Chapter 238

July 3, 2018 (Tuesday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

We arrived at the Baskerville pitch a bit after 9:00. After a quick pit stop, we started into the usual stretches and warmups. While sitting on my butt and stretching my legs, I saw Kath and Emma chatting with Coach. Since Mare was stretching not far from me, I asked her about that.

“She told us she was coming with Kath. Work’s slow for her now, so she’s taking advantage of that. You know she’ll be at the compound this afternoon to begin her ... interviewing. Right?”

“Yes, but I don’t recall her telling me she’d be at our game. I’m glad, but a little surprised.”

Argon started the game, but Coach was going to give Mila some frontline time late in the half. The starters were slow to get going, but after the 12^th minute they started looking good and notched the goal of the game in the 17^th minute. On a corner kick from the right side, Dakota came up from her right half slot to take it, and kicked it very short to Padme. The two of them beat Baskerville’s left half with a give-and-go, after which Padme sent the ball to Haven in the center outside the box. When someone challenged her, she sent it left to Kanda, who held it unchallenged for ten seconds or so, then hit Mia running into the left side of the box with a superb pass. Mia was spectacular! She headed it softly over their right back, got it on her head again on the other side, let it drop to her right knee, that she brought up to knock it to her left foot in order to send a grass-grazer back downfield to Lissa who was just inside the box, centrally. Lissa one-touched it to Padme hauling butt from the far right of the box toward the right post. Just before their left center back reached her, Padme chipped the ball softly to Tonda just left of the center of the goal, and she calmly headed the ball into the goal.

“Gather ‘round!”

When she had quiet and our attention, Coach asked, “Was that corner-kick goal designed?”

Lissa replied, “Not ... specifically, but sort of. We didn’t design that to go from player A to player B and on through the various touches. However, Kanda thought that if we had a corner and if Baskerville let us kick it short, then, if we could send the ball around the box, then back in, we might confuse the D.”

“Oh, you did that! From the kick, it went from right half to right wing, to center half, to left wing, to sweeper, back to the right wing, and then to our center forward for the goal. The speed with which the ball traveled around the box was probably a critical factor, because all their D could do was chase after the ball. All the passes were to teammates who were not covered tightly at the time ... or even at all. Mia, I thought your handle was the best of the lot. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone head the ball to herself on the other side of her defender and receive it on her head. Did you plan to do that?”

“Not originally, but as the ball was arriving, their right back realized that she had let me disappear briefly, so she came sprinting back out to me. Had I let the ball come to my feet originally, she’d have been there and could have scotched the play.” Mia shrugged, then finished, “So, I headed it over her, ran past her as she tried to put on the brakes, got the ball to my foot, saw their right center back coming at me, so sent the ball hard to Lissa who was, somehow, freaking wide open.”

“Yes, she was, and rather than trying to pop the ball through the bit of a jam in front of the goal, she one-touched the ball back to Padme. I think that play has promise. Liya, please make a note to fiddle with that on Thursday. I’m going to pre-empt ... Who’s doing Argon attagirls?”

“I am.”

“Okay. I’m going to pre-empt Katie by giving Kanda an attagirl for a very interesting – and successful – idea. Thanks, Kanda! Haven, what did you start feeding your wing halfbacks mid-season last year?”

“Brain food, Coach. Lots and lots of brain food.”

There was much chuckling ... while Coach slowly rattled her brain, a wide smile on her face.

Katie began with, “Attagirls to Dakota, Padme, Haven, Mia, Lissa, and Tonda for that around-the-box goal. Whaddaya think, Beth? ATB corner kick?”

“Works for me!”

Katie went on with, “Tonda, have you ever scored an easier goal than that?”

“Nope. The ATB certainly flustered them. I assume everyone saw that their right center back left me when Mia sent the ball to Lissa because she was, and I quote, ‘freaking wide open.’ Two quick passes later, I was in front of the box with no one within eight or ten feet of me. I’ll be interested to see the wrinkles we can add to that on Thursday.”

Katie gave attagirls for another six or seven minutes to cover a bunch of other good plays and the six other goals, ending with, “The final attagirls go to a couple of ... infrequent scorers. Attagirls to Lissa for feeding Mila and to Mila for a well-placed shot for a goal just before the half ended. Coach wanted to talk about Argon using the Krypton offense with Mila at one of the inside striker positions, so she’ll follow me. I give a very hearty attagirl for the run Smythe made up the right sideline and one to Dakota for going with her all the way. Girls, I’m sure Baskerville will prefer to see another give-and-go ... never, including the wonderful fake give-and-go that finally sprung Smythe loose for her first-ever competition goal! Congratulations!”

After a few moments, Katie ended with, “Coach?”

“First, that was a great run Emma and negates the need for you to take a PK, however that option is still available to you. Second, thanks to Haven for her willingness to be shortchanged on field time today so that Mila could have some time on the front line and allow the Argon O to play with Krypton’s 3-2-1-4. First, Kanda and Dakota, for there being only two of you in the midfield, you did very well. Neither of you were at all at fault for their goal, but that there were only two of you played a large part in it. Even though neither lineup has given up many goals, perhaps half of those can be laid at the feet of the O-heavy formation, and we suspected that would be the case when we decided to go with it for Krypton. Of course, we get lots and lots of goals from that O-heavy formation, a bit more than ten times more than we give up, at least in league play, so I have no problem with giving up a few goals.

“Lissa, what did you think of that formation, today?”

“We scored four goals in the 17 minutes we played with the 3-2-1-4, and only three goals in the other 28 minutes. We gave up a goal with each formation. That’s roughly one goal scored and one-third of a goal given up every 10 minutes in the 3-3-1-3 and one goal scored and one-quarter of a goal given up every four minutes in the 3-2-1-4. However, their D was getting pretty tired in that final 17 minutes, so that was probably an important factor that’s difficult to take into account easily. At worst, switching formations was a wash, but I suspect that the balance was in favor of the Krypton formation. However, I suggest that if we do this again, Haven should stay on the field while either Kanda or Dakota sit.”

Before Coach could respond, Dakota somewhat loudly stated, “Of course we should take turns if we do that again. As Beth has been using in huddle breaks recently, ‘Family on three. One, two, three, family!’”

She was surprised when everyone responded loudly with “Family” when she said that.

“See? We’re ... family now. We play for each other. Not that any of us has ever truly played for ourselves, but we’re obviously tighter than we were at the beginning of the season. In fact, I’d say we’re tighter than we were late last season when we rolled over almost everyone in both tournaments.”

Dakota’s words were met with thought-considering silence until Coach responded, “I agree. I also agree with your analysis, Lissa. All parts of it. The 3-2-1-4 might well get Argon a few more goals, but if we do that again, we should start the half with it to see if we can generate some estimate of the fatigue factor, not that it’s at all critical.”

Seamus began giving out Krypton attagirls with, “The team managed to exactly duplicate the goal spread among the two lineups that we achieved in the GV game, seven for Argon, nine for Krypton. That means this is going to take a while.”

There was much chuckling.

After attagirls, Coach stated, “Since Seamus took so very long to do his job...” There was much snickering, after which Coach continued, “We’ll discuss the results of so much scoring here today when we reconvene on Thursday.”

There was much rejoicing.

Kim took the floor to say, “With her goal and another four-assist performance, Beth Williams joins the roster of multi-gameball winners this year!”

Having gotten lunch on the road, we finally rolled into the J a bit before 2:00 with most of us stripping to our skin, but with Brett and the young girls in typical attire for the situation and with Jim already dressed so. All the girls, even Taylor, have become used to most of each of our guys’ butts being in the air when “dressed.” We had taken measurements of Jim enabling Katherine to make him four ... panties like she had made for Brett. Jim’s were not quite perfect, but we expected that given that he had not gotten the final close-form adjustments that Brett had gotten in Katherine’s house [Chapter 187]. Emma was with us, too, and wearing a bikini.

Civ stated, “Let me get tonight’s bed partners selected before we do anything. However, I’m greatly in need of some pool time.”

Liya responded, “We’re surprisingly free today, so I’m all for that.”

“Okay. Tonight’s visitors to Mare’s and my bed are ... Heather and Kath!”

Kath looked surprised, then said, “You included me in the mix?”

“Yes! You’re a full LA member. Why wouldn’t we include you?”

“Your parents won’t think it’s weird for me to sleep with you in your bed in their house?”

Emma replied, “We could think it’s weird and still permit it. As Civ said, you’re a full LA member, and we approved them inviting two LA members every Tuesday and Wednesday nights.”

Kath smiled at Emma, saying, “Thanks. But what would you think about Jim being in the mix? He’s now a full LA member, too.”

Emma stared at Kath with wide eyes, then shook her whole body and said, “That’s not come up in our internal parental discussions about that.” She breathed deeply once, then added, “But, we agreed to it, although we didn’t know Jim was a member. While we’ll have to discuss it, I think we’ll be okay with Jim taking part.”

Kath looked gently at Emma then asked, “Although the odds are slight, what if the selection for a Tuesday were Brett and Jim?”

Emma stared again at Kath, rattled her brain, and then said, “We’ll certainly have to discuss that. We expected Brett at some point, but ... Yes, we’ll need to discuss that.”

Kath kept on her with, “I understand that you’ve given them control over when they become sexual and that they may have their lovers in their bedroom at your house. What if they had opted to become sexual and invited both guys to their bed?”

Emma was quick off the block this time with, “Well, they would first have had to come to us for IUDs, but I understand your point. We’ll have to discuss that.”

I jumped in, saying, “We decided that we wouldn’t permit both guys to join them.”

I was surprised when Emma responded, “Please, let us discuss that possibility, but I’d prefer if the LA made no such sweeping ... restrictions on our girls in our house.” When I began to justify the decision, she held her hand up and said, “No. I fully understand that you decided that so we wouldn’t go ... apeshit over something like that, possibly restricting their options, ourselves. That would certainly be something to which we’d have responded negatively had it been sprung upon us, but, please, let us discuss that, and we’ll let you know Saturday where we stand. That is, if you’ll be willing to join us at our house for the afternoon and dinner then.”

“All of us?”

“Yes. We know quarters will be tight, but we can spend at least some of the time in the backyard.”

I smiled at Emma and replied, “We’d like that. Thanks.”

“We figured we’d better get that invitation in before the super-family get-togethers get switched to Saturdays.”

After a couple of hours spent in and near the pool, the Paleceks, Kath, and Heather departed for the Palecek house. The rest of us welcomed Raven home when she arrived while we were preparing a dinner of Indian-spiced tilapia sticks. Jim had been the one to do the shopping for the ingredients and had cut the tilapia into one-inch-thick sticks while we were at the game. Unfortunately, the agreement that allowed Jim to spend every weekday with us precluded him from getting far from the medical services of Elkton, so he couldn’t travel with us. The W parents joined us to eat in the pavilion, with Dad wearing a brief and the Moms just their skin; the non-young girls of the LA and Raven were also sky clad.

During dinner, Taylor took advantage of a lull in conversation to ask, “Mom, may I get panties like Padme and the other young girls have?”

“You understand that your butt would be bare and that the three guys here would be able to see it. Right?”

“Yes. Mare told me that they consider bare butts to be ... non-critical. Is that the right word?”

“I think so, if you mean that no one is too concerned about bare butts, like on Jim and Brett.”

“Yes. I wouldn’t mind that. May I?”

“You may. Do you want to go with the girls to Armoire d’Amour to get some the next time they go?”

Taylor squealed, “May I?”

Raven slowly nodded her head once, after which Taylor abandoned her seat to crawl into her mom’s lap, to which Raven said, “You’re getting a bit too big to do that but, just this once, do you want to eat our wonderful dinner while on my lap?”

Taylor hugged her mom tightly, then curled her head onto Raven’s shoulder and began whimpering quietly.

“What, Honey? Why are you crying?”

“I’m ... I’m so ... happy here. I wish we could live here ... always.”

“It is fun here, and both you and your sister aren’t lonely, anymore, with all these friends.”

Taylor lifted her head, responding, “Yeah, and I can be naked a lot and wear only a panty when guys are around and there’s a great pool and everyone’s so friendly and happy and the ... Go5 parents are so fun and friendly and I sometimes get to practice with the older girls and the...”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you saying that you like being here more than our house?”

Taylor looked into her mom’s eyes and softly answered, “Yes. I love it here.”

Raven stared into her youngest daughter’s eyes for a bit, looked over at Mia, then to me, and asked, “Beth, what do you think?”

“We’ve enjoyed the three of you being here, but the important thing to us is what you think.”

She heaved a long, drawn-out sigh, then replied, “I’ve been as lonely as my girls have, and I’ve greatly enjoyed being here like they have. I’ve had wonderful adult conversations with you girls, with Kath and Jim, and with your various mothers. I tried to resist enjoying it so much, but I feel like Taylor and Mia feel. I don’t know how I can deal with our house or what to bring here given how relatively little space there is here.”

I said, “Raven, I’ve been canvassing the LA over the past few days. We’re unanimous. If you three want to join the LA, we’ve already voted you in.”

Her eyes went huge, although she quickly quashed Taylor’s excitement at my words, then asked, “Just like that? You offer all of us a place here?”

“Not just a place; membership.”

“With ... with full ... privileges?”

“Yes, including being sexual with our guys, although Taylor would have to wait for sex until the de facto limit of her 14^th birthday.”

She softly rattled her brain, then asked, “How can you ... share with so many?”

“That’s simple: Because so many share with me, with us. We all share each other fully with all the rest of us. Sex is not a requirement of LA membership, it’s a perquisite of membership. You ... and Mia may have as much of us as you and we individually agree. Taylor is subject to the same rules as the other young girls. You need not accept our offer of membership, though. We won’t kick you out of the compound.”

She stared at me during a long stretch of what seemed absolute silence in the pavilion. There were no sounds of utensils on plates, no talking or even whispering, almost no breathing.

“Mia, what’s your vote?”

“Yes, Mom. I want in here.”

“Taylor?”

“Yes, please, please, please!”

She hugged Taylor tightly to her as I watched a tear roll down her right cheek, then she said, “We accept, Beth. Thank you, Beth, and thank you, everyone.”