Whitehorse 2

 

After the Hospital

 

Summary: I had started wearing diapers as the result of a surgery. It was so enjoyable that I openly admitted that I liked wearing diapers and it turned out I was accepted for who I was. This segment of the story is about how I dealt with a bully who picked on me and we became diaper buddies.

 

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The surgery on my ears was a turning point in my life. Despite my naivety, I ended up wearing diapers, and for some reason, I didn’t feel ashamed about it at all. It was something I wanted to do, and so, when the opportunity availed itself, I took it.

 

After returning from the hospital, my friends and neighbors could clearly see I was wearing diapers. There were some jokes and teasing made toward me, but I just looked them in the eye and laughed with them. Seeing that I was not going to run and hide from shame, the novelty soon wore off, and we resumed playing with GI Joes, playing board games, writing and recording our own radio shows on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and generally, just having a good time. But for a while, tag football and jumping off the house roof was not an option. Since I was told the doctors literally cut my ear off in order to clean an infection behind it, I took the instructions for avoiding hard playing seriously.

 

I wore diapers to school, but there was only a couple weeks left. The few kids who knew, didn’t make an issue of it, and soon school was out for the summer. During the summer, I wore diapers all the time. This meant wearing them to the baby sitters when my mother was working and to the shopping malls and grocery stores when the family went shopping.

 

Fortunately, my mother bought me coveralls, baggy pants, and large loose shirts to wear, so if people didn’t know I was wearing diapers, they wouldn’t notice them.

 

One of my most memorable trips was to the local drugstore. At that time, drug stores sold Curity cloth diapers like modern stores sell disposables. Not only that, but the diapers came in prints. I was just kidding around with my mom when she was shopping for supplies that I wished I had some printed diapers instead of plain white ones. I could not believe it when she grabbed three boxes off the shelf of different prints and put them in the basket. I was excited and couldn’t wait to try them on. At the counter I expected the check out lady to make some kind of comment, but she didn’t. Whether she thought the diapers were for me or not didn’t seem to be an issue.

 

We had to go grocery shopping after the drug store, which only prolonged the suspense. I remember my sister complaining that she had to go to the bathroom and my mother getting annoyed for having to take her. She looked at me and said, “Do you need to go too?” I said that I didn’t and smiled. She smiled back and went off with my sister while I watched the cart. My diapers were already wet just thinking about what I had to look forward to that night.

 

When we got home and helped carry the groceries in, I wasted no time in taking my diapers to my room. The diapers, it turned out, were Curity 21” x 40” “Stretch Weave.” Each box had teddy bears printed on them except that the background colors for each box were blue, white, and yellow. I opened the box of one dozen yellow diapers with teddy bears. These diapers were different from the prefolds given to us by the hospital. They also seemed much thinner. When I told my mom this she told me I would have to layer them and when she finished putting away the groceries, she would show me how.

 

When the groceries were put away and the paper bags were folded (I eagerly helped), we went back into my room. Mom took one of the diapers and laid it out flat open, then folded two of the diapers into a center panel, and placed one more over the top. There were now four diapers. She then folded the whole pile such that one third of the full length was folded on the other two thirds. After folding the two sides in she asked me to change out of my wet diaper.

 

After cleaning up, she lifted me up onto the bed and set me over the middle, while I lay on my back. She then brought the diapers up and pinned them into place. While she brought them up, I noticed the diapers stretched a little around the waist, which was apparently what they were supposed to do. This gave them a really nice fit.

 

But the new diapers were a bit itchy, and I said so. But mom told me they would get softer with each washing. She also told me she would take the remaining diapers and sew them together so that they would be easier to fold and put on. I was impressed with the nice fit of the new diapers, but they seemed a little scratchy. They were lighter than the hospital diapers though, and I really liked the prints. There was something neat about having yellow diapers with teddy bears on them.

 

Before bed, I had wet the diapers and had to change back into the hospital diapers. But that would not be for long since mom had already started sewing. The next day the new diapers were sewed and already washed once. When I put them on after being washed with fabric softener and tumble dried, I noticed a huge difference in the softness. From that day on, Curity stretch weave diapers were my favorite. They fit great and were incredibly soft, even when they were wet.

 

The summer went very fast. I felt like I was on top of the world and although I really liked the diapers, nobody else seemed to care.

 

When school started back up I was going into the sixth grade, which meant I had to change from the elementary school to the middle school. All my friends went to the new school, too, and there were students from several other elementary schools also transferring in. Because of my clothes, people couldn’t tell I was wearing diapers, and my friends didn’t make anything of it.

 

But one day during PE, we all had to sit outside on the blacktop while our teacher described the exercises we would be doing. A new kid, Drake, was sitting behind me. Apparently, my diaper was showing, but it was a blue print with teddy bears. Drake made the off comment that I was wearing my pajamas under my clothes and that they had teddy bears on them. Most of the new kids who didn’t know me laughed. I pulled my shirt over to cover them up, but the teacher walked over.

 

He said, “Were you in a hurry this morning?” I told him no, but that I always wore my pajamas under my clothes, not wanting to admit they were diapers. He then gave me a lecture on how next year we would be taking gym and would be required to change into shorts in front of other boys and so I should get in the habit of dressing properly.

 

I don’t know what emboldened me, but I looked up to him and told him, “I had an operation last summer that made me wet all the time” and that I wore diapers. He looked lost when I said this, and thinking that maybe the teacher didn’t know what a diaper was, I stood up, lifted my shirt, and pulled my pants back slightly. He didn’t say a word and walked back to the front of the class to continue his lecture and then getting us going with the exercises.

 

The boy behind me started taunting me under his breath calling me “baby,” “puddle pants,” and other names that I couldn’t hear. After the class was over, he shoved me and called me a pansy. This really hurt my feelings as nobody had ever treated me this way before about wearing diapers. I felt like the wind was taken out of my sails and dragged through the rest of the day. On the way home, Drake came up behind me, stuck his foot in front of me, and pushed me onto a lawn, yelling loudly that I was a little baby and took off running.

 

When my stepfather got home from work, he noticed I was not feeling good. He asked me if I was sick. When I told him no, he tried to joke with me to cheer me up. When I didn’t respond he looked hurt and started to turn away. Not wanting to ruin his day, I told him I wasn’t mad at him, but was upset because of what the boy Drake had done to me at school.

 

My stepfather was not a very big man, but he had nerves of steel. He told me that Drake was probably just a confused kid who was abused or neglected at home and that his bullying was his way of dealing with it. I never thought that other kids had bad feelings, and it never occurred to me that people did stupid things because they themselves were hurting. When I asked my stepfather what I should do, he told me that I needed to face him directly and show him that I was not afraid, and if he physically assaulted me again, I had the right to defend myself. Now that I am older, I can think of better ways of dealing with this, but back then fighting was a rite of passage into manhood, and my stepfather had come from that way of thinking.

 

The next day when I dressed for school, instead of wearing my sneakers, I wore my dress shoes and some nicer clothes. My dress shoes were hard leather and came to a point. When I got to school, I just told my friends that I felt like dressing up for a change.

 

During lunchtime, Drake came over to my table and loudly stated, “Is the little baby wet?” Some kids from other tables laughed, but my friends did not. Kimberly, who was just an acquaintance, told Drake to leave me alone. Drake then pushed me hard from the back into the table and said, “Is the poor little baby going to cry?” At that point I became angry.

 

I got up and stood in front of Drake and told him he was probably jealous because he couldn’t wear diapers. This enraged him and he threatened to beat me up right there. Not waiting for him to carry through with his threat, I brought the point of my hard shoe right up between his legs with all my strength. Drake crumpled over onto the ground, not saying a word and barely breathing. One of the girls got up and ran to get a teacher.

 

After explaining what happened, I was dragged off to the principal’s office. But since both my parents worked, they could not reach either of them and they sent me home with a sealed envelope. The next day my stepfather took me to school and we went straight to the principal’s office. The principal started to explain everything that had happened and that he was going to suspend me from school. When he was done, my stepfather stood up and essentially told the principal that he supported my actions and was proud that I stood up for myself. All I can remember after that was the principal saying something about Drake having to go to the hospital because I had really hurt him.

 

When I had gotten home, my stepfather told me that although he supported my standing up for myself, in the future I would go to the principal with my complaints first, and he would take care of it for me. That was fine by me, I didn’t want to fight to begin with.

 

A week later Drake was back in school. For a few days, he avoided me and everybody else. During PE I walked up to him, apologized and told him I wanted to be friends. He turned red and walked away. I felt bad and let him go. The next day during PE I sat behind him, hoping to get a chance to apologize again. While we were sitting there, I noticed his shirt had lifted up and he was wearing a disposable diaper. I thought that was quite odd.

 

By the time class was over, it dawned on me that I might have done something that caused him to become incontinent. I waited until school was over and caught up to him walking home. He seemed a bit more relaxed away from school and so I apologized again. This time, he turned to me with tears in his eyes and apologized to me. He told me he was so sorry for picking on me and promised never to do it again. I looked at him in the eyes, extended my hand, and while we shook I said, “friends then?” He said, “friends.” I then invited him to come over to my house to play later.

 

After he had gone home, he came over and I gave him a tour of our yard and my fort. When we went in he could definitely smell that there had been wet diapers in there before. He asked if I liked wearing diapers. I had no problem telling him that I did and enjoyed it very much. Then I asked him if he liked wearing diapers. His face turned red and I told him I had seen it during PE. He was even more embarrassed and started to cry. I held his shoulder and told him not to worry. Then I told him about my situation and that my friends did not mind at all.

 

When he heard me say that my friends didn’t mind at all, his face lit up, and he asked if they would want to play with us. By then my ear was healing up, so we went to the neighbors and rounded up a group to play tag. After that, Drake and I became buddies. I invited him over often and he became one of the gang.

 

One day I had to go change my diaper. He said that he was wet, too. When I asked him why he was wearing diapers now, my worst fears were confirmed. I had split his sphincter muscle when I kicked him. Because it wasn’t a clean cut, but more like a squash, some of the muscle had died and the doctors were not able to fix it. He now dribbled all the time. I felt bad and offered him a dry diaper. He had never worn cloth diapers before and had never worn plastic pants. I showed him how it was done and he changed his own diaper.

 

I had never seen a person’s face light up with the brilliance that Drake’s did after he pinned the white diaper with teddy bears on. He put the plastic pants on and then his clothes. He looked like he was in heaven. “No wonder you don’t mind wearing diapers,” he said. I wish I had diapers like this. I told him to ask his mother to get him some. His happiness almost instantly faded, but after the softness of the diapers got to him again, he said he would try. I then told him where I got these diapers and how my mother had sewed them up for me.

 

I didn’t see Drake for the weekend, but at school the following Monday he walked over to me smiling and told me his mother had bought him six boxes of Curity stretch weave cloth diapers with prints on them. He said she would sew them up today while he was at school. When I asked him how she took it, he said he didn’t expect her to take it so well. His mom and he didn’t talk about the diapers at all since he had to start wearing them. She just did what the doctor told her to do and tried not to let her emotions get involved.

 

However, when he was getting to the last of his disposables, he said he took advantage of the opportunity and told his mom that he felt guilty that they had to spend so much money on him. He said that when he suggested to his mother that he wear cloth diapers, she almost immediately loaded him in the car and headed for the store. When he got there, Drake pointed out the diapers he would like and his mother quickly grabbed six boxes, some rubber pants, baby powder, pins, and other items. He then waited out in the car while she made the purchase.

 

I couldn’t believe the change in his personality. A few weeks earlier Drake was a bully, and then he became a good friend who was happy with his own life. A few days later, Drake invited me over to his house. I asked my mom, and she said it was okay. As I got to the front door and knocked, my stomach suddenly fell out from under me. It had just occurred to me that his parents might not be as friendly to me after what I had done. But before I could turn around, Drake’s mother opened the door and invited me in.

The only way I could think of dealing with the situation was coming right out and offering an apology for what I had done to Drake. Apparently, his mother did not know I was the same boy who had kicked him. She turned white, and then red. But before she could decide what to do, Drake stepped up and told her that it was actually his fault for provoking the fight. Apparently, his mother had not heard this confession before. Now her anger seemed to be directed at Drake.

 

She then walked into the kitchen without saying a word. Drake and I looked at each other, and then decided to go outside and play. Drake had a skateboard and a slanted driveway, so we spent the next hour or so practicing with the skateboard and having a good time. After a while, Drake had to go in to get ready for dinner, which meant changing his wet diaper and washing up. But when his mother came out to call him in, she had a smile on her face as though she was pleased to see us having so much fun. I said good-bye, and headed back home.

 

The next weekend I was invited by his mother to come over for a backyard picnic. My mother was curious about meeting them and drove me over. My mother and Drake’s mother got along good and for the next couple of years, they were friends. Drake’s father seemed indifferent and didn’t seem to notice we were there.

 

Eventually, some of the other kids at school noticed that Drake was wearing a diaper, too. But after a few weeks of people talking, they got over it. It seemed many of the kids thought it was neat that the two boys in class who wore diapers started as enemies and turned out as good friends.

 

And we were good friends, until a couple years later when my mother and stepfather divorced. At that time, I was sick of the city life and told them that whoever moved to the country, I would live with them. My mother stayed and my stepfather moved to the country. Drake and I parted as good friends, and my adventures continued along a different path.