Chapter 60

September 8, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

I woke well before the alarm and found myself on the outside. Somehow, Heather must have wormed her way between Rhee and me after I had fallen asleep and they had finished. I got up carefully and finished off yesterday’s diary entry and wrote this small chunk. Because Civia will be with us overnight, I will not get to writing further about today until tomorrow. Dad will be picking us up to cart us to school in a bit, so I’ve got to get cracking.

[Added September 10]

It turns out that I didn’t get to this day until the 10^th; the reasons will be obvious once I get the summary of September 9th written.

We got to enjoy a bit of learning in school today, in both math and history. Because Heather hurried off to the university after homeroom, she wasn’t with me when I ran into Shameka and Katie during class change, at which we waved at each other.

Practice was nominal, except for shooting practice. Coach had Shameka show off her newly acquired rocket, then had her explain how she had learned it.

Coach said, “Rhee, Heather, front and center.” When they got there, she continued, “Heather figured out some of the aspects of the mechanics of hitting a rocket and explained it to Rhee, who figured out how to do it in reality ... just last month. That gang of four from the premier team have now all managed rockets, though only Rhee has managed to get to the point where it is reliable and she’s nailed rockets with both feet. You all saw her first left-foot rocket here in practice. I am turning the last hour of practice over to these two. I want you all to listen to them, not just hear them. I want you to take what they tell you and try to implement it. As long as you make a good-faith effort of trying, I will be happy. That is because many, perhaps most, of the pros don’t have rockets. As example, the famed Lionel Messi, while he can shoot hard, lacks a rocket. Rockets are not a necessary part of your arsenal, but having one is very useful. Hands up for anyone that wants to tell all of us why a rocket is useful.”

A few hands went up, and Coach picked Abby.

“I can see a few reasons.” When Coach nodded at her, she continued with, “I’ll use Rhee as an example for the first reason. She won the scoring title in the premier league the past two seasons, but she did not have a rocket during either, so scored most of her goals from in close as a result of either or both exceptional passing within the offense or her exceptional dribbling skills. With a rocket, and one that the other teams know about, the D will have to guard her more closely outside the box, which will give teammates more options. For others, particularly for our defenders on set plays such as corner kicks, having Shameka or Kim with a rocket that she can hit from five yards outside the box provides the team more options.”

Coach looked around at all of us, then nodded and said, “Exactly right. With Shameka now having a reliable rocket, we can make a play on set pieces that would have our attackers pulling most of the D into the box and then passing back to her to slam it into the net. While I know that developing a rocket is not easy – I never managed it when I was playing, the more of us that have one, particularly in the midfield and back line, the more options we have. So, I want you to listen to these two carefully and do your best. Heather, Shameka, Rose, and Mila, you four go to the south goal, along with everyone from Smythe to the right. Rhee, Beth, Hope, and everyone else, go to the north goal. Each one of you, take a ball with you. I will go to the south goal; Liya will go to the north goal. Heather and Shameka and Rhee and Beth will explain and demonstrate at their respective goals. Rose and Mila, I want you two to split time in goal and shooting. Hope, you’ll be in goal the whole time. Next time we do this, you’ll split time with one of the other goalies.”

Coach then called on Katie, who had her hand up.

“I see what you did, Coach. You sent our shortest and tallest players to one end to teach and you balanced it with Rhee and Beth on the other end. That way, the average heights of the two teaching teams are nearly identical.”

There was much laughter.

Coach turned her face to the sky a bit and rolled her eyes melodramatically, but then grinned at Katie.

“Have at it,” she said.

Not surprisingly, we did not find any consistent rockets in any of the others. However, both Kim and Katie nailed one each, though Katie’s went wide. Despite the inaccuracy, she was smiling after she hit it.

“How did that feel,” I asked.

“Spectacular!”

I looked at her, then the rest of the players that Rhee and I were teaching, and said, “That’s the way it was for both Rhee and me. We did not have to see the actual shot, because it just felt so right. One of the biggest problems that all of us had, and the one that I see to be consistent here, is getting that whole-body follow through. The follow through in finesse shooting is different, and that’s all that all of us have done, for the most part, in the past. Think about that and what Rhee showed you. It’s looking like time, so each of you take one more whack at it and we’ll call it a day.”

Dad was waiting for the three of us plus Civia, then drove us to the Williams house. We rushed upstairs where Heather tapped at her phone a bit, then said, “Civia, you’re with Rhee.”

“Come on, Civia,” said Rhee. “We can beat them to the good shower head.”

Rhee quickly stripped off her clothes while Heather said, “They’re the same, you goof.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. You go on believing that.”

Rhee gave Heather a mischievous smile then headed toward the bathroom, a naked Civia following close behind. We joined them in the shower, Rhee already washing Civia’s hair.

Over the sound of the two water streams, Civia said, “This feels so good. I love it when one of you washes my hair. I also really like doing it for someone else. It’s so wonderful being here with my friends. I wouldn’t do it, but it’s so tempting to trade my parents for my friends. I wish I could have both, somehow, all the time.”

Though her eyes were closed, I smiled at her, then lifted my hands onto her head to help Rhee wash her hair.

“Oh, wow. That’s really wonderful,” responded Civia.

I “helped” for another half-minute, then Heather and I began our own washing duo. After we exited the shower, we ganged up on drying Rhee’s hair. With that task done, we all dressed and took our gym bags and ourselves downstairs.

“Civia, have you had Indian food,” Carol asked.

“No, but I’ve heard good things about it.”

“You wouldn’t mind if we went out to dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant, then?”

“Not at all. I’d like that.”

We did our usual, particularly when we’re introducing a newbie to a cuisine she’d never tried. We ordered a varied bunch of dinners and shared them around. Civia went crazy for the naan such that we had to order more before our dinners arrived.

“I’m sorry for eating so much of the naan,” Civia said.

Dad replied, “Think nothing of it. While naan may not be the best thing at an Indian restaurant, it’s close enough that we consider it de rigueur.”

Since Civia looked confused by the term, I explained.

“‘De rigueur’ is a term borrowed directly from French and means ‘required,’ not by law or ordinance, but by current fashion or expected local norms. It’s usually used the way Dad did in that something, like naan, is simply expected. We would not think of visiting an Indian restaurant without ordering naan. It’s just so yummy and gets your taste buds ready for the delights to come.”

“Okay. How is it spelled?”

I explained that it was too words, spelled them, and gave her the literal French translation, “of strictness.”

“Thank you, Beth. That is how my parents teach me new words. I really like learning new words.”

“That’s great! All of us do, too. Never be afraid to ask us about words you don’t know. That’s what each of us does when another of us introduces a word new to us. And don’t hesitate to tell us about a word that you’ve just learned. We might not know it.”

“What Beth didn’t say,” Rhee said, “is that she’s usually the one doing the introduction. I thought I’d let you know that in case you didn’t get it from the way that she just waded in once you looked confused. At least, if it’s just us girls. Unless it’s a technical term, Sandy is the one most likely to introduce a new word to us girls.”

Civia nodded her head, then looked at Sandy, asking, “Would you be willing to explain words to me that I don’t know?”

“Of course. As it is in your family, our family is also very keen on knowledge and learning.”

“Thank you, Sandy.”

Though she was a bit taken aback by the spiciness of the vindaloo, Civia said that it was her favorite, though not by much. She also really liked the daal and the lamb korma. All in all, it was a happy, tasty hour or so spent at one of our family’s favorite places. Carol drove the Sprinter to the Devlin house, where everyone piled out. We girls hugged Dad and the Moms good night and toted our gym bags into the house. Heather had her top off before Rhee got the front door closed and was naked not much after that.

After we were all nude, I said, “Let’s move the mattresses to where we’re going to sleep tonight before we do anything else. Civia, would you help me with one of them?”

“Sure.”

We stripped the sheets, then Civia and I turned one onto its side and began walking it to the back door.

“I’ll get the door for you,” Rhee said, as she hurried by us.

By the time that we got the unwieldy mattress to the door, Rhee had opened it and was holding it open outside. Heather was chatting with Civia as we approached the door, so she was almost out the door before she realized where she was.

“Whoa! Outside?”

“Yeah,” Heather replied. “It’s a nice night and we like sleeping outside when it’s like this.”

“B ... b ... but...”

“It’s okay, we’ve slept outside naked quite a few times. There’s a tall privacy fence, so no one can see us.”

Civia looked from side to side a couple times, then looked at Heather and asked, “Really? You’re not putting me on?”

“Nope. This will be our ... fourth night? Fifth night, Rhee?”

“Fourth, I think.”

As she had already dropped her end of the mattress, Civia tentatively stepped past the mattress up to me and looked around the back yard. The sun would still be up for another hour or so, which I think had Civia unnerved more than anything else.

Rhee said, “See, Civia, the only part of any house that we can see from here is the roof of that one. There aren’t any gaps between the slats, so there isn’t any way for anyone outside of the house and yard can see us. Well, except for a jet pack. However, if you’re nervous, we can just park the mattresses out here and not come back out until it’s dark.”

Civia inhaled deeply, released the breath, swallowed, bit her lip, then walked off the small patio and into the grassed yard. From watching her shoulders, she obviously took another deep breath, then slowly turned 360 degrees looking over the top of the fence the whole way around.

“Okay. I see your point, Rhee. I won’t be mad, but did you three purposefully do what you did so that I wouldn’t worry about this until we got here?”

“We did. We discussed it last night in bed. You’ve gotten comfortable with nudity in a few situations, and this one is not really all that different from being inside, except for getting to stare at the stars and watch for meteoroids while lying in bed. We’d have been out here last night, but the forecast called for a 40% chance of rain, and we didn’t want to chance it. While it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, it’s not supposed to start until the afternoon. We wanted to sleep out and we hoped that this would be the easiest way to get you to try being naked in the back yard. While there’s an aspect of ... naughtiness, it just feels good, as Heather says, feeling the slight breeze all over. And looking at the stars straight overhead while lying in bed is truly wonderful. Like Heather says, if you’re uncomfortable being out here while the sun is still up, we can hang out inside until it’s dark. If you’re uncomfortable about sleeping out here, then we can change the plan.”

Civia looked at Rhee for about ten seconds, then shook her head vehemently.

“No! I can do this. I’ve become comfortable being naked with my friends inside and if they’re comfortable being naked here, then I can do it, too. Besides, it’s logical that it isn’t all that different from wearing only my skin inside the house since no one can see into the yard except from inside the house.”

She then walked back to her end of the mattress and lifted it, and the two of us carried it out onto the patio. That got Rhee and Heather going to get the other mattress. I grabbed the sheets and a couple pillows, while Civia grabbed another couple pillows; we made up the mattresses once Rhee and Heather got them lined up.

Once we were standing around after making the bed, Heather said, “Now that we’ve convinced Civia to see things our way out here... [cracking out her big smile] I suggest that we go see if Katie’s working.”

“Oooh, that sounds good,’ responded Civia, while Rhee said, “I’m in.”

I nodded my head firmly, so we went back inside, got dressed, and headed to our favorite ice-cream parlor. Once there, Katie’s mom saw us and waved while she was attending another customer.

“Hi, girls,” she said when she was finished with that customer. “Did you want ice cream or to talk to Katie?”

“Both,” Heather said, “but the ice cream first. We have our priorities.”

With that, Heather gave Katie’s mom her sparkling-eyed smile and got a smile in return. When Katie’s mom was working on my order, Katie came out from the back.

“Hey, all. You could have had Mom call back for me.”

“Nah,” Rhee said. “We see you every day at practice. We see ice cream less often.”

“Oh, sure. I’ll just go back and look for more dishes to wash.”

I asked, “Could you sit with us a while?”

“For a few minutes, anyway, unless a gob of people come in.”

When we all had our cones or dishes, Katie walked with us to a corner table.

“Shameka said that you said that the words Coach said to you guys about the four-on-three drill were severe for her. Is that right? Because, I’ve had coaches that have yelled loudly for less reason than you gave Coach to reprimand you.”

In a brief glance around, I was elected, so said, “Yeah, that’s as loud as Rhee and I have seen her get in three years of playing for her. At least, for not practicing at 100%. For dangerous hijinks or things like that, she gets louder, but we’ve never heard her really yell at anyone. She’s a lot like my Dad in that, once you’ve spent a lot of time around her, she expects you to practice up to your ability. You still get the frequent quiet ‘attagirl’ from her, even when you haven’t done anything special, but have simply met her expectations. The premier-team girls, virtually to a girl, really like her as a coach, particularly after they have been around long enough to understand her system. A lot of the girls tell stories about yelling coaches. However, once you understand what she does when you fall well short of her expectations at practice, sometimes at games, she knows just how to give you a guilt trip, without raising her voice. There’s something about her that makes you want to meet her expectations and, oh, rapture, exceed them. Rhee and I have, for the most part over the past two years, nearly always met her expectations and, frequently, exceeded them. We’ve worked extra just to try to be able to exceed those expectations. It gets harder and harder to do once one gets skilled enough.

“The thing is, with Thursday, the three of us each probably knew that as individuals we were not doing as well as we could. As Heather said when talking to Shameka about this, she was waiting for razzle-dazzle instead of creating it. Once she said that, I realized that I had been doing the same. Heather also said that Civia played well that afternoon, but she cannot carry the three of us by herself.”

“Uhh. Thanks, Heather,” said Civia.

“Well,” Katie said, “I’ve had a couple of real yellers as coaches, including the previous school coach. I’ll be happy to have a coach that doesn’t yell, though I’ll obviously have to make sure I practice up to ability!”

We all smiled at her, and our conversation drifted to other aspects of the high-school team. Shortly before the last of us had finished her ice cream, Katie went behind the counter to help serve a group of six that had come in. After we finished, we waved at Katie and her mom and headed back to the house. As we had decided on the walk home, once we’d doffed our clothing, Rhee rustled up an Uno deck and a pen and paper. The rest of us gathered various drinks and glasses and took them out to the mattresses. We pulled the low table over to the mattresses and prepared for battle as the sun disappeared behind the trees.

We played to 500, with the game being tight right to the end. Civia won as she went out on the last hand, beating me by 14 points, and catching Heather with a Wild card that she had not been able to play because she kept getting Skipped or had the order of play Reversed on her. We went inside to do before-bed ablutions, then returned, where we got under the covers and gabbed about many things while we watched the dark sky.

September 9, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

I woke to the sound of a revving motorcycle on the road in front of the house. Okay, so there are negatives to sleeping in the back yard.

“That woke you, too,” whispered Heather.

I nodded and, since I hadn’t opened my own eyes and I didn’t know if hers were, I said, “Yeah. How did you know I was awake?”

“You weren’t breathing in your sleep cadence.”

I turned my head to the right and opened my eyes and smiled at her. I slowly turned my head back to the left to look at Civia. She was curled into Rhee to her left, so I turned back to Heather and lightly kissed her on the lips.

“G’morning, Love,” I whispered.

“Morning, wife of mine,” she responded very quietly.

My right hand was under the sheet and blanket, so I moved it over and sought Heather’s hand. When I found it, we grabbed each other’s hand and looked each other in the eye. After nearly a minute, I slowly rolled my body toward hers and tucked my head onto her shoulder and just laid there enjoying ... life.

I must have drifted back to sleep, as I woke, again, when Civia stretched hugely. I surreptitiously kissed Heather’s neck, then rolled over to face Civia, whose eyes were waiting for mine.

“Good morning,” she said to me quietly.

“And to you. How did you sleep? How was it?”

“Wonderfully and great. I’m now officially comfortable with sleeping nude with my friends. The first time I woke in the middle of the night, I was on my side facing you and you were on your side facing Heather. My left arm was around your waist, with my hand on your belly. I began moving it off you but sat up a bit and saw that you were in almost the same position with your left arm over Heather, who was on her back. You were tucked more into her than I was into you, so I decided that none of it was bad, so I put my arm back around you and tucked more into you. I must have fallen back asleep almost immediately. The next time I woke, I was on my back and Rhee’s left arm was around me and she was tucked in tightly to me. I almost began crying, I was so happy. Not only happy that I have friends, but happy because they are such good friends that we all have no worries about spending hours together naked, even sleeping naked together, even tucked in together naked. I realized that I have not been this happy in many years. I’m so glad that you included me in this gang of yours.”

“You and me, both,” Heather said quietly, as she lifted her torso and placed her chin on my right shoulder. “My life is orders of magnitude better than it was before Beth and Rhee ... took me in, I guess.”

“What does that mean, ‘orders of mag ... nitude’?”

Heather and I quickly explained the concept as her eyes lit up in understanding.

“Oh, that’s neat. So, it doesn’t matter which way you go, but you change order of magnitude by going right or left in a number. Right?” With our nods, she asked, “So, the hundreds place is one order of magnitude larger than the tens place, but the ones place is an order of magnitude smaller than the tens place. Is that right?”

“You’ve got it,” Heather responded. “What is the ten-thousands place relative to the hundreds place?”

“That’s two orders of magnitude larger ... the thousands place, then the ten-thousands place. Two orders.”

Heather snickered, then said, “We’ll have you in Calculus by the time you’re in high school!”

“Oh, I don’t think that I’m as smart as you.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. There were kids in my algebra class last year that didn’t get the orders of magnitude thing. You picked it up in two minutes at the age of 11. All of math before calculus is just logic and extending the knowledge you have along logical lines to where you’re heading. Calculus is logic, too, but it’s logic of a different sort. Or, rather, more complex, anyway. Last night, you said that your dad had encouraged you to get ahead in math if you wanted to get ahead in school classes. I agree with yours and your dad’s logic that if you’re going to pick one class to try to move ahead in this year, math is the easiest, because it’s so logical and predictable.”

“Predictable?”

“Sure. If any system is logical, by definition it is predictable. Granted, you might need some outside information to be able to predict it, but with that knowledge, prediction is simple. All that advancing through levels of math is ... is learning that outside knowledge that you require to make the next predictions. You obviously learn easily and quickly, so I see no reason that you couldn’t get through an extra year of math each year of middle school if you really wanted to do it. And if you do want to do it, I’ll be happy to help you.”

“You would?”

“You’re one of my very best friends. Why wouldn’t I?”

Shades of Heather early in her relationship with us: Civia began crying quietly.

Rhee rolled over and asked, “Hey. What’s wrong?”

While shaking her head emphatically, she got out amongst sobs, “Nothing. I’m just so happy.”

Rhee wrapped her up, rolled her over, and pulled her into herself.

“You and Heather are so different, but so much alike. I guess I heard you talking, but I wasn’t awake enough to know what the subject was. Care to enlighten me? Or do I need to tickle it out of you?”

Civia’s sobbing was interrupted by a chortle, and then she got out, “No! I’ll tell you.”

Rhee petted Civia’s hair and rocked her slightly, waiting for her sobbing to cease, which took less than a minute. Civia recounted the conversation.

Rhee said, “Why wouldn’t you think that you’re one of our best friends? It’s not that common for 14-year-olds to have friends of any sort that are only 11. But you’re 11 only in years you’ve been alive, not in understanding and maturity. Beth and I were still little girls at 11; you’re not. We’re all ... all five of us ... your friends, and all five of us consider you to be among our best friends. If we can help you, we will. All five of us are ahead in math. Obviously, Heather’s another... [she smiled] order or two of magnitude ahead of us, but we can all help you with the math that you’re supposed to learn in middle school. It’s all straightforward. In fact, all 6^th- and 7^th-grade math is ... is preparing you for algebra 1 and geometry – and with lots of duplication in both years, and that’s where the four of us got ahead in math. For anyone that wants to learn math, taking two years to prepare you for algebra is wasting time. Hell! We could teach you the basics of algebra now, and I’ll bet you’d get it.”

Heather jumped in, saying, “Absolutely! Civia, those were the two most-boring years of math for me. It was horrible waiting for the other 20 or 30 kids to ‘get it’ before moving the next baby step forward. I have no doubt that we could get you to algebra this year, and that’s an 8^th-grade class. Your dad being good at math would make this even easier.”

“You could get me almost two years ahead?”

Heather nodded and said, “It would take some work on your part, but it’s not difficult work. Dad has all the middle-school and high-school math textbooks in the library at home. If the others don’t mind, we could go home and get the text for your class this year and show you how quickly you could move through it. Of course, we’d have to wear clothes for a little bit this morning, but we’d all be willing to do that for you. If we studied in our room ... Oh, wait. They’ll be working on our room this morning. How about if we walk over there and mooch breakfast, then grab the book and come back here. It’s still nice out. We could sit out here on the mattresses and play with 6^th-grade math. I’ll bet you’ve never studied math in the nude, before!”

Civia chuckled, but a chuckle that was part sob. She inhaled deeply, held it, gritted her teeth, then released it.

“I love you girls! Could we do that? Beth? Rhee?”

Each of us nodded at her when she looked at us. Heather threw the covers off her and me.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get our morning ablutions done and head back ... home.”

I sent the adults a text to warn them that we were coming for breakfast. Yes, they would not be naked with the construction crew there, but I did not actually know that the crew was there.

When we walked in the front door, I yelled, “This is a stick-up. Put your valuables on the table!”

Civia snickered; Rhee and Heather smiled.

“Sorry,” Sandy said when we entered the kitchen, “no valuables and no breakfast; we’d already finished. You’re welcome to make whatever you want.”

I leaned over Mom sitting at the table and hugged her, saying, “Hi, Mom.”

I repeated the actions with Carol and Dad, and the other girls did the same. We decided on huevos rancheros, since we had chile verde, so got cracking on it. As per usual, we split the various tasks (such as easy-over eggs, heating refried beans, warming tortillas) among us and in less than 15 minutes we were eating a scrumptious breakfast. I had the most previous experience getting the eggs just right, so I did that, and taught Civia the process. Dad had grabbed an extra chair from the dining room, so we four joined the parents at the kitchen table.

Dad said, “We didn’t think that you four would be here bugging us for food until lunch. What’s the deal?”

Wow, Dad,” Rhee responded, “you don’t want us here? I think I’m gonna cry.”

Heather crinkled her eyes and grinned at Dad, then Rhee. Dad lifted his eyes heavenward and rolled them but smiled at us. She proceeded to tell him our plan for the morning.

“Oh. Should I start preparing the university’s math department for another high-school girl to be taking calculus in a few years?”

Civia colored and ducked her head.

“Civia, Rhee and Heather are right. With some focus and effort, I would not be surprised to see you taking university math classes while you’re still in high school. I didn’t have the drive or even the epiphany about math at 14, much less at 11. For students with a strong interest, strong work habits, and some brain power, getting all the way from 5^th-grade math to calculus in a few years is not difficult.

“This is something that we’ve discussed in the math department. The pre-college route through the math progression is almost glacial, and we’ve discussed what an accelerated math program for post-elementary students would look like. It’s not that difficult, but it would have those pre-requisites that I already noted. In fact, I will bring this up at next week’s department meeting. We may be interested in advising you ... and your young instructors, here. With Heather’s needs, I now have something of an in with the high school’s math department. If we could get their buy-in, we may be able to smooth your way if you’re interested. You should talk to your dad about it, and if you both want you to move ahead, then we may want to meet with you, your parents, the high-school math department, and one or more of the university math department. What do you think?”

I saw Civia’s jaws clench, as if she were trying not to lose it. She surreptitiously inhaled deeply, then replied.

“I ... I’m ... um ... nonplussed. Beth taught me that word. I think I’m interested. In your math-department discussion, how many years for an accelerated math program?”

“Four. We think that four years would be fairly simple to cover the progression of math after 5^th-grade and before calculus.”

“You’re saying that you think that it would be... ‘simple’ to begin calculus when I entered 10^th-grade.”