The Boys Next Door

I watched from my bedroom window as the car pulled up at the house next door. It was really more a bus than car as it had eight seats. No one had lived in the house for a few months so it was a nice to see someone there at last. Mum had told me that the house had been taken over by a new family with four children, one of the boys was my age so she hoped I would make friends with him as I don't have many friends around here.

The father opened the rear doors and the family spilled out onto the drive. There was mum and dad of course, a girl about 12 or 13 years old and 3 boys, one about 8, one about 6 and the other about 4 years old. Dad herded them all into their new house and I went back to watching TV until the furniture van arrived. The driver reversed it into the driveway but because of the flowerbeds he could not get close to the front door. They started to unload the van and I watched as each item was carried into the house. It all started to get a bit boring while the big pieces of furniture were unloaded so I started to go through each item making a list in my mind of what had come out and what must be left. My list became shorter as the van emptied but so far I had only seen one bed and mattress leave the van, then there was another single bed, this one had a mattress that was covered in vinyl making it hard for the removal man to carry. Next came a folded down package that looked like a large cot and a smaller mattress, again covered in vinyl. I made a note that this must be for the youngest boy although he looked a bit big for a cot to me. As I watched another folded package and small mattress was carried from the van and finally another. A few boxes and packing crates followed but there was no other furniture left. I went through it in my mind but I was sure I had not seen any other beds so I guessed they must be getting new ones or something. As the van pulled away the whole thing dropped from my mind and I went into the back garden to see if anyone was around.

Whilst the removal man was unloading their mother had sent the boys into the garden to keep them out of the way. They were now playing in the tree house that the previous people had built so I walked over to the hedge to talk to them. The oldest boy lowered himself down from a branch and came over to chat through a hole in the hedge. I had spent some of the summer playing in the garden so this hole was big enough for me to climb through. He told me his name was Michael and introduced his brothers, Alan and James. We chatted about where they came from, there ages and mostly about how great the tree house was. After a few minutes Alan slipped down from the tree house as well and sat with us. By now I had slipped through the hole in the hedge and was on the lawn in their garden with them. James tried to drop from the tree house the same way his brothers had but since he was much shorter he could not reach. Michael stood up to catch him and help him down. As he hung from his arms his tee shirt rose up and I could clearly see something sticking out of the top of his shorts, it was almost clear vinyl and white. Without thinking I blurted out "is he wearing a nappy?" As I said it I looked over at Alan, he was sitting opposite me, I looked down at his shorts and between his legs, through the leg opening of his shorts I could see his nappy as well. He followed my gaze and quickly closed his legs blocking my view but I could see the bulk of it in his shorts now. As Michael reached up to lower James I looked over to him. I was sure that his bottom looked bigger as well. He lowered him to the ground then came back over to sit with me as James and Alan ran into the house. We both sat in silence for a few minutes before he eventually spoke. I could see he was upset as he said, "you won't tell anyone will you?" I said straight away that I wouldn't because somehow I knew that Michael and I were going to get on really well. I asked him why he was in a nappy and he explained that he had to wear them at bedtime because he wet the bed. I pointed out that it was the middle of the afternoon and he said that his mum put all of them in a nappy for the car journey because they had left their old house early in the morning and they might sleep in the car. Because she was so busy in the house she had not been able to change them yet. For some reason I was really excited about discovering his secret and I really wanted to know more so I asked lots of questions. Michael didn't seem to mind answering them and it became quite obvious that he really quite liked wearing a nappy and he liked me knowing about it. As we chatted I knew there was something I really wanted, I wanted to see his nappy. Eventually I asked him and he agreed. We checked no one was watching and he slowly lowered the elastic waist of his shorts to reveal the top of his plastic pants. I could see the pins on each side that held the cloth in place through the almost clear vinyl but he lowered the pants a little to show me them properly. They had little white plastic safety covers over the pins, which Michael said was to stop them coming undone and sticking him. He pulled his pants back up and checked his nappy was tucked into them all round and was about to pull his shorts up but I stopped him. I asked if he would show me all of his nappy not just the top. He hesitated for a few moments then laid on his back and pulled his shorts down to his ankles. Then I could see why he hesitated, around his crutch and between his legs the nappy was not white but yellow where he had peed. Michael just giggled as he pulled his shorts back up. I asked him if his mother would be cross because he had wet his nappy but he said no, and that she would change him before teatime.