Chapter 3

Alvin was rushed to the hospital in downtown LA due to his left saliva tube being clogged, making a bulge on his neck. The doctors were discussing whether or not to put him in surgery, but Alvin, scared, asked them if they could possibly do anything else that didn't involve him going into surgery. The doctors decided to put him on IV antibiotics, laying him up in the hospital for a week, over his twelfth birthday, no less.

Luckily for Alvin, he had a roommate. He was a cool guy. The two of them got along swimmingly, occupying themselves by making lapel buttons, playing cards, and watching TV. Through television, they found that they found similar tastes, so they rarely had an argument over what to watch. Being that they were both still kids, they both still liked cartoons. Of course they watched the typical cartoons that twelve year old boys: action and lots and lots of violence. Of course one of their favorite cartoons was Dragonball Z. Alvin and his roommate learned many things from each other. Alvin learned that his roommate was a cancer patient and might not make it. Alvin cringed at these words and was slightly uncomfortable when the boy asked Alvin to pray for him, something that Alvin rarely, if ever, actually did. Meanwhile, Alvin taught the boy had to play other card games besides "Go Fish," such as poker and blackjack.

On Alvin's twelfth birthday, a cake was brought up to the room, a round personal cake. The only problem was that the cake itself was so stale that the plastic knife that was sent up with the cake to cut it broke in half when Alvin and his roommate attempted to cut the cake. This prompted Alvin and his roommate into seeing how many times they could drop the cake until ti broke, but they stopped after twenty-two times. They eventually ended up tossing the cake out the window, with Alvin concluding that it was one of the worst cakes he'd ever seen.

Alvin being Alvin, he managed to get him and his roommate in trouble at least once during his week while at the hospital. The hospital had left some empty boxes in their room and the two of them, being bored, decided to use their electric beds to crush the boxes. A staff member happened to walk by their room and ordered them to stop what they were doing, so they were left to spend the rest of the day in their rooms watching television for what felt like the one hundredth time. There was nothing on. There never was anything interesting on when they were bored.

Finally, the saliva tube was unclogged and Alvin was sent home. Around this time Alvin was beginning to become more aware of his body. Behind the Seville residence was a shed that Alvin had turned into his own personal hang-out where he spent a lot of his time. It was the only place where he could get any privacy, besides the restroom. One afternoon he was in the shed, completely nude, exploring his body until he began "having some fun," as he called out. However, he was greatly embarrassed when Simon walked in on him having his fun and immediately called Dave to see what he should do about the activity. Alvin was quite surprised when he found Simon discussing his "sinful behavior," as Simon put it, and whether or not the blue-clad chipmunk should punish him. For what? Becoming more aware of his body? The last time Alvin checked, he was free to touch himself if he wanted. As far as he knew, there was no law against it. In his household, however, there appeared to be. Oddly enough, Alvin wasn't punished for his activity. After all, Dave figured that there was nothing he could do to keep Alvin from doing it.

Shortly after that, Dave packed up the family and moved them to Baldwin Park, renting out a two-bedroom apartment on Breeze Avenue, at least two blocks down from the park that Alvin and his brothers oftentimes would play at. The apartment complex was closer to downtown LA. During this time, Dave began drinking heavily, his favorite liquor of choice being Black Velvet. Due to the fact that Dave drank it mixed with Pepsi, Alvin had accidentally drunk some, believing the liquid in the cup was soda. He had spit it out almost immediately, concluding that the liquor tasted nasty.

Around this time Dave began having anger problems. Oftentimes he would get mad and hit Alvin and his brothers. He acted as if their actions were the cause of him beating them, because after a beating he would tell them, "Look what you made me do!" Usually, he beat them along the back and spine. Them just being children, they thought that their actions were the cause of him beating them.

One Saturday afternoon the boys were in the apartment playing tag while Dave was at work. There was nothing on television, as usual, so they had decided to play a game to keep themselves occupied. Of course, they should have been playing tag outside, being told not to play in the house. However, it had rained earlier in the day, so it was still wet and cold outside. Besides, none of them felt like getting a cold. So, they decided to play inside. However, tag got boring very quickly, so Simon suggested playing the Nerf football that he and Alvin would oftentimes play with, tossing it back and forth. Alvin and Theodore decided that this sounded like a good idea and they began playing with it.

"Coming to you, Alvin," Simon called, throwing the football towards his brother.

As Alvin caught it, he bumped into the table that held the lithograph of the Dallas Cowboys that was one of Dave's prized possessions. Alvin quickly caught on to what was happening and attempted to catch the lithograph as it fell, but it was too late. The lithograph fell to the floor, falling on its face, thus cracking the glass. Alvin bent over to inspect the damage while Theodore and Simon gathered around him. The oldest of the Seville brothers cringed visibly upon seeing that the glass of the lithograph was completely ruined. He glanced up at his brothers. "This isn't good."

Simon stooped down to get a better look. 'Maybe we can fix it, with some glue."

Alvin shook his head, visibly shaking. "No, it's ruined. We can't fix this."

"We can at least try," Theodore suggested, "but whatever we decide, we'd better do it fast before Dave gets home."

Simon nodded in agreement. "Theodore's right. I'll go see if I can't find some tape or some glue or . . . something."

Alvin set to work picking up the broken pieces. Once he had all the broken pieces collected, he them in his closed hands and dumped them in the trash. The glass that remained within the lithograph was cracked, missing some small yet noticeable chunks of glass, making it so that a finger could easily be slid in to touch the picture enclosed behind the glass. He remained by Theodore's side until Simon returned from the kitchen with a tube of glue.

The middle child stooped down to the lithograph. "Okay, let's take this one small step at a time." He breathed in and attempted to squirt a small amount of glue onto the lithograph, to hopefully piece the glass back together and, in the process, make it seem as if the incident had never occurred. He let out a shrill gasp as a vast quantity of glue spilled onto the lithograph, covering it in glue, making it so that the entire lithograph, save for the frame, was covered in glue. He mouthed a curse word, but didn't say it verbally, but Alvin and Theodore nodded, sympathizing with his emotions regarding the incident.

"Now it's worse than ever," Alvin groaned.

Simon groaned in frustration, grabbing at his hair and pulling. He slid his fingernails down his face, leaving visible scars. "What now?!"

"You're the smart one," Alvin replied. "Think of something!"

Simon nodded quickly and began drumming his fingers against his head, closing his eyes in thought. No wonder how much he tried, he couldn't think of anything. He once again groaned, this time in anger and he stomped at the floor, kicking a dust bunny across the floor. 'We are so screwed!"

"You can't think of anything to fix this?!" Alvin cried out in fear.

"No!"

Alvin cursed under his breath and kicked at the floor, balling his hands into fists. His face lit up as he thought of something. "I've got it! We'll hide it and then say that we were robbed."

"While we're in the house, Alvin?" Simon asked, giving his brother an annoyed look, his arms crossed. "Highly unlikely."

Alvin glared. "Well, okay. What's your big idea, smart guy?!" He gently shoved Simon.

"What are you looking at me for?" Simon demanded.

"You're the smart one," Alvin repeated.

"Guys," Theodore cried. He was by the window, looking out it through the blinds. He was joined by his brothers. "Dave's home."

The three brothers watched as Dave parked the car in the parking lot and began walking towards the stairs that led to their apartment. They dashed from the window and quickly began cleaning up their mess. They didn't get far, however. After getting the glued cleaned up from the carpet, Alvin was starting down the hallway to stow the lithograph away in their room. Hearing the apartment door close, he froze, as did Simon and Theodore. While Simon and Theodore glanced up at their father, Alvin remained rooted to the spot, too paralyzed with fear to turn around and face his father. Maybe he could still get away with it if he was quiet enough and acted as if he was merely going to his room. It iddn't work out that way, unfortunately.

"Alvin," Dave barked, hands on his hips. "Stop!" Once his son had done this, he ordered, "Now turn around! What have you got in your hands?" From Alvin's position, it was quite clear that he was holding something. He glared at his oldest child when he spotted what he was holding, then he glanced down at Simon and Theodore. Without a word, he took off his belt and motioned for Theodore to approach him.

"Hurry up," Theodore urged his brothers. "The faster we get done, the faster we can go outside and play."

"There's only one problem," Simon noted, holding up a finger.

Alvin glanced at him. "What's that?"

"We don't have keys," Simon pointed out, "so how are we going to lock the door?"

"We'll just leave it open," Alvin replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Simon shook his head. "Bad idea, Alvin. If we leave the door open, we'll more than likely get robbed."

Alvin raised an eyebrow at his younger brother. "You got a better idea?"

Simon let out a low groan, struggling with himself. He ran a hand through his hair and finally nodded. "Okay, fine. We'll leave the door open. Every now and then we'll check to make sure that the apartment is safe."

"Great!" Alvin stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and chased it down with what was left of the milk in his glass. He grabbed the ball that was lying by his feet and led his brothers outside to the parking lot, the only place where they could actually play since they weren't allowed to go anywhere without their father's consent, or without their father with them.

The three of them spent their time in the parking lot, every now and then, moving out of the way so that a driver could park their car, bouncing the ball back and forth from one person to the next. They wished that a basketball goal was present. There was, however, a pool next to the main office. There would be no one there at this time of day. After all, it was only noon and no one would be at the pool until later on. Most of the time there were plenty of people at the pool late at night, "enjoying" themselves. Getting hot from playing ball, Alvin suggested that they go to the pool to cool off. Simon and Theodore agreed, with Simon pointing out that a swim would help them digest their food better, and the three of them went up to their apartment to put on their trunks, grab a couple of towels, and slip on their sandals to keep their feet protected from the scorching hot pavement.

Simon kept a close eye on his watch, one that was thankfully waterproof and the screen glowed in the dark, so checking the time underwater wasn't a problem in the slightest. When he noted the time in which their father would be home, he and his brothers quickly grabbed their gear and hastily dried themselves off before heading back to their apartment, only to be surprised when they walked to discover that they had been robbed, just as Simon had originally feared.

Not only was their Sage system taken, but baseball cards, baseballs, and other sports collectibles taken. Simon rounded it up close to $5,000 worth of stuff had been taken. They were beaten, of course, when Dave came home and found out. He reasoned that it was their fault for leaving the door open.

"It wouldn't have happened if you'd just locked the door when you went out," Alvin countered. "We couldn't have locked it because we don't have keys."

"That's your fault, too," Dave argued. "If you hadn't have lost your keys, you would have been able to lock the door!"

"You could have just gotten us new keys," Simon snapped.

"And waste money?" Dave asked. "Hell, no!"

Hours later, Alvin thought about the predicament that he and his family were in. He considered that he and his brothers should have been more careful with their keys, but Dave was still being completely unreasonable. Yes, they should have been more careful with their keys, but they were still kids and kids made mistakes just like adults did. It was an honest mistake, one that all children made. To Alvin, he and his brothers shouldn't have been punished for making an honest mistake.

Two blocks down from the liquor store that Dave oftentimes went to, there was a store that sold at least four diapers for a dollar. Alvin's bed wetting had started up yet again just a few months after moving into the new apartment, and he was fed up with the wet sheets. While he wasn't crazy about the idea, he had to do something to keep the bed sheets from getting wet. He was afraid of how Dave would react if his father found out that he was wetting the bed, remembering how Simon was treated when he'd wet the bed back when they were little. So, while walking home from school one day, he went in the store and bought a pack, telling Simon and Theodore that he would meet them at the apartment, that he had something to do.

The baby diapers of course came with designs of smiling faces and balloons, the latter of which faded when the diaper was wet. Alvin deliberately had them bagged in a thick paper bag, refusing to go with plastic for fear of Simon and Theodore being able to see what was inside it. Once he arrived home, he went in the bathroom and decided to go ahead and try them on.

The diapers were quite snug, but at least they fit him. At the very least, they would cut down on him having to do so much laundry. He stood in front of the mirror completely naked, save for the diaper that he was wearing, that was in front of the sink, admiring how he looked in the diapers. He began sucking his thumb, a small smile coming to his face. He closed his eyes to absorb the feelings that he felt while wearing the diaper, feeling so infantile, so small and innocent. However, his happy mood was cut short as he jumped, hearing a knock at the door.

"Alvin, are you in there?" Simon asked.

Said chipmunk nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm in here."

"Well, could you hurry up and get out? I have to take a shower."

"Yeah, sure thing." He put his sweater back on, concealing his diaper, then stuffed the pack of diapers in the bag and quickly rushed to his room, knocking Simon on his rump in the process. He mumbled, "Sorry, Simon," as he walked across the hallway to their bedroom, where Theodore was thankfully too busy reading a book to notice Alvin. Just to be safe, he quickly stored the diapers under his bed to keep them safe for the time being until he could find a better place to put them, to hide them from the others.

Unfortunately for Alvin, moving into the apartment meant that he had had to go back to Sunflower Elementary School. He went out earlier than his brothers to the bus to dispose of his used diapers. Other times he would do them when no one else was home, or when his brothers were busy and he was confident that they wouldn't be watching him. He faced the usual problems that he had before. He was continuously bullied and the staff did nothing to stop it, claiming that if they didn't see it, the incident didn't happen. The time-out staff was yet another issue that he had to contend with on a daily basis, them constantly putting him in the time-out room for "misbehaving," as they put it, by way of him leaving the classroom and going outside to get some fresh air. If only they'd let him cool down, he would return back to class. But, no. They couldn't possibly do that. They just had to make everything difficult, to make his life a living hell, as if his home life wasn't doing that already.

During the times in which the diapers leaked, thus getting the bed wet, Alvin would take the sheets to the washer and dryer. Like a hotel, there was a room separate from the apartments where one could do their laundry. Alvin found that washing the sheets on the weekends was best since he couldn't exactly do them during the weekdays when he had school, and he wasn't about to risk Dave finding his wet sheets and inquiring him about it. Therefore, to save his own skin, he would do them on the weekends. He had two sets of bed sheets that he would use whenever the sheets got wet, using them until the weekend arrived during which he could go wash his sheets. Whenever Simon and Theodore asked him where he was going, he would go tell them that he was going to do a regular washing. This was the same excuse he used whenever someone walked in on him while he was washing his sheets. Luckily for him, Dave was never one of those people since he worked on the weekends.

Six months after going to Sunflower Elementary School, there was talk of Alvin going back to regular school due to him showing improvement on his school work. Of course, Alvin did some heavy thinking about this, even going as far as to talking about it with Dave, to see if this is what he really wanted. It would inevitably cause some changes. For one thing, the class size would go up from twelve to at least thirty. He would no longer have the one-on-one help that he had been getting ever since he had started going back to Sunflower. The workload would be heavier, meaning that he would spend more hours working on homework than playing with his brothers or having time to himself.

"I'll help you with homework and support you," Dave told him. Alvin, however, knew that this was a flat-out lie. After all, Dave hadn't been helping him, nor supporting him, while he'd been going to Sunflower, so he highly doubted that Dave would follow through on his word to help and support him while he was going back to regular school.

In the end, Alvin resorted to sabotage. He refused to do his work. He purposely lowered his grades by at least two letters. Finally, he did some minor acting up. It was nothing serious, mind you. It was just enough to where the staff would reconsider putting him back in regular school. After all, there was no way he could handle the extra homework and doing the work on his own. The one-on-one help he was receiving while at Sunflower was helping him immensely in understanding the material, and he wouldn't get that privilege while doing regular school. He knew that he was looking at being in special education until he was at least eighteen, but even he knew that he couldn't deal with being in regular school. Therefore, his only choice was to sabotage his only chance at being put back in regular school. Besides, he'd been in nothing but special education classes ever since he started schooling. He didn't know school outside of special education. In the end, his plan worked.

While at Sunflower Elementary School, Alvin managed to become friends with one boy, albeit he didn't know this boy very well at all. The boy lived nearby, so his mother would drive him to the apartment that Alvin and his brothers lived in, allowing him to take his bike along with him so he and Alvin could go bike riding around the apartment complex. He got along fine with Simon and Theodore, but didn't seem to be particularly interested in either of them, only Alvin. Maybe it was because of Simon being smug and Theodore being smaller and younger than them. Alvin never did find out the reason.

Aside from biking and playing with Alvin's brothers, the two of them spent a good deal at the pool, though they spent a good majority of their time there checking out chicks rather than swimming and getting some exercise. They dared one another to go into the girls' restroom to peek in while they were changing their clothes. Either the girls had really good eyesight or they some sixth sense that allowed them to sense whenever there was a boy around. Either way they caught on to what the boys were doing and reported it to the landlord, who ordered them to stay away from the girls' restroom. They were grateful, seeing as how she could have just outright banned them from the pool. To make sure that the incident didn't occur again, she stationed a guard just outside the girls' restroom.

However, their time at the pool wasn't all bad. They met some girls who thought they were pretty cool, which was a shocker considering the fact that both of them were only thirteen and the girls they were talking with were in high school. Some of them were even in college, in their early to late twenties. They even managed to get a couple of girls' numbers. As well as with each other, they talked to the girls quite frequently on Skype, which was quite a shock considering the fact that their Internet access was quite limited due to Dave parental blocking every site that he deemed either sinful or would lead them down the path to hell. It really was quite funny how he would get some worked up over a porn website.

The two of them went back to Alvin's apartment after a fun afternoon of swimming and fooling around with some hot chicks by the pool. Alvin found it quite odd how swimming made one quite tired and hungry at the same time. He could go for a snack and a nap afterward. He and his friend walked along the sidewalk, their towels draped over their shoulders, drip drying as they walked along, not speaking to each other. They walked past a group of college guys playing a game a basketball. By now Alvin had talked his brothers into going down by the pool to play some ball on the only one basketball goal that was within the confines of the apartment complex. They were quite surprised when the college boys asked they wanted to play some ball with them, but they politely declined and went on their way.

By now Alvin's friend had gotten so used to being at the apartment that it was almost like a second home to him. Alvin went in the bedroom to change clothes while his friend went in the kitchen to fix them something to eat. Once he was fully dressed, Alvin went in the kitchen to see that his friend had an open lighter in his hand. "What do you think you're doing?"

The boy blinked at Alvin's question, but responded all the same. "I want to light something on fire."

Alvin shook his head. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." He stepped forward, snatching the lighter out of the boy's hand, closing it in the process. "You need to go home . . . now!"

The boy crossed his arms. "No."

Alvin's expression hardened. "Go home."

The boy gritted his teeth. "No."

"Fine. You don't want to go home, I'll throw your ass outside." He grabbed the boy by the scruff of the neck, wrenched open the apartment door, and tossed him outside. The boy landed on his rump with a hard, loud thud. "Now go home!"

The boy stood up and turned around after dusting himself off. He marched up to Alvin, getting in the chipmunk's face, before he lifted his leg and slammed it into Alvin's privates. The chipmunk let out a gasp and fell to the floor, tightly clutching his member, wincing in pain. Satisfied with his work, the boy walked off, looking smug.

Alvin didn't think anything about the incident until six o' clock the following evening. At around that time, the cops and child services showed up at the apartment and demanded that the three chipmunks come with them.

"I need to make a call first," Alvin replied.

The social worker shook her head. "No."

Alvin groaned. He let out a sigh of relief when she turned away from him, giving him the chance to grab his phone. He excuses himself, saying that he had to use the bathroom. Once he was safely inside the bathroom, he called his grandparents on his father's side. He went back to the apartment door where the social worker and police were still standing in front of Simon and Theodore. Dave wasn't home. Theodore looked scared out of his wits and Simon, surprisingly, looked quite calm throughout the whole ordeal.

"We want to put you in foster care for your protection," the social worker stated.

"Our protection?" Simon questioned.

Alvin swallowed. The chances of him and his brothers being placed in a foster home together were slim to none. Worst yet, if they were separated, there would be no way for Alvin to protect his brothers. He needed to keep the social worker talking, at least until his grandparents arrived. Luckily for him, they didn't live too far away.

Dave's parents arrived quickly on the scene.

"What's going on here?" Grandma Pat demanded.

"We're placing these boys in a foster home," the social worker explained.

"The hell you are," Grandpa Jeff spat. "What's this all about?"

"We're not obligated to reveal that information," the social worker replied. "Regardless, these boys are going to be placed in a foster home for their own protection."

Grandpa Jeff shook his head. "To hell with foster care. We'll take them in!"

The social worker raised an eyebrow. "And you are?"

"David Seville's mother and father," Grandma Pat replied.

"I see," the social worker remarked. "Can you both provide identification for yourselves?" She was presented with both of their licenses. "Very well." She reached inside her purse and handed Grandpa Jeff something. "Here are some food stamps."

Alvin had no choice but to reveal his embarrassing secret to Grandma Pat. Due to the situation that he found himself he, he knew that he had to tell her. He wasn't about to tell Grandpa Jeff. The two of them already had a rocky, strained relationship as it was. There was no way in hell that Alvin was going to add being a bed wetter to the equation. It would only make things all the worse. He found his grandmother in the sewing room, sewing. The sewing machine drowned out the noise of the television. Her hands carefully moved the piece along, inch by inch, making sure that itch stitch was perfectly in line with the other. However, she stopped when she noticed Alvin, taking off her glasses and shutting off the machine to give him her full, undivided attention. She folded her hands and studied him, waiting for him to talk.

He breathed in slowly, trying to get his thoughts together, to his sentences as coherent as possible. He moved across the living room and sat down beside her. "I need to talk to you about something. It's important." When she gave no response, he continued. "I have a bed wetting problem, and it turns out that the only solution that's working so far is for me to wear diapers to bed. To be honest, I was afraid of telling you. I was afraid I would be punished for it."

She shook her head and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. "You don't have to worry about that with me. You can keep your diapers in here, in the sewing room."

Every night before bed, Alvin would grab a diaper from the sewing room, put it on in the bathroom, and then she would throw it away for him in the mornings to keep anyone else from seeing. She did her best to keep him from being embarrassed about it. He was glad about that. He felt that she was the only one in his family that he could really talk to. She knew of his being a teen baby and had no problems with it, surprisingly. She honestly didn't care about his fetish.

Alvin still didn't know who had made the report when he walked into school the next day. He didn't really care about finding out, either. He was just pissed off that someone would make up some bullshit story like that and report it to the police. He knew, however, that it wasn't good for him to keep all his anger bottled up inside. He decided to go to the school therapist during lunch to discuss with her what had happened.

The school therapist was a woman by the name of Jennifer Murphy. She was a young woman in her early thirties with a kindly, wrinkly face. She had brownish-red hair and dark green eyes. She sat opposite of Alvin, her legs crossed, a notepad and pen resting in her lap, her arms stretched out along the armrests of her chair, staring at the ed-clad chipmunk sitting across from her. He sat with his hands folded in his lap, looking around the room, unsure of what to say. At long last, she prompted him to speak.

"Why are you here, Alvin?"

He looked down at her, meeting her gaze. He breathed in, his expression hardening in the process. He told her all about what had happened the night before and how angry he was about it, about how unfiar it all was.

"I made that report," she told him.

He glared at her. "Excuse me?"

"Your friend came by yesterday and told me the whole story."

"What story?"

"Well, he told me that you and your brothers were dragging forty-year-old men off the street to your apartment, tying them to your father's sofa bed, and having sex with them."

Alvin blinked. It took a while for him to react. When he did, though, he was shaking. Not from anger, however, but from shock. He blinked again in hopes that what he had heard was merely just a cause form his ears not being cleaned out enough. Before he did anything rash, he decided that his best course of action would be to leave the room right now to avoid getting himself in any further trouble. Yet, he did leave an impressive impact on her, for as he left he found himself cursing like a sailor, slamming the door to the therapist's room shut and stomping down the hallway.

Now he was pissed. She hadn't even bothered to come to him and ask him if what the kid had said had any truth to it. If she had, he would have gladly told her that the kid was full of shit and that the kid was just pissed off at him because he wouldn't let the kid burn his house down. Because of her, he and his brothers had nearly been put in foster care. Ironically enough, he decided that going back to class would be the best option instead of going outside to the soccer field to cool down. Maybe some classwork would get his mind off what had happened. Math was always a good distraction for him.

His anger was surged when she walked in the classroom and set some M&Ms on his desk, congratulating him on controlling his emotions. That did it. He stood up and flipped his desk over. He was already pissed off at her for making the false report, but now she had the audacity to come in his class and treat him like a five year old? Hell, no! It was unacceptable! Un-fucking-acceptable! He raised his middle finger at her and yelled, "Fuck you!" After that, he stormed out of the room and went outside to the soccer field to cool down. Not too long after, though, the time-out staff grabbed him and he spent the rest of his day in the time-out room.

Staying at their grandparents' house wasn't doing Alvin and his brothers any favors. For one thing, it was putting a strain on Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jeff's relationship. Now they were fighting almost constantly. They both came from a time when children were meant to be seen and not heard, or seen if it was an option, according to Grandpa Jeff, who was retired and home all the time, thus making their stay all the more troubling for him. It certainly didn't make things easier for anyone.

Throughout their stay, there were several instances where they missed school, having to stick around the family courts building to hear facts and whatnot. One option on the table was for their godfather Kenny to take care of them. He flat-out refused. He didn't custody. Due to the report, their father couldn't obtain custody of them. So, they stayed in family court limbo, opting to stay with their grandparents until custody was decided in the court.

This caused problems with the household for not only Alvin and his brothers, but for their grandparents as well. Grandpa Jeff blamed them for the whole ordeal, telling the, especially Alvin,t hat they were nothing but trouble. This escalated into a fight that went on for quite a while one night. Alvin jumped when he suddenly heard plates smashing, followed by yelling. He counted at least eight plates that were smashed before they stopped, but the yelling continued. The topic they were screaming at each other about was Alvin and his brothers and how they always caused trouble. The topic itself made Alvin's eyes water.

"Damn kids are nothing but trouble," Grandpa Jeff said. "Prime example is this shit that's going on right now, this goddamn family court, child services case shit!"

"They needed our help, Jeff," Grandma Pat snapped. "Hell, you even offered to take the little fuckers in!"

"If I'd known they would have brought all this shit with them, I would have made the little motherfuckers go to foster care!"

"That's exactly why we took the, to keep them out of foster care, you stupid ass!"

"What?!"

Alvin's breath caught as he heard a loud slap, followed by a cry of pain. He allowed the tears to flow as he heard his grandfather continuously hit his grandmother, who begged him to stop. He wanted it to stop, but what could he do? He shook his head, wiping the tears away and angrily pulling back the sheets. Enough of this! It was time for this shit to end, right now! He wrenched open the door and walked to the kitchen. Upon his entrance, his grandfather stopped his assault on his grandmother and both parties stared at him, his grandmother breathing hard. His grandfather stood towering over his wife, his hand reared back to slap her yet again. Alvin glared at them both and shouted, "Both of you better calm your asses down right fucking now!"

This turned out to be a very bad, very stupid, idea on Alvin's part. Grandpa Jeff turned on him, pushing him down the hallway as he yelled, "How dare you tell me what to do in my own goddamn house! You're just a little shit who's always causing trouble!" He eventually stopped pushing Alvin when they got to the bedroom that Alvin and his brothers were staying in. He turned around and walked off.

Alvin felt like he needed to lie down. He didn't like fighting, and he didn't mean to put himself in such a dangerous situation, but there was no way in hell he was going to just sit by and let his grandfather beat his grandmother. As he lied back down, Simon told him that he truly was an idiot. Still, Alvin attempted to make peace with his grandfather the next day, apologizing for getting involved in the fight in the first place, but going on to say that he had to stop the fight for fear of something bad happening. His father gave very little input to what he was saying.

After thirty-two days of living with their grandparents, well over a month, the family court decided that Alvin and his brothers could finally go home, but there would be some strict rules that needed to be followed. For one thing, if their father wasn't home, they were to have a baby-sitter at all times. No exceptions. Secondly, Dave had to attend family classes at the child services building, as well as anger management classes, and that was the end of it.

Because the child services building had a room where the children could be babysat downstairs, Dave would oftentimes take Alvin, Simon, and Theodore there with him. Most of the kids there were around six or seven. Alvin and his brothers were the oldest there, not counting the ten year old. The activities that they would do were little kid stuff like coloring and such. Alvin and his brothers didn't particularly mind due to the fact that the children there were extremely young.

They didn't start having problems until Alvin started to refuse to participate in the activities that the babysitter asked him to. He just wanted to be left alone. Because he refused to do the coloring activity that had been selected for them to do, he was put in time-out, which mainly consisted of Alvin sitting outside the room in a chair that was up against the wall. He was just fine with it. Here, he could just allow his mind to shut down and he could go to sleep.

One thing that Alvin couldn't stand was being treated like a toddler. While he was into diapers and the baby lifestyle, in public it was a different story. In public he liked being treated like his own age, which was why he had lost it when Jennifer had put some M&Ms on his table and congratulated him on controlling his emotions. After ten times of this going on, the staff at the child services building put their foot down and stated that they'd had enough, that Alvin was not welcome back. About Simon and Theodore, they had no problems with them. Luckily for Alvin, Dave had an alternative. Instead of going to the parenting classes with Dave and his brothers, Alvin spent time with his godfather Kenny.

One of the first things that Alvin did during their first session was asking his godfather Kenny why the latter had refused to take him and his brothers in.

"I didn't do it because I didn't want you," Kenny replied. "I did it because I couldn't provide for you. I'm in a rut, Alvin. I haven't been very smart with my money, and I'm having to pay the consequences for it."

Alvin gave him a nod in understanding.

"Now," Kenny said, "what say we feed the dogs and rustle up something for dinner in the kitchen?"

Alvin really enjoyed his time with his godfather Kenny. During his time with Kenny, they fed the dogs, feeding the fish, and fixing up Alvin's bike. Kenny would get his barrings so tight with lube that Alvin's bike would really, so Alvin always took it to Kenny for fixing whenever he had a problem. Kenny also taught Alvin about baseball and shared with him the sporting stuff that he and his father sold at card shows. Alvin learned that their company was called KT Cards. Alvin really enjoyed his sessions with Kenny and was deeply saddened when their sessions came to an end. However, Kenny left Alvin reassuring him that if he needed anything, Alvin could call him anytime, which made Alvin feel better about their sessions ending.

When Alvin got back to school the week following the custody case being settled, he learned that the therapist who had filed the report against his father had not only been fired, but her license had also been revoked for filing a false report without any shred of proof. This, Alvin found both funny and ironic. Had she gone into the story further, she would have realized this. The people who fired her and revoked her license pointed that if what the boys were doing were true, then why was it that no one saw them? Why were there no reports from the people they had supposedly kidnapped?

Unfortunately, Alvin and his brothers had to once again transfer schools because of this. Alvin no longer went to Sunflower Elementary School; he and his brothers started going to Sanburg Junior High School in Glendora, California. Sadly, this school had two special education classrooms like Carver had. The only time the special education students got to interact with the students who took regular classes were doing lunch and gym. Just like with his previous schools, Alvin had problems at this school as well.

His problems started when he began gym class. As part of their grade, they had to dress out. They would go down to the locker room and change clothes. They were to either change into shorts or track pants. However, Alvin wasn't too comfortable with changing in front of others. He attempted to explain this to his gym teacher. Upon finding out this information, he went up to his gym teacher and said, "I'm not comfortable changing in front of others. Could I maybe change clothes in the bathroom and then come to class?"

The gym teacher shook his head. "No. Either you change in the locker room or don't bother."

Alvin shrugged, deciding that, given those choices, he wouldn't bother changing clothes. However, he did still participate in the class activities. Despite this, he still received a F in the class due to his refusal to dress out. It wasn't until he got his report card that he learned that each day he refused to dress out was another ten points bumped off his grade and since he had never bothered to dress out, that had completely dropped his grade like a rock!

Once again, Alvin found himself being treated like a preschooler while at Sanburg Junior High School. One thing that irked him about the special education classes that he was in was the point-reward system. They would get points over every hour, charted on their point sheets. At the end of the day, each student fell into one of five categories: poor, fair, good, very good, and excellent, upon which a student got to pick out a "prize" for their good behavior based on their performance. For those that fell into the category of "poor," they got the choice of choosing items like stickers and pencil erasers. For those that fell into the category of "excellent," they got to choose between items like cans of soda or bags of chips and so on and so forth. The point sheet was sent home for the parents to sign and then sent back to the school so the parents could keep up to date on how their child was doing in school. The whole point system drove Alvin up the wall.

As if the staff didn't think the point-reward system was enough, they would get an hourly "reward" for dong their work and being quiet and such. Oftentimes Alvin would be doing his work and the teacher would come by his desk and drop three or four M&Ms on his desk and congratulate him on doing his work quietly. It irritated Alvin beyond belief! Why the fuck hell should he be rewarded for doing something that came naturally to him?! It drove him mad! Again, while he did enjoy wearing diapers and acting like a baby, he expected to be treated as a young adult in public. He eventually got so fed up with this idiotic system that he finally confronted the teacher about it.

"Look," he told her, "I don't care for M&Ms. I don't want the M&Ms. Just skip me when you do your whole reward thing. It pisses me off. Please, just stop with the fucking rewards already!" He didn't give her a chance to respond, because he walked out after explaining himself, figuring that she got the message loud and clear.

The next day, however, it seemed as if his words had gone in one ear and out the other, the woman not having paid a lick of sense to his words the previous day. Sighing, he decided that he would blatantly refuse the rewards, hoping that this method would get through to her and the other staff members. He started placing the "rewards" back on the teacher's desk. He did the same thing with the "rewards" that he received at the end of the day. What was funny was that more often than not, Alvin was ranked in the "very good" or "excellent" categories. He wasn't even trying! All he wanted was to go to school, do his work, and go home. However, this method backfired on him because when the staff members noticed that he was either returning the items or giving the items away to some other kid who wanted them, one of them approached him in the middle of a ball game to confront him about it.

"You have to get a reward," she told him plainly.

Just to get her to leave him alone, he shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Fine. Give me paperclips and tape as a reward for all I care." This was so obviously stupid that he was sure that they would get the message this time. So one can only imagine Alvin's shock and surprise when, at the end of the day, one of the aids gave him three paperclips and two pieces of tape that were at least one inch each.

At this point, Alvin couldn't contain himself and he broke down laughing hysterically. Never would he have thought that they would actually take him seriously. He found it to be a total waste of tape. What the fuck was he going to do with three paperclips and two one-inch pieces of tape?! He ended up throwing the pieces of tape in the trash and put the paperclips back in the teacher's desk. He kept laughing as he walked out of the school, thinking that the school had it backwards. Maybe they, the children, were the ones who were sane and the teachers were the ones in need of special education.