Chapter 24: Dave

A new week and more walking, I'm not sure if it's working yet, but I do feel better. Thor continued to follow or lead me, I'm not sure which. Tuesday morning though I was surprised, I got home and a committee was waiting for me. Bob, Judy and Sarah were all standing by my front door chatting. I slowed down, wondering what they wanted. Thor ran up to them once I got close, Bob reached down and scratched his head.

When I reached them, Sarah spoke up. "Dave the four of us need to have a talk."

"About what?" I asked, hoping that I wasn't showing as much fear as I felt.

"Probably what you're afraid of, but don't worry. We aren't going to stop unless you want to, or the rest of us agree that it is bad for you." Sarah said.

I was still afraid that I'd be stuck going back to being by myself. As I unlocked my door I said, "Okay, but I need to take a shower and change, can one of you make some coffee while I do that?"

Judy said she'd make the coffee, while Bob chased Thor off. Sarah offered to give me a hand, but I declined that. I showered, changed, and found them sitting in my living room chatting. I got a cup of coffee and joined them. We started talking, it was a strange conversation. We talked about everything that happened over the summer and how all of us felt about it. I thought I was in some sort of strange therapy session.

Once we finished that we started talking about those websites I had found. Bob and I went and brought my computer out to the living room, there was room for all of us to see the monitor there. We looked at just about every website we could find that we could find and talked about them and what we thought about them. Some took just a few moments, others we spent quite a while looking at. The last group just confused us, what exactly the 'furry' people were, had us for a loop.

We all agreed that there was nothing going on that was harming me or Sarah, but Bob did caution us about me becoming too dependent upon Sarah. Judy said she'd keep an eye out for that. So Sarah and I would keep playing and Ashley would join us every once and a while.

As we were getting ready to split up, Bob asked, "Dave are you going to be there Saturday, for the game?"

I looked at him, "Sure, I didn't know we were going to do it again?"

Judy answered that, "Joe has the next two Saturdays off, so I suppose that the two of you will be over to watch the games those weekends."

"Good, I'll see you then," Bob said as he walked to the door.

Judy spoke up again, "Bob, and you too Dave, Joe and I would love it if both of you would come over for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners."

Bob hesitated, and I jumped in before he could answer. "Sure, but only if Sarah is going to be there."

Sarah laughed, "I've eaten Thanksgiving and Christmas with them nearly every year they've lived here, starting with the first when I had them over."

Bob finally answered, "I work those days, that way others can be with their families."

Sarah exclaimed, "Ha, I was right."

Judy shot her a look, "Bob tell us when you're going to work and we'll either eat a little later or earlier or just save you a plate. But please at least stop by and see us."

Bob looked down at his feet, "Okay, I'll let you know as soon as I do, and I'll at least stop by. Bye now." He went out the door at a near run.

I caught a glimpse of his face before he got out, "I think you two embarrassed him."

"What?" they both said.

"I said I think you embarrassed him. I guess he wasn't ready to be invited to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. That reminds me what do people do for Thanksgiving and Christmas? Wait that's kind of silly, I know what people do, not that I've ever really done it."

"You've never celebrated Christmas or Thanksgiving?" One or maybe both of them said.

"I told you how I grew up. Do you think my father would have ever done anything that would be pleasant or fun for me? I sort of celebrated Christmas the last couple of years, my roommate got a little tree that we decorated and we got each other a gift, but he went home for semester break. So I didn't do anything else. He always went home for Thanksgiving so I never did that either. Heck I never did Halloween either, my dad always kept me home from school on that day, and he never gave out candy."

They spent about thirty minutes explaining the holidays to me, I listened and wondered exactly why things had gotten the way they were. I wasn't sure about the being with family part, I certainly didn't want to be with mine, but if it meant spending time with my friends here, I would do almost anything to be with them.

Sarah and Judy left and I ate lunch and went to work. Life seemed to be going better than ever. I continued walking and noticed that I must have been losing weight, my pants were fitting better. I no longer wet my diaper when I first saw Thor, but did only when he came running up to me or if he barked at something. I had a second writing job, this one about WWI planes, but I was only doing a few articles a year for them.

Finally it was here, Halloween, the kids would be back in about an hour. I certainly didn't want to be a jerk like my father was so I was going to be probably overly generous. A knock at my door surprised me, I didn't expect any kids yet. I got up to answer it and found Judy and Sarah standing there holding a garment bag. "What's up?"

They kind of pushed their way in and Sarah said, "Well, we figured that since you never had a chance to Trick-or-Treat as a kid, we would let you this year. So..."

Judy interrupted and continued, "So Ashley and I went and got you a costume. Ashley picked it out. Now let's get you changed into your costume so you can join her when she gets home."

I stood there with my mouth open, and they grabbed me and dragged me into my bedroom. The next thing I knew I was being undressed. I suppose I should have been embarrassed, but both of them had seen me naked before, and I was still trying to get over my surprise.

"Hmmm, since you're going to be out there for quite a while, and Thor is always running around barking, I think you should wear a diaper," Sarah said as she grabbed one out of the diaper stacker I had bought.

They put a blindfold on me telling me that they wanted to surprise me by the costume. I could tell it was a dress, and I wasn't real happy with that, but what could I say. They finally took off the blindfold, after I promised to keep my eyes closed. A wig topped my head and I could tell they were putting makeup on me, which upset me too.

When they finished I was led to my bathroom where there was a full sized mirror. When I opened my eyes I was shocked, I didn't see myself, but Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz looked back at me. I couldn't help myself, I squealed and turned around to give both of them a hug. Judy said, "Don't thank us, Ashley picked out the costume."

"Yeah, but if it hadn't been for you, she couldn't have picked this out."

Sarah smiled, "I'll pass out your candy for you. You can go with Judy and wait for Ashley."

Sarah grabbed my candy, and Judy and I walked over to her house. I was surprised and embarrassed to see Joe there. He looked at me, his mouth just hanging open. Judy laughed, "Close your mouth you'll catch flies."

He closed his mouth, "I don't believe it. I mean I saw the pictures, but I would swear that you were a girl. Ashley is going to love this. First though, I think I should take some pictures. Everyone has pictures of themselves in their first Halloween costume, although usually they aren't this old."

He went to get his camera as Judy got me the basket that went with the costume. Joe came back and took a bunch of pictures of me, and Judy pulled out a photo album that had Ashley in all of her costumes. We were still looking through the album when Ashley came in, she was dressed as Hermione Granger.

She screamed, ran over, and gave me a hug, "You look great. I just knew that that was the costume for you when I saw it. Do you like my costume?"

"Yeah, you look cute."

Joe had us pose together for a couple of pictures and then took some of Ashley by herself. When he was done, Judy asked, "Do you kids want me to go with you?"

"Mom, I don't need you to walk with me."

I guess I had a bit of a stunned look on my face, because Judy said, "Sorry Dave, it's just that dressed like that you definitely look more like one of her classmates than a 22 year old man."

"Okay, I was just a little surprised, but we should be fine. After all I am an adult."

Ashley turned to me, "Ummm Dave, what should I call you? Some of my friends are going to join us."

I tensed up at that, I hadn't thought about it. "Ahhh, call me Cecelia. That's what Sarah uses." I just couldn't say Sissy in front of Joe.

I heard Judy suck in her breath. "You two go have fun."

We left and started around the park, almost immediately some of Ashley's friends joined us. They accepted me and called me Cecelia the whole time. I didn't say a lot, but paid attention to what they talked about. I did hear one whisper to Ashley asking her if I was shy. Ashley said that I was, and they stopped trying to get me to join their conversations.

There were a couple of scary points. The first was when Thor came running up, he must not have recognized me at first, and I wet my diaper. It was a good thing I was wearing it. All of the kids scratched or petted Thor, and he looked at me a long time, before he decided that he really didn't need to follow me around. Although he did keep coming back. I heard one of the other kids comment that it weird that Thor came back so often. Ashley started to giggle at that.

The second was when we got to Mrs. Parks, she recognized me, and started to say, 'Dave' before Ashley nudged her. Bob probably recognized me, but he didn't say anything. No one else said anything, and I didn't really know anyone else well enough for them to recognize me.

It was great, I had fun, but it seemed to end way too soon. When we were done, we went back to Ashley's. I don't think I made Judy real happy, because I gave Ashley most of my candy. We sorted and inspected all of the candy and Judy started making small bags of candy. I asked her, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to freeze most of this, that way she doesn't eat it too fast and it will last for quite a while. With the small bags, I can just grab one to take out of the freezer for her."

Ashley stuck her tongue out at this. I laughed at her, "What are complaining about. You're getting most of my candy too. It's almost like you went twice."

When we finished I got ready to walk home, and Joe asked me if I wanted a ride. I said no, although I probably should have said yes. I went out still dressed as Dorothy and nearly had a heart attack; Thor was sitting about ten feet from the door waiting for me. How he knew I was here I'll never know.

I must have said something, because Joe came up behind me and looked out. When he saw Thor, he started chuckling, "I guess, you have an escort home."

"I guess so," actually I felt a little better with Thor walking with me. I was almost home, when I remembered that I would have to go to Sarah's since I didn't have my keys with me. I walked up to her door and knocked. When the door opened, Thor woofed and ran off. I'll never understand that dog.

Sarah looked down at me, "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun, although now I'm even madder at my father."

"What? Why?"

I stepped in and broke down. It had just hit me, all of the fun that my father made me miss. Between sobs, I choked out my feelings. Sarah grabbed me and held me while I cried. I'm not sure how long we were there, but eventually I got control of myself.

She held me for a bit longer, "I'm sorry Dave. If I had known this would happen, I would never have suggested it."

"Why? If you hadn't then I wouldn't have had the fun that I did. It's not your fault my father is a big jerk. I'm just glad that now I get to have fun."

She hugged me again. "I... it's hard. I want you to have fun, but it seems that every time you have fun, you end up crying."

"Yeah, it does seem that way, but it's not the fun. It's the fact that I'm finding out about all of the stuff I missed growing up."

"So what do you want to do now?"

"Huh, I thought it was over?"

"Well it is for the kids, but you aren't a kid. You know if you went to one of the bars that was having a costume party, you'd probably win first prize."

I looked at her, "The last time I went to a bar, they tried to confiscate my ID, and I had to make them call the police. Then they tried to get the cops to arrest me, while I accused them of trying to steal my driver's license. It was fiasco, and the whole time my roommate was laughing. I don't go to bars."

"Well, how about a movie. There are a couple of horror film festivals on, including one with all of the original classics."

"Sure, but first I need to change."

She looked at me, "Don't you like your costume?"

"I love it, but even if I stay in it, I still need a change."

"What? Oh."

"Thor didn't recognize me, until he got close, so he ran up. That was kind of scary. And he kept coming back to see us."

"Then let's get you changed." We walked back to the nursery, and I realized that I had gotten into my costume at home.

"Uh, Sarah, did you lock my door when you left?"

"Yes, why?"

"Did you grab my keys?"

"No... Oops. So do you want to spend the night here? We can get in your place in the morning. Maybe Deputy Wildler can help. At worst we will call a locksmith."

"Not much else we can do, I guess." After getting me undressed she changed my wet diaper and grabbed a nightie.

We walked into the living room and sat down, "Ah, Sarah, I hate to be a pain, but I'm a bit hungry and you have to feed me."

"Why do I have to feed you?" She asked me laughing.

"Because you locked me out of my house. Remind me to give you one of my spare keys."

We watched a couple of movies, before Sarah put me to bed in the crib and she went to bed herself. The next day we got into my home, and I gave her a spare key, and dropped one off with Judy during my walk. Now I wouldn't be locked out again.

It was a couple of weeks later that I noticed that when I finished my walk that my diaper was still dry. I was surprised, I figured that I'd always be stuck wearing a diaper during my walks. I was so happy that I went, with Thor, down to Judy's.

I knocked on her door and when she opened the door to let me in, I exclaimed, "Judy, I kept my diaper dry during my walk!"

I heard a noise, coming from the kitchen. I looked past Judy and saw Ashley sitting at their table. She looked horrible, her eyes were red like she had been crying and her nose was all red.

"Dave that's great." Judy said, as she gave me a hug.

"What's wrong with Ashley?" I asked.

"Oh, she has a cold, and she's pretty miserable."

"Good, er not good, but I thought maybe she had been crying."

Ashley walked over, she was wearing a heavy robe, "Dabe, dat's wonderful, I'd hug you but..."

"Thanks, and I'll pass on the hug," I was a bit embarrassed. I hadn't expected that Ashley would be home, and I wouldn't have announced it so loudly if I'd known she was here. She knew that I wore diapers, but just coming out and saying it in front of her was embarrassing.

"Unless you want to get sick, you should probably head out," Judy said.

"Uh, yeah. I just wanted you to know. Bye." I said and left. It didn't feel right, but I didn't want to get sick and Judy said to go. Thor was still waiting for me. We walked back to my home, and I figured that I should tell Sarah. Sarah was happy for me, and we chatted for a while.

When I left, Thor wasn't waiting. I guess he figured I could make it home from here. I got home and took off a dry diaper for the first time. It felt great, although oddly I felt bad about wasting a diaper.

I finished up my article for the next issue, and started writing one on the Spad VII. I looked over at my bed and there it was, I couldn't believe that they used real planes on a sheet for kids bedding. I suppose it was easier than making up your own though.

Chapter 25: Sarah

Judy called me and told me that Thanksgiving would be a lunch. Bob had to be at work at 4:00. I told her that was fine, and that I would bring Dave over with me. I didn't tell her that Dave had gotten a bottle of wine. She already knew that I would be bringing the pie.

It was hectic, the holidays always are. People that are going away always let me know, and this time of the year a lot of them go to visit relatives. I'm cheating now though, I pass on which houses are empty and have Steve Wildler drive past them, when he leaves and returns from work. He doesn't mind and having the squad car cruise through makes me feel better.

I thought about asking him over for dinner, and talked to Judy about it, but she said that his family lived in town. I was glad to hear that. I hated the thought of someone spending the holidays alone.

Thanksgiving morning Dave came over and gave me a hand with the pie, at least that was what he called it. He didn't really help much, but he also didn't get in the way.

With the pie in the oven, we quickly cleaned up the kitchen. We sat around talking, while the pie cooled. I was only half paying attention to what we were talking about. What I was thinking about was what Dave's reaction to Thanksgiving was going to be. I'm fairly sure that he doesn't realize how much food there will be.

About eleven we headed over for dinner. I wasn't sure, but I didn't think that Dave was wearing a diaper. I hoped that either he was, or that he didn't have an accident, because Thor would be around. We wouldn't be outside, but Thor could easily surprise Dave.

"Dave, you know Thor might be around."

"Yeah, but I think I'm ready. During our walks, I've only been wetting about half the time now, and that's usually when something surprises Thor and he barks."

"That's great Dave, you hadn't told me."

"I hope that soon I won't even be bothered when he starts barking."

We got up to Joe and Judy's when Thor woofed to let us know he was there. I sensed Dave tense slightly and then relax. It was really remarkable, six months ago Dave couldn't move when Thor was around, now he was scratching and petting Thor like everyone else.

Ashley opened the door and ran out. She gave Dave a hug, and then carefully gave me one. I was carrying a pie and she didn't want to me to drop it. With a final scratch for Thor, we walked in. I couldn't see Dave's face, but he froze in the doorway. I was half expecting this, so I didn't run him down.

Ashley who was holding the door for us called out, "Hey, keep moving. I want to come back in too."

Dave started moving again, "Sorry, I uh... Sorry."

Judy walked up and I could see Bob and Joe getting up in the living room. "Hi Dave, you look like a deer caught in headlights."

Dave spoke up, "I, uh... I've never smelled anything so wonderful before."

I chuckled. I took a deep breath, I could smell the turkey, the sweet potatoes, the rest of the vegetables, and all the other wonderful smells of a Thanksgiving feast. "I agree with Dave, I've never smelled anything so wonderful before too."

Judy gave Dave a hug and Dave handed her the wine, "I got this to go with the dinner."

"Thank you, that was very considerate of you. Hello Sarah." She said as she put the wine in the fridge.

I set the pie in an open spot, and we walked into the living room. "Hi guys."

Every one said "Hi" and handshakes and hugs were exchanged. As we sat down Judy announced, "The turkey will be done soon, and Bob brought us a treat. Fresh baked bread."

I looked over at Bob, he appeared to be blushing. "Bob, I didn't know that you baked."

"I, ummm, only bake bread, and only a couple of times a year. I decided to bake some for this though. I hope you'll like it." Bob said, almost mumbling.

Dave was looking oddly at Bob. So was every one else, except Ashley; she was giggling. We sat around chatting until the turkey was done. Judy and Joe went to finish getting everything ready. Just after noon, we sat down to eat. When Dave saw the table, he hesitated again. I doubt that he had ever seen that much food outside of a cafeteria.

Ashley said Grace. I kept an eye on Dave, he looked a bit confused but he sat silently until she was done. I glanced around and saw that everyone had a glass of wine, Ashley and Judy's were rather small. Joe stood up, picked up his glass, "A toast. To friends and family."

Everyone took a sip, and Ashley wrinkled her nose at the taste. It was very good wine, whomever had helped Dave pick it out knew what they were doing.

When we began eating, I noticed that while he didn't take much of any one thing, he did take a little of everything. There was very little talking while we ate, except for the compliments. Everything was delicious and Bob had baked wonderful bread.

When we had finished and everyone relaxed and pushed their chairs back Dave spoke up, "That was the best meal I've ever eaten. Everything was great."

Joe and Judy blushed and both mumbled thanks. Dave probably wasn't exaggerating about this being the best meal he had ever eaten, but then again compared to what ate for years, it wasn't a fair comparison. While I couldn't say it was the best meal I'd ever eaten, I would be hard pressed to name which ones had been better.

Joe and Judy packed up the leftover food, while the rest of us moved back to the living room. We made small talk, until Joe and Judy joined us. We talked a bit and watched the football game, Ashley must have gotten bored because she got up and went to her room. When she got up, I saw Dave flinch, pause, and then get up. He followed Ashley down to her room. Joe flinched when he followed her, but said nothing.

A few minutes later, we heard laughing coming from the room. Judy walked down a little later to ask them if they wanted anything to drink. I figure that as much as she trusted Dave, having a 22 year old alone in a room with your 12 year old daughter is just a bit unnerving. When she sat down Joe looked at her, "And?"

"Their playing with Ashley's dolls," she said shaking her head.

Bob started choking on his beer and Joe looked stunned. I chuckled. Everyone looked at me. "What did you expect? Dave never had any friends to play with when he was growing up. I imagine that he still is a little behind when it comes to playing."

The four of us talked for about an hour. We had been trying to come up with what to get him for Christmas. It wasn't really easy to decide. In some ways he was very much an adult, then again right now he was playing with dolls. He also was at times very much male, but right now he was playing with dolls.

We actually agreed upon what we would do. Bob was going to get him a present suitable for someone his age. Joe and Judy were going to get him something more appropriate to their daughter, but something he could enjoy while playing with Ashley. Ashley had already asked her mom if she could give Dave some of her clothes that she either had or would outgrow over the winter. And I got to buy him anything I wanted.

We had finished and Bob would have to leave soon so Judy called down to the kids to come for pie. They came running down the hallway grinning. We cut and ate the pie.

As Bob was getting ready to leave, Judy surprised him with a plate of leftovers for dinner that night. Dave surprised him to by asking if Thor got a special dinner too. Bob hesitated and then said that he definitely had a special dinner for Thor planned. I'm not sure if he did or not, but it was obvious that he wasn't going to tell Dave that he didn't.

Ashley and Dave spent the rest of the afternoon playing in her room, while we chatted and watched football. Later that evening I decided to head home, I said bye to everyone. Dave asked if he had to go now also.

We laughed, "Dave you're an adult, you don't have to leave until Joe and Judy kick you out." I left and Dave stayed to play more.

The next month was more hectic than usual, it seemed like all I did was shop. I went with Judy; Dave; Judy and Ashley; Dave and Judy; Bob; Judy, Ashley and Dave. Bob and I even snuck into Dave's so Bob could figure out what to get him. I'm not sure how, but Joe seemed to luck out on the shopping front; I never saw him go shopping.

Dave, surprisingly, really seemed to get into the spirit of Christmas. He, with Bob's help, had strung lights all over his trailer. He had a small tree in one window. Judy even told me that he had dropped off a Christmas card and a big tin of cookies for the nurses that had treated him over the summer. Dave even told me that he sent his parents a Christmas card, complete with a picture of him in his Halloween costume.

That got me thinking, "Dave if you keep sending photos to parents aren't they going to find you?"

"No, I put Wrigley Field's address for my return address. I got the idea from the Blue's Brothers. They used it for their address in their movie. And I'm still in touch with my grandmother's lawyer. He keeps track of where they live for me."

"That's good. I wouldn't want them to show up here to bother you."

I invited Dave over Christmas Eve, that way he could get up Christmas morning and open the presents that I got him. I didn't tell him why, and I'm not even sure if he knew why.

Christmas Eve morning I went over to get Dave and to help him carry the presents he bought over to my house. He seemed to be in great spirits and it looked like he had bought lots of gifts for everyone.