Trapped 1

'But mom, that's ridiculous!' pleaded Jeremy.

He was 13 now, and could not believe what his mother wanted him to do.

'Look, Jer,' said Mrs Wilson, sitting opposite her son in the pleasant family room of the house they shared with Jeremy's half-sister Sonia, ' Young Mikey has had a terrible few months. The very least we can do is to make him feel comfortable and relaxed while he's here. It's just for two weeks.'

The Mikey in question was Jeremy's cousin. He was six years old and had suffered the tragic loss of both of his parents a few months earlier. His emotional reaction to the tragedy had been severe, and he was still finding his way out, the psychiatrists said, of a tangle of physical and psychological problems. Hence his regression to bedwetting.

'So,' Mrs Wilson explained, 'To make Mikey feel more secure while he's here, I'm asking you to wear something similar to what he does. Just at night. Mikey will be in the enclosed porch off your room, and he needs to feel that everything is as normal as it can be.'

'Wetting your bed at six is normal?' asked Jeremy.

'Well, no,' said his mother. 'That's the point. But he needs to feel that things are going normally. His wetting is actually decreasing, but he still gets very anxious thinking that he is out of place. Please be mature about this, Jeremy.'

'Just at night?' Jeremy said.

He could just imagine his step-sister finding out. Sonia was 16, but acted (she thought, Jeremy reminded himself crossly) that she was about 25. She treated Jeremy like a kid as it was. The last thing she needed was more reason to do it, even if wearing something as crazy as diapers was in a good cause.

'Sonia won't know about this, will she?' asked Jeremy.

'Of course not,' said Mrs Wilson.


A few days later, Jeremy was helping set up Mikey's bed in the enclosed porch, plastic mattress cover and all.

'I'm not having a mattress cover like that am I?' asked Jeremy, looking at his mom as they set up the little bed.

'Not unless you need it,' laughed Mrs Wilson.

Jeremy had to remind himself that he was only going to be wearing a diaper, not using one. He hadn't wet the bed since he was a baby. Well, he thought, there had been one or two exceptions, but only when he was very tired. He certainly hadn't needed to go back into a diaper at any stage.

Late in the afternoon, Mrs Wilson's sister Fran brought Mikey to his new home for the next few weeks.

Fran had been looking after the boy since his parents' death, but she had some unalterable travel plans, hence the move for Mikey.

Jeremy looked at Mikey.

'Hi Jer!' said the six year old. 'I'll be sleeping here!'

'Yep,' replied Jeremy without much interest.

Mikey immediately begged Jeremy to help him unpack the box of toys he had brought with him.

'Go on, Jeremy,' his mother urged him.

'And thank you, Fran,' she said warmly to her sister. 'It's been awful for all of us, hasn't it, but at least now Mikey is starting to show some improvement, or at least that's what the doctor told me.'

The two women watched the six year old and Jeremy as they lugged the boxes of toys towards Jeremy's room.

'Did you speak to Jer about the, you know, the diapers?' Fran said quietly.

'Yes,' said Jeremy's mom. 'He wasn't very happy about it, but he saw sense. I've got all the necessary items in the cupboard in the hall and in the second bathroom.'

'I hope it helps,' said Fran. 'He's still wetting most nights, but not every night any more. And he's having less daytime accidents too. I've still got him in trainers, but he often goes a whole day without wetting. I have to remind him though.'

'Oh,' said Jeremy's mom. 'I didn't know he was wearing anything during the day. I'll have to see if Jer will wear something too. The idea is to let Mikey see that what he wears is quite normal, after all.'

'Mm,' said Fran. 'Psychological tactics - the doctor knows what she's doing, I suppose. Anyway, we'll be able to see how well it's working after a few days, perhaps. All of Mikey's special pants etc are in the big yellow bag in your room,'

'Well,' added Fran, 'I'd best be going. I'll call you from darkest Canada.'

The sister embraced, and soon Jeremy's mom was left to sort out her enlarged family.


The first night Mrs Wilson diapered Jeremy was a little awkward.

After asking Jeremy to have a shower, Mrs Wilson worked it so that she was waiting in his room when he returned wrapped in his towel. Mikey was sitting on the spare bed in Jeremy's room, chattering away as he played with a brown teddy bear. He seemed oblivious to the thick terry triangle laid out on Jeremy's bed.

'OK, off with your towel and on the bed please Jer,' said Mrs Wilson.

Jeremy balked when he saw the thick, white terry and the Johnson's baby powder in his mom's hand.

'Mom, not those baby things!' he said in alarm. 'I thought you were getting those things that just pull on!'

'I know we talked about that, Jer, but Mikey was brought up in terry diapers, and so you'll have them too,' Mrs Wilson said firmly.

'But he's not wearing them now is he?' said Jeremy. 'Look.'

'No, he's got disposables on at present. That's what Fran put on him for the trip here. He's dry, so he'll have them tonight. Fran ahs left a whole bag of things for him, so there will be his proper diapers in there. Now, please Jer,' his mom said. 'Just be grown up and helpful about this, will you?'

Mikey hadn't really grasped what was going on, but he sat watching his big cousin and Auntie Ann with some interest.

Jeremy slid off the towel and tried to get onto the bed as discreetly as possible. In fact, he didn't have much to hide. Like his dad, he was a late developer, and barely had peach fuzz on his cheeks let alone pubic hair. His modest equipment still reflected childhood rather than any growing adulthood. Jeremy had occasionally caught sight of his sister naked over the years. Sonia, with her different father, had started menstruating at nine, and was wearing an adult bra by the time she was twelve. It seemed to Jeremy that his sister had always had a thick bush of hair down there, while his own smooth groin made him feel ten years younger than her rather than the three it was.

Mikey giggled.

'Is Jer a baby?' he asked.

'No sweetie,' said Ann Wilson. 'All boys need to wear something at night, just like you do.'

She continued to diaper her son.

'Up, please,' she ordered, and Jeremy grimaced as he lifted his hips.

The memories came flooding back for Jeremy. He knew what came next.

Ann tugged the plastic pants up over Jeremy's thick diaper.

'There you are, honey,' she said with a smile. 'All ready for bed.'

She turned to Mikey.

'Are you still dry, Mikey?' she asked.

'I haven't wet all day, and I was dry last night too. I got pull-ups now,' he said proudly.

'Jer Jer got to wear a diaper,' he said to no-one in particular.

Jeremy cringed as his mother helped him into bed. He hadn't been called jer Jer for years.

'It's Jeremy,' he snarled at Mikey as Ann led the boy through to his new bed.

Jeremy tried to get comfortable with the unaccustomed bulk around his middle and between his legs. Fortunately, he was quite tired, and after a few minutes thinking angrily of having to wear the stupid diapers and hoping his sister wouldn't see them, he realised that he was actually doing something good by helping Mikey. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Trapped 2

Not long after he'd gone to sleep, Jeremy woke. The room was oddly light, and Jeremy sleepily realised that there was now a small night light in his room.

He heard again the sound which had woken him. It was Mikey, whimpering in his sleep. Jeremy turned his face to his pillow, and tried to get back to sleep.

The whimpering continued on and off, and it wasn't until the early morning that Jeremy managed to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. As a result, he woke still tired, but couldn't remember the night's interruptions.

'Come on, Jeremy, it's after eight o'clock,' his mother was saying.

Jeremy groaned and turned to the wall.

'Mikey's up and dressed, and I haven't got all day to fuss over you,' Ann said.

Jeremy climbed out of bed. He felt again the unaccustomed bulk of his diaper under his pyjama pants. He put his hand to his crotch, just to be sure he hadn't actually used the strange garment. He felt as annoyed as he had been when his mom had diapered him the night before.

He complained to her about having to wear the ridiculous daiper, and there was a short reprise of the discussion of the night before.

'So just get into the shower,' Ann said, helping her son off with his pyjamas.

'I can do it, mom,' he said grumpily.

'And take a week,' she replied, unpinning the diaper Jeremy had finally exposed.

Out of the habit of long ago, Ann checked the diaper and found it was dry.

'Good boy,' she said, and rolled her eyes at Jeremy scowled response.

Jeremy heard Mikey running around the house as he trudged to the bathroom.

Once more, Ann Wilson was waiting in her son's bedroom as he returned from his shower. Jeremy looked angrily at what she had in her hands.

'Mom, it's just at night, ok?' he said.

'Jeremy, Mikey wears something every day, and I think if we're going to help him, you should too. Just one thickness, you'll hardly notice and I think he will feel a lot better if he knows you're dressed as he is. We're trying to help him, remember?' she said. 

Jeremy was too tired to put up much resistance, and lay back on the bed while his mom powdered and diapered him, this time with a single terry diaper and the plastic pants again.

'Mom what if I need to go to the bathroom?' Jeremy asked.

'Just let me know and I'll help you,' said Ann. 'I don't want you making a mess of pulling these around.'

Jeremy grunted in reply.

A few minutes later, he stood and looked anxiously at his reflection in the mirror. He definitely looked bulky around the crotch and backside of the track pants his mother had given him.

'Look mom, you can see it,' he said.

'Well, that's for Mikey's benefit, isn't it?' she said. 'But he would only notice because we've told him you wear a diaper too. No-one else would even know. Now hurry up. Breakfast is ready.'

Jeremy walked slowly to the breakfast table. With every step he felt self-conscious and stupid. He could feel the thickness between his legs. It felt unnaturally warm down there, and he could even hear the damn plastic pants crinkling. He was glad his sister was away for a few more days.

'Jer Jer!' said Mikey excitedly as Jeremy sat at the table.

Mikey's pleasure at seeing the older boy underlined to Jeremy the unwanted comradeship that the six year old felt was between the pair. Worse, Jeremy felt it it as well. There were two people in the house who wore diapers. Mikey and 'Jer Jer'. The other person wore normal, adult underclothes. Jeremy wondered how his mom would feel if she had to wear daipers. He took the plate of cereal from his mom with considerably bad grace and began eating in silence, ignoring Mikey's chatter.

Ann gave both boys fresh fruit after their cereal. Mikey was complaining that Jeremy wouldn't answer him.

'Why should I?' Jeremy said to his mom when she asked him to talk to Mikey. 'He's just a stupid kid and he's talking a bunch of crap anyway.'

Ann looked shocked.

'Jeremy Wilson, you will not behave like a brat at my breakfast table. Remember what we are trying to do for Mikey. Now I want you to talk to him. You can talk to your friends anytime about what you want. But here and now, I want you to talk to Mikey. He needs to feel part of everything. Equal with you,' Ann said, looking at her son.

'More like me equal with him,' thought Jeremy.

'Well?' said Ann, still standing at the table.

Mikey launched into a commentary on his teddy bear.

'Well, join in, please Jer,' said Ann. 'We're here to help him, don't forget.'

Jeremy reluctantly offered his opinion of the teddy bear. He knew the particular bear well. It had once been his own.

'Simple words and concepts, please Jer,' said Ann, listening to Jeremy saying that he had outgrown the bear and had substituted a baseball bat for it. 'He's only six. You know how six year olds talk.'

Jeremy felt angry but too tired to argue, so he tried to respond as his mother had asked.

'I like teddy too,' he found himself saying. 'He's good.'

Mikey's face lit up at Jeremy's response. It was a good teddy and it was good that Jer Jer liked him too.

Ann smiled, and looked at Jeremy.

'See?' she said. 'It's not so hard, and you know you're helping him.'

Jeremy persevered. He and Mikey talked about the fruit, how sweet it was, and how big the glasses of orange juice were. It really wasn't so difficult. All you had to do was put your mind in neutral and see things in the simplest, most obvious way. It was quite relaxing, in a funny way.

Ann  watched from the kitchen as Jeremy talked to teddy when Mikey held the bear up on the table and said a squeaky 'hello' on its behalf to Jeremy.

'Not on the table, please kids,' Ann said as the teddy knocked over an empty glass. 'On the floor if you want to play.'

Jeremy shot her a look, but Ann smiled and nodded towards Mikey. Jeremy grimaced, but decided he'd better go on with the charade. It wasn't too hard to take, after all, and was better than cleaning his room, which he usually had to do after breakfast.

Mikey had found some more toys, and soon the pair were happily playing away.

'No, Jer Jer play!' Mikey said as Jeremy stood up a few minutes later.

Ann caught the child's tone, and asked from the kitchen where Jeremy was going.

'The bathroom, mom,' said Jeremy.

'Did you wet your didee?' queried Mikey, who had been pleased to see that Jer Jer had on a didee just like him.

'No,' said Jeremy in embarrassment and left the room.

Ann caught up with him as he reached the bathroom door.

'Mom, I can go to the bathroom by myself,' said Jeremy crossly.

'Not with your diaper on,' replied Ann. 'Come into your bedroom and I'll help you.'

Once again, Jeremy found himself laying back on his bed while his mother removed his diaper. She followed her half-naked son to the bathroom.

'Sit down, please,' she said when her son stood in front of the toilet to pee.

'Mom!' said Jeremy.

'Mikey sits if he uses the toilet, and I don't want him to catch you standing there. He'll want to do it as well,' Ann said.

Jeremy grumbled, but sat on the seat. Ann went back to the bedroom, and rediapered her son when he had done his business.

'All dry?' said Mikey, mimicking his own late mother's words when Jeremy returned to  the family room.

'Yep,' said Jeremy unhappily as he sat on the floor again, conscious as before of the padding around his butt and crotch.

Half an hour later, Ann announced to the boys that they were going to the park.

'Mom,' said Jeremy, 'I can't go like this!'

Ann told her son that he was the only one who felt uncomfortable about what he was wearing, that no-one else would notice, that he should think of Mikey's needs before his own at the moment, and that there were never many people in the park.

So the trio climbed into Ann's SUV and headed for the big park a few miles away.

It was pleasant enough at the park. Jeremy found it quite relaxing to indulge in the simple play activities of their young guest. He was glad no-one he knew could see him as the two boys played in a sandpit under a big oak tree. He actually regretted it when Ann told them it was time to go home.

On the way back, Mikey announced that he had wet his didee. Jeremy needed to go too, and wished he could do the same thing as Mikey. As it was, once they were home Jeremy was jumping from foot to foot in the need to go as he waited impatiently for Ann to get Mikey inside so she could help him. It was all he could do not to pee as she was taking off his diaper, and he sat in relief on the toilet, deciding to make sure he went before their next trip out.

That night, Mikey ensured that Jeremy had another fitful night's sleep. Again, it was well into the small hours before Jeremy found proper rest, falling into a sleep so deep that the signals from his bladder didn't wake him. Jeremy soaked his diapers, and wet again just after dawn. As well as drenching the double diaper he was wearing, he wet a large oval on his sheets and mattress.

Jeremy woke to find himself and his bedding saturated. The combination of lack of sleep and shock at his infantile act brought on, for the first time in years, fulsome tears of anger and distress.

'Did you wet?' asked Mikey in his childish voice when Jeremy's crying woke him.

Jeremy didn't answer.

'I dry,' said Mikey proudly as Ann came quickly into the room.

'It's alright baby,' she said to her son. 'Mikey, go and play in the big room while I change Jer Jer.'

Ann was not happy to find the extent of Jeremy's accident. She accepted what had happened - in fact putting Jeremy back in diapers had seemed strange, only half the job, unless he used them. She understood that her son was in an unusual situation, but older boys wetting wasn't unheard of, and, she thought as she helped her still sniffling son out of his wet diaper and into the shower, it would probably help Mikey even more to know that Jer Jer used his diaper just like he did.

While Jeremy was in the shower, Ann arranged a new diaper for him on the bed. She would have to get a mattress protector, she thought, and maybe it would be best to put Jeremy in triple diapers at night from now on. It gave her a warm feeling, knowing that her son really did need his mommy, and wasn't really the aloof youngster he had shown signs of becoming over the last year or so.

Ann got everything ready on the bed for Jeremy, then picked up one of the soft toys Mikey had dropped on the floor. It was another of Jeremy's old favourites, and Ann set up the yellow plush bear against her son's pillow, just as she remembered doing years before.

Jeremy was quiet as Ann rediapered him. She went for a double diaper just in case. They weren't going out today. Jeremy's track pants only just stretched over the increased bulk, and he complained as he stood up that it was hard to walk.

'Never mind,' Ann told him, 'We'll be here alone today, and you can sit on the floor with Mikey all day if you want. Anyway, come and get your breakfast.'

Jeremy waddled into the kitchen, and sat with Mikey at the breakfast table. He flet a good inch taller sitting on his well-padded buns. Once again, Ann insisted he talk to Mikey, and once again, Jeremy soon found himself able to talk happily at Mikey's level, especially now that they had the previous day's trip to the sandpit in common.

After breakfast, the pair sat on the floor with Mikey's toys and some of Jeremy's old ones that Ann had brought in from the boxes in the garage. Jeremy found it good to see the old toys with which he had spent so many pleasant hours. The memories came flooding back and Jeremy spent a happy morning showing Mikey all his old favourites. He was interested to compare his toys with Mikey's, and the two babbled away to each other about this bear or that plastic truck.

By mid-morning Mikey needed a change. Jeremy realised he needed to pee as well, and found he had left it a little late as Ann took off his diaper. He was a little damp, not much, just because he was so engrossed in the toys he hadn't seen for years.

Ann unpinned the double layers of wet terry frrom her son and dropped them in the washing machine. She realised that she needed a diaper pail. Fran hadn't left one, as she had graduated Mikey to disposable pull-ups. He was wetting only three or four times a week now, and only occasionally during the day, so the pull-ups were quite economical.

Both Jeremy and Mikey were in only their tops as Ann rediapered them in Jeremy's bedroom. She helped Mikey on with his pull-ups, and then turned to her son.

Jeremy was very quiet as he realised that while Mikey wore relatively thin dipsoable pull-ups, which could almost be mistaken for regular underpants, he was pinned into full baby diapers and plastic pants. He complained to Ann and had to blink back the tears when she said that she had bought a lot of terry diapers for him and wasn't about to spend more on disposable pull-ups as well. She added that the exercise of helping Mikey was just as effective with him in proper diapers.

Later that morning, Jeremy was in tears again when Mikey innocently asked him when he was going to be old enough to wear pull-ups. 'When will you be six?' Mikey had asked. Fortunately, Ann had not seen Jeremy's new episode of crying.

Mikey had apparently decided that he was older than Jeremy, and it wasn't long before Jeremy realised how Mikey saw things. Mikey had begun telling Mikey what to do as they played.

Put out, Jeremy objected, and a childish argument broke out between the two. Ann heard the commotion, and settled it by telling Jeremy in no uncertain terms to behave and not to be mean to Mikey, that he was their guest and that Jeremy should go along with his wishes while he was here. Jeremy remonstrated, but eventually had no choice but to fall in with Mikey's directions when he gave them.

Jeremy cried himself to sleep that night, hugging his bear for comfort. Again, he kept waking, and once more thoroughly wet himself when he finally did fall into a proper sleep.

Jeremy knew things were going badly wrong for him when he woke in a heavy, sodden triple diaper.

Mikey was already up and about, praising himself for another dry night.

Ann called out from the kitchen to her son.

'Jeremy, breakfast as soon as you've had your shower. Are you dry, honey?'

Jeremy fought back tears as he replied that he wasn't. In his confusion and unhappiness he couldn't help wetting again as he waited for Ann to come and take off his diaper. He felt the pee coursing across his already clammy thighs and groin. He didn't care. He began crying in earnest as he kept peeing.

'I'll get your mommy. You wet your didee,' Mikey squeaked and rushed off, meeting Ann at the bedroom door.

'Jer Jer needs didee change,' he said, looking up at Ann.

'I know, honey, why don't you just go and play, and I'll change him and then we'll all have breakfast.,' she told the child.

'I was all dry last night,' Mikey said.

'You were too, sweetie, now please go and play while I change Jer Jer,' Ann said, herding Mikey out into the hallway and towards the family room.

'It's ok, honey,' she said to her weeping son. 'Mommy will help you and you'll be all nice and dry in a nice new didee.'

Jeremy swung himself out of bed and stood for a moment before lying back for Ann to remove his diaper. He felt the heavy, wet towelling sagging inside his plastic pants before he lay down.

'You're very wet, baby, aren't you?' said Ann softly.

'Yes mommy. I'm sorry,' Jeremy managed.

'That's ok baby,' said Ann, sitting on the bed and stroking her son's hair. 'That's why you've got a didee on, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Jeremy said quietly after a moment, and began crying again.

Jeremy spent most of the day playing on the floor with Mikey. It was fun, and he thought how different it was than school. School was still many weeks away, but Jeremy wondered why they didn't include at least some simple play time amongst the boring lessons. He had forgotten how relaxing it was to just play.

Mikey was fun to play with. He always wanted to have the train engine, or be the fireman or whatever, but he it was still good fun. The two talked mostly about the games they were playing, although Mikey asked when Jeremy was going to school, saying that he was going next year. When Jeremy said he went to school already, Mikey had giggled and said 'Not daycare, I been to daycare, I mean big school. No diapers big school.'

Since Jeremy was sitting opposite Mikey with his legs apart as they played, and since Ann ahd put him into a thick, double diaper whose bulk and even fabric were unmistakeable beneath the pair of her old shorts, he could hardly claim to be in big school. 'Soon,' Jeremy had replied after a pause.

'When you're six like me,' Mikey said and got to his feet.

'Where are you going?' asked Jeremy, feeling vaguely upset at being left alone.

'Bathroom,' said Mikey. 'I got big boy pants on. Annie said.'

Jeremy felt a wave of shame pass over him. Mikey wasn't wearing a diaper. He should have noticed. Conscious of his own padded arrangements, he suddenly realised he was wet. He couldn't remember that happening. He moved slightly. He wasn't just wet, he was soaked. Just as automatically, he started crying, and the emotion welled up, first to his chest, then throat. He heard himself calling out to his mommy.

Ann came running into the room just as Mikey returned from the bathroom.

'What on earth's the matter, Jer?' Ann said.

Jeremy struggled to stop bawling and to make sense of his feelings. First, Mikey had just got up and left him alone. Then Jer had been thinking that he was so much behind Mikey who was in big boy pants already. Then he had realised he had flooded his diaper without even knowing. Then he had wanted his mommy.

'Mommy I wet my pants,' was the sobbed result of this thought process.

'Oh, Jer, it's ok,' Ann said, concerned at seeing her son so upset. She could see at a glance how wet he was. Why hadn't he called out or come to see her earlier? She decided to deal with the problem on the spot.

'Mikey, could you get me two more diapers for Jer Jer please honey? They're in the cupboard in the laundry. Bottom shelf. Big white terry ones. Thank you sweetie,' Ann said.

'Yes,' replied Mikey and trotted off to the laundry.

Ann was pleased with how well Mikey was coming on, even after a few days with her and Jeremy. She was charting the child's wetting and he really was improving rapidly. Putting him in 'big boy pants' today was an experiment, and it seemed to be working. But Jer Jer… Ann looked at her son. Well, if he had to suffer a few wet diapers for Mikey to get better, so be it. At least he wasn't a wet little brat, like so many, well, not at 'his age' of course, Ann corrected herself, but when they needed diapers. She paused for a moment, and began to wonder exactly what was going on with Jer when Mikey returned.

'He's really a baby, isn't he?' asked Mikey as he handed Ann the two thick diapers.

Jeremy burst into fresh tears. He knew how he must look, but he suddenly felt bullied and victimised. He glared at Mikey.

'Not a baby!' he said angrily, and picked up the nearest object, a soft toy, and threw it at Mikey. 'Not not not!'

Mikey caught the fuzzy projectile and looked at Ann for guidance as to what to do next.

'Jer stop that at once,' Ann said.

She couldn't believe what she had just seen, especially since their long talks about helping Mikey.

Ann asked Jeremy to lie still while she wiped and powdered him.

'He's a baby not me, he's baby baby baby, he, he… he did poos in his pants!' said Jeremy and tried to squirm from Ann's grasp to reach another soft toy to throw at Mikey.

'Jeremy stop that right now,' said Ann firmly.

Jeremy continued to sob and stretched further to reach the toy. He had half turned over, and Ann took the opportunity to flip him right over so that his bare buns were exposed below her right hand.

Ann looked from the shocked Mikey to her wailing son.

'Jeremy, Mikey is not a baby, and you know very well he doesn't dirty his pants. Now stop this or…'

'Mommy he hit me and he does…' began Jeremy.

SMACK!

Ann hit Jeremy as hard as she dared on the bottom.

Jeremy stopped absolutely still for a moment, then began wailing that it wasn't fair, Mikey was the baby and he was a big boy.

SMACK SMACK SMACK!

'Jeremy Wilson, you will not behave like this or you will be sent straight to your room, do you hear?' Ann said, punctuating her statement with hard smacks and having to raise her voice above both Jeremy's childish squalling and the resounding smacks she was landing on his buttocks.

Jeremy's words became incoherent, and dissolved into a full-blooded, infantile bawling.

Ann stopped spanking him, and sat still for a moment. Mikey stood blinking at her.

'He was naughty, wasn't he?' Mikey asked.

Ann nodded seriously at Mikey, then sat back and let Jeremy cry himself out. He had his face buried in the soft toy he had reached at last, but he seemed to have no intention of flinging it anywhere. Ann noticed the dark patch on the carpet beneath her son. He must have wet again while she was smacking him.

Jeremy's sobs became sniffles, and then he swallowed noisily a couple of times.

'Jeremy, honey,' Ann said softly.

'Mommy,' Jeremy replied after a moment, the syllables separated by a sob.

'Jeremy I'm sorry I had to spank, but you were being very naughty. Do you understand?' she said.

Jeremy was silent.

'Do you understand why I had to spank you?' she said.

'Mm,' said Jeremy.

'Why, sweetie?' asked Ann.

'Cause…' Jeremy said.

'Yes, honey, because you were what?' Ann prompted.

'Cause I was naughty,' Jeremy said quietly.

'That's right honey, you were very naughty. So mommy had to spank. Now I want you to apologise to Mikey please,' Ann said.

Jeremy turned away from Ann and Mikey and said nothing.

'Jer, do you want mommy to spank again?' asked Ann.

'No,' Jeremy said and continued to look across the room.

'Well turn around and apologise please. Now,' commanded Ann. 'Or I'll spank.'

Jeremy turned around. His eyes were red and he looked dubiously at Ann.

'I'm sorry,' he mumbled.

'Apologise to Mikey, please,' said Ann.

Jeremy looked up at Mikey. The child blinked back at him.

'Sorry,' muttered Jeremy.

'No, you can do better than that,' said Ann. 'Say “I'm sorry Mikey for being a baby and saying nasty things to you.”'

Jeremy began to sob again.

Ann held his head up towards Mikey.

'I'm sorry…' she began, and waited until Jeremy had mimicked her words.

'For being a baby…'

'And saying nasty things to you.'

The duet finished, and Mikey looked satisfied.

Jeremy began crying quietly, and Ann quickly rediapered him.

'Mikey, I think Jer Jer needs a nap, honey. Would you like go watch TV for a while? I'll come in a little while and maybe we can read a story or have a nice talk,' Ann said, pulling Jeremy's sweater down over the top of his thick, double diaper and plastic pants.

Mikey nodded and left the room.

It was warm and Jer really didn't need pants over the big diaper as well, Ann thought. The sweater didn't quite cover the diaper and pants, but he was only going down for a nap. He was still sniffling as she took him by the hand as he waddled to his bedroom, and she settled him in his bed. She gave him the old yellow teddy bear she had found in the garage, and left him still upset but a little calmer, clutching the bear. Then she went to the living room and chatted with Mikey about his forthcoming first year at big school. They chatted on, and it was only when Mikey excused himself to use the bathroom that Ann thought of Jeremy again. She wondered if he was feeling better, and if he needed a change.

Jeremy woke some time later. He rolled over in his bed, and was first aware of how sore his bottom was. He remembered his earlier spanking, and for a moment thought it was just a very realistic dream. He had been naughty, and his mommy had spanked him then put him to bed.

Jeremy rolled away to ease his sore buns. He heard his plastic undersheet crinkling, then felt the thick padding around his hips and in his crotch. He squeezed his thighs together and knew that he was wet.

His mommy had spanked him and sent him to bed, and now he was wet. Again. He remembered that this wasn't the first time he ahd wet his didee. Upset, Jeremy buried his face in his pillow, partly to block out the weird world in which he was back in a diaper, and partly to soak up the tears which welled up uncontrollably as he considered his position. He flet something hard near his face, and removed his teddy';s arm from where it lay. At least teddy was still friendly. Jeremy clutched the toy tightly as he felt himself wetting out of sheer unhappiness.

'Jer Jer's awake!' came Mikey's squeaky voice.

He was standing next to Jeremy's bed, eating a banana. Jeremy turned towards him, and blinked unhappily at the child.

Mikey saw the tears and in his childish way connected them with the way he used to cry whenever he needed a change.

'Did you wet your didee?' the child asked.

Jeremy felt again the clammy mass between his legs, and couldn't stifle the loud sobs that resulted from his despair.

'It's ok, Mikey, Jer just needs a change. Could you get me two new terry squares from the laundry please honey?' asked Ann.

Mikey trotted off while Ann helped Jer out of bed. He was soaked, and Ann chided herself for not putting him on the toilet before he went down for his nap. He was still crying as Ann removed his sodden diaper, and by the time Mikey returned she had Jer's groin cleaned up ready for talc and a fresh diaper.

Mikey was interested - he wasn't used to seeing another baby diapered. It was obvious Jer was a baby - he was just bigger. Mikey watched as Ann pulled the thick padding around Jer, and felt pleased that he was having his third dry day in his training pants.

Jer lay quietly sobbing and clutching his teddy. He just wanted all this to stop.