Times Three by DonnieM72

 

In May 1963 I turned twelve. One day that month, I got home early from school because baseball practice got rained out. (No, we weren’t a bunch of sissies; the field flooded easily and the school wouldn’t let us use it.) I heard my two younger brothers upstairs in their bedroom. It sounded like they were having a good time together. This seemed almost incredible. Our mom and dad were always after them for fighting. I was curious to see what could cause them to do so much laughing together.

“Hi, guys. What’s up?” I asked walking into their room.

They were sitting on the floor on the other side of their beds where they frequently set up games—racing cars, army men, and the like. They looked up at me guiltily.

“You’re supposed to knock,” my youngest brother objected. “Don’t come in!”

“The door was open,” I answered innocently.

They were getting more and more uncomfortable and guilty-looking as I approached.

“Stay away,” my other brother said. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”

That really made me curious. I continued walking in and, before they could hide under the bed, I saw what they were worried about. They were wearing my diapers! That is, diapers that I had outgrown. Let me explain.

There were six people in my family. My dad and mom, Winston and Elizabeth Malvrey; my seventeen-year old sister, Elaine; me, Wade; my brothers Willis, aged ten and a-half and Winthrop, aged nine. We were a pretty average family, I think. My dad was an insurance broker and my mom an interior design artist. My mom only went back to work the previous year when she thought that Willie and Winnie were old enough to take care of themselves on the occasional days she had to work past her scheduled three-o’clock quitting time.

Now—about the diapers. I was, and still am, a bed wetter. My parents had me thoroughly checked out (multiple times) with always the same prediction—that I would grow out of it soon. The first time I heard that, I was five years old; seven years later I still hadn’t seen any evidence to support that claim. Even all these years later, I still wake up almost every morning with a very wet diaper. To make matters worse, when I am even the least bit sick (mild fever, a cold, the flu, etc.) I wet constantly and have to wear daytime diapers everywhere—which, at age twelve, meant wearing them to school. So far, I had been lucky that no one, except for my best friend Peter, knew about them.

“Let go of me!” Willie screeched indignantly as I pulled him away from his intended hiding place. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”

Winnie, who knew the game was up, stood silently by the bed.

“You’re sure not acting like it,” I pointed out.

He calmed down and stood next to Winnie. I couldn’t decide what to do. This seemed like a great opportunity for something. Did I dare try blackmail? They certainly didn’t want anyone to find out what they had been doing, did they?

“What are you doing, anyway?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Willie answered quietly.

“Yeah, nothing,” Winnie answered defiantly. “We’re gonna tell mom that you came into our room without permission.”

“And I’ll tell mom that you’ve been hiding diapers in your toy box and wearing them when nobody’s home,” I retorted.

“How do you know that’s where we hide them?” Winnie challenged.

Actually, I didn’t. I just guessed. Willie rolled his eyes at his younger brother’s gullibility.

“OK,” Willie said, “what do you want?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You know what I mean,” Willie said impatiently. “What do we have to do so that you won’t tell mom and dad?”

“Mon and dad!” Winnie cried as his eyes filled with tears. “You’re gonna tell mom and dad?”

“Don’t get excited,” I answered. (I actually felt a little sorry for them but I got over it quickly.) “I didn’t say I would tell mom and dad but… maybe you could do things to make sure that I don’t.”

“Like what?” Willie asked suspiciously.

“Uh, I don’t know,” I said hesitantly, “I’ll let you know. In the meantime, just make sure that you don’t bug me and my friends when they come over.”

I didn’t actually know what to do with this new secret but I sure didn’t want to blow it by making a spur-of-the-moment decision.

“That’s not a guarantee,” Willie complained.

“Yeah,” Winnie echoed defiantly. (I had to admit that the little kid had guts.)

“OK, I promise not to tell mom or dad anything right now. I’ll tell you tomorrow what I want.”

I spent most of the night trying to figure out what I wanted. I was smart enough to know that I shouldn’t ask for too much. If I pushed them too hard they might tell our parents some things that I didn’t want them to know. I decided on the old standby of blackmailers—money.”

We each received an allowance of two dollars a week, above and beyond what we could beg from our parents. I decided to ask for one dollar from each of them.

“One dollar!” they squealed. “That’s too much!”

“Yeah,” Winnie complained. “We need that money to wash our diapers.”

“Huh?” I reacted.

“”For the Laundromat,” he explained.

“You take the diapers out to wash them?” I asked in surprise. “Aren’t you afraid someone might see you.”

“We’ve got that all figured out,” Winnie said proudly. “We tell people that mom makes us wash the cleaning rags separately so that they won’t wreck our washing machine.”

Willie looked a little embarrassed at Winnie’s explanation.

“Oh,” I said. “How much do you spend each week?”

“About seventy-five cents,” Willie answered.

“OK,” I relented, “pay me fifty cents each and I’ll throw your diapers in with mine when I wash them.”

For the last year or so, I had been assigned the job of washing my own diapers. I actually liked it this way. Even in front of my mom and dad I was very embarrassed about them; the fewer people who touched them, the better. Also, since this was the only chore I was given to do around the house I felt like I was ahead of the game. They conferred for a few seconds and agreed.

“There’s just one other thing,” I said as they looked at me suspiciously. “Why do want to wear my old diapers?”

Willie turned bright red and Winnie looked down at the floor.

“I don’t know,” Winnie said in a small voice. “It’s just for fun.”

I didn’t get it.

*****

For the first couple of weeks everything went according to plan. Willie and Winnie used only about three diapers each because they didn’t have much time alone in the house (even though alone now included any time I was in the house with them without our parents or Elaine). The third week, however, things changed. Our mom received a big assignment that would require her to work until five or six o’clock for the next month. Elaine and I were assigned the job of making sure that Willie and Winnie were watched every afternoon. We begged mom to hire a babysitter but she wouldn’t hear of it. Disaster struck on the very first day of this new routine: Elaine was picked to be in the school play and she would be at daily rehearsals until five o’clock for at least five weeks and most of the day on Saturdays. (Personally, I think she made some of that up so that she could stay out of the house as much as possible.)

“It’s not fair,” I complained to my mom. “Why do I have to be here every day with Willie and Winnie?”

“I’m sorry, Wade,” my mom said, “but it can’t be helped. Dad and I will make it up to you, I promise.”

I didn’t see how they could but I still had no choice. Willie and Winnie were delighted; they would get lots of alone time every school day. By the end of the week, they had ten diapers for me to do.

“Look, guys,” I said wrinkling my nose at the smell emanating from the bag they handed me, “you have to take better care of your diapers and stuff.”

I showed them how to add rubbing alcohol to the bag in which they kept their diapers (to keep down the smell).

“Have you been washing your plastic pants every day?” I asked.

“No,” Willie admitted. “We’re afraid that mom might see them while they’re drying.”

“You have more than ten plastic pants?” I asked in disbelief.

They showed me their collection. I was amazed at how much of my stuff they had amassed. They had about two dozen diapers and almost as many plastic pants.

We loaded their diapers into the washer and hand washed and rinsed the plastic pants. I let them use my drying rack and reminded them that they would have to be removed before our mom came home.

“You should be doing this every day and not letting them pile up. Before you know it they’ll have a pee smell that you’ll never get rid of.”

“Thanks,” Willie said sincerely.

(This almost made me feel guilty about taking their money but I once again successfully fought back the feeling.)

A little while later I was in my room listening to the radio when Winnie came racing in. I whipped off my headphones, ready to yell at him for coming into my room.

“Mom’s home,” he said.

“Shit!” I exclaimed.

“And she moved the diapers from the washer into the drier. I think she saw the plastic pants, too.”

“Double shit!”

“Wade! Can I see you for a minute?” my mom called up the stairs.

“Yeah, OK,” I answered nervously.

“I’ll tell mom it’s our fault,” Winnie offered.

“Not yet,” I answered. “Let me see what she wants first.”

“Wade,” my mom said, more than a little annoyed, “what’s with those diapers and plastic pants in the laundry room?”

I didn’t expect her to be so blunt. I was taken by surprise and didn’t answer, although I could feel my face getting hot.

“Look, honey,” she said softening her voice. “I know that you hate having to wear diapers every night but you’ve still got to let dad and me know when you need new ones. Those plastic pants are so small they must be cutting off your circulation.”

“Well, I, … I guess so,” I stammered.

“I’ll call Mrs. Morrison and see if she has bigger diapers and plastic pants in stock. And,” she added, “don’t let them pile up so much before washing them.”

I went back up to my room. Willie and Winnie joined me right away.

“Well?” Willie asked.

“It’s OK. Mom doesn’t suspect a thing. She thinks that I’ve been wearing those diapers and plastic pants myself. She’s just a little bit annoyed that I didn’t ask for new ones.”

“Really?” Winnie exclaimed.

“Yeah, really,” I assured him. “Since I’ve been diapering myself and taking care of my own laundry I guess mom has forgotten what my stuff looks like. She’s calling Mrs. Morrison to get me some bigger sizes.”

“Can Winnie and me have your old diapers and plastic pants when your new stuff comes?”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” I laughed. “But they’ll probably be too big for you.”

“Maybe too big for Winnie, but they’ll be just right for me,” Willie answered. “The ones we have now are getting too small for me.”

I still didn’t get it.

*****

I got my new diapers and plastic pants the very next day. Actually, it was probably time for me to get new ones anyway. As soon as I put them on, I realized how much more comfortably they fit. There was a knock at my door.

“Who is it?”

“Winnie and me,” Willie answered. “Can we come in?”

I thought I knew what they wanted—they wanted to see my new diapers and plastic pants. I let them in.

“Cool,” they giggled.

I could see the anticipation in Willie’s eyes; he could hardly wait to take possession of my old ones.

“Here,” I said, handing him three diapers and plastic pants. “You’ll get the rest later.”

From the way his face lit up, I was beginning to get it.

*****

Another week went by. I was beginning to enjoy my brothers’ antics when they wore their diapers and plastic pants. I found it fascinating that they acted so free and happy. They sensed my approval and tried to coax me into joining them, but I wouldn’t. Wearing diapers was totally different for me. For one thing, it wasn’t voluntary and I wasn’t about to wear them one minute longer than I absolutely had to. But, fate intervened and I came down with a cold. There seemed no doubt that I would be in diapers all week. This led to renewed coaxing from my brothers. They begged me to take off my regular pants and join them in wearing just diapers and plastic pants. I remained inflexible and refused.

I was feeling so much better by Wednesday that I hoped the next day would be the last day I would have to wear my daytime diapers. I came home from school and went to my room to change. My brothers must have been listening at the door because as soon as I pulled up my plastic pants they stormed in. I knew that they were just playing so I joined in. Willie tackled me while Winnie ran out of the room with my pants. I quickly fought Willie off and went in pursuit of Winnie. He was in the family room trying to look innocent while he watched TV.

“OK, squirt. Where are my pants?” I asked.

“What pants?” he snorted.

“Oh… so that’s the way it’s going to be,” I said smiling. “Tell me where they are… or else…” I threatened.

He knew what my ‘or else’ would be—I would tickle him until he told me what I wanted to know.

“Go ahead,” he said while trying to escape. “I still won’t tell.”

I had barely started tickling him when his giggles because full-blown laughs.

“Willie! Help!” he called.

Willie jumped me and Winnie escaped. They took advantage of the situation and wrestled me to the ground. A couple of years ago I could have easily fought them off, but not anymore. Despite my best efforts, I found that I could only fight off one of them at a time. I was on the verge of surrendering when a voice made us all freeze in place—our mom’s.

“What in the world…?” she asked.

Winnie made a sound something like that of a puppy whose paw has been stepped on while Willie and I became absolutely silent. I didn’t immediately think that my brothers had just gotten caught wearing diapers. I was simply embarrassed that my mom had caught me downstairs in my diaper.

“Well…?” she prompted in an impatient voice. “I’m waiting.”

We were all tongue-tied. Willie and Winnie pulled at their shirts, trying to hide their plastic pants. I had stood up behind them and looked guiltily at the floor. I didn’t know if we were in big trouble or not.

“Well …,” our mom repeated in a louder voice.

“I came home from school and changed into a dry diaper and Winnie took my pants and hid them. I was trying to find out where they were,” I explained.

“That’s not what I’m asking about,” she answered. “Willie, what’s going on?”

“Wade made each of us pay him fifty cents a week not to tell you and dad,” he blurted out.

My mom looked momentarily confused but continued on, “We’ll get to that later. (My heart sank.) How come you’re wearing Wade’s diapers?”

“Because we want to,” Winnie answered. “Me and Willie have been playing with them for a long time.”

Willie turned toward Winnie, a look of horror on his face. My mom’s reaction was totally unexpected.

“I see. Well, in that case I see no reason to stop you. Show me your supplies.”

We all went up to my brothers’ room. They piled their diapers and plastic pants on their beds. She went through them and pulled out everything that she considered beyond use. This still left them with about half.

“I’ll contact Mrs. Morrison to get you more,” she said.

Willie and Winnie looked at each other in amazement. They could hardly believe that mom was going to allow them to continue playing their diaper games.

“Now, put all your underpants on the bed, too.”

“Huh? What… what for?” Willie sputtered.

“You won’t need them if you’re wearing diapers all the time.”

“But we don’t wear diapers all the time!” Willie tried to explain.

“Get them,” mom said coldly.

I saw tears pool in Willie’s eyes. I wondered if he was thinking of his friends and what they would say when they found out. I really felt bad for him. Winnie, on the other hand, didn’t seem the least bit troubled.

“You too, Wade,” my mom said.

“Huh? Me? What?” I asked with a sinking feeling.

“Get your underpants, too. You won’t be needing them either,” she answered.

“But I didn’t do anything!” I shouted.

“Want do you call extorting money form your brothers?” she asked with arched eyebrows.

“But, they were paying seventy-five cents a week at the Laundromat; I’m the one who’s been washing their diapers! They owed me!”

As soon as it was out of my mouth, I knew that I had made a serious mistake. I could tell that my mom had just figured something out.

“So, whose diapers and plastic pants were those in the laundry room a few weeks ago?”

“Willie and Winnie’s,” I answered.

“So you not only extorted money from your younger brothers, you also lied to me.”

She had us nailed—completely and absolutely. I brought my underpants into my brothers’ room.

“You are to stay dressed exactly as you are until dad comes home. If you need a change, ask. Do not change yourselves. Is that clear?”

I stormed off to my room and slammed the door. My stupid brothers! This was their fault. Why did they want to wear my diapers anyway? My last hope was that our mom wasn’t serious about her threats. Maybe she just wanted to scare us. I brooded over these things for some time. I was interrupted by a knock at my door.

“What?” I asked peevishly.

“Winnie needs his diaper changed and mom sent me to get your changing pad,” Willie explained.

I opened the door and let him in.

“Where is it?” he asked.

“Find it yourself,” I said peevishly. Then, realizing that I didn’t want him looking through all my stuff, I added, “In the closet… on the top shelf.”

It had been more than a year since I started changing myself so I hadn’t needed it. I blushed when I saw it. The plastic pad was covered with teddy bears and balloons. I groaned inwardly at the thought of once again being changed on such a babyish object. My stupid brothers!

*****

Our mom made us do our homework in the dining room where she could keep an eye on us. After we were done, she had us set the table and then go to the den to watch TV. I wanted to say something nasty to my brothers, but I was afraid of what mom would do if we started fighting. Willie and I sullenly watched the program that Winnie had picked. I was really irritated that Winnie didn’t seem the least bit upset by what was happening to us. Every time he laughed at his program, I wanted to sock him.

Our dad came home and wasn’t at all surprised to see us sitting there in plastic pants and wet diapers. Mom must have called him while he was still at work.

“I see that you managed to get yourselves into quite a bit of trouble with mom,” he said.

I don’t think that dad did this on purpose, but whenever we got into trouble he always started out sounding like he might be on our side. Experience had taught us, though, that he always sided with our mom. We also knew that he expected us to answer him… and without hesitation.

“Yes, dad,” we dutifully answered.

“You’ve stumped me on this one,” he continued. “I don’t know where to start. You’ve been doing things behind our backs, extorting money, and lying. We’ll discuss this after dinner.”

What he really meant was that he and mom would discuss it and then they would tell us our punishment. It wasn’t fair.

“Right now, it looks like you two could use a diaper change,” he said to Willie and me.

Willie went first. He didn’t seem at all unhappy about dad changing him. In fact, he sounded sincere when he thanked dad for putting him into a dry diaper. On the other hand, I felt totally humiliated as dad took off my plastic pants and diaper. I blushed with shame when he commented that I had gone too long without asking to be changed. Everything he did—washing my diaper area, rubbing powder on me, pinning up my diaper, and pulling on my plastic pants—made me feel like a two-year old.

Mom explained the situation to Elaine when she came home from play practice. I could sense that, like me a few weeks ago, she was trying to figure out how she could use this situation to gain advantages over us. For the time being, all she said was that we looked cute in our diapers.

Dinner was quiet. Mom and dad avoided the subject of our punishment except for mom’s side comment that Mrs. Morrison had diapers and plastic pants ready for pick up after dinner. We put the dishes in the dishwasher like we always did and then mom told us to get into the car.

“Like this?” I screeched. “What about our pants?”

“We’re only going to Mrs. Morrison’s. Now, get going. I won’t repeat myself.”

We meekly got into the car. Willie and I were a bundle of nerves, afraid that someone would see us. Mom parked in Mrs. Morrison’s driveway and we got out. I had hoped that it would be dark by the time we arrived but it was barely dusk. We were about halfway to the door when a voice called out from behind us.

“Hi, Willie.”

My brother turned around open-mouthed.

“Terrell!”

Terrell was his best school friend. At the moment, though, he didn’t look it. He had a smirk on his face that radiated pure malevolence. At the same moment, Mrs. Morrison opened her door to us.

“Terrell, I think it’s time for you to go home,” she said.

“See you in school, tomorrow,” he said to Willie, the whole time keeping that smirk on his face.

Willie burst into tears as soon as he walked into Mrs. Morrison’s living room. He was not only embarrassed; he was enraged. He rejected my mom’s attempt to console him and accused her of setting him up. I guess mom knew that talking to him would be useless so she ignored his accusation and turned her attention to Mrs. Morrison. Our order was sitting on the worktable in her sewing room. There must have been at least five-dozen diapers and about half that number of plastic pants (mostly for Willie and Winnie). There were also several dozen thick strips of diaper cloth.

“Those are called soakers or diaper doublers,” Mrs. Morrison said in response to my unspoken question. “They double the capacity of your diaper without increasing the bulk very much.”

“In other words,” our mom explained, “you won’t need as many diaper changes.”

Willie, who had calmed down somewhat, burst into tears again. Mom gave me the keys and told Winnie and me to take the new stuff out to the car. Once again, Winnie was really irritating by the way he didn’t seem to care that we might be seen. When we got home, mom let Willie have it. She was really mad that he accused her of setting him up. Willie seethed with anger and stormed up to his room as soon as she was finished. As of yet, we had not heard what our punishment would be, except that we would be wearing diapers twenty-four hours a day, every day. Mom and dad spent some time talking privately on the patio before they announced their decision to Winnie and me. (Willie refused to come out of his room.)

“First of all,” my dad said to me, “you will pay back all the money you took from your brothers.”

“OK,” I answered.

“Next,” he added,” you are all grounded for one month with the usual rules, except for one new one. When you come home from school you may change each other’s diapers only if Elaine or mom aren’t home yet. Otherwise, only Elaine, mom, or me are to change you.”

“Why is Elaine allowed to change us?” I griped.

“Because it appears that you can’t be trusted to do things responsibly,” my mom interjected.

“Lastly, you will be responsible for washing all the diapers,” my dad said to me. “You and Willie,” he said to Winnie, “are to take care of all the plastic pants.” “These chores are to be done daily as soon as you come home from school. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” we answered together.

“What about school?” I asked timidly.

“What about it?” dad answered.

“Will you write me a note to get me out of PE?”

Usually, when I was sick and had to wear diapers my mom wrote a note saying that I was to be excused for a certain period of time. It also occurred to me that I would have to tell Peter that I couldn’t play baseball anymore.

“I’ll write a note,” my mom answered.

With that, we were brought upstairs and prepared for bed. Since we were grounded we also had an earlier bedtime. Willie was still quite upset but he allowed himself to be changed.

*****

The next morning, Willie tried to claim that he had caught my cold and that he shouldn’t go to school. Mom wouldn’t go for it. He made quite a scene when she tried to change him into his new daytime diaper and diaper doubler. Elaine wound up having to do it, which hardly made him feel any better. I guess I understood his fear—what with Terrell having seen him at Mrs. Morrison’s. I was given a small gym bag containing four changes and two notes, one for the nurse and one for my PE teacher, Mr. Relling. I wasn’t too concerned about the nurse. She was already used to my going to her office for diaper changes, which I was allowed to do in private. I wondered how much grief Mr. Relling would give me. He didn’t like people being exempted from PE, even for a short period of time. I wondered how he would react to a permanent exemption.

I was the last to get changed into a daytime diaper. The extra material of the doubler between my legs felt funny. I went for my pants when I remembered that Winnie had hidden them yesterday afternoon. I went down to the den to get them.

“Come on, Wade,” my dad said. “Get a move on or you’ll miss your bus.”

“Winnie hid my pants yesterday!” I explained as I walked into to den to search for them.

Winnie came to the door and giggled.

“You’re not even close!” he smirked.

“Well, I need them… now!” I said hotly.

He walked out the den.

“Hey, come back here!” I called.

Winnie came back with my pants,

“I’m a great hider,” he said proudly,

I had to agree with the little guy. To this day, I don’t know where he hid them. I put them on and realized that they fit much more snugly. The doubler filled out my crotch area completely. I hoped that nobody would notice.

Elaine and I went to our bus stops. Mom told Willie and Winnie that she was driving them herself. She wanted to drop off their diaper supplies and talk to the nurse. The last I saw of Willie, he was getting into the car with a super-scared look on his face. I got to school feeling pretty confident until my friend Peter asked me why I was wearing two diapers.

“You can tell?” I asked nervously.

“Only because I know you have a cold and must be wearing diapers. Why so thick?” he answered.

I gave him a brief account of what happened with my brothers and me, and how my mom had bought us all diaper doublers. He seemed more amused than sympathetic.

 “This is serious,” I pointed out. “My mom is making us wear diapers permanently.”

“Do you really think she will?” he asked with concern.

“Yeah,” I answered. “Especially since Willie has been giving her such problems.”

“Sorry,” he said earnestly.

Since this was Thursday, the last period of the day was PE. I handed my note to Mr. Relling just before he went into the locker room. He read it and told me to wait for him. I wondered what he would assign me to do while the other guys were outside. He came back about five minutes later.

“OK, you can come in now,” he said.

I walked into the locker room and noticed that everybody was staring at me. I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

“Wade, I told everybody about your condition and the… special underwear you need. Why don’t you change now and meet us outside?”

I felt the room spinning around me. I must have looked terrible because Mr. Relling told Peter that he could stay with me in the locker room.

“What did Mr. Relling tell the class?” I croaked.

“Everything… sort of,” Peter answered. “He told us that you are going to be wearing diapers on a permanent basis and that if anyone teases you or makes fun or you, they will have to answer to him.”

“He used the word diapers?” I asked, plopping myself onto one of the benches.

“And plastic pants, too,” Peter added.

I thought I was going to die. My heart felt like it wanted to explode and I was too dizzy to stand up. Peter didn’t say anything. He just sat down next to me. I felt like such a baby when I started to cry.

“What do you want to do?” he asked.

“Die,” I sniffled.

Peter didn’t answer. He opened my gym locker (we knew each other’s combinations) and took out my gym shorts and shirt. I mechanically took off my shirt and unbuckled my pants. I was in such a daze that it never occurred to me that this was the first time that Peter saw me in just a diaper and plastic pants. (Whenever we had sleepovers, I always put my diaper on in the bathroom and came out already wearing pajamas.) I pulled on the shorts and almost started crying again when I saw how much they bulged out.

“Let’s trade shorts,” Peter said.

It was a generous offer. Peter was slightly taller and heavier than me and his shorts would have helped hide my diaper.

“That’s OK,” I sniffled. “I’m alright with these.”

I put my shirt on and headed for the field.

“Wait,” Peter said, “I think you should splash some water on your face before you go outside.”

Mr. Relling had us play basketball. He divided us into four teams. Luckily, I was a ‘shirts’ team and not a ‘skins’ team. I think I would have run back into the locker room and refused to play if I had been forced to show off the top of my diaper and plastic pants. Nobody treated me really awful on the court but they didn’t come near me or talk to me either. I figured that I had just lost about every friend that I ever had. Back in the locker room, nobody looked at me when I changed back into my regular clothes. I got on my bus just before it took off (because I had to retrieve my diaper bag) and sat down. The kids that were sitting near me moved to other seats, farther away. By the time I got home, I was really depressed.

No one else was home so I went upstairs to change myself, wondering if I should or not. Dad had said that we could ‘change each other’ if Elaine, mom, or he weren’t home. Did this really mean that I had to wait for Willie and Winnie? I doubted that my younger brothers knew how to change a diaper so I changed myself. They showed up just as I was finishing. Willie must have had a very bad day.

“Just shut your stupid mouth,” he said to Winnie. “Leave me alone!” he added emphatically.

Willie slammed the door to their room and locked it.

“Hey, let me in,” Winnie protested. “This is my room, too, you know.”

“Maybe you should leave him alone for a little while,” I suggested. “You know how he is… give him a little time and he’ll come out on his own.”

Winnie shrugged and turned to go back downstairs. I remembered what my dad said about washing our diapers and plastic pants each day before he and mom got home.

“Do you need a change?” I asked.

“Nah,” Winnie answered. “I got changed just before leaving school.”

“Who helped you?” I asked.

“Mrs. Kellen, the nurse, of course… who else?” he asked matter-of-factly.

“Is that why Willie is so grouchy?” I wondered.

“Yeah, and the other stuff that happened.”

“What other stuff?”

We were still standing in the hall outside of Willie and Winnie’s room.

“None of your business,” Willie shouted through the door.

“OK, OK,” I answered.

I grabbed my diaper bag along with the diaper and plastic pants I just took off, and asked Winnie where his and Willie’s bag was. He said that he had left it in the laundry room.

“Are you going to put your pants back on?” Winnie asked.

I hadn’t thought about it. I don’t know why I hadn’t put them back on. Before I could answer, Winnie has stripped down to his diaper, too.

“It’s better this way,” he giggled.

I loaded the washer with our diapers (a total of ten with an equal number of doublers, which seemed like a lot to me). Winnie headed to the sinks to wash the plastic pants. Now that Willie was out of earshot I asked him what had happened.

“You know that Mom took us to school this morning and made us go with her to the nurse’s office, right? Mom told Mrs. Kellen that we would be wearing diapers now and that she wanted to know if we could use her office to change.”

“Mom is going to let you change your own diapers in school? Do you know how to do it by yourselves?”

Winnie gave me a funny look, like I was an idiot or something.

“Willie and me have been playing with your diapers since I was in first grade. Yeah, … we can put them on by ourselves.”

I did feel like an idiot. I never imagined that they had been at it for over three years.

“Anyway,” he continued, “Mrs. Kellen said that it would be alright but that she felt obligated to check us before we put our pants back on. I could tell that Willie really hated that idea but that he was afraid to complain about it in front of mom. After she left, we went out into the schoolyard. As soon as we got there, Terrell and his friends came up to us and asked if we were wearing our diapers and baby pants. Terrell and Willie pushed each other back and forth and were just about ready to fight when Mrs. Morgan broke it up. She sent both of them to Mr. Hallin’s office. They wouldn’t tell him what the fight was about, so he took away their recess and said that they wouldn’t get another one until they shook hands. They wouldn’t do it so they spent morning recess and lunch in his office. Willie was supposed to check in with Mrs. Kellen and when he didn’t, she went looking for him. She found out where he was and she told Mr. Hallin about his diapers. Mr. Hallin got mad at Terrell and called his mom. Now, Terrell is mad at Willie and Willie is mad that everybody knows about his diapers. I think there’s going to be a big fight some day.”

“Mom and dad’ll kill him if there is,” I noted.

“He’s so mad I don’t think he cares. He just wants to punch somebody.”

During his story I had been helping him hand wash and rinse the plastic pants. We were hanging them up on the drying rack when Willie walked in. I thought it interesting that he wasn’t wearing his pants.

“Hi,” Winnie and I said.

“Hi,” he answered back. “Um…” he said hesitantly, “… could you change me now?”

“Yeah, sure,” I answered.

We went upstairs to my room. Winnie got out the changing pad while Willie went to get a dry diaper and clean plastic pants. Willie was very docile during the change. He allowed Winnie and me to do all the work, including unpinning his wet diaper and pulling his plastic pants over the fresh one. When we were done his mood was completely different. He asked Winnie and me if we wanted to play with his racecars. He only complained a little bit when I pointed out that we had better get our homework done before mom and dad got home.

*****

The next few days were rough for me and ever rougher for Willie. The kids at my school didn’t actually make fun of me but they acted very differently toward me. Their eyes always seemed to be focused on my puffy pants and, when the classroom was quiet, they turned their heads every time my plastic pants crinkled. My friend, Peter, accidentally made things worse when he tried to defend me and wound up revealing that I was a lifelong bed wetter. None of this, though, could compare to what Willie went through.

Terrell and his friends were merciless. They took every opportunity to taunt and humiliate him, going so far as to gang up on him and lift his shirt so that others could see the top of his diaper and plastic pants (which they referred to as his baby pants). All of this was done outside of the teachers’ hearing and Willie was too proud to report it to them.

The big crisis erupted on Friday of the second week. He was on his way from the nurse’s office to the playground when Terrell and his gang jumped him near the boys’ restroom. At first, he didn’t understand what was going on. He tried to push them away but there were too many of them. Only after he was pushed to the floor did he understand that they were stealing his pants! He began kicking his assailants but this action actually made it easier for them. They were gone in a flash. His initial rage turned to fear as he put back on his shoes, which had been pulled off with his pants. He was sitting on the floor in plain view of anyone who might happen by. All the kids were outside playing and he wondered if he could get to the principal’s office without being seen. (Seeking out an adult was a big admission of defeat, which depressed him tremendously.) He peered up and down the hallway and made a dash for it. He was about to turn the first corner when he heard voices. He couldn’t tell where they came from. He stopped and listened. He was sure that one of them was Terrell’s. He took a peek and saw Terrell shoving his pants into his locker. He decided to have it out with him then and there.

“Give me back my pants!” he shouted.

Terrell slammed the locker shut. The other boys smirked as Willie approached. Without his pants to muffle the sound, his plastic pants crinkled and echoed loudly in the hallway.

“You’d better keep your voice down. You know we’re not supposed to be in here at lunchtime,” Terrell answered mockingly.

“Give me back my pants,” Willie repeated through clenched teeth.

“How many pants do you need?” Terrell snarled. “You’ve still got your baby pants.”

The other boys thought this was quite funny. Willie had walked up to Terrell and was standing directly in front of him. Terrell didn’t flinch. He maintained a look of mocking superiority. Willie shoved him backward against the lockers. The other boys began to react but Terrell waved them off. He shoved Willie back. They jumped at each other and effectively prevented each other from throwing punches. Willie was so angry that he decided to fight dirty. He relaxed his grip on Terrell who backed away slightly. This gave Willie the room he needed. He gave Terrell a quick and sharp knee thrust into the groin sending him to the floor moaning. This prompted the other boys to get involved. They jumped Willie. The boys threw a few punches before they suddenly stopped. Instead, they started tugging at his shirt. They were ripping it off him! Once again, there were too many for him to fight off. In a matter of seconds his shirt was in tatters on the floor.

“Only babies fight dirty,” one of the boys said, as if ganging up six-against-one wasn’t also dirty fighting.

They helped Terrell get to his feet and quickly ducked out the back door (to sneak around to the playground without being seen). Willie felt some degree of satisfaction in that he had made Terrell cry. But, he was crying, too. He picked up a couple of pieces of his shirt and wiped his eyes. There was an eerie silence. Lunch must be over! Kids were lining up outside and would be invading these halls in just a few moments. He wasted valuable time picking up the remnants of his shirt and throwing them away. (It was humiliating to think that someone might see them scattered on the floor.) Panic set in as he heard kids filing into the building. He wasted more time trying to figure out which way to go. If he ran towards the principal’s office, he would surely be seen. The only other alternative was to exit the building via the door Terrell and his friends had used. Then what? He would be outside… with no place to go… in just a diaper and plastic pants. More seconds went by. The voices grew louder. He finally found the courage to move. He started running in the direction of Mr. Hallin’s office. He reached the first turn and ran directly into the children going back to their classrooms. A howl went up as soon as he was spotted.

“Look, Willie’s only wearing a diaper!”

“What happened, Willie? Did you wet your pants?”

Lots of other things were shouted but they were lost in the general mayhem. He just kept running as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he was a fish swimming upstream. He had to run through most of the kids in order to reach Mr. Hallin’s office. By now, teachers had also realized what was going on and they had quite a lot of difficulty getting their students into the classrooms.

Mr. Hallin left his office when he heard the commotion. He wasn’t surprised that Willie was the cause but he was stunned to see how he was dressed.

“You’d better come into the office.”

Willie was crying and shaking uncontrollably. He had also flooded his diaper, which was now sagging low in his plastic pants. Mr. Hallin sat him down in one of the visitor’s chairs. Willie eventually calmed down. However, as he calmed down, his defiance grew. He had no intention of telling Mr. Hallin anything. He would get even on his own terms.

“So, who did this to you?”

“I don’t know,” Willie sniffled. “Nobody.”

“Nobody?” Mr. Hallin responded with surprise. “What do you mean nobody? Did you just decide to take your clothes off and run around the hallways in your…”

Mr. Hallin almost said underwear but he decided that Willie probably wouldn’t respond to the gentle treatment.

“…diapers?”

Willie looked at Mr. Hallin as if he had just slapped him across the face.

“No!” he protested loudly.

“Then who did it?” Mr. Hallin insisted.

“I don’t know… some kids.”

“Willie, you’re in sixth grade, the highest grade in this school. You’ve been here since kindergarten. I can’t imagine that you don’t know everybody, at least by sight.”

“No!” he protested again. “It was six or seven kids. Maybe they don’t go to school here.”

“Willie!” Mr. Hallin said shaking his head. “There are only 244 students in this school. Do you really think that six or seven kids could come onto campus without one of the teachers noticing?”

He was going to say yes but he thought better of it.

“I don’t know.”

Willie was beginning to squirm, partly because he was feeling uncomfortable under Mr. Hallin’s close questioning and partly because he had wet his diaper again. He needed a change very soon. Mr. Hallin had already noticed the soaked condition of Willie’s diaper.

“OK, we’ll continue this after you get your diaper changed.”

He grabbed Willie’s hand and led him to the nurse’s station. Thankfully, all the teachers had closed their doors and the hallways were deserted. Mr. Hallin turned Willie over to Mrs. Kellen and left instructions for her to escort him back to the main office. Mrs. Kellen already knew about the disruption and the state that Willie had been left in. She led him to the adjoining infirmary and had him stand by an empty bed. She returned with a bed pad, a fresh diaper, doubler, and plastic pants. She laid him on the bed and removed his plastic pants. His resistance to authority collapsed and he meekly allowed her to remove his sopping diaper. She spoke to him gently as she washed his diaper area and laid a dry diaper and soaker under him. He almost smiled when she powdered him and pinned him into the new diaper. He was completely relaxed by the time she pulled up his plastic pants.

“Feel better?” she asked in a kindly voice.

“Yes, thank you,” he admitted.

“Good. Now you’re not going to give Mr. Hallin trouble like you did the other day, are you?”

“But I can take care of this myself!” he argued.

“Really? Then how come you lost your shirt and pants?”

“It wasn’t fair,” he explained. “I couldn’t fight six of them all at once.”

“Exactly,” she agreed. “Six against one isn’t ever fair. Now, be a good boy and tell Mr. Hallin what he needs to know. He wants to help you.”

She could tell that Willie remained unconvinced but she didn’t want to push him any further. All she had intended to do was plant the idea in his mind. She led him back to Mr. Hallin’s office. This time, a third grader with a hall pass for the bathroom giggled at him.

“Come in, Willie. Take a seat. Are you ready to tell me what happened?” Mr. Hallin asked in a direct, no-nonsense fashion.

Willie was back into a defiant mode.

“I don’t know anything else,” he answered.

“Alright. Then let me get this straight. Some boys… you don’t know who… took away your shirt and pants. Maybe they go to this school and maybe they don’t. Would you say that they were fifth or sixth graders?”

“I guess so.”

“Good. Let’s get started, then.”

“Started?” Willie asked warily.

“Yes. We have to eliminate all possibilities. We’ll start with the fifth grade rooms. We’ll go room by room until we find them or until we’re sure that they’re not students in this school.”

“I’m pretty sure that they weren’t from this school,” Willie said in an attempt to buy time.

“Well, we still have to be sure. You know, the more I think about it, the more I’m sure they weren’t fifth or sixth graders. Maybe they were big fourth graders. We’ll start there instead.”

In fact, Mr. Hallin had no intention of dragging Willie around the school in just his diaper and plastic pants. He had already called our mom who was on her way. But, he did want to get to the bottom of this and he hoped that Willie would cave in under the threat. He was certain that Terrell and his friends were the culprits. He hoped that suggesting that they visit Winnie’s classroom first would bring Willie up short.

“OK,” Willie agreed.

“OK, what?” Mr. Hallin asked, happy that his plan had worked.

“I guess we should start in the fourth grade.”

Mr. Hallin was at a loss. Did Willie really not care that a whole classroom of kids was very likely going to laugh at him in his diaper and plastic pants? So be it, Mr. Hallin thought. Once again, he took Willie by the hand (only more firmly this time) and led him out of the office. The closer they got, the more Willie tried to slow down.

“No dawdling,” Mr. Hallin said, “We’ve got a lot of classrooms to look through.”

Willie dug in his heels and wouldn’t move.

“Do you have something to tell me?” Mr. Hallin asked.

“Couldn’t I just peek in the room, through the glass in the door?”

“No,” Mr. Hallin answered firmly, “if you’re going to accuse someone of doing something as serious as this, you have to look them over carefully to make sure that there’s no mistake.”

They continued on. Mr. Hallin could feel that Willie was deliberately slowing down again. He was on the verge of saying something when Willie stopped again.

“Will I be in trouble if I tell you who it was?”

“No, Willie. I just wish that you would trust me a little more than you do.”

*****

 “So, what did mom say when Mr. Hallin told her?” I asked after Willie had told me the whole story.

“She said that she hoped that the other guys would be punished. He said that he had already started the process of seeing to it that Terrell gets suspended for a week and that the other guys get at least one day.”

“At least that will give you a little time to get the other kids on your side,” I said.

“I guess so,” Willie answered without enthusiasm.

“You know,” I continued, “there’s something I don’t get.”

“What?” Willie asked.

“Well, your friends are giving you a really hard time and Winnie’s friends don’t seem to care. How come?”

“Go ahead, tell him,” Willie said.

Winnie looked sheepish.

“Well, you see, it’s kind of like this. My friends have always known that I wear diapers.”

“Huh? What does that mean?” I asked.

“Remember I told you that I’ve been wearing your old diapers since first grade? Well, sometimes I would wear them to school like you do. You know, whenever I was sick and stuff like that.”

“Your friends think you need to wear diapers?”

“Yeah,” he said simply.

“Go ahead,” Willie coaxed, “tell him the rest.”

“Do I have to?” Winnie begged.

“Tell him, or I will,” Willie threatened.

“OK,” Winnie agreed. “But you have to promise not to get mad, Wade.”

“What did you do?” I asked suspiciously, dreading his answer.

“I told them that I wasn’t the only one in our family who had a problem with bed wetting.”

“You told your friends about my bed wetting?” I screeched.

“And your pants wetting, too,” Willie added.

“Oh, man!” I said in an irritated tone. “How many people did you tell?”

“That doesn’t really matter. Telling one person is just as bad as telling a dozen,” my mom said from the doorway. “You knew better than to tell anyone outside the family about Wade’s problem. We’ll discuss this later.”

Winnie groaned.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a seemingly sincere tone.

I really don’t know why I didn’t throw a fit over this revelation. Maybe it was because I was beginning to enjoy hanging around with my brothers in our diapers and plastic pants. (I had bowed to their pressure and didn’t wear anything over my diaper and plastic pants whenever I was home.) Later that night, he was informed of his punishment—one more month of being grounded. I thought that he was getting off pretty easy. He never went out much anyway and he loved sitting around the house in his diapers and plastic pants. Having to go to bed a half-hour earlier than usual was a pain, though.

*****

The next morning, Saturday, started out in the usual way. By noon, we had finished our chores and Elaine was getting ready to go out to a matinee with friends. Willie, Winnie, and I were absolutely bored. We could neither go anywhere nor could we invite friends to the house because of our grounding.

“Alright, boys. That’s enough moping. Go outside and get some fresh air,” my dad ordered.

Our backyard was not very large so there wasn’t a whole lot we could do. (The front yard was off limits because our friends might invite themselves over, which wasn’t allowed when we were grounded.) We brought our gloves and a baseball with us and started playing catch. This turned into a game of keep-away and an inevitable wrestling match between my brothers and me.

“Boys, I want you inside now,” our mom announced, standing on the back steps.

I wondered if we had gotten too loud or if one of us had done something wrong. I looked at Willie and Winnie with questioning eyes and they both shrugged innocently. As soon as we got into the kitchen, mom started fussing with us. You know—straightening our hair and picking bits of grass off of our shirts.

“I guess you look presentable,” she finally said.

“Presentable? To who?” I asked worriedly. “We’re not wearing pants!”

“You’ll see in a minute. Don’t get upset; everything will be alright.”

I couldn’t believe that mom was being so insensitive, especially after Willie’s terrible experience just the day before.

“But, mom…”

“No, buts. Our guests are waiting.”

Mom nudged Winnie and me ahead of her and Willie, whose hand she was holding. We walked through the dining room into the living room. Dad, Terrell, and his parents were waiting for us. Everyone looked stony faced and the atmosphere seemed tense. My brothers and I were astonished that Terrell was dressed exactly like us.

“Go ahead, Terrell,” his dad said, pushing him in front of us.

Terrell looked awful—his eyes were red and swollen, his face was pale, and his legs seemed wobbly. He also had trouble finding his voice. Only a funny-sounding squeak came out the first time he tried to speak. He tried again.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” he said to the floor.

“Look at Willis when you speak to him,” his dad interrupted gruffly.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” he repeated to Willie. “It was wrong to make fun of you. Mostly, I’m sorry that we’re not friends anymore. Will you fo…,” Terrell stumbled over his words and began to cry softly. He tried again. “Will you forgive me for what I did?”

Willie had started to cry, too. (I have to admit that I also got misty-eyed.) Then, Willie did one of the most magnanimous things I had ever witnessed. He offered his hand for Terrell to shake.

“I forgive you,” he said in a steady voice. “And, I hope that we can be friends again.”

I think this took the adults completely by surprise. They looked at each other for a few seconds and then mom spoke.

“Wade. Winnie. Please go up to your rooms for a little while. We’re going to let Terrell and Willie finish patching things up in private.”

She invited Terrell’s parents to join her and dad out on the patio. Winnie followed me into my room.

“I need to be changed,” he said.

Technically, we should have asked one of our parents to do it but we rationalized that they probably didn’t want to be disturbed. I got things ready while Winnie retrieved a diaper and plastic pants from his room.

“Do you think that Willie and Terrell are going to be friends again?” he asked as I removed his wet diaper.

“It looks like it,” I answered. “I’m kind of glad. He and Terrell have been friends since before kindergarten when Terrell used to live next door.”

After Winnie was changed, I decided that I could use a fresh diaper myself.

“Can I do it?” Winnie begged. “Please let me do it. You never let me do it.”

I agreed. Winnie did a good job (except that I had to help him get the pins tight enough). He felt very proud of himself. A little while later, we heard a car start in our driveway.

“I guess Terrell and his parents are leaving,” I said.

“Yeah,” Winnie agreed. “Let’s go find out what happened.”

We went looking for Willie. He and Terrell were still in the living room.

“Hi,” I said to Terrell.

“Hi,” he answered, somewhat embarrassed.

“Terrell’s parents are letting him stay for dinner,” Willie explained.

“Great,” I answered.

There was silence, as no one seemed to know what to say next.

“Do you want to play a game?” Winnie asked.

“Like what?” Willie responded.

“I don’t know. How about Clue?”

We agreed and went into the den while Winnie ran up to get the game. I noticed that Terrell was walking funny—kind of slow. I assumed that was having trouble getting used to his thick diapers. I wanted to ask him a whole bunch of questions but I thought that that would be impolite. Winnie came back with the game and we spread it out on the floor.

“Ow!” Terrell exclaimed as he sat.

“Terrell’s dad gave him a huge spanking last night,” Willie explained.

“Yeah, I’m not going to be able to sit down for about a year, I think. In one way I’m kind of glad that my diapers are so thick,” he quipped.

We all laughed at that, including Terrell. We had time to play three games before dinner. Terrell shifted positions frequently to relieve his sore behind until he gave up and laid on his stomach. He eventually told us everything about his punishment. He confirmed that he wasn’t allowed to go to school the following week. On the positive side, he had just found out that he would come to our house so that Willie and he could do homework together. He didn’t know how long his diaper punishment would last but he did know that he was grounded for three weeks, which seemed like a light punishment since we were grounded for a month for doing something that I thought was much less serious. As far as the diapers went, his mom had marched him over to Mrs. Morrison’s directly after picking him up from school. He was relieved of his pants and underpants and diapered right then and there. He was made to carry home a basic supply of day and nighttime diapers, soakers, and plastic pants. His mom also placed an order for an additional dozen and-a-half of each.

“Gee, that sounds like a lot,” Winnie observed.

“It does,” Terrell agreed in a quavering voice.

*****

Monday represented a watershed for Willie. First of all, his chief tormentors were not in school and, second, the fact that a lot of kids had seen him in his diaper and plastic pants actually increased their sympathy for him. The last thing (which I thought might help) was my giving him permission to talk about my own lifelong bedwetting and pants wetting problems. This wasn’t a big deal that I should get a lot of credit for. Winnie had already blown my cover and I figured that lots of kids must have already known through their younger brothers and sisters. Whatever the cause, Willie came home from school in an exceptionally good mood—so good that I hesitated to bring it up.

“Aren’t you going to ask how school was today?” he asked in a slightly injured voice as I was changing his diaper.

I laughed. “Sorry. I didn’t know if you wanted to talk about it. What happened?”

“Well, at first,” he started seriously, “everybody was looking at me but nobody was talking. Then, Melissa Davies came over and started asking me if I was OK and stuff like that. Then, other kids came over and pretty soon we were talking about all kinds of stuff. That’s when I decided to tell them that I was probably going to be wearing diapers for a long time. Everybody was polite and everything but I could tell that they wanted to know why. I said that needing diapers ran in the family,” he said sheepishly looking at me, “and that my big brother wore them his whole life and now I was wearing them, too.”

He looked at me intently, gauging my reaction to his last statement.

“It’s OK,” I smiled as I pulled up his plastic pants, “a lot of kids probably knew already.”

With this, I turned to Winnie who was also waiting to get changed. He suddenly seemed very interested with something on the floor.

“Come on, blabbermouth,” I teased, “get on the bed.”

“I am not a blabbermouth,” he started to say before catching himself. “Well, maybe once,” he admitted.

Terrell joined us a few minutes later. He, too, was interested in what had happened to Willie at school. I guess he felt guilty about everything. He seemed genuinely relieved that the other kids had accepted Willie’s condition, diapers and all. Maybe he was also hoping to get a reading on how the other kids felt about him.

“The other kids know about your diapers,” Willie said to Terrell.

“You told them?”

“Um, no,” Willie said haltingly. “They already knew.”

“They did? How?”

“Tommy Janis saw you shopping with your mom Saturday morning.”

Terrell let out a groan and covered his face with his hands.

“Oh, man. I can’t believe it,” he repeated several times.

Since Winnie and I didn’t know what he was talking about, we had to wait for him to explain.

“Remember I said that my mom took me to Mrs. Morrison’s right from school and that I was put into diapers right away?”

“Yeah,” we answered.

“Well, I haven’t been allowed to wear pants since then.”

It took a few seconds for his meaning to sink in.

“You mean that your mom took you shopping in public without your pants on?” Willie asked in disbelief.

Terrell slowly nodded his head.

“We went to Woolworth’s to buy me colored t-shirts,” he said pointing to the yellow one he was wearing. “And, today, my mom took me to her beauty parlor appointment. All morning long these ladies shook their fingers at me and told me that I deserved what I was getting,” he added with a catch in his throat.

“Gee, I’m sorry about that,” Willie sympathized. “Do you know when you get to wear pants again?”

“Not until I get back to school. I don’t think we’re going anywhere tomorrow but she always goes grocery shopping on Wednesday. But that won’t be the worst. Thursday’s sure to be awful… it’s my grandfather’s birthday and my parents have invited the whole family over for a special dinner. My cousins are going to murder me.”

I was beginning to change my mind about Terrell’s punishment. I started to think that maybe it was too severe.

*****

Tuesday was also a good day for Willie, even though he had been sure it wouldn’t be. Mom got a call from Mr. Hallin Monday night asking her and Willie to come in early the next morning. He said that Willie’s classmates who had tormented him along with Terrell wanted to apologize before coming back to school. Mom agreed but Willie didn’t want to do it.

“I don’t care if they apologize or not. Besides, they probably won’t mean it.”

“Willie, stop being silly,” Mom warned. “The polite thing is to let them apologize to you, and that’s that.”

When Willie came home from school it was obvious that mom had been right. He said that the guys had been really nice to him and that he didn’t think that they would give him any more trouble. Terrell showed up and he repeated his story.

“But,” he added, “I think that there’s still a problem.”

“Why do you think you still have a problem?” Terrell asked.

“Not a problem for me,” Willie clarified, “…a problem for you. Those guys are really mad that you got them into trouble. They want to get back at you.”

“Oh…,” Terrell said in a worried voice.

“But I won’t let it happen. I already told them that you and me have made up. If they keep talking about it, I’ll tell them that they’ll have to fight both of us.”

“You’d do that? I mean, after everything I did…”

“Let’s not talk about that any more,” Willie cut in. “Let’s finish our homework so we can have time to play before your mom picks you up.

Terrell’s experience with his mom at the grocery store Wednesday morning was as bad as he thought it would be. She showed no mercy and made him walk next to her the whole time.

“The worst part was that my mom seemed to know everybody. She must have told twenty people why I was wearing diapers and plastic pants. It took so long that, after she paid for the groceries, she asked the cashier if he would watch her cart while she took me to the ladies room to change my diapers.”

“Do you think it would help if I asked your mom to go easy on you?” Willie inquired.

Terrell brightened for a moment and then became somber again.

“Thanks, but I don’t think so. It would make things worse if she thought that I’d been complaining.”

Thursday afternoon, Terrell showed up at our house on his bicycle. He lived about a mile away and the drive was mostly through residential neighborhoods, but still…

“My mom is too busy preparing for my grandfather’s birthday party. She says I have to be home by five o’clock, so we’d better start doing homework right away.”

After he had left, I commented to Willie that Terrell didn’t seem upset about having to ride his bike wearing just his diapers and plastic pants.

“Maybe it doesn’t seem as bad as going to the supermarket and having to stand there while your mom explains why you’re wearing diapers. At least on a bicycle you can move pretty fast and hope that not too many people see you.”

“I guess so,” I agreed hesitantly, “but you’ve got to stop for the traffic when you cross Carver Boulevard,” I pointed out.

“I forgot about that,” Willie said with a shiver.

When Terrell again showed up again riding his bicycle on Friday, he looked almost as bad as he had when he came over to apologize to Willie. Something new must have happened.

“Willie and Winnie aren’t here yet,” I explained. “I don’t know why they’re late.”

No sooner had I said this than they came running up the driveway.

“The bus broke down and they had to send another one,” Willie explained breathlessly. “I’m really sorry about what happened at school today.”

Tears immediately came to Terrell’s eyes. I wondered why he had been in school when his suspension was supposed to last all week.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I don’t know exactly, except that Terrell’s mom and he walked right through the middle of the playground during recess this afternoon,” Willie answered.

Terrell was wiping his eyes and trying to hide his crying from us. I thought that it would be better if we left Willie and him alone.

“Come on, Winnie,” I said. “I bet you need a diaper change.”

Winnie looked like he wanted to contradict me, so I grabbed him by the arm and practically dragged him upstairs.

“I wanted to hear what happened,” he pouted.

“I know, so did I,” I explained, “but Terrell is really upset. It’ll be less embarrassing for him to talk to Willie alone.”

We changed each other and I was about to go downstairs to start washing the day’s diapers when Terrell and Willie showed up.

“Can you change us?” Willie asked.

“Yeah, sure,” I agreed.

This would be the first time that Terrell got his diaper changed at our house. When I was done, he and Winnie went downstairs while I changed Willie.

“Well,” I asked, “why did his mom bring him to school?”

“I still don’t know,” Willie answered in a very concerned voice. “He didn’t stop crying until he asked to come upstairs to get his diaper changed.”

We went back downstairs. Terrell was ready to unburden himself.

“My mom got a call from Mr. Hallin saying that some papers needed to be signed before I could go back to school. He told her that she could come in early Monday morning to take care of it. She and my grandmother already had plans to meet for breakfast so she asked if she could sign them today. Mr. Hallin said that it didn’t matter when she signed them, just as long as they got signed before I went back. We got in the car and drove over.”

He paused to catch his breath.

“We got there just around 1:00. I figured that everyone was in class and that it wouldn’t take too much time. But, we had to wait because Mr. Hallin wasn’t in his office. We waited forever; I was really embarrassed just sitting there. He finally arrived at 1:30 just as the little kids’ recess started. We went to his office and he gave my mom the papers. She signed them. I thought we would leave right away but my mom started telling Mr. Hallin everything about my punishment. She kept going on an on and then I heard the bell for the end of the little kids’ recess. I knew that our recess would start in fifteen minutes. I was getting more and more nervous and then… and then I couldn’t hold it any more and I really soaked my diaper.”

He paused again to collect himself.

“We got up to leave and my mom saw how wet I was. She asked Mr. Hallin if she could take me to the nurse’s office. Mrs. Kellen let my mom use one of the beds in the infirmary. My mom was just pulling on my plastic pants when our recess bell rang. I begged her not to leave right away…”

He started to cry and I offered to get us something to drink. When I came back Terrell had calmed down. He accepted a soda and continued.

“She said that I would get as big a break as I had given you, Willie. She put my wet diaper and the other stuff into the diaper bag and handed it to me. I tried to slow her down event though I knew it wouldn’t do any good—there were at least ten minutes of recess left. Just before we went out the door she stopped and lectured me again. She said that this was for my own good—that I needed to learn exactly what it had felt like when I left you in the hallway in your diapers. She grabbed my hand and… well, you know the rest.”

He sipped his soda and looked down at the floor.

“I guess my mom was right. Walking through the playground with everybody looking at me in my diapers was a lot worse than I thought it would be… I’m really sorry I did that to you, Willie.”

“You already said that last Saturday,” Willie said off-handedly. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be OK. You’ll see.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so,” Willie asserted with firmness.

The way he said it made me wonder how he could be so sure.

*****

That same day Mom and dad gave the three of us a pleasant surprise. We would be allowed to have guests over after school on Fridays and on weekends for the remaining two weeks of our grounding (six weeks for Winnie).

“This means one friend each,” mom explained, “and only when we’re home. Understood?”

“Yes!” we agreed excitedly.

“And one other thing,” she added. “This was never part of our rules (meaning hers and dad’s) but since you made it part of your routine we’ll keep it. What I mean is, when you’re in the house you won’t wear pants. It makes it a lot easier to keep track of when you need to be changed.”

“But I want to invite Peter over,” I whined.

“Well, go ahead,” she said. “You have our permission.”

 “Yeah,” Willie said teasingly, “I’m going to ask Terrell. Why can’t you invite Peter? He’s your best friend.”

“Yeah,” Winnie added, “don’t be such a stick in the mud. I’m inviting Wayne. Why are you being such a baby about it?”

I didn’t want to discuss it. I went up to my room in a really bad mood. My stupid brothers! Once again, this was their fault. I heard Winnie and Willie on the phone inviting their friends. This just made me angrier. I would have to stay holed up in my room all afternoon tomorrow. Eventually, I got bored and went downstairs to watch TV but I was still itching for a fight. I wasn’t at all expecting what I got.

“”We’re sorry if we got you mad,” Winnie said.

“Uh, that’s OK,” I answered suspiciously.

“No, really,” Willie added. “We didn’t mean it. We just think that you should invite Peter over. He’s your friend isn’t he?”

The sounded sincere so I didn’t snap back at them.

“I just can’t. It’s bad enough that Peter and the other guys see my diapers when I change for PE. I just can’t do it.”

The next afternoon when my brothers had their friends over I stayed in my room and sulked. I suppose I was feeling sorry for myself, but I couldn’t help it.

*****

The following Monday when talking to Peter I let it slip that my parents had granted us limited visiting rights for the remainder of our grounding.

“When can you start having guests?” he asked.

“Actually, it started last Saturday,” I answered.

“And you didn’t invite me?” he asked in a semi-serious tone.

“Well, you see,” I answered turning red, “we’re not allowed to wear pants over our diapers and I...”

I couldn’t think of how to finish my thought.

“And you think that I’ll be mean to you?” he said in a hurt one.

“No,” I lied. “I thought it would be too boring.”

“Well,” he continued, “I don’t think it would. When is the next time you can invite someone over?”

“After school on Friday,” I answered.

“Good. Then I can come over, right?”

I was cornered… I couldn’t think of a way to stop him. I was pretty sure that he was telling the truth when he said that he wouldn’t laugh at me in my diapers and plastic pants. But would that be true if he witnessed me getting changed?

*****

Terrell was given a hard time when he returned to school. Just as Willie had predicted, the trouble came from Terrell’s so-called friends.

“What happened?” I asked. “Did they physically attack him, too?”

“No.” Willie answered. “They know that they’ll be in big trouble if they do that again. They’re just being real jerks and they’re being real tricky about it.”

“How?” Winnie asked.

‘Well, they say all kinds of things to make him mad—but only when teachers weren’t around to hear it.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“You know… talking to him like he really was a baby or asking him if he needed his diapers changed.”

“That’s not so bad,” I said. “They’ll get sick of that in a couple of days.”

“I know,” Willie answered in a worried tone. “It’s just that… I don’t know… I don’t think that he can keep his temper down for that long.”

“Oh,” Winnie and I answered in unison.

I had to agree with Willie. Terrell was famous for his short fuse. Willie had told us a lot of stories about Terrell and how he had gotten into fights over really small things. Getting involved in a fight right after coming back from a one-week suspension seemed like a surefire way to be thrown out of school for good.

“Can’t you talk to him?” Winnie wondered.

“It’s impossible to talk to him when he’s mad like he is now,” Willie answered. (I struck how similar he and Terrell were in this regard.) After a short pause, he added, “I’ve got to think of a way to stop those guys.”

I wished him luck even though I couldn’t think of anything that might help.

*****

The next day, Winnie caught up to me just as I got off my bus.

“Where’s Willie?” I asked.

“You’ll never believe what happened,” he said all out of breath. “He got attacked again!”

“What!” I exclaimed in disbelief. “Why? Was he defending Terrell?”

“I don’t know. I just heard about it on the bus,” Winnie explained. “All I know for sure is that mom came to pick him up.”

“Really?” I responded. “Was Terrell involved, too?”

“I don’t know,” Winnie answered in an exasperated voice. “I’ve already told you everything I know.”

We turned the corner onto our street and I noticed that mom’s car wasn’t in the driveway.

“I guess it can’t be that bad,” I said. “Mom didn’t stay home from work.”

We hurried the rest of the way.

“Be careful what you ask,” I advised Winnie. “He’s probably really mad. He might not want to talk about it. Take it easy on him. OK?”

“But I want to know what happened,” Winnie whined.

“So do I,” I answered. “But we won’t get anything out of him if we make him madder.”

I was surprised to see him calmly watching television in the den. I was even more surprised when he turned around and smiled at us.

“Did you hear what happened?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “Are you OK?”

He thought that my question was really funny.

“What gives?” I asked. (I was beginning to wonder if he was hysterical.)

“Do you guys need a diaper change?” he said, ignoring my question.

“Kind of,” we answered.

“OK, I’ll tell you everything after I change your diapers.”

Willie deliberately drove us nuts by refusing to say anything until we were back downstairs in fresh diapers and plastic pants.

“OK,” I said impatiently, “give!”

“Yeah,” Winnie agreed, “tell us what happened.”

This set Willie off into another fit of laughter and it was only after we threatened to pummel him that he started to tell the story.

“Remember, yesterday, when I said I had to figure out a way to help Terrell?” he asked rhetorically. “Well, I figured it out. I set those guys up so that they would come after me.”

“You did?” I asked with a degree of skepticism. (I wondered if he was inventing a face-saving story.) “How?”

He started giggling but stopped when he saw that Winnie and I were getting really impatient with him.

“OK,” he said quickly, “I’ll quit stalling and tell you everything. This morning those guys really went after Terrell. Every chance they got, one of them said something to make him mad… just like they did yesterday—only more often. I figured that I would have to do something while he wasn’t around… and fast. So, at the end of lunch, when he said that he needed his diaper changed, I told him that I was still dry.”

“Were you, really?” I asked in amazement.

“Yeah,” he said, mildly annoyed, “I can hold it a long time, you know. I don’t have to use a bathroom as often as you do.”

Then, immediately regretting what he had said, he began to backtrack. On any other occasion, I might have gotten mad at him for making reference to my weak bladder but I was so anxious to hear the rest of the story that I let it slide.

“OK, OK, I know what you mean,” I agreed. “Just stick to the story.”

“Well, as soon as Terrell left the cafeteria, I saw those guys make their move to follow him so I got in their way. ‘Are you gonna gang up on him, six to one? You’re nothing but sissies, afraid to take us on one at a time,’ I said. Duncan, the biggest mouth of them all, got mad at me. ‘We are not chicken,’ he said. ‘I didn’t say that you were chicken, I said that you were sissies!’ This got him really mad and he said that he would fight me after school. ‘Why not now? And alone.’ I answered. ‘Or are you going to run home to your mommy so that you won’t have to fight at all?’ He couldn’t back down now, so the two of us snuck outside and around the building where no one is allowed.”

“Weren’t you afraid that the others might follow and jump you?” Winnie asked.

“Nah,” Willie answered. “I had already said that anyone who would

 do that was a sissy. Anyway, Duncan pushed me and I pushed him back. Then he came at me and I grabbed his hands and we fell on the grass. While we were rolling on the ground I started yelling for him to stop tearing my shirt off.”

“He was tearing your shirt off?” I asked in surprise.

Willie started laughing again.

“No… that was me doing it to myself!”

“What!?” Winnie and I exclaimed.

“That’s why I grabbed his hands. While we were rolling around on the ground, I hooked his hand and mine inside my shirt and started making the buttons pop off. Duncan didn’t know what was going on!” Willie said gleefully. “He started to panic and tried to get away but I just kept on screaming that he was ripping my shirt off. Then, I kicked off my shoes and my pants started coming down.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, “how come your pants started coming down?”

“Because I took my belt off before lunch and I secretly unbuttoned my pants as we were walking out to the side of the building,” Willie said, flashing a self-satisfied smile.

“You mean everything was faked?” Winnie asked.

“Yup,” Willie confirmed with an even bigger smile. “I guess I overdid the pants thing, though. Duncan got so mad at me that he actually grabbed them and yanked really hard. He ripped the pockets right off. Mom is really mad about that,” he added as an aside.

“OK, so what happened then?” I asked.

“I guess Mr. Jaspers heard me yelling. He came running and grabbed Duncan off of me. He told me to put my pants back on but I showed him that they were totally wrecked. When he asked me what had happened I thought that it would look better if I started acting embarrassed about him seeing my diaper and plastic pants. Anyway, Duncan kept trying to butt in and say that he hadn’t done anything—that I had ripped my own clothes. Of course, Mr. Jaspers didn’t believe him. Then he took us into Mr. Hallin’s office. Mr. Hallin was real nice to me and asked me to wait for mom in the conference room. I heard Mr. Hallin yelling at Duncan for a long time before he told him to sit on the bench outside the office. His mom showed up pretty soon after that and she really let him have it, too.”

“Except for the pants, how mad was mom?”

“Not very,” Willie answered. “She talked to me about not fighting and how I should have told one of the teachers that those guys were bothering Terrell and me, but I don’t think she really expected me to do that.”

“You are so lucky,” Winnie said. “If mom ever finds out what you really did, you’ll be dead for sure!”

“Well, she’s not going to find out. Is she?” I asked threateningly.

“No, of course not!” Winnie objected. “I’m not a snitch.”

Just then Terrell ran up our front steps and called for Willie.

“Come on in,” Willie answered.

Terrell entered, wearing nothing but his diaper, plastic pants, shoes and socks.

“Did your mom bring you?” Willie asked.

“No. But, she said I could come over on my bike and stay for a half-hour.” After a short pause, he added, “I really needed to tell you that I was sorry.”

“You already did that last week,” Willie pointed out.

“I mean about today,” Terrell answered. “If I hadn’t started it two weeks ago, Duncan wouldn’t have attacked you today.”

“Duncan didn’t attack me,” Willie said with a proud smile. “I attacked him.”

“But everybody said that they saw you with Duncan and Mr. Jaspers walking towards Mr. Hallin’s office and that you were in your diaper and plastic pants because your pants and shirt were all torn up.”

“That’s kind of true,” Willie agreed. “But I’m the one who ripped my shirt off.”

Terrell was clearly confused. Finally, after five minutes Willie finished his explanation of how he had trapped Duncan. The only thing he left out was that his primary motivation had been to save Terrell from the effects of his own quick temper. Terrell was obviously moved by Willie’s selfless act.

“You did it so that they would stop picking on me? Why?”

Willie didn’t answer right away and I wondered if he was going tell the whole truth. He didn’t… not exactly, anyway.

“What do you think would have happened if you got into a fight with him? I didn’t want you to get kicked out.” Then, lightening the atmosphere, he added with a smile, “Besides, that would have left me as the only kid in the class wearing diapers!”

This made Terrell laugh.

“Can I ask you a question?” Willie asked Terrell.

“Sure,” he answered.

“Why did you come over here dressed like that?” he asked, pointing to Terrell’s diaper and plastic pants.

“Because I owed you. The kids in school saw you in just your diaper and plastic pants… twice… and it’s my fault this whole thing started.”

“Oh. Can I ask something else?”

“What?”

“What happened at your grandfather’s birthday party?”

It must have been really bad because Terrell turned bright red and wouldn’t answer.

*****

On Friday afternoon, I got more and more nervous as Peter and I rode the bus home. Peter noticed.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“No,” I answered too quickly and too sharply.

“Would you quit worrying?” he answered in an exasperated voice.

I felt bad that he saw that I didn’t really trust him. I tried to explain myself without the others on the bus hearing.

“Sorry. It’s just that this is so embarrassing…”

“So, you don’t want me to go home with you,” he said flatly.

I could hear the hurt in his voice but I still hesitated in giving him an answer.

“OK,” he sighed. “I guess I’ll see you next week.”

“No,” I answered quickly. “You can come over.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really,” I said trying to smile.

“Cool!” he smiled back.

No one else was home when we got there.

“What do you want to do?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Watch TV?”

We started for the den.

“Umm,” he said hesitantly, “I thought that you weren’t supposed to wear your pants in the house.”

“”You won’t squeal on me?” I asked.

“Of course not. I just don’t want you getting into trouble. I wouldn’t want your mom to say that I’m not allowed to come over again.”

“Oh,” I answered sincerely, “thanks. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Are your brothers coming home soon?”

The words were barely out of his mouth when we heard them coming up the driveway with their friends. The moment had come… but I still wanted to delay it.

“I have to put on a dry… I have to change. I’ll be right back.”

I know that I blushed as I was speaking. I ran up the stairs to my room. My brothers and Terrell joined me just as I was pinning my diaper.

“You owe me fifty cents,” Winnie said smugly to Willie.

“OK, OK,” Willie answered impatiently. “I already told you I’d pay.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked innocently.

“Willie bet me that you would chicken out and tell Peter not to come,” Winnie giggled.

 “Well. I didn’t,” I barked, pulling up my plastic pants and storming out of the room.

“Geez, what’s the matter with him?” I heard Terrell ask.

“It’s long story,” Willie answered.

I was halfway down the stairs before I remembered that Wayne, Winnie’s friend, must be waiting downstairs, too. If I could have thought up a good excuse, I would have gone back upstairs. As it was, I resigned myself to facing them alone. They were intently watching TV as I tried to make an unobtrusive entrance. My plastic pants crackled as I sat down. Peter turned and smiled; Wayne said hello. Even though they weren’t making a big deal out of it, I felt myself blushing.

“This is pretty good,” Peter said, referring to the program. “The guy… there… with the beard… is an undercover cop and he’s trying to break up a car-theft ring. But, the bad guys know about it and are setting a trap for him.”

There was ‘danger music’ playing so I knew that something was about to happen. “Thanks,” I said, keeping my eyes focused on the screen. Out of the corner of my eye, though, I noticed that Peter was looking at my diaper and plastic pants. I felt my face get redder. Luckily, a gunshot attracted his attention back to the program. After it was over, Willie and Winnie and their friends wanted to play Chinese checkers. Peter and I agreed. We set the game up on the floor and I couldn’t decide whether I should sit crossed-legged or lie on my stomach. Sitting upright would allow me to hide more of my diaper with my shirt while lying on my stomach would hide the wet condition of my diaper once I had peed in it (which was imminent). I chose the second option and instantly regretted it when I looked at Peter’s face.

“Sorry,” he said in a whisper. “I didn’t know that your diapers made your bottom so rounded.”

“That’s because the air inside our plastic pants gets pushed to the back when we lie on our stomachs,” Willie gleefully explained. “In a little while, the air will be gone and Wade’s butt won’t look nearly so big!”

“Willie!” I said as threateningly as possible while blushing.

“Don’t get mad at me,” he answered defensively. “You know that’s what happens!”

Actually, I was mostly mad at myself until he and Winnie lied down on their stomachs to demonstrate the point further. Then I was mad at them but I couldn’t do anything about it without looking like a jerk. Besides, their antics did serve to take the attention off of me. Despite my initial nervousness, Peter and I had a good time together. Mom came home with takeout Chinese for dinner and it wasn’t until 9:00 o’clock that our friends went home.

“See… I told you that Peter wouldn’t make fun of you,” Willie said just after they had left.

“Well, he could have!” I answered heatedly.

Mom heard the tenseness in my voice and told all of us to settle down.

“You are such a ‘fraidy-cat!” he whispered so as not have our mom overhear.

“Am not!” I answered barely above a whisper.

“Then how come you didn’t invite him to come over again tomorrow like me and Winnie invited Terrell and Wayne?”

“Because he’s probably got better stuff to do,” I answered.

“Fraidy-cat,” he said again, running out of the room.

I went after him and we ran smack into our mom. She calmly informed us that it was time to be put into our night diapers.

*****

The next day, I was kind of bored in my self-imposed exile after Terrell and Wayne showed up. A short time later, mom told me that I had a visitor.

“Who?” I asked nervously.

“Come and see,” she answered enigmatically.

“I don’t want to see anyone!” I said stubbornly.

“Well, someone came to see you and you are not going to ignore him. I won’t tell you again,” she warned.

“But I’m wet!” I further protested.

“Stop it!” my mother said sharply. “We do not keep guests waiting. That’s very impolite.”

And how polite is it to greet a guest when you’re wearing a wet diaper? I wondered to myself as I followed her down the stairs.

“Peter!” I exclaimed. “Why are you here?”

“I came to visit you,” he answered in a hurt voice. “Don’t you want me to?”

“Of course I do,” I semi-lied.

“Of course he does,” my mother said echoing me. “He’s been moping around the house all day.”

The truth of the matter was that I didn’t know what I felt. It was true that I was bored, but I didn’t want Peter to be bored, too.

“Your brothers sound like they’re having a lot of fun in the backyard,” Peter noted.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I agreed, noticing the noise coming from the backyard for the first time.

“Do you want to see what’s up?” he asked.

We walked out the patio door and Peter and I laughed at the same time. My brothers and their friends had set up the sprinkler and a heavy sheet of plastic like we used to do when we were really little and they were running and sliding through its spray. I watched for a few seconds when I noticed that they were all wearing diapers and plastic pants, including Winnie’s friend Wayne.

“Come on, you guys. This is really fun!” Winnie called to us.

I was in shock over what Wayne was wearing. I wondered if mom knew.

“OK,” Peter answered. “Can I borrow some of your stuff?” he asked me.

I must have stared open-mouthed for about three seconds.

“Well, answer Peter,” my mom said. “Are you going to lend him a diaper and plastic pants?”

I still couldn’t find my voice. Finally, though, I croaked out an affirmative answer.

“Thanks,” he said, turning on his heels and heading back into the house.

I practically had to run to keep up with him. We reached my room and he kicked off his shoes and began removing his socks, shirt, and pants. I mechanically began collecting the necessary supplies. I laid out a diaper and a doubler on the bed.

“What’s that?” he asked pointing to the diaper doubler.

“Oh,” I said blushing. “I guess you don’t need that.”

“But, what is it?” he pressed.

I explained that our mom had bought these to put inside our diapers to make them more absorbent. He giggled and asked if I minded if he tried it. I was now beyond surprise and agreed. I sprinkled powder on the diaper and doubler. He lied down on them and I sprinkled powder on him.

“That feels cool,” he commented as he spread the powder over his diaper area. “Do you like wearing diapers better with a doubler?”

“They’re OK,” I answered somewhat uncertainly. “I guess they work. I mean, I don’t need as many changes.”

“Doesn’t you grounding end this weekend? I mean, could you start coming over to my house and going other places next week?”

“Yeah,” I answered happily. “But,” changing tone, I added, “I still have to wear my diapers and plastic pants all the time.”

“So?” he continued, “Everybody knows about them anyway.”

Yeah, I thought glumly, everybody knows about them alright. Then, I thought of something else.

“I might not be able to go other places if my mom is still working late next week. I don’t think she’d let Willie watch Winnie all alone.”

“Can’t Elaine help?” he asked.

“Her play practices are going to last for another two weeks.”

“But, I could still come over here, couldn’t I?” he asked smiling.

I agreed. I handed him a pair of plastic pants and helped him make sure that his diaper was totally contained within it. I took off my shirt, socks, and shoes and followed him downstairs. I was amazed at how big and rounded his bottom looked. I got really embarrassed thinking that I must look the same. However, once we started playing in the sprinkler I forgot about my reservations.

“OK, boys,” my mother called to us. “It’s still early in the season and you’ve gotten enough sun for one day.”

“Aw, gee, mom,” I complained. “We’ve only been out for a few minutes.”

“It’s been over an hour,” she said to my surprise. “I’ve got a nice snack and some cool drinks ready on the patio.”

We dried off and sat down at the picnic table.

“After you’re finished, I’ll change your diapers. You guys are hanging pretty low,” my mom said.

This made us all giggle. All the sliding on the plastic sheet had caused a considerable amount of water to get into our plastic pants. Plus, in my case anyway, I was already wet when we started. I was actually kind of glad that mom asked Peter and me to go first. My squishy diaper was getting pretty uncomfortable. We went upstairs and Peter laid down on my changing pad. My mom unpinned his diaper and cleaned him off. My first surprise came when I noticed that he had peed the diaper while wearing it; the second came when my mom told me to get him a clean one.

“Huh?” I observed stupidly.

“A diaper,” she repeated. “Get me a diaper.”

I looked over to Peter who smiled at me. I couldn’t believe that he wanted one! I felt like I was reliving the day I caught my brothers wearing my old diapers—and I didn’t understand why my mom was encouraging him. I snapped out of my stupor and retrieved diapers and plastic pants for both of us. Mom dressed us in t-shirts, socks, and sneakers.

“And stay out of the backyard. The grass is too soggy to play on.”

“But it’s too hot to stay in the house,” I complained.

“Then go out front.”

“Out front!” I shouted. “We can’t…”

Before I could finish, Peter pulled me out of the room.

“What’s the matter with you?” he asked. “Do you want to get grounded again? Isn’t today your last day?”

“Yeah, “ I answered reluctantly, “but…”

“We can sit on the side porch,” he said cutting me off.

Let me explain. We lived in a two-storey house that had been built in 1910. The main feature on the outside was a long porch that ran the full length of the front and along two-thirds of the side. Not only did it provide a fairly private place to sit on hot days, it also helped keep the downstairs rooms cooler. That said, I was still nervous about going out front in my diaper and plastic pants… and more than a little bit annoyed with Peter. I sat down on the floor of the porch while he chose a rocker chair opposite me.

“Why are you sitting down there?” he asked.

“It’s cooler,” I replied.

We both knew that that wasn’t the truth. Thick bushes reached to the top of the railing and effectively hid me from view. He began to rock.

“You can make a nice breeze by rocking back and forth,” he commented.

“So?” I responded.

“You should try it,” he continued.

I didn’t want to talk about rocking chairs and breezes.

“What are you doing?” I asked irritably.

“Rocking,” he answered.

“That’s not what I mean!” I answered loudly. “Do you want somebody to see you wearing a diaper and plastic pants?”

He got me even more annoyed by giggling before he answered.

“I thought that wearing a diaper might be fun. That’s why I asked your mom if I could try your diapers.”

 “You asked my mom what?” I shrieked. “When?”

“Yesterday. Right after Wayne asked if he could try Winnie’s.”

“Wayne asked, too?”

These revelations were making me dizzy.

“Didn’t we have fun running through the sprinkler and sliding through the water?” he continued.

“Well, yeah. I guess so,” I answered evasively. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“I don’t know. I just think it was more fun with all of us in diapers. I know that your brothers don’t really need to wear them.”

I was speechless. My brothers had told him that they had chosen to wear diapers!

“Well, I don’t wear them because I want to!” I said heatedly.

“Everybody knows that,” he answered calmly.

“Everybody knows what?” Willie asked as he and Terrell came out onto the porch after their diaper changes.

There was a pause as they waited for me to answer the question. I didn’t want to get into it, especially not in front of Terrell.

“Nothing,” I finally said.

Willie shrugged his shoulders and headed down the steps with Terrell.

“Where are you guys going?” I asked.

“Mom said that I could invite Jimmy to come over, too.”

“You’re going to his house dressed like that?” I gasped.

Mom had dressed Terrell and him the same way as she had dressed Peter and me—t-shirt, white socks, sneakers, diaper, diaper doubler, and plastic pants.

“Why not?” he answered. “It’s only up the street.”

“Yeah,” Terrell agreed. “I came a lot further on my bike.”

Even though I knew that they were saying this to get my goat, I couldn’t help reacting. I couldn’t stand it. I stormed into the house and pounded up to my bedroom. After fifteen minutes, I cooled down and wondered what the others were doing. I could hear them making noise in the front yard. I crossed the hall to my brothers’ bedroom and looked out. Jimmy had joined them; it struck me how odd he looked compared to everyone else wearing diapers. Judging from the noise they were making, they were having fun but my pride stood in the way of joining them… and the fact that they had moved off the porch and onto the front lawn. I didn’t want to risk being seen by the neighbors in my diaper and plastic pants. I was lost in my thoughts when my mom’s voice made me jump.

“Wade, you really should come back down. Peter feels badly that he upset you.”

Her comment about Peter made me feel guilty.

“Honey, I think you should go downstairs,” she repeated gently.

“I can’t. What if someone sees my diapers?”

“Wade, haven’t all the boys in your school already seen you wearing diapers?”

“Yes,” I agreed, my voice cracking.

She paused for a few seconds.

“Has Peter been making fun of you?”

“No,” I answered.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” my mother asked.

As I made my way downstairs, I realized that my bothers’ attitude had been having quite an effect on me. I had grown comfortable hanging around in them. In fact, I had started enjoying our time together. And, I realized quite dispassionately, my mom was right about the guys in my class: they had all seen me on multiple occasions wearing diapers and plastic pants. So what if a few more saw me now? I felt an enormous weight leave my shoulders. Peter smiled broadly as I joined him on the front lawn and I smiled back.

Never again did I fret over who might find out about my need for diapers or see me wearing them.

 

The End