Kenny went home from school on Tuesday feeling really down. His grounding had five more days to run and he was really bored. True, Artie had showed him some really fun diapers sites to visit but surfing them alone wasn’t nearly as interesting as when Artie had been there on Sunday.

His mind was also troubled by his rash actions in school. He and Larry had revealed themselves as diaper wearers in an effort to take the heat off of their friend Brick whose parents were deliberately and publicly punishing him in diapers. Despite his brave words at the time, he was worried about how his classmates would treat him now. So far, the reaction had been mild but what would happen tomorrow? Or the day after? Or the day after that?

In all his musings one thing was certain: he didn’t regret in the least going back to diapers. It had felt ‘right’ the first time he was put into them at Artie’s and it felt even more ‘right’ now. It had even inspired his friends Brick and Larry to try them, too (although their parents were not at all accepting of it and neither he nor they knew where it would lead).

The biggest loose end in his mind was their friend Matt’s attitude. He had discovered on his own (outside of school) that Kenny, Larry, and Brick had been wearing diapers. He had gotten mad at them over it but they didn’t know exactly what he was mad about. Brick was convinced that it was because they had hidden their diaper wearing from him. He thought that Matt had had his feelings hurt because they hadn’t trusted him or told him about their secret. Kenny wasn’t sure what was eating Matt but he hoped that Brick was right.

Matt’s behavior at school on Monday hadn’t been very encouraging. He arrived just before school started (as he frequently did) and he had stayed away from them all day. Today (Tuesday) he hadn’t shown up to school at all. While this wasn’t unusual (Matt seemed to be absent a lot) it left the boys wondering where they stood. Now that the whole school knew about their diapers Kenny feared that Matt would be even less likely to accept them. He fretted about it all night.

****

Kenny’s mom knew that something was bothering Kenny. Rather than trying to wheedle it out of him, she decided to treat him extra special during his diaper changes. As she got him ready to go to school on Wednesday morning he told her what had been bothering him.

“Honey, we can’t force other people to like us. They make up their own minds about that. You’re going to find that at different times in your life you will have a whole different set of friends than you had before. If Matt doesn’t want to be your friend anymore just remember that Artie is a new friend that you just made.”

‘I know,” Kenny agreed, “but I want both of them to be my friends.”

Kenny’s mom looked at him sadly and kissed him on the forehead.

“Well, I hope that everything works out for the best.”

****

Kenny, Larry, and Brick met up at school.

Brick was still distressed over his parents’ treatment of him. They were continuing to go out of their way to make his diapered state obvious to everyone. He told Larry and Kenny that yesterday afternoon had been the worst. His little brother had been allowed to have his friends over until dinnertime. As soon as he got home from school his mother changed him into a fresh disposable. She said that because the weather had been so nice he didn’t need to wear anything else, not even socks. He was made to sit at the dining room table and do his homework while his brother’s friends teased him mercilessly all afternoon.

“How about here at school?” Larry asked.

He was wondering the same thing Kenny was. Had his parents allowed him to bring extra diapers to school or were they still putting him in danger of having wetting accidents like on Monday?

“Yesterday, my dad brought a supply of diapers to Mrs. Tucker (the principal). If I need a diaper change I have to go see her. At least she’ll allow me to use the private bathroom next to her office. My dad wanted me to be forced to use the regular boys bathroom,” he sighed.

Kenny felt sad for Brick. He was grateful that his mother had never been mean like this.

By lunchtime, all three boys needed a diaper change. After they were done, they went looking for Matt. He was sitting alone at a table in the lunchroom. They had already started sitting before Matt noticed them. He glared at them.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing,” Kenny said.

“Yeah,” Larry added, “what’s wrong with you, anyway? How come you keep disappearing?”

“What’s wrong with me?” he shot back. “What’s wrong with me? You’re the ones who are acting weird. Just leave me alone, OK?”

“But...,” Kenny began.

“I said, just leave me alone. You guys can go and play your baby diaper games all you want. Just leave me out of it. Don’t ever talk to me again.”

With that, he got up from the table and went outside. Almost everyone had already finished lunch so only a handful of people saw what happened. Still, Kenny was sure that word of Matt’s rejection of them would spread quickly.

“Well, we wanted to know what Matt thought,” Larry said.

“Yeah,” Brick said dejectedly.

“Well, who needs him anyway?” Larry asked petulantly.

“Just shut up,” Kenny answered angrily as got up and left, too.

“What did I say?” Larry asked confused.

“Sometimes you can be so thick,” Brick commented as he, too, walked away.

****

The rest of the day dragged and Kenny was glad to get home. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice all the vehicles parked outside his house. He walked into the kitchen and was greeted by the sight of Artie sitting at the kitchen table in front of a plate of cookies.

“What are you doing here?” Kenny asked in surprise.

“Nice to see you, too,” Artie answered semi-sarcastically.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. How come you’re here?”

“Didn’t you see all the trucks parked outside? My sister made appointments for contractors to come here today to make bids on your bedroom and bathroom. Your mom said I could wait for you here.”

“Oh,” Kenny answered. “Cool.”

As they were talking, Kenny had stripped down to his plastic pants like Artie had done when he first arrived. (Artie thought about warning Kenny that there were a whole bunch of people upstairs but he figured that Kenny must have heard their footsteps and voices so he didn’t say anything.) Kenny got himself a glass of milk and joined Artie.

“Whatcha been doing?” Artie asked, looking for something to start a conversation.

“I told everyone at school that I wear diapers all the time.” Kenny answered.

He also told Artie about everything that had been happening with Larry, Brick, and Matt. Artie listened intently and could sense how depressed Kenny was about losing Matt’s friendship. He thought of something that might cheer Kenny up.

“Maybe, after your grounding is over, we can have a sleepover again at my house- only this time I’ll ask if I can invite your friends Larry and Brick. It would be so cool to have a diaper sleepover with four guys.”

“Yeah,” Kenny agreed excitedly, “that would be great.” Then, becoming more serious he added, “That is, if Larry and Brick’s parents will allow it. They think that wearing diapers is a big punishment. Besides, Brick will probably run out of diapers soon, so that will be that for him. I don’t think he’d risk having his parents find out that he went to a diaper sleepover.”

“Whatever,” Artie said, determined not to have Kenny remain depressed, “we could still do lots of stuff together no matter who shows up or what they’re wearing.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Kenny agreed half-heartedly. “I guess this means the end of the ‘BEES’.

“What’s the ‘BEES’?” Artie asked.

“When we were little kids, the four of us formed a club. We took the first letter of our last names and came up with the word ‘BEES’: Kenny Braken, Brick Engelhardt, Larry Entmann, and Matt Singlesmith.”

“Matt’s last name is Singlesmith?” Artie asked.

“Yeah. Why?” Kenny asked.

Before Artie could explain, they heard the sound of many footsteps approaching the kitchen. Kenny (who was standing by the dishwasher putting their dirty glasses away) had a look on his face indicating that he just realized that another group of strangers was about to ‘catch’ him in his diapers and plastic pants.

“Too late to do anything now,” Artie said, interpreting Kenny’s expression perfectly. “Besides, you love it when people ‘catch’ you in your diapers.”

Kenny was about to protest but he changed his mind and said, “I bet you do, too.”

“I never said that I didn’t,” Larry giggled, standing up so that the contractors got a good look at his soggy diaper and plastic pants as they walked through the kitchen.

****

Thursday and Friday were tense.

Even though the other kids basically left Kenny alone, (since no one knew for sure what happened at the river they were hesitant to make fun of him in case there was something really awful that they didn’t know about.) he felt that other people were treating him differently. Some were treating him too nicely, which was uncomfortable; and, others, including Matt, were simply ignoring him, which made him angry.

Larry and (especially) Brick weren’t so lucky. The other guys turned mercilessly against them. Since it was known that their diaper wearing was due to family punishments they were hounded continuously. Also, since no one knew the exact nature of their offense, the speculations became outrageous. The stories ranged all the way from accusing them of being incurable bed wetters to saying that their parents forced them into diapers because they had been caught masturbating together. As upsetting as these stories were, they knew that if their friends found out the real reason (that they wanted to wear diapers) things would get infinitely worse. So, they denied the stories as best they could and hoped that everyone would soon get tired of bringing it up.

At least the coming weekend would give them a brief rest.

After dinner on Friday night, Mrs. Braken announced that she and Kenny needed to have a talk. These ‘talks’ didn’t necessarily signal a problem but after everything that had happened over the last few weeks he was somewhat nervous about his mother’s request.

“Honey,” she began, “you know that I was very upset about your disobeying me the day you went to the river and nearly drowned. No…, don’t say anything,” she said quickly as she sensed that Kenny was going to object to her statement, “you know that I’m right. Can you remember another time in your life when you were more scared than when you were in the water fighting the current?”

“No,” he answered honestly.

“I’m glad that you admitted that. I hope that this experience has taught you to be more careful. You’re not indestructible, you know. In just a few years you’ll be old enough to get a driver’s license. If you take a careless attitude with you as a driver you will not only put yourself in danger but everybody else, too.”

“I know,” he agreed. “I’m sorry. I won’t ever do anything dangerous like that again.”

Mrs. Braken knew that Kenny was being sincere but she also knew that boys were easily led into risky situations. They were so afraid of not appearing macho that they could very quickly find themselves in dangerous situations, all in the name of proving how manly or brave they were.

“I hope not,” she said after a few moments of hesitation. “Now, for the real reason I wanted us to have this talk.”

This caught Kenny by surprise. What else could his mother want to discuss?

“Don’t look so worried,” she laughed. “Artie’s mom called and asked if I would allow you to go to another sleepover at their house tomorrow night.”

“Really? Can I? Please, I’ll be good. I promise,” Kenny said excitedly.

“Well, I don’t know. You’re supposed to be grounded through Sunday…,” she said teasingly (although her face didn’t show it). Then she added, smiling, “OK, I guess you can go.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Kenny said giving his mother a spontaneous hug which she stretched out by patting his plastic pants several times.

“And… I think it’s time to get you into your night diapers.”

****

Artie greeted Kenny in the kitchen.

“You can put your stuff here. We’ll take it up to my room later. First, I have a surprise. I hope that you’ll like it.”

“What it is?” Kenny asked curiously.

“Larry and Brick are going to be here for the sleepover, too,” Artie announced.

“Larry and Brick? But I thought that you didn’t know them.” Kenny said mystified.

“I don’t. But I’ve been telling my mom and dad about the stuff that’s been happening to you guys and it turns out that my mom went to school with Larry’s mom and my dad knows Brick’s dad through work. I think that they feel bad that Larry and Brick are being punished for wanting to wear diapers so when I suggested another sleepover with you I got them to invite Larry and Brick, too.”

“Really?” Kenny said in amazement.

“Yeah, pretty cool huh? Anyway, my mom called Larry’s mom and my dad called Brick’s dad.”

“How did they get them to agree?” Kenny wondered.

“They told their parents that I was a lifelong diaper wearer and that I had practically no friends that I could relate to. They said that they had heard that Larry and Brick had recently started wearing diapers and they wanted to know if I could be introduced to them so that I would have a chance to know other older kids who wore diapers. Brick’s dad was really against it until my dad pointed out that if Brick saw how inconvenient it was for me to wear diapers all the time he might want to stop wearing them. I don’t know what my mom and Larry’s mom talked about. The other guys should be here soon.”

“Do they know I’m going to be here too?”

“No. It’ll be a surprise.”

“Yeah, I guess will,” Kenny said unenthusiastically.

“What’s the matter?” Artie asked.

“Nothing. I guess this is as good a time as any for them to figure out that I’m wearing diapers because I want to, not because I need to. They’ve probably already figured it out, anyway.”

“Really?” Artie asked.

“Why not? I told them about the river and how you helped get my clothes washed and dried. I never told them that you wear diapers but their parents will have told them by now. It seems obvious that they’ll figure out that I must have tried diapers out here first.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I hadn’t thought about that.”

“That’s OK,” Kenny responded. “All I really care about is that we become friends.”

“Thanks,” Artie said sincerely. “I think I’d like to be friends with you guys, too.”

The doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” Artie shouted. “Take the back stairs and go up to my room. I’ll take Larry and Brick up there in a couple of minutes. We can surprise them then. OK?”

Kenny heard voices downstairs. He sat down at Artie’s computer and started looking at some of his bookmarked diaper pages. A few minutes later he heard the guys coming up the stairs. He exited the browser and waited.

“… and another of my friends is already here. He’s waiting in my room. You’ll like him, I think. He wears diapers, too.”

Kenny chuckled to himself at the performance Artie was putting on. He really was a good actor. No wonder he could pull off practical jokes so easily.

“Kenny!” Larry and Brick shouted simultaneously.

Artie started laughing. “If you could have seen your faces when I told you that someone else was going to be with us on the sleepover this weekend,” he gasped. “It was too much.”

Larry and Brick appeared to be relieved, and a little annoyed at Artie.

“You guys had better get used to Artie. He loves to play jokes on people,” Kenny advised his friends.

Larry and Brick smiled weakly and seemed willing to go along with the joke. True to form, it only took Artie a few minutes to convince them to strip down to their diapers. Brick hesitated before unbuckling his belt and letting his pants drop.

“Hey, you’re not wearing disposables,” Larry said in surprise. “I wondered why you weren’t ‘crinkling’ when we picked you up.”

“Yeah,” Brick explained, “every since Artie’s dad talked to my dad he’s been completely different. It’s like he wants me stay in diapers all the time. He says that we’ll save the rest of the disposables for emergencies, whatever that means. I think that he’s trying to use reverse psychology on me.”

“Reverse what?” Larry asked.

“Reverse psychology,” Brick repeated. “He’s trying to get me to stop wearing diapers by pretending that he approves of me wearing them all the time.”

“Oh,” Larry said. “Is it working?”

“Hell, no,” Brick said. “I love these cloth diapers. He’s the one who’s falling into a trap. If he tries to stop me from wearing them, all I’ll have to do is remind him that he was the one who wanted me to wear all this stuff. It’s great!” he concluded.

After a few more minutes together it was apparent that Artie fit in perfectly with them. He showed them his computer and promised that they would look at diaper sites later. Kenny was both surprised and pleased to hear that Larry and Brick had already visited a lot of them.

“But first, I have something else to tell you and this is no joke,” Artie began. “There is one more person invited to the sleepover. He’s a guy who is really mixed up about having to wear diapers. A couple of years ago, my urologist, Dr. Bentley, started a monthly group session for diaper wearing kids to get to know each other. There are now seven of us. Anyway, this guy, Doug, (who is exactly our age) joined about six months ago. He barely said ten words during the first five meetings. Then, last week, he was, like, totally different. He talked for practically the whole meeting. I really feel bad for him. He has been a bed wetter all his life but his parents still punish him for it. For instance, when he wets the bed at night his parents make him wear huge double-diapers the entire next day. He can’t even leave the house or hang out with his friends.

No one knew what to say.

“Do his parents know that we’re here this weekend, too? I mean, other guys who wear diapers to bed.” Brick asked.

“I don’t think so. When I told my parents what Doug said in the group they got really upset and called Dr. Bentley. They wanted to know what he was going to do about it. He told them that he was upset, too, and that he had certain professional obligations that he had to follow up on. One of them was to check up on Doug’s story to find out if it was true. If it is, his parents could be reported for child abuse. Anyway, my parents volunteered to have Doug stay here while Dr. Bentley goes to his house to talk to his parents. Dr. Bentley arranged for Doug to come here by telling his parents that he had some disturbing things to report about Doug and that it would be better if he wasn’t around.”

“When is he coming over?” Kenny asked.

“In about forty-five minutes, at three-thirty.”

“Should we put our pants back on?” Larry wondered. “You know, so that our diapers aren’t so in his face?”

“I don’t think so,” Artie answered. “Dr. Bentley told my mom that Doug wet his bed last night and that he’ll be wearing only double diapers as punishment.”

“You mean his parents told Dr. Bentley that they punish Doug like that for wetting his bed? How come he waited until now to do something about the way they treat him?” Kenny asked.

“I don’t know,” Artie answered. “Maybe he didn’t know how they punished him or that they forced him to sleep in a puddle of his own pee.”

The guys felt tremendous sympathy for Doug. They continued talking about him and how to best handle the situation. In the end, they agreed that Artie would greet him downstairs and that the rest of them would wait upstairs. They hoped that Doug wouldn’t freak out. They promised to do everything they could to make him feel comfortable.

“I know what we could do to make him feel welcome,” Larry announced.

“What?” the others asked.

“We should wear night diapers on top of our daytime diapers. That way our diapers will be really thick, too.”

“Yeah,” Artie agreed, “that’s a great idea.”

“What about plastic pants?” Brick wondered.

“I think that my nighttime pants will be big enough. If yours aren’t, I’m sure that I have some that will fit you. Let me ask my mom if she’ll let us do it,” Artie said excitedly.

Mrs. Halsted returned with Artie.

“I think that you’re all being very sweet,” she told the suddenly embarrassed boys. “Now, who’s first?”

The whole process took about twenty minutes, mostly because Larry and Kenny needed a complete change of diapers.

“You know, these thick diapers are kind of fun,” Artie said. “I’ve never been in such thick diapers before. I hope that Doug won’t think we’re making fun of him.”

Artie greeted Doug at the front door. Doug was nervously standing there with his mother, looking over his shoulder checking out the neighborhood. He was scared to death that somebody might see him. Artie’s mother joined them and they all went into the living room. Mrs. Singlesmith actually seemed kind of nice. She told Doug to behave and, after giving him a quick goodbye kiss, returned home. Artie’s mom excused herself, too. Doug stared suspiciously at Artie, his eyes focusing on Artie’s huge diapers.

“We can take your stuff upstairs later. First, you probably ought to meet the other guys who are sleeping over, too.”

“Other guys? Here? Now? But, I didn’t know there would be other guys here… I can’t let anyone else see me like this. Please, let me call home…” Doug was clearly panicking. As he spoke his legs began shaking and he nearly fell over.

“Here. Sit down,” Artie said, practically pushing him onto the couch. “These other guys wear diapers, too. They’re cool- no one is going to make fun of you or tell other people about your diapers. In fact, it was one of those guys who suggested that all of us wear our diapers extra thick today so that you wouldn’t feel out of place. They want to be your friends. Give them a chance.”

“They already know about my thick diapers? Are you sure that they won’t tell anyone else?” Doug asked hopefully.

“I’m sure,” Artie said, crossing his fingers behind his back.

“Well…” Doug hesitated.

“Good,” Artie said quickly. “They’re waiting for us in my room. Let’s go.”

Larry, Brick, and Kenny were nervous, too. While waiting for Doug and Artie it had occurred to them that there were only three middle schools in town: Willowhaven (Artie’s school, which was private) and two public schools. Since they didn’t know anyone named Doug at their school and it didn’t seem like Doug went to Willowhaven, he must be a student at the other public middle school. What if he went back there and talked about them and their diapers? In just a year and a half they would all be together at the town’s only high school. What kind of reputation would precede them there?

Before they could talk about this too much they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. They waited quietly for Doug and Artie. Doug walked in first. He looked at the three guys and froze. The color drained from his face and, for the second time in five minutes, his knees buckled under him. He grabbed the doorjamb for support. The three guys in the room also had shocked looks on their faces. Artie didn’t understand what was happening. The silence seemed to go on forever although it only lasted about two seconds.

“Matt???” Kenny said breaking the silence.

“Oh God,” Doug/Matt sobbed as he covered his face in humiliation and sank to the floor.

“Who’s Matt?” Artie asked. “This is Doug. What’s going on?”

These questions caused Doug/Matt to become even more upset. Since Doug/Matt was still blocking the doorway, Artie couldn’t get into his room.

“Matt,” Larry said gently, “don’t cry. Everything is going to be alright.”

He put his hand on Matt’s shoulder but Matt threw it off.

“Don’t touch me,” he sobbed. “Leave me alone.”

“OK, nobody will touch you,” Larry agreed, “but you’re blocking the door. Why don’t you move over here and sit up against the wall or the bed?”

Matt got up and moved over to the far wall and sat down again. Artie came into the room and closed the door.

“Would somebody tell me what’s going on?” Artie asked.

There was a prolonged silence as they waited for Matt to say something. When he didn’t, Kenny spoke up.

“I don’t know, exactly. But this is our friend Matt, Matt Singlesmith. I don’t think any of us know anything else.”

Doug/Matt sniffled loudly. Artie got him some Kleenex from the bathroom. After a few more minutes Doug/Matt calmed down enough to talk. All eyes rested on him.

“My real first name is Douglas and my middle name is Matthew. I like being called Matt so that’s how my parents registered me in school. When I started going to Dr. Bentley’s, he started calling me by my first name and I never corrected him. Besides, I wasn’t too happy about seeing a doctor about my problem so I didn’t care what he called me. Anyway, when my mom said that I had to join the doctor’s monthly group I let everyone call me Doug, too.”

That was the easy part of the explanation. The guys suspected that the rest would bring them into pretty deep water. Now that they knew that Matt was a bed wetter and that his parents had consistently punished him for it by making him wear thick diapers they understood why he had reacted to their diaper wearing the way he did. Brick was the first to speak up.

“I’m sorry about everything,” he said to Matt.

“Sorry? What for?” Matt asked, genuinely confused.

“For wanting to wear diapers and for being so in our face about it.”

“Yeah, me too,” Larry added.

“Don’t apologize. That’s not your fault any more than my bed wetting is my fault,” he said with a cracking voice. “I just wish my parents would understand…” This time he couldn’t hold back and a tear ran down his face.

Kenny was feeling more and more uncomfortable. Everyone else’s secrets were out in the open, but not his. He felt compelled to confess it now.

“I have something to say, too. My falling into the river has nothing to do with my wearing diapers. Ever since that day when Artie let me wear his diapers I’ve known that I want to stay in them forever. That’s the real reason I’m wearing diapers.”

Matt found this revelation side-splittingly funny and laughed nearly to exhaustion (probably in reaction to all of the tension he was feeling). Larry and Brick joined in, teasing Kenny for ‘being one of them’ after all. Kenny felt better, too, for having told his friends the truth.

After things calmed down, Matt spoke up.

“Thanks for not hating me, guys,” he said.

“Hate you? Why would we hate you?” Kenny asked.

“Because of how I treated you the last few days. You know, ignoring you and everything.”

“We don’t blame you for that,” Brick said for all of them. “Besides, I know I would have acted even worse if I had been in your place.”

Brick wanted to kick himself for bringing up the topic of Matt’s parents but Matt didn’t seem to mind.

“I don’t know,” Matt said. “It still wasn’t very nice of me. I shouldn’t have taken out my problems on you.”

Artie didn’t want the conversation to go down this path so he changed the topic.

“I’m really happy you all came to this sleepover. I think we have a lot in common. I’d like to be friends with all of you.”

“Me, too,” Kenny seconded, hoping that his three friends would accept Artie into their circle of friendship.

“You know, I didn’t know exactly what to expect when my mom and dad said that I had to come to this sleepover. When I asked them why, all they would say was that since I had decided to be a diaper wearer I may as well get to know other diaper wearers. Whatever. I’m glad I came,” Larry said.

“Yeah, I am, too.” Brick agreed, “even though my dad forced me to come.”

“I’m glad, too,” Matt said softly. “All my life I’ve been afraid that someone would find out that I was a bed wetter. Now that you guys know, I don’t feel so bad about being weird.”

“You’re not the one who’s weird,” Kenny protested. “In fact, you and Artie are the only ‘normal’ ones around here. The rest of us wear diapers for fun, you guys have a genuine medical reason for wearing them… Sorry, guys,” he said to Larry and Brick, “I didn’t mean to make it sound like you were weird.”

“We know what you meant,” Brick said for him and Larry. “But, let’s face it– we are abnormal.”

Kenny and Larry chuckled to themselves in agreement. The room was quiet for a few seconds.

“I think I know why my mom wanted me to come here today,” Matt said. “It’s because of what I told Dr. Bentley and the guys in the group the other day.” Tears had started pooling in his eyes. “I hope they don’t hate me because of what I said.”

The other guys weren’t sure what to do. Saying that he shouldn’t worry about it wouldn’t help and saying that he had nothing to worry about sounded like a lie. Artie tried a different approach.

“Yeah, I know. Parents are sure hard to figure out, especially when they won’t believe what you say.”

“Exactly,” Matt agreed. “I wish that my parents believed that I don’t wet the bed on purpose. Why would I?” he asked, barely containing his tears.

Again, the boys were stumped on how to respond. Artie tried again.

“Maybe Dr. Bentley will get them to change their mind,” he said. “I know that he’s good at explaining things to parents. Remember what Darryl (a member their group) said a couple of months ago? His parents used to punish him for bed wetting until Dr. Bentley explained the problem to them.”

“Maybe,” Matt agreed without conviction.

Artie’s mother came into the room and announced that it was almost dinnertime. She told them that the pizza she had ordered would be there soon. She also said that she would now change them into dry diapers.

Matt didn’t know how to react. He had never actually had a diaper change. His diaper punishment always followed the same pattern: after waking up in a wet bed his parents would berate him and then put him into thick diapers for his daylong punishment. In the evening, he would clean himself up and get into his pajamas. He doubted that his mother would have packed clean diapers for him.

The guys scattered throughout the house to retrieve their stuff. Artie took the opportunity to get changed first. He and his mother decided that another thick diapering would be appropriate (and, Artie thought, tremendous fun). The other guys came back to the bedroom and piled their sleeping bags in one corner. Sure enough, Matt discovered that his mom only packed a clean shirt, a pair of socks, and pajamas. Just a few minutes ago Matt had begun to feel a kinship with the other guys. Now, the sense of isolation caused by his parents lack of understanding risked overwhelming him again. He didn’t want to break down again in front of his friends but he knew he was losing control fast. Kenny snapped him out of his reverie.

“Why don’t you take your bag and go into the bathroom next?” he whispered.

“But I don’t have any diapers to change into,” he whispered back.

“I know, but just do it. It’ll be alright.”

Matt walked into the bathroom unsure of what to do. Seeing his confusion Mrs. Halsted motioned for him to get up onto the changing table. He quietly explained to her that he didn’t have any extra diapers.

“Well, that’s something we have plenty of,” she answered in an amused voice. “Lift up so that I can remove your plastic pants.”

She tried very hard not to react to the strong odor of stale pee that indicated that he had gone much too long without a diaper change. She knew that the slightest look of pity on her face would embarrass him unnecessarily. She continued to smile as she unpinned his diapers and removed them. Matt was so captivated by the gentle treatment that Mrs. Halsted was lavishing upon him that he only became aware of his impending nakedness as she removed the last diaper. His face began to color and he whimpered in embarrassment.

“Everything’s going to be alright,” she said encouragingly. “I’m just going to clean you up and then put you into fresh diapers.”

She began to gently wash his diaper area. She noticed that he winced several times as she touched him. His skin was very raw from exposure to urine.

“I’m going to put some of Artie’s rash cream on you,” she said.

The ointment felt cold at first but its soothing properties calmed the itchiness that he practically always felt while wearing diapers.

“I’m going to powder you with a medicated powder that will also help to soothe your skin irritation,” Mrs. Halsted announced.

The diaper she slid under him was the softest he had ever felt. This treatment was the absolute opposite of any he got from his parents. While Mrs. Halsted went out of her way to be gentle and to make him feel comfortable, his parents always tried to impress upon him how ‘dirty’ he was and how much extra work he was making for them. By the time she pulled a fresh pair of plastic pants up his legs he felt inexpressibly relaxed and content.

“There you go. More comfortable?” Mrs. Halsted asked, gently pushing back the hair that hung down over his forehead.

He nodded his head up and down and whispered, “Yes, very.”

She hastily wiped a tear from her eye before Larry came in for his diaper change.

****

Dr. Bentley sat on the Singlesmiths living room couch. He was dumbfounded. He had expected this meeting to be contentious. He had laid out for them the story that Doug (he still didn’t know about Matt preferring to be called by his middle name) had told about his diaper punishments. Not only did his parents not deny they story, they added details that made it even more damning for them.

“Mr. and Mrs. Singlesmith, I have to say that I’m speechless. Don’t you realize that your treatment of your son could be interpreted as child abuse by many courts?”

“Now, see here…,” Mr. Singlesmith began to say angrily.

“Don’t get upset, dear. Let the doctor speak,” his wife cut in. “How so, doctor? We’re only trying to make our son more responsible for his actions. We’ve always felt that his laziness must be severely dealt with.”

Dr. Bentley sat there with his mouth open. Were these people completely heartless or were they simply clueless? He might as well go on to the next subject and see where that would lead.

“I’m afraid I have to disagree about your son being lazy, at least in regard to his bed wetting. As you know I have been giving you monthly updates on the tests I have administered to Doug. The results are unmistakable: you son is suffering from a fairly rare disorder of the bladder. In a nutshell, his condition stems from neurological causes and it is progressive.”

“What does that mean?” Mrs. Singlesmith asked.

“It means that your son is slowly losing control over his bladder functions. Up until now it has been limited to his sleeping hours. Very soon, it will exhibit itself even when he’s awake.”

“Are you saying that my kid is going to start wetting his pants? Ridiculous!” Mr. Singlesmith raged. “You’re just trying to soak money out of us… I told you that we shouldn’t send him to doctors. None of them are any good,” he said accusingly to his wife.

Dr. Bentley was fuming. Of all the stupid, idiotic people he had ever met Mr. Singlesmith took the cake.

“Please excuse my husband, doctor. He had a bad experience as a young man and he doesn’t trust doctors anymore. I’m sorry.”

Mr. Singlesmith grunted but didn’t add anything. Dr. Bentley got himself back under control and decided to speak to Mrs. Singlesmith, ignoring her husband.

“The last time you dropped Doug off at my office I asked you to sign a release form so that I could send his test results to a colleague of mine, Dr. Zimmerman. She concurs with me. I’m sorry but we’re both very sure of our prognosis.”

“What is the prognosis?” Mrs. Singlesmith asked anxiously.

“Your son’s condition has four stages. We believe that he is near the end of stage two. In stage three, which we believe is coming soon, he will begin having uncontrollable episodes of daytime wetting. This stage may last for several years or perhaps only a few months. During the third stage his nighttime bedwetting will also become more frequent. When stage four occurs, he will lose all control, daytime and nighttime.”

Mr. Singlesmith became more and more agitated as Dr. Bentley spoke.

“No,” he said forcefully, “I don’t believe it. You doctors are all the same. People are healthy until you start poking around their insides. I’ll sue you for this!”

“Mr. Singlesmith….,” Dr. Bentley began.

“No!” Mr. Singlesmith repeated louder.

He rose from his chair and stomped out of the house. A car started and backed out of the driveway. Mrs. Singlesmith remained deep in thought for several moments.

“My husband isn’t crazy, doctor. He’s just very distressed. You see, when he was about Matt’s age (by the way, doctor, everyone calls our son by his middle name) his father’s health began deteriorating. The elder Mr. Singleton never believed in doctors and he frequently spoke against them to anyone who would listen. Anyway, he refused to see a doctor until it was quite obvious that something was very wrong. By that time, it was too late. My husband has never been able to accept that it was his father who was at fault and not the doctors.”

Dr. Bentley stayed a little while longer, outlining the decisions they would have to face as a family. He stressed that there was no cure for the condition but, at the same, that it was most definitely not life-threatening. He left several informational brochures which she promised to read. Lastly, she gave her word to talk to her husband and to try to get him to face the situation as calmly as possible. Despite his reservations, Dr. Bentley even offered to speak with Mr. Singlesmith again.

****

Dinner was finished. The boys had had their fill. Mrs. Halsted was cleaning up the kitchen.

“I want you guys to spend some time outside,” she said.

She was looking for ways to tire the guys out. She had no intention of being kept awake all night by five talkative kids.

“But it’s almost dark out,” Artie protested.

He wanted to stay inside so that they could look at some of his favorite diaper sites on the web.

“There’s at least an hour’s worth of daylight left,” she insisted.

Larry, Brick, and Matt were relieved to find out that Artie’s backyard was very private. They shot hoops for a while but this got boring (especially since there were five of them and no way to make two equitable teams to play against each other).

“Let’s go sit on the porch,” Artie suggested.

Kenny presumed that he meant the enclosed back porch but Artie went around to the front of the house. Several chairs and Victorian-style outdoor rockers were lined up against the wall. Kenny voiced the concern of the other guys.

“Won’t people be able to see us from the street?”

“Maybe,” Artie conceded, “but it’s nearly dark and practically no one walks down this street. Besides, if we sit down anyone who goes by will only see our shirts.”

This wasn’t all that reassuring but no one wanted to make a big deal out of it (and thereby admit that he was ‘chicken’ to be seen in his diapers).

Artie was a good conversationalist and pretty soon he had the other boys laughing uproariously over some of the predicaments his diapers had gotten him into.

“And then there’s the last time I wet my pants publicly,” he said tantalizingly.

Kenny froze. Artie wouldn’t tell that story, would he?

“What happened?” Brick asked in an encouraging tone.

“Well, actually, Kenny knows this story already. He can tell it.”

Kenny was literally squirming in his seat. His palms had become sweaty and he had the sudden urge to wet his diapers.

“I… I…,” he stammered.

The other guys sensed that there was a great story here and they weren’t about to let it go.

“Come up, give it up,” Brick insisted. “Were you there when Artie wet his pants?”

“Well, yes, but… it’s too long a story.”

“We’ve got lots of time,” Matt pointed out.

“Look how red he’s turning,” Larry teased. “Did you wet your pants, too, Kenny?”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Kenny blurted out.

It took about fifteen minutes but they eventually dragged all the details out of him. By the time he finished describing how he and Artie had wet their pants in the lobby of the movie theater more than one boy had developed a noticeable bulge in the front of his plastic pants. They were quite titillated by the description of Kenny and Artie walking out of the theater complex in nothing but their diapers and plastic pants. Despite everyone’s obvious enjoyment, Kenny was furious at Artie for bringing the whole story up. He vowed to get his revenge… someday, somehow.

Shortly afterward, Mrs. Halsted asked them to come inside to get changed into their night diapers. Matt again faced some anxious moments. Was this the end of his diaper wearing for the day? What had his parents said to the Halsteds, if anything, about their forbidding him to wear diapers in bed? And, if he wore only his pajamas, wasn’t there a nearly one-hundred percent chance that he would wet his sleeping bag? Or maybe even the carpeting under him? These were embarrassments he didn’t want to face. Could he manage to stay awake all night to prevent these things from happening?

“Alright, boys. We don’t want this to take too long. Mr. Halsted will take care of Larry, Brick, and Artie in the master bedroom; I’ll help Kenny and Matt in Artie’s bedroom. Now, gather your night things and let’s get started!” she commanded.

Mrs. Halsted removed Kenny’s diapers and left him alone to use the toilet and shower.

Matt waited patiently in the bedroom. His pajamas sat at the foot of the bed.

“Is this all you plan on wearing to bed tonight?” Mrs. Halsted asked, pointing to the pajamas.

(Ever since she and her husband had agreed to host Matt, she knew that this moment would come. She didn’t want to set Matt against his parents but, in her heart, she knew that they were wrong. Denying him diapers at night and forcing him to wear them during the day was cruel. Now that she had had a chance to observe him a little bit, she suspected that Matt would welcome the opportunity to keep his bed dry.)

“My parents don’t allow me to wear diapers at night,” he answered solemnly.

“But, if you had the choice, what would you do? For tonight, I mean,” she pursued.

Matt hesitated for a long moment.

“I would like to wear diapers tonight but my parents would be upset if they found out.”

“Then, let’s try to make sure that they don’t find out,” she said simply.

Matt could hardly believe that Mrs. Halsted had agreed to diaper him. Wearing nighttime diapers was the biggest taboo in his life. His parents would certainly be angry when they found out but he didn’t care. He suddenly was aware of how much he longed for night diapers, how much he wanted to wake up in warm, dry bed. In a flash of insight he understood that no matter how old he was, as long as he wet the bed he would want to wear diapers. After his shower, he got up on the changing table with all the eagerness of someone who was receiving the biggest reward of his life.

****

Mr. Singlesmith returned home an hour after Dr. Bentley had left. Mrs. Singlesmith had had plenty of time to peruse the brochures. She had also made some decisions.

“I see that the quack is gone,” Mr. Singlesmith said acidly.

“John, sit down. We need to talk.”

Mr. Singlesmith was not much of a talker. He preferred that people listen to him, and not the other way around. However, tonight, there was something in his wife’s tone that warned him to take her seriously.

“You don’t really believe the doctor, do you?” he asked, hoping to take the offensive in what he imagined was coming.

“Yes, I do,” his wife answered equally strongly. “Read this,” she said, pushing a brochure across to him, “… the page on the right.”

“Yeah, so?” he asked suspiciously.

“Who is it describing?”

“Matt…, maybe. But he could have read this stuff at the doctor’s office.”

“John, do you really think Matt read this at the doctor’s office when he was three? This has always been Matt’s behavior. I’ve already come to terms with it- Matt has always been, is now, and probably always will be a wetter,” she said definitively. “It’s our behavior that needs discussing, not his.”

“We’ve already discussed this. Matt is lazy and we can’t let him get away with it.”

“No,” Mrs. Singlesmith contradicted him, “we have not discussed anything. I have allowed you to bully Matt, even when I knew you were wrong. Well, no more.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked menacingly.

“It means that things are going to change- starting with Matt getting a say in how he’s treated around here.”

“For crying out loud…” Mr. Singlesmith began.

“For crying out loud nothing!” Mrs. Singlesmith snapped, “Things are going to change or I’m leaving… and taking Matt with me.”

“You can’t be serious!” Mr. Singlesmith objected.

They continued talking until very late into the night.

****

Matt woke up with a start. The sun was just rising. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and why he was on the floor in a sleeping bag… wearing diapers. He then realized that his sleeping bag was dry. Could it be that he hadn’t needed the diapers after all? He felt inside his plastic pants and discovered that he was soaked. Nonetheless, he was ecstatic- his bedding was dry. For the first time in memory, his bed was dry! This was great! If only the other guys were awake, he would share his happiness with them. If only he could wear diapers all the time. Why were his parents so unwilling to admit that he needed help keeping his bed dry? And why did they insist on punishing him for something he couldn’t help?

He dozed on and off for a while before someone else woke up. It was Artie.

“Hi,” Artie said. “Did you sleep OK?”

“Yeah, fine.”

“Are you very wet?”

“Kind of,” Matt admitted. “But at least my sleeping bag is dry,” he said with some measure of pride.

The way he said it made Artie feel sad. “Matt should have the right to always wake up in a dry bed,” he thought.

“Artie, thanks for inviting me to the sleepover. It was fun. I’m sorry about lying to you about my name and everything.”

“It really wasn’t a lie, was it? Besides, I’m glad that you and the other guys are going to be friends again.”

There was a long pause, which ended with a long sigh from Matt.

“What’s the matter?” Artie asked.

“I just wish…,” Matt started to say before his voice cracked.

“I know,” Artie continued for him, “…your parents. But, if they’re so against your wearing diapers at night, why did they let you come here? I mean, they know that I’m in Dr. Bentley’s group and that I wear diapers.”

“I don’t know. Just don’t ever say that I wore diapers last night, OK? They’ll get mad about it.”

Once again Artie couldn’t help feeling sad for his new friend. He wished he didn’t feel so powerless to help.

By now, their conversation had woken up the other guys. Artie suggested they get some breakfast and then have his mom change them into dry diapers. To his surprise, the thought of Mrs. Halsted cleaning his diaper area and pinning him into fresh diapers caused Matt to have an erection.

****

By ten o’clock, the boys had breakfasted and had been changed into their daytime diapers. Matt was grateful that Mrs. Halsted had not dressed him in his normal double-thick diapers. Instead, he had been put into a ‘regular’ daytime diaper lined with a diaper doubler. He found this arrangement extremely comfortable. Most of all, he was happy to be dressed like the other guys.

They had gone out to the backyard, mostly at Mrs. Halsted’s insistence. They decided to play one-on-one basketball, frequently changing partners. At the moment, Brick and Larry were playing while Artie, Kenny, and Matt were lying on the lawn, watching. They had been talking about all kinds of things: school, sports, summer plans…

“I think my parents want to go to Los Angeles and San Diego this summer. I think it would be pretty cool. I’ve never been to California. How about you guys?” Artie asked.

“Me either,” Kenny answered. “Don’t your grandparents live in California, Matt?”

But Matt didn’t answer. The look on his face scared them.

“What’s wrong?” Kenny asked.

Suddenly, all the emotions, doubts, questions, concerns, and worries of the last twenty-four hours broke through Matt’s defenses. His whole body tensed and then began to shudder. Tears streamed from his eyes and quiet sobs escaped from his throat.

“I’m so scared,” he said. “No, I’m not,” he corrected himself. “I’m mad. I hate my parents. Why do they treat me the way they do? Why do they hate me?”

He wasn’t hysterical, but he couldn’t stop his tears either. Kenny hesitated for only a moment before his put his arm around Matt’s shoulder to comfort him. Unlike yesterday, Matt didn’t reject this sympathetic gesture. Larry and Brick stopped playing basketball and came over and joined them. No one knew what to say or do. Matt cried himself out in about three minutes.

“You guys must think that I’m such a baby,” he said wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands.

“No, we don’t,” Kenny answered.

He wanted to say more but he didn’t know how to say it. How do you tell a friend that you think that he has lousy parents? Artie had no such hesitations.

“I think that your parents’ treatment of you sucks,” he said bluntly. “I don’t know if anyone can do anything about it but you can always come over here when you want to. You can wear diapers (or not wear diapers)- whatever makes you comfortable.”

“That goes for my house, too,” Kenny said.

Larry and Brick agreed (although they themselves weren’t yet sure where they stood in regards to diapers and their parents).

“Thanks, guys,” Matt said.

Matt wanted to confide something else but he was afraid that he would start crying again. What had set him off just now was more than a general feeling of frustration with his parents. He had just involuntarily wet his diaper. This was the fourth or fifth time in the couple of weeks that this kind of thing had happened. Each time was a repeat of the previous: a sudden terrific urge to pee would hit him and then within two or three seconds he was unable to hold back. Luckily, he had been able to hide it so far. But what about the next time? How long could his luck hold out? What would his parents do if they believed he was deliberately wetting his pants during the day? The thought was terrifying.

****

At 4:00, Matt’s parents showed up to pick him up. Their expression was unreadable. Mr. Halsted met them at the door and led them to the den at the back of the house. He went to the backyard to get Matt.

“Matt, your parents are here. You other guys should come in now, too.”

A wave of panic swept over Matt. “OK, “ he answered. “I need to get my stuff out of Artie’s room.”

“Not right away,” Mr. Halsted said. “Your parents want to talk to you. Right here, in the den.”

Matt walked into the room fearing the worst. How would his parents react to him wearing ‘normal’ daytime diapers and not his huge punishment diapers? Could they have found out that he slept in diapers last night? He jumped as Mr. Halsted closed the door behind him. He was on the verge of hyperventilating.

Matt’s parents also seemed uncomfortable. His mom fidgeted with her purse strap and Mr. Silversmith didn’t seem to know what to do with his arms and hands.

“Sit down,” his mom said, “we have a lot to talk about.”

Twenty minutes later the three of them emerged, red-eyed but smiling. Mr. Silversmith had his arm around Matt’s shoulders.

“I need to get my stuff and say goodbye to the guys,” Matt announced.

“Sure, go do that,” Mr. Silversmith agreed, gently patting the back of his plastic pants as he left. “Don’t take too long. We have things to do,” he added.

Mr. & Mrs. Halsted heard their voices and joined them.

“Is there anything we can get for you while you’re waiting?”

“”No, thank you,” Mrs. Silversmith answered. “But, we both want to thank you for getting Dr. Bentley to speak to us. We were very…. mistaken in our handling of Matt. Thanks to you, that’s changed.”

“You don’t need to say anything,” Mrs. Halsted answered. “Dr. Bentley did it all, I’m sure.”

“Whatever,” Mr. Silversmith said. “I’m so grateful it happened now and not later. Our stupidity could have lost us our son forever.”

After a pause of several seconds, Mrs. Silversmith continued. “My husband is referring to something that Matt just told us. Something that if he had told us two weeks ago we wouldn’t have believed.”

She proceeded to tell the Halsteds about the progressive nature of Matt’s condition and how he had already entered stage three, uncontrollable episodes of daytime wetting.

“Of course, he was terrified to tell us,” Mr. Silversmith said. “I will never live down the shame and guilt I feel about how I’ve treated him.”

“Well,” Mrs. Halsted said optimistically, “that’s all in the past. It’s good that you’re ready to face the future as a united family. I wish you the best of luck.”

The boys came charging down the stairs as a group, practically colliding with the adults huddled in the entrance hall.

“Have you got your things?” Mr. Silversmith asked Matt.

Artie spoke up before Matt had a chance to answer.

“Almost,” he said somewhat incongruously. “First we need to ask you something.”

“Here? Now?” Mr. Halsted asked somewhat impatiently.

“Please. You see, Matt just told us that he’s going to need diapers during the day. He said him and his parents (Mrs. Halsted cringed at Artie’s bad grammar but she let him go on uninterrupted) are going to buy some disposables but we (especially Brick) told him that this is a bad choice. They make a lot of noise and they leak easily. All of us would be willing to loan him some of our diapers and plastic pants until he can get his own. Could you tell Matt’s parents about how it’s cheaper in the long run to use cloth diapers than disposables and how disposables do damage to the environment and…?”

“OK, OK, we get the idea,” Mrs. Halsted said.

She confirmed Artie’s statements and used her credentials as an EPA expert to back them up. The Silversmiths were convinced and agreed to the arrangement. The boys ran back upstairs to set their plan into motion. Luckily, Mrs. Halsted had been doing laundry at each diaper change so each of the boys had at least two or three daytime diapers and one overnight diaper to share. All together, they also had over a dozen plastic pants to contribute. Artie’s ample supply of pins, diaper rash cream, and baby powder easily handled the rest of Matt’s needs. A few minutes later they were back downstairs loaded down with all the stuff.

“Good grief,” Mrs. Silversmith exclaimed, “that much?”

“Actually,” Mrs. Halsted added, “he will need even more than this in the long run. Artie needs a supply available to him at school, and we have small supplies at his married sister and grandparents’ houses. Also, he needs a fully loaded diaper bag for daytime outings or visits to his friends’ houses.”

“Yes, I see,” Mrs. Silversmith said thoughtfully. “Although Matt has only one grandmother who is local. Still, he’ll need a supply at school and a diaper bag, too.”

“OK, I guess we’re ready,” Mr. Silversmith announced. “Thanks again for everything. Can you guys help get this stuff to the car?”

“Sure!” Artie answered enthusiastically. “Why not?”

The looks on the other boys’ faces answered that question.

“Uh, you don’t have to go outside with me,” Matt offered. “…I mean, you’ve got your pants upstairs and everything…”

“No, it’s OK,” Kenny said more bravely than he felt.

Matt’s comment reminded him that Matt had come over without any pants and that he no choice but to go outside in just his diapers. Kenny didn’t want Matt to think that he wasn’t behind him 100%. Larry and Brick didn’t want to be left out (or be called chicken) so they agreed, too.

Before the adults followed the boys out to the car, Mr. Halsted chuckled to Mr. Silversmith, “Oh, to be young again when the mere threat of being called ‘chicken’ could motivate you to do something as daring as walking outside in just your diapers and plastic pants!”

Epilogue

The remainder of the school year passed quickly. Larry, Brick, Kenny, and Matt tried out for the track team and made it. They got some pretty serious teasing the first few times they changed in front of the teammates. After a few practices, though, the guys showed that they were competent contenders and they earned everybody’s respect.

Also, since the track coach thought that oversized and baggy clothes would slow his team down, they wore more conservatively cut uniforms. This resulted in one to two inches of their diapers and plastic pants being permanently on display. At their first track meet some of their opponents made the mistake of thinking that this meant that they would be pushovers. They were very quickly proven wrong and even further humiliated by their own teammates who pointed out that they couldn’t even beat somebody who was still in diapers.

Artie attended a few of their meets to watch them compete. At one of these events, he met Cindy Clauson, a classmate of the guys. It was immediately obvious to everyone that they had ‘clicked.’ This led to some teasing by the others but it was motivated mostly by envy.

It took about a month for Kenny’s new room to be finished. Artie was his first sleepover guest. It was bedtime and Kenny’s mom was getting him into his nighttime diapers. While waiting his turn, Artie noticed that Kenny’s computer was turned on, but asleep. Out of curiosity he hit a key. An open e-mail message appeared on the screen. Even though he knew better than to read somebody else’s mail he couldn’t help himself. The message read:

Hi, Kenny.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. 😃

I promise that I won’t ever tell Artie that I saw these pictures. He is so cute in his diapers! I have already printed them up and hidden them where nobody else will find them… but I’ll look at them often. I already have two favorites: the one where Artie is sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and his plastic pants all puffed out around him, and the one where he’s lying on his stomach asleep in front of the TV. I hope I don’t give myself away the next time I see him! I wish I could see his cute little diapers all the time!

I have to go now.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Your friend forever.

Cindy

Artie had to read the message twice before he could make himself believe what it said. The worst part was that it had been his idea to take the pictures in the first place. Three weeks before, they had all gotten together again for a sleepover, this time at Matt’s house. Artie had gotten permission to take the family digital camera with him. He had (with very little trouble) convinced the others that they should take pictures of themselves in diapers as a record of their special friendship. How could Kenny have sent these pictures of him to Cindy without asking him first!!?

“My mom’s ready for you,” Kenny said from the door of the bathroom.

Artie stalked past Kenny, too angry and confused to say anything… yet. As he got up on the changing table he heard Kenny’s ‘oh, oh’ as he must have seen the e-mail message on the screen. Mrs. Braken asked Artie if he was OK. He answered that he was very tired. As she left the room, she warned Kenny not to keep Artie awake all night.

“Are you really tired?” Kenny asked innocently.

“Not really,” Artie answered.

“Then, why did my mom say…?”

“Because she knew I was upset about something and I said that I was just tired.”

“Oh,” Kenny whispered.

“Why did you do it?” Artie asked.

“Well, Cindy was bugging me all the time about the stuff we do together. I accidentally let it slip that we had taken pictures of each other at Matt’s house. Then, when she figured out that they were pictures of us in our diapers she really started bugging me to let her see them. She promised she wouldn’t ever show them to anyone else. What’s the big deal, anyway? You’re the one who’s always saying that we shouldn’t be scared to have other people know that we wear diapers.”

“But that’s different,” Artie protested. “I was talking about strangers and I wasn’t talking about pictures. How many pictures did you send her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe ten or fifteen.”

“Ten or fifteen! Which ones?” an alarmed Artie asked.

Kenny went over to his computer and opened up a folder entitled ‘Artie.’

“Let me do it,” Artie said as he pushed Kenny out of the chair.

With each new picture he opened Artie groaned louder and louder.

“Not this one, too! … You cropped everybody else out of the pictures!”

“Of course,” Kenny explained. “She wanted pictures of you, not us.”

Artie was getting very upset. Kenny began to feel guilty.

“Um… Artie, I have one more thing to say.”

“What?” Artie asked, dreading any new revelations.

“Gotcha!”

“Huh?” Artie asked uncomprehendingly.

“I said, ‘Gotcha’,” Kenny repeated.

“What? This is just a joke? You didn’t really send these pictures to Cindy?”

“No, of course not. I gotcha! I gotcha! Finally, I gotcha!” Kenny chanted, dancing around the room.

“Why, you son of …,” Artie shouted, lunging at him.

They both went tumbling to the floor, nearly overturning the bedside table and lamp. Mrs. Braken heard the commotion and came in to investigate. They were still rolling around on the floor, wrestling.

“OK, guys, that’s enough of that for tonight. Let’s not destroy the new room, at least not until the paint dries.”

For the rest of the night, Kenny kept whispering ‘gotcha’ every few minutes. Finally, Artie caved in.

“OK, I admit it, that was a pretty good ‘gotcha.’ Who else do you think might fall for something like that?”

The End

Copyright © 2002 by Donnie