Chapter 16
The Four Horsemen
“
“Let me go grab it.
I’ll be right back.” I announced as I headed back into the house and up to my
room. Since I didn’t know how long we were going to be gone, I added a few more
diapers to the bag before I closed and headed back downstairs. I was kind of
surprised to see that Jason was sitting in a booster seat when I climbed into
my own car seat. I was feeling a bit jealous at this since this looked a good
deal less babyish than the car seat that
“Ian, I don’t want
you giving Megan any problems about your eye. She feels bad enough that
attacked you to begin with.” my mom explained to me as we pulled into the
hospital paring lot.
“
“OH God, Ian. I’m so
sorry!” Megan exclaimed when she saw me walk into her room.
“
“What do you mean?”
“Your brother had a difference of opinion with
some Sixth graders during the first break.” my mom answered as she came in the
door.
“Why didn’t you one
of you guys jump in then?” Megan asked rounding on Brad, Isaac, and
“Because they were here seeing you remember.
Anyway it wasn’t their fight.”
“I would think that having their brother
getting picked on by two Sixth graders they would have made it their fight.”
Seeing that my mom was about to jump in on the
conversation at this point, I put my hand up to stop her.
“That’s just it Meg.
I was the one jumping in to stop the fight. And it wasn’t their brother getting
picked on, it turns out it was mine. Not to mention, it was more like six on
one before I jumped in than it was two on one.”
“What Ian is trying
to say Megan is that he jumped in on a fight that was six to one and we found
out later that the other person involved was Ian’s brother.” Megan was told by
our mom when she saw the confused look on her daughter’s face.
“And I was really
glad for the help to.” Jason added. Choosing that moment to step around to my
side. The look on Megan’s face caused us both to start chuckling a bit since
the only way one could really tell us apart was from the length of our hair and
the color of our eyes when you could see them.
“Boy, when you said
you had a twin brother you weren’t kidding.” my sister said with a groan as she
slumped back into her a bit. Everyone started laughing at this point.
“What’s so funny?” We all were asked as my
uncle came into the room with another doctor.
“Megan got kind of over whelmed seeing Jason
for the first time.” My mom answered as she gave my uncle a kiss. This of
course brought my uncle up short.
“ How about we all
go outside while Megan gets looked over.” my uncle said to us.
“I thought the Murphy’s had decided to keep
all this quiet?” My uncle asked once the door had closed behind us.
“They did, but things have changed a bit as of
a couple of hours ago.”
“How did you manage to get them to change
their minds so quickly?”
“Actually, they don’t know yet that things
have changed.”
“OK, You want to run
that one by me again? I’m obviously missing something here.” My uncle stated as
he sat down in a nearby chair.
“The short story is that Ian stepped into a
fight at school and it turned out that Jason was at the center of it.”
“And have you explained to Ian the
consequences of getting into fights, especially at school.”
“I have in passing , but we aren’t going to do
anything about it. Since Ian was going to Jason’s aid. So I don’t see it
falling into that category.”
“Mary, I look at two
on one as an unfair fight and all Ian would have needed to do was call a
teacher over and let them handle it.”
“What about six on one?” I asked calmly,
Causing my uncle to jump a bit since he hadn’t seen that I was there.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that before I jumped in to help Jason
out it was a six on one fight.”
“Six on one?” My uncle asked while looking
over at his wife. My mom just nodded at this
“OK, that I can
understand. What did the school say about it?”
“They suspended them
till Monday.”
“They Only suspended
the boys that started this for three days!”
“No, the boys that started the fight got an
indefinite suspension pending the outcome of a meeting of the
“And what do you
have to say for yourself Ian?”
“Not a thing, other that if it happens again
I’ll do the same thing again.”
“No, Next time
you’ll let a teacher handle it.” my uncle told me firmly.
“Right.” I said simply. I think my uncle
believed me almost as much as my aunt did ,but like her, he didn’t say anything
further.
“So what have you explained to Jason about all
this?” my aunt was asked.
“Everything that we know.” All this got was a
nod of understanding. About this time the door to Megan’s room opened up and
her doctor walked out.
“She’s doing fine
and according to her last round of blood work most of the drugs are out of her
system. I’m going to keep her one more night to be sure and you’ll be able to
take her home tomorrow.” we were told.
“Thanks Phil. I’ll
catch up with you in a little bit to go over the paperwork.”
“No problem.”
Jason and I spent
the next hour getting grilled by Megan. I wasn’t to surprised by this but I’m
sure Jason found it a bit over whelming. All of us perked up when my mom
announced that it was time to live so Megan could get some more rest and we
could eat.
“I want you guys to
jump into your swim trunks once dinner is done.” We were told as we sat down to
eat.
“Uh. Mrs. Miller, I
don’t think my uncle dropped any trunks for me.” Jason said at this.
“That’s OK Jason.
I’m sure Ian won’t mind loaning you a pair of his.” My mom replied as she
passed plates around to us.
“That shouldn’t be a
problem.” I said with a small grin thinking of his reaction when he saw the
Speedos that I normally wear. I was glad that my new family was accepting Jason
into the family so readily, of course this was probably due to the fact that he
was technically family. Though it did seem that he was a bit taken aback by
this fact. Once dinner was over Jason, my brothers, and I headed up to change
over to our swim trunks as requested.
“Catch.” I called as
I tossed a pair of my trunks over my shoulder to my brother. I turned around
just in time to see Jason turn and catch the trunks right in the face.
“Good catch.” I laughed as I started to get
undressed .
“Well, come on. We don’t have all night.” I
said when I saw Jason still standing there holding the trunks I had tossed at
him.
“You’re kidding me
right?”
“Not at all. All of
us wear trunks like that. Why what’s the matter with them?” I asked not seeing
what the problem was.
“I’m just not used to wearing something so
small.” I was told while Jason still turned the trunks over in his hands some
more.
“I’m sorry but this
is all I have. If you don’t have a set of your own to wear then my mom won’t
let you into the pool.” I explained while finishing pulling up my own trunks.
“Oh. I guess I could
wear them this once then. As long as you don’t tell my mom about it. She’s kind
of anal about things like this.”
“
“OK boys it’s time
for you to get out now and get started on your homework.” We were all told
about an hour and a half later.
“But mom, how can we
have homework when we didn’t go to school today?” Brad asked reasonably as we
pulled ourselves out of the water.
“Sorry I forgot
about that. I still want you out of the pool and up getting ready for bed in
ten minutes.” I saw Jason stiffen at this a bit.
“
“C’mon boys lets get
you upstairs and ready for bed.” My uncle announced as my brothers and I walked
back into the house after getting our after swim showers.
“
“I’m only going to explain this to you once.”
My dad started once he had me up on my changing table getting me prepped for my
last change of the evening.
“I can commend you
for wanting to help your brother out in the fight he found himself in today,
but I want you to know that I won’t tolerate any more incidents like this. In
the future I expect you to walk away and get help. We’re letting you slide this
one time but in the future if something like this happens again you’ll find
yourself under hack for three times the length of whatever suspension you
receive from the school, losing all of your allowance for a three month period,
along with being given extra house and yard work during that time.
“Yeah I understand.
I would like to say one thing if it’s OK.” I replied as I was handed a pair of
plastic pants.
“Go ahead.” I heard
after a few moments of silence.
“I’ll walk away from
any fight that I can but if I don’t have that option open to me I
“I can live with
that. However I had better not find out that you stuck around instead of
walking away if you had the chance to do so.” I was told as my dad finished
making sure all of my diapers were safely tucked inside my pants. I just nodded
at this as I hopped down from the table.
“Now go on down to
the game room, Jason and I
“So what are we
going to do?” Jason asked when he and my dad joined us a few minutes later.
“I was thinking of
us doing a family game night.” my mom said.
“Jason why don’t you pick the game since you’re
the guest.” My dad told him as he led my brother over to the closet that we
kept the games in.
“
Several hours later
my parents ended the game since Brad,
“How are your pants
doing guys?” my mom asked after she had gotten
“I could do with a
change.” I replied even with having two of my night diapers on I had managed to
soak them pretty well over the course of our game.
“Well, hop on up here and we’ll get you taken
care of.” I was told as my mom patted the top of my changing table as she
pulled out a couple more of my night diapers and plastic pants.
“What about you Jason?” my mom asked as I
walked over and hopped up on the table. When I didn’t hear any reply from my
brother I looked over and saw that he had turned a bright red.
“
“I can’t believe how
cool your parents are.” Jason commented to me once we had both be tucked into
my bed.
“What do you mean?”
I asked not really understanding.
“I mean the fact
that you can actually talk to them and have them listen to what you’re saying.
I mean like earlier when your dad was giving you the riot act about fighting.
He wasn’t yelling or anything he just told you plainly what was to be expected
and gave you a chance to respond to what he told you. I can only imagine what’s
going to happen when my mom and dad hear about this when they get back Sunday.
I mean my aunt and uncle would be more understanding about what happened than
my parents
“I hope it’s not
that bad. If you’d like I can have my parents talk to them about it.” I
answered through a yawn.
“I’ll think about
it. I’ll probably have my aunt and uncle talk to them first though. I’m really
glad I’ve had a chance to meet you. I’ve always had this feeling that a part of
me was missing.”
“I know what you
mean.” Jason and I talked for a few minutes more before we both drifted off to
sleep.
I awoke with a start
the next morning feeling more than a little disoriented. Looking around I saw
that Jason was still curled up next to me snuggling one of my stuffed wolves to
his chest. I chuckled a bit at the irony of this considering the names I had
given them and the story behind them. With a slight yawn and a small stretch, I
climbed out of bed and after grabbing a clean diaper and a set of sweat pants I
walked into the bathroom so I could change without disturbing Jason. After
changing , I stopped long enough to grab the bag hold my Kendo gear. I figured
that since I had finally got the cast off my arm it was time for me to get back
into shape.
“
“Scared the piss out
of you?!? I need to go change my pants for god sake.” He panted still looking
at the Kendo Stick that was hovering a few inches above his face.
“Sorry about that. I
just wasn’t expecting anyone to come out looking for me.” I said as I helped
him up.
“What did you want
anyway?” I asked as I grabbed my bag and started to follow my brother inside.
“Mom wanted you to
get Jason up for breakfast and to get dressed you guys have to appear before
the
“Oh OK.”
“Brad what happened
to your pants?” our mom asked when she saw the dark stain on the front of his
pants.
“Nothing.” He said
embarrassedly as he hurried past his mom and headed up to his room.
“Ian?”
“I kind of caused
Brad to wet his pants.” I said turning red myself as I explained what happened.
“OH OK. Well, go on
up and wake Jason up I need you guys showered,
“Hey Jason, Time to
get up.” I called as I walked into my bedroom.
“Just a few more minutes dad please?” my
brother said before burrowing further under the covers.
“None of that now.
It’s time to get up.”
“Uh Huh.”
“Jason this is your
last chance to get up before other methods are used.” I said while shaking his
shoulder. All I got was a groan in reply to this.
“OK you asked for
it.” I told him with a grin that he couldn’t see thinking it was too bad that
Heinrich wasn’t here.
“Is Jason up yet.”
my mom asked as I walked back into the kitchen and got a small cup of ice.
“Not yet, but give me a few moments and he
Jason was still dead
to the world when I walked in. Without any preamble I yanked the covers off
him, lifted up the waistband of the plastic pants he had on, and preceded to
dump the cup of ice down his already pee soaked diapers. I would have bet you
could have heard his scream from the street.
“Aunt Mary said it’s
time to get up.” I said with a smile as Jason was hopping around the bed trying
to shake the ice out of his pants. Since I was now sure that Jason was awake, I
waked into the bathroom and after stripping off the diaper I was sporting I climbed
into the shower.
“That was totally
uncalled for!” Jason announced as I walked back into my room ten minutes later.
“Not really. I did tell you other methods
would be used.” I said as I walked over to my changing table to get a clean
diaper.
“You’ll need to
hurry. Aunt Mary wants us dressed and downstairs in Fifteen minutes.” I told my
brother’s retreating back. I didn’t bother to tell him about the meeting we had
this morning. I did decide to get him out some of my own clothes when I saw
that he didn’t have anything nice enough to wear in his own bag.
“What are these
for?” Jason asked when he came out of the bathroom a while later.
“We have a meeting
to go to at the school this morning and I didn’t see anything nice enough in
your bag to wear for it. Now get dressed, we have five minutes to be
downstairs.” I guess that Jason was shocked by how hard my voice was since he
didn’t say a thing to me while he reached for the clothes I had set out for
him.
“Well, you boys look
nice.” my mom announced as Jason and I walked into the dining room. My brothers
though were looking at us strangely. I guess it was taking them a bit longer to
get used to the sight of Jason and I sitting together especially when you took
into account that we were dressed in almost identical suits. Not much was said
while we ate. I could tell though that Jason was nervous about the meeting we
were going to be attending inside of an hour.
“Now I want you both
to listen to me carefully. No matter what happens in there I want you both to
tell the truth. No embellishments. Just tell them exactly what happened.” my
mom told us as we stood outside of the room that the meeting was going to be
held in.
“What if they ask us something that we don’t
know about?” Jason asked nervously.
“Then you tell them
that you don’t know. Regardless of what happens, I still feel that you both did
what was right.” We were both told as my mom gave us a small hug. About this
time,
I was glad to see
that the lights in the room had been lowered to a level that would be
comfortable enough for me to remove my sunglasses. Jason did the same when he
saw me do this. I could tell that several people were staring at us as we took
our seats. Not two seconds after we had sat done, a stern faced man rapped a
gavel down and called us to order.
“This session of the
“Thank you, Mr.
Chairman, the charges are as followed. That on 25 September of this year Eric
Jansen,
“Very well, Mr.
Anderson you may make your opening statement.” At this point in time I
understood that they handled this more like a court of law than anything else.
Halfway through Mr.
“We’ll stop here for
a one hour lunch break. I must stress to all the students involved that these
preceedings are not to be discussed with anyone and if it is found out that
they have been the punishment
“Well that was
quick.” My mom said as Jason and I walked out of the room.
“Oh, we’re just on
an hour lunch break. They haven’t even gotten to us yet.” I told her.
“Well, how’s it going so far?”
“We were told not to
talk about it so I can’t say.” I told my mom sheepishly.
“OK then let’s go
get some food into you guys.”
“Can I stop by the Nurses Office for a moment
there’s something I need to take care of first.”
“Sure.” I was told with an understanding nod. I
happened to luck out when I walked into the office and found that I was the
only one in line at the moment. Because of this, I was done inside of Five
minutes.
“So how are you boys
getting along so far?” Jason and I was asked as we sat down for lunch.
“It’s taking some
getting use too. I mean for so long I felt like there was some part of me that
was missing. And now I know what it was.” I said while giving my brother a
small smile.
“ I have to agree
with that. I think it’s kind of funny how much Ian and I have in common even though
we’ve never really known each other.”
“What things do you have in common?” we were
asked with interest.
“Well, since my mom’s family comes from
“What kind of sports do you like?”
“I’m not that bad at baseball, but Soccer and
Swimming are my two favorites. My dad also insisted I take some self-defense
classes because of my small size. Though I have to admit I was never really
very good at it because of my size.”
“Size doesn’t matter all that much depending
on the technique you’re using.” I said on hearing what my brother said.
“Sure it does. My instructor tells me this all
the time.”
“He’s feeding you a load of crap. Look at me.
I’m not more than an inch taller than you and you saw what I was doing the
other day. Besides, from what I saw you weren’t doing too bad yourself.” I said
with a grin.
“If you’d like I can
help you out some on this if you’d like me too.”
“I’ll have to see
what my parents have to say about this.” I nodded my understanding at this as
we went on to others subjects.
“Court is now back
in session. Mr.
“Thank you Mr.
Chairman. I’d like to call Jason
“Please state your
name for the record.” Jason was asked after they had sworn him in.
“Jason
“Now Jason why don’t
you please tell the council what happened yesterday morning?”
“ I had Just gotten out to the playground with
my class when Eric and
“And what money was this?”
“They told me at the
beginning of the year that I was going to need to pay them some money for
protection each week and that I would have one week to come up with the first
payment.
“I see. And why didn’t you report this right
after they first made this request?”
“I was scared. I
thought they would beat me up.”
“And did you plan on
paying them?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I knew that if I
did they would keep wanting more. I also figure that if they did beat me up then
I would have a more convincing case against them.”
“No further
questions. Your witness.” Mr.
“We have no questions for this witness.”
“I’d like to call
“Now Mr. Miller, why
didn’t you just call for a teacher then go butting in on a situation that you
had no knowledge of?” Mr. Anderson asked after I had told my version of what happened
and questioned by Mr.
“I had one of my
friends go get a teacher. I wanted to make sure that I was around to help out.”
“I see so you wanted
to be a hero then.”
“Not at all. I just
felt that if an extra hand was needed before the teachers got there then I’d be
in a better position to help.”
“And you didn’t feel
that Mr. Murphy was able to handle the misunderstanding himself without your
interfering?”
“At six to one odds
I wasn’t sure but let’s just say I wasn’t going to take any chances.”
“I see. Why didn’t
you just walk away when Mr. Malkovic asked you too?”
“It wouldn’t have been right.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I said it wouldn’t have been right for me to
leave at that point.”
“Why not?”
“Jason was asking
for help at that point. I couldn’t just turn away at that point. As I’m sure
you heard a short while ago, I tried to reason with your clients before doing
anything else. They decided to disregard my advice.” I said plainly.
“I see and I take it this was when you decided
to assault Mr. Malkovic?”
“No. I hit him after he decided to give me a
bloody nose.”
“And how is it that
my client didn’t have any of your blood on him from this supposed bloody nose
of yours.”
“Couldn’t begin to tell you. Maybe it got
mixed up with his own blood.”
“So you’re admitting
you hit my client.”
“No, I’m saying that the blacktop hit your
client.”
“And how is it that no one else saw this
event?”
“They probably couldn’t see it because of your
other five clients were ganging up on me at that point.”
“Yes, right. Now
maybe you’d like to explain to us how in this supposed “gang up” you only
managed to get a bloody nose, fat lip, and a black eye when all the rest of my
clients walked away with far more serious injuries.”
“Sure, I was in a
generous mood.”
“I don’t really follow. You were in a generous
mood. Perhaps you could explain that to us.”
“It’s simple, they
were able to walk away with minor injuries.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning if they had
made themselves seem like a greater threat than they did I would have been
forced to reply in kind to that threat.” Before Mr. Anderson could reply to
this Mr.
“Mr. Chairman, I
fail to see what Mr. Miller defending himself in a six on one fight has
anything to do with this matter?” Mr.
“I’m inclined to
agree with Mr.
“Nothing further Mr. Chairman.” At this I was
excused.
“You better watch
your back from here on out pipsqueak.”
“Mr. Coleman please escort Mr. Malkovic from
the room.” The chairman announced a second later.
After this happened, the rest of the hearing
went by quickly and ended up with all of the sixth graders being expelled.
Jason and I also got a strong lecture but nothing else was done aside from our
three day suspension.
“You’re really going
to have fun with this assignment Ian.”
“What assignment?” I
asked as Jason and I got ready for a self-defense class I was going to give him
“Mr. Perez asked us
to either write something ourselves or find something that has already been
written to describe something on ourselves that deals with color and we only
have two weeks to have it ready to read to the class. He also wants us to be
able to show it in class or if it’s in a place that’s covered up to have a
photo to show in class.”
“That shouldn’t be to hard to do.” I said as
Jason and I started for the door.
“Yeah, easy for you
to say.” I heard
“Watch it
“Sorry. I didn’t
mean anything by it.”
“Hey Brad come here
for a second. I have a favor to ask you.” I called a few hours later when I saw
him come out in to the back yard.
“What is it?”
“I’m showing Jason
some things and I need someone taller than both of us to show him how it’s
done.”
“What do you need me to do?” I was asked
wearily. I guess Brad was remembering this morning a bit to clearly.
“Act like you’re
going to attack me.” I told him.
“Are you sure about
this? I don’t want to get into any trouble.”
“You won’t get into any trouble. Now come at
me and don’t hold back.” Brad still looked really skeptical about what I told
him but did what I asked him to do.
“As you can see
Jason you being on the small size doesn’t really have much to do with what you
can and can’t accomplish if you know what you’re doing. In fact, with several styles
being short is an advantage.” I explained as I helped Brad to his feet.
“Ouch.” was all Brad
said as he got to his feet.
“
“Ian, once you’re
done beating up Brad it’s time to eat so all three of you need to get a
shower.” Isaa
“OK, thanks.” I
replied to my brother’s retreating back.
“Hey Brad, did you
bring your gear home with you?” I asked as we headed back inside.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Good because tomorrow morning I’m going to
start training you as well.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I’m going to start training you for
your Kendo matches.”
“But my class is
already getting taught by Yoshi and his grandfather.”
“I know, I’ve also
seen that Yoshi tends to your class as practice dummies. If you were to go into
a match trained like he’s been doing you’ll get you ass handed to you. Now
would you like the extra help or not?”
“I guess it wouldn’t
hurt. I don’t think Yoshi
“Brad I don’t give a
hang about him. I just want to make sure that you can get into the circle and
make out off in one piece. Besides, I could use the practice myself.” I told
him with a smile. With that said all three of us headed inside to get the
requested shower before joining the rest of the family for
“Brad, I want to
thank you for helping out your brother and cousin outside.” my mom said once we
had all started eating.
“It wasn’t any
problem mom. I knew that Ian was going to need some help and I didn’t have
anything else going on at the time. Besides I managed to learn a few things
myself.”
“You mean aside from
how to fall down?” Isaac asked with a laugh.
“You know Isaac, if
you found Brad “falling down” so funny, I could always give you a few pointers
as well.” I said jumping in before Brad could say anything.
“Uh, I’ll pass.” we
were told before Isaac hurriedly returned to eating his meal. This caused
everyone else to start chuckling.
“Ian,
“Yeah, I thought I
would write about the right hand side of my chest. I’ll need you to take a
picture for the report though if you don’t mind.”
“I guess that
shouldn’t be a problem.” I could tell that my mom wasn’t to thrilled about my
choice but I felt that the tattoo in question held the least painful memories
for me.
“Mom, if it’s OK I’d
like to take Jason and Ian to the mall tomorrow. I’d like to kind of make
amends to Ian for that eye I gave him.” Megan announced.
“Megan, I appreciate the thought, but it isn’t
necessary. You weren’t exactly in your right mind when it happened.” I told her
feeling that the apology she had already given me was enough to settle the debt
already.
“I think that’s a
great idea Megan, that’ll give your father and I a chance to be alone for a
while.” I frowned at being overruled like this but I knew I no longer had a
choice.
Once dinner was
over, all of us kids had decided to split up into our rooms for the night to
give my parents some time alone for the evening.
“Ian, could I ask
you something personal?” Jason asked
“I might not give
you a full answer but you can ask.” I told as I set up the game Jason said he
wanted to try.
“What does it feel
like to need to wear diapers all the time?” Of all the question I was thinking
I might be asked, this wasn’t one of them.
“I don’t really
know. I never really thought about it that much. I guess it’s like wearing
thick underwear all the time. While I don’t really care for needing them it’s
better than taking the chance of having an accident without having one on.
Why?”
“I don’t really
know. I mean I’ve been resisting wearing them to bed for so long because I
thought it would make me feel like I was still a baby or something and after
these last two days of wearing them and how your family still treats you like a
normal kid because of it I guess they aren’t all that bad.”
“Well, you might
think differently if you needed to wear them all the time, but I think that if
I just needed them for bed it wouldn’t be so bad. I mean it seems like it would
be a lot better waking up in a wet diaper and a dry bed than a wet bed.”
“I can tell you from
experience, it feels a lot better.
“I don’t think they
“You’re probably
right.” After a few moments of silence, Jason picked up his controller and the
games began.
“Time to get ready
for bed Ian.” Megan announced a few hours later as she walked into my room..
“OK.” I said as I
paused the game and walked over to my changing table. Since she didn’t leave
after announcing it was time for bed I assumed she was going to do the honors
of getting me ready for bed.
“You don’t really
mind that I’m wanting to take you to the mall tomorrow, do you?”
“Just the part where
you feel that you need to do this to make amends to me because of the incident
a few days ago.” I told her as I felt my wet diaper being pulled off. I guess
this gave her something to think about since the rest of my change and all of
Jason’s was spent in silence.
“You guys can stay
up a little longer then mom wants you both in bed asleep.” Megan told us as she
gave Jason’s diapered rump a light slap as he got off the table.
“Ok. Thanks.” I replied as I turned my
attention back to mine and Jason’s paused game.
I woke up at what
was starting to get to be a regular time for me. After changing into a clean
diaper and my work out clothes I decided to get a glass of juice and a light
snack before starting my morning training routine.
“Is everything OK
Ian?” I was asked by my dad when I walked into the kitchen.
“Yeah, everything is
fine. Why?”
“I was just
wondering. I normally don’t see to many kids your age up at six in the
morning.” I was told with a grin.
“I normally get up
early to get some exercise in before school. And I wanted to let Brad sleep in
a little longer before his training starts.” I replied with a grin of my own.
“What training?”
“I told Brad that I
would help him start training for his Kendo matches.”
“I don’t know about that Ian. I wouldn’t want
you to get him into any trouble with his teacher.”
“I can see your
point. Would it be OK then if I just started him out on the basics till I can
talk to his teacher about it and make sure it’s all right with him?”
“I don’t see a
problem with that. If you’d like, we can invite him over later in the week.” I
was told after my dad thought for a few minutes.
“You can if you’d
like. But I’d like to talk to him alone first.” before my dad could answer me
on this I broke out laughing when I saw Brad walk up behind him.
“Brad go upstairs
and change. A pair of sweat pants , your sticks and hand gear
“But..”
“Brad, just do what
your brother asks. I’m sure he’ll explain everything before you start.” My dad said
cutting Brad’s protest off. Twenty, minutes later we were out in the back yard
getting ready to begin.
“I thought you were
going to be training me?” Brad said as I started us off in stretching.
“I am. Providing you drop that attitude,
quickly.”
“Then why did you
have me take off the gear?”
“Because it isn’t
needed at this point. Besides with how you were wearing it, it would have been
more of a hinderance than anything else. Now show me what you’ve been shown so
far.”
“Stop. You’re still
holding the sword too tightly and your stance is too rigid.” I told him after
almost an hour.
“But this is how
Yoshi’s been showing us.”
“Brad, Like I said
before he’s using your class to be practice dummies.”
“You haven’t seen
him work out. He knows what he’s doing.”
“Fine. Come at me.” I said taking up my own
position in front of him.
“What?”
“Attack! Now!” I yelled. Before Brad knew what
was going on I had him disarmed and on the ground with my own sword resting
against his neck.
“If this had been a
real match, you would have just lost and it would have only taken three moves
to do it. Now are you going to stop wasting both our time or are you going to
start listening to me?” I asked heatedly. I’m guessing at how quickly I brought
him down taught him that reach and strength played only a small part in Kendo.
“I’ll listen.” Brad
stated in shock.
“Good.” I said as I
helped him to his feet. What I didn’t know was that our parents had been
watching the whole thing from the back deck.
“We’ll stop here for
now.” I said after another two hours of practice.
“How’d I do?”
“Once you started
listening, not bad for a beginner. I plan on asking your teacher if I can start
watching your practices at school so I coach you better here at home. That is
if you’re really serious about this.”
“I’m not going to
quit if that’s what you mean.”
“That’s all I wanted
to hear. Now let’s go in and get cleaned up. You smell pretty ride and I could
use a change.” Both Brad and I came up short when we saw that everyone was out
on the back deck.
“That was a very
interesting approach you took with your brother earlier.” my dad said as I came
back into my room after getting a shower.
“Which approach was that?”
I asked nervously.
“When you had him attack you. If I didn’t know
better, I would have sworn you were holding back.”
“I was holding back.
I just needed to get his attention, and prove a point about what I had been
telling him about what Yoshi has been showing him.”
“I can see why, but
I did ask you to take things easy to start with.”
“Assuming you watched the whole training time
you’ll have to admit I did take it easy on him. All the bruises
“Hurry up and get dressed. Your sister is
wanting to get to the mall.” I was told with a smile before my dad left the
room. I started chuckling a bit when I saw that the clothes that had been laid
out of me were the exact opposite of what Jason was wearing .
“I hope you guys
don’t mind but we’ll be meeting up with some of my friends.” Megan announced as
we pulled into a parking spot at the mall.
“Like we have a choice?” I asked with a smile.
Megan just chuckled at this as we got out of the car.
“
“I didn’t let them
“tag” along Rene I asked them to come.” Megan replied with a cold voice. I
could tell right then that there was very little love lost between these two.
“Whatever, All I
have to say that he better stay out of my way for what he did to my brother.”
“What are you
talking about Hanson?”
“I think, Megan,
he’s referring to my kicking his brother’s butt a few days ago.” I said with a
smile.
“Oh OK.” Megan said
simply as we let the subject drop and started to walk away. Of course Renee
wasn’t going to be quite so forgiving as he spun me around and pushed me up
against a nearby wall.
“What is it with
people trying to solve all their problems with force?” I asked rhetorically in
a tired voice.
“Oh so you think
you’re some kind of tough guy huh? Let’s see what you make of this.” I was told
as Rene pulled his hand back to hit me. Of course this gave me the opening I
needed. In less than two seconds Rene was on the ground gasping for breath
while yelling that he couldn’t feel his arms.
“Oh quit your
whining. They’ll return to normal in a couple of hours.” I said as I started
walking away. Since we were in a nearly deserted part of the mall the only
people to see this exchange were the people we came to meet. And none of them
were showing any sympathy for what had happened.
“Jeez, Ian what did
you do to him?” Megan asked in awe as we walked away.
“Nothing really. I just stunned a couple of
nerves. The effects
“But what’s this
about you kicking his brother’s butt? His only brother is in Sixth grade.”
“Yeah, I know.
“Oh. Well, I’ll tell
you what, if you don’t mention anything about this to mom and dad I won’t
either.”
“
“Now, let’s get
something done about your hair.”
“What’s wrong with
my hair?” I asked in confusion.
“To be honest, it
makes you look like a girl. I’m surprised mom and dad have let you keep it this
long for as long as they have.”
“I guess I could do
with a slight trim.” I soon found myself getting herded into a hair salon.
“Now you just have a
seat here while I go have a talk with Carol about what would look good on you.”
Megan said with a smile as she walked off.
“Jason, why do I get
the feeling that I’m getting set up here?” I said looking over towards my
brother.
“I don’t know but I think you could be right.”
Several minutes later, Megan and Carol returned.
“Yes, I think that
could work quite well. Let’s just take these sunglasses off and we’ll get
started.” Carol said while reaching for my glasses. I of course stopped her
before her hand got half way there.
“Sorry but my eyes are really sensitive to
bright lights.” I explained while letting her hand go.
“
“Now go ahead and take your glasses off and
put this on.” Once I had the mask on and saw that it completely blocked out my
sight I knew I was getting set up for something.
“OK, Ian take the
mask off and tell me what you think?” Megan announced what seemed like an hour
or so later.
“OH Jeez.” I mumbled
as I looked at my now closely cropped hair, what really got me were the blonde
highlights that Megan had them add. Looking over at Jason, I saw that he was
now also sporting the highlights.
“This is really
going to mess people up.” I said still trying to wrap my mind around the fact
that Jason and I now really did look like one another. I soon found that this
was just the beginning.
“What’s going on
Meg?” I asked a few hours later as I saw all the things that were being done.
“What do you mean?”
Came the innocent response.
“I mean I don’t care
how guilty someone feels I highly doubt that they’ll spend the kind of money
that you have so far to day. Now don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate what
you’re doing , I just want to know what’s going on?”
“It’s a surprise.” was
the only answer I got. Figuring that I wouldn’t get any other answer from Megan
I let the matter drop.
“Whoa, Take a look
at that.” Jason said in awe as we walked past a computer store a few minutes
later.
“You’re telling me.”
I replied as He and I started looking at the items that they had in just the
window.
“You guys can go on in and look if you want. I
want to go into the shop across the way. Just remember not to leave the shop
without each other and to wait for me. Understood?” The look Megan was giving
us told me that she was very serious about this.
“Yeah. We
understand.” I told her.
“So have you found
anything you like?” Megan asked, startling me.
“Jeez Meg, Make me
wet myself why don’t you?”
“Sorry about that. I
thought you heard me come up.” Megan chuckled.
“It’s OK. But Yeah,
I’ve found a lot of things I would like to have. Just it’s kind of hard to get
them without any money.”
“What are you
talking about Ian? What about your weekly allowance?”
“What allowance?” I
asked not understanding what she was talking about.
“
“Well, yeah they
did, but I thought it was for emergency use only. So I looked it up at home so
I wouldn’t be tempted to use it.”
“Ian, that card is
what they use to put your allowance on. Are you telling me that you haven’t
used it once since you were with us?”
“I guess so. I just
never really saw anything that I needed that mom and dad hadn’t already
supplied.”
“But surely there
were thing that you’ve seen that you would have liked to have?”
“Yeah, there have been things I would have
like to have but I viewed those as a want not a need. So I didn’t bother with
them.” I could tell that once again my previous life shocked everyone in our
group.
“Sorry.” I mumbled
while looking at the ground.
“You don’t have
anything to be sorry about. My uncle on the other hand is a different matter.”
“He’s doesn’t matter
either. You can be certain he’s already being taken care of.”
“Good point. Well,
lets get you cleaned up and fed then we need to be getting home.” Megan said as
she steered me towards a family restroom, after saying goodbye to her friends.
“I guess I really
did make you wet yourself.” Megan Chuckled as she pulled my shorts down
exposing my extremely wet diaper.
“
“
“There all done.” I
was told as I felt my shorts being pulled back up.
“You know guys,
since it’s getting late how about we just grab a quick snack to tide us over
till dinner.”
“OK.” Jason and I
answered in near perfect unison. This got Megan laughing.
“All Right Meg,
what’s going on?” I asked as we pulled up to the house and saw a number of cars
in the drive way.
“I couldn’t begin to
tell you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Either way works
for me.” Megan told me as Jason and I undid the harnesses to our booster seats.
“Really, Megan
what’s going on?” I asked again as we got out of the car and started taking the
things we had bought into the house.
“Fine I’m going out
back to work out for a bit.” I said grumpily as I sat the bags down on my bed and
grabbed the bag I kept some of my gear in.
“SURPRISE!!!” a
crowd of people yelled the second I stepped through the back door.
“Aw, Jeez.” I mumbled
to myself when I saw the “Happy Birthday Ian and Jason” banner strung over the
patio.
“Happy Birthday big
brother.” Jason told me softly as he gave me a hug from behind.
“Jeez.” I mumbled
again before I started crying in earnest.
“It’s OK. Ian.” My mom
said while pulling me into a hug as well.
The rest of the
evening was one of the happiest of my life to that point. I could tell that my
mom must have talked to the parents of my friends since none of the gifts were
very expensive. Of course, even if no gifts were brought at all I still would
have been happy. I think this probably stemmed from the fact till this point in
time I had never once celebrated a birthday.
“Ian, there is just
one more gift to hand out.” My mom called when there were only a few family
members and family friends left hanging around.
“This one is from
your grandfather. He wanted you to have it when he died.” My mom said softly as
she handed me on oblong box.
“Oh man.” I
whispered to myself. I was too overwhelmed to really say anything when I saw
what was in the box once I opened it up.
“My god.” I heard a
voice behind me say as I lifted the sword from its box a unsheathed it.
“Tell me about it.”
I answered as I re-sheathed it after examining the blade for a moment.
“May I?” the same
voice asked a moment later. Getting a nod from my parents, I turned around and
handed the sword to a middle aged woman.
“
“Yes, I do.” I
answered.
“I don’t think you do.
You see these markings near the hilt. These symbolize who made the sword and
when.”
“Masado Katsumoto in
the Sixth Century A.
“Yes, that’s correct
but how could you know that?”
“Because Hirosito
Katsumoto was my grandfather.” I said while removing the watch I had covering
up a tattoo on my right wrist.” The look on the lady’s face was priceless when
she saw the tattoo.
“Ian, why don’t you
show
“OK, I’d like to
lock this up anyway.” I said as I gently took the sword back.
“Please follow me.”
I said as I motioned for her to follow me.
“Are these real?”
“I would hope so.” I
replied.
“I’m not sure if
your mother told you but I work at the local museum. We’re currently going to
be hosting an exhibit on Ancient and Medieval Japan. After seeing this, I was
wondering if I might be able to talk you into allowing us to borrow a few of
these pieces.”
“I might be
persuaded to do this on one condition. My name is not brought up.”
“We can do this. All
we would need to say that it’s on loan from the Katsumoto Family estate.”
“I can live with
that. Let me get your number. I’ll need to have this go through my
grandfather’s attorneys in
“That would be
fine.”
“I can’t begin to
express my gratitude for this afternoon.” I told my parents as they tucked
Jason and I in later that night.
“You don’t need too.
We already know.” My dad said as he gave my forehead a light kiss.
“Just consider this
as making up for Eleven years of birthdays you should have had.”
“I just wonder how
I’m going to explain all this to my parents when they pick me up tomorrow.”
Jason wondered aloud.
“What would you need
to explain? You were celebrating your birthday.” my mom said.
“I know but as far
as they’re concerned my birthday isn’t for another three months.”
“Look at it like
this, you actually have two birthdays. One is the day you were actually born
and the other is the day your parents adopted you and brought you home.”
“Yeah, I guess that
would work.” Jason said through a yawn.
“Well, you boys get
to sleep you’ve both and a long day.” my dad told us as he stood up and walked
towards the door. Jason and I spent a couple of more minutes talking before
drifting off to sleep.
“You have very good
taste in clothes there Jase.” I laughed when he walked into the dinning room
the next morning and I saw that he had managed to choose the exact same outfit
I had on. Jason and my parents started chuckling at this. We really started
laughing when Megan and my brothers walked into the room looked at Jason and I
and started groaning.
“See what you
started Meg?” Brad said as he took his seat .
“I didn’t start
anything. Besides I think they look cute like that.” Megan shot back.
“OK kids, enough.”
our father announced stopping the fight before it could really get going.
“Jason your uncle
called last night ,after you went to bed, and said that you’d be picked up
around Three or so this afternoon.” My mom said.
“Also, we’ll be
having a small family BBQ over at
“Well, we need to
hurry up or we’ll be late for services.” My dad said after looking at his
watch.
All through the
service I could sense people were looking at where my family was sitting. Or
more to the point it seemed like they were staring at where Jason and I were
sitting . Not that I really cared one way or the other, but you get the idea of
how annoying something like that can be.
“Uh, Ian what are we
doing here?” Jason asked as we pulled up to the front gate to the Governor’s
Mansion.
“Like my mom said at
breakfast were going to a family BBQ. Oh, did we forget to mention that my
mom’s brother is the governor ?” I asked with a malicious smile.
“Yeah, as a matter
of fact you did.” Jason shot back.
“Oopps. Oh, well. Too
late now.”
I started smiling to
myself a short time later as we got out of the car and were mobbed by our cousins.
I knew I had come a long way since the first time I had met them because I
didn’t jump out of my skin any longer when they did this. Jason and I both
started laughing when they stopped short on seeing us together. With the
exception of John and
“So
“OH, shut up.” came
the terse reply before my cousin walked off.
“What was that all
about?” Jason asked not understanding my smile.
“The first time I
met
“Oh, OK.”
“Uncle Brandon, Aunt
Jenn what are you doing here? I though my mom and dad were going to pick me
up?”
“Your mom and dad
got called up for some reason. So you’ll be staying with us for awhile.”
“Oh.”
“Hey don’t worry
about it kiddo. I’m sure it’s nothing serious. Besides your cousins are looking
forward to seeing you again. Not to mention meeting your brother.”
“You mean you don’t
mind that I stay in contact with Ian?”
“He’s your brother
we would be mad if you didn’t stay in contact with him.” His aunt told her
nephew joining the conversation.
“Now why don’t you
introduce us to everyone?” She continued. Once the introductions were made, my
brother’s aunt and uncle acted like everyone were friends that they hadn’t seen
in years instead of strangers they were meeting for the first time. For mine
and Jason’s part we were both glad that we weren’t going to be kept a part. In
fact it had been arranged for Jason and his cousins to come over to my house
after school till his aunt or uncle got off work in the evening.
“
“Yes, mom.” I told
her. Before helping myself to the cereal and milk that were in front of me.
“
“Yeah, I have it
ready. But I still don’t think it’s very good.”
“I’m sure you’ll
both do fine.”
“Ian, don’t forget
the letter as well.”
“I won’t I just hope
I don’t need it.”
“I know.”
I don’t know where
the morning went. It seemed I was walking in to school and the next thing I
knew I was getting called up to give my report.
“OK, Ian. You’re up
next.” Mr. Perez said as
“I’ll be describing
some markings I have the right had side of my chest. The description comes from
the book of Revelations.” I said as I handed Mr. Perez both the photo of me
from the waist up and the letter my mom had prepared to go along with it. I
could see how skeptical my teacher seemed on this. I hope this didn’t mean I
was going to have to provide further proof but I found that I was prepared to
do so if needed. After taking a few deep breaths, I began speaking in a force
full voice.
“And I
saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the
noise
of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
And I
saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a
crown
was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
And
when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and
see.
And
there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that
sat
thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one
another: and there was given unto him a great
sword.
And
when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and
see.
And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of
balances in his hand.
And I
heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat
for a
penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not
the
oil and the wine.
And
when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast
say,
Come and see.
And I
looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was
and
Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part
of the
earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with
the
beasts of the earth.”
Unlike when the
other people before me had finished, not a word was said.
“Ian, I must sat
that that was very well presented, but I was asking for you to write about
something that on your person, not someone else’s. Because of this I’ll need to
fail you. Maybe next time you’ll pay better attention to the instructions.” I
was told.
“But sir, He’s
not..”
“Sir, may I talk to
you in private about this for a minute?” I asked politely.
“Anything you need to
say you can say right now since you still have some of your time left.”
“I’d rather do this
in private sir.”
“It’s now or never
Mr. Miller. Just like every one else.”
“Understood sir.” I
told him as I started to unbutton the shirt I had on.
“What do you think
you’re doing?” The last couple of words died on Mr. Perez’s lips when I opened my
shirt to reveal the tattoo I had just got done talking about. I heard a couple
of people sound like they were going to be sick when they caught a glimpse of
my chest and the upper portion of my back.
“You can feel free
to try and remove it if you’d like.” I said simply.
“No, that won’t be
necessary. It’s almost time for recess so why don’t we just stop here for now
and head on down. Ian, I’d like to talk to you for a moment out in the hall.”
We were told as I buttoned up my shirt.
“Certainly sir.” The
last thing I expected was an apology, but this is exactly what I got. This also
got me thinking that I needed to get over the need to cover up my body around
others aside from my family.
MY mom was less than
thrilled to learn what had happened at school concerning my report but I
managed to get her calmed down enough that she decided not to report it to