As I walked in the door to my grandparents’ house, I was greeted by my grandmother.
“What on earth do you think you are doing young man?” she snapped at me. “Your school just called to say, that you went to the Boys’ Room, and never returned to class. They have the police and everyone looking for you!”
Maybe it was because I was so upset at wetting my pants, or maybe I had just about had it with the way my grandparents treated me. At any rate, I lost it. I mean, I got farting-in-your-face, peeing-into-the-wind, and wiping-a-booger-on-someone, rude. Things started flying out of my mouth that, had I been talking like that to my older surfing buddy Gary, back in California, he would have knocked me into next week.
Grandmother looked down on me with revulsion as I cussed and ranted. Finally, I finished with, “And has it escaped your notice, that my damn pants are soaked in piss and half frozen?”
She didn’t get mad. She didn’t yell. All she did was say, “Please remove your wet things, so that you don’t drip all over the house.”
“Remove my wet things?” I screamed, “You know what? Fine! That’s right! FINE!”
I began pulling off every stitch of clothing right there in front of all of heaven, the neighbors, and everyone. I was throwing them to the ground so hard, that pee splashed in every direction.
Once I was completely naked, I stood breathing hard as my grandmother calmly bent down, picked up all of my things and then said, “Please go take a shower and wait in your room until your parents get home.”
And that is all that was said… at least until John and Mom returned home from work that evening.
After having another good long cry while standing under a skin-roasting shower, I sat at the bottom of the shower until they came home.
John was the first to arrive and by the sound of him, Grandmother had already informed him of everything. He had burst into the bedroom shouting, “ALVIN!”
Only then did I realize that I had fallen asleep, while sitting on the floor of the shower.
John found me, but at first, he just stood there with the most remarkable expression of puzzlement.
He spoke slowly, as though the words were difficult for him to say, “What are you doing in there?”
I must have cried myself out earlier, because though I felt like I was going to cry, the tears didn’t return.
I sighed heavily, then without looking up I said, “I peed my pants at school!”
“You did what?” He said with shock and awe.
“I peed my pants at school and I didn’t want anyone to see, so I ran all the way home.” I said as my voice cracked. I then pounded my leg with my fist, only I didn’t realize, how much that would hurt.
John surprised me by what he did next. I was expecting to get spanked or at the very least yelled at, but instead he stepped into the still running shower, lowered himself down beside me and hugged me close to him, like he use to when I was little. That is when my tears returned.