Chapter 8

ALLISON & CHAD

When she arrived home from Transformations, Allison was very agitated. She could not sit still and she still could not eat. After five minutes, she threw off the two garments that were still all she wore. By the time she had left Transformations, she had felt a strange reluctance to dress, and she was trying to figure out why.

While taking off the top, she realized one problem. The fabric drew across a nipple that was so distended it seemed ready to burst. She was extremely horny. She gasped and went into the master bath to find a vibrator she had not used for a long time. If ever there was a time, it was now.

Just as she bent over, she heard the garage door going up. Panicking that it might be an intruder who would catch her naked, she dashed to the bedroom window that looked out on the street. Seeing Chad’s car turning into the driveway removed the panic about an intruder, but brought on a different kind.

Scrambling to the closet, she took her robe off the hook, then with a snort, she hung it up again and strode toward the kitchen. If she could not tell Chad about Rejuve as pumped up as she was now, she never would.

When he walked in the door from the garage to the kitchen, both of them froze. Because of her initial fright and her bold decision, she had not gotten around to wondering why he was home at this time.

Unprecedented situations were excellent opportunities for unprecedented actions. Allison did not actually think that, she just reacted to what she was feeling. The number of incidents of spontaneous sex outside their bedroom could be counted on their fingers, and it had been years since the last one.

Adopting a vamping attitude, she strutted up to him and began undoing his belt. “Honey, I need a good fucking in the worst way. When you have taken care of that, I’ll tell you why I’m standing here naked, and you’ll tell my why you’re home so early. Deal?”

When he did not respond, she pressed herself against him and kissed him with one hand behind his neck. The other hand was already in his shorts, trying to attract blood flow that direction.

There was no actual plan in her mind for where the intercourse would take place. As she kissed him and felt him begin to swell, she decided that only the bedroom made sense. With now a decent handle for one hand, she held up his pants with the other and pulled him toward their suite.

With no protest from him, she got him on his back on the bed and climbed aboard. It was a position that she had avoided for some time because it exposed her sags and rolls to him too openly. Right then, it just did not matter. There was no reasonable expectation that she would get off without any foreplay. To Chad’s credit, he was always very good about taking care of her. This time, though, he would have no chance.

She did not account for the overall unreasonableness of the situation. He hardened quickly enough, but it took much longer for him to go off than she expected. She, on the other hand, did not quite understand her own level of arousal. Before she could even start worrying about her legs giving out, it was her orgasm that triggered his.

Belatedly thinking about soiling her bedspread, she grabbed a pillow, stripped off the case, and used it to clean them up. With the case stuffed between her legs, she rolled over onto her back beside him and told him about her day.

“Chad, the new place, Rejuve, opens in a few weeks. I’m checking in, and I am going to lose this weight once and for all.” She explained about work release and working remotely, but he cut her off.

“You don’t have to work. Just concentrate on what you want to accomplish.” That certainly was a much better response than she had feared. After that, he said nothing for quite a while before sighing and telling her. “I got sent home. I had a bad medical report two weeks ago and they ordered me to do something about it.”

A strength of Allison’s character was her instinct to respond with gentleness and consideration in any stressful situation. Saying nothing, she reached over and took his soft penis in her hand. The sight would have been humorous to an observer because he was still clothed with his trousers and underwear just pushed down. To him, the gesture was tender and ego-positive. For her to show desire for his genitals at a time when his physical self-confidence was at rock bottom sent him a strong message.

Neither said anything for a few minutes as her attention changed from caressing to fondling to stroking. When she had him standing upright again, she slowed her attentions so he stayed firm but was not moving toward ejaculation.

Finally, she took a chance and asked “Sweetheart, can we bury your dad in time to save your life?”

He could not muster any anger. They had never talked about the effect of his father on his life. Apparently, though, she knew, probably from his mother. What her hand was doing did not encourage anger, either. Despite their very different views on physical matters, one constant of their marriage had been her apparent fascination with his genitals.

The cynical part of him wondered if her attention to his penis was because that was the only part of him that had always been physically normal. That was not fair to her, though. As if she had been in his head, she said “I very much want to be doing this forty years from now, Chad. How do we make sure that happens?”

Evasion was not something he did often, but he did not want to address his condition right then. “I don’t see why you’re that concerned about your weight. I think you can get it down some without doing something so drastic.”

“Honestly, I’ve tried. You know that,” she replied. “Look, Hon, you’ve got this incredible brain. You understand things, you organize things, and you can apply what you know. You can be justifiably proud of your intelligence. Well, I’ve got, or rather I had, a body I could be proud of. That’s awfully important to a woman, you know. I NEED to get back to being proud of how I look.”

“Yeah, but to live naked with men around!”

“Does that bother you a lot?”

“Well, of course it does! You’re my wife. Doesn’t it bother you?”

“Hmmm. When I drove up there, I was terrified. For a while, I didn’t think I could breathe. But by the time I left, I guess their attitude just rubbed off on me.”

“Their attitude?”

“Chad, nudity is just not a big deal to them. They live with it all the time. The staff spends time naked with the clients, you know.”

“I didn’t know that. Is that supposed to make me feel better about you being there?”

Letting out a sigh, Allison worried “Is this going to cause a problem between us?”

“It’s just so different. You will have spent all this time living naked, and I still won’t even have skinny dipped in my whole life,” he complained.

Purposely upping the intensity of her stroking, she took a big chance and told him “If you did it, too, it couldn’t cause a problem for us.”

“Huh? That place is for women.”

“Did you know that I earned a half month discount by going out there this afternoon? They’re testing out all of their procedures before opening, and they offered me the discount. Any chance you would do what I did if I got another half month off?”

“Allison! How can you joke about that?”

“Oh, I’m deadly serious. Look, when I was out there, I talked to two psychiatrists and two experienced psychologists. Maybe they could give you some tips on getting over the specter of your dad’s ridicule. You know we’re talking life and death, here. I do NOT want to be a widow with two young boys.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

“Just how dramatic was your doctor?”

Before he could answer, the clatter of the boys arriving home was heard. With a forceful “Don’t move,” she grabbed a robe and went to make sure they were sufficiently diverted. In just a minute she was back and pulling off his shoes, socks, trousers, and underwear. She returned to exactly the way they had been when interrupted. “Now, are you going to tell me about the medical report, or throw us off on a different subject again?”

“Um, let’s see. Did you give any of the guys out there a hardon?” Chad was notoriously non-confrontational. The fact that his retort was light-hearted was a good sign for Allison. Perhaps the bad medical news could bring about a real turning point.

“When I leave there back in shape, I will,” she retorted. Then, she just waited.

“It was pretty bad,” he admitted. He told her the numbers, then he also went quiet for a while before saying “I want to feel that in forty years, too. HR is forcing me to get into some kind of program.”

“And you don’t want to?”

That question got her a big sigh in response. “Do you really think the people out there would help me?” She knew what he meant.

“Several times they emphasized how they did not want my stay there to damage our family. I think they are serious. They shut down their men’s section, but they had some real success stories while it was open. If I get someone to call, will you at least talk to them about a visit?”

“You seem to really believe in that place. You’ve always had good instincts.” That was certainly an oblique ‘yes’, but it was a huge step. She tried not to run as she left for the study to call.

“Um, Allison, Honey,” he warned her. “Are the boys ready for that?” She had not thought about covering up.

Shivering a little, she faked boldness she did not have and retorted “They’re outside playing. They’ll never notice.”

Once Allison identified herself, she was put through to Dr. Caroline Worth. Caroline immediately agreed to call back and talk with Chad. “Dr. Worth is going to call in a minute or two,” she told Chad. “I’ll let you talk to her alone. I told her almost nothing.”

Allison hurried back into the bedroom just in time to keep Chad from dressing. When the phone rang, she left.

“Hello, Mr. Graham. This is Dr. Caroline Worth. I am a psychiatrist working at Transformations. I will be assigned to work with our newest division, called Rejuve. Your wife, Allison, plans to be among our first flight of clients at Rejuve. We were delighted to have Allison visit this afternoon as the first woman to test what we call our qualification visit. We hope to open in just a few weeks.”

“Hello, Dr. Worth. Please call me Chad,” he said when Caroline paused. “Um, why is it called a qualification visit?”

Caroline remembered Allison describing Chad as a highly intelligent, very analytical person who often homed in on details. This was not a topic she wanted to discuss at that point, but she had brought it up. Not responding to his question would not get the conversation off to the best start. “When new women enroll at Rejuve, we do not want to have to help them adjust to being naked in a mixed group. Because coming to Rejuve is entirely voluntary, we feel justified in requiring the woman to prove she is ready. As I’m sure she told you, Allison spent several hours here, naked from the time she entered. She qualified with flying colors.

“Chad, several times Allison mentioned how worried she was about your reaction to her coming here. What is your reaction?”

“Oh. Well, of course I am not happy about her being naked around other men, but I suppose all husbands feel that way. I did not think her weight problem was bad enough to justify such a drastic step.”

“Do you still feel that way?”

“She has explained more about why it is so important to her,” he said. “I have always trusted her judgment and instincts. I will help make arrangements so she can spend the time there.”

“That’s good, Chad. One thing we worry about is the different comfort level with and attitude toward nudity that a wife will have after leaving here. If the husband does not have a somewhat similar attitude, it can become another of those things that tends to separate spouses,” Caroline told him.

“That difference seems inevitable,” he stated.

“Not if the husband takes steps to get comfortable himself,” she declared.

“You really think it’s that important?”

“We have quite a bit of experience already,” Caroline assured him. “Chad, Allison did not say much when she called except that you had gotten some serious news. Can you tell me what it is?”

“I had a physical two weeks ago. The results are bad enough that Human Resources is pressuring me to get into some kind of physical improvement program.”

“Chad, could you get some time tomorrow to come for a visit?”

“Like Allison’s visit?”

“Let’s not address that until you get here. I think we have some important things to talk about,” Caroline declared.

“Would eight in the morning be OK? It would be easier to just show up late at work. Besides, maybe I can get in the door if I tell them I’ve started something.”

“We’ll be ready. See you at eight.” Caroline gave him some more specific instructions.

“Once again, our planners were right on the mark.” It was dinner time, and Frank was talking to a hurried gathering of the people most involved with Rejuve. “Our first test case, and we need our revived men’s side.” Both Alicia and Greg were present, and blushed.

“It’s worse than that,” Caroline pointed out. “Mr. Graham needs to be on a strong program right now, weeks before Mrs. Graham can enroll in Rejuve. Do we even have a way to start him tomorrow, if things move that way?”

“Well, we have plenty of equipment, plenty of nutrition expertise, and some very good trainers,” Julia reminded them. “We only need to put together what, when, and where we will do for Mr. Graham.”

“And to stick up for Paul, who isn’t here,” Frank said light-heartedly, “we need to decide what we will charge.”

“OK, here’s an ethical question for all of you,” Caroline warned. “I want to talk with Mr. Graham’s mother. Mrs. Graham indicated that his parents divorced long ago. Her comments about his brilliance do not square with the physical condition he has apparently fallen into.”

“I would say,” Julia opined, “that you could call it normal background investigation of a potential client. You are not, and may never be in a true counseling role with either of the Grahams.”

“That is what I was thinking,” Caroline agreed. “It just seems more contrived than I like.”

“Caroline, we may be in a life-saving situation, here,” Julia encouraged. “Let’s do everything we can to get this right.”

Seeing Greg shaking his head slowly, Julia asked him “What’s wrong Greg?”

With a smile to show that he was not upset, Greg replied “With all of our work at scoring and scripting, we still have to improvise before we even get a chance to use our fancy methods.”

“Does that upset you?”

“Nope. An engineering professor liked to tell us ‘It is absolutely useless to get angry at the data.’ Well, this is data. This is what happens. We are all trying to help someone who needs it.”

“Well, I definitely think you should do the best you can at scoring the Grahams by your system. You may find there is not as much improvisation as you think, except for the unfortunate timing.”

“Um, is there a way we could be involved talking with Mr. Graham’s mother?” Alicia wondered.

“Perhaps if she is a late eater, we could entice her here for a late meal,” Caroline suggested. “Let me see if I can find out about her and contact her. If the interview teams can hang around, it would be good.”

As Caroline hurried off to try and make the contact, Frank said to Julia “Sweetheart, I think this is a case where you need to grit your teeth and leave it to the Rejuve team.”

Sighing dramatically and making a face, Julia had to agree. They made their exit after the proper goodbyes.

Wanting to save time, Caroline just called the Graham home, hoping that Allison would answer. She did, and gave Caroline Anne Graham’s number without Chad knowing about it. That was the easy part.

“Mrs. Graham, I’m Dr. Caroline Worth, a staff psychiatrist at Transformations.”

“Oh, so Allison is actually going to go there?” Anne exclaimed. “I thought women had to be referred by a professional.”

Right then, Caroline knew several things. First of all, she was sure she was talking with an intellectual equal. Second, she knew that Allison and her mother-in-law were very close. Third, she at least suspected that the two women shared some things that husband and wife did not.

“Ah. Since you are obviously close to his wife, do you have a close relationship with your son, Chad, Mrs. Graham?”

“Yes, I always have. Let’s streamline things, here. I’m Anne, and may I call you Caroline?”

“Please do. Anne, even this call is skirting some ethical issues of confidentiality. I’ll assume that you are willing to bend some rules on Chad’s behalf.”

“Absolutely.”

“I know this is a terrible imposition, but things are happening rather quickly here. Is there any chance you could come out here and talk with six or seven people who met with Allison this afternoon?”

“How does this involve Chad, though?” Anne demanded.

“Anne, I hate to seem secretive, but if I am going to break confidentiality, I would really rather not do it over the phone. I will say that Chad will be here at eight in the morning.”

“Really? Can you wait forty-five minutes for me to get there?” was Anne’s response.

“Have you eaten?”

“I’ll pick something up on the way.”

“A very nice meal will be waiting for you here.”

Having given Anne instructions to call as she drove onto the grounds, Caroline met her at the door to Lindsey’s. They quickly found and introduced Rhonda and Barbara, and sat at their table.

“Anne, two couples are going to join us, and they have agreed to treat you as if you were an employee. Because of the ethical nuances involved, I think that is appropriate. One couple is Dr. Franklin Weeks and his wife Estelle. Franklin is a psychiatrist and Estelle is a licensed counsellor. The other couple is two psychology students from Addison who have done an unbelievable job helping us plan for Rejuve.

“Both couples are rather new here, and they are trying hard to get as comfortable with nudity as our staff needs to be. Unless you object, they will be naked when they join us.”

“H ... here? With the teenagers?” Anne exclaimed in disbelief.

“Oh, all of the teens are used to naked people of both sexes,” Barbara assured Anne. “In fact...” She explained the two boys who were currently serving sentences and had them released from their rooms where they had been confined at Anne’s arrival. When the two naked couples arrived, Anne showed great composure greeting them.

To keep it from seeming like Anne was eating in front of an audience, all of the others were served something when her meal was served. Caroline explained about Rejuve, Allison’s help testing procedures, Allison’s concern about Chad’s reaction to her enrollment, and the organization’s concern about the impact on families.

“Here’s the part that is borderline unethical, Anne. Chad has received a very bad medical report, and has been ordered by his company to do something about his physical condition.”

Anne found herself unable to eat any more after that, and she was visibly fighting tears. “I married an arrogant jock who did a marvelous job of hiding his true nature until he discovered that one son was totally non-athletic. By the time I divorced him, I am afraid he had permanently scarred Chad, emotionally. From talking to Allison, I believe Chad has steadfastly resisted any kind of physical activity because he believed he would be yielding to his hated father.”

“That is exactly what we needed to hear. You explained it so succinctly!” Caroline exclaimed.

“Living through it was far more painful than describing it,” Anne lamented.

“I’m sure it was,” Franklin entered in for the first time. “Has physical activity been a major problem area between your son and his wife?”

“Allison has been unbelievably gentle and accommodating on that subject,” Anne stated. “In my opinion, too afraid to confront the issue. With her own discipline, I am surprised that she has her own weight problem.”

“So you see a solid base of real love in the marriage?” Franklin asked.

“Definitely,” Anne assured him. “Allison tells me that except for the ‘ghost of his father’, their marriage could be almost perfect.”

“From what Allison said about Chad’s brilliance, you would think he was aware of the need to care for his body,” Rhonda offered.

“That’s what is so sad,” Anne said. “He knows, and he has the discipline to do something about it. The emotional scars from his father’s ridicule just get in the way.”

“Do you think just the scary checkup could be enough to jolt him past that emotional barrier?” Estelle asked.

“I’m guessing that’s why you invited him out here in the morning,” Anne answered. “You folks must be pretty good at dealing with scars from the past.”

“We like to think so,” Caroline agreed. “We can never take them lightly, though.”

“If you can just get him to disconnect exercise from sports,” Anne insisted. “Maybe something like Yoga or Tai Chai that had the mental appeal would work. Or maybe there is not enough physical exertion with them,” Anne suggested.

“Oh, they can both be very physical,” Caroline assured Anne. “And those are excellent suggestions.”

“My ex used to ridicule that ‘chop suey shit’, as he called it. That should make it acceptable to Chad. I don’t know why I never thought of it before.”

“I think anything physical has just been an off limits subject until now for both you and Allison,” Caroline theorized. “That has to stop, now.”