When Skyler arrived at the house Karen was just making the finishing touches on his room. Skyler arrived with the State Social Worker and Mr. Worley from the Boy's Ranch who helped to move his things. When everything was brought into the house Karen made lunch for everyone and showed them around the place. After signing the last of some state forms Mr. Worley and the Social Worker left leaving Karen and Skyler to finish the move.

"Skyler, you can arrange your room anyway you want, however, I want to put your clothes away because the closet in your room is small and I want to make sure everything fits so it doesn't get wrinkled. OK? So why don't you put your toys and things where you want them and I'll come up latter and put your clothes away for you.".

"OK", Skyler said as he got right to work.

An hour later Karen went up to his room to see how he was doing. She walked into his room and saw Skyler's baseball trophy on the night stand next to the bed and most of his things had been stacked neatly in the closet. Karen looked around and smiled.

"Does that look alright to you?", Skyler asked.

"Oh, that's fine sweetheart as long as your happy with it."

"Yeah, this is great. I've never had my own room before. I have always had to share a room with other kids. This is really cool," Skyler said.

"Well I'm glad you like it, Skyler. Your getting to the age where you need some privacy and hopefully this will be just the thing.

Skyler smiled, "Yeah this is perfect," he said with excitement.

As Karen looked around she had a concerned look on her face.

"Skyler, it seems that there is something missing. Don't you have a stereo or something to play music on?".

"No", Skyler replied, "I have always used the stereos of the other kids I've never had my own stereo."

"Well Skyler that's terrible, every kid your age should have a stereo. Tell you what. After I get through putting your clothes away, why don't you and I go into Lake City and look for a stereo so you can have something to listen to. In the mean time, why don't you go outside and look around and check the place out a little bit."

Skyler leaped into the air with a resounding "YES!". Karen laughed. "Go on now I'll come get you when I'm ready to leave."

Skyler had a wonderful day with Karen. She bought him the biggest boom box he had ever seen along with some tapes and CDs from one of the local music stores. After shopping Karen took Skyler out for dinner to one of his favorite restaurants. When they arrived back in Henifer that evening Karen helped Skyler get the stereo going and left Skyler to enjoy his new toy.

"Alright Skyler, bedtime is nine o'clock and I'll be up to help you get ready."

Skyler being overwhelmed with excitement nodded to her then laid back on his new bed to listen to his new boom box.

Just before nine o'clock Karen walked into her personal bathroom and unlocked a steel cabinet standing next to her shower. The cabinet was full of prescription bottles and medical supplies. She removed two large bottles and placed them on the top of the cabinet taking a pill from each. One contained a pediatric diuretic and the other was a mild sleeping medication. She then put both bottles back into the cabinet and locked it. She put the pills in her pocket and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. From there she walked into her office and removed a tape from the tape case sitting on her desk and slipped it into her pocket.

Skyler had just started listening to the beginning of one of his new CDs when Karen walked into the room with the glass of water in her hand.

"OK Skyler, bedtime."

"Oh, can't I stay up another fifteen minutes?"

"I'm sorry Skyler that's my rule. Bedtime is at nine o'clock. Don't worry the stereo will be there tomorrow and you'll have all day to listen to it then. But right now you're going to bed."

"Well, OK," Skyler said disappointed.

Karen held out the two pills, "Here I want you to take these."

"What are they?", Skyler asked.

"They're vitamins. I want you to take them before you go to bed each night, alright."

"Sure," Skyler said as she handed him the pills and glass of water. Skyler dropped both pills down his throat and gulped down most of the water.

"Good," Karen said as she walked over to the dresser and turned the volume down on the stereo. "Let's get undressed and put your pajamas on."

"I don't have any pajamas," Skyler said.

"I know, I didn't see any when I was unpacking your clothes today but I have an extra pair from the hospital that I'm sure will fit you. I would prefer that wear them," she said as she opened the dresser and pulled them out.

They were light blue flannel with animated cars, trucks and trains with happy faces printed on them. Karen placed them on the bed and grabbed Skylark's shirt pulling it off of him. Skyler seemed a little embarrassed about being undressed by a woman he hardly knew, but he also seemed to like the attention. When Karen was pulling the top of the pajamas over Skyler's head he was already pulling off his jeans because he would have really felt embarrassed if Karen had done that for him, and he didn't want to protest because she had been so nice to him. Karen gently held the bottoms open for him as he slipped one foot in followed by the other. She then slipped them quickly up his legs and over his underpants. They seemed to fit Skyler comfortably although they seemed baggy around his bottom and he didn't particularly care about the babyish print on them either, but he really didn't give it much thought because of his excitement over the fact that he had his own room and a new stereo. Karen pulled back the covers on his bed as Skyler climbed in. She pulled the blanket over him and gently kissed him on the forehead.

"Goodnight sweety," she said "I really hope you like it here because I think your a pretty special kid."

"I think you're special, too," Skyler said.

"Skyler, she said, "I'm going to turn the stereo off because I want it quiet now. However, if you like I have a special tape you can listen to that will help you to sleep. I like to listen to it right before I go to bed."

"What kind of music is it?" he asked.

"Well hun it's not music, it's just the sound of the ocean and I find it really pleasant and relaxing as I'm falling to sleep. Do you want to try it?"

Skyler thought about for a couple of seconds, "Sure, why not."

"Good, then I'll put it in and I'll see you in the morning.", she said. She took the tape out of her pocket and put into Skyler's tape deck. Skyler looked as though he was already dozing off to sleep as Karen pushed the play button on the stereo.

"Night, Night", she said as the tape started and she closed the door to his room leaving a small crack.

"Goodnight," Skyler said in a slumbering voice.

The following morning Karen quietly entered Skyler's room. He was still sleeping soundly and hadn't moved from where she left him the night before. She knelt down and slipped her hand under the covers to check the bedding. It was dry. She got up and sat on the edge of the bed and gently shook Skyler awake. As he woke up he felt the pain of a very full bladder.

"Skyler, honey, come on sleepy head, you need to get up. I going to make you some pancakes for breakfast."

Skyler began to awaken and sat up in the bed.

"Did you sleep well?" Karen asked.

"Huh uh" he mumbled as he stretched.

"Good," Karen smiled, "Baby I want you to take a bath before breakfast so you can start the day nice and clean."

It didn't even seem unusual to Skyler that she had called him "baby."

"Can't I take a shower instead?" Skyler asked, "I usually don't take baths."

"Well I'm sorry Skyler, but the shower is broken in the hallway bathroom and the only shower that works is mine and I prefer that you stay out of my bathroom. Don't worry though, I'll get the shower fixed soon. But until I do you'll have to take baths."

"OK," he said as he rubbed his eyes.

"I'll go start your bath and I'll be right back."

"Alright, but please hurry because I have to pee real bad."

Skyler heard the water start running just before Karen came back into his room. She walked right over to Skyler who was still sitting on top of his bed and she grabbed his pajama tops and started pulling them up.

"Raise your arms, sweety."

Skyler still felt very tired and did as she asked as she pulled the rest of the tops over his head. Before he could re- orient himself Karen had gently pushed Skyler's back onto the bed and began pulling his pajama bottoms off.

"Lift your bottom for me," she said as she started tugging at the bottoms.

Skyler was starting to feel a little embarrassed having her undress him. Then she turned around and went for his underpants.

"No!" he cried, "wait a minute. I don't want you to see me naked."

"Oh stop it!" Karen snapped, I'm a nurse for crying out loud, I've seen lots of little boys in their birthday suits and your no different. Now lift up your bottom so I can put these in the dirty laundry."

Skyler felt humiliated but did as he was told as she removed his underpants.

"Now go jump in tub and I'll put some clean clothes out for you to wear when you get out. Then come downstairs and we'll have some pancakes for breakfast."

Skyler ran across the hall and landed on top of the toilet just in time as his urine started to flow. He felt a great sense of relief as the pain went away with the emptying his bladder.

The following day for Skyler was better than the first. Karen borrowed a couple of the neighbor's horses and packed a lunch for the both of them. Since Karen was raised in the area, she knew where all the good trails were. After they had their picnic Skyler laid his head on Karen's lap and they talked about what seem like everything under the sun. When they arrived back at the house that evening Skyler went up to his room to listen to his new stereo while Karen made their dinner. After dinner they both watched television together in the family room. To Skyler it really felt like home.

Just before nine o'clock Karen got up and then returned with the two pills and the glass of water.

"Here's your vitamins, then lets go up and get you ready for bed."

Skyler took the pills and started up to his room as Karen followed close behind. As they both entered the room Skyler was about to remove his shirt when Karen motioned to the bed.

"Let's get your shoes off first, silly".

Skyler sat on the bed as Karen knelt down to untied and remove his shoes then striped him down to his underwear. She removed the pajamas from his dresser and pulled the top over his head as he found each arm hole. He was about to stand up from the bed so he could slip into his pajama bottoms when Karen pushed him back onto the bed and slipped his feet through the legs of his pajama bottoms.

"Lift your bottom", she said as she pulled them up over his hips.

Skyler still felt uneasy having Karen dress him the way she did. But he didn't want to say anything to upset Karen and besides he had never really had a mother before so he wasn't sure if this was normal or not. So he just let it go. Karen tucked him into bed and kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight baby, I'll see you in the morning. Would you like to listen to my relaxation tape again?", she asked.

"Yeah", Skyler replied, "I like that tape it's nice."

"OK", Karen said smiling, "I'll put it on for you." Then she turned out the light and left the door cracked.

The next three mornings it was the same routine. Karen came into Skyler's room and slip her hand under the sheets to find that they were still dry. She would gently wake Skyler and remove his pajamas for him while he was limp from the medication then he would run to the bathroom because he would have to pee badly.

The sixth morning was different however, as Karen walked into Skyler's room she could visibly see that the bed was soaked with urine. She gently shook Skyler to wake him up and he immediately felt the cold wetness underneath himself and bolted up.

"Skyler, honey, why is the bed all wet?" she said as pulled the sheet to her nose to smell what it could be.

Skyler knew right away what it was and sat in horror.

"Oh Skyler, you wet the bed last night."

He sat speechless not knowing what to say.

"Honey are you feeling alright?", Karen asked as she put her hand on Skyler's forehead.

Skyler nodded, "Yeah, I feel OK."

"Well sweetheart is there something your not telling me. Do you have a bed wetting problem?"

"NO! I've never wet the bed before in my life," Skyler replied.

"Honey it's alright to talk to me about it if you do. There are lots of kids your age that have accidents. Are you sure you don't have a problem?"

"No! I'm telling you I've never peed the bed before. Ever!" he shouted.

"Skyler, just calm down. It probably happened because your in a new environment, and you've been very excited lately anyway. But if you do have a problem I want you to feel free to tell me so I can help you take care it, alright," she said as she pulled back his covers and started to remove his pajama bottoms. "Now lets get you out of these wet things and get you into the tub," she said as Skyler instinctively raised his bottom so Karen could remove his wet underpants.

Skyler wet the bed again that same week and then twice the next. After the fourth episode Karen was ready to have a talk with him about it after breakfast.

"Skyler, I want to talk to you about your bed wetting problem."

He looked down and stared at the table as she talked.

"Honey I know you didn't have this problem before you came to live here. I even called the Boy's Ranch and asked the nurse and she told me you never had a problem while you were staying there. I really think this is something that will just pass with time. However, in the mean time I'm afraid I am going to have to take some steps so that you don't ruin your new mattress, so I'm going to put a plastic sheet over your mattress to protect it from any further wetness. Is that OK?"

"I guess," he said somberly.

"Baby I'm sorry, but we really have to protect that mattress. Don't feel bad, a lot of boys your age wet the bed. It's something that will pass."

"I sure hope so," Skyler said with tears in his eyes.

Karen walked over to him and gave him a hug. "It'll get better I promise. I'm going to take good care of you. You'll see."

It took a while for Skyler to get used to the plastic sheets. The noise it made whenever he moved around in or on the bed seem to startle him, but after a week he became quite used to it. He figured that as soon as the problem went away he wouldn't have to have it on his bed anymore. However, the problem didn't go away. It just got worse. Every morning he was waking up in a wet bed and Karen would have to strip and wash the bedding after she removed Skyler's wet clothing. At first she was very understanding about it, but as the problem persisted Skyler could tell that she was losing her patients with him. Some mornings she would remove his pajamas impatiently without saying a word to him and he could tell by the look on her face that she was not at all happy with him.

One morning as Karen was removing Skyler's wet bedding, she seemed a little angrier that usual.

"I'm so tired of washing your wet bedding everyday. You know Skyler if this problem keeps up I think I'll just put you diapers!"

Skyler felt completely humiliated, "Oh, very funny Karen," he said as tears welled up in his eyes.

"Well to be very honest with you, Skyler it would be much easier for me to change a diaper once a day than it would be to change and wash your bedding then put it back on your bed. Besides, that's how we took care of these problems in the hospital and it worked out very well," Karen said angrily.

"No way Karen, your not putting a stupid diaper on me!" he snapped.

She pointed at the urine soaked sheets, "If this keeps up that's precisely what's going to happen, young man."

Skyler ran naked out of the room and slammed the bathroom door.

He sat in the bathtub and cried for ten minutes when the bathroom door opened and Karen walked in. As she came in she took a clean wash cloth from the linen closet and sat on the side of the tub.

"Honey, I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning," she said as moistened the wash cloth and started to gently scrub Skylark's back. "This bedwetting problem has been hard on both of us and we'll get through it together," she said soothingly. "We just have to work together on this and everything will be just fine. OK?"

Skyler nodded.

As Karen talked she gently stroked Skyler's skin with the washcloth which felt wonderful. He stopped crying and was feeling a little better about what happened.

"I want you to trust me on this OK baby? Can you trust me?"

"Yeah, I can trust you."

"Good, I'm glad."

School started the following Monday and Skyler was very excited about going to a new school. Karen had packed a lunch for him and confirmed with him where he would catch the bus. Karen watched as Skyler walked across the front yard to the drive that connected to Mill Road. When Skyler was out of site, she went into her office and turned on her recording equipment. After putting in a fresh tape into the machine she pressed the "Record Loop" button and put the microphone up to her mouth and in a very soft voice she said, "You need to wear diapers, you have to wear diapers, you will wear diapers my baby. Now pee....pee....pee."

Karen then played back the loop in order to make certain that it recorded then dubbed it to the subliminal track of a tape called "Whale Sound".

When Skyler arrived home Karen was sitting in the living room reading a book.

"Hi, baby, how was your first day of school?"

"It was good."

"Do you like your teacher?"

"Yeah, I think she's pretty nice.

"Well I'm glad. Do you have any homework?"

" Yeah a little."

"Well, Karen said, "I might as well tell you that in this house I'll require you to do you homework as soon as you get home. No TV and no going to a friend's house until it's done. Understood?"

"Yes mom", he said as they both smiled at each other.

"I'll have dinner ready for you in a couple of hours."

That night, after Karen had given Skyler his pills and put him in his pajamas she slipped the new tape into Skylark's stereo.

"I have a new relaxation tape for you. I just got it in the mail today. It's called Whale Sounds. Listen to it tonight and tell me if you like it."

"OK, goodnight"

"Goodnight baby, sweet dreams."

Every night that week Skyler had wet the bed, and every morning as Karen would remove his wet pajamas she would scold him. On Friday morning Skyler had once again peed the bed and as usual he looked down at the floor and apologized as Karen was stripping him of his soaked pajamas. However, on this particular day, instead of being scolded, Karen just smiled and said, "Don't worry baby I'm going to take care of it. Jump into the bath and I'll put your clothes out for you", and kissed him on the forehead. No scolding, no harsh or angry looks. He was surprised.

He thought that maybe she was just getting used to the extra chore.....

To the Present.

Skyler stood in the doorway of his room in a rather numb shock.

"You're not going to put those diapers on me," he said.

"Skyler, we talked about this, don't you remember?"

"I didn't think you were serious."

"Of course I was serious. I'm getting real tired of washing urine soaked sheets and pajamas."

Another wave of panic went through Skyler.

"There's no way that I'm going to wear diapers. You can't make me," he shouted

"Skyler, honey, calm down you WILL wear diapers until we can get this problem solved."

As Skyler heard the words, "you will wear diapers" he felt a sense of surrender as if it were his unwanted destiny. It was the same kind of feeling as when he was out of control while riding his bicycle and about to crash. He didn't want to do it but there was nothing he could do about it other than just accept it. But he still tried to fight against it.

"No way, no way at all. You're not going to make me wear those things."

"Look young man. You're either going to wear the diapers to bed or I'm going to send you back to the Boy's Ranch. Understood!"

Skyler could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. He certainly did not want to go back to the Boy's Ranch.

"I'm sorry Skyler, but you NEED to wear diapers."

Once again the words rang into his head and he felt an even stronger wave of defeat. He started crying, "It's not fair. It's not fair."

Karen walk over and put her arms around him and pulled him over to the bed.

"Look sweetheart, I'm sorry, but we need to work through this together. The problem will most likely go away with time. Baby, I'm just getting real tired of all the extra laundry I have to do and it really will be much easier for me to do one or two loads of diapers every week instead of stripping your bed every day washing your bedding and having to put it back on the bed. And besides, I think you'll be much more comfortable not waking up in a wet bed every morning".

Skyler was sobbing into Karen's breast.

"But what will my friends think, that I'm still a little baby?"

"No one is going to know your wearing a diaper to bed. The only people who are going to know is you and me.", she said.

"Yeah, but what will my friends say if they come into my room and see diaper stuff all over."

"Well honey, I don't want your friends up here. If your friends come over you can play down in the family room. I don't want them chasing around up here."

Skyler continued to cry.

"Karen, I'm nine years old, I'm not a baby. Only babies have to wear diapers."

"Of course your not a baby honey. But lots of boys your age have bed wetting problems and yes, boys your age do wear diapers. When I was working in the Children's Hospital most of children were very sick and had difficulty controlling urine and bowel movement so we had to diaper them. It will be OK, I promise, and it certainly won't be forever," Karen said as she gently rocked him and smiled down at him. "Now go down stairs and do your home work and after that you can watch some television until dinner is ready. OK."

Skyler slowly got up and walked defeatedly out of the room.

"I don't want you to worry about it, OK. I love you."

Skyler didn't reply.