Of Leopards and Their Spots

Chapter 5
Of Gorilla's and Growing Curiosities

“Now,” Skye hemmed and hawed. “Where to next?”

“Home?” I suggested with a little smile. I already knew going home wasn’t an option; we’d just had that conversation. Still, it never hurt to try.

“Gavi-kins, you’re so silly.” Skye fluffed me off as she looked around at the various cement paths, people, trees and greenery. Wooden signs with arrows pointed to various animal exhibits. She tilted her head to one side, indecisive. “So much to see….” Her eyes fell on me; on my waist. My diaper, in particular. I felt like she was staring at my crotch. My face burned and I ducked my head. I tried to cover my- the huge diaper with my hands.

Skye stepped close, her head bent down and forehead bumping against my own.

“Skye? What are you doing?” I shifted nervously, diaper crinkling. Would I ever get used to that noise? It was like an army of grocery bags following my every little movement. I peeked up at her, but her gaze was focused on my crotch. And the disposable underwear...diaper...covering it. Just what was going through her head?

She didn’t answer; she just grabbed my wrists and lifted them out of the way as she stared down at the colorful animal print. “Monkeys! That’s it! Good suggestion, Gavin!”

“But I didn’t say anything.” I frowned in confusion.

“You didn’t have to.” A finger darted out to poke my lower abdomen. Her finger pushed in on the diaper, plastic crinkling. Right on a picture of a grinning cartoon monkey. “See!”

“SKYE!” I jumped back, blushing furiously and smacking her hand away from the diaper. My crotch. She caught my hand, entwining our fingers while she laughed.

“Loosen up, Gavi-poo. Come one, daylight’s burning.” She quickly kissed my lips while I stood there like a stunned fish then she skipped off, her arm tugging on mine and I crinkled along at her side as we climbed the rising path to the Primate Palace. The wide cement path rose up on a hill. There were some benches along the side underneath shady trees, along with a small refreshment cart half way up. The hill leveled out into a long, wide array of enclosures. Trees and bushes dominated, almost obscuring the exhibits. Branches and foliage were well manicured and orderly trimmed, ruining the wilderness atmosphere. Cement paths branched off the main one at each outdoor enclosure, leading to small buildings at the back of each exhibit. Indoor housing and exhibit area for the various primates.

I crinkled noisily at her side, spending most of my time nervously looking more at the people than at the various primates. Monkeys, chimpanzees, orangutans I barely noticed. There were still a few couples, but now it was mostly mothers with their little boys. Where did all the couples go? Maybe they left early? It was hard to be romantic with a bunch of babies around. Leave it to Skye to decide she wanted to stay.

I looked and looked at the people, but no one noticed me. A few females smiled at me; not a ‘ha-ha look at the grown man in a diaper’ laugh, but an ‘oh isn’t he cute’ chuckle. I always blushed and looked shyly away, ducking to Skye’s other side. Females. Who knew what went on in their heads. I mean, hell, look at Skye. She talked me into wearing a diaper!

“Gavin. Sweetie. Don’t you like the monkeys? You’ve been very quiet.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve hardly looked at the animals, and you haven’t said a word. Are you okay?” Skye tugged me off the path, down to a fence surrounding another exhibit. Her blue eyes caught mine; the concern filling them would not let me look away.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just...getting used to ...you know.” I blushed and gestured at my waist.

“Has anyone said anything?” Skye asked pointedly with a Cheshire cat smile.

“No….”

“Just like I said. No one will mind. You’re just another guy in diapers. .”

“Some women looked at me.” My cheeks burned at her smug smile.

“Because they thought you were cute!” Her smile broke into a grin.

“Really?” My eyebrow arched skeptically. I wasn’t used to girls checking me out.

“Oh, Gavi, you don’t know how cute you are!” Skye laughed and pulled me in for a quick kiss to my cheek. “But you’re all mine. My baby.” Before I could reply, she playfully slapped my padded backside. Her hand hit with a muffled thump, then she whirled, grabbed my hand and tugged me along again.

“Skye!” I scolded with a blush as we moved further down the fence until we had a good view of the animals.

“Let’s look at the-” She broke off, peering across the fence. “Gorillas. Hm. They’re closer to the other side….oh hey, they have a gorilla tunnel. Look, Gavin!” She leaned across the fence, pointing across a wide canyon to the enclosure. A plain wooden fence, more decorative than functional, low shrubs, and a higher, more secure wire fencing surrounded the outdoor part of the exhibit. Keeping the humans even further from the animals was a twenty foot deep gorge with a small waterfall and stream at the bottom; the animals could climb down, but they could not climb up the human side. The exhibit was a recreation of lowland forest; plenty of grass and dirt with several high, sturdy and solid, barren trees for places to climb and play. On the other side of the exhibit, where Skye was pointing, were big, black fuzzy lumps. The gorillas.

I squinted, following Skye’s outstretched arm and pointing finger. “Kinda hard to see them from here.” Hence on the other side, by the building for the gorillas, there was a small bridge leading to secure, thick glass in a frame of cement instead of fencing, allowing for up close encounters. The huge fuzzballs clustered around the window.

“Let’s go get a better look.” Skye took my hand, leading us along the fencing until we came to the bridge. I crinkled along, unable to stop nervously glancing around me. Surely, someone was going to look at the grown man in a diaper. Yet again, no one noticed and I began to think Skye might be right after all.

We stepped onto the bridge and the glass viewing area came into view. Mothers and small boys and babies crowded around it. One little boy with spiked brown hair and frosted blonde tips smooshed his face right up against the glass, leaving snot smear in his wake. An orange balloon tied to his wrist bobbed in the air with his jerky motions. Several female gorillas crowded around the glass, passing a little fuzzy bundle of black fur between them. The females were plump; round balls with long arms. There was no huge, hulking silver backed male; just his harem and one baby. The middle female kept snatching the baby away from the two smaller females flanking her. She swung with her long arms and the two retreated out of hitting distance. Then the mother would go back to holding the baby and staring right at the crowd as if showing off her little bundle of joy. One of the other females would dart in after the baby, and the mother would go back to slapping at them.

The little boy laughed at their antics; he stood right up by the glass and pounded his chest. With no grown, aggressive Silver Back alpha around, the females just ignored the boy. So he started knocking on the glass, then smacking it with both hands. The mother slapped at another female, then raised both her long, hairy black arms and slammed her palms on the glass, right in front of the little boy. He jumped back, screaming and running behind a woman with frizzy, curly hair. The other little kids screamed and ran for the safety of their mothers’ legs, too. Mothers jumped back with surprised, scared squeals; they snatched their children up and quickly left the gorillas.

The herd of mothers and babies and toddlers came right at us. Little boys cried; some mothers laughed, finding the whole thing funny now that it was over, others talked animatedly while a few concentrated on calming their scared children. Quite a few safari themed diapers sagged, the white plastic tinged yellow.

“JUST LOOK AT YOU! YOU PEED YOUR PANTS!.” The frizzy haired female with a bad boob job thundered as she stomped along. She held the wrist of the little boy with spiked hair. He sobbed, tears streaming down his face and his orange balloon bobbing crazily as the mother yanked him along.

“BABY!” the little boy pleaded, “THIS ISN’T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE! THAT STUPID GORILLA MADE ME DO IT!” he hollered back, voice scratchy, squeaky. “HONEST!”

None of them noticed us as they passed but I stepped closer to Skye anyway. The people following behind us abruptly turned away after witnessing that spectacle. It made me pause, too. But not Skye. Oh, no. Of course not. And she held my hand so I had little choice but to crinkle along behind her. We had the entire viewing area to ourselves. The glass hadn’t even cracked. We were safe. So why was my heart hammering in my chest like a gorilla playing the drums?

“Well, that was something. I knew today would be an interesting day. I feel so lucky. Don’t you just love babies, Gavi-poo?” Skye beamed at me.

“Um….yeah….sure…” I blushed, sensing she meant more than she was letting on. Then again, this was Skye. Who knew what was going on in her head? I looked at the glass; the gorillas still sat there with the mother cradling her baby. The baby squirmed, stretching then latched onto his mother’s nipple and nursed. He rolled onto his side, revealing his little white bottom. He was all black except for the white fur covering his tiny bottom.

“Aww! How cute! He looks almost like you!” Skye giggled in delight.

My brows furrowed. “How? What are you talking about?” Just how did I resemble a baby primate?

“It looks like he’s wearing a diaper. And you’re wearing a diaper!” Skye laughed.

I blushed, staring at the nursing baby. An image of me as a baby, nursing at Skye’s breast while her hand rubbed my soggy diapered bottom filled my head. I shook my head to get rid of that horrible, awful image. I abruptly turned around, storming away with a crinkling thunder. What was wrong with me?

“Gavin! I’m sorry, I was just teasing!” Skye hollered as she swiftly caught up with me, taking my hand in hers again.

“It’s fine. I’m just tired of monkeys. Let’s go do something else.” I sighed, wishing I could crawl under a rock and hide. If Skye ever knew my thoughts….I shook my head, walking faster.

Skye skipped along at my side. “Now where?”

“This way!” I called, blindly taking a path. Anywhere away from the baby gorilla with the white fur on his bum. Diaper butt. Just like me. But somehow, deep inside, that phrase didn’t sound so bad. I mean, we had passed all those clowns and workers in diapers. And all the padding around my bottom felt quite nice. Almost reassuring. It was still embarrassing and weird. But also kinda nice.

Skye glanced up at a sign. “Oooh. Petting zoo! What fun!” She chirped and loped ahead with her long stride, once more taking the lead. I blindly followed her away from the exhibits, lost in my thoughts.