Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:55:39 -0700
From: Danny <m12@thedoghousemail.com>
Subject: Simon's Journal: Thirteen Days, Chapter 9 of 13

Simon's Journal
Volume I

Thirteen Days - The First Crusade
A novel by Danny

Chapter 9
February 24, 2004 Tuesday
      When my alarm went off this morning I flew out of
bed, my last thoughts before falling asleep last night
had been that of the picture Jasper had emailed me of
Peter in those wet sweatpants of mine, and it was the
first thing in my head when I woke up. After having
turned off my alarm clock, I stood there for a while
before I realized that although my ankle was still
tender, I was able to walk on it. I still had a
noticeable limp and every so often, it would send a
small, sharp, stabbing pain message to my brain just as a
reminder to take it easy. As I went to my closet to get
out my school uniform, I noticed that I could partially
see out of my bad eye again and I made a remark of just
two words that I won't include here. Although things were
still a bit blurry, it was the most and clearest my eye
had been since Jamie's knuckles had collided with it on
Saturday. I guess somewhere in the back of my head, I
figured that after falling on my face in the race
yesterday and having busted myself open again, that I'd
not be able to use that eye again for a long time. But
here I am, able to see out of it. Of course, as I write
this now, it's been a full day since I crawled out of bed
and a lot has happened that not even I believe yet!
      While I was pulling my clothes out, and without
really thinking about it, I instinctively reached down to
check how wet I was and I couldn't believe it; I was dry
again! Unlike in some mornings past, I didn't go back to
bed to wet myself. Instead, I felt overjoyed at the fact
that I didn't have to go take a shower this morning. I
just slipped my pants on right over my dry goodnight. I
think I may have set a personal record for getting ready
for school this morning!
      While stuffing my books into my backpack, my eyes
fixed on the view outside of my window and I had to
squint my bad eye, with some difficulty, to focus on it
clearly. I stopped everything I was doing and went to the
window. It was like gazing at a photograph of a winter
wonderland scene. Everything was covered in a blanket of
white and the tree branches all glistened with a layer of
ice on them. Apparently it got so cold last night that
the rain turned into snow and must have fallen all night
long. It was still coming down though only sparingly at
best.
      I went over, turned on my radio to listen for the
school closing announcements, and prayed that our school
would be closed. Not so that I wouldn't have to go to
school today, but so that Peter wouldn't go to school
today. When I saw that picture on Jasper's email last
night I had the worst thought ever and it was a single
word, "REVENGE"! I knew that Jasper was thinking that
this was the ammunition he needed to once-and-for-all-
time, destroy Peter Alderman's reputation as a bully and
demote him to the status of lowly toad piss.
      While I was sitting and listening to the radio, and
being irritated at the guy for talking about everything
except the school closings, I looked down and noticed
that I'd tied my tie with the skinny end about six inches
longer then the wide end. I untied it and tried again
with more success this time- though it wasn't perfect. I
was sitting at my desk, staring at my radio, when mom
opened my door and came in, "Good morning". She said.
      I didn't say anything.
      "You listening for the school closings?" She asked.
      "Mom they just have to close school today!" I tried
to use my mind to force my words into the radio hoping
the radio guy would hear me and grant my wish.
      "Did you already take your shower this morning?" Mom
asked while making my bed for me.
      "Huh? What? Uh, no; I didn't need to." I said
absent-mindedly.
      Had I not been so focused on the radio I'd have
probably been relieved that she didn't comment further
and once my bed was made she said, "Well just in case you
have to go, what would you like for breakfast?"
      "Um, toast and jam?" I said while finally turning to
her and smiling as if it were needed to charm her into
agreement.
      "Oh your eye looks so much better this morning!" She
exclaimed.
      "Yeah I can even see a little bit!" I said.
      "Maybe I better put some more cream on it before
school." She said taking my chin in her hand and turning
my head this way and that to check out my eye at every
possible angle.
      She was heading for the door when I said, "Ah mom!
No! That stuff stinks like yesterdays diapers!" It was
out of my mouth before I knew what I'd said and I busted
out laughing when she was out of sight.
      I didn't laugh very long as she quickly returned
with the cream and fresh bandages. I squirmed and
complained the entire time she was applying it. Man that
stuff just absolutely is the worst smelling stuff! I've
got to remember to kick my doctor the next time he's
examining me for giving that vile stuff to my dad!
      As she was applying the last bandage, the school
announcements started.
      "The following schools are on a one-hour delay." The
announcer said, and proceeded to list about a dozen
schools all over the valley before going to the schools
on a two-hour delay. Several businesses were also listed
as delayed as well but no schools or businesses were
closed except for St. Catharine's school for girls but it
is always getting closed because it sits on top of a hill
and the lane that leads up to the school freezes over the
second the temperature drops below 32-degrees. Despite
listening very attentively to the announcer on the radio
rattle off name after name of schools and businesses, I
didn't hear my school mentioned at all.
      I groaned my desperate disappointment and mom
mockingly sang, "Looks like you better get out your cold
weather gear!"
      "Mom!" I whined, but I did just what she suggested
and got out my warmest coat along with my hat, gloves and
snow boots, which I had to sit in the middle of my floor
and attempt to untie the knot that the laces were in. I
really hate my snow boots. They have these little,
looping hooks on them that are supposed to hold the laces
but they don't do the job very well at all. When I try to
untie them to take them off, the laces will slip off the
hooks, which causes them to get all tangled.
Unfortunately, the last time I wore them, I had not taken
the time to untangle the laces, so I had to do it this
morning. As mom was leaving my room, while I was still
sitting on the floor wrestling with my laces, she asked,
"Are you sure toast is going to be enough?"
      "Yes-Uh and Milk!" I said sounding impatient, as my
laces were not yielding to my will.
      After another ten minutes of grumbling and growling
at my boots I had the knot taken out of my laces so I
took my boots, along with my book and gym bags, to the
kitchen and deposited them all by the back door.
      As I was setting my gym bag down, mom said, "You
might need these today". I looked over to her and saw
that she was handing me my gym shorts and the yellow
shirt. I'd not even thought about them since I took them
off yesterday. I unfolded them both and checked them out.
      "Mom? How'd you get all my blood out?" I asked in
amazement.
      She wiggling her ten fingers at me as though she
were trying to work her motherly enchantments on me,
"Mom's have magic that no one else has!"
      I smiled coyly and hugged her neck, "Thanks mom!
You're the best!"
      Dad had to add his two cents into our moment, "What
about me?"
      I released mom and said to dad, "You're okay, too...
I guess!"
      Mom went back to making breakfast as dad said, "Did
ya hear that, hun? He said I was OK!"
      "I also said I guess! That's kind of like a strong
maybe!" I said, sitting down at the table with an evil
grin on my face.
      Dad looked back over to mom past the rim of his
coffee cup, "You know hun, I've been thinking. our son's
awfully broken down. I mean, he's still got that big bump
on his forehead, he's blind in one eye, walks with a limp
and lets face it, he's never been much of a looker. What
say we trade him in on one of those newer models? Maybe
we can get a little girl this time! You would like that,
wouldn't ya hun?"
      "Har, Har, Hardy-Har-Har!" I sarcastically laughed
at dad's bad attempt at humor.
      "Na, I think we'll keep him!" Mom said while
applying jam to my toast.
      "Ah shucks!" Dad said sticking his finger into his
coffee and then flicking a drop at me.
      "HEY!" I griped. "MOM? Tell dad to stop!"
      As she was handing me my toast, she popped dad on
the back of his head and then kissed his cheek. "Keep it
up and I'll send him to work with you!"
      "Oh no you don't!!!" Dad said, half laughing while
looking over his cup as he took a sip this time.
      "Yeah! You've not taken me to work with you in a
long time." I protested.
      He wiped a drip of coffee from his chin and asked,
"Have you forgotten what you did the last time I took you
to my office?"
      "What? It was my fault they didn't have a sign on
the copy machine saying I shouldn't make copies of my
face?" I said, still sporting my evil grin.
      "That's not what I was talking about . . . what do
you mean you made copies of your face? I didn't know
about that!" He said, trying to look very dad-like, but
failing miserably.
      "What he do?" Mom asked as she put a pile of
scrambled eggs in front of dad.
      "When my boss walked past our desks, Big-Mouth here,
decides to say loud enough for everyone to hear, Daddy,
how come when your boss walks by, everybody acts like
they are busy?" Dad actually did a good job of
impersonating me.
      "Hey! That wasn't the last time you took me to work,
that was when I was seven and a half!" I said in my own
defense.
      "Well I think I made my point anyway." He said
taking a bite of his eggs.
      "Can I go to work with you tomorrow?" I teased.
      "Yep hun! A daughter is sounding better and better
by the minute!" He said to mom who was wiping off the
counter now.
      "Speaking of sisters, I'm going over to mine later
this morning to have my hair colored again." Mom said
cleverly changing the subject.
      "Oh but my love! You don't have to change! We love
you just the way you are!" Dad said which earned him a
wet rag upside his head.
      "Oh, that's just disgusting!" Dad laughed.
      I laughed at the two of them too and looked out the
backdoor at the snow. I knew that I wasn't going to be
riding my bike to school today and that was for sure.
      Dad's cell phone rang and he answered it. "Hello? Oh
hi Aphelia! Ahuh-yes-sure-OK, that sounds good. Oh, don't
worry about it. I'll take care of it when I get to the
office. Sure, don't give it a second thought. What's
that? Oh sure I'll be sure to pass that along. Ok. Yes,
you too and thanks for calling. Bye."
      "Who's Aphelia?" I asked as soon as he was off the
phone.
      "Just a lady in my office." Dad said, "You remember
her, she was the one that gave you that yo-yo".
      "Oh yeah! She was the one that had the red-hot
candies in that little jar on her desk!" I said
knowingly.
      "That's the one, but it's M&M's now." Dad said.
      "You know, I think she's probably the one to credit
for getting you interested in yo-yos in the first place."
Mom said finally joining us at the table.
      I thought for a second and then said, "Yeah, I guess
so!"
      "Who knows, you may never have discovered that you
were a natural born yo-yoer." Dad said before taking his
last bite of eggs.
      "Yeah and I probably never would have won the Golden
Yo-Yo either!" I added.
      "So what did she want?" Mom asked re-steering the
conversation back on track.
      "Oh, she said that my office is on a two hour
delay!" He said, sounding just the way I would have, had
my school been delayed or closed.
      Mom smiled at him and said "Don't rub it in dear!" I
know she was only saying it to torture me more. "You
still get to take your son to school though." She added
now to torture dad.
      "Awww, but honey bunch? Do I have toooooo?" Dad did
an excellent job of whining.
      I gave him a "Dad's are so lame!" look and he stuck
his tongue out at me.
      "Alright you two! Behave or I'll make you both stay
home!" Mom said, to which dad and I both started acting
up all the more.
      I woofed down my last few bites of toast and drank
down my milk. Just as I was draining the last drops from
my glass, the doorbell rang. "Can't be the guys?" I
thought out loud. Dad answered the door and sure enough,
it was Peter and his posse. Dad invited them in out of
the snow.
      "You boys want a ride to school?" Dad asked.
      I got up from the table, went to greet them all and
noticed that Steven had a fresh black eye but I didn't
comment or draw attention to it just then.
      As we were all filing out the front door to pile in
the van, mom gave dad a second cup of coffee in his
travel cup with the no-spill lid and kissed him, "The
coffee should keep your lips warm until you get back to
me". I heard mom say.
      "Oh mom! That's just wrong!" I complained as I was
going out the door.
      On the way to school dad let us listen to the radio.
It took an extra ten minutes for dad to drive and he was
complaining about the roads and why they didn't close our
school today. I kept glancing into the backseat at the
four guys and noticed that Steven and Peter were both
acting sort of odd but again, I didn't want to draw
attention to either of them and risk embarrassing them in
front of dad or the other guys.
      Just as we were pulling into the school parking lot,
there was another school closings and delays announcement
on the radio. This time they listed our school as being
on a one-hour delay. Dad laughed and said, "Whelp too
bad, you're already here! Everyone out!" The five of us
groaned as one and then reluctantly climbed from the van.
      We forged a path to the front door of the school
adding to the few footprints that were already in the
snow and Mr. Graff greeted us. "Good morning boys! Nice
of you to join us so early today!" He said. "You might be
happy to know that the cafeteria is open and they are
serving hot coco and doughnuts for all that show up on
time this morning despite the weather delay." He added.
All five of us tore off for the cafeteria but I didn't
get but maybe five feet into the building when he
shouted, "FREEZE!" and every one of us screeched to a
halt with Max sliding a bit on the tile floor.
      "What happen to you two?" He asked pointing to
Steven and myself.
      I told him about falling in the race yesterday and
he said, "Oh yeah, I'd heard about that. Mr. Shaffer had
a lot of good things to say about you in the teachers
lounge, but that doesn't explain you're black-eye." He
said, now focusing down at Steven who looked like he was
about to start crying any second.
      "I did it!" I said quickly. Mr. Graff looked at me
with a degree of astonishment and maybe a pinch of "I
knew it!" in his eyes.
      "We were play wrestling . . . uh . . . after school
. . . at my house yesterday and I . . . accidentally
caught him with my elbow!" I said which was an obvious
lie and I might add that it was not one of my better
attempts at lying either but Mr. Graff seemed to accept
it.
      "Hummm, bet that hurt! Well go on before the donuts
are all gone!" He said waving us off with a dismissive
gesture.
      In the cafeteria Peter asked, "Why'd you do that?"
      "Do what?" I asked back.
      "You know; lie." He added.
      "Because I figure whatever the truth is, it's none
of his business." I said very matter of fact like and
patted Steven on the shoulder. That seemed to satisfy the
lot of them and Steven especially looked relieved. He
gave me a reassuring smile.
      After we all had our coco and doughnuts and were
sitting at one of the tables alone (there were
approximately fifty or more students in the cafeteria
with us), Steven shared that his "Old Man" as he labeled
him, had come home drunk again from the dog tacks and was
in a foul mood. "He lost his whole paycheck again!"
Steven added before turning sideways in his chair and not
talking for the rest of the time we sat.
      Mary Tucker had come in early too and stopped at our
table, "Hi Simon!" She said, smiling so prettily.
      I totally forgot about the guys for a few minutes,
"Hi Mary!" I said back.
      "I heard about your race! Does your eye hurt much?"
She asked looking quite concerned.
      "Na, I can even see out of it mostly!" I answered.
      We made small talk for a few more minutes and then
her girlfriends came over and she left with them.
      I guess I was smiling stupidly because Max gave me a
poke, "Earth to Lover-Boy! Come in Lover-Boy!"
      I shook off my dazed expression and returned to
talking with the guys. The subject somehow got to what we
all would have done today had the school been closed and
I think it was Johnny that suggested we all should have
skipped school today. The reminded me of something and I
turned to Peter and asked, "Hey where did you disappear
to Friday after lunch?"
      "What?" Peter asked and I wasn't sure if he was
stalling or if he really didn't know what I was talking
about.
      "Yeah, you never did tell us where you were!" Max
said and Johnny added, "Yeah, where was you?"
      I saw my friend BJ crossing the cafeteria but he was
on the other side so I didn't call him over. I just waved
at him and he waved back and smiled as he started talking
to some other boys.
      "None of your business!" Peter said sounding just
the way he had in my room yesterday afternoon.
      I guess sitting there with the other four looking as
curious as I was gave me more bravery than usual and I
continued to prod at Peter for an answer. Unfortunately,
my efforts were interrupted when the announcement came
over the intercom, "This is your Principle Speaking. For
those students that have already joined us, I would like
to thank you for joining us this morning despite the
winter like weather this morning. You may now go to your
lockers and report to your homerooms where your teachers
will be instructing you on how your classes will be
conducted during this abbreviated day. That will be all."
      We got up and deposited our cups and napkins in the
trash before heading out of the cafeteria. As we were
walking down the hallway, Peter and Max beside me, and
the other two following right behind, Johnny kept going
on about some show he'd seen on TV last night and was
trying to describe it to Steven and Max. Peter and I were
back on the conversation about what we would have done
today had school been closed.
      "I'd have loved to sit around the house watching
music videos or something!" Peter said and then added,
"Or go down to the Rec-center and play air hockey all . .
."
      Peter never finished his sentence. As the five of us
turned the corner to go to our lockers, we all came to a
sudden halt. Running down on either side of the hallway
were picture after picture of Peter. There were actually
three pictures of Peter that looked to have been copied
about a million times. The first was of Peter from the
back wearing my blue sweat pants and it was totally
apparent that he'd wet himself. The second picture was a
front shot of Peter completely in the nude. The other
picture was an obvious fake that someone had pasted a
diaper onto Peter's nude body from the second picture.
There were also various close-ups and captions on most of
the pictures with the most obvious being Peter's name in
large, bold, black letters.
      Now I knew right away that the diaper picture was a
fake, not just because I knew that the room he was
standing in was my room and that I'd been there and knew
he had not had a diaper on at the time (though I would
have thoroughly enjoyed it if he had), but because it was
painfully obvious that it was the work of someone using
Photoshop or some other program. It was a very bad fake
because the diaper wasn't even positioned properly.
However, that didn't matter. The pictures were having the
intended effect on all that looked at them.
      The hallway was loaded with students all gawking and
laughing at the pictures. I turned to Peter who looked
like he was about to go nuclear at any second. I was
about to open my mouth when I felt the worst pain in my
jaw and then in my stomach I'd ever felt. Before I knew
what was happening, I was on the floor and Peter was
kicking me in my stomach and ribs. I heard a blood-
curdling scream and saw a blur fly over my head and Peter
was gone from my sight.
      I managed to get myself up on one elbow and saw
Peter on the floor next to me. My best friend, BJ, was
sitting on Peter's chest and was throwing blow after blow
into Peter's face, neck and shoulders in a blinding
flurry of fists. Peter was struggling and trying to get
BJ off of him but despite the fact that Peter was much
bigger than BJ, he couldn't stop the rash of blows.
      From the corner of my good eye, I saw Johnny in
midair flying toward BJ while Steven and Max were both
kneeling at my side trying to help me up.
      I heard a deep voice yelling and saw a huge hand
snatch Johnny right out of the air just before he made
contact with BJ who was also being lifted from off Peter
by someone else.
      I was up on my knees now; I was holding my stomach,
coughing, and I could taste blood in my mouth too. I
looked and saw that Mr. Freeman had hold of Johnny who
was flailing about like a wild beast in Mr. Freeman's
arms and BJ had tears flowing down his face and was being
restrained by Mr. Shafer. BJ had stopped fighting and was
just standing there crying and looking like he still
wanted to kill Peter. I saw BJ's hands. They were covered
in Peter's blood.
      There were countless students crowded around us and
I could see teachers trying to make their way through the
crowd. I looked back over at Peter who'd managed to get
to his feet. Blood was flowing from his nose and mouth.
He was looking right at me and screamed, "YOU MOTHER
EFFER!" but he actually said the other word as he started
for me again. A teacher made a lunge for Peter to stop
him but Peter was too fast. I saw something gleam in
Peter's hand and heard someone yell, "NO!"
      I turned toward the direction of the yell and saw
Jasper jumping in front of me and toward Peter. In an
instant, it was over. I looked down at the floor in front
of me and saw Jasper was laying there with his eyes open
and the pocket knife Peter had intended to use on me was
sticking out of Jaspers chest just below his left
shoulder. I heard more shouts and screams and then
everything died down to a quiet commotion.
      Mr. Shaffer kneeled down in front of me and picked
Jasper up in his arms. Jasper's head hung limply
backwards. I watched in quiet horror as Mr. Shaffer ran
down the hallway toward the nurses' office.
      I turned my head to see that Peter was pinned
against the wall by Mr. Graff who had his left arm across
Peter's throat and was holding one of Peter's wrists with
his left hand and had Peters other arm pinned to the wall
his right hand. Peter looked horror stricken, like he
couldn't believe what he'd just done.
      I think I felt someone put his or her hand on my back
as I coughed and blood came up. I managed to look over
and saw that my Social Studies teacher, Mr. Carver, and
Mrs. Miracle, my reading teacher, had both appeared out
of nowhere. They were shouting for everyone to go to
their homeroom classes immediately. Within seconds, both
of the schools crossing guards, who were basically the
school security guards, had arrived in the hall and had
taken charge of Peter, BJ and Johnny.
      I coughed again and felt someone holding my head as
I vomited the coco, doughnut and my breakfast toast all
over the school floor. I still don't know who picked me
up and carried me to the nurse's office. The office was a
storm of activity. I could hear medics and police
although I couldn't see them. The school nurse kept
coming in and out along with several medical persons.
      After a few minutes, one of the medical persons, a
lady, came in and was caring for me. She kept poking and
prodding me. I continued to cough up a little blood every
few minutes. When I tried to vomit again, the medic
turned me on my side so that I didn't choke and I saw
other medics and police officers wheeling Jasper out on a
stretcher really fast.
      The next few minutes are still kind of hard for me
to remember, which I find very odd. I mean, I can see
Jasper laying on that tile floor with that knife sticking
out of his chest just as real as if it were happening
right now, but for the life of me I can't recall
everything that happened after I saw them wheeling Jasper
away and right up until they were loading me into my own
ambulance. In the ambulance, I looked over and saw that
grandpa was sitting right beside me.
      "Grandpa?" I asked is disbelief.
      "I'm here Simple Simon." Grandpa said, which was the
nickname he always used to call me.
      "What happened?" I asked.
      "You rest now boy. You are going to be all right!"
Grandpa said, trying to reassure me.
      "Grandpa? Am I going to die?" I asked.
      "Oh no! You are going to be just fine!" He said,
putting his hand on my forehead.
      "You do me a favor?" Grandpa asked.
      "Sure," I said.
      "Tell your mama I said Hi," He said.
      He reached out and put his hand over my eyes so that
I'd close them, "Rest now". He said quietly.
      I managed to take a short breath despite my pain and
said, "Okay, Grandpa." When I opened my eyes again,
Grandpa had gone.
      I'm still amazed at how quickly mom and dad had got
to the hospital all the way through all that snow and
ice. They arrived only seconds behind the ambulance I was
in. Mom was crying and clinging to dad who looked like he
was only just barely holding himself together, too. I
told mom that Grandpa said hi and she cried even harder
so I didn't talk about that anymore and just kept it to
myself.
      In the emergency room, the doctors and nurses
stripped me down to my Goodnite, which I was both
embarrassed about and relieved for having on. I was
relieved they left it on me so that I wasn't lying there
completely nude but I was also embarrassed to have all
those doctors and nurses see me in just a Goodnite like I
was a little boy. I was mad at myself and couldn't
believe that I hadn't taken it off before I left for school
this morning.
      "How could I have been so stupid?" I thought.
      One of the doctors kept asking me questions. I kept
telling him to leave me alone and that I wanted my mom. I
didn't find out until later that they were out in the
hallway giving a nurse all the information about my
health history and filling out paperwork.
      I don't know how long I was poked and had different
medical people wheeling me around taking all sorts of
tests and x-rays. I heard this one short, balding, doctor
tell my dad and mom that despite a lot of deep bruising
and three broken ribs I was doing fine.
      "Fine?" I said to him, "You call this fine?" I
shouted and tried to sit-up in the bed.
      Dad was trying to hold me down in the bed; my ribs
screamed at me to stop moving. Mom was crying
hysterically.
      "FINE?" I screamed and started to cry. "I'm not FINE!
I'm not!" I cried into dad's arm.
      A nurse came in several minutes after my tantrum and
taped up my ribs for me. She was a very nice, though not-
so-attractive lady. She was able to get me sitting up
without causing me any pain at all and even managed to
get me to laugh, which hurt like mad. She also gave me a
shot in my hip after laying me back down and that shot
really helped with all the pain.
      Actually, it helped with a lot more than the pain.
Before too long, I was giggling and cracking up at the
stupidest of things. I'd even managed to get mom and dad
to giggle. When I saw this one doctor come in that didn't
have a stitch of hair on top of his head, but had this
humungous black mustache that looked like a black dust
broom hanging under his nose I started giggling, then
laughing full out.
      "What?" the doctor said, shrugging his shoulders and
looking to my dad.
      "Hey, hey, hey doc! I think the janitor is going to
want his broom back!" I said before screaming with
laughter. Dad kept trying to put his hand over my mouth
to shut me up but I was laughing so hard he was having a
very difficult time of it.
      Yet another doctor, this one was much younger than
any of the others, had come in and was putting stitches
into the gash over my eye, which until then I'd not known
that it had been busted open again. The mustache doctor
had come back in behind the young doctor and asked to
talk with mom and dad out in the hallway.
      Nicely doped up as I was, I was carrying on a
conversation with nobody in particular and had not
noticed a nurse that had come in while the young doctor
was stitching my eye. I was oblivious to the nurse until
the point where she reached for my Goodnite and started
to pull it off of me.
      "Hey!" I complained, but I was so doped up it
sounded more like the way Austin Powers might say, "Hey
baby!"
      She just smiled and said, "We can't have you laying
here all wet and soiled, now can we?"
      "What?" I said still sounding like Austin Powers to
myself.
      "It's ok! I will have you cleaned up in a jiffy."
She said nicely.
      "Anyone ever tell you, that you sound just like that
one good witch in that one movie?" I said silly-like.
      She asked, "What movie is that?" as she pulled my
Goodnite all the way off of me and started cleaning me
up.
      "You know, the one with the little people and the
scarecrow." I said.
      "Hold your head still for me. Okay, Simon?" the
young doctor said.
      "Huh? Oh yeah sure; anything for you doc!" I said
totally forgetting what I had been talking about.
      The nurse surprised me at how strong she was for
such a little lady when she grabbed my one leg and lifted
it into the air so that she could wipe off my bottom.
      "Hey! That tickles!" I said as she washed my
backside.
      "Oh, sorry about that!" She said almost in a kind of
off-handed way.
      "You know something?" I said as she lowered my leg
and lifted the other.
      "What's that?" She asked.
      "You are a really pretty lady." I smooshed, "You
know, you would make a really good nurse someday." I
laughed again.
      "Hold your head still Simon, okay?" the doctor said
again.
      "SSSShhhhhhh! Can't you see I'm talking to this
nurse?" I said to him.
      She laughed and said, "There we go, all cleaned up".
She turned and I saw her dropping my Goodnite into what
looked like a silver trashcan. But then I really couldn't
make it out from across the room. I also couldn't see her
anymore either but in no time she was back within my
field of vision.
      "Hey, welcome back beautiful! Did you miss me while
you were gone?" I said with a snort.
      "Oh aren't you the smooth talker?" She teased, "I
bet you have all the girls in your school charmed".
      "Oh yeah, I'm sure he's got a different one for each
day of the week and two for Saturdays!" the young doctor
interjected before adding, "Alright! I'm done and I'm
getting out of here! It's getting too deep in here for
me!"
      "Ok doc, you leave me and beautiful here alone!" I
said as the nurse took hold of my right ankle again and
lifted it into the air.
      "Wwwweeeeeeeeee!" I cheered and I also I caught a
glimpse of a green diaper being slid under my backside.
      "I don't suppose you have one of those in Panther
colors, do ya?" I joked.
      "'Fraid not!" She smiled and lowered my leg back to
the bed before reaching between my legs and pulling the
diaper up over me to cover up my boyhood nudity.
      "That's much better." I said sort of more to myself
than to the nurse as I closing my eye and enjoying the
feeling of the diaper being pulled tight and taped into
place.
      "You're really good at this and did I tell you that
you're beautiful?" I said.
      "I should be. I change at least a hundred of them a
day and yes you did!" She said, touching the tip of my
nose.
      "You okay?" She asked.
      "Me? I'm great when you are here!" I cooed to her.
      "I think that's my cue to leave." She smiled again.
      "I'll miss you!" I said, holding out an outstretched
hand longingly too her.
      I lay alone for only a few minutes before my parents
returned. "They're going to keep you overnight for
observations." Mom said making it sound devastatingly
horrible.
      Dad chimed in, "The doctor said that all of your
tests and x-rays looked good but they just want to keep
an eye on you overnight". He pulled the sheet up over me
and asked, "You want the blanket on, too?"
      I nodded my head and he unfolded it and laid it over
my legs before pulling it up to my chest.
      "Mom?" I said looking around trying to find her
despite the fact that she was right by my bed.
      "Yes sweetheart?" She said and I managed to get my
eyes fastened on her.
      "I'm getting married." I said.
      "Oh you are?" Dad said knowingly.
      "Who to?" Mom asked.
      "I don't know her name." I said.
      I was quiet for a while, which I am sure my parents
and the hospital staff were grateful for. But eventually
my mind drifted back to the reason I was in the hospital
and I finally asked, "How's Jasper?"
      "You mean the boy who was stabbed?" Dad asked.
      "Yeah, he's Bull's brother." I added.
      "We saw his parents out in the hallway. They said
he's doing really good and that the knife missed all his
important parts." Mom offered.
      I let out a huge sign of relief and without warning
the tears started to flow. Mom and dad each took hold of
one of my hands.
      "You okay?" Dad asked softly. I could only nod as I
cried.
      An orderly came into the room and said to me, "We're
getting a room ready for you upstairs. I'll be back to
get you in just a while ok?" I nodded to him.
      Dad thanked him and the orderly looked at me and
asked, "You need anything right now, champ?"
      I shook my head as mom combed my hair off my
forehead with her fingers.
      It was quite a while before the orderly came back;
there had been a couple more visits by nurses checking my
temperature. They did it orally and I was very glad of
that too. One nurse had come in to check the IV that was
stuck in my arm. A couple of other nurses and one doctor
just stopped in to check that I was ok.
      A few minutes before the orderly came back to take
me upstairs the Amazonian officer showed up there in the
ER.
      "Oh there you are, Simon!" She said with a smile.
      "Hello again!" I said to her and was glad I'd
stopped crying earlier.
      "Hello!" She said to mom and dad.
      "I thought the three of you might like to know that
Mr. Alderman, uh, Peter and the other boy . . ." She
paused as she looked at her little note pad to remember
his name. I spoke up, "Jasper?"
      "Oh no baby-doll, I was meaning Peter's friend, uh,
John . . . I can't seem to find his last name at the
moment." She said leafing through the little pages.
"Anyway, they've been taken into custody." She said.
      I realized she meant Johnny and I asked, "Why
Johnny?"
      "According to witnesses, he also had a knife and
apparently was stopped before he could use it." She said.
      "Well, before he could use it on a student!" Mr.
Freeman said, walking into the room holding up his
bandaged arm for all to see. I was pleasantly surprised
to see Mr. Freeman show up in the emergency room followed
by the orderly that was to take me to my room.
      "I-I didn't see it." I said looking at Mr. Freeman's
bandaged arm. I'd spoke directly to Mr. Freeman but I
said it loud enough that they all heard me.
      "How are you Simon?" Mr. Freeman asked trying to
sound upbeat but his eyes showed his apparent concern and
distress with all that had happened.
      "I'm okay, just a bit banged up is all". I answered
him.
      "What's going to happen to them?" I asked the
officer.
      "Oh baby, they are going away. Far away!" She said
with an obvious sort of tone.
      "What about Max and Steven?" I asked.
      "That's what I wanted to ask you about sweetie." She
said and Mr. Freeman nodded at me as she continued.
"We've been getting several different stories. Some say
that the boy's were attempting to help you up, and others
say they were holding you down".
      "They . . ." I started to talk but stopped. I looked
over to Mr. Freeman and then closed my eyes to try to
replay the entire event in my head.
      "No, they were helping me!" I said reopening my
eyes.
      "You sure?" She asked again.
      "Positive!" I said.
      "Okay," is all she said in response as she made a
couple of notes in her little notebook.
      While she was having me recount the entire story to
her, the orderly was getting me and my IV ready to move
from the emergency room to my room. He eventually
interrupted my story; almost as though he hadn't been
listening to me tell it. "You folks don't mind if I take
this guy upstairs to his room, do ya?"
      "No, no by all means!" Mr. Freeman said giving a
wave and I saw again his bandaged forearm and that the
sleeve of his shirt was rolled up on only that arm. I'd
also never seen him without a tie on; he looked sort of
like someone's dad and not my principal.
      "Mind if we follow you up?" Dad asked.
      "That will be fine!" the orderly answered as he
started to push the bed away from the wall.
      The Amazonian Officer, speaking loud enough for us
all to hear but directing her words to Mr. Freeman said,
"I'll be up in a few minutes". She patted him on the
front of his right shoulder as she went past him. "I want
to talk with the girl that was hurt before they send her
home."
      "What girl?" I asked with alarm. "Who else got
hurt?"
      Mr. Freeman put his hand up to calm me down. He
spoke very authoritatively. "You are to stay calm and not
get all excited like you are so prone to doing! OK?"
      I tried to relax, "Yes sir!" I said in response but
I took some offence to him taking such an authoritative
stance outside of the school.
      He sighed and then spoke soft-like, "Simon, Mary was
attacked after the fight by Max and Steven".
      His use of their first names caught my attention as
well as what he'd said about Mary being attacked. I also
wondered how he knew that Mary was so important to me.
      "What?" I shouted and tried to sit up. For the first
time since I'd been given the shot, I felt real pain
again. "OWW!" I cried out and fell backwards into the
pillow. The orderly put his hand on my shoulder to keep
me down but it was not necessary; there was no way I was
going to attempt that move again for a while.
      "She's okay, Simon! She's just got a broken arm!"
Mr. Freeman said, trying to dismiss my fears.
      "Why? Why'd they attack her?" I cried out as tears
filled my eyes again.
      Mr. Freeman patted the air with this hand as if to
silence me and said, "Just know that she is fine. We'll
talk more upstairs."

      My hospital room was not a private room as I had
somehow imagined it might be. I guess I'd seen one too
many hospital dramas on TV. I don't know why I thought I
would be in my own room really, but in a way I was glad
to have so many others lodging there with me. There were
a total of eight beds and all but two were filled. I was
given the one next to the one by the window on the left
side of the room. This left only the bed next to the
window and to my left, empty.
      Five of the six boys were sitting up in their beds
talking to one another or watching TV as I was wheeled
in; however, they stopped all activity and instead
watched as I was brought in followed by my parents and
Mr. Freeman.
      "Andy!!! Hi!" three of the six boys, nearly
shouting as one. At the time I'd not caught that
they'd called him by his first name just as he'd asked me
to do.
      "Hello boys! You're all looking much better today!"
Mr. Freeman said cheerfully.
      "Kyle had his surgery!" one of the boys said,
pointing to the one boy that was lying down and looked to
be totally out of it.
      While the orderly lifted me off the gurney,
thankfully with the sheet still covering me and on to
what would be my bed for a day Mr. Freeman went over to
the boy lying down, "How are you Kyle?" He asked, leaning
over the boy.
      I didn't hear the boy answer but I did see Mr.
Freeman smile and say, "Good!"
      As the orderly was laying me down on the bed and was
leaning me against the pillow, I tried to say something
but realized that it hurt to take a deep breath just
then. "Give me a second to get you settled here, OK?" He
said sounding as though he knew I was hurting a bit.
      "There, that better?" He asks, adjusting my pillow.
      I nodded.
      "You okay?" He asked sounding a little concerned.
      I nodded again.
      "You don't look okay," he said.
      "Just hurts," I managed to say.
      "Sorry about that. I'll go get the floor nurse." He
said and swept away, quickly pushing the gurney in front
of him as he left.
      Mom came over and put her hand on my cheek opposite
my bad eye. "You okay, honey?"
      I shook my head this time.
      The nurse came in without the orderly. Right on cue,
five of the six boys said, "Hi, Gabby!" She smiled at
them saying, "Hello again, boys!" and then smiled at me,
"Hello, uh, it's Simon, right?" She didn't wait for my
response, "I'm nurse Gabby, as you might have noticed."
She shot the boys a smirk and said over her shoulder to
them, "but all these monkeys just call me Gabby". That
started five of the six boys giggling and making chimp
sounds.
      I tried to laugh but stopped right away, as the pain
in my ribs was just too much.
      "You hurting?" she asked.
      I nodded again.
      She looked over my chart that she already had in her
hand when she'd come in. "We'll just turn up this a bit
more," She reached over and adjusted the drip for my IV
while she continued to talk, "and you should start
feeling better in a couple minutes, okay?" She spoke in
such a way that I felt better just hearing her talk.
      Mr. Freeman walked over to the side of my bed,
wrapped his arms around nurse Gabby from behind and
hugged her tightly while kissing the nape of her neck.
The sight of this took mom, dad and myself completely off
guard and the five boys made sounds of, "Oooo!" or "How
gross!"
      Gabby smiled at my mom who was looking very putout
at the spectacle but it was Mr. Freeman that spoke first.
"This is my lovely wife!" He said very matter-of-fact
like.
      "Oh!" I exclaimed with dawning awareness and both
mom and dad looked relieved.
      "Andy, did you see what I made?" the one boy
furthest from my bed asked of Mr. Freeman.
      Mr. Freeman released his hold on his wife Gabby, and
then turned to make his way over to see what the boy was
holding up.
      "He comes up every day to spend a couple hours with
all of the children on the floor." Gabby offered without
being asked. She was also adjusting my coverings and
tucking me in while she talked on with mom and dad. I
just let my eyes close to rest for a few minutes.
      When I had my eyes closed, I must have fallen asleep
because I had the oddest dream that a dog had a hold of
my pants and was tugging and pulling at them. When I
opened my eyes again there was a lady, no she looked more
like a girl-maybe a high school girl. She had my sheet
and blanket pulled off of me and was pulling the tapes of
the green diaper loose. I must have made a noise because
she looked up at me and then smiled when she realized
she'd awakened me.
      "Did you have a nice rest?" She asked, as if somehow
we'd known each other forever.
      "Who are you?" I asked a little horse and a little
impolitely. I cleared my throat.
      "I'm Bridget, I'm one of the nurses on this floor,"
she said, returning her attention to my diaper.
      Maybe I was not quite awake enough yet as I'd not
started to get embarrassed right away. It wasn't until
she had the last of the four tapes removed that I
realized what she was doing. "Hey, what are you doing
that for?" I protested.
      "You're very wet, if I don't change you now, then
your bed will get wet. You don't want to have to lay in a
wet bed, do you?" As she talked I realized she was
talking to me like I was a small child and this didn't
help matters for me.
      As she pulled the front of the diaper down between
my legs, I stole a quick glance around the room and saw
that everyone of the other boys were all laying down in
their beds. I couldn't tell if they were asleep or not
but I was so glad they were not sitting up watching me
being changed. It was cold in the room and when she
pulled the diaper off the front of me and the air hit my
wet skin I shivered and groaned, "Oh!" as I was reminded
of my damaged ribs. For half a second I had a pretty
horrible thought about what I'd like to do to Peter if I
could get my hands on him right now.
      When nurse Bridget started to wash my boyhood parts
with a very warm cloth my attention was immediately
brought back to my current situation. As she washed the
urine from my skin, I started to feel a stirring deep in
my stomach and much to my horror my penis started to grow
stiff. I squeezed my eyes shut and wished with every
fiber of my being to go invisible but I knew by the
small, "Eep!" sound that she made, that she'd seen what
was happening. I kept my eyes closed as tightly as I
could possibly squeeze them shut. I didn't even care
about the pain I was causing myself in my bad eye.
Actually, the pain helped to take my mind off of her and
my now ridged penis. Sure, it wasn't huge like Tater's
penis but it didn't seem to care, as it stood there just
as proud as it could be. I felt her applying some kind of
cream with her latex covered hand to my diaper area,
which didn't help matters at all.
      "La da-da, La da-da . . ." She was singing just loud
enough for me to hear, "La da-da, La da-da".
      I felt her slip a hand under the small of my back
and the other under my right thigh. "I'm going to roll
you over on your left side for a second, okay?" She said
in such a way as to make it sound like she was asking my
permission. I just squinted my eyes tighter and didn't
answer.
      She must have taken that as my agreement. With
gentle pressure, she rolled me right over onto my left
side and with one hand on my right hip, she held me in
place. I felt her washing off my backside with the warm
cloth and then applying the cream. I dared myself to just
enjoy it for half a minute up until she slid a few
fingers into the crack of my bottom and moved them up and
down to distribute the cream evenly. When a finger made
contact with my pooper shooter, I instinctively clamped
my butt cheeks tightly together.
      Then, with equal gentleness, she rolled me back into
place. I felt my face glowing red as my penis still stood
at attention. I'd not realized that while she had me on
my side, she'd slipped a new diaper under me too. She was
good!
      "Did I hurt you at all?" She asked.
      I barely shook my head no.
      "Oh good!" She said, taking my right leg and pulling
it toward her so that my feet were apart again. I still
had my eyes clamped tightly shut as I felt her reaching
between my knees and pulling the front of the diaper up
and giving it a tug to make sure it was snug between my
legs. My little penis was still standing proud and
without a word she took her hand and pressed it down
against my abdomen before taping the diaper very tightly
in place.
      Having only been the third diaper I'd ever worn
since I was like two, this was by far the snuggest and
most padded one. It was bulky and made it impossible for
me to put my legs back together but it fit so tightly
that it almost felt like my boyhood parts and my backside
were being hugged.
      As she was pulling the sheet and blanket back up
over me, I finally dared to open my eyes again. It took a
second for my eyes to refocus after having been under so
much pressure from my eyelids. The pain in my eye
dissipated almost immediately.
      She was tucking the covers up under my chin and I
finally gathered the courage to speak and I asked, "What
time is it?"
      "Oh, it's about 1:30 in the afternoon." She said
patting my belly softly before adding, "You okay now?"
      I ventured a smile and nodded.
      "OK then, if you need anything you just press this ...
okay?" and she laid a small controller on the pillow next
to my head.
       "OK." I said as she turned and walked over to the
other side of the room. From my reclined position, it was
hard to watch what she was doing but I knew she was doing
to the boy directly across from me exactly what she'd
just done for me. I couldn't help but wonder if he was
getting as much pleasure from it as I'd got. I closed my
eyes again and smiled peacefully as I let my head roll to
the side. I reopened my eyes to see that the bed next to
me, the one that had been empty earlier, was now
occupied. However, the afternoon sun was shining so
brightly through the window that I couldn't see the boy
in the bed clearly.
      Suddenly the boy in the bed spoke, "You OK?" the
voice was very rough and gravely yet also faintly
familiar.
      "Yeah," I said back.
      I heard him cough softly, clear his throat and speak
again, "Funny, us ending up in the same room huh?"
      "Jasper?" I said softly and cautiously excited.
      "Yeah!" He said like I'd just asked a stupid
question.
      I felt my eyes water, "Are you okay?" I asked, my
voice nearly breaking.
      "Yeah" He paused a couple of seconds before
continuing, "It just hurts a little." He said and I knew
he was trying to be brave.
      "But you are okay?" I asked again.
      "Yeah, the doctor said I was lucky." He paused
again, "You know, I don't feel very lucky".
      That last part almost sounded like a weak attempt at
a joke, I giggled more as an acknowledgement, than
anything else. "You missed Mr. Freeman and Mr. Graff."
Jasper added.
      "Yeah, I saw Mr. Freeman but I didn't know Mr. Graff
was here, too," I said.
      "Yeah! He left about an hour ago I guess." Jasper
said almost as a second thought.
      "They said that the knife didn't hit anything
important?" I asked, going back to our other
conversation.
      "Yeah, well I'd say that any part of me is
important." He offered for an answer. He sounded almost
like someone who's spirit was finally broken, or maybe
right on the edge of breaking.
      I heard Nurse Bridget on the other side of the room
and I managed to lift my head an inch or so to see that
she'd moved on to the next boy. I looked at the boy in
the bed across from me and he had his head up, too, and
was looking right at me. He had the biggest, cheesiest
grin on his face I'd ever seen. I smiled back at him and
he lowered his head back into his pillow and placed both
of his hands behind his head.
      "What was that all about?" Jasper asked me. I just
giggled to myself because I knew.
      I lay my own head back down in my pillow but I was
still looking at the glow of Jasper in the sunlight. "You
also missed my parents and my brother. Oh, and the police
were here too but you were sleeping. Nobody wanted to
wake you up." Jasper finally added after several minutes
of silence between us.
      "I bet Bull's plenty mad?" I asked.
      "Maybe just a little bit!" He said sarcastically.
      "If they didn't have Peter locked up, I bet Bull
would go try to kill him!" Jasper continued.
      "Yeah! Good thing they have all four of them locked
up!" I added.
      "Huh?" Jasper said.
      "What?" I said back.
      "What do you mean all four?" He asked, sounding
annoyed.
      "All four! Peter, Max, Steven and Johnny!" I said
and nearly added "Duh!" to the end of my statement but
chose to not say it.
      "What all four?" Jasper asked. "It was just Peter
that was kicking you and stabbed me! Right?"
      I had to look away from him before I started to cry.
The thought of Mary having been attacked was more then I
could stand. I knew she'd been targeted because they
couldn't get to me. Instead, they went after someone that
I liked. Geeze! Writing about it just now makes it sound
like a really bad movie plot!
      "After the fight . . ." I paused, "after Mr. Shaffer
carried you away, with the knife still in your chest."
      "It was almost my shoulder." Jasper added just to
make sure I had my facts straight.
      From across the room came Bridget's singing still
soft and low, "La da-da, La da-da".
      "I guess Steven and Max attacked Mary Tucker and
Johnny cut Mr. Freeman's arm when Mr. Freeman was trying
to restrain him." I said low and looking at the ceiling.
      "Wow! I'd not seen all that!" Jasper said.
      "Me, either," I said under my breath.
      "Speaking of Mr. Freeman, he left those for you."
Jasper said, pointing to the table that was directly
between our two pillows. I craned my neck slightly to see
what he was pointing at. There were two books, a pad of
yellow paper, two sharpened pencils and a small post-it
note stuck to the pad of paper. I tried to stretch my arm
so that I could get the pad and read the note but it hurt
too much.
      "Hang on, I'll get that for you." Bridget said and I
was startled. I'd not heard her come back over to my bed.
      "Would you like to sit up?" She said kindly.
      "Yes please." I answered.
      She adjusted my bed so that I was sitting upright
before handing me the pad. Without saying anything else,
she walked out of the room leaving us boys alone. I read
the note Mr. Freeman had left.
      	Simon,
       Don't think for a minute that this means you get
out of your
      punishment!
      	 You will find these two books helpful in your
efforts! I expect
      you will have plenty of time to devote to completing
the require-
      ments!
      In addition, it was signed, "Andy Freeman" and he
ended it with,
      	Ps. I'll be in to see you tomorrow morning.
      "Man that's just not right!" I said a little too
loudly.
      "What?" one of the other boys from across the room
said. I looked over at Jasper who was trying to hide the
fact the he was giggling.
      "I suppose you think it's funny!" I said smartly to
him.
      "Damned right!" Jasper said and started laughing to
the point that he hurt himself. "OUCH!" He laughed some
more.
      I don't know why I said what I said next, maybe I
just needed to vent some of my emotions but honestly I
wish I'd not said it because I know I hurt Jasper.
      "You know all this is your fault!" I said half
yelling, "You and those pictures!" I paused for two
seconds before adding, "I never should have saved you! I
should have let them beat the crap out of you! Then none
of this would have happened!"
      I lay looking at the ceiling for a good while. No
one said a single word or made even the slightest noise.
The tension in the room was so heavy I could hardly
breath.
      Finally the boy from across the room repeated his
question, "What is not right?"
      I looked back over at the boy that'd asked the
question and told him what I was expected to do and why.
He supported my complaint with, "Man, that sucks!"
      He looked to be the oldest of all us boys and also
the most energetic as he climbed out of bed with
apparently no effort or pain and started making his way
over to my bed, all the while keeping one eye on the door
to our room. I also marveled at the fact that aside from
the hospital gown he was wearing (which covered very
little as he was wearing it like a robe with the opening
in the front instead of in the back like you're supposed
to), the only other thing he had on was one of those
green diapers and it didn't seem to bother him in the
least that his gown was completely open and exposing the
diaper for all to see. "So what you in here for?" He
asked sitting on the foot of my bed with one leg hanging
over and the other on the bed. I had a perfect view of
his diaper and could tell that he'd already wet himself
in those few minutes since Bridget had changed him.
      "I have busted up ribs," I said.
      He looked over to Jasper who was still looking hurt
by what I'd said but he spoke up anyway and added without
being asked, "Stabbed!" and he pulled down the sheet to
reveal the bandage. I also noticed that Jasper wasn't
wearing a gown. The boy made a grimaced expression with
his face before turning to look behind him. I looked too,
because we'd heard a noise. It was another of the boy's
getting out of bed, but he was not moving near as quickly
as the first boy had. He also was not wearing a gown and
was only clad in a diaper. However, the entire upper part
of his body was wrapped in white bandages, as was his
neck and the upper part of his right arm.
      "Scotty here got burned last December when their
Christmas tree caught fire," said the boy that was
sitting at my feet. Scotty scooted his feet slowly across
the floor until he reached my bed were he took hold of
the other boys leg with both his hands to hold himself
up. I could tell that even his arms and hands were a bit
scarred.
      "I'm a lot better now though!" Scotty said with a
smile revealing that he was missing two of his front
teeth.
      "And that's Kyle over there. He just had his right
leg cut off." The boy said pointing over to the boy that
had been the only one lying down when I'd been brought
in. I'd thought he had still been sleep but he turned his
head toward me, lifted his hand into the air and waved
the way a little kid does with just their fingers going
up and down.
      Jasper, sort of half yelling, said, "Hi Kyle!" and
all the boys shushed him.
      "You can't make a lot of noise or the nurse Gabby
will come in and make us all go back to bed!" the older
boy said.
      "Sorry!" Jasper whispered back.
      "What happened?" I asked directing my words to Kyle.
He didn't answer but just lay there and looked at us.
      "He hasn't talked since he's been in here." Scotty
said. The other boy added, "Car crash".
      The three boys were now getting out of their beds
and making their way over. One of them sat on the other
side of my bed by my feet while the other two sat on the
side of Jasper's bed, facing my bed.
      The two boys on Jaspers bed looked like they could
be brothers. They both had olive skin and both started to
talk at the same time but stopped and the one closer to
the foot of Jaspers bed smiled before continuing, "I'm
Harry!" He pulled up his gown, which he was actually
wearing properly, to show a tube that was sticking out of
his left side and was clamped shut. "It's how I eat." He
said.
      "Woah!" I exclaimed. I realized I'd not had any
lunch and was feeling a bit hungry as well.
      "Did I miss lunch?" I asked the oldest boy.
      The other olive skinned boy next to Harry answered,
"Yeah, but if you are hungry just buzz the nurse and
she'll get you something. Oh, and by the way, I'm Bruce."
      "Are you two brothers?" Jasper asked.
      "No" Harry said shaking his head.
      "You guys sure look a lot alike!" I added.
      "Yeah everybody keeps saying that!" Scotty chimed in
with a smile and Bruce added, "I just started chemo
again".
      I looked to the boy sitting to the left of my feet
and he pointed to himself and proceeded to sing a rap,
"Mark's my name and Cancer's my thang. Now I'm no copy
cat, 'cause my stomach is where mine is at."
      Then Bruce spoke up again, "That was a good one
Mark! Yeah I've got it in my head," he said pointing to
his right temple.
      The older boy now spoke up, "And I'm Cole". He
reached up and pulled his gown off his right shoulder to
reveal a bandage much like Jasper's only a lot larger. "I
tried to jump a bunch of stairs on my bike and crashed. I
nearly ripped my arm off."
      I had not noticed until that second that he'd not
been moving his right arm at all and that it just was
sort of hanging by his side. I wanted to ask him if he
could use it at all but I was afraid too. I was both glad
and a bit embarrassed when Jasper asked, "Does it work?"
      Cole looked over to Jasper and then to his arm. He
screwed up his face something awful as he strained to get
his arm to bend at the elbow and them come to a rest on
his lap. He let out a huge exhale and a couple tears
trickled down his face.
      "Wow! That looked like it hurt," I said while Cole
panted and wiped at his face. Scotty reached up and
helped Cole get his gown back on his shoulder.
      "The doctors wanted to cut it off but my dad made
them put me back together. They said I'd never be able to
use it again but I'm proving them wrong!" he said with
glassy eyes and a proud grin. He looked exhausted.
      "So you guys all been in here a while?" Jasper
asked. Cole answered, "I been here the longest. Next
Saturday will be a month."
      "Wow!" I said, "I am only supposed to be in here
overnight," I added.
      "Really?" Harry said and Bruce added, "They usually
only put patients in here that will be staying for a
while".
      I didn't much like the way that sounded but I didn't
say anything. I did look over at Jasper but he was
looking past me and over to Kyle. I turned to look at
what he was looking at and Kyle was waving again. Cole
took Scotty's hands, placed them on the bed, and then got
up to go see what Kyle wanted.
      Just as he reached Kyle's bed, we all heard the
loudest and meanest fart ever come from Kyle! The seven
of us busted out laughing and falling over on each other.
      "Kyle man! That was sick!" Bruce chuckled.
      I looked back over at Kyle who was shaking in his
whole bed with his silent laughter. Cole was fanning the
air with his one hand, "Oh lord, Kyle! For someone that
won't eat nothing but mashed potatoes and lime Jell-O,
you sure do stink!" He said, now holding his nose.
      Seconds later in walked nurse Bridget. "Okay, why is
everyone out of bed?"
      Kyle raised his hand in the air again, "Be quiet
Kyle!" She said jokingly and he started to shake even
harder with his soundless laughter.
      "All right you monsters!" She said putting her hands
on her hips. "All of you back to your beds ... and what is
that smell?"
      The boys, laughing and cutting up, waddled back to
their beds and crawled under their covers. Cole was
holding his hand over his face and said, "Gabby? I think
something crawled up inside of Kyle and died!"
      I was clutching at my chest and trying my darnedest
to not laugh 'cause it hurt so much to laugh.
      "I think you are right, Cole!" nurse Gabby said
giving Kyle the evil eye.
      Kyle looked to be in a fit of hysterics there in his
bed. His bed was squeaking and rocking as his body
quaked.
      "Ok, enough of the snickering!" She said and let
slip a small giggle herself.
      Just as I was starting to get control of myself,
Kyle let go another one that wasn't as loud but sure
sounded pretty wet to me. This started us all laughing
out loud again. I managed to look over at Kyle, and from
the blood that was rushing into his face I knew he'd just
crapped himself. He had placed both of his hands over his
face and his whole bed was still creaking and shaking
from his uncontrolled laughter. I'd never in my life seen
someone laughing as hard as he was without making a
single sound; not even a peep.
      I looked over at Jasper who had his knees in the air
and was pounding one of his fists on the bed while he
laughed. He had his other hand on his shoulder. He looked
to be in pain but he couldn't stop himself. He was
laughing quietly to himself and I could see his small
body was quaking under the blanket, too.
      As Bridget cleaned up Kyle, the seven of us took
turns making noises in an effort to make known our
feelings for the way the room smelled! Every couple of
seconds, one of us would groan, moan, or say something
like: "Oh gawd!" I think Cole's comment was the funnies
by far, which he meant one way but to Jasper and myself,
it took on a whole new meaning. "Jell-O and Tater farts!"
      I was miserable with the pain as I tried to suppress
my laughter. Before too long Gabby had to ask nurse
Bridget to come in to help restore order. I'd laughed
myself to tears and was in a heck of a lot of pain. The
more it hurt the more I laughed. She ended up giving me a
shot right in my bottom. Within minutes, the pain was
gone and I started to feel loopy again. Bridget then went
and helped the other boys get re-settled and tucked into
their beds. Every so often, we'd hear one of the boys let
go another giggle.
      Nurse Bridget had taken over for Gabby and had
finished cleaning up Kyle who'd finally stopped laughing.
He was looking right at me and was smiling. All the boys
were smiling and every so often would let out a farting
sound with their mouth.
      After both nurses had left us again, along with a
warning that we'd be tied to our beds if we got out of
them again, the eight of us started to whisper back and
forth. I was feeling pretty good and kept giggling at the
stupidest of things.
      Not too long after that, Jasper's and my parents
returned. As it turned out, they'd all gone down to the
hospital restaurant to have lunch together. I was pretty
spaced out but I was still able to talk with them. I
found out from Jasper's dad that Peter, Max, Steven and
Johnny all were being sent away just as Mr. Freeman had
threatened would happen. They'd not even been taken out
of our school to the police station. Apparently Mr.
Freeman had made one phone call, a judge showed up at the
school, made a ruling, signed some papers, and all four
were marched out in handcuffs to a police van and taken
away.
      While Jasper's dad was telling us all of this, I
kept thinking that everything had happened because of
just one thing: those pictures! And I knew who'd done it;
he was lying in the bed next to me! However, I didn't say
anything, not to our parents and not to the two police
officers that came later that evening while us boys were
eating our dinner. The Amazon lady officer had not come
this time. It was two of the other officers I'd met that
day in Mr. Freeman's office. They were nice. They talked
with Jasper and me while our parents were there. All
except for Jasper's daddy, who had to go because the
Panthers had a game that evening.
      Just before the two officers left, a thought crossed
my mind and I figured what the heck, I might as well ask
what I had been wondering about.
      "I been hearing rumors last week and even some over
the weekend about how Peter Alderman had been arrested on
Friday. Do you know anything about that?" I was still
feeling a bit out of it from the shot earlier but at
least I was making a bit more sense and wasn't giggling
like a fool about everything.
      The one officer with the funny nose said, "Oh yes I
know what you are talking about. It was nothing really
Simon. He'd just been brought down to the station to
answer some questions about some robberies that have been
happening in the area."
      The other officer added, "But it was proved that
he'd not had anything to do with them and didn't know
anything about them for that matter," he said directing
his words towards Jasper's mom and my parents.
      After the officer and our parents all left for the
evening, I sat in my bed looking at the ceiling. I'd not
finished my dinner because I lost my appetite when the
officers told me about how they'd suspected Peter in the
robberies. I realized that I know who they are really
after and thanks to Tater, one of them was me!
      Around the time the sun was going down outside
Jasper's bedside window, the boys all got up except for
Kyle and myself and collected on Kyle's bed to watch TV
together. Even Jasper joined in with them but I opted
out. I told them I wasn't feeling too good after having
eaten, which was the truth. Not cause of the food but
because I was rattled with guilt and fear.
      I don't know what time it was when I started to feel
sleepy again. The boys were still sitting on Kyle's bed
talking quietly, laughing and watching The Simpson's when
I fell sleep.
      Sometime in the night, I woke up; startled for a
moment until I realized that it was only the night nurse
changing my diaper. Apparently without my knowledge of
it, I'd not only wet myself while I'd been asleep, but
I'd soiled myself, too. Considering the time it took her
to get me cleaned up, I must have really made a mess in
that diaper.
      It was pretty well dark in the room, I glanced
around and everyone was in their own beds, tucked in and
laying flat on their backs. It reminded me of a movie I'd
seen where this guy got locked in the basement of a
hospital where they kept all the comatose people. I guess
I was groggy from having just woken up, or maybe it was
the medication but I really didn't pay a whole lot of
attention to the nurse as she cleaned and changed me. I
hadn't even really been smelling too much. Maybe after
the horrid way Kyle's diaper had smelled, anything less
just didn't register in my nose.
      When she was finished, she looked at me, patted the
front of the diaper right on top of my boyhood parts, and
said, "You're all set". She left, carrying off my soiled
diaper.
      I somehow managed to get myself maneuvered around,
despite my sore ribs and got the pad of paper and one of
the pencils, then started to journal about my day. My
hand flew across the paper as everything just sort of
flowed right out of the tip of that pencil. I'm guessing
that within an hour or so, I'd written about everything
that had happened today although my handwriting was not
my best work.
      There was one thing I left out though; something
that I'd not wanted to include for fear that someone
might read this, maybe one of the other boys, maybe a
nurse or maybe even my parents when I was asleep. It was
about Mary and dream I'd had about her right before the
nurse that was changing my wet and poopy diaper had
awakened me. However, that's all I'm going to say about
that.
      After I'd finished writing about the day, I oddly
wasn't sleepy and I wasn't too uncomfortable, although it
would have been nice to be able to sit up in the bed. I
didn't want to risk waking any of my fellow roomies, so I
decided to turn the page over in the pad of paper and
start working on my punishment. I lifted my head slowly
and repositioned my pillow so that it would hold my head
up higher. I worked through the night on the assignments.
Actually, once I got started, I really got going and was
banging out the reports with incredible speed. About the
time the sun was just starting to peek through the window
beside Jasper, I'd written nine one-page reports on nine
different curse words that I could remember saying. The
two books Mr. Freeman had left me were surprisingly
helpful. I am sure he'd not got those books out of our
school library!
      When I decided to stop writing after the ninth
report, I set the two books down on the bed beside me and
I slipped the pad of paper under my pillow for
safekeeping. I repositioned my pillow again so that I was
lying flat and drifted off to sleep.
      I'd like to say that I slept for a while but I
didn't. I'd probably only been out of it maybe ten or
fifteen minutes when I woke up suddenly after having had
a dream about my brother Jamie. For some reason in my
dream I'd been re-living my visit to his apartment that
night I'd gone there to apologize to him. What had woken
me up so suddenly was a revelation, or more accurately,
my dream helped me to see that I'd missed something when
I was in Jamie's room. Something had seemed odd when I
was there and I'd thought it was the childish drawings
hanging on his wall but that wasn't it at all! What I'd
missed was not something to be seen but something I had
heard and had not registered it at the time. When I'd sat
on Jamie's bed I had defiantly heard the crinkle of a
plastic sheet under that big comforter he'd been covered
with.
      "How could I have missed that?" I said out loud.
      "What?" I heard Jasper say. I turned my head to see
that he was awake ... well sort of. I'd woken him by
talking out loud.
      "Nothing. Sorry, I was having a dream. Go back to
sleep." I said.
      Jasper licked his lips, gave a small snort and went
back to sleep. I somehow managed to close my own eyes
again but I kept going over those few minutes in Jamie's
room. I couldn't help but imagine why he, of all people,
would have a plastic sheet on his bed. I mean given the
amount of abuse he has given me about my Goodnites and
wetting my bed, just to think that he might also be a bed
wetter, is just too much. I kept processing all this over
in my mind until I finally fell back to sleep again.