Loosening Up Bk. 06 Ch. 21-25

Saulter said, "When we start, I'll give you a very brief introduction that I got from Deborah, here. If you have a statement you can read it. There'll then be a Q&A session for the rest of the hour or however long you're willing. You can just end it at that point and I advise you to say you won't take any further questions even informally and off the record otherwise two-thirds of the room will haunt you as you try to leave."

Dave shrugged and said, "Thanks for the advice. I'm ready. Let's begin."

Saulter and Dave strode up to the front of the room and the podium. Saulter gave a couple of whistles that would make someone hailing a taxi in New York City proud. The room quieted.

Saulter said, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this impromptu press conference, courtesy of the Tampa Times. Please mention us in your byline since we are providing you the access to this story. I'd like to introduce to you David Prentiss, one of the members of the Circle that was written about in our story about ten days ago. He has a serious relationship with Scarlett Johansson, a point of interest to many of you, and will also talk about that as well as the Circle." He turned to Prentiss and said "Dave?"

David stepped up to the microphone. "I have a brief statement and then I will facilitate an orderly Q&A session. Please raise your hands. Do not all scream out your questions at the same time otherwise I will stop the session due to your lack of civility to me and to each other. I will try to get to all of your important points."

Dave took a page from his pocket and laid it on the podium. "My name is David Prentiss. I am an electrical engineer by training, and was until recently the vice president of lines for FPL. I am now heading a special project and company named EneRG for Worthington Industries that will ultimately be considerably more interesting to the planet that I am or that anything else you may have heard about me is. What we have is not vaporware, but a real transformational innovation.

"I am married to Alice Prentiss, nee Waldorf. We both went to school and college in Hamilton, Ohio, and have been married almost twenty years. We have one child between us. I am also in similar relationships with Pam, Heather, Julie, Cricket, and Scarlett. Scarlett is the most recent addition to our extended family, and yes, she is Scarlett Johansson of Hollywood fame. I love all of them dearly, they love me, and they love each other. Scarlett is in the process of filming a movie entitledCrystal Clear. The movie and her previous filmRoad Trip are based on books with those same titles written by Cricket and adapted to film. I believe the studio is hoping to release the new movie near the start of summer as another blockbuster.

"I am also on the board of the Circle, helping to ensure that our security and physical buildings are maintained. We live in a cohousing development on private land that was created about five years ago. A story about our facilities, with pictures, appeared in the Sarasota Herald shortly after we all moved in. I'm sure one of you is from that publication and can provide additional information to the rest of you since that was a feature article. Many photos of my home and the facility were taken and some appeared in the article. Since then we have built two townhouses each of eight units a short walk from the circle of homes featured in the article.

"Now, please raise your hands if you wish to speak or ask a question." Every hand in the room went up, and fortunately the room was mostly quiet. Dave pointed at one man.

"Ted Schein, Orlando Sentinel. Are you actually married to the six women and what is that like, particularly your relationship with Scarlett Johansson?"

Dave smiled. He'd anticipated this one. "Yes, although I have to use the term 'married' carefully. I do not want to represent my relationship with the six women incorrectly to any official authority. We often use the term 'committed relationship' or something similar to describe our union to them. Alice is my legal wife.

"The seven of us to live together, along with our children. We have a large home on the Circle property that is comfortable for us, aided greatly by our social nature and the shared facilities in what in the cohousing parlance we call the 'core'. We do sleep together in one very large custom designed bed. We eat together, usually with our neighbors at a communal dining facility where we employ a chef as part of the Circle.

"From what I can tell we have less drama, less heartache, and less controversy than many traditional marriages. Although we haven't exactly talked about it, we do try to keep those elements from our relationships with each other. One way we do that is to remove those sources of irritation from our way of life."

Dave paused and hands shot up again. Dave picked on a woman.

"Ellen Weeks, Atlanta Journal-Constitution. How would you describe the intimate side of your relationship with your wives?"

Dave laughed, "I'd describe it as frequent, intense, and wonderful." The whole room laughed.

He paused and Weeks jumped in again, "What about with your neighbors?"

Dave continued to laugh, "Frequent, intense, and wonderful." That brought a chuckle from most of the other attendees.

"Sam Parks, Washington Post. Could you please describe the polyamorous relationships in your community?"

Dave again teased, "Frequent, intense and wonderful." After a pause he went on, "The basis for our community is that we all believe a person can love and be in love with more than one person, even with many people simultaneously. We have all found that the more we love, the more we have to give. In that love we enjoy emotional, physical, and relational intimacy with each other.

"I was explaining to a friend that based on that underlying principle other attributes of our Circle follow. We are non-exclusive -- I believe the current terminology is 'consensual nonmonogamy', non-possessive, non-judgmental, non-pretentious, and we don't get jealous. We are egalitarian across any dimension you can think of, spiritual but not religious, exhibitionists of a sort, and very social. We like to be with each other. We are diverse in terms of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, sexual preference, and just about any other trait you can think of. There are around eighty of us, although a few live outside the Circle geographically.

"People get hung up on some of those traits we've found in talking to our friends or as people contemplated joining the Circle. Possessiveness seems to be one point of friction. We believe that one person cannot 'own' or 'control' another, and that if they try they're on dangerous ground. Society has vocabulary about 'Letting my wife do something' or 'Giving the bride away' that imply ownership. We avoid that.

"Another point of contention is that many find it hard to believe we don't get jealous, particularly when we're interacting with someone else's spouse or someone is interacting with ours. Jealousy is a vicious learned response to various situations. We know that most people can unlearn those responses and we have. We know and trust one another not to intentionally do us damage or hurt."

"Of course, many people are bothered by our lack of exclusivity with only one other person. I saw a quote in a book that was something to the effect that my promiscuity is simply how you see me through the lens of YOUR social norms. Obviously, we don't use the same norms that many of you do. We know we are not unique in that attitude, and that, in fact, several million other people in the country live in a way similar to how we live, often with smaller groups, but they do live this way." Dave stopped and pointed at another reporter with his hand raised.

"Bob Lenz, Dallas Morning News. How did you are Scarlett meet? What was your courtship like?"

"We met over a year ago -- maybe even two years or more as I think about it. We held a large party at the Circle for us to invite our outside friends and work colleagues to. One of our members knew some prominent figures and invited them to attend and also be some eye candy to the other attendees. They didn't mind giving up an evening to possibly have some fun and meeting some interesting people, and so came to our party. Scarlett was one of those people, and she and I happened to have a long chat when we first met. She returned with increasing frequency after that, we fell in love, I gave her an engagement ring, and this Valentine's Day we pledged our love to each other in a formal commitment ceremony. She got another ring at that time that fits around the engagement ring. Unlike choices by my other wives, I recommended to her that she not change her name. We're very committed to each other."

There was a murmur through the room. One of the reporters in the front row said to Dave in an aside, "They'd seen the ring, but didn't pursue what it really meant. Now, they're all kicking themselves for the oversight."

"Hank Phillips, National Enquirer. Are you and your friends in good health?"

Dave laughed, "Yes. We have excellent gym facilities, many of us jog routinely. There's also a yoga group, a tai chi group, and a group pursuing karate. None of us come from other planets or solar systems; I said that just for the Enquirer." [Laughter] "The incidence of STDs in our group is zero, if that was your real question."

"Sandy Ambrash, Florida Time-Union, Jacksonville. Could you talk about the children in your family and in the Circle?"

"One of my wives had a son before we met. She was a single mom. Her son is now eight, about to turn nine; I adopted him shortly after we made our commitment to each other. Scarlett has a five-year-old girl from a previous marriage and I would be happy to adopt her if Scarlett wants that for her. I mentioned my child with Alice. Pam also has a child. There are about a dozen other children in the Circle, all under the age of three, and most under two. Something got in the water a few years back and it started a trend. Some of the older women in the Circle are daughters of other women in the Circle. Some are sisters. My sisters-in-law are Circle members; one has an eighteen year old, a soon-to-be thirteen year old, and a ten year old. So we're getting more age diversity coming up in the ranks as some of our newer members with children join. We have been talking about doing some home schooling for the younger cohort. The older children go to regular school. None of them are expected to join the Circle. The older children over eighteen have joined, and the vote is out on others."

Sandy quickly asked, "What have you done for child care?"

"Oh yes. The mothers formed a collective and hired a nanny. There are two now and they're both doing some simple educational things with the tots. The moms and aunts go and help out in the nursery and childcare facilities we have. I might add that the nannies both decided to join the Circle. Oh, and so did our chef.

Dave kept fielding a wide range of questions for the rest of his designated hour. A little after seven o'clock, he indicated to Ed Saulter that he wanted to wrap up. Saulter came up to the microphone and asked the group, "Are there any major areas we haven't touched on with Mr. Prentiss?" The group was silent. "Then I express my gratitude to him for appearing this way on such controversial topics." Dave made his statement about no further questions, and then he collected Deborah and headed out, giving Erin a wink as he walked towards the door.

The room broke into some applause with many comments about 'Thank you' and 'Great job'.