Paul's quivering, sweaty hands clasped around the
package of Goodnites disposable 'briefs', as they were so-
called. He could feel the eyes of every other shopper in
the store questioning him and mocking him at that very
instant. He could tell that everyone knew the diapers were
for him, partially because they were about his size, and
his face was blushing a deep crimson. He couldn't help but
nervously glance around him before lifting the package off
the shelf and tucking it under his arm.
For a reason unknown to Paul, he had always wanted to
wear diapers ever since he was a young child of about 5 or
6. He couldn't remember any times when he was ever wearing
a diaper, and from this, he came up with the excuse that he
had forgotten what it was like to wear diapers, and his
curiosity had overwhelmed him. But deep inside Paul, he
knew that wasn't the real reason. He had always fantasized
about his mother laying him down on a thickly padded, baby
blue changing table, and slowly peeling back the tapes on
his soggy, disposable diaper, while he was cuddling a plush
teddy bear that she had handed him previously. He could
hear her in his mind, cooing him in a babyish voice: "Awww,
is our diaper wet? It certainly is!! Let's get baby Pauly
all cweaned up.."
Now he found himself in the local supermarket, less
than half a block from his house, where everyone knew his
name. Unfortunately, today was a Saturday, the usual
shopping day in this area of Providence, Rhode Island, and
it seemed as if everyone from the entire state had come
just to add to the embarrassment of one 13-year-old boy.
Luckily (?) however, Paul wasn't very popular in school,
and so he didn't have much of a reputation to keep up,
except with two of his close friends, Alex and Sam. The
trio always hung out together after school, and it was a
wonder that Paul hadn't run into either of them today in
the supermarket.
Paul quickly made his way to the checkout counter, and
was crestfallen when he saw that all of them were
ridiculously long. He stepped behind the lady in the
"express" line, the line with a 10 item limit, and waited,
trying to conceal his all-too-revealing purchase.
It seemed like hours before the lady in front of Paul
made it to the cashier. At this moment, Paul believed that
everything would be okay, from here on out. Naturally,
something had to go wrong, and did, right as Paul was close
to meeting his ultimate goal.
The lady in front of him had 11 items. The cashier
pointed out to the lady, using the large "EXPRESS LINE - 10
ITEMS OR LESS" sign above them for verification, that she
couldn't go through this line because of the item limit.
The lady, in an extremely rude manner, bellowed to the
cashier that she was at the front of the line already, had
been waiting here for 30 minutes, and that she was only
*one* item over the limit. Paul just wished that both of
them would disappear so he could get out of the store.
Eventually, the very angry an annoyed lady left the
line in a fit, leaving her cart behind. The cashier pushed
the cart out of the way and eyed Paul expectantly. Paul,
still zoned-out from the quarrel between the cashier and
the lady, suddenly snapped back into reality and handed the
cashier the crinkling package. As he handed the female the
plasticky purchase, he noticed that she was stunningly
beautiful, and she couldn't have been much older than 17 or
18. Although he didn't think it possible, Paul blushed a
little more.
The cashier took the package and turned it over a
couple of times, and then looked at Paul quizzically. Paul
just tried to smile back casually, but ended up giving a
nervous chuckle. The cashier noticed his uneasiness.
"Are these pampers for you?" she asked him, a little
louder than he would have liked her to.
"Well, uh.." Paul began, "they're uh... for a cousin
who's visiting out of town." He looked at the cashier,
hoping she'd buy it. It looked like she didn't, but to
avoid a conversation with the manager for holding up a
checkout line, she continued to ring up the diapers.
After flipping around the package a couple of times,
she couldn't find a barcode. She picked up a phone to the
left of the cash register, and started talking into it. As
she did, her voice boomed throughout the supermarket.
">>I need a price check on some diapers here for this
boy, line 1!!Bring some tissues too, this kid's cryin'.
