Chapter 2: Barely Legal

Ty and Dave made copies of the disk that Jason Riggs had given them, and then parsed up the work of microscopically reviewing the million words that made up the foundation documents for the cohousing project. The group met again on Friday night, not to socialize, but to discuss their reviews of the several hundred pages of boring administrative text.

Christie and Alice had taken on the sections in the various documents dealing with membership, induction, expulsion, and such. When their turn came, she started, “We agree with what Jason wrote regarding membership. A ‘voting member’ is an individual housing unit; there’s one vote per unit. This also applies to condominium law.”

Ty asked, “That short changes some of the people sitting here. What about Pam, Heather, and Julie, for instance. They live with you, but don’t get a vote?”

Alice said, “I talked to them specifically. They are content to let Dave or me represent them in whatever voting would take place.”

Dev said, “That seems unfair since there are five adults in your unit, but only two in our unit or Sean or Ty’s unit, and only one in Christie, Roy, and Owen’s units.”

Pam spoke up, “We’re glad that suffrage is alive and well. We couldn’t think of any other way to do this. Anyone living in any unit can work on committees and have input that way, and we’re as free as anybody to speak up at monthly meetings.”

Ty said, “I’ve noted this point. Let’s talk to Jason about it. We should at least leave the door open in the documents to make a change about this feature. I can see we’ll have members that are property holders and members that aren’t. What else do you have?”

Alice said, “In Jason’s documents if you buy a unit, you automatically become a member. We wanted more control. The board should recommend to the general membership each new member, as well as their spouse, partner, or any other person living with them over legal age. We would want to check them out and vet them, if not require that a majority of us know them well before they buy in or even live here for any length of time even as a guest. We could see down the road that others may want to join us, and felt this would be a way to control it. We felt that a three-quarters vote should be required of the membership. We also wanted some kind of probation period, but were unclear about how to tie this into their purchase of their unit; there were personal financial implications.”

Dave asked, “Is this because of the fact that we expect everybody in our membership to be in open sexual relations with us?”

Alice and Christie nodded. Christie said, “We were thinking we should get past the NRE or New Relationship Energy stage in a relationship before full membership was granted. By then, everyone’s warts will show and we can make a better decision.”

“Do you really think we’d vote someone down a year after admitting them?”

Christie and Alice nodded. Christie said, “I can’t tell you how many guys I’ve met that turned out to be bad news a few months after I thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. That could go both ways or even with a couple. We could get lied to about a criminal past, drug use, alcoholism, and all sorts of things. What would happen if we got a fundamentalist in our midst that decided to go undercover and convert all of us? I dread the thought.”

Sean said, “If it takes three-quarters of us to vote someone in, it should take the same to vote someone out.”

Alice smiled, “We agreed, and that’s what we wrote into our draft for Jason to consider. There’s more, too.”

“More?” several of those sitting said.

Alice said, “We want to be safe. So far, we’ve been a closed group, and unless I’m mistaken none of us have strayed outside our Circle ... and, yes, I know Dave and I did early on by getting with Pam, Mike, Christie, Heather, etcetera, but we’re all very stable now – and clean. Even Dori and Ty haven’t been with their other swinging friends for over a year. We need to protect ourselves in some way.

“To do that, we ask that everyone in the Circle sign a pledge to either use a condom or abstain from sex with the rest of us after any assignation, and then wait for an STD test to be completed. The same applies to males or females. If we find this rule has been violated, we recommend an automatic six-month suspension of membership and require a relocation to other quarters during the suspension.”

“That’s severe,” Sean said.

“We wanted it to be. If you screw around, especially possibly passing on an STD to some of us, there should be hell to pay.”

Sean argued, “But if your outside partner just had a clean STD test before you have sex with them, shouldn’t that negate the need for this restriction?”

Christie and Alice looked at each other and briefly conferred. Alice then spoke, “I think you’re right. We’ll note that, and as with all this stuff talk to Jason about it.”

Most of the heads nodded; even Sean’s.

Several people digested that, including Dori and Ty. Dori said, “What would happen if Ty and I wanted to play with our other swinger friends?”

Alice smirked, “Decisions. Decisions. We’re fine with that, just when you do that, we expect you to honor and respect the rest of us with a clean test timed appropriately to your other sexual relations. I suspect your other friends have similar requirements.”

Dori nodded, “They do, in fact. We will honor that. Do we need to give advanced notice so no one thinks we’re sneaking around behind everybody else’s back?”

Alice looked at Christie. They obviously hadn’t considered this.

Christie said, “That’s a good idea. To keep it low key, why not just let the president or VP of our group know. We’ll add that clause to our rules section but make it a suggestion rather than a requirement. We should allow for spur of the moment hook-ups. On the other hand, we should be trusting each other. Let’s not make this too complex.”

There were a few more comments about the cohousing project and membership documents. There was one suggestion that most of the people liked, and that involved the use of an outside arbitrator to resolve unresolvable disputes between members. An escalation process regarding a problem was also discussed.

At the end of the meeting, Ty laughed and said, “One more thing.” Steve Jobs had made the expression famous just before introducing some of innovations that transformed society, such as the iPhone and iPad.

“What?” Dave said.

Ty teased, “We need a name for our homestead. The ‘Cohousing Project’ that we seem to use just doesn’t seem to do our future home justice.”

Alice said, “We’re referring to ourselves as the Circle. Why not use that?”

There was silence in the room as heads nodded.

Ty asked, “Any other nominations?” After a long silence, he said, “All in favor, say ‘aye.’”

A loud chorus rang out with the positive vote.

“Opposed, say ‘nay.’”

The room was silent.

“The Circle is officially and legally born tonight. We’ll make it official in all our documents, as well.”

Owen, Ty, and Dave met with Jack Anders at his home office on Saturday morning. He had a couple of different designs for the Circle Cohousing Project on his computer and hoped to have them ready to show to everyone the middle of the following week. The men listened to Jack and asked many questions about the various designs.

Ty eventually asked the sharp-witted man, “We have another subject to discuss with you; well, maybe a couple.”

Jack looked puzzled.

“We would like you to serve on our initial board of directors, and maybe continue on the board for some period of time after our first year. There are many logical reasons for this: you’re an outsider and thus have more objectivity than any of us might, you will know the buildings inside and out, you are connected to many local contractors and the city, and you are an all-around nice man. We like you, and want you on our side or under our tent flap, or however that is said.”

Jack was taken aback by the request. Finally, he said, “I am honored and yes, I accept.” He paused, there were obviously other questions he wanted to ask but felt as though he couldn’t in that instant.

Ty read the situation. “Of course, we would like to have ‘members’ on the board. We could make an exception, but several of us heard you say one time that you were interested in living in such a project.”

Jack nodded. “My wife and I are interested. I did talk to Grace about it.” He paused and added, “She is very excited about the prospect, especially after I described all of you and your apparent behavior. She wanted me to be sure we’re not imposing on you all too badly.”

Ty said, “We know you are aware of the intimacy between each of us. Am I to interpret your interest as a desire to participate in that aspect of our community?”

Jack smiled slightly, “You are.” After a pause he went on, “Many years ago, Grace and I and another couple were ... involved ... on a frequent and intimate basis with one another. We loved them and they loved us, and we learned a lot from the seven-year experience. Unfortunately, it ended when they had to move to the west coast. We’ve seen each other a few times since, but ... it just isn’t the same. We have longed to repeat that experience with others even in a larger group such as the Circle, but the opportunity has never arisen – until now.

“We’d like to try to recapture those feelings and again experience the shower of love that we felt back then. After I’d met and talked to all of you, I knew you were the kind of people we would want to build that kind of relationship with. I know we’re older than the rest of you. We hope you’d see that as an asset. We would be honored to be considered by your clan – by the Circle.”

“What does Grace do?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. She’s an RN at the main Hospital in obstetrics. She’s been there twenty years. Before obstetrics she was a trauma room nurse. She’s also a licensed midwife. We’ve been married twenty-six years, by the way.”

Ty said, “Can the two of you join us for dinner tonight. We gather about five-thirty for drinks and hors d’oeuvres, have some kind of dinner – often outside if the weather is nice, like today, and that lends itself to barbecuing, and then we sit around talk, and gradually work into some intimate time with each other. You would be welcome to stay or go at any stage; no harm, no foul, especially since this would be Grace’s first interaction with any of us.”

Jack said, “I accept, but just let me check with Grace. She gets off at four, so this will work with the shift she’s on this month.” Jack grabbed his cell phone and fired off a text. He got a near instantaneous reply, ‘YES. Looking forward 2 it. What do I wear?’

The men laughed. Dave said, “These are very casual gatherings. Most of the women dress on the hot and sexy side, even slutty if they’re in the mood. Near nudity is common. The men wear mostly athletic shorts and t-shirts. We’re at my house tonight and I have the pool fired up, so most likely we’ll skinny dip after dinner. People may wear swimwear, but that will get dispensed with after dinner unless you guys hang around and object in some way. That activity provides a nice segue to the group lovemaking that happens later in the evening.”

Jack said, “We’ll be there, appropriately dressed, and play the rest by ear.” He grinned.

A few hours later after most of the friends and neighbors were in the back yard or the kitchen helping Alice and Pam with the side dishes, Dave heard the doorbell ring. He hurried to the door, with a pretty good guess as to the arrivals.

Dave opened the door. “Welcome. Welcome. Come on in.”

Jack immediately began introductions, “Grace and Rach, this is Dave Prentiss; and Dave this is my wife Grace and our daughter Rachel.” A smaller version of Grace suddenly appeared from behind the couple.

Daughter!?! Jack had never mentioned he had a daughter. The look of surprise on his face must have been telling.

Jack said, “Oh, damn. I did it again. Dave, I’m sorry I guess I didn’t mention that Rachel is an integral part of our family. I assumed you knew we had a couple of kids. Our son is older; he lives outside of Austin and works in high tech while he’s getting his doctorate degree in engineering. Rachel is a senior in high school.”

Dave adopted his ‘Hale fellow, well met’ demeanor and brought the three guests into the house. He commented, “After this, when you visit, you don’t knock; you just come in.” He looked at Grace and Rachel, “That applies to all of you. If it’s likely a cookout night or during the day, you might come around either side of the house to our patio.”

Dave assessed the three. Jack was in men’s shorts and a Dave Matthews’ Band t-shirt. He also carried a twelve-pack of beer. He was six feet tall, but wiry, and one might expect him to be high strung based on his looks, but he seemed very laid back. His hair was starting on salt and pepper with his trademark ponytail.

Grace reflected her name. She moved with a certain dignity he rarely saw in people. She was beautiful, modestly endowed, and dressed in flats, shorts, and a scoop neck top with snazzy flowers on it. She wore a couple of necklaces. She also carried a large bowl of homemade potato salad sprinkled with paprika.