When I reemerged I told him how well it worked and he begged for the tube back so that he could try. He was under the water a really long time, but I knew he was ok because I could hear him breathing through the tube. It sounded kind of like Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies only deeper with a little bit of an echo sound.
Then he surprised me by talking through the tube. “Al’in I’ you can hear ‘e wiggle your toes.”
It was amazing how well I could understand him although his voice sounded weird. I wiggled my toes like he said and I could hear him giggling through the tube. I then stuck my hand under the water and motioned for him to come up.
“I don’ wan’ ‘oo.” Was his response.
I made a fist and shook it at him under the water. He giggled through the tube even more.
He finally did come back up and gave me another turn with the tube. We took turns breathing through the tube until his mom came back into the bathroom and announced that breakfast was ready.
“Ah Mommy! Five more minutes okay?” Joey pleaded.
“No, not five more minutes!” She said, but not angry or anything.
“Pleeeeeaaase!” I added.
“Come on you two, before your breakfast gets cold.” She said.
“What are we having?” I asked.
“Texas-Toast, walnut syrup, and peppered ham steaks.” She said while helping Joey out of the tub.
“Oh look at you, you’re all pruned!” she teased him.
I guess I forgot to be embarrassed for half a minute because I climbed out of the tub and was standing there before it hit me that I was, butt naked. It struck me at that very second that it hadn’t bothered me in the least bit to run around the beaches, butt naked for anyone and everyone to see; so why was I acting all embarrassed in front of Joey’s mom? And just like that I stopped, however the diapering thing was still a tough one to get through. To be honest, I wanted to protest getting diapered but something about Beth made me feel like protesting wasn’t something she would tolerate. So reluctantly I surrendered and let her put one on me. Through the whole thing, I was tense and feeling a desperate panic that took all my ability to keep from getting out of control. However, once she had the two of us re-diapered, I was as mellow as a jellyfish!
Breakfast was really good and I found out that Texas-Toast is a lot like French-Toast only the bread is about twice as thick and really filling. The walnut syrup was good too, but I still prefer the good old maple kind. I didn’t much care for peppered ham; I ate it because I didn’t want to be impolite, but it didn’t taste anything like I thought ham should taste. I’m guessing that my belly wasn’t too keen on it either, because for the rest of that day I had pepper and ham scented farts that burned for several seconds after each fart. Joey said that pickles do that to him.