The Majestic Oak Ch. 02

Chapter 2: Orientation

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On Tuesday morning, at breakfast, we sat around the same table we had for dinner the night before, with the same people: Barbara, Darin, Tracy and Oliver. Discussion topics included how comfortable the beds were (we all agreed they were great), and plans for that morning. Barbara and Darin had a couples massage scheduled, while Tracy and Oliver were planning to start the week easy, catching up on some reading and some sun around the swimming pool.

As for Kate and me, as first-timers, we had to take the orientation tour.

"See you here at lunch," Tracy said before leaving the table.

"See you," we all replied.

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For orientation, we all gathered in front of the old oak tree at the center of the resort. I counted around twenty couples, spanning different ages within the thirty-to-fifty range. All couples were heterosexual, except one lesbian couple, who looked in their mid thirties. The only people we recognized there were Amanda and Bob, who greeted us warmly.

Our guide for orientation was the same woman who was working the check-in booth the day before. She was wearing the same light-blue bikini top she had worn the previous day, with a pair of super-short shorts, ones that revealed much more than they hid.

Had I seen her like that the day before, my thoughts would have probably drifted to having explicit sexual fantasies about her. Good thing her lower body was hidden behind a desk. But now, after having sex three times in the last twenty-four hours, I wasn't so horny anymore, and whatever horniness I still had, went to my beautiful, sexy wife.

"Hi everybody," the woman said, "and welcome to the Majestic Oak Resort. My name is Kathy, and I'm going to host your orientation."

"Hi Kathy," we all said.

"We are standing here," Kathy started her pitch, "in front of this beautiful, ancient, legendary, majestic oak tree. I'm sure everybody looking at it can agree this is one of the most amazing trees you have ever seen.

"Legend has it that the native Americans who once lived on this land believed in this tree's majestic healing powers. It says that when people were ill or wounded, and the tribe's elderlies were unable to treat them, they would lay them under the tree. Some of them would pass away, but others would rise back into good health.

"Obviously, nobody knows if the tree had anything to do with the healing process, or even if this legend is even true, but the legend was enough to keep this tree intact. After the native Americans who lived here were driven off their lands by the white settlers, the man who won the bid for this land started to rip off all the trees to make room for plantations. But as he heard legend, he decided to keep the tree untouched. Just in case, for the off chance that one day he would be seriously ill or wounded, and the doctors would not be able to treat him.

"Eight years ago, the Majestic Oak Resort opened its gates for the first time. This is a place for couples whose relationship is in turmoil, and conventional methods like couples therapy did not help."

I looked at Kate. She and I had never tried couple's therapy. Was it the right choice to come there after not trying to work on our relationship the "normal" way?

Kathy went on. "Every week from June through September we invite forty couples into this place. And just like the legend says, we place you under the majestic oak, waiting for it to work its magic. For some couples, being here will show you that you do not belong together, and the best thing you could do is to go your separate ways. But for some, and hopefully most of you, the majestic tree will revive your relationship. You'll fall in love with each other once again, reviving the passion for each other. For some this is going to be a passion that was never there before."

Kate held tight to my hand, as the words Kathy was saying resonated with her. After all, in the last twenty-four hours we felt more passion towards each other than we had in the last four years.

Then Kathy started walking us around the resort. It spanned over a rectangular area of about ten Acres, centered around the oak tree. Around the tree there was a large lawn, spanning some 200 feet in each direction. On each side of the lawn was a block of bungalows, five pairs on each side, summing up to forty. Across from the bungalows there were facilities.

On the east side, there were the parking lot and the check-in booth, and behind them, the employee quarters and other facilities such as storage, laundry and more. On the south side, there was the restaurant. As during the check-in, Kathy mentioned the opening hours for each meal. Unlike during check-in she also mentioned the dress code. No bathing suits, no robes, and certainly no nudity.

The last remark solicited some giggles from a few members of the group, but Kathy looked extremely serious. I remembered Amanda mentioning seeing an older couple, completely naked, so I figured these rules did apply to some.

On the west side, behind block 2 of bungalows where Kate and I stayed, were the spa, swimming pool and the Turkish bath. Kathy told us the operating hours for the spa, and that we should hurry up scheduling our treatments there because they go away very quickly.

Then she told us what to expect in the Turkish bath. As Amanda told us the day before, it had different kinds of hot baths and a few saunas. Unfortunately, she couldn't get us inside, due to the strict dress code. One could only enter the Turkish bath building wearing a robe or a towel, but with nothing underneath. And when in the water or inside a sauna, not even that.

"Is it at least segregated?" A young woman asked in a clear southern accent. "You know, men and women?"

The woman's name was Rachel. Due to the age restrictions, she couldn't have been less than thirty years old, but she looked a few years younger. She had shoulder-length curly hazel hair and a petite body.

"Sorry," Kathy replied. "No segregation. The whole idea is to work on relationships. How can you do this when you're separated from your better half?"

Rachel's better half looked about ten years her senior. His name was Carl, and I don't have anything interesting to say about him. Medium build, medium height, reclining hairline. Somehow I felt I didn't like him. His wife, as naive as she was, was all smiles. He was frowning all the time.

Kathy's answer did not satisfy Rachel. "How are we supposed to work on our relationship, if we see other people naked all around us?"

Kathy smiled a kind smile. "It teaches you to trust each other," she said. "Without trust, there is no relationship to work on."

We moved on with the tour and reached the entrance to the swimming pool area. Kathy gave us the opening hours and the dress code: none whatsoever. Having no dress code, we could step inside.

"And speaking of seeing naked people," Kathy said, "here are two of my favorite."

There, next to the pool, sitting with our backs to us, were an older African American couple, both completely naked, sitting on easy chairs next to each other.

"Hi Hank, Hi Carol," Kathy said.

"Hi Kathy," Hank said. "How are you today?"

"I'm great, thanks!" Kathy replied. "I brought the orientation group to say hello."

"Hi guys," Carol said, as we all formed an arch in front of the naked couple.

I looked at them briefly, trying very much not to to stare. They both looked relaxed and happy. Carol's breasts were fallen down, like many women after giving birth a few times. Her pubic hair looked in its natural shape. I figured, she probably didn't bother to trim it as she doesn't need it to fit inside a bathing suit. The man's penis was lying on his thigh. I could swear it grew as he saw the forty eyeballs looking at him and his wife.

"Does anyone have a question for Hank or Carol?" Kathy asked, and turned to the couple, "Of course, if you guys don't mind."

"Of course we don't," Carol said with a smile. "Ask whatever you want."

There was an awkward silence. Obviously, people had questions, but they were all too embarrassed to ask them.

Eventually, one of the men gathered the courage to go first. "Are you nudists?" He asked.

"Well," Hank said, "we are nude. And we like being nude. Sometimes in public. So I guess you can call us nudists."

"Are you walking around naked just here," someone else asked, "or do you also do it in your everyday life?"

"Well," said Carol, "The English department at Harvard wouldn't appreciate it if professor Hank here would give lectures like this."

People giggled all around us.

"And neither would the plaintiffs and defendants in her honor's courtroom," Hank added, and gave his wife a naughty smile. "Although I'd give up my pension just to see the look on their faces as they see her walking into the courtroom like this."

Now Hank's penis was most definitely erect.

"When did you first come here, and why?" Amanda asked.

"We first came here eight years ago," said Hank, "just as this place opened up for the first time. Our marriage was falling apart. I was cheating on my wife with a grad student and she filed for a divorce. Then I heard about this place and begged her to spend a week with me here. I told her that if she did and she still wanted to divorce me, I'd sign the papers right away."

"And how did it go?" Amanda inquired.

"Eight years later," Hand replied, "we're still here. We come here every year, and we're in love like we've never been before."

He lay a soft hand on his wife's thigh.

"What did the trick?" Amanda asked.

Hank and Carol exchanged looks, and Carol decided to take this question. "I learned I too could enjoy fucking other people," she said with a smile.

Carol's response struck all of us. Nobody could speak. We were all looking at our partners in disbelief. How can infidelity fix anything in a relationship, was the question on everyone's mind.

Kathy thanked Carol and Hank. As we were ready to leave, Hank called her once again and said, "Hey Kathy, when are we going to see you naked?"

Kathy stopped for a second, and with a kind smile she said, "You know the staff is off limits, right?"

"I know," he said. "But you have such an amazing body. Don't you want to know what it feels like to show it off? Just once?"

I could see his penis was fully erect. Carol noticed it too, and started stroking it gently in her hand.

"Let's see how it goes," she said with a smile. "Maybe on Prom night, we'll see."

"Prom night?" someone asked as we were leaving the swimming pool area.

"Yeah," Kathy said. "Every Friday night we hold a party, kind of a graduation party for the guests of that week. As you could understand, the dress code there is liberal, and people tend to do things in this party."

"What kind of things?" someone asked.

"You know," Kathy shrugged. "Things."

"Like having sex with other people?" Rachel asked, paraphrasing Carol's words.

"Some do," Kathy said.

"So it's an orgy?" Amanda asked.

"Look," Kathy said in an irritated voice, afraid she had jumped the gun and told us things we weren't ready to hear so early in our stay. "It's a party. We provide the venue, the food and the music. What guests choose to do in that party is totally up to them. If you're not into parties where people do such things, you don't have to go."

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The things we had heard from Carol, Hank and Kathy left many of us confused. I could see it in everyone's eyes, and I could hear people whispering. How could an orgy strengthen one's relationship? How could sex with strangers make people fall back in love with each other?

With these unanswered questions we arrived at the last point in our tour, the dojo. This was a Japanese-style building, that was the only building on the north side of the resort. Its structure was made out of unpainted cherry wood, and its walls were thin sheets of rice-paper. Following Japanese tradition, we took our shoes off before entering.

"This is the most important part of the resort," Kathy said. "This is where the actual magic happens. Every afternoon there is a couple's workshop with our guide, Nadia, who's amazing. She's extremely unorthodox, but as you all know by now, this is an unorthodox place. And the things she does, they work. The fact that Hank and Carol did not get a divorce, and instead they keep coming here every year, madly in love with each other, is all thanks to her.

"Nadia's workshops start every day at two thirty. You don't need to register, but you do need to be here on time. And very important -- the dress code. Every couple was given a pair of white bathrobes in your bungalow. To Nadia's workshops you are supposed to wear those robes, and nothing else. And I mean NOTHING ELSE. No bathing suit, no undergarments, nothing. It should be all you under the robe."

People started chuckling and whispering. But at that point, no one was really surprised.

"I know it may feel uncomfortable," Kathy continued, "to be in a room full of strangers, wearing nothing but a bathrobe to your body. I know some may feel exposed. But it is that feeling that makes Nadia's workshops work."

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At lunch we sat at a table with other newbie couples we had met at orientation. Amanda and Bob, Rachel and Carl, and two other couples whose names I don't remember.

"Can you believe this place?" Carl said in disbelief. "They encourage adultery here! How in the world do they think it should help anyone's marital problems?" He turned to his wife, and with his southern accent said, "Rachel, I want to leave this place. I don't want to spend another goddamn day in this ungodly place."

Rachel looked at him, and then looked around the table and asked, "What do you guys think? Is this place worth the risk?"

Amanda was the first to respond. "I'd give it a chance," she said. "Bob and I thought we were done with one another, but we have our daughter to think about. If there's any chance we could find love once again, I'll take it. What's the worst that could happen? We get a divorce? If we don't give it a chance, we will get a divorce for sure."

Kate and I looked at one another. I knew she had her doubts. I did too. But in the twenty-four hours or so we had been there we had made more passionate love than we did in the last four years. I remembered what Kate had said about this place, that is could either make or break a relationship. But our relationship was already broken. And the passion that we had found in that last day, was all thanks to the same things Carl was complaining about. Things like seeing Amanda tanning topless near the swimming pool, and hearing Barbara and Darin fucking like animals in the next room.

"I think we should stay," I said, looking at Kate. "Whatever happens here, I want to give it a chance. I don't want to go back to the way thing have been before."

Kate nodded and kissed me on the cheek.

"I'm staying," Rachel said to her husband. "You can either stay here with me, or leave and never return. But I'm seeing this through."

Later Kate and I learned that Rachel and Carl both came from a very religious background, growing up in North Carolina. Deciding to stay in a place like this, a place that encourages nudity and extramarital sex, was probably one of the toughest decisions she had ever had to make. But she made it, willing to risk everything for a chance to save her marriage.

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The first workshop of the week was titled "Intimacy". Kate had a hard time getting used to the idea of working on our intimacy in a room full of strangers, while wearing nothing but robes to our body. But she was willing to give it a chance. For me.

Kate and I arrived at the dojo five minutes before the session was about to start. The dojo was arranged with twenty or so yoga mattresses spread in a circle around the center, each mattress pointing towards the center of the room. On the side facing away from the center, each mattress was joined with a large bean bag, one large enough for a grown person to lean on, while sitting on the mattress, facing the center of the circle.

Barbara and Darin were already there when we arrived, along with ten or so other couples.

"Come," Barbara said. "We saved you a spot."

Not willing to disappoint our Texan neighbors, we joined them and sat on the mattress to their right. Tracy and Oliver, who came in just after us, took the mattress to our right.

Darin was sitting on the edge of the mattress, leaning on the bean bag and Barbara was sitting on the mattress, leaning back on him. To our right, Tracy and Oliver did the same. So we followed. I sat on the edge of the mattress, leaning on the bean bag, and Kate sat in front of me, between my legs, leaning on me.

Just sitting this way, even without doing anything, felt amazing. I embraced Kate in my arms, and she let go, relaxed her muscles as best she could, and leaned her head back on my chest.

"Good afternoon," a woman's voice suddenly disrupted our intimate moment. "My name is Nadia, and I'm hosting the relationship workshops in the resort."

Nadia was an impressive woman. She looked about forty years old, tall, around Amanda's height, and extremely fit. She had dark, short curly hair, stunning blue eyes and hair-thick lips. She was wearing a thin, red silk robe that fell gently over her pair of beautiful grapefruit-sized breasts. Her robe was so thin I could easily see the shape of her nipples engraved in the soft fabric.

She spoke with a slight but noticeable eastern-European accent. Her voice was dominant, but at the same time soothing.

"As you may know, our first session will be dedicated to intimacy," she said. "I see that many of you have already done so, but if you haven't, I want the men to sit down leaning on the bean bag, and the women, sitting at your men's laps, resting your bodies on them."

"What should WE do?" Asked the dark-haired half of the lesbian couple.

"What's your name?" Nadia asked.

"Laura," the woman replied.

"Why don't you lie on the bean bag, Laura," Nadia said, "and have you partner..."

"Andie," the lesbian couple's blond half said. "I'm her wife."

"So, Andie," Nadia continued, "you can lean back on Laura."

They did as Nadia asked.

"Great," said Nadia. "If everyone is in position, we are ready to start."

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I looked around the room. Almost everyone Kate and I had got to know was there. Amanda and Bob, Rachel and Carl, as well as a few other familiar faces from orientation.

"Men," Nadia said, and immediately added, "and Laura, I want you to hold your loved ones in your hands. I want you to embrace them. To feel their breathing. To try to listen to their heartbeat."

I didn't need her to instruct me to do this. I was already embracing Kate, and enjoying every moment of it. Judging from the way Kate was resting motionless on me, I could tell she was enjoying it just as much.

"Now I want you to take your woman's hands in your own hands," Nadia said after a while. "I want you to touch them, feel them. I want each of you to slowly move your fingers along your woman's fingers, between her fingers, on the back of her hands, and on her palms."

Kate jumped as I tickled her when I gently touched her palm, but overall, I could tell she enjoyed the hand-massage I was giving her.

"Now I want each of you to lay your woman's hands on the mattress, and gently caress it, slowly making your way up from the hand to the wrist, and to her forearms, gently raising the sleeves of her robe, just a little bit."

As I did as she instructed, Kate started laughing out loud.

"Sorry," she said, trying to control her laughter.

"It's totally normal," Nadia said. "Intimacy is scary, and we are all afraid of it. Like chimpanzees, we too sometimes laugh when we're scared.

"Now I want the men, and Laura, to make your way up, caressing your women over their sleeves, stopping here and there to give them a gentle rub on their arms. Don't rush it. go slowly. Make your way slowly up, until you reach their shoulders."