AOWriter

So, I would like to thank you guys for the kind words of encouragement. I went back through the prologue and edited out some mistakes and adding some words that were missing to make it flow better. I'm sorry for the long delay on chapter one, but it took me a bit longer to get out than I wanted. I ended up cutting it at a different stopping point than I was planning to make sure I could get it out today. I hope you guys enjoy. Chapter 1 “Jamie Nielle,” his high school principal called out. A young woman walked up the oak steps and stepped onto the stage to grab her diploma. She smiled and waved to her family in the audience before walking off the far end. Saul had always liked Jamie. She had been a runner on the track team, and while the school had made it perfectly clear that he had no way to truly compete with his Amazonian classmates on the field, she had been one of the few people to convince the coach that he could practice alongside the team. The coach had not received the idea well, but even he had grudgingly agreed that Saul did have spirit, and had even given the boy advice every now and then when he saw him running. “Saul Yurten,” the principal called. The stairs were trouble, but then an eighteen inch step was a problem most people four feet tall would have a problem with. Still, he managed to get up them with a small amount of decorum. He could hear a few faint chuckles in the audience, and he shuffled up to the podium. His principal of advanced years, a rather harsh woman, looked down at him with a very thin smile as she handed him his diploma. Saul knew she hated him. Heck, she hated most of the mids who went to the school too and were less than eight feet tall. Saul looked out at the audience. His parents were sitting towards the front, seated in his grandmas’ laps. Mom had been crying openly, and Grandma Judy had given up trying to help her out with her handkerchief and had simply shifted her onto her shoulder and was patted her back, trying to calm her down. Grandma Emma rose and placed dad on her hip as she started heading towards the back of the auditorium. Saul looked back at the principal who had politely motioned for him to get moving and then started shuffling off towards the stairs on the far end of the stage. He stopped though, when he realized that the stairs were not unoccupied. Jamie was waiting at the bottom, as well as several other girls who had already gone through the ceremony. Saul grimly smiled. “Even you, Jamie? I thought we were friends.” Jamie smiled and put her arms around the girl next to her. “Hey, don’t be like this. Candice and I got to talking late this year, and we both only want what’s best for you.” Jamie reached beneath her black graduation robes and grabbed something yellow from her purse hung beneath it. It was a yellow onesie. What he also saw, and what she had probably not wanted him to see, was the pink pacifier that almost fell out when she grabbed it. He thought it said ‘Princess’. She looked back at the other girls grumbling and tried to edge closer to the stage edge. “Come on Saul, trust me. We have been friends for so long…Candice and I would be all the Mommy you would ever need.” Saul glanced back out at the crowd. He saw Graham, one of the only other two littles to graduate today, stripped of his gown as well as his clothes and being bounced in just a diaper on the lap of a woman in her twenties. She’d shoved a pacifier in his mouth and was muttering in his ear. In the chairs where the majority of his classmates sat who had still to get their diploma, he saw Jared crying next a girl that was quietly reassuring him. She’d probably already told him that she would be waiting for him on the other side of the stage. The laws were fairly clear. A little was entitled to an education until they graduated from high school. They were safe until they received that diploma. They were safe until they got off the stage. He could feel the eyes watching him, sizing him up, and debating how adorable he would look one way or another. It disgusted him. Saul shook his head. He wouldn’t go out like this. With a quick motion, he pulled off his graduation robes and flung them toward his onetime friend, revealing his running clothes. “You’ll have to catch me first!” He turned and rushed to the front of the stage, making the jump off the front end and started to run down the center aisle. Decorum had gone out the window as a fair few of his classmates gaped at him. The principal was shouting, and some of the women in the audience gasped as he made his escape. A couple hands reached out to ineffectively grab at him, but at only four feet, he was plenty small enough to dodge them. Emma stood at the back door with his father and opened it as he got close. “Good luck,” she said. “Stay off the main streets,” his father reminded him. Saul just kept running out into the hallway. He heard several sets of footprints behind him and made a quick turn to the right and down towards the automatic doors leading out into the parking lot. He heard one girl shouting at his grandmother. The doors swing wide open as he neared and he put on a bit of speed. He heard calls for him to stop but ignored him. One set of feet seemed to be outpacing the others, and he had a fair guess who it was. He ran down the sidewalk and straight into the school parking lot. He didn’t notice anyone nearby, which was to be expected. They would all be inside, attending the ceremony. He started running alongside one row of cars when he heard the scrape of soles on asphalt just behind him and quickly turned down alongside two cars. He silently thanked his classmates. They all prided themselves on their cars, but not one of them seemed to be able to park correctly. The space between the cars was tight and cramped, but not terribly so for a little; for an Amazon on the other hand... There was a loud clank as he heard his classmate collide with the fender of the car to his right as she tried to lunge at him. She cried out in pain and he heard her collapse on the ground. He risked a look back; it was Jamie and Candice was maybe thirty feet behind her. He ran through the parking spots and darted over to the next row of cars before making a quick jump a couple spaces to his right to make sure they lost sight of him. He ran between the cars again as he could hear more voices catch up to Jamie and making sure she was ok. He hoped most of the Amazons would think he had taken refuge under one of the cars and waste time looking for him near the front of the lot. He cleared the cars and quickly turned and ran down to the end of the parking lot. He noticed no oncoming traffic and kept running across the street and down the block. He was thankful that no one was really out and about right now, but he was still in danger if he came across an Amazon. He turned right at the end of the block and continued down. He darted left across the street and down an old alleyway. He had eight blocks or so between him and Grandma Judy’s house, and if he could make it there, he was safe, mostly. He made it across the street and down the alleyway on the other side before he finally had to stop and catch his breath. He had to have put enough of a lead to lose his pursuers for the time being. Then again, they had cars. It was quite possible that after searching the lot and figuring out he wasn’t hiding amongst the vehicles, one or two of them might have grabbed their keys and started driving slow down the streets nearby, trying to find him hiding out in a bush or down an alleyway. Shit, this was going to be harder than he thought. “Well there, little guy. Did you get tuckered out from your running,” an older voice inquired from beside him. Saul practically jumped out of his skin. He turned slowly and blinked. An old dilapidated garage opened onto the alleyway, and an old man in his late sixties sat in a lawn chair just inside it, drinking a beer. He had filled an old plastic bucket with ice and several more bottles poked out from inside. He motioned towards the chair next to him. “Come on in, take a seat. You’ve got time.” Every bell was ringing in Saul’s mind. This was a trap, but the man had just sat there with no inclination on getting up. What was he planning then? “Uh, no thanks.” The old man snorted. “Just graduated? Don’t you worry about me; I stopped changing diapers decades ago. Still, you’ve made it further than most I ever saw. I remember years ago when all the littles used to run. Things used to get fun then. Now they just codify the rules and take the sport out of it.” He reached down deep in the bucket and pulled out a bottle of water and tossed it at Saul. Saul caught the bottle and looked at it like it was a snake. He’d heard stories of Amazons drugging water and food for littles. He hesitated to open it. “Um, thanks.” The old man smiled and raised his beer in toast. “You best drink it quick and get on, son.” He looked back and listened for a second before staring Saul in the eye. “Actually, just start running. Times up.” “What?” “That was the back screen door. My wife is coming back and I’ve got a couple granddaughters who would love to play with you.” Saul dropped the water and bolted. He hadn’t managed to fully catch his breath, but the last thing he wanted was to end up a living doll for a bunch of kids. He stuck to the back alleys and stopped a few blocks down to catch his breath against a dumpster. Saul considered his options. The last few blocks had a decent number of businesses. There was bound to be a good few Amazons there. Most Amazons didn’t bother a little unless they looked like they had had an accident. He looked down at his appearance. Sweat had started spotting his shirt, and he knew his pull up was definitely wet. Fantastic, he looked like the poster child for a little needing care. He would just have to run right through and hope he didn’t get stopped. He walked out from behind the dumpster and looked out of the alley. No pedestrians at this time of day, except one or two on the opposite side of the street; plenty of cars though. He walked out slowly and walked at a brisk pace. A flat out run would get attention, but a nice steady pace like this wasn’t too likely to gain attention. He just had to make sure no one walked out of the shops and started asking questions. He’d walked home during the school year just fine, with a backpack and friends around. It would be entirely different now. The first block went by smoothly. He got lucky as he walked up on the corner, and the stop light turned red and he could continue without stopping. The second one went almost as smoothly. The light at the end was green, but there wasn’t any traffic so he paused and looked both ways before sauntering across. He was just passing by the second store on the street when the door suddenly opened and a large Amazonian woman accidentally bowled him over. She quickly picked him up onto his feet and started looking him over. “Oh my, I’m so sorry sweetie! I didn’t even see you. Are you ok?” Saul felt a little sore and disoriented, but he definitely did not want to have this conversation. “Oh, it’s fine. I’m okay, really.” He started backing up. “I have to go…have a nice day.” “Oh, nonsense. Step back here and let me have a better look at you. I’d be a poor mother if I let you walk away with a boo boo.” The woman made a reach for him but Saul hopped back. He turned quickly and ran. He didn’t dare look back. He could hear her huffing behind him as she started jogging after him. She yelled at him to stop, and he could see a couple faces popping up near the store windows to see what the commotion was about. The end of the block was in sight. Just two houses down on the other side was his grandmother’s house. He could hear the woman gaining on him. He panicked and put his fingers to his mouth and whistled as loudly as he could. “Roxy,” he screamed. He made it another ten feet before he felt a hand grab the back of his shirt and pull back. As he was jerked and fell back, he swore he saw a golden brown blob appear from his grandmother’s front yard. The woman shook her head and wagged her finger at him. “Now now, you know better than that. I was just trying to help you, but it seems like we have some disciplinary problems to deal with. When we get home, you are not going to be able to sit down on that padded tushy of yours for a very long time.” Saul shrank away from the finger. “Just let me be, I don’t want any of this!” He could hear something running up, and he had a fair idea who it was. “Now listen here boy, you are mine now and- oh!” The woman suddenly shrank back as a large shaggy brown form ran right over him and started barking at her. “What’s this? Get off him you mangy dog; where did you even come from?” Saul scrambled to his feet, never happier to see that dog in his life. At over six feet tall at the shoulder, Roxy the Leonberger had been an insurance tool Judy had used to make sure her daughter and grandson were well watched and guarded when she had agreed to finally let them play outside unsupervised by her when he was young. He quickly patted her stomach and Roxy looked back at him with adoration in her eyes. He needed to get home, and that woman would probably try something to get him separated soon. “Roxy, retrieve!” Without hesitation, Roxy suddenly backed off and snaked around him to grab a large chunk of his shirt in her jaws. He felt himself suddenly lifted off the ground and hanging as the dog started heading back. The woman moved in front of the dog and grabbed at his arm. “Let him go, damn you! He’s mine.” Roxy stopped and growled, her ears flattening and she crouched down. Saul felt his blood run cold and his pull up warm. He knew exactly what look the woman was now staring down. He’d seen it once before when he was seven. He had been outside playing while Judy had been giving his mother a change in the house when an Amazon woman had walked by and stopped to stare at him as he was playing with the dog with a big old ball. She had looked around for a second before taking a step towards him. That dog had moved faster than he had thought possible, suddenly placing her between them and growling extremely low. The woman rapidly backed off and scurried down the street and away from them. If Saul had learned anything then, it was that Roxy definitely had a mean streak when it came to guarding her family. The woman let go, gasping at the spectacle in front of her. Roxy rose back to her full height and continued on her way. She stopped at the corner as a truck drove up. The occupants sat there and stared at the street corner spectacle in front of them. Roxy looked left and then proceeded to walk across the street. Saul would have felt embarrassed to be carried this way any other time, but she did just save him from a fate he would rather avoid. She padded up the street and turned onto their front yard. She carried him carefully onto the front porch and stopped. She looked around for a moment for her owner before climbing up onto the large porch swing and dropping him next to her. Saul rubbed her back for a moment. “Good girl. I can always count on you, can’t I?” He moved to slide off the swing when he felt Roxy suddenly bite at the back of his shirt and pull him onto his side. She growled and proceeded to lay on him, leaving just his head and upper chest exposed under her arms. “Roxy, what are you doing? Let me up.” She ignored him, but did turn to lick him once quickly before settling down to get comfortable. Saul sighed. This was not something he had not expected. Sure, he’d gone running a time or twelve and Roxy had gone running after him and drug him home, but each time before she had walked right on up to Grandma Judy, dropped him off, and gone back to sitting around and watching. Grandma Judy. Saul banged his head against the swing. Of course; anyone could use the command, but the only person she would actually relinquish her charge to was Grandma Judy. His stomach rumbled. He hoped she came home soon, or he was going to have another problem on his hands. It felt like forever until he finally heard a car drive up and park in the driveway. He heard his grandmother climb out and open another door, pulling out his extremely upset and tearful mother. “Come on now Lucy, it will be ok. This day was going to happen eventually.” “But mommy, why couldn’t we have done something! He’s my baby and I don’t want to see him hurt.” He could hear his grandmother cooing to her and trying to settle her as they got near. “Just be calm, baby girl. Everything will turn out fine. Look, let’s get you inside and changed into a dry diapee and we will give Emma and Frank a call, okay? Maybe they’ve heard something new, hmm?” As they got close, Roxy barked once and rose on her front legs for her master. Saul sat up, grimacing at the load in his pull up. His family was standing there, his grandmother with key in hand. His mother took one look at the pair on the swing before suddenly squealing in joy and wriggling to get down. Judy’s mouth was open and she wordlessly let down her daughter and watched as she toddled over and hauled herself up to hug her son. “I can’t believe it, you’re safe!” she cried. Saul could only blush and look between his tearful mother and his grandmother. “Uh, it was a little touch and go, but yea. Roxy here was the only thing that kept me from getting nabbed out near the shops.” The women listened as he recounted the run to get to the house. Towards the end, Judy was shaking her head as she opened the door. “Well, regardless. You’re here and safe as long as you stay. Now, let’s take care of the important business; it seems I have two littles in need of a change. Toddle on in here you two, and let’s get started. You know I don’t like diaper rashes.”

Prologue “Saul, where’s your- hey, don’t you even think about going out that door!” His mother shouted as she saw him out of the corner of her eye. The screen door clattered open and he ran. From the kitchen, frantic shuffling could be heard as his adopted mother was torn between chasing after her child and the pot of boiling water on the stove. Saul had slipped the diaper off his waist just prior to this escape attempt and he knew he had a decent chance of making it away. With a quick jump, he cleared the two steps and was off the back porch and running around the side yard of the house he had shared with the Amazonian woman. As he made it to the front area of the yard, he heard the back door closing again and he knew that trouble was not far behind. He turned right and headed along the sidewalk and almost ran into another giant, much older, who was busy in her own flower beds near the road. She looked up in mild surprise at the sudden commotion in front of her and recognized the situation immediately. Rather than stop him, the woman merely chuckled and whooped after him. “Oh, we got a little nakie baby!” Saul ran across the front of her house before cutting back down between her house and the house next door. There wasn’t much space between the two, and he knew the woman who was following him had a little trouble like most of the people her size cutting sharp corners. Behind him, he heard his mother scream his name before being politely given directions by the old woman which way he had gone. He made it to the backyard and turned left again. A long wall cut across the back of the lots on this subdivision, and he hoped he could find a gap in the fence or even a stubborn homeowner that had not pushed for a privacy so he could cut across to the next street and get some more distance between him and his mother. He continued to run, and risked a short look back. Behind him, he saw a large shadow come around the corner. He quickly cut back between another pair of houses towards the street, and saw the shadow do the same. He immediately turned and continued back along the fence line. The shadow had not followed. He grinned. He might just make it away this time. Then he noticed something new. Eight houses down, a homeowner had put up their own section of privacy fence, on this side of the line of fencing. He started looking more closely at the fence line, hoping for a gap or half rotted piece he could move. He needed that opening. He ran past another house and glanced left. The shadow was keeping pace on the other side of the house. Well, time to try another trick. He ran past the house and then immediately doubled back and up the side of it. With a little luck, his mother would continue to run past for another house or two, and by then he would have come around to the front and even made it across to the other side of the street with a little luck. He grinned. This was one of the most enjoyable escape attempts to date. He almost felt a little sad that it could end this easily if he lost her. He just cleared the side yard when suddenly he saw arms reaching around the large shrubs in front of him, perfectly placed to cut off his escape. She knew what he had planned. With a chuckle and a mild shout of consternation, he jumped into the waiting arms. He was suddenly pulled close as the woman’s body dropped to a knee to avoid falling over from her charges jump into her arms. “Gotcha!” He felt himself being raised slightly and a hand brushing aside his hair and a pair of lips kissing his forehead. “I told you; no matter how far you run, I will always catch you.” Saul giggled. “I almost got away this time.” His mother shook her head and gave his nose a light touch. “Not even. That fence ruined your chances long before you made your attempt. Now, as fun as this was, you are in serious trouble mister. You are a very nakie baby and you know you aren’t supposed to be out of your diaper. Not to mention that you made me ruin some perfectly good pasta when you made your escape attempt. You realize those noodles were almost done, right? By the time I get you home, changed, and settled, they are going to be too mushy to eat.” Saul put his arms around her neck and rested his head on his shoulder. “Uh-huh. I was hoping it would give me an extra minute or two.” As they passed their neighbor’s house, the old women smiled and got to her feet. She patted Saul on the head and looked at his mother. “I see our little truant has been apprehended again. Not his greatest attempt, but certainly one of the better ones. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that. He didn’t notice that young couple down the street had put up some fencing last month. He’s got to be more observant if he ever thinks he can get away from me that easily” his mother said, patting his bottom. “I’ll catch you later Mrs. Rogers. Right now, I’ve got a little boy that needs supper and a diaper rather badly.” Saul sighed in contentment as they went back inside their home and his mother grabbed his old diaper as they went into the living room and placed him on the changing table. She frowned and tossed the old one away in his pail and reached for a new pamper. “What’s on your mind sweetheart? I thought you enjoyed yourself.” “I did, but it wasn’t long enough.” His mother finished wiping him down and started powdering him. “Well, I know what will cheer you up. Lets finished getting you changed and get some yummy food in your belly, and I will tell you one of your favorite bed time stories tonight, okay?” Saul smiled knowingly. “Which one would that be?” She finished powdering him and taped up the new diaper before blowing a quick raspberry on his stomach. “How about how Mommy finally caught her wonderful baby boy?” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Saul sat in front of the television. It was nearly midnight but his excitement was peaking as he watched the announcer. A couple hundred miles away on a set of islands, a group of over one hundred participants was completing a grueling marathon known as the Fjorders’ Double Crossing. Over twenty miles of shoreline broken up with 6 miles of running through the cold evening waters of the Fjord was a tough challenge. It would almost be a swimming contest if a little attempted it, but even the Amazonians had trouble running through up to four feet of water. From what the announcer said, over two hundred and fifty people had started the challenge, but almost half had dropped out by the halfway point as their joints had locked up. Only a hundred and ten or so were left by now, and most were floundering in the final stretch of the Fjord, trying to cope with the cold waters. The announcer made a comment that a small group far ahead of the pack had been pushing themselves hard on the final stretch, and were spotted a couple hundred meters offshore in the dark. The challenge would be over in minutes. Saul was excited. Normally, the competition would take another hour or more and he would have to go to bed and miss the end, but this year looked promising. He just had to hold out for a couple more minutes. “Saul Yurten, what on earth are you doing awake at this hour? You were supposed to be in bed more than two hours ago. Your bed time might be later than your father’s, but you know that this is far too late for a little your age to be up” the elderly voice of his grandma proclaimed from doorway to the living room. Saul looked down sheepishly. He had turned down the television fairly low, but he guess that her hearing was sharp enough to hear even that little bit of sound. “Sorry Gran, I just wanted to see the end this year. It’s a good group this year, and they are almost at the end already.” Grandma Emma was an unusual sort, but between her and Grandma Judy, he was glad that he was staying at her house currently. Grandma Judy was the law and order to Grandma Emma’s controlled chaos and unashamed spoiling of her baby and grandbaby. The old woman sat down next to him on the couch and briefly checked her hair net to make sure it was still in place. She picked up Saul and sat him in her lap, slowly patting his head and reaching a hand through a leg opening in his sleep shorts to check his pull up. “Still dry,” She proclaimed. “Now, who are we hedging our bets on this year. How’s that girl fairing, what was her name, Stephanie?” Saul shrugged. “I’m hoping she does well. From what I saw earlier, she was starting strong and stayed pretty steady through the first half the race. She’s also a recent favorite, so I have hope she wins it. She has done better each year, and last year she came in eighth. From what’s been said, it’s down to Arden, Smith, Morgansson, Tolten, and her right now in the final stretch. “Oh, Morgansson competed again this year? For a man his age, he is a handsome one. It would be nice to see him win one more time.” Their attention turned back to the program, as the announcer moved slightly out of the way and the camera zoomed in on a group of figures in the distance, blobs of blackness splashing through the water headed towards a cluster of lights set up on the beach and a set of poles with a ribbon tied between them. Saul leaned forward. “Come on Stephanie, you can do it,” he called to one of the figures on screen. “Come on Danny boy, don’t lose to these youngsters” Emma called to her champion. Just off shore, the pack started to split. One began to lag behind, then another, with the final three staying fairly close together. The water splashed up over the contestants and Saul could only imagine how cold it had to be and what they were feeling in those final feet. At the water’s edge, an older gentleman pulled away from the other two and managed to make it across the finish line first. Emma went wild, cheering for her contestant as the crowd gathered round and uttered words of congratulations. Stephanie wasn’t the second or the third. A minute later, and she wasn’t the fourth. After two more minutes, a woman in her late twenties ran up onto the beach and across the finish line to warm applause like those before her. Saul and Emma chatted for a bit before a third form walked through the doorway from a bedroom down the hall. A grown man in a dark green flannel footed jumper walked in with a blanket in one hand while his other rubbed at his eyes. “What are you guys doing? Some of us are trying to sleep, you know.” Emma got up and quickly picked him up, cooing slightly and patting his back. “I’m sorry baby. Mommy and Saul were just watching the end of the race, and we weren’t watching how loud we were. I know you need your sleep more than your son does, so how about I warm you a nice bottle of milk and get you back to bed, ok? “Sounds good,” he drowsed as his mother carried him off to the kitchen. Saul went ahead and turned off the television. He knew what was coming next. He poked his head into the kitchen to see his grandma gently bouncing his father and watching a bottle heating up in the microwave. “Hey Grandma, I’m just going to go ahead and head to bed, okay? I turned off the television.” Emma nodded. “Go ahead and wait by the changing table. I know how you get when you’re excited, and I want you in a nice night diapee. I’ll have your father back in a minute and then I will change you. Also, remember that even with no school tomorrow, you still have homework due the day after. Your grandma Judy wants it all done by the end of the day tomorrow.” The microwave beeped and she took out the bottle, screwed on the cap, and handed it to her son. “Oh, and your mother wanted me to remind you that you have two books that are due back as well, so don’t forget to bring those along too!” Saul nodded. It was the penalty he lived with to have a mother and two grandmothers doting on him all the time. He always had to focus on his studies, but wasn’t so bad. He’d finish his work and then get to go outside and run. Best part was that he only had a few weeks until he graduated anyways, and then he wouldn’t have to worry about it ever again. It was a good life, and one he wouldn’t change a bit.