Chapter 9: Moving In

Dave looked back at Emily and Donna. The two were about as Off Limits as you could get, and yet his new boss’ boss’ wife and P.A. both wanted him fuck them ... and they were good-looking, and desirable, and he was perpetually horny.

Emily insisted, “See! We have permission. Now, what are your rules?”

Dave mumbled, “I’m not thinking this is a very good idea.”

“Why? Because I’m Derek’s wife? Because Donna is his erstwhile secretary and the biggest blabbermouth in your company? Let me go talk to your wives. I just love that you use that terminology. You are so innovative. I sure hope they turn you loose on me.”

The two women took off across the patio in a beeline to Alice and the others, leaving Dave standing in disbelief. Donna was rapidly talking to Emily as they left, probably trying to fill her in on what she’d learned from his ‘wives’ earlier.

Later, in the car driving home, Alice teased, “I think you should do it. They’re serious. If you give them some of your A-spot orgasms they’ll be your devoted servants for life.”

“They’re both a little old, don’t you think?” Dave said defensively. He was looking for an excuse to avoid fucking Emily and Donna. The landscape if he did that would be like tap-dancing through a minefield with a blindfold on.

“You don’t think Grace is old, and she’s only a year or two younger than Emily’s age. Donna’s ten years younger. They both look young for their age anyway.”

“Are you pimping me out again?”

Alice laughed, “I wasn’t pimping you out before. I just think you need all the experience you can get. We’re all the beneficiary when you learn something new.”

“I’ll think about it.” Those words were his way of indefinitely postponing a subject.

Monday at work Dave discovered he was the talk of the company along with the others who had gotten surprise promotions and been inducted into the management program. A company announcement about the promotions had been in everyone’s inbox when they checked their email that morning. About ten o’clock, Dave had finished going over some blueprints for a new substation when Nancy Mason, one of the few female engineers with the utility turned to his desk.

Nancy asked, “Got a minute?”

“For you, always. What’s up?” He had great respect for his colleague, knowing that she’d had to work much harder to get to where she was than he ever did.

“First, congratulations. I hope you’ll remember some of your friends when you’re in the thin air up near the top of the company.”

Dave laughed, “I will. I take the pledge of friendship and to never forget that we’re all working our way up despite the entropy that pervades all space.”

Nancy said, “My second question, and it’s part teasing and part serious, is what does a girl need to do to get into that program? I know Gloria from HR and Carli from Regulatory got in, but I’m thinking about the next engineer in it after you. Do I need to get four husbands and have them each fuck me every night to qualify?” She giggled.

Dave’s head jerked up. “Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“I was told on good authority that Mr. Wilson and the other execs anointed you because you have four wives and have sex with them every night. For one, I wish I’d met you when you were looking for family members. My sex life stinks.”

“T.M.I.,” Dave told her as he rolled his eyes. “Nancy, do you think that’s the real reason.”

“I was told that Wilson explained that you were thinking out of the box in your relationships, and he expected that to influence your thinking about various aspects of the company – how it runs, who does what, and so on.”

“Well, that’s true, but I’d like to think that part of their thinking was that I was doing a superb job.”

“Oh, that was a given. We all know how creative you’ve been with the high voltage stuff. You’ve saved the company and hence the customers hundreds of millions since you started. I think I have as well, but I’m looking for the other handles on how to get ahead.”

“Do you think outside the box? Sometimes, I don’t even see the box I’m so far outside.” He laughed and played with the analogy.

“Can you give me an example of something you did like that?”

“We had a request for power from some isolated summer cabins on the lake up on Chainsaw Mountain. All anybody talked about was running three-phase primary up there. I calculated that to run the primary lines, put in the fifteen KVA transformers, and then string the secondary lines, plus the poles, and such from the nearest connection point would cost over ten million, plus we’d have to get easements through the national forest and face a shitload of opposition from environmental groups as we created the necessary power feeds and cleared a path for our high voltage lines. They’d be highly susceptible to weather, too.

“So instead, we installed five fifteen kilowatt generators, each one servicing two of the cabins with the ability to interconnect if one of them fails. They run on propane delivered to large tanks hidden away near each pair of cabins and they’re quiet, and they have solar-battery backup. The whole installation was four hundred thousand. We subbed out generator maintenance. The resort owners are happy, they have power, and so is the company because we saved a few million dollars. Moreover, since the cabins are shut down part of the year, we can power everything down and save on the propane. That was something I did recently in just one morning.”

“Okay. Okay. I get it. Stop thinking in terms of poles and wires everywhere.” Nancy paused, “I still think I should get some husbands. Hey, do you have any more space in your family?”

Dave rolled his eyes. “I think we’re full up for the moment, but you could apply. The application form is online. Alice, my wife, will help process it. She has veto authority.”

Nancy laughed, “I’ll check out your website. Just keep me in mind. I’m ... willing to be part of your harem.”

“NANCY, I DO NOT HAVE A HAREM!” Dave said emphatically. He realized his voice had carried. “Oops. Sorry. I didn’t mean to shout. You touched a hot button.”

Nancy laughed over her shoulder as she strolled away. She tossed back, “Sign me up.”

The movers arrived on Thursday to pack up the Prentiss’ house. The furniture was mostly unwrapped along with one TV, but all of the glassware, kitchen, dining area, bookcases, and clothing were packed in moving boxes. The family ate out. Alice and Dave were beat after having worried about packing and marking the boxes headed for their new home in the Circle Cohousing Project.

Not only did the Prentiss family get packed, but also so did the Marburys and Winters. The Connor house for Wendy and Dev wouldn’t be ready for one more week. Mike’s, Owen’s, Roy’s, and Christie’s homes were also behind schedule, probably two weeks. Jack and Grace had already moved into their home despite the missing Certificate of Occupancy; he wanted to be onsite with, as he put it, his whip and mace in hand to keep things driving to completion.

Friday, the movers packed the entire house into a large moving van. Dave, Alice, Pam, Julie, and Heather all stayed overnight at the motel by the Interstate. They were at the house to meet the moving van at seven-thirty on Saturday morning. The doors were propped open, and by noon, the new house was full of furniture and boxes.

Next door another van duplicated the move in process with Ty and Dori. Adjacent to Jack and Grace’s home yet another large van disgorged the new furniture for the core building’s living room, media rooms, playroom, and kitchen. Again, the order of the day included piles of cardboard boxes that needed to be unpacked and put in the proper place.

The Prentiss girls broke into teams. Alice and Heather took on the kitchen while Matthew remained corralled in one room with a working television watching cartoons and a box of toys saved from being packed. Pam and Julie took on the various wardrobe boxes, getting clothes into the correct closets and boxes in the right location given their contents. Matthew soon had a castle made from empty boxes.

Dave had to do double duty. He worked with Jack to get the core furniture in the planned locations, and hooked up a few of the televisions and cameras. People could come to the core to watch TV with their neighbors. If they stayed at home, they could also tune in to a couple of channels and see what was going on in the various common rooms through the eyes of a matrix of cameras scattered around the core, both inside and out.

The new pool was fully functional, along with the Jacuzzi and sauna. Only a few holes in the outside landscaping remained to be filled with plantings or trees. Missing from the outside yet, were the chaises, chairs, and tables that would be scattered around the pool and patio. Those were also slated for delivery the following week. In the meanwhile, the Prentiss, Marbury, and Winter families had their exterior furniture placed on the patio for everyone to use.

By dinnertime, there was a pile of empty cardboard boxes in the garage, and five very tired people.

Ty and Dori slogged through the back door. Dori screamed, “If I never see cardboard the rest of my life it’ll be too soon.”

Just then Jack and Grace entered, followed by Kat, Sean, and Clarisse. Jack stated, “Come on we’re all going to dinner at Fridays. I called up and we have the back room there. We’re expected in ten minutes, so no showers. This is come as you are.”

Alice draped herself around Jack and said, “Carry, please.”

Jack laughed, “I can’t even carry Grace across our threshold any more. I know because I tried three days ago when we moved in.”

Grace hugged her husband, “I wouldn’t let him. I’d end up nursing him for weeks until his back healed. He was pretty muscular in his twenties; I’m afraid that desk work has been his undoing.”

The Circle packed into a couple of the larger SUVs and soon was at TGIFridays enjoying a round of beers and wine. The chatter was enlivening, restoring some of the energy given up to unpacking everything.

Dave admitted, “I never even got into the bedrooms. Do we have a place to sleep?”

Heather laughed, “Oh, yes. The deck of the aircraft carrier has been swept and awaits arrivals. It’s also ready for action.”

Dave groaned, “I’m not sure I’m up to sex tonight. I can barely move as it is.”

Alice moaned, “I think we were teasing. We’re all pretty tired.”

Heather said, “Tomorrow is Sunday. We can do it all again, plus I have to study for a World History exam. I already can guess the questions that’ll be asked, but I need to prepare.”

Matthew ate dinner beside Alice sitting in a booster seat. She and Pam helped dice up his meal so he could eat it without too much thought and less mess.

After the meal everyone went back to the Circle. They’d even named the roadway around the homes and core Circle Drive. Everyone had walked between some of the homes to the core where the pool lights were just coming on in the dusk.

“LOOK!” shouted Dori. She pointed to the west where two powerful headlights dotted the sky on final approach for what they called Circle Airport.

The group hustled to the brow of the hill that looked down the one lane back road to the runway. From there, they could see that the runway lights were on. The plane looked like it might land in the trees off the end of the runway, but then disappeared from view for a few seconds. The powerful noise of the reverse thrust as the brakes were applied rose to meet them, and then the small jet was in view coming to a stop well before the end of the runway. The plane executed a pirouette in the middle off the runway and went back towards to hangar at a fast walk.

Ten minutes passed, and then Owen came flying up the hill in a golf cart that had headlights. The group had returned to sit around on the patio, and he pulled up near everyone and got out.

He got a round of hugs from the women and fist bumps with the men. “This is going to be so cool when I actually live here. My condo is partly packed. I guess my moving date is a week from Friday.”

“Where’d you come in from?” Ty asked.

“Oh, I was in Omaha talking to Warren.”

“Warren?”

“Warren Buffet. He’s a good friend and mentor. I was trying to get him on the board of the foundation, but he’s not taking on any more obligations.”

There was some eye rolling that Owen missed because the group had often felt that he traveled in far different circles than the modest one he had great affinity for. Warren Buffet was one of the top five richest people in the world.