Prolific: Farm Life Multiplied

"Kevin, sit down, please, we have business to discuss. Everyone else, yes, stop crying a moment and sit down, too. Yes, we know....If you're finding out that your friends are pregnant right now, you're not alone, most of us knew there would be other surprises."

I was confused and shocked and happy and confused and... I didn't know.

Kelly continued, talking loudly over the sound of everyone's chair still moving and saying "Sit, be quiet a moment... sit, please, please??!? Yes, calm, okay, yes, quiet please..."

This took a few minutes, to get everyone seated again. It didn't work for me, I just kept standing, looking around, seeing people look back at me with big eyes and feeling waves of Wow hitting me over and over. I just was speechless and in awe and joyous and in shock at what couldn't possibly be true.

Kelly finally continued and the murmuring stopped. "Two months ago, Ann, Kevin, and I found out that Jay was pregnant. What happened then? Our conversation had been completely overheard, and remembered, then written down word for word, and passed around, to pretty much - ha, yes, I know, pretty much, yeah - ALL OF YOU, yeah, that happened."

"So, then, our private discussion had been transcribed. What had been overheard was repeated, and the entirety of us learned some supremely important things. Moms Rule!"

There was big clapping and screaming yes. I was crying.

They calmed down again. "Sure, you knew this. We all KNEW this. We knew what it meant for our birth-control pills. We knew what it meant for our lives, our life-plans, our charting courses through Outside things as well as this Farm's inside things, the loving friendships and helping-kindness with homeworks, the letting go of older things and embracing of a different personal world map."

"So, in that conversation, in that transcription - and in real life, I was there - Kevin described his joy at the bounty of new life here, NEW life, life created here, as fulfilling our deep purpose of bringing this farm, and each other, BOUNTY, in LOVE."

Kelly had started crying by this point.

I realized Kelly had stayed standing... I wondered if she, too, was pregnant...?

She looked at me.

The enormity was both easy and hard to understand. I had to wrap my mind around it, so I quietly asked Kelly, "Everyone?"

Holding her hand to me in a wait-a-sec motion, she said, "Kevin, I think, is having trouble processing this, and, yeah, the room, well, rooms, here are kind of crowded. Kevin's clueless about a lot of things - About how much we love him! About how much he means to us, deeply in our hearts and souls! And ... he doesn't know the full reality here. Maybe you don't either. So, team?"

They waited.

"Everyone, let's keep this simple. Got it? Listen carefully. Everyone who is NOT pregnant, please raise your hand. If you're pregnant, put your hands down."

I looked out over a sea of crying eyes, happy joyful eyes, surprised eyes at each other, and waited.

Some hands did go up.

Six of them.

I counted, and even said, "Six."

Kelly paused to blow her nose; I waved for them to put their hands down and grasped my forehead. I may have stayed in, and reverted to, that position for an extended period of time.

She looked at me and said, "Guess what, Kev? You're going to be a Daddy."

My mouth opened and closed, and I looked around at them. My mind was going a mile a minute. "So... the 'childcare center' we were planning as a ... money-maker?"

Ann spoke up and said, "It might have a FEW residents, early on."

There was some nervous laughter.

I managed to eek out, "Where is everyone going to sleep?"

The room erupted in laughter.

I had to say something. I could feel, that was the expectation, the thing they were all waiting for.

It had to be joyous, something that reflected the depth of my emotions.

I turned to them, scanning faces, both the housemates I knew so well, as well as the less-well-known ones because we ate in different places and didn't share dinnertime conversation. The students, I knew their majors and cursory family details and funny things that had happened to them, but ... the asian faces were not nearly so well known, beyond a night together or a tryst in the woods or in the stables or wherever. I wanted to, but things were complicated.

Life was going to get far more complicated, too.

Holding up my hands, and then curving them in as if to hold the whole room, I said, "Each of you? I Love You. Each one of you."

I heard sniffles and blowing noses.

"I know most of you pretty well, I'd say - sharing a meal or a chore or a laugh or a night or even...," waving at Carrie and Ann and Kelly, sitting next to each other, "even long planning sessions for buildings I didn't know exactly all the uses for?"

Some laughs.

"But, some, I don't know so well, and want to. Even if we've not spent much time together at all, and given class schedules and where we're spending time? That's reasonable! So, even given that, I hope that when I look at you, and you look at me, you know I do, in fact... LOVE you, love you all. Salanghae." (the last word is 'I love you' in Korean)

Someone clapped and they all clapped.

As it died out, I asked, "Please, be easy on me? I don't know what I'm doing? I got this farm and I've tried to live and give and love, but I'm not going by some grand master plan. I'm just inventing it as I go along. I hope I can be the kind of father a kid wants. To set a good example, to be better at it, hopefully, than my mother... Which reminds me - I'll be having Christmas dinner with her, and Wow is she going to be surprised!"

That very thought flattened me. There was no way I could tell anyone of this, it'd ruin everything, and everyone.

They had a huge laugh, but was no way I could tell her or anyone else what had happened here. It _was_ a good line.

"On a practical level, and since this is a farm, being Practical is Vital, we have to figure out how we're going to handle this. It's a huge wrinkle in most of your lives, an alteration of life plans that will require, well... wow, some kind of new plan, I guess."

I looked over at Ann. "Ann, you have tons of good ideas. What's the plan, about this? About what we do? The maternity nurses at University General are all going to notice everyone has the same address. I don't think publicity is a great idea. Publicity would lead to attention seeking, and TV news, and all sorts of questions, and that ... would mean immigration would raid us and ... wow, that'd be bad."

General nods around the room and looking at each other, and Ann stood up, motioning for Kelly to sit.

Ann's voice was breaking a little, she'd been crying, too. "I've been processing this for several weeks, too." She took a breath, and said, "The lawyer we both know, Kevin, I talked with him briefly, and he told me to speak in hypotheticals, at which point we had a very long 'hypothetical' conversation, right in the driveway here."

I hadn't known he'd come by, but that was good so I flashed her a thumbs up.

"He told me, it'd be better to have each non-US-citizen mother go to a hospital either nearby or in a neighboring state, and Kevin can go with them and sign the birth certificate as the father, or not, and that mother can add Kevin as the father, or not, as she wants. If she does, that gives the child and the mother a more clear path to residency and citizenship. Once born and safe, the mother and child can come back here, and be HOME, and the hospital doesn't NEED a current address. We will work this out."

Ann had been talking to me, but loud enough for the room to hear, but she turned to the room and continued.

"All of you, you're going to have to come up with a plan for how you want to deal with your parents. Or, if you want to do so at all! If you don't, that's fine. If you do, we can arrange for you to live in an apartment in town briefly, meet them there with Kevin so he can introduce himself, or not, whatever. Or, you can describe him as a worthless person, or a one-night stand, or anything you want, but we shouldn't let out exactly who he is or things get complicated here, for everyone."

"One other idea, and we're not sure about this yet, is to set up this farm as a place where young-mother-students can come live. If that's the case, then, it's not a coincidence, it's the right place to be, for you to be, it's an excuse and an explanation and no one is the wiser. But, we haven't been able to work on that much, it's still in planning."

Nods around the room, and we had a topic for discussion for the rest of the meal.

As if I could eat!

I decided to call Mr. Tamberlin as soon as I could and set up a more official meeting.

Standing forward again, I repeated that I loved them all and was overjoyed at this but also overwhelmed, and that we should eat now and stay healthy.

Everyone applauded, and I frankly couldn't eat too much for a while because I was crying too hard.

== Chapter: Respectable ==

Everyone decided to keep it utterly quiet until after the winter break holidays, and I made that an explicit thing, no one could tell, that it was okay to lie about this just for this limited time period, and to totally pretend life was normal.

Mr. Tamberlin came through for me.

On being advised by Ann that some person or persons might be pregnant by me, he had shifted into high gear, and really liked Ann's suggestion.

Wanting to talk with me first, he'd drafted some papers but hadn't set anything up yet. We agreed he should do so immediately, and suitable artificial-history cover stories be crafted.

Thus came my interaction with Father Anthony and Sister Della. Ann, Yee, and I went to see them for an appointment.

Mr. Tamberlin met us there.

It had been a week since our gathering and deep in the post-Christmas season. Mr. Tamberlin had already filed the appropriate papers with the state for 501-C-3 incorporation, but those papers required 'advisors' and the most obvious ones might be professional clergy.

We needed an imprimatur of respectability.

If we were to recruit them to our 'cause', we'd have and hopefully constrain the amount of actual influence they'd have, in a keep-enemies-closer sort of way. I was wary of authority figures.

Father Anthony and Sister Della met us in a dingy, fluorescent-lit linoleum-tile meeting room, around what was probably a horse-and-buggy era conference table.

After some hand shaking, it was Tony and Della on one side of the table, and us on the other. Mr. Tamberlin started off with the cover story, suitably embellished and adjusted.

He said, "Father. Sister. We have a delicate situation, but one where we've got a plan in progress. Ms. Ann, here, and Ms. Yee, here, have found something rather distressing, but also joyous. They are both pregnant."

Tony nodded in the way that said his wheels were turning, which they were already since he knew Mr. Tamberlin was an attorney.

Della's face sucked in like she was inhaling a full balloon, "Oooohh, my dears... Oh, my poor dears..."

Ann and Yee both smiled seriously and nodded like they were aware this was a difficult situation, but that they were being strong about it. Ann told me later they'd practiced together how their faces would seem so they'd be on the same page.

I didn't know the full spiel, so I was learning about this as we went, too.

"The father, for both of their children, is Kevin Kuiper here."

He let that hang a moment.

Tony and Della looked at me, and I stayed stoic but serious-faced, and nodded.

"Mr. Kuiper lives on a farm property near town, provided for by a trust fund. This allows him very little leeway or cash. He has the right to live there, and it's a nice, roomy place with a big house and a barn, a solid home in which children can be raised."

Both Tony and Della smiled slightly at that, being happy they weren't being expected to cough up money or anything, I think, and Della's worry might have been slightly relieved.

"However, Ann's family, and Yee's, must be placated, soothed, and assured, or they might withdraw funding required to attend college, finish their degrees, and earn enough money to raise the children they are carrying. They're both anxious to continue on and get their degrees."

Tony added, surprisingly to me, "Makes good sense, stay in school, glad to hear that part," while Della's face showed she was still worried.

"The property Trust allows for maintenance to be done on the farm property, and there are several empty bedrooms in the house. Ann, here, ingeniously hit on a plan where, perhaps, other rooms in the house could be rented to girls in a similar situation. That is, if there are any in town, and we know there are. That way, childcare duties could be shared among them and they'd have an easier time with classes."

Della's smile got huge. She said, "OHH MYY, that's an _amazing_ idea! I love that! A place to stay, on a farm with no distractions, able to do schoolwork and still keep the little ones fed and cared for... I DO like that!"

Tony asked, "So... This does sound... reasonable? I think. But... wouldn't there be a social stigma, regardless of the...living situation, that would go with, maybe, living there? And, it can't be cheap..." His eyes narrowed, "Are you asking us for money?"

Mr. Tamberlin said, "Almost. More important to the cause, we think, is some kind of respect that this is, in fact, a social good. We could give you a donation of $200, and you could give it back to us as a donation, and maybe mention it at services, that this was a possibility. It won't escape notice that people are living at the farm, by next year, and maybe attending services here, or at whatever church they belong to."

Tony's smile widened after he saw there was an angle. "And, you want us to lend our names, and the good reputation of the Catholic Church, to this operation, so it sounds like charity, instead of a cover story for your family troubles, or Mr. Kuiper's irresponsibility."

He was looking at Ann, then Yee, and me, more than Mr. Tamberlin when he said it, probably trying to gauge our reaction, and it was a good way to get one.

I spoke up for the first time, serious, but hopeful. "I accept that, yes, but I am trying to be responsible. I can provide a home, at least, with a good roof, and a big kitchen, and some extra bedrooms. If some people want to come to live, we can charge them a modicum of rent. In the process, we'd help those who have a similar sort of problem. It all balances out."

Della said, "But, Kevin, you'd have more mouths to feed."

"Covered in the rent, and maybe anyone who wanted to donate to us, both as an educational grant and as a social good."

The wheels were turning for Tony. "How long do we have? Can we visit?"

Mr. Tamberlin took back the floor and said, "To test the waters, I reached out and located some likely possible additional roommates besides Ann and Yee. This leaked out a bit, and I'm afraid. It... generated more interest than we anticipated. So, yes, we have some more people lined up. Given the holidays and student schedules, it'd probably be a good thing to set a visit for sometime, maybe in mid-January, just so we can get our situation settled."

Their eyebrows had gone up, but they nodded, and I got the idea they were pretty busy with the holidays, and post-holiday cleanup. I could imagine it was really busy for clergy at Christmas.

"We'd like to see the place, but... yes, conceptually, we agree this is a social good worthy of help."

And, that was that.

Mission accomplished.

== ==

Building on the Newb (short for New Barn, our name) had kept going all during December and the frame was nearly complete.

The expensive welded steel superstructure finished, and Alice had directed a start on adding decking to the 5-floor structure to give it more rigidity. Those 5 stories wouldn't be visible from the outside, we'd seen in the drawings, because the windows would be randomly distributed across the face of the building and there'd be no way to tell how big it was.

Inside we had planned a primary and elementary school, childcare facilities, study rooms, some bunk rooms for it to be a "retreat center," whatever that was - I had no idea at the time - and even rooms for indoor sports like gymnastics.

Carrie had plans for a basketball court and swimming pool next door to this, but that'd have to wait for springtime weather and more money.

With finals being done, everyone pitched in on whatever project they felt best about, the old barn or the new one, getting it ready for people to hang out in and be safe.

So many mad construction skills were just happening all around me, given agency I think by the sense that the farm wasn't just a place but a home. I could cover the basic materials costs, but really with the stuff they were doing, the materials costs weren't the driving factor. Carrie had kept things simple and it was far more labor than materials, and we had lots of labor (and impending-more in another sense).

The county wanted a construction permit for the new building, and we'd gotten one. When they showed, and showed again for each inspection, I think the sight of so many women on the jobsite re-programmed the inspectors' ideas of who a construction worker was.

The various anglos, being normal students as far as anyone knew, had left for Christmas / winter-break. This meant fewer people at meals; even Ann and Jay took time to go back home. Yee didn't, her family was in Korea, she said, too long for a simple holiday trip.

== Chapter: Ann's Parents ==

We'd all decided (by popular vote, even) that Ann, Yee, and Jay would be the three people who gave away that they were pregnant. Besides, Ann and Yee had already told Tony and Della.

Ann's mom and dad took it well, far better than she'd expected, and immediately they wanted to meet me. I got in the Galaxie Geezermobile and drove the 4+ hours one way to meet Mr. and Mrs. Davis.

They were a picture of suburbia.

Mr. Davis was a public high school math teacher, and Mrs. Davis was a PE teacher and athletic coach at a different nearby Catholic high school. Their house was small and they didn't have a lot of fancy things, but they loved Ann a lot.

Her four siblings (all younger) were each really nice to me, and I wondered what it would be like to grow up in a house like that (5 kids in a technically 4 bedroom house).

I think they thought I was going to be spending a lot of time with Ann, or marry her, or something, but we kept it noncommittal and in the end, they didn't push it.

I slept on the couch in the living room since there literally were no other bed spots. Ann and I agreed that there would be no midnight visits, though we did kiss a lot in front of her parents, brother, and sisters.

We were used to kissing anyway, but usually back at the farm she was more in-charge and businesslike than that, and I was getting to see her softer side. When we were together at home, at night sometimes, she'd be very much lovey-dovey with me, so I knew we could be that way.

Still, it was a super-nice surprise to be spending so much time together with one person. I'd gotten out of the hang of that, I think.

I left Ann's house late the next day, per our cover story that the farm had needs, which was true enough if there weren't people there already to tend to the horses and chickens.

[The next year, we did, just for genetic diversity of our flock]

Driving back, I wondered how long it'd been since I had sex, and I figured it was at least 30 hours, which was a very long time for me given my recent history.

Thus, it was with great joy that I pulled into the farm and drove up to my parking spot, then greeted by a whole set of people asking me how it went and showering me with attention.

I got back into the swing of things for the next few days, until Thursday, the day before Christmas eve.