The house is roomy and airy, with an open floor plan connecting the kitchen to the living and dining room. Sun cast through the windows brightens the dark hardwood floor.
"Hi, Leigh," says Mommy, one hand on Adam's back. "This is Miss Leigh, honey. She's going to tutor you today."
Miss Leigh looks younger than Adam is, maybe in her mid-20s, but her calm, collected expression and body language is something he's only seen in older women. The fine lines under her eyes and her warm smile make her look wise and experienced.
"Hi, honey. Adam, right?" She smiles at him, and then looks to Mommy for confirmation.
Mommy nods. She told Adam that Miss Leigh has been a longtime friend of hers, but she hadn't seen her in a couple years after she moved. Now that they were living in her home state she was able to reconnect with lots of old friends.
"Okay," says Mommy, "I'm going to run some errands. I'll be back around four. Is that okay, Adam?" Mommy rubs her hand on his back and he nods, but he looks a little worried as she walks towards the door.
"It's okay, baby. Miss Leigh is going to take good care of you." Her voice changes as she addresses Miss Leigh, hand on the doorknob. "It's been nice to see you again, Leigh. Let's get coffee sometime later this week. As soon as I'm less busy." Mommy has been working hard on getting her paintings ready for the gallery.
Mommy and Miss Leigh hug briefly before Mommy heads out the door. Adam stands still, looking around the room. Miss Leigh has big paintings on the walls, of flower gardens and hummingbirds. There are crayon drawing on the fridge, probably done by other boys. Adam feels that his pull-up has shifted awkwardly on his bottom and reaches down to pull it into a more comfortable position under his pants.
"Come on over here. Let's sit down by the sliding door."
They sit on a circle rug in a patch of warm sun. Adam looks out onto the porch and sees a big catio with a yellow cat sleeping inside. Miss Leigh is wearing black tights and a black skirt and a black mock turtleneck sweater. She pulls her skirt under her bottom as she kneels down across from Adam. Adam sits crisscross applesauce. The sun is warm on his face.
Miss Leigh spreads out a square of felt between them. There are cut-out shapes of forest animals arranged on top.
"Owl," says Miss Leigh softly. "Ow-ull. Can you find the owl, honey?"
He blushes at the way she's talking to him. Doesn't she know he has a master's degree? He stretches out a hand and touches the brown owl cut-out.
Miss Leigh picks up the owl. "Where does the owl live?"
"Tree," he mutters, touching the tree on the felt background. Miss Leigh nods and moves the owl.
"How about the coyote? Can you find the coyote?"
Adam reaches out and picks it up.
"Where should the coyote go?"
Adam sets it down in the grass under the tree.
Miss Leigh lets him pick up a bunny, a fox, and a bat and place them on the scene.
"Very nice." Her tone changes. "Adam, your mommy told me you still need to wear pull-ups. Is that right?"
Adam squirms. He nods, hands slowly gripping the rug.
"Can you tell me if you have an accident? Or do you need me to check you?"
"No? No, you can't tell me, or no, you don't need me to check you?"
He stares at the animals, not answering.
"Can you tell me if you go pee?" Nod. "You don't need me to check you?" Nod. "Okay, good, honey. Thanks for letting me know." She sweeps the felt up in her hands and rolls it up, animals tucked inside. "Do you want to go play outside? I have a big backyard."
He nods and they stand up. He follows her through the kitchen and down a hallway. There's more art on the walls, and pictures of her smiling with her arms around a man. That must be her husband, Adam thinks. I wonder where he is. Maybe work. There's also a closed door leading off the hall. What room is that? Maybe the bathroom.
Miss Leigh does have a big backyard. There's a garden with flower beds, a big cedar tree with a swing hanging from it, and a picnic table. "You can play on the swing, or look at the flowers. I'm going to get a snack for us. I'll be right back."
Miss Leigh goes into the house, leaving the screen door open behind her. Adam approaches the swing. He looks over his shoulder. There's a little bit of pressure growing in his bladder, he can feel it. He thinks about following Miss Leigh and asking for the bathroom, but then he gets shy. Wouldn't that be awkward?
I can hold it for now. The swing looks fun, anyway. Adam hoists himself up. He swings for a few minutes before Miss Leigh comes back again. She smiles at him, setting a cutting board with an apple down on the table and picking up a knife to cut it up.
Adam jumps down from the swing, and as soon as he does he feels himself start peeing. It's so sudden and surprising that he doesn't move, one hand on the rope of the swing. Oh no. He grabs his crotch. It's too much for the pull-up. He can feel it leaking out, wet and warm on his legs, saturating his pants.
"Do you want to come have some...Uh-oh." Miss Leigh stands up and walks over calmly. "It looks like you needed to go potty pretty bad. We can go back inside." She holds his hand and they step up onto the back porch and back through the screen door. She guides him into the room off the hallway. It isn't a bathroom, but a changing room. She has a high changing table with a white pad on it. There's a washer-dryer in the corner next to a hamper. Most of the clothes inside look like grown-up clothes, but he can see one brightly striped yellow and blue sweater.
"Up-hup," says Miss Leigh, and he climbs onto the changing table. It's so embarrassing. His legs are absolutely drenched. She pulls off his Converse and socks. "You wear pretty big clothes for someone who goes pee-pee in his pants. I like these jeans." She pulls them down easily (they have elastic on the back).
"It's too bad Mommy didn't bring you a change. But it's all okay. I have spares you can borrow." She opens a drawer and pulls out a pair of soft, green sweatpants with bears and trees on them. She sets them down next to his head, and he can feel the soft fabric on his cheek.
"Let's get your diap--I mean, your pull-up off. Sorry." She laughs. "A couple of my boys are still in diapers." She smiles at him and he rubs at his mouth with his hands. "Ohh, Mommy did pack a pacifier. Let me go get it."
She leaves the room. He can feel his wet pull-up growing cold. Then he hears the front door open and Leigh talking to somebody. Somebody with a deep voice.
"Okay, I can help you look for it." He hears Leigh approaching down the hallway. "Just give me a second, okay?" she says over her shoulder as she comes back into the changing room. "Sorry," she says to Adam. She mouths, "forgot his computer," and rolls her eyes, which makes Adam giggle.
Then she hands him the pacifier. Is he supposed to put it in himself? He hesitates before he pushes it in slowly.
"You like biting your pacifier, huh? It had teeth marks all over."
He doesn't respond. He is, in fact, already chewing on it without even noticing.
She finally eases his pull-up over his legs and gets out a wet washcloth. "I like this better than baby wipes," she says. "Don't worry, I'll get some lotion on you, too."
Just then the door cracks open and Leigh looks over her shoulder.
"Honey, did I leave it on top of the washing mach...Oh. Sorry." The man backs out of the door.
"Just give me a second," Miss Leigh calls back to him. "I'll help you look as soon as I'm done with this."
She finishes wiping Adam and rubs lotion onto her hands. She rubs it all over his diaper area, but doesn't linger long on his half-hard penis. "I'll have to tell your mommy to help you with that when you go home," she says, winking.
"Now, do you need another pull-up? Or a diaper? Mommy said you sometimes have an accident during your nap."
"I need a diaper," says Adam from behind his pacifier, surprising himself. "Since...since I couldn't..."
"Uh-huh, it's okay. It's nothing to be ashamed about. Sometimes you need a diaper!" She opens another drawer. Miss Leigh's diapers are big and white, unlike the purple kind Mommy puts on him at nighttime.
She taps his hips to tell him to lift up and lowers them onto the soft padding. She wraps him up and she feels his hands press the tapes shut.
Once he's in the bear sweatpants, she hoists him off the changing table. He takes out his pacifier to yawn.
"Did that tire you out? I know an accident can make you tired," says Miss Leigh. "It happens to lots of people. Do you need to sit on the couch for a little while and maybe snooze?"
Adam nods and she takes his hand again.
The man, her husband, is in the kitchen when they walk out to the living room, making a sandwich on the counter. "Can't find it anywhere," he says. "Might as well eat something. The boss doesn't need to know why I've been gone so long."
"Okay, whatever, honey," says Miss Leigh, sitting down on the couch and pulling Adam up next to her. She guides his arms around her and gently pulls his head to rest on her chest. "It's okay, Adam, you don't need to be nervous. Do you need a blankie?" She pulls a blanket off the back of the couch and spreads it over him. Adam sighs. It's so comfortable and warm. His eyes droop closed and he feels that soft, falling feeling.
Somewhere far away, the couch sags as Leigh's husband sits down. "Is that Cherry's boyfriend?" says a far-away, muted voice. "I didn't realize he was an adult baby. Although...I guess I can see Cherry being into that. She's always been very...assertive."
"I don't really think he's a baby." Miss Leigh is petting his hair. "I think he's more of like, a little boy. Or a middle. Although he did ask me to diaper him."
"You're going to have to explain the difference to me again. Is that what, uh...Thomas is? I mean, Tommy? Sorry, remind me who was here last week?"
The conversation slowly fades out as Adam drifts off. He doesn't open his eyes again until the front door opens and Mommy sets down her purse.
