myself again.

“I-I’m ok, but I tore my...” I couldn’t bring myself to use the D-word, “thing,” I said instead, “When I tried to pull off the tapes.”

“Well, let me know when you’re done and I’ll help you with that.” He said.

A minute later I was done pooping and wiped my bottom before standing up and unlocking the stall door. John stepped into the bathroom stall and closed it behind him. It was crowded in there with both of us but there was enough room for John to squat down to help me with the diaper.

“Well, it’s a good thing we used a diaper, huh?” he asked as he pressed on the front and felt how wet it was.

I just blushed.

John took the two sides of the diaper, pulled them tight and tied them into a knot over my hip. There was still the problem of the torn plastic on the front but John said that since we were going back home, that it would be ok until then.

He started to help me get redressed but I stopped by saying, “I can do it myself.”

I then pulled my pants up and struggled to tuck my shirt in before leaving the stall. When I came out, John was already gone from the bathroom. I washed my hands, dried them on the fancy linen towels and tossed the towel into a brash hamper under the marble sink.

As I left the bathroom I had no idea that I was about to be humiliated in front of dozens of people and it was going to be entirely my fault. I stepped back out of the bathroom and met up with Mom, John and Mr. Rawnwe who was just handing them their coats. I had my back facing away from them but the entire dining room had a full view.

From behind us came at first a soft commotion of laughter which quickly grew until we all turned to see what was so funny.

“Alvin!” Mom exclaimed.

I turned back around to see what she was sounding so upset at me for and the dining room got even louder. Mom reached out, grabbed my shoulder and spun me back around. She then yanked my shirt out in the back and instantly I knew what I’d done. I had tucked my shirt into the back of my diaper and everyone in the dining room was laughing because much of the diaper I was wearing had been exposed for all to see.

Horrified, I grabbed my coat and things from Mr. Rawnwe and ran out of the restaurant. With tears welling up in my eyes I was forced to stop at the curb and wait for John and mom to come out cause that stupid parking girl had taken our car earlier.

As we waited for the car, mom helped me put my coat on. “Alvin,” she said trying to comfort me, “It’s ok; it’s not the end of the world. We’ve all had embarrassing things happen to us at one time or another.”

__________

Chapter 20

When we got home, Grandmother and Grandfather had thankfully already gone to bed. The second I was out of our car I took off running for the house and my room. I’m not really sure why, but that incident really shook me up. It was like I couldn’t shake off that horrible feeling when I had realized what I’d done.

By the time mom came into my room I had completely undressed, leaving a trail of clothes from my bedroom door all the way into the bathroom where I was taking another shower to wash off the stench of stale pee. The water stung just as much as before, but this time I didn’t care. The slight pain, that the water brought forth, helped to distract me from the humiliation I was still feeling.

“Alvin sweetheart, you alright?” she asked from outside the shower.

“Mom, I don’t ever want to go back there again!” I whimpered.

She didn’t try to argue the case with me. Instead she asked, “Will you need help getting ready for bed?”

“No, I can do it myself.” I said.

Before she left me alone she instructed me to, “Be sure that you use the rash cream ok.”

I had to swallow hard before I was able to answer with, “Ok.”

I stood under the running water until I’d quit crying and stopped feeling sorry for myself. I think I was in there for nearly an hour. When I came out the mirror was completely fogged over and the bathroom was filled with a fog of steam that was thick enough to swim through.

I was genuinely surprised that neither mom nor John had insisted on diapering me for the night, but perhaps they were too tired or maybe they were having another fight with grandmother. But it didn’t matter because I had my GoodNites and those I could pull on and off by myself.

Now, if I thought the disposable diaper had felt thin after wearing those cloth diapers, a GoodNite felt as though I wasn’t wearing hardly anything at all. It felt like one good wetting would do it in.

That night, as I lay in my bed, I began thinking about the epiphany I’d had at Joey’s; about Chris being a ghost and all. And the more I thought about it, the more resolutely sure I was, that I was right about him. However, the more I thought about Chris, the more creeped out I was getting, all alone in that big bedroom. My mind went into overdrive as I began to sense the movement of shadows and I was absolutely sure I’d felt something go bump under the bed. Eventually my need for sleep grew stronger than my fears and my eyelids slowly closed for the night.

The following morning I woke up about thirty-minutes early because I had to poop again. I really hate waking up feeling like I am about to explode if I don’t get to a toilet right away. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen very often.

However, not only had I woke up, but so did my imagination and it picked up right were it had left off the night before.

As my bowels screamed and ached for release I knelt in the center of the bed and tried to figure out, how to get from the bed to the bathroom without being grabbed by whatever was under the bed.

I decided that there was nothing else I could do but to attempt to jump as far from the edge of the bed as I could and hope that whatever was under the bed had short arms, or tentacles, or whatever monsters have instead of arms.

Since the bed was so soft, it was impossible to get a running start, so I stood at the foot of the bed and leapt up and out. I hit the floor running; actually, I think I was running before my feet made contact.

Once in the bathroom I grabbed the edge of the door and spun myself around, ready to battle anything that was coming at me. But there wasn’t anything behind me. I could even see under the bed and there wasn’t anything there either.

With the threat of being captured by a monster or ghost averted, I quickly raced to the toilet. No sooner did I get my butt planted on the cold seat than my butt exploded with a blast of watery, lumpy mess. And it kept coming too. It shot out of me with such force, that it actually made me quite dizzy for a minute or two.

When I thought I was done, I wiped myself once, but then I felt another cramp in my stomach and out came another wave, this one was even lumpier than the first had been and it made the water in the bowl splash up and get my butt all wet. Don’t you just hate when that happens?

While I sat there, I noticed that sitting on the marble bathroom counter was another wet rolled up GoodNite. I knew for a fact that I hadn’t put it there, because I still had the one I had been wearing bunched up around my ankles. I finally surrendered to the idea that mom or John must have come in during the night and changed me. It was a good thing they had too, because the one that was presently draped over my feet was completely drenched with pee.

All in all, I was on the toilet for about twenty-minutes and even then I wasn’t completely sure I was done. When I tried to wipe myself, I found that the contents of my bottom had splashed all over my butt cheeks as well as all over the inside of the bowl and the bottom of the seat. When I wiped myself, I got it all over the side of my hand and my thumb.

“Oh sick!” I exclaimed.

I decided the best course of action was, to jump into the shower. Otherwise it was going to take a whole roll of toilet paper to clean me up back there. And besides, I needed to get the pee from the night’s wettings washed off.

When I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, mom was just coming into the bathroom.

“Are you taking another shower?” she teased, “You must be the cleanest boy in the state.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin, “Gee-whiz, mom! You scared the life out of me!”

“You feeling better this morning?” she asked with an amused little giggle. I knew she was referring to the free diaper comedy show I’d performed at the restaurant the previous night.

She tossed me a towel which I totally missed. It hit me right in the face.

“Mom, why does stupid stuff like that always seem to happen to me?” I whined.

She came over and began to help dry me off. “Alvin, messing up, getting embarrassed, and stuff like that are all part of growing up.” She said.

“Toes,” she said.

I lifted one foot and then the other so that she could dry my feet, legs and between my toes.

“Well, I think it happens to me more than anyone else.” I grunted.

“Did I ever tell you about the time, when I was a little girl and had a pair of my panties fall out of my pants leg at school?” she asked.

“Yes!” I moaned, “Only like a bazillion times!”

She tickled the bottom of my right foot and nearly caused me to fall over backward.

“Smarty-pants!” she said, as she caught me, hugged me to her and then dug her fingers into my arm pits.

“Mom don’t!” I cried, as I squirmed to get away.

My stomach gave a loud gurgling sound.

“Oh you sound hungry.” Mom commented.

But I knew that wasn’t the growling stomach sound of hunger. That was the growling stomach sound of my bowels about to explode again.

I leapt from mom’s embrace and quickly planted my bottom on the toilet just as the brown muck squirted out of me along with several loud bubbles of gas.

“Alvin, why didn’t you tell me you had a belly ache?” Mom admonished.

“I don’t have a belly ache.” I said, “I just got the screaming-doodies.”

It didn’t matter what I told her, she was already heading out of the bathroom and I knew she was headed for the Children's Liquid Imodium. Man, I hate that stuff. It makes my insides feel like someone is digging them out with a rusty shovel, but it sure does the trick for drying up a soggy poop-shute!

Mom’s sometimes have the worst jobs in the world. She came back about the same time I was getting off the toilet. She insisted on using a warm, wet washcloth to make sure my bottom was completely clean and she even cleaned the toilet once she was done with my bottom.

She also added the comment, “You’re rash doesn’t look to bad today.”

However, after she administered the Children's Imodium A-D Liquid Anti-Diarrhea potion, she applied a thick layer of the Desitin Diaper Cream to my front, between my legs and all over my backside. She even made me bend over, so that she could make sure she got between my butt cheeks really well.

As we walked out of the bathroom together, I picked up the GoodNite I had left lying in the middle of the floor, as well as the GoodNite that was lying on the counter. I crossed to the armoire and deposited both GoodNites at once.

Mom asked, “Did you have to get up in the middle of the night and change into a second one of those?”

I looked at her quizzically, “I thought you came in and changed me while I was sleeping.”

Puzzled she shook her head, “No, but maybe your father did. I don’t think he slept much last night.”

She started to reach into the armoire for one of the diapers and I instantly objected with the ferocity of a bear, which had just been awakened from a sound hibernation.

“Mom! No! I’m not wearing one of those to school!” I knew I was crossing the line with my tone, but there was no way she was going to get me to wear a diaper to school.

She just looked at me, diaper in hand. For a heated few seconds I thought, I was going to either have a hand print on my bare backside or on my face, but she simply returned the diaper to the plastic bag and pulled out a GoodNite.

“Then you should at least wear one of these. Just in case.” She said.

I didn’t tell her that I was already planning to do just that. After the way I’d been wetting myself without even knowing I was doing it, I wasn’t about to take any chances.

Mom also suggested that I pack a couple extras in my backpack in case I needed to change sometime during the day. She also insisted that I take the travel case of wipes and the tube of diaper cream too. You can bet that all that stuff went in the very bottom of my backpack. I then covered them up with a t-shirt and then all my school books.

While my stomach twisted and tied itself into knots due to the Imodium, I quickly slipped on the GoodNite and then finished getting dressed for school.

As I headed down the stairs to get some breakfast, I happened to pass Grandfather. He did the weirdest thing he’s ever done. He put a hand out as if to say, “STOP RIGHT THERE!” He then bent down, straightened my belt buckle, which was about two inches off center and then kissed me on the cheek. And it wasn’t one of those loving little pecks; it was a full three second lip to cheek contact kiss that left a bit of lip juice behind.

That was it! He didn’t say good morning or how was your trip or anything. He just straightened my belt and kissed me, before continuing up the stairs. I was so stunned by his action that I continued to watch, as he climbed to the top of the steps and headed down the hallway toward his study.

__________

Chapter 21

When I went in to have my breakfast, John was already in there, sipping at a hot cup of coffee and had a very thick piece of toast sitting in front of him. Also in the room was Micah.

“Hi Micah!” I said when I saw her and ran up to hug her.

“Oh boy,” She said, patting the top of my head kind of strong like, “Al-bin is back.”

“I missed you!” I said and I genuinely meant it too.

“Oh, you miss Micah or Micah’s food?” She said with a funny sort of smirk like she was teasing me a little.

“Both!” I teased back.

Before she escaped back to her kitchen, I quickly regaled her with tails of the French restaurant, Chef Acel and how he’d taught me to make Crepe’s.

“Can I make Crepe’s for my mom and John sometime? I promise that whatever mess I make I will clean up!” I begged her.

She eyed me for several seconds before firmly grabbing my chin and saying, “You make Micah some too and we have hard fast deal.”

I threw my arms around her and hugged her tight before letting her slip away.

She soon returned with a bowl of what I first thought was cold cereal, which didn’t sound too good on a cold winter morning, but then I tasted it and found that it wasn’t cold at all, in fact it was scalding hot.

“What is it?” I asked her.

“Frosted Mini-Wheat’s in hot cream. Is good for keeping growing boy warm all day.” She said and once again she patted the top of my head as though she was trying to put out a fire.

If you’ve never had Frosted Mini-Wheat’s served with hot milk, you have to try it. Boy that was so good that I actually asked for seconds.

While I was eating, I struck up a conversation with John. “Mom said you didn’t sleep so good last night?”

He grimaced as he shook his head.

“You feeling sick?” I asked him.

He took another sip of his coffee.

“No.” he softly answered and I thought he was going to say something else, but he didn’t.

“Hey dad, did you come in my room last night while I was sleeping.” I asked as he was taking another drink of coffee.

He paused with the cup halfway to his lips and looked at me as though I’d just suddenly transformed into a three-headed alien.

“What?” I asked, looking around to see if someone or something was behind me that would explain his expression.

“Did you just call me dad?” he asked with a hind of amusement to his voice.

“Huh? No!” I said, but then I paused, “Uh, maybe, I don’t know. Well, you are my dad, aren’t you?” I said, trying to joke my way through it.

It had been ages since I’d called him dad. Well, I guess I’ve called him dad on rare occasions, such as when I’ve been sick, hurt or scared, but as a rule, I didn’t use the D word.

However, our conversation ended right then because Grandmother came into the room. Without saying a word to each other, John rose from the table and picked up his coffee, so that he could finish it elsewhere. Before leaving the room he leaned down and said, “No, I wasn’t in your room, but I believe I saw Micah coming out of it around three this morning. With that, he kissed the top of my head and said, “Have a good day at school and I’ll see you tonight.”

I didn’t finish that second bowl of cereal because I had suddenly lost my appetite and it wasn’t because Grandmother had joined me at the table, but because of what John had just said to me.

“...I believe I saw Micah coming out of your room around three this morning.”

His words echoed in my ears over and over again. I couldn’t let myself even for one second believe that Micah had... Man, I can’t even write it!

I got up from the table and started to leave the room when Grandmother said, “Sit yourself back down and finish your breakfast.” And even though I had heard her, it didn’t register. Instead I stopped, turned and walked over to where she was sitting and without saying anything I hugged her.

“Have a nice day at school.” I told her and walked out of the room.

As I was leaving the room, I heard her grouse in a tremendously shrill tone, “Have a nice day at school?”

I guess she must have been talking to John after that when she said, “There’s something not right about that child!”

If you were to ask me if I closed the front door as I left for school, I couldn’t answer you because I don’t remember. All I remember is walking and carrying on a conversation with myself. It went something like this.

“Ok, as creepy as it is, I can handle Mom, John or even Joey’s mom Beth, changing me. But knowing that Micah had seen me in a wet GoodNite or worse yet, naked, I don’t think I could ever face her again.”

I turned the corner toward school as I continued talking aloud to no one. “And what was she doing in my room in the middle of the night? Why would she even look to see if I needed changed? For crying out loud, she’s a cook not a nanny!”

My one sided conversation came to an abrupt end when I nearly walked right into a snow covered pine tree. Don’t ask me how or when, but somewhere along the way I had veered off course and wandered into the park.

“Holy shark-bate! What the heck am I doing here?” I said and noticed that my words seemed to get lost among the snowy landscape.

The scene before me was both beautiful and kind of scary. It was like the park had been frozen in time. The only sounds I could hear were the creaking of tree branches and the distant cars that were passing the park entrance. I was deep into the park, past the fountain and nearly to the line of denser trees where I’d once seen Chris disappear into.

A cold chill raced up my spine and seemed to burst in my head like a fireworks display. Off to my left I heard what sounded like someone walking toward me, but I couldn’t see anyone. However, I didn’t stand there looking for long either. In reality, there was probably less than a second between the time I heard the sound, snapped my eyes left and then took off running as though my very life depended on me getting out of that park. And I didn’t stop running again until my school came into view and even then I walked at a very brisk pace, but had no idea that, in essence, I was jumping from the frying pan into the fire... so to speak.

The first day of school after returning from Canada, two things happened to me that I had no control over what-so-ever. I mean, it was like stepping in a big steaming pile of dog crap. It happened and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get all the crap off my shoe.

Things sort of happened like this. I was walking onto the school grounds when out of no where I was blindsided by... yep you guessed it, Bertha and the fabulously rotten Larry, BB and Fish.

However, on that particular day I was actually glad to see them. Ever since I’d figured out, with the help of Joey and that dang horror movie, that Chris is a ghost, I really didn’t want to be alone. I had put two and two together and managed to deduce, that anytime I’d ever encountered the ghost of Chris, I had been alone. So, it seems logical that as long as I am not alone, if Chris is a real ghost, then he’s likely not going to show up. But if he does show up and others see him, then I will have proof that I am not the only one seeing him.

“What’s the matter with you?” Bertha asked me.

Having been gone as long as I had, my nasal passages had time to recover from the daily assault they normally endured whenever Bertha was around. For half-a-second I almost said something about the rank odor, but I managed to keep the words from escaping past my lips.

Instead, I turned and looked back the way I came to be sure, that there was no sign of Chris.

“Yo Alvin?” BB said while slugging me in the shoulder. It didn’t really hurt, but I rubbed my shoulder anyway.

“I-I-I’m cool.” I said, although it didn’t sound very convincing.

Fish kicked at a large clump of grey snow, “So where you been hiding?” he asked.

“Canada,” I answered.

“Whatever,” Bertha said and then bumping my arm with the side of her fist, she asked me in an odd manner, “So, anyone scooped you up yet?”

But before I could ask her what she meant, Fish interrupted with, “Wow, you were in another country?” I wasn’t sure if he was being serious or if he was mocking me.

Larry squeezed himself in between Bertha and me, “Did you fly there?”

“No, we drove. That’s why we were gone so long. We got snowed in.” I said.

Bertha repeated her question, “So, anyone scooped you up yet?”

“Scooped me up?” I asked, not having a clue what she was going on about.

“You know,” BB sang while bumping my gut with an elbow and wiggling his eyebrows knowingly.

I bumped him back, but much harder. He got the idea that I was getting tired of being hit and none of them touched me the rest of the morning.

“You sure you’re ok?” Bertha asked again, but this time I saw something in her eyes that I’d never seen before. It took me a full second to realize, that she was genuinely concerned about how I was acting.

“Um,” I said while stalling, “maybe we can talk about it later.” And to keep from having them continue to hound me about it, I quickly redirected the conversation back to the ‘scooped up’ question.

“So, what did you mean when you asked me if anyone had scooped me up?” I asked, trying to sound as though I was perfectly ok and that I wasn’t scared, that a ghost might be stalking me.

Fish started to reach out with a balled up fist like he was going to pop me in the arm again, but he stopped when I shot him a look that said, “Do it and die!”

He dropped his hand to his side, however, he did continue to say what he was about to say, “The dance?” and he made sure, that the way he said it sounded like he was calling me a moron for not knowing about it.

“What dance?” I asked.

“Oh Alvin,” Bertha rolled her eyes and head at the same time, “I keep forgetting that you are not from around here.” and all four of us boys gave her a look like none of us believed that for a second. I mean, come on, I don’t dress like anyone here and I sure don’t talk like anyone from around here. I might as well wear a blinking neon sign that reads, ‘Foreigner’.

Bertha began to explain, “After the start of each school year, to get everyone into the school spirit, and to introduce that years members...”

I interrupted her with, “Members of what?”

Sounding slightly irritated for being interrupted she said, “The Boyd Bears of course.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, popping myself in the forehead for having forgot our school hockey team after Stacks had told me about it.

“Anyway, the Pep Squad puts on a Snowball dance.” Bertha continued.

I honestly thought that the next question I raised was a good one, “What the heck is a Snowball dance?” I was envisioning the entire school body engaged in a choreographed snowball fight that was set to music.

All three of the guys acted as though I had asked the dumbest question in the history of mankind. Fish had to take it even farther by drilling a finger into the side of his head. That particular hand gesture was one I was already familiar with. Basically, it’s a way of saying someone must have had a lobotomy.

I took a half serous swing at him, but he had anticipated it and jumped back out of the way of my flying slap. However, since he was out of my reach, Bertha punched BB in the back and from the sound of it she didn’t pull her punch at all.

“What the hell did you do that for?” BB complained loudly.

Boy, after getting hit in the back like that, I was surprised he was able to breathe, let alone speak.

Bertha curled her lip like a snarling dog and said to him, “Pass it on,” and he did just that.

Fish knew what was coming and though he flinched, he took the punch. It was almost comical to watch him as he rubbed his arm, jumped up and down like he was trying to get warm and shook his arm as though trying to shake the pain out.

“Oh yeah! May I have another?” he joked, but his eyes were telling a different story. I don’t think he was jumping around to get warm, but to keep from crying. Knowing how bullies are, if he had started crying or if the others had seen, that he was close to crying, they probably would have pounded him into the snow.

The five of us headed for the school doors while I pleaded, “Will someone please explain to me what a Snowball dance is?”

Bertha put her arm around me and I thought I was going to loose my breakfast from the foul odor that oozed from under her arm and enveloped my head. With my head in a loose embrace she explained, “It’s a dance where all the girls in the school get to ask the guys to the dance. Guys don’t get to ask and whichever girl asks them first, that’s who they have to go with.” She paused long enough to scratch herself under the same arm that was holding my head, “Since you’ve not been asked by anyone else, consider yourself officially asked.”

“Wait a second here!” Larry loudly objected as we stepped into the school. Probably thirty or more students turned to look right at us.

With no warning, Fish popped Larry right in the mouth. Not hard, but it was enough to get his attention.

“What the fuck?” he cussed at Fish for hitting him. But before Fish could respond, Larry turned back to Bertha and continued his loud objection. “I thought we were going together again this year?”

Bertha made a face at him like one makes when they are trying to dig a wedgie out of their butt crack. She followed that up by sticking out her tongue.

“No thanks, I use toilet paper!” Larry said and stormed down the hall.

“Oh, that was real mature.” BB shouted to the back of Larry’s head while hooking his arm around Fish’s shoulders.

You know, I must be the most naive person in the entire solar system, because I didn’t even get it when Fish said to BB, “So, looks like it’s me and you again this year?” and then bumped him on the chin with his fist.

BB put his hand on his hip, snapped his other fingers in the air and said, “You know it baby!” And acting like a couple of fruity goofballs, the two of them disappeared, arm-in-arm, into the crowd, soliciting giggles and sniggers from the other students in the hallway.

“So, tell me,” I began, directing my comment to Bertha, “were those two dropped on their heads when they were born?”

Bertha didn’t even crack a smile when she answered, “No, they come by stupid naturally.”

__________

Chapter 22

So there it was, I was going to the school dance with stinky Bertha and according to the Snowball Dance rules, I wasn’t allowed to say no to whoever asked me first and she asked me first. Well, she didn’t actually ask; it was more like she TOLD me I was going with her. I guess in the world of bullies, the word ‘told’ is the same thing as ‘ask’.

Later that day, while I was going from one class to another, I ran into Stacks. She looked harassed and angry, but when she spotted me it was as if the gray clouds had cleared up and allowed the sun to shine down upon her.

“Hey Stacks.” I said when the two of us nearly collided.

“Oh hi Alvin,” she said and blew a hair out of her eyes.

“You ok?” I asked.

“Yeah,” She said with a sigh, “just had another run in with my English teacher. I think she has it in for me.” She said.

“Really? Sorry to hear that.” I said, trying to sound like I cared, but if the truth be known, seeing Stacks right then had reminded me of something that guy at the restaurant, Mr. Rawnwe had said. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you. It seems you have stolen my daughters’ heart.”

I’d been mulling over those words in the back of my mind ever since, trying to make sense of them.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked, purposefully not making eye contact.

She shifted her wait to one foot and readjusted her arm load of books on the opposite hip, “Sure.”

“That guy at the restaurant, the one that runs the place... uh,” I grunted as I tried to remember that guy’s name, “Mr. Rawnwe” I said with a triumphant snap of my fingers, “Is he your dad?” As soon as I got the words out, my mouth went dry with the thought that someone like Stacks might have the hots for me.

She smiled knowingly and I knew in that moment, that I had guessed right. “Well, he’s not my real dad, if that is what you mean. He’s just my step dad. He married my mom a couple years ago.” She said and then asked, “How did you even guess?”

I shrugged, “Oh well, you had said that your dad makes you work there and I just assumed that he must work there too.” I said, hoping she would buy that excuse because I didn’t want to tell her what he had said to me.

Thankfully, two other girls walked up and rudely pushed their way between Stacks and me. Back in California I probably would have said something equally rude to them, but instead I took that opportunity to make my escape.

“Oh man!” I groaned into my locker as I deposited some books and collected the ones I’d need next. Mumbling to myself I said, “Stacks likes me?” It was both an exhilarating and horrendous thought. I didn’t have a clue what to do or say to her. A day before I didn’t even know we were friends and now to learn that she likes me?

I closed my locker as I mumbled to myself, “Man, I wish Gary was here. He’d know what I should do.” And in that instant I decided, that I’d call him the first chance I got. After all, he did say I could call him collect anytime I needed too.

On the way home I saw Chris again, only this time I don’t think he saw me. He was once again leaning on that same tree, wearing the same jersey, holding that same hockey stick and looking in the opposite direction, just as he almost always seems to be doing. The evidence was piling up that Chris was indeed a spirit trapped here on earth.

I didn’t want to risk Chris turning and seeing me, so I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled across the snow covered ground like an infant might crawl across the living room floor. It didn’t escape me that I was also wearing a diaper like an infant too.

I took every opportunity, such as parked cars, trees, bushes, etc, to hide behind and rest. Contrary to popular belief, it is more difficult to craw than walk when it comes to long distances.

When I had made it past the park and was less than one hundred fifty feet from the corner of my grandparents’ street, I ran out of hiding places. My next move would put me out in the open where Chris was sure to see me. However, when I peeked passed the car I was hiding behind to the tree where Chris had been leaning, he was gone. Without giving myself away I moved out more to get an even better look but I couldn’t see any sign of him anywhere. Even when I stood up I couldn’t see him; I was in the clear!

I ran the rest of the way home, only slowing when I reached the front walk, because it was covered with some kind of opaque purple crystals. Not knowing what they were, I chose to walk on the snow up to the door, which opened right as I was stepping up on the front stoop.

“Grandfather!” I said with surprise.

I wasn’t so much surprised that it was him who’d opened the door, as much as I was with what he was wearing. I’d never seen my grandfather dressed down before, but there he was, wearing a tartan green and red shirt and pastel yellow pants. And that alone was enough to blow my mind but he was also wearing black combat boots, in which the legs of his pants had been tucked into sharply.

He had a stubby little pipe hanging out of his mouth, but no smoke was coming out of it and I guessed that it must not be lit.

“Alvin.” He said while looking out across the snow and neighborhood.

With an ear-to-ear grin and a snicker I asked, “Grandfather, what are you wearing?” My words, which had been formed and uttered without me even knowing that I had thought them, were out there, hanging in the chilly air amidst the lingering crystallized breath that had carried them past my lips.

Grandfather breathed in heavily through his nose, looked down at me, removed the pipe from him mouth and I’m not sure, but I think he smiled as he said, “They’re doing something new with rock salt.”

He had completely ignored my question concerning his clown-like attire. I watched his pipe as he extended it like a thin curved finger to point at the sidewalk and the odd purple crystals that littered the walkway to the house like a trail of breadcrumbs.

Staring into the cold, he cleared his throat and added, “By injecting beet juice to the salt, it looses some of its corrosiveness to cars and lawns.”

Grandfather has a way of speaking that makes normally unremarkable words like ‘corrosiveness’ seem almost magical in their meaning.

I looked up at him, and then to the sidewalk as I asked, “Oh, is that what that stuff is?”

I was too busy focusing on the purple salt crystals to notice Grandfather reaching around me until I felt his hand taking me by the shoulder and squeezing lightly.

“Between you and me, it still tastes positively revolting.” He said with a strong but short lived laugh.

I looked up at him again. His pipe was back in his mouth, held there by his clenched teeth. The smile I had detected before had been replaced by his normal constipated gloom. Standing so close to him I could detect the sweet aroma of pipe tobacco and booze. However, it wasn’t any kind of booze I’d ever smelled before. On him, it smelled... well, it smelled good.

He gave me another squeeze as he spoke again, “By gum, when I first heard that they were adding beet juice I was understandably intrigued.”

I looked up at him as he spoke.

“After all, beet juice is highly irregular don’t you know.” He blew air out of his nose as if trying to clear his sinuses and then continued, “But you have to admit someone, somewhere was mightily clever to come up with that one.”

He released his grip on my shoulder and patted me affectionately “Yes, sir! Might clever!” he repeated.

When Grandfather stopped speaking, I waited for him to say something else. When he didn’t, that’s when I decided, I wanted to ask him something totally unrelated.

“Grandfather,” I started. However, once again he interrupted me.

“Hold on a minute boy.” He said, sounding quite un-grandfather like. Actually, the way he said ‘Hold on a minute boy.’ made him sound like a frail old man.

With his one free hand he was patting his shirt pockets. “I’ve got something here that I wanted to ask you about,” he said as he reached into the left breast pocket of his shirt. He pulled out and handed me a small folded piece of paper.

“Don’t suppose you know anything about that, do you boy?” he said in his same old grumpy tone.

The paper, which was folded in half, looked as though it had once been wadded into a ball. I unfolded the paper and saw that there was something written on it.

Www.ild.com

Of course I recognized it instantly as the note that some girl had given me at the rest-stop where mom had changed me during our trip up to Canada. But what I didn’t know was how Grandfather had ended up with it. And frankly until he had returned it to me, I had forgotten all about it.

I didn’t know what to say to Grandfather. It was mine, but I had no idea what the website address might contain and I feared, that Grandfather already knew. Then again, Grandfather is pretty old. He might not even know how to work a computer, let alone look up the website address.

I decided that the best action was to fess up. “Yeah it’s mine. Some girl gave it to me, but I’ve not had a chance to check it out yet.”

Grandfather knowingly hummed, tapped the paper with the stem of his pipe and said, “A girl gave you that, huh?”

“Yes sir.” I answered as I folded the paper again and stuffed it into my pocket.

“Yeah,” he grunted as he returned the pipe to his mouth and puffed as though it were lit, “well,” he said almost humming as he spoke, “be sure that it doesn’t end up in the laundry again.”

Once again he took hold of my shoulder and squeezed, “You were about to say something before?” he asked.

He looked down and I really do think that he smiled again.

“Um...” I began, but whatever it was I had intended to ask him had vanished from my mind. That is when I heard something off to my right. When I looked in the direction of the sound, a sick feeling came over me as I saw Chris standing on the corner of the street looking right at me.

I looked back up to grandfather, but only for a split-second. When I looked back, Chris was gone again.

Excitedly I shouted and pointed to where Chris had been, “Grandfather, did you see him?”

I turned, grabbed his tartan flannel shirt and as if I was pleading for him to say yes I again asked, “Did you see him?”

He looked at me, then to where I had pointed and back to me. I already knew the answer; he didn’t have to say anything. Grandfather had not seen Chris.

Scared and angry I pushed away from him, ran into the house and headed to the one room I knew had a telephone. Moving across the country was one thing, moving to a haunted town was another thing all together and I had reached my limit of what I could handle on my own. I needed help and the only one I knew that I could count on was Gary!

__________

Chapter 23

As I burst through the kitchen door, scaring the life nearly out of Micah in the process, I slipped on the freshly mopped and still wet floor. My left foot stayed planted just outside the kitchen door while my other foot slid out from under me. I crashed to the floor doing the splits and slamming my jewels against the hard floor. The pain was so incredibly torturous, that all I could do was to scream as I clutched at my aching jewels.

To be completely honest, I don’t know what hurt more, doing the splits or having Micah see me in such a vulnerable state. Oh man, it hurt so much. Grandfather had heard my cry and came rushing in to find out what was going on. What he found was Micah leaning over me holding her mop. I think he had jumped to the conclusion, that she had attacked me when I tried to get into her kitchen, which is something I wouldn’t put pasted her for a second. However that isn’t what happened and without even thinking about doing the right thing, I tried to speak with what little air I could spare. Sounding almost is if a gasp I said, “I slipped.”

I’d cracked my jewels before while surfing with John. This was before he had lost his job and I had lost all respect for him. I’d taken a big hit from a wave and was thrashed about for a few seconds underwater before I made it to the surface again. However, no sooner had my head come up out of the water then my board came up right below me and nailed me right in the crotch. Had my dad not been right there I probably would have drowned. As it was, the impact had caused me to breathe in a lung full of water and John had to drag me back to the beach while I coughed and spat out the salty water.

As ghastly as that time in the ocean had been, this one seemed worse. I mean, it was bad enough to have Micah see me curled up in the fetal position holding my jewels and carrying on the way I was, but to also have my grandfather witnessing such a spectacle was wholly mortifying. My jewels and legs hurt so bad, that all I could do was clutch at my aching crotch and moan like a miserable old hound-dog.

Micah leaned over me and asked, “Al-bin hurt pipi?”

“Oh dear merciful God, kill me now! PLEASE!” I screamed. No really, I screamed that right out loud.

Funny thing about doing the splits and cracking my jewels on the floor, after about three minutes the pain was nearly gone and I could breathe again. After five minutes I was able to stand, but not fully and after ten minutes it was as though it had never happened... well, at least as far as my jewels were concerned; my pride on the other hand was still mortally wounded.

Grandfather had done something really peculiar while I had been lying there moaning and carrying on. He had rubbed and massaged just above where my legs connect to my sides; right below my rib bones. At first it felt weird having him touch me like that, but after a minute or so I found that it was helping to ease some of my groin discomfort.

Grandfather cleared his throat. “My boy, I had the same thing happen to me when I was your age.” He cleared his throat again, “Except when I did it, it was in front of about three hundred people and I ripped my pants in the process.” Grandfather told me, all the while rubbing my sides.

Micah went to the refrigerator and filled a hand towel with ice. She tried to get me to put the ice bundle down my pants, but I told her there was no way I was putting ice down my pants.

“Al-bin no worry, Micah see Al-bins special pants lots.” She said and I choked on my own tongue.

Micah proceeded to pound on my chest and lift up on my chin. Boy, I sure was getting beat up a lot. First the floor tried to rupture my nuts, then my own tongue tried to suffocate me and now Micah was beating me to death. Then again, Micah was the one that had mopped the floor, so I guess in a way she was responsible for all of my pain. I flapped my arms and hands to get her to back off as I tried to get my breath back.

Shockingly, Grandfather lifted me in his arms as if I was nothing more than a small toddler. I was still coughing some, but at least I could breathe now. He never once said anything about me coughing in his face as he carried me all the way through the house and up to my room.

Now, I had no idea that, while I had been rolling around on the floor, the GoodNite I had been wearing had failed to do the job for which it was intended to do. However, Grandfather had seen what happened and decided that he needed to rescue me from what surely would have been a fatal case of embarrassment.

It wasn’t until he had carried me into my room, lowered me to my feet and closed the door that I became aware of my wet pants.

I guess it was an accumulation of everything that had happened up to that point, which had caused me to say what I said next within my Grandfather’s presents.

“Son of a fucking bitch!” I cursed at my pants and as soon as I had uttered those four words I instantly knew that they were going to be the last words anyone ever heard from me.

I looked up at Grandfather fully expecting him to come down on me like Hell’s fury unleashed, but he didn’t. Now he was understandably upset with what I had just said, but he also knew that it was said under extreme circumstances.

He puffed himself up and I braced myself for at the very least a verbal thrashing.

“Well then. Seems you have your grandmother’s talent for words.” He said rather drolly.

That one threw me for a loop and I was left scratching my head.

“Don’t tell her I told you so, but she can make a seasoned sailor blush when she gets worked up.” He said with a chuckle that seemed to pain him more than amuse him.

Still, when he stepped toward me and reached out a hand, I instinctively recoiled.

“Oh do settle down boy!” he said gruffly, “Come boy! Get that chin up and stick out that chest.”

I stuck out my chest like he said but instead of lifting my chin, I cocked my head to one side like a dog might do.

“No, no, no! Not like that boy,” he said, taking hold of my head and positioning it himself.

He then placed his hands on my shoulders, “Now push your shoulders back.”

He stood back, rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said smartly, “That’s more like it!”

Grandfather reached to his mouth for his pipe but it wasn’t there. It was almost funny the way he looked at his right hand with disapproval. He caught me smiling at him coyly and quickly hid his hand behind his back.

“Now then, we best do something about your attire.” He said.

“Uh, I can do it myself?” I said confidently.

He puffed himself up again and sounding like the Grandfather I knew, he huffed, “Well then, don’t just stand there. Get to it boy!” and as he reached for the doorknob he said, “And be quick about it! No dilly-dallying and whatnot!”

__________

Chapter 24

Quick isn’t the word for how fast I stripped. I almost literally jumped out of my wet pants and GoodNite. I can remember how soaking wet the GoodNite was and I had the unpleasant thought, that I must have wet earlier that day and hadn’t known it. Oddly enough it wasn’t until that moment, that I realized I hadn’t used the restroom at school once that day.

But I didn’t hold onto those thoughts very long. I still wanted to call Gary and I wanted to do it before anything else came up to sidetrack me.

I was rummaging through my backpack for the extra GoodNite when the door to my bedroom opened. Nude from the waist down I turned to see who was coming in, but there wasn’t anyone at all. My first thought was, that grandfather hadn’t completely closed the door and a breeze must have blown the door open again. However, I then had a more alarming thought. What if it was the ghost of Chris, only now he was invisible as most ghosts are on TV and in the movies?

If I had been moving fast before, I was now moving at near the speed of light. With no regard for the contents of my backpack, I turned it upside down and dumped everything onto the floor. That’s when I really got scared. The extra GoodNite I had taken to school was gone!

“OH MY GOODNESS! OH MY GOODNESS! OH MY GOODNESS!” I said, fearing the worst.

I stood up, scanned the contents which lay scattered and quickly flipped through my memories of the day in an effort to discover who might have taken it. But it was useless. I couldn’t see a single moment when my backpack and I had been parted anytime during the day.

With my heart beating so hard that I thought it was going to burst through my ribcage, I raced to the armoire, retrieved a pair of pants and bolted out the door without even putting them on.

When I hit the floor at the bottom of the steps I heard a squeal of terror. In my frightened state I thought it was Chris’s ghost howling after me, which made me run even faster.

An ungodly, shrill voice filled the house, “Alastair! Alastair!” but I was too scared to realize, that the ghost wasn’t screaming my name at all.

I ran all the way back to the kitchen door. However, instead of busting through as I had done before, I stopped without looking back and jumped into my pants with both feet at the same time. Holding my pants in place I pushed open the door, slipped in and closed it behind me again.

Oddly enough, Micah was no where to be seen. The kitchen seemed oddly quiet after hearing the shrill cries of the ghost, but even still I didn’t stop. I ran over to the phone, grabbed the cordless receiver off the wall and dove into the pantry, where I closed myself in.

Breathing hard and shaking all over, I pressed zero and waited for the operator.

“Thank you for using AT&T. How may I help you?” the operator asked.

“I-I need to call Gary collect!” I said quickly.

“Do you have the number mam?” the operator said.

“I’m not a mam! I’m a guy!” I shot back.

The operator quickly apologized, “I’m sorry sir.” And then asked again, “Do you have the number?”

I still had the number memorized and recited it flawlessly.

“One moment sir.” She said.

It almost sounded like the phone went dead as I waited to be connected to Gary. Boy, it felt like an eternity before the operator came back on and said, “I’m sorry sir but there is no answer. You might try your call again later.” There was barely a pause before she said, “Thank you for using AT&T and have a nice day.”

There was a click and the operator was gone. I couldn’t help feeling like she had some kind of attitude. I was trying to think what to do next when the door to the pantry opened and there stood grandfather looking quite perplexed.

“What is the meaning of this? Come out of there boy!” he croaked in a frog-like voice.

Before I could explain he asked, “What on earth were you doing running around the house showing off everything God gave you?”

He didn’t even allow me to answer before almost shouting, “You gave your grandmother an awful fright!”

And grabbing me by my ear he towed me out of the kitchen, phone still in one hand while my other hand clutched my pants to keep them from falling off.

“MY EAR! MY EAR!” I shouted and not thinking, I swatted at his hand with the same hand I was holding the phone with.

It worked, he let go of my ear when the phone struck his wrist, but then his other hand came out of nowhere and connected with the right side of my face. I hadn’t seen it coming so it took me totally by surprise and honestly it didn’t hurt nearly as much as the sound of it make it seem. I also didn’t cry, I guess because I was so stunned by the slap. I think it also surprised grandfather who was looking down at me in horror. I took that opportunity to drop the phone and run for all I was worth to my room.

However, halfway up their stairs I remembered that I had thought the ghost had come into my room. I froze in mid stride, unsure if I should continue going upstairs or if I should turn around and try to get the heck out of dodge! In a split-second decision, I chose to flee to my room!

Years ago I had learned a neat trick. If you stuff the toe of a rubber soled shoe under the latch side of a door and someone tries to open it, they won’t be able to get in.

A moment after I had successfully wedged my shoe under the door I heard someone, grandfather I presumed, jiggling the doorknob from the other side.

“Young man! Unlock the door this instant!” came grandfathers irritated voice.

I didn’t reply. Instead I was trying to think of somewhere to hide incase he managed to muscle the door open and also incase the ghost was still in my bedroom.

“Under the bed!” I first said and then immediately countered with, “Not on your life, Alvin!” as I remembered that under the bed is where ghosts usually prefer to hide. I could have hid in the bathroom, but that would have been too easy a place to be found. I mean what was I going to do? Hide inside the toilet bowl? Yeah right!

With no other choice I dove for the far side of the armoire and crouched down. I wasn’t really hidden, but it was the best that I could hope for.

Grandfather didn’t force his way into the room. I also didn’t come out when mom and John came home later and tried to get me to open up. Even when John threatened to ground me for a year I didn’t surrender. After a while I started to feel that it was safe to roam around the room, but I was still scared that the ghost was in my room somewhere. I had turned on every light and pulled the edges of the bedding up so that I could see all the way under the bed to the other side of the room. And when the sandman did his nightly rounds I didn’t even get into that bed but curled up in the bathtub with a pillow and blanket from off the bed.

__________

Chapter 25

The following morning I awoke to find myself wearing pee soaked pants and shirt and thinking, that sleeping in the bathtub was an ingenious idea for that very reason. I stripped, tossed everything into the laundry chute, showered and got dressed. HOWEVER!!!! I decided then and there that I was done with wetting my pants! I wasn’t going to wear diapers or GoodNites during the daytime any more. During the night was one thing, but during the day was out of the question!

Part of what brought me to this decision was the fact, that someone had somehow got into my backpack and taken my extra GoodNite. That meant that someone in my school knew about me wearing them and I could only imagine what sort of ramifications were going to come of that.

And then, as I was repacking my backpack, I made a very exciting discovery. At the bottom of my backpack, the one I thought I had totally emptied was the GoodNite I thought had been taken.

“Whew!” I gasped with relief after finding it. I also determined that instead of going all day without using the school restrooms, I would make sure I went after every single class; even if it meant I would be late to each consecutive class.

I put on my coat and gloves, then my shoes and slung my backpack over both shoulders. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make it out of the house without being caught by my parents or grandparents, but I was sure going to try. I’d worry later about the consequences from my actions the previous afternoon.

As I was headed for the door something else occurred to me, the note that grandfather had returned to me. Now I’d already been all around that room, but still I turned and looked for the wet pants I had taken off the day before. I’d left them laying in the middle of the floor, along with the wet GoodNite, but with all the hoopla I’d completely forgot about them.

“Oh man what did the note say again?” I asked myself while thumping on the side of my head.

“Uh, www dot... uh, something dot com... right?” I thought aloud.

I hit myself even harder as if the extra jolt would rattle something loose and allow me to remember.

As if a light bulb went off above my head, like in the cartoons, I exclaimed, “ILD! That’s it! www.ild.com!”

Before I removed the shoe from my door I put my ear to it and listened. I couldn’t hear anything at all emanating from the other side.

“Guess there’s only one way to know Alvin!” I said to myself.

I pulled out the shoe and opened the door. As I peaked my head out I saw that no one was anywhere to be seen.

“Yes!” I whispered a small victory cry.

With cat-like stealth I crept downstairs, into the kitchen and grabbed some food that looked somewhat appetizing. After stuffing it into my backpack I headed for the front door however I hadn’t expected what happened next.

As soon as the door opened an alarm sounded. Apparently my grandparents have a home security system which I had been ignorant of all this time.

It was steadily snowing outside so I pulled the hood of my coat over my head and ran out of the house as if I were a thief running from the scene of a burglary. I ran and ran and didn’t stop running until I couldn’t hear the alarm blaring anymore. When I finally stopped running I realized that I had run myself right into the middle of Memorial Gardens Park where the early morning sun’s light was barely visible. Actually, it was casting eerie shadows and making it look even scarier than that park usually does.

“Alvin?” a voice from the shadows called out.

I’m ashamed to say that I screamed like a little girl. Really I did, but come on, wouldn’t you? However, I didn’t run; I wanted to, but my legs wouldn’t work. I looked through the falling snow in the general direction the voice had come from. I was so pleased to see Larry walking toward me.

“Damn-it Larry!” I said, not caring if I cussed in front of him, “You scared the shit out of me!”

“What the heck are you doing out here at this time of the morning?” I asked him.

He laughed a bit, “I was going to ask you the same thi...” but he suddenly stopped in mid sentence. He pointed down at my pants and chuckled self pleasingly, “My Alvin, didn’t you wear your diapers to school again today?”

“What?” I squawked in disbelief for what he had just said and it only got worse when I looked down and saw the blatant wet streak that ran down the inside of both pant legs.

I was frantically trying to think of what to do when, without any warning, Larry jumped on me and began punching and clawing me.

“What the...!” I shouted as the two of us collapsed to the snow covered ground with him on top of me.

He had the element of surprise on his side, but somehow, in the first few seconds of our scuffle, I had flipped us both over so that I was sitting lopsided on his stomach. He’d got in several good punches to my face and my bottom lip was bleeding like a faucet, but I got my fair share of blows in too.

“Fucker! Get off me!” He shouted while trying to protect his face with his arms and hands.

He tried to roll me off, but as he rolled left, his nose became unprotected and I landed a left handed punch right on target. Larry screamed and became even more violent, swinging and kicking wildly. Somehow, his knee made contact with my ear and I was sent tumbling off him. I landed face down in the snow and when I lifted my head I could see my own crimson blood staining the white virgin snow.

Sounding like some kind of crazed wild animal, Larry screamed again and I flipped myself over just in time to see him hanging in midair, seconds away from pouncing on me. There was barely enough time for me to lift both of my knees and catch him right in the stomach. His momentum forced him to continue to flip over and land on his back directly above my head. Despite how much I was hurting and bleeding, I still was able to jump right back to my feet with both fists raised, ready for him to attack again. But Larry didn’t attack again.

Larry was lying on the ground looking directly up into the now heavily falling snow. Both arms were wrapped around his middle and he was gasping for air like a fish out of water. When he had collided with my knees, every bit of air had been knocked out of him.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” I shouted as blood sprayed from my bleeding mouth.

I wanted to jump on him while he was incapacitated and just beat on him some more, but I didn’t.

My backpack was hanging from one shoulder strap. The other had been ripped off near the top and was dangling by my left leg.

Bleeding all over my coat, I turned toward the entrance of the park, preparing to leave Larry behind. I knew I would get to school way too early for anyone else to be there, but I also knew that I couldn’t go back to my grandparents, not after what had happened there the night before. At any rate, I needed help and the school nurse was the only one that came to mind. As I was turning to go, Larry groaned and then he began to cry loudly. I guess he got his breath back. There was something in the way he was screaming that made me think, that something was really wrong and then I saw his right leg. It was partially buried in the snow, which is why I hadn’t noticed it before. His leg was wedged between to small tree trunks and was bent in a way legs are not supposed to bend and then I saw the blood. Man there was so much blood soaking the leg of his pants.

Suddenly, I wasn’t hurting anymore. I raced over to him and dropped to my knees. When I touched him he screamed even louder. He was totally hysterical and the only thing I could think to do was to slap him the way they do in the movies. So that is just what I did. Amazingly it worked. He stopped screaming, but he was still blubbering and in loads of pain; of course I didn’t blame him in the least. I can only imagine how much his leg must be hurting.

“Fucking-shit!” he swore loudly.

Now, I’ve had quite a bit of First-Aid training. That was something that both my parents as well as Gary had insisted on. And for the most part their reasoning had been the same; as much time as I spend at the beach, I should know how to help myself or someone else in the event of an emergency. However, learning First-Aid and practicing it are two entirely different things.

“Holy-shit Alvin! My leg, my leg is broken! Oh fuck Alvin!” Larry cried as he pulled on the front of my blood covered coat.

“Larry you better just lie still. I am going to get some help!” I said, starting to stand up.

Larry grabbed the dangling strap of my backpack and wouldn’t let go.

He looked right into my eyes with his one still open eye. Had he not been so badly injured, I might have taken some pride in the fact, that I’d caused his other eye to nearly swell completely shut and gush blood.

“You can’t leave me! Oh fuck Alvin, please don’t leave me! I’m sorry! I’m sorry I hit you! Oh fucking-shit Alvin, please don’t leave me here!” Larry was bawling and spraying my face with blood as he spoke.

“Larry you’re leg is broken and there is no way I can carry you!” I said, trying to make him understand, but he was quickly loosing himself in the pain again.

“Hey listen, damn-it!” I slapped him again, but not as hard as I had the first time. “Alright, I won’t leave you, but you have to stop freaking out and help me here!”

If things were not bad enough, the snow was now falling worse than I’ve ever experienced in my life and I don’t mean light fluffy white Christmas snowflakes either. I’m talking heavy, wet snow that all but blocks out the sun and makes it near impossible to see more than a couple feet ahead of you at the most. Within minutes all traces of our struggle in the snow, including our blood was covered over again making it seem as though the fight had never happened.

As quickly as the snow was falling, still the blood from his leg seemed to seep into the fresh snow. I knew I had to stop, or at the very least slow the bleeding. I thought about it for a few seconds and then took off my backpack. It took a lot of effort, but I was able to finish ripping the loose strap, which I used to tie around his leg, just above the knee. As I pulled to make it as tight as I possibly could, Larry let out a wail of pain in the form of a long drawn out list of colorful expressions. That must have been the final bit of pain to put him over the edge because Larry simply lost it. He gave himself over to the pain and his fears. He became entirely unhinged, screaming things like, “I’m going to fucking die!”

Perhaps it was a combination of fear, anger and panic that caused me to hit him like I did. This time I didn’t slap him, I punched him and I mean I punched him hard; harder than I have ever punched anyone in my life.

For a full second Larry was silent and stared at me in utter disbelief and then his eyes closed and he drifted into unconsciousness.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” I cussed, realizing that I had just knocked him out.

“Now what am I going to do?” I angrily asked myself, “I can’t leave him here. He’ll get buried alive in a matter of minutes in this blizzard.

After I had carefully freed his broken leg from between the two trees, I grabbed him by the wrists and began to drag him toward the entrance of the park. Man, Larry was heavy! I had only moved him about thirty feet when I decided to leave my backpack behind. It was just too much for me to drag Larry and lug all my books too. Like I said, it was snowing so much that I couldn’t see. I could only hope that I was moving us closer to the park entrance, otherwise the two of us were probably done for and frankly, I did not want to end up a ghost like Chris!

I heard something loud that sounded like a truck, or perhaps a road plow and that gave me hope that we were nearing the street. Then headlights blazed only a couple yards away. A horn blared and the lights swerved, followed by the crunch of metal against metal.

“What the hell are you doing in the middle of the street kid!” a mans voice shouted.

“Help! My friend is hurt bad! I think he’s dieing!” I screamed and realized that I was lying down again. I must have fallen when the car nearly hit us. There really was no way to tell, but I had drug Larry all the way out of the park and into the middle of the street were the two of us were nearly hit by an oncoming car.

Things happened so fast after that. The police came, a fire truck came and then an ambulance which took Larry away. A minute after Larry was gone two more ambulances arrived, one for the guy that had been driving the car. He’d bashed his head on his steering wheel because he hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt. Even though I insisted that I was ok and didn’t need to go to the hospital I was forced into the third ambulance.

I guess all the blood made them think I was hurt worse than I really was. I got five stitches in my bottom lip, two above my eye and my right wrist had been wrapped with one of those ace bandages. Apparently I had sprained it without even knowing I’d done so.

All of that occurred long before my parents and grandparents arrived at the hospital. Boy, let me tell you that I wasn’t looking forward to seeing them. When one of those nice nurse ladies told me they had contacted my parents I started to feel ill. I was at the hospital for nearly two hours before they arrived. Surprisingly, they didn’t look mad at all. In fact, all four of them looked more worried and concerned than anything else.

Not long after they arrived a police officer came in to ask me a bunch of questions about what had happened. I had thought about lying and saying that Larry and I were mugged, but I figured that they probably already talked to Larry and knew the truth. So I told them exactly what happened. Of course I left out the part about me wetting my pants even though it had been obvious when I’d arrived at the hospital because my pants began to smell of pee as soon as they began to thaw.

It took nearly an hour and a half for us to get from the hospital to my grandparents because of the snow, which hadn’t let up at all. However, I only know that because I was later told that is how long it took. You see, minutes after getting into the car I fell asleep in the backseat, sitting between mom and grandmother. I guess I was worn out because I slept until nearly suppertime that same day.

I awoke in my normal room, lying in my normal bed and for all of ten seconds I felt normal. Then came the dull aching all over! There was less parts of me that weren’t sore than there were parts that were. I groaned as I tried to get out of that darn bed. I tried a second time before giving up. Since I couldn’t get up I reached up and felt my fat lip, which felt fat and prickly due to the swelling and stitches. I also discovered by exploring with my other hand, that I was diapered again, which from the feel of the front of the disposable diaper, was a good thing.

It took more than a little effort, but I got all those covers pushed off and saw, that the diaper was indeed drenched to capacity. With the covers off I was able to roll over onto my side, swing my legs over the side of the bed and then push myself up so that I was sitting, facing the back of the room.

Now that I was sitting up, I could feel the weight of my swollen lip. It felt like I should lie back down, but I didn’t want too.

What happened next was actually funny enough to make me laugh. I put the palms of my hands down on the mattress, pressed down and lifted myself to my feet. My right wrist sang out under the strain. However, as soon as my butt left the mattress, the diaper came right off of me, slid down my legs and made a cartoon like splat when it hit my feet and the floor.

I began giggling when I heard it hit and my giggles turned into laughing as I slipped my feet out of the wet, dripping diaper.

“Not one of mom’s better diapering jobs!” I chuckled loudly.

“That’s because your grandfather did it.” Came mom’s voice from the opening door.

I spun around so fast that I nearly fell to the floor.

“Careful sweetheart!” Mom said, rushing to my side and helping me to regain my balance.

“What time is it?” I asked her, still mildly giggling about the diaper.

“A few minutes after five.” She said.

“WHAT?” I nearly shouted.

“Well the medicine the doctor gave you made you sleepy.” She said.

“No, not that.” I said waving my hands as if to erase that part of the conversation, “I mean why did you let Grandfather diaper me?”

Mom grimaced, “Alvin sweetie, your Grandfather feels so bad about yesterday and he wanted to help. I didn’t have the heart to tell him no.”

“Moooom!” I complained, “But he saw me naked!”

Mom grinned nervously and I could tell by that grin that she knew something I didn’t.

“What?” I asked unsure if I could handle knowing.

Mom bent over, picked up the dripping diaper and started toward the armoire to put it in the diaper pail.

“What do you remember from the hospital?” she asked me in an uneasy tone and I told her what I remembered which was exactly what you just read above.

“So you don’t remember that, when we arrived, you were sitting on your hospital bed in your birthday suit?” Mom said hesitantly.

“I was what?” I gasped and grabbed the footboard with my sore hand to balance myself. I began pleading with her, “Oh no! Mom, tell me you are joking! Please!”

She turned around and was grinning ear to ear and I knew that she wasn’t joking.

“Oh mom! That’s humiliating!” I said, trying to cover my face and hurting my mouth in the process.

Mom walked back over and gave me a soft hug, “Well, they couldn’t very well leave you sitting there in your clothes. They were soaked with blood and pee.”

Not knowing what to say after that I just groaned loudly.

Mom released her hug and placed a single finger under my chin to lift my head up so that she could examine my face.

“You look a lot better then you did when we first saw you.” She said.

“I do?” I asked.

“Yes and you even sound almost normal too.” She said and I gave her a puzzled look so she added, “You were talking like you had a mouth full of walnuts.”

“I was?” I said, not remembering any of that either.

“Do you feel up to a quick bath?” she asked after leaning down and ever so softly kissing my stitches above my eye.

That’s when I began to wonder who had cleaned all the blood off me before.

“Did they give me a bath at the hospital?” I asked her.

She nodded as she took my elbow and lead me to the bathroom. “But they didn’t do a great job of it so after we got you home and into bed your grandmother gave you a sponge bath.”

I felt embarrassed all over again.

Boy, that hot water in the tub sure felt great and I didn’t even mind that mom bathed me as if I were a toddler again. While she bathed me I asked and she told me about Larry and that he was doing well when we left the hospital.

“He kept telling your father and me over and over again how you saved his life.” She said.

“Really?” I gasped in disbelief.

Mom grimaced and smiled at the same time, which came across looking like she was constipated or something. “He also wanted us to tell you, that he was very sorry for trying to beat you up.”

“Wow, he really said that?” I said with honest surprise.

“Only about a dozen times.” Mom said and then she stopped washing under my arm for a moment.

“He has the nicest parents too!” she emoted.

I really couldn’t believe how much I had missed or didn’t remember from the hospital. “You met them too?”

“Yes, when they came to see how you were doing and to thank you for helping their son.” Mom said.

“But when we went to see their son, he wouldn’t tell us why the two of you were fighting in the first place.” She said as if she expected me to know.

I could only shrug my shoulders because I didn’t have a clue as to why Larry had suddenly decided that I needed a beating. But then, completely out of the blue it came to me.

“What?” mom asked, sensing that I was having a revelation and she was right.

“When Bertha, uh that’s the girl that asked me to the dance...” I began.

“What dance?” mom interupted.

Oh yeah, I hadn’t yet had the chance to tell anyone about the Snowball dance or about smelly Bertha saying I was going to be her date. So I had to back up and tell mom all of that before I could continue.

“So you see, I think the reason Larry got so mad about Bertha going with me instead of him is because he likes her.” I finished saying.

I then looked up at mom for confirmation that she understood now.

“So when you hang out with these friends of yours, you’re not getting into any trouble, are you?” mom asked.

“Mom! You totally missed the point!” I said with frustration and pounded the surface of the bathwater, causing it to plash into mom’s face.

“Alvin!” she complained as she reached for a towel to dry herself with.

“So do you like her too?” mom finally asked.

“What?” I said in an awful gasp, “Oh mom, don’t be gross!”

But mom had no idea how grotesque Bertha was. I guess for her, Bertha was just some girl at school who thought I was cute.

After my bath mom helped me get diapered and at first I protested being diapered, but mom somehow convinced me that it was for the better. She even shot down my attempts to haggle my way out of the diaper and into a GoodNite instead. Once I was diapered, had my wrist rewrapped and was dressed in my pajamas I felt almost normal again.

When mom opened the door to my bedroom, so that the two of us could go down for some supper, we both were startled to find Grandfather standing there, about to knock.

The three of us just stood there for several awkward seconds before mom said, “I’ll leave the two of you to talk for a minute.”

And that is all that the talk between Grandfather and me took; one minute. I apologized right away and he stuck out his hand as he said, “I am sorry too. Let’s put it behind us as if it never happened. What do you say to that?”

“Uh, yeah... sure.” I said, unable to believe that he was going to let me off the hook like that.

“Just do me one favor, would you?” he added and I couldn’t help thinking, “Oh brother, here it comes!”

He smiled as he said, “For your Grandmother’s sanity, keep your pants on when roaming the house.”

I could tell by the way he said it that he was attempting to be humorous so I smiled, shrugged and said, “Yeah, I guess I can do that.”

After supper I started feeling tired again so I excused myself from the table. Both, mom and John excused themselves too. I had thought they were just making sure I got back to bed and tucked in properly, but I wasn’t quite that lucky. They did help me get into bed, but then they sat down on either side of the bed, effectively surrounding me. To make a long lecture short, I only just barely escaped grounding by the skin of my teeth.

__________

Chapter 26

I didn’t go to school the next day for two reasons. The first, which is the obvious reason, I wasn’t feeling quite strong enough and the second reason was all that snow. Grandmother had told me the blizzard had laid down twenty-two inches of snow. Now I’ve never lived anywhere where it snowed very much at all, but still, I was absolutely amazed to find out that all the roads had been cleared by noon the day after the blizzard. Though I doubted there would be any customers, Mom and John left for work as soon as they had their lunch. I was left in the care of my grandparents which wasn’t such a horrible thing after all. For the most part they left me alone, only checking on me occasionally.

Sometime around three in the afternoon I was feeling well enough to make my way out of my room and go exploring the house. Yeah, I know it was risky, I mean if grandfather caught me again, but I was hoping to find a computer so that I could check out that website. You remember the one that girl gave me at the rest stop?

Sure enough, I found a computer in a large room directly across from my grandfathers’ study. In that room there was a large wooden desk exactly the kind you would expect people of money to have. There was also a large comfortable looking chair behind the desk, a floral patterned sofa with matching chairs and lots and lots of plants. I remember wondering how all those plants could survive in such a dark room. Yeah, there were windows, but they were all covered with heavy curtains that matched the sofa and chairs.

“Just my luck!” I said as I positioned myself behind the computer.

The computer was already on, but I didn’t recognize the operation system. It wasn’t Microsoft Windows and it wasn’t easy to figure out how to get onto the internet. I found something called FireFox and when I clicked on it, it opened up to something I did recognize, Yahoo.com.

“Sweet!” I said to myself as I began to type in the address to the site.

Have you ever tried to work a mouse or type with one hand wrapped with an Ace Bandage? Well, if you haven’t, let me tell you that it isn’t easy to do.

“What was it again?” I thought aloud, “www.ild.com” I spelled it out verbally as I typed each letter.

The website was slow to load at first but when it came up there was no mistaking the intent of the site. There, in large colorful childlike wooden blocks, was spelled out ‘I LIKE DIAPERS’. And below that were pictures of people my age wearing diapers. I scrolled down and saw that there were hundreds, if not thousands of photos.

“What the heck?” I said aloud, forgetting that I didn’t have permission to be in that room, let alone to be using the computer.

I scrolled back to the top and saw that below the block letters was a menu. It went, Diaper Stories, Find a Diapered Friend, Chat Room, Diaper Boys Only, Diaper Girls Only, Parents Only, FAQ, and Contacts.

A sickening thought occurred to me. What if Grandfather had already looked up the website address himself before giving me the note? That thought disturbed me almost as much as the website itself.

Don’t ask me why I chose to click on Find a Diapered Friend’, but I did. A new page loaded with a single blank place. It was asking what country I was in. Lord knows why I filled in that blank. The next page to load asked me what state and for half a second I hesitated before putting in ‘Maine’. Another page asked for my city or zip-code and since I didn’t have a clue what the zip-code was for Lewiston, Maine, I entered the city. Yet another page loaded asking me to click on my own age range. I clicked on the 10-12 range. One more page opened asking for a search radios. I didn’t know what that meant so I clicked on the one that said ‘100 Miles’.

What I saw next surprised the heck out of me. “127 registered diapered friends found within 100 miles of you.”

I used the back button to change my answers and search closer. Instead of doing 100 miles I did 5 miles. “5 registered diapered friends found within 5 miles of you.”

And directly below that was a button that read, “To view member profiles register now for free.”

I was completely in awe of the site and just as unaware of my present surroundings. If anyone were to walk in on me right then, I was sure to be busted.

Registering was easy. I only had to create a screen name and a profile. For a screen name I chose to use the nickname that John used to call me when I was little, TigerFish.

After registering I had to do the search over and this time it said that there were, “6 registered diapered friends found within 5 miles of you.” And directly below that was my screen name, TigerFish and below that were the other five member names, PampersBoy, Diapered4Life, BB-N2-TB-DL, Sissy4U and finally Wet_Dwaggy.

I was just about to click on the PampersBoy profile when another window popped up saying, “You have 2 new private messages. Click here to read private messages.”

So I clicked and the screen changed to look kind of like email. The first message was a welcoming message from the admin of the site. I figured it was something that everyone gets when they register. It had some basic info about the site, and stuff like that. All in all it was fairly generic. It was probably automated and spit out whenever someone registered.

The second message was from Sissy4u.

“Wow!” I exclaimed as I realized that one of the names I had seen before for diapered friends within 5 miles had just sent me a message.

TO: TigerFish

FROM: Sissy4U

Hi TigerFish! Welcome to ILD.com and I am so glad you registered!!!!!!! Mind if I ask how you found our little diaper home? If you haven’t guessed yet, I am a girl and I don’t wear diapers. I am sort of like a big sister on this site and try to help the mods keep all these lil’ns in line. I’m in the chat room right now. Come on in and chat!

Love Sissy4U

Man my heart must have been beating ten thousand beats per second. I was so flabbergasted by the message that I decided I needed to get off that website and back to my room before someone found me.

However, before I could figure out how to close the FireFox screen I received another notice, “You have 1 new private message. Click here to read private messages.”

Curiosity got the better of me so I clicked. It was from another of the five diapered friends within 5 miles of me. This one was from BB-N2-TB-DL and this message went something like this:

TO: TigerFish

FROM: BB-N2-TB-DL

Hi TigerFish! Sissy4U just called me to say that someone new had just joined ILD.com and that you were from our town. Don’t let Sissy4U scare you off. She’s a really nice girl, but she comes on a little strong sometimes. Take a look around, read some of the stories, enjoy the pictures and if you have any questions, or if any of the members are bothering you, just click on Contacts on the front page and send an email to Daddy_Phil and Mommy_Beth. They are the ones that run this site and you won’t find two nicer people on any other diaper site. You can also ask me if you don’t feel comfortable contacting Mommy_Beth or Daddy_Phil right now.

Baby Bruce

I thought I heard a sound out in the hallway and fearing that I was about to get caught, I quickly closed down all the ILD.com stuff and got up to make my way out of the room. However, as I stood up I realized, that the diaper which mom had put me in that morning was now very wet and was hanging down between my thighs, making it difficult to run properly.

As I got to the door I put my ear to it. I couldn’t hear anything so I slowly opened it. Still no sounds and no one was in sight. I poked my head out and looked in both directions and that’s when I saw grandmother walking away from me toward the stairs. If my heart wasn’t beating hard before, it sure was then.

I waited until she was totally out of sight before making my way back to my bedroom. However, when I got to my room, I found that the bed had been made and the room tidied up. I was sure that Grandmother had been in my room, found that I wasn’t there and was now looking for me. I reasoned that my best excuse for not being in my room was to venture back out into the house, so that I could say that I had been looking for her.

I was about halfway down the stairs when I heard Grandmother say, “Alvin, there you are. Were have you been?”

Now was the time for my lie, “I was looking for you.”

“Oh well, then I guess it is you that has found me.” She said and then asked why I had been looking for her.

Darn, I hadn’t thought about coming up with a reason, but then she offered me one.

“Oh dear, I see why! You are positively soaked.” She said and while I was blushing I couldn’t help but wonder how she was able to tell that when I was wearing pajama pants over the diaper.

I had no other option but to allow her to lead me back to my room and let her change me. Talk about humiliating and what was worse, she wanted to carry on a conversation while she worked. Thankfully she did most of the talking and all I had to do was nod my head a lot and answer a few questions like, if I enjoy snow or what do I like most about it here.

Once Grandmother had changed me she had me stand back up so that she could help me put on my pajama bottoms again.

“There you go sweetie-pie.” She said, sounding sweeter than I knew her to be.

When she finally left me alone again I went to my bed and lied down to think about what I’d just seen on the computer. However, before lying down I had to make sure that none of the bed covers were hanging over the edges. You know, the more I thought about it, the more I began to second guess myself as to whether I had properly closed all the FireFox screens. There was nothing else to do but to sneak back into that room to double check the computer.

When I returned to the door it was open and inside, sitting behind the desk was Grandmother. I must have made a sound because she looked up and I wasn’t quick enough to keep her from seeing me.

“Alvin?” she called after me.

Reluctantly I poked my head in.

“Alvin what are you doing skulking around the house?” she asked.

It was time to lie again, “I-I was looking for you again.”

She got a concerned look on her face, “You couldn’t possibly need changed again! Are you feeling alright?”

“Uh, oh yeah, I just wanted to see what you were doing.” I lied again.

“Oh you poor dear.” She said, motioning for me to come into the room. “You must be nearly bored to tears in this big old house with no one to play with.”

I took a hesitant step into the room, and then another.

“How would you like to watch some TV?” she asked and I let the fact that she was talking to me as if I was five, slide past without comment or complaint.

“Uh, yeah!” I answered.

“Well we have the big screen on the first floor. I bet you will like that.” She said as she placed an arm around me and walked me back out of the room and down the hallways to the steps. She took me right to what she called the Media room. Inside was the biggest television I have ever seen surrounded by overstuffed leather recliners arranged sort of like a theater... that is if a theater had leather recliners. The TV wasn’t as big as a movie screen, but it was still humongous! And the remote? Don’t even get me started on that thing; it looked like something someone had brought back from the future. She turned the TV on for me and helped me figure out how to change the channels.

“And if you like, there’s a computer over there,” She pointed to a large corner desk, “that you can use to play your video games. You do like video games, right?”

I nodded as I said, “Yeah sure!” but what I was really thinking, “After all that sneaking around and there was a computer right in that room that I could have used anytime I wanted too.”

“I tell you this room hardly ever gets used except when I want to watch my stories.” She said patting my head.

“Huh?” I grunted in confusion.

“Soap Operas.” Grandmother explained and I nodded my understanding.

“I’ve got some work to do upstairs, but if you need anything you come get me ok?” she said, patting my head again.

“Ok, thanks Grandma... uh, I mean Grandmother.” I quickly corrected myself.

I swear I thought I saw her eye twitch at that small faux pas on my part, but she didn’t say anything about it. She simply turned and scurried out of the room, leaving the door open as she left.

Being able to watch TV again was great. I watched a couple game shows and then dozed off for about twenty minutes. When I awoke I was feeling a little hungry and a little curious about that darn website. However, before I would satisfy my curiosity, I was going to satisfy my belly.

I was thankful that Micah wasn’t in the kitchen when I went in to raid the refrigerator. I found a half eaten chocolate cake, and enough fixings to make myself a quick sandwich.

No sooner had I uttered the words, “I wish we had some chips.” then I spotted a large bag of Corn Chips resting against a pot beside the stove. And since the bag had already been opened by someone else, I didn’t feel bad about taking a couple handfuls.

I had no idea if it was ok to have food in the Media room or not, but to be honest, I didn’t give it too much thought.

From past visits to the kitchen to visit Micah and mooch a snack or two I’d learned where the cans of soda were kept. I snatched two cans of root beer and stuffed them into the pants pockets of my pajamas. The soda’s were nearly heavy enough to pull my pants down, but I managed to get the plate with my sandwich, chips and slice of cake to the Media room without loosing my britches.

With the TV still on I settled down in the computer chair, but then I thought about the fact that my back was going to be to the room. If someone came in without me hearing them while I was looking at that site... well, let’s just say that I didn’t want that to happen. So I got back up, turned off the TV, turned off the lights to the room and closed the door. That way if Grandmother happens to poke her head in and sees that the lights are out she might think I am gone. At any rate, it would give me another second or two to get the site closed down before she or someone else came in.

However, it was only paranoia because neither Grandmother nor anyone else for that matter came to check on me. I was able to wile away the rest of the afternoon alone in the Media Room. I did play some of the computer games that I found on the computer, but not until after I had fully checked out that site.

The first thing I did after logging into ild.com was check any new messages. There were three, one more from BB-N2-TB-DL and two from Sissy4U. I decided to read those before considering if I would reply to either one of them.

TO: TigerFish

FROM: Sissy4U

I see you just logged off. I hope I didn’t scare you away.

Love Sissy4U

TO: TigerFish

FROM: Sissy4U

I sure hope you come back soon.

Love Sissy4U

TO: TigerFish

FROM: BB-N2-TB-DL

Hi again TigerFish! I just thought of something else I should have said in my other PM. I should have told you about me. Most of the important stuff is listed in my profile. Check it out sometime and if you ever want to chat let me know when and I’ll meet you in the ILD.com chat room. If you like, we can go private so that no one else sees what we’re saying to one another. Hope to see you around ILD.com.

Baby Bruce

I decided before I would reply, I’d take some time to check out the rest of the site. The first place I went to was the pictures again. I was having such a hard time believing that so many guys and girls my age were into diapers. There was an entire series of pictures of this one guy who looked to be maybe a year or two older than me. There were pictures of him in diapers, pajamas with the booty-feet-things attached, cloth diapers, baby diapers and even a few huge diapers that looked totally impractical but comical too. However, in all the pictures his face was hidden by a pillow, a hat or a teddy bear or some other object. It wasn’t until later, when I was checking out Baby Bruce's profile, that I discovered that those pictures were all of him. By reading his profile information I discovered, that he had listed himself as being twelve, gay and in a long term relationship with PampersBoy, whatever that was supposed to mean.

You know, it’s a really good thing that people can’t hear what you are thinking because as I was reading his profile and then the profile of PampersBoy I couldn’t help but think, “Great, there are queer diaper wearing boys that live somewhere around here.” Coming from California, I like to think of myself as fairly open minded about stuff like that however, it also sort of creeps me out. I mean guys with guys—it doesn’t seem right to me. Then again, who am I to judge what’s right and what’s not?

The stories section was kind of creepy at first. There were a few hundred stories listed and I started to read a couple, but they were way-way out there; I’m talking totally bizarre!

Finally, I decided that I wanted to go into the chat room, but when I did there wasn’t anyone else in there. I wasn’t sure if there was maybe more than one chat room so I decided, that since Baby Bruce had offered, I’d go ahead and reply to his Private Messages and ask him how the Chat Room worked.

TO: BB-N2-TB-DL

FROM: TigerFish

Hello Baby Bruce! I appreciate the heads-up about Sissy4U and to be honest, she did freak me out a little at first. So how does the chat thing work? I checked it out, but no one was there. Did I go to the right chat room? Do you really wear diapers? Does anyone know? Sorry if I’m asking a lot of questions.

I sent the Private Message and decided to check out the section entitled Diaper Boys Only, but as soon as I clicked on it, I got another notification, “You have 1 new private messages. Click here to read private messages.”

I clicked and saw that it was another message from Baby Bruce which I opened right away.

TO: TigerFish

FROM: BB-N2-TB-DL

Wow! I must have just missed you in the chat room. I’m in there right now if you would like to talk.

Baby Bruce

Before I could get scared and log off again I clicked on the Chat Room link. Yep, Baby Bruce was in there alone waiting for me.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Hi TigerFish

TigerFish: Hi

BB-N2-TB-DL: Mind if I call you TF for short?

TigerFish: It’s all cool.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Let’s take this private so that we won’t be interrupted. OK?

TigerFish: If you say so. I’ve no idea how to do that.

Before I knew it another smaller window popped open with a large red padlock in the upper right corner.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Anything we say in this private chat will only be seen by you and me. Not even Daddy_Phil or Mommy_Beth can see private chats.

TigerFish: OK.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Sorry that Sissy4U scared you. But if you get to know her, you’ll see that she is nice and can be funny too.

TigerFish: OK.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Let me guess. This is your first time visiting a site like ILD.com?

TigerFish: Yes.

BB-N2-TB-DL: I understand. I’ve been coming here for a long time, but I can still remember how scared I was the first time I ever did a Google search on the word ‘Diaper’.

TigerFish: Oh, hadn’t tried that yet.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Really?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Mind if I ask how you found ILD.com then? Oh and we have a rule here at ILD.com, if at anytime anyone asks you a question or is bothering you in any way, all you have to do is type TAG all in caps and they will stop. If they don’t then if there are others in the chat they will get them off your back for you. Everybody watches out for everybody here. If you are alone with that person and they don’t stop then leave the chat room and send an email to Daddy_Phil and Mommy_Beth. They will take care of it for you.

TigerFish: Wow! OK. Good to know.

TigerFish: It’s a long story about how I got this website address, but the short version is that someone walked up to me and handed it to me.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Ok, someday you have to tell me the whole story because that sounds interesting. But not right now.

TigerFish: OK

Bruce began to show me how the different parts of the chat room worked, how to change my own font and its color. He also showed me how to set any member to ignore, so that I didn’t even have to read what he or she was writing. All in all Bruce was a thorough but very pleasant teacher.

BB-N2-TB-DL: OK, now for your other questions that you asked me.

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: Yes, I really do wear diapers, but unlike many on this site, I don’t wear them because I have to. I wear them because I like to.

TigerFish: Really?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Yes really. I take it, that I am the first person you have ever talked to, that wears diapers for enjoyment?

TigerFish: Yes

BB-N2-TB-DL: You ok?

TigerFish: Yeah, I think so.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Remember if at anytime you want me to stop all you have to do is type TAG. Also if you don’t want to answer any question you can just type PASS.

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: Can I ask you a question?

TigerFish: I guess

BB-N2-TB-DL: Since you are visiting a diaper site, does that mean you wear diapers too?

TigerFish: PASS

BB-N2-TB-DL: OK, that’s totally cool.

BB-N2-TB-DL: I’ll go back to your questions then.

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: There are only a couple people that know that I like to wear diapers in the real world. Do you know what I mean when I say ‘real world’?

TigerFish: Yes

BB-N2-TB-DL: OK, good.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Now that you’ve registered, there are six of us on this site that are from Lewiston and out of those six, I’ve met three of them in the real world.

BB-N2-TB-DL: And before you ask. I’ll tell you which ones.

BB-N2-TB-DL: PampersBoy, Diapered4Life and Sissy4U

TigerFish: But in her private Message, Sissy4U said, that she didn’t wear diapers.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Oh ok. I didn’t know she told you. That is true. Sissy is more like our big sister, but she is totally cool with those of us that wear diapers whether for fun or for need.

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: Just so you know, PampersBoy has to wear diapers because he wets the bed. He wouldn’t mind me telling you. If he was here right now he’d tell you himself.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Diapered4Life is a guy too and he has to wear diapers at night and special underwear during the day. However, I don’t think it is my place to tell you why.

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: When you meet Diapered4Life in this chat he’ll probably tell you. He’s a bit of a livewire, but for those of us that know him, we just let him vent whenever he gets worked up.

TigerFish: OK

TigerFish: There was another name that I saw.

BB-N2-TB-DL: You mean Wet_Dwaggy?

TigerFish: Yes, I think that was the name.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Well, none of us have ever met him in the real world. Well, not that we know of.

TigerFish: What’s that mean?

BB-N2-TB-DL: It means that Wet_Dwaggy doesn’t want to meet anyone for real. He’s strictly an online person.

TigerFish: Is he your friend too?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Well, we’ve talked before, but I wouldn’t say we are friends. He’s very hard to get to know but...

TigerFish: But?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Well we (PampersBoy, Diapered4Life, Sissy4U and me) think we might have figured out who he is, but we’d never out him.

TigerFish: Out him?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Um, we’d never approach him in the real world and confront him. Even if we are right, it’s his right to remain secretive if he wants to.

TigerFish: That’s good to know.

BB-N2-TB-DL: And to set your mind at ease.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Even if I knew who you were in the real world, I’d never say anything to you about your diapers unless you were cool with it.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Not that I’m saying you wear them. I’m just saying that I wouldn’t embarrass you or anyone else that way. None of us would.

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: You sure don’t say much, do you?

TigerFish: Sorry

BB-N2-TB-DL: Don’t be. It’s all good.

TigerFish: Who are Daddy_Phil and Mommy_Beth?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Good Question. Like I said before they run this site and they take care of all the boys and girls that come here. They are very good about keeping out the pervos too.

TigerFish: What’s a pervos?

BB-N2-TB-DL: It means bad people. Pervos is short for Perverts.

TigerFish: How can they do that? I mean it was super easy for me to register. How do they know I am not a pervos?

BB-N2-TB-DL: I don’t know how they do it, but they do. A couple weeks ago we had some guy in here pretending to be a teen girl that wore diapers. But Mommy_Beth knew right away that he was lying and banished him.

TigerFish: Banished?

BB-N2-TB-DL: She blocked him somehow so that he cannot get back into ILD.com again.

TigerFish: That’s cool

BB-N2-TB-DL: Any more questions?

TigerFish: Can’t think of any right now.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Well if you do, feel free to ask me anything anytime.

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: And anytime you need or want to talk to me privately like we’re doing now, just say so.

TigerFish: OK

TigerFish: I just thought of another question

BB-N2-TB-DL: Sure, let me hear it.

TigerFish: I found your pictures on the site, but always your face is hidden.

BB-N2-TB-DL: There’s a good reason for that.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Take a look at the other pictures again. Any photos that are linked to a profile do not show anyone’s face. That is one of Daddy_Phil and Mommy_Beth’s rules. It’s to protect minors (that’s you and me) from the pervos.

TigerFish: That’s good

BB-N2-TB-DL: I actually had some of me with my face showing, but Daddy_Phil deleted them.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Oh and while I am thinking about it. All photos that are uploaded are screened by Daddy_Phil or Mommy_Beth before they appear on the site. That way no one can post anything to the site that is bad, like nude pictures or under-age kids.

TigerFish: Are there other’s that come to this site that wear diapers because they enjoy them like you?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Yes, but I don’t know how many.

TigerFish: Are there more members close to us that are not in our town?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Yes, there are a lot in the state and there are members from all over the world.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Hang on for a second ok?

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: Hey, LilPrince is in the chat room all alone. Would you like to go back into the chat room and meet him?

TigerFish: Sure, how do I do it?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Just close this window and you will automatically return to the chat room.

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: LilPrince, meet TigerFish. TF is brand new to this site as of today.

LilPrince: Hi TF

TigerFish: Hello LilPrince

BB-N2-TB-DL: TF, LilPrince is Daddy_Phil and Mommy_Beth’s real son.

TigerFish: Wow! Really? That must be cool.

LilPrince: Yep! Yep! Yep! That is me! Yep! Yep! Yep!

BB-N2-TB-DL: LilPrince is also very hyper.

LilPrince: Hey! Am not! Am not! Am not!

LilPrince: What does TigerFish mean? It sounds cool like it is tribal or something.

TigerFish: Uh, I rather not say.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Remember TF, if you don’t want to answer all you have to say is PASS.

TigerFish: Oh yeah, thanks.

LilPrince: :P

TigerFish: What is that?

LilPrince: Me sticking my tongue out at you. Hehe!

BB-N2-TB-DL: LP, be nice or I will tell.

LilPrince: :P :P :P :P

TigerFish: I know a comeback for that but probably shouldn’t say it.

LilPrince: SAY IT! SAY IT!

BB-N2-TB-DL: He’s asking for it, so let him have it TF. LOL!

TigerFish: No thanks I use toilet paper!

LilPrince: HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

BB-N2-TB-DL: FOTFLMAO! Too funny TF!

The three of us talked for another twenty minutes or longer before LilPrince had to go.

LilPrince: Mommy says time to eat.

BB-N2-TB-DL: OK LilPrince, don’t choke!

TigerFish: Bye LilPrince. Glad I met you.

LilPrince: I am more glad I met you. Yep! Yep! Yep!

Again Baby Bruce and I were alone in the chat room.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Hey TF?!

TigerFish: Yeah?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Can we go private again for a minute?

TigerFish: I guess so.

Before I knew it the private chat window popped up and Baby Bruce was messaging me.

BB-N2-TB-DL: I wanted to tell you something, but I didn’t want to do so in the open chat room.

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: Now, before I tell you this I want you to remember that I totally respect your privacy and I’d never out you in the real world. OK?

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: Now, I don’t know what school you go to, but I’m guessing that maybe we go to the same school. And like I said I am not trying to freak you out or anything. I’m just saying that there is a school dance this Friday at my school and if we really do go to the same school and if you want to see what I look like for real, without worrying about me finding out who you are, I wanted to tell you that I will be wearing a bright blue button up shirt with a red collar and I will have on blue flappers.

TigerFish: What are flappers?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Do you know what Converse are?

TigerFish: Yes

BB-N2-TB-DL: Flappers are Converse shoes without laces

TigerFish: OK

TigerFish: How do you keep them on?

BB-N2-TB-DL: LOL! That’s why they call them flappers. Because they are always flapping around and falling off.

TigerFish: I’ll keep my laces, thank you.

BB-N2-TB-DL: LOL

BB-N2-TB-DL: Anyway, now you know what to look for if you what to see what I really look like. That is if we go to the same school like I think we do.

TigerFish: OK.

BB-N2-TB-DL: But keep that between you and me. Mommy_Beth might not take too kindly to me being so forward especially with a newbie.

TigerFish: OK

When I didn’t say anything for a minute or two Baby Bruce started to get the idea, that he might have overstepped the line with me. I’m not sure if he did or not. I mean, I wasn’t sure what to think about all this. It all seemed kind of weird and almost like it wasn’t real. Like it was make-believe or something.

BB-N2-TB-DL: You ok over there?

TigerFish: Yes

BB-N2-TB-DL: You got quiet again.

TigerFish: Did I?

BB-N2-TB-DL: I hope it wasn’t because of what I said about the dance and all.

TigerFish: Truth?

BB-N2-TB-DL: Yes please.

TigerFish: A little.

BB-N2-TB-DL: You feeling overwhelmed or scared?

TigerFish: Yeah, think maybe I am.

BB-N2-TB-DL: It’s ok. You’re allowed.

TigerFish: OK

BB-N2-TB-DL: Do you want to keep chatting or do you feel like you need some time to think?

TigerFish: Don’t know

BB-N2-TB-DL: I understand.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Want to talk about something other than diapers or this site?

TigerFish: I guess

BB-N2-TB-DL: Hmmm, are you into any hobbies?

TigerFish: Yes

BB-N2-TB-DL: Like what?

I thought about his question for a moment before I typed my response.

TigerFish: PASS

BB-N2-TB-DL: Alright then.

TigerFish: What’s your favorite TV show.

And that question lead the two of us off on another long private conversation. Before I knew it Mom and John were home and apparently they were a little alarmed that they couldn’t find me. I could hear them calling for me upstairs.

TigerFish: I got to go.

BB-N2-TB-DL: OK

TigerFish: parents are home.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Great talking with you.

TigerFish: Same here.

BB-N2-TB-DL: Bye now.

TigerFish: See you at the dance.

And with that final line from me I quickly exited the chat before he could reply back. I knew I’d just given away to him that we did go to the same school, but I felt safe in knowing that I’d be able to pick him out of the crowd, but he wouldn’t be able to single me out.

__________

Chapter 27

Once I had made sure that all the windows were closed for ILD.com I left the Media room and made my way to the front foyer where I called out, “I’m down here!”

First John appeared at the top of the stairs and then mom. John looked relieved to see me, mom looked totally panicked.

“I was in the Media room watching TV.” I said, which wasn’t a complete lie.

They both started down the steps and mom said, “I didn’t know they have a Media room.”

I shrugged, “Neither did I.”

Mom gave me a hug, and then John did likewise.

“Grandmother showed me where it was because I was bored. Wanna see?” I asked, taking them both by the hand and leading them back to the Media room.

I tried to play it up a bit by throwing open the double wooden doors and flicking on the lights one switch at a time.

“Woah! Now, that’s a TV!” John exclaimed.

“It’s better than the movies!” Mom commented.

“And look, they have their own popcorn and soda fountain.” John pointed out.

“They do?” I said, having not noticed the wet bar to the right of the door as we came in, “Huh, I didn’t even see that before.”

And then I saw my plate and two empty soda cans sitting beside the keyboard of the computer. I quickly made my way over and snatched them up while mom and John were checking out the wet bar.

“Wanna watch some TV together after super?” I asked hopefully.

John was the first to answer, “That might be an excellent idea, the three of us spending some time together.”

Mom came over and gave me another hug, but after she was done hugging me John softly took hold of my chin, so that he could get a good look at my face.

“Still just as handsome as ever.” He stated with a wink.

“And I didn’t even get a black eye!” I added.

John balled up his fist and waved it in front of my nose, “Well, do you want one?”

I tried to rowdy with John, but mom put a stop to it saying, “John, now stop. Alvin might get hurt again.”

“Gee-whiz mom! I’m feeling swell!” I said, trying to sound like some adorable TV kid. I even purposefully made my voice go real high as if it was cracking when I said ‘swell’. It had the intended effect, because both of my parents laughed.

I was shocked when after supper, Grandmother and Grandfather both accepted mom’s invitation to come watch TV with the three of us. However, before mom and I went in mom took me aside and whispered, “Do you need changed?”

I couldn’t help but to blush when she asked me that and to be honest, I didn’t have any idea if I had wet or not. And mom must have keyed in on my lack of knowledge concerning my diaper because she subtly pulled open my pajama bottoms and put her hand down inside the front of my diaper.

She withdrew her hand and said, “I think we need to make a quick trip to your room.”

When John saw that we weren’t heading for the Media room, he started to ask mom where we were going, but mom must have somehow signaled him where, because he smiled and winked.

Once again I tried to talk mom out of putting me back into a diaper, but she couldn’t be swayed, no matter how much I begged, pleaded or whined. She wouldn’t even argue with me about it but calmly pushed me backward onto the bed so that my legs were hanging over the side of the mattress. When she had pushed me back I was nearly engulfed in the billows of blankets.

“Help the beds eating me!” I said half joking and half serious.

By the time we got back downstairs, Grandmother nearly had popcorn ready for us and Grandfather was putting in a DVD. Once again mom and John shared glances and then John said to me, “Hey Tiger-fish, why don’t you come sit by your dear old dad,” and patted the recliner beside him.

I went over and plopped down beside John and he leaned over to kiss me.

“Ewww get away! You have old dad germs!” I said pushing him away while laughing.

“OLD?” John laughed and began to tickle me a little.

“John stop!” I giggled and squirmed.

The movie turned out to be one of those movies that adults like and everyone else falls asleep watching. It was some old movie called The Band Wagon and I think I made it about fifteen minutes into the movie before I was out like a light.

__________

Chapter 28

It just so happened that the day I went back to school also happened to be the day of the school Snowball dance which was to take place that evening.

Part of my parents agreement that I could go to school that day was only if they drove me there themselves. I had surrendered to their conditions relatively easily. Just the idea of walking all the way to school made me feel tired. However, at the breakfast table Grandfather announced that he would be driving me to school and he would be picking me up after school.

“Mom,” I said stuffing half a piece of bacon in my mouth.

She gave me one of her mom looks, as did Grandmother for talking with my mouth full. I quickly chewed and swallowed the bacon before continuing.

“The school dance is today and if you don’t think I should go then I won’t.” I said, hoping that I’d be able to get out of going and dancing with smelly Bertha. I’m sure Larry would be happier too when he found out I didn’t go to the dance with his girl... I mean if he really does like her as I suspect he does.

Grandmother quickly jumped into the conversation with, “Oh my goodness, I almost forgot that it’s time for the annual Boyd Junior-High Snowball dance.”

She then looked at Grandfather. He was busy reading the newspaper. I’m not even sure he heard her at first.

“It is Fifty-seven years ago today that your Grandfather and I first met.” She said dreamily.

“Really? I thought you met at a fish market?” Mom asked.

“Oh well, yes. That was the second time we met. But that was years later after we had both graduated.” Grandmother said and I noticed she was almost glowing as she reminisced.

Grandfather, without looking up from his paper, said, “And you were also still seeing that Jebins fellow if I remember right. And then there were the Gallaher twins.”

Grandmother recoiled as if she’d just been accosted by a wet fish across the face. “I suppose I’m to blame that all the boys liked me?”

I had to quickly hide a smile when grandfather lowered his paper, eyed Grandmother with a peculiar but short gaze and then looked at me and winked before returning to his paper.

“Anyway, as I was going to say,” Grandmother returned her attention to me, “as long as you feel strong enough then you are obligated to attend the dance if someone has already asked you to go.”

“Somebody asked you to the dance?” Dad asked.

“Yeah, just some girl from school.” I answered.

Mom piped in with, “Alvin thinks the boy that beat him up...”

“He didn’t beat me up! I’m not the one laying in a hospital bed right now, am I?” I defended myself, “And his name is Larry.” I don’t know why I felt the need to clarify his name.

“Anyway, Alvin thinks that Larry like the girl too.” Mom said, insinuating that I might have the hots for Bertha too.

“Hey, she asked me!” I said, feeling as though I had to defend myself once more, “I didn’t even know what the dance was until after she told me I was going with her.”

Grandfather made a sound like a cow belching and I couldn’t help feeling as though he was objecting to something I’d just said. Although I didn’t have a clue what part of it he was disapproving of.

I still am surprised I did what I did next. Call it bravery, call it shear stupidity, but either way it was still kind of funny. I reached out and smacked the back of his paper without him seeing me do it.

He dropped the paper, eyed me up and down and exhaled loudly through his nose.

I then slammed him with a quick, “Love ya Grandfather!” as I cocked my head, batted my eye lashes and grinned like an innocent little cherub.

His eyebrows rose and he smiled, then forced the smile into a scowl as he rumbled, “Indeed!” and then shook his paper loudly as he refolded it.

Mom ended the conversation with, “We’ll see how you feel after school today. How’s that?”

Arriving at school riding in a nearly new black Beamer probably did a lot for my reputation. As to whether that was good or bad, remains to be seen.

“Yo Alvin!” a voice called from across the school yard as I was climbing out of grandfathers car.

“I will be right here after school.” Grandfather said to me.

I looked toward the voice and saw Fish and BB dredging through the snow toward me. I don’t know why they weren’t on the sidewalk, but they looked to be having fun.

I waved at them, closed the car door and stuck my head back inside the open window.

“OK Grandfather,” I said to him, “I’ll come right out after school.”

Grandfather stuck his finger out the way mom does when she’s upset with me, “Have a good day and no more fighting.”

I gave him a salute, “Catch ya later.”

I didn’t bother to join BB and Fish in the snow; I chose to wait on the sidewalk for them.

“Whoa! What happened to you?” Fish was the first to say with exasperation.

I had been expecting that question the moment someone who knew me, saw my fat lip and the stitches over my eye. I had a prepared, sarcastic response. “I walked into a door.”

BB softly stroked the back of my left shoulder, “Man, from the look of you, I’d hate to see the door!”

I suppose Bertha was trying to sneak up behind me, but I had smelled her coming from the moment I had got out of Grandfathers car. She was right behind me when I said, “Hello Bertha!”

“Hey! How’d you kno...” but she stopped in mid sentence when she saw my fat lip, which wasn’t all that fat anymore. Even before she said anything I could tell that she was mad.

“Who did that to you?” she asked and it didn’t take a super detective to realize that she was about to boil over.

I decided to play if off and act dumb, “Did what?”

When I looked to Fish and BB for an answer, the two of them had expressions on their faces that said they weren’t about to play my game.

Bertha took hold of my arm kind of rough and turned me back so that I was facing her again.

“I’m serious. I want to know who did that to you!” she said through clenched teeth.

A part of me wanted to tell her exactly what had happened and who had tried to beat me up, but if I did I’d probably have to tell her my suspicions about Larry liking her. And well, I just didn’t feel like going there.

“Listen, its no big deal. And besides, it’s already been dealt with.” I pulled my arm out of her grasp. “Besides, I hear chicks dig a man with scars.”

I struck a pose and tried to look cool.

Fish slapped me on the back, not hard, but enough that I felt it in my lip. Jokingly he said, “Well Alvin, if you see a man let us know.”

“I don’t know about you guys,” BB started to say while tugging on the belt loops of his pants because he’d forgot to wear a belt, “But it’s cold out here and I really need a pee!”

As I started to follow Fish and BB into the school, Bertha grabbed my arm again, leaned down so that she was only a few inches from my face and hissed, “This isn’t over!”

I didn’t even think what to say, it just came to me. “Are you going to kiss me?”

She straightened up and blushed, so help me, I made Bertha blush! I’m talking about her entire head turning the shade of a fire truck.

She gave me a small, playful shove, “Get inside smarty-pants!” she said with a exceedingly embarrassed smirk.

“Hey,” I jovially complained, “Take it easy! I’m delicate!”

BB and Fish were several strides ahead of us now as BB turned and shouted back, “Hey Alvin, you should have Bertha kiss your booboo to make it better!”

Bertha nearly plowed me over as she took off after BB shouting, “Wait till I get my hands on you and then we’ll see who has the booboos!”

I was laughing so hard that I forgot that I was supposed to be nervous about the school dance.

I got a lot of looks from the other students as I passed them in the halls all day long. By noon the absence of Larry and the condition of my face and wrist had given birth to a multitude of rumors. My favorite one was that I’d killed Larry and buried him in the snow where no one would find him until sometime in the spring when the snow all melted. There were actually several equally good variations of that rumor but I’ll spare you from having to read about them here.

I got to the lunch-line well ahead of the gang and was already eating when they came out with their trays.

“Hey guys!” I called out to get their attention.

As Bertha, BB and Fish sat down Bertha asked me with all sincerity, “I’m going to ask you straight out. Did you whack Larry?”

Chocolate milk nearly shot out of my nose when she asked me that. “Did I whack Larry? Have you been watching The Godfather or Goodfellows?” I coughed as I tried to talk and swallow at the same time.

“Don’t change the subject. Nobody has seen or heard form Larry for days now and you turn up looking like Wladimir Klitschko!” Bertha said, still standing there holding her lunch tray.

Almost in unison Fish, BB and me asked, “Who’s Wladimir Klitschko?”

Bertha snapped at us, “Shut up!”

I sniggered as I replied, “Do you really want the truth?”

I could see the veins in her neck engorging with blood as her anger slowly built.

Finally to break the tension and also to get my neck off the chopping block I placed my left hand over my chest and raised my bandaged right hand as if I were a boy scout. “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good... errrr,” Fish chuckled so I knew at least he had picked up on the Harry Potter reference, “I mean I solemnly swear that I did not whack Larry. Furthermore I can guarantee you that he is not buried in the snow, hidden in my locker, or chopped up and put into today’s lunch.”

That last part was funny because it was mystery meat Friday at Boyd Junior-High School. The menu at the start of the lunch line had said it was supposed to be meatloaf, but I’ve never seen meatloaf that looked like what they were serving us.

I’m really not sure if the gang believed me or not about Larry, but I guess it didn’t matter. The four of us ate our lunch together and then went our separate ways. The remainder of the school day was completely uneventful and totally boring. It was so boring that I forgot to stop to use the bathroom on the way to my last class. Despite the fact that I was wearing a diaper under my clothes I still made sure to stop and pee between every stinking class that day. There was one time before lunch when I didn’t need to pee and had to force myself. I grunted, and bore down on my bladder with my stomach muscled to make myself go. Luckily I had been sitting on the toilet at the time because as I was trying to squeeze out a few drops I also made myself poop.

I guess going pee so much made it so that my bladder shrunk a little, because ten minutes after the bell rang, indicating the start of my last class, I started to feel a twinge of pressure. By the middle of class I was squirming in my seat, trying to find a position that helped to relieve some of the pressure. Oh sure I was wearing the diaper mom had forced me to wear that day, but I was resolved that I was going to show mom that I didn’t need them during the day. I wanted to arrive home from school and show her that I’d kept it dry all day long. One of my motives for this was that I didn’t want to go to the school dance wearing a diaper, which I was sure mom would make me do unless I could show her that I didn’t need it.

“Alvin! Stop wiggling around and pay attention.” My teacher said. She might as well have told everyone to stop paying attention to her and stare at me for the remainder of the class.

There was about fifteen minutes left in the day and though I was really trying to hold it, I finally felt as though I couldn’t wait any longer. I raised my hand and waited for our teacher to call on me.

“Yes Alvin?” She sounded irritated for being interrupted.

“Can I use the bathroom please?” I asked.

“No, class is nearly over.” She said.

Despite having been told to sit still, I couldn’t help fidgeting. I did my best not to think about needing to pee. Each tick of the minute hand on the wall clock seemed to add to the pressure growing inside of me.

Finally the final bell rang and I jumped out of my seat.

“You have not been dismissed yet!” our teacher shouted, but I didn’t stop. While racing for the door I swung my backpack over my shoulder.

“Alvin, sit back down!” she shouted louder.

I could hear everyone else in the class laughing and out of the corner of my eye I could see our teacher coming toward me. However, before she could grab me I threw open the door and jumped into the hallway. Students were already spilling out of the other classrooms and I had to fight my way to the boys’ room. But when I got there it was packed with a line that stretched all the way out the door.

“Oh geeze man!” I moaned.

And then a hand snatched my shoulder from behind.

“What are you thinking young man?”

I spun around to see my teacher staring down at me with nostrils flaring and fangs bore.

I pulled away to try to free myself from her talon like grip, but when I did she reached out with her other hand and grabbed my sore wrist. Until that moment it hadn’t really been bothering me, but when she grabbed it, it felt like I’d just stuck my finger into a light socket. Don’t ask me how I know what the feels like either because I won’t tell you!

My knees gave out and buckled under me which only hurt my wrist more as she tried to pull me back up. I’d already forgotten about my need to pee, mostly because I’d already wet myself.

I didn’t actually see what happened to my teacher. I only remember that my teacher released my arm and fell backward, landing on her boney butt. When I looked up another teacher was standing there, one I hadn’t seen before and beside her was Stacks. The other teacher was holding Stacks back and Stacks was looking at my teacher on the floor with deadly eyes.

Apparently Stacks had been right there and saw that the teacher was hurting me so she came to my rescue and put that teacher on her can.

I guess a lot of the students don’t like my teacher because they all cheered Stacks for pushing her off me. I also learned that the other teacher, the one holding Stacks back had seen the whole ordeal too and was about to intervene on my behalf, but Stacks beat her to it.

Stacks and I were hauled to the Principles office and on the way we passed Bertha. I quickly called to her, “Bertha! My grandfather is outside. Go tell him to come to the office quick!”

Bertha didn’t even hesitate. She rushed down the hall toward the doors without her coat or gloves, knocking other students out of her way much the way a football player would.

I guess Grandfather isn’t as slow and old as most old people because he showed up less than two minutes after Stacks and I entered the office.

Completely ignoring my ranting teacher, I told grandfather exactly what had happened and I didn’t have to tell him that I wet myself because I could tell that he had already guessed that much for himself when I had told him why I left the class so fast.

When the Principle came out of his office to see what was going on he paused, smiled and then greeted my grandfather as though he were greeting a long lost brother.

“Al, how the heck have you been?” the Principle said while aggressively shaking Grandfathers hand and giving him a fast other armed hug.

“Carl, you sorry old dog! How long has it been?” Grandfather asked him and I had to look at my Grandfather twice. He had the biggest, toothiest grin. Actually, with that smile he didn’t even look like my Grandfather.

“Oh, entirely too long!” the Principle said.

Grandfather then asked him, “How’s the wife and kids?”

“Marietta is in down in Florida taking care of her father who just celebrated his ninety-eighth birthday.” The Principle leaned in slightly, “and get this, Dusty is getting married in June.” The Principle said, still shaking Grandfathers hand.

Grandfather belly laughed like I’ve never seen or would have thought him capable, “Married? Again? How many times does this make it for him?”

The Principle scratched his temple, “Uh, five or six I believe. Ah, I stopped counting after the third one. Still no kids though. I guess that’s one positive out of it all. No kid needs to be put through that sort of mess.”

“And what about Stephanie?” Grandfather asked.

“Still married to that same Navy boy. She’s still with Boxco and works too much, but try to tell her that and she’ll give you an ear full. Would you believe that she found time to have two more girls?” The Principle said.

Grandfather looked amused at this information, “But didn’t she already have three girls?” he asked.

“Yes sir! It’s no wonder that husband of hers is always shipping off to some war halfway across the world.” The Principle said.

They finally released each others hands as the Principle asked, “So what brings you to my school?”

Grandfather put a hand on my back behind my shoulder blades and began rubbing in small circular motions. “My young grandson here.” He said, giving me a prideful pat on the back.

“Grandson? I didn’t know Melody had kids!” The Principle said with honest astonishment.

“Sure did! But just the one. Oh about ten years ago!” Grandfather said and I quickly corrected him, not even attempting to hide my disgust that Grandfather got my age wrong.

“I’m almost twelve!” I inserted.

Grandfather stopped rubbing my back and instead clutched my shoulder rather securely.

“Quite!” he said in odd agreement while giving me a disapproving glance for interrupting him. I took that look to mean, that I was supposed to close my mouth and keep it shut. I suppose I had forgotten, that according to him, children shouldn’t be seen or heard. How could I have forgotten?

Grandfather then noticed that I was still clutching my wrist to my chest. “You ok boy?” he asked.

I nodded and answered him with, “Yes sir, I think so...” and I didn’t even attempt to hide my disdain as I pointed at my teacher and added, “no thanks to her.”

Grandfather loosened his grip on my shoulder and then directed me to a wooden bench under the window beside the door to the office. That’s when I saw that Bertha, Fish and BB were all standing in the hallways, outside of the office, looking in.

“Go sit down over there for a moment, boy.” Grandfather strongly suggested.

The Principle asked Stacks to join me and then he, the two teachers and my Grandfather all disappeared in the office that the Principle had just come out of.

Before I sat down I gave Bertha a wave of thanks for getting my Grandfather for me so quickly. I’ve no idea if she understood why I was waving, but she smiled and waved back.

As Stacks sat down she smiled. “I can’t believe she did that to you!”

“Yeah,” I said and then Stacks told me how she had shoved my teacher.

“She’s the one I was telling you about. The one, that has it out for me.” Stacks informed me.

“Really? Bet that felt good.” I commented with a small chuckle.

“Yeah, felt great!” she chuckled too.

“So, what happened to you anyway?” She asked, referring to my stitches and my wrist.

“Got in a fight the other day.” I said, before I realized I’d even said it.

“Oh so that was you?” she asked.

I could hear loud voices coming from the office, but I couldn’t make out what was being said or who was saying it.

I asked Stacks, “What do you mean?”

“Oh well, nothing,” she said and I was too mad at the teacher to bother pushing Stacks on the subject.

“I hope they fire that...” Stacks shocked me when she used a very colorful word to describe our teacher.

“Even if you didn’t have that sore arm, no teacher should ever grab someone like that, especially someone as little as you.” She sounded like she was getting angrier the more she talked and amazingly enough, I let the wise crack about my size pass without comment. I guess to someone like Stacks, someone like me would seem like the runt of the littler.

It suddenly occurred to me that this made the second time that Stacks had come to my resuce. The first time had been after my initial run in with Larry, BB and Fish on my first day of school here. Come to think of it, I never did get them back for that. I guess I’ll consider Larry’s broken leg as debt paid in full.

There was a really loud voice that shook the door of the Principles office. I still couldn’t tell who was shouting but I guess Stacks could.

She let out a nervous sounding comment, “Sounds like your Grandpa is ripping her a new one.”

“A new what?” I asked ignorantly.

She looked at me as though she couldn’t believe that I didn’t know what she was talking about.

We both heard knocking on the glass behind us and we turned in unison to look. There was Bertha looking at me and shrugging her arms and hands as if to ask what was going on. I shrugged back, but Stacks just waved at the three of them as if she was annoyed that they were even there.

“Sorry, my sister’s so nosey. She’s got to be in the middle of everything!” Stacks said.

Talk about something coming from out of nowhere. She might as well have hit me over the head with her hockey stick. There was no way I could have ever, not even in a million years, made that connection.

“YOUR SISTER?” I shouted, momentarily forgetting where we were and why.

Stacks recoiled, probably because I’d just screamed right into her face. “Well... uh... my step-sister, but yeah. Didn’t you know that?”

“UH NO!” I said, turning to look at Bertha through the glass again and saw that she was covering her mouth and laughing; at least I think she was laughing. Anyway, I guess she had heard me through the glass too.

I was sitting there with my mouth hanging open. I was physically and mentally stunned by that bit of news. “But, but, but you... I mean, she... I mean... Oh hell!” I finally cussed and shook my head as though I was trying to shake my brain awake. “Let me guess, they are your brothers?” I said meaning Fish and BB.

Stacks was so taken aback by my comment that she got choked for a second. She coughed as she said, “Oh my gawd! No way! Gross! It’s bad enough being related through marriage to her.” she motioned toward Bertha without looking, “If I was related to those horrible retches, I’d have to kill myself.”

The door of the Principles office opened and first out was the teacher that had intended to come to my rescue earlier. She was followed by my Grandfather and then the Principle. But my teacher never came out.

Grandfather looked at me and winked, then turned to the other teacher and shook her hand. I didn’t hear what he said to her or what she said back, but I did see her blush slightly.

Next Grandfather shook the Principles hand and I heard him this time as he said, “When the weather’s right we’ll have to play some golf.”

“Absolutely,” the Principle said, “But you’ll have to spot me the first two holes.”

“Is that all?” Grandfather laughed.

Grandfather looked at me, “Up and at’em delinquent!”

He looked back to the Principle, “And we’ll expect you and the misses at the end of the month?”

Grandfather looked at me again, “Ho-Ho-Ho! Let’s go Kido!” and he was smiling again... I think... it could have been gas though.

“I’ll have the wife call to set a date.” He said over his shoulder to the Principle.

“And Al, thanks again for your understanding.” The Principle said as I stood up.

“See you tonight.” Stacks said to me.

“Ok and thanks again.” I said to her.

Grandfather paused to give Stacks an approving smile and nod.

Oddly enough, when Grandfather and I stepped out of the school office and back into the hallway, Bertha and the guys were no where to be seen. Perhaps when they saw the Principle come back out they made themselves scarce.

“You have everything?” he asked me, “Where’s your coat?”

I shook my head as I said, “No, need to go to my locker.”

“Lead the way my boy!” Grandfather said, nudging me ahead of him.

On the way home Grandfather explained that he and the Principle, whom he kept calling Carl, have been friends since their early High School days. He also told me that I wouldn’t have anymore problems with that teacher. He didn’t say why that was or what happened in the office, but I didn’t care. I was just so amazed how cool Grandfather was being about the whole thing and how he’d stood up for me like he had.

“Do you think Stacks is going to get in trouble for pushing my teacher?” I asked him.

“Well,” he started to say but paused as if in thought, “I can’t speak to that. I just don’t know.”

And then as if he’d been waiting to ask me he said, “Who was that revolting boy that came to the car?”

“Huh? Oh that wasn’t a boy that was Bertha.” I said with amusement.

“That was a girl?” Grandfather asked with incredulity.

“Yeah, she’s...” I started to say, but Grandfather finished for me, “a walking cesspool!”

“Yeah, but she’s mostly ok.” I said, surprised that I was defending the likes of Bertha.

“So, that girl in the office, what did you say her name was?” he asked.

“Stacks,” I answered.

“Odd name for a girl.” Grandfather commented.

I felt that need to explain to him the reason why she is called that, “It’s just a nickname on account that she really stacks up the hockey points.”

“Is Stacks the one you’re going to the dance with?” Grandfather asked as he pulled into the driveway.

I was surprised that we were already home as I answered, “No, that is her sister. I mean step-sister.” And I don’t care how many times I say it that is never going to right.

Grandfather replied with “Ah.”

The garage door closed, but Grandfather didn’t turn off the car right away. Instead tightly gripped the wheel and almost speaking as though he was thinking aloud he breathily said, “Your parents are stressed enough. And Lord knows we don’t need your Grandmother getting involved. So,” he thumped the steering wheel with both thumbs, “I think we should keep this between the two of us?”

“Uh, yeah!” I agreed quickly.

With that he turned off the car and started to get out.

“Grandfather?” I called from the passenger seat.

He stopped with both feet out of the car but his backside still on the seat. Without him looking at me or acknowledging me I went on to say, “Thanks.”

He turned back around, pulled one leg into the car again and grabbed my thigh, “My boy, I might be old and bad-tempered most of the time, but I’ll dead and buried before I let someone I love be mistreated like that.”

That was all that was said but dang, it was enough. That one statement absolutely blew me away. Grandfather loves me!

__________

Chapter 29

In all of the commotion of the end of the school day, I had totally forgotten about the fact that I had wet that dang diaper. When mom came home from work she found me in my room, sitting on the floor doing my homework. Ok, that’s not true; I had been doing my homework right up to the point where I fell asleep on the floor. Mom had come in and checked my diaper before waking me up. When I awoke I was laying on my back looking up at the ceiling. She already had removed my pants and was removing the tapes from my wet diaper.

“Sorry sweetie, I was trying not to wake you.” She apologized.

“Why do you keep folding up the edges of your bedding like that?” she asked and as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes I answered her, “So I can see if anything is trying to hide under my bed.” and then I realized what she was doing.

“No but mom!” I started to say as I reached for the front of my diaper but mom, thinking I was objecting to being changed snapped at me, “Alvin, I’m not going to let you stay in a wet diaper!”

“No, not that!” I quickly said, “I was going to say that I was dry, I mean at school today. Like I said I would. I stayed dry!”

“That’s not what your Grandfather told me.” She said and I was confused. I thought Grandfather said we were going to keep everything between the two of us. I guess he didn’t mean the part about me wetting myself at school.

“Well, yeah, I mean no. I mean I only did at the end. I mean wet myself, at the end of the day and it wasn’t my fault!” I said not sure if what I was saying made much sense at all.

“Alvin sweetheart, there is absolutely no shame at all in wearing diapers to protect your pants from getting wet. Think about how you would have felt if you hadn’t been wearing this when you wet today?” she said as she pulled the wet diaper out from under me and slid a dry one back in its place.

“But mom!” I started to complain, but I knew it was useless.

“Now, don’t you think we should get you dressed for your party?” Mom said as she pulled the new diaper up into place.

“It’s not a party; it’s just a stupid school dance.” I said still feeling rather miffed.

She started to pull the diaper into place when I said, “But I want to take a shower first.”

Mom paused, looked at me and then grimaced, which I took to mean that she thought it was a good idea too.

“Alright, but you better hurry it up and I’ll be right back to help you get ready.” She said. I groaned to myself as I stood up because my body was still a bit sore in places. Half naked I streaked across the room, headed for the bathroom.

Before I was even in the bathroom I had my shirt pulled off and was hopping on one foot while tugging at my sock.

“And be sure to wash your diaper area extra well.” Mom said loudly.

In the bathroom I first turned on the shower before I went over and tossed my shirt and sock down the laundry chute. I had to lean my butt against the vanity so that I could pull of my other sock.

“Oh that’s cold!” I exclaimed as the cold marble of the vanity counter touched the small of my back.

I spun around and slammed the second sock into the chute and that is when the mirror image of me caught my eye and we locked gazes.

“Hi there handsome!” I said to my reflection as we both straightened up together.

I waved and noticed that the mirror me, who was waving back, looked different then I remembered him and I am not talking about the battle scars from the fight in the park; I mean he looked different. Even though I had seen myself as recently as that very morning while combing my hair, I hadn’t noticed that my hair seemed darker now. I know you are wondering how does black hair get darker? Well it appeared to have done just that. And was my skin lighter too? Then again, maybe it was all just my imagination. It really hadn’t been that long since I was hanging out on the sunny coastal beaches of California.

“I wonder how long it takes for a tan to fade.” I said to my reflection.

I shrugged my shoulders and so did the other me.

“You don’t know either huh?” I said and then we both took a step away from the mirror.

We both struck the same pose by flexing our arms and tightening out bellies.

“I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but Alvin,” I paused to wink at myself, “you’re looking hot.”

Now, I don’t have the biggest and best body in the world. I’m not built for power or speed; I’m built for two things and those are swimming and surfing. Looking at myself in the mirror, I still looked good but perhaps not as trim and cut as I was a few weeks before. Maybe because in Maine there isn’t anything to do but sleep, eat and sit around watching the snow get deeper and deeper as it slowly engulfs the world... me included!

I pointed at myself in the mirror and said, “You need to get your sexy butt back into the ocean before you end up looking like one of those fat pasty-skinned weekend summer tourist!

I continued to check myself out for a minute or two; even leaning in to get a really good look at my stitches and tickling the threads with my fingernail. Then I saw the steam beginning to billow out of the shower behind me and knew that it was ready for me.

“HOT! HOT! HOT!” I shouted as the water sprayed the top of my foot.

After leaping back out and dancing around a bit, I reached in and readjusted the temperature. “Dang-it, I thought this thing wasn’t supposed to let it burn me!?” I looked back at myself in the mirror, “You didn’t see that, did you?”

Thankfully my reflection indicated that he hadn’t by shaking his head.

Much more timidly, I reached in and felt the water to make sure I wasn’t going to scald myself again. It was still especially warm but it wasn’t so hot that I’d cook myself.

I guess I was in the shower too long because before I knew it I heard mom calling, “Alvin you need to hurry up in there!”

“Almost done!” I lied; I hadn’t even soaped up yet. I was too busy enjoying the warm water as it cascaded down over my body. Boy it sure felt good!

However, once mom had hollered I started speeding up. I quickly washed my hair and all the rest of me. I even remembered to wash my diaper area twice, front and back. After making three complete turns under the water I shut it off and jumped out. Surprise, there was mom standing in the doorway holding the diapering supplies. She set them down on the counter, picked up a towel and began drying me. When she was satisfied that I was dry she spread the towel on the floor and instructed me to lie down.

“Right here?” I squalled.

“Yes right here!” she said.

“Mom, do I have to wear that?” I whined, “Can’t I have a GoodNite instead? Just this once?”

That started yet another argument where I was against this whole diaper idea and mom was totally for it. And before I knew it I was on my back and she was positioning the last tape. That is when she said in a very cold and harsh tone which sounded very much the way Grandmother sounds when she is worked up, “And I don’t want to hear anything else about you not wearing these. I’m tired of arguing with you about them. As long as you are having accidents and wetting your bed you are going to wear them! Do I make myself clear?”

When I didn’t respond she did something that I couldn’t believe she would do. She smacked me right on my bare thigh as she said, “Young man!” she hit me again, “I asked you a question.”

Instinctively I rubbed my burning thigh as anger mingled with tears in my eyes. Through clenched teeth I answered her back with a short-forceful, “Yes!”

In that one word, I had tried to pack all of my anger and frustrations, but it seemed to bounce off her as though she were protected by an invisible mom-shield.

Mom then combed my hair for me before leading me out of the bathroom so that she could help me get dressed. All the while not a single word was spoken between the two of us. When Grandfather and I left to go back to the school I didn’t say anything in return when mom had said to me, “Have a good time at the dance. I love you.”

I did however make it a point to say, “Bye Grandmother, Bye John. See you in a couple hours.”

“You upset with your mother again?” Grandfather asked as he was backing out of the garage.

Still fuming I asked him, “I thought you said we were going to keep what happened today between us?”

“Yes, I did and I meant it.” Grandfather said sounding confused.

I guess I should have been surprised that he hadn’t lost his temper with me. I mean I was being more than a bit rude to him.

I was so angry, I thought that any second I was going to suddenly burst into flames. “Then why did you tell mom that I had an accident at school today?”

Grandfather didn’t respond right away. He simply drove the car and watched the road. He was quiet for so long that I started to think he wasn’t going to answer me.

“I am sorry, boy.” He finally said, “I didn’t know that you didn’t want me to say anything about that.”

“Well now she says I have to wear,” I had become an erupting volcano and God help my Grandfather, he didn’t loose his cool when I said, “these damn diapers all the time.”

I was squeezing both fists, even the one wrapped with the Ace bandage as tight as I could while saying, “And to make things even worse; I think at least one of my friends...” as I ranted I was also questioning myself as to when I had started considering Larry and the others friends, “knows about them and who knows how many others at school know after that whole locker note thing. And if my other friends don’t know yet, I am sure they will soon enough.”

I was so worked up that I angrily elbowed the car door with the same arm that was connected to my sore wrist.

“Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!” I cussed and groaned as the pain momentarily blotted out all other emotions and thoughts.

I cradled my now throbbing wrist to my chest and rocked back and forth as if that would make the pain go away.

“Feel better?” Grandfather asked with just the smallest hint of agitation in his voice.

“No!” I moaned and rocked.

“Then would you mind not tearing up my new car?” he said but it was the way he said it. It was almost like he was trying to cheer me up. But I didn’t want to be cheered up; I wanted to be upset; I wanted to be angry! I wanted to make someone or something feel as bad as I did. And why wasn’t he mad? Why wasn’t he yelling at me for cussing?

For a few seconds I thought I was going to start crying but somehow I was able to choke back the tears as I said, “I just wish we could go back to Chula Vista and have things be like they were before.” And though I wasn’t crying, my voice sure sounded like I was.

Grandfather caught me off guard when he asked, “What note?”

“Huh?” I grunted.

“You said something about a locker note.” Grandfather said.

Thankfully I didn’t have to try and explain that because we had arrived at the school. As we pulled into the school parking lot Grandfather reached over and took hold of my thigh like he had done earlier in the garage. “Well I for one am glad you’re here with us in Maine but would you do me one favor?”

I swallowed against the lump in my throat as I tried to say, “What?”

“For the next couple of hours, I want you to forget about everything. Forget about your mom, forget about being mad and just have a good time with your friends. If you have to, imagine that everything in your life is exactly as you want it to be and have fun.” He squeezed my leg again, “Can you do that for me?”

I swallowed again and forced myself to smile, “Yeah, I think I can do that.”

“Atta-boy.” He said, “Now get out of my car. I’m missing Wheel of Fortune!”

__________

Chapter 30

When I walked through the doors I was greeted by two bubbly girls, one blonde, the other a curly haired brunet. I’d never seen them at school before but that isn’t saying much; when you come right down to it, I’ve already missed more days of school then I’ve actually attended. The blonde took my coat, hat and gloves while the brunet gave me a piece of paper with a number on it.

“What’s this for?” I asked the brunet.

In typical teenage girl snobbery she answered with, “Uh, HELLO? So you can get your coat back when you leave.”

“Oh,” I said stuffing the paper into my pants pocket.

I was somewhat concerned that I had come overdressed. Mom had insisted that I wear a tie and you can’t wear a tie without wearing a nice crisply ironed shirt and slacks. And my shoes were so shiny I could almost see myself in them. But those fears were put to rest when I saw that there were guys that had come more dressed up then I was, with suits and even a couple guys wearing tuxedos. There were also many guys, and I guess girls too, that were just wearing their regular street clothes. And get this, there was even some numbskull running around in Bermuda’s, a flowery Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops. Back in Chula Vista that is how most guys dress all the time — well, maybe not that psychogenic flower shirt but in this frozen hell? I don’t think you’ll ever see me in a pair of shorts again!

With all that said, what I was really on the look out for was some guy dressed in a bright blue button up shirt with a red collar and wearing blue Converse shoes with no laces in them.

Right then some girl grabbed my arm. “Oh my gosh! You’re the guy aren’t you?” she said in nearly perfect California beach bunny fashion.

She had long brown hair and brown eyes partially hidden behind small frameless glasses. She was flanked on either side by two other girls, one a redhead with a nose that seemed to be made more of freckles than skin and the other had very short brown hair; I dare say if she hadn’t been wearing a dress and makeup, I might have mistaken her for a dude.

“Well are you or aren’t you?” the redhead asked.

“I’m sorry?” I said, not having a clue what they were talking about.

“Aren’t you the guy that slapped the teacher?” The short haired girl asked.

“Uh, I didn’t slap anyone.” I said, which the truth was. I guess somewhere along the grapevine, the event that I believed them to be referring to had become slightly difference than the actual facts.

“You see Becky! I told you he wasn’t the guy.” The long haired girl said to the redhead.

The three of them quickly vanished into the crowd leaving me standing there looking and feeling quite befuddled.

The hallway leading from the front school doors to the gymnasium was packed with boys and girls standing around talking, laughing and enjoying themselves. It was when I finally stepped into the gym that I was really blown away. The school gymnasium had been converted into a fairytale winter wonderland. Except for the wooden floor, I hardly recognized the place and boy was the music loud. I looked across the gym and saw that there was a band playing but I couldn’t see them well from where I was standing.

As I made my way over to the punch table I kept a watchful eye out for Bertha, BB and Fish. I didn’t find them right away, however when I reached the punch bowl I did find someone else I knew.

“Larry?!” I gasped when I saw him sitting beside the punch table in a wheelchair with his leg all done up in a huge cast that went way up his hip. A white tube sock had been stretched over the end of the cast to keep his little pink toes from getting cold.

“ALVIN!” he shouted loud enough for me to hear him over the blaring music.

“I-I didn’t think you would be here. I mean, I thought you would still be in the hospital or at least home in bed.” I said as I pushed past a lot of people to get closer to him.

“Nah,” he said with a wide, genuine smile, “they sent me home yesterday evening and there was no way I was missing this.”

You know, I don’t know why I recognized him because he didn’t look anything like himself. He looked really happy and was wearing a nice crisp white shirt with a smart looking black neck tie. Larry didn’t seem the type to own a tie let alone wear one. Come to think of it, the tie was probably his fathers. He was also wearing a pair of black sweat pants with the one leg cut off to accommodate his bulky cast which went all the way up to his hip. His normally slicked back hair had been parted on one side and neatly combed into that boy-next-door fashion. And if you overlooked the raccoon eyes and the swelling of the bridge of his nose, his face seemed sweet, almost innocent.

“Listen, I never got a chance to apologize.” I said trying to talk over the band.

He screwed up his face, I mean more so than it already was, “What the heck are you talking about?”

“Your leg! And...” I started to say but he reached out and took hold of my shirt like he was about to pull me down so that he could punch me in the face.

“Listen! I am the one that was a jerk, not you!” I was less then 6-inches from his face so I could see clearly that his eyes had become watery and his one good eye was twitching. He stuck his fist right in my face as he continued, “You could have left me in the park and if things had been switched I probably would have left you.”

It seemed that Larry had more to say but it was apparent that he was having a difficult time keeping his emotions under control. He released my shirt and patted at his still somewhat swollen eye with the back of his hand.

Have you ever heard of the saying, ‘Open mouth, engage brain’? It means you start talking before you think about what you are saying. That is exactly what I did. I opened my mouth and words began to fall out of it without any thought whatsoever. “Listen, I think I have figured out something.” I paused long enough to swallow and drum up a little more courage to say what I felt needed to be said. “You like Bertha. Don’t you?”

Larry’s one good eye flew open while the other strained and twitched.

“And by ‘like’ I mean, like-like.” I said making my stitches dance by wiggling my eyebrows at him.

He violently shook his head from side to side. Amazingly, his neatly combed hair didn’t so-much-as budge. He must have used half-a-bottle of hair jell to achieve that kind of holding power.

“No way man, she’s yours now.” He said holding up both hands as though I were robbing him.

“No she’s not!” I shook my head too, but not as forcefully as he had. “She’s the one that asked me to this stupid dance! Don’t even for a second think that this was my idea!”

Larry puffed himself up and tried to sound tough as he said “Listen! I’m not going to stand in the way of you two!” but I was able to see right through his tough guy act.

I then asked him point blank, “Do you or don’t you really like-like her?” But he didn’t have to answer; I could see it in his eyes. Larry didn’t just like-like Bertha; he was and still is hopelessly in love with her.

“You’re going to take her back and make her your girlfriend or,” it was my turn to try to act tough even though we both knew it was all just an act, “I’m going to give you another black eye!”

Larry leaned back in his wheelchair and chuckled amusingly, “Uh, I think I’ll pass on the black eye,” he pointed at his eyes, “I already got two but thanks for offering just the same.”

The mood seemed to get really weird for a few seconds as the band switched from a loud rock and roll song to a slower, quieter and kind of sappy song.

Larry diverted his gaze downward and to save him from the embarrassment of being seen so vulnerable, I stuck my good hand right under his nose and said, “Tell you what; let’s forget the fight ever happened and be friends again,” and in the same breath I added, “and Bertha is all yours. I’ll even try to help you win her back.” And as soon as I said that I thought to myself, ‘Lord knows how I am going to accomplish that!’

Boy, Larry was almost glowing when he shook my hand. Well, he didn’t exactly shake it, he did some kind of weird gang style handshake where he grabbed, pulled and clutched my hand different ways before ended it with our fists knocking together.

“Deal!” he finally said.

“Good, now get up out of that chair and let’s go have some fun!” I said trying to look serious.

Larry’s face went blank, “Ha-Ha. That was so funny.” he said tritely, “Oh stop. Please don’t make me laugh. Ho-Ho-Ha-Ha.”

I laughed a little as I said, “Just kidding man, but at least let me push you around a while. We can go find the others. We can even go check out the band; they sound pretty good.”

“Nah, I’m good right here. Besides, I’ve already seen them like a million times. My twin brother is the drummer.” I looked toward the band but we were too far away and the crowd was too thick to see any of the band members.

Larry continued, “They practice in our garage all the time.”

“Wow you have a twin?” I asked, unable to keep my voice from squeaking.

“We’re not identical.” He said.

I’d heard of twins before that didn’t look alike, like one being a boy and the other a girl but to find out that there was a chance that there was another person like Larry in this world? That was kind of creepy to think about.

“Which of you is older?” I asked.

“I am.” He said like it was extremely important.

Then came the obvious question, “By how much?”

“Eleven minutes and twenty seven seconds.” Larry’s facial expression changed as he said, “You got any more questions Sherlock?”

“Take it easy!” I said, “It’s just that I have never had a friend that was a twin before.”

When he didn’t say anything else I said, “Well let’s roll around a while.”

“Nah man, really, I’m good right here. Honest!” his voice cracked when he said honest but I acted like I hadn’t noticed. “My older sister is around here somewhere. She’s supposed to be staying close to make sure I don’t get hurt.” He said and for the first time that I can recall, Larry seemed... well, almost childlike.

“So have you seen her?” he asked me.

I shook my head, “I didn’t even know you had a sister.”

“Not my sister you jerk!” he said with a mixture of humor and irritation, “I meant Bertha!”

“No, not yet.” I answered while scanning the crowd for her.

“So what are their names?” I asked.

“What?” Larry shouted back as the music suddenly got louder.

I turned back around and got right into his face as I shouted, “I said, what are their names?”

“Who’s?” He asked.

I drilled my finger into my temple and said, “Your sister and brother!”

Larry got the meaning of the finger drill and thought it was somewhat funny. He smiled and said, “Sarah and Christian.”

“Sounds biblical. So how’d you end up with a name like Larry?”

Larry laughed a lot and said, “You don’t know the half of it. But I’ll tell you about it another time.”

“OK.” I said smiling because I was glad to see Larry smiling and laughing too. Who would have thought that he and I would be so buddy-buddy?

Now I can’t let you go on thinking that Larry’s broken leg had reformed him because it hadn’t. As I stood next to Larry, while the two of us watched the others dancing, he was also occasionally pulling a straw out of his pocket and firing spit wads into the crowd. I suppose I shouldn’t have been enjoying that, but I was because it was funny and relatively speaking, harmless.

“Have you seen Fish and BB?” I asked after a while.

Larry pointed out into the middle of the crowd of dancing students as he shouted, “They’re dancing over there.”

I followed the invisible beam from the tip of Larry’s finger through the crowd until my eyes beheld something that nearly made them fall right out of their sockets.

There, dancing together in the middle of the dance floor, was BB and Fish and when I say together I mean they were in a full embrace with each others head on the other’s shoulder. Actually, I could only see Fish from behind and part of BB’s face but I was still sure it was them and I think that is the first time I finally realized that BB and Fish weren’t exactly ‘normal guys’.

I looked back to Larry and I guess he could see the big question mark hanging over my head because he said, “What?” as if he didn’t have a clue why I might be looking so utterly bewildered.

Dumbly, I pointed toward the crowd, “Are they... I mean their not really? I mean... holy shit, they really are, aren’t they?”

I practically murdered Larry with my reaction to that revelation. He was laughing so hard he nearly fell out of his wheelchair.

“Oh Alvin you should see your face right now!” He howled and I could see that his laughter was also causing him pain.

And then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around so see a radiant black haired girl... no... I mean a young woman. She had dark eyes that were staring at me through black plastic framed eyeglasses.

“What the?” I gasped. It was the glasses that had clued me in. With a single leap of my heart I realized that I was looking at Bertha but it wasn’t Bertha; at least not the Bertha I knew. She was positively beautiful. Her once tangled and greasy jet-black hair had been washed and combed and hung about her shoulders like a gleaming black veil. And—and... those horrible brown teeth of hers, though not white were sparking ‘cause she’d finally brushed them. All of her dark, smelly clothes had been traded for a very tight yellow dress that seemed to make her eyes pop... not to mention the rest of her figure; if you get what I am saying here.

“B-b-b-bertha?” I stammered in disbelief, “W-w-what happened to you?”

Bertha shifted her weight to one foot, rolled her eyes and asked, “Why? What’s wrong? My sister did it!”

“N-nothing!” I said, unable to stop grinning, “I-I-I mean you’re beautiful!” for the life of me I couldn’t stop stumbling through my words.

But I guess I said the right thing because she smiled again and I think my heart leapt in my chest for the second time.

“Oh my,” She gasped when she finally realized that it was Larry in the wheelchair, “Larry what happened to you?!”

“Oh shit, Larry!” I thought, or did I say it? I’m not sure.

I spun around to see that Larry had the same kind of expression on his face at seeing Bertha cleaned up and looking HOT! I guess it was the first time he’d ever seen her like that too.

Bertha pushed me aside, almost knocking me into the punch table and despite her tight fitting dress she squatted beside him.

“What happened to you?” she asked again but before Larry could say anything she bounced right back up again.

She spun around and jabbed a hard, accusing finger into my chest. “You did this, didn’t you?!”

“Bertha, wait!” Larry shouted.

Thank God she heard him or I probably wouldn’t be alive right now to tell you about all this.

“It was my fault!” Larry said, “I...” he faltered momentarily but quickly recovered, “I was the one that jumped him in the park the other day.”

He went on to tell her exactly what happened. Boy he sure did a good job of making me sound like a real hero too. When he finished telling it all she turned back toward me and those normally cold, doll-like eyes seemed soft and warm.

I jumped when she threw herself at me. I swear I thought she was going to attack me. I even threw up my hands to block my face but instead of hitting me, she wrapped her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. Actually, she almost missed my cheek, another inch or so and she would have been kissing my ear.

Bertha didn’t say anything; I guess it would have been better if she had. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so confused when she let me go, turned back to Larry and kissed him. I am talking about a soul sucking, full on the lips kiss and when she didn’t stop I started to really feel very uncomfortable.

Thankfully, that slow song ended and someone in the band started talking so I turned my attention toward the band. I still couldn’t see through the crowd to who was talking but whoever it was, even though he shouted and talked like a seasoned rock and roll star, he sounded quite young.

“GOOD EVENING BOYD JUNIOR HIGH!” the guy in the band shouted but it wasn’t like normal shouting. Actually it took me a second to figure out that it was more like he was singing the words rather then just shouting them. It made for a really cool effect on the crowd.

The combined cheers of the crowd were deafening. I glanced back to Bertha and Larry; they were still lip-locked.

“Geeze, get a room already would ya!” I thought to myself.

“COME ON! YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT! LET’S HERE IT BOYD JUNIOR HIGH!”

The crowd screamed even louder and I was forced to cover my ears in a feeble attempt to shield them from the roar. And then my eye caught site of something, I wasn’t sure but for a second somewhere in the crowd of students I thought I saw a boy from behind, wearing a blue shirt with a red collar. But the crowd was moving and jumping around so much that I couldn’t be sure. I wasn’t really thinking about it when I started pushing my way through the crowd.

As the guy from the Band continued to rev up the crowd I pushed forward until someone grabbed me by the back of the neck. I turned to see Stacks standing there. She looked even more beautiful and stunning than Bertha had. I even found myself gawking at her with my mouth hanging open.

“Wow you look so much better.” She commented.

“Stacks you look a-a-amazing!” I said still staring at her.

“So I hear you’re supposed to be here with Bertha?” Stacks asked.

I grimaced and finally broke my dumbfounded gaze as I pointed toward the punch table.

“Oh, they’re back together again.” She said drolly.

“Yeah, well he really loves her.” I said not really realizing that I had said it.

“Then you’re free?” She asked.

“Huh?” I grunted.

“To dance?” She said motioning toward the band.

“Uh, yeah I guess so but don’t you have a date?” I asked.

“He doesn’t seem to be here yet.” She said.

“Hey did you get into any trouble?” I asked her.

“You don’t really want to hear about that?” she said almost as though she was hoping I would drop the subject but the way she had put it only served to peek my curiosity.

Fearing the worst I nearly pounced on her as I asked, “Why? What happened?”

“Oh alright, I’ll tell you about it but only if we can dance too.” She said grasping my good hand and dragging me into the crowd of dancing students.

The gist was that she could have been expelled for attacking a teacher. However, because of the circumstances and all, she was given 2 weeks of after school detention and she has to sit out five hockey games. The way she made it sound, I think she would have rather been dragged before a firing squad then miss out on hockey.

“I really am sorry that it got so messy!” I said.

“Well she’s an old witch and she’ll get what’s coming to her now!” Stacks said with utter contempt.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

I didn’t even realize that Stacks and I were dancing as close as we were while we spoke. I suppose to those around us we must have looked like we were an oddly matched couple or something but we had to be that close so that we could hear each other.

I looked up into Stacks face as she said with an evil grin, “Well, she attacked a student now didn’t she?”

“You mean me? She didn’t attack me.” I argued.

“Sure she did. What do you call what she did to you? You were nearly in tears because she was hurting you so badly.” Stacks answered back.

In my own defense I quickly answered back, “I wasn’t crying!”

Stacks grinned ruefully, “That’s why I said nearly.”

__________

Chapter 31

I lost track of the number of songs we danced too. I think it was four or perhaps five. I suppose it doesn’t matter if it was one or one hundred because dancing with Stacks was as natural as... well, as surfing.

“I need aqua!” I said to Stacks as the band was starting to play ‘In The End’ by Linkin Park. Actually, I think our band made it sound better than Linkin Park did.

“Ok!” She said still dancing.

“Want anything?” I asked her.

“Water would be great!” She said and I slipped away, leaving her still dancing.

“Two waters please!” I shouted to the guy behind the punch table.

He said something back as he handed me the two bottles of water. I just smiled and nodded my head. That seemed to satisfy him because he started helping someone else.

When I looked back into the crowd for Stacks all I saw was a sea of bouncing, bobbing and wobbling bodies but then I made eye contact with Fish who was standing about ten feet from me and grinning like a goof. He had sweet dripping off him but then again, so did I.

“Oh hey Fish!” I shouted and I’ve no idea how he heard me; maybe he had read my lips. He said something back to me, but I couldn’t hear him at all. Even when he came up to me and shouted it right into my ear I still couldn’t hear him.

I also noticed that BB wasn’t with him and I shouted into his ear, “Where’s BB?”

“What?” Fish shouted back.

“B-B?!” I shouted slowly.

He pointed toward the band and I took that to mean that BB must be somewhere close to the origins of the loud music.

Fish held up a finger indicating that I should wait for a minute while he got something to drink too. A moment later he and I were fighting through the crowd to get closer to the stage.

I was following behind Fish and trying to keep an eye out for Stacks as we moved forward. When Fish stopped I looked ahead of us and saw that he was handing one of the cups of punch to BB.

Talking was impossible so I simply gave BB a friendly nod as a greeting but then I saw it. BB was wearing a bright blue shirt with an equally bright red collar. I must be an open book because without anything being said, BB knew what I was thinking and smiled knowingly.

“You?” I mouthed.

Fish looked back at me; he had a confused expression on his face. When I looked back to BB, he was waving Fish and me to follow him. I looked down and caught a quick glimpse of BB’s shoes. He was wearing blue, laceless Converse and I think my heart began beating ten times its maximum speed.

We made our way to one side of the enormous black speakers and amazingly enough, if you aren’t in front of those things; the noise level is not so bad. Oh, it was still loud, but at least we could hear ourselves think again.

“You’re Baby Bruce?” I asked BB.

He suddenly looked nervous as he put his hand over my mouth. Yeah it hurt, but I was in too much shock to recognize or react to the pain.

BB smirked as he leaned forward to say, “I was so hoping I was right about you!” and then he did something I couldn’t believe. He looked around us, stepped closer to me and pulled open the front of his pants about an inch. That was all the farther he needed to pull them, because I saw exactly what he meant for me to see. BB was wearing an unmistakable, white plastic diaper with Sesame Street characters on the front. I looked at Fish who was looking around the crowd like a jumpy Secret Service Agent who’s trying to protect the president from a room full of would-be assassins.

Fish and I made eye contact again and then I started looking from BB to Fish and back to BB. BB then nudged his chin knowingly toward Fish and smirked again. I looked deeply into Fish’s eyes and saw the answer to my unspoken question. He was PampersBoy from ILD.com.

That is when my heart-rate, which was already off the scale, surpassed the speed of light! I could actually feel my heart beating in my eardrums and eyeballs. I guess the realization of it all got to be more then my surfer brain could process and I felt my head beginning to feel as though it was filled with sea water. Without saying anything, Fish and BB hook me under each arm and walked me over to the wall where I was able to rest against it. I also drank some of the water I was holding.

With the big speaker no longer obscuring my view of the band, I was able to see the base player clearly and the drummer too, who I now knew to be Larry’s twin brother, although the drummer was a bit more toward the center of the... well, I guess it was sort of a stage like platform that they were on, but it wasn’t very high at all. The rest of the band members all had their backs to me. All of the band members were all dressed in black and each individual seemed to have his or her own unique hairstyle. Suffice it to say, that only a rock and roll band could get away with looking as bizarre as they did.

“So you were right!” Fish said to BB.

BB gave Fish a pat on the tummy as he said, “Just stand there and look beautiful would you and let me do the talking.”

Fishes reply was to cross his arms stubbornly over his chest while rolling his eyes.

“So he is...” I started to ask BB but before I even finished Fish was nodding his head and mouthing, “PampersBoy”.

I was quickly becoming aware of a tightness in my chest, a throbbing in my ears and my head had gone from swimming to aching like someone had brained me with a baseball bat.

BB grabbed my good hand with both of his hands and was bouncing in place, “This is soo great!”

He looked at Fish who still had his arms crossed and said to him, “We got to tell Sissy!”

I hadn’t realized until right then, but somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I had already made the connections that if BB and Fish were Baby Bruce and PampersBoy, then it seemed only logical that Sissy4U and Diapered4Life would have to be none other than Bertha and Larry.

“I don’t know where she is.” Fish said looking around and shrugging his shoulders.

“You mean Bertha? I left her over by the punch, sucking on Larry’s face.” I said while pointing in that direction and nearly poking some girl right in the boob.

BB and Fish both looked at me with what I took to be confusion but then BB’s eyes lit up.

“Larry is here?” he asked, nearly jumping out of his shoes with excitement.

“Uh, yeah,” I grunted and nodded while mentally scratching my head.

Fish nudged me with his elbow, “Guess you didn’t whack him after all.” Of course he was joking with me but my head wasn’t working to well and I totally missed the joke.

“I-I need to sit down.” I mumbled.

“You don’t look so good.” Fish said.

“Are you going to puke?” BB asked.

“I just need to sit.” I mumbled again.

Somehow my two friends heard me and helped me get over to the bleachers, which had been collapsed and pushed back against the wall but still, there was two rows available to sit on. We found a section that wasn’t occupied where the three of us could sit and talk and I could hopefully get my heart to slow down and my head to stop hurting.

“You ok?” BB asked.

I guzzled about half of my water and then shook my head as I asked BB, “How did you know it was me?”

He shrugged, “Would you believe that it was just a good guess?”

Oddly I nodded even though I meant to shake my head.

“Why did you bring up Bertha and Larry over there?” BB asked leaning in and speaking right into my ear. We should have stayed where we were because now that we were in front of the speakers again the music was blaringly loud.

“What?” I said.

Since I hadn’t heard what he said, I have no idea how Fish had heard him but he had and he repeated it for me.

“Because you said you had to tell Sissy4U.” I answered.

“What?” BB asked.

“OK wait a minute!” Fish said holding both hands out and giving the universal hand gesture of ‘stop’, “I am getting confused!”

“No!” Fish said as he began to laugh; he was laughing so hard he nearly fell of the bleacher. “No, no!” he was laughing and snorting as he slapped my back, “I think maybe you got the wrong idea buddy boy.”

BB finally figured out what Fish was laughing about and started laughing too. “No man, Bertha isn’t Sissy. Heck she doesn’t even know about... well... you know what.”

Ok, I was officially confused.

“What? But I thought.” I began to say and frankly I was getting a bit ticked off at the way they were laughing.

A group of students had moved closer to us, they were so close they were nearly on top of us. It wasn’t as though any of us were looking at the band but now we couldn’t see them even if we wanted too.

A moment later the band stopped playing and that same young sounding, singing guy, announced that the band was taking a break but that they would be back soon to, “ROCK ON!”

BB put his mouth right next to my ear and whispered, “Sissy4U is Bertha’s sister.”

The tightness in my chest was now a dull ache like someone was trying to crush my ribcage.

Fish suddenly pointed into the crowd, in the opposite direction of the band and loudly announced, “There she is!”

“Where?” BB asked, “Never mind, I see her!” and he stood up and pointed.

For a fevered moment I thought he was going to call her over but now that I have my mental abilities back under control, the thought that Stacks, whether she is Sissy4U or not, would been seen socializing with the likes of BB and Fish was utterly ridiculous.

I stood up and pulled BB back down. He was drawing attention to himself and the last thing I wanted was to have others looking at me!

“Wait, you mean Sissy4U isn’t Bertha?” I said throatily to them both. I could scarcely believe I’d spoke those words.

“No way man!” Fish said, still laughing himself nearly sick, “Are you kidding?”

I looked up and saw that Stacks seemed to be making her way over and god help me I didn’t know what to do. I looked down at the bottle of water I’d got for her and momentarily thought about throwing it away so that Stacks wouldn’t come for it. I know it was a stupid, irrational thought but stupidity and irrationality was all I had left. All other mental circuits had overloaded and burned out.

“No, no, no!” I said under my breath, “No, this can’t be!” The words, though only feeble attempts to regain control of my thought and emotions, seemed as though they were being screamed.

I looked back into the crowd and saw that Stacks was smiling but she wasn’t coming toward us. She was talking with this guy who I’d have to classify as a stud. Not that I am into checking out guys; I’m just saying... well you know what I am trying to say here. I’m not even sure she was ever coming over; I think I might have imagined that happening.

“Are you ok?” Fish asked me with a soft elbow to my ribs.

“I think I am going to be sick!” I mumbled.

“What?” BB asked and I guess he didn’t understand me and I didn’t bother repeating myself.

I jumped to my feet, leapfrogged over BB and knocked a bunch of others out of my way before hitting the wooden floor running. In the movies, the guy or girl that is running away always looks back, but I didn’t. All I knew was I had to get out of that gymnasium before my head exploded. Fish and BB were probably shouting after me but I have no idea if they did or not. It’s probably safe to say that I freaked them out and that they were giving chase.

I had no idea where I was going or for that matter why; I was altogether in flight mode and nothing shy of a concrete wall could stop me.

Larry, who was sitting alone near the door, looked right at me as I blew past him. In less than a nanosecond Larry seemed to express a sense of alarm. I’m not 100% sure but I think he may have hollered, “What’s the matter?”

I ran out of the gym and right into another crowd of students who were all standing around talking; probably because the music had been too loud inside for any normal conversation. It took some doing but I pushed my way past everyone until I reached the main corridor. Left would lead me to the boys and girls bathroom, but I could see that that way was blocked by the throngs of those who were fidgeting while waiting to get into the bathroom.

“Surely that isn’t the only bathrooms the school has allowed the use of during this dance?” I thought to myself.

The way to the front doors was swarming with hallway lurkers too. A funny little voice inside my head said, “Now would be a bad time for a fire drill.”

I looked to my right and saw maybe a dozen other students, two of which seemed to be physically connected at the lips. Beyond those few I could see the metal gate that was keeping anyone from getting into that part of the school. Out of curiosity I looked way down to my left and saw that just past the girls bathroom there was a gate that way too.

“Alvin wait up!” someone shouted behind me but I didn’t care who it was. I just wanted to be alone for five minutes to think and breathe.

I saw some guy with enormously high spiked dark hair, dressed in black elephant cargos and a black sleeveless t-shirt open up a door down the hall to my right and disappear inside. I’m sure you are wondering why I would remember some random guy with such detail. Well in a minute you will understand why that is.

With no deliberation whatsoever I took off running for that door.

“Hey watch it buddy!”

I had accidentally bumped into some girl.

“What a jerk!” someone else said.

“Sorry—Sorry!” I shouted without looking back.

I reached the door, pulled on the handle and, “YES!” I cheered as it opened and I jumped in.”

__________

Chapter 32

Once inside, I found myself facing a painted brick wall. Heck, if I had been moving any faster when I leapt inside, I surely would have crashed right into the monolithic obstruction. I don’t think my brain was able to grasp the existence of this wall because it told my hand to reach out and touch it. It was cool to the touch and smoother than I had expected it to feel.

To my left—more painted brick, but to my right was another door. I opened it and surprise, another wall only it wasn’t brick.

“What is this, a labyrinth?” I mumbled to myself.

When I stepped through the door I saw that immediately to my left was a fully lit room but a quick glance told me that it was vacant. However, I recognized what room it was by its furnishings; it was the school nurses office. I also noticed that there were two doors, one directly in front of me, which, if my internal sense of direction was functioning properly, lead out into the office hallway. The second door was to my right and though I had no clue where it lead, I knew that going through the door ahead had a significant risk factor for meeting up with a teacher or some other school staff member.

Now you have to remember all this was taking place within a fraction of a second, so there wasn’t a whole lot of contemplation going on. My brain told me door number one had a higher potential for badness so I went with door number two.

In the instant that I made the decision I heard someone coming in behind me. Though I’m sure I did, I don’t remember running to door number two or opening it. All I remember is being on the other side of it as I quickly pushing it closed while at the same time seeing that it had a pushbutton lock on the knob and pressing it.

It seemed like only seconds passed before the knob was jiggled from the other side and then a muffled voice said, “He must have gone out the other door. Come on!”

I can’t be sure, but I think that was BB who said it.

Suddenly, it occurred to me that if the nurse’s office had multiple doors then there was a chance that the room I’d just escaped into might have more than one door as well. I spun around to locate and make sure any other doors were locked; however, when I turned all I was able to see at first was pink, pink and more pink. I blinked several times and my hand was even moving toward my eyes to rub them when a memory popped into my head and I knew where I was. I was in that pink office that Stacks had brought me to when she’d seen that I was wearing wet pants. Needless to say, on that particular occasion, I hadn’t truly peed my pants, but that is inconsequential.

After maybe one and a half seconds, when the shock of all that pink had faded a bit, I realized that I wasn’t alone. Less than three feet from me was standing that same band member who I’d followed in; only he wasn’t just a band member but the drummer. I hadn’t actually got a good look at him but I’d caught enough of a glimpse that I could have picked him out of a line up of spiky-haired gothic dudes. However that wasn’t the important piece of information... that spiky-haired band member also seemed to have a face that I knew all too well.

Now you might think I would have lost it right then and there, and I’d have to agree with you, had I not been witnessing what it was I was witnessing. Standing before me was Chris and I don’t mean a ghost or anything of the kind, I mean Chris, a real live flesh and blood dude just like me. Well not just like me, because he looked so much different then I had ever seen him before and lord knows I never looked as ridiculous as he did right then. In Lewiston, Maine he would have stuck out like a sore thumb but back in Chula Vista, California he wouldn’t even have been noticed. He had enormously high spiked dark hair and a black sleeveless t-shirt. Though I didn’t make the connection for a good twenty seconds, it seems Chris had been the one I had followed through the door. Besides the insanely spiked hair, he was also wearing a lot of black eyeliner and I can only assume, black lipstick because those too were black.

While I was trying to get my mind around the fact that I had Chris figured all wrong, neither one of us so much as breathed. We just stood there like a couple of frightened statues.

Now, by any chance did you catch the fact that I didn’t say he was wearing those black elephant cargos? Those were draped over the pink metal desk. Chris stood frozen; his eyes locked on mine. In his hands was a wet disposable diaper which was hanging with the yellowed inside facing me.

I didn’t want to give Chris the impression that he should be embarrassed or anything. Come to think of it, this should be a perfectly natural attitude given the rooms’ current company. Still, I couldn’t help but mentally compare this slim, nearly naked, body before me to that of the mirror image of myself I’d stood admiring in my bathroom at home. Minus Chris’s usual dark blue jersey and faded blue jeans there was something quite effeminate about him. Chris's long brown hair stood erect above a horror twisted face that had soft edges and alarmed but placid eyes. And if his lower half was anything to go by, his body was completely undeveloped and had no muscle definition what-so-ever. In fact, were it not for the small but obvious male genitalia, he could easily pass for a girl. Then again, maybe it was just the eyeliner?

Chris looked as nervous as a person is capable of looking while caught changing his own pee drenched diaper. In a way, I wish I could have switched places with him but only for a second so that I could see what my face looked like right then. I’m sure I had an equally terrified expression of my own.

Would you believe that Chris was the first to break the frozen gaze between us? He blinked, dropped the wet diaper and then quickly covered himself with his hands.

“Y-y-you ar-r-re n-not al-lowed i-i-in h-h-here!” he said.

I guess I wasn’t completely convinced that he wasn’t a ghost until he had spoke just then. Actually, when he started to speak I jumped backward and smacked the back of my head into the door. “Damn!” I cussed, “Did you just speak?”

“G-g-g-get o-o-out!” He spoke again in what seemed a nearly normal tone, albeit laced with anger and fear and sprinkled with death.

“But I though you couldn’t speak!” I said totally ignoring what he had said.

His voice went high and grew in volume and venom, “G-g-g-get o-o-out n-now!”

I wish I hadn’t done what I did next but I just couldn’t help it. I started to laugh. It started as a giggle but soon grew into an uncontrollable laughing fit. I fell against the door and slid down to the floor all the while Chris kept saying, “G-g-g-get o-o-out! G-g-g-get o-o-out! G-g-g-get o-o-out!”

Eventually, he gave up trying to get me to leave and just stood there, covering himself and looking shameful. Enormous tears were flooding from his eyes, smearing his eyeliner and causing streaks of black down his cheeks.

Finally, what got me to stop laughing, well mostly, was when he said, “G-g-go ah-head a-and l-l-laugh l-like e-e-everybody else!”

“I am not laughing at you! I am laughing at myself.” I said and started laughing again.

“A-a-are y-you o-on dr-dr-d-rugs?” he said almost pleadingly.

I shook my head and laughed, “Nooo!”

There were great rivers of laughter tears flowing from my eyes and as I wiped them away I said, “All this time I thought you were a ghost!” as soon as the words were out of my mouth I lost it again.

“Oh man! I think I am going to crack a rib!” I cried out.

Chris’s nose wrinkled in reflection, “Y-y-you m-mean b-b-be-c-cause o-of m-my hair?”

I shook my head, “I told my friend all about you. How you don’t talk and...” still laughing some, I explained to him how I’d come to the conclusion that he was a ghost.

By the time I finished explaining everything Chris had backed himself away until his bare bottom was against the pink metal desk.

I’m not sure which happened first, either Chris had jumped for the second door to the office or that same door swung open. I guess it doesn’t matter because the end result was the same. Standing in the doorway was none other than Stacks.

At first no one moved or said a word but then Stacks looked at Chris and said, “You need to hurry up, the band’s about to go on again.” She then looked at me and said, “And you can quit hiding out in here. I got rid of the two buttheads. I told them I saw you slip back into the gym.

“Th-th-thanks St-st-st...” Chris started to say but Stacks cut him short by saying, “Listen, there’s no time for that. Finish getting yourself changed and get back to the band before they go on without you!”

And when Chris didn’t respond right away she barked at him, “Christian now!”

“O-O-OK!” he said.

I guess Chris was still worked up because he was fumbling around with a fresh diaper which I hadn’t noticed had been lying on the desk. Stacks ended up having to help Chris finish getting the diaper on and even helped him with his pants.

She stood back up and looked at him. “Gee-whiz Christian, your makeup is all smeared.”

She reached down the front of her dress as she said, “Here, hold still.” She produced a tissue and began to clean the smeared eyeliner from Chris’s face.

“That will have to do.” She said, “Now get out of here!”

Without so much as a word Chris blew past me, nearly knocking me on my can. I quickly found myself, once again, alone with Stacks in that pink room.

“So you know Christian?” she asked me.

I think I shook my head but I can’t be sure.

“When did he share with you that he wore diapers like you do?” she asked.

I hadn’t noticed but she had been slowly moving toward me while I had been equally as slowly backing away until I had backed right into the door I had used before. And when did I get to my feet? I honestly don’t remember getting back up again.

“He didn’t,” I first said and then without any pause whatsoever I said, “How did you know about me?”

She pointed to the pink room we were in. “Uh hello.” She said.

Her face then softened and she tilted her head to one side, “Besides, you don’t do a very good job of hiding them. Anyone with half a brain can tell that you are wearing a diaper under your clothes.”

Remember that pain I was telling you about in my chest earlier? Well it was back tenfold. And to make matters worse it felt like someone had boxed my ears, everything had suddenly become muffled and drowned out by a loud ringing.

__________

Chapter 33

The next thing I knew, I was lying flat on my back looking up at... MY GRANDFATHER?!

“Grandfather?” I asked, unable to believe that I was suddenly seeing him.

“Lie still boy,” he said, while brushing my hair out of my eyes.

I heard something to my right and turned my head to see some strange lady and, “Stacks?” I said, unable to believe what I was seeing. Stacks was standing beside Grandfather and she was crying big whale sized tears.

“Alvin you scared the shit out of me!” Stacks said half crying and half laughing.

I looked back to grandfather, hoping he had some answers and noticed him wincing from the curse word that Stacks had flung passed his ear.

“Your perfectly fine boy.” Grandfather said with a soft nod of his head.

That strange lady came over and handed a white cloth rag to grandfather. She then looked into my eyes, “You are fine Alvin. You had a little fainting spell, that is all.” Her words seemed to come out sounding almost robotic.

I didn’t realize how rude my question sounded when I asked, “Who are you?”

She told me her name and said that she was the school nurse. Then Stacks said that she ran to get the nurse after I passed out.

“I thought you were dead or something!” she said this time with more laughter and less tears and punctuated it with a hard sniffle.

Right about then a man walked into the room, I recognized him instantly as the school Principle but oddly enough I couldn’t remember if I had ever learned his name. Well that’s not entirely true because I can remember Grandfather calling him by his first name of Carl, but I don’t think I have ever known his last name. I know it was an odd thing to be thinking about just then but I can’t help what I was thinking.

Without getting up from my side Grandfather looked up to my Principle and smiled cordially before returning his attention back to me.

Now like I just said, I knew from earlier that day that Grandfather and my Principle were old buddies. So, when Grandfather saw him come in and hadn’t reacted surprised to see him; well that just didn’t add up for me.

Of Course I found out later that when Grandfather had dropped me off, he hadn’t gone home to watch Wheel of Fortune like he’d led me to believe he was going to do. No, instead he had spent the evening walking the halls and chatting with my Principle, while the two of them made sure that no one was getting into mischief. When I heard that much, it also explained how Grandfather had come to my side so quickly.

My Principle got one look at me and said, “Alvin Holloway, I’ve seen entirely too much of you this year!” and then he winked so that I would know that he was only joking with me.

I hadn’t made the connection until much later that he had also remembered seeing me in his office on my first day at Boyd Junior High. I think he was right, he’d seen too much of me already this year and it wouldn’t bother me at all if he never got to see me again!

I know it’s anti-climactic, but that was pretty much the end of my evening. Once I was able to sit-up I said goodbye to Stacks; Grandfather thanked the school nurse and Stacks and the Principle were going to escort us to our car, but as I was walking out of the nurses office Stacks called my name.

“Alvin?” she said almost as though she was begging me not to go just yet.

I stopped and looked; actually everyone had stopped and looked. Thankfully Grandfather, the Principle and the school nurse had the decency to go on ahead and allow me to catch up to them.

Once we were alone, Stacks smiled, wiped at her eyes and I noticed that besides her red eyes from where she had been crying, she looked just as lovely as when I had first saw her that very evening.

“Sorry I scared you so badly.” She apologized.

I was going to say something cool like, “You didn’t really scare me.” but we both would have known that wasn’t true. I mean, I had passed out right in front of her. Come to think of it, that’s the second time someone has scared me so bad that I lost consciousness. I don’t think I like the idea that I am a fainter. Anyway, as I was saying, I thought about saying something cool but instead I apologized too.

“Yeah, well sorry I scared you too.” I said while kicking at an invisible pebble with my shoe.

She smiled wider as she added, “And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about this or about your...” she put her hands around her mouth and whispered the spelling of, “D I A P E R S.”

Just hearing Stacks spell the D-word made my heart begin racing again but not like before. This time it was different; kind of the way Jacquelyn made me feel whenever she would email me and say something about them. I can only describe that feeling as being like a bunch of birds flapping their wings inside my chest.

“Oh and just in case he didn’t tell you;” Stacks had lowered her hands and continued speaking at a normal volume, “no one knows about Christian. Especially BB and Fish, so don’t let on that you know. He doesn’t want them to know.”

“Is he really Larry’s twin brother?” I asked.

“Yeah he is,” she said and just as before I hadn’t noticed that she was slowly moving closer to me. However, this time I wasn’t moving away. I also didn’t notice that the closer she got, the faster the birds seemed to flap.

“I think Larry knows about me.” I blurted out without even meaning to say it.

For some reason that made Stacks laugh a little.

“You don’t get it do you?” she said almost squealing.

She was only a couple feet away from me and still I hadn’t noticed that she was getting to close.

“Get what?” I asked.

“Larry and Christian might be total opposites on the outside, but inside they are exactly the same, right down to the same wetting problem.” She said.

I probably would have fell over from that bit of news had Stacks not done what she did next. She leaned down and kissed me right on the lips. It was a long kiss that seemed to last nearly an eternity. Ok, it was probably only a second or two but it sure seemed a lot longer.

I don’t remember retrieving my coat and things or walking out to the car for that matter.

“Did I even say goodbye to Stacks?” I wondered to myself as I climbed into the front seat and instinctively buckled myself in.

My Principle poked his head into the car before I had closed the door. “You get some rest this weekend. I expect you back in school Monday morning and ready to hit the books.” He then shook my good hand and gave me a bump on the chin with the side of his thumb.

As we left the parking lot I turned so that I was facing Grandfather and pointblank asked him, “So mom and John don’t know anything about what happened?”

Grandfather glanced at me and then returned his eyes to the road. “As far as they know, you’re still at school dancing your little heart out with your girlfriend.”

“Grandfather! I said before, she’s not my girlfriend. And besides she and Larry, the guy I fought, they are boyfriend and girlfriend now.” I told him.

He shook his head, “A person would go insane trying to understand how you kids manage to leap from girl to girl so willy-nilly.”

I let that one go by without comment because I had something more important on my mind, “Grandfather, would it be ok if we didn’t tell mom and John about what happened at the dance?”

“I suppose you don’t want me to tell her you wet yourself again either?” he said with a knowing smirk.

Without thought I reached down and squeezed the font of my pants. “Damn!” I cussed and unlike before Grandfather didn’t let that one go without comment.

Without taking his eyes off the road he reached out, took hold of my leg much the way he had done before except this time when he squeezed my leg it hurt.

“How about we make a deal here and now.” He began, “I won’t say a word to your folks about what happened if you promise me that you will clean up that filthy mouth of yours?”

Now, I know that sounded bad, but really it wasn’t. Grandfather hadn’t raised his voice and he didn’t sound angry. What he had done was get my attention and make me aware of the fact that I wasn’t going to get away with using dirty words anymore.

Since he was giving my leg the anaconda squeezing all I was able to do was nod my head in agreement. However, he wasn’t done with me just yet.

“And another thing.” He said squeezing my leg even tighter and I started to get worried because I didn’t know what was coming next.

“When we get home you are going straight to your mother and apologize.” He said.

That was when I found my voice, “But I didn’t...” I wasn’t able to finish my sentence. Grandfather’s hand further compressed the meat of my thigh and the pain choked the words right out of me.

You might think that I would have objected to him squeezing my leg so hard, but to be totally honest with you, it didn’t even occur to me. I mean, he is my Grandfather and well, he scares the crap out of me even when he isn’t trying to. It’s kind of like when a shark is swimming around you. Your best bet is to stay quiet and wait for it to go away. If you start splashing around and making a bunch of noise, odds are you’re eventually going to end up as shark poop.

“I don’t care if you are to blame or not. All I care about is that you are going to apologize to your mother and you are going to mean it.” He said.

I hadn’t realized it until afterward but I had reached out and grabbed my Grandfathers wrist with my one good hand. Thankfully he loosened his death grip on my leg but only a little.

After a very short moments thought I reluctantly agreed, “Alright, but you promise that you won’t tell either?”

“No I’m not done yet.” Grandfather said almost running over my words with his own. “From now on you are going to try a lot harder to get along, not just with your parents but also with your Grandmother and myself.”

I started to say something but he tightened his grip again, making it impossible to do more than whimper.

“Boy, I’m just getting warmed up here.” He said very seriously but still without any anger or harshness in his voice. “Your mother and father are trying hard to get their lives together and to take care of you. They don’t need you making life any harder for them.”

He stopped long enough to take a breath before continuing, “With that said, I don’t want you getting into any more fights.”

He paused yet again and then added, “You are done sneaking around the house and sneaking out of the house for that matter.”

He gave my leg a squeeze almost as though he wanted to make sure I was paying attention and hearing every word he said. “You will not get into any more trouble at school like you did this afternoon.”

Once more I tried to speak to remind him that what happened earlier today wasn’t my fault but he didn’t let me.

“Oh no, oh no! Don’t try to tell me that it wasn’t your fault. Whether you agree with your teachers or not, you will obey them. They are adults and you will obey them no matter what, even if it means you have to pee your pants in class.”

He finally took his eyes off the road to look at me, “Are we clear so far?”

I nodded and realized that I was crying again.

He looked back to the road as he said, “Good. And one last thing.” He took another breath before saying, “You’ve got a wetting problem and your parents have come up with a solution that will keep you from having to go around all day in wet smelly britches. You may not like their solution, you may not agree with it, but they are your parents and you will obey them and not fight them on this.”

Again he looked at me, “Are we clear?”

I didn’t nod my head to that one because I couldn’t; not after what Stacks had told me. Instead I shook my head, wept and said, “But Stacks said that everyone can see that I am wearing diapers even under my clothes! Everyone is going to laugh at me!”

Apparently I had brought up a valid point, because grandfather let go of my leg, smoothed the fabric of my pants with his fingers and then patted my thigh before returning his hand to the steering wheel.

Eventually I turned back in my seat so that I was facing the windshield again. I used the silence to calm myself down and used my bandaged wrist as a makeshift rag to wipe away my tears.

“I promise you this. Before the weekend is out, I will have a solution to that problem.” Grandfather said after a long period of thought and then he looked at me for some kind of reaction.

Not knowing what else I could do or say, I gave him a small shrug of my shoulders accompanied by a nod of my head. I guess I would have to hope and trust that by Sunday evening, Grandfather will have come up with something.

The End

** Thank you everyone for all your emails! It is so wonderful knowing that so many of you enjoy the same sort of diaper boy stories as I do.

For all of you who are curious about Alvin Ever After: Alvin in the Third, let me assure you that there will indeed be a third Alvin story. However, I am taking a short break from working on Alvin to focus on other projects. But I do promise that I’ll get back to working on Alvin’s stories someday soon.

You may not think so, but your comments and feedback is taken to heart! I’d love to hear what you thought of this story and especially the ending. I really struggled to make sure that I answered all the lingering storyline questions within the last few chapters. There are a few things that will be made clearer in the third Alvin story as well as yet another adventure for young Alvin. If there is anything in particular that you feel I didn’t answer or something you would like clarification on, you can write to me at [email protected].

Also, you can check my website http://talkhard.5u.com for all the latest news about Alvin and my other stories as well as other happenings in my life.