The Environmental Law and the Own Tempo Movement

[Albasion]

Prologue

'Dear addressee,

The municipal basic administration shows that a child is living at this address who will soon reach the age of four. In accordance with the environmental law of 2045, regarding the use of absorbent clothing, the period within which the absorbent clothing sanctioned by the Ministry of the Environment may be used will expire. The first working day after the child in question reaches the age of four, the officer on duty will visit you and collect the clothing in question. The child is expected to use the usual sanitary facilities from his or her fourth birthday. Offenders are guilty of an environmental offence and will be punished as such.

Yours sincerely, the Minister of the Environment.’

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Please let me know if this is a promising angle for a story. If so, I’ve got a couple of chapters written in draft already, so I’d post some of those in the following days

[Albasion]

Alright, screw it, I’m posting the first chapter. I’m pretty nervous, since this is the first time I’m trying to write a full-length story (diaper-related or otherwise). Please keep in mind that I originally wrote it in my native language, Dutch, and that I translated it with Google Translate, for the most part (only making minor adjustments afterwards). So if the sentence building seems a bit off sometimes, maybe something got lost in translation. Also, apparently spaces between words are sometimes randomly removed if you copy-paste something from Word to ADISC. Hope I fixed that properly as well.

Anyway, here goes!

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Chapter 1: The officers

It was a beautiful, sunny Monday in May. Nora, a young mother in her mid-thirties, was home alone with her son Toby. She looked nervously out of the window as Toby played unsuspectingly with his birthday gifts. The family had celebrated his fourth birthday with cake and presents the day before. It suited them that Toby’s birthday was on a Sunday; few people had to take time off work to celebrate this milestone on the day itself. It had been a beautiful day, and fortunately the one problem that was soon to unfold in Toby’s life had not been in the foreground.

Nora had read the letter from the Minister of the Environment many times. Over the past year, she and her husband Wilmar had made more than enough frantic attempts to toilet-train Toby. Despite the fact that he seemed to be physically and mentally healthy, a happy and playful child, he showed no interest in the potty or the toilet. No sticker sheet in the world could change that, and all well-intentioned pedagogical theories could go straight into the trash for the time being.

Towards the end of the morning, the officers rang the doorbell. There were two of them, two intimidating men in uniform, one sturdy and the other quite slim. Toby hid cautiously behind the curtains. He found the two men who had come in uninvited a bit scary. Out of tension, he did a little wee – the last one he would do, without realizing it, in his trusted washable diaper. Nora reluctantly offered the two men a cup of coffee. The three of them sat down on the couch.

‘Let’s get straight to the point,’ said the larger of the two men. ‘Your son turned four yesterday, isn’t that right?’

‘Yes,’ sighed Nora.

‘According to our records, you have already returned all the smaller sizes of absorbent clothing, so that makes our job a lot easier. You also have no records of using illegal materials, so that’s also good. If you just give us the twenty items in size 5, we’ll be done.’

‘I tried to explain to you last week that that’s not possible. He’s not toilet trained at all. It’ll be a real mess without any diapers here.’

‘We’re just here to enforce the environmental law. Unfortunately, there’s not really room for discussion about this,’ the large man spoke.

‘From the context, I understand that he’s still wearing one?’, the other man added.

‘Again, we don’t really have a choice,’ Nora said. ‘I know he’s a bit late, but he’s simply not toilet trained yet. My husband and I have done our best, but he’s taking it at his own tempo, it seems.’

‘That may all be true, but you’re still breaking the law, I’m afraid. You received the letter from the ministry, right?’

‘Yes,’ said Nora, a little impatiently, ‘but I just said that…’

‘Never mind,’ the slim man interrupted her. ‘Since it’s only one extra day, we’ll be lenient and just give you a warning. If you change him, just give us the last one in a plastic bag. We’ll wait here. The other nineteen have been washed properly, I assume?’

‘I washed the rest this morning,’ said Nora. ‘They’re hanging out to dry in the garden, but I think they’ve dried quite a bit in this weather.’

After Nora had stuffed the remaining nineteen slightly damp but clean washable nappies into a shopping bag, she came back inside. Toby crawled further behind the curtains, but he wasn’t strong or quiet enough to escape the situation. Nora took her crying son upstairs and obediently did as she was asked.

‘Is this really necessary?’, she asked when she returned, a plastic bag with the last wet diaper in her right hand. ‘I understand that disposable diapers are no longer allowed, they create a lot of waste. But we just wash these.’

‘Well, it has to do with energy and water consumption. A lot of hot water is needed to wash those diapers every time. When the law was introduced a few years ago, it was calculated that the amount of energy used would be exactly below the critical value if we set the cut-off point at four years. And the model turned out to be quite correct, so the law has remained as it is,’ the large man explained.

‘And what if you are disabled or incontinent?’, Nora asked.

‘There are procedures to obtain an exception’, was the answer of the slimmer of the two officers. ‘But then we are talking about really serious disabilities. Your son looks healthy. I don’t expect him to qualify for that. Moreover, you should have started those procedures at least 3 months ago, if you wanted to go down that road. After all, it takes a while before the medical checks can be scheduled and before the reports can be processed.’

‘Yes, they said something like that on the phone too’, sighed Nora.

After that, the game was over. The officers took the shopping bag with its contents and left. Nora and Toby were left behind somewhat bewildered. Wilmar, Toby’s father, was still at work and received a phone call from his wife during his lunchbreak.

‘I had already heard that they were taking this seriously’, said Wilmar. ‘Not nice of course, but I’m afraid there is little we can do about it. Let’s just give it a try, maybe Toby is doing better than we think now. Remember what your brother said when he came over for Toby’s birthday yesterday? Our nephew Danny was potty trained within a few days after the officers came.’

Toby was still a little upset, but tried to play with his race track, which he had received for his birthday. In the run-up to his birthday, he had occasionally walked around for an hour without a diaper, but had always felt very uncomfortable and had been begging for a diaper. He half expected that he would be given a diaper again after an hour, but of course they had been taken away.

It did indeed take about an hour before Toby walked around with wet pants for the first time. He was concentrating on playing and had finally gotten a little distracted from what had happened that morning. Without thinking, he let his pee run, and it took a few seconds before it dawned on him that he was not wearing a diaper. His colorful big boy underwear and his sweatpants got wet. Nora put dry underwear on Toby and decided to let him walk around in them for the time being. With the nice weather, that wasn’t exactly a punishment.

As the day went on, things seemed to slowly improve. Toby also made it to the toilet several times, although he clearly found it an unpleasant feeling to sit there. By the time Wilmar got home, Nora was cautiously optimistic. It was slowly cooling down, so she had put Toby back in sweatpants. Wilmar was sitting quietly on the couch while Nora was cooking, and he suddenly saw Toby grab his crotch in fright.

‘What’s wrong, Toby? Do you have to pee?’

Toby nodded.

‘Do you think you can still make it to the toilet?’

Toby turned red and shook his head. He knew that he would start peeing as soon as he moved an inch.

‘It’s okay,’ said Wilmar. He walked over to his son and stroked his head. ‘Let it go, we’ll clean it up soon. I can see that you’ve done your best.’

Toby relaxed a little and peed a big puddle in his sweatpants. It made him feel good that his dad reacted so calmly, but it still didn’t feel good, those wet pants. He really missed wearing a diaper.

[Albasion]

PurpleScorpion said:

Fascinating world building. One question though: what’s going on the bed wetting side of things?

That’s definitely a problem for kids like Toby in this world, as we’ll see in the next chapter!

There will be both other kids and solutions, though

[Albasion]

Alright, here’s chapter 2! I wanted to post this yesterday, but I spent a bit more time fixing the English translation this time. The flow should be a bit better than the first chapter.

Chapter 2: The encounter in the playground

Toby’s third accident happened in the middle of the night. Wilmar and Nora had already been worried about the idea of Toby even having to sleep without a diaper. They had checked extra carefully that the mattress protector was properly fitted, and they had a few old fitted sheets lined up as a spare, because they suspected that this would come in handy.

Toby dreamed of angry officers telling him that the toilet was closed. In his dream, he discovered a secret entrance to the toilets, crawled through on his hands and knees, and sat down on the toilet. He was proud that he had made it and started to pee. When he had finished peeing, he suddenly woke up. His wet pajama pants were stuck to his lower body. Nora changed the bed linen with appropriate reluctance. The next day, she called her brother.

‘Yeah, we actually did more or less the same thing,’ said Nora’s brother. ‘Like you said, a good mattress protector underneath, a few old sets of bedding. I think Danny was dry for the first time on the third night, and now he hardly ever has accidents. The last time must have been months ago.’

Toby, however, was not dry on the third night. A furious Nora grabbed another soaked sheet off his bed and threw it in the washing machine. Meanwhile, Toby sat almost catatonic on his parents’ bed with his head bowed.

‘That bunch of idiots with their backward models,’ Nora grumbled. ‘What do you mean, it takes too much water and energy to wash diapers? No, having to do this kind of crap every night is just fantastic for the environment.’

‘Please calm down,’ said Wilmar. ‘She’s not mad at you, boy,’ he said to Toby, putting an arm around him. ‘We know you’re trying really hard. It’s quite difficult to hold your pee for so long, isn’t it?’

On Thursday, when Wilmar was back at the office, Nora decided to take her son outside again. Although Toby still had wet pants every now and then during the day, she thought that just sitting inside all the time wouldn’t be good for a child. They went to the playground in the nearby park together, so that they would at least be home quickly and have few witnesses if a problem arose.

When Nora and Toby approached the playground, there was a welcome distraction. There was a woman sitting on the bench next to the sandbox, and a girl of about the same age as Toby was playing in the sandbox. Nora sat down next to the woman, while Toby ran towards the girl, whose name turned out to be Lisa.

While their mothers were sitting on the bench in silence, lost in thought while looking at the trees in the park, there seemed to be an immediate connection between Toby and Lisa. The children sat down next to each other in the sandbox and began to work together on a sort of sandcastle—although without a bucket or something of that nature at hand, it looked more like a sand mountain. After about ten minutes, however, Lisa stood up and walked over to her mother, Aletta. She indicated that she had a wet diaper, and Aletta checked to see how urgent it would be to change it.

“Oh, that’s not so bad. We can change it at home later,” Aletta said. “You can go play for a little while longer, I’ll call you when we’re going back home.”

As Lisa waddled back to the sandbox and sat down next to Toby again, Nora couldn’t help but make a comment that reflected her frustration with the past week.

“Let me guess, she probably hasn’t turned four yet?”

“Well, if you must know, her fourth birthday was last month.”

Somewhat startled, Nora whispered, softly enough that the children couldn’t hear her, "You’re kidding. But what about the environmental law? If there had been an officer here, you would have had a problem.’

Aletta had to smile. ‘You don’t look like an environmental law enforcer. How do you feel about that law yourself?’

With a certain amount of chagrin, Nora replied: ‘That law is really monstrous. They just expect every child to develop at the same pace. And it doesn’t make any sense either – with all those wet pants and sheets, we’re really not washing any less than before.’

‘I agree with you,’ said Aletta. ‘The question is how we deal with it. If we break a law that is monstrous, then we’re not the monsters, are we?’

‘I certainly wouldn’t call you that, no,’ replied Nora.

‘Why don’t you come over for a cup of coffee?’, asked Aletta. ‘We live less than a ten-minute walk from here. Maybe I can show you something interesting.’

The children clearly didn’t mind being in each other’s company for a little longer. They happily hobbled along behind each other, while both mothers kept an eye on things. Shortly after, the foursome arrived without any problems at the house where Aletta and Lisa turned out to live. They went inside and Aletta closed the door.

‘Now, sweetie, please get yourself a clean diaper and the wipes,’ Aletta said to Lisa. ‘Coffee?’, she added casually to Nora. ‘And maybe you’d like a glass of lemonade… Toby, right?’

Toby nodded silently. He was clearly not entirely at ease in this strange house. As he looked around and slowly began to take in the space, Lisa came trotting over with an object that Toby had never seen before in his life. It looked like the diapers he had also worn until his fourth birthday, only the outside was not made of cloth with velcro, but of plastic. The top edge was pink with some patterns on it.

‘Is that a disposable diaper?’, Nora asked. ‘But… haven’t they been banned for years? Where on earth did you get them?’

Aletta laughed mysteriously. ‘We have our ways,’ she said.

Toby and Lisa went to play together with Lisa’s toys that were in the living room. After a while, Toby felt a familiar sensation in his lower body. He understood by now that ignoring that sensation was a bad idea, so he stopped playing for a moment and walked over to the two mothers on the couch.

“Mommy, I have to pee,” he said.

“Good thing you told me in time, honey,” Nora said. “You should go to the toilet quickly. It’s just down the hall, I think?” she added, looking at Aletta.

“Yes, of course,” Aletta said. Toby quickly ran towards the hall, walked into the bathroom and closed the door. He was a bit nervous about going to a strange toilet, but he pulled himself together and grabbed the elastic of his sweatpants. Just as he was about to pull down his pants, the toilet made a huge noise and the water from the cistern started to flow.

Toby quickly ran out of the toilet again. “I don’t want to pee there!” he shouted in panic.

"Of course, the fully automatic flush. That was a brilliant idea, except not really. Lisa’s older brother, Damian, always found it a bit scary when he was younger’, Aletta said.

‘Just try it, honey’, Nora said. ‘Do you want me to come with you for a bit?’

Toby started to cry.

‘You can have one of Lisa’s diapers, you know. Maybe he’ll like that better?’, Aletta suggested.

Toby stopped crying, but Nora wasn’t immediately enthusiastic. ‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea’, she said hesitantly. ‘We’ve only been trying the toilet for a few days, and… well, the officers…’

‘Those officers can’t do magic’, Aletta said decisively. ‘They never have to find out. Lisa, can you get a diaper for your new little friend?’

Lisa hopped up and down the stairs again, and soon came back with a second diaper.

“The only downside for you, Toby,” Aletta said, “is that this diaper is pink. I hope you don’t mind?”

Toby mumbled something like “pink is for girls,” but he could already feel the pressure in his bladder building considerably, and knew that he could pee in his pants at any moment. Nora noticed this too, and made a quick decision. She grabbed Toby, laid him down on the couch, and pulled his pants down. In one fluid motion, she slid the pink disposable diaper under his bottom, folded it around him, and sealed both tapes shut. The second tape had only just been sealed when Toby felt that he could no longer hold it in. Still lying on the couch with hispants down, he started to pee. However, the diaper held it easily, and both the couch and the rest of his body remained dry. Toby and his mother looked at each other with smiles and understanding.

“That feels better than wet pants, doesn’t it?” Aletta asked.

Toby nodded. He pulled his pants back up, got up from the couch, and went back to playing with Lisa’s toys.

‘I still don’t get it, though. There must have been a visit from the officers when Lisa turned four last month. How did you handle that?’, Nora asked.

‘Not every officer is the same,’ Aletta said mysteriously. ‘Can you please stop worrying about the officers for one second? I’ll give you a few diapers to take home later, so you can see how they work for you and your little boy. But if you think you need more than a few… give me a call. We’ll exchange numbers in a minute.’

With Aletta’s phone number written down, Nora and Toby walked home about half an hour later. They walked through the park and past the playground where they had met Aletta and Lisa. Toby felt the disposable diaper move with every step he took, and if he listened very carefully he could hear a soft rustling. He stopped for a moment at the sandbox because he had to pee again.

“Honey, we’re not going to the playground anymore,” Nora said, not realizing the real reason her son was standing still. “We’ve been away from home long enough.”

“Okay,” Toby said, who had just finished peeing. The diaper felt soft and warm, and even though he’d peed twice in it, his bottom felt relatively dry. This was a feeling he could get used to.

[Albasion]

PurpleScorpion said:

this is the weirdest YA dystopia story I’ve read (positive)

I’m glad you like it!

What do you mean by YA? My first thought was ‘young adult’, but that doesn’t make sense in this context.

[Albasion]

Time to make the title make more sense!

Chapter 3: Own Tempo

Wilmar came home from work late on Thursday night. Due to a reorganization at his job, several tasks had to be redistributed, which caused quite a bit of stress and overwork. Wilmar usually didn’t drink alcohol during the week, but he had decided to have a beer when he got home. He figured he deserved it after such a hard day at work.

When he opened the front door, Toby ran to him. "Daddy, you’re home!"he called out cheerfully. Wilmar was surprised that his son was still awake, since it was already past his normal bedtime, but he was very happy to see him.

"I let him stay up a little later,"Nora said. “I knew you were coming home soon. There’s something I want to talk to you about. Don’t worry, it’s something positive… well, I guess. It’s been a bit of a strange day.”

“I’ll be with you in a minute,” Wilmar said. “Just a moment.” He opened the fridge, picked up a beer, and grabbed the opener from the drawer. But when he uncapped it and went to throw the bottle cap away, he nearly had a heart attack. A used disposable diaper was one of the last things he expected to find in the trash. Wilmar hadn’t known they were still being made at all, let alone that they could be found in his own home.

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk about,” Nora said. “We met someone today.”

Nora told her husband about the strange woman they had met at the playground, and her non-potty-trained four-year-old daughter, Lisa.

“It’s cute that Toby made a new friend,” Wilmar said. “And it’s nice that he didn’t have wet pants all day because of your encounter. But I’m a little worried.”

“Me too,” Nora said. She added in a whisper, "But I don’t think we should focus too much on the fact that these diapers are illegal. That’s not really going to help Toby in any way.’

‘Does he still have a diaper on?’, Wilmar asked.

‘No, he doesn’t. I only got a few, so I wanted to be a bit frugal with them. The one you saw lying in the trash is the same one as this afternoon. And this evening he actually made it to the toilet on time. But I wanted to suggest, if you’re fine with it as well, that we put a diaper on him tonight. I think that would save a lot of trouble.’

Wilmar agreed, although he did mumble to Nora that he hoped ‘those idiots won’t go digging through the trash’. He was too tired to read Toby a story, so he just gave him a big hug and a kiss, and left the story to Nora. She put one of the four clean pink diapers on him that Aletta had given them.

‘Well, now you won’t wake up in a wet bed’, said Nora. ‘Sleep well, little man!’

‘Sleep well, mommy’, said Toby.

However, Toby couldn’t sleep. He had been quite constipated due to the stress of the last few days, and his stomach was hurting as a result. He also didn’t dare to poop on the toilet yet, so he had been holding it in for a few days whenever he felt the urge. He came downstairs again after half an hour, whimpering softly.

‘Do you have a stomach ache, son? Come to daddy for a moment’, said Wilmar. He gave his son a careful massage over his stomach.

‘It’s not so strange’, said Nora. ‘He hasn’t pooped for a few days. I think the last time was on his birthday. Since then, he hasn’t done it on the toilet yet, and he hasn’t done it in his pants either…’

‘You shouldn’t hold your poop in too long, son’, Wilmar said to Toby. ‘That will give you a stomach ache. You’re wearing a diaper again now, so if you feel that you have to poop, you can just do it in your diaper. Okay?’

Toby nodded.

‘Go back to sleep now. And you can call us when you need to be changed’, Nora said.

Toby went back upstairs and lay down in his bed. Now that he had permission to use his diaper, he dared to poop again. He started pushing gently at first, then a bit harder. It took him a lot of effort to get it all out, and it didn’t feel particularly pleasant because it had become so hard. When he finally succeeded after a while, he did feel a sense of relief. Toby soon fell asleep with his dirty diaper still on.

Wilmar and Nora found Toby asleep when they went to bed. They could tell right away from the smell that he was no longer constipated. Nora changed Toby half asleep and put a new diaper on him. The next morning, Toby’s diaper was wet, but his bed was nice and dry for the first time that week.

‘Well, that one definitely proved its worth,’ Wilmar said to Nora as he took the diaper downstairs and threw it in the bin. ‘I don’t know where those things come from, but the quality is fine, judging by the dry bed. But I think you should call that new friend of yours, because our little guy urgently needs more.’

When Nora called Aletta on Friday evening, Aletta asked how they liked ‘the product’.

‘Very good’, said Nora. ‘Toby feels a lot better now. I’m really glad we ran into each other. So you were right… also about the fact that we’re going to need more.’

‘You’re calling just in time’, said Aletta. ‘We’re having a kind of meeting at my house tomorrow evening, which is held every last Saturday of the month. You’ll find what you need there. You know where I live. I think it’s a good idea if you bring your partner too, because then you can see the possibilities together. He’s also Toby’s father, right?’

Nora thought that was a bit of a strange question, but confirmed that he was. The next phone call Nora made was to the babysitter, Michelle. Nora was lucky again, because the babysitter wasn’t extremely busy and was quite interested in some extra pocket money. It was soon apparent that they were going to be able to visit the meeting together.

Toby had more or less accidentally used the last two pink diapers quite efficiently. On Saturday morning he had pooped in his already quite wet night diaper, and during the day he was doing reasonably well with peeing in the toilet (apart from a few minor accidents), so that he would be able to wear the last one on Saturday night. After dinner it was almost time for the discussion group.

‘Toby, honey, the babysitter is almost here’, said Nora. ‘Please play nicely and then have a good night’s sleep, okay? I’ll explain to her that she should put that last diaper on you when you go to bed.’

After the babysitter had arrived, both parents left for Aletta’s meeting. When they got there it quickly became clear that this was not an ordinary discussion group. In the spacious living room, a few dozen chairs were available, and a makeshift lectern had been set up based on a few pallets. A banner with the words ‘Own Tempo Movement’ hung on the wall. A few people were already present, and Wilmar and Nora were warmly welcomed and introduced to people from the movement.

One of those present was a youth psychologist, who indicated that he would also be giving a talk later. He was a balding, very tall man who came across as eloquent. ‘Our basic principle is that an inhumane law may be broken’, he explained. ‘Based on my expertise, I firmly believe that a child should determine the pace at which he or she grows up. Forcing a child to do so does not work and causes all kinds of trauma.’

‘But how do you arrange that in practice?’, Nora wondered.

‘Of course I cannot do that alone. I only provide the psychological theory behind the movement. But we all work together – some of us are officers or even their managers, to make sure that those who need them get through the checkpoints. Others have set up an underground industry of disposable diapers, or distribute them to people who need them.’

‘Through me,’ replied a winking Aletta, who had just walked up with two large pots of coffee.

‘Among others. I understand you met at the playground nearby?’ said the psychologist, whose name turned out to be David.

‘Yes, and she gave me a few diapers for my son to take home. They’ve come in very handy, but we actually need more…’

‘No problem,’ Aletta indicated. ‘One of our distributors is here tonight, with his trusty van. You can probably take a few packs off his hands, and we’ll sort out the payment shortly.’

It was an exciting evening for Toby’s parents. With a kind of religious fanaticism they heard the movement proclaim what it believed; that it was not the parents but the child who should decide when he or she should be toilet-trained. Furthermore, they completely agreed with Nora that the environmental law was not only harmful to the child but also completely counterproductive, since wet bedding produces at least as much laundry as a diaper that needs to be washed. By the end of the meeting they were convinced enough to join the movement.

David the psychologist introduced them to the distributor, a certain Chris, with whom he was good friends. Chris was a rather short, stocky man, which gave an unintended comic effect when he stood next to David. He explained that there were four versions of ‘the product’, as he called it, available. ‘We basically assume that there are two target groups - toddlers who are not toilet-trained in time before the age of four and still use it full-time, and slightly older children who wet the bed and only use it at night,’ he explained. The word ‘use’ gave Nora the association of drugs – an association that, she realised, was not so surprising given the illegality of what they were doing. ‘So we have two sizes,’ Chris continued. ‘Each of the sizes we have available in a pink and blue one, for reasons you’ve probably already figured out. Very traditional.’

‘Our son just turned four,’ Nora said. ‘The smaller size seems fine to me, and I think he’d appreciate blue. Not that we weren’t grateful for the pink one we were allowed to borrow,’ she added hastily, glancing at Aletta.

When the other guests had left the room, Nora and Wilmar were the last ones left, along with David, Chris, and Aletta herself. The two long black bags in their hands looked very different from how packs of disposable diapers had looked in their early childhood—subtle enough that they probably wouldn’t draw strange looks from stray officers. ‘But otherwise,’ Aletta said, ‘you can call this number if you’re in trouble,’ as she handed them a business card.

Just as they were about to leave, a voice sounded from upstairs. ‘Have they left yet, Mom?’

‘Almost,’ Aletta replied. ‘But you can come down, Damian.’

An eight-year-old boy shuffled cautiously down the stairs. He often didn’t know what to do with those strange gatherings in the house. His little sister Lisa slept through everything, but Damian often lay awake for a long time, reading magazines with his flashlight. He had been thirsty for a while, and he grabbed a glass from the kitchen before he went upstairs again.

‘He’s not a user of the product, is he?’, Chris asked. Wilmar and Nora looked at each other in surprise; they found both the question itself and the wording of it a bit strange, but Aletta didn’t seem startled.

‘No, he doesn’t need it anymore,’ Aletta replied. ‘Four years ago that would have been useful, I think, but of course we weren’t nearly as far along with this movement then. That stupid law had only been in existence for a year, and I was still hoping that it would be overturned somehow, but it stuck around. It was a difficult time, I was also pregnant with Lisa then. But we got through it together.’

‘I understand what you mean, I think,’ Wilmar replied, with Toby’s struggles from the past week in the back of his mind.

‘Not entirely, but that’s okay. I’ll explain another time,’ Aletta said.

[Albasion]

Chapter 4 is done! After this, there will likely be a bit more time between chapters. I do still have a couple more written in draft, but I need to figure some of the backstory details about several characters. So enjoy this one and then I’ll be back in one or two weeks I think

Chapter 4: Nature Calls

Toby woke up early on Sunday morning. Michelle the babysitter had put the last of the batch of pink diapers on him the night before, as agreed with Wilmar and Nora, but had reacted a little anxiously and uncomfortably to their request. Although she was still quite young herself, she had known about the introduction of the environmental law, and she knew that disposable diapers were absolutely forbidden. However, she had not let on to Toby that she had doubts. They got along well, and had called it their little secret among each other.

Toby’s parents were still in bed, so Toby carefully crept downstairs. He was still too small to be home alone, but he always felt very big and independent when he was alone in the living room. It had been exactly a week since his fourth birthday, although he did seem a little younger, now that a clearly visible edge of his pink nighttime diaper was sticking out above his pyjama bottoms. Fortunately, the curtains were still closed, so that no one outside could see it. Toby turned on the TV and sat down on the carpet, from where he could easily watch the cartoons.

The sound of the TV woke Wilmar up. He also walked downstairs and saw Toby sitting on the carpet. “Hey son, are you awake already?”, he said.

“Yes! Can I watch TV, daddy?”, Toby asked.

“I don’t mind,” Wilmar said, yawning. “Are you hungry?”

“A little,” Toby replied.

Father and son slowly ate their breakfast, while Nora snoozed for a while longer. When breakfast was finished, Wilmar called Toby over. He checked his diaper; it turned out to be wet, but not completely saturated, so he could easily pick Toby up and put him on the couch without making it dirty.

“I haven’t even asked how you and Michelle had it yesterday. Did you have fun?”

“Yes,” Toby said. ‘We played with the cars. And she read a story.’

‘Which book did she read?’

‘The one with the dragon,’ said Toby.

‘I know that one, it’s fun,’ said Wilmar. ‘And did the dragon tickle you too? Like now?’, he added, as he started tickling Toby.

Toby burst out laughing. Because of the laughter, he spontaneously let a big pee run in his diaper, which was now starting to get quite full.

‘Oh dear, is something happening in your diaper?’, said Wilmar laughing. Then we’ll have to go upstairs so I can change you and get you dressed.

Toby suddenly stopped laughing again. ‘Are the diapers all gone now?’, he asked, a bit dejected.

‘We’ll have to talk about that,’ said Wilmar. ‘Come upstairs with me.’

Nora was now sitting on the edge of the bed; she had woken up by Toby’s infectious laughter. ‘Ah, honey, you’re awake. Should we just tell Toby the good news?’, Wilmar said.

‘Good idea,’ said Nora.

‘What kind of news?’ asked Toby with a twinkle in his eye.

‘Well, last week was your birthday, of course. Do you remember that the day after, last Monday, those two officers came and took your diapers?’

Toby looked away. Of course he remembered.

‘Last night, Mom and Dad spoke to a different kind of officer. We explained that you still find the toilet a bit difficult. He was a nice officer and gave us something. A kind of extra present, you could say.’

Wilmar showed an opened package of diapers.’ And look, these are blue. You like that color better, don’t you?’

“Blue is my favorite!” said Toby.

“But listen carefully. We have a new rule,” said Nora. “From now on, you can choose whether you want to wear a diaper or underwear. If you wear a diaper, you can pee and poop in it. But if you wear underwear, you do it in the toilet. Okay?”

"Okay,"said Toby.

“You can go to the toilet one day and wear a diaper the next. That’s no problem,” said Nora, who tried to explain David’s psychological theories on Toby’s level. “So take your pick, do you want a diaper or underwear today?”

“I want a diaper, Mommy!”

Toby was given his new blue diaper. It was a great relief for him not to have to worry about the toilet for a while. After Nora had also eaten breakfast and everyone was dressed, the family discussed the possibilities for this sunny Sunday. In the end, the choice fell on a trip to a nature reserve, a short half-hour drive away. The fact that Toby was wearing a diaper again made it a lot easier to drive a bit further away from home.

Toby had been given a large bottle with a straw by his parents, filled with apple juice, and had quickly emptied most of it when they were on their way. By the time they were almost at the nature reserve, Toby had to pee again. He tried to hold it in for a minute or two, but then realized that he didn’t need to anymore, and decided to wet himself.

‘Mommy, I peed,’ said Toby.

‘That’s okay, that’s what your diaper is for,’ said Nora. ‘You don’t have to hold it in anymore when you’re wearing a diaper. We agreed on that together, remember?’

Once they arrived at the nature reserve, the three of them went for a walk. After a while they found a quiet, idyllic spot where Wilmar and Nora could sit on a bench and eat a sandwich. There was also a kind of beach near a pond, where Toby could play in the sand. They had brought some toys, including a bucket and a spade, so that Toby would have plenty to do in the sand, where he was always in his element. As expected, they had no trouble with him and they could also quietly enjoy the sun and nature.

Wilmar and Nora both loved reading, and each had a book with them. From the corner of their eyes they occasionally checked to see if everything was still okay with Toby, but he was playing nicely in the sand. This freed them up to concentrate a bit more on their respective books.

Meanwhile, Toby felt another sensation; he felt a little poo bothering him. He found it a bit scary to poop, after it had been a bit painful earlier that week. However, his parents had already told him several times not to hold it in, so he started to push carefully. Toby had stuck his toy spade upright in the sand so that he had something to hold on to, because in the past he had usually found that a comfortable position to poop in his diaper. Surprisingly enough, it didn’t hurt at all this time and actually felt very pleasant. When he was done, he got back on his knees to continue playing with his bucket and shovel.

It took Wilmar and Nora a while to notice something. At one point Nora thought it would be nice to play in the sand with her son.

‘You’re playing so sweetly, Toby. Are you making something beautiful?’

‘A really big castle,’ said Toby. ‘And there’s a dragon living there.’

‘Why are you sitting on your knees like that? Do you like it?’

Before Toby could answer that question, Nora thought she could smell what exactly was going on. She checked the back of Toby’s diaper, which confirmed her suspicion, and then asked Wilmar to keep a close eye out. Occasionally looking around nervously herself, Nora changed the dirty diaper while Toby was lying on a towel, after which she quickly pulled his pants up again.

‘Um, darling?’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Where do we put the used one?’

‘Good question. Leaving it in a bin here seems like a bad idea, it’s a bit too easy to trace. Just take it home I guess? We forgot to ask at that meeting yesterday, but I expect most people just throw it in the trash at home. Like in the old days, so to speak.’

The dirty diaper was temporarily put in a plastic bag so that no one could easily see it - or smell it. After playing for a while longer, Toby had had enough, and the family went for a short walk before heading back to the car. Surprisingly enough, they saw a familiar face near the car.

‘Lisa!’, Toby exclaimed. The girl they had met two days earlier came running up, followed at a distance by her mother and her older brother.

‘What’s this, are you following us?’, Wilmar asked, grinning.

‘I wouldn’t dare’, Aletta said, laughing.

‘We were just about to go home again’, Nora said.’ We had been walking for a while at the fens behind here.’

‘We were a bit deeper into the forest,’ said Aletta. ‘But we’re also heading home now, because a certain little girl pooped in her diaper.’

Lisa giggled.

‘Funny you should say that,’ said Wilmar. ‘We just changed Toby all the way out here – or at least, I was on the lookout while Nora did. But it was only after we had done so that we realised that we probably shouldn’t use the bins here. So we just took the dirty diaper with us, like we always did with washable diapers. I assume we can throw them away at home, or will that cause a lot of hassle?’

‘That’s great! You’ve only just joined the OTM, but you’re already quite brave in how you act in public. Even I still find it difficult sometimes, changing Lisa in the open air,’ said Aletta. ‘But to answer your question, I’ve never heard of the regular garbage collection service causing any trouble when people throw something away at home. It’s hardly noticeable, if it’s properly stuffed away in a garbage bag. In theory, they could do a DNA test at the dump, but I don’t know how accurate that would be and I don’t think anyone would want to burn their fingers on that anyway. It would be quite a dirty job.’

‘But how do you dispose of them?’

‘Oh, there’s also just someone from the garbage collection service in the movement. You can just give them a call. I’ll share the overview document with you, then you’ll know a bit more about who’s involved and what possibilities the OTM offers.’

Meanwhile, Toby and Lisa were running around after each other in the parking lot. ‘I think those two like to play together,’ said Nora with a smile.

‘You’re always welcome to join us back home!’, said Aletta. ‘You can just follow us in a moment.’

Meanwhile, Lisa was busy pulling big brother Damian by the arm, because she wanted to play with him as well. However, Damian wasn’t so charmed by that for several reasons. ‘Mom, Lisa stinks,’ he said.

‘Oh yes, of course, that’s a nice opportunity for us to give something back,’ said Nora as she opened her bag. She had a few extra blue diapers from Toby in her bag, and after carefully looking around at the still empty parking lot, she gave one to Aletta. Lisa was changed in the backseat of her mother’s car, while Damian watched in fascination. Lisa’s dirty diaper was put in the same plastic bag as Toby’s, and they agreed to throw the plastic bag in the diaper bin at Aletta’s house. Then they drove there one after the other.

Once they got to Aletta’s place, the two toddlers immediately started playing with Lego. Damian, however, said he was going to his room.

‘Aren’t you going to stay with us for a while?’, Aletta said.

‘Well, okay,’ mumbled Damian.

‘Come play with us!’, Lisa called. ‘You’re really good with Lego.’

‘I did make a really nice car, but you shouldn’t touch it,’ said Damian.

“Why don’t you show them how to make one for themselves?” Aletta asked.

Damian sat down with his little sister and her new friend. “All right then,” he said. He showed them how to attach the wheels to the blocks so that a car could actually drive.

“Do you learn this at school?” Lisa asked. She knew that Damian went to school five days a week, and was very curious about the phenomenon.

“Not really. At school you learn completely different things, like reading and maths.”

Toby was also intrigued by stories about school. “Are you good at maths?” he asked.

“I’m pretty good with the tables,” Damian said. “The seven times table is the most difficult, but I memorized it faster than the other kids.”

“But what do you do with the tables? Do you have to sit on them?” Lisa asked, not understanding.

‘No, that’s just what it’s called when you do multiplication, you dumb baby,’ Damian said impatiently.

‘Damian! You can’t call Lisa that,’ Aletta said sternly. ‘That’s not nice.’

‘You’re a baby yourself,’ Lisa said, sticking out her tongue.

‘But you’re wearing a diaper, so you’re the real baby,’ Damian said.

‘Stop it now, both of you! Last warning,’ Aletta said. ‘And Damian, you know very well that we don’t talk like that in this house. We don’t believe that diapers are just for babies. Remember that really tall man who was standing in the hallway yesterday? He doesn’t believe that either, and he went to school for it. Since you’re all talking about school.’

‘I liked David, by the way,’ Wilmar added his two cents, partly to ease the tension. ‘Very passionate, and I think he knew what he was talking about.’

‘It was nice that you could meet each other yesterday’, said Aletta.

‘Were you here yesterday?’, said Toby, surprised. ‘That’s not fair! Why couldn’t I come?’

‘Because it was already past your bedtime’, said Nora. ‘Lisa was already in bed as well. And Damian too, actually, but he just came to get a glass of water.’

‘I still want to come’, said Toby, a little angry.

‘That’s good to know. Are you going to play nicely again now?’, said Nora.

That ended the discussion. The children played happily together for the rest of the afternoon, and around dinner time Wilmar, Nora and Toby went home again. It had been a nice day in which the two families had become good friends in no time. During the short five-minute car ride home, Toby felt that his diaper was wet, but he didn’t remember that he had peed. He had been having such a good time and felt so comfortable that he hadn’t thought about it at all.

[Albasion]

Mehrabad98 said:

I’ve been enjoying this story so far. The sudden introduction of a dystopian reality and a quiet but powerful resistance reminds me of Iran in the early 1980s

Thanks! I definitely plan on continuing, probably some time next week. I’ve been quite busy lately, sadly.

[Albasion]

Took me a bit longer than expected, but chapter 5 is done!

Chapter 5: The second meeting

In the weeks that followed, the family returned to their normal routine. Wilmar had a few busy weeks at work due to the reorganisation, but Nora was able to be home with Toby a lot and take care of most of the housework. She had been working on a flexible basis since he was born, and their house had been partly paid for with an inheritance, so she could easily be home a bit more. She had previously decided that after the summer holidays, when Toby would start school* for the first time, she would also work a bit more, so that she could also save some money.

Nora and Toby often visited Aletta and Lisa, and sometimes the other way around. On Wednesdays, Damian would often join them, because then he only had half a day of school. The three children got along well, even though Damian was a lot older. When they played all kinds of fantasy games together or built all kinds of things with toys, there was little to notice of the age difference, as long as Damian could put his pride aside a bit. He didn’t have many friends at school. The boys in his class usually spent the entire break playing ball sports, and he hated that.

Neither Toby nor Lisa had made any moves to become toilet-trained. Toby had already largely forgotten his early skills of holding his pee; every now and then he would do it consciously in his diaper, but more often than not he hardly noticed. Since he had been wearing diapers full-time again, he had also stopped suffering from constipation. For Lisa, wearing diapers had always been the most normal thing in the world, only the type of diaper had changed after her fourth birthday.

Wilmar and Nora didn’t mind keeping Toby in diapers for a while longer, but they did sometimes struggle with their secret. Nora in particular, who had a good relationship with her brother and her mother, found it annoying to have to lie. She had made up that Toby had been granted a medical exemption from the environmental law, but even so, Nora could never let his grandmother change Toby again, because she would then see what kind of diaper he was wearing. Nora’s brother was also seriously confused by the situation, after his experiences with his own son.

‘I still don’t quite understand how you managed to get that medical exemption for Toby’, Nora’s brother said one day, for example, when he came for coffee. ‘I thought it was very difficult to get it. What exactly does he have?’

‘Just bladder problems. But he’ll be fine, you know’, Nora said evasively. ‘Would you like another cookie?’

For Wilmar it was a bit easier. His family lived abroad and didn’t come for coffee very often. The plan was that they would see each other again in the summer, but Wilmar told himself that Toby might want to try to become toilet trained again by then, and if not, he would think of something.

The month of June flew by, while the weather was getting warmer. By the end of June, it had already been a month since Wilmar and Nora had first attended the monthly ETB meeting. Aletta would be hosting again on the last Saturday of the month.

‘You’re coming again, aren’t you, Saturday?’, Aletta asked when Nora and Toby were about to leave after the children had played happily on a Wednesday afternoon.

‘What’s on Saturday?’, Toby asked.

‘Something for adults, honey’, Nora replied.

However, Toby had already made the connection with that previous meeting that he wasn’t allowed to attend. ‘I want to come too!’, he shouted indignantly.

‘You can take him with you,’ Aletta said. ‘The meeting itself is not for children, of course, but we can eat something together beforehand. And then we’ll put them to bed before the meeting starts. Toby can sleep in Lisa’s room. You’re okay with that, Lisa, aren’t you?’

Aletta didn’t have to ask her twice. She shouted ‘Yes!’ so loudly that it hurt your ears.

Three days later, the time had come. Toby was a bit nervous about staying at Aletta’s house for the first time, but with his parents nearby he felt brave enough, especially since the house was now all too familiar for him. After the two families had eaten together, the children were put to bed. Toby and Lisa both got a clean diaper from their mothers at the same time. They thought that was funny; they giggled and waved to each other.

‘Go to sleep nicely, Toby’, said Nora. ‘Lisa always stays in her room when there are meetings here, I heard from her mother. Are you going to stay here too?’

‘Okay’, said Toby.

“Toby’s mom, do you want to read a story?”, Lisa asked.

Nora agreed. Lisa had a new favorite book, about children going to school for the first time. Because of her big brother’s stories and the knowledge that she herself would be going to school* after the holidays, she loved being read about it as well. Damian thought it was a stupid story and went to read a comic book in his room. Toby did like it, and sat down next to Lisa on her bed. The two toddlers listened attentively to the stories about school.

‘Go lie down on your own mattress, Toby’, said Nora when the story was over. ‘And then have a good night’s sleep. The bed is too small for you both to sleep in.’

Aletta and Wilmar also came around the corner. ‘Sleep well, both of you!’, they said. Then the door closed and Toby and Lisa were alone together. It was still very light outside, and it would remain that way for a little while longer, since it was around the solstice. Partly because of that, and partly because of the excitement, Toby was not sleepy at all.

‘What are the grown-ups doing downstairs?’, asked Toby.

‘I don’t know…’, said Lisa. ‘But I think… something with diapers.’

‘Why?’

‘Damian says he’s seen a lot of them.’

Toby was silent for a moment. ‘I don’t get it,’ he said.

‘What?’

‘First I couldn’t wear a diaper anymore. Now we come here and I can. But they’re very different than before. And Damian says there are a lot of diapers. That’s weird.’

Lisa pondered the situation for a second. ‘Maybe they ran out before?’

‘Maybe,’ said Toby. And after a short silence: ‘Do you have a blue one or a pink one?’

‘Pink! Look,’ said Lisa, and she threw off the blanket and pulled her shirt up a bit. Because of the heat, she wasn’t wearing pajama bottoms.

‘Mine’s blue,’ said Toby, and he threw off his blanket too and came to Lisa’s bed. ‘I only had pink in the beginning.’

“Those were mine,” Lisa giggled. “And I had one of yours.”

“I like that we both have diapers on,” Toby said as he lay down next to Lisa again.

“I like that they’re nice and soft,” Lisa said.

“I like not having to go to the toilet,” Toby said.

“Is the toilet scary?” Lisa asked. “I always see Mommy and Damian going to the toilet.”

“A little,” Toby said. “I hate when you have to stop playing. And it makes a lot of noise. Have you never been?”

“No,” Lisa said. “Mommy says I can choose when I want to go.”

“My mommy says that now, but not before,” Toby said.

“I don’t know if I want to,” Lisa said.

“Me neither,” Toby said. “Diapers are much better.”

Toby and Lisa chatted for a long time. They speculated together about what you could learn at school, and what it would be like there. They debated whether playing in the sandbox was more fun than playing with Lego. They fantasized about what the adults downstairs might be talking about. They giggled together as they both took their first pee in their night diapers. Finally, when the meeting was almost over and Damian had finished half a year’s worth of his favorite comic book, Toby and Lisa took each other’s hands and slowly started to doze off together.

When the meeting was over and the other visitors had left, Wilmar and Nora stayed around for a while, also to make sure that everything was okay with Toby. They talked a bit more about what had been discussed. Wilmar was curious about the solution that the OTM had come up with for children who were not yet toilet trained but still wanted to go to school, especially since he knew that Toby really wanted that.

‘Well, it’s not that obvious to actually set up your own school, certainly not if you plan to publicly violate the environmental law with a large group of people. Things like distribution and garbage collection are easier to arrange underground, possibly with a little bribe. Let’s not forget, we are essentially in a criminal enterprise’, Aletta said ominously. ‘What we do is… well, it varies a bit. Some children just stay home for another year, after all, you’re only required to go to school at the age of five*, but you yourself say that that would be a bad idea for Toby. For Lisa too, I suspect. But we have contacts with other discussion groups like ours, and we know that there is a form of home education that we could join. So essentially they can just go to school there.’

‘Sounds good’, Wilmar said. ‘I think Toby will really like that. Maybe, especially so early in their development, it’s even more fitting than an official school.’

‘Oh yes, Nora, I wanted to ask you something’, Aletta said. ‘You still have enough stock for Toby, right? You are in contact with Chris, and he arranges everything quickly and discreetly, and you indicated that it is also financially possible…’

‘Yes, we talked about that extensively last time. Why do you ask?’, Nora answered.

‘Well… I don’t want to accuse anyone of course, but I have noticed that diapers have been disappearing from Lisa’s stock lately. You have been here quite often, so I needed to check it just to be sure. You didn’t take some by chance, did you?’

‘Of course not’, said Nora, a little indignantly. ‘We would always discuss that first.’

‘I had to ask’, said Aletta. ‘I find it so strange, we don’t get that many visitors outside of the meetings, and certainly not that many people who would be interested in those diapers. So I’m a bit puzzled.’

‘I don’t know either’, said Nora. ‘But I’ll keep an eye on things at the next meeting.’

*Author’s note: although this story is not specifically set in any particular country, I have chosen to base the parts about school on the Dutch education system, because that’s the one I’m simply most familiar with. In this system, kindergarten is an integrated part of primary school; most children attend primary school from ages 4-12, although you’re only obliged to from age 5.

[Albasion]

Chapter 6 will likely be up tomorrow! Anyone fancy a guess who the diaper thief may be?

[Albasion]

Too late!

Chapter 6: Damian’s Secret

Wilmar and Nora had gone home, but they’d left their phones on. They lived close by and knew Aletta and her family quite well by now, but they’d still been quite nervous about leaving Toby there. It took them a little more effort than usual to get to bed, but when they still hadn’t heard anything around 1:30 a.m., they felt confident enough to go to sleep.

Aletta was also asleep by now, as were Lisa and Toby, who apparently didn’t find Lisa’s bed too small after all. Only Damian was awake. He’d been trying to fall asleep for a while, but he was still quite nervous about what he’d done. He lifted his blanket and saw the pink edge of one of Lisa’s diapers peeking out slightly above his pajama pants. Damian thought it was a beautiful sight, even though the diaper was actually too small for him—he could only close it on one side. He usually stole his sister’s diapers during the day when he got home from school and retreated to his room for a while; his mother didn’t think much of it. Afterward, he could simply leave them in the diaper pail in the bathroom, where they were indistinguishable from the ones Lisa herself had worn.

Damian thought back to the time when he’d legally worn diapers. He’d worn the same government-sanctioned washable diapers as other children of his generation, and by the end, he would often get changed by his father. Aletta had been pregnant with Lisa at the time; she suffered a lot from morning sickness and became quite nauseous from her then three-year-old son’s wet and dirty diapers. A few weeks before his fourth birthday, however, Damian’s father had disappeared without a trace. Damian closed his eyes, and for a moment, it felt like he’d just been changed by his father. Very carefully, so he wouldn’t leak from the tight fit, he peed in his diaper. Then he slowly dozed off.

When Damian opened his eyes again, it was suddenly 7:30. Toby and Lisa were awake enough to make a racket and run back and forth upstairs, and Lisa asked her mother, “Can we wake Damian?”

Before Aletta could even reply, “Okay then,” Damian’s door swung open. “Wake up!” Lisa yelled. Despite Aletta’s admonitions to keep it quiet, it only took a few seconds before she practically jumped on top of her older brother.

“Don’t, I’m already awake!” Damian shouted, trying to fend off his sister with his hands. With a shock, he realized he was still wearing his wet diaper. Luckily, it hadn’t leaked, but if Lisa pulled the covers back, it would be completely visible. “Go away for a bit, I’ll go get dressed,” he said quickly. “We can play afterward.”

Luckily, Lisa accepted that offer and closed the door again, allowing Damian to tuck the diaper away under his bed at the last minute. The diaper pail in the bathroom wasn’t an option now, with all the activity upstairs, so he decided to deal with that later, once Toby had gone home.

When Damian was dressed, Aletta had just finished changing Lisa. “Do you need a clean diaper too, Toby?” she asked. “Your mommy left some blue ones for you in your bag.”

“Okay,” said Toby. “Where is Mommy?”

“Mommy’s home, but if you want her to come get you, I can call her in a minute.”

“No, I still want to play!” said Toby.

“Okay, then you can stay here a little longer,” said Aletta. “Come lie down, and I’ll change you too.”

The three children went downstairs and enjoyed a delicious, hearty breakfast. Toby felt the urge to poop soon after breakfast, but he didn’t want to be changed again because he wanted to keep playing with his friends. So he decided to hold it for a while.

The children had come up with a pretend game where Damian was a police officer and the two little ones were criminals. After a wild chase through the house, Damian had convinced the toddlers to lock them under the table, between the chairs. “There, you’ll never get out again!” he said.

Toby was indeed quite wedged between the chairs. He had developed a slight stomach ache; apparently, something in the previous night’s food had bothered his bowels. He remembered something his parents had told him when he’d just been allowed to wear diapers again: that he shouldn’t hold it in too long, or it would hurt. With a somewhat ominous gurgling sound, Toby pooped in his diaper.

The poop was quite soft, almost liquid, and it gave him a rather unpleasant sensation near his bottom. Lisa, who was also a bit stuck under the table, didn’t find the smell particularly pleasant either and quickly crawled out from under the table. Toby could only get out from under the table by sliding under a chair while lying on his back.

“Mommy, Toby pooped,” said Lisa.

“No problem, there are still plenty of diapers. Come with me, Toby,” said Aletta.

Because of the soft stool and the clumsy maneuver to get out from under the table, Toby’s pants had gotten dirty on the inside. “Oh dear, what a mess,” said Aletta as she pulled down his pants. “But don’t worry, I’ll just grab a pair of Damian’s old pants that are too small for him anyway. It’s warm outside, but we can hardly let you walk down the street in just your diaper. We’ll have real police officers after us who want to lock us up.”

Toby didn’t quite understand what she meant, but didn’t object. Aletta pushed aside a few boxes under Damian’s bed, which contained some of his old clothes, and then suddenly saw a wet pink diaper. Because the diaper didn’t smell terribly, but was still a bit warm, she knew it couldn’t possibly have been there long. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind.

Aletta silently helped Toby finish dressing, after finding a pair of Damian’s old pants that fit Toby reasonably well. Later that morning, when Nora showed up to pick Toby up, Aletta pulled her aside.

“I owe you an apology,” Aletta whispered. “I know who stole Lisa’s diapers.”

“Who?”

“It was Damian. But I still find it strange. To the best of my knowledge, he hasn’t had any trouble staying dry at night in years. What’s he doing with those diapers?”

“No idea,” Nora said. “But this seems like something to discuss with David, right? It seems like this is his area of expertise, too.”

That afternoon, Aletta went for a walk around the block by herself. She asked Damian to keep a close eye on his little sister, saying she’d be back in an hour. Aletta had barely made it out the front door when Damian sprinted to his room like a maniac. He was terrified when he saw the diaper had disappeared under his bed. While Damian worried about the consequences of his late-night adventure, Aletta walked out of the street and called David.

“Hello, this is David.”

“Hey, hi, Aletta here. Am I interrupting?”

“Not at all. I have Chris over at my place right now; we’re just watching the Tour de France together. We’re both cycling fans, as you know. But they still have a long way to go, and the early breakaway just left, so I can talk to you for a moment. What’s up?”

“There’s something strange going on with Damian, and I need your professional perspective.”

“Why don’t you come over? You know where I live, right?” A fifteen-minute walk from your front door. Join me for a beer; maybe I can even get you excited about cycling.

“I doubt it,” Aletta said. “But I’ll stop by. I can’t stay for hours, because the kids are alone, but long enough to explain the situation.”

When Aletta explained that she had established with near certainty that her son was stealing his sister’s diapers, David thought for a moment. He took a sip of his beer and then asked first: “How sure are you that there’s no physical reason he uses those diapers?”

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t wear diapers every night; not nearly enough disappear for that, and his bed is always dry. His clothes too.”

“Hmm,” David replied. “Do you know what a transitional object is? We’ve talked about that at the OTM before.”

“Will this be on the test?” Chris said, somewhat cynically.

“I vaguely remember you mentioning it, but I don’t remember exactly,” Aletta said.

“Those are objects that young children become attached to because they give them a sense of intimacy and security. They symbolize the bond with their parents during the transition from the baby stage, in which you are completely dependent on your parents, to the older kid stage, in which you gradually gain more autonomy. Often a transitional object is something like a stuffed animal, but sometimes it’s a diaper. You often see that happening with children who have difficulty letting go of their diapers, at least with a trained eye. It’s wise to be patient with such children, but the environmental law doesn’t allow that leeway. That’s also one of the reasons I wanted to be a part of the OTM, of course.”

“Of course,” Aletta said. “But what about Damian?”

“There’s a good chance he got attached to those diapers when he was younger. His father also suddenly disappeared around the time he turned four, so it’s all understandable.”

“That’s true,” said Aletta. “And Damian didn’t have the opportunity to stay in diapers any longer when he turned four. You were just starting up production at the time, right, Chris?”

“I’m in distribution, as you know, not production,” said Chris. “But I wasn’t involved from the beginning either way. I already knew there were people trying to circumvent the environmental law, and that possibility seemed… interesting.”

“I’ve always wondered what interested you about that,” said David. “Sure, you earn some extra money, but it’s not like you work a lot with children or have children of your own.”

Chris shrugged. “You have to earn some extra money somehow.”

“Anyway,” Aletta continued, “I find your psychological theory quite interesting, David, but what should I do with Damian now?”

“You could at least talk to him. Ask why he did it, find out what feelings underlie it. That’s what I would do,” said David. “Tomorrow I’ll be back at the office, then I might be able to discuss the case with a colleague. Anonymously, of course, and without mentioning our illegal activities.”

Chris took a long gulp of beer and drained his bottle. “You’re always all about the blah-blah, aren’t you, buddy?” he teased David. “But I’m all about action. And Aletta, you’re lucky I always have some stuff with me.” He stood up, took a black package from a large backpack, and handed it to Aletta. “Two pieces, blue, 6+. They should still fit him. And you don’t have to pay.”

David chuckled. “Chris has a point, of course. If we actually believe our ideology, then we shouldn’t make it too complicated.”

“You said it,” Chris replied.

While the cycling reporter on TV reported a major crash in the peloton, Aletta stood up with the black package in her hand. “You’re right,” she said. “And I don’t think things are going so well on TV, so I’ll leave you alone.” David waved Aletta goodbye, but Chris was already too busy looking up whether the blood-stained riders had any consequences for his cycling bets.

When Aletta got home, Damian walked down the stairs cautiously and guiltily. “Hey, honey,” she said. “I want to talk to you about something. Don’t worry, I’m not angry.”

[Albasion]

Chapter 7: Damian’s Relief

Lisa came running down the stairs right after Damian, so the matter couldn’t be discussed immediately. Damian waited anxiously for the rest of the day. Only when Lisa was in bed that night did his mother continue their conversation.

“As I said,” Aletta said to her son after they had sat down, “I’m not angry. But I would like to know why you did it.”

“Did what?” Damian said softly, but unconvincingly.

“You know what. I found something under your bed that I think you forgot to throw away.”

Damian was silent.

“Why did you take those diapers, Damian?” Aletta asked as calmly as she could, without sounding judgmental.

“It’s just not fair,” Damian said in a soft voice.

“What do you mean?”

“Lisa is allowed to keep wearing diapers. I was never allowed to when I was little.”

“You’re right, that’s not fair,” said Aletta. “I remember exactly what it was like. Your father had just disappeared, I was pregnant with your little sister, and then those officers showed up. I would have preferred to wait a few more months. But that wasn’t possible back then.”

“Why is it possible now?” Damian said, aggrieved.

“That’s a secret. I would like tell you, but I have to be absolutely sure you can keep it a secret. It’s a pretty serious secret, not like Santa Claus or anything like that.”

Damian looked his mother straight in the eye for the first time. He was intrigued by Aletta’s tone. “Does it have anything to do with those meetings? When I have to go to bed early and read some comics? I saw a lot of diapers that one time.”

"You’re a smart boy. As you may know, a new environmental law was introduced when you were little. It says that children aged four and older aren’t allowed to wear diapers, because that would supposedly be bad for the environment. Disposable diapers are also forbidden. It’s a really strange law, and no one really understands it, but most people obey it. I used to, too, when you turned four.

“But not anymore,” Damian replied.

“I saw you were struggling with it. You weren’t ready to be potty-trained, with everything that was going on with your father, but I had no way to stop the officers. Around that time, I met up with David, an old friend of mine. He agreed with me, had also had conversations with his best friend Chris about that strange environmental law… by the way, you met both of those men recently when they were standing in the hallway. Anyway, slowly but surely, plans were hatched to circumvent it.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that David, Chris, and I joined the OTM, which was founded around that time. The Own Tempo Movement.” David knows a lot about what goes on in children’s minds, and Chris knows where to find disposable diapers for older children. But it took a while before we had all that sorted out. Partly because it’s illegal, of course. By the time we were able to get and distribute diapers without it being too obvious, around your fifth birthday, it seemed you didn’t need them anymore. You weren’t having accidents as often anymore, only occasionally at night, and you didn’t really ask for them anymore.

Damian nodded.

“But there were plenty of other children we could help, both here and further away. So we kept meeting, carefully asking around to see who in the area needed them. And now Lisa is old enough to make use of them.”

Damian nodded again.

“Can I trust you to keep this to yourself?” Aletta said, suddenly sternly. “As I said, you’re a smart boy, and you’re getting quite big and wise. People can’t know we’re doing this, or we’ll get into serious trouble with the police.”

“I get it. I actually kind of knew it was a secret,” Damian said. “Whenever Lisa has a dirty diaper, we always have to go home quickly.”

“And one more thing. I want to make an agreement that you’ll leave Lisa’s diapers alone from now on,” Aletta said. “She needs them herself, and besides, they don’t fit you well anyway. It’s a miracle you’ve never had any leaks.”

“Sorry, Mom. I promise,” Damian said.

“Apology accepted. Then it’s time for a present,” Aletta said, pulling out the black package. “At least, if this is still what you want.”

Damian opened the package, and to his astonishment, there were two diapers inside. They were identical to Toby’s, except they were noticeably a bit bigger.

“Are those really for me?” Damian asked, surprised.

“Again, only if you really want them. Or rather, if you think you need them.”

Damian wasn’t sure what his mother meant by “need,” but he gratefully accepted the package.

“You can wear one tonight; maybe it’ll all feel a little more fair then,” Aletta said. “And don’t worry, Lisa doesn’t have to know. Do you understand how they work? With the tapes, I mean.”

“No problem,” Damian said. He didn’t dare look at his mother again, but he was happy with his present. He shuffled carefully out of the room and up the stairs.

Damian lay down on his bed. He pulled down his pants and underwear and carefully tried to place the large blue diaper under his bottom. He immediately noticed that he had more room than with Lisa’s diapers he’d grabbed earlier, and he managed to close the fasteners without any trouble. Then he tried to put his jeans back on, but they were a bit too tight now that a large lump was blocking his legs. He decided to put his pajama pants on instead.

Damian’s pajamas didn’t hide his diaper very well, so he carefully opened his bedroom door and cautiously peeked out towards the landing. Although his mother knew about it now, he didn’t really want his little sister seeing him in a diaper, especially since he sometimes had the tendency to call her a baby. The upstairs seemed otherwise empty, however, and Lisa’s room was quiet. He concluded she was already asleep and carefully made his way back downstairs.

“Did everything work out?”

“Yes,” Damian said softly. A soft creaking sound, audible to the trained listener, followed his every step.

Damian was allowed to stay up another hour, drink a large soda, and play with Lego before it was time for bed. He found it both wonderful and frightening to be in the room while wearing a diaper. If Lisa came downstairs because she’d had a nightmare, there was a good chance she’d notice something. He was relieved that his mother wasn’t angry about his desires, but also a little embarrassed that he was doing this in her presence. At one point, he felt a pee coming, but he didn’t dare do it in his diaper yet.

At bedtime, Aletta had whispered to her son whether he wanted to keep his diaper on at night, or whether he’d rather go back to using the toilet. Damian had immediately blushed again when she asked, but replied even more softly that he wanted to keep it on. Then he went to bed. Just like the night before, Damian couldn’t fall asleep right away, and for more or less the same reason. Moreover, as time went by, he felt his bladder getting fuller and fuller.

Damian tried to push a little, but nothing came. He quickly concluded that this wasn’t going to work. Finally, he stood up, stood with his legs apart in front of his open window, and looked out at the bright sky that was just beginning to darken slightly. He was small enough that any neighbors, even if they were looking, wouldn’t be able to see what kind of underwear he was wearing. It took him a minute to relax enough, but finally, he flooded his diaper. Relieved, he went back to bed. Even though he felt too big for it, he grabbed his teddy bear and put his thumb in his mouth. Then he slowly fell asleep.

A few blocks away, Toby woke up that night. He trotted to his parents’ room, and Wilmar noticed his son was awake.

“What’s wrong?” he said, yawning.

“I had a weird dream, Dad.”

“Oh dear. A bad dream, or a good dream?”

“A good dream. But a weird dream. I was playing with Lisa and Damian. But Damian was very small, even smaller than Lisa. And then he needed a diaper change.”

“That is indeed a crazy dream. But do you have to wake me up for that?” Wilmar yawned. “It’s the middle of the night. Go back to sleep quickly.”

Toby turned over and went back to bed. He continued dreaming about his big friend becoming his little friend.

[Albasion]

Growler0128 said:

You haven’t said what the punishment for getting caught is? just wondering?

I’m glad you like the story

I have some general ideas about what would happen if the officers found out, but they’re not completely fleshed out yet. It’s not going to happen in the next couple of chapters either way.

Chapter 8 is expected tomorrow btw!

[Albasion]

Growler0128 said:

what about sending the offenders to a ‘prison’ that will slowly regress them to baby age/size then ‘adopt’ them out for a nice fee. have their ‘guard/cg’ be alternate gender persons and humiliate them on a regular basis.

That could be a pretty cool story in its own right, but it doesn’t really fit in this one. If you’ll write something about it in your own story topic, maybe I’ll read it!

Chapter 8 is coming up! Working on the translation now

[Albasion]

Chapter 8: Calling the School

Summer vacation hadn’t started yet, so Damian woke early on Monday morning. When the alarm went off, he immediately remembered he was wearing a diaper. He was curious if he’d wet himself more in his sleep, but as far as he could tell, his diaper wasn’t any fuller than when he’d fallen asleep. He decided to change that before his mother dragged him out of bed. He stood next to his bed, managed to relax his body faster than the night before, and let his morning pee flow.

The diaper was now quite full, but didn’t leak. Damian quickly crossed to the bathroom, locked the door, gave himself a quick wipe with baby wipes, and tossed his wet diaper into the diaper pail. He decided to push his blue diaper down a bit and crumple it up, so Lisa wouldn’t ask any awkward questions when her curious eyes were to peer into the diaper pail.

After Damian left for school, Aletta took Lisa in the car to complete various chores. They went to the garage and the hardware store, among other places. On the way back, they stopped at the supermarket to pick up groceries, near Wilmar and Nora’s house. Lisa was sitting in the shopping cart, fidgeting quite a bit.

“What’s wrong, honey? Are you uncomfortable?” Aletta asked.

“I have to poop, Mommy.”

“Can you hold it for a moment? I can’t change you in the bathroom here.”

Lisa didn’t quite understand why, since she’d been changed in a public restroom before her fourth birthday, but she tried to hold it in anyway. She wasn’t used to doing this yet, and by the time Aletta wheeled the shopping cart out with her daughter in it, she saw Lisa’s face starting to contort and she could barely stop herself from pushing. She lifted Lisa out of the shopping cart and set her down on the ground.

“Well, at least we’re not in the middle of the store anymore,” Aletta said. “Go ahead, girl.”

Lisa started straining vigorously and pooped in her diaper. “Done!” she said after about half a minute. Aletta put the cart back and decided to walk Lisa to Wilmar and Nora’s house, which was nearby, so Lisa wouldn’t have to sit in the booster seat with a dirty diaper. On the way, she called to make sure anyone was home, and they certainly were.

“Long time no see,” Nora joked after the visitors arrived.

Toby didn’t mind seeing Lisa again at all. They gave each other a big hug. “Shall we go in the sandbox?” Toby immediately asked Lisa.

“Wait a minute, buddy,” Aletta said. “Lisa needs a clean diaper first.”

“Now that I think about it,” said Nora, “I think you’re still wearing the same diaper as last night. It wasn’t full this morning, but I think it is now. Don’t you need changing too, Toby?”

“Maybe,” Toby giggled. He’d already drunk a lot of soda that morning and was quite wet. He let a little pee leak into his diaper, and then he stretched out on the couch, where he was regularly changed.

“Me first!” said Lisa, lying crosswise on the other half of the couch, which was in a corner.

“We can change you both at the same time, you know. There are two of us,” said Nora, smiling at Aletta.

After Toby and Lisa had both been changed, the two toddlers went to the sandbox in the garden together. Nora and Aletta stayed inside for a while to drink coffee.

“It’s a good thing you suddenly brought up school last Saturday,” said Nora. “We registered Toby for a primary school a while ago, but that was before all the trouble with the environmental law. I hadn’t realized for a moment that we can’t go to a regular school with Toby, unless a miracle happens within the next two months.”

“To be honest, I’ve kind of spread my winning chances, so to speak. What I mean is: Lisa is registered for both a regular school—the same as Damian, of course—and for a preschool group within the OTM. In principle, we could still cancel one of the two at the last minute.”

“Where can we register Toby for a preschool group?”

“You need to contact Ms. Lynn. She’s listed in that overview document I sent you a while back. After the summer, she’ll start again with a small group of four-year-olds. It’s not quite the same as a real school, but according to Ms. Lynn, the children love it there. It’s definitely much smaller, which has its advantages. However, it’s only three days a week, and the days vary a bit – they simply can’t manage the schedule full-time. She and a colleague do it for a friendly price, because they’re passionate about the organization. They can’t claim any subsidies or anything like that, so it will still cost some money.”

“I’m not terribly worried about money,” Nora said truthfully. “Not that we’re filthy rich, mind you, but Wilmar just got a promotion. Those diapers we buy through Chris aren’t exactly cheap either, a bit more expensive than they used to be when they were still legal, but we can afford them.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” said Aletta. It was a bit more expensive for her, although it helped that she received alimony from the ‘missing’ father of her children. She hesitated for a moment about saying anything about Damian, but she didn’t want to tell everyone his little secret, so she stayed quiet.

“Don’t you think the children will mind that they’re not going to a real school?” Nora asked.

“I think Lisa would be sad not being able to go to school with Damian, yes. Not so much because what Ms. Lynn does isn’t a real school, because they probably won’t be able to distinguish that clearly at this age. As long as they have fun and learn a little. It’s more… Lisa hears most of the stories about school from her older brother, and those stories have made her so enthusiastic. She’s probably eager to see what it’s like at his school, which bothers me a bit. But we’ll see how it goes.”

“Do you mind if I call that Ms. Lynn right away?” Nora asked.

“Of course not,” said Aletta. “Good idea.”

Fortunately, Ms. Lynn answered the phone right away. She said there were relatively few applications for the coming year, and that it wouldn’t be a problem if Toby joined.

“Oh yes,” said Ms. Lynn, “and perhaps you’d like to get acquainted? There’s an introductory meeting a week from Thursday.”

“A week from Thursday,” Nora repeated. "It’s noted. I’d love to see you then!

“Hmm,” said Aletta. “I kind of missed that there would be an introductory meeting. It’s a good thing you called her now, otherwise Lisa and I might have missed it.”

Toby and Lisa played in the sandbox for a while, while Nora and Aletta chatted happily. Suddenly, Aletta realized it was already later than she’d thought; Damian should be almost home. It took a while before she’d brushed all the sand off Lisa and before she said goodbye to her little friend, Toby. Then they had to walk a short distance back to the car with a heavy shopping bag. By the time Aletta parked the car in front of her house, Damian was already well into his bedroom.

“Damian! Are you upstairs?” Aletta called out when they were inside.

“In my room!” Damian called back.

When Aletta went upstairs and opened Damian’s bedroom door, she found Damian lying in bed with his blanket over him.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” Aletta asked.

“No, but…” Damian began, blushing.

“Ah, wait, I think I understand,” Aletta said. “Are you wearing that other diaper?” she continued in a whisper, so Lisa, who was in her own room, wouldn’t hear.

Damian nodded, blushing even more.

“You don’t have to be ashamed,” Aletta said after closing the door and coming inside. “I know about it, remember? We talked about it at length yesterday. But wouldn’t you have preferred to wait until tonight, since this is the last one from the trial pack? Then you can keep it on at night too. You really liked that yesterday, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Damian said softly.

“Just take it off carefully, so you don’t damage the tapes.”

Damian listened and carefully removed the diaper, hiding it under his bed. That night, after Aletta had put Lisa to bed, she went to her son’s room, where he was already reading a comic book. “Feel free,” she told him meaningfully.

Damian’s bladder was already quite full, but he didn’t hesitate when his mother gave him the green light. He closed the door, reached under his bed, and retrieved the diaper. After changing, he opened the door again.

“Is it as comfortable as yesterday?”

“Yes,” Damian said in a small voice.

“Don’t be embarrassed, okay? I told you it’s okay,” Aletta said softly. “There are plenty of children your age who still wear diapers, especially at night. Many parents in the movement have older children who still wet the bed, and they use these diapers too. I don’t mind pretending that applies to you too.”

“But I don’t wet the bed,” said Damian.

“But the diaper I found wasn’t dry either,” Aletta said slyly.

Damian had no further retort. He continued reading his comic book, and his mother left his room. When he was alone, he managed to sit up halfway and let a large puddle run in his diaper. He realized that now, technically speaking, he was actually a real bedwetter. He put his thumb back in his mouth and grabbed his teddy bear, feeling safe and relaxed.

[Albasion]

I finished chapter 9 earlier than expected, so enjoy! Next week I’ll be on vacation, so chapter 10 will take a bit longer. Probably early August should be doable.

Chapter 9: The Little Builders

A few days after Nora had spoken to Ms. Lynn on the phone, Toby asked her one night before bed when he would be going to school.

“You said, when I’m four,” said Toby. “But I’ve been four for a long time now. How much longer will it be?”

“It’s almost summer vacation now, and there’s no school during summer vacation,” said Nora. “But when fall comes, you can go to school.”

“That will be a long time,” said Toby, a little sadly.

“But you know what’s nice? Next Thursday you can go to school for one day to get acquainted. It won’t be a real school day yet, but you can meet the teacher and some of the other children.”

Toby beamed. He was really looking forward to it!

The conversation Aletta had with Lisa around the same time, as she suspected, wasn’t going quite as smoothly. Lisa was disappointed that she wouldn’t be allowed to go to school with her older brother. Aletta didn’t want to tell her she could if she stopped wearing diapers, because she felt it would put too much pressure on her to become toilet-trained, which would be against the principles of the OTM. So she came up with the excuse that there were no more places available at Damian’s school. That way, she could quickly change her plans if Lisa suddenly felt ready to say goodbye to diapers. When Lisa heard that Toby would be going to the same school, it was a comfort to her, and she started to look forward to the introduction meeting.

On the day of the introduction meeting, Toby woke up very early. “Mommy, we’re going to school!” he said decisively. Nora yawned and stretched.

“Yes, we’re going to the introduction meeting,” said Nora. “I’m glad you’re so excited, honey.”

“Is Daddy coming too?”

Wilmar also slowly woke up. “Yes, Daddy’s coming too. I took today off work because I’m really curious where you’ll end up.”

“Is it a big school?”

“No, it’s actually a very small school,” said Nora. “That way you can still get used to it a bit. But there will still be other children to play with.”

After Toby had been given a clean diaper and dressed—he was getting better at doing the latter himself—the three of them went for breakfast and then headed out the door. They had agreed to pick up Aletta and Lisa and then all ride to the meeting in one car. Damian was just about to leave for school on his bike.

Damian hadn’t worn diapers since his trial pack ran out. That was partly because the last experience had ended rather unpleasantly. His diaper had already been quite wet when he got out of bed, and after he’d done his morning pee in it, it was pretty much at its capacity. Then he sat down at the breakfast table in his pajamas, where he’d leaked onto the chair cushions. Aletta hadn’t been thrilled with the wet cushion in the kitchen, especially since she knew Damian was perfectly capable of holding his pee. She’d insisted that Damian immediately remove his pajama pants, after which Lisa had seen her older brother wearing a soaked diaper. The incident hadn’t been discussed within the family since, but no one had forgotten it.

Toby, Lisa, and their parents went to a town a short distance away, where a small, unofficial school had been established through the OTM. Wilmar parked the car near the small building. From the outside, it looked somewhat dilapidated. Inside, however, they were welcomed by a warm-hearted young woman, Ms. Lynn, who also had her assistant with her.

The five of them were directed to a small kitchen where several chairs had been arranged, somewhat similarly to the OTM meetings. Over coffee, tea, and lemonade, conversations slowly but surely started.

“My son Julian has also been in Ms. Lynn’s class for the past six months,” one of the other mothers told Nora. “He’ll be five in October. We’re very happy with the possibilities offered by the OTM. Last year, he had a rather serious operation, which weakened his sphincter muscles somewhat.”

“Couldn’t you actually get a medical exemption? I’ve never looked into it in detail because our son Toby doesn’t have any obvious physical problems, but I do know that officially, there are options,” said Nora.

“That’s true, but it involves a rather intensive medical examination, and we’d had enough of doctor visits. We felt it was important for Julian to be able to have a normal childhood as much as possible, and this option was the best fit. Besides, we weren’t that enthusiastic about those government-issued cloth diapers.”

Lisa’s eyes had fallen on another girl, the only other little girl in the room. She seemed younger than the other children; she was small and rather shy. It turned out her name was Emily, and she was, surprisingly, almost six months older than Lisa. Because she was born prematurely and also had a mild growth disorder, she was somewhat developmentally delayed in many areas. Nevertheless, her parents suspected it would be beneficial to have more contact with peers.

Just before the official start time, two more boys, Armin and Max, arrived. Armin’s situation most closely resembled Toby’s; he had been toilet-trained for a while, but had suffered a setback due to constipation and had since been afraid to go to the toilet, even for peeing. Max lived in foster care and seemed to have experienced some unfortunate things; he acted younger than his age in many ways. Both his foster parents were present at the meeting.

The meeting began shortly afterward. Ms. Lynn introduced herself and her assistant, Ms. Viola. Then she took the children to the classroom itself. This way, she could get to know the children better, and the children could get to know each other. Emily didn’t feel quite ready to go alone yet, but after some gentle encouragement, she finally cautiously followed the other children, with Toby and Lisa leading the way. Ms. Viola stayed behind with the parents.

“We’ll be meeting three days a week, at least from the end of the summer until Christmas,” Ms. Viola explained to the parents. “I think you’ve all received the information about the payment personally—outside of the books, of course.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Lynn sat down on the floor and called the children to sit in a circle around her. “We always start the day with a story,” she said. “Who likes a story?”

“Me!” several children shouted in unison.

“That’s great! I want to teach you a first rule of school. If you want to say something, raise your hand. Only then do you talk. So, who likes a story?”

Six hands went up one by one, some faster than others.

“That’s so good of you! You deserve a story. Listen carefully,” said Ms. Lynn. The children hung on her every word, and then the ice was somewhat broken.

After the story, the children were allowed to play with all the toys in the classroom. Toby, Lisa, Armin, and Julian didn’t need to be asked twice and quickly went together to the corner where various building toys were kept. Max and Emily found it all a bit scary and preferred to play alone in the other corner of the classroom.

Julian was the first to finish building something. “Ms. Lynn, look!” he called. Ms. Lynn walked to the building corner, and Armin, Toby, and Lisa also looked intently at what Julian had made. Julian pulled himself up on the playhouse next to the building corner, but before he could explain exactly what he had made, his intestines made a gurgling sound. Because he was wearing rather tight pants—he’d recently grown a bit and his parents hadn’t had time to buy new clothes yet—it was clear to the other children and the teacher that he was pooping in his diaper.

Armin thought what was happening was very funny and burst out laughing. Julian had drawn the attention, but didn’t appreciate this particular attention. “I can’t help it!” he said, half angry and half sad.

Miss Lynn knelt down and looked at Julian. “We know you can’t help it,” she said softly. “Armin didn’t mean to be rude. Right, Armin?”

Armin shook his head. “No! But poop is just really funny. Poop, poop, poop!”

Now Toby and Lisa laughed too, and even Julian himself chuckled a little.

"In this class, you never have to worry about people thinking you’re stupid because of a messy diaper. “Do you know why?” Ms. Lynn asked Julian.

“Why?”

“Because it’s a very special class. The children in this class all still wear diapers,” said Ms. Lynn softly.

“Really?” said Armin. He looked at Lisa and Toby, whom he hadn’t immediately suspected.

Toby nodded. “Lisa and I play together a lot. Sometimes we also get a clean diaper together.”

“My big brother says diapers aren’t really allowed at school,” said Julian.

“Big brothers are just stupid,” said Lisa. “Mine said diapers are for babies. But now he’s also wearing a diaper.”

“It’s not allowed at many schools. But at this school it is. Like I said, you’re a special class, and this is a special school,” said Ms. Lynn. “You’ve already seen Ms. Viola. She is the best at changing diapers. And she’ll help you with that when school really starts after the holidays. But for now, she’s still with your moms and dads. Julian, go ask Mom or Dad for a clean diaper, okay?”

Julian left the classroom and returned a little later with his mother. Ms. Lynn showed her the back room with a toilet, but also a changing table and a large diaper pail. A few minutes later, Julian and his mother returned, and the children were allowed to play for a while longer.

At the end of the introduction, the children, parents, and the two teachers reunited. Although the building had looked a bit dilapidated, everyone had ultimately had a wonderful morning.

[Albasion]

I’m back and I’m very happy myself with how this chapter turned out!

Chapter 10: The New Product

Damian still had a week of school left after the holidays had begun for Ms. Lynn and her class, but then it was finally time for a vacation for him too. On the first Friday evening of his vacation, he lay in bed, thinking back to the sample pack of diapers he’d received. Although that experience had ended somewhat on a sour note, his desire to wear diapers again hadn’t suddenly vanished. He half-considered stealing another one from Lisa, but they were much less comfortable, and besides, he’d promised not to do that again. So, he walked with a heavy heart to his mother’s bedroom, where she was reading a book.

Aletta wasn’t particularly thrilled about her son asking for diapers again, although she was glad he didn’t want to do it secretly anymore. After the conversation with Chris and David, she was convinced it was unwise to forbid them, so she promised to buy a full pack through Chris.

“But,” Aletta said, “you’d be wise to keep this a secret from your sister in the future. I can’t promise she’ll keep quiet about it, you understand.”

For the next week, Damian wore a diaper at night, putting it on when Lisa was asleep. It felt nice and safe to wear a diaper again, although he was sometimes jealous of Lisa, who wore diapers all day and didn’t have to be nearly as secretive about it. In the mornings, he subtly stuffed the diaper into the bottom of the diaper pail, and it seemed Lisa didn’t notice. Maybe he’d gotten away with it after all, he thought.

The OTM meeting at the end of July, a week after Damian’s vacation began, took place at David’s house. He had recently had his house renovated and insisted on organizing it this time. Aletta, who had usually been organizing the meetings for the past few months, was perfectly happy with that. To better align with the vacation plans of the local OTM members, it was decided to hold the meeting on the penultimate Saturday of the month, instead of the last.

This time, Damian and Lisa stayed at Wilmar and Nora’s house, along with Toby himself, of course. Wilmar and Nora had found the babysitter they’d hired at the first meeting willing to look after three children instead of one for a small additional fee.

“I can look after myself perfectly well, you know. And Lisa too, if necessary,” Damian had said somewhat gruffly when the suggestion was made.

“I’m fine with that for an hour, but not the whole evening. I don’t know exactly what time I’ll be home,” Aletta had replied. “And don’t you like having Toby around?”

Damian had reluctantly agreed.

Damian, Toby, and Lisa stayed behind at the house with the babysitter while their parents left for the meeting after dinner. The three of them were allowed to play together for a while after their parents left. At one point, Lisa started making straining sounds in the middle of the room.

“I think you really need to go to the bathroom,” said Michelle, the babysitter.

“I don’t want to go to the bathroom,” said Lisa.

“You’re a big girl, way too big to poop your pants, aren’t you? Come with me, I’ll help you,” said Michelle.

“My mommy says I can choose,” said Lisa stubbornly. She strained again.

“I do think it’s a bit strange, such a big girl still pooping her pants. I thought those diapers were only for nighttime accidents?”

Lisa shook her head and finished the job. “Done,” she said. “Will you change me?”

“Well, okay then,” said Michelle reluctantly. She didn’t like it at all, a four-year-old girl shamelessly pooping her diaper. She consoled herself with the fact that this would probably be the only diaper change of the evening, because she knew Toby had already been changed just before she arrived, and that the children would be going to bed soon.

After Lisa was changed, Michelle read the little ones a story in the living room. This part of her job description suited her much better; she did a few voices that Toby and Lisa really appreciated. Damian was allowed to watch TV for a while, but he listened with half an ear.

“There, and now it’s time for bed. Toby, you’re already in your night diaper, aren’t you?”

“Yes, and it’s still dry!” Toby replied cheerfully.

“Good boy,” said Michelle.

“Does Damian have to wear a night diaper too?” Lisa asked.

Damian blushed slightly. "Of course not. “Damian’s way too big for that,” Michelle said. “Surely he doesn’t wear diapers anymore?”

Lisa nodded. “I saw it myself.”

“Shut up,” Damian said angrily.

“Damian, don’t get so worked up,” Michelle said. “And Lisa, I’m not going to put a diaper on your… eight year old?.. big brother no matter what you say. You can’t wear diapers forever. You and Toby are actually a bit too old as well.”

When Damian had moved into the guest room later that evening – Lisa was sleeping in Toby’s room – Michelle decided to take another good look in the bag Aletta had left behind, and from which she had pulled out the pink diaper Lisa had needed. There were two more pink diapers inside, and to her surprise, a larger blue one as well. It had definitely been too big for the two toddlers to reasonably wear. Michelle realized that Lisa hadn’t been talking nonsense.

Elsewhere, at the meeting, a heated discussion was also taking place. Ms. Lynn had decided to pay the meeting a visit; she didn’t attend every time, but thought it would be a good opportunity to join in again after the school introduction. However, she disagreed with David about the details of their philosophy.

“The whole foundation of this movement is that children choose for themselves when they are ready to be toilet trained,” said David. “I’m afraid what you’re proposing doesn’t align with that foundation.”

“I’m all for free choice,” said Ms. Lynn. “And I have no problem changing diapers, even with older children. Neither does my colleague Viola. But if you don’t show them how to go to the toilet, if you don’t gently show them the process… then they don’t really have a choice. Then you’re essentially forcing them to wear diapers.”

“I don’t do that at all,” said David. “I’m just against the concept of toilet training. You don’t train it, it just happens naturally.”

Nora intervened, trying to calm things down a bit. “I understand both of you,” she said. “For your peace of mind, Lynn… I can’t speak for all children, of course, but our Toby really does understand the process. He just has a hard time sensing it in time, and holding it in long enough. Once he feels a bit more comfortable with that, he’ll probably go to the toilet again. On the other hand, if you can find a way to encourage that without causing him too much discomfort… you have my blessing.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” said Ms. Lynn. “And David, I really do understand what you’re saying. But sometimes I wonder if you’re getting too bogged down in those psychological theories. We’re talking about real children here, too.”

“Real children who need diapers,” said David. “If not for physical reasons, then for psychological ones.”

“But not forever, right?” said Ms. Lynn.

“No, until they say they no longer need them.”

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to agree to disagree,” said Ms. Lynn, sighing. “David, I respect your opinion, but with all due respect: I’ll soon have a classroom full of diaper-wearing four-year-olds to care for, and none of them are your children. Their parents still have more say in parenting choices like this.”

Chris joined the conversation. “Do I understand correctly that you want to include some kind of toilet training in school?”

“I bet you think it’s a bad idea too?” asked Ms. Lynn.

“Not at all,” said Chris, and David frowned at him. “I recently did some market research with some colleagues from production, and I’ll have a new product coming out soon that you’ll probably find interesting. Just wait until the presentation later.”

After David formally opened the evening and welcomed everyone, he let Chris give his presentation. Chris had already let his good friend know that something new was in development and that he wanted to talk about it, but he had kept the exact details a secret. Four pictures of the four products Chris was currently distributing appeared on the screen.

“As you know,” said Chris, “these four products are currently available within the OTM. 4+ blue, 4+ pink, 6+ blue, 6+ pink. Simple and effective, for toddlers and older children, for boys and girls.” To be used during the day and at night… of course, without our friendly friends at the environmental police finding out. Except for our own infiltrators.

An infiltrator in the room raised his hand.

“We conducted market research to identify other needs within the OTM, and also among people outside the organization who are interested in what we do. Of course, we inquired very discreetly within the latter group,” Chris continued. “Here on the screen, you can see the most important findings.”

A few diagrams on the screen showed what was being said in the field. A notable number of people with children under four were also interested in smaller sizes of disposable diapers; apparently, not everyone was equally enthusiastic about the government-sanctioned washable diapers. However, slightly more respondents were interested in a different type of product: disposable training pants.

“We chose to first focus on what most people want. I hope to be able to share this product with you in a few weeks,” said Chris. He moved on to the next slide and showed a pair of training pants. The top colored edge was green instead of blue or pink.

“Of course, the foundation of our philosophy”—Chris nodded briefly at David—“remains. We recommend using these only when children are clearly ready for them, both physically and mentally. Everything at their own tempo. Therefore, we also have these in two sizes again, 4+ and 6+. Thank you.”

The other attendees applauded, including David. There were no more complicated discussions for the remainder of the evening, only enthusiasm for Chris’s new product.

“It’s not new technology, of course,” Chris admitted frankly. “These things already existed 50 years ago.”

“I think I wore them as a child myself,” said Wilmar. “Back then, it was all still legal. I’m starting to have more and more respect for your initiatives.”

When Wilmar and Nora got home later that evening, the children were already fast asleep. They had arranged with Aletta to bring Damian and Lisa home around lunchtime the next day. They paid the agreed-upon amount to Michelle the babysitter, who acted a bit strange and distant, but accepted the money and left. Then they went to bed themselves.

Michelle got in the car and was about to leave. Just before she turned the key in the ignition, she changed her mind. She picked up her phone, dialed a number, and waited for someone to answer.

“Good evening, environmental police? I’d like to make an anonymous report.”

[Albasion]

I kinda expected this forum to go down after the UK purge, so I kinda stopped writing since. I still have two more chapters in draft though, but I haven’t decided when or where I will continue posting the story. Hope to keep you updated sometime next week.