Chapter 4

Jeremy and Arne were turning out to be priceless help with the project. Katrina had no idea the complete conversations on the throw-away phone she had acquired could be recorded. Clinically, that was very important.

The very first teen to call certainly sounded like he needed help. In a very hesitant voice, he responded to Katrina’s ‘Hello’ with “How did you know to call me?”

“After you tell me your first name, then tell me how you would have found you if you had access to the University’s application database,” Katrina responded.

“Oh, uh, I’m, uh, Darren. Hmmm. How did you find me? I guess I’d have to know what information is in the database.”

“Do you remember what information you put on the application?” she countered.

“My life story,” Darren answered with a snort, and noticeably loosened up. “I suppose it would be the contrast between good grades and scores and limited social extracurricular involvement. Um, why did you ask me that, anyway?”

“Among your competitors for top honors, are there some who got there strictly because of a good memory and test taking skills?”

“Are there ever! Two girls in particular,” Darren answered. “So, a little test of reasoning. I like that.”

“How desperate are you, Darren?”

“I’m six-one, weigh one-forty, and wear thick glasses. Not sure what any program can do to cure any of that.”

“What are you good at? Programming? Computer games? Chess? Music? Puzzles?”

“Not much for computer games, but yeah, I’m pretty good at the others.”

“Sing? Instrument?” She detected his preference for short, choppy speech.

“Sing, drums, and piano.”

“Tell me about your family.” He showed a much more fluid speaking ability in his response.

“Would you say your parents are desperate for you to change?”

“Dad’s pretty much given up. Mom cries a lot for me. You know all your warnings? She’d want me to do it no matter what.”

“What do you think the warnings are about?” she questioned.

“The main thing must be nudity.”

“So that would be the deal-breaker for you?”

She heard him let out his breath. “Why don’t you just tell Mom so she makes me do it?”

The way he skipped parts of the conversation showed that he had a very agile mind, tightly focused on essentials. “Coed?”

“Yes. Darren, please keep this all confidential, will you.”

“Of course. I’m coming if you’ll have me.”

“Even if Mom doesn’t make you?”

“Even if. The answer from earlier is very, very desperate.”

“Since it sounds like your family is pretty well off, the loss of summer job earnings won’t hurt?”

“I wasn’t planning on working. I was already thinking about summer school somewhere.”

“Are you on a cell phone? Are you at home? Is your mother with you?” When he said yes to all three, she told him “Get both of you in your room or somewhere private, then put your phone on speaker. Do you need to call back?”

“No. This should only take a minute. I told her what I was calling about. She’s probably listening right outside my door.”

When Joanne, Darren’s mother was there, a get acquainted conversation went on for several minutes, with Katrina introducing herself only by first name. Joanne wept when Darren said he wanted to go no matter what.

At Katrina’s request, Darren went somewhere out of earshot. “Joanne, I think you can understand that we need to make sure we are only getting nice guys and girls in our program. Tell me about your son. Particularly talk about how he interacts with you, his sister, girl cousins, aunts, grandmothers, and any other significant women in his life.”

“Well, my Darren is probably too nice a guy. He’s an Eagle Scout, you know. He idolizes my dad, who was his scoutmaster. I won’t say he despises my husband, but he can’t stand the way Richard treats me and Sarah.

“The younger and older female relatives don’t know or care that he’s a nerd, so they all adore him. He has baby-sat many times for younger cousins, girls and boys. It’s almost embarrassing the way my two sisters cuddle with him.”

“How about how YOU cuddle with him?” Katrina prodded.

“Well, I’m entitled. Besides, Richard isn’t much into cuddling, and I need some.”

“Your dad’s a pretty good role model, is he?”

“I don’t really know how I ended up with Richard after Daddy’s example. My sisters did better. Talk about a woman treated like a queen, that’s my Mom. Dad used to take us girls on dates when we were into puberty. He really made it special. I know we all wished he could take our cherries. Of course, he wouldn’t think of it.”

“Ever see him naked?”

“Wh ... why? Oh, I suppose your program involves nudity, huh? Well, they, or at least Mom thought it was wrong to keep everything about bodies secret. We had special times when we skinny dipped in the pool.”

“I take it you have not been able to repeat that with your children?”

“God, no! Besides his other issues, Richard is a prude - about himself, anyway.”

“That’s probably all I can find out right now.” Joanne called Darren back in.

“I had not planned on this much disclosure on a first call, but I am going to give you all of the details. First, though, Darren, you need to prove how serious you are. Guess how?” She could not resist that tease and was rewarded with a groan. In a surprisingly short time, Joanne was bawling loudly, and Katrina knew what had happened.

“Here is a summary of the plan. First of all, Darren will live nude. He will sleep in an open dorm area that is coed. Throughout the summer, there will be numerous guests coming to the house. In particular, we expect visits by the families of the students. Whenever there are guests, Darren will meet and interact with them - nude.

“To better prepare the students for independent life, much of the operation of the household will be put in their hands. It will not just be turned over, but they will take more responsibility throughout the summer.

“As soon as he arrives, he will start a supervised exercise program that will include some martial arts. Meals will be optimized for both overweight and underweight students. As soon as all the students move in, we will begin comprehensive discussions on human sexuality. They will cover anatomy, physiology, and psychology. The students will be taught love-making skills, but their actual participation will be at their own discretion.

“As far as sex between students, we are only concerned about pregnancy, disease, and courtesy to other students. There are rooms available for those who want to sleep together. We believe it highly probable that one or more couples may get together during the summer. We will not be surprised if these couple are durable. Oh, there will be dancing lessons throughout the summer along with sessions on grooming, posture, and classical etiquette. What more can I tell you?”

“You want us to visit him?” Joanne asked in surprise. “I don’t know if Richard...”

“If you think it is better for him to be kept in the dark about the whole program, we will do what we can. Darren, are you able to talk?” Katrina added a little giggle. “You aren’t trying to cover up your erection, are you?”

“I ... I ... I guess that’s stupid, isn’t it?”

“Joanne, describe Darren’s sexual equipment to me, will you?”

“WHAT! How can you ask...?” Joanne ended up giggling uncontrollably. “I guess nothing will ever be the same, will it?”

“Isn’t that what you have been wishing for Darren? I still want that description.”

“Well, he is circumcised, of course. It is straighter than Richard’s. It...”

“Mo-om!”

“Hush, Darren. This is woman talk. Get used to it. Of course, I never saw my dad’s when he was young, but...”

“You mean you saw him when you lived at home?” Darren interrupted.

“Darren! I’ll tell you about it later. Um, Darren’s testicles are up tight against him right now, so I can’t tell their size. The head is at least as big as his father’s, and I think he is a little longer. I’d guess well over six inches. Overall, his genitals resemble Daddy’s more than Richard’s. Katrina, I sure hope your diet works. Darren is terribly thin.”

“Do you know if your father was thin as a teen?”

“Oh, I did see some pictures. Actually, when he went into the army he was thin, almost like Darren.”

“It sounds like Darren follows your side genetically more than his father’s,” Katrina observed.

“Well, that’s a good thing!” Joanne said sharply. “Oh, actually, Richard is very handsome and well built. I guess that’s what I fell for.”

They spent some time getting dates and contact information settled. As they were wrapping up, Katrina said “Darren, if you are willing, you can come to our place much more ready for the nudity. Spend as much time as you can naked for your mother. You two decide if it would be appropriate with your sister. Grandmothers and aunts would be good, too. This probably sounds terrifying, but think about it. Before I hang up, Darren, let me speak just to your mother again.”

When Joanne indicated that Darren had dressed and left, Katrina told her “Think about this, Joanne. Who should be the first naked adult woman that your son sees in person?”

“Oh, Katrina. I’ve gained too much weight!”

“Does that really matter to Darren? I could spend the evening on the beauty, the complexity, and the difficulties of the relationships between mother and adult son. You appear to have a good one. Think about it and let’s talk in a week.”

A trickle of calls from guidance counselors continued, with about the same outcome. When a second one came in one day, Katrina just said “We have decided not to find our students this way.”

“You don’t understand,” the man answered. “I’m calling as a dad - calling about our daughter.”

“She’s not a student at your school?”

“She is. Is that a problem?”

“No, it’s not a problem. You caught me by surprise. I’ll give you the website and password, but we need the student to make the first contact.”

“Uh, Ma’am, I’m assuming you’re the licensed counselor.”

“Yes, I am. I’m setting up the program.”

“How about a little professional courtesy, then. Paige has had a rough time. She was assaulted. It didn’t make it to rape, but she was badly slandered by the boys who did it. Incidentally, nothing happened to them - four against one.”

“Sir, I don’t think this would be the best idea for your daughter, considering what happened. It involves nudity and it is coed.”

“But don’t the boys have the same problems? Aren’t you essentially choosing nerd types that need socializing skills?”

Katrina sighed. “That’s right. And living with nice guys who are as vulnerable as she is would be the best possible cure. I’m sorry I reacted that way. All of my other calls from counselors have been completely unproductive. They all demanded complete information on me and the program before even taking the website address.”

“I’m afraid I might have reacted the same way. By the way, I’m Arch Meyer.”

“I’m Katrina. I can see that the counselor approach was not that well thought out.”

“Maybe I can make that effort seem less wasted, Katrina. Paige and her friend Logan Brooks are joined at the hip. It’s largely because neither has the social skills to interact with anyone else. Would you have room for two girls?”

“They will be only our second and third residents. Will Logan’s parents be supportive?”

“Very much so. We commiserate all the time. Our wives are life-long best friends. The girls are in a virtual tie for valedictorian.”

“So this will be a situation where the girls will have to be convinced to join?”

“I can’t see a scenario where they would decide on their own,” he admitted.

Katrina had been checking her lists while they talked. “I see you are less than two hours from the U. Could both sets of parents and the girls come here for a Sunday brunch at eleven? I will expect you to brief the girls first. Tell them they will be living nude. There will be about the same number of girls and boys. We have a lot of other things planned, but I will describe them in person. Oh, everyone have your swimsuits on.”

“We’ll be there.” They exchanged all contact information.

Katrina had scheduled the meeting with the two families for the usual Sunday brunch time. The usual group was there - all three Menningers, Merilee and Ted, Rhoda, and Bernie. The four teens were out at the pool, purposely out of sight of the eating area. When the Meyer and Brooks families arrived, Celeste had them sit right down to eat after introductions.

When she thought Paige and Logan had relaxed at least a little, Katrina asked “Paige, how heated did your family discussion get before you agreed to come along this morning?”

“It wasn’t just our family. They told both of us together,” Paige answered, dodging the question.

“Did you think that was unfair? Did you think it stifled your freedom to react the way you really felt?”

That earned Katrina a very hard stare from Paige, who then looked at her parents, the Brooks, and finally at Logan. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?” she asked Katrina, again dodging the question.

Katrina nodded, but added “I was able to steal some proven ideas from some very smart people, though. From your non-answer to my question, can I infer that you and Logan acknowledge the program might have some value for you?”

“We just don’t see how we could do it.” Still no real answer.

“You do it by analyzing in two stages. First, you decide if you did it, would you come out a happier person. Then you decide if your mind is strong enough to overcome your fear of exposure. And I don’t mean just exposing usually hidden parts of your body. Living like you would with other extremely intelligent young adults, there would be very little about your values, your thinking processes, your biases, your core beliefs that the others would not know. Convince me that doesn’t frighten you more than displaying your breasts, your ass, and your pussy.”

Katrina checked both girls and she saw that she had scored a direct hit. “Forget the nudity for a moment. Just imagine spending three months with a group of people who are all your intellectual equal. Celeste and I have not joined Mensa, simply because we don’t see any real value in it, just snobbery. We easily qualify. Every teen we will host here will be at or near genius level.

“In addition, every teen will have suffered through a lot of the same things you have. Aren’t you tired of feeling so isolated just because you really are different from most of the kids around you? Wouldn’t it be great to learn to share with people who really understand what you face?”

After a long pause, Paige said “There wasn’t any kind of a fight. No yelling. There was some crying. Daddy, he...” She stopped for a moment, choked up. “They explained like never before how they hurt for us, and why. They talked about how it could affect our future if we didn’t change. That frightened us because we could see those things happening.”

“We realize we need to change,” Logan spoke for the first time. “We believe your program would help us a lot. It’s just the nudity. It’s so extreme. Wouldn’t it work just as well if the kids wore clothes?”

“There is a lot of literature that says ‘no’, it would not have nearly the same effect,” Katrina responded. She went on to talk about several of the main effects of prolonged nudity. “Maybe you don’t see it, Logan, but to your parents and others, it appears that you need a dramatic change. We believe it can be dramatic enough that some people who know you will not recognize you immediately.

“Let me put it this way. The teens coming into the program will be far superior to everyone in the world except for a few areas. Those areas will be interpersonal skills, often physical development, and always self-confidence, self-assurance, and self-image. You are correct, Logan. The program is extreme. We want you to start your fall quarter superior to the rest of the student population in EVERY way. Right now, the ‘excepts’ are serious enough to keep you from achieving what you could and should for the good of everyone. If we turn those shortcomings into strengths, won’t it just increase your potential?

“You have your swimming suits on, don’t you?” Katrina asked the girls and they nodded. “Why don’t you go out to the pool. Two girls and two boys are out there. They are a year younger than you are, but are coming out of where you are. Hear what they have to say. Ask them to show you around the house.

“Oh, they are naked. It was their decision. I think you know enough not to think the boys are perverts or threatening you just because they will certainly have erections.” There were several gasps after that. The girls sat immobile and it looked like they would not get to the pool. When they still did not get up, Cori Meyer stood and took Paige’s hand. That got the girls moving and Cori led them to the door to the pool room.