Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:09:12 -0700
From: Danny <m12@thedoghousemail.com>
Subject: Simon's Journal: Thirteen Days, Chapter 13 of 13

Simon's Journal
Volume I

Thirteen Days - The First Crusade
A novel by Danny

Chapter 13
February 28, 2004 Saturday

      Sometime in the late hours of the night Jamie
whispered from across the room, "Hey Simon?"
      "Yeah?" I whispered back.
      "Are you awake?" He asked.
      "Naw, I'm sound asleep and you've reached my
answering machine. Please leave a message after the beep
... BEEEEEP!" I joked.
      I could hear Jamie chuckle before asking in a hushed
voice, "I been thinking ...
      "That could be dangerous." I interrupted.
      "Shut up!" he replied with a quick chuckle before
continuing with what he was saying, "Why do we have rules
and laws?"
      "Gee-whiz what a question! Um, I don't know!" I
thought for a minute, "I ... I guess so people can live
together in peace and harmony." I finally answered back.
      "Humm," Jamie made a thinking sound and then stated,
"I don't know if we have too many or not enough of them
then!"
      There was a long pause before I interjected with,
"Maybe we have too many people. Did you ever think of
that?"
      "Then we need more rules and laws." Jamie said
fairly quickly, sounding awfully sure of himself.
      There was a further fragment of hush until I again
offered my wisdom, "If we had more rules, then wouldn't
we have less freedom?" I wasn't sure if I was stating a
fact, or asking a question.
      "Well what do we do about that?" Jamie asked. I
could just barely see that he had his arms raised in the
air as if longing for the answer to fall into them.
      I gave a small laugh and said; "Tell ya what; when
you figure it out ... you let me know okay?"
      Thinking we were done I went back to staring into
the darkness and wondering where Tater and the others
were and what they might be doing. I had just started
thinking about Mike and Jasper and how they were going to
take the news when it finally all came out, but Jamie
once again pierced the silence with another profound
question. "Simon?"
      "Yeah?" I answered back a little annoyed.
      "Did you ever try to think of just nothing?" he
asked.
      I had to giggle out loud at the depth of Jamie's
thinking so late at night. "Yeah, it's pretty hard huh?"
I giggled again.
      "Yeah, something always keeps sneaking in!" He
stated and we both laughed quietly.
      When the morning light started to appear around our
bedroom curtain, Jamie got up, pulled open the curtain,
and said in an almost normal tone; "Good morning!" It
seemed odd, since we'd done so much whispering throughout
the night. "Stopped snowing." He declared.
      The light coming in through the now open curtains
wasn't so bright as to hurt our eyes. The sun was only
just starting its' morning climb into the sky. I lifted
up my head and looked at the back of Jamie as he stood
looking out the window at the snow. "Can you help me up?"
I asked, and Jamie came over, took hold of both of my
hands, and sat me upright in my bed. "Thanks!" I said.
      "No problem, anything for my baby-brother!" Jamie
said.
      I gave him probably the meanest and deadliest look I
could muster, but Jamie was unfazed! His eyes got wide
and he said while holding out both hands as if he was
trying to stop a charging rhinoceros. "OK! I was just
kidding!"
      I continued to glare at him and he took an uneasy
sidestep, then sat down next to me on my bed. "So, you
sleep any last night?"
      "Nope, someone kept asking me fool questions!" I
stated with a high degree of sarcasm.
      Jamie just smiled.
      "Did you sleep any?" I returned the question.
      "Not after they woke me up." He said, meaning Tater
and Runt.
      "It sure was mean of your bear to attack Tater the
way it did last night." I said with a smirk. Jamie looked
at the bear. "Hey, it's your bear! I gave him to you!" He
said, trying to keep a straight face but not doing so
well.
      I rubbed at the tape still encasing my chest trying
to ease a small itch. "I think I'm about ready to have
this dang tape changed, it's starting to itch." I said.
      I looked over at the clock. It said it was eight
minutes past six. Jamie, following my eyes to the clock
and seeing the time for himself, asked; "Want to see if
there are any cartoons on yet?" He sounded too upbeat for
someone that had been awake all night.
      "OK" I agreed, and I tried to reach for the remote
to the TV but it hurt so I let Jamie stand up and grab
it, which meant he ended up with control of the TV. I
scooted backwards so that I was leaning against my
headboard and so that I was more comfortable. Jamie
joined me after retrieving his own pillow from his bed.
We were sitting so close together that our legs, hips,
and arms were touching. I couldn't believe I was sitting
there with my wet diaper exposed to him and watching
cartoons. I really wasn't all that wet, only just enough
to tell that I'd used it while lying there unable to
sleep. It was one thing having Jamie think I wet my bed
at night but it was another thing entirely having him
realize that I had knowingly wet myself. And I didn't get
much conciliation out of the idea that I couldn't really
get out of bed on my own seeing how I did it last night.
      Had someone told me two weeks ago that things
between Jamie and I would end up as they are right now, I
would have told them they were nuts but never-the-less,
here we are!
      While we were sitting there, a thought crossed my
mind. "When you looked out the window, did you still see
any footprints in the snow?"
      Without breaking his concentration on the TV he
said, "There was no sign of them at all."
      "You sure?" I asked.
      With a mixture of annoyance and whining he said,
"Yeah! I looked!" as he flipped through the channels
looking for something to watch.
      "Good" I said, more for myself.
      We watched a new Duck Dodgers cartoon first. It
was the first time I'd seen it and it was really good;
then again Daffy Duck and Porky Pig have always been
favorites of mine. There were lots of those Marvin the
Martian type people, but some were taller. Lilo and
Stitch came on after that and when it ended, Jamie started
channel surfing, looking for something else to watch. He
stopped on channel seven to watch a commercial about baby
diapers. I gave him the evil eye again and he started to
giggle.
      "You keep it up and I'm going to break that nose of
yours again!" I warned and since he knew I'd never really
do it, it just made him giggle even more.
      He was about to change the channel again but stopped
when he saw that Beast Wars was coming on. I'm not into
that show but I watched it; it wasn't so bad. When it was
finally over, I asked if I could choose the next show.
Jamie looked at me and had that old look in his eye that
told me he was about to make another comment in reference
to my wetting, but thankfully he managed to control
himself ... that time. He handed me the remote and I
flipped only a few channels before landing on Freakazoid.
      "Yeah, that's a good show!" Jamie declared.
      Maybe ten minutes into the first cartoon Jamie
turned to me and asked, "Does it really bother you?"
      "No! I like this show too!" I said.
      "That's not what I meant." Jamie grunted.
      "What then?" I asked back.
      "When I say stuff like, well you know." He said.
      I didn't answer right away, but took my time to
think before answering him, "Sometimes." I said quietly.
      We continued watching the cartoon until it ended and
the next one began. I'd seen it before, but it was one of
my favorite ones where Freakazoid was singing in the bank
while it was being robbed. It's so very funny.
      "I won't do it anymore!" Jamie said.
      I didn't answer mostly because I didn't believe him.
Well, that's not entirely true. I think he meant it at
that very moment, but I didn't think he has it or will
ever have it within him to resist in the heat of the
moment.
      "Yes you will!" I accused.
      It was his turn to think before he said anything
else. It was a good five minutes before he finally added,
"You're probably right, but if I ever go too far; will
you tell me?"
      "You went too far!" I said immediately with
absolutely no expression on my face or in my voice at
all.
      I could tell that Jamie had trouble reading me; he
screwed up his face and finally said, "Huh!"
      I tried not to smile, but it was apparent that I was
trying to hide it. He gave me a slight nudge with his
elbow and he knew the second he did it that it was a
mistake.
      "Jamie!" I complained.
"Oh Simon! I'm sorry, I forgot again!" Jamie said moving
away from me while I clutched at my taped-up ribs.
      "You did that on purpose!" I accused.
      "No! Honest Simon! Really I wouldn't do that!" Jamie
said to his own defense.
      I clutched at my ribs, "You're going to die a slow
and horrible death!" I cry softly.
      "You OK? Please say you are OK?" He was begging me
to say yes.
      "Do I look OK?" I snapped at him.
      "Well, no, you kind of look terrible." Jamie answered
quickly.
      I looked at him when he said that and for some reason,
it made me laugh and that didn't help my pain at all.
      "Please don't do that again." I begged, while trying
to let myself relax and let the pain pass.
      "I really didn't mean it! I am very sorry!" He said,
easing back down on the bed. He reached up toward my face
and wiped a couple tears away for me. "Seriously, are you
OK?" he asked.
      "I will be." I assured him.
      He kept looking at me like he expected me to absolve
him. After several minutes, it got annoying. "You can
stop staring at me now!" I said.
      "Yeah, right!" He said while straightening out his
legs and leaning all the way back into his pillow.
      A minute later. "You still OK?" he asked.
      Meaning to annoy him, I slid my diapered butt down
in the bed about a foot then leaned to the right enough
to let my head rest against his shoulder. However,
instead of it having the intended effect on him, he got
really quiet and didn't utter a single word or make a
single sound for the longest time. I ended up falling
asleep like that, just about halfway through the Bugs
Bunny Road Runner Hour, and slept for about forty-five
minutes until I felt him trying to move. I woke back up
and moved my head off him.
      "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up but my arm
went to sleep." Jamie said softly.
      "Guess I was more tired than I thought." I said,
rubbing my eyes and yawning.
      "You feeling OK now?" Jamie asked, rubbing his arm.
      "Yeah, just hungry." I answered.
      "Yeah, me too. I wonder if anyone else is up yet?"
Jamie said.
      "Probably. You heard anyone?" I asked.
      "I wasn't paying attention." He confessed, "Want to
go see?" He asked, still rubbing, and now shaking his
arm.
      "Yeah, um, can you get me some pants or maybe my
bathrobe?" I asked.
      "Your robe is right there." He said, pointing to it
hanging over the headboard where I'd left it when we'd
come back from calling the police last night.
      "Oh Yeah, I forgot." I said, trying to reach for it
but couldn't, because he was partially leaning on it and
also because it hurt me to stretch that way.
      "I think you over did it last night." Jamie
commented.
      "I think it's more like someone needs to stop
accidentally bumping my ribs on purpose!" I said in a
mock tone.
      Jamie smiled as he said; "Yeah whoever keeps doing
that needs to stop!"
      "Jerk!" I sneered and muttered under my breath. I
thought it was low enough that he didn't hear me but I
guess he did.
      He had been trying to stand up while rubbing his arm
to get it to come back to life, but he stopped when he
heard me. He turned so that I could see right into his
eyes and he said; "Do you really want to get into a name
calling contest?"
      I smiled back at him. "No way!" I said.
      "Good! Then come on baby brother, let's go get some
breakfast!" Jamie said, moving away fast so that I
couldn't hit him. Instead, I just growled at him.
      "I thought you said you weren't going to do that
anymore?" I said trying to sound pitiful.
      "Yeah, and you said I couldn't stop. So I say, why
fight it, huh?" Jamie was purposefully standing out of
arms' reach. He had his hands on his hips and was wagging
his head when he spoke.
      I let my chin drop and faked him out. I made him
think I was about to start crying again and it worked.
"Oh come on Simon! I am only teasing; I don't really mean
it. You know I don't mean it don't you?" He said, trying
to sound kind and loving.
      He made the mistake of coming too close, and I let
swing a swift backhand that made contact square on his
bare chest. Unfortunately, in my already wounded
condition, my swing had very little effect on him other
than to startle him just a bit.
      He stood back up straight, rubbing his chest. "Oh,
you dirty dog!" He moaned. "Oh, that hurt!"
      "Oh, stop! I hardly touched you!" I said.
      Jamie stood looking at me with both his hands over
the spot where the back of my hand had caught him. He had
a really funny look on his face. Not a humorous look. But
a really sort of odd, like maybe he was about to cry.
      He got really serious. "I don't want to do this
anymore." He said, looking at the floor instead of me.
      "What?" I said, still sounding derisive.
      "This!" He sighed. "Why can't we just be normal
brothers?"
      I'd not yet got the idea that he was really trying
to reach out to me. "What do you think brothers do?" I
asked.
      He sat down on the corner of his bed, "Why do you
hate me so much?"
      "Me? You are the one that has always been so hateful
to me!" I said, my voice rising a bit.
      Jamie got really quiet, "I know why."
      "Why?" I snapped.
      I could tell he was struggling with the answer, and
I waited. "Because ..." he didn't finish, or maybe
couldn't finish.
      I finished his sentence for him, "Because you are
always making fun of me for something I can't help!" My
voice was getting loud enough that it was probably
permeating the door to our room and making its way
throughout the house, but I didn't care just then. Jamie
wouldn't look at me as he shook his head in disagreement.
      "Why, then?" I nearly barked.
      "Never mind." He said, then stood up, and went to
his bag, where he pulled out a pair of pants and slipped
them on over what he was already wearing. I watched as he
then put on a shirt, the same shirt he'd worn last night
and then he started stuffing the rest of his things into
his bag like he was packing to leave.
      He sat his bag on the edge of his bed, zipped it
closed before finally looking at me, "I'm sorry. I just
really ..." his voice broke and I could see his eyes
were glazed over with tears. That was when I finally got
that he was really trying to tell me something and I had
not been listening; I mean really listening.
      He continued after clearing his throat, "I just want
to have a real family." He finally confessed, before
picking up his bag and heading for the door.
      "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop!" I said with my neck craned
backwards to be able to see him. I never wished so hard
that I could get up and chase after him as I did right
then. "Please stop!"
      Jamie had his back to me and had one hand on the
doorknob; his bag clutched in the other. His head was
hanging so low, that from my vantage point, he looked
headless.
      "Please come over here." I said as nicely as I
possibly could, but he didn't move, "Jamie? Please?"
      Letting his hand drop from the knob, he turned
around and I saw that tears were flowing down his face
like two small rivers.
      "Please come back?" I pleaded.
      He dropped his bag there by the door and came over
to where I could see him without having to contort my
neck. I reached out a hand to him. He looked at it, and
waited a few seconds before taking it. I pulled on his
arm to bring him down closer to me and he sort of
collapsed onto my bed and my lap in a heap and began to
ball so hard he was trembling all over. He had his face
buried in my stomach and I could feel his warm tears
running down over my belly. I was holding the top of his
head with one hand, and I had my other hand on the back
of his neck. I knew he wasn't just crying about our
argument. No, this was one of those cries that someone
had been holding in for ages. His left arm had wrapped
around behind my lower back while his right hand was
gripping my left thigh so hard that it was really
hurting, but I didn't say anything.
      Jamie cried for a good ten minutes before he finally
released his grip on my leg, and when he did, I saw that
there were red marks in my skin were his nails had been
digging into my flesh. He tried to get up, but I held on
to him and pulled him close so that the two of us were
now hugging. He dropped his face in my neck and continued
to sob. It hurt like heck to have him hugging me so hard,
but I knew he really needed to get this out and I let him
continue to cry for several minutes until I couldn't
stand the pain any longer.
      "Jamie?" I said softly. He pulled away and looked at
me. His face was all red and tear stained. "Remember what
I said at your house?" I asked, holding him around his
shoulders. He managed to nod a response. "Well I meant
it. You and me are brothers! I'm not just saying that, I
mean it! You and me got the same blood!"
      His eyes got really wet again as he shook his head,
"Only half!" He managed to say between sobs. "We'll never
be full brothers!" He said, losing it again and bawling
as hard as before.
      I tried to think and suddenly it occurred to me,
"Wait!" I said, "Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait a minute!" I
said, as an idea began to form in my head. Jamie's sobs
eased again and he looked at me expectantly.
      I guess he got impatient because he put his hands
out and said through his sobs; "WHAT!"
      "OK!" I said smiling at my own brilliance. "OK now,
I know how we can be full brothers!" I said and Jamie
cocked his head exactly the way a dog does when it's
trying to figure out what you are saying to it.
      I was about to try to explain my idea further when
he lifted the front of his shirt and wiped his snotty
nose on it. "Oh man! Jamie, that was really gross!" I
said, covering my mouth to keep from being sick. It made
Jamie smile finally. "Sorry, had to do it!" He said.
      Trying my best to ignore his now snot-covered shirt,
I continued laying out my idea. "What I'm trying to say
is that we can become blood brothers you know, like the
Indians used to do." I said, and waited for his response
      Jamie wiped at his face with his hand, "And you said
I was gross?" Jamie finally spoke, but he then thought
about it for two or three seconds. "Yeah, that could
work!" He said, trying to stop himself from crying
anymore. I could tell he was also getting excited with
the idea too.
      "Yeah, and then we'd be full brothers! Both with
the same blood!" I added.
      Jamie leaned backwards and pulled one of his legs
around so that he was now sitting on my bed. He wiped at
his face again, sniffled and said; "I guess you think I'm
a real cry-baby huh?" He sniffled again.
      "No!" I said quickly. "I do think you are about
gross!" I said pointing at his shirt, "But I don't think
you are a cry-baby."
      He lifted his shirt as if to look at it, and then he
wiped his nose again.
      "Uh! That is just sick! Gawd! There are hankies in
my dresser! Go get yourself one, for crying out loud, and
change your shirt while you are at it!" I had my eyes
covered with one hand, and was pointing at my dresser
with my other hand.
      I felt Jamie getting off the bed. I removed my hand
to see he'd already pulled off his shirt again, and was
going to my dresser, "Which drawer?" He asked.
      "They used to be in the second drawer, but Mom's
been rearranging everything in there, so it's hard to
tell where they are now." I stated.
      Jamie opened the second drawer and found one of my
hankies. He wiped his nose and then blew it. "Want me to
put this back?" He joked.
      "I'm going to barf if you don't stop!" I warned, and
it made Jamie chuckle.
      He slid the drawer closed as he asked; "OK, so how
do we do it?"
      He started back over to the bed wiping at his eyes
and face with the now, snot and probably booger filled,
hanky. I did my best to not pay attention to him. "Well,
I saw in this one movie where this mountain man that had
a full grown pet bear, became blood brothers with this
Indian and they cut open each other's hand, then tied
them together and sat for several days to let all their
blood mix together." I said, as I demonstrated the
cutting by dragging my index finger as if it were a knife
across the palm of my hand.
      Jamie hid his hands behind his back, "Um, I - I
don't think we have days and days!" He said with a
quivering voice.
      "Me either!" I agreed.
      "We could put each other's blood into glasses and
drink it!" Jamie offered.
      "Aaah! Jamie are you always this gross or is this
just a special time for you?" I retorted.
      "What? Vampires do it!" He said in his own defense.
      "Uh, I don't think I have ever seen a vampire use a
glass!" I taunted.
      "That's not what I meant!" Jamie complained.
      In a bad Dracula impression, I said; "I don't what
to suck on your neck either!"
      He gave my knee a squeeze in mild frustration, "Come
on, be serious!"
      "Well, I think that whatever we do it's got to be
something that Mom and Dad are not going to find out
about. Mom will go nuclear on us if she knew we cut
ourselves." I said.
      Jamie suddenly got a wild look in his eye, and it
kind of scared me. His lips parted into a grin very much
like that of the Grinch that stole Christmas.
      "NO!" I said, pointing at him.
      He sniffed really hard like he was trying to clear
his nose backup into his head before he reached out and
smacked my pointing hand away. "You don't even know what
I am thinking! And besides ..."
      He didn't get to finish what he was about to say.
Our bedroom door opened and Mom came in fully dressed and
cheeks very rosy like she put on too much makeup this
morning. When I saw her purse in her hand I said,
"Morning mum! You coming or going?"
      "Just coming back from Wal-Mart. You boys about
ready for breakfast?" She asked.
      "Yeah!" Jamie said excitedly.
      "Past ready!" I said.
      "OK, how's waffles sound?" She asked, as she started
to turn to go.
      "Great!" Jamie and I said in unison.
      "JINX!" I shouted, and pointed at Jamie.
      Like I'd just suddenly uttered a magic word, Jamie's
lips slammed shut. I threw my head back to look at Mom,
"Don't say his name!"
      Jamie pinched my leg really hard. "Hey!" I complained
to Jamie.
      "Now be careful that you don't hurt Simon!" Mom
warned Jamie.
      "Yeah, don't hurt Simon!" I repeated while wagging
my finger at him. He tried to swat at it again, but I was
too fast for him this time.
      "Simon?" Mom called.
      I threw my head back again to look towards the door.
"Yeah?" I answered.
      "I'll be back in to help you get dressed in a
minute, OK?" She said.
      "Um, no, that's OK! I'm good till after breakfast!"
I said, and she gave me a look. I gave her a look back,
and she shrugged her shoulders before leaving down the
hallway again.
      "Hey Mom?" I shouted down the hallway after her.
      "What dear?" She called back.
      "Where's Dad?" I asked.
      "In his office on the phone. Why?" She answered.
      "No reason, just was wondering." I shouted back, and
when I looked back at Jamie, he was staring at me and
looking very harassed. He pointed a single finger at
himself.
      "No!" I said to him.
      He pointed at himself again, but with more
conviction.
      "Sorry!" I said.
      He then pointed at himself with both of his index
fingers, and made contact with his chest with a small
thud. He looked angry.
      "Tell you what; you help me get up, get my bathrobe
and slippers on, and then help me walk to the kitchen,
then I might say your name. OK?" I knew he wouldn't go
for it, but I was so enjoying myself.
      He again pointed at himself with greater fervor.
      "Those are my terms! Take it or leave it!" I said,
folding my arms over my chest and hurting myself slightly
in the process.
      Jamie got a satisfied look on his face at seeing me
wince.
      I smiled at him, and then held out my hands for him
to take in order to help me up. He did so with a grimace,
as if admitting momentary defeat. Once I was standing
with his help, for the first minute or so, Jamie pointed
at my ribs. I looked down to see the tape was coming
loose again, but in a different spot.
      "MOM!" I shouted through the house. She didn't
answer at first and I was about to shout again when Jamie
pointed toward the door. I looked over and Dad was
standing there.
      "Oh, Hi Dad!" I said. Jamie just waved and gave a
goofy smile.
      "What's with the yelling?" Dad asked me.
      "Oh, I'm coming apart at the seams." I jested, while
turning to show him where the tape was coming off.
      "I'll take care of it. But do me a favor and don't
yell like that again, OK?" I could tell the way Dad was
saying it that he was trying to be cool despite being a
little angry.
      "Sorry" I said, and again Jamie waved.
      "What's with ..." I stopped Dad before he could
say Jamie's name.
      "DON'T SAY IT!" I yelled again. Dad gave me a look,
and I knew I was about to be in trouble if I didn't turn
the volume on my voice box way, way down, and in a hurry.
      "I jinxed him!" I said, much softer. Jamie took a
swing at my arm, but pulled his hand back at the last
second when he realized he was about to hurt me again. He
looked very aggravated that I was manipulating him like
this, and I knew I was going to pay when someone finally
said his name. I just wanted to make him suffer for a
while longer.
      Dad laughed and said, "I'll be right back with the
tape."
      When Dad was out of sight, Jamie balled up his fists
and started jumping up and down like a two year old
throwing a tantrum. When he was done, he again adopted
the attitude of momentary defeat as he picked up my
bathrobe and helped me put it on, like a servant would
help his king put on a royal robe.
      "And my slippers?" I said, pointing to my bare feet.
      Jamie made a harump sound by blowing a breath of air
out his nose.
      "Now, now! None of that!" I warned, waving my finger
only an inch from his nose. He tried to bite it, but I
retracted it with lightning speed.
      "HEY!" I verbally chastised him, "You will spoil
your appetite eating finger sandwiches!" I joked, while
still trying to sound serious. Jamie covered his mouth as
he snorted with silent laughter. I, on the other hand,
giggled out loud.
      Dad came in with the tape and sort of overdid it
with putting me back together. At first, he wanted to
take all the tape off and start over, but I told him that
Mom said she wanted to let the doctor do it. I had
absolutely no desire to have Dad go and rip the tape, and
probably some of my flesh, off of my already broken
bones. So instead, he started at the top and completely
re-wrapped me right over the top of the old tape.
      While Dad was taping me back together, he was
rambling; "I called, and they are going to come and tow
your mother's van later today, to fix the fender and
bumper, then replace the front tires and take care of
whatever else might be wrong with it."
      "Wow! She did all that?" I said in amazement.
      "Oh Yeah! You've not seen it yet have you?" Dad
said, patting my diapered butt as he finished taping me
up. I glanced at Jamie who was smirking at seeing Dad do
that.
      "You need help getting to the breakfast table?" Dad
asked, standing up from where he'd been kneeling on the
floor.
      Jamie was standing behind Dad, having put on a clean
shirt, and was shaking his head yes to Dad's question.
"Ah no, I think we can manage." I said motioning to
Jamie.
      "OK, but no fooling around, and you be careful with
your brother!" Dad said, mussing Jamie's hair more than
it already was from tossing and turning all night.
      With bathrobe on and tied around me, and slippers
on my feet, Jamie led me down the hallway. I held on to
the back of his shoulders, and was muttering under my
breath. "The Great Simon makes his way down the mystic
corridor with his loyal, yet mute sidekick Jinx bravely
leading the way!" Though I was behind him, I could feel
through my touch that he was laughing.
      "Oh, there you are!" Mom said, as we came into the
kitchen. "Simon, what do you want on your waffles?" She
asked.
      "Can I have butter and cinnamon sugar?" I asked, and
sensing that she was about to ask Jamie the same
question, and probably use his name, I asked him first.
"You want syrup on yours?" Jamie nodded absent-mindedly
combing his hair with his fingers.
      As we sat eating, I was doing my best not to make
eye contact with Jamie, and after several minutes he
kicked me really hard from under the table. Luckily, Mom
and Dad were not looking, because at that second I had a
mouth full of waffle that shot back out onto my plate.
      "That really hurt!" I hissed at him, and it was even
worse because I couldn't just bend over and rub the pain
away. Jamie looked at me through squinted eyes and I knew
he was about to do it again if I didn't say his name.
      "I think some evil foe has cloned my sidekick Jinx
and somehow replaced him! I mean, why else would my MUTE
sidekick kick me?" I teased. From above the table, it
looked like he'd tried to kick me again but missed and
instead, kicked the leg of my chair. His eyes watered and
he'd dropped his fork to his plate so that he could reach
down to try to massage the pain away. I found out
later, after I un-jinxed him, that he'd hit his ankle
really hard. Of course, I had no sympathy whatsoever for
him since, had I not moved my leg, I would probably be a
cripple again.
      Dad must have seen this last action by Jamie because
he said to him; "That looked like it really hurt."
      Jamie nodded his head vigorously, but still remained
quiet.
      Dad glanced my way and I must have felt guilty.
"What? I didn't do anything!" I said to Dad while trying
to sound blameless.
      "Uh-huh!" Is all dad said, as he looked back at Jamie
who was still rubbing his leg and fighting to keep from
crying. "You OK J ..." I shot Dad a fast look and
caught him before he could say it. "I mean Son!" Dad
changed it, and smiled. I looked back at Jamie who was
now trying not to smile.
      "Boy Mom, that was the best!" I said, swallowing my
last bite. Jamie had finished a couple of minutes ago and
was sitting quietly in his chair looking at me. Every
time I would make eye contact with him, he would point at
himself longingly.
      Mom started clearing the table and I turned to ask
Dad, "Can I take another shower this morning?" I asked,
as Dad was getting up from the table.
      "The tow truck is supposed to be here sometime
before ten. Can you wait until then?" Dad responded.
      I caught Jamie looking under the table, and then
come back up shaking his head from side to side while
looking at Dad and pointing at me. This made Dad laugh
and caused me to turn about twelve shades of red!
      "Hope you like being mute Jinx-boy!" I said to
Jamie.
      "How about a bath instead?" Mom offered, "That way I
won't have to worry about you falling again." She picked
up our plates and looked at Jamie as she said;
"I know you are dressed already, but a bath wouldn't kill
you too." I laughed when Jamie started to open his mouth
to protest, but realized at the last second and covered
his mouth with his hand.
      "Well, since there are no objections! Why don't you
help Simon back to his room and I will go get the
tub ready." Mom said with a smirk that I just loved.
Jamie wiggled his fist at me and I laughed again.
      "You getting the dishes honey," Dad said, getting up
from the table. "I'll get them into the tub. Oh and can
you listen for the tow truck for me?"
      "Oh thank you darling." Mom said, giving Dad a kiss.
I made a silent vomiting motion while Jamie covered his
eyes.
      "Come on Jinx! Let's go before we catch what they
got!" I said, managing to get up from the table all by
myself and without hurting myself either.
      Just as we had come to breakfast, Jamie and I left
the kitchen again. Once more, I held to the back of his
shoulders as he led the way toward our room. Since I was
only wearing my bathrobe, slippers, and diaper, which I'd
wet again while at the table, and was now feeling heavy as it
hung from my middle, I didn't remove anything there in
our room. Jamie, on the other hand, after leaving me
holding onto my headboard, started to strip out of his
clothes until he was standing with just his black boxer
shorts on. He then led me to Mom and Dad's bathroom.
      "Oh thank you Jamie." Dad said when we arrived.
      "DAD!" I complained loudly, "You weren't supposed to
say his name!"

      "Yes! Yes! Yes! I can talk again! Yes I can talk
again!" Jamie sang as he danced in place with me still
clinging to him.
      Dad was smiling as he said, "Alright, that's enough.
Come on Simon, let's get you undressed, and into the
tub."
      I started to let go of Jamie who had, too soon,
started to turn to go to the other bathroom to take his
shower. Somehow, my robe got caught on the towel bar, and
I guess when I tried to maintain my balance, I over-
compensated. Sure enough, I twisted my upper body and
felt a stabbing pain as I started to fall. Jamie saw that
I was going down, and tried to grab my arm, but he wasn't
set and he started to topple over himself.
      Dad had managed to catch me before I really got
hurt, but Jamie wasn't so lucky. In his effort to save me
and still not land on me he fell right into the tub,
boxers, and all. Water splashed everywhere, even onto Dad
and me. It all happened so fast that none of us knew what
was happening until it was over. Jamie's falling into the
tub made so much noise that it brought Mom into the
bathroom. Dad had sat me on the toilet while he attended
to Jamie who had hit his head when he fell in.
      "What happened?" Mom said rushing in.
      "I almost fell!" I said, scared that I was going to
get into trouble because Jamie was hurt.
      "Your alright!" Dad was saying to Jamie who was
moaning softly.
      Once Mom and Dad got everything calmed back down and
made sure that the two of us had not been hurt, not
seriously anyway, it started to get funny. Jamie had been
scared he'd re-hurt his face, but he'd just got some
water up his nose, and once I had allowed myself to relax
a bit, I could tell that I was hardly hurting too. Jamie
had splashed water everywhere. I think there was as much
on the floor as there was still in the tub with Jamie.
      "Well you're both wet now so you might as well take
your baths at the same time." Dad offered, much to Jamie
and my distress. Mom agreed with Dad by saying to Jamie,
"Come on, let's have those wet shorts! I'll put them in the
dryer for you."
      Jamie didn't move at first. I too was frozen with
anxiety, but then I saw Jamie reluctantly pull off his
shorts without standing up out of the water, and hand
them to Mom. I took the prompt and started to remove my
robe, which was pretty wet in the front from having been
slashed with water when Jamie fell. So were my slippers,
though I think my slippers got the worst of the flood,
since they were down on the floor where most of the water
is now. I used the side of the sink to brace myself as I
stood up. Dad was close at hand just in case I needed
him. I had my robe and slippers off, and was down to my
diaper in a matter of seconds and was feeling dreadfully
hesitant again when I saw the way Jamie was gawking at me
standing there in my wet diaper while he attempted to
cover his own boyhood with his hands so that Mom couldn't
see his complete nudity.
      Mom had turned around, slipped two fingers on either
side of the elastic of the plastic pants and pulled them
down to my ankles in one swift motion. When she removed
just one safety pin on the left side, it was enough for
the weighted cloth diaper to fall freely down my hips and
legs. It made a sort of squishy flump sound when he hit
the plastic pants and my feet. Completely nude, and
smelling strongly of pee, I lifted my feet one at a time
while still holding to the side of the sink so that Mom
could finish removing my plastic pants and diaper. With
both Mom and Dad's help I stepped into the tub with Jamie
and sat down in the nice warm water. Jamie's entire face
was as red as a tomato and almost seemed to be giving off
a glowing light. Mom left again, my wet diaper and
plastic pants clutched in her hands, along with my wet
bathrobe, slippers, and Jamie's boxer shorts. Dad started
to wash my hair and back for me. He also washed Jamie's
hair and back for him before handing us both a washcloth
and telling us to finish washing while he went to get a
mop to dry up the floor.
      Jamie and I sat looking at each other, using our
washcloths to cover our nudity. Jamie had not stopped
being red the entire time, and I thought his head might
explode if any more blood was forced into it.
      Dad had come back in with the sponge mop, and
started mopping up the water and squeezing it out into
the toilet. Jamie and I both sat in silence as we watched
Dad work.
      "HONEY, THE TOW TRUCK'S HERE!" Mom shouted through
the house to Dad.
      Without saying anything he leaned the mop against
the sink and left the two of us sitting and soaking. Both
of us felt so uncomfortable to be naked in front of the
other, but I was the one to break the ice between us.
      "I know how to breathe underwater." I said, pushing
my washrag beneath the surface.
      "You mean like a fish?" Jamie asked.
      "Nah, more like a deep sea diver." I said.
      "How?" He asked.
      "Simple," I said as I removed my rag from the water
and spread it out across my overturned hand.
      "You have to be kind of fast to catch as much air as
possible" I said, re-submerging my hand, which was covered
with the rag. With my free hand, I gathered the edges of the
rag and pulled it completely under the water, trapping a
large bubble of air within the rag. "See, then all you do
is put your mouth on the rag and breath normally through
it; but don't let water go up your nose!" I added at the
end, with a little head bobble for effect.
      "Show me!" Jamie said, trying to spread his rag over
his own hand.
      I tried to lean forward but quickly realized that I
couldn't without hurting myself. "I can't." I said.
      Jamie repositioned himself so that he was sitting on
his legs, "OK, let me try."
      "Just breath normal?" Jamie asked.
      "Get your bubble ready first." I said. He tried, but
most of the air escaped as he tried to gather all the
edges of his rag.
      "Here, use mine." I said, handing him my rag whick was
still under the water.
      "OK - Here goes !" Jamie said, as he stuck his face
under the water. At first I thought he was doing it
wrong, but he stayed under for what seemed like a full
minute or two before pulling his head back out of the
water. "Wow! That really works!" Jamie said, rubbing his
eyes.
      "You OK?" I asked.
      "Yeah, I tried to open my eyes, but I forgot we
already got our hair washed." Jamie said still rubbing
his eyes.
      "Bet that hurt!" I said.
      "Only stung a little. That's why I came up. I think
I could have stayed under longer." Jamie said.
      "I like to pretend like I am some kind of secret
agent and I have to swim through underwater caves to try
to capture the bad guys." I said.
      "Yeah, underwater caves. That's kind of what it was
like; I couldn't hear anything except when you moved
against the tub, and there was another sound too, but I
don't know what it was." Jamie said.
      "What'd it sound like?" I asked.
      "I don't know. Here, let me try again." Jamie said
excitedly.
      He tried to capture the air in his rag again, but
still couldn't get it right. I ended up doing it for him,
and passing it to him under the water again. Jamie
submerged, and was under a really long time. I wished I
had a watch to time him. He came back up, wiped the water
from his face, and said; "Sounds like talking fish!"
      I laughed, "OK then! Talking fish? I think you were
under the water too long!"
      Jamie laughed too.
      "You can't get your head under at all?" Jamie asked
ringing out the rag and wiping off his face with it.
      "I can't hardly move my upper body since Dad put all
this extra tape on me and I don't want to hurt myself."
The fear of hurting myself was evident in my voice.
      "What if you didn't bend, but just laid backwards? I
can help you. All you need is your ears under the water."
Jamie said.
      Without my acceptance of the idea Jamie said, "Here,
put this foot..." He took hold of my left foot, "and put it
beside me here, and put your other ..." He took hold of
my right foot next, and slid it on his other side. I held
onto the edges of the tub to keep from going under or
getting hurt.
      "There, how is that?" Jamie asked. I just nodded.
      "OK, give me your hands." I did, but a little
apprehensively.
      "OK, now slide you butt closer to me and let your
legs bend." Jamie instructed, and I did as he said until
I was within a foot of his face. Jamie had reached up
higher on my arms to help support me, "OK, now you just
lay back like when you are lying in your bed and I will
keep you from going all the way under, OK?" Jamie said.
      "You aren't going to do anything mean like try to
drown me are you?" I asked, and Jamie looked hurt that I
even thought of something like that. Without his answer I
said, "OK."
      He lowered me back into the water, and stopped when
my ears were completely submerged. I listened, and I
could hear what he'd thought was talking fish. I had to
admit that it was an accurate description. Since my face
was not under water, I still had my eyes open and could
speak. "Sure sounds like fish." I said, and I saw Jamie's
lips move though I couldn't hear a word he said.
      "What?" I responded back.
      He pulled my head and shoulders back out of the water.
      "I said don't yell!" Jamie repeated.
      "Oh, was I yelling?" I asked.
      "Yeah, just talk normal." Jamie said. "So what is
that?" He asked.
      "Must be talking fish." I said before saying; "Put
me back under so I can listen again." He did just that,
being sure to keep my face out of the water. As I
continued to listen to the odd fish language, there was a
low heavy rumbling sound. "Whoa! What was that?" I asked.
Jamie pulled me completely out of the water so that I was
again only a few inches from his face. He was snickering
kind of hard as he wrapped his arms around behind me to
hold me up. I too, wrapped my arms around him for
support, and I'm sure had anyone saw us they would have
thought we were hugging each other loosely.
      "Sorry!" Jamie continued to snicker.
      "What was it?" I asked again.
      "I secreted odiferous emanations!" Jamie said,
blushing slightly as he laughed.
      "You did what?" I asked, not understanding what he
said through his giggles.
      "I farted!" Jamie snickered hard. I couldn't help
but laugh too.
      Once we had reined in our laughter, Jamie asked;
"You want to go under again?"
      "Sure!" I said letting go of Jamie as he lowered me
back into the water, but this time, for some reason, my
bottom slipped in the tub and slid toward Jamie until my
butt collided with his boyhood. Jamie had maintained a
firm grip on me so that my head didn't go under the water
and he didn't let me get hurt either. He pulled on my
arms to get me back up, but it was more difficult since I
was so much closer to him now, and the fact that the two
of us were giggling madly.
      Once Jamie had me sitting up again, we were in full
embrace, ear-to-ear, chest-to-chest, and our arms wrapped
around each other. I repositioned my feet against the
back of the tub and pushed away slowly. Jamie slowly
released his embrace and held on to my arms until I was
again sitting on my side of the tub.
      We were still giggling, "What happened?" Jamie
asked.
      "I slipped!" I said, sliding my legs back out from
beside him, so that I was sitting Indian style again.
      My eyes happened to fall toward Jamie's boyhood
parts and I saw that under the slightly soapy water he had
a raging hard penis. He saw me looking, and I think for the
first time, he realized it too. He turned red, then violet
and finally a deep shade of purple. I knew I needed to say
something and fast. "Don't worry about that. I get those all
the time too!" It was the right thing to say as I watched
the purple fade from his face.
      That pretty much ended our fun. The two of us
finished washing our bodies, and then Jamie stood up to
get out of the tub. "Hey, don't leave me in here!" I
begged.
      He'd had one foot already out of the tub when he
pulled it back in, bent down, and helped me get to my
feet. I had to continue to hold on to him as I climbed
from the tub. Once out, I held the sink for extra support
until he got out. He picked up one of the towels, and
without me asking, started to help me dry off my legs
while he continued to drip on the floor. He finally
handed me the towel, still not saying anything at all,
and picked up his own towel to dry himself.
      I dried myself off the rest of the way before I
wrapped the towel around my waist, and tucked it into
itself so that it would stay. Jamie did the same thing
after he'd seen me do it, and for half a second, I saw
that he again was sporting another stiffy, but I did my
best not to let him see that I saw it. Even as small as
he was, it was apparent from the small tent in the front
of his towel what was hiding beneath it.
      The two of us left the bathroom just as it was, and
I again walked behind Jamie while holding on to his
shoulders. As we crossed the hall from Mom and Dad's room
to our own, we heard the sound of several people talking
in the main part of the house. We hurried into our room
and closed the door so as not to be seen by anyone.
      "You know, I bet that is what we were hearing!" I
said making sure the door was latched.
      "Huh?" Jamie said, turning around. I made it a point
not to look down at this towel.
      "Under the water! I bet we were hearing those people
talking!" I clarified.
      "Then why couldn't we hear them when we weren't
under the water?" Jamie asked, running both of his hands
through his damp hair.
      "Maybe the water amplified the sound, but it got
sort of garbled in the water so we couldn't tell what was
being said." I offered, imitating Jamie by running my
hands through my own hair.
      "Hey!" I exclaimed.
      "What?" Jamie asked, freezing like he thought he'd
done something wrong.
      "Look!" I said, even though he was already looking
right at me.
      "What?" He asked again.
      "I got my arms up and it don't hurt! Not even a
little bit!" I joyfully exclaimed.
      "Well, maybe you shouldn't do it even if you can!"
Jamie said sounding concerned again.
      I put my arms back down slowly and paid particular
attention to see if I felt any pain at all, but not even
a twinge could be felt.
      Jamie picked up his bag, set it on his bed, and
started to go through it. I went over to my bed and tried
to sit down on my own just as I had done the night
before. I did, and though I didn't hurt myself, Jamie got
upset with me, "Simon! Please don't do that! I can help!
I'm here!" I wasn't sure if he was more scared that I
would hurt myself, or that he'd get into trouble for not
helping me.
      "OK! Don't have a cow!" I said, and he threw a pair
of balled-up socks at me, but missed me by a mile.
      I suddenly got the urge to pee. "Oh no!" I said
clamping my hands over the towel and grabbing myself in
an effort to keep from wetting myself. I'd gotten so used
to wearing diapers all day long for the last few days,
that the second the urge came on, I felt myself almost
going right then and there.
      Jamie had just removed his own towel before turning
back and seeing me sitting on my bed clutching at my
boyhood. "What?" He asked, puzzled.
      "I-I got to pee!" I said desperately.
      He understood my situation right away, "Can you make
it to the bathroom?" He asked.
      "I-I don't think so!" I said squeezing my legs
together.
      "OK! Hang on!" He said going to my dresser and
pulling out a pair of my GoodNites. He came over knelt
down in front of me and said, "Lift your feet!"
      I did as he said though with great difficulty. He
then stood up, reached under my arms and helped me up
before kneeling again and pulling the GoodNite up to just
above my knees.
      "I got to take off the towel now." He said. I moved
my hands and he quickly disposed of the towel before
pulling the GoodNite into place just as I started to pee.
Several drops came out before he had them all the way up,
and he used my towel to catch those. The second I had
stopped peeing, the embarrassment set in and I felt the
blood rushing to my head.
      Jamie had been kneeling directly in front of me when
I started wetting, and remained there watching me wet
myself until I was done. I felt a lump form in my throat,
and I felt frozen, unable to move or say anything.
      Jamie finally looked up at me and asked, "You done?"
However, when he saw my face, his eyes seemed to change.
Without saying anything else he reach up, took hold of
either side of the GoodNite and pulled it back down to my
ankles. He picked up the towel again, hesitated for a
second, and then wiped my diaper area dry again.
      I felt him pat the side of my left calf before
saying; "Come on, lift your leg." I did so, and then the
other. He walked the now wet GoodNite over, and dropped
it into the can by the door before coming back over to
me. I was still frozen and struggling to breath.
      "Simon?" Jamie called my name softly and
concernedly.
      I looked at him, but couldn't speak. "You want to
sit down again?" He asked.
      I managed to nod my head, and he helped me sit down
on my bed again. He then sat down next to me, still
completely naked, just as I was. After several seconds of
total silence between us Jamie finally spoke, "I'll make
you a deal!"
      I looked over at him, but still couldn't bring
myself to talk.
      "I don't think I can totally stop teasing you," He
paused before continuing. "But I promise I won't ever do
it in front of anyone else, and I will never tell anyone
either."
      He must have sensed the question that was on my mind
because he said next; "But only if we do the, I mean
really do the blood brother thing."
      I found my voice finally, though it was shaky and
frog-like, "You mean like using glasses?" I made a
revolting face as I said it.
      Jamie shrugged his shoulders before shaking his head
once, "Nah, I got a better idea, I mean if you trust me
that is."
      "What a set up!" I thought to myself.
      The two of us heard the voices in the other part of
the house get loud for a moment, but it didn't sound like
Mom or Dad and neither of us know what was said.
      "Can we do it later?" I asked.
      "Yeah, actually we'll do it tonight." Jamie said,
putting a hand on my leg, "After everyone's in bed."
      "Should I bring candles and a wooden stake?" I
managed to joke. Jamie didn't laugh.
      The voices in the other part of the house got loud
again and then went quiet. Jamie and I froze as we
strained to hear anything more, but there was just
silence now.
      "What do you think that was all about?" Jamie asked,
while looking at our closed door. I didn't answer because
the only answer that came to mind was sarcastic.
      Jamie went to get dressed again, but when he saw he
didn't have any more underwear in his bag he said, "I
must have only brought the one pair."
      "You can barrow a pair of mine." I said pointing to
my dresser. He wrinkled up his nose at this idea, but
soon gave in. He went to my dresser, found a pair of
white briefs, and slipped them on before finishing
getting dressed.
      "You want me to go get your Mom now?" Jamie asked,
as he tucked the front of his shirt into his pants.
      I thought for a minute about just getting dressed
wearing GoodNites. But having seen how much I wet the one
just a few minutes ago, it was obvious that a GoodNite
wouldn't be much protection for very long. I nodded to
Jamie who opened our door and left. A moment later Mom
came in looking very upset. Without saying a word to me,
she went to my dresser, got out one of the disposable
diapers, and started back over to me.
      I was about to ask her what was the matter when she
said, "Oh the cream!" and walked out of the room. I
called after her. "Mom, my eye is fine now! I don't need
that smelly stuff no more!" She either didn't hear me, or
chose to ignore me.
      She came back in, still carrying the diaper in one
hand, and a small white plastic bag that said Med-Mart on
the side of it. I finally figured out that she'd not gone
after the eye cream medicine, but something else. Then I
remembered her saying that she thought I was getting a
diaper rash from wetting myself so much. The bag she was
carrying was small, but when she pulled out the box that
was in it, I read the words; "Desitin Cream" on the side,
and the box suddenly looked almost as big as a car!
      I didn't flip out about the diaper cream; ok maybe
a tiny bit. Actually, I was expecting something like that.
Maybe not in the front of my mind, but surely in the back
of it. What had me so excited was the fact that standing
there in the doorway was my Mary! Her eyes were as round
as monster truck tires, and her mouth was hanging wide
open. Apparently, Mary had followed Mom down the hallway
without Mom being aware of it. Heck, I didn't even know
Mary was in our house. I blinked, thinking maybe I was
just seeing things, but she didn't vanish. I closed my
eyes tightly and wished. "Disappear!" When I opened my
eyes again, she was gone.
      Mom looked up right at that second, "What's the
matter? It's only to help with your rash!" She said, not
realizing what had just happened.
      I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I
could hear my brain yelling at my mouth to let the words
out, but not even a squeak escaped. Mom put a hand on my
naked knee, "Simon, what's the matter?" She followed my
eyes to the door, but saw nothing.
      "M-M-M-Mary?" I was finally able to say.
      "Yes, she's here! I was just about to tell you she
came to visit you." Mom said, sounding like she still
didn't' know what I was so alarmed about.
      "Sh-Sh-She w-w-w" I stuttered as bad as I used to as
a young child.
      Mom blew in my face hard, and then twice more
softly, "Stop! Just stop!"
      I closed my mouth, took in a deep breath through my
nose, and then opened my mouth again. "M-Mary was there!"
I said, pointing at my bedroom door.
      "What?" Mom said, standing up, going to the door,
and looking down the hallway. She then closed the door
and came back over to me. She was kneeling right in front
of me. "I doubt she saw anything, honey." Mom said, and I
could tell she didn't believe it anymore than I did.
      I closed my eyes and wished harder than I had ever
wished in my life to become invisible.
      "Come on, let's get you dressed!" Mom said. I didn't
reopen my eyes until she had my diapers, pants, socks and
shoes on, and was trying to sit me up again.
      "Simon?" Mom said my name to draw me back out of
myself. I looked right into her eyes, but I felt like I
was so very far away from her, the house, and everything
and everyone.
      "Simon!" Mom said stronger, and suddenly I was back
in my room.
      "We need to get your shirt on you and then ..."
She didn't finish her sentence. I lifted my arms as high
as I could without hurting myself, but it didn't really
matter, because I was slipping away again in my mind and
wouldn't have felt anything anyway.
      "OUCH!" I said reaching up and rubbed my cheek. Mom
had pinched my left cheek pretty darn hard. It had the
intended effect Mom had wanted. I was back in my body
again.
      "Listen to me!" She took hold of both of my hands.
"Something happened last night." She paused, licked her
lips and then said, "Those boys; Tato and the rest."
      "Tater" I corrected her.
      "Yes. Well they were arrested last night. Apparently
they have been the ones robbing all those mini-mart
stores." Mom was rubbing my hands with her thumbs like my
hands were worry stones. She was rubbing them so hard I
thought she was going to rub my skin completely off.
      "Mom, you're hurting me." I whimpered, not pulling my
hands away. She let go and held on to my knees instead.
      "Simon, one of the boys was hurt. He's in the
hospital right now." Mom said. She had a funny look in
her eyes that I'd not seen before.
      "Hurt? Who?" I asked.
      "I think they call him Rump?" Mom said.
      For a split second I almost giggled at mom's slight
misspelling of his nickname but then the realization that
Runt had been hurt hit me like a train wreck.
      "Runt?" it came out barely audibly and when mom didn't
react at all to my correction I knew she'd not heard me.
      Mom spoke soft and slow, "Honey, he had a gun and
tried to kill a police officer."
      My eyes grew wide and all thoughts of Mary left my
head for the time being. "I-I-Is he OK? He's not dead is
he?" I asked, as fear filled my voice. My eyes drifted to
the Bible where I'd stashed my share of the stolen money.
      "No baby, he's in a coma." Mom rubbed both of my
legs nervously. "The doctors are doing everything they
can to help ..."
      I interrupted her. "What about Tater, Bull, and Two-
toes?" I asked quickly; it came out stronger than I meant
for it to.
      Mom rubbed my thighs harder. "They are OK, but they
are under arrest right now."
      "Jail?" I asked, and before she could answer I asked
another question; "Was the police officer shot?" It was
like the questions were falling out of my brain and
tumbling out my mouth randomly.
      "She's OK. She was only hit in the arm." Mom said.
      "She?" I asked softly, already guessing who it was
that Runt had shot. Mom just nodded to let me know I'd
guessed right.
      I couldn't take anymore, I fell forward onto her
neck and wept hard. It was quite awhile before I could
stop crying, and when I did, pulling my head back, Jamie
was back in the room. I'd not heard him open the door or
anything. He was standing beside Mom looking as bad as I
felt.
      That voice, the one that lives in the back of my
mind, kept telling me that I needed to drop all defenses
and tell everything I knew to Mom, but for some reason I
couldn't. I kept looking at Jamie, and without saying
anything, we both knew what each other was thinking.
      "Can we go to the hospital to see her and maybe
Runt, too?" I asked.
      Mom didn't answer at first. She just looked at me
and wiped my face dry with her fingers. "Maybe we can
go see her, but I don't think it's a good idea to try to
see him." Sensing my disappointment, she added; "Maybe we
can go up and see your friends from when you were in the
hospital."
      That was the right thing to say, and I perked up
pretty quickly. Without my seeing him, Jamie had gone to
my dresser and pulled out a hanky for me to use, and had
brought it back over to me.
      "Thanks" I said, taking the handkerchief from him.
      I wiped at my eyes and blew my nose, and as a joke,
tried to hand it back to Jamie. To my surprise, he took
it with only two fingers, carried it over, and dropped it
into the hamper.
      Mom watched him do this, and then she looked at me,
raised her eyebrows knowingly to show she was as
surprised as I had been. she then patted the side of my
diapered butt. "You ready to go out and see Mary now?"
Mom asked.
      For those few minutes Mary had totally been flushed
from my mind, but now my embarrassment returned ten-fold.
Jamie saw me flushing red again and said; "It's cool! I
pulled her away and explained to her that although you
are home from the hospital, you are still messed up and
still need a lot of help with stuff. She totally
understands and is really worried that she might have
upset you.
      As Jamie was saying this, Mom was looking at him in
disbelief, and Jamie could tell too. He put his hands on
his hips and said; "What?"
      "When did you get to be so grown up?" Mom asked in a
silly voice. Jamie looked proud as he smiled.
      I looked at Mom, "Why is she here? I mean, with
everything that has happened?" I asked.
      Jamie answered first. "Her dad is the cop that's out
there right now. She said she asked him to bring her
along 'cause she's your friend."
      Mom gave Jamie that same look, and again he put his
hands back on his hips and said even funnier; "What?"
      "She wants you to sign her new cast!" Jamie added as
Mom stood back up.
      "Come on!" Mom said, helping me to my feet.
      "Can I help him to the living room?" Jamie asked.
      "Sure, just be careful." Mom said, kissing Jamie on
top of his head before leaving us.
      Jamie assumed his position in front of me, I took
hold of his shoulders, and was ready to go, but he
wiggled and was picking at his butt. "You're underwear
keep giving me a wedgie!" Jamie said, which made me
laugh.
      "Stop making me laugh and let's go!" I said, lifting
my knee up and catching him in the rear cheek.
      "Left-Right-Left-Right" Jamie chanted as we made our
way out of our room and down the hall to the living room
where Mary, a cop I assumed was her dad, my Dad and Mom,
and Mr. Freeman, my principle, and his wife, Nurse Gabby,
were all sitting, trying to look happy to see me. Yet,
they were also looking solemn due to the recent events.
      Mary looked embarrassed at first, but after a few
minutes, she loosed up once I told her it was no big
deal, even though inside I was still dieing, knowing she
saw me naked and saw Mom getting ready to diaper me. And
yet seeing her sitting there, I couldn't help but be
hypnotized by her beauty. She's slim and has a small
found face with a pointed chin and freckles over the
bridge of her nose. Her hair reminds me of a spring
morning and I noticed right away that she'd had it cut
since I last saw her. She was wearing it short now with
bangs. Her eyes - I could get lost in them for a lifetime
and when she smiles, a little dimple appears in her right
cheek but not the left. BJ says she looks like a cat but
she's my idea of an angel.
      It had taken me what seemed like an eternity to
pluck up the courage to walk over and sit down next to
her and I knew that when Jamie and I sat down on the
couch next to her, she had heard the sound of my diaper
beneath my pants.
      I found out that Mr. Freeman and nurse Gabby had
come over with Officer Tucker, Mary's dad, because they
were concerned for me since I'd become such close friends
with Tater, Bull, Runt and Two-toes in the last couple of
weeks.
      "How is Jasper and Mike taking it?" I asked Officer
Tucker.
      "I've not seen either of them or there families.
Officer Mecums, ah, Yolanda, asked that I be the one to
come see you." Officer Tucker said.
      "Is she OK?" I asked, and he knew I was asking about
officer Mecums.
      "Oh yes, she is just fine. She should be out of the
hospital in a day or so." He said.
      "And ..." I paused before I could finish, "Runt?"
      "He's not doing so well, but the doctors are doing
everything they can for him." Officer Tucker said, and
Mary took hold of my hand to comfort me. Instead of
comfort, I felt hot and like I had a cat stuck in my
throat. I tried really hard to keep my hand from
trembling at her touch and hoped she'd think I was
trembling over all the stuff that had happened and not
because she was touching me.
      "Do you think it will be okay to go see Officer
Mecums in the hospital today?" I managed to ask, after
dislodging the cat from my throat with a hard swallow.
      Officer Tucker looked at my parents for
confirmation, they both nodded. "Yes, I think she would
like that a lot, Simon. She talks about you quite a bit,
I think she might have a crush on you!" He teased. That
didn't help me at all, since I had Mary sitting right
beside me, holding my now sweating hand.
      "Simon?" Mr. Freeman addressed me and I looked to
him.
      "I wanted you to know that I'm going to do
everything in my power to see that Tate, John, and
Trevor, get sent to Pine Valley Military Academy, where
they can get help and counseling." Mr. Freeman said.
      Officer Tucker added; "Yes, and Yolanda is going to
help in that regard too. I think with her testimony, we
shouldn't have a problem keeping them out of prison."
      "What about the people they killed?" I asked, and
knew in a second I'd exposed that I knew more than
everyone thought I knew.
      Jamie again came to my rescue. "Sorry, I probably
shouldn't have told him about that, huh?" He said to Dad,
but everyone heard it, and I made a mental note that I
was going to really owe him big-time.
      "From what we've found out from the other boys..."
there was a pause, almost like he was having second
thoughts about what he was about to say, but then went
on"; we believe Reggie was the shooter during that
robbery as well." Officer Tucker said, looking at Mr.
Freeman as he said it.
      "How did you guys catch them?" Jamie asked, and I
wanted to reach over and punch him in the face.
      Officer Tucker answered, "Actually we had a tip off,
it was the first break in the case we've had in sometime.
After that it was luck. The boy's car was spotted, by
Officer Mecums, pulling into a Kwik-E-Mart. Four and a
half minutes later, it was all over."
      "What kind of tip off?" Jamie continued to probe. I
made a second mental note that I'd have to kill him later.
      "Someone made an anonymous call to 911 emergency
last night." Officer Tucker said and I caught a look from
Mr. Freeman that told me that he knew more about that
than was good for my health.
      After a couple more minutes of idle talk, everyone
got up to leave, but not before I had a chance to talk
with Mary alone. Even Jamie left the two of us to talk
for a minute.
      "Coming to my party tomorrow?" I asked.
      "You still having it?" She asked.
      "Yeah, it's sort of special." I said, "I only get
to have my birthday party on my real birthday once every
four years." I told her. She gave me a funny look. "I was
born on a leap-year day, February 29." I explained.
      Mary smiled wide, "Oh! I didn't even realize! So
that means you really are only going to be ...?" She
paused to count on her fingers and for the first time
today, I noticed her cast.
      "Yeah, I'm going to be three!" I said with a smile,
and Mary laughed.
      I ran my fingers over her cast, "I'm really sorry
they did that to you!" I said softly.
      "Yeah, well I probably shouldn't have called them
names." She said, and though I'd not heard that side of
the story, I chose not to pursue it just then.
      "Well, it still stinks." I said, "Doesn't hurt, does
it?" I asked.
      "Not too much." She said and then added, "Itches like
crazy sometimes though."
      "Want to sign it?" She asked.
      "Yeah, but I think your Dad's ready to go. Can I
sign it tomorrow at the party?" I asked.
      "Yeah, sure!" She said with a smile, and with no
warning at all, she leaned forward and kissed me ever so
gently on my cheek.
      "See you tomorrow!" I said as she got up, slipped
her coat on, and walked out the front door.
      A second later Jamie was back in the room and looked
like he was about ready to bust. "Say a single word and
I'll feed you to the dog!" I said.
      "You don't have a dog!" Jamie said.
      "I'll get one!" I said back, "A really big one!"
      Jamie came over and sat down on the couch next to
me. I let fly a backhand that nailed him partly on the
chest and partly on his bicep. It wasn't very hard, but
it had the intended effect of getting his attention.
      "What was that for?" Jamie complained.
      "What kind of tip off?" I said repeating Jamie's
earlier question, but adding my own sarcastic and
accusing tone to it.
      "What was wrong with that?" He complained, still
rubbing himself where I had hit him.
      "Oh, cut it out! I didn't hit you that hard!" I
said, brushing his hand away from the spot.
      "So you really like her?" Jamie asked.
      "I'm warning you!" I said to him, and he covered his
chest with his arms so I couldn't hit him there again.
Jamie just snickered.
      Mom and Dad came back after seeing everyone off.
"You OK sweetheart?" Mom asked me.
      "Huh? Oh Yeah! I'm fine!" I said without really
thinking.
      "Can we go now?" I asked raising my hand, to which
Jamie flinched thinking I was going to hit him again.
      "What you so jumpy about?" I asked Jamie with a
laugh.
      "What? Me jumpy? Never!" He joked back.
      "Think you will be OK riding in a car?" Dad asked.
      Before I answered Jamie leaned over and whispered
into my ear; "Maybe we can get you a pacifier to keep you
calm."
      "Um Dad? Can you and Mom turn around a minute
please?" I asked as nice as I could.
      "No!" Dad said with a smile, "You can hit him later!"
      "Jamie! Stop teasing your brother or I'll make you
mow the lawn this afternoon!" Dad assed, which was really
funny seeing how it is the end of February and everything
is covered in snow.
      "What'd I say?" Jamie tried to play it off. Dad
waggled a finger at Jamie, but didn't say anything else.
      Mom had gone to the back of the house and came back
out in a different outfit. "Wow, that was fast!" Jamie
said, "Takes my Mom over a hour just to pick out a pair
of shoes!"
      "What about lunch?" Mom asked on her way through to
the kitchen.
      "Why don't we stop at that new place up across from
the theater? I hear they are really good." Dad said, and
I finally realized that both Mom and Dad were trying hard
to distract us from all the emotions and events of the
morning, but they had no idea that Jamie and I both knew
a lot more then they gave us credit for.
      "What place?" Jamie asked. I moved my arm again and
he flinched again.
      "Will you calm down?" I said, running my fingers
through my still slightly damp hair.
      "Do you remember the name of that place dear?" Dad
asked Mom, who was now in the kitchen.
      "I don't even know what place you are talking about
dear!" Mom said back, sounding a tiny bit perturbed.
      It took us a good half hour to get ready. Not
wanting to risk needing to go number two while we were
out, Mom made Dad take me to the hallway bathroom where he
helped me get my pants and diaper down around my ankles
before sitting me on the toilet. I spent most of the half
hour sitting right there, waiting to go. I couldn't
strain to try and hurry things along due to my ribs, so I
just had to wait for gravity to do its thing. Jamie kept
going by and knocking on the closed door. "Hey BB? You
done in there yet?"
      I didn't find out until we were both in the backseat
of the car on the way to the hospital why he was calling
me BB, and seeing how I would have been busted had I done
anything just then, I made yet another mental note to get
him back for it. Since he knew he couldn't just come
right out and tease me openly by calling me Baby-Brother
he instead chose to call me BB for short, but not
whenever Mom or Dad was around. I was starting to get
used to it since I knew he didn't really mean anything by
it now. Well, not anything mean and malicious, but to
just tease me a little.

      The ride to the hospital took its toll on me. Mom,
Dad, and Jamie all knew it. It was something about the
ride that seemed to shake me up inside and made
everything hurt. A little more than halfway there, Dad
had said he was going to take us back home, but I
protested so adamantly that he changed his mind and
continued on to the hospital. By the time we finally
reached the hospital, I felt like I was going to be sick.
About the only thing that got me through the ride was
that Jamie had taken off his seatbelt and slid over next
to me. He had one arm around behind me and was letting me
squeeze his other hand without complaint.
      I spilled out of the car with both Dad and Mom's
help. I took two steps and threw-up my breakfast all over
the parking lot, my shoes and lower pants legs, and even
Jamie's left shoe, which he complained about very loudly.
Now that I think back to it, it was really kind of funny.
I'm sure Jamie doesn't think so, but I sure do! If the
car ride to the hospital had not been bad enough on my
ribs, vomiting sure was. I ended up having to lay in the
back in the car a good ten minutes before I was able to
go into the hospital. Mom and Dad both kept saying that
they should take me home, but really, once the car
stopped moving and I'd gotten sick, I started to feel
better.
      While I was lying there in the car with my socks
dangling out the door, Mom attempted to clean the legs of
my pants using one of my diapers that she'd brought along
just in case I needed a change. One thing that went
through my mind was the idea of what if I had gone with
Tater and the guys last night? If I got this sore from
just a short drive, what would have happened in Bull's
car?
      When I felt like I was ready to go into the hospital
I told them so. "Ok I feel better now, can we go in?"
      Jamie had just reappeared. I didn't know where he'd
been, but found out that he had been using what was left
of the snow on the ground to clean my shoes as well as
his one shoe.
      "You sure?" Mom asked.
      "Yeah, I'm ok," I said. "I guess all the bumps and
stuff just got to be too much."
      The four of us walked up to the entrance of the
hospital with Jamie serving as my guide and crutch again.
He was still grumbling about me getting puke on his shoe,
but he was doing it in a way that seemed funny.
      When we arrived at the information desk, Dad went up
and found out where Officer Mecums was. He was also able
to find out that Runt was still in intensive care. We had
to take a ride up in the elevator and I was glad it was
short. Mom made some comment about me having motion
sickness and I countered with, "But I never had that
before."
      We reached Officer Mecums' room. Dad told Jamie and
me to sit and wait while he went to see if she was up to
seeing us. Mom went with Dad while Jamie got me seated in
one of the chairs along the wall. Just being back in the
hospital and smelling all the familiar smells was
reminding me of my previous stay.
      "How you feeling?" Jamie asked.
      "Yeah sure," I answered without looking at him.
      "Simon!" Jamie called my name just loud enough to
get my attention.
      I flinched and looked at him this time.
      "I asked how you are feeling and you said, Yeah
sure." Jamie said with a smile.
      "Sorry. I was thinking about Runt and ..." I
didn't finish my thought.
      "And what?" Jamie asked.
      "Nothing," I said, returning to staring at the floor
tiles.
      "It's not your fault you know!" Jamie said, but I
hardly heard him as I disappeared into my thoughts again.
      We sat for only a few more minutes before we saw
Officer Tucker, Mary's Dad, come out of Officer Mecums'
room, along with another man I'd never seen before. I guess
since he was a black man, I just assumed he was Officer
Mecums' husband. I later learned he was her brother. The
two of them were followed by Dad, who waved for Jamie and
me to come over. Jamie assumed his post, and I took hold
of him as the two of us marched down the hallway to her
room. I watched over Jamie's shoulder as Officer Tucker
took the other man down to the far end of the hallway and
disappeared around the corner.
      "Hi baby!" Officer Mecums said so strongly that it
caught me off guard as Jamie and I entered the room.
      I didn't recognize her at first. She didn't have any
makeup on, her hair was kind of ratty and unkempt, and
she wasn't in uniform. I also noticed that she didn't
look as big and ominous lying there in that bed as she
had before. She looked kind of like a boxer that had been
beaten for the first time. I guess I stared a few seconds
too long because Jamie, who I was still hanging onto,
gave a wiggle and whispered; "Say hello, idiot!"
      "Oh, sorry! Hello!" I finally said to her, "H-how
are you feeling?"
      "Oh baby! It was just a scratch!" She lifted the
cuff of the sleeve on the paper gown they had her wearing
to show us the bandage they'd wrapped her in. I remember
thinking how white it looked next to her dark skin. "I'm
going to be out of here and back on the beat before you
can blink as eye!" She said, and though she didn't look
much like my Amazonian Guardian, she still sounded like
her, and that made me feel more at ease; but not much
more.
      We visited with her for several minutes before I
finally asked Mom and Dad; "Would it be okay ..." I
paused, and changed my mind to what I wanted to say, "I
mean, can I talk with Officer Mecums alone for a minute?"
      I'd still been hanging onto Jamie for support while
we'd been talking, but now Dad slid the guest chair over
next to the bed before the three of them left me alone
with her.
      Before I could say anything, she said, "Baby, don't
you be worrying about me! I'm going to be just fine!" But
her reassurance was not what I was looking for just then.
I had made up my mind while sitting and waiting to come
in to see her that I was going to tell her everything I
knew. If I didn't do it now, I never would be able to.
      "It's my fault." I began to confess.
      "What is baby-child?" she asked.
      "That you got shot." I said back.
      "Simon! Look at me!" she commanded. I lifted my chin
to look into her eyes. "I already know it was you that
made the call last night." She was smiling as she said
it, and my eyes nearly fell out of my head.
      "Did you see that police officer that just walked
out of here?" she asked me.
      "Yeah that's Mary's ... I mean that's Officer
Tucker." I corrected myself mid-sentence.
      Her voice softened, "When you called 911, your phone
number was automatically traced and your home address was
listed on their computer. Officer Tucker was just here
telling me so ..." She stopped talking when she saw
that I began to break down.
      I couldn't help myself, and I started to weep
softly. "I'm so very sorry. I should have told someone
the second I knew." I sniffled.
      She lay quiet, and allowed me to completely unburden
myself on her. I told her everything I knew; even about
my suspicions that Tater had abused his younger brother,
Mike. Even as I told her about the night Tater and I had
spent together, I couldn't believe I was doing it. It was
like someone had opened all the doors and windows to my
soul. Anything and everything was flying out my mouth. I
told her about the Steroids the guys had been using and
that's why they had been robbing stores to pay for it;
about my having snuck out of the house to see Jamie;
about my having been there when they robbed that one
store; about the stash of money in my bible; about Jasper
having been the one that printed and posted the pictures
of Peter in the school, and when I had finally completely
unburdened myself, I just sat there in the chair
exhausted and sobbing an ocean of tears that flowed and
splashed onto my shirt and pants.
      I didn't know until later, when Dad told me, that
I'd sat in there confessing to her for over twenty
minutes. It wasn't until I got control of my sobbing that
I realized we were not alone. The hairs on the back of my
neck stood up and a feeling came over me that I was being
watched. When I turned my head to see who was there, I
saw that Dad was standing just inside the door, and I
could tell he'd been there the entire time; or at least
long enough. His face was covered in tears and he was
wiping at his nose with a handkerchief. When our eyes
met, I started to cry harder than I had already been. He
came over behind the chair, leaned forward, and wrapped
his arms around me. We wept together for a good, long,
time. Officer Mecums was weeping too and dabbing at her
eyes with the corner of her sheet.
      "I am so sorry Dad! I am so, so sorry!" I cried into
his arms.
      "I know you are, Simon," he sobbed back.
      After a few more minutes, Officer Tucker returned
without the other man in tow. Officer Mecums told him
everything I'd just told her. I couldn't help noticing
that she left little details out, but I didn't question
her at all about them.
      When all was said and done we left. But not until
after, with Dad's help, I had given Officer Mecums a hug
and a kiss on the cheek.
      With her one uninjured arm, she swatted my backside
hard enough to get my attention, "When I get out of here
you are I are going to have another little talk!" She
sounded like a mom lecturing a child again, and I was the
child.
      Even though I had on my diaper, her swat still
stung. I looked at her and said meekly, "Yes ma'am!" and
wiped my face on my sleeve. She gave me another swat;
"And don't use your shirt! Go get a tissue!"
      I looked over at Dad, longing for him to rescue me,
but it was obvious to me that he was trying to hide a
small smile. I sniffled hard before turning to go. I
wasn't quite out the door when she called, "Simon!" I
stopped dead and turned my head around on my shoulders
like an owl to see her.
      "You're a good boy!" she said, and I saw a tear
trickle down her left cheek.
      Back in the hallway, Mom got alarmed when she saw
that I'd been crying. I looked up at Dad again. He didn't
even have a hint on his face that he'd cried too. Dad
told Mom that he would explain everything later.
      I will also added, that for the rest of the day,
Jamie stayed right by my side as if a short, invisible
rope bound us together.
      I was tired and emotionally drained, but there was
no way I could leave the hospital without seeing my former
hospital roommates.
      "SIMON!" they all screamed and shouted as Jamie led
me into their room, followed by Mom and Dad. They were
all still there. Kyle was lot's better, and was talking
up a storm. He even let Jamie and I touch his stump where
this leg used to be. Cole said he might be getting out of
the hospital in a week, and he showed me that he could
move his arm quite a bit now and was even able to snap
his fingers. Bruce was not looking so hot. The
chemotherapy was taking its toll on him, but I think that
he really perked up when I arrived. Harry still had his
feeding tube in his side, and was probably the liveliest
of the bunch. He kept throwing his pillow into the air
and catching it. Scotty had just had another surgery. He
was wrapped up like a mummy, from his belly button, to
the top of his head, but that didn't stop him from
getting up and moving around. He was moving slower than
ever, but he was so full of life. Mark looked about the
same as he did the last time I saw him. Maybe a tiny bit
skinnier, but he looked healthy. The eight of us boys,
Jamie included, took right back up, as if we'd not been
apart for several days. There was no talk about Tater and
the guys; they didn't know about that. Mom and Dad had
left us alone to talk and to spend some time together,
staying just outside in the hallway.
      Nurse Bridget came in to see me. She gave me a big
hug, but was still careful not to hurt me. She even
kissed my cheek which made me blush big time. The guys
all teased me about that. Heck, the only ones that were
missing were Jasper and nurse Gabby, but I'd seen her
earlier in the day, back at home. They guys all asked me
how Jasper was and I told them I'd not seen him, but had
talked to him once on the phone, and that I thought he
was doing really well.
      I didn't get to stay very long; only about fifteen
minutes, but it was so good to see the guys. None of them
wanted me to leave. I did promise to come back and see
them again soon, and as we were leaving, Cole followed us
out into the hallway, leaving the others still chatting
away. My short visit had sure stirred them all up.
      "Hey Simon?" Cole called after us. We stopped and he
waked up to us. "Um, I don't know if anyone told you or
not. Well, I'm not even supposed to know, but I ... uh
it's Mark." Cole's voice faded off there at the end.
      "He's not doing so good!" Cole was able to say, but
his voice broke.
      I had my arms draped over Jamie's shoulders and
hanging down in front of him for support and Jamie was
holding onto each of my wrists. I was really tired, and
just wanted to find somewhere to lie down. Then it hit me
what Cole was saying. I felt a hand on my back and looked
to see Mom standing beside me with tear filled eyes.
      "Is he? I mean Mark didn't look that bad? Heck Bruce
looks worst with his chemotherapy then Mark!" I was
pleading for Cole to tell me Mark wasn't going to die.
Cole couldn't answer but just shook his head.
      "Oh!" Mom said, putting a hand to her mouth as she
started to cry.
      "Well, I just thought you should know. Don't wait
too long to come back, OK?" Cole said, extending his once
nearly useless arm to me. I took his hand and shook it,
being very careful not to hurt him at all.
      "Th-thanks Cole and g-good luck on g-g-getting out
of here!" I managed to say, though with great difficulty.
      I couldn't make it back to the car, even with
Jamie's aid. Dad picked me up and was holding me to his
chest as though I were a small child. I'm not big like
Tater and Bull, but I know I must get heavy none-the-
less.
      Back in the car, I laid down in the backseat with my
head in Mom's lap. Jamie had climbed into the front seat
with Dad, and I fell asleep before we had pulled out of
our parking space.
      I slept the whole trip home and only woke up when
Dad was trying to get me out of the car. I was so tired
that I couldn't walk. Dad, knowing this, picked me up in
his arms again, and carried me into the house and put me
to bed.
      I woke up about an hour later to find myself lying
on my bed, completely naked. At first, I couldn't figure
out why I was naked, but then I saw Mom at my dresser
pulling out a cloth diaper and plastic pants. I closed my
eyes again and pretended to still be asleep. I was sure
that Dad had told her everything by now, and I wasn't
ready to face the music just yet.
      I nearly gave away that I was awake when Mom started
to apply the diaper cream to my diaper area. I felt a
small tingle in my diaper area, and that was all the
warning I needed. I started thinking about anything and
everything I could that was horrible. I envisioned Runt
lying on the pavement after being shot, Tater, and the
others locked in a cell somewhere, and Peter and his
goons trapped at that military school. It worked, and I
was able to keep myself from getting an erection. When I
was tucked back under my covers and I was sure Mom had
gone, I opened my eyes again only to find I wasn't alone.
Jamie was sitting on his bed reading something. I had to
squint to see, and then I realized it was the porn
magazine. He must have retrieved it while I was sleeping,
and without me knowing he'd done it.
      "Jamie?" I whispered.
      "Hey! You're up!" Jamie said, sounding glad.
      "Yeah, so what's going on?" I asked, and Jamie knew
what I was asking.
      "Well your Mom and Dad talked for a long time. I
wasn't allowed to listen, but I did anyway." Jamie said,
and I didn't like the idea that he probably knew
everything now, even about the sex.
      I swallowed, "And?"
      "Well, then your Mom came in and changed your
diaper, 'cause you were really wet when we got home."
Jamie said, and I found it odd that he knew the condition
of my diaper and I hadn't.
      "So ... you know everything now?" I asked nervously.
      "Yep!" he said, very confidently, giving his head a
small jerk that smacked of smugness.
      I shuddered, and my stomach gave a loud growl.
      "Whoa, was that your stomach?" Jamie asked with a
grin.
      "Yeah." I answered, while rubbing my belly. Since
I'd lost my breakfast earlier, and it was now after
lunchtime, I was pretty darn hungry.
      Jamie let out a really big sigh, "Ok, I got a
confession to make too." I couldn't possibly guess what
Jamie might have to confess other than taking back his
magazine, but I listened.
      He took a deep breath, and in one quick exhale,
managed to say, "I have been reading your journal
notebook for years and I am very sorry please don't hate
me!"
      It took several seconds for it to sink in; what he'd
just said. He'd rattled it off so fast that I had to slow
it down and replay it in my mind. Jamie was sitting
across the room on his bed, completely frozen, and still
waiting for me to explode and I did want to explode. Boy,
did I want to explode! I was so angry with him, that I
was seeing red. I sucked in my bottom lip, and chomped
down on it so hard, that I could taste my own blood. Then
I remembered ... "Blood brothers." I said, but only
loud enough for me to hear.
      "What?" Jamie asked when he heard me mutter
something that he couldn't hear.
      "Nothing!" I said to him.
      I didn't talk to Jamie for several hours after that.
He stayed on his bed the entire time. Sometimes he was
reading a comic book, sometimes reading the porno, and
sometimes he just sat staring at me.
      Mom had come in with a tray of lunch for me. She'd
asked if I was feeling better and I told her I was. I
didn't try to make small talk with her right then. I was
too scared that the punishment that I knew was coming
would come sooner, rather than later. Mom left me to eat
my grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup, and when I
was done, I went back to staring at the ceiling and
thinking. I don't even remember Mom coming back in to
take the tray away.

      Eventually Jamie spoke up again, "Are you ever going
to talk to me again?"
      "I haven't decided yet." Was my answer, which was
true, and it seemed to placate him for the time being. I
guess he took some comfort in the fact that I'd not
erupted on him; at least not yet and that I was still
thinking.
      I wanted so desperately not to reignite the war that
had lived between the two of us for as long as we both
could remember. Our cease-fire was so young and
vulnerable that I was scared to do or say anything
without devoting a great deal of thought to it first.
      On the other hand, I was feeling betrayed, violated
even. My deepest, most precious and at times, darkest
thoughts were written within the pages of my notebook.
I'd always assumed that everyone, Jamie included, knew
that it was something that was not to be touched. Still,
whenever Jamie was over I wouldn't just leave it laying
around for him to casually pick up. Having someone inside
my thoughts, my mind, my very being, was at the least,
unnerving and at the most, mental rape.
      When Dad came in to ask if I wanted to have dinner
in bed again tonight, I answered with, "I want to eat
with everyone." He helped me out of bed and instead of
using Jamie as my crutch this time, I used Dad's arm,
even though I didn't really need to. I was feeling well
enough now, but I liked the feeling of leaning on, and
holding on to someone.
      Dinner was very awkward. Though I'd felt rested and
well enough to join the family at the table, I didn't
enjoy it. The atmosphere was heavy and strained. Everyone
tried to make small talk, but every conversation that was
started soon fizzled out again.
      It was Jamie that turned things around at the table,
and maybe a little within my mind and heart as well.
Mom's mashed potatoes had come out thicker than they
normally did. Actually, they could have been used as
mortar for building a castle wall, but none of us were
about to say anything disapproving to her.
      Jamie had been trying to scoop out a fork full of
potatoes from his plate and wasn't really paying
attention to what he was doing. I've no idea why I was
watching him eat, but I was just then, and when his fork
didn't come out of his potatoes easily he applied more
force. Instead of coming out with a fork full of mashed
spuds, the entire mound came off his plate, flew through
the air, and landed directly on Dad's shirt!
      No one laughed; no one breathed. We sat, stunned
into silence, waiting to see what Dad was going to say or
do. Dad quietly laid his fork on his plate, pulled his
napkin from his lap, and began wiping the potatoes from
his shirt. It was maybe ten or fifteen seconds before
Dad's entire body started to shake, then quake. He lifted
his head and the three of us, Jamie, Mom, and I, saw that
he was having a hysterical fit of laughter. Mom started
laughing into her napkin, Jamie had his face buried in
his hands, and I was slowly falling out of my chair
seeing as how I was laughing so hard.
      The stresses of the day had stretched us all to our
breaking points, and this one small accident by Jamie was
the one thing we all needed to be able to release our
nervous energies. Jamie kept trying to speak, but he just
couldn't stop laughing. Dad had leaned forward twice and
gave Jamie a jovial whack to the back of his head, which
just made it harder for Jamie to stop laughing. I was
laughing so hard that I'd wrapped my arms around my chest
to cradle my ribs as I flooded my diaper. Man, was I glad
to have been wearing one just then.
      The mood at the table was so much better after that,
and when everyone, for the most part, had stopped
laughing (though there were occasional bouts of giggles
by each of us) Jamie brought up the subject of my
birthday party tomorrow.
      Honestly, even though this year was an important
year to me, so much had been happening that the idea of
the party had not really sunk in like I expected it
should have. Also, one of the things I had been thinking
about earlier, while I was lying on my bed, was that
given the events of the day today, Mom and Dad would
probably cancel my birthday altogether. However, when Mom
started telling us everything she'd done to prepare for
tomorrow's party, I knew she'd never cancel it, and I
started to get really excited.
      Jamie looked across the table, smiling and said,
"Tell them about your birthday dream!" He'd said it
before he had realized that my dream was not something I
had told him about, but was something he'd read in my
journal writings. His eyes went wide as the revelation of
what he'd just said hit him.
      Now I could have reacted several different ways,
almost all of which would not have been good at all, but
I guess I'd made my decision about Jamie's incursion into
my confidential thoughts and I decided to forgive him and
let him off the hook.
      I swallowed my mouth full of food before I said,
"Okay!" and then proceeded to tell Mom and Dad about how
I had dreamt about Mr. Freeman coming to my birthday
party dressed as a clown and about everyone that came,
including the boys from the hospital. I did however, keep
the end of my dream, about Peter shooting and killing
everyone, to myself. Jamie gave me a knowing glance
across the table. I returned his gaze and he knew I
didn't want to share the rest.
      Dad laughed with a mouthful of food, slammed his
hand on the table, and announced, "I'd pay good money to
see Andy Freeman dressed as a clown."
      I laughed too.
      We finished dinner and instead of Jamie and I
disappearing back to our room, we started helping Mom
clear the table without being asked. Even Dad pitched in
and helped. I stood at the tableside so that I didn't
have to move around much and could just hand the things
to everyone else. We had the table cleared off, the
dishes washed, and all the leftover food put away in the
refrigerator within a few minutes. Jamie and I were just
about to leave the kitchen with Mom announced, "Oh! I
forgot about the pudding!"
      "What pudding?" Jamie asked.
      "I made Tapioca pudding for desert!" Mom said,
putting her hands on her hips in disgust.
      Dad laughed again, kissed Mom on the cheek, and
said, "It'll make a nice evening snack for the boys!"
      "Yeah, I'm pretty full anyway!" I said.
      "Ok!" Mom said, sounding as though she were
surrendering.
      Jamie once again assumed his position as my crutch,
but I hesitated for a second and then said, "I want to
try it on my own."
      "Simon!" Dad called, using his Dad voice.
      "What?" I said a little too strong, and I got one of
those jovial whacks to the back of my head for it.
      "Just because you are feeling better at this moment,
don't go over-doing it again." he warned and I took hold
of Jamie's shoulders as he led me back down the hallway.
He helped me sit down at my desk so that I could boot up
my computer and check my email before he left to go use
the bathroom. He was gone quite a good while and I
figured he must be going number two to be gone that long.
      I had about two dozen emails but most of them were
junk mail. However, I did have three emails that I'd not
expected to get. There was one from Lowell, one from
Mike, and to my surprise, one from Jasper. I chose to
read Jasper's first.


      Simon,

      The worst thing ever has happened. I tried to call
you earlier today but I just got the machine and I didn't
want to leave a message on there. Please call me. I need
to talk with someone!


      I knew several things from reading between the lines
of Jasper's email. He wanted to tell me about Bull being
arrested, but also he did not know that I was the one
who had turned his brother, as well as the other Panthers,
into the police.
      I was torn between going on to read Mike and
Lowell's emails, and going to the kitchen to call Jasper,
but I realized that aside from telling Jasper that I was
the one that called the police, I wouldn't know what else
to say to him. So I closed Jaspers email and opened
Mike's next.


      Simon,

      I just got off the phone with Jasper and he said he
emailed you cause he couldn't reach you on the phone so I
thought I would too. Tate has been arrested and Mom has
gone to try to get him out of jail. I don't know why Tate
is in jail but Jasper says he heard that they robbed
someone! My next-door neighbor is here watching my sister
and me while Mom is gone. I hope you get this soon and
either call or write back right away. I will keep checking
to see if you wrote back.


      About halfway through reading Mike's email Jamie
came back into the room without his shirt on and only
wearing his pants.
      "What?" he said when he saw the disturbed look on my
face.
      I waved him over to the computer and let him read
Mike's email and then Jaspers as well.
      "Holy fricken chicken fingers!" Jasper said, and for
half a second thwew I had actually thought he was going to
cuss for real.
      "They don't know it was you?" he added, running both
hands through his hair and giving me a clear view of his
armpit.
      "Tell me about it!" I said, "Let's see what this one
from Lowell says." I said, closing the one email and
opening the next.


      Hi Simon - Have you been watching the news? My Mom
is so happy that they have caught the ones that have been
robbing all the stores. They have not said their names on
TV yet, but I talked with Jasper and I already know that
it was his brother Bull and probably Bull's friends too.
They said on the news that one of them was shot by the
police and that a police officer was shot too and that
they both are in the hospital.
      I just got another email from Jasper so I am going
to send this and I will try again later to write to you.


      "Whoa!" Jamie exclaimed. He had leaned over and placed
an arm around the back of my neck and was resting it on
my shoulders while he read Lowell's email to me.
      Jamie stopped and pulled away from me, "What's the
matter?" he asked when he realized I was beginning to
cry.
      "I'm going to lose all my friends." I sniffled.
      "You don't know that." Jamie said, replacing his
hand on the back of my neck and giving me a gentle
squeeze of reassurance.
      "When they find out that I was the one that blew the
whistle on them ..." I didn't get to finish because
Jamie interrupted me.
      "Blew the whistle? Man you have been watching too
many old gangster movies!" Jamie said, giving my neck a
light shake. He made me laugh a little.
      In a continued effort to comfort me, Jamie started
talking with a bad mobster-style accent, "I'm telling
you! You hear me telling you? If d'ey go and mess wit' my
baby brother ..." he paused to giggle at his baby
brother comment, "If d'ey mess wit' my baby brother, I'z
gunna make 'em wish d'ey was never born. Ya see? I'z will
hit d'em so hard d'ey will wish d'ey had a twin just to
take half da beat'n! Ya see? Ya see? Ya see?"
      Jamie had me laughing despite my uncertainties but he
wasn't done yet. He felt the need to add one more line,
"Nobody messes wit' ma' family! Nobody!"
      I closed out of my email and shut down my computer,
but I stayed at my desk as Jamie sat over on the corner
of his bed. "So do you hate me?" he asked.
      I knew why he was asking it and I looked up at the
ceiling while rubbing my chin as if I was deep in
thought.
      "SIMON!" he jokingly growled impatiently.
      "Promise me you won't ever, ever, ever read my stuff
again?" I insisted while trying to look mean.
      Jamie had the wisdom to appear quite remorseful. "I
promise!"
      "Not good enough!" I announced to him.
      He sighed, smiled, and raised his left hand while
covering his heart with his right hand. "I do hereby
swear that I will never ever, ever, ever, read what Simon
writes in his book! And if I do, may I be hit with a
shoe, and die till I'm dead!"
      Jamie dropped his hands back down and asked, "How's
that?"
      I gave a half smile, "Not good enough!"
      "Gee-whiz, What do you want then?" Jamie pleaded.
      "I want a blood oath!" I said with raised eyebrows.
      Jamie was stunned for only a split second before he
nervously said, "Uh, what do you mean?"
      "I mean you have to sign, IN BLOOD that you will
never look in my book again, and if you do you will be
cursed forever and for all time! Even your children's,
children's, children will be cursed!"
      "OK! That settles it! You have been watching way too
much TV!" Jamie joked.
      "I'm not kidding." I said, knitting my eyebrows
together and leaning forward a smidge for added effect.
      Jamie had the look that told me he was thinking
really hard, then he scrunched up his nose and said with
a mischievous gaze, "You know you smell like pee! Do you
need changed?"
      I raised my hand, placed it on his forehead and like
the faith healers I've seen on TV I shoved him. He fell
backwards onto his bed laughing.
      "Well, you do!" he said through his giggles.
      "One of these days! Mark my words Jamie Applegate!
You are going to go too far, and I am going to have to
cut your heart out with a SPOON!"
      Jamie sat up on his elbows smiling as he asked, "Why
a spoon?"
      "Because it will hurt more, you twit!" I growled,
and we both laughed. It was a line from one of our
favorite movies that we both have used many times over
the years.
      I turned in my chair, opened my desk drawer, pulled
out my spiral notebook, and opened it to the first blank
page. I started to reach in to grab an ink pin, but then
I saw the little silver drawing compass lying in the
corner of my drawer. "Oh this will work great!" I
exclaimed pulling it from the drawer and holding it in
the air like a mighty dagger.
      "What are you going to do with that?" Jamie asked
nervously.
      I was my turn to take up an accent, and I chose to
be a pirate this time, "Me thinks I shall skewer y'r
eyeballs and smear 'em on me toast for breakfast!"
      Jamie covered his eyes with both his hands.
      "And then me thinks I shall use your two marbles as
earrings for me winch!" I said.
      Jamie dropped his hands over his private parts and
said in a high squeaky voice, "OK! You can have my eyes!"
      "And y'r ears! I want 'em both!" I said saltaly.
      "Fine! Fine! Long as I can keep my marbles!" Jamie
said, still using his squeaky voice.
      When we stopped laughing I sat my open, spiral bound
notebook on Jamie's lap and explained that he was going
to write his oath with his own blood in my notebook. Very
reluctantly he held out his left index finger (Jamie is
left handed), and with the drawing compass I stabbed his
finger. He whimpered and sucked in his breath as I
stabbed him.
      "That hurt?" I asked.
      "Just a little tickle!" Jamie lied.
      I squeezed his finger to make the blood flow and I
was just about to instruct him to start writing but when
I looked up into his face I saw that he was just about as
white as a sheet.
      "Are you okay?" I asked.
      "Uh, I don't think so!" Jamie said slowly.
      I reached out and pinched his leg really hard.
      "OUCH!" Jamie cried out, "That really hurt!" He
said, as he rubbed his leg to soothe where I'd pinched
him.
      My pinch did the trick, and he was already getting
his color back. "Sorry, but you looked like you were
going to faint," I said.
      "But why'd you have to pinch me?" He complained.
      "Remember that movie we watched about a month ago
called Major Pain?" I asked.
      "Oh Yeah!" Jamie exclaimed, "You're going to feel
just a little bit of pressure!" Jamie laughed.
      I squeezed his finger again, "Okay, now write before
I have to stab you again."
      It was hard to read, but it was there in blood in my
notebook and signed with Jamie's name; that he'd never
again try to read my journal entries.
      When the blood had dried, I closed my notebook and
returned it, and the compass, back to my desk drawer. But
I closed the drawer too hard and that fool bear toppled
over onto me. Jamie laughed, but he got up quick and
pulled it off me. It had caused me to bend wrong and a
stabbing pain exploded in me like dynamite, but as soon
as I was sitting up straight again the pain subsided
quickly enough.
      "Gee-whiz, I bet that hurt!" Jamie said, still
laughing.
      "Yeah, just hurt a little." I lied, rubbing at my
taped ribs.
      After setting the bear back on my desk, Jamie
returned to sitting on the corner of his bed. He had an
odd look on his face as he sucked on the end of this
finger I had stabbed.
      "What?" I asked, still rubbing my ribs.
      "Dun't et mav, ba u eally or tarting ta eally mell!"
Jamie said with his finger still in his mouth. Despite
his finger I understood exactly what he said.
      I don't know why, maybe I thought I was supposed to
adopt a humble stature. I dropped my head and murmured,
"Can you go get Mom for me then?"
      Jamie was up and out of our room before I could
raise my head again. With no one's help, I got up from my
desk, took the few steps to my bed, and managed to get
myself laid down in the assumed possession without
causing myself too much discomfort while I waited for Mom
to come in.
      It took Jamie a while to return with Mom in tow, and
when they did come in, I saw that Jamie had a Band-Aid on
his finger. I couldn't help but wonder if he told Mom why
he'd been bleeding, but then I figured he wouldn't do
that since he'd then have to tell why he had to sign a
blood oath in the first place.
      Jamie quietly climbed onto his bed and picked up a
comic book to read. I saw out of the corner of my eye
that he was not really reading the comic but was watching
Mom change my wet diaper.
      Mom leaned over me, "Are you just wet?" she asked in
a half whisper.
      I nodded that I was.
      She then went to my dresser, pulled out a fresh pair
of the plastic pants and one of the cloth diapers as well
as the diaper cream. She came back over to my bed, laid
them next to my pillow, and patted my tummy lovingly, "I
think I better get a washcloth too." She said as she left
the room.
      I looked over at Jamie but he'd hid his face behind
his comic when he saw that I was looking his way. I
almost said something to him, but at the last second I
changed my mind. Mom returned with washcloth in hand,
along with a hand towel too. She set them both down on my
bed next to the other items and proceeded to strip me
down to nothing but my birthday suit.
      As Mom wiped my diaper area clean with the
washcloth, out of the corner of my eye I kept an eye on
Jamie who was peeking around the side of his comic book
and watching Mom work. Just as before, as Mom started to
apply the diaper cream, I had to force myself to think of
nasty, painful and horrible things to keep myself from
getting excited at her touch. Thankfully it worked again.
      I was able to lift my backside myself to help her
get the cloth diaper into place, but before she let me
lower myself back down, she reached under me and smeared
diaper cream around my butt cheeks. When she ran her
fingers down inside my crack I started to laugh 'cause it
tickled like crazy.
      "Mom don't, that tickles!" I complained.
      She didn't say anything as she pulled the diaper up
and pinned it into place. I glanced back over at Jamie
who was so entranced in watching Mom and my show that
he'd forgot that he was supposed to be hiding behind his
comic. He'd let it drop down so that I could see his
whole face. His eyes were wide and he had a funny little
grin.
      Mom slid the plastic pants over my feet and up my
legs until she needed me to raise my bottom again.
Without thinking, I lifted up and she finished getting
them over the cloth diaper and made sure that all the
diaper was tucked into the plastic pants. She then ran a
finger around the leg openings before leaning forward and
kissing me lightly on the forehead, "All done!"
      She returned the cream to my dresser drawer and left
with the used plastic pants, cloth diaper, towel, and
washcloth.
      Jamie had returned to his ruse of reading his comic,
and I couldn't help but giggle to myself.
      "What you giggling about?" Jamie asked.
      I was about to answer him when Dad came into our
room. I managed to raise myself up on one elbow, "What's
up?" I asked.
      "I am going out for a bit," Dad said, looking down
on me from over my headboard.
      "You going to get me that skateboard for my birthday
tomorrow?" I asked, trying to sound irresistible.
      "How about if I just get a board to use on your
butt?" he said with a grin.
      "Uh, I think I'll let Jamie have mine, but thanks
for thinking of me anyway!" I joked back.
      Still sporting the same grin, Dad leaned over me so
that our faces were only inches apart. "You and me need
to have a talk, don't you think?" he asked so soft that
there was no way Jamie could have heard it.
      "Yes sir" I managed to get out.
      "Since I'm going to be out late and since tomorrow
is your birthday, if you want to wait until Monday to
have our talk, then it can wait. Ok?" Dad added.
      I nodded instead of audibly answering him.
      "Ok then." Dad said, and then he leaned in further, kissed my
cheek, and said, "I love you son."
      "Love you too Dad!" I whispered back.
      He then stood up and walked over to Jamie's bed,
where he sat down with his back to me. They both talked
in such low whispers that I couldn't hear them either.
After a couple minutes, Dad got up, gave me a smile, and
left.
      "So what was that all about?" Jamie asked, once he
knew Dad was no longer close enough to hear us talking.
      "Didn't he just tell you?" I said with fake mockery.
      Jamie softly and innocently replied, "No."
      I could tell from his expression that he was telling
the truth and that Dad must have said something else to
him.
      "Dad was just letting me know that I have a little
more than a day left to live." I said kind of
cryptically. And for a couple of seconds Jamie got a real
concerned look in his eyes until he realized what I
meant.
      Flipping himself around in his bed so that he was
laying on his stomach with his head at the foot of his
bed and his feet up by his pillow, Jamie propped himself
up on his elbows and eagerly asked, "Did he say what he's
going to do?"
      I sighed heavily and shook my head to indicate that
he hadn't.
      Now that I had more time to think about it, I kind
of wish Dad would have just yelled and punished me then
and there; just so the worst would be over and I wouldn't
have to go all night and all day tomorrow dreading my
impending doom.
      "He didn't even give you a hint?" Jamie continued to
probe.
      "Nope! He just said he was going to let me wait
until after my birthday tomorrow before we have that
talk." I said as I reached up, took hold of my pillow,
and pulled it out from under my head. When I finished my
sentence I pushed my pillow down over my face as hard as
I could and started screaming into it.
      "Feel better?" Jamie asked when I finally remover my
pillow for a breath of air.
      "Not really." I confessed.
      Suddenly remembering, I asked, "Uh, what did he say
to you then?"
      "I'm not allowed to say," Jamie said rather straight
faced.
      My annoyance at his unwillingness to tell me was
apparent by my degree of whining. "Why not?"
      "Because I'm not and if you try to make me I'm
supposed to tell!" Jamie said, rising up and getting into
the Indian sitting position.
      "Whatever!" I said, replacing my pillow over my face
but not screaming this time.
      "Want to watch TV?" Jamie asked.
      "No!" was my muffled reply.
      "Want to play a game?" he asked.
      "No!" I said from under my pillow again.
      Thinking I wasn't really paying attention to him, he
asked, "Want to go bobbing for chocolate bars in the
toilet?"
      I removed my pillow again. "Sure, why don't you go
first!"
      "Dork!" Jamie said.
      "Butt face!" I said.
      "Jerk!" Jamie said.
      "Bubble-butt face!" I said.
      "Butt breath!" he said, leaning forward and
sprouting an evil grin.
      I tried not to laugh as I said, "Booger brain!"
      Jamie's eyes got big; he glanced down to my still
exposed diaper, and started to open his mouth.
      I stuck my finger out at him, "Don't even think
about it!" I warned.
      His grin grew into a full sneer, "Oh I'm defiantly
thinking about it!" he said.
      "Jamie, don't!" I warned again.
      He opened his mouth again as if about to speak.
      "Jamie!" I got up on one elbow, "I'm warning you, if
you say it then we're through!"
      Jamie twisted his head to the side in confusion,
"Through with what?" he asked stupidly.
      "Through being brothers!" I said.
      Jamie's countenance fell like a brick. "That's not
fair!" he scoffed.
      "Oh, and you making fun of me wearing diapers is?" I
countered. My tone let him know that I had quite a bit of
anger just below the surface that was ready to erupt.
      Jamie smiled again; "Yes!" he said, and quickly
covered his ears so that he couldn't hear anything else I
said.
      Since I knew he couldn't hear me, I glanced to the
door to be sure Mom or Dad hadn't snuck in without me
knowing and then I gave him the finger. Jamie's eyes
exploded! He dropped his hands from his ears and covered
his mouth in disbelief.
      Without saying another word, he raised himself up on
his knees, spun around, and threw himself into his
pillow. Despite this sudden display of his, I continued
to watch his body language to see if he really was upset
but he didn't move, heck I couldn't even tell if he was
still breathing.
      I waited about five or six minutes and then I said,
"Did you die?"
      He still didn't move or make a sound.
      "Jaaammmie!" I cooed softly.
      Still he didn't budge.
      "So you want to be blood brothers or what?" I asked.
      He raised his head finally, but only briefly to say,
"Or what!" Then he hid his face again.
      "Okay! If you don't want to, well that's okay with
me!" I knew he wanted to but was just being stubborn. It
occurred to me that though he knew what getting flipped
off meant, that maybe he'd never had anyone do that to
him, and that's why he took it so hard.
      "Sorry," I apologized.
      "No you're not!" He said, removing his face from his
pillow again.
      "Yes I am!" I countered.
      "No you're not! You are just saying that!" he said,
and dropped back into his pillow yet again. He didn't
make so much as another peep for the longest time.
      "Did you fall asleep?" I eventually asked.
      He kicked one foot backwards into the air as if
trying to kick my comments away.
      I giggled, "You missed!"
      He kicked again.
      "OK, stop being a baby!" I said. That was the right
combination of words to bring him around again. He
flipped himself over and was standing next to his bed,
looking like he was about to fly across the room and
attack me. I smiled, knowing that the button he was
always pushing in me also seemed to work with him too.
      Continuing to mock him I said, "What's the matter?
Did I hurt your little baby feelings? Well, how's it
feel?"
      I waited for him to say something or to attack but
instead he gave a strong exhale of fiery air, and stormed
out of our room. I waited for a couple minutes for him to
come back in with Mom in tow, but he didn't return. I
continued to wait as five, ten, even fifteen minutes
passed, and still he didn't come back. When a full half-
hour had gone by, I realized he must have been watching
TV elsewhere in the house.
      Giving up on him coming back, I managed to get
myself out of bed with little discomfort from my ribs,
and got my new E-book, then settled down at my desk,
scooted the bear to one side, and began writing again. I
guess I had been writing for over an hour about recent
events when I was pulled out of my intense concentration
by the beeping of a car horn outside. I dared to lean
past the bear enough to peer out my window. There was a
dark colored truck in the street, but they were waiting
for someone from a house across the street. I went back
to my writing and finished my last thought before turning
my attention to my old spiral-bound notebook, the one
that I'd only just learned Jamie had been secretly
reading.
      I began leafing backwards through the pages, reading
various entries I'd made. I didn't stop until I reached
Monday, February 16, 2004. I read what it said:


      After reading about so many sighting reports online
and even seeing some on TV, though I am skeptical of
anything I see on TV, I've decided to set out on a
mission to experience one of these encounters for myself.
Yeah, I know that some, maybe more than some, maybe even
more then half, possibly nearly all are built-up
elaboration of what people hope, think, or believe they
saw. But if even one is real, if even one is based on
actual events, doesn't that mean that maybe, just maybe,
I have a chance? Doesn't that mean that if I want it to
happen bad enough, strong enough, will it to be, that it
can actually happen that I will witness one myself; even
if only briefly?
      Though I thought I had all the heart, raw guts and
determination of a Knight on a Crusade, I was not
prepared for the events to come.


      A Knight on a Crusade? What was I thinking? What
made me think that I had the heart, the raw guts, and the
determination of a Knight to take on such a monumental
Crusade? If I were truly honest with myself all those
days ago, I would have had to admit that I was not
prepared, not even remotely, for the events that have
transpired in the past two weeks.
      I remember that the first encounter I had, which I
almost missed, was seeing Lowell at Wal-Mart. It was days
later that I would really get to officially meet him and
learn his name, and also learn that I'd been right in
thinking that he had been wearing something under his
clothes that day. I guess before that first day,
everything for me had mostly been fanciful dreams, comic
book hero's and diaper stories, army men, fake fart
sounds with my arm-pit, cartoons, a Top-Secret night-time
problem, and most gullible of all, I believed that
everyone I loved and cared about would live forever.
      Even though this is still my life and my body that
I'm in, now everything has been flipped around making me
feel like a stranger in a strange land. My fanciful
dreams have become real memories of sexual awakenings.
I've learned that looking like a Super Hero doesn't
necessarily mean a person is one. More than likely, they
are just another Super Villain in disguise. And to
counter that, I also learned that not all those I've
perceived to be my archenemies are totally and completely
evil. I guess everyone has good and evil in them, but to
varying degrees both ways.
      Furthermore, instead of just reading about boys in
diapers, I now have several real live friends, and I
guess maybe new potential adversaries that are bed-
wetters and diapers wearers - for whatever their reasons
might be.
      I suppose that the joys of armpit sounds right in
the middle of a big math test have been replaced with
shameless daydreams of girls. Well, really one girl in
particular. I wonder if she knows just how much time I
spend thinking about her?
      I'm not really all that sure how it happened that
during my crusade, my most closely guarded secret had
become nearly common knowledge among those that know my
family and me. That's probably the second most disturbing
change I've experienced in the past two-weeks; only beat
out by my learning that people are mortal, and even good
people that I care for can die, way too soon.
      I suppose the only thing that's remained a constant
in my life, aside from my bedwetting, would be my love of
cartoons. Can I expect that to change in the coming days?
You know what? I've come to a conclusion just now...
Growing up sucks rocks!

      After I finished writing everything I could think of
at the time, I put both my E-book and my spiral bound
notebook into my desk drawer with plans to do more
writing later. I had gotten a little stiff from sitting
without moving for so long, but I still managed to get up
from my desk and waddle my way out of my room to go find
Jamie. I was feeling pretty crummy after having examined
the events of the past couple weeks, and didn't feel like
being alone with my thoughts anymore. I found Jamie
sitting in Dad's chair, watching World Wrestling
Entertainment's Afterburner on TV. It's kind of a weekend
wrap-up and highlight show of some of the more memorable
moments of the past week, and to publicize the next
upcoming Pay-Per-View show.
      Since Jamie didn't even acknowledge my presence in
the living room I continued to pass on through to the
dinning room where, sure enough, I found Mom sitting at
the dining room table working another puzzle. This time
it was a large puzzle of Elvis Presley.
      "Elvis?" I asked. My question startled Mom; she'd
not seen me come into the room.
      "Jamie! You nearly scared the Holy Bajeebers out of
me!" she said, clutching at her heart.
      "Oh, sorry about your Bajeebers, Mom!" I snickered.
      "How can you tell? I only have the border and this
small section done so far." Mom asked.
      "I can see the box lying on the floor." I said,
pointing to the box behind her.
      Mom grinned and said, "Oh!"
      She dropped another piece into place, and then
looked at me again, "How are you feeling?" she asked,
reaching out to feel my forehead with her hand.
      I protested, "Mom! I'm not sick! I am just broken!"
      She gave my diapered bottom a playful swat.
      "Ouch!" I said teasingly. Mom grinned again.
      "I'm feeling fine. Actually, my ribs are feeling
really good right now."
      "Well then how come you don't look it?" she asked.
      For a few minutes there I had forgot about the super
powers that Mom's have, and her question reminded me of
them.
      "I-I just got stuff on my mind is all." I said,
trying to get her to stop probing.
      "Well, you just take it easy and don't over do it!
Okay?" she said.
      "Okay. Um, where did Dad go?" I asked.
      "He had to run some errands and get some milk." Mom
said, returning to working on the puzzle, almost as if
she was trying to ignore my question.
      "Oh, in other words, you can't tell me either?" I
asked.
      Mom looked up at me again, and in her singsong mommy
voice, and while poking me in the nose with a single
finger, she said, "No more questions!"
      "AARRGGG!" I growled, acting like I was trying to
bite her finger.
      I turned and walked out of the room, but not before
hearing her efforts to stifle her giggles.
      "Okay, I officially hate birthdays! I hate secrets
too. At least the ones I don't know!" I griped to myself.
      Stopping just outside of the kitchen, I turned back
around. "Mom, can I have some milk?" I asked.
      "Do you need some help getting it?" she asked.
      "No I can do it!" I assured her.
      I continued on to the kitchen, got out one of my
sipper cups, and filled it with milk before making sure I
had the lid on correctly. I went back to the living room
where Jamie was still sitting looking stubborn. I waddled
over and stood right in front of him so that he couldn't
see the TV.
      Without looking at me, he said, "Move!"
      "Come back to the room with me." I said, making it
sound more a command then a request.
      "No! Now move!" was his only answer.
      "Please come back to the room with me?" This time I
chose to phrase it as a question.
      He didn't reply.
      "Jamie?" I said softly. He finally looked up into my
eyes.
      "I'm sorry!" I said.
      "For what?" he snapped back, rather cruelly.
      Realizing he was not going to relent I just sighed,
tried to shrug my shoulders but couldn't do it very well
without hurting myself. I then waddled myself on down the
hallway and into my room.
      It was several minutes before Jamie appeared in the
doorway. I had sat my milk on my nightstand and was just
straightening up my bed and rearranging my pillow when he
said, "What?"
      He still sounded mad.
      "I'm sorry I flipped you the bird." I said.
      "Apology accepted." Jamie said.
      I thought for a second to two before asking, "Can
you do me a favor?"
      "What?" his tone had softened significantly.
      Realizing he'd nearly broken his blood oath, and
that it was still in effect, I still asked, "Can you lay
off the diaper and baby jokes for a while?" To my
surprise, as I said it, my voice cracked.
      "Yeah, I guess I can try." Jamie said, coming over
and standing next to me.
      I looked at him and he added, "I'm sorry too!"
      "Thanks" I said, giving him a half smirking smile.
      Jamie stuck out his hand, "Friends again?"
      "Always!" I said, taking his hand and shaking it.
      "Don't expect a hug!" Jamie joked.
      "Ah shucks! And I really wanted one too." I joked
back, as I turned away from him for a second.
      Jamie surprised me by wrapping his arms around me
from behind, and giving me a soft hug, while still being
careful not to hurt me. He had my arms pinned to my side
so I was stuck and unable to fend him off; not that I
wanted too, though. I felt him lay his head on my left
shoulder. His hair tickled my neck. He muttered, "I know
I don't act like it all the time, but I really do like
having you as my brother."
      I really should have said something back; I should
have told him I secretly always liked him as a brother
too, but the truth got in my way again. I kept thinking
to myself, "Yeah, but I always hated you!" I at least
had the ability to keep myself from saying it.
      "Jamie?" I said softly.
      "Yeah?" he answered, while still holding me and
resting his head on my shoulder.
      "You can let me go anytime now." I tried not to make
it sound derisive at all.
      "Oh, Yeah, right!" Jamie said, raising his head and
letting me go.
      I turned around, and the two of us were only inches
from each other's faces. I saw that Jamie had watery
eyes.
      "You know something?" I asked.
      "What?" Jamie asked back.
      "When you are not being a butt, you are a pretty
good brother!" I knew it wasn't much of a compliment, but
I hoped he would take it as one.
      "Um, thanks?" he said unsurely.
      I couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, that was a pretty
crummy compliment huh?"
      What he did next completely took me by surprise, and
I didn't know how to react to it, or him afterward. With
no warning whatsoever, Jamie kissed me on my cheek. It
happened so fast that I wasn't sure if it had really
happened at first, or if my twisted brain only imagined
him doing it.
      "Uh-uh-uh ... d-did ... did you just kiss me?" I
heard the words come out of my mouth, but they didn't
sound like my voice.
      Jamie took half a step backward. Waving his hands in
the air he said, "What? Me? No way! Never happened!"
      I was still very much in shock and brain locked when
Jamie went and did it again, but this time slower. He
stepped close again, put his hands on my biceps, and
kissed my cheek so softly. I remember thinking, "Why
didn't I pull away?"
      When he stopped, I just stood there looking at him.
No words were forming in my mouth and no thoughts were
falling out of my head. I was, for all intents and
purposes, shut down.
      "Well, say something!" Jamie said, giving my arms a
slight shake to get my attention.
      "Uh-uh!" was all that came out of me.
      Jamie once more leaned in, and this time kissed me
directly on my lips. It wasn't a short kiss like I'd give
my Mom or Aunt Catharine, but a long kiss, like lovers
do. This time, when he pulled away, I found that words
were beginning to form behind my lips.
      "W-w-why did you do that?" I asked, though I wasn't
sure I wanted to know.
      Jamie shrugged his shoulders. "Well, isn't that what
you did with Tater and Bull?" he asked. Finally, my brain
became unlocked as it began to form and connect mental
images and thoughts together.
      "B-but why did YOU kiss me?" I asked.
      Jamie shrugged again. "Dunno! Just wanted to!" he
said, and he started to fidget a little.
      We were still standing only inches apart, Jamie
still had hold of my biceps, and our noses were nearly
touching.
      "B-but why?" I was still having a hard time grasping
onto the moment.
      Jamie's shoulders sagged a little. He then let go of
my arms and stepped back away from me. I thought for half
a second he was leaving the room again. However, instead
of leaving, he walked to the door and closed it, but not
before peering down the hallway to be sure Mom was
nowhere around.
      I was still standing there next to my bed, arms at
my side, and my brain struggling to figure out what had
just happened. Jamie came back over and stood in front of
me again; he was smiling and the tears I had seen in his
eyes moments before were gone now.
      "What?" the word was out of my mouth before I could
stop it.
      "Can we try it?" Jamie asked, and it was the first
time I had ever seen or heard him sound so bashful and
yet forward at the same time.
      Not sure what he was talking about I asked, "Try
what?"
      One side of Jamie's mouth went up alone with his
eyebrow, "What you did with Tater and Bull!" he said, and
did I just see a twinkle in his eyes?
      "W-w-w-w" my tongue was not working, I couldn't seem
to get it unstuck from the roof of my mouth.
      "Please?" Jamie pleaded in a whispered tone.
      "B-b-b-but w-w-what if m-m-Mom ..." I didn't
finish.
      Jamie looked at my bed, the TV on my dresser, and
then the door. "Well, we can turn on a movie, get under
your covers together, and then if anyone comes in, they
will think we are just watching the movie together."
      It was my turn to give him half a smile. With that
last sentence from him I realized he'd been giving this
moment a lot of thought.
      "B-but w-what if w-we g-g-g-get c-caught." I only
just noticed how badly I was stuttering.
      "We won't!" Jamie assured.
      I looked down past my taped-up ribs at the front of
my diaper. "B-but I-I am already w-wet!" I said, trying
to concentrate on my words so that I wouldn't stutter so
much.
      Jamie looked down at my diaper too. "So! I will go
get a washcloth and help you clean it!"
      "Clean it?" I thought to myself.
      Jamie didn't wait for me to agree. He stepped away
again, and was out of the room before my brain could
attempt to form any words that I might use to stop him.
When Jamie returned, he found me still standing in the
same spot looking like a deer caught in the headlights of
an oncoming truck.
      Once again, before closing the door, he looked down
the hallway to be sure the coast was still clear. He then
came over and sat the wet rag on my night table before
looking me in the eye.
      Without really thinking about it I said, "My mouth
is dry." Jamie picked up my sipper cup of milk and handed
it to me. My hand did reach up and take the cup, but I
didn't drink from it. I only held it, like some stupid
garden statue. Jamie's lips formed that half-smile again
as he took the cup away from me and held it to my lips
and I began to drink from it. When I had enough, he
returned it to the table.
      He then pulled down my covers, went to his bed, got
his pillow, and placed it on my bed. I really don't know
why I was acting so shocked and disconnected from
reality, and despite random thoughts on this very
thought, I just couldn't get myself to snap out of it. I
felt almost like a spectator on the sidelines watching
all this transpire; like I was not in my body, but
outside of it, and thus not in control of it.
      When Jamie stood back up from getting my bed ready,
he had a goofy kind of expression, almost giddy I
suppose. He reached out and took hold of my hands and
directed me to sit on the bed, which I did with his help.
Once sitting on the edge, he swung my feet up onto the
bed and I laid back into my pillow as he pulled the
covers up over my feet.
      I saw his gaze go to my diaper and then to the door.
He walked back over to the door and looked out it again
before coming over and slipping two fingers under the
waistband of the plastic pants and pulling down on them.
Instinctively I helped by raising my bottom off the bed.
      "Keep it up." He whispered directions to me as he
left my plastic pants bunched up around my knees and
started working on the safety pins that held my diaper in
place. He had them all removed quickly, and the diaper
pulled out from under me so that I could rest again.
      He had to again uncover my feet to get the plastic
pants off. As soon as he had them removed, he pulled the
covers up to about halfway over my thighs, so that from
my thighs up, I was naked and exposed to my brother.
Jamie went over, dropped the cloth diaper into the
laundry along with the plastic pants, went to the dresser
where he took out two disposable diapers, and returned to
my bedside.
      By now the rag that had been warm had cooled enough
that when he placed it onto my privates, it caused me to
suck in a breath.
      "Sorry, that cold?" he whispered, but I
couldn't, and didn't, respond.
      Unlike anyone else had ever done, Jamie took his
time cleaning my diaper area and the result of this was
that my small penis got harder than it had ever gotten
before.
      When he was satisfied that he had me thoroughly
clean, he gave the rag a toss. It flew through the air
and swished right into the hamper. Jamie looked down at
me with a smile, "Two points!" he said, and I actually
smiled back at him.
      Jamie pulled the cover all the way up to my chin
before picking up the remote and turning on the
television. He made quick work of finding a half-way
decent movie; it was Ocean's Eleven, which I'd seen so
many times I could just about recite every line by heart.
He returned the remote to my night table, went over to
his own bed where he stripped completely naked, and
stuffed all his clothes into his bag that was sitting on
the floor beside his bed.
      When he turned back around, I saw that he too was
sporting a stiff one. My head turned as my eyes followed
him while he crossed our room. It was kind of funny to watch
his penis bounce as he walked over to the door, and yet
again peaked out. However, this time he only barely
opened the door. I had to crane my head upwards to watch
him at the door. When he closed it again, he looked at me
and smiled so sweetly that I think for the first time
during all this, I felt something for him other than the
tingling in my groin, and the racing of my heart.
      Quickly he came back to my bed, and then slipped the
two disposable diapers under his pillow before slipping
beneath the covers with me. He leaned over with his bare
back to me, picked up the remote again, then turned the
sound down just a bit as it was a little too loud when
the music would start playing. He set the remote down and
turned so that he was now resting on his left side,
facing me.
      I sucked in another breath when his hand found my
stiff boyhood member and gave it a squeeze. He then
leaned to me and placed his lips against mine and kissed
me. Not softly like he had before, but stronger and with
more passion. I found myself kissing him back now as the
fires within me took over.
      As we kissed, I could feel him humping my hip. I
allowed my right hand to wander under the covers until I
found his penis. It felt hot, really hot, in my hand.
When I took hold of it, Jamie let out a small muffled
gasp, and kissed me even harder. I felt his other hand
find the back of my head and press our lips tighter
together.
      The two of us got into a sort of rhythm as we
stroked and squeezed each other's raging members. Jamie
was humping my hand and leg feverously; letting quiet
squeals and moans escape every so often. It seemed like a
long time that we continued like this, but in reality it
was more like four or five minutes.
      I felt Jamie's whole body tense up. He stopped
kissing me and pulled his lips away. He had his eyes
closed so tight that they looked like slits of wrinkled
skin. Then I felt a sudden hotness spray across my hip as
his penis throbbed in my grip. After several seconds he
collapsed next to me with his face buried in my right
shoulder and neck. The entire time, neither of us let go
of each other's penises. I felt his throb a couple of
more times, but unlike Taters' had, it didn't go soft
right away. It took several more minutes of him breathing
hard and hot on my neck before I felt it begin to soften.
      Jamie again raised his head, he was smiling so big.
Can I try something?" he asked. I only nodded, unsure
what he meant. With a quick glance at the door, his head
vanished under the covers and a second later I felt his
hot mouth completely encompass my penis. My hips and back
arched the second he had sucked me into his mouth, but I
didn't explode right away. I both felt, and could see by
the movement of the covers, that Jamie was bobbing his
head up and down. On the third time his head went down, I
lost it and couldn't help but let out a moan that was
probably a little too loud. To my shock Jamie didn't pull
my penis out of his mouth, but continued to suck on it
like he was trying to suck the life completely out of me.
I stopped breathing for several seconds as my entire body
seized up. It was several seconds before I was able to
lower myself back to the bed.
      Jamie's head came back out from under the covers. He
lay against his pillow smiling and actually beaming. "How
was that?" he whispered into my ear.
      I still couldn't answer, and for some reason, I
started to giggle. That got him giggling too, but we both
had the presence of mind to not make so much noise as to
bring Mom in. Jamie leaned forward and kissed my ear, and
I felt his hand find my boy-sized jewel sack and begin
rubbing it. It tickled a lot, but I didn't stop him. He
kissed my cheek, and then licked my ear, which tickled so
much that I said, "Oh don't do that! That tickles way too
much!" Jamie just giggled and kissed my ear instead.
      I turned my head, and this time I kissed his lips as
my right hand found his boy sized jewel sack too. We
kissed for a really long time. The only way I know how
long it was, is that when Jamie had turned on the movie,
it was at the part where Brad Pitt was confronting George
Clooney about his wife, well actually his ex-wife Tess,
and when I looked back at the TV again, George Clooney
and Matt Damon were just about to drop down the elevator
shaft.
      I don't know when I ended up back in my body. Maybe
it when Jamie had started sucking on me, but anyway, now
I was back in control as the two of us fondled and kissed
each other. After a while, I felt Jamie's penis poking my
leg.
      "Are you hard again?" I asked him. Jamie just nodded
and smiled. I giggled again, grabbed hold of it, and
squeezed it hard. Jamie let out a small cry of pain and
dropped his face into my neck again.
      Giggling and whispering at the same time I said,
"That hurt?"
      Jamie didn't left his head or say a word; he only
shook his head to indicate that it didn't. So I did it
again. He let out another small cry, and began humping my
leg. After a few seconds he stopped, lifted his head, and
whispered again, "Can I try something else?"
      "I don't want to suck on yours!" I said.
      "No, not that!" he said.
      "Okay then." I consented.
      "I'm going to check the door again, hang on." He
said, climbing back out from under the covers and
streaking to the door. He returned in no time.
      "Coast still clear?" I asked.
      "Yeah!" Jamie said, getting back into bed. This
time, instead of laying down beside me, he was
positioning himself directly over me so that we were
face-to-face.
      "What are you doing? You are going to hurt my ribs!"
I said.
      "No I won't! I'm being careful!" he whispered, as he
lowered his pelvis closer to mine. He had his arms on
either side of my head supporting himself and keeping off
my chest. He took one hand and guided his penis between
my legs just below my boy jewels.
      "Spread your legs just a little!" he said, and I did
so. His penis slid in and I could feel it pressing
against my crack. "Okay, close them together again." he
instructed. When I did, he started to hump me like he was
making love to a girl.
      "Hey!" he said, and I lowered my head back to my
pillow as I had been watching down between our two chests
at him humping me.
      I was about to say, "What?" but he started kissing
me. He'd lowered himself so that he was now resting on
his elbows, but still not on my rib's at all. "I'm not
hurting you am I?" he asked, only breaking our kiss long
enough for me to say, "no."
      It took him longer to reach a climax this time and
it really got hot under the covers. We were both
breathing hard. As he pumped me, my penis was rubbing
against his belly and got hard too. When he came he let
out a cry, but it was muffled by my lips.
      He carefully rolled off me. I tried parting my legs
and could feel the wetness between them. He was breathing
hard and panting like a dog. When his head rolled over
and he looked at me, he looked exhausted. However, his
hand once again found my stiff penis and gave it a hard
squeeze like I had done to him. I don't know how I
managed not to cry out cause it really did hurt a lot,
and I knew that he'd not told the truth when he said it
didn't hurt him.
      "Want to go again?" Jamie asked.
      "Gee-whiz you ready again?" I said.
      He smiled; "No, I mean for you!" he said, and
squeezed me again, only not so hard this time that it
hurt. I nodded.
      "You sure?" he asked again, and the way he asked it
concerned me a little.
      "What are you going to do?" I asked. Without
answering, Jamie quickly got out of the bed yet again,
went to the door yet again, before coming back to the bed
and pulling the covers completely off of me so that I was
wholly exposed to him. My penis was hovering just above
my stomach, still hard.
      "Hello there Lil'-Wee-Whillie-Winky!" Jamie cooed
softly to my penis. I laughed; causing it to bounce and
slap my abdomen a couple times.
      Jamie put his hands on the insides of my knees and
began to pry my legs open, "Spread your legs a second." he
ordered, and I did as he commanded. Reaching in-between
my legs for half a second, he then pulled out his hand
again, and started to rub my penis. It felt different
this time, and I realized he was buttering my penis with
his own sperm. As he was pumping hard and fast, it didn't
take long before I exploded all over my stomach and up
onto the tape that encased my broken ribs.
      Jamie laid his nude body down beside me. He was
still holding on to my penis, though it quickly went soft
this time. "How was that?" he asked, nearly laughing.
      I looked at him for a second or two, trying to
decide what to say next. "You've done this before, huh?"
I asked, and when he smiled, I knew instantly that the
answer was yes. "Who with?" I probed strongly, while
still remembering to keep my voice down to a dull roar.
      Jamie didn't answer just then, but got up. I fully
expected him to go to the door again, but instead, he
went over to the hamper and pulled out the washrag he had
used to clean me up earlier. I thought it had been cold
before, but this time it was like ice as he wiped his and
my sperm from my body. He tried to wipe it off the sheet
between my legs, but it had soaked in and left a wet spot
that neither of us cared much about. Standing in full
view, he started to wipe down his own body before again
giving the rag a toss thru the air, and into the hamper
for anther two points.
      "We need to get you signed up to play basketball for
real!" I joked.
      "Yeah!" Jamie said with a grin.
      I had started to shiver as my body was quickly
chilling, thanks mostly to the use of that freezing
washcloth. Jamie pulled the covers up to my chin so I
could get warm again ,and also so that I was not laying
there exposed, just in case Mom or someone came walking
in. He went over and took out a t-shirt from his bag and
pulled it over his head.
      "So are you going to tell me who you been doing it
with?" I asked, again still trying to keep my voice down.
      He turned, and though he was grinning, he looked
serious, "Okay, first off, you got to swear you will
never tell a single soul!"
      "Yeah, right I'm going to go bragging to the world
about what you and I just did!" I said.
      "No Dork! Not about that, well Yeah, that too, but
I mean about what I'm about to tell you!" Jamie said, as
he came over and slid back under the covers with me.
      "I swear! I swear! I will never tell a soul!" I
said, though in my head I was thinking about the fact
that he just called me dork. I decided to let it slide. I
mean, it was better than baby, diaper-boy, and a host of
other names he might have called me.
      "Okay!" he said, as he repositioned himself on his
left side so that he could whisper it right into my ear.
      "Some of my friends that live in my building started
a club." He said.
      "What kind of club?" I asked.
      "Shush! I'm trying to tell you!" he said, and he did
it with so much breath that it tickled the inside of my
ear.
      Rubbing my ear I said, "Oh man that tickles!" we
both giggled.
      "Our club's a S-E-X club!" he said, with extra
emphasis on the word 'sex'.
      "W-w-w-what d-do y-y-y-you ..." I didn't get to
finish my question because Jamie put his hand over my
mouth.
      "Stop stuttering or I'm going to bite off your
wiener!" Jamie threatened, and then smiled a wicked
little smile. Like an automatic reaction, both of my
hands shot down to cover and protect my little pride and
joy.
      Jamie laughed into my ear. "Jamie stop! You keep
tickling my ear!" I protested, then turned so that my ear
was against my pillow. My hands were still protecting my
exhausted boy parts. With my face now directly in front
of Jamie's, he leaned in and kissed me quickly, which got
us both to giggling again. We both kept trying to keep
the other from making too much noise. We'd both ducked
our heads under the covers to try to stifle the sound of
our giggles and laughter.
      There was a knock at our bedroom door and like
lightning our heads popped out from under the covers and
we both acted like we were watching the end of the movie,
which was right at the part where everyone was standing
next to the water fountain, looking content as they
realized that they got away with the heist.
      "Yeah!" Jamie called. The door opened, it was Mom.
      "You boys okay in here?" she asked.
      "Yeah, we were just watching Ocean's Eleven." I
answered.
      "Well it sounded to me like you were rough-housing."
Mom said, standing and looking down at us over my
headboard.
      "Sorry! Simon told a stupid joke and we were just
laughing!" Jamie tried to make her believe.
      "Well if you boy's can't lie there quietly together
and watch your movie, then I'll have to separate you!"
Mom warned.
      Mom's threat really sounded dumb and childish, but
neither Jamie nor I wanted to risk being caught.
      "Okay, we'll stop!" Jamie said.
      That seemed to satisfy her and she left, but we both
noticed she left the door open.
      "See, I told you that you were laughing too loud!"
Jamie accused me while trying not to giggle again.
      "Me?" I said, and giggled, too.
      "Should I get up and close the door?" Jamie asked
softly.
      "Um, wait a few seconds." I answered.
      The movie credits started so Jamie sat himself up.
He made sure that I stayed covered up to my chin with the
blanket. After all, I was still completely nude and he
had on his t-shirt. He picked up the remote, flipped a
few channels, and stopped on an old vampire comedy movie.
I'd seen it before. It was about this 300-year-old
Vampire that decides to try to become human again with
the help of a woman he's fallen in love with. The jokes
are lame, but the story itself isn't so bad.
      "Why'd you stop on this?" I asked.
      Jamie looked down at my little head sticking out
from under the covers. He smiled, "Can we do it now?" he
asked.
      "Sshhhhh!" I hushed him, nudging my head to the
door.
      Jamie laughed quietly, "I don't mean that! I mean
the blood brothers thing."
      "Oh!" it was my turn to laugh, and Jamie gave my
head a slight push with his elbow. "Sorry! I thought you
meant ..."
      "I know what you thought!" Jamie was grinning ear to
ear.
      "Only if you will tell me about the club!" I said.
      "Oh Yeah! I forgot!" Jamie said, returning the
remote to the table. "I'm going to close the door first."
He got out of the bed quickly and peeked down the hallway
before closing it. When he came back, I noticed that his
soft penis had shrunk so much that it looked like an
overgrown pimple. I wanted so badly to comment on it, but
I thought better of it.
      Jamie caught me looking and said, "What?"
      To cover for my evil thoughts I said, "Don't you
think you should put some pants on before she catches
us?"
      Jamie didn't respond right away, but stood there
facing me. I could tell he was thinking hard.
      "I w-w-want t-to ..."
      "Now who's the stutterer?" I joked, "Just spit it
out!"
      "I want to wear one of your diapers!" He whispered
so fast, I hardly understood him at first, then it made
sense to me why he had brought two of my disposable
diapers and stashed them under his pillow. Until that
second, it had not occurred to me that he had indeed,
taken two out of my drawer.
      "Really?" I asked.
      Jamie just nodded.
      "But?" I couldn't think of anything to follow the
word, so I didn't say anything else. I looked at him for
several seconds. He was staring at me like he was waiting
for me to say something, anything!
      "Uh, yeah sure! I mean if you really want too!" I
tried to sound calm and cool about it, but I knew he
could see right thru my ruse.
      "I'll help you get diapered first, and then you can
help me." Jamie said, and he looked like he was going to
start turning cartwheels any second.
      "You think you can do it Okay?" I asked.
      "Might not be as good as your Mom, but I'll manage."
He said as he knelt next to my bed.
      "Why don't you put on a pair of shorts first. That
way, if Mom comes in again, we can at least say you were
just helping so that she didn't have to do it?" I tried
to explain.
      "Yeah, good idea!" he said, popping back up like a
piece of popcorn.
      "There we go!" he announced as he let the elastic
waistband snap into place.
      Jamie pulled the covers off me again, pulled one of
the diapers out from under his pillow, and opened it up.
It looked big hanging there, all open in his hands.
      Joking, he reached down and took hold of my penis
and pulled up on it, "Up you go!"
      "Now stop that!" I joked back, lifting my bottom
into the air.
      He had to let go of my penis to be able to use both
his hands to maneuver the diaper into place. When he was
satisfied that he had it were he wanted it, he said,
"Okay, lower away!" like I was some big building crane or
something.
      He gathered up the front of the diaper and was
pulling it up between my legs, but stopped for a second
to reposition my penis so that it was pointing down. He
also took this opportunity to give my jewels a squeeze.
At any other time, all of this manipulation and handling
would have had it standing at attention again, but I guess
Jamie had tuckered the little guy out!
      "Would you stop playing?" I said, but I was laughing
at the way he was acting now. I'd never, I mean never,
seen this side of Jamie, and never would have even
thought it possible.
      Jamie fumbled with the tapes a little, but when he
was finally finished, the diaper was pretty snuggly in
place. He patted the front of my diaper hard enough that
it hurt my jewels only a tiny bit.
      "Ouch!" I said.
      "Oh please!" Jamie scoffed, leaned forward, and
kissed the front of my diaper.
      "There I kissed it to make it better!" he said, and
we both laughed quietly.
      I tried to sit up on my own, but only managed to get
up onto one elbow. "Can you help me the rest of the way?"
      "Sure!" He said, taking my hands and pulling me all
the way up until I was sitting on the bed.
      "Can you get me a shirt too?" I asked.
      He went to my dresser without any comment or snide
remark, pulled out a plain white t-shirt, and brought it
over. I reached out to take it, but he wouldn't let me
have it.
      "No, I'll do it!" he insisted.
      So I raised my arms as much as I dared or could, and
he slipped it over my head and pulled it down over my
taped ribs. He was leaning forward, tucking the tag down
in the back of my shirt. I don't know why, but I turned
my head only a bit and kissed him right on the side of
his neck.
      "What was that for?" he asked, sounding surprised.
      "I dunno? Just 'cause!" I said with a small shrug.
      Jamie smiled, leaned back in and kissed my cheek
before saying, "Okay, my turn!"
      "Go check the door first to be sure it's still
safe." I commanded, and he responded by bounding for the
door. He again only opened it a smidgen, just enough to
peek out, and then closed it again.
      "No where in sight!" he announced, walking back over
to me as he started to put his fingers into the elastic
of his shorts to pull them down.
      I put a hand up to stop him, "I'll do it!" I said,
and he smiled one of those smiles like he'd just got
caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
      "Okay!" he said, taking both of my hands and helping
me to my feet.
      Before I let him lay down on my bed, I took hold of
both of his arms just above his elbows, pulling him close
enough that our noses nearly touched so that I could
whisper in a hushed tone that he could still hear. "How
long have you really wanted to do this?"
      "You mean the diapers or the other thing?" he asked.
      "Both," I answered.
      "Well I guess I have wanted to try one of your
GoodNites for awhile, but I was scared until I read your
journal last weekend. I mean before our fight." he said.
      "And the other?" I asked.
      "Probably last week too; Yeah, about then; I mean,
I never thought about you before that way. Uh, wait, that
didn't come out right." Jamie said, turning his head
away.
      "That's Okay, I know what you mean." I tried to
assure him and then I asked, "So how long have you been
in the sex club?"
      "Since about the time we moved into the building. I
mean, I met them the same day we moved in, but they
didn't invite me until a couple of days later." Jamie
said.
      "So who is 'They'?" I asked, giving his arms a
squeeze.
      "First you diaper me, then we will get under the
covers together, and I will tell you all about it!" Jamie
said. I knew he really wanted to try on the diaper.
      "Okay, but can I do something first?" I asked, and I
nearly laughed when Jamie's left eyebrow went up a good
inch onto his forehead.
      "What?" he asked, trying to pull away from me.
      I held on to him tight and pulled him back closer
and closer until our lips were touching. Then I let go
of his arms, wrapped mine around behind him and hugged
him as we kissed. He took my cue and wrapped his arms
around me, one around my back, and with the other, he
held the back of my head with his fingers in my hair. We
kissed for a while and I felt his lower hand start to
massage my lower back so I did that same to him, but this
wasn't all I had in mind. I slowly opened my lips enough
to let my tongue out, and to my surprise he opened his
mouth and stuck out his tongue too.
      Gawd, it was so hot, and I felt like I never wanted
to let Jamie go but after another minute or so we
separated.
      "Wow!" Jamie said, "Where'd you learn to do that?"
he asked.
      "I read about it online!" I confessed.
      "Man, you are a good kisser! Better then Becky or
Vanessa!" Jamie complemented.
      "Who are Becky and Vanessa?" I asked.
      "Two girls in our club!" Jamie said, "Now please,
can I try on the diaper?"

"Okay, but only under one condition!" I said,
      "What now?" Jamie asked, trying to pull away again.
      "You have to wear it all night, you cannot take it
off and you can't go into the bathroom all night!" I
said.
      "What if I need to go number two?" Jamie asked, with
just a hint of fear in his eyes.
      "That's the deal! Take it or leave it!" I said, and
Jamie thought for a good twenty seconds.
      "What if your parents find out?" Jamie asked.
      "We'll just have to make sure they don't!" I said.
      "Man!" Jamie whined.
      "And you have to tell me all about the club!" I
added.
      "I was going to do that anyway!" Jamie said, "Now,
can I lay down or do I have to kiss you again?"
      I scratched my chin with a single finger, "Hummm? I
think you can lay down first and then kiss me afterward!"
      "Deal!" Jamie said, and he started for the bed, but
I again stopped him.
      "What?" He whispered and I could tell he was
getting overly anxious.
      I didn't answer, but holding on to him for support,
I lowered myself so that I was kneeling in front of him.
I took a hold of the legs of his shorts and pulled them
off. To my surprise, Jamie was again sporting about a
half-hard errection.
      "You are a sex animal!" I whispered, and I was
pleased to see him blush slightly.
      "Jamie?" I whispered in a slightly scolding manner,
"I do believe you are blushing!" This only managed to
make him turn even reader.
      I reached out and cupped his boyhood jewels in my
right hand and kind of bounded them a bit. I think we
need to get him wrapped up so that he will behave
himself. Jamie's face was fully red now; even his ears
and neck were glowing red. I was really enjoying this and
I could tell he was, too.
      "Okay, step out of your shorts!" I told him, but I
didn't let go of his jewel sack as he stepped back. I
pulled him forward again using his genitals as a leash,
not unlike the way he'd used my penis to get me to lift
my butt.
      "Now sit!" I commanded, followed by a tug. Jamie sat
on the end of the bed and I had to let go my grip so that
I could stand up. I used his knees for support to get me
to my feet.
      "Okay, lay down." I said, and he did, swinging his
feet up on the bed.
      Leaning over to diaper my brother with the condition
of my ribs was an adventure in pain, but I tried not to
show it as I really wanted Jamie to enjoy this. Not for
unselfish reasons. No, in my brain I was thinking that if
I could get Jamie to like wearing the diaper then maybe,
just maybe, he'd stop always picking on me for wetting my
bed and having to wear the diapers. Yeah sure he wanted to
wear one, it was even his idea, but that didn't mean he
would end up liking it. At the very least, Jamie was going
to experience first hand what it was like to be me, even
if only for one night.
      I pulled out all the stops for Jamie. I got the
diaper cream and powder, and used those on him. By the
time I was ready to pull the diaper up into place, he had
a full on erection again.
      "You're not making this easy!" I teased as I gave
the head of his penis a flick with my finger.
      "OUCH!" Jamie hissed.
      "Shhh!" I hushed him, though really he had not been
too loud at all.
      "Can I fold it down?" I asked.
      Jamie only nodded.
      It took some effort to do so, but I got it down and
the diaper pulled up. I could tell though, that it caused
Jamie some discomfort for me to press it down like that.
I got the tapes put into place and had him stand up with
the diaper on. When he did, his shirt fell down and
covered about half of it.
      "Gawd, where is someone with a camera when you need
one?" I thought.
      "You look adorable!" I told him, and he blushed yet
again.
      Jamie must have seen the discomfort I was currently
in because he bent over, picked up his own shorts, and
slipped them on by himself.
      "Okay, let's get into bed!" Jamie said, and he
helped me to sit, and then lay back down.
      As soon as I was lying down, all pain and discomfort
faded away nearly immediately.
      Before Jamie got into bed, he again checked the
door, then went over to my desk, and opened one of the
drawers before coming and lying down beside me. He got
the covers in place so that both our diapers were
covered, but since we both had on t-shirts, we didn't
need to have them pulled up to our chins.
      Jamie took a deep breath and began, "Okay, so Becky
is thirteen and she knows everything there is to know
about sex. She is Catholic, so the only thing she ever
does is kiss and watch. Oh, and of course, she'll talk
about anything that has to do with sex. Vanessa on the
other hand is kind of quiet unless she's mad, but she
will do anything and let you do anything you want as long
as Becky is there. Oh, and Vanessa is twelve, but she
looks a lot older."
      Jamie continued talking and I didn't even make a
peep. I didn't want to interrupt him for anything.
      "Then there is Paul and Noah who both live one floor
down from me and their bedroom is directly under mine.
Paul will be eleven next Friday and Noah is twelve."
      Jamie was on a roll and I just loved how he was so
animated as he talked. His hands were flailing about like
the Italians do when they talk.
      "Noah can cum already too, but Paul can't. Oh, and
Noah even has a little hair down there!" Jamie pointed to
his privates. "Both Becky and Vanessa have a little hair
there too, but not a lot. Not like in the magazines. They
both wear bras, but Becky is the only one that really has
any boobies."
      He stopped, licked his lips, took another breath,
and continued, "Oh, and no one can suck as well as Noah!
He's like a vacuum cleaner!" Jamie was smiling, but
looking at the television while he talked. "I guess
Paul's not too bad either. Paul's a good kisser too. Like
you, but he's never let me French with him like you did.
The other's have though. He says he don't like it." And
like someone turned off a faucet, Jamie stopped talking.
      "What's the matter? Why'd you stop?" I asked.
      He didn't reply but was sitting with his mouth open
and was breathing kind of hard. Then his eyes closed
tightly and a small squeak came out of his mouth that
sounded like it came from deep in his throat.
      "You okay?" I asked.
      Jamie nodded, but didn't answer or open his eyes.
      "What's the matter?" I asked again.
      "Nothing!" he finally answered.
      "Well why'd you stop then?" I asked.
      "Cause it happened again!" Jamie said, finally
opening his eyes and resting his hands on the blanket
directly over his diaper.
      "What? You wet?" I asked, not getting what he meant
right away.
      "No, not that!" he said, "I came again!"
      Then the light went on for me, "Oh, again? But you
weren't even doing anything!" I said.
      "I know!" Jamie was still breathing a little heavy,
"It's never happened before when no one's been touching
or sucking on it or something." Jamie said.
      "Wow!" was all I could think to say.
      "Yeah, you said it!" Jamie grinned.
      "You mean just talking about that stuff made you do
it?" I asked.
      He shrugged.
      I thought for a second before saying, "Maybe it was
cause of the diaper?"
      Jamie only shrugged again before saying, "I'm
thirsty!"
      "Have some of my milk." I offered.
      "Oh gross, I'm not drinking after you!" Jamie
objected.
      Nearly forgetting to whisper I said, "What?" I was
looking at him with my mouth hanging open, "You just ...
I mean you were sucking on ... You kissed me and ..." I
didn't need to finish.
      Jamie laughed, "Okay. Yeah, you are right!" He
picked up my cup and drank.
      After that, we lay quietly for about a minute until
Jamie turned his head and whispered, "Give me your right
thumb."
      "What for?" I asked, while offering my hand to him.
He didn't need to answer as I saw that he had my drawing
compass in his right hand. "Oh" I said when I saw it.
      Nothing else was said between us for the longest
time. The blood brother ritual we were about to do seemed
almost holy, and talking seemed like it would have
tainted it somehow. Least-wise, that's how I felt.
      Jamie didn't just prick my finger as I had done
earlier to him when I had him sign the oath in blood; no,
he used the sharp point to lay open my thumb. Blood
dripped onto his cheek and he quickly stuck my thumb into
his mouth. He then did the same to his own thumb, only a
little worse as the blood really gushed, and he quickly
stuck it into my mouth without saying a word.
      We both laid quietly watching television with each
other's bleeding and throbbing thumbs in one another's
mouths for over an hour. The taste of Jamie's blood was
like licking something metal, and the taste seemed to
come and go for a while. After about an hour, Jamie
pulled my thumb from his mouth with his free hand and
looked at it. It had stopped bleeding but then he put his
puckered lips to it and sucked on the wound so hard that
I felt like a straw as the blood began to flow again. I
just continued sucking on his thumb as though I were
sucking on my own, maybe with a little more pressure.
      I don't know what time it was when we heard Dad come
home, but we were into our third movie and still sucking
away on each other's thumbs. Mine had stopped throbbing
with pain sometime ago, and I also stopped tasting blood
from Jamie's. When we heard someone coming down the
hallway, we pulled our thumbs from each other's mouths,
and hid them under the covers.
      Dad came in and told us both good night. He'd tried
to get Jamie to go to his own bed, but we both protested
and Dad relented. I guess because we were being so quiet
and well behaved. We didn't see either Mom or Dad again
until the next morning at the breakfast table.
      Once Dad was gone, we pulled our thumbs back out,
looked at them, compared them and I asked, "Does yours
still hurt?"
      "Not anymore, but it was at first, a lot!" Jamie
answered, as he turned on his side to face me before
putting my thumb back into his mouth. Taking his cue, I
did the same thing with his thumb. Then with his free
hand, he reached over and took my free hand and placed it
on his side and then placed his on the front of my
diaper. I watched his eyes and I could tell the second he
realized that I had already wet myself. I allowed my hand
to find the front of his diaper and after a couple
minutes I felt it get really warm. And that is how the
two of us went to sleep.
      Around one in the morning, I awoke when Jamie
accidentally bumped the front of my chest. It didn't hurt
a lot, only enough to wake me up. However, Jamie was
still out cold. He had his right arm draped over my
chest, and his right leg was crossed over mine so that I
was pretty well pinned to the bed, unable to move. Our
thumbs were out of each other's mouths. Though I
tried to look at it in the dark, I couldn't really see
the cut but I could feel it when I touched my thumb to my
finger. I also noticed that the television was off now. I
wondered if Mom or Dad turned it off, or if Jamie had. I
found out later just before breakfast that Jamie had
turned it off around midnight.
      Laying there with Jamie sort of half on top of me,
and thinking about the things we did, well, it got me all
excited again and soon I felt the front of my diaper
getting tight as my little solder strained to get to
attention. I slid my hand down over the front of my
diaper and tried to adjust myself, but Jamie's leg was
sort of in the way. My fingers brushed his diaper and a
shiver shot through me like I was being electrocuted.
      I tried to see if Jamie was sound asleep, but he had
his face buried in the nape of my neck. I allowed my
fingers to follow the elastic gathers of his diaper that
encircled his hip, up the side of his diaper, where I
felt the tapes that held the diaper securely into place
and up to the elastic waistband. When my fingers made
contact with his flesh again he felt so soft and warm. I
allowed my hand to rest for a moment on his side before
sliding back down to the waistband of the diaper and
slipping under it. It took some doing, but I managed to
get my hand under the elastic and down into his diaper to
where I could almost touch his penis. Suddenly, Jamie
moved and rolled over so that he was now lying on his
back. At the first sign of movement from him, I'd quickly
removed my hand to keep from being caught, but when I was
sure he was still asleep, I used my right hand this time
to find his belly and slowly work my fingers under his
diaper until my entire hand was inside the warm moist
environment.
      I finally found his penis, and sure enough it was
about half stiff and like mine, straining to stand up.
When my fingers wrapped around it, he stirred again and I
froze again. This time, I didn't remove my hand, but
waited for him to settle down again. His left hand came
to rest on my stomach, which sent tingling waves though
my body.
      Now I had fully intended to do more, but I guess
sleep was stronger than desire at that point. Maybe
because I'd already had two wonderful fireworks shows
this evening of my own. With my hand down the front of my
brothers' diaper, I fell captive once again to the
sandman and drifted off to sleep.

                  ~ The End ~

                     ~ ? ~