The River Boy Chapter 2

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the amazingly long absence, there has been alot going on in my life, I'm working at my job, I'm upgrading classes for college, and My little sister was born in july. "YAY!"

But after a long absence it is always good to come back with something so...I wrote a story, it isn't a fur story, but I felt it was forum worthy.

So here is my story if not a bit long it is a good one.

- The Sleeping Fox


The River Boy


Ben stared down into the rushing water like he had done so any times before. All his life, the river had fascinated him. He loved to watch the rushing water. He felt that he was somehow discovering some of its secrets. He loved how sometimes it looked blue, sometimes green, and sometimes black, every time he saw it, it was never the same. It mesmerized the boy the way the light sparkled off the river’s shape. Even at night, with no moon or lights to pollute it, the river still sparkled.

At first Ben went out of boredom to watch the water but soon it turned to a fascination. Today he had been standing only two steps away from the water’s edge when the river’s bank suddenly crumbled, uncompromisingly dragging him into the ice cold and rock filled raging waters. As he clawed at the riverbank trying to establish a firm grip, all he got were fistfuls of mud and grass. He felt panic surging inside him as the current was relentlessly tugging at him. As he tried to cry out his lungs filled with water. The water hauled him at a high speed with a vicious unrelenting betrayal, beating every which part of his body against the jagged rocks on the river’s bed.

As he gasped for the air he so desperately needed, the river delivered one last devastating blow causing him to black out.

In his unconscious state he recalled the conversation he had earlier this morning and the promise he had broken.

“But, mom, I’m eleven years old, I can take care of myself, I’ll be careful when I’m down by the river, nothing will happen I promise.”

“I said no young man, and I mean it,” his mother stated sternly. “The river is running very high and fast with all the melted snow from the long winter, it’s too dangerous, and you’re not leaving this house until you promise me that you’ll stay away.”

“Aw, mom... OK… I won’t go near the river.”

At the time, he hadn’t taken the promise as serious as he should have. Once he left the house, he went around the neighborhood half -heartedly looking for his friends. He finally decided to go to the bridge to watch the water. He felt that he wasn’t really disobeying his mother because technically he wasn’t near the water. There were lots of people on the bridge. It was safe up here. But, in no time at all, he found himself walking down the path that led to a place from which he got a great view of the rushing water without the interference of traffic noise. He never expected the river to betray him like it did.

Apparently, as the river was pulling him a concerned citizen on the bridge had noticed the boy and dived into the water after him, in a successful attempt to save the victim.


Chapter 1


Time seemed to stand still, as the hours passed in what felt like seconds. The boy awoke in a startle, his mind was still in the moment at the river but his body was somewhere else. Ben gasped for air as he came into consciousness. He then realized that he was in a hospital bed. As he tried to sit up it felt as if the boy’s body was on fire. Almost all of his muscles hurt. When he finally got into an upright position he laid his head against the wall. That’s when he heard two voices, his mother’s, and what he assumed was a doctor.

“Well Mrs. Finley the good news is that your son’s pneumonia has cleared up,” he explained in a patronizing manner, “but he still has a bit of a throat infection that has kept him from talking,”

“Now just one minute,” Mrs. Finley stopped him, “Doctor Anderson you can be straight forward with me, I work at the General hospital up in the city,”

“Okay Mrs. Finley I understand…you say here on the hospital records that Benjamin was a very sick child…you also stated that he was already a frequent bed-wetter before he got here?”

Ben couldn’t imagine why his mother was telling the doctor this particular story.

“Yes” his mother replied in a worried tone, why do you ask?”

“Well it appears that your son’s Enuresis or Bedwetting,” the doctor explained, “was due to a birth defect in his urinary tract specifically his Detrusor muscle, the muscle that controls the pressure on a persons bladder,”

“Are you saying it’s gotten worse?”

“It would seem that your sons tumble down the river has caused some internal damage, but since your son’s urinary tract system was already weak at this point it took some irreparable damage to his Detrusor and Sphinctoral muscles within the tract,”

“Are you saying…” his mother sounded worried as she had heard this once before.

“Your son won’t be able to hold his urine at all, even if he feels it,” the doctor told her as he handed her a business card, “call this number they might be able to help,”

His mother was speechless and so was Ben.

“Not able to hold my urine…” he thought to himself.

His mother entered the boy’s room with a look of worry and sadness on her face. She was a beautiful woman, even though time had aged her proportionately. At thirty-four years of age she had the strong, slim, worn and torn body of a single mother. Her hair was a medium cut, platinum blonde, and her kind emerald green eyes were now transfixed on her son.

When she saw her son was awake an overwhelming feeling to break down overcame her, but what came out of her mouth next was half of what she was feeling.

“You are in so much trouble mister,” she said in a stern tone, “You promised me that you wouldn’t go down to the river, and now look what happened.”

The boy eyes welled up with tears, as a look of shame came across his face.

“I would punish you,” she told him, but I think the injuries are punishment enough”

Ben was crying at this point.

“I don’t know you heard me and Doctor Anderson talking,” She told him as she sat down beside him, “did you?”

Ben nodded pathetically.

“The doctor said there was nothing we can do unless the damage heals properly in the next couple months, until then we have to put you in diapers,”

“Diapers…” he mouthed as he tried to process this fully.

Ben broke down at this point sobbing uncontrollably as his mother held him, trying to comfort him in any way she could. After about forty-five minutes of crying Ben exhausted himself, and eventually fell asleep.

As she laid him in his bed Mrs. Finley looked at the tear-stained cheeks of her little boy. He had always been so handsome like his father. His hair was brown with natural highlights that came out even brighter during the summer months. He had very few freckles, which crossed his nose, all very much resembling his father. Although he did have his mother’s deep emerald green eyes that contrasted with his fair skin.

Ben was a skinny boy and was slow in the growth process due to open-heart surgery to fix the heart murmur he had as a young child. The boy must have been was one of the smallest people in his class, maybe the school, this including the girls. Depending on what he was wearing he was often mistaken for a primary student, or even a toddler as the school he attended had a full-time daycare.

As time went on and her son slept she decided to leave as to take care of other matters that needed tending to. When she went to tuck her son in before she left, she pulled back the covers out of curiosity. She saw the bulge that the hospital diaper made. She smiled. She then went to pull back his hospital gown to get a closer look, but her son began to stir in his sleep so she decided against it. After finishing she left the room.

“Two more days,” she thought to herself, “and I can bring her boy home.”

The two days had passed by quickly. The nurses had insisted that Ben stay in bed as to get the rest he needed, so he had slept most of the stay only to be awakened so that he could have his diaper changed which he didn’t like at all. The nurses always commented on how cute he was. It wasn’t until he heard his mother was coming to get him that he gave a huge sigh of relief.

Ben was already awake when his mother entered his room carrying a plain white package and a change of clothes. His mother noticed that he was pouting and she went across the room to sit next to Ben.

“What’s wrong sweetie?”
“T-the nurses wouldn’t even let change my own diapers!” he
said in an agitated tone his throat still raw from the infection,
“Well why do you think that is?”
“They thought I was a toddler, and they saw my…” he started but caught himself, “well you know what I mean.”
“Sweetheart that’s going to happen,” she explained to him, “you can’t hide your diapers forever,”
“I can try,” he replied in a childish tone.

His mother chuckled at the comment. As she got Ben out of bed she stopped him for a second.

“Are you wet?” she asked.
“Moooommm!” he whined.
“Well are you?”
“NO!” Ben lied, feeling that he was not yet ready to be exposed to his mother.
“I was just checking,” she answered defensively.

She then got him out of bed; made sure he had everything before they exited the room. As they walked down the hallway towards the elevator he saw a grouping of signs underneath large blue letter “Main Pediatric Wing. One sign popped out more than the because it pointed towards the wing he was staying in, it read “Special Care Unit.”

“Is that what they really consider me now…special care?”

When they reached the elevator and entered it a middle-aged doctor and a younger looking nurse met them.

The doctor had graying black hair and a receding hairline. His wrinkles gave his age away. He was dressed in a white coat with his instruments and a stuffed animal with some sort of bandage. As were all the other doctors in a pediatric wing.

The nurse, like the rest of the young ones always had a smile on her face and was wearing “scrubs” with cutesy cartoon character printed everywhere. She was a bit chubby with a kind face, her hair was red, styled, and cut short. Her complexion pale and was thrown off by a dark birthmark on her neck and lower face.

“Hello Mrs. Finley,” the doctor greeted Ben’s mother.

Ben recognized him by his voice as the doctor whom had been talking to his mother two days prior.

“Oh and Ben how are you feeling”
Ben looked down at his shoes and mumbled something like “good.”
“He’s a little self conscious about his…situation,” Mrs. Finley explained.

Ben tugged on her skirt and gave her a desperate; “you don’t need to talk about it to everyone look.” As he looked up at his mother he noticed the nurse smiling at him. His head quickly shot to the floor.

“My name’s Tamara,” the nurse chimed in, “I was the nurse who received Mr. Benjamin when he came in after his accident.”
“Oh it’s nice to meet,” Mrs. Finley said shaking the nurses hand. “My name’s Evangeline,”

As they all got off the elevator on the main floor, Tamara explained that she took care of most of the “special care” children that came into the hospital unconscious or that were in comas. She also explained that she was the acting head nurse, while they looked to fill the position, as the other had to be forced into retirement.

“Really…I work as the head nurse in the city,” Mrs. Finley said in an inquisitive tone, “well now with my sons needs maybe I should come work here in town.”
“That would be wonderful,” Tamara added eagerly, “ever since the head nurse left I’ve been working double-time, and I need to get home to see my kids”
“Oh you have children?”
“ Yes, two actually. One little boy is around Ben’s age, and an older daughter who’s actually looking for some baby sitting jobs around town if you’re interested.”
“Oh very,” she replied, “Our old babysitter just went off to college and it seems like it’s hard to find a really good one,”
“Oh she’s gotten rave reviews from the other parents she has worked for,” Tamara explained.
“Well I hope she doesn’t mind changing diapers,”

Ben began blush furiously.

“Oh of course not, beside Ben’s how old…two, three years?”
“Yeah…something like that” she started.

“Okay,” The nurse replied confused with the answer.
“I hope she wont be like this with everyone Ben thought to himself,”

The women said the goodbyes and exchanged phone numbers.

“Why did you lie about my age?”
“Well honey I thought it might be less embarrassing for you if some people thought you were supposed to be in them,”
“That makes sense…I guess?

Ben and his mother left the hospital they came up to their family-van. That’s when the boy hadn’t even thought about asking what was in the package.

“Mom?” he started, “what’s in the package?”
“What do you think it is?” she asked rhetorically.

His mother hit the automatic unlock and the rear doors slid open. Ben remembered arguing with his mother not even a year that he didn’t need a car seat because he was a big kid now. But with his injuries he was afraid that his mother, being the over protective person she is, might make him use it again.

As he peered into the back seat he was relieved to see she hadn’t reinstated the juvenile contraption.

“Thank you,” he thought out loud in the manner of talking with a higher power,”
“What’s that Ben?” his mother asked.
“Nothing,” he replied gleefully as he got into the backseat and buckled his seatbelt.

As they drove away from the hospital the two inhabitants of the van both seemed to be in their own little worlds as they thought of the days to come.

“What will Thomas and Rebecca think,” Ben thought referring to his siblings.

He could picture them now. A three-year old Thomas, his blue eyes bright and teeming with curiosity, his blonde hair soft and almost transparent in the right lighting. He would most likely be proudly wearing nothing but his “big boy” underpants as he toddled around with his favorite baby blue security blanket, which was in surprisingly good shape.

Then there was Rebecca. She would have her hair pulled back into a smug little ponytail. Her clever blue eyes would be watching, waiting for the chance to give some snobbish remark. She would be wearing the latest thirteen-year old girl’s fashions. As much as he disliked his sister, Ben still loved her, and the rest of the family.

Ben knew that his newly found diapers would cause many arguments between him and his older sister. There would be threats, bickering, shoving, hitting, and most definitely punishments. He knew his mother well and one thing she wouldn’t tolerate was fighting.

As the car came to a stop, Ben came back into consciousness. He looked out the van’s tinted windows to see that they had stopped at a gas station. His mother turned off the vehicle and proceeded out of the van and started to pump gas. When she was finished she stuck he head in the driver’s seat window.

“Do you want anything Ben?” His mother asked.
“Can I come in and pick something?” he asked politely forgetting about his diapered state.
“You sure can,”

His mother went to the other side of the van and opened the door because the child safety locks wouldn’t permit anyone on the inside to do so. She let Ben out of the car and they proceeded into the gas station. Ben had gotten a slushy, then he and his mother waited in line to pay for the gas. Mrs. Finley turned to her son to ask if he wanted anything else when she noticed something out of place.
“Ben, sweetheart,”

“What?” Ben asked looking up at his mother smiling happy as can be to have his frozen treat.
“We should get you to the bathroom,”
“What do you mean?” he asked as he checked himself.

He was soaked. His diaper had leaked right through his pants and now he was standing in a miniscule puddle of his own urine. The hard part to accept was that he definitely didn’t feel anything as he “relieved” himself Ben dropped his slushy causing it to break open on the floor and started to sob.

“Ben it’s okay,” his mother got on one knee place her hands on his shoulders trying to assure him,
“NO!” he yelled catching the attention of some of the other customers, “It’s not okay, I wet my pants…I’m not a baby…”
“You’re right you’re not a baby, but these things will happen,”

The customers looked on to see what they thought was a mother consoling her young child unknown to them that he was only two years away from being a teenager. About two minutes later a gas attendant appeared.

“Our washrooms are around back,” he told Ben’s mother,
“Oh thank you so much,” she replied, “here’s the money for the gas, you can keep the change,”

The attendant took the money. Then Mrs. Finley took still upset Ben by the hand and led him out of the gas station and towards the van. She retrieved a diaper and some of the other supplies from the package and then brought Ben around the back of the gas station. With a turn of the key they were in. When she turned on the lights she realized the bathroom was immaculately clean. It would appear that the attendants took extra care of this particular washroom.

Mrs. Finley proceeded to strip her son of his sopping wet pants. She then undid the change table that was attached to the wall.

“Mom I don’t need to be changed by you,” he choked back some tears, “I-I’m not a baby,”
“Sweetheart it’s just easier this way, please don’t fight with me,”

His mother then picked him up, placing him on the change table. She wiped the tears from his cheeks and went on to undue the tabs on Ben’s diaper. She was so gentle with Ben as she lifted his butt from the table removing the used diaper. Ben blushed as she wiped his urine soaked skin with a baby wipe.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” his mother explained as she noticed her son blushing a deep crimson, “I used to do this all the time with you,”

She then put the wipe in the used diaper, expertly rolling it and throwing it away. She slid another diaper underneath sons but and took out some baby powder. Ben covered himself when he realized what it was.

“Mom, please don’t use that,” he pleaded, “I don’t want to smell like baby,”
“We have to protect your skin somehow,” she explained, “the diapers retain a lot of heat and moisture and we don’t want you to get diaper rash do we?”
“No…But…I still don’t want to smell like it.”

Mrs. Finley smiled at her son’s bashfulness. She removed his hands and she applied a generous amount of the baby powder to his front and then taped the diaper on him. When she stood him up she pulled open the back of his diaper and applied some more of the white substance to his behind.
“There we’re done,” she stated patting him on the butt, “let’s get going,”
“I’m not wearing any pants!” Ben reminded her,
“Well I didn’t bring any extra clothes for you sweetheart, and it’s not even a thirty second walk to the car,”
“But I don’t want people to see me like this,” the started up again.
“You seem to be sulking and giving me a lot of buts today,” she informed him, “remember what we agreed upon?”

Ben knew what she was talking about. She was referring to a conversation they had about earlier that year.

They were all sitting around the table last summer when their mother announced that she had called Elizabeth to baby-sit them when she pulled triple shifts up in the city. Both Ben, and Rebecca groaned simultaneously. Thomas had been too young to care.

“Now just wait a minute, I’ve noticed you’ve been sulking a lot whenever I call a babysitter to watch you kids,” Mrs. Finley told her children, “now why would that be?”
“We can take care of ourselves,” Ben told her.
“Mom were too old to have a sitter,” Rebecca piped in, “can’t I just do it?”
“I think I would rather have a sitter than Rebecca,” Ben said sarcastically, which ended up with his older sister pushing him out of chair.
“Stop it you two,”
“She started it,” Ben whined.
“Did not!”
“I don’t care who started it…Stop doing it!” Mrs. Finley told her children.
“I’ll tell you what since Elizabeth is moving away, I’ll think about leaving you home alone, but if I here too much whining sulking or backtalk you will have a babysitter.”

They had all agreed, even Thomas who hadn’t really listened to the conversation as he was to distracted plating with a toy.

“Well do you?” Mrs. Finley asked Ben once again, “because I know Rebecca would be very cross with you if you lost your home alone privileges,”
“Yes Mom, I remember,”
“Alright then let’s get you home,”

Ben still hesitated to follow his mother when she stepped out the door, as he was trying to see if there was anyway to hide his diapers. Upon realizing her son wasn’t following her, Mrs. Finley turned around and picked up her son like a toddler who was too tired too walk. Ben was even more embarrassed by this new development. She walked out into public with Ben’s diaper exposed to the world. As they walked towards the van he buried his head in his mother shoulder, and on the way he was sure he heard someone say “how cute.”

This time around Ben’s mother placed him in the backseat of the van and buckled his seatbelt for him. The rest of the ride home was accompanied by contemporary music on the radio and the soft sound of an eleven-year olds occasional sniffles.

“Oh my god, mom you said it would be a big change but I never expected it would be diaper changes,”
“Rebecca be nice to your brother,”
“Well it’s just a big surprise,” Rebecca said with a big grin on her face, “I thought he might have been paralyzed or disfigured when you talked about it, I never expected diapers,”
“Rebecca, that’s enough,”
“I don’t need diapers no more mommy,” Thomas said proudly.
“That’s right Thomas you don’t,” Mrs. Finley told her youngest son.
“Cause diapers are for babies,” he added.

Ben almost broke down when he heard this.

“Thomas that is enough,” she said sternly.
“What?” he asked confused.

At that point Mrs. Finley called a family meeting. They returned to the table they had been sitting at the summer before when they had their last family meeting. She started by reinforcing the point that diapers were not just for babies that they sometimes were for older people. She also explained the new rules focusing around Ben’s diapers.

They were that Ben was to have his diaper changed by her to make sure his areas are getting properly cleaned. The next was that there was to be no teasing about Ben’s diapers, and that they were not to talk about his diapers in the company of people who didn’t already know about them. They talked about some more pressing matters around the house and just as they thought that the meeting was over, their mother brought a disappointing matter into light.

“With Ben’s situation,” Mrs. Finley started, “I’m going to need to get you a babysitter.”
“NO!” Rebecca whined,
“I’m sorry mom I won’t whine, or sulk about my diapers, I promise!”
“It’s not about you whining, or sulking, I just feel that you’re going to need one again,”
“Good going Dweeb,” Rebecca glared at her younger brother, “because of you peeing in your diapers we have to have a babysitter again,”
“SHUT UP!” He screamed, “You…You Bitch!”

Both Rebecca and Thomas were wide eyed and taken back by their sibling’s language. They both knew what was coming next.

“Excuse me?” Mrs. Finley said in a threatening manner, “what have I told you about the language?”
“I-I’m sorry momma,” he said in an infantile tone, “I didn’t mean to it just slipped out,”
“I know I said that the injuries were punishment enough but I think you just convinced me otherwise,”
“But-But mom I’m sorry,”
“Oh you will be,” she replied, “Room Now Young Man!”

Rebecca grinned, waving as he walked up the stairs to his room. Ben’s head was swimming as he shut the door to his room.

“What have I gotten myself into?”

Nice set up. I'll be watching this one.

The River Boy

Chapter 2

“But Mom,” Ben whined. “Why does Rebecca get to go to a friends and I have to go to a babysitter?”
“You know rightfully well why,” Mrs. Finley replied, “you’re still grounded,”

Ben sighed as his mother took his hand and led him towards the stairs. His sister met him with a sneer as they passed. Once in his room his mother proceeded to retrieve the diaper supplies from under his bed, remove his clothing and lay him on his bed.

“You know you really are cute in a diaper,” his mother told him, “you look just like you did when you were two,”

Ben just blushed as the soaked diaper was peeled away from his skin. His mother hummed a soft lullaby to Ben as she pulled a baby wipe from the tub that was on the bed beside her little boy.

“Mom,”
“Yes Benjamin?”
“You still haven’t…” he paused not really wanting to hear the answer to his comment.
“I haven’t what?”
“Umm…told me what my punishment was,”
“Oh…I guess I haven’t,” she said in a mock surprise, “don’t worry you’ll find out soon enough,”

For Ben, it wasn’t the punishment itself, but the waiting to find out what it was that bothered him. He continued to lie down as his mother wiped away the dampness from his skin, but what happened next he didn’t expect. She pulled out the baby powder, and after applying it to his diapered area she dosed his chest with the infantile smelling talc and began to rub it into his skin.

“Why’d you do that!” he complained, “now I’m going to smell like it all day,”
“Well I want my baby to smell nice when he meets his babysitter,”
“But I’m not a ba-
“Shhhh,” she put her pointer finger to Ben’s lips, “quiet now,”

Ben complied with his mother as she finished diapering him, but before she stood him up she brought her lips to her sons stomach and started to blow raspberries. Ben was in hysterics, laughing, and giggling although he knew he was too old for such babyish antics. The only thing that brought him back to reality was when he noticed his sister giggling in the doorway.

“Mom we have to go it’s almost five o’clock,” Rebecca stated, still giggling at her brother immaturity.
“Thank you Rebecca,” Mrs. Finley picked Ben off the bed and stood him up, “could you make sure your and Ben’s bags are ready?”
“Okay Mom,” Rebecca said as she gleefully walked away.
“Why do I have a bag?”
“Let’s get my little Benjamin dressed,” she said completely ignoring her son’s comment.

Mrs. Finley went to her son’s dresser and pulled out some clothing for Ben. She walked back admiring her son’s diapered body. She threw the clothes on the bed but kept what looked to be a light green T-shirt in her hands.

“Arms up,” she ordered.
“Mom I can dress myself,”
“I said arms up,” she said a little more sternly this time,

Ben lifted his arms up in defeat as Mrs. Finley pulled the shirt over his head. That’s when Ben’s noticed something strange she was buttoning it at his crotch. He looked down in horror to see a bright yellow laughing duck looking up at him, almost as to poke fun at his situation.
“This is one of Thomas’ old onesies!” he cried out.
“Well I’m glad to see it fits,” she smiled, “it means the other clothing will too,”
“I don’t want to wear this!” Ben yelled.
“Don’t you use that tone with me,” Mrs. Finley said with a swift smack to Ben’s inner thigh, “This is part of you punishment,”

Ben began to sob. His mother ignored this as she had her son step into a pair of jean short-alls, once again they had snap buttons on the crotch, but instead of a yellow duck it was a picture of Roo and the Hephalump from Winnie the Pooh. She then dressed him in light green matching duck socks, and pinned a pacifier to his collar.

“There, all finished,”
“I-I don’t want to wear these,”
“You should have thought about that before using foul language,”
“I’m sorry, I’ll never do it again”
“I know you wont, and besides if you’re my baby you wont have any more accidents like the one at the river.”

Ben started to cry harder. His mother picked him up, and he buried his head in her shoulder even though she was the object of his resentment.

“It’s time to go,”

* * *

Ben was disappointed when he put in Winnie the Pooh Velcro sneakers with light up heels. He was even more displeased when saw his mother had prepared a diaper bag for. But his heart sank when they reached the van, slid open the back door and his car seat was sitting in his place.

After he was strapped in they started to drive to their destination. Rebecca kept bugging Ben with baby talk and placing the pacifier, which they had deemed his “dubby” in his mouth. Ben sighed with relief Rebecca was dropped off at her friend’s house. Now it was just their mother, Thomas, and he.

They drove for a bit and pulled into the parking lot of a large Shopping center.

“Here’s our first stop,” Mrs. Finley announced
“NO!” Ben panicked, “I can’t go in there dressed like this, my friends might-
“That’s enough mister,” he was cut off, “It’s about time I told you about the rules,”
“But,”
“No buts,” she placed the pacifier back in his mouth, “ the first rule is you’re not allowed to talk like a big boy anymore, you have to use baby words from now on, second rule, you are to act like a baby and live like a baby, you’re not allowed to do anything on you own, and finally, anyone who is older than two, is older than you are, and they can tell you what to do,”

Ben stayed silent.

“If you break any of these rules you will be punished accordingly,”

Mrs. Finley got out of the car and opened Ben’s door. Ben felt like crying as his mother undid the straps of his seat. Even Thomas was allowed to unbuckle his car seat by himself. Ben felt truly infantile. She held him on her hip, as they started towards the store with Thomas close behind them.

Once in side the store Mrs. Finley retrieved a cart but saved Ben the humiliation of sitting in it. Instead she let him walk beside Thomas. They set off through the store traveling from aisle to aisle, until Thomas caught sight of the toys and started to beg his mother to go look at them. After a minute of deliberation she let him go, but only if he brought “his baby brother with him. Ben automatically knew she was talking about him. She finished with a “hold your brother’s hand,” before she continued to shop.

Ben was dragged around the entire toy department until Thomas stopped and let go of Ben’s hand so he could take a good look at one of the latest toys for three year olds. Ben occupied his time reading the words on some of the toy boxes. He didn’t even notice his brother leave the aisle.

When he looked up he was alone. He looked in the other surrounding aisles but then started to panic, he toddled all through out the toy section frantically in search of his brother whom was nowhere to be found. After about fifteen minutes Ben stopped.

“Did the leave me here?” he thought to himself in a scared childlike manner.

Ben slumped to the floor in the middle of the aisle and began to cry, not really thinking of, or caring who saw or heard him. That when he heard a familiar voice.

“Mom I think that baby’s lost,” a boy’s voice said.
“Oh no,” Ben thought getting a little bit more upset, “please don’t let it be him.”

As he continued to cry the boy and an older woman whom he assumed to be the mother came into sight. Ben was right, it was Matthew, one of the most popular boy in his grade.

“Are you lost?” Matt asked,

Ben looked up and nod, tears still streaming from his eyes and nodded hoping the boy wouldn’t recognize him.

“Why don’t you come with us and we’ll help you find you mommy?” the older woman beside him said.
“Okay let’s go.” The boy encouraged as he took Ben by the hand.

Ben was glad that the boy hadn’t recognized him but he was even more glad that they had stopped to help him. As they reached the customer service desk, the older woman informed the associate behind te desk of the current situation the “toddler”” was in. After that an announcement was made over the intercom.

“Will the parent of a young child wearing short-alls and a green t-shirt with a yellow duck please come to the customer service desk please.”

Two minutes later Thomas and Ben’s mother appeared. He gave her a sad little boy look, and she returned it with a concerned yet stern look. She thanked the other woman and she picked up Ben placing him in the cart they had.

“This is where you’ll be staying every time we go shopping,” she informed him, “but I’m glad to see your sticking to the rules and acting like a baby,”

After paying for what they had they left the store and continued to their destination.