Later in the afternoon, it started to rain again, not hard like the previous night, but it was coming down steady enough that my brother couldn’t ride his motorcycle. I couldn’t have been more relived to see that rain!

I hardly slept at all that night between thinking about Damien and his wet pants and worrying about what my brother was going to say if the seat was stained the next morning.

Before my brother or anyone else was up, I got out of bed, dressed, and went out to the garage to check that the leather had dried overnight. Much to my relief it was dry and stain free, however it failed the nose test.

“I just have to pray that my brother doesn’t decide to sit on his face!” I joked with myself.

After breakfast, I was out on the front porch oiling up my glove to put away for the winter and that is when I saw that same little brat, Damien, riding past the house on his bike. On his third pass he stuck his tongue out at me and flipped me off. When he saw me stand up, he peddled his bike like crazy and sped away, only to return about an hour later.

I was inside the house, walking from the bathroom to the kitchen when I spotted him through the front window. He was across the street, peeing on our neighbor’s flowers. I nearly fell over laughing when I saw our neighbor come running out of her house carrying a bucket of water. Damien didn’t see her coming until it was too late. She doused him with the full bucket of water, sending him face first into the flowerbed. I wanted to run outside and cheer, but better sense prevailed this one time. Instead, I watched through the window as Damien jumped up, soaking wet and covered in mud and dirt. What made it even funnier was the fact that, I knew that it wasn’t just dirt and mud, our neighbor was religious about applying manure to their flowerbeds twice ever year. Once in spring, and once in the fall. They had just applied a fresh coating of manure less than a month ago. I watched Damien spit out a mouthful of the cow processed fertilizer and wipe at his tongue. Inside I was laughing so hard that I thought I was going to crack a rib.

Then, something even funnier happened. Damien must have been so mad that he didn’t say nothing or even look at the lady. He just took off running as through he was being chased.

It was later that night, just a little while before dinner when mom came looking for me. When I first saw her face, I got nervous and wondered why she looked so upset. I did a quick mental inventory to be sure I had all of my chores done before I asked, “What?”

“You’re sister was supposed to baby-sit tonight.” mom looked at my radio clock, “She’s supposed to be there in five minute but she’s not even home from the mall yet.”

“Uh, ok?” I said not really sure why mom was telling me all this. I should have known that she was setting me up.

“Well, I wanted to see if you might want earn a little spending cash,” Mom asked cautiously.

I sighed, “Who’s little brats do I have to go watch and how much does it pay?”

Mom went into selling mode, “Its Gladys’s daughter’s little boy, and he isn’t a brat. Gladys said he is a very well behaved boy and it will only be for a couple of hours.”

I finally agreed, “Oh, alright but my sister’s going to owe me big-time!” Little did I know that I had just set myself up for another ‘close encounter’.

I was still dressed and only had to put on my shoes before I was ready to go. Since Gladys and her husband just live around the corner, I didn’t bother getting my bike out of the shed. When I rang the doorbell, Gladys’s husband Bill, who used to coach my little league team, opened the door. Bill is one of those really likable older guys, but acts as if he’s still in his twenties and thirties. Even though he’s married to Gladys, he still flirts with every lady he runs across. I always have liked Bill and Gladys until I saw who they wanted me to watch for them.

“Damien?” I said when I saw the little beast.

Bill smiled, slapped me on the back and said, “So, the two of you have already met?!”

Damien looked horror struck. He was standing beside his grandmother, Gladys, trying to look cute and innocent, but I knew better. Boy did I ever! Gladys came over, and just like always, she grabbed my cheeks, pinched them and said, “Oh you are such a handsome, handsome, handsome boy!” My cheeks always ache for several minutes after she’s done pinching them.

“I can’t tell you how please we are that you could sit with young Damien here,” “Bill said, slapping me on the back again. I wondered to myself if there was an old Damien, probably his father.

“Is your sister ok?” Gladys asked with concern.

“Oh yes, just fine.” I wasn’t sure what mom had told them about my sister, so I didn’t say anything more.

I was shown where the emergency numbers were kept, given instructions for Damien’s bedtime and got slapped on the back once more as Bill said, “Don’t burn the house down! No wild parties and don’t drink the blue water in the toilets!” He let loose a giggling belly laugh as he pulled the door closed.

The instant I heard the door latch, I spun around and gave Damien the meanest, deadliest stare down I could muster up. I got quite a bit of pleasure seeing him standing there looking worried and concerned. When I moved my left foot only slightly, his entire body convulsed. I felt like laughing the way those evil scientists did in those old-time movies, “Muhahahahaaaa!”

Quick as a whip, I thrust my right hand toward him. He jumped, threw his arms up to shield himself and made a sound, much like a weasel being crushed by stampeding elephants. “Tell you what… Let’s forget about before and start all over again.”

Damien crinkled up his nose and tilted his head to one side like a confused little puppy.

“Come on, let’s shake and be friends,” I said.

Apprehensively, Damien reached up and took my hand, but only briefly. He wasn’t totally sure he wanted to trust me yet, but I knew I had to earn his trust or I’d never be able to find out more about his wetting problem.