A thought jumped into my head and before I had a chance to reason it out, I stepped back into the bathroom and said, “If you need, I think my friend might have an extra diaper. It will probably be way big but…” I didn’t have to finish.

For the first time, I got a clear view of Eben from the chest up. His complexion wasn’t as dark as his mother’s, but other than that, the resemblance was uncanny. Eben looked to be maybe seven years of age with the same color hair as his mother and those same wonderful eyes. However, Eben’s eyes were also red and swollen from having been crying.

“Oh, that would be wonderful.” Mrs. Orric said and I took off quick as a whip to find Mark.

I knew that Mark never went anywhere without at least one, and usually more than one extra change of diapers.

“What’s going on?” Sean asked.

“Never mind!” I told him and cupped my hands around Marks ear so that I could whisper the situation to him.

Mark mouthed the words, “Really?” and I nodded my head. He shoved his backpack into my arms and I slipped out of the theater for the third time.

Inside Marks bag was everything one would need for such a situation, wipes, creams, powder, and Ziploc baggies for the soiled diaper and most importantly, a fresh diaper.

When I returned to the bathroom, I found Eben outside of the stall bent over and his mother was wiping his poop-smeared butt. Even covered in poop his butt looked beautiful, but the stink that filled the bathroom could have taken down a whole herd of rhinos.

“Here,” I gasped trying to catch my breath.

I opened Marks backpack, pulled out the wipes and handed them to Mrs. Orric. When she saw the thin, white plastic container with the words “Huggies” on the cover, she exclaimed, “Oh thank you!”

I also pulled out and arranged on the floor beside them the cream, powder and one of Marks big Tena® diapers.

Eben was still whimpering and sniffling but, for the most part, he had quieted down a lot. Then I noticed the condition of his pants and shirt. I imagine that his mom could have rinsed the bulk of the mess in the toilet and then finished cleaning them in the bathroom sink, but who wants to run around in soaking wet clothes? I know I wouldn’t!

“Hey, if you want, I have on another shirt under my sweatshirt. Eben can wear my sweatshirt home.” I offered.

Mrs. Orric objected to this idea, but once I reassured her that it was perfectly okay, she agreed, but only after promising that she would return it.

I pulled off my shirt and folded it neatly before setting it aside. While she continued to wipe his bottom clean, I picked up his soiled diaper and put it into one of the Ziploc baggies. By the time she finished getting him totally cleaned up, I had also put his pants and his shirt into separate baggies.

It’s kind of weird how some people don’t mind accepting the help of a perfect stranger like me while others seem to get all bent out of shape if you do so much as hold the door open for them. I mean, there I was, just some unknown boy kneeling next to Mrs. Orric, watching as she finished cleaning Eben’s sack. Eben was just wiping at his eyes and paying me no attention at all.

When Mrs. Orric first held the Tena® diaper up in front of Eben, his eyes grow huge and his bottom lip began to quiver. While he was still standing with his feet apart, she threaded the diaper between his knees and pulled it up tight. I’d never seen anyone diaper someone while the one being diapered was standing. It was pretty cool the way she did it. When she was done, the waistband of the diaper was under Eben’s armpits. It was almost comical to see Eben standing there like that, but I didn’t let on that I thought so.

While Mrs. Orric started to gather the items back up and put them into Marks backpack, I helped Eben put on my sweatshirt.

His head was still inside the shirt when he asked, “What’s your name?”

“My name is Max,” I answered.

Eben’s head popped out of the collar of my sweatshirt and he exclaimed, “Mommy, he has the same name as me!”

That confused the heck out of me, “Huh? I thought your name was Eben?”

“It is! I am Eben Maximillian Orric Jr.” he said proudly.

“Wow! That’s a cool name.” I took hold of Eben’s hand, which was trapped within the sleeve of the sweatshirt, and shook it properly, “Pleasure to meet you Mr. Eban Maximillian Orric Jr. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Maxwell L. Riddle.” I said, and began to roll the sleeves up so that Evan was able to have his hands free.

Max smiled and let out a giggle, “I like you Max!”

“I like you too Eben,” I said with a smile.

“You are the sweetest little boy,” Mrs. Orric said to me, and to be honest, I took offence at her referring to me as a little boy, but I let it go.

I found a piece of paper and a pen in Mark’s backpack, wrote my phone number on it for Mrs. Orric. I was going to give her my home address too so that she could bring back my shirt, but she didn’t want me to.

“It’s not a smart thing to give your address to a stranger, not even if you think they are nice.” She lectured me.

As I stood up, Eban asked, “What’s the L stand for?”

I looked down, “If I tell you, do you promise not to laugh?”

Eban crossed his heart with his finger and then used a pretend key to lock his lips closed. Leaning down , cupped my fingers around his small ear and whispered my middle name.

Instantly, he giggled but quickly covered his mouth and said, “Oops! Sorry!”

“Just don’t go telling anyone!” I said, wagging my finger at him in a humorous manner.

As the three of us left the bathroom, I was several feet behind Eben and got a great view of him waddling out my sweatshirt hanging down to the midpoint of his naked caves. He seemed perfectly happy now that he was cleaned up and didn’t seem to care that he was wearing a sweatshirt and diaper, both of which were several sizes too big for him. We stepped out of the bathroom and I swung Marks backpack over one shoulder, intent on going in to see the end of the movie. I had expected that Eben and his mom would be leaving, and sure enough, Mrs. Orric turned left to head toward the exit, but Eben had turned right to go back in to the movie too.

He was not happy about missing the last half of the movie, but then Mrs. Orric had an idea. “Max, since you were such a wonderful gentleman. Would you let me and Eben treats you to this movie again next weekend?” she asked.

Ebon was dancing on the tips of shoes as he pleaded with me. “Say yes! Oh please say yes! Please, please, please!”

“Uh, yeah sure. Wow, that sounds great! But you have to at least let me buy the popcorn.”

“Oh my dear boy, of course not. I won’t hear of it. The movie, popcorn and sodas are on me!” and to show her resolution in the matter she added, “and furthermore, afterward we will be having an ice cream.”

“Oh, but I’ll have to get permission.” I said.

“You see there, you are such a good little boy!” Mrs. Orric said, and with her one free hand, she grabbed the back of my head. I thought she was just going to give me a hug, but instead, she planted a really wet kiss right on my cheek. I didn’t know until after the movie that she left some lipstick behind. Boy did Sean, Geo and Mark ruthlessly tease me about that.

I had walked Eben and his mom to the door and after saying goodbye, I started to walk over to the arcade, but this man in a gold sports coat stopped me. I thought he was going to give me a hard time for being a teenager and loitering in the lobby, but that isn’t want he did at all. The guy turned out to be a lot younger then he looked. As a matter of fact, he was still in high school.

“Do you know who that lady was?” he asked.

I was caught off guard, “Uh, you mean Mrs. Orric?”

“You don’t have any idea do you?” he said with a knowing smile.

I didn’t get it and shrugged.

“She’s married to the Mayor! They are loaded!” he said.

For some reason, that latter part didn’t register right away, “What do you mean? Like she’s drunk?” I asked.

“No man! They are loaded as in they have more money than God!” and the way he said, it made me feel like in his own way, he was saying I was dumb.

“So!” I said, shrugged my shoulders and walked into the arcade.

After the movie ended, I was standing next to the popcorn station waiting on the guys to come out, and that same guy in the Gold sports coat gave me a wink from the other side of the counter.

Luckily, I spotted the guys coming out right then and made my way over to them.

“What happened to you?” Geo asked.

Sean echoed, “Yeah what happened to you?”

“Were you feeling sick again?” Geo asked.

“Nothing like that, I was just helping out a friend.” I said and tried to let it go at that, but Geo wouldn’t let it drop.

“But you missed the best movie ever! Harry was…” he nearly spoiled the ending for me but Mark jabbed him, pretty hard in the side and said, “Shut up! Maybe he wants to see it again another time!”

“Yeah but…” Geo tried again and I was glad to see Sean take a stand this time.

Sean had been about two steps ahead of Geo. He spun around and jabbed Geo in the chest with a rigid finger, “You had better shut or so help me, I’ll tell your dad on you!”

Geo didn’t say another word until after we’d arrived home other than to grunt at his sister when she’d come to pick us up and had asked why he was so quiet. Geo turned in the front seat and looked angrily at Geo. Geo must have still been upset too because he fired his own heated look back at Geo.

Amazingly enough, as we were filing out of the car, Geo grabbed my arm and apologies for almost spoiling the movie for me. I told him it was cool, even though if he had told me the end, I probably would have had to pound on his head with a big rock.