By Danny
“Oh, there you are!” Mom said, as we came into the kitchen. “Simon, what do you want on your waffles?” She asked.
“Can I have butter and cinnamon sugar?” I asked, and sensing that she was about to ask Jamie the same question, and probably use his name, I asked him first. “You want syrup on yours?” Jamie nodded absent-mindedly combing his hair with his fingers.
As we sat eating, I was doing my best not to make eye contact with Jamie, and after several minutes he kicked me really hard from under the table. Luckily, Mom and Dad were not looking, because at that second I had a mouth full of waffle that shot back out onto my plate. “That really hurt!” I whispered to him, and it was even worse cause I couldn’t just bend over and rub the pain away. Jamie looked at me through squinted eyes and I knew he was about to do it again if I didn’t say his name.
“I think some evil foe has cloned my sidekick Jinx and somehow replaced him! I mean, why else would my MUTE sidekick kick me?” I teased. From above the table, it looked like he’d tried to kick me again but missed and instead, kicked the leg of my chair. His eyes watered and he’d dropped his fork to his plate so that he could reach down and tried to massage the pain away. I found out later, after I un-jinxed him, that he’d hit his ankle really hard. Of course, I had no sympathy whatsoever for him since, had I not moved my leg, I would probably be a cripple again.
Dad must have seen this last action by Jamie because he said to Jamie; “That looked like it really hurt.”
Jamie nodded his head vigorously, but still remained quiet.
Dad glanced my way and I must have felt guilty. “What? I didn’t do anything!” I said to Dad while trying to sound blameless.
“Uhuh!” Is all Dad said, as he looked back at Jamie who was still rubbing his leg and fighting to keep from crying. “You OK J . . .” I shot Dad a fast look and caught him before he could say it. “I mean Son!” Dad changed it, and smiled. I looked back at Jamie who was now trying not to smile.
“Boy Mom, that was the best!” I said, swallowing my last bite. Jamie had finished a couple of minutes ago and was sitting quietly in his chair looking at me. Every time I would make eye contact with him, he would point at himself longingly.
Mom started clearing the table and I turned to ask Dad, “Can I take another shower this morning?” I asked, as Dad was getting up from the table.
“The tow truck is supposed to be here sometime before ten. Can you wait until then?” Dad responded.
I caught Jamie looking under the table, and then come back up shaking his head from side to side while looking at Dad and pointing at me. This made Dad laugh and caused me to turn about twelve shades of red!
“Hope you like being mute Jinx-boy!” I said to Jamie.
“How about a bath instead?” Mom offered, “That way I won’t have to worry about you falling again.” She picked up Jamie and my plates, and looked at Jamie as she said; “I know you are dressed already, but a bath wouldn’t kill you too.” I laughed when Jamie started to open his mouth to protest, but realized at the last second and covered his mouth with his hand.
“Well, since there are no objections! Why don’t you help Simon to get back to his room and I will go get the tub ready.” Mom said with a smirk that I just loved. Jamie wiggled his fist at me and I laughed again.
“You’re getting the dishes honey, I’ll get them into the tub. Can you listen for the tow truck for me?” Dad said, getting up from the table.
“Oh thank you darling.” Mom said, giving Dad a kiss. I made a silent vomiting motion while Jamie covered his eyes.
“Come on Jinx! Let’s go before we catch what they got!” I said, managing to get up from the table all by myself and without hurting myself either.
Just as we had come to dinner, Jamie and I left the kitchen again. Once more, I held to the back of his shoulders as he led the way toward our room. Since I was only wearing my bathrobe, slippers, and diaper, which I’d wet while at the table, and was now feeling heavy as it hung from my middle, I didn’t remove anything there in our room. Jamie, on the other hand, after leaving me holding onto my headboard, started to strip out of his clothes until he was standing with just his black boxer shorts on. He then led me to Mom and Dad’s bathroom.
“Oh thank you Jamie.” Dad said when we arrived.
“DAD!” I complained loudly, “You weren’t supposed to say his
name!”
“Yes! Yes! Yes! I can talk again! Yes I can talk again!” Jamie sang as he danced in place with me still clinging to him.
Dad was smiling as he said, “Alright, that’s enough. Come on Simon, let’s get you undressed, and into the tub.”
I started to let go of Jamie who had, too soon, started to turn to go to the other bathroom to take his shower. Somehow, my robe got caught on the towel bar, and I guess when I tried to maintain my balance, I over-compensated. Sure enough, I twisted my upper body and felt a stabbing pain as I started to fall. Jamie saw that I was going down, and tried to grab my arm, but he wasn’t set and he started to topple over himself.
Dad had managed to catch me before I really got hurt, but Jamie wasn’t so lucky. In his effort to save me and still not land on me he fell right into the tub, boxers, and all. Water splashed everywhere, even onto Dad and me. It all happened so fast that none of us knew what was happening until it was over. Jamie’s falling into the tub made so much noise that it brought Mom into the bathroom. Dad had sat me on the toilet while he attended to Jamie who had hit his head when he fell in.
“What happened?” Mom said rushing in.
“I almost fell!” I said, scared that I was going to get into trouble because Jamie was hurt.
“Your alright!” Dad was saying to Jamie who was moaning softly.
Once Mom and Dad got everything calmed back down and made sure that the two of us had not been hurt, not seriously anyway, it started to get funny. Jamie had been scared he’d re-hurt his face, but he’d just got some water up his nose, and once I had allowed myself to relax a bit, I could tell that I was hardly hurting too. Jamie had splashed water everywhere. I think there was as much on the floor as there was still in the tub with Jamie.
“Well you’re both wet now so you might as well take your baths at the same time.” Dad offered, much to Jamie and my distress. Mom agreed with Dad by saying to Jamie, “Come on, let’s have the wet shorts! I’ll put them in the dryer for you.”
Jamie didn’t move at first. I too was frozen with anxiety, but when I saw Jamie reluctantly pull off his shorts without standing up out of the water, and hand them to Mom. I took the prompt and started to remove my robe, which was pretty wet in the front from having been slashed with water when Jamie fell. So were my slippers, though I think my slippers got the worst of the flood, since they were down on the floor where most of the water is now. I used the side of the sink to brace myself as I stood up. Dad was close at hand just in case I needed him. I had my robe and slippers off, and was down to my diaper in a matter of seconds and was feeling dreadfully hesitant again when I saw the way Jamie was gawking at me standing there in my wet diaper while he attempted to cover his own boyhood with his hands so that Mom couldn’t see his complete nudity.
Mom had turned around, slipped two fingers on either side of the elastic of the plastic pants and pulled them down to my ankles in one swift motion. When she removed just one safety pin on the left side, it was enough for the weighted cloth diaper to fall freely down my hips and legs. It made a sort of squishy flump sound when he hit the plastic pants and my feet. Completely nude, and smelling strongly of pee, I lifted my feet one at a time while still holding to the side of the sink so that Mom could finish removing my plastic pants and diaper. With both Mom and Dad’s help I stepped into the tub with Jamie and sat down in the nice warm water. Jamie’s entire face was as red as a tomato and almost seemed to be giving off a glowing light. Mom left again, my wet diaper and plastic pants clutched in her hands, along with my wet bathrobe, slippers, and Jamie’s boxer shorts. Dad started to wash my hair and back for me. He also washed Jamie’s hair and back for him before handing us both a washcloth and telling us to finish washing while he went to get a mop to dry up the floor.
Jamie and I sat looking at each other, using our washcloths to cover our nudity. Jamie had not stopped being red the entire time, and I thought his head might explode if any more blood was forced into it.
Dad had come back in with the sponge mop, and started mopping up the water and squeezing it out into the toilet. Jamie and I both sat in silence as we watched Dad work.
“HONEY, THE TOW TRUCK’S HERE!” Mom shouted through the house to Dad.
Without saying anything he leaned the mop against the sink and left the two of us sitting and soaking. Both of us felt so uncomfortable to be naked in front of the other, but I was the one to break the ice between us, “I know how to breathe underwater.” I said pushing my washrag beneath the surface.
“You mean like a fish?” Jamie asked.
“Na, more like a deep sea diver.” I said.
“How?” He asked.
“Simple” I said, removing my rag from the water and spreading it out across my overturned hand. “You have to be kind of fast to catch as much air as possible” I said re-submerging my hand, which was covered in the rag, into the water. With my free hand, I gathered the edges of the rag and pulled it completely under the water, trapping a large bubble of air within the rag. “See, then all you do is put your mouth on the rag and breath normally through it; but don’t let water go up your nose!” I added at the end, with a little head bobble for effect.
“Show me!” Jamie said, trying to spread his rag over his own hand.
I tried to lean forward but quickly realized that I couldn’t without hurting myself. “I can’t.” I said.
Jamie repositioned himself so that he was sitting on his legs, “OK, let me try.”
“Just breath normal?” Jamie asked.
“Get your bubble ready first.” I said. He tried, but most of the air escaped as he tried to gather all the edges of his rag.
“Here, use mine.” I said, handing him my rag still under the water.
“OK - Here goes !” Jamie said, as he stuck his face under the water. At first I thought he was doing it wrong, but he stayed under for what seemed like a full minute or two before pulling his head back out of the water. “Wow! That really works!” Jamie said, rubbing his eyes.
“You OK?” I asked.
“Yeah, I tried to open my eyes, but I forgot we already got our hair washed.” Jamie said still rubbing his eyes.
“Bet that hurt!” I said.
“Only stung a little. That’s why I came up. I think I could have stayed under longer.” Jamie said.
“I like to pretend like I am some kind of secret agent and I have to swim through underwater caves to try to capture the bad guys.” I said.
“Yeah, underwater caves.” That’s kind of what it was like. I couldn’t hear anything except when you moved against the tub, and there was another sound too, but I don’t know what it was.” Jamie said.
“What’d it sound like?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Here, let me try again.” Jamie said excitedly.
He tried to capture the air in his rag again, but still couldn’t get it right. I ended up doing it for him, and passing it to him under the water again. Jamie submerged, and was under a really long time. I wished I had a watch to time him. He came back up, wiped the water from his face, and said; “Sounds like talking fish!”
I laughed, “OK then! Talking fish? I think you were under the water too long!” Jamie laughed too.
“You can’t get your head under at all?” Jamie asked ringing out the rag and wiping off his face with it.
“I can’t hardly move my upper body since Dad put all this extra tape on me and I don’t want to hurt myself.” The fear of hurting myself was evident in my voice.
“What if you didn’t bend, but just laid backwards? I can help you. All you need is your ears under the water.” Jamie said.
Without my acceptance of the idea Jamie said, “Here, put this foot…” He took hold of my left foot, “and put it beside me here, and put your other . . .” He took hold of my right foot next, and slid it on his other side. I held onto the edges of the tub to keep from going under or getting hurt.
“There, how is that?” Jamie asked. I just nodded.
“OK, give me your hands.” I did, but a little apprehensively.
“OK, now slide you butt closer to me and let your legs bend.” Jamie instructed, and I did as he said until I was within a foot of his face. Jamie had reached up higher on my arms to help support me, “OK, now you just lay back like when you are lying in your bed and I will keep you from going all the way under, OK?” Jamie said.
“You aren’t going to do anything mean like try to drown me are you?” I asked, and Jamie looked hurt that I even thought of something like that. Without his answer I said, “OK.”
He lowered me back into the water, and stopped when my ears were completely submerged. I listened, and I could hear what he’d thought was talking fish. I had to admit that it was an accurate description. Since my face was not under water, I still had my eyes open and could speak. “Sure sounds like fish.” I said, and I saw Jamie’s lips move though I couldn’t hear a word he said.
“What?” I responded back. He pulled my head and shoulders back out of the water.
“I said don’t yell!” Jamie said again.
“Oh, was I yelling?” I asked.
“Yeah, just talk normal.” Jamie said. “So what is that?” He asked.
“Must be talking fish.” I said before saying; “Put me back under so I can listen again.” He did just that, being sure to keep my face out of the water. As I continued to listen to the odd fish language, there was a low heavy rumbling sound. “Whoa! What was that?” I asked. Jamie pulled me completely out of the water so that I was again only a few inches from his face. He was snickering kind of hard as he wrapped his arms around behind me to hold me up. I too, wrapped my arms around him for support, and I’m sure had anyone saw us they would have thought we were hugging each other loosely.
“Sorry!” Jamie continued to snicker.
“What was it?” I asked again.
“I secreted odiferous emanations!” Jamie said, blushing slightly as he laughed.
“You did what?” I asked, not understanding what he said through his giggles.
“I farted!” Jamie snickered hard. I couldn’t help but laugh too.
Once we had reined in our laughter, Jamie asked; “You want to go under again?”
“Sure!” I said letting go of Jamie as he lowered me back into the water, but this time, for some reason, my bottom slipped in the tub and slid toward Jamie until my butt collided with his boyhood. Jamie had maintained a firm grip on me so that my head didn’t go under the water and he didn’t let me get hurt either. He pulled on my arms to get me back up, but it was more difficult since I was so much closer to him now, and the fact that the two of us were giggling madly.
Once Jamie had me sitting up again, we were in full embrace, ear-to-ear, chest-to-chest, and our arms wrapped around each other. I repositioned my feet against the back of the tub and pushed away slowly. Jamie slowly released his embrace and held on to my arms until I was again sitting on my side of the tub.
We were still giggling, “What happened?” Jamie asked.
“I slipped!” I said, sliding my legs back out from beside him, so that I was sitting Indian style again.
My eyes happened to fall toward Jamie’s boyhood parts and I saw that under the slightly soapy water that he had a ragging hard penis. He saw me looking, and I think for the first time, he realized it too. He turned red, then violet and finally a deep shade of purple. I knew I needed to say something and fast. “Don’t worry about that. I get those all the time too!” It was the right thing to say as I watched the purple fade from his face.
That pretty much ended our fun. The two of us finished washing our bodies, and then Jamie stood up to get out of the tub. “Hey, don’t leave me in here!” I begged.
He’d had one foot already out of the tub when he pulled it back in, bent down, and helped me get to my feet. I had to continue to hold on to him as I climbed from the tub. Once out, I held the sink for extra support until he got out. He picked up one of the towels, and without me asking, started to help me dry off my legs while he continued to drip on the floor. He finally handed me the towel, still not saying anything at all, and picked up his own towel to dry himself.
I dried myself the rest of the way off before I wrapped the towel around my waist, and tucked it into itself so that it would stay. Jamie did the same thing after he’d seen me do it, and for half a second, I saw that he again was sporting another stiffy, but I did my best not to let him see that I saw it. Even as small as he was, it was apparent from the small tent in the front of his towel what was hiding beneath it.
The two of us left the bathroom just as it was, and I again walked behind Jamie while holding on to his shoulders. As we crossed the hall from Mom and Dad’s room to our own, we heard the sound of several people talking in the main part of the house. We hurried into our room and closed the door so as not to be seen by anyone.
“You know, I bet that is what we were hearing!” I said making sure the door was latched.
“Huh?” Jamie said, turning around. I made it a point not to look down at this towel.
“Under the water! I bet we were hearing those people talking!” I clarified.
“Then why couldn’t we hear them when we weren’t under the water?” Jamie asked, running both of his hands through his damp hair.
“Maybe the water amplified the sound, but it got sort of garbled in the water so we couldn’t tell what was being said.” I offered, imitating Jamie by running my hands through my own hair. “Hey!” I exclaimed.
“What?” Jamie asked, freezing like he thought he’d done something wrong.
“Look!” I said, even though he was already looking right at me.
“What?” He asked again.
“I got my arms up and it don’t hurt! Not even a little bit!” I joyfully exclaimed.
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t do it even if you can!” Jamie said sounding concerned.
I put my arms back down slowly and paid particular attention to see if I felt any pain at all, but not even a twinge could be felt.
Jamie picked up his bag, set it on his bed, and started to go through it. I went over to my bed and tried to sit down on my own just as I had done the night before. I did, and though I didn’t hurt myself, Jamie got upset with me, “Simon! Please don’t do that! I can help! I’m here!” I wasn’t sure if he was more scared that I would hurt myself, or that he’d get into trouble for not helping me.
”OK! Don’t have a cow!” I said, and he threw a pair of balled-up socks at me,
but missed me by a mile.
I suddenly got the urge to pee. “Oh no!” I said clamping my hands over the towel and grabbing myself in an effort to keep from wetting myself. I’d gotten so used to wearing diapers all day long for the last few days, that the second the urge came on, I felt myself almost going right then and there.
Jamie had just removed his own towel before turning back and seeing me sitting on my bed clutching at my boyhood. “What?” He asked, puzzled.
“I-I got to pee!” I said desperately.
He understood my situation right away, “Can you make it to the bathroom?” He asked.
“I-I don’t think so!” I said squeezing my legs together.
“OK! Hang on!” He said going to my dresser and pulling out a pair of my Goodnites. He came over knelt down in front of me and said, “Lift your feet!”
I did as he said though with great difficulty. He then stood up, reached under my arms and helped me up before kneeling again and pulling the Goodnite up to just above my knees.
“I got to take off the towel now.” He said. I moved my hands and he quickly removed my towel and pulled the Goodnite into place just as I started to pee. Several drops came out before he had them all the way up, and he used my towel to catch those. The second I had stopped peeing, the embarrassment set in and I felt the blood rushing to my head.
Jamie had been kneeling directly in front of me when I started wetting, and remained there watching me wet myself until I was done. I felt a lump form in my throat, and I felt frozen, unable to move or say anything.
Jamie finally looked up at me and asked, “You done?” However, when he saw my face, his eyes seemed to change. Without saying anything else and simply he reach up, he took hold of either side of the Goodnite and pulled it back down to my ankles. He picked up the towel again, hesitated for a second, and then wiped my diaper area dry again.
I felt him pat the side of my left calf before saying; “Come on, lift your leg.” I did so, and then the other. He walked the now wet Goodnite over, and dropped it into the can by the door before coming back over to me. I was still frozen and struggling to breath.
“Simon?” Jamie called my name softly and concernedly.
I looked at him, but couldn’t speak. “You want to sit down again?” He asked.
I managed to nod my head, and he helped me sit down on my bed again. He then sat down next to me, still completely naked, just as I was. After several seconds of total silence between us Jamie finally spoke, “I’ll make you a deal!”
I looked over at him, but still couldn’t bring myself to talk.
“I don’t think I can totally stop teasing you,” He paused before continuing. “But I promise I won’t ever do it in front of anyone else, and I will never tell anyone either.”
He must have sensed the question that was on my mind because he said next; “But only if we do the, I mean really do the blood brother thing.”
I found my voice finally, though it was shaky and frog-like, “You mean like using glasses?” I made a revolting face as I said it.
Jamie shrugged his shoulders before shaking his head once, “Na, I got a better idea, I mean if you trust me that is.”
“What a set up!” I thought to myself.
The two of us heard the voices in the other part of the house get loud for a moment, but it didn’t sound like Mom or Dad and neither of us know what was said.
“Can we do it later?” I asked.
“Yeah, actually we’ll do it tonight.” Jamie said, putting a hand on my leg “After everyone’s in bed.”
“Should I bring candles and a wooden stake?” I managed to joke. Jamie didn’t laugh.
The voices in the other part of the house got loud again and then went quiet. Jamie and I froze as we strained to hear anything more, but there was just silence now.
“What do you think that was all about?” Jamie asked, while looking at our closed door. I didn’t answer because the only answer that came to mind was sarcastic.
Jamie went to get dressed again, but when he saw he didn’t have any more underwear in his bag he said, “I must have only brought the one pair.”
“You can barrow a pair of mine.” I said pointing to my dresser. He wrinkled up his nose at this idea, but soon gave in. He went to my dresser, found a pair of white briefs, and slipped them on before finishing getting dressed.
“You want me to go get your Mom now?” Jamie asked, as he tucked the front of his shirt into his pants.
I thought for a minute about just getting dressed wearing Goodnites. But having seen how much I wet the one just a few minutes ago, it was obvious that a Goodnite wouldn’t be much protection for very long. I nodded to Jamie who opened our door and left. A moment later Mom came in looking very upset. Without saying a word to me, she went to my dresser, got out one of the disposable diapers, and started back over to me.
I was about to ask her what was the matter when she said, “Oh the cream!” and walked out of the room. I called after her. “Mom, my eye is fine now! I don’t need that smelly stuff no more!” She either didn’t hear me, or chose to ignore me.
She came back in, still carrying the diaper in one hand, and a small white plastic bag that said Med-Mart on the side of it. I finally figured out that she’d not gone after the eye cream medicine, but something else. Then I remembered her saying that she thought I was getting a diaper rash from wetting myself so much. The bag she was carrying was small, but when she pulled out the box that was in it, I read the words; “Desitin Cream” on the side, and the box looked almost as big as a car!
I didn’t flip out about the diaper cream. No, actually I was expecting something like that. Maybe not in the front of my mind, but surely in the back of it. What had me so excited was the fact that standing there in the doorway was my Mary! Her eyes were as round as monster truck tires, and her mouth was hanging wide open. Apparently, Mary had followed Mom down the hallway without Mom being aware of it. Heck, I didn’t even know Mary was in our house. I blinked, thinking maybe I was just seeing things, but she didn’t vanish. I closed my eyes tightly and wished. “Disappear!” When I opened my eyes again, she was gone.
Mom looked up right at that second, “What’s the matter? It’s only to help with your rash!” She said, not realizing what had just happened.
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I could hear my brain yelling at my mouth to let the words out, but not even a squeak escaped. Mom put a hand on my naked knee, “Simon, what’s the matter?” She followed my eyes to the door, but saw nothing.
“M-M-M-Mary?” I was finally able to say.
“Yes, she’s here! I was just about to tell you she came to visit you.” Mom said, sounding like she still didn’t’ know what I was so alarmed about.
“Sh-Sh-She w-w-w” I stuttered as bad as I used to as a young child.
Mom blew in my face hard, and then twice more softly, “Stop! Just stop!”
I closed my mouth, took in a deep breath through my nose, and then opened my mouth again. “M-Mary was there!” I said, pointing at my bedroom door.
“What?” Mom said, standing up, going to the door, and looking down the hallway. She then closed the door and came back over to me. She was kneeling right in front of me. “I doubt she saw anything, honey.” Mom said, and I could tell she didn’t believe it anymore than I did.
I closed my eyes and wished harder than I had ever wished in my life to become invisible.
“Come on, let’s get you dressed!” Mom said. I didn’t reopen my eyes until she had my diapers, pants, socks and shoes on, and was trying to sit me up again.
“Simon?” Mom said my name to draw me back out of myself. I looked right into her eyes, but I felt like I was so very far away from her, the house, and everything and everyone.
“Simon!” Mom said stronger, and suddenly I was back in my room.
“We need to get your shirt on you and then . . .” She didn’t finish her sentence. I lifted my arms as high as I could without hurting myself, but it didn’t really matter, because I was slipping away again in my mind and wouldn’t have felt anything anyway.
“OUCH!” I said reaching up and rubbed my cheek. Mom had pinched my left cheek pretty darn hard. It had the intended effect Mom had wanted. I was back in my body again.
“Listen to me!” She took hold of both of my hands. “Something happened last night.” She paused, licked her lips and then said, “Those boys; Tato and the rest.”
“Tater” I corrected her.
“Yes. Well they were arrested last night. Apparently they have been the ones robbing all those mini-mart stores.” Mom was rubbing my hands with her thumbs like my hands were worry stones. She was rubbing them so hard I thought she was going to rub my skin completely off.
“Mom, you’re hurting me.” I said, not pulling my hands away. She let go and held on to my knees now.
“Simon, one of the boys was hurt. He’s in the hospital right now.” Mom said. She had a funny look in her eyes that I’d not seen before.
“Hurt? Who?” I asked.
“I think they call him Rump?” Mom said.
For a split second I almost giggled at mom’s slight misspelling of his name but then the realization that Runt had been hurt hit me like a train wreck. “Runt?” it came out barely audibly and when mom didn’t react at all to my correction I knew she’d not heard me.
Mom spoke soft and slow, “Honey, he had a gun and tried to kill a police officer.”
My eyes grew wide and all thoughts of Mary left my head for the time being. “I-I-Is he OK? He’s not dead is he?” I asked, as fear filled my voice. My eyes drifted to the Bible where I’d stashed my share of the stolen money.
“No baby, he’s in a coma.” Mom rubbed both of my legs nervously. “The doctors are doing everything they can to help . . .”
I interrupted her. “What about Tater, Bull, and Two-toes?” I asked quickly; it came out stronger than I meant for it to.
Mom rubbed my thighs harder. “They are OK, but they are under arrest right now.”
“Jail?” I asked, and before she could answer I asked another question; “Was the police officer shot?” It was like the questions were falling out of my brain and tumbling out my mouth randomly.
“She’s OK. She was only hit in the arm.” Mom said.
“She?” I asked softly, already guessing who it was that Runt had shot. Mom just nodded to let me know I’d guessed right.
I couldn’t take anymore, I fell forward onto her neck and wept hard. It was quite awhile before I could stop crying, and when I did, pulling my head back, Jamie was back in the room. I’d not heard him open the door or anything. He was standing beside Mom looking as bad as I felt.
That voice, the one that lives in the back of my mind, kept telling me that I needed to drop all defenses and tell everything I knew to Mom, but for some reason I couldn’t. I kept looking at Jamie, and without saying anything, we both knew what each other was thinking.
“Can we go to the hospital to see her and maybe Runt, too?” I asked. Mom didn’t answer at first. She just looked at me and wiped my face dry with her fingers. “Maybe we can go see her, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to try to see him.” Sensing my disappointment, she added; “Maybe we can go up and see your friends from when you were in the hospital.”
That was the right thing to say, and I perked up pretty quickly. Without my seeing him, Jamie had gone to my dresser and pulled out a hanky for me to use, and had brought it back over to me.
“Thanks” I said, taking the handkerchief from him.
I wiped at my eyes and blew my nose, and as a joke, tried to hand it back to Jamie. To my surprise, he took it with only two fingers, carried it over, and dropped it into the hamper.
Mom watched him do this, and then she looked at me, raised her eyebrows knowingly to show she was as surprised as I had been, and then patted the side of my diapered butt. “You ready to go out and see Mary now?” Mom asked.
For those few minutes Mary had totally been flushed from my mind, but now my embarrassment returned ten-fold. Jamie saw me flushing red again and said; “It’s cool! I pulled her away and explained to her that although you are home from the hospital, you are still messed up and still need a lot of help with stuff. She totally understands and is really worried that she might have upset you.
As Jamie was saying this, Mom was looking at him in disbelief, and Jamie could tell too. He put his hands on his hips and said; “What?”
“When did you get to be so grown up?” Mom asked in a silly voice. Jamie looked proud as he smiled.
I looked at Mom, “Why is she here? I mean, with everything that has happened?” I asked.
Jamie answered first. “Her dad is the cop that’s out there right now. She said she asked him to bring her along ‘cause she’s your friend.”
Mom gave Jamie that same look, and again he put his hands back on his hips and said even funnier; “What?”
“She wants you to sign her new cast!” Jamie added as Mom stood back up.
“Come on!” Mom said, helping me to my feet.
“Can I help him to the living room?” Jamie asked.
“Sure, just be careful.” Mom said, kissing Jamie on top of his head before leaving us.
Jamie assumed his position in front of me, I took hold of his shoulders, and was ready to go, but he wiggled and was picking at his butt. “You’re underwear keep giving me a wedgie!” Jamie said, which made me laugh.
“Stop making me laugh and let’s go!” I said, lifting my knee up and catching him in the rear cheek.
“Left-Right-Left-Right” Jamie chanted as we made our way out of our room and down the hall to the living room where Mary, a cop I assumed was her dad, my Dad and Mom, and Mr. Freeman, my principle, and his wife, Nurse Gabby, were all sitting, trying to look happy to see me. Yet, they were also looking solemn due to the recent events.
Mary looked embarrassed at first, but after a few minutes, she loosed up once I told her it was no big deal, even though inside I was still dieing, knowing she saw me naked and saw Mom getting ready to diaper me. And yet seeing her sitting there I couldn’t help but be hypnotized by her beauty. She’s slim and has a small found face with a pointed chin and freckles over the bridge of her nose. Her hair reminds me of a spring morning and I noticed right away that she’d had it cut since I last saw here. She was wearing it short now with bangs. Her eyes – I could get lost in them for a lifetime and when she smiles, a little dimple appears in her right cheek. BJ says she looks like a cat but she’s my idea of an angel.
It had taken me what seemed like an eternity to pluck up the courage to walk over and sit down next to hear and I knew that when Jamie and I sat down on the couch next to her, she had heard the sound of my diaper beneath my pants.
I found out that Mr. Freeman and nurse Gabby had come over with Officer Tucker, Mary’s dad, because they were concerned for me since I’d become such close friends with Tater, Bull, Runt and Two-toes in the last couple of weeks.
“How is Jasper and Mike taking it?” I asked Officer Tucker.
“I’ve not seen either of them or there families. Officer Mecums, ah, Yolanda, asked that I be the one to come see you.” Officer Tucker said.
“Is she OK?” I asked, and he knew I was asking about officer Mecums.
“Oh yes, she is just fine. She should be out of the hospital in a day or so.” He said.
“And . . .” I paused before I could finish, “Runt?”
“He’s not doing so well, but the doctors are doing everything they can for him.” Officer Tucker said, and Mary took hold of my hand to comfort me. Instead of comfort, I felt hot and like I had a cat stuck in my throat. I tried really hard to keep my hand from trembling at her touch and hoped she’d think I was trembling over all the stuff that had happened and not because she was touching me.
“Do you think it will be okay to go see Officer Mecums in the hospital today?” I managed to ask, after dislodging the cat from my throat with a hard swallow.
Officer Tucker looked at my parents for confirmation, they both nodded. “Yes, I think she would like that a lot, Simon. She talks about you quite a bit, I think she might have a crush on you!” He teased. That didn’t help me at all, since I had Mary sitting right beside me, holding my now sweating hand.
“Simon?” Mr. Freeman addressed me and I looked to him.
“I wanted you to know that I’m going to do everything in my power to see that Tate, John, and Trevor, get sent to Pine Valley Military Academy, where they can get help and counseling.” Mr. Freeman said.
Officer Tucker added; “Yes, and Yolanda is going to help in that regard too. I think with her testimony, we shouldn’t have a problem keeping them out of prison.”
“What about the people they killed?” I asked, and knew in a second I’d exposed that I knew more than everyone thought I knew.
Jamie again came to my rescue. “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have told him about that, huh?” He said to Dad, but everyone heard it, and I made a mental note that I was going to really owe him big-time.
“From what we’ve found out from the other boys…” there was a pause, almost like he was having second thoughts about what he was about to say, but then went on”;We believe Reggie was the shooter during that robbery as well.” Officer Tucker said, looking at Mr. Freeman as he said it.
“How did you guys catch them?” Jamie asked, and I wanted to reach over and punch him in the face.
Officer Tucker answered, “Actually we had a tip off, it was the first break in the case we’ve had in sometime. After that it was luck. The boy’s car was spotted by Officer Mecums pulling into a Kwik-E-Mart. Four and a half minutes later, it was all over.”
“What kind of tip off?” Jamie continued. I made a second mental note that I’d have to kill him later.
“Someone made an anonymous call to 911 emergency last night.” Officer Tucker said and I caught a look from Mr. Freeman that told me that he knew more about that than was good for my health.
After a couple more minutes of idle talk, everyone got up to leave, but not before I had a chance to talk with Mary alone. Even Jamie left the two of us to talk for a minute. “Coming to my party tomorrow?” I asked.
“You still having it?” She asked.
“Yeah, it’s sort of special.” I said, “I only get to have my birthday party on my real birthday once every four years.” I told her. She gave me a funny look. “I was born on a leap-year day, February 29.” I explained.
Mary smiled wide, “Oh! I didn’t even realize! So that means you really are only going to be . . .?” She paused to count on her fingers and for the first time today, I noticed her cast.
“Yeah, I’m going to be three!” I said with a smile, and Mary laughed.
I ran my fingers over her cast, “I’m really sorry they did that to you!” I said softly.
“Yeah, well I probably shouldn’t have called them names.” She said, and though I’d not heard that side of the story, I chose not to pursue it just then.
“Well, it still stinks.” I said, “Doesn’t hurt, does it?” I asked.
“Not too much.” She said.
“Want to sign it?” She asked.
“Yeah, but I think your Dad’s ready to go. Can I sign it tomorrow at the party?” I asked.
“Yeah, sure!” She said with a smile, and with no warning at all, she leaned forward and kissed me ever so gently on my cheek.
“See you tomorrow!” I said as she got up, slipped her coat on, and walked out the front door.
A second later Jamie was back in the room and looked like he was about ready to bust. “Say a single word and I’ll feed you to the dog!” I said.
“You don’t have a dog!” Jamie said.
“I’ll get one!” I said back.
Jamie came over and sat down on the couch next to me. I let fly a backhand that nailed him partly on the chest and partly on his bicep. It wasn’t very hard, but it had the intended effect of getting his attention.
“What was that for?” Jamie complained.
“What kind of tip off?” I said repeating Jamie’s earlier question, but adding my own sarcastic and accusing tone to it.
“What was wrong with that?” He complained, still rubbing himself where I had hit him.
“Oh, cut it out! I didn’t hit you that hard!” I said, brushing his hand away from the spot.
“So you really like her?” Jamie asked.
“I’m warning you!” I said to him, and he covered his chest with his arms so I couldn’t hit him there again. Jamie just snickered.
Mom and Dad came back after seeing everyone off. “You OK sweetheart?” Mom asked me.
“Huh? Oh Yeah! I’m fine!” I said without really thinking.
“Can we go now?” I asked raising my hand, to which Jamie flinched thinking I was going to hit him again.
“What you so jumpy about?” I asked Jamie with a laugh.
“What? Me jumpy? Never!” He joked back.
“Think you will be OK riding in a car?” Dad asked.
Before I answered Jamie leaned over and whispered into my ear; “Maybe we can get you a pacifier to keep you calm.”
“Um Dad? Can you and Mom turn around a minute please?” I asked as nice as I could.
“No, you can hit him later!” Dad said with a smile.
“Jamie! Stop teasing your brother or I’ll make you mow the lawn this afternoon!” Dad said, which was really funny seeing how it is the end of February and everything is covered in snow.
“What’d I say?” Jamie tried to play it off. Dad waggled a finger at Jamie, but didn’t say anything else.
Mom had gone to the back of the house and came back out in a different outfit. “Wow, that was fast!” Jamie said, “Takes my Mom over a hour just to pick out a pair of shoes!”
“What about lunch?” Mom asked on her way through to the kitchen.
“Why don’t we stop at that new place up across from the theater? I hear they are really good.” Dad said, and I finally realized that both Mom and Dad were trying hard to distract us from all the emotions and events of the morning, but they had no idea that Jamie and I both knew a lot more then they gave us credit for.
“What place?” Jamie asked. I moved my arm again and he flinched again.
“Will you calm down?” I said, running my fingers through my still slightly damp hair.
“Do you remember the name of that place dear?” Dad asked Mom, who was now in the kitchen.
“I don’t even know what place you are talking about dear!” Mom said back, sounding a tiny bit perturbed.
It took us a good half hour to get ready. Not wanting to risk needing to go number two while we were out, Mom had Dad take me to the hallway bathroom where he helped me get my pants and diaper down around my ankles before sitting me on the toilet. I spent most of the half hour sitting right there, waiting to go. I couldn’t strain to try and hurry things along due to my ribs, so I just had to wait for gravity to do its thing. Jamie kept going by and knocking on the closed door. “Hey BB? You done in there yet?”
I didn’t find out until we were both in the backseat of the car on the way to the hospital why he was calling me BB, and seeing how I would have been busted had I done anything just then, I made yet another mental note to get him back for it. Since he knew he couldn’t just come right out and tease me openly by calling me Baby-Brother he instead chose to call me BB for short, but not whenever Mom or Dad was around. I was starting to get used to it since I knew he didn’t really mean anything by it now. Well, not anything mean and malicious, but to just tease me a little.