She smiled at his anguished face and said truthfully,
“ baby powder is body powder.
Here, look! See?
It says so right on the back of the bottle!
I use it myself after a bath to keep dry.
“He looked at her with tears in his eyes and said accusingly,
“You told me you put it on me to prevent chafing.
What you really meant was it was supposed to prevent diaper rash!”
Ruth sighed and said, “You’re right.
I fibbed. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“But I don’t want to wear diapers!”, he wailed.
She hugged him to her and said soothingly,
“You’ll get used to them, I promise.”
“But I don’t want to get used to them.
What will my friends say?”, he pleaded.
She smiled and said,
“How will they know if you don’t tell them?
I’m certainly not going to tell anyone.”
“You’re ashamed of me.
If I had a teenaged boy who had to wear diapers living in my house, I wouldn’t want to tell anybody either,” he said reproachfully.
She hugged him again and stroked his hair, saying,
“I’m not ashamed of you Theodore.
You just have a temporary problem that will go away with time.
Try not to get upset about it. Neither doctor seemed to be very worried about it, so I think you shouldn’t worry either.
Now let me get you tucked into bed. It’s time to go to sleep.”
Tucked into bed?”, he quailed,
“I haven’t needed to be tucked in since I was a little kid!”
Rose smiled warmly as she gently forced him to lie back on the bed saying,
“I know you don’t need me to tuck you in, but I want to make sure the pads don’t slip.
You understand that, don’t you?”
Tony nodded sleepily as the medication took effect and she pulled the covers over him and began tucking them around him.
He was almost asleep when she finished with the covers and bent over him to kiss him on the forehead, saying,
“Goodnight, Theodore. Sleep tight.”
“Goodnight mama,” he murmured in his sleep.