The doorbell rang. Kenny was in his room pondering what to do. His mother had assured him several times that the architect knew all about his diapers and that he shouldn’t feel shy about them. Still, he hesitated. Looking at himself in the mirror he saw how big and thick they were, especially with the doubler puffing out the middle. He stared at his pants laying on the bed. He sure hated the idea of covering up his diapers.

“Kenny, would you come down here, please? I want you to meet the architect.”

“OK.”

He thought of Artie. “He wouldn’t cover them up, that’s for sure.”

He started down the stairs, enjoying the newly discovered thrill that wearing diapers in front of a stranger caused in him. There was a certain sense of naughtiness that delighted him immensely.

He was almost at the bottom of the stairs. His mother said something and a young woman answered. Had the architect brought his wife with him? Or (worse), his daughter? Kenny’s distraction caused him to trip over his own feet. He landed flat on his face in front of the living room entrance.

“What on earth??” Kenny’s mother said. “How many times do I have to tell you not to run down the stairs?”

“I slipped,” he said lamely.

Kenny felt doubly stupid. He now realized that his mother was alone with the woman. She was the architect. Why had he assumed it was a man? He was painfully aware that the woman was trying to suppress a smile as she stared at his diapered bottom. He got up and walked into the room with as much grace as he could muster. His crimson face didn’t help matters.

“I’m pleased to meet you, Kenny. My name is Emily Griffens.”

“Hi,” he answered.

He stared at the woman. She seemed familiar but he couldn’t figure out why. He was sure that they had never met.

“Your mom has told me a lot about you and what you would like me to do in your new room. Also, my mom, dad, sister, and brother have filled me in about you, too. I hope you like what I’ve prepared.”

“Huh?” Kenny asked perplexed.

“Surprise!” a boy’s voice exclaimed.

His heart began pounding furiously at the thought of someone catching him in his diaper and plastic pants. He turned around.

“Artie! What are you…?”

“Emily is my older sister,” he answered laughing. “Isn’t it great? You’re going to get a bathroom and bedroom like mine.”

“Hold on there a minute,” Emily said laughing, too, “I didn’t just make a carbon copy of your room for Kenny. I’m a professional. I planned it out carefully.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean that. I just meant…”

“I know what you meant. It’s OK. I just don’t want Mrs. Braken and Kenny to think that I didn’t carefully think out this project. And, before we go any further,” she said to Artie, “where are your pants? You know better than to take them off before asking if our hosts are comfortable with you wearing just your diapers.”

“But Kenny only wore his diapers while he was at our house…” Artie began to explain.

“That’s OK, Artie,” Mrs. Braken cut in. “Feel free to make yourself comfortable whenever you come over here.” Turning to Emily she added, “At least we’ll never have to wonder what the dress code for these guys is going to be!”

“You’ve got that right!” Emily answered in the same playful tone.

They went into the dining room where Emily set up her portable and began her demonstration.

“Based on the measurements of the rooms and what we discussed, here’s what I’ve come up with for Kenny’s suite.”

Kenny liked the sound of that- his ‘suite’.

She explained in detail the various elements of the bedroom and bathroom as they flashed up on the screen. Kenny loved it, especially when she came to the part about his changing table.

“Since there is already a lot of leaded glass in the bathroom, I thought we could incorporate some into the changing table, too. Instead of four drawers at each end like Artie has, I thought that we could have just one drawer for supplies and things and then have movable shelves behind leaded glass doors the rest of the way down.”

“I like it,” Kenny said emphatically. (He instantly saw an appealing advantage- his plastic pants would always be visible through the doors.)

Emily went on to explain other things such as electrical outlets and architectural details that neither Kenny nor Artie were interested in.

“Can we go to my room?” Kenny asked.

“Yes, I think so,” his mom answered. “Emily and I can finish without you.”

****

“So what happened this week?” Artie asked excitedly. “I’ve been dying to find out.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I didn’t call you because my mom found out about the river and she grounded me for two weeks.”

“She did? How did she find out?”

“Well,” he answered vaguely (so that it wouldn’t sound like he was blaming Artie for telling his mother that they had met at the river), “she just figured it out I guess. I mean, she knows that I wouldn’t have wet my pants. And, besides, you live so close to the river…”

“Yeah, I see what you mean. I guess it was stupid of us to think that you could get away with it.”

“Well, I’m glad it happened. I mean, the diapers and everything.”

This reminded Kenny of something else. He got up and ran into his bathroom.

“Wait ‘til you see these,” he said coming back into the room.

He handed Artie a pair of his crinkly nighttime pants.

“What’s so special about these?”

“Scrunch them,” Kenny said.

They made a loud crinkling noise.

“Cool,” Artie exclaimed. “Where did you get these?”

“I don’t know. My mom got them for my nighttime diapers. I want more, like for wearing during the day, but I haven’t asked yet.”

Artie laughed.

“Just two weeks ago you were nervous about walking out of my bedroom and going downstairs to pick up the mail. Are you sure you’re ready to wear these crinkly pants outside? Everybody would hear them, you know. But,” he giggled, “I guess it would be fun to watch people’s reactions as they figured it out.”

Kenny was happy that Artie approved. Maybe some day they would actually do it together.

“Do you notice anything about me?” Artie asked.

Kenny looked at his friend and smiled.

“Your mom got you diaper doublers!”

“Yeah, they just came on Thursday. They are so cool. My mom likes the idea that I don’t have to be changed so often and I like how the extra material feels between my legs.”

“My best friends know about my diapers,” Kenny announced without preamble.

He described how Brick, Larry, and Matt discovered that he was wearing diapers and plastic pants.

“I don’t know if Matt was mad because I took his note or because of my diapers. He left right away, still mad. Larry and Brick were OK with it, I think. They even asked if they could see my diaper and plastic pants.”

(Kenny didn’t mention how excited they had become as he displayed his diaper and plastic pants to them.)

“Then, when I got home, Matt was sitting on his bike in front of my house. When I stopped and waved at him, he just took off without saying a word. It was really weird.”

“Yeah, it sure sounds it,” Artie agreed.

Before they could speculate further, Mrs. Braken came up to Kenny’s room to tell the boys to get their pants on- they were going out for lunch. She smiled to herself as she walked out. She had recognized Kenny’s crinkly plastic pants that Artie was still holding.

****

At about the same time as Artie and his sister arrived at the Brakens, Larry and Brick were riding their bikes past the neighborhood park.

“Brick, hold up. Let’s stop here.”

Brick breathed a sigh of annoyance but stopped. He got off his bike and joined Larry. They laid their bikes down on the grass and sat next to them. Brick waited for Larry to say something.

“What if we get caught?” Larry asked nervously.

“We’ve gone over all of this. We’re not committing a crime. We’ll check the store out carefully to make sure that no one there knows us. We’ll be in and out in no time.”

“I don’t know…” Larry sighed.

The previous day, when they found out about Kenny’s diaper wearing, they had been stunned beyond words. They themselves had shared a diaper secret of their own since they were eight years old.

At that time, Brick’s younger brother had just been toilet trained. His mother had put a half-used package of his disposables into storage in the garage (in case he regressed). A few months later, Brick and Larry were playing when they found them. One of them (they couldn’t remember who) dared the other to try one on. After a series of back-and-forth taunts, they each put one on. They were a little snug but the tapes help up well anyway. They put their pants back on and continued playing in the yard. A little while later, Larry asked to use the bathroom.

“What for?” Brick answered. “Use your diaper. I’ve already used mine.”

Larry wouldn’t believe it but after they had retreated to the garage where they couldn’t be seen, Brick lowered his pants and showed Larry his wet diaper. After a few minutes of trying, Larry wet his, too. They kept them on a little while longer but eventually took them off for fear of being caught.

Neither boy would admit it to the other, but they had enjoyed their little diaper game. A couple of days later Brick asked Larry if he wanted to do it again. Larry agreed but they were disappointed to find that Brick’s mom had cleaned the garage and thrown them out. They never spoke about it again.

These memories came rushing back when they saw Kenny in his diaper. After he left, Brick asked Larry if he remembered the time that they had worn his brother’s diapers. Larry said he did.

“I bet you wouldn’t dare do that again, would you?” Brick asked.

“I don’t know,” Larry admitted. “I might.”

Without admitting their true feelings to each other (at least not in words), they explored the topic some more. They eventually decided to pool their money and buy a package of youth diapers (not pull-ups). They even went on line to check out the size that they would need to buy.

This is what led to their current conversation.

“What if the cashier recognizes us? Or somebody we know sees us?” Larry worried.

“I’ll do the talking, OK? I’ll say that I’m doing a favor for a neighbor. Just act cool. No one will know what we’re really doing,” Brick said in a conciliatory tone.

Larry was tormented by indecision. All night long he had imagined the joy of wearing diapers again, but the fear of being caught was overwhelming, too. The indecision was written all over his face.

“OK. Be that way,” Brick said impatiently. “I’ll do it myself. Just wait here if you’re too chicken to come with me.”

Larry bristled at his friend’s criticism.

“I am not chicken,” he insisted.

They jumped back on their bikes and headed for the store. Larry suspected that Brick had tricked him but he was trapped and he really would feel chicken if he backed out now.

They locked their bikes in front of the store and went in. If was fairly busy with Saturday shoppers (which they thought would give them ‘cover’ for their purchase). Larry was barely conscious of where he was as he blindly followed Brick through the aisles. Once they got into the diaper aisle, though, he suddenly became very alert, reacting to the slightest sound.

“Would you quit that?” Brick said under his breath. “If people start noticing us it will be because you’re acting so weird.”

Larry tried to concentrate on what Brick was doing. He saw him select a large package of thirty-six ‘super absorbent’ diapers.

“OK, now let’s get two small containers of powder so that we each can have one,” Brick announced.

There had to wait in line at the checkout. They placed the package on the floor between them as they inched their way toward the cashier. By the time they were waited on, Larry was a nervous wreck again. Luckily, Brick had the money and did all the talking. Larry couldn’t believe how calm Brick managed to be. The clerk put their purchases into a plastic bag and they left the store.

“Yes!” Brick exulted, “we did it.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Larry pleaded, nervously looking around.

The closer they got to his house (where they had agreed to go) the more excited Larry became. Now that the pressure of buying the diapers was off (for a little while anyway) Larry began anticipating the fun they would have. He giggled.

“What so funny?” Brick asked.

“Nothing. I was just thinking.”

“Yeah, me too.” Brick answered knowingly.

As anticipated, Larry’s parents were still out shopping. The boys went to Larry’s bedroom. Brick dumped the diapers and baby powder onto the bed. He ripped the bag open and removed the first diaper. It felt just like his little brother’s diapers from five years before, only bigger and thicker. It crinkled appealingly as he unfolded it. His excitement increased again and his inhibitions relating to his growing erection vanished.

“I’ll go first,” he announced, kicking off his shoes and pulling his pants and underwear off at the same time.

The diaper was laid on the floor and Brick positioned himself on it.

“What about the powder?” Larry wondered.

“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot,” Brick agreed.

He rolled over onto his side as Larry sprinkled some onto the back of the diaper. Brick rolled back into position and Larry sprinkled a generous amount onto his front diaper area. A cloud of sweet smelling powder filled the air.

“Careful,” Brick admonished lightly, “ not so much.”

The diaper was pulled up and, after a few tests, correctly taped into place. Brick got up to look at himself in the dresser mirror. He felt that his long t-shirt was in the way so he took it off. He was in ecstasy over what he saw, turning this way and that to get a full view of his diaper.

“My turn, my turn,” Larry practically begged as he, too, lost the last of his inhibitions. Except for his socks, he stripped naked.

Another diaper was laid onto the floor. A generous amount of powder was sprinkled on it before Larry lay down. His front was powdered and Brick securely taped the diaper onto his friend.

They ran back to the mirror and playfully pushed each other out of the way so that they could get a better look at their own diaper.

“I know,” Larry said. “Follow me.”

He ran down the hall with Brick right behind him. They went into the master bedroom where the closet doors were mirrored floor to ceiling.

“Cool,” Brick commented.

After a few moments of admiring themselves they sat on the floor in front of the mirrors. They talked about their diaper experience five years before.

“Did you ever think about it again?” Brick wondered.

“Yeah,” Larry admitted. “Sometimes… actually, a lot.”

“Me, too,” Brick acknowledged.

“What does it mean?” Larry pursued.

“I don’t know. That we like diapers, I guess.”

“But why?” Larry sighed.

“Who knows?” Brick answered.

“I’ve got a confession to make,” Larry said.

“What?”

“I already knew what size diapers we would need when we looked it up on the web. I visit diaper sites all the time.”

Brick laughed and then said, “We’re both pretty good fakers. I visit them all the time, too. Do you want to turn your computer on and I’ll show you the sites I like?”

They spend the better part of two hours visiting favorite sites that they each had found. There was a lot of overlap but they each felt that they had discovered some good sites to enjoy later on.

“Hey, anybody home?”

Larry and Brick froze. It was Matt. They dove for their clothes, hastily putting them on.

“Quick, hide the diapers and baby powder,” Larry said. “I’ll let him in.”

It was only as he started to leave the room that Larry realized how noisy their diapers were.

“Turn on some music, too. You know, to cover up the crinkling noise.”

Larry went to let Matt in. Brick threw the baby powder into the top drawer of the dresser. He couldn’t think where to hide the diapers. Larry kept a lot of games and stuff in his closet so he didn’t want to put them there. Even though he was an only child, he had a bunk bed with drawers that went to the floor so he couldn’t put them under there… Time was running out. The bed was unmade so he shoved the open package under the covers, near the foot. Their underwear was still lying on the floor so he shoved those there, too.

Matt and Larry entered the room. Brick innocently sat playing at the computer.

“Watcha doing?” Matt asked.

“Nothing. Just hanging out.”

Matt plopped down on the bed. Brick’s heart missed a beat. “It’s a good thing Larry doesn’t know where the diapers are. He’d be shitting a brick by now.”

“You wanna do something?” Matt continued.

“I don’t know? What?” Brick and Larry asked.

“I don’t know,” Matt answered unhelpfully.

“My parents are going to be home soon,” Larry said. “They were talking about visiting my grandparents later this afternoon...”

As Matt was listening, he extended his arm behind him and felt the package under the covers.

“What’s this?” he asked pushing the covers aside.

Brick didn’t have time to react. Matt uncovered the diapers and their underwear.

“Diapers! You guys, too?” he yelped (referring to Kenny). “What’s going on?”

Brick and Larry were tongue-tied, unable to speak. Larry turned ghost white and Brick was afraid that his friend would faint.

Matt’s face, on the other hand, had turned crimson with rage. The significance of the two boxer shorts next to the diaper package suddenly became clear.

“I know you’re wearing diapers. Those are Brick’s lucky basketball boxers that he wore all season,” he said pointing to the distinctive underwear. “How come you guys are keeping secrets, too?”

With that he stormed out of the room throwing the diapers in Brick and Larry’s direction.

“Do you think he’ll tell?” Larry asked through tear-filled eyes.

“I don’t know,” Brick answered as he picked up the diapers that had fallen out of the package. “If your parents are really coming home soon, we’d better get this stuff organized and put away.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Larry answered halfheartedly. “Why does everything have to get so complicated?”

Since there wasn’t any answer to that, Brick continued working silently. They divided the diapers into two piles. Larry decided to hide his share of the diapers and the container of baby powder in the empty drawer under his bed.

“That drawer is empty!” Brick exclaimed. “Shit! If I had known that…”

Larry and Brick laughed at the irony of the situation. This helped break the tension that had existed since Matt uncovered their diaper secret.

“I guess I’d better get out of my diaper now.”

Brick decided that he had better do the same. They laughed again when they saw that each of them had given his diaper a generous wetting.

“You know,” Brick said seriously, “I don’t think that Matt will tell anyone. Sure, he got mad at us, but why did get mad? I think it’s because we hurt his feelings by keeping a secret from him. I think that that’s what made him mad, not our diapers.”

“I sure hope you’re right.”

****

“That was a great lunch. Thanks for suggesting it,” Mrs. Braken said.

“My pleasure,” Emily Griffens answered. “Now, I think we’d better be running along.”

“Does Artie have to leave right away, too?” Kenny whined.

Even though they had been back less than a minute the boys were already stripped down to their diapers and plastic pants. Kenny’s grounding still had more than a week to run and he was hoping that Artie could stay longer.

“I’m sorry, but I have to leave now,” Emily explained.

Mrs. Braken read the loneliness in Kenny’s voice and decided to relent.

“I can take Artie back; that is, if he wants to stay.”

“Yes, please!” Artie said enthusiastically.

Artie phoned his house and it was arranged that he could stay a couple more hours. Mrs. Braken would bring him home in time for dinner. The guys went up to Kenny’s room. He turned on his computer and they halfheartedly played around for a little while.

“Have you ever visited diaper sites?” Artie asked sheepishly.

“Diaper sites?” Kenny asked. “You mean, like to buy diapers?”

“No. Sites that are put up by people who like to wear diapers,” Artie explained.

For a couple of hours they visited Artie favorite pages, with Kenny bookmarking them along the way. He had no idea that such sites existed but he was certainly going to get to know them better, and soon!

When it was time to bring Artie home, Mrs. Braken checked the guys’ diapers and decided that they could use a change. Artie particularly enjoyed watching his new friend get diapered.

Artie was feeling particularly daring so he challenged Kenny to leave the house in just his diapers when he and his mom brought him home. Kenny was intrigued. He agreed, once he made sure that Artie wouldn’t wear his pants either. Mrs. Braken raised her eyebrows but she didn’t stop them. (She actually thought it was kind of cute.)

****

Kenny was nervous about going to school on Monday morning. He was worried about what Matt might do now that he had found out about his diapers. Most of all, he dreaded being made fun of in front of his friends.

Larry and Brick were also nervous as they approached school on Monday morning. Larry had concerns similar to Kenny’s. Would Matt publicly humiliate him? Would Matt tell everyone about the diapers that he and Brick had been caught wearing?

Brick was concerned about these things, too, and more.

Larry and Kenny arrived first. It was an awkward moment. Larry was so nervous about what Matt might do that he could barely say good morning to Kenny. Kenny interpreted Larry’s odd behavior as meaning that Larry was rejecting his friendship because of his diapers.

Brick arrived about a minute later. He, too, seemed agitated. Without saying hello, he pulled Larry aside and whispered something to him. Larry agreed reluctantly to whatever Brick had said and they walked away together. Kenny became even more depressed, thinking that he had now lost all his closest friends.

At least a major confrontation with Matt was averted. As was frequently the case, he arrived right at the last minute. His friends no longer bothered asking him why he arrived so late. He always answered the same way, “Too many things to do.” They figured that this was just his way of saying that he had overslept.

Kenny felt like a condemned prisoner waiting for the executioner to pull the switch. He couldn’t concentrate on anything that was happening in class so he started paying close attention to Larry, Brick, and Matt. Oddly, none of them seemed very happy either. Larry seemed to be on the verge of tears; Brick was sullen and withdrawn; and, Matt did a lot of staring off into space. In fact, at one point or another each of them was scolded for not paying attention.

Morning break finally arrived. Kenny headed off to Mrs. Appleton’s office to get his diaper changed. She must have sensed that something was bothering him because her touch was even more gentle than usual while changing him.

He went out into the schoolyard not exactly sure what to expect. He wasn’t very surprised to see that his friends were not in the usual spot waiting for him. In fact, he didn’t see them anywhere. This uncertainty was really beginning to get to him. He wished that they would just do whatever it was that they were planning. Even humiliation would be better than this painful waiting. He went back to class wondering if his mom could get him enrolled at Artie’s school since it seemed that he was the only friend he had left.

When the lunch bell rang Kenny wasn’t hungry so he got his diaper changed early. Larry and Brick were waiting for him as he left Mrs. Appleton’s office. His stomach did a flip-flop.

“Hi,” he said in a barely audible whisper.

“How come you didn’t come to the lunch room?” Brick asked.

Kenny thought that this was a funny question but he answered truthfully.

“I wasn’t hungry.”

“Yeah, we weren’t, either,” Larry volunteered.

There was an awkward silence that seemed to stretch out forever. Brick finally broke the silence.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?”

Kenny was surprised by the question. Was this some kind of trick? Was Matt hiding somewhere and as soon as they had him isolated from the other kids would they attack him? Maybe ‘pants’ him and leave him in just his diaper and plastic pants. Whatever they were going to do, he wanted to get it over with so he agreed. They went off together to the far end of the schoolyard. Nothing happened. Larry and Brick sat down. Kenny did, too.

“Larry and I have something to tell you,” Brick began.

Kenny was struggling to stay calm but tears were building up in his eyes anyway.

“Matt caught Larry and me wearing diapers on Saturday.”

Kenny was dumbfounded. Did Brick just say that he and Larry had been wearing diapers?

“Huh?” Kenny said.

“It’s true. Really,” Larry confirmed.

They told him how they bought diapers on Saturday morning, tried them on at Larry’s, and then got caught by Matt.

“And that’s not all,” Brick added. “I wore a diaper to bed on Saturday night and when my dad came to wake me up yesterday he discovered what I was wearing.”

“Oh, no,” Kenny sympathized. “What happened?”

“He got really mad, calling me a baby and other stuff. He asked if I had any others and he made me show him where I had hidden them. When he saw that I had baby powder, too, he went ballistic. I got so scared that I peed the diaper right in front of him. This really pushed him over the edge. He pulled the diaper off me and spanked me. By then, my mother and little brother had heard him yelling and they came and saw what was happening. I was so embarrassed- I mean, getting spanked in front of my little bother and crying over it. My mother got my dad calmed down but she got mad, too, when she found out what I had done.”

Brick paused for a few moments as he wiped the tears that had streamed down his cheeks.

“What did they do next?” Kenny asked, sensing that Brick’s story wasn’t finished yet.

“I have to wear the diapers all the time until they’re gone.”

“You mean, you’re wearing one now?” Kenny said in surprise.

Brick shook his head up and down, too embarrassed to speak.

“But there’s more,” Brick continued. “They kept asking me for details about what I had done. When did I buy them? Where? How many? I eventually let it slip that Larry was with me. They started asking me how he was involved. Last night, they called Larry’s parents and told them everything.”

“And they never said anything to me,” Larry added in a worried voice.

“That’s not good,” was all that Kenny could think to say.

Clearly, Larry and Brick were in an even bigger mess than Kenny. At least his mother had been cool when she found out about his desire to wear diapers. Obviously, Brick’s parents weren’t and Larry still had to wait to see what would happen to him, if anything. No wonder he seemed to be on the verge of tears all morning.

And there was Matt. What did his reactions to discovering that they were wearing diapers mean? Brick was still hopeful that he wouldn’t tell on them. Kenny thought that his standoffishness this morning wasn’t a good sign.

The end-of-lunch bell rang and they headed back to class. Kenny clearly heard the crinkling of Brick’s disposable diaper but he didn’t want to upset his friend by saying anything about it. He also wondered how wet Brick’s diaper was.

****

At afternoon break Brick seemed very uncomfortable. Kenny thought he knew the reason.

“Have you wet your diaper?” he asked quietly so that no one would overhear.

Brick blushed but admitted that he felt extremely wet and that he needed to pee some more. He said that he was afraid that it would cause his diaper to overflow.

“Do you have extra diapers with you?”

“No,” Brick said in a panicked voice, “my parents said I had to wear this one all day, no matter what.”

“Can’t you go to the bathroom and then retape the diaper shut?”

“I’m afraid of the noise it could make. What is somebody heard it?”

“Do you really have much choice? What if you leak all over your pants?”

In the end, Brick decided to hold it as long as he could. By the end of the school day he was obviously in agony. Brick. Larry, and Kenny began their walk home.

“Can I go over to your house for a while?” Larry asked Kenny. (He knew he couldn’t ask to go to Brick’s house.)

“Sorry, my mom is still grounding me. I can’t have visitors.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Larry sighed.

“You’re going to have to face your mom and dad sometime to find out what they’re going to do about your diapers,” Kenny pointed out.

“I know. It’s just…. well, you know….”

They knew. Who wanted to get yelled at or punished?

Brick suddenly stopped walking. His face expressed a mixture of relief and horror. Very quickly a wet streak ran down his right pant leg and a pool of pee began dripping at his feet.

“I gotta go,” he croaked as he ran towards his house three blocks away.

Despite their sympathy for him, Larry couldn’t resist a joke.

“Brick shouldn’t have said ‘I gotta go’ he should have said ‘I just went’.”

“That’s not funny,” Kenny admonished him, although he did giggle a little bit.

****

On Tuesday morning Kenny was bristling with curiosity. Once again, he and Larry arrived first at school. He listened very carefully but he didn’t hear any sound of a crinkling disposable diaper coming from Larry’s pants. He felt a stab of disappointment.

“Well?… What happened?”

“Plenty,” Larry answered.

Before he could go into his explanation, Brick arrived… with his father leading him by the hand. They stopped in front of Larry and Kenny.

“Thank you very much for dropping off those diapers for Brick to use,” Brick’s father said loudly enough for anyone in the area to hear. “That was very generous of you. God knows, he’ll need all the diapers he can get.”

Brick never looked up at his friends. He stared intently at the ground the whole time. The only reaction they saw was a single tear run down his cheek as his dad loudly proclaimed his diaper wearing status to the whole schoolyard. Everybody would know before the first bell rang. (It didn’t escape Kenny that this would probably mean that his diaper wearing status would also be revealed very soon.) Brick and his dad went into the school building.

“So your parents made you give your diapers to Brick. That’s not so bad, I guess. Did they do anything else?”

Larry didn’t answer right away.

“Let’s go someplace more private… I’ll try to keep the story short. When I got home my mom was already there. She said she left work early because she had errands to run… for me. She told me to go to my room and get undressed all the way, even shoes and socks. I figured that I knew what was coming. I had to wait a long time before she showed up. I was really embarrassed. She made me lay down on a towel and she spread baby powder all over my front and back diaper area. She opened my dresser and told me to lift up. She slipped a diaper under me but it felt different from the ones Brick and I had bought. It was cloth! She told me to lift up again and she slid a diaper doubler into place. She pinned me up and pulled some plastic pants into place.”

Kenny had listened to Larry with growing amazement. Where had his mom found cloth diapers so fast? For that matter, how come she put him into cloth diapers at all when Larry had already bought disposables? As if sensing Kenny’s questions, Larry continued.

“From my baby pictures I knew that I had always worn cloth diapers. I didn’t know that my mom was practically a fanatic about it, though. She was madder at me for buying disposable than for anything else. After she and my dad talked about the phone call from Brick’s parents they decided that I would wear diapers as a punishment, too. Only my mom wouldn’t hear of me wearing the disposables. So, yesterday morning she called Willowhaven School to find out if they knew where she could get cloth diapers and plastic pants in sizes for bigger kids. They said that they had a parent who could probably help. They gave her a phone number that my mom called. She and this lady talked for a while and discovered that they had similar beliefs about cloth versus disposable diapers. My mom asked where she could get some quickly. The lady said that it would take at least two to three days to get some delivered but that her son had plenty that they could share, that is, if we were the same size.”

By now Kenny was almost positive Larry’s mom had been talking to Artie’s mom. If that were true then Artie’s diapers would definitely fit Larry. While Kenny was becoming increasingly excited by this revelation, he didn’t want to admit to Larry that he knew the Halsteds. (Once he did that it wouldn’t take his friends long to figure out that he was wearing diapers because he wanted to, not because he needed to.)

“So, now what? Are you grounded? Do you have to wear diapers all the time at home?” Kenny prompted.

“No, I’m not grounded. And, no, I don’t have to wear diapers all the time at home. I have to wear diapers all the time- period.”

It was almost time for school to start.

“I have to drop my extra diapers and plastic off at Mrs. Appleton’s office before the bell rings,” Larry announced.

The rest of the day was anything but typical. Word had spread about Brick being in diapers. He was teased and taunted mercilessly. Now that everybody knew, the sound of his crinkling disposable was obvious to everyone’s ears. The teachers tried to mitigate the teasing as much as possible but there was no way they could stop it completely.

Brick’s unfortunate predicament did have a fortunate side effect for Larry. At morning break no one noticed when he and Kenny went to Mrs. Appleton to get their diapers changed. (If Mrs. Appleton had any opinion concerning this sudden rash of boys in diapers she didn’t share it with Kenny or Larry.)

By lunchtime things had quieted down. The guys were pretty much left to themselves.

“Can I ask what happened when you went home yesterday?” Kenny asked Brick who blushed at the mention of his public pants wetting.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he said pausing to gather his thoughts. “When I got home my mom wouldn’t let me into the house. She made take all my clothes off on the porch. She came outside with a washcloth and cleaned me up before she let me in. Then, she even let my brother watch as I got a new diaper put on. He laughed at me all night and my parents didn’t do anything to stop him. Today, he says that he’s invited a bunch of his friends over so they can see me in my diaper. I wish I could stay in my room but my mom says that she needs to ‘keep an eye on me’ all the time.”

Kenny and Larry sympathized with him for a few moments.

“I’m going to let other people know that I’m wearing diapers full time, too,” Kenny announced. “I was already going to tell people next week when track practice begins, anyway. One week won’t matter.”

“Do you really think you should. I mean, today?” Brick asked.

“Sure, why not? Everybody’s already buzzing about this. May as well get it over with all at once.”

Larry had remained conspicuously silent.

“I don’t want people to find out about my diapers right away,” he thought, “but if Kenny and I do it together maybe it will make it easier.”

“I think Kenny’s right,” Larry said out loud. “I don’t mind doing it today. People are going to find out sooner or later.”

“So, how do you plan on doing that?” Brick wondered aloud.

“I’m not sure. But we’ll think of something. Won’t we?” Kenny asked Larry.

“Yeah, we’ll think of something,” Larry agreed uncertainly.

As it happened, an opportunity arose just a few minutes later when a group of guys approached Brick to taunt him some more.

“Is baby comfortable?” one boy asked.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want baby crying during class because his didee was wet,” the second boy jeered.

“Cut the crap,” Kenny said curtly.

“Oooh, is Kenny babysitting today? You’d better make sure that baby is dry, don’t you think?” the first boy taunted.

“You guys are so stupid. You know, there are lots of guys who wear diapers, for all kinds of reasons. Like me, for instance,” he said lifting his shirt.

The group was surprised into silence. Larry took the opportunity to press the point home.

“Kenny’s right. Things happen all the time. Who knows who’s going to be next to be wearing diapers? Maybe it will be you.”

Larry punctuated this statement by lifting his shirt so that everyone got a good look at his plastic pants and diaper. That did it. The group practically ran over each other to get away from them, almost as if they were carrying the plague.

News of this spread through the school faster than a bolt of lightning. Suddenly, people started ‘remembering’ all sorts of things. Wasn’t it true that Kenny had been seen around Mrs. Appleton’s office a lot since spring break? And weren’t Larry and Brick seen there, too? And what about the story of Kenny falling into the river? What if he caught some kind of virus? Did Larry and Brick ‘catch’ something from him? Gossip was no longer being passed in an atmosphere of taunting; now there was genuine worry that something might really be wrong.

Kenny sensed the danger in letting this go too far. If adults heard about it, there might be some serious investigation and he didn’t want his dirty laundry (or in this case, his dirty diapers) laundered publicly.

When Kenny was asked by one of the girls if there was anything seriously wrong he assured her there wasn’t.

“Besides,” he emphasized, “Mrs. Appleton sees me at least three times a day. If she isn’t worried, why should anybody else be?”

This seemed to do the trick. The rumors about viruses and ‘catchy’ diseases died almost immediately.

Nonetheless, lots of opinions abounded. Some people (especially guys) didn’t have any sympathy for Kenny, Brick, or Larry. They wanted to continue teasing them and making them feel uncomfortable. Others (mostly people who already liked the three boys) wanted to give them a break, to more or less ignore the whole thing and hope that the diapers went away soon. The last group (the largest) agreed with whoever had expressed the last opinion. All in all, the boys thought that they had escaped fairly well, so far anyway.

The boys knew that the situation could change very rapidly, though. There was still the matter of what Matt would say. Which ‘camp’ would he be in? He was an influential person in their class; his opinion would carry a lot of weight.

Unfortunately (or, fortunately, depending on how you looked at it) Matt was absent from school again. Besides his frequent tardiness, this was another mystery about Matt. Even though he seemed to be in good health he missed at least two or three school days every month. While it didn’t seem to hurt his schoolwork at all, he would never discuss the reasons why he was absent.

They guys would just have to wait one more day to find out where Matt stood.