Chapter 236

June 28, 2018 (Thursday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

Katherine met us at the back door at 9:00 and after kisses and hugs, all of us joined Alyssa already on the floor.

“It looks like you’re almost ready to open,” stated Liya.

“Yes. We’ve got a sign on the door and a big splash on the website,” Katherine responded. “It’s been sort of fun having no customers, but missing more than a week of customers is not good for the bottom line. Somewhat fortunately, a few of the other staff chose to use vacation, and that’s going to work out to be a bit of a positive for the store. You needed girl clothes, I understand.”

Liya answered, “Yes, primarily for Kai and Padme. Kai needs a sheath, one not so transparent as those we grabbed out of the trash pile, although it can be otherwise quite sexy. Padme needs some general stuff, and Civ and Mare are excited to help her with that task.”

Alyssa said, “I think I know just what Kai needs. If I may?”

“Please,” responded Kai.

She took us straight to what we wanted, a sheath that was tight on Kai, but gave only strong hints of her skin ... where there was material.

Alyssa stated, “You’d have to be careful donning this so that you don’t accidentally stretch or even tear the long gaps down the sides.”

Most of us then helped Katherine put new stock on recently bare shelves and on a few new displays that replaced scorched ones. We departed about 1.5 hours after we arrived, with Padme carting a couple of large bags and even Mia having bought a few things.

Seamus arrived about a half-hour after our return from Armoire and we had lunch nearly ready. When we sat, Brit initiated the discussion with him about our pool and lifesaving. He explained about being a lifeguard and the training he had taken including first aid and lifesaving.

“It would probably be a good thing if at least a few of you went through the training, as private pools’ owners can be liable for injuries or deaths. Most problems with pools involve very young children, like five or under, so you don’t have that problem. I strongly suggest no roughhousing around the perimeter of the pool, as that’s the cause of a large portion of the rest of the problems. Always look before you dive into the pool. Don’t swim high or drunk.” When he got a bit of pushback, he responded, “I know. None of you do weed or other drugs and you don’t drink. Right?”

Heather replied, “No! Absolutely not. We greatly enjoy our life as it is, without any of that. At least, I can speak for the freshmen.”

Meka followed with, “I can speak for my class’s residents. We also know that Celeste used to do some of that, but not since her senior year in high school at the very latest. Particularly since we’ve all come together here, as Heather said, we have wonderful lives here without that.”

“Well, make sure whenever you have guests that you make them be careful and pay attention to how they act, talk, or smell.”

Rhee responded, “We don’t invite just anyone here. In fact, you’re one of the very, very few people we’ve invited here who are not part of our group.”

He furrowed his brow and asked, “Really?” When many of us nodded, he said, “I’m truly honored, then. I wasn’t aware of that.”

Civ came back with a smirky grin and told him, “You should be. We’re picky about girls and we’re very picky about guys we invite. You should know that you’re the very first boy who is not part of us we’ve ever invited here, and we’ve yet to invite a second one.”

Seamus stared at Civ for a while, slightly bowed his head to her, then said, “Thanks, Civia, girls. I ... I don’t know what else to say.”

Meka responded, “We were considering inviting you earlier in the team’s season, but we decided to be even more careful. We’d have invited you earlier, but our lives got more hectic in April and May, so we waited until after school got out.”

Brett stepped in, saying, “We’re considering your suggestion of a party for the team, but probably not until after the season is over. However, we’d like to invite you a few more times before then if you’re willing to teach us particulars about pool safety. We might need to know more stuff like that if we decide to host a team party.”

“I’ll gladly help in that vein. Just give me a day or two of advance notice.”

“We will,” I responded, “and we greatly appreciate your willingness to help us. We’ll try to arrange those visits when we have more free time.”

Civ’s shopping team went on the secondary shop a day late and took Charlie with them so that he could take them to look into the greens-and-veggies fridge we probably needed. The rest of us conducted the thorough house cleaning and yard maintenance we had put off on Saturday.

June 29, 2018 (Friday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

We showered after returning from practice and then joined Kath in the kitchen already preparing lunch.

Katie asked, “What are these? Yes! Crepes, but ... Oh, is this smoked salmon and cream cheese? Holy hell, Kath! Thanks! How can we help? What still needs doing?”

Excitedly, Mare piled on, “Really? What do we need to do? It seems like you’re limited by the crepes. Is there any way we can work around that, or will this be like homemade pizza night, and we’ll eat ‘em as we make ‘em?”

Kath grinned at Mare, then answered, “Check the warming oven.”

When she did, she exclaimed, “Holy moly, Kath. How long have you been working on this?”

Before Kath could answer, Cera asked, “Can I charge LA members for using my tagline even though I didn’t invent it?”

There was much chuckling.

Kath had made a pile of crepes, but we did wind up making and eating them at the same time.

Halfway through, Gracey stated, “These are incredibly tasty, and I’d like them added to the regular rotations in the compound. Of course, even ... two-burner crepe makers are pricey. Is there such a thing as a four-burner maker?”

Kath replied, “I’ve never heard of such. It does seem a shame that there’s no way to make crepes in bulk. We could make hundreds of pancakes between the stove and a couple of electric fry pans, but, apparently, not crepes.”

Gracey sighed heavily, then said, “I guess we can’t put this into any kind of regular rotation, although I wonder if we could experiment with the crepe batter in pancake-cooking situations.”

Meka responded, “We should do that. Some of us could look into that while others work on the butts-and-balls photo, but, Gracey, if you’ll organize it, I’ll gladly help. Like you, I’d like those much more frequently than once in a blue moon. Kath, those were fantastic! Thanks!”

Brett volunteered to be on the crepe-making team, at least partly because we would have banished him from the backyard while we put together the photo. We spread on the lawn a couple of old sheets that we often use as drop cloths, after which we laid the girls out naked on their fronts so Brit could paint soccer balls on their butts. Meanwhile, Rache and Lana got in some more practice with the camera drone. Brit painted all the black-and-white balls first, and she wonderfully made each ball unique, painting each in a different orientation and with differing grass stains. She then tackled the Vizari, which, with the flowers, was complex, both in colors and presentation.

When the drone crew joined us when Brit was nearly finished, Lana exclaimed, “You’re amazing, Brit! That’s simply spectacular!”

Before Brit could respond, Rache tagged in, “I agree. You definitely give us some options that we would not have without you.” She changed tones to something more serious and asked, “Have you considered this to be something for Ms. Sullivan?”

Brit pulled her brush up from Mare’s butt, looked at Rache, and answered, “Yes, but only briefly. This is not my idea. I just came up with an addition to your idea.”

“True. Please let us know if we can help with your idea ... of which you’ve provided not even a hint, other than it uses body paint and, presumably, naked LA members.”

From the turf, Mare stated, “I want in.”

Brit looked severely at Mare, responding, “I’m sorry. That just can’t be. While there’s room in there for a 12-year-old butt and a ten-year-old butt, I just see no place for a 13-year-old butt.”

Mare initially had a crestfallen mien, but then began shaking her head at Brit and reprised something from the Go5, saying, “You funny, girl,” in a horrible Oriental accent.

There was some chuckling and snickering.

After the paint was applied and dried, we set up the scene on the lawn, nicely cut yesterday.

During that setup, Lana squeaked, then said, “Just a thought, Brit ... and everyone. I don’t know if it would be something useful for some artwork, but we could probably let the lawn grow and cut it in some particular fashion if...”

“Cool idea! I’ll keep that in mind.”

Rache looked at Brit and added, “Yes, that’s something I could imagine using, although I have no idea how, now.”

With the girls and balls positioned, Rache and Lana proceeded to spend the next ten minutes taking photos with the drone camera at different heights, after which Rache said, “That should be it. Thanks, girls!”

Taylor replied, “That was so fun. Thanks for including me. And can I keep my soccer ball? How long will it last?”

“No prob. If you wear a panty, if it’s a silky one, the paint won’t wear off as quickly as it would with a cotton panty. Also, Brit’s got an idea she hasn’t explained, yet, but it will involve everyone here, although I don’t know when we’ll get to it.”

Once the other parents arrived for the get-together, Sandy and I gathered the Paleceks, Martins, and Steph, with Sandy saying, “We wanted to let you vote on a few aspects of ... participants. First, we’d like to include the Abernathys permanently. If you have any concerns, please voice them.”

The five parents looked around at each other until Alicia responded, “The only concern I’d have would be the number that the hot tub can hold. Although the number of participants may be approaching the tub’s limit, with lap-sitters, we still have more than sufficient room for three more.”

I replied, “Liya wanted to add one more lap-sitter if that’s okay.”

“That’s not a problem,” answered Richard, with Emma supplying a similar response.

I continued, “While we may have one more to add to Fridays soon, I think we’re done recruiting after that,” and sent a shrug and a half-smile around.

Kalina replied, “I don’t know how you do it, Beth, but you ... girls seem to attract only people who fit with all of us. At some point, the number of participants would get just too large, and I suspect we’re closely approaching that.”

Sandy responded, “It is, and we’d like to cut participation off after the LA’s next addition. I also suggest that we turn the meal into something like a potluck, although it should be a coordinated potluck so we don’t wind up with three to five of the same or very similar dishes.”

Emma followed with, “Someone should be the official coordinator of the meal, and we could move that task among us each week.”

I suggested, “Why don’t we discuss that ... and take volunteers or assign the task for the next few weeks ... in the tub?”

When everyone agreed, I added, “The second topic we had tonight was something of a clothing discussion. First, Civ and Taylor would both like to be topless here. In the LA, we allow for both because neither has begun growing breasts. Would anyone object?”

Kalina quickly chimed in with, “Relevant to that, Civ is also allowed to be topless at our house for the same reason. We’ve told her that her clothing rule will change as soon as she begins developing.”

Richard commented, “I suspect that I should allow Alicia to respond to this for us but, at the risk of being considered a dirty, old man, I have no problem with that proposal. Over the months of these get-togethers, we’ve all gotten to know each other much better and have become friends, good friends. We’ve all greatly relaxed here, which has allowed all of us to be ... much less covered by our apparel, such that we all now arrive in swimwear, spend the evening in swimwear, and depart in swimwear, and with that swimwear being decidedly skimpier than when we started this. While I think we don’t want Fridays to become clothing optional, I think we can deal with prepubescent girls being topless as it seems to fit with the ... general clothing parameters for the get-togethers, that is, clothing the ... more-sexual parts of our bodies, but leaving the rest uncovered.”

Sandy cut in with, “Assuming that everyone agrees with Richard, his words provide an excellent segue to the final item we wanted to discuss. We have two women here, now, that ... prefer to be naked within the compound. Steph is one of those and the sheath she’s wearing is something of a compromise; the same is true of Kai. Is the skin-hugging sheath that is only somewhat translucent, and with Kai’s having long side gaps, acceptable attire for those two?”

There were many wide eyes, but Jeff quickly answered, “We ... I don’t know why Steph is being naked here, but we’ve talked to Kai about her preference when we visited last weekend ... and she was naked at the time. While we ... my wives and I ... might be amenable to having them being clothed here however they want, even if that were unclothed, I think we should keep the multi-family get-togethers from being clothing optional.”

Alicia responded, “I agree with Jeff, but with the understanding that, although I doubt we would get there, we could revisit the subject should all the families wish to do so. The most important thing about all this is that all of us are comfortable here. While I can almost imagine getting to the point where we’re all comfortable enough with each other and like each other enough that these get-togethers could be clothing optional, we’re nowhere near that, now, and I cannot see coming to be that close anytime soon.”

Sandy looked around, then said, “Thanks, all, for your thoughts, and I greatly appreciate the frankness with which they were presented. I’m more and more happy with how these get-togethers have ... changed our lives. I’ve been amazed at how close we’ve all become, and that closeness has made our family’s lives more interesting and rewarding. Thanks, everyone.”

I quickly jumped in with, “I look at this group right here as something of the ... executive committee of these get-togethers, and I want to let you know that I’d like to add another member to the ... LA representation on the committee. I’d like...”

Kalina cut me off with, “Beth, you’re welcome to name any of your girls to the committee, but I’d suggest that one of the older girls and/or Brett would be the best options. I also think that Raven and Mia should be added to this ... committee.”

“Thanks. I was thinking primarily about Meka and Celeste as options, but I can see Brett being important, too. I also agree with your suggestion about the Abernathys. Thanks, Kalina.”

After dinner, Liya announced, “The first-round lap-sitters are ... Civia on Kai, Char on Nira, Gracey on Kalina, Kim on Cera, Mia on Padme, Liya on Jim, and Inez on Richard!”

“Oooh, Alicia. I hope you won’t mind me making time with your husband.”

“So long as it’s only time ... in the literal sense,” Alicia riposted. “I’ll be keeping at least one eye on you, so don’t let me see you making anything else,” and gave Inez a huge grin.

“I’ll make sure you don’t see anything else!”

There was much laughing.

Once we were all situated, Raven said, “Inez and Alicia ... and all. First, to all, thanks for allowing my family to take part in this. Last week was enjoyable and this week has already been so. For the two bantering women, I want to tell you ... and everyone else, that living in the J recently has enabled my family to alter, somewhat, how I teach my girls. Most parents of 10-year-old girls would not appreciate the sexual banter that Inez and Alicia carried on, but I tell you that it’s fine for us. The girls have had some recent discussions at dinner with all of us present that have treated sex in some fashion. I’ve always tried to instill in my girls the knowledge that sex is both a serious subject ... and one that is fun and about which joking can be appropriate. Taylor might ask me about that repartee, and I’ll be happy to explain to her ... with these words ... that good friends like this group can joke about sex with each other. Happenstances such as just occurred provide grist for future positive discussions with Taylor and Mia, so please don’t hold back too much. I’d appreciate such not devolving into graphicness, but it would be fine if Alicia were to thank Inez for getting her husband excited, thus enabling a more-exciting-than-usual sexual encounter when the two of you get home tonight ... if that’s your response.”

“Oh, that will certainly be my response. It’s worked exactly like that every other time Richard has had a lap-sitter. You’ll note that Inez’s selection was the seventh one, so I appreciate Liya adding another lap-sitter tonight! Inez, feel free to get my guy riled up!”

Inez slouched on Richard more, put her head back onto his right shoulder, moved her left hand so that her arm was wrapped around Richard’s neck in counter-clockwise fashion, then asked Alicia, “Like this?”

“Oh, yes. You look quite wanton like that, and I’ll bet there’s already a lump pressed into your backside somewhere.” Alicia turned to Raven asking, “Is that sufficiently non-graphic?”

“On the edge, but not over.”

“Thanks, Raven.” She rattled her brain briefly, then said, “We’ve never before had friends this close, so could never do anything at all similar to this. These get-togethers are so fun. So much so, that we’d like to have a group discussion – not here and now – about moving these to Saturdays as proposed by Sandy a few weeks ago. We’d be more than happy to spend eight or nine hours here with this group.”

Liya announced, “The second round of lap-sitters consists of Steph on Gracey, Andy on Kim, Lana on Rhee, Katie on Brit, Kath on Jeff, Emma on Raven, and Padme on Maren.”

Emma grinned, then asked, “Raven, would you mind sitting next to Jeff so I can keep an eye on that cute Kath while she’s sitting on my husband’s lap?”

There was much laughing.

June 30, 2018 (Saturday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

Coach stated, “Nine of you got goals today! I find that incredibly satisfying. Sophia got her first slamming that PK past a goalie who had correctly guessed which way to dive. Amazingly, that means only Smythe is without a goal this year, and she gets the next Argon PK. As with some of the others, Emma, you may take some extra PK practice with Rhee and Marli at our next practice.

“Other interesting bits include successful streaks by Heather, Tonda, and Dakota. Even more interesting is that Sophia got the assists for the two Argon streaks, bringing her league and season totals to three! Way to look up, Sophia!”

Sophia received many pats as well as a hug from Mila, who said, “I’m happy you got an assist out of it, but I’m even more happy that you stopped that girl, as she had me beaten. I’d have hated giving up the team’s clean sheet in the last two minutes of the game!”

Coach came back with, “Even more interesting about that assist is that it was the team’s 100^th in the league this year!” After the following hullaballoo, she added, “For those who can’t do the math in their heads, that’s ... ten ... assists ... per ... game!”

Again, after waiting out the response, she added, “I doubt the league has previously had a team get triple-digit assists in a full season, much less after only ten games. Now, onto goals. With six regular-season games to go, we sit at 111 after our 11-goal shutout, and that means that Zala’s goal in the last few minutes against Watermelon on Wednesday was our 100^th league goal. Unless we all fall down, we should be able to top 150 goals during the season!” She talked over the vocal reaction, saying, “I don’t know what the league record is, but to reach 100 goals in 16 games requires an average of almost seven goals per game.”

She looked around at us as most of us created yet another hullaballoo, then stated, “I don’t know why or how there are so many 15-year-old Elkton girls who wanted to excel at soccer, born or moved here, but you girls are why we’re where we are. I’ve never seen an age cohort that was so dominant in league play, here or anywhere I’ve ever played or coached.”

She smiled, then returned to team goals with, “With Tonda’s brace today, she has 15 goals this season, tying Char for team and league leads, with Rhee and Civia tied two goals back and Mia two goals back of them. Davison on Springfield’s team had 11 going into today, so she’s in the mix at the top of the goals table, but unless someone else had a really good game today, Davison and our five are the only ones with double-digit goals. I’ll also point out that Davison and Tonda are the only two with double-digit goals who’re not league seniors.”

After Liya recapped our upcoming schedule, Seamus announced, “Only two team members have earned multiple game balls, and her goal and two bombs to successful streakers get Sophia Reynolds into select company. Congratulations!”

After a quick group shower, we joined the W and Palecek parents for lunch in the pavilion. Once lunch was done, most of the LA and parents, as well as the Abernathys, hit the pool while Meka, Rache, and I had a long, involved session with Kalina about businesses, discussing both why and how.