Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:21:13 -0700
From: Danny <m12@thedoghousemail.com>
Subject: Simon's Journal: Thirteen Days, Chapter 11 of 13

Simon's Journal
Volume I

Thirteen Days - The First Crusade
A novel by Danny

Chapter 11
February 26, 2004 Thursday
      Maybe it was because I was at home and in my own
room that I slept as long as I did. I'd gone to sleep
yesterday evening and slept right through the night, past
morning and didn't actually wake up until nearly noon
today. I also don't think I moved a single inch while I
had been sleeping. I was in the exact same position as I
had been when I laid down last night and my covers were
still neat and in place.
      It took several minutes for me to wake up. I just
lay there looking at my ceiling for quite a while. I was
enjoying the quiet and peacefulness and the fact that I
wasn't hurting in the least bit. Well, not until I tried
to move. Having lain so still for so long, my entire body
had stiffened up. I tried to sit up but that was useless
and nearly took my breath away at the sudden and stabbing
pain. Rolling onto my side was out of the question as was
moving my legs over to the side of the bed and letting
them drop off. Following several different failed
attempts to get out on my own I conceded that I was stuck
and needed help. "Mom? Dad?" I called and waited.
      After a minute with no reply I called louder, "MOM?
DAD?" Still nothing. I waited thinking maybe they were
just outside or something before I tried again but this
time with as much effort as I dared without overly
hurting myself, "M-O-M! D-A-D!"
      My ears strained to hear any sign of them but heard
nothing. Fear and panic started to set in. I'm not sure
why, but it did. With one more effort, I tried to sit up
on my own again but the pain was too much.
      "M-O-O-O-O-M-M-M-M-M!" I bawled and then wrapped my
arms over my chest, cringing and gasping against the
throbbing.
      Dad came running into my room, "What is it?" He
asked excitedly and a little out of breath.
      "Where were you? I have been calling!" I whimpered
as I cradled my ribs.
      "I'm sorry son. I had fallen asleep at my computer."
He said bending over me. "You OK?" he asked, putting the
back of his hand on my forehead.
      "I-I can't get up!" I continued to whimper.
      "You need to go to the bathroom?" Dad asked.
      That was a good question. I stopped and concentrated
on my body but there was no sensation or urgency what so
ever. "No, I just want to get up." I answered.
      "Ok let me help you." He said pulling my covers off
of me. I was shocked to see that I no longer was wearing
any clothes and that the hospital diaper I'd come home in
had been replaced with a white, disposable diaper. It was
also obvious that I'd not only wet it but from the smell
that wafted into the air as Dad pulled back the covers,
I'd also messed myself while I'd been sleeping. The look
Dad gave me was hard to read and the second the smell hit
my nostrils I started to weep, which was not a good idea
as that caused my chest to ache more.
      Despite Dad's best efforts to comfort me, the
humiliation of lying there in a wet and soiled diaper
while my father looked down at me while he fanned the air
in front of his face with his hand and moreover, the idea
that sometime in the night, He or Mom had come in while
I'd been sleeping to undress and change my diaper, was
more then I could stand.
      Dad had sat himself on the edge of my bed and was
leaning forward and hugging my head to his shoulder. He
was making shushing sounds to try to quiet me. "Ssshhhh
it's all right. It's all right." He kept repeating softly
as I sobbed into his shirt.
      The more I cried the worse was the pain and I guess
maybe it got to be too much for me to handle because the
next thing I knew I was opening my eyes. Dad was gone but
Mom was just finishing putting a fresh, clean diaper on
me. There was also a cool wet cloth on my forehead.
      She didn't notice right away that I'd woke-up again.
My chest was still hurting but my tears and sobbing had
stopped. I could also smell that awful ointment that my
doctor had given Dad for my eye and I supposed Mom had
reapplied some of it again. One relief was that the poop
smell was gone. Without raising my head, I moved my eyes
to see that my bedroom window was open a few inches and
also I noticed that it was covered in water droplets. I
guessed it must have rained during the night or maybe was
still raining. It wasn't particularly dark outside but I
could tell that the sky must be filled with clouds and
blocking out some of the sun's light.
      As Mom was pulling my covers back up to my chin, she
saw that I was awake again. "Oh, hi there! You OK
sweetheart?" She asked, as our eyes met. I didn't answer
but nodded my head.
      Dad returned with a glass of water and another pill
for me to take. It was difficult to do and Dad had to
help me sit up just enough to be able to drink from the
glass. A little of the water escaped over the side of the
glass and dripped down my right cheek onto my pillow. Mom
cleaned it up with the rag from my forehead.
      Dad gently lowered my head back to my pillow and
patted the side of my face with his hand as I exhaled.
I'd not noticed until that second that I'd been holding
my breath while he was holding me up to somehow lessen my
pain. It didn't really help.
      "You OK there slugger?" Dad asked, still leaning
over the head of my bed.
      I nodded and allowed myself to breathe again.
      "You want to try to eat something?" Dad asked.
      I nodded again. My stomach felt like it had not had
anything in it for days.
      "What would you like?" Mom asked, wiping my face
with the rag.
      Without thinking, I tried to shrug my shoulders. My
eyes slammed shut as I recoiled at the onslaught of pain
again.
      "Simon! Breathe!" I heard Dad say in a strong
commanding Dad-like tone. My mouth opened and took in a
breath. I held it, slamming my lips back together again.
      "No! Breathe!" Dad ordered again as I felt him
petting my hair. "Come on, breathe!"
      I opened my mouth again and slowly let the air
escape. I waited a second and tried to take in another
slow breath, then another and another. The pain began
to subside a little and I was able to open my eyes again
as Mom wiped the tears that had escaped my sealed
eyelids.
      "Just lie still. The doctor said your ribs would get
worse before they started to get better. You just need to
give them time." Mom spoke softly as another tear rolled
down the side of my face.
      "It hurts so much!" I cried.
      "Shhh" Mom cooed and I took another breath.
      "How about some juice and maybe a sandwich. You
won't have to sit up to eat a sandwich." Dad reasoned.
      I didn't answer but closed my eyes again and turned
my head into Mom's hand. She cradled my face and stroked
my arm with her other hand. "I think that's a good idea."
She said to Dad.
      "PB and J sound OK?" I heard Dad ask. I didn't
answer again as more tears fell.
      I heard Dad leave the room as Mom continued to
coddle me and try to soothe me until the pain medication
could kick in. "You're friends Mike and Tater came by
earlier with their little sister and mother to see you."
Mom said, still using her soft, motherly voice.
      I re-opened my eyes and looked at her as she
continued, "They just wanted to see how you were but I
told them you were still sleeping. They left you those."
She pointed in the direction of my desk. I turned my head
to see what she was pointing at. It was six of those foil
balloons tied to the ugliest stuffed blue panther I had
ever seen. I started to laugh at seeing the panther but
stopped right away as it hurt too much.
      "You're Aunt was also here yesterday evening to see
you, but you were already asleep." Mom added. It was nice
of Mike and Tater to come see me and bring me the blue
panther and balloons but I had no interest at all in Aunt
Catharine's visit.
      Since Aunt Catharine had treated me the way she had
in Wal-Mart the other day, I'd pretty much wrote her off
my list of people I cared anything at all about. As far
as I was concerned, she was a big fat cow that needed to
be sent to the slaughterhouse!
      "She left you your birthday present. She thought you
might want to open it early." Mom said and she'd said the
perfect thing to get my attention off of my pain. I perked
right up at the word present and my eyes grew enormous.
      "But maybe you should wait till you feel better?"
Mom said. I knew she was teasing me now.
      "Mom! Don't torture me!" I whined. Dad happened to
walk back into my room at that instant. "Oh boy! Well I
guess his whiner is still working!" He joked but I forced
myself not to laugh.
      "First you eat, then you can open her present." Mom
said.
      "Now wait a minute!" Dad protested. "He's not
getting any presents until he gets the yard mowed, the
dishes washed, cleans out the garage and oh, I'll think
of a few more things later!"
      I tilted my chin up an inch or so to look at Dad
standing there holding a plate in one hand and a glass
apple juice in the other. I squinted at him and in a
completely straight face said, "I'll get right on them
after lunch."
      "Deal!" Dad said, smiling as he set the plate on my
nightstand. Mom picked up one of the sandwich wedges off
the plate and handed it to me. Dad had cut the sandwich
in half diagonally and then again the other way to make
four nice sized pieces. He'd also put a bendy-straw in my
apple juice so that I didn't have to try to lift my head
to drink it. Mom helped me drink my juice by holding the
glass and placing the straw in my mouth for me. It was
still awkward but I was able to do it. As it turned out,
I was really thirsty and Dad had to bring me a second
glass of juice. I was able to get all four sandwich
wedges down without any mess at all and only once did the
straw pop out of my mouth and a splash of apple juice
went up my nose.
      Though the juice hit the spot at quenching my
thirst, it also made me feel cold. While Mom took my
empty glass and plate to the kitchen Dad went and got
grandma's old quilt out of the hall linen closet and put
it over me. Grandma's quilt is about twice the size of my
bed and Dad left it folded in half as he laid it over me.
I instantly felt warmer.
      A couple of minutes later, Mom came back in carrying
my present from Aunt Catharine. For maybe five seconds, I
had the thought that it was probably something like
underwear, or something equally silly. I don't know of a
single kid that likes getting underwear or socks as a
present and people that give them should be shot! Seeing
the size and shape of the present I knew it wasn't
clothes. My curiosity grew exponentially.
      Dad brought in the bed tray from their bedroom and
set it over my chest so that the present didn't have to
sit right on my chest when I unwrapped it. The gift was
only about an inch tall but was about a foot square and
was wrapped in green wrapping paper with a huge yellow
ribbon on top.
      As  Dad sat next to me on my bed and Mom pulled my
desk chair up next to him, I started fumbling to open the
present. Thankfully, the pain pill was doing its job as I
excitedly tore the paper off.
      I froze at the sight of it. I looked at Dad and then
Mom who were both smiling very knowingly. I looked back
at the gift lying there on the bed tray in complete
disbelief.
      "Simon, breathe!" Mom reminded and I took a breath.
I'd not realized I had been holding my breath from the
excitement.
      "Sh-sh-she g-g-gave . . ." I stopped, took another
breath to calm myself, and tried again. "S-she gave me a
laptop computer?" I asked in disbelief.
      "Actually it's digital journal notepad." Dad said
turning it and opening it like a book. He held it up for
me to see better.
      "You use this.." He pulled out a long pen-looking
thing from the right side, "to write here on the right,
just as you would in your spiral notebook. It will
understand what you wrote and display it as regular text
on the left screen."
      I had not realized my mouth was hanging open as he
talked. "I-I can't believe she got me this." I said,
still in disbelief that my Aunt Catharine would one-get
me something useful, and two-spend so much money on me.
      "She asked me in the hospital what you might like
and I'd seen a guys at work using one of these in a
meeting. I thought you might like to have one." Dad
answered and then added, "It hooks right up to your
computer so you can save everything you write now and you
can even hook a regular keyboard up to it and use it like
a word processor." Dad turned it around and showed me
where the keyboard could be plugged in.
      I looked at Mom; she was positively beaming with
pride. "I-I-I n-need to call her!" I was stuttering a
little from my excitement. "I-I need t-t-to t-tell her
th-th-thank you!"
      Dad patted my thigh, "Now don't get yourself too
worked up! The last thing you need is to have an asthma
attack. Just think how much that would hurt."
      The thought of it was enough to get me to calm down
right away. "Ok" I said nodding my head and smiling
widely as I stroked the edges of the pad with my fingers.
      Mom went and got her cell phone so that I could call
Aunt Catharine without getting out of bed. "Hello, Aunt
Catharine?" I asked when I heard someone answer.
      "Hi Simon. How are you feeling?" she sounded like
she'd been drinking again but she also was sounding nicer
than I'd ever heard her when she talked to me.
      "I'm good! I just opened your present!" My voice
broke as I was over come with emotions. "Th-th-thank y-
you s-s-so m-much!" I stuttered badly and Dad again
swatted my thigh to let me know I needed to calm down
again.
      I took a deep breath and let it out before I spoke
again, "Th-thank you so very much Aunt Catharine. It's
wonderful!" I was crying again but out of joy now and it
didn't hurt much, thanks to the medication.
      "You are very welcome Simon and I hope you get lots
of joy from it!" She said as her words slurred together.
      "I-I will!" I said.
      "I am glad!" She said. Mom took the phone back and
continued to talk with Aunt Catharine while Dad started
to show me how to work everything.
      Despite my feeling groggy from the medication, we
played with it for over an hour, learning how to access
all its functions. I was still blown away by such an
excellent gift from, of all people, my Aunt. Mom had lost
interest along the way and left us alone. Mom's not into
techno-gadgets like Dad and I. Heck, it took Mom a couple
weeks to get her cell phone figured out and she still has
to get Dad to help her with it sometimes. Mostly 'cause
she hardly uses it and then will forget how to do stuff
like get her voice mail messages.
      While Dad and I were happily playing away, the front
doorbell rang and a minute or so later, Mom returned with
the now familiar Amazon Officer following behind. I
suddenly realized that I had completely forgot what her
name was.
      I'd lifted my chin to see the two of them walking
into my room. "Oh, hi!" I said at seeing her as she
completely eclipsed the doorway behind her. "Look what my
Aunt gave me for my birthday!" I said excitedly.
      "Oh my! I've seen one of those before! Those are
neat!" She said, leaning in.
      "Yeah, I can write and check my email and it has an
address book and everything!" I said.
      "Ooo baby! I bet that wasn't cheep!" She said,
straightening back up again.
      Dad stood up and shook her hand, "What brings you by
today?" He asked, sounding friendly.
      "Oh I was just in the neighborhood and wanted to
check in on Simon here." She said.
      I had my chin cocked up again to see her. "I'm doing
good, just really stiff." I said.
      "Yeah, I bet you are!" She said with a smile. "Well
I don't want to stay too long so I better get back to
work. You take care of them ribs and don't go getting
into any trouble or I'll come over here and whoop you're
behind myself." She said, waving a finger in the air.
      I knew she was joking. With a smile I said, "Um, I
don't think there is much trouble I can get into lying
here!"
      "Baby, I got three boys of my own and I learned a
long time ago that they can get into trouble even while
they're sleep'n!" She smiled as she waved me off before
turning to go.
      "See you later now Simon-baby!" She said.
      "OK, bye! Thanks for visiting me!" I said as she
left.
      Dad and Mom both followed her out of my room but I
could still just barely hear them talking through the
wall.
      "I thought you both should know that Peter Alderman
is missing. Apparently he ran away earlier this morning."
I heard the officer telling my parents.
      Mom said something too but through the wall, I
couldn't make it out.
      "Do you have any idea where he is at all?" Dad
asked.
      I overheard the lady officer answer. "We believe
he's going south to his brother's. He said something to
one of the other boys about his brother yesterday
evening."
      The three of them must have moved away from the wall
or went outside, because I couldn't hear them anymore,
even though I strained with all my might to listen.
      I set my new present down on the tray and stared at
the ceiling. My heart was racing at the thought that
Peter might be coming back after me. I'm sure he still
thinks that I somehow took those pictures of him. At that
thought, my heart sank. "What if he knows and comes after
Jasper instead of me?" I thought out loud.
      "You weren't supposed to hear that." I heard Dad say
and I cocked my chin up again to see him standing in the
doorway looking concerned.
      "He's coming back isn't he?" My voice shook as I
spoke.
      "No he's not!" Dad answered in a somewhat stern
voice, "And he's not going to get Jasper either." Dad
continued, "They've already told Jasper's parents about
Peter running away so you don't need to worry about him
either!"
      Dad continued to try to calm my fears and distract
me from my worries as he sat back down on the side of my
bed. We started playing with the Electronic Journal
again. However, I was still thinking about Peter in the
back of my mind.
      "Hey Simon!" a voice from behind me called. I spun
around to see Jasper walking toward me with his arm in a
sling. Behind him were Bull and Tater. For some reason,
the three of them were not wearing any shirts and had on
shorts and snow boots. I should have asked what the deal
was with their clothes but I was distracted again when
someone else called my name.
      "Yo, Simon, wait up!"
      I recognized this voice as BJ's as I turned toward
the direction of his voice. He was marching up a hill
from the back of the school with about twenty or thirty
other students behind him but I couldn't make out any of
their faces.
      As BJ got closer to the top of the hill, I realized
he too was not wearing a shirt but instead of shorts, he
was wearing a diaper. It was a big cloth diaper, with a
sort of dull, yellow colored pair of plastic pants over
them. He was also wearing snow boots, which was odd as
there was no snow anywhere around. Heck it wasn't even
cold out.
      I turned back to Jasper, Bull and Tater but they had
gone. Walking across the street was Kyle with a single
crutch and a wooden leg. He too was wearing a cloth
diaper that looked to be big enough to fit someone three
times his size.
      "Kyle?" I said in astonishment at seeing him out of
the hospital so soon.
      "Hi diaper boy!" Kyle said to me. I felt an instant
surge of embarrassment flush over me like a tidal wave. I
tried to hush Kyle but he wouldn't shut up. He kept
saying it over and over again.
      "Diaper Boy! Diaper Boy! Simon is a Diaper Boy!"
      "Don't pay any attention to him." I heard BJ say.
      I turned back to BJ and asked, "What?"
      Jasper was now standing next to BJ. "Just ignore
him. It's the medication that's making him like that."
Jasper said.
      The group of kids that had followed BJ up the hill
all seemed to be standing around talking to one another
and were not taking any notice of those of us in diapers.
      That was the instance when I realized that I too was
only wearing a diaper, except I didn't have on any boots.
Instead, I was barefoot and my feet were blue from
standing outside in the cold. BJ wrapped a nice warm fur
around my shoulders that draped to the ground as though
it were a robe of royalty.
      "Thanks," I said to him as I pulled it tightly over
my chest.
      Kyle, still singing his little chant, had started to
dance around on his one foot waving his crutch in the
air. "Simon is a Diaper Boy! Simon is a Diaper Boy!"
      "I really wish he'd shut up!" I heard myself say.
      "Who?" someone asked.
      "Just look at him! He's acting like a fool!" I said
pointing at Kyle.
      "Simon?" Someone called my name. I turned to see who
it was. BJ and Jasper were gone now. In fact, all the
kids were gone now, except for Kyle whom I could still
hear singing his little tune.
      "Simon?" This time I recognized the voice as my
Dad's.
      I opened my eyes to see Dad looking at me with the
oddest expression.
      "What?" I asked.
      "You were talking in your sleep." Dad said.
      "Huh?" I asked, not yet realizing that I had drifted
off to sleep and had been dreaming.
      "Who was acting like a fool?" Dad asked.
      I blinked before speaking, "Kyle. He was dancing
around with his crutch in the air and was singing." I
didn't know what I was saying just yet.
      "You mean the boy from the hospital?" Dad asked.
      I blinked again, looked at Dad and fell back to
sleep.
      It seems that I'd fallen asleep while Dad and I had
been trying to get the 'E-book' as we had started calling
it, connected to my computer. When I woke up again, it
and the bed tray were sitting on top of my desk. My room
was sort of dark. From the light coming in my window, I
guessed that it must be sometime in the evening by now
and I think the rain had stopped, too.
      The memory of my dream came back to me as a yawn
escaped my mouth. I reached down and felt the front of my
diaper; I was indeed wet again, very wet from the feel of
it. Thankfully, when I lifted my blankets and took a
whiff, I didn't smell anything unpleasant. As I felt the
front of my diaper, I couldn't help thinking that for the
little that I had to drink today, I sure did wet a lot.
      I craned my chin up to see if my door was open and
it was. At first, I was going to yell for help but the
thought of having one of my parents come and change my
diaper while I was awake and aware just didn't sit well.
I'd been fortunate enough so far to either be sound
asleep or totally unconscious when they did it before. I
didn't think I was going to have that luxury this time
and I didn't think my pride could stand another attack of
embarrassment. Not just yet anyway. I took a shallow
breath before resigning myself to the fact that I knew
that I was going to have to try to get out of bed on my
own so that I could prove that I was able to take care of
myself despite my injuries.
      I rolled my head to the side to look and see what
time it was but where my clock should have been sitting
was Dad's small television from his home office. I looked
to my nightstand and sure enough there was the remote to
the TV. Next to the remote was a tall, green and red cup
with handles on either side, like the sort of handles you
would see on a coffee mug. The cup also had a lid on it
that was kind of like Dad's travel cup he used in the
mornings to put his coffee in so that it wouldn't spill
in the car on the way to work. Except on this cup, the
lid looked a little different, like it had built-in
sipper.
      I managed to stretch my arm and get hold of the cup.
It was heavier then I expected. I gave it a closer look
and realized it was some kind of spill-proof cup like you
would see a young child use but this one was taller and
held quite a bit more than a child's cup might hold.
      "Cool!" I said out loud to the cup as I tipped it
upside down and nothing came out. I put it to my mouth
and sucked on it once before pulling it back out and
saying, "Bluck! Warm apple juice!"
      Not thinking, I rested the cup on my chest but only
for a split second. "Ouch!" I cried to myself and set the
cup on my bed beside me, holding it with one hand as I
stretched to reach the remote with my other hand.
      Even though the apple juice was warm, I drank it
while I lay flipping through the channels on the TV. I'd
not forgot about the condition of my diaper but I was not
yet ready to try sitting up on my own just yet.
      As I jumped from channel to channel, I figured out
that Dad must have also hooked the TV up to the cable
too. Heck, I didn't even know I had a cable outlet in my
room until now.
      I ended up stopping on some show on the Discovery
Channel about searching for some fish long thought to
have been extinct but was recently discovered to still be
alive. The show was actually kind of interesting though
the fish was about the ugliest thing I had ever seen in
my life.
      When that show was over, I again started flipping
through the channels and stopped when Mom came into my
room. I muted the TV out of habit.
      "Oh good you found the TV and your juice." She said,
sounding kind of glad. I mean more than normal.
      "Yeah, thanks!" I said before asking; "Where'd you
get this cool cup?"
      "At Wal-Mart. I wanted to get something you could
use without having to sit up or risk spilling all over
your bed." Mom said, readjusting my covers and tucking
them up tight to my chin.
      "It works good." I said.
      "Are you about ready for dinner?" She asked.
      "Yeah!" I said, only just realizing how hungry I
was.
      "What would you like?" She asked.
      "Macaroni and Cheese!" I announced.
      "Do you think you can eat it while lying down?" She
asked, not sounding too happy with my suggestion.
      "Yeah! If you make it so the cheese is thick and
cheesy!" I added.
      "Ok!" She said, feeling my forehead with the back of
her hand before leaving again.
      Alone again, I breathed a sign of relief that she'd
not tried to check to see if I needed changed. I was
about to start flipping through the channels again but
hesitated when, for an instant, I thought I'd recognized
someone. Without realizing it, I'd ended up stopping on
the evening news earlier. I un-muted the TV to listen and
came in somewhere in the middle of the story being
reported.
      ". . . happened around two this afternoon. Three
apparently unarmed suspects walked into the 'Stop and
Shop Mart' here at the five hundred block of Jefferson
Avenue and demanded that the two employees give them all
the money in the two registers. As in each of the other
twenty-eight robberies, believed to have been committed
by the same suspects, they fled the scene within two
minutes of entering the establishment.
      However, unlike their previous robberies, the three
suspects then attacked the two employees, killing one and
leaving the other with what is being reported as life
threatening injuries.
      Police are now asking that if anyone has any
information about this, or any of the other twenty-eight
robberies, to please call your local sheriffs department.
      This is Samantha Keeler, reporting live for Channel
5 News."
      I muted the television after the report. I laid
stunned and motionless for quite some time until I heard
Mom coming back down the hallway with my dinner. I
swallowed hard and shook my head so as to not look so
alarmed when she came in. It didn't work.
      "What's the matter?" Mom asked, "Do you need another
pill?"
      I was so glad she said that and I nodded my head.
She brought the bed tray over and set it over my chest
before putting the bowl of macaroni and cheese on it.
      "Would you also like something colder to drink?" She
also asked. I nodded my head again as she swept up my cup
and was out my door again.
      My appetite had left me. I stared at the ceiling
lost in my thoughts. Mom was back before I knew it and
helped me take my pill. I guess she thought I was hurting
too much to eat and although I felt very uncomfortable
having her do so, she sat next to me and spoon fed me.
      While I ate she told me, "Your friend Jasper has
been sent home today."
      "Yeah?" I said absently mindedly, thinking about
what must be happening at their house. Would Bull tell
his dad, the Coach, what had happened? Though it wasn't
really ever said, I got the feeling the other night when
I was there, after my big asthma attack, that Bull's dad
not only knew about what they were doing but was also
somehow involved in it. He was too cool about not sending
me to the doctor when Bull and Tater had brought me to
him for help. I'd been near death and yet, after a short
time, he let Bull drive me home like nothing had
happened.
      Before too long, Mom had efficiently stuffed me to
the point of near bursting. "I can't eat anymore." I
said.
      "Ok, you ate a lot more then I thought you would.
That should help you feel better now." She said.
      Mom had always been raised to believe that if you
are sick for any reason that you should eat and eat a
lot! I imagine that is why Aunt Catharine is so fat.
She's always complaining that there is something wrong
with her and I'm sure she eats all the time to try to
make herself feel better.
      Mom took the tray and placed it back on my desk.
She'd just picked up the bowl to take it to the kitchen
when she stopped, looked at me and finally asked the
question I had been so hoping she wouldn't ask. "Do you
need changed?"
      I felt my ears burn with embarrassment. I stammered
and stuttered but couldn't get out a single clear word.
For a few seconds I thought she'd actually left without
checking or attempting to change me but my relief was
short lived. She came back into my room with a wet
washcloth in one hand and a white, disposable diaper in
the other hand.
      I was so scared and embarrassed that I couldn't
talk. She set them both on my night table next to my bed
and reached for my covers. I grabbed hold of my covers
too and finally found my voice, "Mom, don't, please!" I
pleaded. My terror was completely evident in the tone of
my voice.
      She smiled, petted my head and said, "You can't lay
here in a wet or soiled diaper Simon! You will get a
diaper rash!"
      She reached for the covers again and I pleaded again
this time with tears in my eyes, as my ears and face
burned red, "Don't, please!"
      "Simon, I've already changed you three times since
you've been back home from the hospital! It's ok!" she
said.
      "Three times?" I thought to myself.
      "And I must have changed you a hundred thousand
times when you were a baby." She added.
      I wanted to protest further but she pulled the
sheets and blankets all the way off of me so that even my
feet were uncovered. The tears started to stream down
either side of my face as my embarrassment overtook me.
With both hands, I covered my shame-filled face as I felt
her pull on one of the tapes.
      It seemed to take forever for her to unfasten the
tapes. She pulled the front of the diaper open and said,
"You did need changed." I was so lost to my emotions that
all I could do was sob and hold my face.
      "Sweetheart it's just mommy!" She cooed.
      I felt her place the wet cloth against my sack as
she began to wipe the urine away. In my current state, I
didn't protest in the least as she pulled my legs open
and reached in between my legs and cupped my boyhood.
      In my head I kept chanting, "Don't get hard! Don't
get hard! Don't get hard!" over and over again.
      She lifted one of my legs and pulled the diaper out
from under me before wiping off my backside too.
      "Oh Gawd don't get hard!" I screamed in my head.
      I felt her sliding the new diaper under me before
lowering my leg again. As she pulled the front of the
diaper up over my boyhood parts, the voice in my head
that had been screaming now shouted, "YES-YES-YES!"
      I felt her secure the two tapes in place before
pulling the covers back up to my chin. "Now that wasn't
so bad, was it sweetheart?" She asked in her motherly
tone.
      Still with my hands over my face, I nodded and heard
her snicker. "All right! I'll leave you to recoup." She
said. Not until I was sure that she was out of the room
did I remove my hands from my face.
      I was so incredibly relieved to have not gotten an
erection while she was changing me. Had I done so I don't
think I could have lived through it. I would have died
right then and there from embarrassment.
      It took several minutes from my tears to stop. I
wiped at my face with my arms and hands before reaching
over and picking up the green and red cup again.
      I watched TV for the rest of the evening, hoping
that they would say something else about the robbery and
whether they knew, or had any idea, who was behind them.
The longer I lay there waiting and thinking, the more I
started to wonder if it had been Bull, Tater and Runt.
The news lady had said that three robbers had gone into
the store. That would mean that there was either someone
else waiting in the car (I wondered it if was Runt again)
or that maybe Two-Toes was with them.
      I found myself concocting the most amazing and
lavishly implausible scenarios that would prove that it
wasn't my friends that had killed that store employee and
left the other for dead. It wasn't until I heard the
telephone ring that I was finally zapped out of my dream-
like state.
      "Simon honey; are you awake?" Mom asked, as she
peeked into my room.
      I'd clicked the television set off when the phone
started to ring. Somewhere inside, I knew it would be for
me.
      "Yeah, I'm awake." I said slowly.
      "Do you feel up to some visitors this evening?" She
asked.
      My heart shrank, "Who?" I dared to ask.
      "BJ and Lowell want to come see you." She said.
      Relieved, I answered. "Yeah I'd love to see them!" I
knew I sounded overly joyful that it was BJ but I also
knew that Mom had no idea what was worrying me inside.
      Before BJ got to the house, I polished off the last
of my juice in my cup and Mom got me a soda after a
little begging on my part. I could tell she was still
having a little inner- conflict about having food and
drinks outside of the kitchen and dining room. When she
brought me the soda in another sipper cup Dad came in
too.
      "How you feeling?" He asked.
      "Not too bad." I answered, "Um, my back hurts
though, from lying here all day." I added.
      "Yeah I bet it does." Dad said rubbing his chin,
"You want to try sitting up?"
      Mom tried to protest but Dad had already reached one
hand under my shoulders and I'd wrapped my arms around
his other arm.
      "No, let me do all the work." Dad said as he started
to lift, "Let me know if I hurt you."
      I didn't make a single sound as Dad lifted my upper
body so that I was sitting on my backside for the first
time since leaving the hospital.
      "Simon!" Dad said very softly. "You're biting me!"
      I'd not realized it, but I'd buried my face in his
shoulder as he was lifting me up and I'd sank my teeth
into his flesh so that I could bare the pain. I released
my bite hold on his shoulder. "Sorry Dad!" I said, wiping
my saliva off his shirt.
      "That smarts!" Dad said rotating his shoulder and
giving me a smile. "Are you OK?" He asked. He still had
hold of my shoulder with his arm still behind me helping
to hold me up.
      "Yeah I think so." I said as my eyes watered.
      "You want to scoot back so that you can lean against
your headboard, or do you want to rest like this for a
few minutes?" He asked, placing a hand on my tummy and
rubbing in a circle.
      My eyes were closed and my mouth was hanging open as
I breathed slowly and not too deeply. I nodded my head
and heard Dad chuckle.
      "Was that a yes for the headboard, or a yes for
sitting here?" He was patting my tummy now.
      "I think . . . both." I said, leaning into his
shoulder again but this time burying my eyes into his
shirt instead of my teeth.
      He removed his hand from my tummy and slipped it
under my thighs as he gently lifted me off my bed and re-
deposited me against my pillow that Mom had propped up
for me.
      My chest was hurting again from this little movement
and I kept my face plastered against my Dad as his shirt
acted like a sponge for my tears. Mom was stroking my
hair from behind while Dad held me to him and patted my
back softly.
      Eventually the pain subsided again and I actually
felt better sitting up than I had been when I was lying
down. I'd just about finished the soda Mom had brought me
when BJ and Lowell showed up.
      "Hi ya Simon!" Lowell said, walking into my room. I
had to twist my head around to see him and BJ coming in.
They were both carrying one of those big grocery paper
bags in their arms.
      "Hi there Simon!" BJ said, sort of like the way he
talks to his grandpa who's 93 years old. Both of them had
funny looks on their faces as they stood by my bed.
      "Guys! I'm not dieing! Relax!" I assured them and
they both seemed to loosen up some.
      "What's in the bags?" I asked.
      "Comics!" Lowell said rocking on the balls of his
feet.
      "Yeah, Lowell thought you might want to borrow some
of his comic books." BJ said.
      "Wow! Two bags worth is only some of your comics?" I
said, watching the two of them stand there holding their
treasures.
      "Yeah, I have over a thousand." Lowell said.
      "Wow!" I said, "You can set some of them down!" I
said sarcastically.
      They set them on the floor next to my bed and Lowell
sat down on my bed by my knee but popped back up super
fast. "Oh sorry! I didn't hurt you did I?" He was
wringing his hands against his chest.
      "Guys! Calm down! I'm not going to break! Sit!" I
pointed at Lowell and then my bed. Lowell sat down, but
very slowly. BJ pulled over my desk chair and for most of
the evening, the three of us talked, read comics, and
laughed some. I found out that Lowell and BJ had really
hit it off at the hospital. They'd had to sit out in the
hallway for quite a while before getting to come in and
see me and that had given them time to find out that they
both were massive comic books freaks.
      Having them come over was some of the best medicine
ever. For the couple hours they stayed, I felt little-to-
no pain at all and just felt better all over. After a
while, I noticed that Lowell was fidgeting around a bit
more than normal and it took me a few minutes to figure
out what the problem was.
      "Hey BJ? Can you go get me some water?" I asked.
Without any hesitation, he took the cup I'd been drinking
soda in and zipped out the door.
      Lowell was looking at me kind of desperately. "Top
drawer on the right." I said pointing to my dresser. The
bathroom is down the hall on the left.
      Lowell smiled the biggest and most precious smile
I'd ever seen on his face. "Thanks!" He said, getting up
and going over to my dresser. He pulled open the drawer
and snatched out one of my Goodnites and stuffed it under
his shirt. He turned around to face me. He was a little
red in the face as he smiled again and took off for the
bathroom.
      He was back before BJ, which surprised me and he had
that same troubled look on his face again. This time I
knew right away what was worrying him. "Trashcan by the
door!" I pointed over my shoulder. He smiled again and
pulled a wet Pull-Up out from under his shirt and dropped
it in the can.
      It didn't occur to me at the time but as I write
this, I'm guessing that Jasper must have told him that I
wear Goodnites. I mean, how else would he have known?
With just looks, we both knew what each other was talking
about without having to name anything.
      No sooner had Lowell returned to his spot next to my
leg than BJ came in carrying my water as well as one for
Lowell and himself in the same kind of sipper cups as
mine but in different colors. I felt a bit embarrassed
that they had to drink out of such juvenile cups as I did
but they didn't seem to mind at all and took to them like
they'd been using them all their lives.
      BJ's dad had stopped by to pick up the boys and came
in to see me. I've always liked BJ's dad. He is really
big and fun to wrestle with. I guess I won't be joining
BJ in any two-on-one matches for a long time! Maybe I can
be the referee and get Lowell and Jasper to team up with
BJ? That would be fun!
      Alone again in my room I started to feel tired. No
sooner had BJ and Lowell gone than my fears about Tater,
Bull and Runt returned with a vengeance.
      Dad came back in and helped me to lay back down
again. This time it didn't hurt near as much. He just
pulled on my legs and I slid right down with no effort at
all. It could have also been that Mom had given me
another pill to take a few minutes before but whatever it
was, I was glad it didn't hurt. Dad did point out that my
ankle, which I'd nearly forgot about, was looking a lot
better and was now only a dull sort of yellow color. You
know .... the way bruises look before they totally
disappear.
      Mom came in one more time before they both left me
alone to go to sleep. She re-dressed my eye and reapplied
more of the vial smelling cream before kissing my
forehead and wishing me a good night's sleep.
      It took me a while to fall asleep despite the fact
that BJ and Lowell's visit had really tired me out. I
couldn't get the news broadcast out of my head. Once I
finally fell asleep, I had several unpleasant dreams
about the three of them being hunted down by the police.
In one dream, I actually saw all three of them and Two-
Toes shot and killed by Peter who was then shot by the
police. You know, I think I watch too many cop shows on
TV and they have affected my dreams and nightmares.