We ate quickly and without a lot of discussion. The pond and the waterfall held our attention. After finishing my lunch, I leaned back against the rock and enjoyed the warmth of the day. I thought about Wayne and me. I was overwhelmed by his friendship. Not only had he saved me from Ryan and Mark but he had also volunteered to wear diapers so that I could pretend that I had a friend who needed diapers just like me. I must have dozed off because the next thing I remember Wayne was spreading a diaper out on the rocks.

“I really need a change,” he said self-consciously.

I jumped up and helped him out of his soaking diaper (even wetter than mine!). I began by wiping his diaper area with one of the towels we had pre-moistened before we left.

“That’s cold!” he said jumping as the towel made contact with him.

I giggled and told him it couldn’t be helped—unless he’d like to find out what diaper rash felt like.

“Have you ever had diaper rash?” he asked seriously.

“A couple of times—during the summer,” I answered. “It’s not fun.

It was my turn to be changed. He was very gentle and, like me, didn’t make any reference to how excited I was. I made to get up after he finished pinning my fresh diaper.

“No,” he said eagerly, “let me put your plastic pants on.”

It felt kind of funny but nice, too. I was beginning to like this idea of having a diaper buddy. Too bad it would only last for today.

“Now what? I asked.

“Do you want to go to the top of the waterfall?” he asked.

“Sure,” I answered excitedly.

I reached for my shirt and pants.

“No,” he said, “We don’t need shirts and pants. Let’s go like this.”

“Like this?” I asked with a quavering voice.

I was still traumatized about the treatment I usually received because of my diapers.

“But somebody might see us!” I continued.

“I’ve been here lots of times. I’ve never met anyone else… besides, practically nobody knows about this place.”

I still wasn’t convinced.

“Please,” he begged, “let’s have an adventure together. Let’s do something daring that only you and I will know about.”

The way he said it was almost like he knew my inner fantasies. Not that I wanted to walk around the woods in my diaper and plastic pants, but that I had often wished to have a friend to do fantastic things with. Well, I guess that this was about as fantastic as I could imagine.

“OK,” I said grudgingly, “but we’d better not get caught.”

Before leaving the rocks we gathered up our clothes and stuffed them into our backpacks. Wayne suggested that we hide them in the undergrowth at a fork in the trail. We would take the right fork to the waterfall and the left fork looped around and would take us home.

The trip up to the waterfall was worth it. From there we could see large areas of the valley below.

“Over there is Sievert and our houses are lower down, hidden just behind those woods,” Wayne explained.

We were even able to walk right up to the edge of the cliff where the waterfall dropped down into the pond. I was amazed at how much water there was.

“We’d better get back,” Wayne announced.

We retrieved our backpacks and I began unzipping mine to take out my overalls and shirt.

“It’s kind of hot,” Wayne said. “Do you really want to put on your shirt and pants?”

“I guess not,” I heard myself answer.

Actually, I was beginning to like the freedom of walking around openly in my diapers, particularly with Wayne wearing them, too. I never thought that I would do something so daring. However, that didn’t stop me from silently praying that no one would catch us.

The walk back was easier since we were heading downhill most of the way. It only took us a half-hour to reach the edge of the woods. I stopped as Wayne continued walking out into the open.

“Aren’t we putting our pants back on?” I asked nervously.

“We’re still nowhere near the road. This is just a little clearing. The trail leads us back in to the woods over there.”

I shrugged my shoulders and dove in, so to speak. The clearing was about three hundred yards wide. The sun felt nice against my arms and legs. We reentered the woods and walked another twenty minutes before I heard the noise of a passing car.

“We’re near the road,” I said. “Shouldn’t we get dressed now?”

“This isn’t ‘our’ road,” he answered. “This is an unpaved county road that some people use as a shortcut. Practically nobody uses it.”

“Well,” I answered defensively, “somebody just did.”

“OK, I’ll go first and check out the traffic… not that there’s going to be any.”

I was satisfied with this arrangement. Wayne exited the woods and walked the fifteen or so feet to the road. He made an exaggerated motion of searching for traffic, sort of like he was looking down from the top of a mountain across a huge expanse of territory.

“The coast is clear,” he said with a smug look on his face.

I exited the woods and joined him on the road. He was right. It was practically no bigger than the trail we had been following all day. I sort of felt silly that I hadn’t trusted him.

“Come on,” he said. “We’ve still go about an hour before we get home.”

We finally reached ‘our’ road. We stopped to get dressed.

“I’m not going to wear a shirt,” Wayne announced. “It’s too hot.”

“Good idea,” I agreed.

We put on our overalls and I was aghast at what I saw. Our plastic pants rose two to three inches higher than the sides of our overalls.

“We’ll have to put shirts on,” I observed.

“Why?” Wayne retorted. “Cars driving by won’t notice our plastic pants.”

“What if we meet somebody walking on the road?”

“We don’t have to stop to talk to them. We can just say ‘hi’ and keep moving.”

Alarm bells were ringing like crazy inside my head. I decided to wear my shirt. We were almost home when we ran into an older couple. I didn’t know who they were. I hoped that Wayne didn’t either.

“Hello, boys,” the lady said in a friendly manner.

“Hi,” I answered.

“Hello Mrs. Campbell… Mr. Campbell.” Wayne answered.

These were the people who lived in the house up the road from mine. I hadn’t met them yet but Wayne obviously knew them.

“This is Danny Eversby,” Wayne continued.

“Pleased to meet you, Danny.” Mr. Campbell said.

I looked over to Wayne and was dismayed to see that he was doing nothing to hide his diaper and plastic pants.

“Did you boys go for a swim?” Mrs. Campbell enquired.

“No, ma’am,” Wayne answered. “We took a hike up to the waterfall.”

“Well, that was quite ambitious, I must say,” she commented.

Her husband chuckled. “I’m sure that for these boys it was nothing. They’re not old and decrepit like us.”

Mrs. Campbell returned the chuckle and added, “Watch out who you’re calling decrepit.”

They both chuckled again. My discomfort was growing. I wanted to get going but nobody was moving. (This is one thing I had already noticed about the people here: they were not generally in a rush like people in the city.)

“Oh, I just thought of something,” Mrs. Campbell said. “Wayne, would you ask your mom to call me to let me know when she’s going to be home? I would like to deliver some preserves and other things to her.”

“Yes, ma’am, I will.”

“Thank you,” she responded. “We don’t want to hold you up any more. You boys are probably anxious to get home. Have a nice day.”

Once we were out of earshot I let Wayne have it.

“How come you didn’t try to hide your plastic pants? You know that they probably them, don’t you?”

“What could I do about it? I couldn’t just walk past them without stopping. Besides, they’re nice people; they’re not going to tell anyone.”

We walked the rest of the way in silence. By the time we reached my driveway I had cooled down. I guess no harm was done. After all, they saw him wearing them not me.

“See you tomorrow?” Wayne asked.

“Yeah, sure. Tomorrow.” I answered.

As I walked into the house I remembered something. Wayne went home with three of my diapers and he hadn’t put his shirt on yet. I hoped that he would remember before his parents saw him. I didn’t want to get into trouble for giving him diapers to wear.

The next morning when he came over to my house I asked him why he brought his backpack with him. He gave me a funny look.

“O-o-o-h!” I eventually figured out, “you brought my diapers back.”

He opened the bag and gave me three wet diapers and plastic pants.

“You used all three?” I asked somewhat surprised.

He blushed and admitted that he had worn the last set to bed last night.

Luckily, my parents were leaving in a little while to go on a sales call. My sister, Kayla, was going with them to visit some friends from our old neighborhood. That would give me time to wash the diapers without my mom or dad noticing how many wet ones there were. My mom had already commented that I seemed to be wearing more diapers since we had come to the country (especially since I wasn’t wearing my diaper pants any more) but I think she would have noticed that there were way too many for me to have used in just one day.

After the diapers were in the washer I began to hand wash the plastic pants.

“How come you don’t wash them in the machine?” Wayne asked.

“Because they’d fall apart,” I answered.

Wayne even helped me hang my plastic pants on the drying rack in my bathroom.

“What do you want to do for the rest of the morning?” he asked. (We were supposed to go to his house later on for lunch.)

“I don’t know. What do you want to do?” I answered.

He paused a few seconds, a shy smile on his lips.

“Do you want a twin brother again today?”

I was hoping he would ask to wear diapers again. It had felt good yesterday when he and I had shared our secret, hiking in just our diapers and plastic pants.

“Sure,” I answered willingly.

He took off his shirt and pants, and giggled when he noticed that I was doing the same. I laid out my changing pad and spread out a diaper on it. He took off his underwear and positioned himself. I generously powdered him and pulled the thick material between his legs. After using two pins on each side he was nice and snug. He lifted up his bottom as I slid the plastic pants up his legs. From start to finish, there was no doubt how excited he was about wearing diapers. He would probably see my excitement the next time I needed a change.

I was surprised by how much I was enjoying scampering around the house in just diapers and plastic pants. It was as if I had erased all the effects of the anguish and embarrassment I had suffered at the hands of my former ‘friends.’ Wayne was totally different—he was scampering around with me. It was unreal and so much fun!

Eventually, we wound up back in my room lying across from each other on the floor. There was a prolonged silence.

“Can I ask you a question?” I said.

“Sure,” Wayne answered.

“Didn’t you feel weird you feel weird yesterday when the Campbells caught you wearing diapers?”

There was a long pause and I was afraid that I had embarrassed him. I was on verge of apologizing when he finally spoke.

“I’m sorry I caused you to feel weird in front of the Campbells.”

“Thanks,” I responded, “but I’m not mad about that anymore. I just want to know if you felt weird about it.”

Again, he avoided answering me.

“I hope you won’t get mad at me, but I think that you would be happier it you just told people about your diapers. It you just explained that you needed them, most people wouldn’t care and would forget about it.”

“But what about those who wouldn’t?” I protested.

“Only jerks would do that. Why should you care about them?” he responded.

I didn’t agree, but I didn’t want to argue with him either. Instead, I changed the subject.

“We’d better get my diapers out of the washer.”

After we transferred my stuff into the dryer Wayne asked if I felt like doing anything. I was kind of bored so I suggested we throw my football around for a while. Wayne agreed and headed for the back door. I followed him outside. He threw me a sideways smile. I blushed.

“So, you’re not going to complain about going outside in just your diaper and plastic pants?” he teased.

I blushed deeper at the fact that he knew that I actually wanted us to go outside in our diapers and plastic pants. I couldn’t help myself. I had never felt so free in all my life. If only it was possible to tell others…

Wayne and I threw the ball to each other for a while. Suddenly, he stopped.

“Come on. Throw the ball,” I called out.

“You want it; you come and get it,” he challenged.

I started chasing after him around the yard. I couldn’t corner him because the yard was so big. I decided to try a trick.

“Hey, watch out for my mom’s flowers!” I shouted (even though he wasn’t anywhere near any of them).

He hesitated just long enough for me to catch up to him. I tackled him and we both hit the ground. The ball bounced out of his hands and we each scrambled for it while trying to keep the other away. We were too involved in the struggle to notice that Wayne’s mother had come around the corner of the house.

“Well, I see that Mrs. Campbell wasn’t making a mistake.” she said flatly.

We both yelped at the sound of her voice. I was bent over Wayne and he was pushing me back with his knees. Our diapers and plastic pants were unmistakable. She wasn’t surprised at how I was dressed, of course, since she had seen me in diapers at the sleepover. It was Wayne who was on the hot seat.

We got up slowly. Wayne had turned white and his hands and knees were shaking.

“I wanted to see what it was like,” he explained.

“I can see that,” she answered. “We’ll talk about it later. Right now, I’ve been waiting for over half an hour to give you lunch.” Turning to me, she added, “As soon as you lock up your house, we’ll go”

I knew that the front door was locked so I only had to shut the back door. As soon as I did it, I remembered that Wayne’s and my clothes were inside… and that I didn’t have a key to get back in. I turned to explain the situation but Wayne and his mom had already left. I followed them and received another shock—Mrs. Montego’s car wasn’t in the driveway. We’d have to walk down the road to their house.

Wayne and I looked at each other with real fear. My hands and knees were shaking, too. We made our wobbly way up the driveway and hesitated.

“Come on. Don’t dawdle,” Mrs. Montego said.

I think she knew exactly what she was doing. She must have decided that this would be our punishment—public exposure in our diapers.

“Sorry about this,” Wayne apologized.

“It’s OK,” I lied.

We started down the road. I heard a car approaching from behind. I tried to remain inconspicuous by not turning around. It drove past without seeming to notice us. Wayne and I breathed a sigh of relief. Another car approached, this time from head on. I saw that it was a convertible being driven by a teenager. Two or three friends were with him. They spotted us because and hooted and howled as they passed. Wayne bolted and didn’t stop until he had turned into his driveway. His mom and I arrived a few seconds later. She didn’t say anything.

We sat down to lunch. The kitchen was empty, since everyone else had finished earlier. Elaine, Wayne’s sister, must have been in her room because I heard loud music coming from upstairs. She hadn’t been around when Wayne and I had had our sleepover and I wasn’t very anxious to have her see me in a wet diaper. I was sure that Wayne was even more nervous about that possibility that me. I hoped that we could finish lunch quickly and then get back to my house. Wayne and I could figure out a way to get inside, I hoped.

“Wayne, while you’re eating, I’m going to tell you a story,” his mom said.

That sounded weird. I wondered what she was doing. I got the feeling that Wayne wasn’t anxious to hear it. Maybe her way of scolding him was by telling stories.

“I’ll try to keep it short,” she continued. “Two years ago, Mr. & Mrs. Campbell’s eleven year old grandson, Billy, was scheduled to visit them for the summer. Like you, Danny, he has suffered from bladder problems all his life. His parents decided to keep him in disposable diapers, which he hated because they frequently leaked, especially at night. To make a long story short, the Campbells decided to surprise him with a complete set of cloth diapers and plastic pants. They were certain that he would prefer them. As it turned out, though, the company that Billy’s dad works for transferred him to England on short notice. The Campbell’s were disappointed that they wouldn’t get their grandson for the summer and that they wouldn’t get a chance to make him feel more comfortable about his problem.”

I was now listening intently to the story. This was the closest I had ever gotten to hearing about a kid my age who had to wear diapers, too.

“So, turning the clock forward,” Mrs. Montego said, “who should they meet yesterday but a boy just about the same age and size as their grandson two years ago. This boy is wearing diapers and plastic pants. Being the kind people that they are, they come to the boy’s mother and tell her how happy they are to be able to finally put their supply of diapers and plastic pants to good use. Of course, the mother doesn’t know anything about her son’s diaper wearing and is somewhat confused. The Campbells think that the mother is embarrassed that they have found out about her son’s need for diapers. Or maybe, the mother doesn’t want the Campbells to think that she needs charity. So, what do the Campbells do? They make it seem like it is the mother who is helping them out—wouldn’t she please take these unneeded diapers off their hands? Well, what could the mother do? She didn’t want to make the Campbells feel bad so she agreed.”

Mrs. Montego stopped talking. Wayne and I finished our lunches.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Wayne’s mom asked.

Wayne didn’t answer. I waited anxiously for him to say something.

“Um, could I tell them that I have enough and that I don’t need more?”

“Too late for that,” she responded. “The stuff is already in your room.”

“Is there a lot?” he asked.

“A whole lot,” she said. “According to the Campbells, there’s a two year’s supply.”

Wayne gulped.

“Could I give them to Danny?” he said, looking my way to see if I approved.

I kept my face neutral.

“Only if you tell the Campbells that that’s what you’re doing,” she said firmly.

“Would they be mad if they found out that I don’t really need them?” Wayne asked.

“I don’t think so,” his mom answered, “but I think they might feel a little foolish.”

“How come?” Wayne wondered.

“Because when they saw you wearing them they jumped to the conclusion that you needed them. They didn’t know that you had gotten them from Danny.”

Wayne paused to think about the situation for a long while. Mrs. Montego and I waited patiently.

“I guess I’d better start writing a thank-you note, shouldn’t I?” he said.

“Alright,” his mom agreed, “but you both get a diaper change first.

We went up to Wayne’s room. We were bowled over by the number of diapers and plastic pants that had been delivered. More than that, the Campbells had also included changing pads, lots of pins and medicated powder, and even a diaper travel bag.

Mrs. Montego changed Wayne first. As she was taking off his wet diaper, I examined one of the new ones. It looked bigger and thicker than what I normally wore. Mrs. Montego noticed what I was doing.

“The Campbells said that they bought slightly oversized diapers so that their grandson wouldn’t grow out of them too quickly.”

She continued changing Wayne.

“This diaper sure is thick,” Wayne observed as his mother started pinning it up. “This isn’t a nighttime diaper, is it?”

“And it goes up a lot higher,” I added.

“No, it’s not a nighttime diaper,” his mother answered. “It’s thicker because it has a special inner core of material to trap wetness, to keep your skin dryer. And, I suppose it rises higher because the Campbells bought them on the ‘big’ side so that Billy could grow into them.”

She was finished with the diaper. Wayne put on his plastic pants. They seemed to crinkle louder than mine.

“OK, you’re next,” Mrs. Montego said.

I was hesitant to wear these new diapers—they were way too big and the plastic pants were way too noisy.

“Um, can I go home to get changed?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “Can you get in? I forgot to ask if you had a key when I told you to lock up the house.”

I was forced to admit that I didn’t.

“In that case, hop up on the bed,” she ordered. “ I don’t want to be responsible for you getting a diaper rash.”

The change didn’t take very long. The new diaper really felt funny. It was even thicker than my nighttime diapers and it came so high over my stomach!

“I feel like a little kid,” Wayne commented. “Your diapers aren’t nearly as big as these.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “you’re really going to have trouble hiding them under your clothes.”

“Oh God, I hadn’t thought of that,” he said in a shaky voice.

“See,” I said, “now you know what it feels like to worry about your friends finding out about your diapers.”

“Speaking of that, I wonder if my dad and Elaine know.”

We went downstairs to find Mrs. Montego. Wayne asked his question.

“Of course they do,” she answered. “We discussed it during lunch.”

Wayne seemed worried about this, especially the part about his dad. Elaine met us on our way back upstairs. She smiled and said hello, but otherwise made no comment.

“I guess your sister isn’t going to give you a hard time about wearing diapers,” I commented.

“Don’t bet it,” he answered. “She probably doesn’t want to embarrass you. She’ll start in on me the second after you leave.”

“Speaking of which, do you think I can borrow some clothes to wear home? I’m pretty sure that I can climb through the downstairs bathroom window to get into the house.”

We went up to his room to find something for us to wear. He volunteered to come with me to try to break into my house. We tried on several pairs of pants before concluding that none would fit. We couldn’t even get them to zip up all the way. Obviously, his parents were going to have to get him new clothes. I was still stuck, though. I wanted to get home to change back into my own clothes (and my own diapers and plastic pants) before my parents got home.

“Would you mind going back to my house dressed this way?”

Wayne considered it for a few seconds and agreed. Mrs. Montego stopped us on the way out and asked where we were going. We said we wanted to throw my football around some more. She told Wayne to make sure to be back by five o’clock. Luckily, the walk over to my house was uneventful. We ran the whole way down the road just to make sure that we weren’t seen again.

Just as I thought, we were inside my house in fewer than five minutes. I shut and locked the bathroom window. (I would have to tall dad about how easy it would be for somebody to break into the house.) We went up to my room. I had originally intended to get back into my own diapers but I changed my mind. I didn’t want Wayne to think I was criticizing his new ones. We played games on my computer until just before five o’clock.

“I have to go home, now,” Wayne announced.

“Yeah, I know,” I answered. “What are you doing tomor…”

We were interrupted by the ringing of the front doorbell. I went across to my parents’ bedroom and looked out the window.

“It’s your sister,” I said.

“Elaine? I wonder what she wants?”

We went downstairs and let her in.

“Your parents just called my house. They’re going to stay in Madison tonight because they didn’t finish all their business today, and Kayla is going to stay with her friend. My mom says you should bring your toothbrush and whatever else you’ll need to spend the night. Oh… she also said not to bring any diapers since Wayne has more than enough.”

She smirked at her brother as she said this. I guess he was right. She was going to give him a hard time about his diapers. Elaine left, telling us to hurry up—dinner was almost ready. Wayne and I went to my room to get my stuff. I tried on some of pants and overalls to see if any would fit over the new diapers. None of them did.

“No sense in bringing pants, huh?” Wanted said.

“I guess not,” I agreed.

We left for Wayne’s house. Once again, I walked out without the key. It was more serious this time since I didn’t have any other ideas on how to get back in without breaking a window. I guess my parents were going to see me in Wayne’s diapers when they got home tomorrow. At least we were lucky that nobody saw us run up the road.

Wayne’s dad was sitting in the den when we got to his house.

“Come in here, son,” he called out.

I excused myself and went up to his room. He came in a few minutes later. He was smiling.

“I guess your dad wasn’t mad at you.”

“No, not really. He definitely thinks that it’s weird that I chose to wear the diapers rather than tell the Campbells that I don’t need them. I told him about us pretending to be twins. I think that he was happy that you and I have become such good friends.”

Wayne’s mom called us down to dinner. She sent us back upstairs to put shirts on. Otherwise, the dinner was pretty normal. I wished that my mom or dad cooked as well as she could.

Around eight o’clock, Mr. Montego helped us get into our nighttime diapers. Boy, did they ever feel gigantic! The Campbell’s grandson must have been some heavy wetter if he needed all this protection. But, we quickly adjusted to them and I even agreed to go down to the pond to skip stones.

*****

Since my parents weren’t scheduled to get back until dinnertime, Wayne and I spent the whole day together. I even helped him get his morning chores done.

“You know,” Wayne said, “I’ve been thinking about my friends. I think that I should have a sleepover soon so that I can tell them about my diapers before school starts.” He paused and then added, “I think you should be here, too.”

“No way!” I exclaimed. “Never! Not gonna happen!”

“Calm down,” he said. “Think about it. Did the kids at your other school find out about your diapers?”

“Yeah, that was the problem,” I admitted.

“How did they find out?”

“I guess somebody saw or heard them under my pants. I don’t remember.”

“Did you ever tell anyone why you wear diapers?”

“No, of course not!”

“Well,” he said smugly, “there you have it.”

“There I have what?” I asked perplexed.

“If you don’t tell people why you have to wear diapers, they’re going to invent all sorts of stories about it. If you honestly tell what’s going on, people will respect you—I’m sure of it.

“I don’t know…,” I said hesitantly. His theory sounded good but I wasn’t ready to try it out.

“I’ll make a deal with you,” he said. “I’ll talk to my parents about the sleepover and you talk to yours. If they think that telling our friends is a bad idea, we won’t do it. Deal?”

“Deal,” I agreed.

My parents and Kayla got back as scheduled. Mr. & Mrs. Montego talked with them for some time before Wayne and I were called downstairs. I guess Wayne’s parents wanted to explain the situation first. Whatever they said must have satisfied my parents because they treated us as if nothing was unusual. However, they did comment on how big our diapers seemed.

“Yes, they are,” Mrs. Montego answered, “but I’ve got to tell you they work marvelously well. The inner core is very good at absorbing wetness and keeping it away from the boys’ skin. I only had to change them once this afternoon.”

“Really?” my mom said with interest. “Perhaps we should investigate getting some for Danny.”

Despite my initial reaction to them, I hoped that my parents would do this. They were very comfortable, even when wet.

Over the course of the next few days Danny had to bug me about talking to my parents about the sleepover. I finally brought it up at dinner one night.

“It sounds like you don’t want to do it,” my dad observed, “but I think that you should reconsider. As you grow older I hope that you will discover that most people will want to give you the benefit of the doubt. If you’re upfront and honest, most people will respect you even if they don’t totally understand.”

“Dad’s right, honey,” my mom added. “Don’t sell other people short. I know that you had a hard time in Madison and that some of it was our fault. Let’s not make the same mistake twice. Telling people is better than trying to hide what they’re going to eventually find out anyhow.”

I still wasn’t convinced but I let Wayne set up the sleepover for the next Friday night. He invited three of his best friends: Sam McDonall, Tim Grievert, and Darin Oladt. Our parents had bought us new pants so we could at least start the evening out without having our diapers exposed. Wayne didn’t wait very long to tell his friends what was going on. We were still waiting for dinner when he revealed the true purpose of the sleepover.

“Guys,” he began, “we have something to tell you. It’s kind of hard and maybe some of you won’t like it but I think we should tell you now so that you can have your parents pick you up if you want to leave.”

His abrupt announcement caused his friends to look at each other in confusion. I decided to jump in ahead of Wayne and get my part over with.

“I’ve only met you guys once at the Fourth of July picnic but I want you to know something about me. It’s something that caused me a lot of trouble at my old school so I want to be honest and open about it with you.” I hesitated, looking for the right words. When I couldn’t find them, I simply blurted it out. “I have bladder problems and have to wear diapers all the time.”

There was a stunned silence. They were all looking at me in surprise. I desperately wanted someone to say something, …anything that would let me know what they thought.

“Gee,” Darin said, “that’s too bad.”

“Yeah,” Sam and Tim agreed, “that sucks.”

“Yeah,” I continued, “At my old school, kids used to call me names and tease me about it all the time.”

“That’s downright mean,” Darin said. “We won’t let that happen here. Right, guys?”

“Right!” they all agreed.

“Thanks,” I said with a lump in my throat. “You guys are the best!”

“Um,” Wayne said hesitantly, “that’s not all. I’m wearing diapers all the time, too.”

“What?” they all exclaimed at once.

“It’s true,” he declared, “but don’t worry. It’s not anything I caught from Danny. It’s something that just happened, sort of out of the blue.”

His friends looked like they were carefully weighing what he had said. I suppose, too, that they were trying to determine if maybe I had caused Wayne to ‘catch’ something.

“I’m kind of glad that it happened like this, I mean Danny and me being neighbors,” Wayne continued. “We have each other to talk to about our problems—you know, what it feels like to wear diapers at our age and other stuff like that.”

The guys were totally shocked by this last revelation. They tried hard not to pry too much but the conversation kept coming back to the topic. I told them about some of the cruel things that had been done to me. I was happy to hear them repeat over and over again that they wouldn’t let anyone treat me that way when they were around. By the end of the evening I was very confident that telling them about our diapers was the right thing to have done.

At bedtime, Wayne and I went up to his room. His mom helped us get into our nighttime diapers.

“Well, here goes,” I said as we went back downstairs to the den.

“You guys look just like my little brother,” Darin said.

The other guys jumped all over him.

“No, you don’t understand,” he protested. “I wasn’t making fun. I just meant that you looked cute.”

“Cute?” the other guys teased. “You think Wayne and Danny are cute?”

By now Darin was crimson with embarrassment. The more he tried to backtrack, the more teasing he got in return. The sleepover was a great success.

Epilogue

School starts in about four weeks. Mom and dad ordered me diapers like Wayne’s. Until they arrive, I am borrowing his. Sam, Tim, and Darin have come over several more times. Wayne and I have even grown comfortable enough to walk around in our daytime diapers in front of them. Word has spread around town that Wayne and I wear diapers all the time. Interestingly, Mark Kielly is one of our biggest defenders. Sam and Tim told us that they heard him chastise some kids who were making fun of us behind our backs. Who would have thought that my life would change so rapidly for the better? Not me.

One last thing. I may be naïve about a lot of things, but not about everything. Some day I’m going to ask Wayne at what age he discovered that he wanted to go back to full-time diaper wearing. It surely was a long time before he met me.

The End