A Semester Deferred

[Ben Andereson]

Hi there, this is my second story and is a work in progress. Last time I made the mistake of a hasty finish instead of abandoning the story. I wanted to have a "finished product". I realized however the more prudent move is that once I am done with the work is that I can hand it over to you, the community to finish. I simply request that if/when I hand it over that people writing on it write properly and do not take "whiplash" jump-the-shark style plot twists (though a well thought out twist is of course encouraged). I also request that you wait until I post here that I have abandoned it to take it over. 

Further, if any of you have any ideas for the story as you are reading it, please reach out! This story is not "mine" but "ours". 

Chapter 1

My name is James, and I am a normal 20 year-old kid heading into my Sophomore year of college. I like sports, cars, but most of all I love the freedom of college. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents, and my little brother Jake, but they can smother. The best thing about college is the ability to choose! I get to choose my classes, when I go to bed, what to eat, and what to wear! Even in high school my parents had a huge role in all of those decisions. I did not even realize how restrictive they were until I left the house, I guess my parents just wanted the best for their first son. They feared that I would be set adrift when I made all of my own choices, but I proved them wrong. I got a 4.0 my whole first year, well at least until the Coronavirus hit.

When the Coronavirus hit, like every other university, we all had to leave and finish our studies online at “Zoom School.” Being back home was not so bad, it just wasn’t as good as college. My parents gave me more latitude to choose, but they took back over many of the decisions I used to be able to make. I had a bedtime (9 pm on school nights, 10 pm on weekends), had to prove that I ate all of my veggies every night, and still had to have my homework checked off every night by my mom to make sure I did it.

The best part of being home though, was my little brother Jake. He was 4, and was the type of kids that parents can only dream of having. He was extraverted and enthusiastic about everything: going to the park, best day ever, staying in to watch a movie, nothing he would rather do, board games, you bet! His great attitude led him to be the life of the party in every room he entered. He never fought, or bickered. The only thing he gave my parents difficulty with was staying dry at night consistently. He wet the bed maybe twice a week and as a result had to wear pullups to bed every night. He did not seem to mind them much though, and never put up a fuss about wearing them.

Back in March, we all thought that this was going to be a medium-short term problem. We all stay inside until Memorial Day and then we will be back to normal by the Fall. How wrong we were. Now it was August, and the new school year was approaching. The United States still had a huge Covid problem, and universities were struggling with what to do, whether to return or have more Zoom U.

For me, the prospect was a little exciting, for the first time ever I might be allowed to be home alone (except for my little brother of course).You see, both of my parents were going to be out of the house starting September 1. My dad was always required to be in the office, he is the manager at the local supermarket, so he was as “essential” as it gets. The pandemic also served to inspire my mother. Before having me, she was a medical assistant back at the hospital. After I was born, she decided that she wanted to be a stay at home mom. Now with the world falling apart, she felt compelled to re-enter the workplace. She worked super hard to convince the local hospital that she was worthy for a position. She got the job and it starts the 1^st! I’m very proud of her.  

Then it came, the email. Subject line: Santa Ana University Fall Semester Learning Plans. I opened it. The beginning of the email was pretty standard fare for the pandemic times. Some platitude about hard times, and sticking together and the “Bobcat way”. I skipped ahead to the important part. “In light of the increase in Coronavirus cases in the area this summer, we have sadly elected to hold another semester by remote learning. We understand that this is not the outcome many of you were hoping for as surveys indicated that students learned less well remotely. Our records indicate that you are one of the top students at the university, as a thank you for your hard work, we are offering you the choice to take this semester completely off so you could spend more of your college years on campus. Please respond to this email by August 24, 2020 at 11:59pm if you plan to defer.

Best,

Dean Clark.

Chapter 2 will likely come at some point tonight. 

[Pierry Louys]

Great beginning 

[Ben Andereson]

Ok, here is chapter 2. Once again, suggestions, feedback, etc. is always welcome. 

Chapter 2:

I could hardly believe the offer I had gotten. My head was swimming with the different possibilities. If I deferred, I would graduate later, but I would have more time on campus, which was the part of college I liked the most. If I chose to attend this semester, it would shorten my time on campus, and the time I had for my degree. So I did what I always do when confronted with a hard decision, I flipped a coin.

They say that when you flip a coin, you pick because you are rooting for one of the possibilities, that could not be more true for me. I grabbed a quarter, and as I watched the coin turn into a ball as it spun through the air, I knew what I really wanted. Composing myself I wrote back,

“Dear Dean Clark, thank you for your offer. I will defer this semester.”

Best,

James Finnegan

And just like that, I was home with no responsibilities for the semester.

I went searching for my mom to let her know. She was sitting at the kitchen table reading the morning paper. Looking up she smiled, “Morning Jamie” calling me by the name I had outgrown from everybody else about 15 years ago. I fumbled nervously, what if she does not support my decision. I thought about how I was going to broach the subject, searching for words. I felt so stupid, why can’t I simply say I want something or did something without feeling so scared. Then I just blurted it out, “I’m taking this semester off school.”

“What!” my mother replied. My heart sank, she seemed pretty mad. “Jamie, that’s a very big decision you made, why did you not consult me.” I wanted to push back, and say that I’m 20, I’m an adult, I get to make decisions, but those words kept on getting caught in the back of my throat. She continued, “I told you that when you make big decisions you should always at least check with Mommy first, you could have really messed something up.” “So you’re not mad about my decision?” was all I could muster in response. “No! I think it was a good decision, my baby boy does school so much better when he’s in a real classroom with a teacher able to help him.” I could not help but think that this sounded like a more apt concern for a first grader than a Sophomore in college. “I’m just upset that you did not let me know first.” “Sorry, I forgot” I sheepishly lied.

“It’s ok baby, just know that Mommy is always here to help, even when she returns to work next week.” As she was saying this she wrapped me in a warm hug, all of the fears and anxieties I had melted away. Just then, bounding down the stairs came Jake. “How’s my little man!” my mommy said in a sing-songy voice. “Good!” he replied running to give her a hug.

“Ok! Morning check, hold still.” Mommy then pulled down his sleep shorts. It was obvious to the naked eye that he had a wet night. The design on the front of his pullup was gone, but despite that my mother still went through the ritual of doing a proper diaper check by touching the inside under the waistband. Jake played his part in the ritual too, he must have known he was wet, but he still played along. He looked so content, so taken care of, and for a half a second I felt what might have been jealousy.

“Uh, oh, somebody had a wet night. Now Jake, what do we do when we have a wet night?” Mommy asked. Jake knew the answer by heart, he had to say it basically every time he woke up wet, an increasingly rare proposition. “I put an X on the chart.” “Good, now go be a big boy and take care of that for me.”

The chart was affixed on his bedroom door. It’s title left nothing to the imagination, “Jake’s bedwetting chart”. When I was his age, I had one too. If he was older I bet it would be a source of shame, but at age 4, wetting the bed is just not that shameful, and little kids don’t really feel much shame anyways. I watched him toddle up, and place a red X in the box for today’s date. A quick look at the chart showed that the chart’s days were numbered. It was the 22^nd, and for the month he had only 6 Xs and 16 sunshine stickers. If he could stay dry for a whole week he would earn his big boy underpants all night.

Looking at his chart awakened old memories. The feeling of competitiveness against the chart, the pride I felt when I put the final sunshine sticker on to earn my way out of nighttime pullups. I smiled thinking of how big and important I felt that day. I also remembered my fears when I had a one-off accident in the 4^th grade. I was terrified that I would be back in pullups, and back on the chart. But that never happened, my parents were reasonable, and treated it like the one off it was. The rest of the day went by without much fanfare. 

 

[Pierry Louys]

Interesting chapter I think I now where you going 

[Ben Andereson]

Chapter 3

“Jake!” My mom yelled, “Time for your check.” It was the morning ritual all over again. “Dry! You did it! A whole week dry! You know what that means!” Jake did not hesitate, “Big boy pants all the time!” I could not help but feel immensely proud of him. How could he accomplish such a difficult goal. Staying dry was one of the most impressive things going, I thought. Then Mommy turned to me.

“Now your turn Jamie!”

My turn, what does she mean by my turn? I’m 20, I have not gone through this ritual for almost 15 years! That’s when I noticed that my underwear felt, softer, more comfortable, almost inviting, but oh so bulky. I felt like I went out of body, as I lowered my sweat pants for the big reveal. I was in pullups, the same Paw Patrol pullups that my kid brother just graduated out of! A quick comparison showed that unlike his, mine had gotten their full use.

“Oh honey, well you must have slept very well last night.” My mom said as she was running her finger around the swollen leak guards. “You’re soaked.” Go mark it on your chart. My mind was racing again, since when did I have a chart?!? But lo and behold, right next to Jake’s chart was a mostly identical one with my name on it. I say mostly identical because where he had almost all sunshines, I had almost all Xs. My palms began to sweat as a picked up the marker.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

I awoke with a start. It was all a dream! Instinctively I looked down at my sheets, dry as the Atacama.

This became a nightly ritual for me. Every night for the next three nights, the exact same dream. Jake dry, me soaked, mom very understanding. Every night I’d wake up right as I picked up the marker. On the fourth night however, the dream continued.

I crossed the big X. Mommy then looked at me, and said, “Jamie can you be big and count your consecutive Xs.” Like a little kid, I pointed each X in a row and counted out loud. “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.” 10! I was a verifiable nightly sog monster! After I landed on 10, I looked at Mommy with some expectation. She had a look of kindness on her face, as she said. “That’s a lot mister.” I squirmed, uncomfortable. “In fact, I think that’s too many in a row, and you just aren’t ready for big boy pullups, tonight you won’t have to worry about making it.”

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I awoke with a start again. Something felt odd, like I sweat through the sheets or something. Then I looked down. I had wet the bed. It was undeniable, my pajama pants and sheets were soaked. I started to cry.

[Pierry Louys]

Interesting chapter ! Now I am curious to see what his mom gonna do , and if he gonna tell his dream for her 

[Tld17]

God this is so good. I cannot wait for more.

[Ben Andereson]

“Daycare!!” I was incredulous. I’m 20 years old for fucks sake, and I was just told that because it was best if I wasn’t home alone I was going to daycare. Even though my parents had the bad habit of treating me like a little kid, today was the most “4 years old” I’ve felt since I was four years old. I woke up with soaked sheets, and was enrolled as the newest member of “Miss Marmalade’s Daycare” as a student!

The way my mom announced the decision made things all the worse. After going through the shameful exercise of balling up my pee soaked sheets and pajamas and trudging to the laundry room, only to have my dad see me and say, “Aww champ, it’s alright, accidents happen to boys your age all the time” which made it even worse because boys my age definitely don’t have accidents “all the time” I sat down for breakfast.

Immediately I could tell that my mom was hard at work with some sort of arts and crafts thing. Growing up, she always went all out for all of the holidays, from the first day of school, to Christmas, and even obscure holidays that nobody really observes like flag day. Being unaware of anything worth mentioning at the moment, I simply asked “Whatcha making?” She responded cheerily, “Back to school kits, wanna take a look?”

I obliged, and what I saw stopped me in my tracks. There were two identical baskets that contained the necessary supplies for a kindergartener. Crayons, coloring books, markers, you name it, it was in there. Laid on top was a note to the same woman introducing who each of my mom’s two boys were. I read mine for a second, “Jamie likely thinks he is too big to be here, but it is for his own good.”

My protests against this move were futile. I was going on Monday whether I liked it or not. At least my parents did not overreact to the wet bed this morning.

[ValentinesStuff]

Looks like his semester isn't going to be deferred, is Daycare 101 a two or three credit class?

[Pierry Louys]

Hahahahah

[Ben Andereson]

“Jamie, c’mon it’s time to get ready to go.” Today was the day. The day of my grand humiliation had arrived because my own mother does not think I’m big enough to stay home alone. On the car ride there I prayed silently to myself that none of the workers there were close to me in age. Having to answer to a peer as though I was just another charge to look after would be too much for my already fragile psyche.

The outside of the daycare was fairly standard. It was in a fairly large house surrounded by a white picket fence. Above the front door was a big sign that read in large print “Miss Marmalades Daycare” and in smaller print beneath it stating: “specializing in potty training (both day and night), reading, and fun!” Great, I had mastered all of those subjects long ago I thought, they better not be mandatory core requirements.

Mommy walked in with us that first day. It was obvious, I was the only person above the age of six or so who was there. In fact all 15 children appeared to be in the 3-6 age range. Much to my relief, Miss Marmalade, a grandmotherly figure, ran the daycare by herself. There was nobody even remotely close to age to me.

“Good morning Mrs. Finnegan!” she exclaimed as we walked through the door. Then kneeling down to my brother’s level she held out her hand and said, “And you must be Jake, very nice to meet you young man. How old are you?” My brother held up 4 fingers and said “4!” “4, that’s very big!” I could tell immediately that this woman was a pro in the way that she interacted with Jake. The kids must love her.

Then she turned to me. “And you must be Jamie, nice too meet you too young man.” In my most grownup deep voice I replied, “Good morning.” I perhaps thought that by acting as adult as I could I could maybe be upgraded from just another student to some less humiliating position like assistant. I could even put that on my resume. “Very impressive manners! You’ll do great in this class.” She replied, bursting my hopes immediately. Then she said, “Your mommy has warned me that you think that you might be too big for this class, but let me tell you that we take care off big boys and girls too. Just because you’re in here with me does not mean you’re big.” Instinctively this made me feel a little better. At least she knows I’m big!

The conversation then turned to one between her and my mom. They behaved as though I was not there, even though I could have answered all of the questions. They were stuff like any allergies (no), favorite toys (they’ll play with anything), favorite sandwich (PB&J for Jamie, ham for Jake), but the last question startled me the most: Are they both potty trained. My mom answered, “Jamie is dry all the time, and Jake is almost out of pullups at night. I think he’ll be all set in the next month or so.” Miss Marmalade replied, “Good! Then you won’t be needing my training services.” I could not help but wonder how that was even a question. Then, as Mommy gave us good bye hugs and left.

My daycare life had begun.

 

The next chapter is where it really starts to pick up. Hopefully the short chapter lengths are not bad. 

[Pierry Louys]

Interesting chapter ! Now I am curious to see if he gonna wet again in the naptime ?

Please don’t take too long to post the next chapter rsrs 

[Sparkle Dust]

Wtf!!

[Lolb]

I love this story! I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the story! The fact that Jamie has an age close to mine, makes it even more interesting for me. I'm curious to know if Jamie will need to wear diapers :D

[Pierry Louys]

Curious to see his first day in daycare 

[keith60]

i hope this story gets done soon 

[Maartijn]

please continu this story, it is one of mine alle time favorites.