Memoirs of a Diaper Boy

 

Chapter 19

And Then There Was One

 

The next few months after my first sleepover with Jason had gone by quickly. I was getting a bit more edgy as the Christmas holiday drew closer. I feel this was due to how I had spent the previous holiday season. My mom was doing her best to try and keep my mind off this, and she was doing a good job of it. One thing that did have me worried was the depression that Jason seemed to be slipping into after hearing that his parents had turned up dead in Las Vegas. As far as the police could determine, they had been caught up in a shoot out between police and some gang members. The only thing we couldn’t figure out is what they were doing in Vegas in the first place. Since Jason and his uncle were their only living heirs his parents’ estate went to the both of them. Jason’s uncle was wanting to sell off his brother’s house, but my dad and I managed to talk him out of it. In the end, the Murphy’s decided to rent out their old house and move into Jason’s house. I knew he was happier to be back in his old room but would have preferred to have it come under different circumstances. I also ended up receiving the remains of my father’s estate. I wasn’t too surprised by this, but I must say that my half brother and his family was right pissed about it. One of the last things I was told before they walked out of the court room that the money would be theirs one way or another. I just blew this off at the time but it did later come back to try and bite me in the ass.

 

“Okay people settle down please.” Mr. Perez said as we started the day.

 

“Since we only have a half day today I thought I would only give you a small assignment. I’m going to be passing around a test to see how much you’ve learned about taking notes this semester. You’ll be able to use notes on this test. However there is a little catch to this. You won’t be using your own notes. I’d like you to take out what ever notes you’ve taken and pass them to the person on your right. You’re grades will determined on how well the notes are written. Now to be fair on this I want you to write down not only your name but also the name of whose notes you’re going to be using.”

 

“Uh, Mr. Perez?” I asked raising my hand, once the rest of the instructions had been given to us.

 

“Yes, Ian?”

 

“I might have a bit of a problem with this assignment.” I said not sure of exactly how to explain my problem.

 

“You do have you’re notes, don’t you?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Then there shouldn’t be a problem then. Pass your notes over to Shane so he can begin.”

 

“But.,”

 

“Just do as I say Mr. Miller.”

 

“Sorry Shane.” I whispered to the boy sitting next to me as I handed him my notes.

 

“Uh, Mr. Perez?” Shane called out as he started looking at the notes I had just handed him.

 

“Mr. Rubin, everyone else has started. Just do the best you can.” Shane was told in a final sort of way.

 

“Yes sir.” I knew for a fact that he didn’t have a chance of answering any of the questions on the test since none of my notes were in English.

 

“Okay. Everyone pencils down. I’ll have your results when you get back from the assembly.” We were told just after the announcement ended calling us to the auditorium.

 

“This better not affect my grade any, Ian.” Shane whispered as we lined up by the door.

 

“If he tries to lower your grade we can take it to Dr. Allison. Everyone heard both of us trying to tell him something was wrong, but he wouldn’t listen.” I whispered back.

 

“Ian, I’d like to see both you and Shane in the hall for a minute before the party starts.” Shane and I were told as we walked back into the class room from the assembly.

 

 “I want both of you to know that I’m going to be failing both of you for this quiz.” As expected Shane started to say something on this point before I could stop him.

 

“But it wasn’t my fault I couldn’t understand the notes Ian handed me.”

 

“You should have said something then.”

 

“We did try to tell you that there was a problem.” I stated quickly before Shane was able to say anything more.

 

“All I heard was you two trying to worm your way out of the quiz by stating that there was a problem. And don’t think that I’m buying those phony notes you had Shane turn in.”

 

“Fine. Let’s see what Dr. Allison has to say about this. C‘mon Shane.” I said as I took the papers Mr. Perez was holding and started down the hall.

 

“Where do you think you’re going young man?”

 

“Where do you think? I don’t like people calling me a liar so I’m going to prove it to you.” I shot over my shoulder. I was about half way down the hall when my mom came around the corner.

 

“What’s going on, Ian? Why aren’t you boys in class.” my mom asked when she saw me.

 

<“Mr. Perez had us take a test over the notes he’s had us taking so far this year but he had us using someone else’s notes and now he’s calling me a liar by saying that the notes that were turned in weren’t mine.”> I stated in rapid French without realizing I was doing so.

 

“Whoa slow down there, and please speak English.” I was told just as Mr. Perez caught up with us.

 

“You’re in big trouble boys. Mr. Coleman will be waiting for us.” Shane paled a bit at this bit of news while I could have cared less.

 

“You boys go on ahead. Let me drop this stuff off and I’ll be right there.” my mom said before I was able to say anything.

 

 “Have a seat, boys while I talk to Mr. Perez for a minute.” Shane and I was told once we got to the office. No sooner had Mr. Coleman’s office door closed that Dr. Alison had come out of her office and saw us sitting there. Shane was on the verge of tears by this point though I couldn’t have been more unconcerned.

 

“Okay, What’s going on this time, Ian?” I was asked as Dr. Alison came over to us.

 

“A misunderstanding with Mr. Perez concerning some class notes that he was having us use on a test this morning.” I told her.

 

“And Mr. Perez felt that this ‘misunderstanding’ warranted having you boys come up to see Mr. Coleman?”

 

“It was more the fact that he wouldn’t listen to our explanation so I decided to walk off and bring it to your attention,” I explained.

 

“I see. Well why don’t you come into my office and we can discuss this further.” we were told. As Shane and I got up from our seats, my mom walked into the office. Seeing that we were already talking with the principal she motioned for us to go ahead and followed us in to Dr. Alison’s office.

 

“Okay now tell me exactly what happened.” I was told. I did just this over the next twenty minutes.

 

“Do you have the notes in question?”

 

“Yes ma’am.” I replied as I handed over the notes.

 

“This is really extraordinary.” Dr. Alison replied after a few minutes of examining my notes.

 

“What is?” My mom asked.

 

 “I happen to know a little of a couple of the languages here and as far as I can tell these would be just about right for notes on each of these subjects for Ian’s grade level. I’ll admit that I was kind of stunned when you first told me that he could speak several languages. Especially, given what his placement scores were like. But after the improvement I’ve been told about regarding Brad’s and Megan’s foreign language course work I now know who’s been tutoring them. Besides, several of the teachers have commented that they’ve heard Ian holding conversations with several students at the same time.”

 

“What’s so surprising about that?” my mom interrupted.

 

“Because while the other students were all speaking English, Ian wasn’t. As I understand at one point Ian was using Russian, Italian, and Spanish at the same time.” This statement caused my mom to give me a funny look.

 

“What? I have to keep my skills up somehow and this seemed like the best way to do it.”

 

“You’re not in any trouble. I’m just surprised is all,” My mom said trying to calm me down.

 

“Oh.” I replied turning red at this.

 

“Ian, how long do you thing it would take you to translate these back to English?”

 

“A couple of hours by hand or about twenty to thirty minutes if I had access to a computer.” I said knowing now that I wouldn’t be able to join the class party at all. While it didn’t really bother me that much, I could see that Shane wasn’t going to be that happy if he was forced to miss it.

 

“Okay, I’ll get a computer set up for you to use. Ian, if you could wait outside please while I talk to your mom for a minute. Shane you can head back to class for the rest of your party. I’ll talk to Mr. Perez about you retaking the test when you get back from Winter break.” Shane and I both nodded our understanding at this as we got up to leave.

 

As we came out of Dr Alison’s office, we ran into a very upset looking Mr. Perez.

 

“I thought I told you boys that Mr. Coleman was going to be handling this matter. And now I see that you decided to go to the principal anyway. You both are going to be very sorry when Mr. Coleman gets done with you.” We were told heatedly.

 

“No. Mr. Perez the boys aren’t going to be sorry about anything. I was the one came up to them not the other way around. Now why don’t you and I step into my office and have a little talk about all the complaints I’ve been getting about how you tend to run your class.” Mr. Perez was told. I could tell that it was probably going to be a very one-sided conversation.

 

“I’m sorry about causing all this trouble for you just before the holidays. I’ll accept any punishment you think is needed,” I told my mom softly after Shane had headed back to class.

 

“You have nothing to be sorry for. Your teacher didn’t tell you that you’d be handing your notes to someone else to use. As for punishment for all this, I think that you standing up for what you had done deserves two big hugs, and a kiss.” I was told before my mom did just that.

 

I was just finishing up translating my notes when an unhappy looking Mr. Perez came storming out of Dr. Alison’s office.

 

“Here are the notes ma’am.” I said once my teacher had walked off.

 

“Thank you, Ian, Now why don’t you head back to class and enjoy the rest of the party.”

 

“Thank you. I hope you have a pleasant holiday.”

 

“Thank you, Ian, I hope the same goes for you.” I was told before my principal turned and headed back into her office. Since I was already near by, I decided to stop in the nurse’s office to get one last diaper change before the holiday break.

 

“How did everyone’s last day of school go?” my dad asked as we were finishing up dinner.

 

“Not bad,” I said as everyone else said pretty much the same. Of course my answer got David chuckling and earned me a raised eyebrow from my mom.

 

“Okay, what am I missing here?”

 

“Well, Ian had a bit of a run-in with his teacher today.” my mom answered.

 

“Oh?”

 

“Mr. Perez had them taking a test using other’s people’s notes in class today and there was a misunderstanding concerning the notes Ian turned over.”

 

“What kind of ‘misunderstanding’?”

 

“The boy using Ian’s notes couldn’t understand the notes. And Mr. Perez wouldn’t listen to either Ian or the other boy about them.”

 

“And why couldn’t the other boy understand them. Ian?” my dad asked me directly.

 

“Because none of my notes were in English,” I mumbled unable to look at my father as I said this.

 

“And if you knew you were going to be handing your notes to someone else to use why didn’t you put them in English?”

 

“Because we didn’t know that was going to happen until Mr. Perez told us to hand them to the person next to us. The dumpfkauf!” David said before realizing he had said the last part loud enough for everyone to hear.

 

“Sorry,” he added quickly while turning a bright red. Looking at my parents I could tell they were struggling not to laugh at this.

 

“I see. And how was it handled?”

 

“Dr. Alison asked Ian to translate his notes to English and the other boy will retake the test when the break ends.”

 

“I guess that’ll work. Now I have a surprise for all of you. The day after Christmas we’re going to be going to Breckenridge for the week. Dr. Roberts is letting us use the townhouse he has there. As an added bonus you’re each going to be allowed to bring one friend with you.”

 

My dad’s announcement got great approval from my brothers and sister.

 

“Is there something wrong, Ian?” I was asked when my mom saw that I hadn’t joined in the animated conversation my brothers and sister were now engaged in.

 

“It’s nothing.” I said not wanting to admit that I didn’t even know what my father was talking about.

 

“Follow me for a second.” I was told with a smile. Not wanting to make a scene I followed my mom into my dad’s office.

 

“Sit on my lap; it’ll be easier for you to see that way,” I was told with another smile as my mom booted the computer up and logged onto the net. Shyly, I walked over and climbed up into her lap.

 

“This is what your dad was talking about.” Looking at the computer screen, I saw that a ski resort home page had just down loaded.

 

“But I don’t know how to ski!” I exclaimed as I watched one of the videos she opened up.

 

“Don’t worry about that, Ian. They have lessons to take care of that,” my mom laughed as she walked me through some of the other things they had to offer for kids my age.

 

“I know dad said we could have a friend join us, but do you think he would have any problem if I asked Jason if he could join us?”

 

“You can ask anyone you would like. Why don’t you go ahead and give him a call?” my said while tickling me in the ribs as she picked up the phone.

 

“Hello?” A voice asked after the second ring.

 

“Mrs. Murphy? Is Jason there? It’s Ian.” I asked a bit nervously though I couldn’t understand why.

 

“Yeah, let me go get him for you.”

 

“Hello?” a second voice said after a few moments.

 

“Hey Bro, what’s up?” I asked.

 

“Ian?”

 

“No, it’s Santa Claus,” I joked.

 

“Hey Santa. Am I going to get my pony this year?” Jason asked as he put a childish spin on his voice.

 

“I don’t know about the pony but if you can how would you like to freeze your butt off in Colorado for a week over break?” I laughed in reply

 

“What do you mean?” came the confused sounding response.

 

“My dad told us at dinner that the day after Christmas we’re going to Breckenridge for the week since he said we could take a friend with us I thought you might like to join us.” I explained.

 

“Oh. Uh.. Let me go ask my aunt really quick about that.” Hearing the hesitation in his voice told me what the answer was probably going to be.

 

“Ian, I just asked my aunt and she said we already have plans for that week. I’m really sorry. I’d love to go but this is something I can’t get out of.”

 

“Oh, okay. I understand.” I replied softly.

 

“Hey before you hang up my aunt would like to talk to your mom.”

 

“Okay, here she is.” I mumbled while handing my mom the phone. I started sobbing softly into my mom’s chest while she spoke with Jason’s aunt.

 

“It’s Okay Ian. We should have expected this.” My mom said once she had finished her part of the phone call.

 

“Let’s go upstairs and get us both into some dry pants.” my mom joked as we stood up. It was then that I realized that at some point my diapers had started leaking and I hadn’t noticed it.

 

“It’s all right Ian. This is nothing new to me. Things like this happen.” I was told softly. When my mom noticed I was starting to go a bit pale.

 

“I’ll take care of Ian, mom if you want to go get cleaned up.” Megan stated as we walked out of my dad’s office.

 

“Thanks Megan, that would be great.” My mom stated as she headed towards her and my dad’s bedroom.

 

“Don’t worry about that, Ian. She’s not mad,” Megan said as she escorted me up to my room. I was a bit too numb at this point to really say anything in reply to this statement. In a matter a moments I found myself being helped up on to my changing table and felt my pee soaked pants being pulled off me.

 

“So was mom showing you what we’re going to be doing on vacation?” Megan asked after a few seconds silence. I just nodded at this since I still didn’t trust my voice.

 

“Hey, relax will you. This isn’t the first time mom’s ended up with wet pants from one of you guys.” Megan joked as she untaped my soaked diaper.

 

“C’mon Ian you really need to learn to relax about things like this.” Megan stated again when she saw that tensed like a coiled spring.

 

 “I think I know what you need. Don’t move and I’ll be back in a second.” With that I saw her walk into my bathroom and heard the bath being filled.

 

“Okay, follow me. I think you’ll like this,” Megan told me with a smile when she showed back up a few minutes later. I was a bit surprised to find myself looking at a bubble bath when I entered the bathroom a few seconds later.

 

“Well, hop on in.” I was told as Megan pushed me toward the tub a bit. Not feeling like fighting it, I did what I was told and stepped into the tub. I hissed a bit when my foot came into contact with the hot water Megan had filled the tub with. After a few moments of letting myself get accustomed to the heat of the water I eased down into it and surprisingly enough soon found my tension start to ebb away.

 

“I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit.” Megan said as she tossed some toys into the tub with me. After relaxing for a few minutes and for reasons I still can’t explain, I started to play with the toys Megan had dropped into the water with me. I guess I was starting to be able to act my age after so long of being forced to act much older.

 

“This is something that I want to see more of.” I heard from the bathroom doorway. On looking up, I saw my mom standing there. I must have had a bit of a confused look because of what my mom stated next.

 

“You smiling. It’s something I’d like to see more of. Anyway, I’d say you’re done there so let’s get you dried off and diapered up.” I was told with a smile as my mom walked towards me holding a towel open. Without saying a word I stood up and stepped out of the tub allowing my mom to dry me off.

 

“I’ve got a surprise for you.”

 

“What is it?” I asked with a slight grin.

 

“If I told you what it was it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?” I just giggled at this since my mom started tickling my ribs as she said this. After a few more minutes, I was led back into my room.

 

 I was a bit surprised to see that a bed pad had been placed over part of my bed and some bottles were sitting nearby.

 

“Don’t worry, you’ll like it.” I was told as my mom helped me up onto the bed pad and centered me on it, face down.

 

 The next thing I know, I’m getting a massage. I must have fallen asleep at some point during it because the next thing I know it’s morning and David was waking me up for breakfast.

 

“Boys, once you’re done eating I want you to try on your ski gear to make sure it still fits.” Brad and Isaac were told by our mom about half way through the meal.

 

“Let me or your dad know if anything needs to be replaced.” She added before turning to David and I.

 

“After you guys are done eating and get dressed your dad and I will be taking you out to get your ski gear so don’t dawdle any.” David and I just nodded at this. While the trip seemed like it was going to be fun, I was still worried about what it was actually going to be like. One thing that did make me feel a bit better about Jason not being able to come was the fact that no one else was able to find a friend that was able to with them either.

 

Once breakfast was over, I found myself being escorted up to my room by Megan to get my near leaking diapers taken off me and switched for a clean dry one.

 

“Why are you using one of the thicker diapers?” I asked Megan in surprise when I saw her pull out one of the travel diapers my mom had recently picked up.

 

“Mom wanted me to use one of these so we could make sure to get the right sized ski pants for you. Since we won’t be near restrooms that often once we hit the slopes mom is going to be having you and David wear some thicker diapers during the trip.” I was told with a smile as the thicker diaper was placed under my butt.

 

“What’s the trip going to be like?” I asked timidly as Megan started rubbing lotion over my groin.

 

“A lot like Disney, only colder.” I was told with a smile as Megan snuggly pulled the diaper up between my legs and fastened the tapes.

 

“Okay, you’re all done. Hurry up and get dressed. I’m sure mom and dad wants to get on the road soon.” I was told as I felt a hand slap me on the rear, ignoring this, I walked over to my dresser and started pulling clothes out.

 

I think my mom was a bit surprised when I walked downstairs wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.

 

“What?” I asked when I saw the look on her face when she noticed how I was dressed.

 

“Oh, nothing.” I was told as my mom seemed to snap back to reality. With a shrug, I sat down and started putting my shoes on. Within Ten minutes David had joined us and we were on our way to get David and I outfitted for our up coming trip.

 

“Okay guys, you can look around some while your mom and I get things together for you to try on, but you’re not to leave the area.” our dad told us when we entered the part of the store that the ski gear was located.

 

“Okay Dad.” David announced before dragging me off a bit.

 

“You’ll love this.” David told me as he pulled me over to a Ski-boarding simulator that the store had set up.

 

Before I knew what was going on, I found myself getting strapped to one of the boards. I was a bit shaky at first but soon found myself getting into what I was doing.

 

“Okay, Ian it’s time to stop now Everyone is waiting for you .” I heard from behind me. This broke my concentration causing me to wipe out.

 

“Oh, sorry dad, I guess I lost track of time.” I said over my shoulder as the salesman helped me get unstrapped from the board. I stopped dead in my tracks when I turned around and saw about twenty people standing behind me watching with another ten to fifteen people nearby browsing but seemed to have just gotten done watching me.

 

“I’m sorry about taking up all the time.” I told the salesperson thinking that I had been hogging the machine and the people behind me were waiting for a turn.

 

“Don’t worry about it. This is some of the best advertising we could get.” I was told as the person running the machine sort of waved to all the people that were now looking through the area.

 

“Ian, I thought you told your mom that you’ve never been skiing before.” My dad asked as we walked over to where my mom, Brad, and David were waiting for me.

 

“I haven’t. That’s the first time I’ve ever been on anything like skis before.” I replied honestly, not understanding what was going on. I just got a kind of a disbelieving stare at this.

 

“Why doesn’t dad believe that I’ve never been on skis before?” I asked Brad softly once my parents were a ways in front us as we walked towards the fitting area.

 

“Because, by the time you wiped the simulation had progressed to the Expert level. And you were almost keeping pace with Shawn Williams.” Brad told me in an awed voice.

 

“Who?” This question of course earned me a shocked look.

 

“He earned a Gold Medal in Snowboarding during the last the last Winter Olympics.” Brad explained to me while still giving me a strange look like I should already know this bit of information.

 

“Oh.” I mumbled as I sped to catch up with my parents and brother.

 

“Okay, Now that you’re done playing let’s see how these clothes fit you.” My mom announced as we finally came to the fitting rooms. Without another word, I found a bundle of clothes being thrust at me and I was motioned towards one of the empty rooms. Seeing my kind of lost look Brad followed me in with his own clothes.

 

“Don’t worry about mom’s attitude. I think she feels like you had led her on or something last night.” Brad explained on seeing how upset I seemed with how my parents were acting towards me all of a sudden.

 

“Oh. I didn’t know.” I replied as I started to pull my shorts off since I had already removed my shoes.

 

“You’ll want to keep your pants on. These are designed to be worn over your regular clothes.” I was told as Brad started to pull on his own pants. Once we were both dressed in the clothes we were given we walked to find that our mom was already checking David out

 

“We need to make one more stop before we head home.” my mom stated as we walked out of the sporting good store thirty minutes later. After dropping our packages off at the car mom led us towards a store that was a little further down the strip from where we were. I just kind of started chuckling when I saw that we were headed for a Jordon Enterprises store. Since Brad didn’t seem uneasy about this, I could only assume that he knew we were going to be stopping here.

 

“My I help you?” A salesperson asked as we came through the door. I was shocked when Brad was the one to start talking.

 

“Yes, I recently read on your web site that you were planning on bringing out a refastenable version of the pull-ups you carry. I was wondering if they’ve come out yet?”

 

“We got them in a few days ago. What size were you interest in, so I can see if have them in stock?”

 

“We’d be interested in the 11/12 and the 13/14 sizes.” My mom jumped in before Brad could answer.

 

“We still have some of those in, but I will have to warn you all we have left at this time are some of the Fun Pal styles.” we were told as we were led over to the area the pull-ups were located in. I kind of smiled a bit when I saw that the only ones available were designs from past and present Disney/Pixar films.

 

“Do you know when you might have some of the plain ones in again?” Brad asked after looking at the ones they had on the shelves.

 

“We’re expecting some on our nest truck. It comes in on Monday morning.”

 

“Thank you. Could we have a few minutes to decide?” my mom asked.

 

“Certainly. Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.”

 

“Okay Brad the choice is yours. You can either go with what they have in these or you can go with the diapers.”

 

“Not diapers. You already said that if I go with those I would be expected to use them fully and you know how I feel about that.” Brad stated glumly as he picked up a mega pack of the super absorbent pants. Going from how he has stressed the word “fully” I took that as meaning that my mom expected him to poop in them as well as pee.

 

 “Brad, when we get home I want you to take these up to your room and try them on. I‘ll need you to keep them on the rest of the day so we can see how well they work. Have Isaac do the same.” my mom said while handing Brad a smaller Jordon’s sack once we climbed into the car. Being the curious person I am, I looked over to see what was in the bag Brad got handed.

 

“Why didn’t you just have me use some of the pants I just picked up?” my mom was asked as Brad pulled out a sample pack of the pull-ups he just got done buying.

 

“This way we can return them if it turns out that they don’t fit, or protect well enough. I’ll make a deal with you though. If it turns out that they don’t do a good enough job, and we end up having you wear the diapers you won’t have to poop in them unless you can’t get to a restroom quickly enough. This same deal will apply to everyone.” Brad just nodded in agreement as he placed the pull-ups back in the bag. It was then that I realized that my mom had been expecting me to use my diapers fully as well. The rest of the drive home went home quickly, but I was noticing that neither of my parents were directing any questions or comments towards me. It was almost like they were ignoring the fact that I was even in the car with them. I knew that at some point in the next day or two I was going to have to sit down and talk with them about this turn of events.

 

Brad disappeared upstairs the second we got home. Since I still wasn’t sure of how to take my parents silent treatment, I gathered up my own bags and headed upstairs. I was getting ready to hang everything up in my room when I heard a yell come from Isaac’s room.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me! No way am I going to wear those!” I heard my brother exclaim. I just smiled at this since I knew it was probably just an act anyway. I heard Brad say something in reply to this but couldn’t really make out what was being said. Once I was done putting everything away, I started writing in my journal. The next thing I knew I was being called to dinner.

 

“Ian, as soon as dinner is over, your aunt and I need to talk to you,” My uncle said as soon as I came into the dining room.

 

“Yes, sir,” I responded catching the tone I was all too familiar with from my father. This was the last thing that was said to me during the entire meal.

 

“Sit.” I was ordered as soon as the door closed behind me.

 

“I don’t know what’s gotten into the last couple of days young man but this attitude you’re starting to get had better stop right now.” This caught me by surprise because I wasn’t aware of any attitude I had given anyone over the last couple of days.

 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean?” I almost cried. Thinking that my life was once again spiraling out of control.

 

“I’ll tell you what I mean. To start with, you’ve been lying to your aunt about never having skied before. And then, you cursing out your cousin when he came to get you for lunch this afternoon”

 

“But, I haven’t done either of those things. I’ve never been skiing before.”

 

“Don’t give me that. I saw you on the simulator at the sports store this afternoon. There is no way a novice could have done as well as you were doing,” my uncle almost yelled at me.

 

“Brian, please calm down.” My aunt stated. Seeing how scared I was becoming.

 

“But...” I said at the same time. The next thing I knew my uncle was slapping hard across the face. I just sat there stunned for a second before bolting out of the room and headed for the front door. I practically ran David over without knowing what I was doing. I barely heard him yelling after me as I ran down the driveway. I was over the gate to our property before I even knew I was doing it. The last thing I remembered was feeling a sharp pain in my shoulder.

 

The next thing I fully recalled was being placed into an ambulance what seemed like several hours later by the Arizona Highway Patrol. What really freaked me out was that I was covered in blood. I found out later that I was the victim of an attempted kidnapping. It was several weeks before I was able to get my parents to give me the full story of what had happened.

 

 From what the police were able to put together, someone had found out that I had come into a good deal of money and were going to try to ransom me back to my parents. I guess they were going to try and take me that night after everyone was in bed but when they saw me running down the street they decided to take me then. What they didn’t realize at the time is that David had seen the whole thing and told my parents as soon as they were able to calm him down enough to give them the information. After finding the car that David had seen me dumped into, the police were informed that it was possible that I had been seen being loaded into a van. In the end, it was a routine traffic stop that had the whole thing come crashing down. It seems that the drug I had been knocked out with had started wearing off just as the van had been pulled over. I, of course, started struggling with the person that was in the back of the van with me. I don’t know how I was able to, but I managed to wrap the extra cord that was stretched between my feet around the person’s neck. At the same time, I had also managed to get my hands on the two pistols the guy had on him and started firing them off in the direction I felt was the front. I must have blacked out again at this point because the next thing I remembered was being loaded into the ambulance. I would have disjointed dreams about everything that had happened that evening for the next several weeks but they didn’t come into full clarity till I managed to get the story from my parents.

 

“Ian, Oh my god I’m so sorry!” my mom sobbed as she pulled me into a hug at the hospital early the next morning. If my mom looked bad, my dad looked even worse. Even more so when he saw the bruise on the side of my face from where he had hit me (to this day, I’ve always maintained that it was one of the kidnappers that had hit me).

 

“Mary could I have a few minutes alone with Ian please?” After looking at me for a moment, my aunt left the room.

 

“Ian, I’m so sorry about last night. I had been having a bad week with a patient. While we were at the store I had gotten a call informing me that they didn’t make it. And for some stupid reason, I took my frustration out on you. Can you forgive me?” I was asked just before my uncle broke down completely. As much I wanted to go off on him about what happened, I just couldn’t do it. Since I didn’t trust my voice at that point too much I just lightly laid my hand on his head.

 

I was released from the hospital the next morning.

 

“Mom why are you placing me in one of my overnight diapers?” I asked in surprise when I was getting a final diaper change before heading home.”

 

“We have a bit of a long drive home and we aren’t wanting to make to many pit stops on the drive home.” I was told as my mom slipped the thick disposable under my butt. After a heavy coating of lotion and powder was applied to my groin the diaper was pulled up snuggly between my legs and taped firmly closed. I was kind shocked to see that we were leaving through the ER entrance. I found out later that this was due to the publicity my abduction had caused. It was because of this that I found out that the final two days before the trip were going to be spent at Uncle Dean’s.

 

“C’mon Ian wake up! Santa came last night!” One of my cousins yelled while slapping me on the shoulder. While I didn’t hear what they were yelling. I certainly heard Brad yelling in the background for them to stop what they were going to do. Unfortunately, this warning came too late. With what I had just been through, my reaction was even pronounced than it normally was. And before I was fully awake, I had pinned the person to the bed with my fist raised above their face. Before things could go any further Brad managed to pull me off and held onto me until I was a little more awake.

 

“I’m going to tell mommy!” I heard James yell as he ran from the room crying.

 

“What’s all yelling about in here?” Megan asked crossly, looking like she had just woken up herself.

 

“James heard mom asking me to come wake Ian up and decided to do it himself.” Brad said simply as he let me go.

 

“Oh, now that wasn’t too smart, now was it?” came the rhetorical answer.

 

“Tell me about it.” I just ignored this little by play and started to strip off my soaked night diaper.

 

“Don’t worry about getting a shower, Ian. Just wipe down really good before putting a clean diaper on.” Megan told me while tossing me a clean diaper from a nearby suitcase.

 

“Okay. Let everyone know I’ll be down in just a few minutes. I need to use the toilet first.” I just got a nod at this as Brad and Meg left the room so I could have a bit of privacy while I changed. Once I had gone to the restroom and put a clean diaper on I started debating whether or not I should get dressed or climb back into my PJ bottoms and a robe. Once I caught on to the fact that Brad and Megan were both still in their PJs, I decided to do the same.

 

“Morning everyone.” I called as I walked into the dining room.

 

“Morning, Ian.” was the most common response I received to this. Before anything was said, I walked over to James.

 

“I’m sorry about what happened upstairs.” I told him while holding out my hand. Being the jerk he normally was, James just rubbed his throat a bit and walked off without saying a word to me I just shrugged this off and motioned for both mine and James’s parents to let the matter drop. I felt that I had made a serious attempt at an apology and James decided he didn’t want to take me up on it

 

“You know Ian, you might want to start opening those gifts before your brothers decide to give you some help.” my aunt chuckled while looking at the untouched pile of gifts that surrounded me while everyone else (especially the kids) were ripping into theirs.

 

“Oh, sorry,” I mumbled while I started to carefully unwrap my gifts. I tended to get a lot of strange looks from everyone while I did this. I was careful to show real excitement as I opened each gift and made sure to thank each person that the gift was from before setting them aside. I don’t really know what my parents were thinking as they saw me do this but, at least, they were nice enough not to say anything about it at the time.

 

“Mom, if you guys don’t mind I’m going to go climb back into bed for a while I’m still feeling a bit worn out.” I announced a short while after we had finished our gift exchange.

 

“Sure Ian, That’s fine. I’ll be up to check on you in a little bit. Go ahead and take your presents with you as well so people don’t trip over them.” I nodded to this suggestion and stooped to pick up the neat pile of boxes that I was just getting ready to step around. Before long I was setting the boxes next to the overnight bag that had been packed for me. As I climbed back into bed I knew in my heart that, like all the holidays past, the gifts would be gone when I woke back up.

 

I must have been so worn out that I never remembered my mom coming in to tuck me in for my nap In fact, the next thing I thing I remembered was waking up to Meg pulling off my wet diaper the next morning. Looking over towards where I had set the gifts I had received the previous morning and seeing that they were no longer there made me feel that I was right in my thoughts of how things were going to happen.

 

“Hurry up and grab a quick shower. I’ll have your clothes laid out for you when you get back.” Megan told me as I became more aware of what was going on.

 

 “Okay.” I told her sleepily as I climbed out of bed and walked in to the bathroom that was connected to the room I was sharing with David.

 

“So nice of you to join us,” my dad chuckled when I came downstairs after getting dressed.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t think I was that tired when I when to take a nap yesterday.” I said as I started to load food onto my plate.

 

“That’s all right. Given what had happened a couple of days ago we should have expected it. Just don’t take too long in eating. We need to be on the road in about thirty minutes so we can make our flight in time.” I nodded at this between mouthfuls. Twenty minutes later I was finishing up my second plate of food.

 

“Does anyone need to be changed before we leave?” my mom asked as we all started getting up from the table to say out goodbyes to everyone.

 

“I’m a little damp, but I should be okay for now. Megan has me wearing one of my thicker diapers.” I replied as Brad and Isaac both said that they were still dry. David, of course, wasn’t given a chance to answer before Megan led him upstairs to make sure he was still in good condition. While David had gotten better over the last couple of months since mom had had that talk with him about taking more responsibility concerning his diaper changes, he still tended to revert at times.

 

“He’s good.” Megan announced a few minutes later as she led David back into the Dinning room. With a final round of hugs, we headed towards the door. I was more than a little surprised when we were led towards a waiting limo.

 

I was more than a little surprised to find that we still had over an hour to go before out flight when we got to the airport. I found out why this was once we started to get checked in and go through the security checkpoint. About fifteen minutes after we got to the First class lounge our flight was called. I started getting a bit nervous at this point since I had only flown once before.

 

“Once we get to the townhouse we’ll need to hurry and get unpacked so we can get fitted for our equipment.” my mom stated as we pulled away from the airport.

 

“Ian, we’re still going to have you take lessons even with how well you seem to do.” my dad said a moment later. I’ll have to admit that this didn’t surprise me one bit since I kind of figured that doing well on a video game and doing well in real life were two different things. The rest of the trip to the lodge was spent going over what we needed to know if we got separated while skiing and what our other plans for the week were. For some reason, I kept getting this feeling that there was something that my parents weren’t telling me.

 

It took about thirty minutes for us all to be fitted for our equipment. Once this was done, we were told that that it would take about an hour to get everything pulled together. Since it didn’t seem to make much sense to drive back to the townhouse only to turn back around ten minutes later we decided to walk around the lodge a bit to see what there was to do in case we didn’t feel like skiing

 

“Mom, may we get a snack?” Brad and Isaac asked at almost the same time. I just kind of grinned at this but agreed with their thinking at the time since I was starting to get a bit hungry myself.

 

“Go ahead.” came the chuckled response. I hesitated for just a moment before getting a small nod from my mom to go join the feeding frenzy that was going to soon be starting.

 

“Hay Ian, think fast!” I heard Brad yell behind me a few hours later. I turned just in time to see a snowball heading for me. I think I surprised Brad by how fast I dropped to the ground. I saw the look of horror on his face as he saw his snowball go sailing over my now prone body and catch his dad in the back of the head.”

 

“I..I. didn’t mean too.” Brad started to stammer as my dad’s return snowball caught Brad right in the chest.

 

“What was that about thinking fast Brad?” My dad said with a grin. Before I really knew what was going on snow was flying all over the place.

 

“Okay, Boys, play time is over. Get in here now and get ready for dinner!” We heard my mom yell a while later.

 

“You should be ashamed of yourself!” I heard my mom tell my dad softly as he walked past her.

 

“Brad started it though.” It was all I could do to keep from laughing on hearing this response.

 

“I don’t want to hear it,” She answered smiling before raising her voice back to normal.

 

“I want all of those wet clothes off before you take one step into the house.” We were all told.

 

“I said all of your wet clothes Bradley.” our mom said firmly when Brad started to follow his dad into the house after removing just his boots and snowsuit.

 

“But dad..” came the feeble reply before it faltered on seeing the arched eyebrow on his mom’s face.

 

“Yes, ma’am.” Brad said with some embarrassment. As he started to pull the rest of his clothes off. Once his pants were off I could tell why he was trying to do what he did, It looked like the pull-up he had on was about to fall off. I guess my mom wasn’t too surprised to see them in this condition since she didn’t say a word about them. Though David and Isaac both started grinning at this while Brad’s back was turned.

 

“Now I want all of you to go up and take a warm shower, and then fully get ready for bed.” we were told once we all had stripped down to our diapers. I was kind of surprised by how she had stressed the word “fully”, but since she was looking at Brad as she did this I guess she was figuring that he wouldn’t have gotten his diaper on just yet since it was only a little past seven in the evening at the time.

 

Once I was done with my shower, I quickly dried off and headed into my room. After sending David to get his, I went over to me bed. I wasn’t one bit surprised to see that my diaper and some PJs waiting for me. Ignoring the sleepwear for the moment, I climbed onto the changing pad that had been laid out on my bed and quickly started to get myself diapered for the evening. It still amazed me at how much more comfortable the Jordan’s were over the Attends and Molicares that I had used before this point. I must have zoned out for a few moments because when I finally came back to the present I found Megan finishing up the process I had started what seemed a few moments ago.

 

“Wha?” I said some what startled to find Megan standing over me.

 

“Mom sent me up to see what was taking you so long.,” Megan told me with a grin.

 

“Oh.” Looking over at the nearby clock I saw that I must have been lying there for a good ten minutes. I guess this was the reason that a search party had been sent out for me.

 

“There, all done.” I was told with a light slap to my now padded posterior.

 

“Now hurry and get into your jammies. Everyone is waiting on you.” I nodded at this and quickly reached for the bundle of clothes that had been left out for me. I was more than a little surprised when I saw myself staring at a pair of footed sleepers. Shaking my shock off quickly I climbed into the sleepers and got them zipped up.

 

“So nice of you to join us.” my mom quipped with a smile as I came sliding into the dining area.

 

“Sorry, I kind of zoned out for a moment,” I said sheepishly as I took my seat at the table. Dinner progressed quickly and we were soon sitting around the coffee table in the main room playing a board game. I don’t know whether it was the long day, the lower oxygen content of the air, the comfortable fire that was going, or possibly a combination of all of them but I soon found myself dozing off. The next thing I knew I was getting woken up for breakfast.

 

“Don’t worry about getting a shower. Just use some wipes to clean off with.” I was told as Brad walked over to wake David up. I started wishing that we had been able to bring the wipes warmer with us as I started running a near ice cold wipe over my groin. David was just starting to climb out of bed as I pulled out a fresh diaper and started to open it up.

 

“Aren’t you going to get a shower?”

 

“Brad said not to worry about it. Just use the wipes.” I replied as I tossed the tub of wipes over to him. I grinned a bit as few minutes later as I saw David shiver as he started to run a wipe over his pee soaked groin.

 

“What’s so funny?”

 

“Nothing.” I was still grinning when I walked out of the room a few minutes later.

 

“Don’t get too comfortable, Ian. As soon as everyone else gets down here we’ll be going to the lodge for breakfast then your dad will be dropping you at your lesson Just so you know, I’ve put a couple of changes in the back of your coat when you need them. I’ve done the same for David.” While I was a bit surprised by this statement, it did seem to make sense once I thought about it. While we waited for everyone else to finish getting ready, my mom and I took the time to talk a bit about how I had been acting the day before. I guess I hadn’t been quite as convincing as I thought I had been. I started telling her of what my holidays were normally like. I guess I must have shocked my mom a bit because the next thing I knew after I got done talking was being pulled into a hug.

 

“It’s Okay, mom. I’m used to it by now.”

 

“It’s not Okay, Ian. No child should ever have to be put through what you have in your life. I’m just sorry we couldn’t have tried to get you out of there sooner.”

 

“I understand. Just remember that in the end you did get me out of that situation. If you guys hadn’t come forward like you did I would have been placed permanently with the Wues and who knows what would have happened then.”

 

“I miss something?” My dad asked as he came into the room a few minutes later followed closely by my brothers and sister.

 

“Nah, mom just wanted to talk to me about something. It’s nothing important.” I replied Going from the quick look I saw pass between my parents I knew that my mom would probably fill my dad in on what her and I had just got done talking about once my brothers and sister were out of ear shot. After my mom let my brothers know what she had done regarding our diapers, we all climbed into our gear and headed off to wait for the van to come by and pick us up.

 

Once we got to the lodge and were seated at the restaurant, we placed our meal order. I don’t think the people running the buffet area were all that happy when they saw my brothers and I walk up and start piling food on our plates. I know for a fact that they weren’t happy at all when they saw me coming back for fourths. Since I knew I had a high metabolic rate, and I would be doing a good deal of exercise, the extra food was going to come in handy. As soon as I finished eating, we headed off for the slopes. Isaac, David and I were dropped off for our ski lessons while Brad, Megan, and our parents headed off for regular runs. This, of course, was after we set up a meeting time and place for lunch once the lessons were done.

 

“Okay, everyone gather around.” A voice called from behind me and David soon after we were dropped off for our lesson.

 

“My name is Lee and the person next to me is Angie and we’ll be your instructors for the next couple of days. Now before we getting to thing to deeply I’d like you all to introduce yourselves to each other. And if I could get a show of hands, I’d like to see how many of you have had at least some experience skiing.” About a third of our group raised their hand to show that they had skied before.

 

“That’s good. Now then we are going to start off showing you some of the basics and go from there.” We were told as Lee started breaking us up into two groups. I was kind of bored at first but didn’t say anything since I knew what we were being shown was important.

 

“So you boys ready to go get some lunch?” David, Isaac, and I were asked a few hours later when my dad showed up.

 

“Yeah!” David said enthusiastically. We were just about to head off when Lee walked over.

 

“Mr. Miller?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I’m Lee Morgan. The head instructor here at the lodge.” Lee said while holding out his hand.

 

“Pleased to meet you. What can I help you with?” my dad responded while giving me a side glance.

 

“Well, I was kind of wondering why you had Ian placed with the beginner ski classes and not one of the more advanced classes?”

 

“Well, the main reason is before today, Ian has never skied before.”

 

“I’m sorry. But did you say he’s never skied a day in his life before today” Came the shocked reply.

 

“That’s correct. I had seen him doing well on a ski boarding simulator a few days ago but felt that he should still take lessons. What did Ian do to make you think he belonged in one of the higher classes?”

 

“Well, I could tell he seemed a bit bored as we were going through some of the basics, though he still paid close attention to what he was being shown. And after a few false starts once we hit the beginner slopes he seemed to pick things up rather quickly. On a whim, I took him and a couple of other students over to the intermediate slopes to see how he did, and by his third run he started going down it backwards.”

 

“Backwards, huh?”

 

“Yes sir. I just thought you’d want to think about possible getting him into one of the higher classes if there are any opening left.”

 

“Well, I’ll seriously consider it. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

 

“No problem sir. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay.”

 

“Thank you, I’m sure we will. C’mon boys, I’m sure everyone is wondering where we’ve disappeared to.” My dad told us as we started to walk away. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t say a thing since I wasn’t really sure what to make of my dad’s expression and attitude at this point. David and Isaac, of course, had other ideas since all they talked about on our way to launch was some of the things they had seen me do on some of my later runs. We joined up with everyone else a few minutes later.

 

“Mom, I need to take care of something. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I said after we had been seated and placed our order.

 

“That’s a good idea. Why don’t the rest of you boys do the same.” my brothers were told as I got up to head for the bathroom. Since I didn’t hear any complaints, I took this as my brothers also needing to change into something drier than what they had on. We were lucky enough to find an open family bathroom to make things go more quickly.

 

“Okay what’s going on? You’ve been giving Ian strange looks ever since you sat down.” my mom asked once she saw that I was out of ear shot.

 

“I had a small chat with Ian’s ski instructor when I went to pick the boys up. It seems that Ian was doing a bit of showboating during class.”

 

“What do you mean showboating ?”

 

“From what I was told from his instructor, Ian has already advanced to the Intermediate slopes.”

 

“I don’t see how that could be considered showboating.”

 

“It can be when you take into account that he was doing it backwards.”

 

“You mean that was Ian that passed me by?” Meagan added suddenly.

 

“I mean I had a kid pass me by a few times going down one of the runs backwards. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but with what you just said I’m pretty sure it was Ian.” Megan explained when she saw her parents questioning looks.

 

“Besides he seemed to be handling himself pretty well. Especially when he hit the moguls.” Her parents’ eyebrows really came up at the last part that was added by accident.

 

“Do tell.” Megan was told by her mother. With some reluctance, Megan told her parents everything that she had seen, adding that she wasn’t positive that it was Ian she saw.

 

“Fine this is what we’re going to do. When we get done with lunch, you’re going to take Ian over to the ski shop and get him the helmet he was looking at while we were getting fitted the other day. To this I want you to add a couple of decals that will allow you to recognize him if you see him again. Next if you do see him I want you to phone your father and I about it.”

 

“What will happen if it is him?”

 

“You let your father and I worry about that.” Megan was told

 

“What about the David and Isaac? Don’t you think they’ll get a bit bent out of shape since you normally only let us pick out our own safety gear once we complete the lessons and such?” Megan asked reasonably.

 

“We’ll talk to the boys about that while you’re getting Ian fitted.” Before Megan could say anything else Her father held up his hand and motioned that the conversation was over since he saw my brothers and I getting near the table. Soon after we took our seat our meals came.

 

“C’mon Ian You and I have a small stop to make before we hit the slopes again.” I was told by Megan as we left the restaurant.

 

“Okay. Where are we going though?”

 

“It’s a surprise.” Not seeing any point in arguing I just followed along. I was more than little surprised when we entered the ski shop and Megan led me over to where the helmets we lined up against the wall. I really got a shock when she picked up one of the helmets that I had been looking at the previous day while we were getting fitted for our equipment.

 

“I thought we couldn’t get these until after we completed our lessons and safety course?” I asked as the helmet was placed over my head.

 

“Normally that’s true but mom and dad for some reason are making an exception in your case.” Megan replied as she checked the fit. Seeing the fit was a bit loose she looked for something a bit smaller.

 

“Is there something I could help you with?” we were asked a moment later by one of the sales people.

 

“Yes. I was wondering if you have this one in stock in a bit smaller size?” Megan asked while indicating which helmet she was interested in.

 

“I’m pretty sure we do. Let’s get the exact measurements so we can be sure to get the best fit.” We were told as we were led over to another area. I soon found a tape measure being placed around my head in several different ways.

 

“Yeah, we do have one in stock. It’ll be just a moment while I get it out of the back.” A few minutes later I found the new helmet being placed on my head.

 

“How’s that feel?”

 

“Pretty good.” As Megan and I were led towards the checkout area.

 

“Now if you’d like for an extra Fifty dollars we can add a full face mask to this. The face mask comes with anti-fog goggles already built into it as well as a filter to help warm the air a bit before you breathe it in.” the salesperson added while showing us the afore mentioned mask.

 

“Sure go ahead and add that on to.” I said with a smile before my sister could say anything.

 

“I’ll pay for the mask myself.” I said while turning to the salesperson.

 

“Could you ring these up separately please?”

 

“Sure. Now the goggles do come with your choice of glare filters.” I was told while I was shown an assortment of filters.

 

“I’ll take those.” I said with a smile when I saw a set that looked like flames when the light hit them. The sales person just smiled at this.

 

“That’ll be $32.89.” I was told a second later. I just handed over the card that held my allowance on it.

 

“Thank you.” I was told as the salesperson handed me my receipt.

 

“Ian, could you wait over there for a minute? I need to ask them something.” I just shrugged at this and walked over to start looking at a display of snowboards they had nearby.

 

“Do you guys do decal work?” Megan asked once I was out earshot.

 

“Yes, we do. What did you have in mind?”

 

“Something like this.” Megan replied while doing a quick sketch of what she had in mind.

 

“Interesting. Some thing like this will take a couple of days to do. We can have it ready for you by Tuesday morning.”

 

“That’ll be fine. Did you need payment now or later?”

 

“Either way. Or, if you’d like, we can just charge it to your room.”

 

“Let me call my parents and find out what they would like.” Megan said while pulling out her cell phone.

 

“Just charge it to our room.” Megan said after getting of the phone and started filling out the form she was handed.

 

“Okay, it’ll be ready to go by Tuesday morning. If we have any problems we’ll call and let you know.”

 

“That’ll be fine. And we’ll just pick it up here.”

 

“That will be fine. Have a good day.” Megan was told as she was handed her claim form.

 

“Thank you. You have a good one too.”

 

“Where’s the helmet?” I asked as Megan joined me and we headed towards the door.

 

“I’m having some decal work done on it at mom and dad’s request.”

 

“Oh okay.” I said with a small frown thinking that it wouldn’t be ready till it was time for us to leave.

 

“Don’t worry Ian. They said it would be ready by Tuesday morning.” I was told with a smile as Megan messed my hair up a bit.

 

“Well, let’s go meet up with everyone and hit the slopes some more before it gets to late.” This caused me to smile even more.

 

“Do you need to change before we get on the lifts?”

 

“Nah, I should be Okay for a while longer.” I said after giving my diaper a feel through my pants pocket. While I still didn’t care too much for needing to wear diapers, I did find them very convenient at times like this.

 

“Did you guys get everything taken care of?” my mom asked when we met back up with everyone about twenty minutes after Megan and I left the shop.

 

“Yeah, they said it should be ready by Tuesday morning.” Megan replied.

 

“And you’re sure you’ll be able to recognize his helmet at a glance?” My dad asked making sure that I wasn’t nearby.

 

“Believe me when you see his new helmet you’ll see that it’ll be almost impossible to get them mixed up with someone else’s.” Megan told her parents with a smile.

 

Due to the talk my instructor had with my dad that morning, I had decided to tone down what I was doing on the slopes. I could tell that my parents had still been impressed with how well I was doing. We stayed out on the runs for several more hours. On a whim, we had even been able to talk our dad into going sledding with us. I was having so much fun I had completely forgotten about the condition of my diaper. That is until we had gotten ready to ski back to our townhouse and I felt something trickling down my leg.

 

“Hey Ian, wait for the rest of us! What’s the hurry!?” Brad called as I took off when I realized what was happening. I ignored this as I started skiing even faster trying to get home before the damage was even worse than it was. I made both of my parents jump when I came bursting into the house after having stripped all my gear off in the mud room.

 

“What’s the matter, Ian!?” my mom called a few seconds later as she followed me into my room.

 

“Ah, I guess we should have expected this to happen at least once.” I was told with a smile once my mom had caught a look at the back of my diapers as I pulled my pee soaked pants off.

 

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t realize they had gotten this bad.” I stuttered badly as my mom came towards me.

 

“It’s Okay. Ian. Just calm down. There is nothing to get worked up about.” I jerked badly when I felt my mom place her hand on my shoulder.

 

“Easy Ian. Just calm down. This is nothing to get upset about.” I was told softly as I was pulled into a hug. I started crying heavily at this point. My mom just pulled me tighter to her at this point and whispered into my ear the entire time. I finally wore myself out about three minutes later.

 

“Feeling better?” I was asked once I had calmed down some. I just nodded since I didn’t fully trust my voice

 

“That’s good. Now you just hop up here and will get you into a clean diaper.” my mom said while patting the changing pad that was still spread out on my bed from this morning. Moments later, I felt my shirt being pulled off. This was soon followed by my over flowing pants. I was soon sporting a dry diaper. I was kind of surprised that my mom was using one of my night diapers but I didn’t complain at this. Once my diaper was securely fastened, I found myself being helped into a pair of footed sleepers. I remember complaining a bit when my mom told me I would be wearing them during the trip but I have to admit that after having worn them the night before they weren’t as bad as I thought they were going to be.

 

“You go ahead and lay down for a bit. I’ll have someone wake you up when dinner is ready.”

 

“Okay. I’m sorry...” I started to say before having my mom place a finger against my lips.

 

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about. Things like this will happen at times.” I was told softly as I was helped under the covers and tucked in. I was surprised when my mom walked over to the closet and pulled out a teddy bear. I was even more surprised when it was placed in my arms.

 

“Have a nice nap.” I was told as my mom turned the lights out and closed the door behind her.

 

“So, what was going on with Ian?” Megan asked with concern when my mom walked back into the living room.

 

“He had a maxed out and leaking diaper.” Everyone was told.

 

“Is that all? I thought it was something serious.” Megan said with relief.

 

“To your brother it was something serious. From how he was acting, I guess he thought he was going to get punished for it.”

 

“Punished for a leaky diaper?” Brad asked. Almost laughing at this ‘til he saw the look on his mom’s face.

 

“Uh, right. Speaking of which, I better go change before I end up with the same thing.” Brad said hastily before hurriedly leaving the room. Followed shortly by his brothers.

 

I must have been more worn out by the day’s events since I slept right through dinner. I woke up the next morning to find that a moderate storm had moved into the area and had closed the slopes down for the day. Because of this, my family and I just sat around the house all day playing board and video games.

 

“Well, guys. They’ve cleared the slopes for use so after breakfast we’ll pick up Ian’s new head gear and hit the slopes.” My dad announced as we were all getting up Tuesday morning.

 

“What about my ski lessons?” I asked.

 

“After having seen you in action on Sunday, I’ve decided to cancel the rest of your lessons. You’ll be Joining Brad and Megan for the day. And I’ll tell you right now that Megan is in charge. What she says goes. Okay?

 

“Yes sir.” I replied as I finished getting dressed once my dad had gotten done taping my fresh diaper closed.

 

“C’mon you two we need to pick up Ian’s helmet before we hit the slope.” Megan informed Brad and I as we left the restaurant we had just gotten done eating at. David and Isaac both looked like they wanted to say something about this but a sharp look from our dad prevented this. Several minutes later Megan, Brad, and I were walking into the ski shop to pick up my new helmet.

 

“Whoa, Ian. Mom and dad are going to freak when they see you wearing that.” Brad said in awe when he saw what the helmet looked like.

 

“Actually Brad, they were the ones that said it was alright for him to get this one. Though they don’t know about the face mask yet. But there’s nothing they can do about it now.” I didn’t respond yet since I was still too busy looking over the decal work that Megan had them add.

 

“Thanks for all this Meg.” I told her.

 

 “ Just where did you come up with this though?” I asked looking at the Latin word for “WAR” written across the front.

 

“I saw the picture that Mr. Murphy had taken of you on Halloween.” I was informed with a smile.

 

“Oh, Okay.” This cause both Brad and Meg to start chuckling. Still laughing a bit Brad took the helmet out of my hands and slapped it down on my head.

 

“Oww!” I mumbled while giving Brad a dirty look.

 

“Let’s go have some fun.” Brad said while ignoring the look I was giving him. With in twenty minutes, we all were standing at the top of the ski run. I started things off on the easy side so I wouldn’t raise any comments from my brother and sister.

 

“Watch it, shrimp!” An older boy yelled as he cut in front of me. Before I knew what was going on another person had come up beside me and tripped the release to one of my skis, while a third one came by and pushed me off balance. All this caused me to wipe out in a cloud snow. Luckily for me, but not so fortunate for the teens that caused me to wreck, all this happed right in front of some undercover Ski Patrol Officers. Also lucky for me Brad showed up right after the incident happened and was able to catch me before I managed to get to where the Ski Patrol had managed to stop the teens that had tripped me up.

 

“Calm down Ian!” Brad said firmly while trying to keep a hold of me.

 

“Fuck That! I want to go rip their heads off!” I yelled back while still struggling to get free.

 

“Uh, Guys! I could use some help over here!” Brad called urgently when he felt me finally starting to get loose from him. Before anyone could respond to his call I managed to get out of Brad’s grip, and started charging towards the teens that tripped me up.

 

“OH Shit! Stop Him!” Brad yelled loudly enough to finally get the Officers attention. Before I managed to get within ten feet of the handcuffed teens I felt myself being tackled from behind.

 

“Let me Go Brad! I want to fuck those SOB’s up!” I yelled. About this time several of the officers finally got to me and Brad. And at Brad’s insistence, I found myself getting handcuffed as well. Fifteen minutes after all this started my parents showed up. Brad, and one of the undercover officers quickly intercepted them. By this point, my blood lust had finally subsided and the handcuffs were removed.

 

 The teens started smirking a bit when my family and I started walking past them as they were loaded onto some sleds that would take them down to the bottom of the run and to a waiting police van. Seeing this got my blood boiling again and to keep from doing anything that would get me into any serious trouble, I walked over to a nearby sign and punched a hole into it before walking off with out seeing what the reaction of the teens was.

 

 “Ian, take your coat off for a second.” Megan called just as we hit the bottom of the hill.

 

“What?” I asked as my dad stopped and I got off the back of his skis.

 

“Just take you’re coat off for a second. You have a rip in it and I want to make sure you’re not hurt. This caused both of my parents to turn around.

 

“Ah Man.” I mumbled once my coat was off and saw that I had a bloody tear in my shirt

 

“Officer! We need some help over here!” My dad called once he opened my shirt and saw that I had a somewhat deep gash between a couple of my ribs with what looked like a piece of one of my skis sticking out of the end of it. Before I knew what was really going on I found myself back on the ground with several people kneeling around me.

 

“I’m sorry for messing up everyone’s vacation.” I said a few hours later from the hospital room I now found myself in. While nothing was seriously wrong with me, the doctors that looked me over decided to keep me overnight just to be on the safe side.

 

“You don’t have to sorry for anything Ian. It was those other jerks that have to be sorry.” Megan said while we waited for my parents to get back from the police station.

 

“I’m just glad you weren’t hurt any more than you were.”

 

“Not to mention that I was able to stop you from reaching those guys.” Brad said jumping into mine and Megan’s conversation.

 

“Yeah, Thanks.” I said sourly. Megan quickly motioned for Brad to let the matter drop before an argument could start between us.

 

“What’s this?” I asked as I was handed a package a day after I was released from the hospital.

 

“Open it and find out.” my dad said with a grin. While giving my parents a miffed look, I opened the box I had been handed. I ended up with a loss for words when in finally dawned on me that I was looking at a brand new snowboard that had been done up to match my helmet.

 

“Uh, thanks.” I stammered as I regained my senses enough to speak.

 

“You’re welcome. Megan said that you were looking at this the other day as they were getting your helmet done up.”

 

“And Brad mentioned that you did pretty well the other day when you talked him into letting you rent one.” my dad told me with another grin. This caused me to give Brad a dirty look since he was supposed to have kept his mouth shut concerning the snowboard rental.

 

“Now let’s go get something to eat before we hit the slopes.” my mom said while tossing people their coats.

 

“Can I get one of those too, mom?” David asked as we walked out to catch the shuttle to the main lodge.

 

“Tell, you what David, if you can stay up right on Ian’s board we’ll consider it.” our dad said before our mom could shoot David’s request down from the start. I smiled a bit when I saw the look my dad gave mom while David wasn’t looking. An hour later we headed off towards the slopes once my brothers and I were done devastating the buffet table.

 

“Ian, we want you to take things a bit easy today so you don’t end up pulling your stitches.” I was told before my dad and mom headed off to one of the other slopes with Isaac and David.

 

“Okay, I’ll keep them in mind.” I replied. And for the most part I did keep my word on this. I noticed that Megan was staying close to me most of the morning and afternoon. I also saw that Brad and spent a good deal of time with a video camera he had gotten for the holidays. He especially seemed interested in taping me once I had linked up with a couple of other people I thought were about my age. I thought it was interesting that they all had helmets similar to mine.

 

“Person with the worst time at the end of the course buys the snacks.” One of the boys called before taking off for the beginning of an obstacle course that was set up.

 

“I’m game.” I said with a hidden smile. I didn’t see that Megan had over heard this and was on her phone a second later.

 

“Mom, I think you guys better get over here. Ian’s about to do something stupid.”

 

“What do you mean stupid?”

 

“He just accepted a race challenge on the O-course.”

 

“Well, stop him then.” Came the exasperated reply.

 

“I can’t he just started.”

 

“ Damn. Okay, we’ll be there in a few minutes.”

 

“Where’s Ian?” My dad called as he, my mom and brothers finally met up with Megan and Brad.

 

“He should be hit the last part in just a minute.” Megan said nervously.

 

“Jesus, will you look at that!” someone called out as came over the hill before the final obstacle. I figured I must have managed to get about a good six or seven feet in the air before I hit the ground again just as I hit the half tube.

 

“Look OUT!!” I heard someone yell at me just as I was hitting the final part. Turning back around, I saw that some kid had skied right into my path. Since I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stop in time even if I did decide to wipe out. I decided to try and jump over them. Pulling myself in close to my board I put a slight twist to my body as I hit the upper edge of the tube. Even now, I’m not really sure what happened, but I had ended up managing to do a full corkscrew over the kid. From what I saw of the video that had been made of the incident, it looked like I missed the kid’s helmet with my own by mere inches.

 

By the time I had managed to stop and release my board several people were already running to where the other boy was still standing in shock .

 

“Is he Okay!?” I called as I came running up as I pulled my helmet off.

 

“Yeah, he’s just a bit shook up.” I was told by a man that had just turned the kid over to a lady I assumed was his wife.

 

“Ian?” a voice called from behind me. I just started laughing as Jason came over as he pulled his own helmet off.

 

“Jason. What the hell are you doing here?” I asked and then it hit me as to who I almost hit.

 

“Go make sure Danny’s Okay.” I told him as I saw my own family heading towards me.

 

“So this is you’re idea of taking things easy?” My dad said quietly.

 

“Consider yourself on ground until further notice.” He added before I could say a single word.

 

“Yes, sir.” I replied quietly as I went to pick up my board and wait for everyone else.

 

“You alright Ian?” Jason asked a few minutes later.

 

“Yeah, I’m Okay.” I replied while avoiding my brother’s face.

 

“Hey don’t worry about it. Danny’s going to be fine. It could have been a lot worse if you hadn’t missed him.”

 

“I know. It’s just that I was supposed to be taking things easy because of some stitches I got the other day.” I explained as I told my brother what had happened a few days prior.

 

“Oh. I hope you don’t get into too much trouble. For this then.” I just shrugged at this since I wasn’t sure what was going to happen once my parents got me back to our townhouse.

 

“My aunt and uncle want to talk to you, too.” I was told as Jason started pulling me over towards where everyone was standing.

 

“Well, Ian. I have to say that I’m impressed. I didn’t think a move like that was even possible.” Mr. Murphy told me with a smile. I just shrugged at this since I didn’t really know what to say.

 

“Your mom and dad mentioned that this was the first time you’ve ever been skiing.” Mrs. Murphy said, jumping into the conversation.

 

“Yes, ma’am.” I mumbled, still not able to meet anyone’s gaze. Before anything else could be said an older gentleman joined our group.

 

“I’m sorry for interrupting. I couldn’t help overhearing, but did you just say that the boy that just pulled that move had never skied before?” We were asked.

 

“Yes, that’s correct And you are?” my dad asked stepping up to my side. While I hope no one saw it, I flinched a bit when my dad put his hand on my shoulder.

 

“Oh, Sorry. I’m Dave Molina, ESPN. We here covering the Winter X Games that start in a couple of days. I happened to come a few days early to get some extra footage. I happened to catch this young man’s race by accident. However, after seeing everything and from what I’ve just heard I’d like to interview him and the other racer.” We were told. I just shook my head at hearing this. On seeing this, my dad excused us.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to do the interview. I won’t be mad if you want to. Just keep in mind that it won’t get you off the hook for disobeying my instructions.” I was asked softly.

 

“No, it wouldn’t be right. I don’t want someone else trying to copy the move and get hurt if they don’t pull it off.” I replied.

 

“Ian, people are going to try and copy that move whether you want them to or not.”

 

“I don’t mind if people who know what they’re doing try to copy it because they know the risks. I just don’t want people who don’t know what they’re doing to try it. You have to admit my pulling something like that off was sheer dumb luck.”

 

“I’ll agree with that. Tell you what, how about if I ask that they mention that only professionals should attempt the move and that you pulling it off was just dumb luck.” I was told with a smile. After looking around and seeing the excited look on Jason’s face, I still declined to do the interview, though I did say that if Jason wanted to make any comments on it he was more than welcome to. My dad nodded at this and after a few moments talking with both the reporter and Jason and his family an interview was set up.

 

I was kind of worried about some of the comments Jason had made during it. Especially when he said that the race was to who was going to pop for the snacks after the run. I gave my parents a sheepish look when they stared at me when they heard this. Of course my brothers and sister all looked like they wanted to break out laughing at this. I was grateful though that it was heavily stressed that the move should only be attempted by trained professionals. I could only imagine what my friends might say when and if they saw the tape of this. I had a pretty good feeling that my family were going to see this since I saw both Brad and Megan on their phones before the interview started.

 

The rest of the week went by without incident. I was even lucky enough that my dad had decided to wait until we got home to start my grounding.

 

“Ian, you’re wanted in the office.” Mrs. Dubov said while giving me a wary look. I think she was still a bit shook up from what she saw several weeks back when my class had our annual scoliosis exam. I had tried to get out of it by telling her I had had one just before the school year started but she had insisted. Several guys had started laughing when they saw me drop my pants to undo the front of the onesie I had on under my school shirt. They of course ended up being the ones that had gotten sick when they got a look at what my chest and back looked like. The only ones that didn’t have any reaction to this at all were my brothers and friends. I have to admit that she was a lot better teacher than Mr. Perez had been. While she was a very no nonsense teacher she would, at least, give you a chance to explain yourself if you disagreed with something. I think it really shocked her at first when she had made a couple of comments in Russian when she was having trouble with a film projector and both Ivan and I started chuckling at it. Speaking of Ivan, he and I have started to get to be pretty good friends once he had gotten off of his diaper punishment. He told me later what a pain in the ass they were to wear all the time and that he was sorry that he had made fun of me for needing to wear them. Of course he still makes jokes about them from time to time, but that happens with all of my friends.

 

“Yes, ma’am.” I replied while putting up the book I had been reading since I had already finished the assignment the class was working on.

 

“They said for you to bring your books with you since they aren’t how long this will take.” I was told as I stood up. This earned me a worried look from David. I just gave him a shrug since I had no clue as to what was going on .

 

“What the HELL are you doing here?!” I yelled when I walked into the conference and saw my step-mother’s sister sitting at the table with her husband.

 

“Don’t take that tone with me young man.” my aunt told me firmly. Going off the look on her face I don’t think she really cared for the reply I gave her in Japanese. This started an almost ten minute argument in Japanese between me and my aunt. I could tell that Dr. Alison didn’t understand a word of what was being said but from what I could gather my aunt’s husband understood a little of it.

 

“ENOUGH! Both of you sit down and calm done.” We were told firmly by my principal.

 

“Sorry ma’am.” I mumbled as I sat down still glaring at my aunt.

 

“Now you told me that it was a matter of life and death that you speak with Ian here. Why don’t you fill us in on what this matter is?” My aunt was asked.

 

“Your brother, Trevor, has been kidnapped. The people that took him are asking for Five Hundred Million Dollars or they say they’ll mail him back to us a piece at a time until we pay it.” My aunt said with a choked voice.

 

“That’s nice, but what does this have to do with me?” I asked with an air of indifference as my aunt handed Dr. Allison a note.

 

“You know perfectly well we don’t have access to that kind of money. So we thought..” I brought everyone up short by starting to laugh loudly at what I thought my aunt was going to say.

 

“You thought I’d be willing to pay the ransom? Honey, I don’t know what you’ve been smoking, but I suggest you quit now.” I laughed coldly.

 

“Ian, this is no time to be making jokes.” Dr. Allison told me firmly.

 

“Look in my eyes and tell me if you think I’m joking?” I asked while giving my principal a cold stare. She jumped back a bit at the look I was giving her.

 

“You want me to be serious about this matter. Fine, I will. The simple fact of the matter is I don’t give a damn about whether he lives or dies. Either way it makes little difference to me. I will tell you this though, If he dies, I hope it’s slow and painful.” I said in a voice that made no one in the room doubt the sincerity of my words.

 

“Dr. Allison, If there is nothing else, may I head back to class?” I asked as I stood up to leave.

 

“Yes, I guess that will be all.” Looking at my principal, I could tell that she had never had anyone be so cold blooded about something like this in her life. Of course, if she knew the whole story behind my past, she would understand my reaction a bit better

 

“If you leave this room, I’ll make sure you’re held just as responsible if anything happens to my son.” my aunt almost screeched.

 

“Are you threatening me?” I asked coldly.

 

“And for that matter, where are the police?” I added before I could get an answer to my first question.

 

“The letter said that if the police, FBI, or media were informed of this then the boy would be killed the moment they found out.” my principal informed me in a sad tone while handing me the letter.”

 

“Well, then I guess you better start making plans for a funeral because the only way I’ll even remotely consider loaning you the money to get him back is if the police and FBI are involved in this from the start.” I said while looking at my aunt.

 

“Don’t you mean give us the money?” My Aunt’s husband asked. Speaking for the first time.

 

“No, I mean Loan you the money. I’m not a charity. If you want my help in this matter, I expect you to sign a contract making certain promises to repay whatever money is not recovered at the end of all this.”

 

“We don’t have time for this. The letter said we only have four days to make the drop or they’ll kill him.”

 

“And how do you know they haven’t done so already?” I asked

 

“We don’t.” I was told.

 

“So you want me to front you half a billion dollars and you don’t even know if the little shit is even still alive. God, you two really take the cake you know that!” I exclaimed. Seeing that my principal was about to say something more I went on.

 

“I’m going to step outside for a few minutes to calm down and make a few calls. When I come back in you two better have you heads out of where ever you have them right now.” I told them as I turned back to Dr. Allison.

 

“Ma’am, I know this is all highly irregular for you and I’m sorry that you got dragged into this. Would it be okay for me to use your office to call my lawyer and parents?”

 

“No Lawyer!” my aunt said firmly. I just sighed heavily at this as I turned back to face her.

 

“Will you please get your head out of your ass for a few minutes? I hope you’re not stupid enough to think that I have direct access to the kind of funds you’re talking about.” I told them snidely before turning back around and walking out the door.

 

“You can use Mrs. Taylor’s phone.” I was told before the door closed behind me.

 

“Miller Residence.” I heard after the third ring.

 

“Hey Nana? It’s Ian. I’ve got a bit of a problem here.” I said after a minute or two of pleasantries.

 

“What happened now? And why are you calling me and not your mom?”

 

“Long story, and I plan on calling mom next.”

 

“Well, why don’t you give me the short version and we’ll go from there.”

 

“Okay, my step mom’s sister is sitting in the school’s conference room with my principal saying that Trevor’s been kidnapped and unless they pay an exuberant amount of money they’ll get him mailed back one piece at a time. Anyway, my step-aunt wants me to front them the money for this.” I told her quickly.

 

“How exuberant are we talking?” I was asked curiously.

 

“Half a billion.” I told her calmly. This statement caused all noise in the office to cease.

 

“ Just a moment Nana.” I told when I saw all the people staring at me.

 

“What?!” I asked firmly after taking the phone away from my head. This got everyone going back to what they were doing. I did however know that it would now be all over the school by the next morning.

 

“Sorry about that. I’m having to use the office phone.” I explained.

 

“Okay, then we’ll continue this when I get there. What are the police doing so far on this?”

 

“What Police?”

 

“Gotcha. How about I bring Gramps with me”

 

“That would be a great idea. Because frankly this whole thing smells like yesterdays diapers.” I said getting a laugh out of Nana but from several of the people in the office.

 

“I’ll let you go then. I’ll be there in about Twenty minutes. And don’t worry about your mom I’ll give her a call and let her know what’s going on.

 

“Uh. Don’t worry about mom, she just walked in. I guess David must have called her. I’ll see you in twenty. Love you.” I said.

 

“Love you too. I’ll be there soon.”

 

“Who were you talking to?” my mom asked as she came up and gave me a hug.

 

“Nana. I was just going to call you next.” I told her.

 

“David did that for you. You mind telling me what’s going on?”

 

“I will in a minute, but let’s go back down to the conference room.” I told her as I started walking back that way. I guess my mom figured it was something serious since I was using an adult tone in my voice.

 

\“ So have you decided to get your head out of your ass yet?”/ I asked my step-aunt in Japanese. Seeing that my she was about to say something in reply I held my hand up.

 

“Before you say anything, keep in mind that I don’t have any qualms about walking out that door and leaving you to deal with this mess on your own.” I stated in tone that brought my mom up short.

 

“Now, I believe some introductions are in order. Mom, I’d like you to meet my step aunt Akiko. Akiko, I’d like you to meet my mother Mary Miller.” I said half-way formally.

 

“Now then, I just got off the phone with my lawyer and they’ll be here soon. In the mean time, I’m going to bring my mom up to speed on what’s happening so far.”

 

“Basically what we have here is a kidnapping for ransom. Someone decided to kidnap Trevor and wants Half a Billion for his raggedy butt. However, my step-aunt doesn’t have that kind of money so they want me to front it.” I explained.

 

“So you’re waiting for Nana to get here so you can set up a transfer of the funds. I really shocked by this Ian. I would have thought after what we had learned of your past with your brother you’d just let him rot.” my mom said.

 

“Oh, that is still a very real option. You see before I loan them the money they’ll need to sign a contract for it. If they don’t sign it, then I walk.” I explained.

 

“And, I told you if you do then, I’ll have the police hold you just as responsible.”

 

“Be my guest. You probably would get laughed out of court if you tried.” This made my aunt say something very rude in Japanese

 

“If you’re going to try and insult me at least have the courtesy of using English so everyone can understand you.” I said calmly.

 

“What did she say?” my mom asked

 

“Something about my mom being a drug addicted, cock-sucking whore.” I told her simply This made everybody look at my aunt in shock.

 

“Anyway, my aunt would know all about that with what her father told me.” I added matter-of-factly. I almost thought my aunt was going to come out of her seat at that remark but her husband managed to hold her back. Before thing could go any further my grandparents walked into the room. Once introductions were made and the story rehashed again, we got down to work.

 

“Why does your grandfather have to be here?” my step aunt asked as we waited for my grandmother to finish typing out the contract and getting it printed.

 

“Because, I want him to be. Besides, as I told you earlier, the only way I would do this is if the FBI were in on this. Well, he’s with the FBI. Even though I’m sure he’ll be bringing someone else in after this little meeting is over” I said.

 

“I told you the note say not to bring the authorities in. That’s correct, you did. And I told you that I would only help is if they were involved. Now do you want my help or not?”

 

“Well, yes.”

 

“Then shut up and sit down.” I told her coldly. This started several minutes of cold silence.

 

“I’m not going to sign this!” my step aunt and her husband yelled at almost the same time.

 

“Fine, then this meeting is over. Let me know where you’d like the flowers sent.” I said as I stood up.

 

“What are you talking about?” My step-aunt asked.

 

“The flowers for Trevor’s funeral.”

 

“But we don’t know that he’s dead or not.”

 

“He will be if you don’t sign that contract because that’s the only way you’ll get the money you need. Now are you going to keep wasting everyone’s time or what?” I asked heatedly.

 

“We’ll run it by our lawyer and get it back to you tomorrow with the changes we’d like to make.” we were told.

 

“You still don’t get it do you? There aren’t going to be any changes. This is the deal. Take it or leave it.”

 

“You don’t understand either. If we sign this and something goes wrong then you would leave us penniless and in debt to you.” my aunt said.

 

“That’s not my problem. Now, frankly, I’m sick of all this messing around. This is your last chance. I’m going to go to the restroom for a few minutes and if when I get back things aren’t ready for me to sign then I’m going to walk out and leave this mess for you to deal with on your own.” Before anyone said anything I walked out of the room and headed for the nurses office for a much needed diaper change. I wasn’t to surprised when my grandfather walked through the door a few seconds after me.

 

“You were kind of hard on them in there Ian..” I was told softly as my grandfather closed the door behind us and helped me up on to the changing table.

 

“I know. But they’ve been jerking my chain ever since I walked into the room. And I got sick of it.” I told him as my pants were pulled down to expose my near leaking diapers.

 

“Frankly, I get the feeling for some reason that they know more about what’s going on that what they’ve been saying.”

 

“Why do you say that?” I was asked as the old diaper was pulled down from my groin and pulled out from under me.

 

“Because most people would have called the police the moment they got the letter not go to a relative that hates them with a passion for the money several days after the fact.” This last part brought my grandfather up short.

 

“What do you mean several days after the fact?” The letter had Monday’s date on it.”

 

“True, but the envelope I saw was postmarked five days prior to that and it was mailed from in town.” I explained as I felt a new diaper being placed under me. Nothing else was said during the change as my grandfather thought over what I had told him.

 

“What’s this?” I asked as I looked over the papers in my hand.

 

“We felt the conditions were too harsh so we made some minor changes. Our lawyer is redrafting it now. Luckily, he was in the building when we called him.” I was told with a smile as Nana came back into the room arguing with another gentleman.

 

“I told you that my client is not going to agree with these changes.”

 

“He won’t need to. Since he is a minor his mother will be able to sign for him.” She was told smugly.

 

“She might be able to sign for him but I also need to sign it to make it legal and I’m not going to.” Nana explained.

 

“And actually, my mother can’t sign for me. Neither her or my father are on the trust fund that this money would need to come out of.” I announced calmly.

 

“And since my conditions are not wanting to be met this meeting is over. Good day.” I said as I took both versions of the contract and tore them up before setting them on the table.

 

“Now just wait a minute son. If you walk out of this room I’m going to have you brought up on charges in this matter.” my step-aunt’s lawyer said snidely.

 

“And what charges would those be? My relatives came to me several days after the fact of the kidnapping, the police have yet to even be informed of this event even happening . I’m under no responsibility to give any help to them whatever. I was willing to offer my help however they decided that they didn’t like the conditions I requested so it’s no longer my problem.” I told everyone in the room. The small nods I got from my grandparents told me I was correct in what I had said. Before I could take more than a step or two towards the door I felt a hand come down on my shoulder and spin me around. My Step-aunt’s hand connected with my face a moment later.

 

“Gramps, could you call the police please?”

 

“What for?” my step-aunt and her lawyer asked at almost the same time.

 

“I plan on having her arrested for assault on a minor.” I said calmly while trying to reign in wanting to punch my aunt’s lights out.

 

Even a month later, a smile still comes to my face when I think back to the look on her face when the police took her away.

 

“Whoa!” I exclaimed as I quickly shut the box that I had just received.

 

“What is it, Ian?” Mrs. Dubov asked as I jumped up from my seat.

 

“Uh. I need to make a quick call.” I said as I pulled put my cell phone. This earned me a nasty glare from my teacher but I was still eyeing the box I just opened

 

“Special Agent Miller, This is an unsecured line.” I was heard when my grandfather picked up the phone.

 

“Hey Gramps, it’s Ian. I think we can,uh, stop the search for Trevor.” I told him.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because someone just FedExed me his head.” I explained as I heard a scream from behind me.

 

“Ian, what was that scream!”

 

“My teacher just opened the box. It came in.”

 

“What the hell is your teacher doing at the house? For that matter, what are you doing at home?”

 

“I’m not at home. I’m at school.” I explained quickly as I saw people starting to gather around my desk.

 

“Okay Ian, get everyone out of the room and lock the door behind you. Something like that is the last thing those kids need to see.”

 

“No, shit.” I mumbled before doing what my grandfather said.

 

The next couple of hours at school were complete pandemonium. I’m not sure who was taking things harder Mrs. Dubov for seeing a severed head, or Dr. Alison for having one of her classrooms become a crime scene. I really felt sorry for the two of them having to get dragged into this mess but there wasn’t anything that could be done about it now.

 

My parents had a long talk with me once they got me home that afternoon. I guess they felt that I would think I was responsible in some way for what happened. I will admit that I hoped things would have turned out differently but I’m not going to lose any sleep over this turn of events. In fact, that night I had the most peaceful nights sleep I could ever remember having.

 

The police did manage to find the rest of my brother’s body. From what the doctors could find during the autopsy, Trevor had been dead almost two months by the time I had gotten his head shipped to me. Meaning he was probably dead before his ransom letter was even sent. They never did find the people who did it but to this day I still feel that his aunt and uncle either had some part in it or knew what was going on. Oh well, I’m sure they, get the proper judgment when the time come.

 

For me I just used this time in my life as a bit of closure to my previous life. I just hope nobody else in my family ever has to go what I did during my formative years.

 

Epilogue