I’m not sure what time it was when once again I was awakened but this time it wasn’t my brothers that were waking me up, it was a most perplexin’ feelin’ in the pit of my stomach. It felt like I had two squirrels inside my belly fightin’ for the same acorn. From across the room I heard Benjamin whimper, “Oooh, I don’t feel so well!”

As I began to move my hands toward my tummy my bottom discharged into my diaper with the force of a hurricane and it sound of a bomb had gone off. I was never so glad to be wearin’ a diaper before and just as I thought I was done a second bomb detonated and I filled my diaper again with hot liquid butt gravy.
I heard Benjamin poundin’ across the floor past my bed headin’ toward the bathroom and I knew he hadn’t made it when I heard him near the door cryin’ quietly to himself.

“Those dang peaches!” I thought to myself, “They must’a been bad!” and in fact they were. In the dark we had no idea that the jar we had opened was filled with peaches that hadn’t sealed properly and had gone bad in the jar. That’s the thing about peaches, unless you can look at them and see that they are brown you’d never know from the taste whether they were spoiled or not.

Benjamin must have got the door open slightly before soilin’ himself ‘cause I distinctly heard someone in the bathroom. It sounded like someone was repeatedly dumpin’ buckets of water into the toilet from a great height. And then I heard a moan that could have only come from Vincent. The sound was deep and forceful as if he were tryin’ to lift a ten-ton bolder over his head.

The hallway light came on momentarily blindin’ me and then I could hear Connie askin’ Vincent, “Are you alright in there?”

“Oh god Karne! Get dad fast!” Vincent cried out not even tryin’ to quiet his voice.

Benjamin must have still been standin’ by the door and I thought that because I could hear what sounded like someone blowin’ bubbles in their milk. I figured he was filling his pajama pants the same as I’d done to my diaper.

Those two squirrels were still fightin’ inside my stomach and as I tried to set upright I began to vomit. I don’t mean just a little spit-up; I mean I hurled with the force of a cannon. If my mouth had been closed I honestly believe I would have blown the front of my face off! It was as if someone had connected a hose to a fire hydrant and shoved the other end up my bottom; I wanted to stop but it kept comin’ out of my mouth!

Pore Benjamin had been closer to me then I thought and received the full brunt of my stomachs contents. I puked so hard and so long that I remember thinkin’ that I was goin’ to suffocate ‘cause I couldn’t breathe. To top it off, the light in our room came on burnin’ my eyes as I continued to spew peach scented evil onto the kneelin’ body of my youngest brother.

The best that I can figure is that as Benjamin was tryin’ to run for the toilet a stab of belly pain had caused him to double over and fall to his knees. It was only dumb luck that he happened to fall right were I was about to throw-up everythin’ I have ever ate in my entire life.

As my eyes adjusted to the light and the delouse comin’ from my mouth stopped for the moment, I could see Benjamin bent over on the floor lookin’ like some sort of mutated blob havin’ just been born. Exhausted I fell back against my pillow gaspin’ for air. The sent of peaches in the air was intense as I lay there with sweat porin’ off of me like I’d just come in our of the rain.

The next thing I new pa was leanin’ over me wipin’ my face, neck and chest with a wet rag. I had just enough time to say, “Pa,” before I again vomited this time all over pa, the floor, my bed, my pillow and myself. Between heaves I was able to catch a glimpse of my follow night-time cupboard raiders. Vincent was sittin’ upright in bed with a bucket between his legs and his head shoved down inside it. Benjamin was standin’ at the foot of Vincent’s bed while Connie pulled a pair of my plastic pants up over the thick cloth diaper he was wearing.

The three of us spend the next few days lyin’ in bed sicker then I think any of us have ever been in our lives. Though none of us remember it, we were told that Doc Wilson had come to see us the followin’ mornin’ despite the enormous, throbbin’ goose-egg he had on the back of his head. I don’t even remember him or anythin’ else for over three days. We later found out that all three of us had a very bad case of food poisoning. We had fevers over 104 and we were mostly cared for by Meggin, Connie and Kathy.

I found it odd that neither Benjamin nor Vincent seem the least bit upset when they found out that they had been kept in diapers that whole time. Even after our fevers broke we were too weak to get out of bed and yet they didn’t fuss about havin’ Meggin and our sisters changin’ us. Vincent took longer to recover than Benjamin and me. His fever didn’t break until late in the fourth day and only yesterday was he able to hold down some water and a little chicken broth.

In our fevered state we had confessed to sneakin’ down and eatin’ the peaches. I mean why wouldn’t we since our room reeked of peaches and still does to this day. Vincent seems to think that it was good that we confessed when we were so sick ’cause pa’d never tan us when we were nearly dying. The more I think about that, the more I think Vincent is right.

Pa had gone through the pantry and found three more jars of bad peaches. Ma seems to think that maybe she got some bad cannin’ lids this time and to be safe she made pa toss out every jar of peaches from this year. You can bet that I won’t be eating peaches again for a very long time… if ever!