Loosening Up Bk. 09 Ch. 36-39 - End

Dave had gotten a large paper map of the United States from AAA. He'd mounted the large map on black foam board. On the map, Dave had worked with Cricket, and plotted out the entire route that Jim Mellon supposedly traveled in the book Road Trip. That information was marked on the map in a very pale blue color with small light blue map pins to indicate the places Mellon had stopped and had some kind of adventure or love affair along his route.

Next on the map, Dave had put tiny opaque red dots with a Sharpie at the points of interest in most states that he wanted to see. He'd started using a yard stick and protractor to block out an ideal path to connect the dots. This part he was doing in #1 pencil with a large eraser handy.

Occasionally, Dave would bypass a red dot. Such points of interest were too far off the best-travel track and not significant enough to warrant a major deviation between two other more significant points.

The other feature of Mellon's journey that Dave also wanted to adhere to as best he could was staying off of the Interstate highways. Dave wanted to see some of back roads America. Blasting between points at seventy miles an hour on an Interstate one didn't see much except a sterile countryside. The drama occurred outside a mile or more on either side of those highways.

Dave felt the hard nubs of a woman's breasts against his bare back as he sat on patio studying the map. He got kissed on his right ear. "I love you."

"I love you, Alice."

"I'm excited about your trip. I'm receiving on a lot of vicarious enjoyment as you do this. Of course, I'm aided by having read Road Trip and Crystal Clear, and then watching my sister-wife Scarlett play the part. When do you think you'll leave?"

"I guess I'll leave around early June – so in two or three months. The springtime weather patterns further north will have cleared out by then, and the days will be sunnier and the temperatures warmer. Some of that won't bother me that much because I do plan to travel rain or shine, so long as it's safe, and at any temperature so long as it's above freezing."

"Did you talk to everyone, yet?"

Dave nodded, "I did. All the wives approve and some want to participate. A few other people also want to join me for a few days here and there along the trip. After I figure out my ideal route, I'll ask people what links they want to see with me. If there are over-subscribed links, I'll come up with some way to choose; maybe by drawing a name from a hat. You have unlimited choices and bumping privileges."

Alice said, "Leave yourself some alone time, and some time to meet some damsels in distress the way Jim Mellon did. I fully expect you to seduce lots of new pussy, and maybe even bring some of it back here after you get back."

"Providing they had a recent STD test, per chance," Dave chuckled. "Outside our gates, people do not routinely get tested or if they do, I doubt they carry their paper around with them."

Alice said, "I think the whole singles community is attuned to that channel these days. We've also stressed it several times during each season of our TV show. I would agree with you that the intentionally monogamous couples don't get tested, but I think the others are more aware of at least what they should be doing and most do it."

"And yet, college campuses have rampant problems."

"Teens that age think they're indestructible. Look at Tanya and Jake, and their wake-up call. Multiply that by a thousand and you have what's going on at the just our own in-town university right now."

Dave asked, "Do you think we ought to have a special talk with our students?"

Alice thought about it. "Do it a different way. Get the opinion leaders and talk to them, and ask them to pass on our concerns. I join you in that."

"Good idea. I don't want to give the impression that we don't trust our students, but I do want to have them reminded about a fundamental tenet of this place: protect each other."

At dinner that night, Dave sought out Logan, Piper, Caleb, Hillary, Wyatt, Matt, and Rose. The group had dinner together with Dave and Alice.

Dave thanked the group for joining them, and then got straight to the agenda. "You are the thought leaders in the Circle and pledges, so we wanted to use you to get a reminder to everyone in your cohort about the Circle rule about STDs, or STIs, if you prefer.

"The university is a hot bed of those diseases and we've had a near miss recently. One of the Circle principles is that we protect each other, if we can. This is an easy one. We keep our sexual relations in this closed community. If we step outside, we require a new test that proves cleanliness, so to speak. We may even double protect with a condom. Any questions or doubts about what we're trying to do here?"

Wyatt said, "Trying to prevent an epidemic in what many consider a promiscuous community."

Alice and Dave nodded. "Imagine what the Circle would be if we had to shut down all the sex and loving for three to six months because of some widespread propagation of some infection? I hate to think about it."

Piper said, "My History class just studied the influenza epidemic of 1917-1918 that killed fifty million people. An STD by a Circle member or pledge would spread the same way through this group. No way that I'm going to let that happen."

The others agreed with the message and said they'd be sure the message got spread around to the others associated with the Circle in their age group.

* * * * *

Monday night, the Circle 101 class met. As had been the case the week before, eleven pledges and two guests showed up. Of the pledges, two were new: Mitch and Jocelyn had declared pledge status. The guests were again Chet and Misty, neither of whom had committed to become a pledge, yet they were going through the steps.

Matt and Rose had asked to be able to accompany Misty and Chet to the class, and Dave had agreed providing he could call on them. He'd asked them to be somewhat circumspect in dominating any of the discussions since they were so well versed in the Circle topics. Everyone knew that Dave used the Socratic Method of teaching to lead the students to conclusions about how they thought and contrasted that with the way the Circle operated.

Dave kicked things off by posing a question to Jocelyn. "Since you are now officially a pledge, I get the privilege of throwing you some of the tougher questions. So, I know you've accepted the role as girlfriend with Toby. He also had Danica as his girlfriend, and that's not a secret from anybody. My question starts with a little scenario. Friday night, you're feeling romantic and hoping to be with Toby. As you start to approach him after dinner, you see him kissing ... Cricket, and even fondling her breasts. They have obviously paired off, at least for the start of the sexual festivities that night. The question is how do you feel?"

Jocelyn was slightly taken back. "Ooooh! I didn't expect to be called upon right at the start of class. I'd feel disappointed and maybe a little jealous. I would hope to connect with him later that evening."

Dave followed up, "What would you do?"

Jocelyn said awkwardly, "I guess I'd sit and wait for him to reappear on the patio."

Dave pointed to his left where Rose and Matt sat with Chet and Misty. "Rose, what would you think and do?"

Rose laughed, "I'd be slightly disappointed, too, but I'd be glad that Toby was connecting with someone else I knew he loved. That would give me a warm feeling, and even a jolt or arousal as I started to think about how they'd make love together. I would not sit idle and wait; I would see what other men I like were unclaimed and ask one of them whether they wanted to hook-up for a little. If all the men were busy, I'd shift gears and ask one of the other women I like whether they wanted to enjoy some sexual time together making love."

Jocelyn was nodding at what she'd just been taught about perspective on the situation and how her thinking had been expanded. She hadn't allowed for those options in her thinking.

Dane asked, "How do you get your thinking from where Jocelyn started to where Rose is? I know from our reading that instead of jealousy we need compersion, but how do you shift gears between the two?"

"Anybody?"

Penny said, "Somehow we learned to be jealous, so we can therefore unlearn it. We need something inside us that sounds off when we start to feel that way. When that would happen, we'd think about compersion."

Dave asked, "What would be the thing that sounds off inside us?"

Penny ventured, "Maybe if we start to feel badly about some situation involving another person. For instance, we experience the feeling of rejection in your scenario or feel we've been cuckolded or cuckqueaned."

"Have you tried it?"

Penny nodded, "Yes, but it took conscious thought. The jealousy that appeared was unconscious; it was just suddenly there. I had to unthink it."

Dave turned to Trent, "What else do you think would help?"

Trent grinned, "I'm a nerdy and left-brain kind of guy, so for me I'd just start to think through what was actually happening. In your scenario and thinking as Jocelyn, I'd start with did he purposely snub me in favor of Cricket? Did Cricket set out to screw me over? The way you laid it out, it didn't sound like it. So, any emotions that I come up with are mine alone and not due to anything but circumstances.

"I'd also ask myself why I didn't go and join in? We all know there are more women than men in the Circle, and that threesomes with a man and two women happen several times every night. Why not ask them if they want company, or whether you could drop in on them in thirty or forty minutes?"

Heads in the Circle were nodding.

Tina spoke up, "I still recall a quote from Shakespeare that I think of all the time, especially in a situation like you laid out. 'There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.' Maybe Jocelyn not being included with Toby and Cricket is the best thing that could happen in that situation. She might meet and make love with another man who truly sweeps her off her feet. There are all sorts of 'What if?' games. Jealousy be damned." She and the class chuckled.

Dave asked, "Do you think that the Circle is free of negative emotions and drama?"

There was laughter, and then the discussion took off again talking about some of the situations the pledges had seen or heard about that were either or both.

* * * * *

Dave was reading and working over his travel map on the patio just after lunch on Wednesday. A few feet away, Cricket sat in the shade at her laptop computer writing or editing passages in her current book that she still hadn't announced. Cricket was tan and topless. There were others scattered around the patio.

Helen Ursinger came up to Dave and leaned over for a kiss. She was topless as well, wearing the standard patio uniform for warm days of a monokini.

Helen said, "I need to interrupt you and Cricket. I'm glad I found you both here. This is about the TV show." Concurrent with having moved into the Circle and becoming a full member, she continued to work for Spring Garden Productions, the company doing the videos for the reality TV show about the Circle.

After they'd joined Cricket, Helen began, "Do you know what a fan club is and what they do?"

Cricket said, "It's a group of people that love some movie star or media personality."

Dave said, "Don't they end up with t-shirts, pins, and coffee mugs showing their support. Do they ever really meet like a club?"

Helen nodded, "They do, and some meetings are like conventions, even with over a thousand or more attendees. Often at those meetings, their 'star' will speak or a movie of them greeting everybody will be shown. The hawkers with souvenirs will be out in full force, and anybody else that can think of a way to make money off the meeting."

Cricket said, "So, why bring this up?"

Helen sighed and gave a little smile, "The Circle now has a national fan club. A small group of rabid and diehard fans in Chicago started it and the thing has taken off like wild fire. Yes, they have t-shirts, mugs, pins, and other treasures. They have a big website that blogs about the TV series, episode by episode, contains a growing list of the members and pledges, long discussions about the Circle's values, and they provide links so that people can get to Cricket's book at the various online stores where she sells it. They have over a thousand members and the number is growing by the week. The three couples that run the fan club contacted me yesterday. That's why I'm here."

Dave said cautiously, "What do you want?"

Al and I talked, and even talked with the owners of Spring Garden Productions – our bosses. We all would like you two and a few others to speak at their convention in Chicago in early October." Al was Helen's partner in the TV series and had also become a new Circle member.

Dave said , "I'll be traveling across the country by motorcycle about that time. I'd have to work out how to be there for this meeting."

Helen laughed, "Great! Ride your bike onto the stage where you're going to speak. Really, this is a great opportunity for the TV series, all the various sponsors, the cable channels that show your work, and certainly for the fans."

Dave glanced back at the map of the U.S. he'd been working with planning his trip. He knew he could work the route around to be in Chicago in October, even though he hadn't even started.

Cricket asked, "What about my books?"

Helen said, "We were thinking of including a 'free' copy of your book into the selling price for a ticket. Sure, many people will already have copies, but this would mean they'd give away the new copy to someone else and then they'd become interested in the Circle and what it represents."

"What would it cost someone to attend?"

"If I'm to believe what the people who started the fan club told me, they'll have about five THOUSAND people attend. You'd have a huge audience."

Cricket said, "Who else from the Circle do they want to have come?"

"Well, the two of you for starters, and then Scarlett and-or Felicity and-or Ashley, of course; and then maybe Owen, Alice, Mike, Odessa, Dori, Jenn, or one of the new pledges."

Dave chuckled, "Is this a paid performance?"

Helen shook her head. "Nope. This is you humoring your fans and proselytizing on behalf of polyamory and new visions about relationships."

Dave chuckled, "You mean a platform for whatever I want to rant about that day?"

"Pretty much," Helen said. "I think they want to have some title for your talk. You, too, Cricket."

Cricket said, "I've been working on the 'How To' book about starting a Circle. Maybe we could sell some of those if we rush it into printing over the summer. My publisher would love to see that included as part of the 'free' giveaway with the purchase of a ticket."

Helen frowned, "What's that book? I thought I knew all the links to the TV show."

Cricket explained, "Well, you know we've been sorting through the fan mail. One of the consistent themes and requests is from people that want to start their own Circle. They want a step-by-step guide and notes on pitfalls and easier routes to success."

Dave said in a serious tone, "I think you have an opportunity with this conference, Helen. You should figure out a way for people to get together who want to start a group and are geographically close to other similarly inclined people. Like a sign-up board, or meet ups, or something along those lines."

Helen was madly typing the idea into her cellphone. "I'll tell the organizers. Can I tell them you'll speak?"

Both Dave and Cricket said, "Yes."

Dave said, "Of the people you listed, Mike is possibly the only one with some public speaking experience. The others might be a little rough in front of a large group. Why was Mike on their list?"

"Oh, in Season 2 we covered enough of Circle-X Productions and Mike to whet people's interest in his story. The fans figured out that they do adult videos - porn – and they thought a speaker addressing how what the Circle does fits into what he does, and vice versa. They want to hear from a porn producer."

Dave grimaced slightly. "I guess. Ask Mike what he thinks. We should at least coordinate our talks. I'd hate to be seen as the pit of pornography instead of what we are."

Helen said, "I see you, Dave, giving the keynote the first evening. When I talked to Chris and Eva, they seemed to think of you as the spokesman for the Circle."

Dave thought a moment, "I think your numbers are way too high in terms of members and attendees."

Helen shook her head. "Nope. The fan club already had a thousand members and that's the tip of the iceberg. Most people that like the show don't even know about the fan club. They will because we're being filmed right now talking about it, but we're also going to put a PSA up at the end of this season and the start for the fall. We might do stuff with the summer re-runs, too."

Dave glanced over at one of the cameramen who had a grin as his camera and directional microphone focused on the group.

Helen went on, "Further, just think about what happened here in Sarasota. You have a city of about a half-million, and you picked up a dozen pledges that wanted to start their own Circle-liked group. The population of the United States is about 320 million, and twenty-five percent of that is under eighteen. That gives you an adult population of about 240 million. If you consider that a dozen adults in every five-hundred-thousand want to be in a Circle-type environment, you'd have to accommodate almost six million people. Ergo, five-thousand is the tip of the iceberg."

Dave laughed, "You thought about this."

Helen laughed, too, "I did. The numbers are staggering, but they're also in somewhat close agreement with what sociologists tell us about polyamorous groups. One report I read said that up to five percent of the adult population live that way. That's be about twelve million people, so we're in the same ballpark; especially if you think that maybe only half of people living in poly groups want a Circle environment. Bingo, you're back to about six million but from an entirely different set of numbers."

Cricket said, "But you don't expect six million to all show up in Chicago for the fan club convention."

Dave said, "What else are they going to talk about at the convention?"

Chris told me they were setting up different tracks to discuss the various precepts of the Circle: consensual non-monogamy, non-exclusivity or possessiveness, jealousy and compersion, relationships, and that type of thing. He said they were planning on having a couple of tracks, with limited attendance to each, just about open marriage and sex. They're lining up erudite speakers or facilitators for each of the tracks."

Dave rolled his eyes, "Oh, great. Let the swinging begin."

Helen smiled, "I suspect you could expect that around the edge of the conference. Maybe they'll set-up a 'Hook-Up Here' booth, like a dating site."

Helen held up her hand, "Oh, wait. Chris and Eva both asked whether you'd entertain a visit from them over the next month or so to talk about the fan club and the convention. There'd be no cost to any of us other than the time we'd spend with them."

Dave waved his arms, "Sure. Come on down. The weather is still sucky in Chicago anyway, so if you tell them 'Yes', I suspect you'll see them the next day."

"What's your schedule like?"

"Aim them at a weekend. Mark has me reviewing R&D proposals from the various divisions in Worthington Industries seeking additional corporate funding. I'm kind of tied up during the week with that stuff, but I am around here reading them."

Helen said, "I'll let you know what they say. I'll stick to the weekends. I bet they'd like to be here on a Friday and Saturday night." She chuckled.