Home from Home by DaraJaney 2009
When his father left, Walter and his mother had to move into a home for deserted families. Walter took it badly and mis-behaved so much that they were told that they had to leave the home.
His mother knew a friend who had connections with another home for deserted mothers. But this one was restricted to mothers with under-4s. Walter was thirteen. His mother pulled a lot of strings and eventually Ms. Howard who was in charge of the home said that she would see what she could do.
They went to visit the home. Walter was not impressed at the idea of being the only teenager among under-4s but he was realistic enough to know that their only alternative was homelessness, thanks to his bad behaviour.
The other mothers were not enthusiastic about having a thirteen-year-old troublesome boy in their midst. Ms. Howard had to do a lot of persuading. Eventually they began to relent. “But we don’t want him using our bathroom”, one of the women said and the others nodded agreement. “It’s only ever been used by women, so he can’t use it.”
His mother agreed to this condition and Walter didn’t demur. But when they were on their own he asked “what am I supposed to do about going to the toilet?”
Half-an-hour later he was sorry he asked. His groin stung from being freshly shaved. But it was not as badly stung as his pride. He was wearing a cloth nappy and plastic pants. (The home’s policy did not approve of disposables.)
He pleaded with his mother but it was clear that it was the only way that they were going to be allowed stay in the home. “Look, it’s just until we find somewhere else”, his mother reassured him.
Ms. Howard came in with a clipboard. She tried not to smile at the sight of the thirteen-year-old boy in a nappy. “We need you to sign acceptance of the house rules”, she told his mother. She was so relieved to have been taken in that she just signed it on the spot.
Walter’s trousers would not fit over his nappy so he could only wear a t-shirt. “We have a clothes-making workshop here and they’ll sort you out with something”, Ms. Howard told him. “We train our mothers to be as self-sufficient as possible. We have woodwork and motor maintenance classes as well.”
Ms. Howard took Walter by the arm. “Come with me”, she told him. He looked at his mother and she nodded at him to go.
Ms. Howard brought him to another room. Babies and toddlers were playing in the room under the supervision of three women. “This is your new charge - Walter”, Ms. Howard told them. They smiled broadly at the sight of the boy in a nappy. Walter tried to tug his t-shirt down but it didn’t nearly cover his nappy.
Walter looked around in dismay at the babies and toddlers and the childish toys that littered the room. “Do I have to?” he pleaded. “It’s in the rules”, Ms. Howard told him. “Rule 8 - All children must spend the day in the crèche under supervision.”
Walter sighed as one of the women took his hand and led him into the middle of the room. Trying not to laugh she said “sit down here and we’ll find some toys for you.” Walter looked plaintively at Ms. Howard as she left him in the room.
His mother was shown around the various facilities of the home. She tried her hand at a few skills during the morning. Approaching lunch-time she decided to look in on Walter.
She went into the crèche and found him sitting in among the toddlers. He had fleecy gloves on. He wasn’t very happy about it. He held them up in protest. “I’m afraid he got rather annoyed earlier and started to try to remove his nappy”, one of the women explained, “so we had to put these fingerless mittens on his hands to stop him. Rule 24 says that we can do that.”
His mother looked down at him. She had no sympathy for his predicament. “You’d better behave yourself now or we’ll be thrown out of here and we’ll have nowhere else to go.”
Three of the smallest babies were put into high-chairs to be fed their lunch. The older toddlers were able to feed themselves. One of the ladies brought a bowl for Walter and then remembered that he wouldn’t be able to feed himself because of the mittens.
The door opened and a woman came in with a breakfast-bar chair. They told Walter to sit up into it which he did. Then the woman produced a tray that fitted over the arms of the chair and locked in place. “Just a little something we knocked together in the woodwork class.”
Walter was furious at being put in what was effectively a high-chair. He shook the tray in front of him but couldn’t budge it and he was effectively confined in the chair. He examined the catch and could see that there was no way he could open it with his hands in mittens.
His mother took the bowl and started to spoon-feed him his lunch. The women tittered. Walter turned his head away. “Come now, eat your lunch”, his mother insisted. She tried to get a spoonful in his mouth but it smeared on his face and some splattered his t-shirt. “Now if you don’t co-operate we’ll have to get you a bib!” she warned. This further threat broke down Walter’s resistance. He grumpily accepted the spoon.
He swallowed and shuddered. It tasted awful. “We make our own baby-food here”, a women explained. “We can’t go making a special meal for you.”
Walter’s mother continued to spoon-feed him. A woman left a sippy cup with milk on the tray. Walter glared at it. His mother took a break from feeding him to let him drink. He figured he’d better comply. Resistance was only making things worse for himself. He took the sippy cup between both mittens and drank from it. “Good boy.” The toddlers looked on with amusement as they fed themselves and watched the thirteen-year-old being spoon-fed.
Walter was relieved to be let out of the high-chair but it just meant he had to go back to playing with the babyish toys. With his hands in mittens he couldn’t handle many of the toys for the toddlers like the building bricks. He enviously watched Todd make a simple house.
He pleaded with the women to take the mittens off. He promised that he wouldn’t try to remove his nappy but they wouldn’t listen.
A while later, his mother returned with a blue fleece. “The ladies made this for you.” She took off his t-shirt and pulled the fleece over his head and down. She buttoned it up at the back and he sat there wondering had she not put it on back-to-front. “Now lie back”, she instructed. He gave her a puzzled look but did what he was told. “Lift your bottom.” He was really puzzled now but again complied. She pulled the back of the fleece under his bottom and up in front. This she fastened to the front of his fleece with several snappers that held it tightly over his nappy.
“Mum!” Walter protested as he realised that he had been put in an oversized romper. His mother stood up and admired his new outfit with the other women. Walter pawed at the fasteners but could do nothing. “Just as well we kept his hands in mittens.”
Walter pleaded with the women as his mother left him in the crèche. She returned later with a pair of matching fleece booties. She couldn’t see Walter in the middle of the room. Then she looked at the play-pen in the corner which had been empty heretofore.
Walter sat in the play-pen and was su-king on a soother! He sniffled and his cheeks were wet. “I’m afraid that he just wouldn’t stop complaining” one of the women explained. “Rule 15 says that, while we avoid the use of soothers, we can insist on them when a child is persistently noisy. Then he threw a bit of a tantrum, so we insisted that he had to go in the play-pen. Rule 34.”
They started to put the babies in cots for nap-time. The toddlers curled up on cushions. Walter’s mother looked down at him in the play-pen. A rattle lay on the mat beside him. But Walter was more concerned about the fact that he was bursting for a pee. He knew that he had to wet his nappy but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
At least with his mother there, the probability was that she would change him rather than the women. So he let go. The warm pee spread around his nappy. Tears rolled down his face. “What’s wrong honey. I know that this is hard for you but you’re just making it worse for yourself.”
Walter pointed to his nappy. “Oh is your nappy wet honey?” The women all looked over at him. He nodded. His mother opened the side of the pen. The women gathered around. She pulled him to his feet.
“The changing room is just next door”, one of the women told his mother. “Here, I’ll show you.” It was obvious that all of the women wanted to come and watch but a couple of them had to stay to mind the real babies.
Amanda brought Walter and his mother to the changing room. Walter could feel pee sloshing around in the bottom of his plastic pants and was really concerned that he might leak.
“We put in a larger table for Walter”, Amanda said as they went into the room. Walter looked around at the ample supply of cloth nappies, powders and creams. “Now hop up here”, Amanda said patting the padded table top. Walter got up and lay back.
His mother popped open the fasteners on his romper. She pulled down his plastic pants and carefully opened the safety pins on his nappy. She took the nappy off him and dropped it in a bucket.
Amanda started wiping around Walter’s groin. He would have preferred if his mother did everything but he just lay back and suc-ked on his soother. “Turn over”, Amanda chirped. Walter lay on his tummy while Amanda wiped around his bum.
Then he felt powder being sprinkled on him and she rubbed it evenly over his skin. “Back again.” His front was powdered and his mother stood by with a clean nappy.
But before she put it on him Amanda started explaining about the creams. Walter lay there in front of them completely exposed. He was actually now rather keen to get his clean nappy on.
“This one is for nappy rash but hopefully little Walter will let us know when he is wet so we can change him quickly and avoid that.” Eventually his mother put the clean nappy on him and pinned it in place. She pulled the plastic pants up over his nappy. “Now be careful to make sure that his nappy is tucked inside the elastic all the way around”, Amanda advised.
She pulled his legs up in the air to check underneath. With a couple of little tugs she ensured that his nappy was well contained.
“Bottom up”, his mother instructed and she pulled his romper under his bottom and fastened it tightly over his nappy again. “All done!”
Walter was brought back into the crèche. Amanda put him back in the pen. “Now lie down there for the rest of nap time. Walter lay down with his head on a cushion. His mother left the room quietly. He lay there wondering how many nappy changes he was going to endure. He supposed he was going to have to do number 2s in his nappy as well. He gave a little su-k on his soother at the thought.
His mother returned to spoon-feed him his dinner. She stayed afterwards and made him play with the toys that were around the place. Walter was already resigned to the fact that all he could do was shake rattles, arrange letter blocks and press buttons on toys that played nursery tunes or made animal noises.
At 8pm Amanda clapped her hands. “Bedtime!” Walter looked up wondering if that applied to him. “Come along”, Amanda said taking his hand. “Mmppff”, Walter protested through his soother. She led him to another room. The other women brought a couple of babies with them.
Cots were arranged around the room in rows. In the corner, one cot was obviously bigger than the others. “The woodwork class really excelled themselves today”, Amanda said. Walter pulled back on her hand “Mmpppfff!” but she tugged him forward. “Now now. You’ve been so good this evening.”
Walter gave a plaintive “nnngg!” Amanda removed the side bars on his cot. There was a large teddy propped against the pillow. “Ah look”, his mother said, “aren’t they very good to give you a teddy.” Walter sat into the cot and glared at his mother.
He watched as Amanda put the side bars in place. She slid little bolts either end to lock it in place. One of the women handed his mother a sippy cup to give to him. The babies were fed their final bottles. Walter felt some minor relief that they weren’t making him su-k from a bottle. He drank the warm milk from the sippy cup.
Amanda introduced the night nurse to them. “This is Kylie. When you wet your nappy during the night just give a little call and she’ll come and change you.” Walter noted that she said “when” you wet your nappy not “if”. He thought of the milk he’d just drunk and realised that he could be in the cot for 12 hours.
He settled down in the cot and his mother pulled the duvet up to his neck. “Nightie night. See you tomorrow.” Walter thought about another day in nappies. He spat the soother out once the others were gone.
He wasn’t the least bit tired. The unfamiliar thick cloth around his bottom didn’t help. Kylie did a round of the cots after an hour or so. She saw he was still awake. He looked at her through the bars of his cot as she approached.
“Still awake?” she whispered. She picked up his soother and pushed it back into his mouth. “That might help.” Walter just glared at her.
Eventually he nodded off. But it was a disturbed sleep. Every time he moved he was reminded about the thick cloth spreading his legs apart. A couple of times that he tossed or turned, he vaguely remembers his soother being slipped back in to his mouth.
At some stage in the middle of the night he wet himself. He realised that he was going to have to do a number 2 as well. He curled up. It took a while before he could bring himself to do it but as his wet nappy started to go cold he realised that it was the sooner the better. So he pushed and a stool slid into the bottom of his nappy.
He got up on his knees to attract Kylie’s attention. She was reading a book but looked up after a minute and saw him. She put the book down and walked to his corner of the room. “Have we a wet nappy?” she whispered. Walter nodded. She sniffed. “Oh, I think it’s more than wet isn’t it?” Walter nodded again and looked at the floor.
She quietly slid the bolts and removed the side bars. She led him to the changing room. Walter lay on his tummy as she thoroughly wiped his bottom, wondering how he had ended up like this. He was sure sorry about the trouble he caused in the other home. Kylie put him back in his cot, he lay down and she gave him his soother again.
The next morning at 7am the women came in and started removing the babies from their cots, checking for wet or soiled nappies. Walter sat up in his cot and had to sit there for half-an-hour since his was the last they came to. “Wet nappy?” Walter shook his head.
His mother came in and brought him to the crèche. There he was put in his high-chair so his mother could spoon-feed him some milky brown mush. When she was finished he was about to ask her how long she thought they would be in the home and what she was doing to find alternatives but she pushed his soother back in and he figured that he’d better be good and not speak.
They were playing with the toys when Amanda came in with a selection of lollipops. She handed Walter a red one. There was a plastic wrapper around it. “Todd would you take the wrapper off Walter’s lollipop for him?” Walter looked on as Todd removed the wrapper and handed him his lollipop.
His mother told him she was heading for a job interview and that gave him some hope. If she got a wage they could probably afford their own place. But she returned later to say that there was no joy on this occasion.
So Walter had no choice but to fall into the routine of feedings, nappy changes and naps. He started to adjust and now usually went off to sleep for his nap and slept most of the long night.
The women made him another romper. This one was yellow and had broderie anglaise trimmings which looked suspiciously like lace to Walter. The women thought he looked “adorable” as his mother pulled the romper over his nappy and fastened it in place.
On good days the children were allowed into the back garden. But the good was taken out of it for Walter because they made him wear a bonnet to keep the sun off. “No reason why you should be an exception”, they told him.
After a few weeks, Walter was awoken from his nap one afternoon. “Great news!” his mother told him. “I’ve got a job!” “Mmmpppfff!” Walter congratulated her. He was used to his soother now and it usually stayed in during his nap.
“It’s only part time”, she cautioned. “But it’s a two year contract and I’ve spoken to the people in the home we were in at first and explained about your predicament and they’ve agreed to take us back as long as I sign up to pay them a proportion of my salary for the two years.” Walter eyes nearly popped. At last he was to be freed.
Amanda looked down at his nappy and frowned. “Are you wet?” Walter hadn’t noticed himself. He looked down. He was indeed wet. And it was cold. “Did you wet yourself in your sleep?” she asked. Looking back on it now, Walter knows that he should have denied it but he didn’t think fast enough. He was surprised himself that he had wet himself in his sleep.
“Oh dear”, Amanda said, “he’s obviously losing control. The other home won’t take him in if he needs to be in nappies.” “Mmmpppffff!” Walter protested. He was sure it was just a once off.
“I’m afraid he’s going to have to stay with us”, Amanda concluded. “Mmmpppffff!” Walter interjected again. “But it’s ok, you can sign the same deal with us so that you give us a proportion of your salary for the two years.” “Mmmpppfff!” Did she mean he was going to have to stay here for two years!
“OK” his mother said. “If he needs to be in nappies then we obviously have to stay here.” Amanda went to get the paperwork. Walter spat out the soother. “Please Mum you can’t possibly keep me here in nappies for two years!”
“We’ve no choice, honey. You’ve obviously lost control and need your nappies now so we have to stay here.” Walter shook the side bars of his cot. “No Mummy. Please! No!”
Amanda returned with the necessary forms. “Mum!!!” Walter pleaded from the cot. “Shush now”, Amanda whispered as she watched his mother sign. She found his soother and pushed it back in. “Now let’s get that nappy changed.”
Walter was crying now. “Oh honey, it’s not so bad.” Amanda soothed him. “We’ll look after you really well. You’ll hardly notice the two years pass.” Walter continued to blubber as he was led to the changing room. “Now you just su-k on your soother there”, Amanda told him. “It’s all done and dusted now. It’s signed up and legal. Nothing you can do about it. Just accept it.”
A few months later, Walter was playing in the back garden. He didn’t like his new romper. It was mint green. There were three rows of lace across the bottom which only emphasised the size of his nappy. His matching bonnet was similarly lace trimmed.
Todd’s mother came out into the garden. “Come along Todd. We’re moving into a new home now that you’re out of nappies.” Todd smiled broadly. “Bye bye Walter.” Todd’s mother looked down on Walter. “Hello Walter. How are you?” He just looked up at her and suc-ked on his soother.
“It’s his fourteenth birthday next week”, Amanda told her. “And how is he doing?” Todd’s mother asked. “Fine. I think he’s lost all control now. He’s about three months back in nappies. But there’s no point in toilet training him again for another twenty months or so. He’ll have to stay in nappies anyway.”
“Wave bye-bye to Todd”, Amanda instructed him. “So you’re off to a big boy’s home are you?” Todd looked so proud. “Bye, bye Walter” he said again as he turned to go.