Close Encounters 24
The following story is a complete work of fiction.
Any similarity to actual persons living or dead is completely unintentional...
not to mention I will also be so incredibly jealous too.
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Close Encounters
by Danny
~ Twenty-Fourth Encounter ~
I still don't know why I agreed to go to the movies with my two best friends. I hadn't been feeling well for a couple of days and that morning, I woke up with a bad case of diarrhea. I don't mean the kind of diarrhea where you feel a little discomfort and feel as though you really need to go. I mean I had the explosive kind that comes out whenever and wherever it wants. Every time my backside exploded, I smiled to myself and chuckled. You, Mark and I know why I was so tickled by this, but mom and dad had no idea. I believe that my parents both thought that I was delusional with fever.
Mom had given me some Imodium after breakfast. God I hate that stuff too. It makes my insides feel as though someone is carving my guts out with a spoon! It was sometime after lunch, and after another dose of Imodium that I was finally able to escape the bathroom, but the bout with the chocolate squirts had left me tired, weak and dehydrated.
When Mark called to ask me to go to the movies, I told him I didn't feel well and that I was sure my parents wouldn't let me go. That didn't stop him from begging me to go until I finally surrendered. He and Sean were absolutely dying to see the newest Harry Potter movie and neither wanted to see it without me. Yeah, I was dying to see it too but I knew I wouldn't enjoy it with my guts tied in knots but Mark convinced me that it beat lying around feeling like soggy cookies. I'm not sure what soggy cookies feel like, but I got his point.
Sean, Mark and I joined up with another friend of Sean's. His name was Geo, and the four of us were dropped off by Geo's older sister. I can't remember her name, but she was a total bow-wow and treated Geo like he was a mangy stray mutt. Despite having a hell-hound for a sister, for the most part Geo was an okay guy, except he tried too hard to be likeable and thus came across as mildly annoying. Mark couldn't stand Geo and told me so when he and I went into the bathroom in the middle of the movie.
Mark hadn't needed to use the bathroom but came with me because he knew I wasn't feeling too well. Actually, he came because, when I stood up, I was dizzy and nearly toppled forward onto three little kids that were sitting in the row in front of us.
"You okay?" Mark asked when we were out in the hallway.
"Yeah, just need a pee. That Coke went right through me!"
"Well if you had taken my advice..." Mark started.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I mocked, and as we stepped into the bathroom, I added, "I think that one of us in diapers is enough."
Mark elbowed me in the gut, not too hard, but given my tenderness, it was enough to cause me a little discomfort. "Serves you right. Next time, maybe you can say it a little louder." he said.
I quickly saw that all of the stall doors were ajar and no one was standing at the urinals so I played it up to try and make him feel bad. It worked.
"Oh, that wasn't even funny!" I moaned loudly and wrapped my arms around my abdomen.
Mark practically flipped out. "Oh Max, are you okay? I didn't mean... I forgot about your stomach!"
I stood upright and smiled, "Fooled ya!"
"Man," Mark lightly punched my arm, "You BLEEPING BLEEP! Don't do that to me!"
I really get a kick out of the way Mark censors his own words. I laughed as I entered one of the stalls and started to pull down my pants. I figured while I was in there, I should sit down just in case I needed to go more. I doubted that I would, I mean that Imodium is good stuff but I really don't want any more of the screaming doodies. On the other hand, I didn't want to miss anymore of the movie then we already were so I tried to bare-down a little.
Mark was over by the sinks. I knew this because I could hear him playing with the automatic faucets, and for some reason, he felt the need to carry on a conversation with me despite the echoing and the fact that anyone walking past the bathroom door could hear us.
"That Geo guy is weird." Mark said bluntly.
"I don't think so," I said in return as I started to pee.
"You pooping yet?" Mark asked.
I groaned, "Don't be crude!"
"He gets on my nerves." Mark added.
"Who does?" I asked.
"Sean's friend Geo!" Mark huffed, "Are you even paying attention?"
"Uh, I don't know if you noticed or not but I happen to be a little busy over here." I answered, and to drive home my point, I put my hands to my mouth and faked a really loud farting sound. I was disappointed that Mark didn't comment on it. He must have thought I was really breaking wind.
"Yeah well, I still think he's weird." Mark said after several seconds of silence.
"You have a lot of room to talk." I shot back.
Mark went on the defense when he asked, "What do you mean?"
"Never mind!" I said and then added, "Uh, I think I am going to be a few minute, you might want to go back to the movie without me."
When he didn't answer I started to wonder if he actually left me alone or if he was sulking after that last verbal slap.
I called out, "You there?"
To my horror a total stranger answered, "Yeah, who is that in there?"
The voice sounded like it came from someone fairly young and sounded somewhat panicked, but with the echo effect caused by the tiled walls and floor, it was difficult to be sure.
I felt my face glowing red hot with embarrassment and thought to myself that I would just sit quietly in my stall until I was sure whoever it was had left again. But then I heard someone coming closer.
"Who's in there?" the voice asked.
"Occupied," I called out.
An eyeball peered through the crack between the door and the wall of the stall. "Are you almost done?" the boy asked.
"You know there is more than one toilet in this building!" I said fretfully.
I thought I heard him leave. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but then the door to the stall beside me closed and latched. I sat perfectly still and didn't make so much as a peep or allow the smallest of farts to escape. Whoever was in the next stall was being very quiet too. His feet were not shuffling about and I never heard the sound of his pants being unzipped.
Minute by minute silently passed until finally I heard the barely audible sound of a zipper opening. The stalls in the theater are the kind that are up from the floor about a foot or more, so when he did drop his pants, I saw them scrunch up around his brightly polished black shoe, which was the only one I could see from my vantage point. A second later, I heard the unmistakable sound of a tape being pulled open from a diaper.
My heart was racing and little beads of sweat began to form on my forehead. It took a second before the stench drifted over to my stall. It was bad. It was so very bad that I had to pull the collar of my sweatshirt up over my nose and mouth to breath. It smelled of boiled cabbage and decaying flesh mingled with a hint of rotten eggs. I swear I could actually see the stink seeping underneath the partition between our two stalls like some kind of noxious bio-hazardous brown and green mist.
I could hardly hear over the beating of my heart but I think my heart, stopped when I heard the crinkling of plastic.
And then, from the stall next to me came, "Plop, KURPLOP, plop," in succession followed by a flush.
I heard more rustling of plastic, and then it got very quiet again. We could hear the movie thundering through the bathroom walls, but neither of us made any sounds. It seemed like such a long time before I heard a whimper from the next stall. I listened more intently and realized, whoever it was over there was crying now.
"Uh, you okay over there?" I called out before I even knew I'd thought the words.
My neighbor was quite for a few seconds and then in a barely audible voice said, "Can you find my mom for me?"
"Huh?" I said without thinking again, "I mean, yeah sure. Uh, are you okay?"
"Please, can you just get my mom?" The boy sounded younger then I had guessed him to be. "She's in the Harry Potter movie."
"What's her name?" I asked.
The boy got quiet again and then said, "I-I-I don't know." And began to cry louder.
"It's okay, don't cry. I will find her for you. Do you know where she was sitting and what she looks like?
"She has brown hair and she is sitting sort of by the front." He answered.
I stood up, pulled my pants up and said, "Don't worry, I'll try and find her. Uh, what's your name so I can ask if you are her son?"
"Eben Orric," he said.
"Oh good, well then, I can just ask for Mrs. Orric and that should be your mom right?" I said.
With a sniffle Eben answered back, "Okay".
I walked into the theater during a particularly dark scene in the movie. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I stood looking at the backs of everyone's heads and noticed that there were literally dozens of women with dark hair in the front section. Not knowing what else to do, I went down the back row and whispered, "Mrs. Orric?"
I was nearly to the other side of the theater when a girl, maybe twelve or thirteen years old turned around, looked at me, then tapped the lady in front of her on the shoulder and whispered, "Someone wants you."
The lady twisted in her seat and I saw that she was of a black lady, but her hair didn't seem like the sort of hair a black woman would have. I beckoned her to come, which she did.
I met her beside the far wall and asked, "Are you Mrs. Orric?
"Yes," she answered and I can remember thinking how beautiful her face was. Even in the darkened theater, I could see that she had perfect mocha skin that was framed by straightened brown hair that shimmered as the lights from screen reflected back toward us. She had two of the deepest, most calming green eyes I have ever seen and she smelled like honeysuckles in bloom.
I tried to force my thoughts to come back under control, "And do you have a son named?" I hesitated as I tried to remember the boy's name, but the wonderful fragrance of her perfume seemed to be calling every active brain cell into olfactory service.
"Eben?" she said for me.
"Yeah-yeah, that's what he said. Eben. He needs you in the boys restroom," I said as softly as I could.
I don't know why I followed her out of the movie and back to the bathroom. Maybe I just wanted to see Eben for myself.
"He's in that one," I said, pointing the way to the boys' room.
Eben's mom hesitated at the door to the bathroom and I asked, "Want me to make sure no one else is in there first?"
"Could you please?" she said sounding so sweet.
I walked in and saw that only one stall appeared to be occupied. "Eben, you still in here?"
"Yes. Did you find my mom?" he whimpered.
"Yeah, hang on. I just had to check that the coast was clear." I said and quickly retrieved his mother from the hallway.
"Eben sweetie, what's the matter?" she asked, using that same sweet sounding tone she'd used on me in the hallway.
Eben lost it and began to cry openly. His mother glanced my way and I got the hint, "Uh, I will just go guard the door."
"Oh thank you! You are a dear!" she gushed.
When I heard the stall door opening, I wanted to stop and look back, but I didn't. However, even from the hallway, I could hear Eben with no trouble at all.
"Mommy, I pooped again and it went all inside my pants and got on my shirt!"
Mrs. Orric could only be heard making hushed sounds to console Eben and I imaged that she was helping to get him cleaned up.
"But mommy, what if someone sees?" Eben could be heard expressing his fears.
A thought jumped into my head and before I had a chance to reason it out, I stepped back into the bathroom and said, "If you need, I think my friend might have an extra diaper. It will probably be way big but..." I didn't have to finish.
For the first time, I got a clear view of Eben from the chest up. His complexion wasn't as dark as his mother's, but other than that, the resemblance was uncanny. Eben looked to be maybe seven years of age with the same color hair as his mother and those same wonderful eyes. However, Eben's eyes were also red and swollen from having been crying.
"Oh, that would be wonderful." Mrs. Orric said and I took off quick as a whip to find Mark.
I knew that Mark never went anywhere without at least one, and usually more than one extra change of diapers.
"What's going on?" Sean asked.
"Never mind!" I told him and cupped my hands around Marks ear so that I could whisper the situation to him.
Mark mouthed the words, "Really?" and I nodded my head. He shoved his backpack into my arms and I slipped out of the theater for the third time.
Inside Marks bag was everything one would need for such a situation, wipes, creams, powder, and Ziploc baggies for the soiled diaper and most importantly, a fresh diaper.
When I returned to the bathroom, I found Eben outside of the stall bent over and his mother was wiping his poop-smeared butt. Even covered in poop his butt looked beautiful, but the stink that filled the bathroom could have taken down a whole herd of rhinos.
"Here," I gasped trying to catch my breath.
I opened Marks backpack, pulled out the wipes and handed them to Mrs. Orric. When she saw the thin, white plastic container with the words "Huggies" on the cover, she exclaimed, "Oh thank you!"
I also pulled out and arranged on the floor beside them the cream, powder and one of Marks big Tena® diapers.
Eben was still whimpering and sniffling but, for the most part, he had quieted down a lot. Then I noticed the condition of his pants and shirt. I imagine that his mom could have rinsed the bulk of the mess in the toilet and then finished cleaning them in the bathroom sink, but who wants to run around in soaking wet clothes? I know I wouldn't!
"Hey, if you want, I have on another shirt under my sweatshirt. Eben can wear my sweatshirt home." I offered.
Mrs. Orric objected to this idea, but once I reassured her that it was perfectly okay, she agreed, but only after promising that she would return it.
I pulled off my shirt and folded it neatly before setting it aside. While she continued to wipe his bottom clean, I picked up his soiled diaper and put it into one of the Ziploc baggies. By the time she finished getting him totally cleaned up, I had also put his pants and his shirt into separate baggies.
It's kind of weird how some people don't mind accepting the help of a perfect stranger like me while others seem to get all bent out of shape if you do so much as hold the door open for them. I mean, there I was, just some unknown boy kneeling next to Mrs. Orric, watching as she finished cleaning Eben's sack. Eben was just wiping at his eyes and paying me no attention at all.
When Mrs. Orric first held the Tena® diaper up in front of Eben, his eyes grow huge and his bottom lip began to quiver. While he was still standing with his feet apart, she threaded the diaper between his knees and pulled it up tight. I'd never seen anyone diaper someone while the one being diapered was standing. It was pretty cool the way she did it. When she was done, the waistband of the diaper was under Eben's armpits. It was almost comical to see Eben standing there like that, but I didn't let on that I thought so.
While Mrs. Orric started to gather the items back up and put them into Marks backpack, I helped Eben put on my sweatshirt.
His head was still inside the shirt when he asked, "What's your name?"
"My name is Max," I answered.
Eben's head popped out of the collar of my sweatshirt and he exclaimed, "Mommy, he has the same name as me!"
That confused the heck out of me, "Huh? I thought your name was Eben?"
"It is! I am Eben Maximillian Orric Jr." he said proudly.
"Wow! That's a cool name." I took hold of Eben's hand, which was trapped within the sleeve of the sweatshirt, and shook it properly, "Pleasure to meet you Mr. Eban Maximillian Orric Jr. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Maxwell L. Riddle." I said, and began to roll the sleeves up so that Evan was able to have his hands free.
Max smiled and let out a giggle, "I like you Max!"
"I like you too Eben," I said with a smile.
"You are the sweetest little boy," Mrs. Orric said to me, and to be honest, I took offence at her referring to me as a little boy, but I let it go.
I found a piece of paper and a pen in Mark's backpack, wrote my phone number on it for Mrs. Orric. I was going to give her my home address too so that she could bring back my shirt, but she didn't want me to.
"It's not a smart thing to give your address to a stranger, not even if you think they are nice." She lectured me.
As I stood up, Eban asked, "What's the L stand for?"
I looked down, "If I tell you, do you promise not to laugh?"
Eban crossed his heart with his finger and then used a pretend key to lock his lips closed. Leaning down , cupped my fingers around his small ear and whispered my middle name.
Instantly, he giggled but quickly covered his mouth and said, "Oops! Sorry!"
"Just don't go telling anyone!" I said, wagging my finger at him in a humorous manner.
As the three of us left the bathroom, I was several feet behind Eben and got a great view of him waddling out my sweatshirt hanging down to the midpoint of his naked caves. He seemed perfectly happy now that he was cleaned up and didn't seem to care that he was wearing a sweatshirt and diaper, both of which were several sizes too big for him. We stepped out of the bathroom and I swung Marks backpack over one shoulder, intent on going in to see the end of the movie. I had expected that Eben and his mom would be leaving, and sure enough, Mrs. Orric turned left to head toward the exit, but Eben had turned right to go back in to the movie too.
He was not happy about missing the last half of the movie, but then Mrs. Orric had an idea. "Max, since you were such a wonderful gentleman. Would you let me and Eben treats you to this movie again next weekend?" she asked.
Ebon was dancing on the tips of shoes as he pleaded with me. "Say yes! Oh please say yes! Please, please, please!"
"Uh, yeah sure. Wow, that sounds great! But you have to at least let me buy the popcorn."
"Oh my dear boy, of course not. I won't hear of it. The movie, popcorn and sodas are on me!" and to show her resolution in the matter she added, "and furthermore, afterward we will be having an ice cream."
"Oh, but I'll have to get permission." I said.
"You see there, you are such a good little boy!" Mrs. Orric said, and with her one free hand, she grabbed the back of my head. I thought she was just going to give me a hug, but instead, she planted a really wet kiss right on my cheek. I didn't know until after the movie that she left some lipstick behind. Boy did Sean, Geo and Mark ruthlessly tease me about that.
I had walked Eben and his mom to the door and after saying goodbye, I started to walk over to the arcade, but this man in a gold sports coat stopped me. I thought he was going to give me a hard time for being a teenager and loitering in the lobby, but that isn't want he did at all. The guy turned out to be a lot younger then he looked. As a matter of fact, he was still in high school.
"Do you know who that lady was?" he asked.
I was caught off guard, "Uh, you mean Mrs. Orric?"
"You don't have any idea do you?" he said with a knowing smile.
I didn't get it and shrugged.
"She's married to the Mayor! They are loaded!" he said.
For some reason, that latter part didn't register right away, "What do you mean? Like she's drunk?" I asked.
"No man! They are loaded as in they have more money than God!" and the way he said, it made me feel like in his own way, he was saying I was dumb.
"So!" I said, shrugged my shoulders and walked into the arcade.
After the movie ended, I was standing next to the popcorn station waiting on the guys to come out, and that same guy in the Gold sports coat gave me a wink from the other side of the counter.
Luckily, I spotted the guys coming out right then and made my way over to them.
"What happened to you?" Geo asked.
Sean echoed, "Yeah what happened to you?"
"Were you feeling sick again?" Geo asked.
"Nothing like that, I was just helping out a friend." I said and tried to let it go at that, but Geo wouldn't let it drop.
"But you missed the best movie ever! Harry was..." he nearly spoiled the ending for me but Mark jabbed him, pretty hard in the side and said, "Shut up! Maybe he wants to see it again another time!"
"Yeah but..." Geo tried again and I was glad to see Sean take a stand this time.
Sean had been about two steps ahead of Geo. He spun around and jabbed Geo in the chest with a rigid finger, "You had better shut or so help me, I'll tell your dad on you!"
Geo didn't say another word until after we'd arrived home other than to grunt at his sister when she'd come to pick us up and had asked why he was so quiet. Geo turned in the front seat and looked angrily at Geo. Geo must have still been upset too because he fired his own heated look back at Geo.
Amazingly enough, as we were filing out of the car, Geo grabbed my arm and apologies for almost spoiling the movie for me. I told him it was cool, even though if he had told me the end, I probably would have had to pound on his head with a big rock.
If you are enjoying this story, please send me a short (or even a long) email to let me know at m12@thedoghousemail.com. You're kind words are like fuel to my creative self!