Pavel Pech's Work
překlad, Travis E., A Second Chance
Následující den, úterý, byl divný už od začátku. Pamatuji si, že jsem měl vlastně pěkný sen, než jsem se vzbudil. Vilík a já jsme běhali kolem v parku a hráli jsme si v ničem víc než v opravdu tlustých látkových plenkách. Hodně jsme se bavili hrou na babu a na schovávanou. Neměl jsem žádnou sádru, takže jsem mohl běhat, skákat i lézt bez omezení. A ani trochu jsem se nestyděl, že jsem venku jenom v plenkách. Kolem byli další lidé, ale nikdo z nich nám vůbec nevěnoval pozornost, takže, evidentně, nikdo z nich si nemyslel, že vidět venku dva starší kluky jenom v plenkách je neovyklé. Zrovna jsem se doháněl Vilíka, abych mu dal babu, když jsem odkudsi uslyšel ženský hlas volající mé jméno.
"Tadíku. Tadíku," slyšel jsem. "Vzbuď se, kloučku."
Otevřel jsem oči a hned jsem se podivil, kde to jsem. Z nějakého důvodu jsem nebyl ve své postýlce. Ležel jsem na zemi tváří dolu s nohama složenýma pod hrudí. Bylo tu velmi temno, jako bych byl v jeskyni.
"Broučku, co tam dole děláš?" slyšel jsem maminku ptát se.
Zvedl jsem hlavu z koberce a zkusil se posadit. Týl mé hlavy narazil do něčeho, co bylo nade mnou.
"Au!" vykřikl jsem bolestí.
"Opatrně, broučku," řekla maminka.
Otočil jsem hlavu doleva a podíval se na maminku, která nakukovala pod záclonkou, která byla kolem spodní části mé postýlky. Najednou jsem si uvědomil, že jsem pod postýlkou. Byl jsem v klubíču v zadním rohu až u zdi. Kvůli záclonce to tu vypadalo jako v jeskyni.
"Co tady dělám?" zeptal jsem se zmateně.
"To bych taky ráda věděla, broučku," řekla maminka. "Pojď ven, zlatíčko."
Natáhla ke mně ruku a zamávala, abych vylezl ven. Pořád hodně zmatený jsem se vyplazil zpod postýlky. Maminka se postavila, když jsem se vyplazil, a hned mě zvedla. Všiml jsem si, že Vilík stojí vedle a díva se na mě, jako bych byl nějaký blázen.
"Jak ses dostal z postýlky, broučku?" zeptala se maminka.
"Nevím," řekl jsem.
"Nepamatuješ si, že bys vylézal?" zeptala se.
"Ne, odpověděl jsem.
"Jsi si jistý?" zeptala se trochu podezřívavě.
"Ne, maminko," řekl jsem a uvědomil si, že jsem asi v průšvihu. "Přísahám."
"Viděl jsi nebo slyšel jsi ho dělat něco v noci, Vilíku?" zeptala se.
"Ne," odpověděl s pokrčením.
"Dostanu výprask?" zeptal jsem se s obavou.
"Ne, broučku," odpověděla maminka a objala mě. "Musel jsi to udělat, zatímco jsi spal."
Odnesla mě k přebalovacímu stolu a posadila mě na něj. Nechala mě lehnout a začala s přebalováním.
"Jak jsem se mohl dostat z postýlky, když jsem spal?" zeptal jsem se.
"Náměsíčnost, broučku," řekla mi. "Noc předtím jsi měl noční hrůzy, tak bych řekla, že teď chodíš ze spaní. Nemůžu uvěřit, že sis neublížil, broučku. Vylezl jsi z postýlky, i když byla strana nahoře a to je dost vysoko."
"Bolí mě kotník," zakňoural jsem.
"Aha," řekla. "No, lezení před stranu ho určitě zatížilo a taky jsi mohl chodit kolem. Za chviličku ti dám Tylenol."
Jen jsem přikývl.
Přebalila mě do čistých plenek a pak mě posadila na okraj stolu, aby mohl zaujmout místo Vilík. Vylezl na stůl a nechal si přebalit špinavé noční plenky. Vilík dostal čisté jednorázové. Sskočil ze stolu a maminka ho plácla jemně po zadku, když odcházel.
"Oblékni se do školy, broučku," řekla mu. "Zatím převléknu tvému bráškovi tričko a vyčistím mu zuby."
"Dobře, maminko," řekl a zamířil ke skříni, kde měl všechno své "dospělácké" oblečení a školní uniformy.
Maminka šla k mé truhle a otřela ji. Vytáhla dětsky motré triško a přinosla mi ho. Rozložila ho a chvili se zastavila, aby si prohlédla předek.
"Ach, tohle je jedno z prvních triček, které dostal Vilík, když sem přišel," řekla nostalgicky.
Řekla mi, abych zvedl ruce a natáhla mi tričko. Bylo trochu malé a měla problém dostat rukávy přes moje sádry, ale nakonec ho na mě dostala. Tričko bylo trochu malé i mě a bylo mi dost těsné, i když ne nepohodlné. Bylo to trochu zvláštní tričko. Díra na hlavu nevypadala jako kruh, ale byla tvořená z překrývající se přední a zadní části, které se sbíhaly na ramenou a tvořili volný kruhem uprostřed.
"To je divné tričko," komentoval jsem ho.
"Je to miminkovské tričko," řekla mi, a ukázala na kraje části na ramenou. "Je tak dělané aby díra na dětskou hlavu byla větší. Vzadu jsou navíc cvočky, aby bylo oblékání ještě snažší."
Sáhla dozadu, aby sepnula dna nebo tři cvočky ve svislé řadě na zádech trička. Já se mezitím podíval na tričko. Vpředu byl velký hnědý plyšový medvěd, který měl na sobě bílé plenky. Tričko dole zakrývalo jen asi tři, možná pět centimetrů a měl jsem pocit, že odhalím záda, když se v něm předkloním nebo natáhnu.
Maminka mě zvedla a odnesla mě do koupelny. Cestou se zastavila u truhly a vzala moje brýle. Nasadila mi je a pak pokračovala do koupelny. Posadila mě na pult vedle dřezu. Namočila můj kartáček - teď jsem měl svůj vlastní, pestrobarevný kartáček - a vymáčkla na něj trochu pasty. Doširoka jsem se usmál, odhalujíc zuby a maminka mi je další minutu nebo dvě čistila. Když bylo hotovo opláchla mi pusu a vyndala ze skříňky hřebem, aby mne učesala. Pak mě odnesla z pokoje a dolu po schoden. Viděl jsem, že tatínem v kuchyni dělá kávu.
"Dobré ráno, tatínku!" pozdravil jsem ho zvesela.
"Ahoj, broučku," řekl. "Spal jsi dobře?"
"Jo," řekl jsem.
Maminka mě k němu donesla a předala mě. Tatínek mne objemnul a políbil na dobré ráno.
"Spal dobře, akorát že jsem ho našla ráno pod postýlkou," informovala ho maminka.
"Pod postýlkou?" zeptal se.
"Jo," řekla. "Myslím, že začal být náměsíčný. Musel v noci vylézt z postýlky."
"A jé," odpověděl tatínek.
"Omlouvám se, tatínku," řekl jsem smutně.
"Není důvod se omlouvat, kluku," ujistil mě a znovu mě objal. "Není to tvoje chyba."
Došel k ledničce a vyndal lahev mléka. Pak mne donesl ke stolu a posadil se se mnou. Upravil jsi mne v klíně a podržel mi lahev u pusy. Okamžitě jsem začal sát dudlíkem.
"Jaké cereálie chceš dneska, Tadíku?" zeptala se maminka z kuchyně. "Rozinkové vločky, Medooříškové Cheerios nebo Kix."
"Cheerios, prosím," řekl jsem, vyplivaje lahev na chvíli z pusy, takže se mi dostalo mléko po celé bradě.
"Opatrně, kluku," varoval mě tatínek.
"Promiň," odpověděl jsem.
"V pohodě," řekl a vrátil mi lahev zpět do pusy.
O pár minut později přišel do místnosti Vilík. Mohl jsem jasně slyšel jeho plenky šustící pod jeho khaki kalhotami. Tatínek se postavil, se mnou pořád v náručí a posadil mě na židli, kde jsme předtím seděli. Šel k Vilíkovi a také se s ním pozdravil a obejmul a políbil. Potom pomohl Vilíkovi do jeho vysoké židle a připoutal ho. Pak se vrátil ke mně a zvedl mě zase na sebe, zrovna když mi maminka přinesla misku s cereáliemy a talíř s toustem. Tatínek mi uvázal kolem krku bryndák, který mi maminka podala, a začal mě krmit.
Maminka vzala se zeptala na Vilíkovu volbu cereálií a šla mu pro misku. Přinesla mu Rozinkové vločky a uvázala mu na krk bryndák. Podala mu lžíci a nechala ho najíst se. Vilík mě dovoleno jíst cereálie a jiná jednoduchá jídla sám, ale jeho miska byla plastová s nástavcem naspod, aby držela na místě, a lžíce byla také plastová, dětská. Držel lžíci pevně v pěsti, jako by to dělalo malé dítě. Maminka mi řekla, že mu bylo dovoleno používat lžíci doma, až když mu bylo dvanáct. I potom se ale směl krmit jenom studenými jídly, protože děti nepoznají, kdy je teplé jídlo moc horké a mohly by se popálit. Zajímalo by mě, kdy budu mít já dovoleno začít se krmit sám. Ale v tu chvíli to stejně bylo jedno, když jsem měl obě ruce ještě pořád v sádře.
Než tatínek skončil s mým krmením, holky přišly do kuchyně. Obě oběhly všechny přítomné a pozdravily. Vzaly si sami cereálie a hrnek kafe. Cil i Andy obě pili kávu. Nevím, jestli ji pily, protože ji potřebovaly k probrání nebo zda si myslely, že tak vypadají dospěleji, ale myslel jsem si, že je to trochu směšné. Myslel jsem, že kafe je dospělácký nápok a i když byly Cil i Andy o hodně hodně starší než já, nemohl jsem se přinutit vnímat je jako dospělé.
Po snídani se všichni už potřebovali připravit na odchod. Maminka odešla první, protože měla dlouhou cestu do Dallasu do práce. Všem dala pusu a řekla nám, ať nezlobíme a vyrazila směrem ke garáži. Za pár minut odešli i ostatní. Cil měla vlastní auto, kterým vozila sebe a Andy do školy a cestou hodila také Vilíka do jeho školy. Dům byl najednou dost tichý jen se mnou a tatínkem. Ještě nebylo ani sedm hodin, takže tu nebyla ani slečna Rosie.
"Chceš se jít dívat chvíli na televizi, než začneme se školou?" zeptat se tatínek.
"Dobře," odpověděl jsem.
Odnes mě do obývacího pokoje a posadili jsme se na jednu pohovku. Zapnul netelivi a našel nějaké kreslené seriály. Dívali jsme se na Nickelodeon asi další hodinu, dokud se nepřiblížila osmá hodina. To už přišla slečna Rosie a starala se o domácí práce. Tatínek mě vzal zpět do kuchyně a usadil mě ke stolu. Vyndal učebnice a začali jsme pracovat na ranních lekcích.
Několik hodin jsme dělali občanskou výchovu a angličtinu. Potom začal s matematikou. Když jsem pracoval na úkolu z matematiky, odešel na chvíli do své pracovny. Slečna Rosie se někde po domě uklízela nebo prala. Byl jsem asi v půlce úkolu, když mne začalo tlačit břicho. Cítil jsem, že se mi to ve střevech začíná hýbat. Cítil jsem, že to potřebuju pustit a nemohl jsem tomu už bránit. Trochu jsem se naklonil do strany a přestal zadržovat. Jenom pár minut a plenky jsem úplně naplnil. Začichal jsem ve vzduchu, ale necítil jsem žádný zápach.
Po pár minutách se tatínek vrátil, zrovna když jsem dokončoval úkol.
"Hej, sovičko," pozdravil mě. "Skončil jsi?"
"Sovičko?" zeptal jsem se pobaveně. "Proč mi tak říkáš?,"
"Protože Tadeáš ve svém původní podobě znamenalo chytrý," vysvětlil mi. "Což určitě jsi. A sovy jsou symbolem moudrosti. A také mají velké oči, což máš i ty přes brýle."
"Aha," řekl jsem. To by mě nikdy nenapadlo.
"Nechceš, abych ti tak říkal?" zeptal se.
"Jo, asi můžeš," usmál jsem se.
"Takže, skončil jsi?" zeptal se mě znovu.
"No jo," odpověděl jsem.
Vzal si můj sešit a rychle ho prohlédl.
"Moc dobře, Tadíku," řekl. "Ani jedna chyba."
"Vážně?" zeptal jsem se s údivem.
"Vážně," potvrdil. "Vedeš si moc dobře, sovičko. Chceš si teď dát krátkou přestávku a zajezdit si kolem v chodítku?"
"Dobře," řekl jsem zvesela.
Zvedl mě ze židne a donesl mne do doupěte, kde jsem bylo obvykle svoje chodítko. Byl jsem překvapený, že mě nezkontroloval nebo si nevšiml zápachu z mých plenek. Spustil mě shora do chodítka skrz díry na nohy, až jsem se usadil v sedáku.
"Dobře, Sovičko," řekl tatínek. "Potřebuji vyřídit pár telefonátů. Můžeš tu zůstat a dívat se chvíli na televizi. Vrátím se za krátkou chvíli, abych ti udělal oběd, pokud se o to nepostará Rosie."
Jen jsem se usmál a přikývl. Tatínek mi dal pusu na vršek hlavy a otočil se k odchodu. Než opustil místnost, sebral dálkový ovladač na televizi a položil mi ho na pultík chodítka. Přesunul jsem se před televizi a zapnul ji. Našel jsem nějaké kreslené seriály na kanálu Disney a sedět u toho nějakou chvíli. Dávali Dům myší, který vypadal zajímavě. Trochu mě ale znervózňovalo, že už jsem začínal cítit obsah svých plenek a měl jsem strach, že to neudrží.
"Ale, ale, ale!" zaslechl jsem za sebou slečnu Rosie, až jsem povyskočil překvapením. "Někdo tu pořádně zasmradil místnost."
Otořil jsem se a podíval se přes rameno, jak se ke mně blíží.
"Myslím, že je čas na přebalení, seňore Tadíku," řekla mi.
Zvedla mě zezade a otočila mě.
"Ale ne!" řekla. "Utíká to už do igelitových kalhotek."
Slečna Rosie mě držela v předpažených rukou, zatímco mě nesla domem. Vzala mě do jestliček, ale nedonesla mě k přebalovacímu stolu. Místo toho mě odnesla rovnou do koupelny. Postavila mě do vany, ale kladla mi na srdce, abych se vůbec neopíral o ten zraněný kontník. Stáhla mi tričko a odložila ho na stolek. Pak vyndala můj chránič sádry a navlékla mi ho na nohu. Skoro jsem upadl, když jsem měl nohu ve vzduchu, aby mi ho mohla natáhnout, ale slečna Rosie mě chytila. Pak mě znovu postavila a opatrně mi sundala igelitové kalhotky. Jakmile je trochu stáhla, zápach se o hodně zhoršil. Bylo to pěkně nechutné.
"Takový nepořádel," komentovala to slečna Rosie.
"Omlouvám se, slečno Rosie," řekl jsem provinile, doufajíc že ji to vše příliš nenaštve.
"Nene, mijito," řekla. "Neomlouvej se. Tohle přece miminka dělají."
Stáhla mi kalhotky úplně a opatrně je odložila do rohu vany i s nechutným obsahem. Pak mi začala rozepínat plenky, což začalo pomalu uvolňovat obsah. Slečna Rosie si raději pospíšila s celou procedurou. Zatímco první plenky byly jen zahnědlé kolem nohou, stav dalších se zhoršoval. Čtvré poslední byly skoro celé hnědé a dávaly znát, že pod nimi to bude ještě horší. Slečna Rosie odepnula opatrně i poslední plenky a složila je na hromádku předchozích v rohu vany.
"Ach, můj Bože," řekla slečna Rosie.
Byl jsem opravdu smutný, že jsem udělal takový nepořádek, který teď někdo jiný musí uklízet.
"Omlouvám se, slečno Rosie," vzdychl jsem znovu. Měl jsem slzy na krajíčku.
"Ššš," uklidňovala mě jemně. "To je v pořádku, mijito. Rosie to nevadí."
Slečna Rosie vzala sprchovou hadici a nastavila vodu na příjemnou teplou. Pak mě otočila, abych stál bokem a zvedla mi ruce, aby se nenamočily sádrové obvazy na rukou. Sprchou mě pak celého pořádně očistila, ale pro jistotu ještě namydlila žínku. Celého mě vydrhla a vše spláchla.
Donesla ručník a usušila mě jím. Pak kolem mě ručník zabalia a zvedla mě. Odnesla mě do jestliček, nechávajíc zaneřáděné plenky a igelitové kalhotky ve vaně. Položkla mě na přebalovací stůl a sundala mi chránič dlahy. Pak mě položila a vyndala sadu čistých plenek, do kterých mě pečlivě zbalila. Vlastně mě zapnula těsněji, než kdy předtím.
O minutu později už jsem měl i čisté igelitové kalhotky a dostal jsem zpět tričko, které mi sundala předtím v koupelně. Když jsem byl celý oblečený - nebo aspoň tolik, kolik mi bylo dovoleno - odnesla mě zase dolu. Tatínek byl už pod schody, když jsme se tam dostali.
"Zrovna jsem se vás chystal jít hledat," řekl nám.
"Musela jsem malého Tadíka opláchnout," informovala ho slečna Rosie. "Má opravdu hrozný průjem a začal nám téct do kalhotek."
"Aha," řekl tatínek. "Udělal jsi nám nepořádek, Sovičko?"
"Jo," připustil jsem stydlivě.
"Musím teď uklidit koupelnu," řekla slečna Rosie.
"Dobře," odvětil tatínek. "Nakrmím ho. Pojď, Sovičko."
Slečna Rosie mi dala pusu na tvář a předala mě tatínkovi. Vrátila se nahoru, zatímco tatínek mě odnesl do kuchyně.
"Takže, zlobí tě bříško?" zeptal se tatínek.
"Trochu," připustil jsem.
"No, a chceš jíst?" zeptal se.
"Jasně, mám hlad," řekl jsem.
"Dobře," odpověděl. "No, najdeme ti tedy něco k obědu."
Tatínek mě v kuchyni připoutal do vysoké židle, než se vydal pro jídlo. Rozhodl se, že polévka a sendviče budou dobré, tak udělal rajsou polévku a sýrové grilované sendviče. Rozkrájel mi sendviče na malé čtverečky a přinesl mi je i s miskou polévky. Položil je na pultík vysoké židle a začal mě krmit.
"Co kdybychom zítra vyrazili do knihkupectví a vybrali ti nějaké knížky na čtení?" navrhl, zatímco mě krmil. "Musíš začít víc číst."
"Dobře," řekl jsem a pokrčil rameny.
"Chci abys přečetl tři až čtyři knížky za měsíc," sdělil mi.
"Tolik?" zeptal jsem se zamračeně. Zdálo se to jako hodně knížek na jediný měsíc.
"Jo," přikývl. "Vilík četl taky tolik knížek, když mu bylo tolik jako teď tobě."
"Myslíš jako knížky s kapitolami? zeptal jsem se pořád zamračeně.
"No jo," řekl. "Neboj se, kloučku. Vybereš si, kolik jich budeš chít a já ti pomůžu se čtením. Můžeš mi je číst nahlas, jako jsme to dělali s tvým bráškou."
"Budeš nám pořád číst?" zeptal jsem se.
"Samozřejmě," řekl. "Budeš mi číst přes den a já vám budu číst večer."
"Dobře," řekl jsem a usmál se.
Dokončil mé krmení a pak mi utřel obličej a odnesl talíře do dřezu.
"Čas na skládačku," řekl, když se vracel.
Odepnul mě z vysoké židle a zvedl mě. Odnesl mě z místností a chodbou do své studovny, kde byla naše skládačka z předešlého dne pořád na podlaze. Zatím jsme dali dohromady jenom okraje a pár menších oblastí uvnitř. Posadil mě na podlahu a sedl si vedle mě. Chvíli jsme pak strávili skládáním a povídáním. Začínal jsem si opravdu užívat tohle povídání s tatínkem. Měl jsem pocit, jako bych mohl mluvit o čemkoliv. Mluvili jsme také o mé náměsíčnosti. Ptal se mě, jestli si pamatuju něco z těch snů. Povídal jsem mu o tom hezkém snu s Vilíkem v parku jenom v plenkách, ale žádné zlé sny jsem si nepamatoval. Ptal se mě, jestli tuším, proč bych mohl být náměsíčný, ale vůbec žádný důvod mě nenapadal.
Ani jsem si neuvědomil, jak jsme tam byli dlouho, a už byl čas vyzvednout Vilíka ze školy. Tatínek mě proto odnesl zpět do kuchyně, kde jsme se rozloučili se slečnou Rosie. Pak mě tatínek vzal do garáže.
"Nepotřebuju nějaké oblečení?" zeptal jsem se.
"Dneska je dost teplo," odvětil tatínek. "Myslím, že budeš v pohodě."
"Dobře," řekl jsem trochu smutně.
Moc se mi nechtělo vyrážet ven z domu jenom v tričku a plenkách. Samozřejmě pravidla mi opět bránila cokoliv říct. Alespoň mě mohlo utěšovat, že budu celou dobu jenom v autě.
Tatínek mě připoutal do mé autosedačky a o minutu později jsme už vyrazili na silnici. Stejně jako včera, tatínek po krátké cestě zaparkoval před školou mezi dalšími čekajícími rodiči. Stáhl okénka a vylezl ven, nechávajíc mě na zadní sedačce. Vlastně dorazil ke škole trochu brzo, ale do pěti minut od našeho příjezdu už jsme slyšeli školní zvonek a děti se začali trousit ze vchodu školy. Za pár minut vylezl i Vilík. Jako včera, byl se svým kamarádem Matějem. Oba došli k našemu vozu a zastavili se před tatínkem.
"Tatínku, může Matěj odpoledne k nám?" slyšel jsem Vilíka ptát se.
"Máš domácí pkoly?" zeptal se tatínek.
"Ne," odpověděl Vilík. "Už jsem je všechny udělal."
"Dobře tedy, může k nám," řekl tatínek.
"Bezva!" řekl Vilík.
"Půjdu se zeptat, jestli můžu," řekl Matěj.
On i Vilík doběhli k auto o několik vozidel před tatínkovým. Najednou jsem si uvědomil, že tam je slečna Molly. Pomáhala jednomu ze svých dětí do vozu. Všiml jsem si, že zrovna pomáhala nějaké holčičce, která jí byla hodně podobná. Vzpomněl jsem si, že zmiňovala dceru, která je stejně stará jako já. To byla asi ona. Byla moc krásná a zajímalo mě, jak se jmenuje.
Dlouho jsem nad tím ale nepřemýšlel. Najednou jsem si uvědomil, že Matěj mě brzo uvidí jenom v mých plenkách a velmi miminkovském tričku. Byl jsem zhrozen. Nejspíš si ze mě bude dělat legraci nebo si alespoň pomyslí, že jsem nějaký divný. Uvědomil jsem si, že nejspíš ale ví, že Vilík také nosí plenky. Vilík mi říkal, že všichni ve škole to o něm vědí. To mě ale stejně neuklidnilo. Zajímalo mě, jestli byl už Matěj někdy na návštěvě a viděl jestličky a Vilíka oblečeného v miminkovém oblečení a silných látkových plenkách jako jsem měl zrovna na sobě. Doufal jsem, že ano.
Neměl jsem moc času na probírání se těmito tématy, protože se Matěj a Vilík zničeho nic objevili na zadním sedadle vedle mě. Matěj vylezl na sedačky první. Byl jsem celý červený studem a skoro jsem se klepal nervozitou. Připravoval jsem se na to nejhorší, když se na mě Matěj podíval. K mému překvapení se doširoka usmál.
"Ahoj," řekl vesele. "Ty musíš být Tadík. Vilík mi o tobě hodně povídal. Já jsem Mat."
"A- Ahoj," zamumlal jsem.
Natáhl ke mně pravou ruku, nejspíše nabízeje potřesení. Nevěděl jsem co jiného dělat, tak jsem mu podal svojí ruku a on mi jemně potřásl konečky mých prstů. Bez dalšího slova si vlezl do třetí řady sedaček. Prostřední řada byla zabrána Vilíkovou a mou sedačkou. Vzadu ale byla ještě sedačka pro další lidi. Matěj se tam uvelebil, zatímco tatínek zapínal Vilíka do jeho sedačky. Matěj se nezdál vůbec překvapený, že jezdíme v dětských sedačkách, takže Vilíkovu už nejspíš předtím viděl. Asi mě to nemělo překvapit, když byli nejlepšími kamarády.
"Připoutaný tam vzadu, Matěji?" zeptal se tatíneke, když dokončil práci na Vilíkovi.
"Ano, doktore B," odpověděl Matěj vesele.
"Dobře," řekl tatínek. "Vyrážíme."
Tatínek se přesunul k druhé straně vozu, kde vlezl na místo řidiče. V minutě jsme už mířili domů. Tatínek zajel do garáže a vypnul motor. Vystoupil z auta a šel odpoutat Vilíka. Ten i s matějem vylezli ven, zatímco tatínek šel k mé straně, aby mě také odpoutal. Pak jsme společně zamířili do domu. našli sjme slečnu Rosie v kuchyni, jak myje nádobí.
"Ahoj, všichni," pozdravila nás.
"Ahoj, Rosie!" řekl Matěj.
"Ahoj, Matěji," řekla. "Jak se máš, mijo?"
"V pohodě, díky," odpověděl.
"Dobře, čas na zdřímnutí, hoši," řekl hned tatínek.
"Á," vzdychli Vilík a Matěj unisono.
"Žádné odmlouvání. Jde se," řekl mírně, ale pevně tatínek.
They followed Daddy upstairs as he carried me along. We went upstairs to the nursery. Billy and his friend both dumped their backpacks just inside the door. Daddy gave my diapers a quick check. He knew I was poopy, but he said I could probably wait until after my nap for a change. While he was doing that, Billy and Matty were both stripping off their shoes, socks, and pants. I suddenly watched in amazement as Matty removed his pants to reveal that he was wearing a disposable diaper. I don’t know why, but I was completely shocked. I thought Billy and I were pretty much the only older boys in the world who wore diapers. I guess that partially explained why he wasn’t at all shocked to see me in diapers.
Daddy carried me over to my crib as Billy and Matty finished undressing. He gave me a goodnight kiss and tucked me in. He made sure I had Squeaker in my arms, and he pulled the sheet up over me. He then helped Billy and Matty climb into Billy’s crib. I guess they were going to share the same crib. I had a lot of questions about my new discovery with Matty, but I was actually ready for a nap, so I quickly drifted off to sleep.
I woke up not too long after I fell asleep. I sat up and discovered that Billy and Matt were already up. They were sitting in Billy’s crib chatting quietly.
“Hey, Taddy,” Billy greeted me when he saw that I was up.
“Hi,” I said rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“Sleep good?” Matty asked me.
“Yeah. Thanks,” I said.
“So, you’re ten?” Matty asked.
“Uh huh,” I nodded.
“You’re pretty small for a ten-year-old,” he said. “My eight-year-old brother, Danny, is bigger than you.”
I just frowned and looked down.
Billy suddenly reached over and popped Matty on the arm pretty hard.
“Leave him alone,” Billy ordered.
“I was just saying,” Matty said. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Sorry, Taddy.”
“That’s okay,” I said flatly.
“So, you’re a bedwetter?” he asked next. “Danny and I used to wet the bed, too.”
“Is that why you wear diapers?” I asked, finally glad for the opening to ask my burning questions.
“Ha,” he barked a laugh. “No. At least not during the day.”
“Why then?” I asked.
“Well, I used to be kind of a bad kid,” Matty admitted. “I got in lots of trouble.”
“No kidding,” agreed Billy. “You were always going to the principal’s office.”
“Yeah. Well, my parents got tired of spanking me and grounding me, since it didn’t work,” he explained. “So, they decided to try putting me in diapers to see if that would straighten me out. It did.”
“So, you’re being punished?” I asked.
“No, not anymore,” he said. “It used to be a punishment, but after it worked so well, and I was a good boy for so long, my Mommy decided that I should just stay in diapers, since they seemed to improve my behavior. I was glad because I was starting to like my diapers anyway.”
“Does your brother wear diapers?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Mommy decided that since diapers worked so well on me, that she’d just keep Danny in diapers, too.”
“How old were you?” I asked.
“I was eight,” he said. “Danny was four and he was going through potty training, but Mommy was having a pretty rough time with that with him, so it kind of relieved her, and him, to put him back in diapers. I had already been in diapers a year by the time she gave up on his potty training and decide it was best to just keep us boys in diapers. My other brother was a newborn at the time, so he obviously wasn’t potty trained then anyway. By the time it was time for him to come out of diapers, my mommy and daddy just decided not to bother potty training him since his two older brother’s were already in diapers. Caleb is five, now, and they’re gonna do the same thing with my three-year-old brother, Zachary. My parents just think leaving boys in diapers makes us behave better.”
“So, all of you wear diapers?” I asked.
“Yep,” he said with a broad grin.
“What about your sister?” I asked.
“What about her?” he replied.
“Does she wear diapers, too?” I asked.
Billy and Matty both laughed at me as though I had asked the most inane question in history.
“Yeah, right!” replied Matty. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Diapers are for boys, dummy,” Matty said.
At that, Billy reached up and punched Matty in the arm again.
“Don’t call him ‘dummy’, dummy!” Billy said somewhat angrily.
I smiled thinking that it was really nice having him protect me. Certainly, no one had ever done that for me before.
“Jeez!” Matty said as he rubbed his shoulder. “Sorry, Taddy. Anyway, no, Maggie doesn’t wear diapers. One, she doesn’t really get into trouble like I used to, and, two, that’s just weird. Diapers are for boys.”
“Oh,” I replied.
“Yeah, diapers are definitely for boys,” Billy agreed. “Just ask Celli or Andy if they’d like to wear diapers one day.”
“Ha! I’d like to see that,” Matty said.
Right about then, Andy came into the room and turned the lights on. She had already changed out of her school uniform, and she was wearing a stripped tube-top with spaghetti shoulder straps, and a pair of tight, faded jeans. As usual, her bellybutton was showing. I needed to ask about that. Why was it that the girls—except Mommy and Ms. Rosie, of course, that would be kind of weird—all showed their bellybuttons around here, but all of us boys’ bellybuttons were always covered in diapers?
“Hi, babies,” she said. “Boy, does it stink in here!”
Billy and Matty both chuckled at that in satisfaction.
Andy went over to Billy’s crib and dropped the side down so Billy and his friend could get out. She then came over to me.
“How’s my little munchkin, today?” she cooed at me as she put the side of my crib down.
“I’m good,” I said with a grin.
She picked me up and I wrapped my arms around her neck as she gave me a hug and a kiss. She took me over to my chest-of-drawers, where she collected my glasses and put them on me. She then carried me over to the changing table.
“I think you’re the smelliest, today, Mr. Taddy,” she told me as she set me down.
I just smiled and blushed embarrassed. She laid me down on the table and pushed my t-shirt up a bit. She pulled my plastic pants off and began to unpin my diapers.
“Matty, did you bring a diaper with you?” she asked without turning away from me.
“Of course,” replied Matty. “You know I never go anywhere without extra diapers.”
“Yeah, thank Goodness,” Andy said with an arched eyebrow. “Do we need to review the rules for you, Matty?”
“I’ve been coming here since I was seven, Andy,” Matty replied flatly. “I think I know the rules by now.”
“Still, a little review wouldn’t hurt,” she replied, “And it would benefit Taddy, anyway.”
I looked over at Matty and Billy, who both groaned and rolled their eyes.
“What’s the first rule, boys?” she asked.
“‘All boys have to wear diapers in this house,’” they parroted simultaneously.
“Except Daddy,” Billy added.
“Except Daddy,” Andy agreed. “And any other men of legal age. ‘They will be diapered immediately upon arrival, and they will not be undiapered until immediately before they leave.’ ‘Rule Two: Wearing pants is a privilege for boys, not a right. All boys will wear no pants unless specifically authorized to do so, and then only appropriately babyish attire may be worn to cover up diapers. All pants must be approved by we girls or Mom and Dad.’ ‘Rule Three: Diapers will be used for their intended purpose. Boys may not use toilets for any reason.’ And, why is that, boys?”
“Because boys aren’t clean enough, and they can’t be properly trained to use the toilet.” Billy said immediately.
“Very good, Billy,” Andy replied patronizingly.
“And, why would you wear diapers if you’re not gonna use them?” added Matty.
“Good point, Matty,” Andy conceded. “‘Rule Four: Boys will wear whatever, how many, and however thick diapers they’re put into, no matter what, with no questions asked, and they may never, ever remove their diapers.’ ‘Rule Five: No asking for diaper changes, ever. The adults and we girls know when to change diapers, and we will do so at our leisure.’”
“What’s ‘leisure’ mean?” I asked.
“It means ‘whenever we want to do it’,” she replied. “‘Rule Six: Wearing diapers ‘in this house’ also includes outside in the yard and any excursions while a guest here, and all rules still apply when we leave the house.’ ‘Rule Seven: Boys will be babied as much as the adults and we girls see fit, to include feeding, drinking from bottles, dressing, bathing, burping…and whatever else we decide.’”
“Burping?” blurted Billy.
“I just added that one,” Andy said matter-of-factly. “‘Rule Eight: Playing with big boy toys and games and watching big boy shows is also a privilege, not a right.’ ‘Rule Nine: All boys in this house are considered to be babies, and they will answer appropriately if addressed as such.’”
By now I thought Andy was completely off her rocker.
“And what’s the final and most important rule, boys?” she asked.
“‘The girls are in charge,’” Billy and Matty droned again. They were both rolling their eyes.
“And?” Andy coaxed.
“‘All boys have to do what the girls say,’” Billy replied.
“Babies, not boys,” Andy corrected. “All boys are babies, remember?”
“I thought I could choose if I wanted to be a baby, or not,” I mentioned.
“That’s right,” Andy said. “You just keep on believing that as long as you want, sweetie.”
By then she had cleaned up my messy butt and crotch, and she was pinning fresh diapers onto me. A minute or two later she was pulling a new pair of plastic pants onto me. She got them on and adjusted on me, and then she picked me up. She kissed the tip of my nose and turned to sit me on the floor behind her where Billy and Matty had been sitting. She then did a quick “Eeny-meeny-miney-moe” to determine which of them got changed next. It turned out that Billy got to go first. He stood up and went over to the table. I quickly noticed how stained his diaper was from his pee. There was also a prominent brown stain in the seat of it. He was obviously poopy, but the smell in the room already announced that pretty well.
Andy changed Billy into a clean set of cloth diapers after removing his well-used disposable and cleaning him up. He hopped off the table and received a swat on the butt from Andy before he went to change out of his school uniform shirt. Matty then got up and climbed onto the table. His disposable diaper was in pretty much the same condition as Billy’s had been. Andy retrieved a disposable diaper from his backpack. It looked like the exact same brand of disposables as Billy wore. It was very thick, though naturally not as thick as the set of cloth diapers I was currently packaged in.
Once he was changed, we were ready to go downstairs for an afternoon snack. Andy picked me up off of the floor and carried me as the boys tagged along behind us. We went down to the kitchen where we found Daddy starting supper as Ms. Rosie was just leaving. She told us goodbye and then headed out of the house. Celli was also in the kitchen doing homework at the kitchen table. Andy carried me over to her.
“Hi, baby,” Celli greeted me as she took me from Andy’s arms. “Did you have a good nap?”
“Uh huh,” I replied as she gave me a hug.
“How as school?” she asked.
“It was good,” I said. “I didn’t make any mistakes on my math worksheet.”
“Good boy!” she told me. “You’re a smart little guy.”
“No, I’m not,” I said blushing.
“Of course you are,” she said.
About then, Andy brought a plate of cookies and a baby bottle of milk over to us. Celli let me hold my own bottle as she fed me two oatmeal cookies. Billy sat in his highchair and was fed by Andy, while Matty sat at the table and fed himself. I wondered if he had his own highchair at home, but I decided I’d asked that later.
“Matty, are you staying for supper?” Daddy asked from the kitchen.
“I don’t know,” Matty said. “I can if that would be okay.”
“Of course it would,” Daddy said. “You know you’re always welcome here.”
After our snacks, it was decided that we boys would go upstairs and play. Celli carried me back upstairs with Matty and Billy.
“Celli, I’m itchy,” I whined a little. “Can I have some baby powder in my casts, please?”
“Of course you can, baby,” she said.
She carried me over to the changing table and set me down as Billy and Matty went over to the entertainment center to play some video games. Celli left to retrieve her hair dryer. She was back in a minute, and she went through the process of sprinkling a little sweet-smelling powder into my casts and then blowing cool air from the blow dryer into them. It felt very nice to have some relief, albeit temporary, from the itching. I couldn’t wait to get those casts off.
She then carried me over to where the boys were. There were only the two beanbag chairs, so she had Billy scoot over just little in his, and she set me down in the cushy bag next to him. The beanbag chairs were pretty big and I was so small that the two of us fit into the chair fairly comfortably, although we were pressed right up against each other. Billy immediately wrapped an arm around me as he continued to play his video game.
“You want to play, Taddy?” he asked me after a while.
“No. That’s okay,” I replied. “I’ll just watch.”
We continued sitting there for a while playing. Suddenly, Matty let out a rather loud fart. I looked over at him, and he just glanced at me and grinned mischievously. I could quickly smell the foul odor of his gas, but I couldn’t quite tell if he had messed his diaper or not.
A while later, Mommy came up to get us for supper. Billy and I greeted her as she gave us hugs and kisses. She then picked me up and carried me out of the room beckoning Billy and Matty to follow us. We all went downstairs to the kitchen where Daddy was setting supper on the table. I was strapped into the highchair while Billy and Matty occupied adjacent seats at the table. Billy was down by Mommy so she could feed him, while my highchair was by Daddy’s place. All three of us boys had bibs tied around our necks. I guess Matty was at least a baby in that respect, too.
We ate our supper, which consisted of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas and carrots. Daddy mixed my peas and carrots into my mashed potatoes, which I liked. I noticed that Matty had also been given his food in a divided, toddler plate, just like Billy and me. He also only had a spoon to eat with, and his meatloaf had been cut up for him.
Almost the second supper was over, Matty’s mom, Ms. Molly, showed up to pick him up. He was nice enough to tell me goodbye and that he was glad to have met me before he left. I decided that Matty was a nice guy, and that Billy was really lucky to have him as a friend. I wished that I might have a friend like him one day. Strangely enough, Andy gave Matty his school pants back, but he didn’t put them on before he left the house with is mom. He just went outside with his diaper partially exposed underneath his shirttails.
After that, Billy and I had our baths, and before I knew it, it was time for bed. Mommy read us a story tonight, and then she and Daddy tucked us into bed. I was a little disappointed to find that Mommy had rigged the mesh cover over the top of my crib. She said it would keep me from climbing out in my sleep and perhaps getting hurt. I didn’t really like that, because the mesh top made me feel a little closed-in, but I supposed I could live with it. We were tucked in, and I very quickly drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Wednesday, started even weirder than the previous one. I was sleeping very nicely when someone touching me suddenly startled me awake.
“Ah!” I yelped as I sat bolt upright.
I looked to my side and saw Mommy touching me. I immediately noticed that I wasn’t in my crib. In fact, I wasn’t even in the nursery. I was crouched down on my knees out in the upstairs hallway. I had been curled up lying in a little ball like that. I was actually just inches from the edge of the stairway leading down to the rest of the house.
“Oh, my God, baby!” Mommy said urgently. “How did you get out here?”
“I don’t know,” I said, frowning in confusion.
“How did you get out of your crib?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I repeated.
She picked me up and hugged me tightly.
“Thank God, you didn’t try to go down the stairs!” she said. “You could have been hurt really bad if you fell.”
“I’m sorry, Mommy,” I whimpered, suddenly very upset.
“No, no, baby,” she said, giving me a kiss. “It’s not your fault.”
We went down the hall to the nursery. She immediately flipped the lights on, and we went over to my crib. She inspected the mesh cover over the top opening of the crib. It was connected to the crib by straps on its four corners.
“I guess you squeezed out through the little slit here,” she said. “But it would have been a tight squeeze.”
The side of the covering could be pulled away from the side of the crib providing just enough of an opening for me to slip through. I still couldn’t understand how I had figured that out in my sleep.
“Are you sure you don’t remember climbing out of your crib?” asked Mommy.
“No, Mommy,” I said in distress. “I promise I don’t.”
“Okay, baby,” she said giving me another hug and a kiss. “You’re not in trouble. We’re just going to have to find a way to keep you in your crib so you can’t get out and hurt yourself. I can’t believe you didn’t fall down the stairs.”
“What’s going on?” we heard Billy asked sleepily from behind us.
“Your brother climbed out of his crib and was sleepwalking, again, last night,” Mommy told him as she turned to take me over to the changing table.
“How did you do that?” Billy asked me.
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug.
“Don’t worry about it, now, guys,” Mommy told us. “We’ll worry about it later. Come on, Billy. You need to get up for school, baby.”
She left me on the end of the changing table and went to go let Billy out of his crib. They came back over to me, and Billy climbed up on the table and lay down. Mommy changed him out of his poopy, nighttime diapers and got him into a new disposable. He then went to get dressed as Mommy checked my diapers. I was only wet from my usual nocturnal accidents, so she decided I didn’t need to be changed just yet. She got my glasses and a t-shirt for me from my bureau. She changed me into a pale, pastel green “baby” t-shirt like I wore yesterday. It had a little tiny bottle, rattle, and rocking horse embroidered on the middle of the chest. She put my glasses on my face and took me to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When my teeth were brushed, she combed my raucous hair. We went downstairs where we found Daddy making coffee again. He was wearing a robe over his pajamas.
“Morning, Tadpole,” he told me as he took me from Mommy and gave me a hug.
“Hi, Daddy,” I said cozying up to his chest.
“He got out of his crib again,” said Mommy. “He was out in the hall right at the top of the stairs.”
“What?” he asked in amazement.
“Yep,” Mommy confirmed.
“You could have been hurt,” Daddy told me.
“I know,” I nodded sadly.
“We’re going to have to figure out something to do,” Mommy said.
“Yeah, we are,” Daddy agreed.
We then went through our family breakfast routine. Billy and the girls were downstairs within a few minutes. Everyone had breakfast, and then everyone but Daddy and I left for the day. Daddy said we should get started on my lessons for the day right away, so that we’d have plenty of time to go get me some books later. We spent the next few hours working on all my different subjects. The math lesson was new. It was compound fractions, which I remembered hating in the fourth grade. It was hard, but Daddy helped me through the worksheet.
Around 10:30, Daddy thought I had had enough school for the day, so we could go get me some books. He took me upstairs and sat me on the changing table. He first checked my diapers to make sure I wasn’t in need of a change, and then he went to my bureau to find some clothes for me to wear. He pulled out a pair of baby blue short overalls and a pair of socks and brought them over to me. He unfolded the short-alls and started to pull them onto my legs.
“I have to wear this?” I asked a little uneasily.
“We’re going out, kiddo,” he said. “You have to have some clothes on.”
“But, Daddy…” I started to whine.
“Taddy, you remember the rules, right?” he asked gently.
I just nodded.
“No, complaining,” he said. “If you do, no short-alls, and you’ll just go in your diapers and that t-shirt.”
My eyes nearly popped out of my head at that threat. My mouth dropped open in surprise, but I quickly pulled it shut and kept it that way. There was no way I wanted to go out in public in just diapers.
He got the short-alls on me and fastened their straps over my shoulders. Like all of the other pants I had worn here, the bottom half of the short-alls was completely filled by my bulging diapers. I looked down at my crotch and it was sticking out probably three or four inches further than it should have.
I didn’t have long to consider that, though. Daddy pulled and sock onto my right foot. It was a short sock that came up just a few inches past my ankle. It had two, pastel blue pinstripes running around the cuff. He put a tennis shoe on over the sock, and we were out the door and going down the hall as soon as he collected the baby blue diaper bag. Just before we got to the top of the stairs, I made Daddy stop and go back so we could get Squeaker. He needed to go with me. He might want a book to read, too.
We went downstairs, told Ms. Rosie goodbye, and Daddy took me out to the garage where I was loaded into my car seat in the back of his SUV. We backed out of the garage and down the driveway. Within a few minutes we were headed toward the center of town. Daddy pulled into a big shopping strip and parked near a Walden Books store. He got my stroller out of the back of the vehicle and loaded me into it. When I was strapped into it and my diaper bag was hung over the back handles, he pushed me toward the store. We went into the bookstore where a male store clerk immediately greeted us. He gave me a funny look, but then he pointed us toward the juvenile books section, where Daddy and I started to go through books. He asked what kind of books I read, and I just shrugged. I really didn’t read all that much because I had a bad history with chapter books.
When I was about eight, I had been in a foster home where I took a chapter book home from the school library. It was one of my first chapter books, and it wasn’t very big. I don’t even remember what it was about. The foster family had had a real son, who was four. The four-year-old had somehow gotten hold of my book one day. I caught him with it and tried to get it back from him, but he started screaming and crying and my foster mom told me to leave him alone or I’d get a spanking. I had watched in horror as he took the book and proceeded to apply just about every crayon he had to its pages. I tried to get him to stop, but he wouldn’t. If I had tried to make him stop he would have screamed more, and I would have been in big trouble. He was only four, but he had already learned which one of us was in charge. He knew I couldn’t do anything to him.
Obviously, I had had to return the book to the library at school where the librarian had naturally discovered that the book was ruined. The school called my foster parents and they had to pay for the book. When I went home that day my foster dad had really whipped me hard. I tried to explain that their son had done the damage to the book, but the four-year-old was old enough to lie and deny it, and they, of course, believed him over me. I was just “the bedwetting little shit,” after all. That was the home where I got whipped every day with the buckle end of the belt for wetting my bed, so you can imagine how badly I was beaten for ruining a library book, especially after trying to blame it on their son. I had had to sleep on my stomach for the next week or so because my back, butt, and the backs of my thighs hurt so badly. Going to school and sitting at my desk all day had been really bad.
Consequently, I never took another library book home. When the class went to the library to check out books, I would just get a book and keep it in my desk at school. I never got to finish a chapter book because I never had time to read a whole one at school before it was time to turn it in. Eventually I just stopped getting chapter books, and I just got picture books, since they were easier for me to finish in time.
Daddy quickly figured out that I wasn’t going to be much help picking out books, so he pulled a few off the shelf and read me their descriptions and asked if they sounded any good. I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to read, so I just shrugged. He asked if I had read the latest Harry Potter book, and I told him I hadn’t read any of them. He immediately decided for me that we’d get the first Harry Potter book. He found a copy and set it in my lap. I was glad when he told me we could count that as two books for my monthly quota, because it looked pretty thick. We finally found a couple of other novels that sounded interesting to me, so we got them, as well. Daddy paid for the books, and we left the store. He then announced that it was time for lunch, so we went down the street to a Chick-Fil-A, a fast food place I had seen before but never been to. Before he put me in my stroller to take me into the restaurant he checked my diapers. I had only wet three or four times that morning, so I wasn’t in need of a change.
Daddy bought me a chicken nugget kids meal and something for himself, and we went over to a table to eat. The restaurant had an indoor playroom, which accounted for the restaurant being full of kids and parents. Obviously, with school in session, all of the kids were no older than four or so, and many of them were just little toddlers. Most of the parents looked like stay-at-home moms. I don’t really know why, but I was really nervous, at first, when we were in the restaurant eating. I felt like everyone was staring right at me in my babyish attire. I don’t know how, but Daddy must have sensed that I was getting a little upset, because he picked me up out of my stroller and held me in his lap. That made me feel a lot better. He fed me my chicken nuggets and waffle fries, and it didn’t even bother me that I saw a few people staring at me as he fed me. After we finished eating, we just sat there for a few minutes as Daddy held me. We didn’t even talk all that much. I casually looked around the restaurant just surveying the activity around me.
I suddenly realized that I was looking at all of the kids’ lower midsections and trying to decide if they were wearing diapers underneath their clothes or not. I could easily tell that a few of them were, with others it was kind of iffy, and with some I was almost certain they were not in diapers. I was for some reason glad that I noticed that most of the boys appeared to be wearing diapers, I suppose because then I knew I wasn’t alone, but then again, the majority of the boys were all around two or three years old with a few that were four or maybe five, and I couldn’t tell that many of the older ones were in diapers.
I also noticed that far fewer of the girls present seemed to be wearing diapers compared to the boys. It seemed that only the very youngest girls who were only barely able to toddle around were in diapers. Strangely, it seemed that many girls who were obviously not in diapers were younger than many of the boy who obviously were. I wondered what that meant. I wondered if it had anything to do with what Andy and Billy were saying yesterday while going over “the rules.” Did that mean that boys really weren’t capable of being trained to use the toilet properly? I thought I had always done a pretty good job. Of course, I always wet my bed, but I wasn’t sure if that counted or not. Maybe I’d ask Andy about it. She seemed to know a lot about this sort of thing.
Daddy put me back into my stroller and strapped me in. He then told me to wait there while he took our trash from lunch to the trashcan. I sat there clutching Squeaker in my lap and waited. Suddenly, I saw a little boy coming toward me. He looked like he was three or maybe four. He was dressed in a red and blue striped t-shirt underneath a pair of denim, Oshkosh B’Gosh overalls, that looked exactly like the ones Mommy had bought for me. Strangely, he was also carrying a teddy bear around, dragging the poor stuffed animal by one arm.
“Hi,” he said to me with a smile as he came up to me.
“Um, hello,” I said a little nervously.
“Did you get hurt?” he said pointing at the casts on my arms.
I looked down at myself.
“My big bwother fell out of a twee, and he had a cast on his arm,” he informed me without waiting for me to answer his question. “Is dat what happened to you?”
“Um, yeah,” I said.
I didn’t really care to explain that someone had beaten me, and I hoped he wouldn’t have understood such a concept, anyway.
“My name is Kyle,” he informed me. “What’s your name?”
“Taddy,” I replied.
“I’m this many,” he said holding up three spread fingers. “How old are you?”
“Um, ten,” I admitted.
“Ooh, you a big baby,” he said delightedly.
“Who said I was a baby?” I asked.
“Well, you got on big diapers,” he said. “Babies wear diapers. And you dressed like a baby. That mean you a baby, huh?”
“Yeah,” I said smiling thinly. “But how do you know I’m wearing diapers?”
“Because, I can see ‘em up your pants, silly,” he said.
I looked down at myself and suddenly realized that, much to my horror, the legs of my short-alls were short enough and the openings large enough that anyone at the proper angle could plainly see my diapers and plastic pants. I could see the whiteness of my diapers radiating out of my pant legs like headlights on a car.
“Mommy put me in pull-ups,” he told me next. “She say I have to start usin’ da potty so I can be a big boy.”
“Oh,” I replied, trying desperately to take my mind off of my shocking discovery. “You don’t like your diapers?”
“Well…” he hesitated. “Yeah, but Mommy say only babies wear diapers, and it time for me to be a big boy.”
Then I got just a little brave, “That’s too bad, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he admitted kind of sadly.
“I guess I’m lucky,” I said. “I get to still be a baby and wear my diapers.”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Why don’t you tell your mommy you still want to be a baby?” I suggested.
He just stared at me for a few moments. I must have given him an idea he had never thought of. He seemed to be very intrigued by my suggestion.
“Kyle,” a lady suddenly called from across the restaurant. “It’s time to go, sweetie. Tell your little friend goodbye.”
He turned to look at the lady and then turned back to me.
“I gotta go,” he told me as though I hadn’t heard. “Bye, Taddy.”
“Bye, Kyle,” I told him.
He waved to me as he turned to leave, and I tried to wave back at him. Just then I looked up to see Daddy standing not too far away. He had an amused smile on his face. I wondered how long he had been standing there.
“Making new friends, Tadpole?” he asked me.
“Um, yeah,” I said with an embarrassed smile.
“That’s good,” he said. “Now, why don’t we go to the park and sit outside, and you can read to me for a while?”
“Okay,” I said happily. That sounded kind of fun.
We left the Chick-fil-a, and Daddy got me loaded into the SUV. The restaurant was kind of on the edge of town, so we had to head back into town again. He took me over to a city park. The park looked pretty big and it contained a playground, athletic courts, and picnic areas. Daddy got me out of the car and put me into my stroller. He hung the diaper bag on the back of the chair and grabbed the little shopping bag of books. He then pushed me through the park. We strolled along a paved pathway until we found a park bench that was in the shade of a big tree. Daddy pushed me up to it. He sat down on the bench and reached over to unstrap me. He pulled me out of the stroller and sat me on his lap.
Once I was settled in his lap, we went through the books in the shopping back. I selected a book called The Indian In the Cupboard. It wasn’t really, really long, so I thought I could start with that. Daddy held the book open for me, and I began reading aloud to him. I read pretty slowly, and Daddy had to help me with a lot of words. I even needed help on some of the words that weren’t all that long. I felt really stupid to be having so much trouble reading, but Daddy kept comforting me and telling me I was doing great.
After half an hour I probably had read about six pages. By then, I could feel some pressure building in my bowels, and I knew I needed to have a bowel movement. I couldn’t really get myself to go for some reason. I started fidgeting and squirming around to make myself a little more comfortable.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Daddy asked me when he quickly noticed my uneasiness.
“I have to go,” I said nearly frustrated that I couldn’t squeeze anything out.
“You mean pooh-pooh?” he asked.
“Uh huh,” I nodded. I hoped no one heard that, but I didn’t really care at the moment.
“Here,” he said. “Let Daddy give you a little help.”
He picked me up off his lap and turned me so I could sit on the bench next to him.
“Sit on your knees sideways, facing me,” he told me. “Careful of your cast. Don’t hurt your little toes.”
I did as he said.
“Now lay your head down in Daddy’s lap,” he told me.
I did as I said. I lay down on my knees with the side of my head resting comfortably in his lap. My heavily padded butt was sort of sticking out prominently behind me.
“Okay, buddy,” Daddy told me. “Now, you just relax and push. This is what I used to do when Billy was having trouble pooping.”
He gently rubbed my back and the back of my neck as I tried to push out my poop. My head was turned to the side looking out over his knees at the park. Suddenly, a lady pushing a baby stroller walked by. She gave us a funny stare, obviously noting how unusual I must have looked. I glowed in embarrassment.
“It’s okay, Tadpole,” said Daddy. “Just relax and go. You don’t worry about anyone or anything.”
I was still embarrassed, but I couldn’t wait any longer. Another wave of cramps hit. I gave my bowels another push as it hit, and that was all it took. After expelling a brief, muffled fart, I felt a rather large, hard glob of poop come out, which actually kind of hurt just a bit. My bent over forward position pressed my diapers right up against my butt hole, but they really didn’t prevent me from going. They did however squish my poop around the second it came out of me. That first, hard glob of poop seemed like a cork in a bottle, and it was quickly followed by a lot more, soft, squishy poop that felt about the consistency of peanut butter. The poop oozed up into my butt crack and down into my crotch at the same time. Within a few seconds whatever empty space between my butt and crotch and my diapers was full. It must have been a stinky load because I could already smell the first tendrils of my stinky odors making their way out of my thick diapers.
It took less than a minute or two for me to push out all of my solid waste. I then relaxed and let out a satisfied sigh.
“All done, stinker?” Daddy asked me.
“I think so,” I said, still resting my head on his lap.
“Feel better?” he asked.
“Uh huh,” I replied.
“Good,” he said. “Let’s go back to reading. We’ll wait to see if you need to go anymore, and Daddy will change you in a little while.”
“Okay,” I said.
He picked me back up and resituated me in his lap. As soon as my butt rested on his lap I felt my poop squish around even more. I felt the poop press up into my little testicles, and it felt good. I couldn’t help but smile at the nice feelings.
“I see somebody likes his poopy diapers,” Daddy said.
I suddenly stopped smiling and blushed in embarrassment.
“It’s okay, Taddy,” he assured me with a pat on the chest. “There’s nothing wrong with that. All the diaper boys I know love their poopy diapers.”
I smiled again and nodded.
“You’re a stinky baby,” he commented giving me a hug and a kiss on the top of my head. “Now, back to reading.”
He picked up the book and we went back to reading. I read about ten more pages completing the first chapter. It felt good to finish a chapter, and I decided that I liked this book.
“Okay,” Daddy said. “We need to go get your brother from school soon, so Daddy needs to change you.”
I stayed seated in his lap as he reached over to my stroller for the diaper bag. He pulled it off and sat it next to him. He opened it and pulled out a changing pad and spread it out on the other side of him on the unoccupied side of the bench.
“You’re going to change me here?” I said.
“Good a place as any,” he replied.
“Do you have to?” I asked worriedly. I didn’t want to be changed out in the middle of a park.
He picked me up and flipped me around so that I was facing him.
“Taddy,” he said. “You complained about your clothes this morning, and now you’re complaining about being changes. You know the rules, don’t you?”
I nodded sadly, my lip beginning to quiver.
“Now, you know you don’t have to be a baby,” he said. “We can take you home right now, get you out of these diapers, put some undies on you, and you’ll be a big boy, again. Is that what you want?”
I shook my head vehemently as a single tear rolled down my cheek. I wasn’t upset at the prospect of losing my babyhood, or about the rules of it. I was upset because Daddy was mad at me.
“Okay,” he said. “No more complaining, then.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” I whimpered quietly.
“That’s okay, baby,” he said.
He gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead, both of which comforted me, and then he picked me up and laid me down. Naturally, he positioned me with my head away from him and my crotch toward him so he could get at my diapers. He pulled the inseams of my short-alls open, grabbed my legs, and lifted my butt so he could push them up under me. He then had to unlock my plastic pants because I was still in the locking, nighttime pants I had worn all night. I had been in these diapers for nearly eighteen hours now. I didn’t have a rash, but I was very, very wet by now.
He pulled the plastic pants off and began to unpin my diapers. Just as he was doing that a guy came jogging by. He quite blatantly stared at us—mainly me—as he jogged by. I think he almost tripped he was so distracted. I got very upset, and I was about to cry again. Daddy stopped unpinning my diapers and reached over to my stroller. He turned back to me and handed me my teddy bear.
“Here. Give Squeaker a hug,” he told me. “That’ll make you feel better.”
I clutched Squeaker between my arm casts and my chest making him squeak. Daddy gave me a comforting pat on my belly, and continued changing me. He got the last diaper undone and opened it up.
“You’re sure a wet, dirty baby, today,” he said with a smile.
He took the package of baby wipes out of the diaper bag and began to clean my really dirty diaper area. I could feel my little pee-pee grow bigger again. It seemed to do that nearly every time I got my diapers changed, lately. I still needed to ask about that, but I didn’t want to have that conversation here in the middle of the park.
Just as I was thinking about that another jogger came by. He did the exact same thing that the other jogger did, except he slowed down a lot more to stare at me. I glanced at him briefly, but then I just stared up at the tree above me. I could feel my ears and cheeks burn in humiliation, and I started sniffle as I fought back tears.
“It’s okay, baby,” Daddy told me gently. “Almost done.”
He finished cleaning me up, and he put the bundled, dirty diapers and used wipes into the plastic bag that was kept in the diaper bag. He then pulled out a stack of clean diapers and got them folded up to put under me. He grabbed my lower legs again and lifted my butt up so he could slide the stack of diapers underneath me. He lowered my butt down onto the wonderfully cushy pile of cloth. He then spread my knees apart and started pulling diapers up between my legs and pinning them on. Within a few minutes, all four diapers were pinned around me snuggly. He pulled the same pair of plastic pants, which had been around my ankles during the change, back up over my diapers and got everything adjusted properly. He locked the pants back on me, though I don’t know why, and then lifted my butt one last time so he could pull my short-alls down over me. He got my outfit snapped up, and then he picked me up and sat me in his lap facing him. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a big hug.
“See there? That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked.
I just shook my head.
“Daddy loves you, big guy,” he told me.
“I love you, too, Daddy,” I said with a smile.
He gave me a kiss on the forehead and hugged me tighter.
“Ready to go pick up your big brother?” he asked.
I nodded and grinned.
He put me back into my stroller and strapped me into it. He then cleaned up the changing area and put everything into the diaper bag. Once the diaper bag was slung over the back of the stroller we headed out of the park. We went back to the SUV and he loaded me into my car seat. In another minute we were on the road driving towards Billy’s school. I don’t think I was awake for five minutes after leaving the park before I drifted off to sleep in my cozy car seat.
The next thing I knew I was waking up in my crib. I had had another good dream about diapers, and I woke up in a very good mood. I had Squeaker clutched against my chest, and I was laying on me side. I immediately noticed that my diapers were already wet, but that was no surprise. I pushed myself up and saw that Billy was awake, sitting in his crib.
“Hey, Taddy,” he greeted me happily.
“Hi, Billy,” I smiled tiredly. I got a thumb up to my eyes and started wiping sleep from them.
I was already itchy in my casts and I wanted to stick my fingers into them, but I knew I wasn’t supposed to. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long. Right about then, Celli came into the room.
“Hi, babies,” she greeted us happily.
“Hi, Celli,” we both said in unison.
She came over to me first and opened my crib. She picked me up and I wrapped my arms around her neck and hugged her.
“How’s my little, baby brother, today?” she asked me.
“Good, thank you,” I said. “How are you?”
“Such a polite baby,” she said giving me a kiss on he cheek. “I’m good, too, thank you.”
She retrieved my glasses from the dresser and put them on me. We then went over to Billy’s crib. She gave Billy a kiss as he stood in his crib, and then she held me up to him, and I gave him a kiss on the cheek, too. She dropped the side of his crib down so he could climb out then carried me over to the changing table and set me down on it. She stuck her fingers inside the waistband of my pants and checked the status of my diapers.
“Celli, I’m itchy,” I said, trying not to whine.
“Okay, baby,” she said. “Let me change your brother’s diaper, and I’ll go get the blow dryer in a second.”
I nodded as she gave me a kiss on the forehead. She scooted me down to the end of the changing table to make room for Billy. He climbed up onto the table and lay down with his head facing away from me. I watched as she untaped his diaper and opened it up. Like always, his disposable was extremely well used and there was a mound of poop in the seat of it that extended both toward the front and back of the diaper. I watched Billy’s pee-pee immediately pop to attention as it was exposed. Most of his scrotum and his entire crotch were caked in a layer of dark-brown, almost black poop. The room got a lot stinkier as his diaper was fully opened.
“Such a stinky, stinky baby,” Celli said.
She reached up under his school shirt and tickled his chest. He immediately squirmed and started giggling loudly. She stopped tickling so he wouldn’t move and maybe make a mess. She got out some wet wipes and began cleaning him. She changed him into a nice, thick, set of cloth diapers and pulled a pair of plastic pants onto him. She then told him to go change his shirt, and she left to get the blow dryer for me. I was glad when she came back because I was about to lose my mind from the itching. She got my casts lightly powdered on the insides and blew cool air into them. I sighed in relief as she did so.
“Thank you, Celli,” I said as she was finishing up.
“You’re welcome, sweetie,” she told me.
She then picked me up and planted me on her hip. She took Billy by the hand and led him downstairs as she carried me. We went to the kitchen where we found Andy and Daddy. I guess Ms. Rosie had already departed for the day. Andy held me and gave me a hug, and Celli got Billy and I a snack. Ms. Rosie had made some brownies while Daddy and I were gone today, so we each had a brownie and a bottle of milk.
After our snack, Billy had homework to do. I spent the rest of the afternoon zooming around in my baby walker. Mommy got home a little early tonight, which was a nice surprise. She picked me up and carried me around for a while as she helped Daddy with supper, which was nice. We ate supper like normal, and then Billy and I had our baths. Mommy and Daddy both bathed us tonight. After our baths, Billy and I spent sometime playing in the playpen down in the den while Celli and Andy watched TV with us. Mommy and Daddy went upstairs for some reason while we were all downstairs, and they stayed up there for quite a while.
They came back down a while later and announced that it was time for the babies to go night-night. Billy and I said goodnight to our sisters, and we were carried upstairs. Mommy read us a story tonight while I sat in Daddy’s lap in the lounging area in the nursery. Billy and I had a bottle of warm milk while we listened to the story. When the Dr. Seuss book was finished, Mommy picked me up out of Daddy’s lap and carried me toward my crib.
“Now, baby,” she told me. “We have to do something special tonight so that you don’t get out of your crib and hurt yourself tonight.”
I frowned wondering what she meant, but I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. We got over to my crib and I looked in it to see something that had definitely not been there earlier. It looked like some sort of harness system that was strapped to the bed.
“What’s that?” I asked in distress.
“It’s just a little harness to hold you down, baby,” she said. “So you won’t hurt yourself.”
With a few seconds tears were streaming down my face.
“I’m sorry, Mommy,” I cried. “I won’t get out of my crib again. I promise. Please, don’t put me in that. I’ll be a good boy.”
“Oh, baby,” she said giving me a hug. “You’re not a bad boy. You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re just climbing out of your crib at night without knowing it. If we don’t help you stay in your crib you’re going to hurt yourself.”
“But I don’t want to be in a harness,” I cried.
“I know baby,” she said. “But you don’t want to hurt yourself, either, do you?”
“No,” I sobbed.
“Then we need to do this,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“We have to?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, baby,” she said. “But Mommy and Daddy don’t want you to hurt yourself. There’s nothing else we can do.”
“Please, don’t, Mommy,” I begged one last time.
“Baby, we have to,” she said. “If there were another way we’d do it, but there isn’t.”
I just kept sobbing as I buried my face in her shoulder.
“Come on, baby,” she said. “Let’s get you in your crib.”
She lowered me down, but I clutched my arms around her neck. She reached up with one arm and gently removed my arms from around her. She lowered me into the open harness.
“Don’t fight, okay, baby?” she told me gently as she stroked the side of my face.
“No, Mommy,” I said still crying. “I won’t.”
“Good baby,” she said.
Daddy had been standing behind Mommy the whole time. He came up next to Mommy and they proceeded to strap me into the crib. The harness was attached to the crib by a big strap that apparently went around the center of the mattress. The harness was made completely out of white, padded canvas, and it looked pretty complicated. Mommy started by pulling a very wide—maybe eight-inches-wide—band over my waist and midriff. She brought two ends of a canvas strap over that. She used some sort of little metal post thing that went through grommet holes in the straps to hold the straps together. Next, two shoulders straps came down over my shoulders and were fastened together with the same post in the waist straps. Mommy then put a little black thing over the little metal post and there was a little click as it obviously locked into place.
“Now, these are magnetic locks, baby,” Mommy said. “You have to have a special magnetic key to open them and only Daddy and I have one. So, don’t try to play with them or open them, or you might hurt yourself, okay?”
I just nodded.
That didn’t complete my restraining. There was a strap that went from one shoulder strap to the other across the top of my chest I suppose so that the shoulder straps couldn’t be moved apart. The same type of little metal posts that held the shoulder and waist straps together held the chest strap to the shoulder straps. The tops of the shoulder straps were looped around my shoulders and up underneath my armpits where they were connected back onto themselves where the chest strap connected to them. It was a weird setup, but by the time it was all fastened together I couldn’t move my upper body much at all. I could shift around for a little comfort, but that was about it. I also noticed that there were what looked like wrist restraints down by the waistband. They were attached to the strap that connected the harness system to the mattress. Thankfully, my arms in their casts couldn’t reach those, so I don’t think they could tie my arms down.
“See, there, baby? That doesn’t hurt at all, does it?” asked Mommy.
“No,” I whimpered.
I had to admit it wasn’t painful at all. The straps were secure, but they weren’t really tight. There was no way I could get out of this setup, but neither was I really uncomfortable.
Mommy put my pillow under my head and then made sure my arms were comfortable. Daddy put a little pillow under my leg cast and then pulled my sheet over me. Mommy then bent over and gave me a kiss as she gently rubbed my chest.
“Mommy loves you, baby,” she told me.
“I love you, too, Mommy,” I replied still sniffling.
She moved out of the way so Daddy could give me a kiss and tell me goodnight. He told me he loved me too, and then he put Squeaker in my arms before he closed my crib. They went over to Billy and tucked him in and then left us alone after they turned the lights off. I lay there still quietly crying for a few minutes.
“Taddy?” I heard Billy call quietly from across the room.
“Yeah?” I whimpered.
“It’s gonna be okay, alright?” he assured me.
“Uh huh,” I replied, though I didn’t believe him.
“I love you, baby brother,” he said.
“I love you, too, Billy,” I replied.
“Night,” he said.
“Goodnight.”
I sniffled again and tried to settle in for the night. A pretty good day had just ended on a very sour note. Why did I have to sleepwalk and end up tied down like this? Why couldn’t everything go right for me for once in my life? I guess I just didn’t deserve that. I suddenly realized that this was probably it. Mommy and Daddy had probably decided they had had enough of me. They didn’t want anyone that sleepwalked and might get into trouble, break something, or hurt himself. They were probably just using the harness to keep me restrained for the night, and then in the morning, or maybe a few days, they’d get rid of me. For all I knew they had already called Miss Shelly, who was now looking for another place to dump me. I guess I couldn’t blame them. Who would want some dumb kid who sleepwalked? I suppose I could say that this had been the best week and a half in my life. Too bad it had to come to an end, but I had always known it would not last forever. I just wished it could have gone on a little longer.
On that unhappy thought, I closed my eyes and cried myself to sleep.
I didn’t wake up the next morning until someone nudged me awake. I opened my and saw Mommy leaning over the crib with her hand on my chest gently rubbing it.
“Morning, Baby,” she said happily.
I didn’t return her smile. I was definitely not a happy camper this morning. I had had bad dreams all night. Most of them were pure nightmares. One of them was my worst possible nightmare. In that one people had come to take me away from here. Mommy and Daddy and everyone else had been pretty indifferent as the strange man and women came to collect me. I tried to say goodbye to everyone, but they all pretty much ignored me like I wasn’t even there, like I was already gone. I had then been taken back to my old foster home where I was severely beaten for telling people what my old foster dad had done to me. I had woken up in the middle of the night shivering and crying. Twice more I had awakened during the night and was completely in shock to find myself restrained and unable to move until I remembered the harness I had been strapped into.
Mommy reached down and produced a little red disk thingy that she used to unlock my restraints. All she did was touch it to the magnetic locks and the black, button things came right off the metal posts they were attached to. She got all of the straps unfastened and picked me up out of crib. I wrapped my arms around her and immediately gave her a hug as she hugged me back. I really needed that this morning.
“Did you sleep good, baby?” she asked me.
“No,” I said.
“I’m sorry, baby,” she said. “Was the harness uncomfortable?”
“No, I just had bad dreams all night,” I replied.
“Oh, I’m sorry, baby,” she said again.
“Let’s go get you changed, and that’ll make you feel better,” she told me.
I wasn’t so sure of that, but I didn’t say so. Mommy carried me over to Billy’s crib and we let him out, and then we went to the changing table. She changed me out of my night diapers, which were obviously wet. I then sat on the end of the table as she changed Billy into a disposable. He then went to go get dressed for school.
“My ankle hurts,” I said as Mommy picked me up off the changing table.
“That doesn’t surprise me, baby,” he said. “You woke the whole house up again last night. You were screaming and yelling again in your sleep.”
“I was?” I asked.
“Yep,” she replied. “We came in and you were kicking your legs all over the place. We tried to stop you, but you were kicking hard. I’m sure you slammed you poor little leg into the mattress and the side of the crib pretty hard.”
“I’m sorry, Mommy,” I said sadly. “I didn’t mean to.”
“I know, baby,” she said. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Mommy took me to the bathroom to brush my teeth and comb my hair. After that she changed me into a clean, babyish t-shirt, put my glasses on me, and she carried me downstairs. We found Daddy in the kitchen making eggs and sausage for breakfast.
“Morning, Tadpole,” he told me cheerfully from the stove.
“Hi, Daddy,” I said quietly with very little cheer.
Mommy carried me over to him and he gave me a good morning kiss. She then got me a bottle of milk and carried me over to the highchair. She strapped me into the highchair and gave me my bottle. She had to go finish getting ready for work, so I held the bottle myself, which didn’t really bother me.
After she left, it was just Daddy and I in the kitchen for a little while. I sat there quietly sucking on my bottle as I listened to Daddy humming as he cooked breakfast. He had just finished scrambling eggs when I finally worked up the courage to asked a burning question.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, baby?” he replied.
“Are y’all gonna get rid of me, now?” I asked. I was unable to look him in the face.
“Get rid of you?” he asked. “Why would we do that?”
“Because I sleepwalk,” I replied starting to sniffle a little.
He set the frying pan of eggs down on the counter and came over to me. He unstrapped me and picked me up out of the highchair. He held me in front of him and I automatically wrapped my legs around his waist to hold onto him.
“Why would we get rid of you for that?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Who would want a kid who sleepwalks?”
“We do,” he said immediately. “I want a kid who sleepwalks, and so does Mommy, and so do your brother and sisters. Taddy, we’d never want to get rid you for something like that. There is no reason we’d not want you here. We love you, kiddo, and when you love someone you can’t just get rid of them, especially for something so silly as a little sleepwalking. Do you understand?”
I nodded as a single tear rolled down my face. Daddy gave me a kiss and a big hug.
“Okay,” he said. “Now, no more talk of us getting rid of you. That’s not going to happen. They may find some reason to take you away from us, one day, but that’s the only way you’ll ever leave here. We’re not just going to get rid of you. Understand?”
I smiled thinly, and nodded.
He gave me another kiss on the forehead, and he put me back in the highchair. He continued preparing breakfast as I finished my bottle of milk. By the time we were both finished everyone else had joined us. We had our eggs and sausage, and I got a bottle of juice with Tylenol in it for my ankle. Then, everyone started leaving for work and school.
Daddy and I watched Nickelodeon in the den for a little while, but then I had to go do schoolwork. He took me into the kitchen and we got started on Math. I wasn’t a big fan of math, so I liked to do it first to get it out of the way. Ms. Rosie arrived just as we were finishing with the math work. We then did English and social studies. Daddy had me write a whole paragraph to practice writing. He told me to write about whatever I wanted to. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about, at first, but then I decided to write about diapers. Even then I had trouble writing a whole paragraph. When I was finally done Daddy took the paper from me and read it.
“I see you’ve picked Billy’s favorite subject,” he commented with a smile.
That somehow didn’t really surprise me.
“This isn’t bad, Tadpole,” he told me.
“Really?” I asked.
“Really,” he confirmed. “There are a few little grammar errors, but we’ll go over those.”
He showed me where I had made the mistakes and then we went through my grammar book and he showed me what I should do. He then had me close the textbook and rewrite everything again. If I hadn’t been writing about diapers, I think I would have been really, really bored.
After my writing lesson we did history, which I found kind of boring. After that, we did science, which I found a little more interesting. Today’s lesson was about magnetism, which was pretty neat. When the science lesson was over it was time for lunch. Daddy actually let me pick what I had for lunch today. I told him I wanted macaroni and cheese like Mommy made it. He said he wasn’t sure if he could do it quite as good as she did, but he’d try. He ended up making macaroni and cheese that was okay. It wasn’t quite as good as Mommy’s, but it wasn’t bad. He put some cut up ham in the macaroni and cheese so I would be getting some meat, and he also made me eat some carrot sticks.
When he was done feeding me my lunch he said it was puzzle time. After he wiped my face with my bib he took it off of me and took the dishes to the sink. He retrieved a bottle for me from the refrigerator, and then he got me out of the highchair and carried me out of the kitchen. We went down the hall to his study where we found the puzzle in the middle of the floor just where we had left it the other day. He set me down on the floor next to the puzzle and got down on the floor on the other side of it. We spent the next little while working on the puzzle and talking like I had become accustomed to. He began asking me all sorts of questions just like he always did.
“How was sleeping in the harness last night?” he finally asked after a while.
“I don’t like that thing, Daddy,” I said.
“I know, buddy,” he said.
“Do you have to do that?” I pleaded. “I promise I’ll try not to sleepwalk.”
“Tadpole, it’s not so simple as that,” he said. “You know you can’t help sleepwalking. There’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
“I know,” I said sadly.
“We’re just doing it to protect you,” he said. “You understand that you’re not being punished, right?”
“Uh huh,” I said sadly.
“Sometimes parents have to do things for their kids that they may not like,” he told me. “But we only do it out love because it’s for your own good. Do you understand that?”
I nodded
“We won’t use it for very long,” he promised. “We’ll do it for a few weeks, and then we’ll let you sleep without it for a while and see if you sleepwalk again.”
I nodded again still not very happy with the whole situation.
We continued talking about other things for the next hour or so. As usual, an hour or two after lunch, I filled my diapers with a pretty big load of poop. Today it was a quiet bowel movement, and Daddy didn’t even notice when I did it. I just smiled sort of mischievously at my little secret and kept on working on the puzzle.
“You’re stinky, Tadpole,” Daddy said about twenty minutes later.
I just looked up at him and smiled.
About then the phone on Daddy’s desk rang. He got up and went over to answer it.
“Hello,” he said into the phone. “Yes… Oh, hello, Mr. Turner… Oh, it is? Well, that’s great. Can we drop by this afternoon after I pick Billy up from school? Wonderful! We’ll see you then.”
He hung up and came back over to me.
“Guess what,” he told me.
I just shrugged.
“Your highchair is ready,” he said happily.
“Wow!” I replied. “We’re gonna go get it?”
“Yep,” he said. “As soon as we pick up your brother.”
“Cool!” I said.
We kept working on the puzzle, both of us ignoring my worsening diaper smells. We kept on talking about different things. I stayed pretty excited about getting my own highchair. Daddy finally looked up at a clock on his deck.
“Uh oh,” he said. “We’re gonna be late. We better get going, or Billy is going to wonder where we’re at.”
He stood up and bent over to pick me up. He planted me on his hip and turned to whisk me from the room. We said a brief goodbye to Ms. Rosie and headed out to the garage. Daddy strapped me into my car seat.
“Daddy, I don’t have any clothes on,” I commented as he finished buckling my car seat restraints. I was still just in my stinky diapers and a t-shirt.
“You’ve got enough on, kiddo,” he said. “It’s warm enough. We have to go.”
He closed my door and climbed into the front seat. We pulled out of the garage and we were on our way. A few minutes later Daddy turned into the drive at the school. He pulled up in front of the school where there were already a bunch of kids outside. We immediately saw Billy waiting on the sidewalk in front of the school. He waved as he saw us pull up. Daddy turned the car off and got out. He gave Billy a quick kiss and then opened the back door so he could climb in.
“Hi, Taddy!” Billy greeted me when he got in.
“Hey, Billy,” I replied. “Guess what. We’re going to get my new highchair.”
“Cool,” he replied as he plopped his butt down in his car seat.
Daddy got him buckled in, and then we were off again. We headed off in a different direction from home. Daddy took us through parts of town I hadn’t yet seen. We finally stopped in front of a little metal building that looked like a workshop, or a small warehouse. The sign on the building said: “Turner’s Custom Furniture and Fine Woodwork.” I think I could safely assume this was where my highchair was.
Daddy got out of the car and let Billy out of his car seat. He then came over to my side. He unbuckled me and started to pick me up out of my car seat.
“Do I have to go in like this?” I asked a little uneasily.
“Yes, Taddy,” he said. “You want your highchair, don’t you?”
I nodded.
“Well, it’s in here,” he said. “Besides, Mr. Turner made you a highchair. Do you really think he’ll be surprised to see you in diapers?”
I suppose that made sense.
“I guess not,” I said.
“Of course not,” he replied. “Now, let’s go.”
He put me on his hip and took Billy’s hand with his freehand. He took us into the building. The entrance actually led into a small office. There was an older man sitting behind a desk doing some paperwork. He looked up and smiled.
“Ah, Dr. Bradshaw,” he smiled. “Good afternoon.”
“Hello, Mr. Turner,” he said.
He got up and came over to us.
“Hi, Billy,” Mr. Turner greeted my brother.
“Hi, Mr. Turner,” Billy responded back.
“So, this is the new little one,” he said.
“Yes. Mr. Turner, this is Taddy,” Daddy introduced me. “Taddy, this is Mr. Turner. Say hi.”
“Hello, Mr. Turner,” I said politely but nervously.
“Hello, Taddy,” he said. “You remind me of my grandson. You look almost exactly like him, except he doesn’t wear glasses. He’s eight, though, so I guess he’s a little older than you.”
“I’m ten,” I said blushing.
“Oh,” he said with a nod. “I guess you’re just a little guy, then.”
“Yeah,” I said kind of sadly.
“Nothin’ wrong with that,” he replied. “So, would you like to see your new highchair?”
“Yes, please,” I said with a renewed smile.
“Right this way,” he said.
He led us out of the office to the rest of the building. We entered a rather large workshop that was full of all sorts of complicated and kind of dangerous looking machinery. One wall of the building was full of all kinds of wood stacked up on shelves. The air was thick with the pleasant smells of cut wood and the stronger odors of chemicals, which I assumed were from paints and wood stains. There was a clear spot just outside the office where I immediately noticed that a highchair sat. It was just like Billy’s. It was made out of nicely carved wood with a plastic tray and a high, comfortable looking back. I could see that it had the same harness restraints that Billy’s chair had. I also noticed wrist restraints on the tray and ankle restraints down on the footboard just like Billy’s chair had.
We went over to the chair and watched as Mr. Turner removed the tray from it.
“Shall we try it out?” he asked as he turned toward us.
“Sure,” Daddy replied.
Mr. Turner came over to us and held out his arms toward me. Daddy handed me over to him. I was a little nervous for a stranger to be holding me, but Mr. Turner seemed nice enough. He carried me over to the highchair. For the first time I noticed that “Taddy” was carved into the front of the seatback. I smiled at that thinking it was really cool to have something with my name on it. Mr. Turner set me down in the seat. It was just as comfortable as Billy’s chair, and its hard, wooden surfaces squished the poop around in my diapers just like Billy’s highchair would have done.
“I think somebody is about ready for a change,” Mr. Turner commented looking down at me with as smile.
I just smiled back embarrassedly.
“I think there’re two somebodies who are about ready for a change,” Daddy commented as he reached down to give Billy’s butt a loving swat.
Billy just giggled.
Mr. Turner pulled the shoulder straps out from behind me and pulled them over me. I got my arms through them, and he buckled the seatbelt down at my waist. He adjusted the seatbelt and shoulder straps so they were snug, and then he retrieved the tray and reattached it to the rest of the chair.
“Looks great,” said Daddy. “What do you think, baby?”
“I like it,” I said with a big grin.
“How’s it feel?” asked Mr. Turner.
“Good,” I said still grinning.
“I guess that about does it, then,” Mr. Turner said.
He took the tray back off of the chair and unstrapped me. He picked me up and handed me back to Daddy.
“Thank you, Mr. Turner,” I said as he was putting the tray back on.
“You’re welcome, little fellow,” he replied. “I’m glad you like it.”
When the chair was reassembled he picked it up and carried it back to the office as we followed him along. Daddy set me down on the edge of Mr. Turner’s desk and took out a checkbook. He wrote Mr. Turner a check to pay for the highchair. After Mr. Turner gave him a receipt we were ready to go. Mr. Turner carried the highchair out to Daddy’s SUV for us and loaded it into the back. I thanked him again and Daddy shook his hand. He told us goodbye and he returned to his shop.
“Thank you for my highchair, Daddy,” I said wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him as he carried me to my side of the vehicle.
“You’re welcome, kiddo,” he said. “I’m glad you like it.”
He got me into my car seat and buckled me into it. A minute later, Billy was in his car seat, as well, and we were ready to go. Daddy got behind the wheel and we headed back home. A few minutes later we pulled into the garage at the house. Daddy got us out of the back seat and carried me into the house. We greeted Ms. Rosie, but then Daddy took Billy and me straight upstairs to the nursery for our naps. He checked my diapers just to make sure I wasn’t going to leak before naptime was over, and then he carried me over to my crib.
“Daddy, do you have to strap me into that thingy for my nap?” I said. I didn’t want to go in that stupid harness again.
“No, I guess not,” he said. “Tell you what. How about you share Billy’s crib with him for naptime? That way we can just leave the harness in your crib, for now”
“Okay,” I said happily.
“How’s that sound, Billy?” asked Daddy.
“Sure. That’s sounds cool,” Billy replied.
He was over by his crib pulling his shoes and pants off.
Daddy carried me over there and put me down in Billy’s crib. Once Billy was wearing nothing but his school uniform shirt and a diaper Daddy picked him up and put him in the crib too. Daddy leaned forward and gave us both a kiss on the forehead. We lay down next to each other and Daddy pulled the sheet up over us.
“Daddy, can you get Squeaker for me, please?” I asked.
“Sure, Tadpole,” he said.
He went over to my crib and returned with my orange teddy bear. He handed him to me and I clutched him to my chest. He also brought me my pillow and placed it under my head.
“Thank you, Daddy,” I said.
“You’re welcome, big guy,” he said. “You boys go to sleep and have a good nap.”
“We will,” Billy and I said together.
“And no talking or playing around, or Daddy spanks,” he warned us.
We both nodded.
He smiled and winked at us and then turned to leave. He turned the lights off and closed the door partway as he left. Billy turned over on his stomach and put one arm around my chest.
“You think Daddy would spank us just for talking?” I asked Billy a little worriedly.
“Nah, that was just so we’ll be quiet and go to sleep,” Billy told me.
“Oh,” I replied, somewhat relieved.
“Night, Taddy,” he said, as he got comfortable.
“Goodnight, Billy,” I replied.
I closed my eyes and very quickly fell asleep.
I woke up sometime later to a strange sound. It was a weird crinkling sound that I couldn’t quite recognize as I awoke confused, disoriented, and groggy. As I slowly woke up the noise became louder. I opened my eyes and discovered that I was facing the wall. I was staring at the baby blue bumper padding that went around the crib down by the mattress. I didn’t move for a minute or two as I continued to get my bearings and wake myself up. That constant, rhythmic rustling got a little louder. I realized it was coming from inside the crib with me. Suddenly, I heard some soft, muted moaning that sounded like it was coming from Billy. I was almost afraid to turn over and look to see what was going on, but my curiosity got the better of me.
I slowly and quietly looked over at Billy. I found him sitting in one corner of the crib down by my feet. He was reclining in the corner with his knees raised up towards his chest and his feet spread apart on the mattress. His eyes were closed and his head leaning back against the crib’s corner post. He had both hands planted firmly on the front of his disposable diaper and he was very firmly and rhythmically rubbing the front of his diaper up and down. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, as he had a silly little smirk plastered across his face. He was completely oblivious to my presence, or at least he certainly didn’t care that I was there. He suddenly began slowly moving his hips back and forth as he methodically rubbed his diaper. Perhaps a minute later I was almost scared when his diaper rubbing rose to a crescendo, and then he suddenly stopped. His whole body then seemed to shudder as though he were being shocked by an electric jolt. His pelvis thrust forward abruptly a few times, and then he just stopped moving. He seemed to completely relax, and he went limp as he let out a long, deep sigh. He then sat there panting softly, still not moving as he remained limp as a rag doll.
“Billy?” I asked timidly. “Are you okay?”
“Huh?” he said, suddenly opening his eyes. “Oh. Hey, Taddy. Yeah, I’m fine. I’m great.”
He had the silliest, stupidest little grin on his face.
“What were you just doing, Billy?” I asked, still confused as to what had just transpired.
“Oh. Um. Hmm,” he said, obviously searching for what to tell me. “You don’t know what masturbation is?”
“Master-. Master- what?” I asked.
“I guess not,” he said. “Um. Masturbation is something boys do. It’s um…”
He still seemed unable to decide how to explain this foreign activity to me.
“Well, you’ve felt your little penis get bigger and harder, sometimes, right?” he asked
“Uh huh,” I nodded.
I sat up, so I could get into a better position to listen to him. Squeaker was still clutched to my chest, and I set him in my lap as I crossed my legs in front of me. As I sat up and repositioned myself I was reminded of the rather large lump of poop that occupied the seat of my diapers. I almost couldn’t help but move my butt around a little to squish it around some more.
“Well, that’s called an ‘erection,’” he said. “As you get bigger your penis will get bigger, too, and you’ll have bigger erections.”
“Like yours?” I asked.
“Uh huh,” he said. “But mine will still get bigger, too, and so will yours. Anyway, when you get an erection, you can rub it and it feels really good. And the more your rub it the better it feels. Eventually, it gets so good that you have what’s called a ‘climax.’ It’s kinda hard to describe what that his, but you’ll know it when you have one the first time. Once boys hit puberty…”
“What’s that?” I asked naively.
“Um, that’s when boys start to get more hair and their voices change,” he explained, “And they usually grow a lot more, and their penises definitely get a lot bigger. Actually, girls go through puberty, too, but it’s different with them. I don’t know much about that. Anyway, when a boy starts puberty, at some point he starts being able to ejaculate. That happens when you climax, but then stuff comes out of your penis.”
“Like what?” I asked curiously.
“Well, it’s like a little gel or something,” he said. “I can’t ejaculate yet, but Matty has.”
“Does it hurt when you ejaculate?” I asked.
“Nope,” he said with a shake of the head. “It feels really, really good. Trust me, you’ll see one day.”
“Can I mast-, masturbate?” I asked next.
“Um, yeah,” he said. “Any boy can do it, but you won’t be able to ejaculate for a few more years.”
“Oh,” I replied.
“Next time you’re alone with Daddy ask him about it,” he said. “He’ll explain it all to you, and he can do a lot better job than I can. I was just a little older than you when he explained all that to me.”
I nodded.
Right about then the door opened and Celli came into the room.
“Hi, Babies,” she said with a smile.
Then her smile went away and she briefly fanned her hand in front of her face.
“My Goodness!” she said. “I’m not even going to asked who’s poopy. I can just tell you both are. Stinky babies!”
She came over to us and dropped the side of the crib down. Billy and I both got up on our knees next to each other, and we each received a kiss from her. She helped Billy out of the crib and then she picked me up. She carried me over to the changing table with a brief pause by Billy’s chest-of-drawers to collect my glasses. She set me down on the end of the table and had Billy climb up onto it. Apparently, she had decided that he would be changed first, this afternoon.
He lay down and she pushed his shirt up out of the way a little. She reached down to his diapers and began untaping it. Once the diaper was untaped, she pulled the front of it back to expose his diaper area and the mess he had created for her.
“What’s wrong with the front of your diaper?” she asked him. She gave the front half of the disposable a more thorough inspection. “Were you a bad, little boy in your diaper, young man?”
He looked away briefly without answering, but he had a smile on his face that plainly admitted what he had done.
“Such a naughty baby,” she said with a smile
She suddenly reached up and got her hands on either side of his chest and began tickling him. He squealed with glee as she tickled him. He tried to get her hands off of him as he squirmed, but she was too strong for him. Suddenly, taking me quite by surprise, I watched his erect penis suddenly spurt a stream of urine up into the air. The fountain of pee went up perhaps a foot in the air before it came back down all over Billy’s abdomen, legs, and all over the changing table around him. Thankfully, I was far enough from that part of him that I was able to avoid being hit by anything.
“Oh, Billy!” Celli exclaimed.
She abruptly stopped tickling him and reached down to pull the front of his diaper back up over him. She slapped it down on top of him containing the errant stream of urine.
“Sorry,” Billy said, though he didn’t seem too embarrassed.
“Don’t worry,” Celli said. “I shouldn’t have been tickling you without a diaper on. We all know accident’s happen when you babies aren’t in diapers. Boys just can’t control themselves properly. That’s why they all belong in diapers.”
She went about changing him, but first she had to clean up the mess. She pulled out one of his prefold diapers and used it to wipe up his urine splatters from the table and his body. She then cleaned his diaper area up and got him pinned into a set of nice, thick diapers. As soon as he had a pair of plastic pants on she had him pull his shirt off, as some wayward pee had gotten on it. It was deposited in the laundry hamper while he waddled off to get himself a clean t-shirt.
“Now, were you a naughty baby in your diapers too, Mr. Taddy?” Celli asked me.
“No,” I squeaked timidly.
“He didn’t even know what that was,” Billy said from his bureau.
“He didn’t,” Celli parroted. “In other words: he does now.”
“Yeah. I told him,” Billy admitted freely.
“Shame on you, Billy Bradshaw,” she said.
“Hey! He’s my baby brother. I’m allowed to teach him things,” Billy said defensively.
“Still, you should have let Dad take care of that,” she said.
“I told him to ask Daddy about it, later,” he replied.
“Okay,” she said. “Well, I guess I won’t spank you, this time, then.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Billy replied flatly.
By now she had my diapers unpinned and she was wiping me up. I noted that my penis was getting bigger and harder now, just like Billy told me. I guess that was an erection. Of course, I was so tiny down there that my little pee-pee just couldn’t get really big. I still wondered why it happened when I got my diapers changed, but at least I knew a little more, now.
“All I’ll say is that’s yet another reason why all boys belong in diapers,” Celli commented as she lifted my butt off the table to slide a new stack of diapers underneath me. “At least in this house we don’t have to worry about you making any messes when you do that.”
She got me pinned into my clean diapers and pulled a new pair of plastic pants onto me. She sat me up and got my t-shirt adjusted. Then she leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the nose.
“Thank you, Celli,” I said politely.
“You’re welcome, baby,” she said.
“Can I have some powder in my casts, please?” I asked next
“Of course you can, sweetie,” she said.
She sprinkled just a tiny bit of baby powder into each of my casts and then left the room for a second. She returned a moment later with her trusty blow dryer. She used it to blow cool air into my casts relieving my unreachable itches. Once that was accomplished she picked me up and carried me out of the room as Billy tagged along behind us.
We headed downstairs and to the kitchen where I discovered, to my happy surprise, that Mommy had come home early again today.
“Mommy!” I exclaimed happily when I saw her.
“Hi, baby,” she greeted me.
She came over and took me from Celli’s arms. She gave me a kiss and a hug.
“I see you got your new highchair,” she commented to me. “Do you like it?”
“Uh huh,” I said. “Thank you, Mommy. I like it a lot.”
“You’re welcome, baby,” she told me. “Let’s go put you in it so you can have a snack.”
She carried me over to the kitchen table. My highchair was sitting right next to Billy’s. Mommy got me into it and strapped me in. She then helped Billy into his. For our snack today we ate healthily. Andy fed us some Ritz crackers and carrot and celery sticks along with some sippy cups of Kool-Aid.
After our snacks, Billy had to do homework, and Daddy told me it was reading time. Billy did his homework at the kitchen table with his sisters, and Daddy took me into the den and we sat down on the couch. He held me in his lap and held my book open for me. I read another two chapters of Indian in the Cupboard. It was hard, but Daddy helped me. I was also getting into the story and that helped, too. As I read, I silently wondered if Omri, the main character, or his best friend, Patrick, were bedwetters or wore diapers.
After I read for a couple of hours it was time for supper. By then I was glad for a break as I was tired of reading, and my mouth and throat were getting dry from reading aloud to Daddy for so long. Daddy carried me into the kitchen and strapped me into my highchair. Tonight each of the girls fed one of us babies. Andy fed me while Celli fed Billy.
“Okay, boys,” Mommy said halfway through dinner. “You remember that Mommy and Daddy are going to be gone tomorrow night, and the girls will be gone, too.”
Earlier in the week Billy and I had been informed that Daddy had some kind of fundraising dinner that he and Mommy had to go to for his hospital. Celli and Andy were going out on something called a double date together. I wasn’t sure what that was, but it didn’t sound like much fun.
“And you know what that means,” Mommy said.
“Babysitter?” Billy ventured enthusiastically.
“Yep,” Mommy said. “I made some calls today from work and found someone.”
“Who’d you get?” Billy asked anxiously.
“Well, I was going to try to get Celli’s friend, Jackie…” began Mommy.
“Aw, she’s no fun,” Billy said unhappily.
“…But, she’s doing something tomorrow,” Mommy finished her sentence. “Then, I tried to get Andy’s friend, Denise.”
“She’s not bad,” Billy said reservedly.
“But she was busy, too,” said Mommy. “So, guess who I got.”
“I don’t know,” Billy replied.
“Who’s your favorite babysitter?” asked Mommy.
“Um…” Billy said, obviously searching his memory.
“Your very favorite,” Mommy added.
“Oh!” Billy said suddenly. “You mean Kevin?”
“Yep,” Mommy said.
“Alright!” Billy shouted raising his arms over his head. He apparently really liked Kevin.
“Who’s that?” I asked timidly. I wasn’t so sure about meeting someone new.
“He’s really cool,” Billy assured me. “We’ll have lots of fun with him!”
“Is he nice?” I asked skeptically.
“Yes, he’s very nice, sweetie,” Mommy assured me.
“He’s a baby, too,” Celli told me. “Just like you two.”
“He is?” I asked in amazement. How could another baby be taking care of us?
“He’s not a baby, anymore,” Billy disagreed. “He sleeps in a bed and everything, he wears big boy clothes, and he’s eighteen.”
“He still wears diapers,” Celli retorted. “That makes him a baby.”
“Yep. It sure does,” Andy agreed. “He’s one of Daddy’s patients.”
“He was one of my patients,” Daddy corrected him. “He’s long since gotten over any emotional problems he had.”
“Yeah, but he still loves his diapers,” Celli said. “So he’s still a baby.”
“Oh, he doesn’t have any legs, either,” Billy added almost matter-of-factly.
“What?” I asked in amazement.
“Yes, he does have legs, baby,” Mommy corrected Billy. “He just had to have parts of them amputated.”
“What’s ‘amputated’?” I asked.
“That’s when they have to remove parts of someone’s limb or limbs because they’re damaged or sick,” Daddy explained for me. “Kevin was in a car accident when he was very, very young, and his legs were hurt really bad, so they had to amputate most of his right leg and part of his left leg.”
“Oh,” I said. “How does he walk without legs?”
“He has fake legs,” Billy said.
“They’re not fake,” Celli said. “They’re called prosthetics.”
“What’s that mean?” I asked. I didn’t even try to pronounce that word. It was probably half a mile long.
“A ‘prosthetic’ is something that takes the place of a part of the body that is no longer there,” Daddy said. “They’re not ‘fake.’ They take the place of his legs and let him walk. He walks pretty much like everyone else.”
“What do they look like?” I asked next.
“You’ll see them tomorrow,” Billy told me. “They’re pretty cool. Just ask Kevin, and he’ll tell you all about them. But anyway, he’s really fun. He’s the best babysitter ever.”
“I hope he’s nice,” I said a little worriedly.
“He is, silly,” Andy said as she held another spoonful of vegetables to my mouth.
After that we went back to talking about other things as we continued our meal.
We were probably three-quarters of the way through our meal when, all of a sudden, I flinched as my vision in my right eye was blocked out by a white blob.
“Billy Bradshaw! Bad boy!” Celli said.
Billy just sat there and giggled.
I realized that the right lens of my glasses was now covered in mashed potatoes, which Billy had just thrown at me. Our highchairs were positioned right across from each other with only the distance across the kitchen table separating us, so he had a pretty clear and easy shot.
“Now, you get the wrist and ankle straps, young man,” Celli told Billy
Billy just giggled again.
Celli stood up and grabbed Billy’s right wrist and moved it down toward the wrist strap on the right-hand side of his highchair tray. She got his wrists strapped to the highchair and then sat down to strap his ankles in. I don’t know why she needed to restrain his ankles, too, since they were useless for throwing food. Maybe the ankle restraints were there to keep him from throwing a temper tantrum or something, not that I thought Billy would do something like that. Billy had a devious smile across his face the whole time he was being restrained.
While Celli was strapping her brother down Andy removed my glasses and took them to the kitchen to clean them. While she was away I happened to glance down at my divided toddler plate, which was now only partly full of food. Quite impulsively, I reached down and picked up a green bean—I didn’t like those much anyway—and flicked it across the table toward Billy. It landed on Billy’s orange t-shirt just below his bib.
“Taddy!” Mommy gasped with a laugh.
Daddy nearly spewed a mouthful of food across the table he was laughing so hard.
“Now, we have two naughty babies,” Andy said as she returned from the kitchen. “Looks like you’re getting tied down, too, young man.”
Billy just giggled again and smiled at me.
Andy came back over to me and put my cleaned glasses back on my face. She then took each of my fiberglass-encased wrists and strapped them to the tray. A minute later she had my ankles strapped in as well. The casts on my arms were fairly smooth cylinders, and I was pretty sure that I could just slide them out of the wrist straps if I wanted to, but I really didn’t want to. I kind of liked the attention of getting lightly restrained.
“Okay, no more bad babies, tonight,” Andy announced when she was finished strapping me to the highchair.
With that, we went back to our supper. Billy struggled playfully at his restraints and pretended to throw a little fit and not let Celli feed him, but everyone just thought it was cute. Eventually he calmed down and let her finish feeding him his food.
After supper the girls took us upstairs to give us our baths. I liked when the girls bathed us because they usually gave us bubble baths, and I really liked those. They also let Billy and I play around a little more, and they didn’t worry so much about us splashing water around the bathroom.
They gave us a good bath and made sure we were squeaky clean. Then, it was back to the nursery for clean diapers. Celli and Andy cooperated to diaper us up tonight, which made it go pretty fast. Within fifteen minutes or so Billy and I were well padded up for the night. The two of us then played some video games for a little while. After that we went downstairs and played in our playpen in the den for a little while.
Finally, around 9:00, we were told it was time for babies to go to bed. I had been dreading that all evening because I knew it meant I would be going back into that hated harness. I got very quiet and sullen as Daddy lifted me out of the playpen and carried me upstairs after Billy and I told everyone else goodnight. He took Billy and I up to the nursery and we went over the little lounging area in the corner for our nightly story time. Daddy asked if I wanted to pick the story, but I just shook my head. Billy picked out a book and we went over to the corner to sit down. We got situated and Daddy read us the story from the children’s book. I wasn’t really paying attention to the story, as I was too busy contemplating my imminent fate, but it was over all too quickly.
“Time for bed, babies,” Daddy said as he snapped the book shut.
At that, tears started to come down my cheeks. My bottom lip trembled and I couldn’t help but sniffle.
“What’s wrong, Taddy?” Daddy asked looking down at me.
“I don’t want to go in that stupid harness,” I sobbed.
“I know you don’t, kiddo,” he said. “But you know you have to. It’s to protect you, so you won’t hurt yourself.”
“But I still don’t like it,” I whimpered
“I know,” he repeated. “I’m sorry, baby. I know you don’t understand why we’re doing this to you, but it’s because we love you very much, and we don’t want you to get hurt.”
I didn’t say anything. I just kept sobbing and whimpering quietly.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you to bed.”
He got up off of the floor and picked me up. Billy had just been there observing. He didn’t say anything, but he did look genuinely worried about me. He went over to his crib as Daddy carried me over to mine. Daddy gave me a big hug and a kiss and then lowered me down to the mattress. I just lay there quietly sniffling as Daddy strapped me into the harness. I could at least take some small comfort in the fact that Daddy did look unhappy to be tying me down. He finished fastening the harness system over me and then he moved down to my feet. I was a little surprised when he grabbed my right ankle and started to strap it down. I lifted my head off of the mattress and looked down to see that there was a new, canvass strap going around the mattress down by my feet. It had some small rings on it that were obviously canvass straps for ankles.
“What are you doing, Daddy?” I asked in distress.
“Baby, this is so you can’t kick around and hurt you leg during the night like you did last night,” he told me. “If we keep your feet held down you won’t be able to bang your broken leg around in your sleep.”
I suppose that sounded reasonable, but I still didn’t like it. I just put my head back down as I felt him put the padded strap around my right leg. He strapped my left leg down, too, but I couldn’t feel much with it in its cast. When he was done strapping me in he pulled my flannel sheet up over me and tucked me in.
“Now, you can still move your legs around some so you don’t get stiff,” Daddy told when he was done, “But you won’t be able to kick around and hurt yourself.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Daddy loves you, baby,” he told me.
“I love you, too, Daddy,” I said still sad.
“Goodnight,” he said.
“Night, Daddy,” I said.
He leaned over to give me a kiss on the forehead, and he patted me on the chest. He closed my crib up and then left to go tell Billy goodnight. A minute later I heard him slip out of the room turning the lights off as he left. I just lay there for a few moments crying and whimpering. I was, quite frankly, wallowing in self-pity. I tried to stay quiet so as not to disturb Billy, but I’m sure he could hear me.
I abruptly stopped crying when I heard what could only be Billy’s crib opening. The bumper-padding going around my crib prevented me from seeing across the room, and I obviously couldn’t sit up, so I could only assume that Billy was climbing out of his crib when I heard the familiar creak that his crib made when he was doing so. There was a shadowy movement outside my crib, and then I saw Billy standing there peering into my crib resting his chin on the top of the crib’s side.
“Billy, what are you doing!” I whispered urgently.
“Shh,” he shushed me.
He carefully and quietly let the side of my crib down and climbed in with me. He closed the crib behind him and then carefully moved over me to the back of the crib by the wall.
“You’re gonna get a spanking,” I warned him. “You need to go back to your crib.”
“Shh,” he repeated. “I’ll only get spanked if I get caught.”
“But what are you doing here?” I asked.
“I thought you could use some company,” he said. “That harness sucks, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I whimpered sadly, wanting to cry again. “You think you could get me out of here?”
“Sorry, buddy,” he said. “Those locks are impossible to get off without that magnetic key. Trust me, I’ve tried.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah. You know, that used to be mine,” he informed me.
“It was?” I asked in amazement.
“Well, yeah. How do you think Mommy and Daddy came up with it so fast?” he pointed out reasonably.
“Oh. Why did they put you in it?” I asked. “Did you sleepwalk, too?”
“No,” he said. “When I first got here… Well, I was kind of a bad boy. I used to get out of my crib in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep, and I’d go play with my toys or maybe go downstairs for a snack. I guess I was about six or so then. I must have not thought the rule about not getting out of our cribs was really important. Anyway, I got a lot of spankings for about a month, but that didn’t stop me, and I figured out how to get out of the mesh screen thing over the top of the crib, just like you did. Finally, Daddy ordered the harness out of one of the catalogs for medical supplies from his work. I guess they use them for really disturbed kids in the hospitals.”
“So you were being punished?” I asked.
“Yeah, I guess so,” he said. “But really, they just didn’t want me to get hurt. I was probably your size, then, and I could have been hurt pretty badly if I fell when I was climbing out of my crib. So, I was being punished, sort of, but mainly they were doing it because they loved me. Understand?”
“Yeah. I guess so,” I replied. I know Daddy had already told me all that, but somehow it made more sense coming from Billy.
“How long did they make you sleep in it?” I asked next, hoping for some idea of how long my sentence would last.
“After a month I had learned not to climb out of my crib anymore,” he said. “I fought it for about a week or so, but then they added the wrist and ankle restraints, so I could barely move at all. By the time the month was over I had actually started to like it a little. The harness made me feel really safe and secure. Sometimes I’ve even asked them to let me sleep in it for a couple of nights. I can still fit in it.”
“You like it?’ I asked in disbelief.
“Some of the time, yeah,” he said. “I’d hate to sleep in it every night, but it’s kind of fun sometimes.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I hate it.”
“You’ll get used to it in a week or so,” he said.
“I hope so,” I whimpered.
“You want me to lay with you until you fall asleep?” he offered.
“Uh huh,” I nodded.
He lay down beside me after he pulled the covers up and climbed underneath. I was right in the middle of the mattress and I couldn’t move, so there wasn’t much room for him. He lay on his side, and I pushed my pillow over a little so he could share part of it with me. He put his head down next to mine and rested one hand on my chest.
“Thanks, Billy,” I told him.
“That’s what big brothers are for, squirt,” he told me, giving me a comforting pat on the chest. “Night, Taddy.”
“Night, Billy,” I said. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, baby brother,” he said.
With that I closed my eyes and settled in for the night. Billy’s presence next to me seemed to calm and comfort me, and I very quickly fell asleep.
I didn’t wake up the next morning until Daddy came in to wake me up.
“Good morning, Tadpole,” he said when I opened my eyes.
“Hi, Daddy,” I said groggily.
“Time to get up, big guy,” he told me.
He reached down and used the little red key to unlock the harness. He pulled me out of it, picked me up, and gave me a hug.
“Did you sleep good?” he asked.
“Yeah, okay,” I replied.
“You slept late,” he told me. “Everyone is already gone for the day.”
I didn’t respond. I just rested my head on his shoulder as he carried me over to the changing table. He laid me down on top of the table and he began removing my wet night diapers. He got me changed into a new set of diapers, and then he went to my chest-of-drawers for a new t-shirt for me. I thought that’s what he would return with, but instead he brought over a more colorful outfit. He unfolded a colorful onesie and pulled it over my head. It was white with Sesame Street characters all over it. He pulled the garment onto me, barely squeezing my arm casts through its sleeves, and he got the crotch snapped up over my diapers.
He then unfolded another garment. I hadn’t seen anything like it before. It looked like a combination of short-alls and diapers pants made out of regular material. He fed my legs through the holes in the garment and lifted me up so he could pull it over my lower half and my thick diapers.
“What is this thingy, Daddy?” I asked as he pulled the shoulder straps up over my shoulders and fastened them to little buttons on the front of the garment.
“It’s called a ‘bib romper,’ baby,” he told me.
“Why is it called that?” I asked.
“Well, I suppose it’s made for a baby to romp around in,” he said. “And this front part is called a bib.”
“But I thought bibs were what babies wore to keep from getting messy when they eat,” I said.
“Yes, that’s a bib, too,” he said. “So is this part of the romper. That’s what the front part of overalls is called too.”
“Oh,” I said. “So, why am I wearing this instead of just a t-shirt?”
“Today’s a special day,” he said.
“It is?” I asked.
“Yep,” he said. “Today you get to start walking around a little bit.”
“Really?” I asked excitedly.
“Uh huh,” he replied. “The doctors said you could start putting some weight on your ankle and walking around after two weeks, and it’s been two weeks.”
“Cool,” I said. “When can I start?”
“How about after breakfast?” he suggested.
“Okay,” I said.
He finished dressing me and I took a moment to look down at myself. The romper stopped just where plastic pants would around my legs and around my waist. It was made of blue material, and the face of Cookie Monster from Sesame Street was embroidered on the bib part of the romper. This had to be just about the most babyish outfit I had worn, so far, but I actually kind of liked it.
Daddy picked me up and carried me over to my dresser where he collected my glasses and put them on my face. We then went to the bathroom where he brushed my teeth and combed my hair for me. We then went downstairs to the kitchen were we found Ms. Rosie going about her daily tasks.
“Morning, Ms. Rosie,” I greeted her happily.
“Buenos Días, Taddy,” she said. “How are you, this morning?”
“I’m fine thank you,” I replied.
“That’s very good. You look very cute, today,” she said next.
“Thank you,” I replied bashfully.
Daddy carried me over to my highchair and strapped me into it. He fed me some cereal, toast, and fruit for breakfast. I ate every bite like a good boy. I was nearly bubbling over with excitement as he collected my empty dishes and wiped my face with my bib before removing it. He took the dishes to the kitchen sink and returned to me a moment later.
“Ready to try to walk?” he asked as he came back up to me.
“Uh huh!” I said happily actually straining at the straps of my highchair.
He came up to me and unfastened my restraints. He lifted me out of the chair and carried me to the den. He set me down on one of the couches and told me to wait there and not move. I sat there quietly waiting for a couple of minutes until Daddy returned. He came back with one of my tennis shoes and what looked like some sort of sandal. He knelt down in front of me and pulled a sock and my shoe on my right foot. He then took the sandal thing and started to pull it on over my fiberglass-shrouded, left foot. It was navy blue in color with a black, rubber sole just like a sandal would have, and it had a couple of Velcro straps to hold it in place.
“Now, this is a cast boot, Tadpole,” Daddy explained. “It’s to keep you from slipping since the bottom of your cast is so smooth and slippery. Don’t try to walk or stand up if you don’t have this on your cast. Now, are you ready to stand up?”
“Uh huh,” I nodded.
He moved back just a little so I’d have room to stand. Then he put his hands under my armpits and lifted me up off the couch and moved me forward. A moment later I was standing.
“Just put all of your weight on your right foot for now,” he said.
I nodded and did as I was told.
“Now, slowly put a little more weight on your left leg,” he instructed.
I did as I was told. There was just the slightest bit of pain down in my left ankle as my weight slowly shifted over onto it.
“Does it hurt?” asked Daddy.
“Just a little,” I said.
“But, not too bad?”
“No, not too bad,” I confirmed.
“You want to try to take a step?” he asked next.
I nodded vehemently.
He scooted back just a little more.
“Now step off with your left leg and then your right,” he said.
I did as I was told and picked up my left leg and moved it forward just a bit. It was heavy and awkward to move with the cast on it, but I managed it okay. I planted my left foot a little in front of me, and then I started to bring my right leg forward. For the first time in two weeks—while I was awake anyway—my left leg took the entire weight of my body. It hurt my ankle a little bit, but I decided it wasn’t bad enough to make me want to stop walking.
“How’s that feel?” Daddy asked me.
“Not bad,” I said.
“Let’s try some more.”
I spent the next several minutes walking all over the den. It was pretty hard to get the hang of walking after not having done so in two weeks. Not only did the cast make walking difficult, but also, for the first time, I knew what it was to waddle. My thick diapers forced my legs apart unnaturally. I hadn’t really noticed for the last two weeks, but I couldn’t bring my knees together at all. Even if I squeezed really tightly, the closest I could get my knees to one another was about shoulder-width apart. That made it even more difficult to walk, but I wanted to walk bad enough that I was willing to put up with another minor obstacle.
“You’re doing very well, baby,” Daddy told me.
He stayed right behind me the whole time ready to catch me if I fell. I went all the way around the coffee table and around the entire seating area. I limped along as fast as I could, which wasn’t very fast. I was actually having a lot of fun, although my limp combined with my diaper-enforced waddle was pretty tiring. I finally came to the bottom of stairs. I looked up towards the top wondering if I could make it up there.
“Do you want to try the stairs?” asked Daddy.
“Can I?” I asked
“If you want,” he said. “Just take it slow. One step at a time.”
I nodded and looked back up the stairs. I scooted over so that I was by the handrail next to the wall leading up. I reached up and got a hold of the rail with my hand, although I couldn’t get a really good grip with my arm cast on.
“Go one step at a time,” Daddy repeated. “And just use your right leg to lift yourself up the steps, for now.”
“Okay,” I said.
I picked my right leg up and started up the stairs. It was slow going. I’d put my right foot up on the next riser and haul the rest of me up with it. It was much slower than regular stair climbing, of course, but at least I was climbing the stairs on my own. Daddy stayed right behind me the whole time making sure I wouldn’t fall or hurt myself. I was panting by the time I finally made it to the top of the stairs.
“You okay?” Daddy asked.
“Uh huh,” I said.
“Now, let’s turn around and go back down,” he said.
I did as he said and we started back down the stairs. I went one step at a time again, and Daddy stayed next to me to catch me if I fell in either direction. We finally made it down to the bottom. When we were there Daddy picked me up and gave me a big hug.
“You did very good, Tadpole,” he said happily. “Daddy is very proud of you.”
“Thank you, Daddy,” I said hugging him around the neck.
“You look a little tired, now,” he said. “You okay?”
“Uh huh,” I nodded, though I was pretty winded and exhausted from walking around.
“Does your leg hurt?”
“Just a little,” I said. There was kind of a dull ache in my ankle, but it wasn’t too bad.
“How about I feed you a bottle of juice with some Tylenol in it, and you can take a little rest?” he suggested.
“Okay,” I replied.
He carried me into the kitchen where he collected a bottle of grape juice from the fridge. He set me on a counter and pulled a bottle of liquid Tylenol out of a cabinet near the refrigerator. He measured out some of the red liquid and added it to the baby bottle. He shook the bottle up and then he took it and me into the den. We sat down on the couch and he got me cradled in his lap. He pushed the nipple of the bottle into my mouth, and I began to suck its contents down.
“Now, I don’t want you walking around too much, just yet,” he told me. “And no going up or down the stairs by yourself, yet. You come get help before you do that.”
I nodded my understanding as I continued sucking my bottle.
I must really have been exhausted from walking around because I don’t even remember finishing my bottle. I woke up some time later still cradled in Daddy’s. He told me I had been asleep for about half an hour. He let me wake up a little more, and then I had to go do schoolwork. The rest of the day went pretty much like the rest of the week. We did schoolwork for a few hours, I had lunch, and then we did “puzzle time” in Daddy’s study. After that, we went to pick Billy up at school. Daddy brought us home, and then Billy and I had to go upstairs for our naps. Daddy told us that if we took a longer nap this afternoon we could stay up later tonight when Kevin was here. Billy really liked that idea, and I didn’t mind, so Daddy put us down for our naps. I got to share Billy’s crib with him again, since the harness was still in my crib. I kind of liked sharing his crib. I felt really safe being with him. Daddy tucked us into Billy’s crib and we both fell asleep pretty quickly.
Both of us slept until Mommy came in to wake us up some time later.
“Time to get up, sleepyheads,” Mommy greeted us once we were both awake.
Billy and I sat up trying to wake ourselves up more fully.
“Hi, Mommy,” I said after a yawn.
“Hi, Mommy,” Billy said, as well.
“Hi, babies,” she said.
Billy and I went up to the side of the crib where we each received a kiss from Mommy. She then dropped the side of the crib down. She helped Billy out of the crib, and then she picked me up and carried me over to the changing table.
“I think somebody is a stinky baby, this afternoon,” Mommy commented as she set me down on the changing table.
I just giggled and smiled. I had unloaded a pretty big bowel movement into my diapers just before Daddy put us down for our naps.
Mommy removed the blue, Cookie Monster romper and my Sesame Street onesie I had been wearing all day, and she laid me back on the table. She pulled my plastic pants off and began to undiaper me. She changed me out of my soaked and messy diapers and into a new set. I then sat on the end of the changing table in nothing but my diapers while Billy was changed out of his well-used disposable and into a set of his own cloth diapers. Mommy then changed us into matching, baby blue t-shirts. They were both baby t-shirts with the lap shoulders and snaps in the back of the neck.
“So, Daddy says you’ve been walking around some,” Mommy commented as she was snapping the neck of my shirt together.
“Uh huh,” I said with a proud smile.
“Do you want to go downstairs by yourself?” she offered.
“Okay,” I replied happily.
She retrieved my glasses and my cast boot, both of which were on the chest-of-drawers by Billy’s crib, and put them on me. She helped Billy off of the table, and then she picked me up and set me down on my feet.
“Hold Mommy’s hand,” she said to me holding a hand down towards me.
I reached up to her and took her hand with the fingers of my left hand. She led me out of the nursery, and we went down the hall to the stairs with Billy tagging along. We went down the stairs slowly, and I took them one step at a time, just like earlier. We slowly proceeded to the kitchen where we found Celli and Andy both at the kitchen table.
“Wow! You’re walking, Taddy!” Andy told me as though I didn’t know. “You’re doing good!”
“Thank you,” I said bashfully.
“Yeah, you look great, little man!” Celli added.
Mommy took me over to my highchair and got me into it. She strapped me in, and then helped Billy into his highchair. She then brought us a snack of some peanut butter cookies and bottles of milk. Celli pulled a chair up and fed us both. After our snack, Mommy and the girls had to go get ready to go on their respective outings tonight, so Billy and I were put in the playpen in the den while they went about their business. We played in there for perhaps an hour until Daddy came into the den. He was wearing a black tuxedo complete with a silver vest and a black bowtie. He had the jacket slung over one shoulder rather than on him. He carefully laid it over the back of one of the couches before he came over to us.
“I think we should get some reading time in before Mommy and I leave, Tadpole,” he told me. “How’s that sound?”
“Okay,” I said.
He lifted Billy and then me out of the crib. He carried me over to the couch and sat down with me. My book was sitting on the coffee table where it had been left yesterday. Daddy picked it up and opened it to the marked page where we had left off. Billy climbed onto the couch next to us, obviously intending to join us. I found where we had left off, and I began reading aloud. I was a little nervous to be reading with Billy there, but I decided to just ignore him. Even in just a few days I was already reading faster, and I was able to get an entire chapter read before the doorbell rang.
“That must be Kevin,” said Daddy.
He slid me over onto the couch next to him and stood up. He headed out of the room towards the entryway.
“Come on, Taddy,” Billy said. “Let’s go meet Kevin.”
I had a little trouble getting off the couch by myself without the use of my arms, but once I got to the edge my thick diapers and slick, plastic pants came in handy, as they allowed me to easily slide off the seat cushion.
Billy took my hand and we went to the entryway where Daddy was just unlocking the front door. I was a little nervous at the moment, as I was about to meet another stranger. I also wasn’t so sure about meeting him in nothing but my diapers and t-shirt, but then I remembered that he was supposedly a diaper boy, too, so my attire shouldn’t surprise him. I didn’t have long to dwell on that, though, as Daddy was presently opening the front door.
“Hi there, Kevin!” Daddy said happily. His large frame was nearly completely blocking my view of the front door, so I couldn’t see who was on the other side.
“Hi, Uncle Pete,” I heard a somewhat deep, male voice say.
Daddy stepped out of the way and let the new stranger into the house. Kevin was pretty tall, just a few inches shorter than Daddy, but he was quite a bit skinnier. He had blond hair that was kind of shaggy, and I sort of thought he could use a haircut. He was a pretty handsome guy. He had a fairly long, angular face that went well with his skinny frame. He was wearing a t-shirt with short sleeves that revealed his extremely muscular arms. He looked very athletic. I wondered if he played basketball or anything like that, but then I wondered how someone without legs would play basketball. Speaking of legs, I looked down and discovered that he was wearing khaki, cargo pants, which hid his legs from view. He had a normal pair of tennis shoes on. I realized he looked completely normal, not at all what I though someone without legs would look like. I looked at his groin area, and I couldn’t even really tell whether or not he was wearing a diaper.
“Kevin!” Billy exclaimed excitedly.
He let go of my hand and ran up to Kevin.
“Hey, Billy!” Kevin greeted him.
Kevin bent down and gave him a hug. He stood back up and Billy took his hand, turned, and led him over to me. They had been about ten feet from me meaning they had obviously needed to walk toward me. I noticed that Kevin seemed to walk with a little bit of a limp, but it really didn’t seem that noticeable.
“Kevin, this is my new, baby brother, Taddy,” Billy introduced me. “Taddy, this is Kevin.”
“Hi, Taddy,” Kevin greeted me with a smile. “I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to meet you.”
He bent over slightly and extended his right hand towards me. I was still extremely nervous as I moved my right arm to meet his. He gently shook the fingers of my right hand.
“Well, your mommy said you were kind of small,” he said. “I guess she was right, but you’re kind of a cute, little guy.”
“Um, thank you,” I said nervously.
I couldn’t help but keep switching my gaze back and forth between his face and his legs. I didn’t think I was being very obvious about it, but apparently I was.
“I see you keep looking at my legs,” Kevin said with a smile. “I guess they told you about me.”
I just turned red in embarrassment.
“You probably want to get a look at my special legs, huh?” he said. “Well, don’t worry. We’ll do that later. How about we go in the den?”
I nodded and he held out his hand to me. I took his hand and let him lead me into the den. Daddy and Billy came along with us.
“Let me go see if how everyone else is doing,” Daddy said as he left us to head toward the master bedroom.
Kevin led me over to the couch and he helped me climb up on it.
“So, I hear you got kind of banged up,” he commented as he sat next to me. “That’s too bad.”
“Yeah,” I said sadly. “Thanks.”
Kevin removed a backpack that looked pretty packed from his shoulders and set it on the floor next to the couch.
“So, we’re going to have a lot of fun tonight, right boys?” he asked us.
“Yeah!” Billy agreed adamantly.
“What about you, Taddy?” Kevin asked. “We’re gonna have fun, right?”
“Um, yeah,” I said with much less certainty.
“Did you bring any Xbox games?” Billy asked.
Kevin held a finger up to his lips to shush Billy, and then reached down to give his backpack a little pat.
“Yes, and keep it quiet, or your mommy will kill us both,” he said.
It sounded like he had probably brought some games that Billy and I weren’t allowed to play.
We continued talking quietly for a few minutes until Mommy and Daddy came into the room. Mommy was dressed in a long, slender evening gown. It was blue and kind of sparkly. It was very pretty. Kevin immediately got up and went over to give her a hug.
“Hi, Aunt Jan,” he said in greeting.
“Hi, Kevin,” said Mommy. “How are you, sweetie?”
“I’m good,” he replied.
“Your daddy and I just took on a case together,” she told him.
“Yeah, that’s what he said last night,” he said.
It turned out that Kevin’s dad was a lawyer that worked in the same firm as Mommy. That was actually how Kevin had come to meet Daddy and became one of his patients.
“Guess what, Aunt Jan!” Kevin said next a little excitedly. “Mommy is teaching me how to change my own diapers!”
I thought it was pretty funny for practically an adult to be calling his mother “Mommy”, not to mention him sounding so excited about learning to change his own diapers.
“Really, Kevin?” Mommy replied. “That’s great, honey.”
“Yeah, I get to change my diapers tonight all by myself,” he said rather proudly.
“You gonna be starting potty training, soon?” Daddy asked him.
“Ha! Yeah, right, Uncle Pete,” Kevin said with a laugh. “That’s not happening anytime soon, if ever.”
“Well, why don’t we go upstairs so I can give you some instructions, Kevin?” suggested Mommy.
“Okay,” he said.
He and Mommy went upstairs for a while, and Daddy stayed down in the den with Billy and I. We just flipped on the TV and watched it for a little while. Mommy and Kevin returned within a few minutes.
“Now, there are chicken nuggets in the freezer,” Mommy was telling him. “I left a box of Kraft Shells and Cheese and a can of vegetables on the counter. Now, make sure both of the boys eat all their veggies, and then they can have some ice cream for dessert. And make sure you eat all your veggies, too.”
“Yes, Aunt Jan,” Kevin replied with an amused smile.
Right about then, Celli and Andy came down the stairs. They were both dressed in fairly short skirts and tight blouses. Their hair was done up and they both had makeup on. I guess they looked pretty, but they were still just my sisters.
“There he is!” Celli said happily.
She and Andy went up to greet Kevin. They both gave him a hug and Andy reached up to pinch his cheek.
“Hey, what are you doing still wearing your pants, mister?” Celli asked. “You know the rules.”
“Hey, I’m of legal age, now, remember?” he replied. “The rules no longer apply to me.”
He obviously knew what the rules were.
“O contraire,” Celli replied. “The ‘legal age’ rule only applies to men being allowed to not wear diapers. You are wearing diapers, and once you’re wearing diapers the rules apply to you no matter what age you are. Now, get those pants off.”
“Yeah, don’t make us spank you, Kevy,” Andy said with a playful smile.
“Don’t call me ‘Kevy’,” he replied annoyed. “You know I hate that.”
“Quit dodging,” Celli said with a smug smile. “You’re just begging for a spanking.”
“Aunt Jan…” Kevin whined, suddenly turning rather childish.
“Those are the rules the girls have,” Mommy pointed out. “And they’re not unreasonable, are they?”
Finally, Kevin huffed and came over to the couch, apparently giving in. I was amazed that an older teenager had just acquiesced to two, younger girls. He unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his pants. He unzipped his fly and pushed his pants down. I heard the familiar crinkle of the outer plastic of a disposable diaper. He was standing next to me, so I got a good view of his butt as he pushed his pants down at the waist and exposed his diaper. I was surprised that his pants concealed the diaper because it looked pretty thick. It looked pretty much like Billy’s disposable except, obviously, it was in Kevin’s size.
When he sat down next to me to remove is pants I got my first look at his artificial—I still couldn’t quiet pronounce “prosthetic”—legs. I saw the right one first because it was bigger. It looked nothing like I thought it would. The upper part was black and it looked like plastic. It was a tube that was sort of cone-shaped to fit over what was left of his right leg. It went all the way up to where his leg met his diaper. At the bottom of the tube was a hinged, metal joint that obviously substituted for his knee that was not there. Below the hinge was what substituted for his lower leg. It was some sort of blue pipe with a silvery piece that partially encased it. It didn’t really look like a human leg at all, but like what a robot’s leg might look like in a science fiction movie. It looked like they had taken a robot’s leg and put it on to Kevin at his hip. The lower “leg” disappeared into his shoe.
He pulled his pants off his right leg first and then his left, which fully exposed both of his artificial legs. He had quite a bit more of his left leg left. He still had his own knee, but just below his knee whatever was left of his leg disappeared into a tube that was similar but smaller than the one on his right leg. It tapered to connect directly to a pipe that looked like a plain piece of black metal. The pipe disappeared into his shoe just like on the other leg.
He got his pants all the way off and stood back up. I noticed that he stood pretty much like anyone else would. He carried his pants over to my sisters. No one else seemed to look at his legs at all. I was obviously the only person who had never seen them before. He held is pants out, and Celli immediately snatched them from him and turned to scurry up the stairs.
“Aw, you’re not gonna hide them, are you?” he whined as she left.
“Yep!” Celli said with a laugh. “You’ll get them back before you leave.”
“And if you go snooping around for them while we’re gone it’s a big spanking for you when we get home, young man,” Andy warned him.
“Whatever,” Kevin groaned.
He came back over and sat next to me.
“Girls stink,” he commented to me.
I just giggled quietly. A few minutes later Celli returned with a satisfied gleam on her face. I imagined she had probably hidden Kevin’s pants very well.
“Okay,” Mommy said next. “We had better head out. Kevin, the boys can stay up late, but we’ll be home around midnight, and they better be in bed before then. You guys can eat whatever, but no making a big mess. Just put the dishes from supper in the sink. Make sure they get their baths, and no watching bad movies ”
“Okay, Aunt Jan,” Kevin said.
“Do you have any questions?” asked Mommy
“Nope,” Kevin replied. “I think I can handle everything.”
“Our cell numbers and pagers are on the refrigerator door if you need them,” she said.
“I don’t think I will, but I’ll call if anything happens,” he assured her.
“I guess we’re ready,” Mommy said. She still looked unsure of herself, like she was forgetting something or just didn’t want to leave.
“Everything is going to be fine, dear,” Daddy said.
“Yeah, Mom. Everything will be fine. We need to go,” Celli said.
“I know,” replied Mommy, “I’m just worried about my babies.”
She came over to us to tell us goodbye. She picked me up and gave me a hug.
“I love you, baby,” Mommy said to me.
“I love you, too, Mommy,” I told her. “You look really pretty.”
“Aw, thank you, baby,” she said giving me another kiss on the cheek. “You be a good baby for Kevin, okay?”
“I will, Mommy,” I promised her.
She said goodbye to Billy, and she even gave Kevin a kiss and admonished him to behave. She also checked everyone’s diapers, including Kevin’s. He didn’t seem to particularly care for that, but he didn’t say anything. Everyone else then came up to tell us goodbye. The girls gave all three of us a kiss and Daddy hugged and kissed Billy and I. They then headed out to the garage. Mommy and Daddy were dropping the girls off at one of their date’s houses, so they would only be taking one car. We knew we were alone as soon as we heard the sound of the automatic garage door closing.
“Alrighty, boys,” Kevin said. “Time for some guy time. What are we gonna do first?”
Billy and I kind of shrugged at first.
“Are you guys hungry, yet?” he asked us.
We both shook our heads negatively.
“Well, let’s go upstairs then, and see what we can find to do,” he said.
We got up and Kevin handed his backpack to Billy to carry for him. We all headed out of the room and to the stairs.
“Your Mommy said you had to hold my hand when you go up the stairs so you don’t fall, Taddy,” Kevin told me.
I nodded and reached up to take his extended hand. We went up the stairs slowly since I was still going one step at a time. I wondered how Kevin found it so easy to go upstairs with no legs when I had trouble going up with just a broken ankle. I guess he just had more practice. We went down the hallway to the nursery.
“Okay, what do you guys want to do?” Kevin asked us again.
“Xbox!” Billy said immediately.
“That sound good, Taddy?” Kevin asked.
“Um. It’s kinda hard for me to use the controller,” I said. “Can I just play with Legos or something?”
“Sure you can,” Kevin said. “Billy, you go play Xbox, and I’m going to play with Taddy for a while. The games I brought are in the bottom of the backpack. Just dump everything out over by the TV.”
Billy nodded excitedly and trotted over towards the entertainment center. Kevin headed over to the shelf where the Legos were. I went over to a spot in the middle of the room and sat on the floor. That turned out to be a little harder than I thought. It was kind of hard to sit down on the floor without being able to control my decent with my arms. I finally decided to just crouch down as far as I could and let my butt fall back onto the floor. The fact that my butt was heavily padded in diapers came in very handy, yet again. By the time I was comfortable Kevin had collected two bins of Legos and brought them over to where I was. He opened them up and dumped them out on the carpet in front of me, and then he plopped down on the floor beside me. We started to build stuff with the seemingly endless supply of Lego bricks.
“Alright! You brought Halo!” Billy said from over by the entertainment center. “Mommy won’t ever let me play that.”
He put the game into the Xbox machine and started it as Kevin and I continued playing with Legos. Within a few minutes I caught myself constantly stealing glances at Kevin’s artificial legs. I knew I shouldn’t be staring at them, but they were just weird. I had never seen anyone without legs before, so it was just a new experience for me.
“Um, Kevin?” I finally spoke up timidly.
“Yeah?” he replied.
“Um, how do your legs work?” I asked.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to ask,” he said with a laugh.
He pushed his pile of Lego bricks out of the way and turned to face me a little more. He had been sitting with his legs folded up in front of him Indian-style, and he presently extended them in front of him, although he had to use his hand to straighten out his right leg. Much to my surprise, he began to actually remove his right artificial limb. It only took him a second to remove the leg, and he held it up and showed it to me.
“Here,” he said handing it to me. “You can hold it.”
I was a little surprise, but I almost instinctively took it from him. I was really surprised at how light it was.
“The top part is called the socket,” he said pointing at it. “Actually, it’s the outer socket. I’m still wearing the inner socket.”
He pointed at his remaining leg, which was covered in a white plastic-looking thing that looked pretty much like the black socket but a little smaller. He removed the white socket and showed it to me.
“The inner socket works like a suction cup and holds the prosthetic onto my leg,” he explained. “And the outer socket snaps into place over the inner one.”
He held out the inner socket so I could touch it. It was made out of some sort of soft, flexible plastic. I glanced down at what was left his right leg and noticed that it was shorter than I thought it had been. It was noticeably shorter than the black, outer socket on his prosthetic, which I suppose was sized to roughly match his left thigh. What remained of his right thigh was probably six or eight inches shorter than his left thigh. It was sort of cone shaped and I had to admit it was very weird looking.
“Why is the leg so light?” I asked.
“To make it easier to move around in, of course,” he said. “The outer socket is made out of carbon fiber encased in polyurethane resin. It’s actually stronger than quarter-inch-thick steel plate, but it weighs less than a pound.”
“Wow,” I replied.
“The lower leg is it made out of titanium and plastics,” he said. “The blue tubing stuff you see is the titanium. The knee joint is the coolest part. It’s got a bunch of springs and hydraulic pistons in it, and it’s controlled by a little computer down in the shin.”
“A computer?” I asked. “There’s a computer in it?”
“Uh huh,” he said. “It’s in the silver part around the titanium tube. It’s a tiny computer processor that takes like fifty measurements a second to decide how I’m walking, and then it decides how stiff and springy to make the knee joint to help me walk better.”
“Wow,” I said again.
“Like when I go up stairs,” he said. “By the time I put my right leg on the second step I can feel a difference in the knee joint because the computer has adjusted it for going up stairs. Pretty neat, huh?”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“The foot is sort of just rubber foot that goes inside the shoe,” he said. “It’s attached to the leg by a little rubber gasket that acts like a shock absorber. And I can change the feet out for different things. In fact, I can change the whole lower leg out for different activities.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Uh huh,” he said. “I ran track in high school, and I have special feet for running. Actually they don’t look anything like feet. They’re just a big, curved leaf springs made out of graphite with spiked cleats on the bottom. They’re really springy, and I can run pretty fast in them. The right one actually attaches to that socket, but I have a whole different running leg for my left leg. This summer I got different legs so I can go swimming. They have special hinged ankles with swim fins on them, and I used them to learn to scuba dive this summer.”
“Wow,” I said once more.
“The left leg isn’t quite as complicated, since I still have my own knee on that side,” he said.
He expertly removed his left leg and showed it to me. What remained of his left, lower leg ended abruptly about six inches below his knee.
“Basically, its just a socket like my right leg with a titanium tube for the lower part of my leg and a foot just like the left leg.”
He let me hold it too, and I found that it was even lighter than his other leg.
“Probably within a few years they’ll have computer controlled ankle joints, too,” he explained. “Then, I’ll be able to crouch down like a normal person, and do other stuff like that.”
“How much to these things cost?” I asked.
“A lot!” he said. “Both of those together are like over $30,000.”
“Whoa!” I said. “That’s expensive.”
“Yep,” he said. “And that’s just the one set. I have several more at home. Insurance pays for it, though.”
“Do they hurt to wear?” I asked.
“No. Not at all,” he assured me. “They’re pretty comfortable, and I can wear them for fourteen or sixteen hours a day. They can get kind of hot in the summer, though.”
“What’s it like not having legs?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “What’s it like having them? I don’t really remember having legs. I was only three-and-a-half when I lost them. So, for me, not having legs is just normal.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“My daddy and I were driving and our car got hit by a big dump truck,” he said. “He ran a stop sign and hit the front right side of our car. Our car went under the front of the truck and my side of the car was pretty much crushed. Thankfully, I was the only one hurt. My daddy just had some cuts and bruises. I was in the front seat, and I had my seatbelt on, but I was too small for it, and I slid out from under it and my legs got caught underneath the dashboard. I shouldn’t have been in the front seat, and I should have been in a car seat, but people really didn’t use booster seats back then.
“Thankfully, I don’t remember any of the crash,” he said. “All I know is what I’ve been told. Apparently it took them almost half an hour just to get me out of the car it was crushed up so bad. The first thing I remember was waking up in the hospital. I remember my feet hurt really bad, like they had fallen asleep and were all tingly, but it was much worse. And then they told me they had to amputate my legs and my feet weren’t even there anymore.”
“How could your feet hurt if they weren’t there anymore?” I asked.
“It’s called psychogenic pain,” he said. “Or phantom pain. You see, the nerve endings that connect my feet to my brain were still there, but they had been cut short. My brain didn’t know my feet weren’t there, yet, and the cut off nerve endings were telling my brain that my feet hurt. Eventually that goes away, but I can still feel my legs and feet, sometimes.”
“Really?” I asked in amazement.
“Yep,” he said. “I can feel my left big toe right now, and I can kind of feel my right kneecap. It feels sort like they’re asleep, like all tingly, but it’s not really painful or anything. Most of the time I just ignore it.”
“Wow,” I said. “So, if you don’t have legs, how do they know how tall to make these legs?”
“Ha!” he laughed. “You ask some good questions. They actually measure my right femur—that’s the long bone in you thigh—and that gives them an idea of how tall I should be. They also measure my shoulders, and back, and even my arms, and they use all those to estimate how tall I would be if I still have my legs. Then I get to choose how tall I am within a few inches of their estimates.”
“You get to pick how tall you are?” I asked in amazement.
“Yep,” he smiled. “Well, I get to choose how long they make my legs, but it’s the same thing. Last year I decided I wanted to be an inch taller than my dad, so that’s how tall I am. That annoys him a little, but he really doesn’t mind.”
I just laughed at that.
“So, why do you wear diapers?” I asked.
“Well, after the accident, I was okay for the first year or so,” he said. “But then I started school, and I was the only kid in the whole school with no legs. Prosthetics weren’t nearly as good back then—they sure didn’t have computerized knee joints, and they really weren’t good for little kids, so it was pretty easy for people to tell I didn’t have legs, even though I wore long pants all the time. No one really made fun of me, or anything, but I was always different from everyone, and that was hard. I started to get mad a lot and I acted up in school. I didn’t have any friends, and I didn’t talk to hardly anyone.
“So, about the time I was six, my parents brought me to see your daddy,” he explained. “And he suggested that my problems were partially from the fact that I had had such a traumatic, early childhood. He recommended the baby treatment to my parents like they do with you and Billy, so I got to have a second babyhood. That helped a lot, especially since just about the earliest memory I have is waking up in a hospital with my legs cut off. I can’t remember any part of my childhood before that. So, over the years, Uncle Pete helped me adjust and get used to being a little more different than everyone, and my parents kept treating me like a baby, which was a nice break from the real world for me. Over the years I came to like being babied more and more, so I just decided to stay a baby.”
“Do you sleep in a crib?” I asked.
“No, not anymore,” he laughed. “I got a big boy bed about a year ago. I grew out of my highchair, too, and I don’t ride in a car seat anymore, either. I still wear a bib a home when I eat, though, because I’m kind of a messy eater. I like bottles and sippy cups, too, and I still drink from them a lot. And I still call my mommy and daddy ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daddy.’ But, other than that I’m pretty much a big boy, now.”
“Except for diapers,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, except for diapers,” he conceded. “I’m not ever giving those up. I love my diapers too much. Do you like your diapers?”
“Um, yeah,” I admitted. “I like them a lot.”
“Good,” he said with a smile.
With that we went back to playing with the Legos. He didn’t put his legs back on right away, he just kind of left them there beside him and sat on the floor without them. I eventually worked up the courage to ask if I could touch what was left of his legs. He just laughed and said sure, but he informed me that they were called “residual limbs,” although most people just called them “stumps.” He had to define “residual” for me, but he also taught me how to say “prosthetic” properly. I thought his stumps would feel weird when I touched them, but there was nothing remarkable about them. They were just like regular legs that happened end a little abruptly.
“Are you guys about ready for me to make dinner?” Kevin asked after we had been in the nursery for maybe an hour-and-a-half.
“Sure!” Billy called from the entertainment center without taking his eyes off his game.
“Okay,” I said.
Kevin put his prosthetics on, which didn’t even take a minute, and he stood up.
“You want to go over there with your bother?” he offered.
“Um, can I stay with you?” I asked.
“Sure,” he replied with a smile.
He helped me stand up, which I was thankful for because I wasn’t sure how to get up off the floor unassisted. He held my hand as we left the nursery and went down the hall. He helped me down the stairs and we went to the kitchen. He helped me into my highchair and strapped me into it.
“You want something to drink?” he offered as he headed into the kitchen.
“Um, Kool-Aid, please,” I requested.
He brought me a bottle of Kool-Aid to suck on. He also tied a bib around my neck. He turned my highchair so that I was facing the kitchen and then he went to work in the kitchen. He turned the oven on and went to the freezer to pull out the bag of chicken nuggets. He put several nuggets on a tray and put them into the oven. He then got a pot of water heating on the stove for the pasta shells, and he opened the can of vegetables and dumped it into a saucepan to heat up.
“So, do you go to school?” I asked as he was cooking.
“I graduated high school back in May,” he said. “I just started college at the Collin County Community College. I’m gonna go there for a year, and then go off to college somewhere, I haven’t decided where yet, and then I’m going to medical school.”
“Medical school?”
“Yep,” he nodded. “I want to be a doctor.”
“Like Daddy?” I asked.
“Well, yeah,” he said. “But I don’t want to do what he does. I want to be a surgeon, an orthopedic surgeon.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“That’s a doctor that works on the skeleton,” he said. “You know, bones, and joints, and stuff like that.”
“Oh,” I nodded understanding.
“So, your Daddy told me he’s home-schooling you,” he said. “Is that fun?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Daddy’s really smart. He knows a lot of stuff.”
“I’m sure he does,” he said.
We continued chatting as he worked on making supper. I found out that he had a brother and sister, who were twins, but they were a lot younger than him and were only two years old. He told me about his mommy and daddy and what they did. He got the pasta shells cooked and he poured the cheese sauce from the package into them. As he was stirring the shells and cheese at a counter with his back to me I looked down and noticed something dripping from his crotch down onto the floor.
“Um, Kevin, you’re, like, dripping,” I said cautiously.
“What?” he asked.
“From your diaper,” I said. “Something is dripping from your diaper.”
“Aw, man!” he said angrily, stepping back from the counter and looking down at himself. “I’m leaking!”
He grabbed a dishtowel that was on the counter near him and held it up under his crotch.
“I’ll be back,” he said urgently as he turned to rush out of the kitchen still holding the towel to his diaper.
I sat there silently waiting for a few minutes until he came back. He was obviously wearing a clean disposable when he came back. He looked a little upset.
“Taddy, do me a favor and don’t tell anyone I leaked, okay?” he asked. “If my mommy finds out I had a leak she won’t let me change myself anymore. I’m supposed to be checking myself every so often, but I forgot.”
“I won’t tell. I promise.” I said immediately.
“Thanks, buddy,” he said with a sigh of relief as he returned the to kitchen. “You’re a good friend.”
“Thanks,” I said beaming with pride. “I think you are, too.”
Supper was ready a few minutes later, and he went to summon Billy from upstairs. Billy came down to the kitchen a minute later. Kevin got him fastened into his highchair and he pushed both of us over by the table. He went to the kitchen and brought out three divided, toddler plates of food and three sippy cups. He tied a bib around Billy’s neck, and then I couldn’t help but laugh as he put a bib oh himself. He sat down at a place at the table where he began feeding me. He let Billy eat by himself, but I still needed help. He had cut up both Billy’s and my chicken nuggets into little pieces for us already.
“Okay, after dinner it’s bath time,” Kevin said as he fed me. “What are we doing after that?”
“How about diaper tag?” Billy suggested.
“But Taddy can’t run around, yet, Billy,” Kevin pointed out.
“Oh. I forgot. Darn,” Billy said sadly.
“Next time I’m babysitting we’ll do diaper tag, okay?” Kevin said.
“Okay,” Billy replied satisfied.
“Besides, diaper tag is only fun when we all have poopy diapers,” he said. “And we’re all clean right now.”
I wanted to ask what diaper tag was, but when I opened my mouth to ask Kevin shoved a spoonful of corn into it. I figured I could just ask Billy later.
“So, what are you boys going to be for Halloween?” Kevin asked a little later.
“I’m gonna be an astronaut!” Billy said excitedly. “Matty’s mommy is making the costume. Daddy told me astronauts have to wear diapers in their spacesuits because they wear them for so long when they’re outside the space shuttle.”
“That’s right,” Kevin said. “They sure do. That’ll be a cool costume for no other reason than that. What about you, Taddy?”
That was something I hadn’t even given any thought to. I certainly knew what Halloween was and all about costumes and trick-or-treating, but I had never once participated in any of it. I had never had a costume before, and I had never been allowed to go trick-or-treating in any of my foster homes. Sure, sometimes my foster families’ kids did all that, but not me. I thought Halloween was just something for regular kids, not orphans like me.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged.
“I guess no one has thought of that, yet,” Billy said. “We need to think up a costume for you.”
“For me?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he replied.
“You mean I get to do that, too?” I asked.
“Of course, silly,” Billy said. “Why wouldn’t you?”
I just shrugged again.
“Well, you guys better come up with something pretty quick,” said Kevin. “Halloween is only eight days away.”
We finished our supper, and Kevin fed each of us a small bowl of ice cream. Then, we waited for a second while Kevin cleaned up the dishes. He took Billy and me upstairs to the nursery and ran us a bath in the bathroom. He got us both undressed and out of our diapers—both of us were only wet—before he escorted us to the bathroom. He got my cast protectors from their place in the bathroom cabinet—I guess Mommy told him where they were—and put them on me. He then helped us into the tub. The bath wasn’t a bubble bath tonight, but I very quickly decided that Kevin was the best bather ever. He let us play and splash around a lot, and he even splashed water back at us. He didn’t care at all that we spilled more than a little water out of the tub.
We got so worked up that Billy actually had a little accident in the tub. We were playing around and he was standing up with a little squirt gun. All of a sudden we heard the sound of trickling water. Kevin and I looked over to see a stream of pee coming out of Billy’s pee-pee and arching down into the tub.
“Oops,” Billy said, a little embarrassed. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Kevin said. “But I think it’s timed to get you two bathed an out of here. One of you has obviously been out of diapers for plenty long enough.”
Kevin got us both bathed, and then he dried us off. He cleaned up the bathroom a little, and then he took us back to the nursery. He put us both into a clean set of diapers for the night. He put an extra diaper on each of us just to make us waddle more. He seemed to be pretty good at putting diapers on, so I guess he had kept Billy often enough that he had a lot of practice.
After we were diapered up for the night and had clean t-shirts on, it was decided that we would watch a movie. Kevin had brought a couple of DVDs with him, both of which were rated PG-13, meaning Billy and I would not ordinarily be allowed to watch them. Kevin went downstairs to make some popcorn while Billy and I decided on which movie to watch. Billy was just putting a DVD into the player when Kevin returned with two bowls of popcorn and an armful of baby bottles. He gave Billy a bottle and one of the bowls of popcorn. He then occupied the other beanbag chair and had me sit with him. He got situated and then I sat down in front of him in between his legs. I held the bowl of popcorn in my lap and he held our bottles for us.
We proceeded to watch the movie, which turned out to be pretty good. Kevin periodically either held my bottle up to my mouth to drink from or a handful of popcorn up to my face to eat. Like I said, it was a very good movie, but before it was over I was getting sleepy. Probably two-thirds of the way through the flick I fell asleep in Kevin’s lap.
I woke up sometime later to Kevin gently nudging me. I discovered that I was still sitting in his lap in the beanbag chair.
“Hey, Taddy,” he greeted me gently. “It’s already after eleven. Time to go to bed, little guy.”
I just nodded tiredly. He pushed me up out of his lap and then got up behind me.
“Did I miss the movie?” I asked groggily.
“Yeah, but don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll see it some other time.”
He led me over to my crib. He picked me up and started to put me into it. It was then that I saw the harness and was reminded of it.
“Are you going to put me in the harness?” I asked sadly.
“I have to, Taddy,” he told me. “Your mommy said I did.”
“Please, can you let me sleep without it?” I begged.
“I would, Taddy,” he said. “But then I’d get in trouble when your mommy and daddy come home. You don’t want me to get into trouble, do you?”
“No,” I said sadly, a tear starting to trickle down my cheek.
He held me to his chest and gave me a hug.
“Sorry, Taddy,” he said sincerely.
“That’s okay,” I replied. “I know you have to.”
He gave me another hug and then lowered me into my crib. He slowly got me strapped into the harness asking me several times if I was comfortable or if he was hurting me. I could tell by the look on his face that he took no pleasure in restraining me in my crib. He got me fastened into the harness and ankle straps, and then he leaned on the side of the crib and stroked my chest gently.
“Don’t be mad at me, okay?” he said.
“I’m not mad at you,” I said. “I know you’re doing it for my own good.”
“That’s right buddy,” he said. “Did you have fun, tonight?”
“Uh huh,” I said, actually cracking a smile. “You’re really cool, Kevin. I hope I get to see you again, soon.”
“You will, squirt,” he said. “You’ll see me again before you know it. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Kevin,” I told him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Taddy,” he said with a smirk.
He patted me on the head and tucked me in. He made sure that my teddy bear was within my reach and then he closed my crib. He smiled and winked at me before he turned to go say goodnight to Billy. A minute later he turned the light out and left us alone.
“Goodnight, Billy,” I called across the nursery quietly.
“Goodnight, Taddy,” he replied. “I love you, baby brother.”
“I love you, too,” I said.
In spite of the harness, I was pretty tired from having such an eventful day. Even though I wasn’t at all happy to be in the harness, again, I drifted off to sleep thinking, again, about how lucky I was to be here and how lucky I was to know people like Mommy and Daddy, my siblings, and Kevin.