Chapter 6

Late the next evening, Alicia and Greg were collapsed, naked, on a love seat at Lindsey’s. Without thinking, he reached over and took her hand. Belatedly, he tried to pull back, but she clamped down and let him know she wanted her hand in his.

“Julia really believes in her shock approach, doesn’t she?” Greg observed.

“I think if she detected that we couldn’t handle it, she would have backed off,” Alicia guessed.

The evening had been filled with employees coming by Lindsey’s to greet the pair. “Think any of those folks will recognize us with clothes on?” he joked.

“Think we’ll ever HAVE clothes on when we’re out here?” she retorted.

“Alicia, I’m amazed. By the time the last people showed up, you seemed like you were enjoying being naked.”

“And I’m sitting here feeling guilty about enjoying it,” she added. “The stuff we’re told when we’re little sure stays with us.”

There was a companionable silence, then Alicia announced “Julia said we could share a bed.”

Trying to stay calm and conversational, Greg told her “A major guy part of me wants to haul you off to the bedroom right now. I’m guessing there’s more involved here than being horny from the exposure.”

“Well, there sure is that,” Alicia commented. “The dreams weren’t even close. Look, Greg, I undressed because without experiencing nudity, I would be at a huge disadvantage trying to help Transformations. Well, if we start actually dealing with, uh, clients, there are a lot more things that will put me at a disadvantage.”

“I guess you’re talking about sex.”

“I’m talking about everything to do with sex. Greg, I haven’t done ANYTHING.”

When Greg did not respond for a while, Alicia jerked upright in her seat and exclaimed “Oh, Greg. I must sound terrible. I made it sound like the only reason I want to share a bed is because I need experience for working here. That’s ... I just don’t know how to say what I really feel. I’m so sorry.”

“Alicia, we’ve known each other a little more than one day. We’ve barely learned to talk to each other about work things. We haven’t even started on personal things. Remember, I had to apologize a lot in the conference room yesterday. Lets make a promise to each other not to get offended, OK?”

“Oh, yes. I need that. Look, Greg, I have been raised to be a virgin on my wedding night and only have sex with one man my whole life. It was never stated, but sort of implied that sex was a duty and not to be enjoyed for its own sake.

“More and more I am becoming convinced that psychology is the study of sex. Guess where that leaves me? I want to learn everything I can about sex, and I want to learn it right now. I feel I NEED to learn it right now.

“The problem is, I can’t just find a guy or guys to learn from. Everything I do has to mean something. There has to be honest feelings involved. Real love would be best, but respect, and admiration, and trust for sure. Please don’t let me frighten you away, Greg, but I feel those things for you, probably even the love. I’m just not sure yet how to decide when it’s love.”

“You know, Alicia, Mom is already anticipating grandchildren from us.”

“I just love your mom. We really clicked. I think one thing was her open, natural attitude toward things I always considered forbidden. I can’t see anything she says or does really being dirty or sinful.”

“Even her jokes about my penis?”

“Do you have any idea how much time I have spent wondering about - fantasizing about penises? If they are that important to women, how did they get labeled pornographic?”

“You really have some battles with what you’ve been taught, don’t you. What I was about to say, Alicia, is that when Mom started matching us up, I couldn’t think of any reason to object. She sure made me think.”

“Have you had a serious girlfriend?”

“Have I had sex? Yes. Have I had a girlfriend that I thought could one day be my wife? No.”

“Why not?

“You’ve met Mom. Don’t you think she sets a pretty high standard of comparison?”

“So you’re in the percentage of men that end up marrying their mother, huh?”

“Not at all. My future wife does not have to look like Mom or have the same skills or preferences. It’s just that the way she interacts with people, her sensitivity, and, well, her capacity for love - I won’t compromise on those things.”

“Tell me about your longest term girlfriend. Why did you break up with her?”

“Alicia, why do you want to know that?”

“I know too little about guys, Greg. I have two older brothers, but they both bailed out of home as soon as they could. There was too much age difference for me to learn much from them.”

“It lasted most of my junior year of high school,” he recalled, deciding to go along with her questions. “When the star running back asked her to prom, we were done.”

“Were you devastated?”

“Not really. I had already decided that she was not in the relationship just because of me. I treated her well, and I was socially acceptable. I had figured out that I was a placeholder for her. It’s hard to have strong feeling when you realize that.”

“Did you go to prom?”

“Yes. I invited a neighbor and childhood friend. We had a very good time, but never dated again.”

“I never went to a prom. Dancing was a no-no.”

“Have you learned to dance?”

“Some. I like it.”

“Alicia, when we get in bed together, what do you want to happen? I would rather you tell me when you can think clearly.”

“Oh, so you think you can make me lose my mind, huh?” she teased.

“I just don’t want you upset the next day if we go too far.”

“Greg, I’m twenty-one, a full adult. Let’s do everything but intercourse, for now. That is, everything you want to do.”

“Oh, I will want to do everything you let me. That’s why I asked.” With that, she got up and led him to the room.

REX

His decision to divorce Candace and leave her with the three children had never rested easily on Rex Jameson. Oh, he knew that no self-respecting man could live with the ultra-dominating shrew she had turned into. The fact that he could never understand why she changed so abruptly after Regan was born just made things worse. He had hoped that another child would fix things, but that turned out badly.

It was only in the last several months that Rex had become aware of what his ex was doing to his son. Of course, his initial reaction was to have Candace thrown in prison. However, he had not built his lucrative financial management business with hasty decisions.

Ever since the divorce, Rex had paid for periodic surveillance on his former family. He had intervened sparingly. Getting Candace her job was one of the few interventions. His increased attention came about almost by accident.

Rex now lived several hundred miles away. In the twelve years since he left, he had used the same agency, actually the Plonske Agency, for periodic reports. Jeanette, the agent regularly used by Transformations as protection for new residents at school, happened to comment to Rex’s agent about the young-looking boy she was sure had a constant erection. Well, Rex’s agent, Rene, knew that Randy was under-developed, and pressed Jeanette for details.

When he had evidence of what was happening, Rex decided that no one would benefit from Candace’s imprisonment. He had known for years that Cherry was a clone of her mother, but Regan had seemed different.

The family still lived in the house Candace had won in the divorce. An elderly neighbor woman had been a happy client of Rex’s before he moved his business away. Without directly contacting the neighbor, Rex got her primed to help Randy should he flee. The neighbor took it upon herself to speak to Randy one day and invite him to her house if he ever needed to get away.

That invitation, seemingly out of the blue, shook Randy and led him to act. He had endured for the usual reasons - nowhere to go for help and no evidence of his abuse. Oh, he suspected that if he went to the police, they would find the evidence. What would happen to him afterwards was his worry. The foster system did not have a great reputation among teens.

Now, it appeared that someone knew what was going on, and he could not stand that becoming public. Also, at least one person was offering some kind of help. Only two nights after the invitation, Randy showed up at the neighbor’s house.

Through his Plonske agent and from general publicity, Rex knew of Lindsey’s. The neighbor was armed with a cashier’s check to Lindsey’s for a year’s stay and a promise of more. She had that before she invited Randy. Even a cursory investigation would have revealed that kind of donation to be beyond the neighbor’s resources. In the flurry over Randy’s escape, though, no such investigation was made.

Though he knew it would not last if anyone looked carefully, Rex had managed to stay invisible throughout Randy’s escape and the arrest of the women. He knew he could not find out anything once the women were at Lindsey’s, and he did not try. When Regan went right to Lindsey’s one day after her ‘release’, though, he knew his invisibility would soon end. Being ‘discovered’ was not his way.

As accustomed to interruptions as they were, Julia and Frank were not happy to hear the doorbell early the Wednesday evening after the Jameson women were sent home. Frank answered to find a casually well-dressed man holding out a business card to him.

“Mr. Waxman, my name is Rex Jameson. My former wife is Candace.”

After a few minutes of introductions and an invitation to sit down for coffee, Rex took the lead. “First of all, let me freely confess that twelve years with no contact with my children is wrong. However, it was a terrible bargain I had to make to preserve some chance at a decent life.”

Rex was concerned when Julia and Frank spent a few moments looking at each other before Julia spoke. “Mr. Jameson, we are very aware of the state of the children’s service and family court situation here in the past. Are you aware of the legal actions that were triggered by the father of one of our clients?”

“Yes, I have heard. I suppose a better man might have spent his life battling such an unjust situation. Instead, I chose to get revenge by living well. I honored and exceeded all of the terms of the divorce. It seemed that Candace was being a good mother. It was only recently that I found out otherwise.”

Rex then recounted what he had done on Randy’s behalf. “We are very glad you acted when you did, Mr. Jameson, we...”

“Please, it’s Rex. Even my employees can’t use the Mr. Jameson tag.” They agreed on first names.

Julia resumed what she had been saying. “We discovered that such a donation from the neighbor lady was highly unlikely. You were the next suspect. As a matter of fact, as soon as some other pressing matters were cleared up, we were going to locate you for Regan.”

“R ... Regan? Does she even remember me?”

“Quite obviously she does,” Julia assured him. “Rex, we have some murky but serious confidentiality issues to deal with, here. I would much prefer if Regan, and perhaps Randy recount what has happened.”

“I can’t imagine Randy would even talk to me, considering what I let happen to him. Let me tell you what I know. As I’ve described, I know about the abuse and about Randy coming to live here. I know about the attempt to get him back, the arrest, and the fact that the women spent a little over two weeks at Lindsey’s. What went on here, I have not been able to find out.”

“Thank you for filling us in, Rex. I can’t assure you that Randy will want to speak with you. I can tell you that we have found Randy to be an exceptional young man. So much so, that while a resident at Lindsey’s, he is already on salary as a staff member.”

“But doesn’t that mean...? Wow, is that poetic justice, or what?”

“We had not thought of it that way,” Frank declared. “Our motives were Randy’s healing and strengthening our staff. We would not have hired him out of charity.”

“When can I see Regan?”

“Let me see what I can set up. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Julia instructed.

While she was gone, Frank and Rex talked about Transformations and its growth. In her closed office, Julia reached Muriel. “Muriel, please get Regan for me, then hang around for possible instructions.”

When Regan picked up, Julia warned her to sit down, then told her her father was at their home. “When we you like to see him?”

“Now! Please! Please!”

“I suspected so, but I needed to ask you. Oh, Regan, you can dress. Put Muriel back on.”

“Muriel, Regan’s father is coming out. Can you clear out all nudes and all visitors? We should be there in about twenty.”

As Julia, Frank, and Rex came through the door, Muriel whispered to Julia “I could’t clear out one of the nudes.”

“Regan?” Muriel nodded. “Not surprised.”

They led Rex to a fairly secluded area, where Julia warned him “I’m afraid you are in for a bit of a shock. We will leave you to handle it by yourself.”

They had not misspoken. Rex saw his naked daughter walking shakily toward him, holding onto his son for dear life. He barely managed to stand by the time they reached him.

Regan must have rehearsed what she wanted to say, and she somehow got it out. “D ... Daddy, this is not as dramatic as it seems. I h ... have to do th ... this. We’ll try to explain.”

Rex had decided not to reveal his role, but he thought it would ease things if he told what he knew. “I assume that when you and your mother and sister came here, Regan, it involved nudity. Is that right?” Regan kept trying to explain, but kept disintegrating into sobs. Randy filled in where Regan could not.

Seeming to time her arrival perfectly, Essie brought over a cart of drinks and treats. About to leave quickly, as she was probably supposed to, she turned to Rex and said “Mr. Jameson, I have become Regan’s closest friend here. When the women first arrived, I hated them, just like everyone did. Please, Regan’s not like the others. I think this,” and she gestured at Regan’s nakedness, “shows just how sorry she is for what she did.”

After lots of other questions, Rex finally asked, “Regan, what would you like to happen?”

“I’ve got another year of high school,” Regan started. “I have no family, no money, and more shame than I know what to do with. I ... I need to be here as long as they will let me. Then ... I just don’t know.”

“I’ll see that you stay as long as you need,” Rex promised. “Randy, what about you. It sounds like you have a home and a job until you want to leave. Here is a card with all of my numbers. I think you both need time to think about the future. I would appreciate a call next time we can visit, or maybe just to talk. Oh, please don’t give your mother those numbers.”

ALICIA, GREG, & GERALD, LATE JUNE

Greg tried not to feel intimidated by Gerald Magnuson, but it was not easy. Being naked did not help. Looking at Alicia, he was amazed that she could even speak. It had been just a week naked for them. It had taken that long for Gerald to find time to talk about Dr. Trusedale. They were in one of the seating areas at Lindsey’s. In his usual fashion, Gerald had done a good job of relaxing them and insisting on first names.

“Alicia, our general assessment of Vernon is that he is brilliant and knowledgeable but highly political,” Gerald told her. “That, of course, is not at all unusual for a department head. Unfortunately, it is usually not just excellence in their field that earns professors the leadership positions.

“Your opinions, however, are much harsher. The immediate loss of the three potential team members strongly supports your views, though.”

“Perhaps not entirely,” Greg jumped in. “I could have started it by showing up naked. The Waxmans put even more pressure on everyone by stripping. Believe me, the prospect of nudity to those unaccustomed is frightening.”

“That may be true, Greg. In hindsight, though, it seems obvious that those three would not stick. I’m guessing that he actually anticipated that none of you five would stay on the team.”

“So, you believe that was actually his motivation?” Alicia showed great relief at her views getting serious consideration.

“It fits everything I know about him, and it does not make me happy,” Gerald declared. “Listening to you, I realize I may have given him too much of a pass. That is not a mistake I make very often.”

“But you don’t deal with academics that often, do you?” Greg suggested. “I think there is a drastically different mindset than in the business world.”

“Hmmm. That makes sense. There certainly are differences,” Gerald agreed. “I deal with politicians relatively often. I should look at academics the same way, I guess.”

“Perhaps they are not quite the same,” Greg speculated. “Politicians are about power, public appeal, and making things happen. Academics have a special arrogance because they own the truth.”

Gerald chuckled at that. “Intellectual arrogance, indeed. I assume, Greg, that you agree with Alicia’s analysis.”

“I have to admit that I don’t like Truesdale. I think her comment about his attitude toward scientists and engineers is right on. The times I have talked with him, I could feel the condescension. I see him as a relativist, and we engineers are generally at the other end of the philosophical scale. Inconsequential things like physical laws make relativism hard for us to swallow.”

Gerald had a good laugh at Greg’s phrasing. Then, he told them “I have always assumed that Vernon’s problems with Transformations’ dependence on nudity would not stop him from being rational and impartial. You have certainly called that into question.

“While I agree with what Alicia has said, let me suggest a little different scenario. This one makes Truesdale seem even more devious. Suppose that his objective was not to have everyone leave the team. Instead, what if he wanted the team to exist and get paid, but either come up with negative results or get deadlocked.

“See if this makes sense,” Greg continued. “First of all, Alicia would flat out refuse to participate, but Truesdale would look good for having asked her.

“Tina would either drop out or, needing the money, stay on but contribute nothing. That would leave a feminist and a misogynist. I, as a clueless engineer, would obviously not be a factor. Can you see Truesdale contriving that? I can.”

“Greg, I think you’re right!” Alicia enthused.

Gerald stared thoughtfully for quite a while. “Let me see if I get this. You, Rod, Courtney, and possibly Tina end up as the team. Courtney and Rod have such diametrically opposite opinions that the team becomes a battle ground. You, being totally out of your depth, can do nothing about it. Eventually, things grind to a halt. At the best, the new division is delayed for a couple of months.

“Then, you get the idea that you should show up nude. Seeing that the big issue is already front and center, Julia and Frank strip, too. The two with the big prejudices and the wishy washy one want nothing to do with that. So, the clueless engineer and the prude are all that’s left. That still should have been fine for Truesdale, BUT - his own prejudices kept him from seeing reality. The two left were the two who understood and agreed with the Transformations concept. You realized the true honor and potential of being chosen. And, you possessed skills that Truesdale’s blindness never let him see.

“Despite the fact that you two have highlighted a problem I will have to deal with, I am truly enjoying talking with you. I have one piece of advice: never stop ‘telling it like it is’. You both have a real talent for sifting through the, uh, the bullshit. I try to surround myself with the best people, but I fear they still shield me from too much.”

“Mr. Magnuson - Gerald - the cure for that is simple,” Greg proclaimed. “Don’t pay any attention unless they are naked.”

That brought more laughter from Gerald. “Have the two of you had time to start any kind of plan of attack on the project in a week?” Gerald had been informed of the almost maniacal way the couple had plunged into the project. Julia was, in fact, concerned for their schoolwork and their physical well-being. Sleep and exercise had not been priorities for the past week.

Greg nodded to Alicia, who explained “Having us stay at Lindsey’s was exactly the right approach. It has become the hub of activity around here and has given us a real, um, window into the operation.

“The first day, we made a list of people we wanted to interview, and we have been working through and expanding that list. That list includes residents, ex-residents, residents’ families, staff, staff families’, and where possible, dropouts.”

“We have agreed on a philosophical approach. ‘How does it work at Transformations’ is the basis. Lindsey’s and Jenny’s are phenomenal. However, they have more specialized target groups.”

“OK, now this is really jumping the gun,” Gerald warned them, “but I am guessing that you each have some pretty strong opinions already. I would like to hear your unvarnished early opinions.”

“Well, I hate to talk about things we have not discussed with the Waxmans, but you are paying the bills,” Greg pointed out. “Alicia, you mentioned several things about Rejuve.”

“Rejuve?”

“Oh. That’s right. No one has heard that, yet. Alicia came up with it.”

“We heard someone mention ‘nudie fat farm’, and we absolutely did not want that to get started. We needed something to call it,” Alicia revealed.

“Well, I like it. It just feels right,” Gerald assured her. “You know, in my world, I would usually end up paying some ad agency six figures for that name.”

Alicia acknowledged the compliment with a nod, and started talking. “One thing I feel strongly about, and Greg agrees, is about the families of residents. Maybe I’m extra sensitive to that because of my family. I think the resident families should be dealt with almost like staff families. That means super sensitivity to the impact of the wife and mother staying here nude. I also think that there should be something like a case officer and the whole family should be their responsibility.”

“Not to focus on the negative,” Greg jumped in, “but Alicia’s point could be important in reducing legal and PR exposure.”

“Oh?”

“There will always be the threat of a disgruntled client going to court or to the press,” Greg explained. “Even if the client is satisfied, an unhappy family member could do the same.”

“Very astute. The increased risk of negatives for this new division has been mentioned,” Gerald commented. “Alicia, your idea of a case officer could go a long way to minimizing that problem. Good work.”

Smiling, Alicia went on. “I suspect that many husbands will be either encouraged or shamed into getting serious about conditioning because of what their wives are doing. We should not leave them to their own devices.

“One last thing - expect and plan for flexibility and wide diversity. I heard comments like ‘exceptions are us’. Well, set up plans and expectations so very few things fall outside of those plans. I could see a number of, um, ‘models’ or ‘scripts’ that are worked out ahead of time. Hopefully, that would cut down on the improvising and there would be less concern about ‘exceptions’.”

“Give me some examples of scripts.”

“OK. Let’s say there is the ideal family script. The family is close. The wife is the only one in need of significant physical improvement. The children at home are all adolescent, at least one of each, and well adjusted socially. The wife is registered full time at Rejuve.”

“So that’s the ‘A’ script that you will probably never see.”

“Right. Another script would have the husband in poor shape. We would have a plan for his simultaneous improvement.”

“And you think we should take that responsibility?” Gerald was concerned.

“How can we not? What happens when the wife gets home looking better than she ever has, and the husband’s beer belly almost hides his, um ... see the problem?”

“Yes, indeed. We have ‘fixed’ the woman, but perhaps further fractured the family.”

“Another script would have the husband completely unwilling to strip.”