Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 17:56:53 -0700 From: Danny Subject: Simon's Journal: Thirteen Days, Chapter 3 of 13 Simon's Journal Volume I Thirteen Days - The First Crusade A novel by Danny Chapter 3 February 18, 2004 Wednesday I don't remember falling asleep but I must have drifted off soon after dad turned off the light. I woke up about twenty minutes after midnight and it took me several more minutes just to realize that the reason it was so dark outside was because it was still night. I was feeling fine again and my belly wasn't making any noises anymore. I lay there for about ten minutes before I decided I wanted to get up and write down all the events from that day. However, getting up was not as easy as it normally would be on any other morning. I had trouble getting myself free of my covers because dad had done such an excellent job of tucking me in that I don't believe I moved at all while I was asleep. I ultimately managed to get the covers kicked off of me and when I pulled them away I saw that I had wet so much while I was asleep that I had soaked the GoodNite to the point of nearly bursting. I examined the sheet under me with my hand and was amazed that it was still dry. Had I not woken up when I did I surely would have needed a life jacket before morning. I swung my feet to the edge of the bed and let them drop to the icy cold floor as I rolled over on my right elbow and stood up trying not to put any undue pressure on it. I knew it would not hold another drop of pee because as I stood up I had to grab the waistband to keep it from falling right off of me. I carefully let it slide down my legs. Once the air hit my damp skin I became instantly conscious that it was colder tonight then it had been recently. A few trickles of pee escaped from within the GoodNites confines and dripped down my legs as I slid them fall to the floor. It also managed to drip several more drops on the floor as I carried it over and plopped it into the green pail next to my door with a satisfying squish. I searched out another GoodNite from my drawer in the near darkness and noticed that I only had one more left in the drawer now. I made a mental note to let mom know in the morning that I was going to need another package of them. I slithered into it and it felt so nice as the cold was not a very pleasant feeling against my bare bottom and boyhood tonight. In the summer months that is a feeling a do enjoy but not in February. Instead of retiring to my closet, I resolved to climb back into my bed with my spiral notebook and cover back up. Just before scrambling into bed I noticed, setting next to my backpack was my gym bag, but that was not where I had left it. I went over to check it out and sure enough when I unzipped it I saw that everything in it had been washed, folded and put back in neatly for me. Heck, even my gym shoes looked like they had been cleaned. "Wow! I owe mom a big hug in the morning!" I whispered. I reached in and plucked out the large yellow shirt and pulled it over my head. I felt like I was two-years- old again wearing such a large shirt and what was really just a glorified diaper. I leaped into my bed and wrapped the extra blanket around me to keep cozy warm. After getting settled and opening my notebook, I pulled the blanket up over my head so that I looked like a little monk or something setting there with just my face and hands exposed to the night air. I reached over to my nightstand and flicked on the little nightlight so that I could see better to write. The dim glow from the streetlight outside was enough for me to be able to move around my room in the night but it was not really enough to see to write. My eyes winced and slammed shut as the little light flickered on. It took a few seconds for me to coax them back open again and adjust to the light, which wasn't really that bright but after being in mostly darkness a single candle watt can sure blind a person. I spent the next couple hours writing all about the previous days exciting activities and events. When I got to writing about the red haired boy I had seen in the nurses' office I found my penis was getting very hard and strained against the front of my GoodNite. That had never happened before, I mean not when I was thinking about guys! Yea, I've gotten hard thinking about girls and about diapers before but I'd never, not even once got turned-on seeing or thinking about another guy naked. I wrote until my hand started to get tired and my eyelids were getting heavy. I was satisfied that I had recalled and recording the previous days events as best I could. I closed my notebook and set it on my nightstand. The room went dark again with a flick of the little light switch. I rolled over on my left side, curled up in a ball and went back to sleep. Walking my bike up the hill to Mike's house, I kept feeling like someone was following me but every time I turned to look all I saw was this little red rabbit standing totally still with a single blade of grass hanging out of its mouth like Tom Sawyer. I walked faster and faster but the feeling that someone was following me kept growing so I spun around and took off chasing the little rabbit, shouting and waving my airs as we ran through the bushes, under fences, past a purple house and finally managed to corner it in some dark dirt covered room. I tried to show that I didn't want to hurt it and that I just wanted to pet it but it started screaming this horrible ear-shattering noise. I woke up with a violent start, jumped out of bed and turned off my alarm clock before it woke up the whole neighborhood. I stood by my clock for a moment to allow my brain to catch up with my body. I rubbed at my eyes, stretched and yawned. "OKAY, that was a really weird dream!" I said as I stretched my arms toward the ceiling and groaned, "Oh man it's cold!" I scrunched my toes to try to keep them warm. Without really thinking about it I reached down with my left hand to feel how wet I was. "Dry?" I looked down pulling up my shirt to see, "Huh? What do you know about that?" I said aloud. I pulled off my new gym shirt, stuffed it back in the bag and I hopped back into bed where I pulled my covers up to my chin and lay there for a few minutes until that familiar feeling started to stir. I closed my eyes and relaxed my whole body. The urge slowly intensified and before long hot urine poor into my thirsty GoodNite. It was coming out faster then the GoodNite could drink it up and the warmth washed over my boyhood parts and I could feel it spilling down between my legs tickling ever so lightly and spreading under my bottom. It felt like it would never end and a part of me didn't want it to end but after a minute or two I was drained dry and the GoodNite was well quenched. I continued to lie there, the GoodNite was so warm now and I could still feel the pee spreading across my bottom. I slid my right hand across the front of it. Oh, it was so warm and felt extremely soggy, too. I pressed down gently to feel the warmth more deeply as I moved my hand in small circles. It felt so good and I let go a small sigh. Another stirring began to grow again down below and thought I might need to pee again but then my penis started to get stiff. I rubbed a little more assertively, allowing my penis to work its way so that it was pointing up toward my belly under the urine-drenched GoodNite. The GoodNite was gliding around tickling the skin of my boyhood parts. I reached down between my legs as far as my arms would stretch and pressed firmly as I slid my hands back up toward my belly button. I didn't notice right away but I had started to breath harder and shallower as I continued to rub myself through the saturated GoodNite. I have never known it to feel so good and I didn't want to stop. I pressed harder, forcing the warm drenched GoodNite tighter to me, rubbing and stoking. The awakening down below grew stronger as if I was about to pee like I had never done before. With my eyes shut tight, I kept seeing colors dancing around in my eyes and I began to move my hips around to feel the wetness beneath me and then without any warning it felt like someone had set off a whole pack of firecrackers in my privates and I screamed. Seconds later my bedroom door burst open. Dad was standing there wearing only his boxer shorts and his face half covered in shaving cream. "What's the matter?" He said in a panicked tone and mom appeared in the door just behind him. I had no idea what the matter was! I couldn't talk, I couldn't think! Heck, I couldn't breathe! Mom came over to my bedside, "Oh my goodness, you're burning up!" she said to me. "He's burning up!" she said to dad. With my head still in my pillow and her hand on my head, still reeling from what just happened, I looked up at dad. I didn't know if he knew or if somehow my eyes somehow told of the whole event but something in the way that he looked down at me told me that maybe, just maybe he knew. "I am going to call the doctor!" Mom said excitedly as she stood up and headed for the door. Dad was still looking down at me, lying there with only my head sticking out from under the covers and the bangs of my hair pasted to my forehead with little beads of sweat. There was no expression, no words, just looking, watching, examining. He turned and walked out, too; leaving me lying there with my heart beating so hard I thought it might explode through my chest. I had no idea what had just happened. I was honestly and truly scared that I had done something very bad and that I might have seriously hurt myself. I didn't want to move, just in case! "Mom is calling the doctor!" I thought to myself, "I am dieing!" I felt my eyes fill with tears "Oh god I don't want to die!" I cried inside and swallowed hard. After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only two or three minutes, dad came walking back into my room alone. I looked back up at him, still lost for words. He stopped and closed my bedroom door before going over to my desk where he picked up my chair and carrying it over next to my bed. He set it down on the floor and situated himself on it so that he was looking me right in the eyes. What happened next scared me almost as much as what had happened moments before and when it was over, instead of feeling relieved that I was not going to die, I felt nothing at all. I was left lying there in my bed alone staring past the ceiling, past the ski, past the most distant moon of Pluto. Every word, every image that had formed from his words bored deep, took root and began to grow, evolve, become. The sound of the garbage truck outside my bedroom window brought me back to earth, back to the confines of my own mind again. I pulled back my covers; the cool morning air hit my sweat-covered chest and caused me to quake as goose bumps sprung up across my arms. The school day went along fairly normally, except for the fact that I now seemed to have a new buddy, Peter Alderman. Maybe I am being paranoid but all day it seemed that between every class we were passing each other in the halls and he was thumping me in the arm in what I am sure he thought was a playful gesture. At lunchtime he came over and gave me another punch in my arm and said, "Howzit go'n?" I rubbed my arm as he and his henchmen went to go sit with by the milk and juice cart. I can remember thinking to myself that someone has got to teach that big ape how to say hello without using it fists! I tried to keep alert all day for the red hair kid but I never saw him. I checked all the bathrooms, the library three times, and at lunch I sat where I could see every single person coming out of the lunch line but he still managed to allude me. Gym was great today. Mr. Shaffer had us all shooting free throws and doing jump shots. Now that is something I like doing and you don't get all hot and sweaty. A couple guys made fun of my shirt in gym as well as in the locker room before and after class but I didn't pay them much attention and they seemed to loose interests after a while. I really like my shirt and I think they are just jealous because they all have to wear the plane white and blue gym shirts. I know it is big on me, but when I tuck it into my shorts it doesn't look as bad. Yea it makes my shorts all puffy but I don't much care about that either. About the only other thing that happened at school today was something that was happening inside my own head. After the talk my dad had with me this morning, every single girl I looked at made my insides feel like I had been eating night crawlers. Have you ever noticed how many bucktoothed, bug- eyed, straw-haired, big butt or just plain ugly girls there are in the world? Oh man! By the end of the day I wanted to pluck my own eyes out with my pencil. At the end of the day I stopped off at the office on my way out to the car to get Mike's homework. I ended up having to wait about ten minutes while the secretary was busy on the phone. I didn't mind too much. Finally, she hung up the phone and handed me a big stack of books and several photocopies, which she put in a big envelope for me so they wouldn't blow away. The books were very heavy and with my backpack hanging from my shoulders, already overloaded with my own books, I ended up having to carry his things in my arms all the way to the car. As it turned out, dad had forgot about me stopping to get Mike's homework and he had started to think that I might have walked home or something. He said if I had been one more minute he would have left. He wasn't mad; well I think he might have been building up to mad until he saw me struggling to get all the way to the car with all them books. He snickered at me from behind the wheel of the car as I finally reached it and couldn't open the door. "Dad, stop laughing!" my arms felt like they were being pulled from my body. He finally got out and came around the car. He thought he was being funny when he came around like he was going to help and then just took one book from the top of the stack and start to turn away. "Dad? Come on!" I whined. He was really getting a kick out of tormenting me and eventually he did open the car door. I just let the books fall into the backseat and crawled in after them where I made my way across the seat to the other side and buckled myself in. He asked me where Mike lived as he pulled away from the curb. When I told him he offered to drive me there before going home and I was more than willing to let him do just that. After lugging the books from the school office to the car I was not looking forward to having to carry them from our house to Mike's house. Yea sure I could have just dumped my books out of my backpack at home and then put his into it but since dad was offering, why pass it up? When we pulled into their driveway I got out of the driver's side and walked around to the other side to get the books. Some guy that I later learned was Mike's older brother came out and helped me carry in the books. He looked like he was a football player or maybe on the high school wrestling team. He was absolutely huge but his face look like the face of a younger boy still. I found out later when I went back over to there house that everyone calls him 'Tater' because his name is Tate. I don't know why they add the 'r' at the end, maybe to make it sound cute or something. Mike was setting on their sofa playing with his Gameboy and looking pretty good except for his big fat lip and really that didn't look all that bad. He also had a big white bandage taped over his knee, which was propped up with a pillow. I told him he didn't look bad at all and I think it made him feel a little better. I sensed that his brother might have been teasing him about it or something. I'm glad I don't have an older brother but if I did, I would want him to be as huge as Tater so that he could protect me from all the Peter Alderman's of the world. Mike wanted to show me his collection of model airplanes in his room but since dad was outside still waiting in the car, I told him I would come over some other time to see his models. I think he must have been bored or lonely or something so to make him happy I promised to come back over later when I was done with my own homework and dinner, if I was allowed. Mike's mom appeared from somewhere in the back of there house and gave me a big hug when I was trying to get out the door. She is what I call a Gusher. When she has an emotion, she gushes it all over the place and if you are not careful it could gush all over you too. In the right place and at the right time gushing can be okay and even feel really nice, but in public like at school, getting gushed on by your mom could get you beat up and picked on to no end! I remember once back in fifth-grade, early in the school year, this boy's mom came into our classroom to bring him his lunch that he had forgotten and gave him a kiss on his cheek before she left. That's it, just a quick peck on the cheek and that poor boy got teased, picked on and beat up on a regular basis for the rest of the school year over that. I wonder whatever happened to that kid? He probably moved far away and is living alone in a cave somewhere! Anyway, when dad and I got home there was a note on the table from mom. It read: Gone shopping! Love Mom Now, I don't know about dad but I was immensely relieved that she left before I got there or she probably would have dragged me along and I have absolutely no plans whatsoever of ever going back to Wal-Mart. Well maybe I shouldn't say 'never'; maybe I will go back when I am old and gray, when no one will recognize me. I told dad I was going to go change and do my homework right away. He made some comment about me being a good little something but I didn't hear what as I raced down the hallway to my room. When I reached my room I threw my backpack on the floor by my desk and started to strip my school clothes off and put them all in the dirty clothes this time. I slipped on my army green cargo pants and a nice warm pullover shirt before settling down to my homework. While I was changing my clothes I was thinking about the talk dad had with me this morning and I was really glad he had not brought it all up again on the drive home. I honestly wanted it all to go away, like it never happened and I was doing my best to pretend that it hadn't happened. For some reason this evening I flew through all of my homework in near record time. I only got stuck on one Math problem and that was only briefly as I realized I had not carried the two. In less then an hour I had all of my Science, Math and Social Studies done and all that was left was to read another chapter of Rumble Fish. I decided that today was going to be another day where I only skimmed over the chapter and hope that I didn't get called on too much tomorrow. Just about the same time I finished or at least said that I was finished reading the chapter, mom came home. I knew this because I heard dad calling me in his worst redneck impersonation. Dad's a really big fan of that comedian Jeff Foxworthy. "Siiiiimmmmoooooonnnnn! Come fetch them their vittles fur yor ma afore she goes and a strains her milk!" Oh man! I hate when dad tried to be funny. It is worse then when he tries to dance and let me tell you, that is something small children and pregnant women should never watch. I can only describe dad's dancing like a cat that is trying to cough-up a nasty fur ball and taking a very long time to do it! To save my ears from anymore of his Hillbilly humor I ran out of my room without stopping for my shoes. I flew around the corner into the kitchen and heard dad say, "Stop run . . ." just before my head collided with his elbow. Had there been a camcorder running at that moment I am sure we would have gotten rich when we won Americas Funniest Home Videos and I would have been the laughing stock of not just my family but also my school, our town and the entire nation. Fortunately, I got no money for it and I'm pretty sure dad didn't even see it happen but I didn't come out totally without gain. I did get this great welt on my forehead and a very bruised ego. Not to mention a sort tailbone as my butt made contact with the floor. And heck! Isn't that better then money or fame? While I was laying on the floor writhing in pain and noticing how pretty the stars were that were spinning around my head, dad was leaning against the refrigerator holding his elbow, laughing himself into hysterics and trying to ask me if I was okay but he couldn't get the words out. Of course I wasn't okay, but I was laughing through my own pain too. I don't know why I found it so very funny 'cause man - that really hurt a lot! Evidentially dad had been carrying in the bag of pork chops when I collided with him, as there were pork chops all over the kitchen floor. Mom came in with her arms loaded and saw me on the floor laughing and holding my head and saw dad doubled over laughing too. And then she saw the chops sprawled all over the floor, "What is going on in here?" "Your evil son tried to break my elbow with his hard head!" he managed to get all that out while still snorting and laughing. Mom, on the other hand, wasn't laughing. She set the bags down on the table and came to my aid. Dad objected, "Hey! He only hit his head, he couldn't hurt that but my elbow might be broken!" "Are you okay, baby?" she said as she knelt down beside me. I couldn't stop laughing as tears pored from my eyes. "NO! THINK DAD KILLED MY FRICKEN HEAD!" Except I didn't say Fricken and I didn't even realize that I had said the F word. I heard mom gasp and heard Dad opened the freezer door. I looked over at him to see him pull out a frozen bag of peas and toss them at me. They landed right on my stomach. "HEY!" I shouted letting go of my head to grab the bag of peas. "Oh my heavens!" mom gasped again, "You've got an enormous goose egg over your left eye!" I started laughing even harder as did dad. "Now stop it, both of you!" she stood up, put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot which caused dad to double over and nearly fall to the floor laughing. I put the frozen peas to my head as dad managed to straighten himself back up and pull out a bag of corn from the freezer for his elbow. It took a while for us both to stop laughing and when mom saw that neither of us were seriously injured she started picking up the pork chops from the floor while going on about living with two wild animals as she rinsed the chops off in the sink! Dad eventually made his way over to me and offered me his hand from his good arm to help me up. When I finally was standing, holding the peas to my head it hurt and I groaned though my hysteria. "You okay?" dad asked still laughing. "NO I'M NOT OKAY? YOU BROKE MY POOR LITTLE HEAD!" I shouted which sent us both back into hysterics. Dad gave me a one armed hug and said, "Good, 'cause I ever hear you use that word again and I'm going to break more then your head!" At the time, I didn't know what I had said but he later told me what had come out of my mouth and I apologized profusely. It took us quite a while to get calmed down enough to get the groceries brought in and put away because every time one of us would look at the other we would start laughing all over again and mom was not helping by calling us names and making faces. Eventually we got all the food brought in and put away. Mom being the great mom that she was had got me two packages of GoodNites and I had not even told her that I was nearly out of them. Dad and I laughed all through dinner because mom made corn and peas along with - yea you guessed it - pork chops. After dinner I asked if it would be okay if I went over to Mike's for a while. Mom didn't want me to go but to just stay in and take it easy but dad told me, and I quote: "Get out of my house and never come back, you vile beast!" So I did but as I was leaving he said, "Be back before dark!" To which I just had to reply, "Don't come back! Do come back! Which is it?" I somehow just managed to grab my shoes and coat and make my escape out the front door as one of the couch pillows came flying my way. I sat on the front porch swing and put on my coat and shoes before I jumped off the porch and raced around the side of the house. I ducked into the garage and managed to get my bike out despite the two vehicles blocking most of the garage. There is something about being on a bike and rolling at top speeds that really appeals to me. I love the feeling that at any second I could wipe out. I imagine it feels the same for Nascar drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Jeff Gordon as they whip around each turn going well in excess of 200 mph. I can't wait until I am old enough to drive! As I reached the bottom of our street I slammed on the brakes and locked up my back tire just to see how long of a skid mark I could leave behind me. It ended up only being about ten feet this time but I've left much longer ones before. I stopped and waited for a car that was backing out of a driveway before I started for Mike's street. Since I had skidded to a stop I was forced to walk my bike the entire way up their hill. Mike was standing looking out their front door when I rolled my bike up onto their porch. "I saw you coming!" he said as he opened the door to me. "Whoa! What happened to you?" he said noticing the lump on my head. "Oh, nothing, I just ran into my dad's elbow." I said reaching up and covering it with my hand. "Hey! I didn't notice earlier but you are sounding almost normal now. I mean you are talking normal now." I said. "Yea," he said trying to smile. "You want to come out?" I asked. "Na, but you can come in!" He said excitedly. "Yea, cool." I said following him into the house. On the floor no more then two feet from the television was a little girl maybe four or five years old watching the Power Puff Girls cartoon. Mike didn't bother to introduce her as we both walked right past her. She didn't even pay us any mind at all and I didn't bother to mention that I like that cartoon, too. "Mom?" Mike shouted through the house. "Simon's here! I am going to show him my room!" From somewhere in the back of the house came, "Hi Simon!" I recognized the voice as his mom, "Hi Mrs. Winston!" I shouted back. We started up the stairs, "Hey, you coming back to school tomorrow?" I asked. I want to but mom wants me to wait until Monday to go back. "Oh well, if you want I can bring you your homework tomorrow and Friday too." I said as we reached the top of the stairs. "Oh I've already got it and thanks for bringing it over, too," he said leading me down the hallway. "You do? Okay then, no problem!" I said as we passed one room that was covered in pink everywhere and at least a hundred little dolls and stuffed animals. "Your little sister's room?" I asked. "Yea, that was Lacy watching TV downstairs." The next room was on the right and was so messy that I couldn't even tell with a quick glance were the bed was. The walls were covered with pictures of famous guys like rapper Eminem, Actors Elijah Wood and Sean Astin from Lord of the Rings and tons of other guys. "This is my older sister's room, she is away at French Camp and won't be back for two more weeks." he said. "What's French Camp?" I asked as we reached two- closed door opposite of each other. "She says its like school but different and everyone there has to talk French all the time. If you get caught talking any other language but French three times then they send you home." he explained. "Okay, that is just weird," I said. "Yea, you are telling me!" He said and then pointed to one of the two closed doors. "This here is Taters room, don't ever go in there unless you want Tater to pound on you!" he pointed to the room on the left. Hanging way up high on the outside of the closed door was a hand written sign with a bold red line and under the line it said: . . YOU MUST BE THIS TALL TO ENTER! NO EXCEPTIONS! "This here is my room," he said opening the door across from Taters and stepped in. I followed him in. "Whoa!" I exclaimed. Hanging from the ceiling by fishing line were at least twenty model airplanes and another fifteen or more were displayed in various places around his room. On one wall over his bed was a picture of fighter jets flying in formation across the ski. Across from his bed was what looked to be a huge Aircraft carrier model half-built. "Mike, these are awesome!" I said as I slowly spun around, looking up at all the planes. "Did you build all of these?" I asked. I looked over and Mike had sat on the side of his bed looking proud. "Yea, well dad helped me with a few of them a long time ago but I build and paint them all myself now," he said, trying to smile again. "You are really good! I mean REALL, REALLY GOOD!" Mike was beaming. "My dad and I tried to build an old model sailing ship once but after a few days I think my dad lost interest in it and it was too hard for me to do by myself. I think it is still in the garage in an old box somewhere." I was going from plane to plane examining each one. "What's this?" I asked, spotting what looked to be a sort of rocket-plane from the future or something and it looked so odd that I doubted it could ever fly in real life. Mike laughed, "Oh that is just something I did for fun. I used all kinds of leftover parts from different models to make it. I was just messing around one day." "You made it in one day? Even the paint job?" I asked. "Yea sure!" Most of these I've built in a day and a few of the bigger ones took me two days," he said sounding very satisfied with himself. "That one there" he pointed to his desk and the half constructed model, "I started last night but I didn't get to far on it," he said. "You are a true artist." I complemented. "Yea thanks! I am going to be a pilot when I get older," he said. Setting next to one particularly awesome plane was a picture frame with a picture of a pilot in full flight gear and it was sighed: To my wonderful son Don't ever stop dreaming! "Is this your dad?" I asked with astonishment. "Yea." Mike said sounding a bit glum. I looked over at him. "He's over in the middle east right now." he said looking down at the floor. "Your dad is a fighter pilot?" I said with more excitement. "Dude, that is so absolutely freaking awesome!" I shouted. Mike looked up from the floor with his eyes a little teary but still managed to eek out a smile. He went on to tell me all about his dad, about him flying in the war and what he is doing in the Middle East now. I asked at least a hundred questions and I think my excitement over his planes and his dad really lifted his spirits. We talked for the longest time, he explained to me what each plane was and what was special about them. It was really interesting and I wish I could have remembered everything he told me but he talked so fast I was lucky to get in my questions. After a while Mike stopped talking about his planes and asked, "Hey you want to see something else?" "Sure." I said. "Okay!" He went to the window and closed the blinds and then pulled the curtain closed. The room dimmed but the light from the middle of the ceiling was still illuminating the room. "Okay, lay down with your head at the bottom of my bed," he said, walking over to the light switch on the wall by the door. I did as he asked just after instinctively kicking off my shoes however a part of me was a little hesitant. "Okay, now close your eyes really tight and don't open them until I say so, okay?" he added. "What are you going to do?" I asked trying not to sound nervous. "Trust me, you will like this!" he said with a laugh. "Yea I bet that is what the spider said to the fly right before having him for dinner!" I laughed back and closed my eyes. "You got them closed?" he asked. "Yes!" I said. I heard the switch flicked off and I don't know how I resisted the urge to open my eyes but I did. After only a moment I felt Mike lay down beside me on the bed. "You ready?" he asked excitedly. "YES!" I squealed not sure what was going to happen. He paused for effect before whispering, "OKAY, open your eyes and look strait up." It was breathtaking. The ceiling of his room was lit up like the night sky. The entire room was engulfed in complete darkness except for the gentle glow of little greenish-white dots all over the ceiling. I could not see any of the planes but I could see the black silhouette where each was hanging. "Wow! How did you do that?" I exclaimed. "Special glow-in-the-dark paint. It took a whole weekend to do it but I've got it exactly perfect." He whispered again. "Here, give me your hand." I felt him grabbing for my hand and I offered it to him. I could only tell our hands were up in the air because they blocked out some of the stars. "Point your finger," he said. I did and I felt him put his finger over mine. "That is the Big Dipper, and if you go over here." He pointed my finger from star to star as if connecting the dots. "Hey! The Little Dipper!" I said. "Yep, I've got them all up there!" He continued to show me each constellation by drawing them with my finger. I was totally blown away that he did all of that on his own in only one weekend. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever dreamt that Mike would be so cool! After a while we heard a rapping on the door, "Boys, it's starting to get dark!" It was Mike's mom. "Okay!" we both called out at the same time. "Jinks!" we said it at the same time that meant our Jinks were countered by each other. We laughed and I said, "I better be getting home, I am supposed be home before it gets dark." "Yea, okay!" Mike said getting up from the bed. A second later the light came back on and we both groaned and allowed our eyes to readjust from the darkness. "Dude! You got to come up with a less painful way to do that!" I was still covering my eyes with both hands. "Yea, man, that hurts!" he laughed, still rubbing at his own eyes. My eyes slowly became accustomed to the light again and I got up off his bed and started to slip my shoes back on. "Your room is really cool!" I said again. "Thanks! Hey, you want to see if you can spend the night Friday night?" he said excitedly. I think my heart stopped dead and fell right into my stomach. I went into instant defense. "I-I don't think my mom and dad will let me." "Oh come on! Just ask them, I can have my mom call them and ask! She is good at talking people into stuff! She can get them to say yes!" He was bouncing on his toes. "I-I-I don't know." I stammered. "Don't you want to stay?" he asked, sounding disappointed. "No, I mean yes, I mean . . . I want to, but..." I didn't get to finish my excuse. "Okay! Then I will have mom call them right now." And before I could protest he had opened the door and took off running. I hesitated for a half a second, panic stricken. My heart had leaped from my stomach to my throat. I couldn't breath, I felt all flushed and cold. I took off running after him, "MIKE, WAIT!" I caught him at the bottom of the steps. "Listen, I-I never slept over at anyone's before," I said, panting slightly. Actually, that wasn't entirely true. I have slept over at my Aunt's lots of times but that didn't really count since she knew about my night problem and didn't have any kids. "Never?" the look on his face was clear that he had never thought of that. "I-I . . ." I couldn't get it out. He gave me a quizzical gaze, "You mean you never been to a slumber party or a sleep over or nothing?" I think the fear that was inside me was escaping out my eyes because he said, "Well okay . . . I mean, its cool." I could tell he was really disappointed. Up until that moment I had always managed to avoid being asked to sleep over at someone's house or have someone sleep over at mine. Even my friend from school, BJ never asked me to sleep over at his house thought I have been over there to play lots of times and he has been over to my house to play too. A part of me really wanted to stay, but a bigger part of me knew if I did Mike would find out that I was a bed wetter and that would mean more then the end of our new friendship. It would most likely mean that he, or one of his family members would blab my secret either accidentally or on purpose and I've seen how secrets can spread faster then a fire. I just couldn't risk it, no matter how much I wanted to be his friend. "Well, at least come over Friday for dinner and a movie?" he said trying to smile again. The counter offer caught me off guard, "Uh?" "Friday night is always movie night and I bet we could get my mom to make her world famous spaghetti for dinner. Come on, say yes!" he pleaded with puppy dog eyes. "If it is okay with your mom then okay, I will ask when I get home." I said. "YES!" he said a little to overly excited and then put his hand to his lip. "Ouch!" he managed a laugh. "It's my turn to pick the movie so we can watch anything you want!" he said, leading me back to the front door. I noticed his little sister was no longer setting in front of the television though it was still on as we passed by but I didn't recognize the cartoon this time. He led me right out the front door and onto their porch. "Thanks for coming over today and for bringing me my books and stuff." He stuck out his right hand. I took his hand and we shook, it was the first time I had ever had anyone do that. It made me feel all grown up. "Thanks for showing me your room, I am just sorry that it took you getting busted up in gym class for us to become friends. Heck I didn't even know you lived so close to me!" I said and then let go of his hand. Mike's brother came walking around the side of the house carrying a football with a couple other boys that all looked as big and tough as he did. One of the guys had flaming red hair and pail white skin. I think he might have been an inch taller then Tater and the other guy that was next to him. He came up on the porch first. "Hey, little man!" he said to Mike, "Who's the other little man?" "I'm Simon." I said. "He's a friend from school." Mike called me his friend, whoa! "Nice to meet you Simon. Nice welt you got there too!" The read haired guy said pointing to my head, "I'm J.R. but my friends call me Bull." "Yea, Bull . . . I see why!" I said coving my forehead as he stepped up beside me and gave me a thump on the arm with the back of his hand. For some reason I still can't shake the feeling that I've seen Bull someplace before. I mean he looked so familiar to me, and still does. Ah it will come to me sooner or later. "Yea well this here is Reggie" Bull said pointing to the other mammoth boy, "but everyone calls him Runt." "Runt?" I asked, cocking my head just a bit and looking over at Runt who was built just as huge as the other two. Tater chimed in, "Yea, tell him why you're called Runt, Runt!" He gave Runt a push and what I thought was a very hard slap to the shoulder but Runt didn't even flinch and hardly budged but he turned about ten shades of red out of embarrassment. "Get off me, Tater!" Runt said, pushing Mike's brother off him. "Runt doesn't talk too much but don't let that fool you. Runt here might look like a tree but he also has a brain in there somewhere, too." Tater said locking Runt in a headlock and thumping the top of his head with his knuckles. I looked over at Mike, who was looking bored. "Uh, it was nice to meet you but I have to get home before it gets any darker." "Where you live?" asked Bull. "Just a couple blocks over." I said, motioning with my thumb over my left shoulder. Tater was reclining on the seat of my bike. "Uh, I need my bike." "Oh sorry, little man!" Tater said moving aside. Runt helped me roll it down the steps; actually he mostly carried it down for me while I held onto one of the handlebars. Mike came down with me and the three guys went into the house each in turn. "Those guys seem pretty nice, even your brother." I said. "Bull and Runt are okay most of the time but my brother is usually a big jerk when they are not around. He just puts on a show for them." He looked up at the house as if looking at a plate full of liver and spinach. I was going to ask him why he looked that way but instead thought I would hold that question. I climbed on my bike, "You know they all have weird names. "Bull, Tater and Runt." We both snickered. "What time you want me to come over Friday?" I asked. "I'll ask mom and then call you in about twenty minutes okay? That should give you time to get home and ask your parents shouldn't it? He asked. "Oh yea, easy! I was going to ask you next what your number was but you can give it to me when you call." I said. "Okay, talk with you in just a few." Mike said as I started to peddle away. "OKAY!" I shouted back over my shoulder. The hill down from Mike's is just as steep as ours and I flew down it, whipped around the corner and began pedaling hard to keep my momentum so that I could get up our street as far as possible but unfortunately as soon as I rounded the corner I had to hit the brakes. I skidded to the side as the back tire tried to come around but I was able to hang on and ride the skid out. I missed a bunch of trashcans by only a few inches. I shot a dirty look at the house that the cans were setting in front off. People shouldn't put their trashcans on the sidewalk for crying out loud! After bailing off my bike I walked it up the hill to our house where dad was standing on the front porch. "Hi dad!" I said, huffing from the climb up the hill. "Cutting it kind of close, weren't you?" he said as I wheeled my bike past the porch. "Yea, sorry," I said and vanished around the side of the house. After leaving my bike in the garage and entering through the back door I found mom again in the dining room working on her jigsaw puzzle. "Mom, can I eat over at Mike's Friday for dinner? Please?" I pleaded. She looked up from her puzzle, "Uh, no this is your brother's weekend." "Ah mom! Please? It's only dinner! Please?" when I want to I can really produce an excellent whine. "What are you crying about?" I jumped and turned to see dad standing right behind me. "You scared the pants off me and I'm not crying!" I snapped. He smiled a pleased with himself smile. "He wants to eat dinner over at his friend's Friday night. I've told him no!" She shot me one of those looks as she said no that told me that I had better not push the subject but I guess I didn't catch the full impact of the look as I continued my pleading. "Why do I have to be here just because Jamie is coming over?" I complained to dad. "Oh please! Oh please! Oh Please!" dad was mocking my whine to mom! "Dad, don't! I really want to go over! Mike invited me to dinner and to watch a movie with his family!" "Oh now it's dinner and a movie?" mom said. "Well, yea! Every Friday night is movie night at their house and Mike said that it is his turn to pick the movie. He said I could choose for him! Mom, please?" "Dad, tell her I can go?" "Oh no you don't! You are not getting me in trouble again!" he said throwing his hands in the air as if surrendering and walked out of the room. "Here's the deal." Mom said dropping the puzzle piece she had in her hand. Mom was as notorious for her deals as she was for giving speeches and more times then not; I ended up on the bed end of her deals too. "You go call your bother and tell him you don't want to have dinner with him and that you are going to leave him here alone while you go and play with your friends." She picked up another puzzle piece and went back to her puzzle as if I wasn't even in the room anymore. I knew that was the end of it for her and though she didn't actually say yes, I knew I could go. Still quite well remembering the collision with my dad's elbow earlier I did not run from the room but walked out just about the time the telephone rang. "Simon, it's for you!" Dad shouted. I went to the kitchen and picked up the phone, "Hello?" "Hey Simon! What did they say?" "Hi Mike, yea I can come but it was close!" I said. "Close?" Mike asked. "Yea my bother is coming over this weekend." I said. "I didn't know you had a brother!" Mike said. "Yea well he is my half brother. He only comes over every other weekend and this is his weekend." I said. "Oh half brother from another marriage? That's cool." Mike said. "No not like that, but never mind that! I'm allowed to come over Friday. Did your mom say it was okay?" I asked. "Oh yea, she said she likes you, too!" he continued, "Oh, and she said that she will make her famous spaghetti just for you." "Sweet!" I said. "So, what movie do you want to watch?" he asked. "I have not thought about it, what kind of movies do you like?" I asked. "I like action movies with lots of blood and explosions but with my little sister we can't have all the killing and blood. Whatever it is, it needs to be rated PG-13 or lower," he said. "Gee, I don't know?" I said. "How about Top Gun?" Mike offered. "I don't know that one." I said. "YOU"VE NEVER SEEN TOP GUN!" Mike shouted, nearly rupturing my eardrum. "What's it about?" I asked switching the phone to my other ear and rubbing the one he had just exploded into. "Jet Fighter Pilots and great dog fights! It's one of my favorite movies ever!" Mike said excitedly. "Okay! That sounds good to me then!" I gave in gratefully. "YES - OKAY! I'll see you around five then?" Mike asked. "OKAY! Good cause I have to stay after school Friday and that will give me time to get home and get my homework done or at least most of it before I come over!" I said. "I'll see you then!" he said. "OKAY! Bye!" I said. "We're going to have so much fun! Bye!" and he hung- up. I hang-up our phone and went to the living room where I plopped down in front of the TV. After a while both dad and mom joined me and I lost control of the remote but we still watched a couple good shows before dad announced that it was time for me to go to bed. I was going to put up a protest but I didn't want to press my luck and not be allowed to go Friday. On my way to my room mom asked, "Did you call your bother?" "Uh?" I said. I didn't think she had been serious about me calling him. "He might still be up, you better call him now," she said. I looked at dad who gave me that look as if to say, "Don't look at me!" So I trotted off to the kitchen to call Jamie. His mom answered on the third ring. "Hello," she answered. "Hi, it's Simon. Is Jamie still up?" I asked. "Oh hello Simon, yes, just a moment," she said. She must have put her hand over the phone because I heard her scream for Jason but it sounded all muffled. "He'll be right here!" she said and I heard her set the phone down. After a couple minutes, "Hello" "Hi Jamie, it's Simon," I said. "Oh, what do you want?" he sounded irritated. "Well, hello to you, too!" I said sounding snotty back. "Oh sorry, I thought you might be this girl from school is all," he said. "Nope, I am not her," I said jokingly. "Well Duh!" he said, "So what do you want?" "You're coming over this weekend right?" I asked. "Yea," he said. "Okay, I'm going over to a friend's after school Friday and won't be back until late," I said. "Okay," he said it like, "So why are you tell me this?" "Mom just said I should tell you is all." I said. "Okay," he said. "Okay, see you Friday then." I said. "Bye." And he hung up before I could say good-bye. As I was crossing through the living room mom said, "Well?" "I called him." I said. "And?" she wanted more. "And nothing. He just said okay," I declared. She didn't seem satisfied but I didn't want to stick around for anymore. I went to my room and closed myself in where I undressed and got myself ready for bed. When I opened the drawer to get out a pair of GoodNites I found that it was full but it didn't occur to me until just now that mom must have put them away for me. As I was pulling it on I was reminded what had happened in one of these this mornings as well as the talk dad had given me about sex and girls. I shuttered as all those images flashed across the screen of my mind again. I managed to push them all back out of my head and climbed into bed with my notebook and started to write. Sometime later I heard mom and dad going to bed. I looked up at the clock for the first time and saw that it was almost 11 pm. I quickly finished what I was writing before I closed my notebook, flicked off the light and curled up under my covers. Chapter 4