Linda Warren speed-dialed Mrs. Sheffield's number on the van's cellular telephone as she turned out of Doug's apartment complex.

"No, of course not, Mary. No problems at all. He came around just like all of the others have," she told Mrs. Sheffield in response to her question.

"I hope you weren't too hard on him, Linda. He seems like a nice boy who just needed a little gentle guidance."

Mrs. Warren chuckled. "Well, that's just what I gave him. But I'm sure you really don't want the details, do you?"

"Oh, no, no, of course not," Mrs. Sheffield said hurriedly. "We made that agreement long ago. I know you have your special techniques, and although I'd like to be reassured that you aren't harming these boys in any way, I care more about the fact that they get involved in our program. It's such a horrible thing to be incontinent and to have those accidents. I just want to make sure they are protected from that sort of thing, you know."

"Yes, I know," Mrs. Warren said. She'd heard this hundreds of times. Mrs. Sheffield was so unlike her. So caring and nurturing, but also so naive. She thought that she was providing these boys with a critical service which they dearly needed. It would devastate her to find out that these boys were really perfectly normal, and that Mrs. Warren (with Mrs. Sheffield's unknowing help) had forced them into an essentially permanent infantile lifestyle. It would also shock her, Mrs. Warren thought, how little Mrs. Warren cared about the harm they were doing to these boys. Mrs. Sheffield was in it to help her "clients." Mrs. Warren just wanted to make money, and doing it with an artistic, sadistic flare was simply icing on her financial cake.

"The bottom line is that Doug Easton is now safely tucked away in diapers, and before too long, he won't even think about not wearing one," she told her innocent comrade.

"And by the way," she continued. "I know he told you that his `problem' is temporary, but I have a practiced eye, as you know, and I think I can safely say that he's going to need our help for a long, long time."

"Oh, dear, I was afraid you'd say that, Linda," Mrs. Sheffield said sympathetically. "What IS it about our boys? We haven't had a single one make it to the retraining phase. It saddens me to think that there are that many people walking around out there without any control."

Mrs. Warren smiled. This lady was too much. How long would she go before she started suspecting the fact that they weren't helping anybody? "Yes, I know," she said out loud. "And how many more are too scared to come in and let us help them? There are tons of these folks out there. I told you it this was a useful service for people. The problem of incontinence, especially among young people, is one where you just see the tip of the iceburg. We have a new client every two or three weeks, and the rate hasn't slowed down. I think there are more out there than even we suspect."

"I know you're right about that," came the trusting reply. "We must have about forty boys now, right? I don't understand it, but we must keep trying to help them if we can. I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes open in the store, and try not to let any of them slip through my fingers."

"Yes, that's right. Don't let any of them get away," Mrs. Warren said, perhaps a little too greedily. "I mean, it would be tragic to have them continue with their problems."

"Indeed. I'll never forgive myself for what my son went through. At least I can make up for that with these boys."

"Yes, ma'am," Mrs. Warren said curteously, and they hung up. Inside she was thinking: she really is a guilt-ridden, altruistic sap. But I won't complain. I have a very secure job, since these boys aren't going anywhere. It pays well, and gets better every day. And it's fun, which is more than most people can say about their jobs.

She thought back to when she had been a nurse, working long hours, for pathetic pay. She had always wanted to go into business for herself, but had never hit upon quite the right idea. It had been pure luck when one day, while paying for some cold medicine in The Drugstore, she had observed the young man in front of her in line purchasing some adult diapers from Mrs. Sheffield. Mrs. Sheffield, apparently out of curiosity, had asked the guy what they were for, and the man had blushed tremendously and murmured that they were for him, for some periodic medical problem. Mrs. Sheffield had pressed him about the details, which had seemed odd to Mrs. Warren until she later found out about Mrs. Sheffield's son. This young man was being grilled about how he managed his "problem" and whether he wore the diapers all the time. Mrs. Warren watched with interest as the boy grew confused and murmured something about wearing them only when he needed to. By this time he had received his change, and almost ran out of the store with his new purchase.

Mrs. Sheffield had confided in Mrs. Warren that she had several young, apparently healthy customers about whom she worried, and this is when she related the story about her son. At the time, Mrs. Warren had thought the whole thing interesting, but an inappropriate topic to be discussing with strangers like herself. She had paid for her medicine and gone straight home.

She didn't think about it until the next day, when she was watching a talk show, and there were some young men in diapers being interviewed about infantilistic fantasies. Mrs. Warren immediately realized why that young man had been in the store the day before, since she knew from her nursing job that there really any "temporary medical problems" that would periodically confine young healthy men to diapers. This fetish business made much more sense. One of the interviewees mentioned a fantasy he'd had about being forced to wear diapers, and soon a plan began to brew in Mrs. Warren's head.

All the pieces were already essentially in place. Mrs. Sheffield, the drugstore lady, who had capital but no way to "help" her diaper-wearing clients. The clients, who wanted to wear diapers but wanted, above all, anonymity. All they needed was the middle-man, or middle-person in this case. She could make the necessary deliveries. And what if her clients were too shy? Well, didn't they often share a fantasy of being forced to wear them? She could do that: blackmail, she was sure, was a powerful tool, one that would not only keep them purchasing her services, but would protect her from the law. These boys would be petrified of people finding out. They were just waiting for her to run their lives.

Mrs. Sheffield had been ecstatic, buying a van, hiring helpers (to inspect diapers), and essentially leaving all the details to her. Linda Warren had quit her nursing job, and devoted herself to running her new business. She had to make it look professional and well-intended to Mrs. Sheffield, so she conceived of ICP's and retraining plans, typing up rules and contracts, never intending any of her client to graduate from her program. And they didn't. Her program was wildly successful. She had been amazed at the numbers of infantilists who were drawn in by her lure, which was essentially an extra-large adult diaper section. It drew these guys in by the boatload, whereupon Mrs. Sheffield somehow got their names and Mrs. Warren forced them into paying her to enslave them.

And nobody ever quit. Eventually the time and energy demanded by a client decreased, so that she could focus on the new ones, who took a lot of attention. But her client list, her nursery of baby boys, just kept growing and growing, and so her commission did as well. Now she had a profitable career built around infantilizing young men against their wills, and the beauty of it was that it was fun, looked legal, and was in no danger of ending. She had the perfect job.

Occasionally she felt a twinge of guilt about what she did to these guys. For example, Doug Easton had never asked specifically for this to happen. But he WAS made vulnerable by his unfortunate little fetish, and Mrs. Warren often rationalized it by quoting Darwin's natural selection theory. She was strong, they were weak. It was none of their faults, but that was the way it was. And anyway, they LIKED diapers, didn't they? Sure, maybe not like this, but she imagined that they didn't get many of their other fantasies filled, and beggars can't be choosers.

The only thing she really felt bad about was the one element of her "ICP" farce which was also pure genius, the aspect that essentially doomed these boys to stay with her forever. It was the rule forbidding masturbation, which must just about kill these boys, she thought. That really is cruel, to supply a fetish and then punish the excitement it breeds. Yet, it really extended the program. Eventually these guys got used to wearing the diapers, bowed to her desires, and stopped fighting. But she hadn't had one yet who could go more than a month without satisfying himself sexually. And then she could punish him and extend his probation indefinitely. Prohibiting sex was the one thing that made their ICPs permanent. It was the master stroke, so to speak, and therefore could not be eliminated, despite its cruelty. Anyway, she wasn't totally heartless: she didn't make them all wear chastity belts all the time. They DID get their little releases, but for that they paid a price, with their rear ends, and with their probation extensions.

She smiled. It was the perfect business. She just wished she could tell somebody.