Eager Beaver

Chapter Fourteen - Little Lies

It was early in the morning - very early - when my eyes fluttered open, my senses overwhelmed by the summery gold glow of the day-break sun and the frantic vivacious twittering of birds outside the window. I felt three successive stabs of a finger squidge into the padded fabric strapped to my bottom, a warm breathy voice whispering in my ear.

"Cooper. Coopeeeer!" Laurie was demanding, now shaking impatiently at my shoulders "Wake up!"

I rolled over, giving a lazy frown as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "What?" I asked, looking down at the nervous-looking boy balancing half way up the bunk ladder. Over the course of the night, the waistband of his pajama bottoms had ridden down a little - revealing a good portion of his pull up, now noticeably bulkier than it had been the night before. I groaned in remembrance, sitting up and twisting around to check on my own night time protection. It was still dry, of course, but my nocturnal tossing and turning had left the back of my pajama waistband sagging all the way to the back of my knees. Anyone who happened to have passed my bunk in the night would have gotten a good view of the fuzzy ducklings quacking happily on my bottom! I hastily readjusted them hoping no one rose as early as Laurie.

"Mornin'." I exhaled, summoning a dopey smile as I stretched my arms high into the air and let out an almighty yawn.

"Did you uh...go pee?" Laurie asked, cutting right to the chase. As silly as it was, I couldn't help but feel a little abashed by the question - shaking my head decidedly to the contrary.

"No!" I denied defensively, before the sad look on Laurie's face reminded me of my deception. Back tracking, I made a little bit of a show of touching the top of my pull up before I turned back towards him - trying to look equally morose. "I mean... No. Not this time."

The boy looked disappointed - he had clearly been hoping he wouldn't have been the only one. As far as I had gone to accommodate the boy however, even I had my limits. "We have to go to see Taylor." Laurie informed, clambering down off the ladder. I took a change of clothes with me along with the Beaver uniform since Laurie did the same. I followed quickly behind, keeping a good hold of my pajamas as I felt the papery bulk of the pull up crinkle against my inner leg. We darted out of the warm room, skipping quickly through the chilly morning air and past the cub camp towards the grown-up's tents.

Taylor was sitting casually on a camping chair below a tree, sipping on a steaming mug of coffee in a white enamel mug. "Hey boys." he greeted cheerily "Sleep well?" I nodded pleasantly, but failed to notice Laurie staring sadly at the ground - his head hung in disappointment. "You okay, champ?"

"Nooo." the little boy sniffled, raising his green eyes to reveal that a few tears had crystalized in the corner of his eyes "I had another ac..ac...accident! And Cooper... Cooper..."

"Wow!" Taylor intervened, putting his coffee aside and drawing the littlest Beaver into a reassuring hug. He shushed him, letting out a strangely comforting chuckle. "You're alright, Laurie." he said confidently "It's just a little accident, that's all. That's why you boys wear them, right? It's no big deal."

"But Cooper didn't..." Laurie began, but Taylor interrupted once again.

"Don't worry about Cooper." he insisted, handing the boy a small plastic bag he clearly had ready for this very purpose "Why don't you head into the showers and get yourself cleaned up. Can you manage that by yourself?"

Laurie nodded, wiping away his tears. "Oh... Okay!" he managed, the tiniest of smiles once again returning to his lips.

"Good lad." Taylor praised, watching him go. A full blown tantrum narrowly averted, he turned to me - all business. "Did you wanna take that off?" he asked, offering me a plastic bag of my own "The sides just rip away."