Shifting Sands - Chapter 63 - 04/27

[CCApril]

Wow! Zack did a number on his ankle.  Despite the pain I bet he gets a better night sleep than the ones at the trailer.

Kelly misses no chance at grinding Zack's fate into him. At least he has a sympathetic roommate. I wonder if Kelly called his dad about his accident? 

April

[sklawlor]

Zack deserves a much better step-mother than Kelly. there was no reason for her to tell his roommate that he wore diapers before the accident. that's just malicious and cruel. Other than kelly who is my least favorite character, and almost a bond villain, I like this story.

[Tracey]

Once he has his full cast on the doctors are probably going to tell Kelly that Zach no longer needs diapers, while that would be good for Zach his stepmom would then probably turn her attention on Maddie who while a lot more feisty is much smaller and easier to handle.

[CDfm]

This was a outstanding chapter.  You did a wonderful job with the hospital setting and with Zach’s care. (Not that it really matters but the IV bag is normal saline.  Basically salt water. The pain medications are much smaller quantities and are administered through a syringe that screws into the IV line.) the saline is used for many different things but in a trauma it’s used to keep blood volume up.  Obviously bleeding will decrease volume and if it gets to low the patient will code (heart stops beating.) The pain meds can be given with or without the saline running. The nurse will use a flush (a larger syringe with saline in it ) to clear the line. Also saline will cause a need for more frequent urinating so if it’s not necessary they will stop it. One other thing that’s going to effect Zach in this case is that pain medication will cause constipation and the Dr will order laxatives to prevent that. Kelly doesn’t have to be a bitch to get Zach to use his diapers while he’s in the hospital. 
I am really looking forward to the next chapter. 

[A_Pale_Spirit]

Absolutely incredible chapter! As always, love the descriptive writing!

Definitely loved the interactions with Kelly and Zack and Zack's roommate in the hospital room!

Eagerly awaiting more!

[Andyman3]

Wow big chapter. I didn't read much because of things I've been through. I did find part near end were he made a friend. That's wonderful, someone else who understands. He also mentioned school, I was wondering that for the longest time since this "family trip". 

[Bladderbrain]

I'm not going to lie I love your writing style. I read a good bit of it, but cannot read more. It's too close to some reality just minus diapers and insert other not as pleasant things. 

 

I do hope to read other stuff by you though. You have quite the skill in my opinion.

[Andyman3]

40 minutes ago, Bladderbrain said:

I'm not going to lie I love your writing style. I read a good bit of it, but cannot read more. It's too close to some reality just minus diapers and insert other not as pleasant things. 

 

I do hope to read other stuff by you though. You have quite the skill in my opinion.

You have to have some realistic elements in your art but yes the hospital part was to much for me. 

[Bladderbrain]

33 minutes ago, Andyman3 said:

You have to have some realistic elements in your art but yes the hospital part was to much for me. 

I do, and I don't fault anyone for writing like this, this just hits close to home, mean step mother that used to put me in bad places.

[Andyman3]

10 hours ago, Bladderbrain said:

I do, and I don't fault anyone for writing like this, this just hits close to home, mean step mother that used to put me in bad places.

Oh ya that is also something. The fun of art lol

[Andyman3]

The suspense 😄

[Little Sherri]

Chapter 46 – Visitations

Sometime later in the evening, through the twin fogs of sleep and medication, Zack became dimly aware that someone was moving him around. Instantly concerned that he was being wheeled down for surgery, his eyes opened, and he tried to sit up.

Brenda whispered “Shhhh, go back to sleep, it’s just me.”

He realized that she was changing his diaper again. Looking to his left, he saw that Angela was still seated in the chair between their beds. Tommy’s lights were low and Angela was reading a novel. She looked up and gave him a wave. Zack felt heat creeping into his cheeks and closed his eyes again, as Brenda quickly fastened his new diaper and repositioned his blanket.

She could have closed the curtain before doing that.

Zack tried to drift back off, but next, Brenda detached his IV and checked his blood pressure, and the activity prevented him from being able to let go. Finally, she wheeled her cart out of the room, and Zack was able to fall back to sleep.

He was awakened again in the wee hours of the morning by someone else, another nurse he didn’t recognize, as far as he could tell in the low light, who pulled down his blankets and lifted his gown, and shined a small pen light on his diaper, but then tucked his blanket in around him again. He felt thirsty and guessed that he probably wasn’t going to need another diaper before morning. Sleep came for him almost immediately this time.  

When his eyes opened again, sunlight was streaming in through the windows, and the floor outside their open door sounded busy, with carts going back and forth. Tommy was sitting up and looking over at the door, and a moment later, a person from catering came in with a tray – but only one. Zack was slated for surgery, so he didn’t get a breakfast or even a beverage. Looking at what Tommy got, he was almost fine with that – in the strange mixture of light sources in the room, Tommy’s omelet looked grey.

A few minutes later, there was a sound of multiple footsteps in the hallway, and then Kelly, Kim, Maddy, Sam and Elaine came walking into the room. Kelly was wearing the same pants as yesterday, but a sweater that looked new, Kim had jeans and a t-shirt on, and the girls were all wearing knee-length dresses of similar styles, but not quite matching. Elaine and Sam sat down on the small couch under the window, and Maddy sat on Zack’s bed and leaned back, as though she was going to climb in with him.

“Make the bed go up and down!”

Zack complied, motoring the top of the bed up, and then raising the bottom so that it lifted their knees. Sam jumped up and ran around to sit against the raised lower section, facing Maddy, and as she did so, Zack saw that she had plastic pants on.

“You guys are still at Gran’s?” he asked.

“We’re going home soon!” Sam replied.

“Yeah, back to Aunt Kim’s,” Maddy clarified, “But first we have one more sleep at the trailer from hell.”

 She looked over at the dresser across the room from them.

“Are those your diapers, Zack?”

Zack nodded. Maddy hopped off the bed and went over to pick one up, unfolding it and turning it over in her hands.

“These fit? They look like baby diapers. Sorry! I mean, like kid diapers.” Maddy remembered what had happened the last time she’d called Zack a baby, and immediately attempted to recant her statement.

Zack let it slide. They did look like baby diapers. And since she’d opened the conversation, he was able to retort subtly, without raising anyone’s ire.

“You guys still wearing cloth diapers at Grans? I don’t miss those.”

Maddy blushed, but nodded. “Yeah, but back at Kim’s, mom said I don’t need to be in day diapers anymore. That’s only for crazy Gran’s, and for the car. Sam neither. Nor Elaine.”

“Thank Christ,” Elain whispered from the couch.

“IF,” Kelly interjected, “you behave yourselves for Kim, and you stay dry.”

Maddy nodded solemnly.

“How long are you going to be in the hospital, Zack?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know, exactly. They said something like a couple or a few days. Depends how things go, I guess.”

“How’s the ankle?” Kim asked.

“It hurts a bit. They give me stuff that makes it better, but then I fall asleep.”

“You’re riding the morphine express!” Kelly exclaimed. “I didn’t bring you anything to eat this morning, Zack, but this afternoon, after your surgery, I’ll bring you something decent. Other than that, are you good? Need anything? Diaper okay?”

Zack’s head went down, but he nodded. “I haven’t drunk anything since yesterday.”

Just then, a tall orderly in dark blue scrubs came into the room.

“Zack Fischer, you ordered a cab?”

He began to check the perimeter of Zack’s bed for any entanglements, and he moved the rolling tray further back. Sam slid down off the bed with a sound of plastic against cotton sheets, and went back to the couch. The orderly folded his blankets and put them in a pile on top of the dresser.

Kelly stepped forward, gave Zack a kiss on the forehead, and clipped his pacifier to the collar of his gown. Zack looked down at it and felt resignation more than anything else.

“I talked to your dad this morning, and he’s coming this afternoon to see you. He’s going to fly in on his way out to California.”

Zack shook his head involuntarily, both from the strange kiss on the forehead, and from the news that their dad was coming.

Finally.

Kelly pressed the nipple of his pacifier against his lips. Zack waited a beat before accepting it.

The orderly looked at Zack and said, “All good, big guy?”

Zack nodded. Maddy ran over and gave him a quick hug around the neck, and then he was being wheeled out the door. Kim gave him a thumbs-up and mouthed “Good luck,” and then his bed was rolling for the elevators. Even at this hour of the morning, the hall was alive with nurses, visitors, and patients, and Zack jammed his pacifier into the front of his gown as soon as he was out of sight of Kelly. He heard the orderly emit a good-natured chuckle. “You’re still a baby in your mamma’s eyes, that’s all,” he commented. “She don’t want to see that you’re a becoming a big boy.”

“She’s not my mommy.”

 

_____

 

They wheeled his bed into the preparation and recovery room, and into a birth, and then the orderly and a nurse slid him over onto a much simpler stretcher, with a thin sheet on it. The room had eight or ten births, a few of which had beds parked in them, and two of them held sleeping children who were being tended to by nurses. The orderly turned and left, and then it was just him and his nurse, a short lady with red hair who had a Scottish accent.

“I’m Mary, I’ll be your nurse when you’re waking up after your operation. Is it okay if I put your dummy in a wee plastic bag, and it can be by your hands for the procedure?”

Zack looked perplexed.

Did this lady just call me a dummy?

She read his face, and then she reached out and lifted the tether that was clipped to his collar.

“Your sucky? Can I put it in a bag for you? You don’t want it falling on the floor in here, and you can’t have it in your mouth because they’re going to put a mask on ya.”

Zack nodded, and she gently unclipped it, walked over to a desk, and deposited it into a sealable bag that said ‘Jewelry and Watches’ on it in blue print. Then she put it on his pillow on the bed from the ward.

“Now what about your nappy?”

Zack knew the term ‘nappy’ thanks to Kelly. His cheeks reddened.

“Can I have a look?” she asked in a kind tone. At least she hadn’t lifted his gown before she introduced herself, as seemed to be the common protocol. He nodded.

She gently rolled his gown up above his tummy, and probed the front of his diaper with a finger.

“Ey, they’ve got you in the wee nappies, then. That’s fine, they’re probably more comfortable. We don’t have those up here, but I’ll leave you in it for now, it doesn’t look too wet.”

Zack nodded. “I haven’t been able to drink since yesterday.”

“Good lad, good lad. We’ll get you all you want after they’ve done their work on yeh. Here’s what to expect: we’re going to wheel you in there, and then they’re going to put a mask on your face and ask you to count backwards. Just breathe normally. There might be a bit of a funny smell, but in a moment or two, you’ll be fast asleep. You’re going to wake up right here, in your own bed, and it’s going to feel like it took about two minutes, but it’ll be more like four hours. Then, you can have a drink and your mom can come see you and we’ll wheel you back to your room. Does that sound okay, or are you scared?”

Zack thought about it.

Am I scared? Hmmm. No. Do I wish my dad were here? Yes. Or my mom.

That last thought brought a frog into his throat, and he swallowed hard as his eyes moistened.

The nurse interpreted his reaction as being a confirmation that he was scared, so she retrieved the jewelry bag from his bed and took the pacifier out.

“We have time for one more wee suckle, is that a yes?”

Zack nodded just slightly, and she held it out for him. He took it into his mouth, feeling both stupid, but also, strangely relieved. She gave him a minute, which he mostly used to steady his breathing, as the pacifier bobbed, and then she took it back and put it into its bag and onto the pillow again. A door opened at the end of the room, and what Zack thought was probably a man, in blue scrubs with a blue mask, nodded to the redheaded nurse, and then he was being wheeled through the door.

They went down a narrower hallway and into an alcove with several doors coming off of it, all arranged in a fan around a central large stainless-steel sink. One door was propped open, and they wheeled him past more sinks, and into a brightly lit, tiled room that felt notably cooler than the hallway.

In the center of the room was a stainless steel table with some sheets covering the top of it. They wheeled Zack over to it, and then a couple of the masked people and the nurse slid him off the stretcher, and onto the steel table. It had a thin plastic mattress on it, but felt hard, and there was no pillow. One of the masked people pushed his gown up to his chest, and then another pulled it over his head, and Zack found himself lying in the middle of a room full of strangers, in just his children’s diaper. Leads were stuck to his chest with adhesive backings, and a new IV bag was connected to the port that was taped to his arm.

Zack heard a familiar voice from behind a one of the masks.

“Zack, I’m Dr. Raj – we met on your floor. We’re just getting you ready, and in a few minutes, the anesthesiologist is going to put you to sleep, and we’ll get started. Would you like a heated blanket while we wait?”

Zack nodded, and then someone walked away, returning quickly with a warm, folded blanket that they laid over his chest.

Another mask-clad person was taking off his air cast, and then they began peeling away the gauze underneath it, before painting most of his calf with a brown solution using a sponge. He was tilting his head forward, trying to see what they were doing, when another person in scrubs and a mask walked up to him and placed a clear mask over his face, putting gentle pressure on it with his hand, and causing Zack to put his head down on the bed.

“Just take a few breaths for me, Zack, so I can see if this is working.”

Zack took a few breaths, and then all of a sudden, he felt his consciousness shake, as though his brain had become unmoored from inside has skull, and was trying to float out.

I thought they said I’d have to count backwards….

Black enveloped Zack’s awareness entirely.

 

_________

 

 

Zack became aware that he was becoming aware, but nothing worked – his eyes wouldn’t open and he couldn’t find his voice. He had fleeting memories of strange dreams, beeps and voices in the darkness, and a sensation of not knowing where he was, and he wanted to get out of bed, but seemed unable to. His limbs weighed hundreds of pounds. His ankle was broadcasting a stinging sensation, but from a distant outpost, and the news didn’t seem particularly important right now. His throat was parched and felt raw.

He felt something between his lips, and instinctively sucked at it. It was squishy but yielded nothing.

“Zack, are you there, lad? You awake? Come on now, open your eyes, you can do it.”

The Scottish accent was unmistakable. It was that nurse, Mary. With concentration, Zack opened his eyes and tried to focus them. Mary was standing in front of him, and behind her, on a chair, was Kelly. She was looking at her phone.

Zack tried to sit up, but Mary put a hand on his shoulder. “Take it easy, lad, no rush. Get your bearings. Did you want a sip of water?”

Zack nodded. She pushed a button and his torso started to rise, which was when he realized that he’d been transferred off of the operating table and back to his bed. He shifted towards the top of the bed, and became aware of a humid, plasticky sensation under his back. Looking down at himself, he realized that he was now wearing a very large, white plastic diaper that came almost halfway up his back, and traversed his sternum at about his diaphragm level. The diaper had two tapes, and they were pulled most of the way around, so that they almost met at the center of his stomach. Blue dashes walked down the middle of the diaper and disappeared between his legs.

These were what they were talking about. Yikes. The kids’ diapers are better.

Kelly looked up. “Good afternoon, sleepy head.”

Zack was again perplexed. “Whath thime ith itht?” he asked around his paci.

“It’s just after three in the afternoon. Your surgery was finished an hour ago, but you took your time waking up. The doctor said that everything went as planned. Your foot will be in a cast for about six weeks, but you should be able to go home shortly, maybe as early as tomorrow.”

Mary, the Scottish nurse, extracted his pacifier, and then held a small Styrofoam cup to his lips. Zack sipped at the rim.

Warm water. Yuck.

He turned his head away, and Mary put the cup back down beside the bed. She checked Zack’s vitals one more time, then summoned an orderly to take Zack back to his room. Zack asked if he could have another gown before being wheeled through the halls; his seemed to have disappeared at some point during the surgery. She brought him a light purple one that barely went past his waist and said that was all they had right now, because the linen delivery hadn’t come, but that he could get a bigger one once he was on his floor.

So, the diapers are immense, and the gowns are tiny up here?

He shook his head. Kelly held up the gown so that he could slide his arms through the sleeves, and then she tied it closed behind him at his shoulders and around his waist.

What a stupid design.

“Can I get a blanket?” Zack asked.

“Almost no linens left up here, lad. Your blankets will be downstairs.”

Just then, an orderly walked into the room and stepped around behind Zack’s bed, and wordlessly began pushing it into the center of the room.

“Good luck with your recovery, lad!” Mary said, and gave him a wave, before walking away. Zack pulled at the bottom of his new gown, trying to gather enough material to cover his diaper, but it would only work if he held the gown down with his hand for the entire journey. But then, the back of his diaper was visible. Resigned to his fate, he leaned back and stared at the ceiling. Kelly, shuffling sideways to keep up, lifted his pacifier back to his lips.

Signs and lights and bulkheads and skylights and ventilation outlets whizzed by as his bed traversed various hallways and atriums. He tried not to look at any of the faces passing by, sure that he’d be met with glances of pity or surprise, over being in the absurdly big diaper. The click-click-clicking of Kelly’s shoes provided a constant soundtrack.

Finally, they stopped alongside the nursing station on his floor, and Kelly went over to his room, and stuck her head in for a second.

“They’re just cleaning up in there for a moment, and then you’ll be all set.”

Zack tried the button on the side of his bed that raised the backrest, and to his surprise, it worked, even though the bed was not plugged in.

There must be a battery pack on this thing.

He sat up and watched the hustle and bustle of the ward as patients and visitors and nurses and doctors went about their business. Other than the rolling tours viewed from his bed, he hadn’t really had a chance to stick his head out into the hall, because he was under strict instructions not to put any weight on his ankle yet, and he didn’t have to get up even to go to the bathroom.

A blond lady that looked a bit like Kelly was leading three girls up the hall towards him, one of whom had her leg in a cast, which was belted onto a scooter-like contraption. The girl with the broken leg looked like the middle child, with a younger sister who was maybe 7 or 8, and an older sister who looked to be about Zack’s age. As they walked up the hall toward the nursing station, Zack tried again to pull his short purple gown down over his diaper, but he had to sit with his hand between his legs, which in the end was probably worse, in terms of the attention it drew, than not doing anything. He settled for crossing his legs and smoothing his gown down as far as it would go, so that only a little triangle of white plastic was exposed. Once again, he jammed his pacifier down the front of his gown. He tried to avoid making eye-contact, but the lady seemed drawn to him, and his cheeks reddened slightly when they came alongside his bed and stopped.

“Hi, I’m Rebecca, and these are my daughters, Bella, Yana and Martha.”

“I’m Zack,” he said, in a low voice.

“If you don’t mind me asking, did you just come out of surgery?”

Zack nodded.

“I could tell by the gown. Yana got one of those as well. We’ve been here for four days, and Yana just got issued this scooter, so that she can move around more. We’ve been walking all over the place. This is much better than being stuck in your bed, isn’t it, Yana?”

Yana smiled and nodded, tucking a strand of her long, light-brown hair behind and ear as she did so.

“I’d imagine you’ll get offered some kind of mobility aid, too, in a day or two, once they’re sure that your repair is on the mend. Yana broke her fibula falling off of a horse at a camp, and they had to put a pin in it.”

Zack made a grimace and said “Ouch…”

Just then, Kelly came walking over from his room.

“Hello, I’m Kelly,” she said, extending a hand.

“I’m Rebecca. I was just telling Zack here that maybe he can look forward to being a little more mobile, once they’re sure he’s healing. Yana here just got this scooter, and we’ve been touring the whole building, because she was bored with being stuck in bed.”

“Oh, that’s nice for you, Yana. Is it fun?”

Yana nodded.

“I bet your sisters wished they could try it out, too.”

Martha nodded, and Bella shrugged.

Kelly, talking mostly to herself, said, “We’ll probably get him a stroller once he’s home, but a scooter would be good for in the house and around the ward.”

Kelly turned her attention back to Zack. With a quick flick, she partly lifted the front of his gown and then let it fall.

“Is your diaper okay?”

Zack’s cheeks turned a deep shade of red, and he nodded.

Rebecca turned to Kelly. “You know, they have children’s diapers that go up to pretty close to his size, I would think. They’re a lot nicer than the big plastic ones they put them in for surgery. I can give you the rest of ours if you like – they gave Yana a couple of bags when we first got here, because she couldn’t get out of bed, but she only needs one more for tonight, and then we’re going home. I was just going to check in with the nurse about getting prescriptions set up, and physiotherapy, before she’s released. Do you want the rest of our stash?”

“Oh, that would be lovely, thank you. The nurse in emerge gave us a few of them when Zack was brought up here, but that was yesterday so there’s only one left. Zack, do you prefer the children’s diapers to that one you’re in now?”

Zack was hanging his head, but nodded slowly.

“Bella, dear, could you run over to the room and bring the bag of diapers from the dresser for Zack here?”

Bella nodded and skipped up the hall, disappearing into a room on the opposite side of Zack’s, before returning a moment later with a bag clutched in her arms. Rebecca took it from her daughter, and pulled out one of the diapers, which she handed to Yana.

“For tonight.”

Yana nodded, and slipped it into a mesh basket on the front of her scooter. Rebecca put the rest of the package down in Zack’s lap, and since his gaze was fixated on the bed directly in front of him, he had a little time to study it. These seemed to be identical to the diapers he’d been wearing since before the surgery, except that they had a different print – butterflies and flowers. The pattern wasn’t exactly to his liking, but then again, neither was the smearing and disappearing wetness dashes that ran up the front of his current diaper, which felt like it went up to his shoulder blades at the back, and well above his navel in the front.

Kelly reached into the bag and pulled one out, fanning it out and laying it on top of the bag.

“These are very pretty, Yana, thank you so much. Zack likes pretty things - will wear them happily.”

Zack was pretty sure that his shoulders and the top of his head were also glowing red, as his hands found the diaper and slowly folded it back up, before stuffing it back into the bag with the rest. Across the rear of the diaper at the top, was written what Zack determined must be the brand: Baby Stages.

“What do you say, Zack? Thanks for the pretty diapers, yes?”

“Thanks for the diapers,” Zack whispered nearly inaudibly.

“You’re welcome, Zack, and it’s just until you can get around a bit, I’m sure.”

Zack bit his lip and didn’t look up at Kelly, willing her not to say anything further.

“Zack’s in diapers all the time at home, so this probably isn’t as big of an adjustment for him, as it was for your lovely daughter, but he’s still getting used to being poked and prodded and changed by all sorts of different people. And these will be much nicer to wear, so thank you for thinking of him.”

Zack felt the gaze of all three girls, plus the woman, and he pulled the bag of diapers into his lap, although concealing the diaper he was wearing with the diapers he was going to be wearing didn’t feel like much of an improvement.

Rebecca nodded and indicated with a tilt of her head that it might be time to leave these people to themselves, so three of them ambled and one of them scooted back to their room.

The chatter behind the nursing desk continued, until eventually a cleaner came out of Zack’s room with a cart of assorted tools and mops, and then Zack’s bed was wheeled into the room and back into its original birth. Kelly picked up the bag of diapers and put it on top of the dresser where the other ones had been, before pulling a few of them out and arraying them like a fanned-out deck of cards.

Tommy waived at him from his bed, but Zack just raised a hand halfway, before closing his eyes. Whatever they were giving him was taking effect again. A nurse came over with a folded blanket from one of the drawers, and draped it over Zack, and he felt finally, mercifully, completely covered. Someone, he assumed it was Kelly, once again pressed a silicon nipple to his lips.

 

______

 

“Pssst… Zack. Zack….. Hello? Earth to moon-station Zack, are you there….?”

Zack heard the deep, familiar voice, and at first thought that he was dreaming, but when he opened his eyes, he saw the light grey stubble of his dad’s face over a business shirt with the tie undone.

“There you are, buddy – how’s it going?”

Zack shook his head to clear the last of the sleep cobwebs from his thoughts. He spit his pacifier onto his chest.

“You came.”

“Well of course I came, buddy, of course. I had to divert over here from the Midwest, so it took me a bit of time, but I had to check in on my main man. How are you doing? Does the ankle hurt much?”

Zack thought about it. There was a distant throbbing coming from down there, but it wasn’t at all overwhelming.

“I’m okay. It hurts a bit, I guess, but they’re giving me stuff for that.”

“I bet they are. I talked to the doctor while you snoozed. Apparently everything went well, and they expect you to get out of here in a couple of days. You’ll be in an air cast for a few weeks, but you should be able to limp around. You won’t be playing much baseball, but, you should still be able to do some stuff with your summer.”

Zack nodded and smiled and asked how his dad’s work was going, and listened to his dad’s reassuring voice as he painted a picture of the big sales meetings he was zooming between, all over the country. Zack didn’t really care about the details, he was just enjoying the company.

A while later, a short, Asian nurse came around the foot of the bed.

“Sorry to interrupt your chat. Zack, is it okay if I have a look?”

Zack wasn’t sure what she wanted to have a look at, but he appreciated that at least she asked, so he nodded. Chris stood up and took a step back so that he wouldn’t be in the way, but the nurse just gave him an ‘it’s fine’ hand gesture, and then she took the blanket Zack was under and rolled it all the way down to the foot of the bed. She examined his cast first, touching his leg just below where it started in a couple of spots.

“Does it hurt?”

Zack nodded. “A little bit.”

“Okay, I’ll give you something for that, but I don’t want you to fall asleep until after you eat dinner, so it won’t be too strong. You’re a growing boy, you need food to heal!”

At the mention of dinner, Zack realized that he was hungry.

“Can I lift your gown?”

Zack lowered his eyes, then lifted it himself, most of the way up to his chest, revealing his diaper, which had swollen and yellowed slightly. The blue dash marks were mostly gone or smeared in the center. Zack was slightly surprised with how wet it was; he didn’t remember wetting it more than once. But, he’d also been asleep in it, so, it was hard to say. He found the uncertainty slightly disconcerting.

“I’m going to get you a new gown and a new diaper. These ones from the surgery are not so comfortable.”

She walked over to the dresser and returned with one of the diapers that the girls had donated to him.

“Can you lift your hips up?”

Zack grunted and pushed up, trying to keep pressure off the damaged leg. The nurse unfolded the diaper and spread the back of it out underneath him, then said “Okay.”

Zack lowered himself. The nurse quickly and expertly tore away the four tabs on the front of the plastic diaper, while Chris busied himself looking at his phone.

“Lift your bum again,” she said.

Sack did another reverse push-up on the bed, and the nurse pulled his old diaper out with one motion, and quickly balled it up before carrying it over to a trash can. She returned with a tub of diaper cream, and proceeded to apply it thoroughly and efficiently, while saying “There we go… just a bit more… there… ahhh… perfect…” to herself.

She pulled the front of the stretchy butterfly diaper up over him and attached the tabs snugly, then she pulled the collar tie loose on his gown, and the lower back tie, which was already undone, fell away as she lifted it over his arms. She detached his soother and placed it on his bedside table, before exiting the room.

Zack found himself sitting in just a diaper for a couple of minutes, chatting with his dad about flight schedules, while Kelly sat on the couch and looked at her phone, before the nurse came back with a longer gown than the one he’d been given after the surgery.

The gown was light blue and had pictures of firetrucks on it, so at least it was for boys, and he still found it a bit shorter than he probably would have preferred. But then again, NO gown was really to his preference, if he had to lounge around in a diaper with strangers coming and going at all hours. But pulling pants on over the bulky air cast was a non-starter, at least for now, and they would need to be pulled down again repeatedly for diaper changes. A gown it would have to be. At least it covered up the girly print, as long as he was careful with how he sat.

Zack’s dinner arrived on a tray at last, and was deposited on his tray table, which his dad wheeled in over his legs so that he could eat the chicken cutlet and mashed sweet potatoes. The taste could be categorized as ‘fine’, no better, but Zack was hungry, and he made the best of it. There was a lemon muffin for dessert, a strange selection, but he didn’t let it go to waste.

After he was done eating, Kelly came over and put a hand on his shoulder.

Oh God, now what…

“Zack, it’s great that you’re eating. That’s something they’re going to want to see, in order for you to be let out of here. That, you getting up and getting around a bit, which we’ll try tomorrow… and, one other thing. They’re going to want to see that your system is up and running after the surgery. Do you know what I mean, Zack?”

Zack gave her a quizzical look.

“They’re going to want you to poop in your diaper, Zack.”

Zack’s head fell and he pushed his tray away from himself.

“Just a little poop, Zack, that’s all. I’ll take your dad down to the coffee shop to see the girls, and pull your curtain over so that you have a little privacy.”

Chris looked at Kelly, then looked at Zack, nodded, gave him a wink, and then they got up and walked out, Kelly pulling the curtain partly around his bed as they went, to block his view of Tommy, although not his view of the door, where people walked back and forth with varying degrees of urgency and purpose.

Zack thought about his ‘assignment’, if it could be called that. He had felt a stirring down below while he was eating, so he was pretty sure that ‘success’, such as it was, was within his reach, if he wanted it. But, on the other hand, he resented being told when to go by Kelly. But sooner or later, he would have had to go, regardless of if anyone asked him to or not, so, with some reluctance, Zack lifted his knees and applied some gentle pressure, focusing his eyes on the window to his right, and the fading light outside of it.

A small amount of flatulence escaped, and then a small bowl movement made its way into his diaper, and then, somewhat to his surprise, another, until he felt like he was done. Gingerly, he extended his legs back out, which was more comfortable for the casted leg in particular. He could feel what felt like small, sticky pancakes in his diaper, which was also now slightly wet.

It was another ten minutes before Kelly came walking back in, this time accompanied by Elaine, Maddy and Sam.

“Your dad and Kim are having a coffee.” Zack nodded.

“So… how’d, uh, ‘it’ go?” Kelly asked at a slow cadence.

“Fine. Everything works.”

“Sit up for me?” Kelly asked, and Zack leaned forward, feeling her pull apart his gown behind him, and pull the waistband of his diaper outward with a finger.

“Good job, Zack, good boy. I’ll let the nurse know that you’ll need one more change before bed, when we head out.”

“At least you get to wear disposables,” Maddy grunted. “This cloth diaper is getting itchy. And it feels like it’s going to slide down to my knees.”

Kelly looked up.

“Maybe you’ve popped a pin, Maddy. Come over here for a sec.”

Regret flashed across Maddy’s face, but she walked over to Kelly obediently.

“Lift your dress, sweetie.”

Maddy lifted the front of her dress and then looked over it to watch as Kelly tugged down the front of her transparent purple plastic panties and examined the pink-headed pins in her diaper.

“Neither of them have opened up, but they’re a bit loose. I’m going to snug them up. And you are a wet little girl, that’s probably most of the reason you’re feeling soggy.”

Kelly fiddled with the right and then the left pin, before drawing the plastic panties back up into place, and then smoothing down Maddy’s dress.

“Better?”

Maddy nodded, and then Kelly got up and went over to the bathroom to wash her hands.

The girls chatted with each other and with Zack for a while, and then they went through the programming options on his bedside TV, settling in on a show about masked performers wearing ornate costumes, some of whom were supposedly celebrities, although even when they revealed who was behind some of the masks, Zack didn’t recognize most of them.

Chris and Kim came back up from the café carrying coffees, and Kelly mentioned to Kim that Maddy was pretty wet, and that there were large changing tables in the public washrooms. Kim thanked her, and had a whispered consultation with Sam, and then she fished around in her purse and pulled out a folded cloth diaper. She announced that they were going to take their leave, as it was a long drive back to the trailer. Maddy’s eyes dropped at the sight of the spare cloth diaper.

Even one of Zack’s baby diapers would have been better.

Chris gave Zack a hug and said that he had to head out as well, to make an early morning flight. Kelly said that she was going to go back to her hotel room to have a hot bath. She pulled a light blue pacifier out of her purse and deposited it on Zack’s bedside table, and picked up the white one, detached the tether, and transferred it over to the blue one.

“A new day needs a new soother,” she cooed, holding it out for Zack, before leaving.  

Once everyone had left, Zack dozed in front of the TV, idly suckling on his soother, while Tommy played video games with headphones on. Sometime later, he woke up, and the lights in the room were dimmed. There was no sound from Tommy’s side of the room. He heard a rustling at the foot of his bed, and realized that the same nurse from earlier was standing there, looking at a clipboard.

“Your mommy told me that you made a poop, is that true?” she whispered.

Zack nodded.

“Did she change you?”

Zack shook his head.

“Oh, sorry, my misunderstanding, I thought when she told me earlier, that she’d changed your diaper at the time. I wouldn’t have left you this long!”

Zack shrugged. “It’th thine,” he said around the paci.

The nurse walked up beside him and pulled the covers down, and Zack lifted the front of his gown.

“Oh, you fit into these? Okay. I thought maybe you were too big for them. Do you like these better, or do you want a bigger diaper?”

Zack recalled the giant plastic diaper from the surgical floor. “I like theeth bether.”

The nurse walked over to the dresser and extracted a diaper from the bag, unfolding it as she walked back. She laid it across Zack’s thighs, then went back to the dresser and returned with diaper cream and wipes.

Zack did another reverse push-up, and she slid the back of the new diaper under his hips, before pulling the tabs back and opening the front up.

“Yup, you need changed, alright.”

Zack put his head back and tried not to look at the nurse while she cleaned him up, applied cream, and then fastened his new diaper. She took the old one over to the bathroom, and went inside, coming out a couple of minutes later, wiping her hands on a piece of paper towel. She looked at her watch, then went and began connecting a small bag to his IV port, which had gone unused for most of the day.

It only took a few minutes from when the bag was hung, for Zack’s eyes to feel heavy, and then he drifted off into deep, dreamless sleep.

[A_Pale_Spirit]

Great chapter as always!

[Andyman3]

This story feels like an anime. Cool story but it goes from fighting the school bully to fighting divine beings.😄

His dad finally dropped by that was wonderful 

[CDfm]

I was so pleased to see the new chapter up. 
Kelly continues to embarrass Zack at every opportunity and I sure feel for him. I am sure Zack was pretty disappointed that his father didn’t do anything to change the way he was being treated.  Dad was most likely thinking it was the hospital driving his treatment due to his injuries.  I wonder if that will change later when they return home and Zack is still being treated like a baby. 
I am already waiting for the next chapter. 

[Andyman3]

This story and all others I follow, please don't stop. 😊

[Tracey]

On 8/25/2023 at 3:27 PM, CDfm said:

I was so pleased to see the new chapter up. 
Kelly continues to embarrass Zack at every opportunity and I sure feel for him. I am sure Zack was pretty disappointed that his father didn’t do anything to change the way he was being treated.  Dad was most likely thinking it was the hospital driving his treatment due to his injuries.  I wonder if that will change later when they return home and Zack is still being treated like a baby. 
I am already waiting for the next chapter. 

No doubt you are right on Dad thinking it was the hospital that had put him in diapers because of his leg injury. 

Chris would have also heard Kelly telling Kim that Maddie was wet and that there were change tables in the bathroom. Then when Kim took a folded cloth baby diaper out of her purse would he not have put all of the pieces of information together at this point and realised that little Maddie was also back in diapers?

A great cliff hanger as well, the look look of panic on Maddie’s face knowing that she was about to have her diaper changed and anyone using the bathroom would get to see she was still a diaper girl.

[Little Sherri]

Chapter 47 – Baby Stages

Zack awakened to sun streaming in through the window, with the full background cacophony of a busy hospital ward. He was vaguely mortified to note that he’d slept with his covers down around his knees, and his diaper visible, and he quickly palmed his pacifier from his mouth and stuffed it under his pillow, when he realized that Tommy had a girl a couple of years older than him visiting, along with his mother. She gave him a smile as he scrambled to pull his blankets up and smooth down his gown.

Damned medication.

A few minutes later, Brenda, the nurse from the previous day, breezed in through the door, pushing a cart that held a blood pressure cuff and thermometer and some other devices that Zack didn’t recognize.

“Good morning, Zack. I won’t ask you how you slept, because I was in to check on you earlier. You were sleeping like a stone. How’s your leg feel today? Any pain?”

Zack thought about it. There was virtually no feedback from his ankle this morning. He shook his head.

“How is your diaper?”

Zack’s cheeks flushed as he saw Tommy’s visitor cast a glance over towards them. He reached under his blanket with one hand and gave it a quick feel. It was slightly wet at the front, but felt dry at the back, with none of the telltale bulk of a diaper that was approaching its capacity. He had no recollection of having used it, but then again, he had slept pretty hard.

“It’s fine.”

Brenda nodded. “Let’s check your blood pressure and your temperature, then.”

Zack extended an arm toward Brenda, and she put a blood pressure cuff on it, which began to inflate itself. She took a thermometer probe from a dock on the side of a monitor on her cart, and inserted it into a disposable tip, before offering it to Zack, who took it under his tongue.

“Looking good, Zack. You’re going to get a visit from Phillip, our physiotherapist, a little later this morning, and he’s going to see about getting you up out of bed, so that you can move around the hospital or go down to the lobby. I’m not sure exactly what he’s going to give you, but we have some pretty cool scooters for people with broken ankles or shins. You won’t have to wear those diapers anymore if you can get around by yourself.”

Zack nodded, but he knew that was a false premise. He’d still be wearing something that taped on. Kelly would see to that.

Almost as though she’d sensed him thinking about her, Zack heard Kelly’s signature shoe clicking coming from the hallway, before she materialized in the doorway, in the company of a middle-aged man who was very tall, and wearing dark blue scrubs. She was carrying a paper shopping bag from a sporting goods store.

“Hi, Zack – this is Phil. Phil, this is Zack. Phil and I ran into each other by the nursing station. He’s going to be working on getting you on your feet.”

Phil walked over to Zack’s bedside, and extended a hand, which Zack shook. Kelly put the bag down on a chair and walked over to stand beside Phil.

“I was just saying to your mom that around now, we typically work on getting patients up and out of bed and going to the bathroom by themselves, but she told me that you’re going to stay in your, uh… briefs, which is fine, that’s up to her. We won’t work on transferring over to the toilet, then, just in and out of bed.”

Kelly nodded. “Zack is going to stay in diapers – he’s also wearing them at home right now. We’re not going to try and tackle that here, with everything else going on, right Zack?”

For the umpteenth time, Zack’s cheeks reddened, as he once again was forced to talk about his juvenile underwear with a stranger, almost before they knew his name. He nodded stiffly and glanced towards Tommy’s side of the room.

“We don’t need any more stress, right? Zack will learn to appreciate his diapers,” Kelly said, as though dispensing the final word on the topic.

Brenda nodded. “There’s more than enough stress around here for everyone!” She pushed her cart over to Tommy’s side of the room. Phil took a ribbon out of his pocket that Zack realized had inches and centimetres on it, and he flipped Zack’s blanket over to the side, so that he could measure from the foot to the knee on his undamaged leg.

“We’ll get you up and about in no time. Give me about a half hour to set something up for you, and I’ll be back.” Phil turned and walked away, leaving Zack to pull his blanket back over himself. He wished his diaper had no print on it, or at least something slightly more neutral than flowers and butterflies. Right about now, he’d have taken the Mighty Diggers or even the Little Lambs. He recalled back to the diapers he’d been given in the ER – they looked the same as these, but had balloons on them. He wondered if they were also made by Baby Stages. He shrugged. It didn’t matter, in the end. A diaper was a diaper. Even if it had a holster and a working gun, he still wouldn’t want to be seen in one by a bunch of people he didn’t know.

Tall, grey-haired Phil returned in about 20 minutes with a contraption that did, indeed look like a scooter, much the same as the one that the blond girl (Yana? Bella?) had had. It was equipped with four small wheels, handlebars, and a basket on the front. Its frame was dark blue, and the padded leg rest was black. He pushed Zack’s tray table away from the bed and positioned the scooter so that it was up against the mattress and perpendicular to it.

With some reluctance, Zack pushed his blankets off to the side.

Stupid Baby Stages…

He did his best to keep his gown over his diaper as he swung his feet over the edge of the bed. Phil placed a hand under Zack’s arm and steadied him as he stood on his good foot, and put the knee of his damaged leg down onto the cushion. Phil adjusted the cushion under his casted leg, and then Zack took a couple of hesitant steps forward, supporting himself with the scooter. It rolled easily, and steering it was intuitive.

“How’s that?” Phil asked expectantly.

Zack had to admit that, although he was self-conscious about how visible his diaper might be in his gown if he was going to be scooting around the floor, nevertheless, it felt good to be up and out of bed. He took a couple of cautious strides around the room, letting the scooter take the bulk of his weight.

“Now, listen, don’t go anywhere near any stairs or escalators on that thing – it’s elevators only. And you need to be careful on inclines or hills that it doesn’t get away from you. Remember to use the brakes if you need them, like on a bike.”

Zack gave the brake lever on the scooter a test pull. It did indeed work just like the brake levers on his bicycle.

Tommy, who was watching from the next bed, gave him a thumbs up. “Cool,” he said. Tommy’s friend gave him a quick smile and turned away.

Kelly walked towards the chair and picked up the bag she’d come in with.

“Zaaaack…” she said in a singsong voice. “I have something for you…” She reached into the bag and withdrew a folded grey square of material, which she shook out, revealing a Seattle Mariners t-shirt.

“I got you this over at the mall last night,” she said. “I figured if you were going to be exploring the hospital, you might not want to have to wear a hospital gown that opens in the back. I got you a medium, rather than a small, so that it would be a little longer. Let’s try it on you.” 

She reached around Zack and untied the strings on the top and middle of his gown, and then pulled it over his arms and tossed it on his bed before he had time to react. Next, she tried to pull the tags off of the t-shirt she’d bought, but one of them was on a sturdy plastic loop with an antitheft tag, that wouldn’t yield to her efforts.

“Let me just run over to the nursing station and borrow the scissors…” Kelly said, as she turned and dashed out. Zack stood, awkwardly perched on his scooter in his diaper, and looked longingly at the discarded gown lying crumpled on his bed, feeling cool air from a vent on the ceiling wash over his shoulders. Unconsciously, his hand went to the tabs on his diaper, and he gave them a press. He fixed his eyes on his scooter. Phil checked the torque on the wheel nuts, then gave him a nod and headed out.

A moment later, Angela came walking through the door, carrying chocolate milk cartons for Tommy and his guest. She gave Zack a smile. Zack blushed and raised a hand in a half-wave. Tommy’s young female visitor looked at Zack briefly, and then looked away in a studied fashion.

I might as well be standing here naked.

He crossed his arms and bit his lower lip.

“Zack, did you want some chocolate milk as well? I should have thought of bringing you one.”

Zack was about to reply when Kelly came walking through the door with the t-shirt, and she answered for him. “Zack is going to go get his own chocolate milk on his nifty scooter, right Zack?”

Zack raised his eyebrows and gave a slight nod.

“Hands up!” Kelly exclaimed, and then pulled the t-shirt down over Zack’s head. She knelt down and tugged the hem of it down until it stretched to the top of his thighs.

“There you go, that’ll work, don’t you think?” She gave the rear of his diaper a light tap with her hand.

As was the case with most of Kelly’s questions, Zack concluded she wasn’t actually looking for an answer. He wheeled his scooter over to the bathroom and pushed the door open. Over the sink was a large mirror that was hung canted slightly forward, probably to aid people in wheelchairs, Zack guessed. The angled mirror allowed him to see most of himself from his position a few feet away.

From the front, his diaper was now almost entirely concealed, although he wasn’t sure if the shirt wouldn’t start riding up with the motions of his good leg as he pushed the scooter along. Turning the handlebars away from the doorway, he moved slightly forward and then looked over his shoulder to see how he looked from behind. There, the t-shirt was less of a success, revealing the puffy triangular lower quarter or so of the seat of his diaper.

At least the shirt isn’t split up the back, and it can’t accidentally come undone…

Zack shuddered and wheeled himself back toward his bed.

“Come on, Zack, let’s get out there and explore a bit! You’ve been on that bed on your back for a couple of days now.” Kelly stood up and placed a hand on the handlebars of his scooter, giving it a push and steering it back towards the door. Zack was forced to keep up with it.

“I’ve got it, Kel.” He placed his hands on the grips and strode decisively forward. He was not going to be dragged along through the halls like a reluctant preschooler on a tricycle.

Turning out into the hallway, Zack took in the bustle and activity from a different perspective. Previously, he’d always been lying down. Lying down in a busy hallway might be a common enough occurrence in hospitals, but, it did feel a bit weird, he thought. Nowhere else do you do that. Kelly placed a hand on his back and gave him a gentle nudge, so he rolled forward again, while at the same time unconsciously reaching back and tugging his new shirt down with one hand while he steered with the other.

As they went up the brightly lit hallway, past the nursing station, Nurse Brenda smiled from behind the desk.

“It’s great to see you up and about, Zack! Go get some exercise. Come back and see me in an hour or so and I’ll check your vitals.”

Kelly nodded. “We’ll go look around for a bit and come back before lunch, for Zack’s meds.”

Zack looked into the open doors of the rooms as he rolled past them. Inside, there were kids of all ages, some sitting with their parents, some playing video games. Some beds were empty but showed signs of having been occupied, with the remains of drinks and food trays on tables.

Further down the hall, there was a little Asian girl sitting in a wheelchair, hooked up to an IV. She waved at Zack as he scooted by, and he smiled back at her.

“Hi, sweetie, how are you?” Kelly asked as they passed.

I’m sure she’s doing just awesome…

Zack didn’t express his thoughts out loud, however.

Kelly hit a green button on the wall at the end of the hall, and one of two large doors powered open, revealing an elevator lobby and a hallway lined with windows that stretched off into the distance. She walked over and punched the down button as Zack scooted up behind her.

“Let’s go down to the lobby and get something from the coffee shop,” she said.

The stainless-steel doors opened a moment later, revealing a boy a bit older than Zack and an older lady, presumably his mother, inside. He gave Zack a nod, but then his eyes widened, as they entered the mirrored interior. Zack was presented with three floor-to-ceiling views of himself, two of which featured the lower portion of the back of his diaper. His hand reached for the hem of his shirt again.

When the elevators doors opened in the lobby, Zack briefly considered not getting out. The ground floor of the hospital looked about as busy as a mall at Christmas, and with about as many children present, as well. Babies and toddlers and schoolkids and teens made their way back and forth from every direction. Despite the experiences he’d had so far, he felt unprepared to enter the throng without pants on, but Kelly’s hand on his lower back forced him to proceed.

“Kelly,” he whispered, “can I go put some shorts on or something?”

“I don’t have anything with me, little man, and anyway, it would be hard to get them on over your cast, and they’d just have to come off again as soon as you need your bum changed. I was going to tell you this later, as a bit of a surprise, but, I ordered you a romper from Mr. Burke at the pharmacy that has snaps up the legs. He’s couriering it to my hotel, so we may have it as early as tomorrow. But in the meantime, this is a children’s hospital, buddy – I bet you half these kids have diapers on, you just don’t know it.”

Yeah, because they also have clothes on.

Zack looked around, and highly doubted Kelly’s calculus. Most of the kids looked completely normal. A few here and there were in wheelchairs or big strollers, or walking using mobility aids, but most of them seemed pretty healthy. Maybe up on the ward, what she said was more applicable. As they joined the milling multitudes, Zack felt more than saw the occasional head pivot towards him. Some of the glances were drawn by his scooter and the large black air cast supported on it, but, he felt certain that his diaper was provoking a lot of involuntary second glances.

As if in response to being on stage, he felt his bladder clench, and then a warmth began to radiate from below. It stopped quickly, and Zack resisted the urge to perform a tactile check, instead opting to again pull his shirt down at the back, for what it was worth.

Eventually, they arrived at a coffee shop with a couple of people in line ahead of them.

“How do you like your shirt?” Kelly asked, as she pulled her wallet out of her purse.

Zack thought about the question. He liked the Mariners, and, it felt like a well-made shirt. He was surprised that she’d gone to the trouble to get it for him. But, at the same time, it could have been made by Gucci, and he’d still have wished he had something else to wear.

“I wish it was longer,” he said simply.

“The large size was out of stock and the XL would have looked like you were wearing a dress…” Kelly let her voice trail off, and then gave him a wink.

“What do you want from the shop?”

Zack looked away and studied the menu items. They seemed to offer everything. Thirty different kinds of coffee, bagels, muffins, donuts, subs, chicken sandwiches. He wondered if they had pizza, but then abandoned that thought. If they did, it probably wouldn’t be very good.

“Can I get like a chocolate chip muffin, and a Coke?”

Kelly shrugged. He guessed that she’d been eyeing a flaxseed organic fiber colon bullet and a green tea or something. But apparently, she was going to acquiesce.

Zack idly looked around the high-ceilinged atrium they were in. It had a giant multicoloured elongated mesh dragon suspended from the ceiling dozens of feet above them. Then, he heard someone say his name behind him, in a vaguely familiar, youngish female voice.

 

[Pierry Louys]

Great chapter like always!!! Love the way the interaction between Kelly and Zack is growing the wrong way for one and another hahahah she thinks she helping and he is miserable ! Hoping zacks dad help a little this situation 

[Andyman3]

Love it. Poor Zach is finished at this point though 

[A_Pale_Spirit]

As usual, excellent chapter!

I love your writing, so descriptive! Looking forward to more like always!

[CDfm]

Loved the new chapter.  I was beginning to wonder if we were going to get any more of the story.  I know life happens and I especially,  need to be grateful for what is being done.  Honestly, I am truly grateful and appreciative of what you have been doing. 
Things just don’t get any better for Zack.  He gets one bright bit of news followed by two not so great.  Yes being mobile is a wonderful thing but knowing the diapers will be there even if he could get to the potty is one of those not so great.  Then learning he gets to flash his juvenile undergarments to the majority of the hospital the second. Now my curiosity is really piqued as well.  Who is behind the female voice coming from a direction sure to allow the person a great view of his wet diaper?  It almost has to be a girl he has had an interest in.

I promise to be very patient as I wait for that nest chapter. 

[Little Sherri]

Thanks for all the kind words. I have a lot of balls in the air so I'm doing my best to keep this going. Hopefully I'll have some more time to dedicate to these things in the fall. I know it sucks when loose ends go untied for weeks; I appreciate everyone's patience. 

[Little Sherri]

I had a heart attack moment just now, where I thought I'd lost about a dozen pages of work, but it was due to my looking at an earlier version of the story. I don't what I would have done. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 48 – Fancy That

“Zack, is that you…?”

Zacks mind returned to earth, and his right hand, acting on autopilot, dropped from the handlebar of his scooter and tugged at the hem of his shirt again. He twisted his head and his torso as far around as he could, to be able to look behind him without having to drive the scooter in a circle. There was a tall woman standing behind them, wearing a long, expensive-looking white leather coat, and beside her was a girl, a bit shorter than Zack, wearing what looked like an identical coat, but in her size. Her blond hair was up in a ponytail, unlike her mothers, which hung over her shoulders.

It was Marian Brown. She’d been in his class last year, but was in another homeroom this year. She was a popular girl, with lots of friends. She rode horses and her dad had a convertible. What were the odds of someone from his school being HERE, now? Apparently, better than he could have imagined.

Zack’s eyes met hers and then found the floor. She had grey suede boots on, just like her mom did.

“Hi, Marian.” His face started feeling hot.

“What are you doing here, Zack?” she asked, sounding somewhat incredulous.

Zack used his left hand, which he’d swung back in his hasty rotation, and directed a finger at his cast. “I, uh, broke my ankle at my, uh, cousin’s cottage.”

He could see Marian studying the contraption he was balanced on, taking in his cast… and then, taking in his outfit. Zack’s eyes fixated on her phone, which she was holding at her side, in her right hand. Marian knew a lot of people. She had a lot of friends.

“Oh, uh, gosh, Zack, uh, I’m… really sorry. Did you get hurt pretty badly?”

Kelly jumped into the conversation before Zack could answer.

“Hi, Marian – I remember you from one of the school trips last year!”

Marian looked up at Kelly. “Hi.”

Marian’s mom was studying her own phone, and looked up briefly to give them a quick smile and a ‘one sec’ gesture with her finger.

“Yup, he did a pretty good job on himself,” Kelly continued. “He had to have surgery because one of his bones tried to escape from inside him.”

“Wow… I’m sorry to hear that, Zack… but you… you’re doing okay now? You’re allowed to move around…?”

Zack nodded, not sure where to go with the conversation. The obvious next question was ‘So, why are you in the lobby, wearing what appears to be a diaper…’, but Marian didn’t say it out loud. But he could see it in her eyes.

“What are you folks doing all the way up here?” Kelly asked.

Marian’s mother lowered her phone for a moment. “Her brother Martin – he’s my youngest – is having an infusion. It’s immunotherapy. He has pretty severe allergies. We come up here four times a year for a couple of days.”

Kelly smiled. “Well, we were up here at a cottage when Zack decided to play Tarzan on a rope swing, and he landed on some rocks. This was the closest hospital with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. How is Martin doing?”

“He’s getting on well, thank you for asking. The infusions make a huge difference. Otherwise, he’d have eczema to the point where his hair was falling out, from some kind of environmental allergy, they’re not sure what causes it. He has a hair-trigger immune system, apparently. But he’s pretty much living the life of a normal eight-year-old these days.”

“Well, glad to hear it. We’re hoping Zack will be back to living the life of a normal eleven-year-old in a few weeks, aren’t we, little man?”

Zack nodded glumly, his cheeks burning perceptibly. He wished that he could turn around completely, and take his diaper out of direct view, but it would have been even more conspicuous to do a wide turn and then come back into line, facing backwards. He settled for pulling at his shirt again, but then saw Marian’s eyes flick to his hand. The intensity of the moment caused him to feel that he needed to pee.

Just then, the person at the cash register in front of them moved off to the side, and the man behind the counter said “Can I help who’s next?”

Kelly flashed her bright white teeth.

“Well, it’s been good seeing you! I’m glad to hear that everything is going well with your little boy. Marian, come by the house and visit my little boy if you want to – we’ll be home in a couple of days, hopefully.”

Kelly strode up to the counter and started talking to the cashier.

Zack raised his eyes from the floor and chanced a glance at Marian again. “Uh, bye, Marian,” he said in a low voice. Then he turned and wheeled himself up beside Kelly. He imagined that he could feel Marian’s eyes burning into his back. As he looked over the assortment of muffins and donuts and bagels in a display case next to the cash register, he realized that he could make out a dim reflection of the scenery behind him, in the glass. Marian had her phone up in front of her and was staring at it and seemed to be typing something with her thumbs. Then she looked up and steadied the phone for a brief moment, tilting it slightly more vertically. Zack locked eyes with her in the reflection, then blinked and turned away.

Did she take a picture…?!?

Zack wasn’t hungry anymore. With a sigh, he felt himself start to wet, and felt his diaper subtly expand in response. He imagined that Marian could actually see his diaper expanding. It was becoming hard to breath.

 

_________

 

The rest of the lobby tour was a blur in Zack’s mind. Kelly led him through a gift shop, past a flower shop, and an optical place, a pharmacy, a snack counter, and a seating area. People crisscrossed back and forth like it was a popular destination. Zack caught a glimpse of Marian and her mom crossing the lobby again after they’d sat down somewhere with their food, but he dropped his eyes and hoped that they wouldn’t notice him. After a period of repeatedly tugging on his down his shirt, his hand drifted back up to the handlebars, and Zack tried to stop thinking about how much of his diaper was visible. He could feel it sagging a bit, behind him. He decided that it didn’t really matter – anything more than zero percent was the same as one hundred percent, when you’re wearing a diaper.

Eventually, Kelly selected a table near a window, and helped him steady his scooter so that he could sit down. Zack realized as his diaper was pressed into him that it was notably wet, but he didn’t know what to do with that information, so he said nothing. Kelly pushed the scooter up against the windows so that it was out of the walking path, and then sat down and started looking at her phone. He looked out the window, watching cars and taxis and the occasional city bus or ambulance drive along the roadway that led to the main entrance.

After some time in silence, Kelly suggested they should head back upstairs and check in with the nurse, in case he needed any medication or was due for a chart update. She walked the scooter back over to him, and as she was helping Zack get his cast positioned onto it, she reached down and gave his diaper a gentle pat, which startled him.

“You’re getting pretty wet buddy, let me see that wetness indicator…”

She reached down in front of him and pulled up the hem of his shirt. The subtle yellow line running behind the flowers and butterflies had turned blue. Zack blinked. He hadn’t even realized it was there. Kelly held his shirt up, as though expecting him to offer a review of what he saw. Zack was acutely aware of all the people filing by, and he raised wet eyes to meet Kelly’s. After a moment, she dropped the front of his shirt.

“I think we should head over to a washroom, because your bottom is soaked, little man.”

That idea was even more startling to Zack then the unexpected contact.

“Wha…. What? Can’t we just go back up to my room?”

“I’m not having these lovely nurses thinking that I’m taking this week off, and leaving them to manage your diapers, Zack. I’m your stepmom and it’s as much my job to change you as it is theirs.”

She reached into her purse and partially extracted another Baby Stages diaper, to show him that she was prepared, before dropping it back inside.

Confusion and an element of panic started welling up inside Zack.

“But how are you going to….” he couldn’t bring himself to say the words ‘change me’. “How are you going to do that in a washroom? I can’t fit on a baby changing table.”

“I’d have a hard time changing you on a baby table, Zack, you’re right about that, not to say that it wouldn’t be possible. But, here, let me show you something.”

Kelly got up, placed a hand on Zack’s handlebars, and began towing him across the lobby, forcing him to stride along. He thought about using the brakes on the scooter, but concluded that would have angered Kelly but not likely changed the outcome. Glumly, he continued his one-legged progress.

Kelly walked up to the women’s washroom, and this time, Zack did slam on the brakes, interrupting Kelly’s march.

“I can’t go in there!” Zack hissed. Kelly looked at him, rolled her eyes, and then walked over and pushed the bathroom door open.

“Hello? Hello? Is anybody in here?” Her voice echoed in the tiled room. There was no response. “Hello, I’m coming into the room to change my son’s diaper, if anyone can hear me. There’s going to be a little boy over by the sinks.”

Kelly turned and looked at Zack. “Happy? There’s nobody inside. Now let’s go.”

Zack hesitated, so Kelly reached into her purse and began extracting the diaper again. “Do you want me to change you out here…?” she said in a perfectly amicable tone that nevertheless made Zack’s blood run cold. He rolled forward and through the door she was holding open for him.

Inside, the washroom looked more or less like any other he’d been in, with a bank of sinks along part of the opposite wall, and then a row of stalls. An absence of urinals was the only difference that he could see. That, and, what looked like a stretcher mounted on the wall, flipped up on its side.

Kelly walked over to it, pulled a release somewhere, and the stretcher folded down until it was horizontal, looking like a canvas army bed that was suspended from a metal box. Then, she pushed a button on the box, and it emitted a whirring sound. Its action was so gradual that it took Zack a moment to realize that the army bed was lowering itself toward the floor. Kelly stopped holding the button when the bed was level with knees.

“Here you go, little man – they have tables for bigger babies, too. No need to break my back lifting you, either. Hop onto the changing table.”

With great reluctance, Zack propelled the scooter over towards the changing table, pulling alongside it, and then standing on his good leg, pivoting, and sitting down, as though on a park bench.

“Lie back,” Kelly said in an encouraging tone. Zack turned on his butt, and swung his legs up, and then reclined. It felt weird to be lying down in a public washroom. Very weird. Sparkling LED pot lights shined down on them. Kelly gave the scooter a push, and it rolled a few feet away, then she held down the other button on the metal box, and it whirred again, causing the bed to rise, until it was at hip level on Kelly.

She reached down and pulled his t-shirt up so that it was up under his armpits, and then she pulled a brown cloth strap across his chest and clipped it into a buckle on the other side of the table. She removed the new diaper out of her purse again, and unfolded it, then reached back in and produced Zack’s purple pacifier, which she brought to his mouth. Zack squeezed his eyes shut as he accepted it.

“Bum up, Zack,” she said, and then slid the back of the diaper under him once he complied, so that it was underneath his wet diaper. Next, she pulled the tabs off the left and then the right side of his diaper with quick motions. Zack lifted his hips again without being asked, and she extracted the wet diaper, folded it in on itself, and then put it between his feet on the table, before folding the front of the new diaper up, and then applying the tab to his left side.

She was just about to reach over to his right hip and begin fastening that side, when the bathroom door glided open almost silently on its hydraulic arm.

Marian’s mom stepped partway through the door and then stopped suddenly.

“Oh, sorry, excuse me!”

“Not at all, we’re almost done. You can come in – he’s decent again. I’m just changing his bum.”

Marian’s mom looked unsure, but eventually proceeded forward, holding the door behind her until Marian could follow her in. Marian stopped briefly as well, when she took in the scene, and her mom motioned her to step in quickly, so that they could allow the door to close. The sounds of the lobby died down as the door swung shut.

Zack started to try to sit up, got caught by the safety strap, then fell back down into a prone position again, and swung his forearm over his eyes. His cheeks glowed red and his breathing became slightly hitched. His pacifier pulsed with each breath.

“We just wanted to wash our hands after being all around the hospital. I’m Loraine, by the way. I won’t ask to shake your hand just now…” She smiled and cast a glance over at the spent diaper between Zack’s heels. Kelly chuckled.

“Good enough. I’m Kelly. I’ve seen your daughter around the school.” As she spoke, she finished diapering Zack, who seemed to be attempting to burrow his head into the crook of his elbow.

Loraine walked over to one of the sinks and turned on the water, waiting for it to warm up. “Nice to meet you. Is this…. Is his current condition a result of the fall?”

Kelly smiled, and Marian took a couple of steps forward, so that she was between the sinks and the changing table.

“No, Zack’s been having some issues with anxiety and paying attention to the signals that his body is sending him. We’re working on it with a specialist back in town.” Kelly made a grasping, tickling motion with her right hand in the middle of Zack’s belly. “All done, little man. I’m just going to toss your wet little diaper.”

She picked up the folded plastic ball from between his feet and walked over to a trash receptacle near the door. Loraine finished washing her hands and then pulled a paper towel out of a dispenser.

“Marian, dear, please wash your hands,” she said.

Marian had been standing, riveted, looking at Zack with wide eyes. She shook her head as though to clear it, and went over to a sink. Kelly walked back over to the box on the wall and held down the button that lowered the platform. Zack stayed in his position, head turned toward the wall, face pressed into his bent elbow. Once it was at its lowest point, Kelly went and washed her hands.

Marian, having dried hers hands, walked tentatively over towards Zack again. He remained motionless on the changing table. She could read the words ‘Baby Stages’ on the front of his diaper, over a panel filled with flowers and butterflies, printed on white plastic. The air around him had a fresh scent to it.  His eyes were clamped shut and his pacifier partly obscured his facial expression

“Zack…” she started, then stopped, unsure of what to say. Zack’s chest rose and fell, and she heard him expel a ragged breath. “It’s okay, Zack. Don’t feel bad. I hope you’ll feel better soon.”

“Well, we’d better leave you to it,” Loraine stated. “It was nice to meet you, Kelly. Zack, feel better soon.” With that, she turned and pulled the bathroom door open with the paper towel that she had in her hand, and held it so that Marian could pass through.

“Bye Zack – see you back at home.” Marian walked through the door with her mom close behind her, and then the door hissed softly shut behind them.

“Come on, drama boy, let’s get you up before someone else needs to use the bathroom. Or would you like to stay here and have a good cry?”

Kelly unbuckled the safety strap, and Zack sat up into a sitting position and swung his legs onto the floor. He briefly tried to stand up on his cast, but then winced and sat back down again. Kelly wheeled the scooter up in front of him, and he put his cast onto its platform, before smoothing down his shirt as best he could. He waited for Kelly to open the door, glaring at it with red eyes over the shield of his soother, and refusing to meet hers.

 

[A_Pale_Spirit]

Wow, great chapter!

I can't get enough of this story, your writing is excellent like always! Definitely keeping me looking forward to more!