“How about if I show you, where you can wash up?” she said with that same creepy smile.

She then crossed the room to open a pair of beautifully carved oak doors, revealing a large white marbled bathroom. Never in my life had I seen a bathroom like that one. White marble tiles adorned the floor and walls. Along the right side of the bathroom was a long white marble slab, which sat atop a magnificent white cabinet. The fixtures were all gold tones, with black accents and they matched perfectly with the bathtub and shower faucet. Yes, that is right; there was a bathtub and a shower in the same bathroom. The bathtub reminded me of the one, which Joey and I had played in, in his mother’s bathroom back in Canada, except this one was about half as big again and it was at floor level. At first I didn’t see, how someone could get in without jumping or dropping into the tub, but then I saw, that opposite the faucet were three small steps that lead down into the tub. The shower has glass on three sides, with the back being a solid slab of white marble.

While I was gaping at the wonders of the bathroom, Grandmother had pulled a white towel and washcloth out from under the sink cabinet.

“You would do well to clean up after your long journey.” She said, depositing the towel and washcloth in my arms.

“You can dispose of your soiled clothing in there.” Grandmother pointed to a door flap at the far end of the sink cabinet. With that, she smiled that creepy smile again and left me standing alone in that… that… palace!

At first, I didn’t do anything. I suppose, I was in a state of shock and wonder, but I quickly snapped out of it and dropped the towel on the counter beside the sink, so that I could get undressed.

I had just pulled my shirt over my head, when I heard the double doors to the bathroom open again. I quickly pulled my shirt back down, thinking that my grandmother had returned; however it turned out to be my mom.

“Mom, you scared the life out of me!” I said, grabbing hold of the marble counter for support.

Then I saw, that she looked upset and was holding a sopping wet diaper. I guessed right, that it was the one I had taken off in the car, just before we had arrived.

“Want to explain this?” she asked while holding it out to be sure I had noticed it.

Oddly, my first thought was that she was asking why it was wet, which was really dumb of me. I mean I could tell her right when I had soaked it. We’d had a flat tire and when it blew out it had startled me and basically scared the pee right out of me. But of course she wasn’t asking that at all she was asking why she found it stuffed under the seat in our car.

We commenced to argue for the next ten minutes or so. I tried to make her see, that I didn’t need to wear diapers during the daytime, especially now that we were here. She on the other hand kept saying that I was only a boy and that she would tell me what I do and do not need. She also seemed repulsed by the idea that I had left a wet diaper stuffed under the seat of our car.

The argument got pretty heated and came to a boil when I shouted, “I liked you better when we lived in California!”

And then I said it! The words came out and there was nothing I could do to shove them back down my throat.

I was so mad, so worked up and I screamed at her, “I HATE YOU NOW!”

What Mom did next tore my beating heart right from my chest. She didn’t yell back, she didn’t hit me or punish me. She simply looked at me with glassy eyes, dropped the diaper onto the polished white marble floor and walked away.

“Mom wait! Mom, please! Mom, I’m sorry!” I said, as she turned away, but she didn’t stop.

Leaping over the wet diaper on the floor, I ran out of the bathroom after her.

“Mom, I didn’t mean it! I am…”

The door to the bedroom closed behind her and I fell to the bedroom floor crying.