Chapter 19: Ohio

Dave delivered Gabbie Carson to a flight back to Philadelphia on Monday morning from Dayton airport. She was able to get a ‘dead head’ seat on another airline and had to be at work the next morning. She’d be able to hitch a ride back to her home in Delaware from her roommate who was working on a red-eye flight from California to Philly. Their parting was teary on her part, but he promised he’d see again and even be one of her lovers again after she moved to the Circle. He also urged her to re-read Cricket’s book now that she had so much of the white space about the Circle filled in by all their conversations for the past week.

Dave spent the rest of the day at the Air and Space Museum. When he realized he’d only covered a small portion of the exhibits, he called his friends near Cincinnati and told them he’d be delayed another day. The Museum was a pilot’s paradise, especially if one appreciated some of the old and unique airplanes that had been made.

Late the following afternoon, Dave made a speed run to the home of Martin and Sasha Hedrick, old Circle members from almost the start who’d been unable to leave their jobs in Ohio and live in the Circle. He was welcomed like the prodigal son. This was the first time in ten years since he’d last seen them in person.

Dave had met Sasha and Martin through his brother and sister-in-law. When Aaron and Shelby started to loosen up before they moved to Florida, and they wanted to experiment with another couple they really liked near home, they chose their friends that lived near them at the time. What set them apart from many others after a few months is that Martin impregnated Shelby – producing their child Linda Jean, and Aaron did the deed with Sasha – producing a beautiful child named Katie. Everyone was aware of the cross-fertilizations, but didn’t make much of it.

Sasha had been a mail-order bride from the Ukraine. Martin, a consummate nerd and expert and partner in a manufacturing robotics company near their home. He had picked Sasha from an online website and after an email correspondence and many long telephone calls and letters, she came over to live with him for six months to see whether they’d be interested in marrying each other for the rest of their lives. Four months after they met face-to-face, they were married. Sasha became an American citizen a few months later.

Martin and Sasha were a very handsome couple, even ten years after he met them for the first time. Martin was tall and muscular, and a naturally commanding figure. He was also humble and somewhat shy, yet he had many traits of a leader. Sasha had gotten him to work out, and they’d both worked on loosening up and being more ‘hep’ as she called it in her cute Russian accent. Sasha was a blonde knockout, but very unassuming and self-deprecating; she could easily have modeled for Playboy or Penthouse and been in her comfort zone.

Sasha had become the co-owner of a spa in Hamilton, Ohio, as well as distinguished herself as a physical therapist, massage therapist, and become certified in a string of other beneficial therapies for her clients. She was a favorite for doctors to recommend patients needing PT in Southwest Ohio, adjacent Indiana, and Northern Kentucky.

Aaron and Shelby had been up to Ohio to see them several times in the last decade, but they hadn’t come south because of their demanding jobs and changing family situation. Of course, for the trips they brought the children so that they could see what paternity had produced in the other couple. The Ohio couple hadn’t come south for many years, and Dave learned another reason that evening. Dave had been with the couple many years earlier when they were able to visit the Circle.

After many hugs and kisses at their door, Martin helped Dave unpack the motorcycle and bring his gear indoors. Some gear got stashed in the garage of their large house, and the rest migrated to the guest room Dave was assigned.

Dave commented, “This house is huge for the three of you. It’s beautiful.”

Martin smiled, “Thank you, we do love it. I should explain about the size, and you of all people will understand, I’m certain. You see, Sasha is not my only wife. I have four others that you’ll meet shortly when they return from their various jobs. There are more children than Katie, as well, so the place will soon be overrun with rug rats for a few hours. I guess you could say that I’ve been busy.”

Dave grinned, “Well, congratulations.”

Martin chuckled, “You inspired me – or I should say ‘us’ – Sasha and me. We have replicated the Circle up here in Ohio, only we call it the Ring. We all wear identical bands of devotion to each other, and Sasha, my other wives, and I are not the only people in the Ring.” He showed a ring on his hand. “ There are about thirty others. We don’t have a common geography the way the Circle does, but we have been talking about it. Aaron told me about your Atlanta Association and also Mark Worthington’s extended family, and your interaction with it. I’ve been looking forward to your visit, to explore a similar connection or linkage.”

“I’m blown away. Of course, we’re interested, although you are kind of far away from Sarasota.”

Martin chuckled, “The Ring has one thing that I think the Circle has wanted for a long time, namely we have more males than females. Besides my family, there are twelve women and twenty men who are members of the Ring. Another woman is considering joining – a pledge I think you call them. There are thus thirty-eight of us. My family throws the numbers off in favor of females.”

“That’s fabulous. I applaud your initiative.”

Dave and Martin walked back downstairs to where Sasha was now talking to someone. He said, “I think you’ll have quite a following before you go back to your touring. We are grateful beyond words that you can spend almost a week with us. Some of us will usually be around to keep you company during your stay. I know most if not all of them are hoping to be romantic with you. I think you’ll have your hands full,” he chuckled.

In the kitchen, Sasha lit up as the men entered and so did a pretty and young woman in her early twenties. Sasha said, “Dave, this is Kim Hedrick. She’s one of our wives and the most recent to join our family about a year ago.”

Kim greeted Dave with a hug and then a kiss on the lips and another hug. She was very affectionate and held his arm as they parted as though that was her station. She cooed about the TV show and Cricket’s book, which everyone had read and treated like the Bible in the Ring. She amazed Dave by quoting lines from the book where Dave had been quoted about some feature of the Circle or any group similarly organized and based on nearly identical tenets.

Sasha presented Dave with a wine cooler, having remembered his preferences for well over ten years.

Five minutes later, a twelve-year-old boy appeared carrying two grocery bags. He set them on the counter, “Mom said you needed these for dinner. She has more.” He started to run off to another room.

“Todd, slow down. This is David Prentiss. He’s from Florida and will be visiting over the next week with us.”

“Cool. Do you live near Disneyworld?”

“About ninety minutes away, actually,” Dave replied. “I haven’t been in years, but many of my friends go every year and take a bunch of our children.”

A woman in her mid-thirties, closer in age to Martin and Sasha appeared with more groceries. Dave scurried to help her get them to the counter. She said, “Hi. I’m Amy. I’ve been waiting years to meet you. I have met your brother and his wife, so you can trust that I already love you just based on that background.”

After a few pleasantries, another woman appeared with an eight-year-old girl tagging along. Jill and Kristen, Dave learned. A third woman appeared with two children, one that turned out to be Sasha’s. The woman was Van or Vanessa, and the children were Susan and Laurie, both about six years old.

Martin received many kisses from the women and had hugs for the children. Dave got kisses from each of the mothers, plus he felt more than welcome and even flirted with by each of them, including Sasha. Martin seemed to even encourage the interactions with Dave, especially when Kim and Jill both made it a point to hold his arms or hands, even occasionally allowing them to rub against their breasts.

Dave sized up the women with one word: gorgeous. The five of them were like a handpicked group of the prettiest women in the world – each one a swimsuit model, but from a cross-section of ages. They each had an air of professionalism about themselves, but also an aura of serenity and spirituality.

The house seemed to have carefully orchestrated routine that flowed around Dave like a gentle current. The children were almost instantly fed and allowed to do their ‘own thing’ in a dedicated room that included a television and various project tables. Todd, the ten-year-old boy, helped organize the younger kids so that they were doing something that pleased them. He obviously had referent power, because in a minor disagreement Dave noted that Martin carefully backed up his authority with his own.

As the kids ate and played, the adults enjoyed cocktails in the kitchen and then dinner in a large dining room at a formal table. Dave asked over dinner, “Is this routine or because I’m here?”

Amid laughter, Kim said, “This is how we do it every night except when there are some crazy events of some kind, like a PTA meetings or something. We’re clear for the next week, so this is what it’ll be. Occasionally, one of us will be late from work or have an evening meeting of some kind.”

Jill explained, “There’s a master calendar online that we all keep up to date with each of our schedules. If there are conflicts such as two of us needing Martin for an event at the same time, we negotiate things out at a dinnertime or in some other way. We were curious how the Circle did it?”

Dave explained, “We also have an online calendar, but it’s really for Circle-wide events or notices or alerts, such as someone’s parents being on the premises or a subgroup taking some of the children to some outing. Remember, we home school them, so there are what we call school events that cut across the various age or grade levels. Other than that, we each have our own or family calendars. My family tends to be the busiest with ten wives, so I’m very sympathetic to conflict management when you get a fairly large group.”

“How do you handle some situation when one of your wives wants you at an event – like a Christmas party or business social? Do you all go?”

“No, we don’t flaunt the ‘Ten Wives’ situation. I’ll go with one of them, although occasionally another will go along. For instance, at some of the premiers of Scarlett’s movies I’ll be her husband. If Cricket was involved, she’ll be on my arm, as well. Since People magazine did an exposé on Scarlett’s extended family – the Circle, we’re not a secret, but we still don’t rub people’s noses in it.”

Jill said, “We’re the same. Most of the kid’s teachers know there are multiple moms, for instance. We all cross-parent our kids, so we know what’s going on. There’s never an excuse for a teacher not being able to reach one of us if there’s some situation.”

Dave asked, “Do your kids all go to public schools?”

“Yes. If we had more kids and the resources, we’d home school, too. I like that idea, especially since the evangelicals have too much of a voice in the curriculum. The science and history syllabi in this state are travesties of how the real-world works. It’s truly antediluvian – a strange mix of theology and science.”

“Oh, I know all too well about the impact they have on the population.”

Jill said, “If I remember, from reading Cricket’s book, your family had some major confrontations with what used to be our Bible Church.”

Dave rolled his eyes, “That understates what happened – seriously. There are currently five men in prison serving long terms for what they did. One of them survived getting shot as he tried to escape a kidnapping attempt. They were all caught red-handed in one way or another.”

“Please tell us the story,” Kim pleaded.

Dave retold the story about Alice, Julie, and Karen’s parents, how they went ballistic about their lifestyle, and then how they’d tried to kidnap Karen’s youngest two children. He told of Nikky’s disguise and substitution for Christiana, the kidnapping, shooting, and the subsequent jailing that included the children’s grandfather – the instigator and funder of the kidnapping. He also told of the pastor of the church returning with mortar rounds and grenades to wreak havoc and even death on the Circle, and how he later got captured just before he was going to kill Alice in retribution for losing his livelihood.”

Sasha said, “Those events were all in the news a great deal up here in Ohio because their father and that church were well known. You’d think people would learn their lesson, but they dug in even deeper. Their attitude is one of the reasons we try to keep a very low profile with the Ring. We don’t want any of them to focus on us. Right now, they’re still at war over same-sex marriages despite the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling.”