This is the continued story of
Simon’s Journal.
I would highly recommend you read the first volume of this story,
Simon’s Journal
Thirteen Days – The First Crusade
before you begin this novel.
The following narrative is nearly a complete work of
fiction.
Any similarity to actual individuals living or dead is completely
unintentional.
If reading a coming of age story about boys wearing diapers and exploring their
awakening sexuality is offensive or illegal in your area, then might I suggest
you go read War and Peace or something equally stimulating.
Simon's Journal
Volume II
Thirteen
Nights – After the Crusade
Written by
Danny
Author of Thirteen Days
PART 1 –
When I woke up again his morning, I
knew I had not been asleep for very long at all. From my clock, I could see
that it was only a few minutes to five and yet I felt rested and through
sleeping. Wanting to get a jump on the day, I got right out of bed only to find
that my cloth diaper was sagging down between my legs a lot more then normal.
Instead of trying to wake mom or dad again, I decided to go a head and get out
of it myself, take a shower on my own and then hope that maybe one or both
would be up by then. I knew that taking a shower on my own was risky and would
potentially get me into trouble, I mean if I managed to hurt myself, but I
wanted to prove that I could do it. So, I stripped down to nothing but my armor
and my slippers and had to hold my breath when I took off my diaper because it
was especially pungent this morning for some unknown reason. After tossing my
wet and smelly diaper into the pail by my door, I pulled on my robe, tossed my
pajamas into my hamper and headed out to the hallway bath.
Before turning on the shower I
decided to sit on the toilet, just to reduce the chances of having a third day
in a row in which I messed myself. After waiting for several minutes I felt the
pressure building and before long my bowels opened and I pooped a big long log.
I know that sounds gross, but I was somewhat proud of it, because I had done it
in the toilet this time and not in my diaper. I can just envision the mess it
would have made inside a diaper, not to mention the stench and humiliation I
could have been forced to deal with yet again!
Despite trying, I couldn’t reach
around myself to wipe my own bottom but I didn’t much care as I was able to
deal with it in the shower when I was finished. I did however make a mental
note. Come Monday, and every day that followed until I was healed enough to be
able to wipe myself, I was going to have to plan on getting up a little
earlier, so that I could sit on the toilet before school to avoid having to
poop at school and then have to go around with a poopy crack. Worse yet, having
to go to the nurse and ask to be changed out of a poopy diaper! “Yikes!” which
I actually said aloud.
I managed to wash nearly all of my
body without taking off my armor until the very last. I came up with a very
clever way of washing my backside. Instead of using a washcloth like I normally
do, I used a hand towel which I soaped up and was able to string between my
legs and pulling it back and forth. With one hand holding in front and one
behind me I got my bottom, crack and boyhood parts cleaned until no more poop
signs were on the towel. I felt rather cleaver at thinking that little trick
up, if I do say so myself!
When I did take off my armor to wash
my upper body, I was very, ultra-super careful not to move too much. When I had
my upper body clean, I proceeded to wash and rinse my armor before turning off
the water.
Still being as careful as I possibly
could be, I stepped from the shower onto the bathmat so that I could dry myself
and my armor, which I put right back on before trying to dry the rest of my
body. Well except for my hair, I had to dry it first too because it kept
dripped onto the rest of me.
It was very difficult to get my
armor back on by myself and after several failed attempts I surrendered to the
idea that I needed assistance. As a result, I wrapped the towel around myself
and left the bathroom to go wake my parents; except, I found that mom was
already up and was pulling on her robe.
With concern in the way she spoke,
she asked softly so as not wake dad just yet, “Were you just in the shower?”
“Yes mam, but I need help getting my
armor back on.” I answered holding it out to her.
“Oh okay, just a minute.” She said.
I slowly made my way back to my room
where I waited beside Jamie’s bed. She came in, helped me get strapped in, and
then told me, “Next time, I want you to wait. I know you want to do things
yourself but I don’t want you to get hurt and end up back at the hospital or
stuck in bed again.”
“Okay!” I agreed as she kissed my
forehead and started to go to my dresser to get my diapering things.
“Today’s Friday!” I said.
“I know that!” she said back.
“I’m supposed to sleep over at
“Oh yes! I had forgotten. Do you
think you are ready for that?” she asked.
I knew what she was asking of me and
though I answered “Yea,” it did not come out sounding very convincing.
“I want you to be careful and no
rough-housing over there! If you feel uncomfortable or uneasy while you are
there, you just call and we will come get you!” she said bring the diapering
supplies to my bed.
Once again, I assumed the position
without having to be told to do so and she slide one of my disposable diapers
under my naked bottom.
“Have you looked outside yet today?”
she asked.
“No, but I did during the night.” I
said, “It was snowing again.”
“It looks like we got another six or
eight inches overnight.” She said.
“Cool! Then they will close school
again!” I said.
Sounding confused mom said, “You
didn’t have to go to school anyway.”
“Not for me, for my friends!” I
explained.
She smiled as she applied the diaper
cream, “I’m sure they will be just as happy when they see the snow and hear
about the closings on the radio.”
“Can I go outside after breakfast?”
I asked.
“As long as you are careful and stay
close to home!” she said.
“Can I go to the park?” I asked.
“I don’t think so!” she said.
“But I went yesterday and it was a
lot worser out yesterday!” I said.
“It’s worse, not worser.” She
corrected me.
“It was a lot worse out yesterday!”
I said properly this time and adding a strong, “PLEASE!” which I drew out nice
and long for effect.
When she didn’t answer right away I
tried to sway her by saying, “BJ will go with me!”
“Just so long as you don’t go alone
and be very careful! I want you checking in from time to time too!” she said
smearing my bottom with the diaper cream.
In no time, she had me diapered and
mostly dressed except for my boots. In my stocking feet, I went to the kitchen
with mom and found dad standing at the sink looking groggy and only wearing his
boxer shorts and slippers.
“Morning dad!” I said and as he
turned to look at me I seen that he didn’t look so good.
“You sick?” I asked.
“No! Someone woke me up in the
middle of the night and I couldn’t get back to sleep!” he groaned.
“Why did you get up?” Mom asked him
and then looked at me.
“Because your son needed changed!”
dad said.
Mom got quiet and only answered
with, “Oh!” and started to make coffee.
“Sorry dad!” I said sitting down at
the table.
“It’s okay!” he said coming over to
me, taking hold of my head and pulling my it all the way back so that he could
kiss me. “I’d do anything for you!” he said which seemed somewhat sappy for
dad, and the kiss? I mean dad never kisses me on the lips anymore. I chalked it
all down to his lack of sleep, but never the less, it was still kind of
unexpected.
Mom made us a big breakfast, I think
mostly because yesterday morning we didn’t get to eat so well. I mean, I didn’t
mind having Pop Tarts, but I think mom minded more then she let on.
After finishing my eggs, toast,
sausage links, hash browns and downing a big glass of orange juice, mom helped
me into my coat, hat, gloves and boots while Dad helped me into my snowshoes.
As I was going out the backdoor, I found the other pair of snowshoes BJ had
barrowed leaning against the back railing.
“Guess BJ was here sometime last
night!” I said.
“Guess so!” dad said, “Where you
going?” he asked.
“To go get BJ out of bed! We got
unfinished business from yesterday!” I said trying to make it sound important!
“Wait a minute!” mom shouted from
inside the house. A second later she was pushing dad out of the way and handed
me an envelope.
“Give this to BJ’s mom and tell her
I said thank you!” The way she said it made it seem like the envelope contained
something very important.
“Okay!” I said and slipped it into
my coat pocket before picking up the other pair of snowshoes. I had dad tie
them to my back while he complained about the cold. I mean he was only wearing
boxer shorts so I guess he was entitled to complain. When he said he was done I
lit out and was off marching across the freshly fallen snow as I headed for
BJ’s house.
I had reached the halfway point when
I heard the sound of someone yelling from way off in the distance. When I
turned to try to locate it, I could see someone way down
I waved back and they waved again,
letting me know it was me that they wanted. Whoever it was—since they didn’t
have snowshoes, they were not able to move through the snow as easily as I was
with my snowshoes on. I started walking toward them and when we were less then
a block apart from each other, I realized it was Mike.
“HI MIKE!” I shouted and we soon
reached each other.
Breathing hard, “Hey Simon!” Mike
said.
“What you doing out here so early?”
I asked.
“Called,” gasp, “your house” gasp,
“to see if you,” gasp, “might want company,” gasp, “today.” Mike leaned over
and put his hands on his knees to try to catch his breath.
“Dang Mike, you sound like an old
fat man!” I teased.
Mike stood up and waved me off,
“Hey, I was running,” gasp, “up hill in the snow!”
“I was on my way to go get BJ out of
bed. Want to come?” I asked.
“You guys doing something today?” he
asked still gasping.
“Nothing too important.” I answered,
“Probably walk to the park again. We were there yesterday.”
“You were out yesterday?” he asked.
“I have been out the last couple days!”
I said before adding, “I’m doing lots better!”
“Looks like it!” he said.
“I’d show you the plastic rib
protector my doctor made for me but I got on too many layers and it’s too
freaking cold out here.” I said.
“Yea, my nose won’t stop running.”
Mike said wiping it on the sleeve of his coat.
“So, you want to come with me?” I asked
again.
“Yea sure!” he said.
I gave Mike the second pair of
snowshoes and showed him how to strap them on and how to walk in them. He fell
three times before getting the knack of them. I had to walk a lot slower the
rest of the way to BJ’s because whenever Mike walked fast in the snowshoes he
would go down again.
As we made our way we talked mostly
about how much trouble his brother was in, and how much Mike hated him. I never
was able to get up my nerve to ask him what really happened between him and
Tater to make him hate his older brother so much, but I still have my
suspicions about that.
The conversation soon turned to the
man on the news that everyone was saying was the kidnapper. I did not tell Mike
about my run in with the man or my run in with Runt afterward either.
“My mom said that all the parents in
town are happy that he is dead!” Mike said.
“Yea, I figure that’s why so many
kids were out playing in the snow yesterday!” I said as we passed two girls
just coming out of their house. One of which did a belly flop right into the
snow. Mike and I both laughed, as did the girls.
Not too long after that Mike took
another spill, this time face first into the snow and I had to stop myself from
laughing before I was able to help him get back on his snowshoes. Snow had gone
down the front of his coat and into his shirt. He was wiggling and complaining
about how cold it was as he pulled off his gloves, unsnapped his coat and tried
to get it all out before it melted and got him all wet.
“I’m sorry Mike, but that was just
too funny!” I laughed.
“Yea! Well that’s cause it wasn’t
you that was in the snow.” He said and I went on to tell him about BJ and I
falling into the snowdrift yesterday and about how I ended up with my feet
sticking out of the snow while the rest of me was buried. He thought that was
pretty funny too.
When we finally got to BJ’s house,
we found out that BJ couldn’t come out. Seems he’d managed to catch a cold
yesterday. His nose was all red and runny and he looked like he had a fever. He
said that he’d been out until almost dark yesterday on his snowmobile.
Standing at the door, I asked BJ,
“You mind if we go to the park?” I asked in such a way as to let BJ know I
wanted to take Mike to the secret barn the two of us had found yesterday.
“I just wish I could go with you!”
BJ said before asking. “Everything go okay after I left you yesterday?”
I knew he was asking about me going
home with a poopy diaper yesterday. “Yea it was okay.”
I felt a little bad for Mike just
then, I’m sure he figured out that we were talking in code and I didn’t think
that it was right to make him feel excluded. I said goodbye to BJ and told him
that I would call him later.
As Mike and I made our way to the
park, I made a mental note to myself that I was going to email BJ and tell him
that I didn’t mind him knowing about my diapers and to thank him for not making
fun of me. I had thought about it last night as I was writing in my journal and
he was really cool about it, cooler then I was for that matter.
After a while Mike said, “Want to
play a game while we walk?”
“What kind of game?” I asked.
“It’s something my dad always plays
with us.” He said.
“Is your dad coming home?” I asked.
“Don’t know yet. I hope so ‘cause I
miss him a lot!” Mike said.
“Yea, I can’t even imagine what that
must be like!” I said, “Okay so tell me about the game.”
“Okay, one person says a quote from
a book, movie or anything really and the other person has to come up with a
similar quote or make one up that’s really good or better then the first one.”
Mike said.
“I don’t get it!” I said stopping
and turning to look at him.
“Okay, say I were to say, ‘Have you
ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light?’ and then you would have to
come up with a quote or make one up that complemented mine or was better like
maybe, “No, but I got jiggy with a lady while listening to Moon River.”
I laughed, though I didn’t really
get all the double meanings. “Why did that first quote sound familiar?” I
asked.
“Oh, that was from the first Batman
movie.” Mike answered.
“Oh yea! The Joker said that before
he could kill someone!” I said.
“Want to try one?” Mike asked.
“Sure!” I said starting to walk
again.
“Okay, give me a quote and I’ll try
to come up with one.” Mike said.
“Humm, oh I got one!” I said.
“Okay, but don’t tell me where it’s
from. I get extra points if I can guess that too!” Mike said.
“Oh okay.” I said and then gave him
my quote, “Snakes? I hate snakes!”
“Oh that’s a good one! Um, it’s from
Indiana Jones, right?” Mike asked.
“Yea, the first one I think. When he
was in the little plane at the beginning of the movie.” I answered.
“Oh yea, that was funny!” Mike said
and added; “Now I have to counter your quote.” He thought for a few seconds and
then said, “Oooo, I got it! I bet you’ll never guess where it comes from
either! ‘Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails, thunder and lighting and baby
said goo-goo, goo-goo.”
I started laughing, “That’s a better
one then mine?” I said.
“Well sometimes we’d argue about
who’s was better, but what do you except? My dad invented the game one time
when we were broke down on the side of some old country road and had to wait
for over three hours for a tow-truck.” Mike said.
“Okay, I’ll accept that quote but I
got no idea what it’s from.” I said.
“It’s from the movie, Labyrinth.”
Mike said, “It was one of the songs they sang in the movie.”
“Oh yea, I seen that movie, but I
don’t remember that part.” I said.
“Okay, my turn to start.” Mike said,
“I’ll give you one I used before with my dad." And in a deep voice Mike
bellowed out, “Never rub another mans rhubarb!”
“That was the Joker again!” I
laughed, “I know my super hero movies!”
“Yea but can you come up with a
better one?” Mike said.
I gave it a good long hard think but
couldn’t come up with anything so Mike said, “Okay then I get to go again.”
“Alright!” I said as we reached Mr.
Nader’s father’s house again, where the tree had fallen during the snowstorm
two nights ago. I showed Mike the hole that used to be where the tree was. Mr.
Nader had totally cut up the tree but even under the new snow from last night,
we could still tell where the logs were laying. The car that had been smashed
when the tree fell was gone though and in it’s place a lot of the wood from the
cut up tree was stacked and hiding beneath a blanket of snow. We went on into
the park, it was as white and barren as it had been yesterday when BJ and I had
gone into it. No footprints or tracks of any kind could be seen anywhere and
the running path and parking lots had not been cleared either. It was simply
beautiful!
“You ready? Here’s my quote.” Mike
said, “NO! You must not read from the book!”
“Oh, oh, oh! I know this one! It’s,
oh man, I know it! It is right on the tip of my tongue! Oh yea, ‘The Mummy!’” I
said and got so excited that I nearly fell sideways into the snow.
“Careful!” Mike said laughing.
“Yea really!” I said, “So I’m
right?” I asked.
“Yep!” Mike said.
“Good ‘cause I already got one for
that!” I said proudly.
“Okay, hit me with it!” Mike said.
I stopped and turned to him. I made
as if I was hooking my thumbs under the lapel of a suit coat and said, “Look to
the books my boy! Look to the books!”
“Oh man, that is a good one!” Mike
said, “You are better at this game then my brother.”
“Do you know what it’s from?” I
asked.
“Yea, I seen the movie but I can’t
think of the name of it.” Mike said scratching at his coat hood.
“Want a hint?” I asked.
“Na, you can’t give hits.” Mike
said.
“Oh, okay then.” I said.
After a few seconds of thinking Mike
said, “I give up!”
“It was the librarian from the
movie, ‘The Page Master’.” I said.
“Oh yea! That was a good movie! I
saw that one at the library!” Mike said.
“You go to the library to watch
movies too?” I asked.
“Yea sometimes!” Mike said.
“I’ve only been a couple times!
That’s were I seen the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Cartoons.” I said.
“I didn’t know they made cartoons of
those books!” Mike said though it sounded more like a question.
“Oh yea! Long time ago.” I said.
“Too cool! I will have to see if I
can check them out to watch!” Mike said.
“We own them on Video tape now!” I
said, “You are welcome to barrow them. I don’t think mom and dad will mind at
all.”
“Awesome!” Mike shouted. “Hey? Where
we going anyway?”
“See them trees?” I said pointing
toward them.
“Yea.” He answered.
“We’re going in there!” I said.
“Okay!” Mike said.
We continued walking on and when we
finally reached the clearing where the barn stood mike exclaimed, “Whoa! Awesome
barn!”
“Yea, it’s BJ and my secret place!
We only just found it yesterday but you can’t tell anyone about it, alright?” I
looked at him and waited for his promise to keep it a secret.
“Yea, sure, no problem!” Mike
finally said when he realized what it was that I was waiting for.
Mike and I didn’t have to dig the
smaller door out this time like BJ and I had to do yesterday. We just gave it a
push and the door swung open allowing us to walk into the tack room.
“Wow!” Mike said.
“Ah this is nothing! Wait until you
see the rest of our place!” I said, “We even got a big old rope to swing on!”
I looked over at the workbench where
BJ and I had left our pile of treasured goodies and they were all gone. Every
last item was missing. For a few seconds I started to get nervous thinking
someone else had been in the barn after BJ and I left yesterday but then I got
to thinking that BJ must have come back up here after he walked me home. He
must have hid all our stuff so that no one would take it. Least that was my
hope!
I showed Mike all around the barn,
while still being watchful for the stash of treasure as well as for any signs
that someone else had been around. In the back of my mind I reasoned that
someone could have conceivably seen the tracks in the snow left by BJ and I
yesterday and then followed those tracks right to our secret barn, found our
bounty we’d collected and taken everything for themselves. Now that I think
about it, I’m sure that in what didn’t happen and it had to be BJ that came
back and hid everything; I’ll ask him when I see him again.
The first place I took Mike was up
into the haylofts and then Mike decided he wanted to try to climb up to the top
of the rope. He actually made it all the way up and back down with relative
ease.
“Can’t wait until my ribs are healed
enough that I can do that!” I said watching him come back down the rope.
“So now what?” Mike asked as his
snow boots hit the wooden floor with a thud.
“Don’t know, oh wait! There was a
door over by the tack room that BJ and I never got through. It was nailed shut
though.” I said.
“Okay!” Mike said following me to
the door.
Knowing the hammer, along with the
rest of the stuff BJ and I had found, was no where to be found, Mike and I had
no way to open the door.
“If we only had a hammer or
something!” Mike said.
“Yea, oh well! Maybe next time!” I
said.
Mike looked at his watch and said,
“I think I need to go check-in.”
“Oh yea, I better do the same.” I
said.
Therefore, the two of us left the
barn and made our way back through the park, following the same tracks we had
made coming in earlier. As we emerged from the trees and began crossing the
park, Mike started singing some song I didn’t know and to my shock, he actually
sounded really good and it gave us a tune to march too as we made our way
across the snow covered sports park.
“Grandma’s in the celler. Lordy
can’t you smell her
cooking Flapjacks on the darned old
dirty stove?
And in her eye there is some matter,
that keeps falling in the batter,
and she whistles as the (sniff)
drips out her nose.”
And right at the part where he sang,
“And she whistles as the...” he sniffled really loudly. “Oh man Mike! That’s
just sick!” I said stopping to throw a handful of snow at him.
“What? It’s a good song!” he
chuckled. “What to hear the rest of it?”
“Yea sure!” I said.
“Okay but I have to start again.” He
said and I made as if I was groaning but really, I thought it was a funny song.
“Grandma’s in the celler. Lordy
can’t you smell her
cooking Flapjacks on the darned old
dirty stove?
And in her eye there is some matter,
that keeps falling in the batter,
and she whistles as the (sniff)
drips out her nose.
Out her nose, Out her nose
And in her eye there is some matter,
that keeps falling in the batter,
And she whistles as the (sniff)
drips out her nose!”
“Oh man! Where’d you learn that
song?” I asked.
“At camp! But there is still more to
it!” he said.
“More?” I said and ignoring me, Mike
took right back to singing again.
“Grandma’s in the celler. Lordy
can’t you smell her
cooking crabs down on the darned old
dirty stove?
On her arms there are some scabs,
the keep falling the crabs,
and she whistles as the (sniff)
drips out her nose.
Out her nose, Out her nose
On her arms there are some scabs,
that keep falling the crabs,
And she whistles as the (sniff)
drips out her nose!”
Not turning around this time I said,
“Okay that one was worse yet!”
“It isn’t the worst of it!” Mike
giggled.
“Dang how long is this song?” I
asked.
He continued, laughing as he sang .
. .
“Grandma’s in the celler. Lordy
can’t you smell her
cooking rice down on the darned old
dirty stove?
In her hair there is some lice,
the keep jumping in the rice,
and she whistles as the (sniff)
drips out her nose.
Out her nose, Out her nose
in her hair there is some lice,
that keep jumping in the rice,
And she whistles as the (sniff)
drips out her nose!”
“Okay you are going to make me puke!
You can stop anytime now!” I said.
“No wait, there is one more verse to
the song!” Mike said.
“Please don’t!” I said but I was
giggling when I said it so he sang it anyway.
“Grandma’s in the celler. Lordy
can’t you smell her
cooking grits down on the darned old
dirty stove?
on her belly she’s got zits,
that keep popping in the grits,
And she whistles as the (sniff)
drips out her nose.
Out her nose, Out her nose
on her belly she’s got zits,
that keep
popping in the grits,
And she whistles as the (sniff)
drips out her nose!”
He sang the last line so badly that
a nearby dog started barking at us as we neared the point where we had a
decision to make. “Want to come with me and call home?” Mike asked.
“First off!” I said scooping up a
glove full of snow and packing it tightly as I turned to Mike. “That was
probably the sickest thing I think I have ever heard in my life.” I couldn’t
help but smile and giggle as I talked. “Secondly!” I said just before shoving
the snowball down the front of Mike’s coat. Unfortunately more of the snow
missed then actually went in. Mike looked like he was going to pounce on me but
I quickly put up my hands in defense and said, “Careful! Remember, broken ribs
here!”
Mike backed down but not until after
he said, while shaking his fist, “Just remember I owe you one!”
I laughed and was finally going to
answer his question. However, unbeknown to him, I knew I had already wet at
least twice, maybe more since leaving my house and I was probably in need of a
change since all I was wearing was a disposable diaper. So I answered, “Na, I
think I’m going to go home and check in personally. Why don’t I call you and we
can see what we’ll do from there?” I said.
“Sounds like a plan.” Mike said,
“You need these?” he asked pointing down at the snowshoes I’d lent him.
“Na, you can use them. I’ll get them
from you later!” I said.
“Good! Because I want to be able to
use them as examples. I’m going to try to make my own pair.” Mike said. I knew
how creative and cleaver Mike was and had no doubts that he could fashion his
own pair of snowshoes together in record time.
“Talk to you in just a few!” I said.
“Yea! Catch ya later!” Mike said
before we punched our gloved fists together and parted. In retrospect, had I
known that it would be the last anyone would see or hear of Mike, I think I
would have asked him to come home with me and call from my house. Or something
like that.
I got home a few minutes later;
although not before running into Mr. Nader who corrected me when I said, “Hi
Mr. Nader!” and again asked me to call him Ruddy. I told him that mom and dad
wanted to have him and his wife over for dinner sometime and that seemed to
make him happy. I’d also had a chance to ask him about the smashed car which
belonged to his father.
“I had it towed away. No way of
saving that one, but it was a clunker anyway!” He’d said.
“What’s that mean?” I asked.
“What’s what mean?” he asked back
while leaning against his snow shovel.
“Clunker?” I said.
He pulled off his hat and scratched
his sweaty hair while giving me a peculiar look. “It means it wasn’t a very
reliable car. It was always breaking down and I spent more time working on it
then anyone spent driving it.”
We talked for a few more minutes
before I continued my wonderland journey home. I arrived via our backdoor. Mom
was still home, which surprised the heck out of me and dad had gone to work.
“Hi mom! I’m home!” I said.
“So soon?” she called from the back
of the house.
“Yea, just checking in mostly!” I
shouted.
She appeared a moment later, “Simon?
You look about froze!”
Moms always say stuff like that!
“I’m fine! I just wanted to check
in. I found Mike out there and he and I been hanging out. BJ’s sick though.” I
said.
“He is? Oh that poor dear?” mom
said. “Did you remember to give his mom that envelope?”
“Ahh!” I said smacking myself in the
forehead with my still gloved hand!
“Simon!” mom moaned.
“Sorry mom! I just forgot!” I said
trying to sound sorrowful.
“Give it here!” she said holding out
her hand.
“I really am!” I said handing it to
her.
“It’s alright, I’ll take it too her
another time!” and she stuck it to the front of the refrigerator with one of
the magnets.
“I need to call Mike and see what we
are going to do now.” I said.
“Are you sure you want to go back
outside?” she asked. “You look cold as an icicle.
“Yea, it’s not cold! And I’m having
fun!” I said, “Better then being cooped up in the house all day!”
“Aright but don’t you dare track
snow into the house. Just stay there and I’ll bring the phone to you.” She
said.
She handed me the phone and I
started to dial Mike’s home number but then it hit me, “Wait a sec!”
“What?” mom asked.
“Mikes not going to be at home and I
don’t know the number of where he’s staying now!” I said.
“Guess you need to wait until he
calls here.” Mom said coming back over and taking the receiver from me again.
“You’re not going around his brother
are you?” she asked suspiciously.
“Mom, I’m not stupid!” I said and
she gave me a dirty look.
“Sorry!” I said quickly.
“Well you need to get out of those
if you are going to be staying in for a while!” mom said.
“Uh, no, I think I’ll go play out
back for a while.” I said but I had other ideas that I was keeping secret.
Mom finally relented. “But if you
decided to go anywhere else, you come tell me first.”
“Okay.” I answered before I slid the
backdoor closed again.
I went off the porch and straight to
the garage where I located a hammer and pry-bar. I hid them both inside my coat
and went to tell mom that I was going back to the park.
“By yourself? No I don’t think so!”
she said.
“No, not by myself! I’ll find Mike
first!” I said.
She had to think about it a little
but she eventually caved and said, “If you can’t find him then you come right
back home. And no going near his brother!”
“I know, and I won’t! Bye!” I was
gone before she could say anything else.
I walked toward the park as fast as
I could. When I reached the point where Mike and I had split up, I couldn’t see
any sign of him and since I didn’t know in which house he was staying, I had no
idea how to find him. I did have the thought of following his snow boot tracks
but after two houses, he must have started walking in the street because I
couldn’t see any sign of his tracks anymore.
I know I should have gone back home
like I was told, but something inside of me really wanted to get through that
little arched door in the barn to see what was behind it. I was imagining all
sorts of gems and jewels just waiting to be discovered. So, after wrestling
with my conscious for all of about two seconds, I started back for the park and
the barn. It was kind of fun to do it all by myself this time and instead of
following the tracks Mike and I had made before, I walked along the fence where
the snow was still untouched and unblemished. It took an extra ten minutes or
so to reach the barn and I ended up coming up on it from the opposite side, but
it wasn’t such a big deal and it added to my adventure. I walked back around
the barn to the smaller walk door and went back in to take off my snowshoes.
I took out the hammer and pry-bar
from my coat and went right to the little arched door to get to work pulling
out the nails that secured it shut. There were a total of seven old square
nails in it. It was obvious the door had been nails shut for a very, very long
time. As I worked to get each nail out, I couldn’t help but imagine what might
be imprisoned or locked away behind the door. All sorts of things were being
conjured in my mind, dragons, skeletons, gold, a beautiful princess and the
fanciful images just kept coming and coming.
When, at long last, the final nail
came out, I had to use the use the pry-bar to get the door to swing. It just
didn’t want to budge at first but after using all the strength I could muster
without hurting myself, I got the door to open with an eerie creaking of the
old rusted hinges.
Beyond the door, it was completely
dark. I mean so dark that I could hardly see more then a few feet in. What made
matters worse was that what little I could see seemed to be covered in layers
upon layers of ancient spider webs.
“Dang, why didn’t I think to bring a
flashlight?” I said aloud.
“Yea, you should have!” I said
starting to talk to myself mostly because the ominous darkness was creeping me
out big time.
“Okay, if I go all the way back home
just to get a flashlight then mom’s going to find out that I didn’t find Mike
and yet still came to the park anyway.” I looked around me as a light switch
would magically appear just because I wanted it too.
“However, without a flashlight,
there is no way I’m going in there!” I was glad then and still glad now that no
one was around to hear me talking out loud to myself.
I stopped talking for a few seconds
and was trying to come up with an idea when I heard something coming from way
down inside the darkness. It sounded like laughter and then talking but it
sounded so far away and seemed to be echoing a lot.
I still have no idea where I got the
courage to pass through the little arched doorway. I pulled my hat down tight
over my ears and zipped my coat all the way up to my neck before I started to grope
around in the darkness, while letting my gloved hands slide across the wooden
walls until the wood stopped and what felt like stone, started. I had been
taking little tiny steps, almost dragging my feet across the floor so as not to
trip and fall.
Little by little, my eyes adjusted
to the lack of light and with the small amount of light coming from behind me
in the barn, I could faintly see as the floor a head of me seemed to just stop
about two feet farther. I got right to the edge of the floor where the ceiling
overhead, which I could reach up and touch, seemed to slop downward and the
floor just completely vanished.
I stood there scared and excited
both and didn’t realize that I was peeing until I was nearly finished. Two
thoughts appeared in my head nearly simultaneously. One was the fact that I’d
forgot that part of my reasons for going home was because I needed a diaper
change and the other thought, which actually came out of my mouth as a faint
whisper, “Scared the piss right out of you huh Simon?”
Looking into the darkened void, I
was reminded of
I waited another minute, maybe two
listening for the laughter and voices again but I couldn’t hear anything
anymore. Eventually, I decided that I’d imagined hearing anything at all and
decided that I’d come back another time, with the right equipment and NOT ALONE
to explore further. I had only just turned to go when I again heard something,
but this time I understood what was said.
Loud and angry came a voice up out
of the darkness, “Old Tom was a son-of-a-bitch and we’re better off without
him!”
“Says you! But what we going to do
for a cook?” Someone else said and their voice though sounding masculine was
much higher, almost the way I might imagine a mouse would sound—I mean if a
mouse could talk.
A very deep, very growling voice,
like that of a big dog or bear said, “I’ll take care of the food! I done it
most of the time anyway as he was always too drunk to stand up, much less
cook!”
There was a sudden bang and a flash
of light that burnt my eyes but only for a second. Before I knew what was
happening I was back in the tack room and was strapping on my snowshoes. I
noticed but didn’t much care that I was completely covered in spider webs from
head to toe. I didn’t waste any time at all getting home. I jogged across the
snow-covered park following the tracks Mike and I had made earlier. Even after
leaving the park, I didn’t slow down or bother to look back until I reached my
street. I was huffing and panting like a dog in the middle of a hot summer day.
Despite the fact that my face felt cold, the rest of me was sweating profusely.
I stopped and leaned against the
side of the snow that lined the street. I was panting, trying to catch my
breath while I attempted to get some of the webs off me when a voice said, “I
thought I told you not to be outside alone?”
I spun around to see Runt kneeling
directly over the place where I had just been leaning.
“Oh gee-whiz Runt! You scared the
shit out of me!” I said with an unintentional curse slipping out.
“I do tend to do that to you!” He
said smiling a very knowing smile and I knew, that he knew, that I had messed
myself the other day when he’d seen me by that tree.
“W-Where’d you c-come from anyway?”
I asked looking around.
“That’s not important! What is
important is that you need to stop being stupid Simon!” Runt stood up and
pulled the collar of his coat up so that it covered the back of his head. I
also didn’t miss the fact that he’d called me Simon and not Spaz this time.
“You know the police are still
looking for you!” I said to him trying to sound tough.
In an instant, he jumped down off
the snow bank into the middle of the street. He grabbed me forcefully and threw
me against the snow so hard that it hurt, it hurt a lot. My legs didn’t work
and I fell right to the wet pavement.
“I can’t protect you if you are
being an ASS!” Runt growled.
I wanted to talk back, I wanted to
yell but I was hurting way too much.
“This is your last warning! Don’t be
out alone again!” Runt said and just before turning to leave he added, “And
stay out of the barn! You and all your friends!” and in a flash he was gone,
running back toward the park, his coat trailing behind him like a cape.
I somehow managed to get myself to
my feet again. The back of my pants and most of my right leg were wet from
falling on the wet road. With my arms rapped around my chest I made it home
where I leaned against the side of the house.
“Can’t let mom know I’m hurt!” I
cried while wiping my tears and my nose on my coat sleeve.
I stayed there beside the house
trying to get myself calmed down enough to make it to my room without mom
suspecting anything. To be sure that I didn’t look like I’d been crying, I used
snow to wash my face. I figured the cold snow would also help if my eyes were
all puffy from crying. I also used the snow to get as much of the old webs off
as I could.
The longer I stood there, the more I
started to hate Runt and the angrier I seemed to get at him. By the time I was
ready to go into the house I had worked myself up to a full boil and was ready
to lash out.
I got into the house and mom was not
in site. I hoped she was in the dinning room working one of her puzzles again
but sure enough, “That you honey?” she called from dinning room.
“No, it’s me!” I said reluctantly.
“Oh, Are you home to stay this
time?” she asked.
“Yea, I couldn’t find Mike. I looked
all over too!” I said pulling off my gloves and hat and hoping she’d buy my
excuse.
“Give me a second and I’ll help you
out of those things.” Mom said.
“That’s okay! I can do it.” I said
pulling one of the kitchen table’s chairs over so that I could sit on it while
I took off my snowshoes and also being careful not to get snow or water
anywhere but right by the door on the mat.
I had my first snowshoe off and was
working on the other when she came in. “Simon, you’re making a mess all over
the place!”
“Nahuh! It’s only on the mat!” I
said.
“Let me help you!” mom said taking a
step toward me.
“I can do it!” I protest rather stronger
then I’d meant too but it was enough to stop her.
I didn’t see what she did but I did
her breathing hard and make that, “Tich” sound with her tongue before she left
the kitchen all together. I was so glad she left.
After I had my boots and coat off, I
took everything to the laundry room and hung up my coat on the hook, along with
my gloves and hat. I sat my boots and the snowshoes on the floor to dry and
scuttled off to my room.
I closed my door and locked it this
time before stripping down to just my armor and my very wet diaper, which was
so wet, that when I sat down at my computer it squished. Not wanting to go get
mom to change me I just pulled off my diaper by myself and slipped into a dry
Goodnite.
After reseating myself at my desk, I
checked my email and had one from
I had two emails from Bull, three
from Jasper, five from BJ, one from Tater and a whopping seventeen pieces of
junk mail. I wasn’t much in the mood for emails but I was still feeling pretty
vengeful toward Runt for hurting me so much, though I wasn’t hurting so much
now.
I opened a new email and addressed
it to both Bull and Tater. It was short, sweet and to the point. On the subject
line I put, “You probably should know” and then all I said in the email body
was, “I think Runt’s hiding out in an old barn in the woods behind the running
track at the sports park. I don’t think he’s alone either!” and I left it
unsigned. I figured they would know it came from me by my email address.
I then closed out of my email and
opened a browser window to Google on the subject ‘sleepover supply list’. Most
of what I got was about sleepover parties, themes for sleepover parties,
something about the Olsen twins and one thing about a ‘MUZZEM SLEEPOVER’. Since
it was misspelled so badly, I had to click on it to see what it was about. As
it turned out, it was just a PDF advertisement for some museum in
Since my first search was basically
fruitless, I tried several more, each less productive then the first. I gave up
on that idea and decided to journal about what had happened so far today.
However, I couldn’t find my e-journal. I left it laying on my nightstand the
last time I used it. I looked in my desk, my closet, under my bed, even in my
bed but came up with nothing.
I started to panic but ended up
finding it in the top drawer of my dresser. I figured that mom probably put it
in there when she made my bed this morning.
After I wrote about everything that
had happened up to the point where I was looking for my journal, I shut down my
e-journal and unplugged it again. I decided that I’d go call
“MOM!” I finally called out while
standing in the middle of the living room.
“I’m on the front porch!” I heard
her call back.
I went back to my room and got my
robe on before going back to the living room where sure enough the door was
ajar. I opened it to find her talking to some lady I didn’t know. Mom had on
her coat so I guessed she was standing out there talking so that I was less
likely to hear them and since I had already interrupted them I quickly asked,
“Sorry, um, mom can I call Lowell?”
“Yes but keep it short. I’m waiting
for your father to call.” Mom said.
I closed the door again, making sure
to leave it open enough that it didn’t latch and then ran to the phone. I was
glad when
Next Installment:
Chapter 6 –
Part 2 – Friday, March 05, 2004 – The Sweet-Talking Son of a Preacher Man
** For the latest news on how each installment is coming along as well as answers to questions asked by other readers and so much more, visit me at www.talkhard.5u.com. As always, your thoughts matter to me very, very much, so please send any comments, questions, suggestions, or criticism to me at: [email protected] and I promise that I will reply personally to everyone that takes the time to write to me! **