Chapter 13: Uncertainty

The emergency departure of Dave, Alice, Wendy, and Sharon for Houston to ‘rescue’ Dev Connor did not go unnoticed by the Circle.

Dave’s house had most of the residents there when the mysterious call came for Alice. Minutes later, Dave and Alice were heading for their airport at a run, needing to get to Houston. A few shouted comments gave about all the information they had at that moment about the situation. That news was shared between all of the Circle members within minutes.

Further, several people saw the race to the airport by the two golf carts, and then only a few minutes later the full-power takeoff of the Cessna Citation. That news got relayed and matched up with the limited news about Dev.

Dave called back to the Circle about ten p.m. Sunday night to share what little they’d learned about Dev in Houston. At least, they were piecing together part of the story of the past months that Dev had been missing from the Circle.

The evening at the Intercontinental was a quiet one. The tension and anxiety about Dev left no one wanting anything but his rapid healing. No one slept well, and there were no other agendas.

Roy Goodman was coming back from his afternoon walk. He’d covered the five miles his doctor recommended in a little over an hour. As he approached the main gate, the guard flagged him down.

“Mr. Goodman, there’s a young couple in that car over there that would like to talk to someone about starting a Circle. Do you suppose you could talk to them? Usually, I’d refer them to Mr. Prentiss, but someone told me that he’s away. These folks seemed a little different from the ones that normally come by. They’re more serious and seem to already have something going for them. I suggested they wait until I could talk to you.”

Roy shrugged, “Sure. It can’t hurt.”

Roy walked over to the car. The young couple saw him coming and got out of the car. The young man, probably in his late twenties, spoke. “Hello. I’m Colin Ruiz, and this is my girlfriend Beth Parsons. We wanted to talk to someone about the Circle. The guard said that the man he’d normally have us talk to was away for an unspecified period of time but that someone named Roy was out walking and could chat with us.”

Colin was dressed in long shorts, a t-shirt that had Namasté printed front and back, and flip-flops. Beth wore a white tennis skirt and a crop top that left her midsection bare. She also had some fancy flip-flops on her feet.

Roy chuckled, “I’m Roy Goodman, and I’m also that other man’s stepfather. I don’t think I’m anywhere near as informed about things or as good at answering questions as my stepson, but try me.”

Colin explained, “Well, to get to the point, there’s a group of us – about twelve, all about our ages, that live around Sarasota. We really like each other – a lot – and we want to start our own Circle. We socialize all the time together. We were hoping somebody could talk to us about forming our own Circle group.”

The girl, Beth said, “We all religiously watch the reality TV show about the Circle, and we each have read the book about the Circle that was advertised on the TV show. Someone named Cricket wrote it.”

Colin said, “We think we have what it takes to make it a success, but we’re worried about pitfalls and hidden dangers that weren’t talked about in the book or on the show.”

Roy verified, “And you all live in Sarasota?”

“Live and work, yes. I’m the assistant manager at the Ace Hardware on Mango Avenue. Beth works for a retail software company that services many of the point of sale terminals in the two-county area.”

Roy thought for a minute and then said, “Let me make a call and see whether I can find someone to help start the discussion you want.” He walked back to the guard house, but also took his cellphone out and called Ty – the board president.

Roy explained the situation to Ty. Ty laughed at Roy’s predicament and also his endorsement that they were nice ‘kids’. He told Roy, “I am in Raleigh at a conference, but I’d tell you the same thing as if I were there. Bring them in to the cocktail hour. Have Dori talk to them. She helped start this menagerie, so maybe she can help explain it. I’ll give her a heads-up right now with a text.”

Roy walked back to the couple who’d taken to leaning against their car. He said, “Come up to our cocktail hour that is about to start. I’ll have you talk to Dori, one of the founders. Let’s see how far we can get with helping you.”

Roy rode up to Circle Drive with the couple in their car and showed the two where to park, and then walked them onto the patio pointing out various physical aspects of the buildings and homes. Dori was waiting for him and the ‘guests’ at the bar. She had Kat with her, and they were both only wearing monokinis. Colin’s eyes initially popped out of his head, and then he adjusted to the situation. He’d anticipated the nudity because of watching the reality TV show.

Both Colin and Beth were looking everywhere and at everybody as they walked in. Beth said, “This is so cool. We’ve seen all this on television, but to see it for real is so special. I recognize some of the faces, but I can’t put names and faces together yet.”

Roy introduced Dori and Kat, briefly mentioning what they did for a living. Dori asked him to stay with them as they talked.

Roy got them drinks. Both of them chose soft drinks rather than beer, wine, or other alcoholic drinks. The five of them went and sat at one of the dinner tables.

Dori asked, “Well, how can we help you?”

Colin nodded to Beth and she began. “We want to start a Circle. There are twelve of us right now – six couples. We’ve read the book about the Circle and watched all the episodes that have been shown on television.”

Kat laughed because right at that instant, one of the cameras with a directional microphone had started to film the five of them as they sat around the table. She teased the two, “I guess you’ll appear in one of next season’s episodes.”

Beth blushed. “I guess that’s all right.” She paused and said, “We see all the positive aspects in the book and on TV, but what we’re worried about is the stuff that’s not talked about. I don’t even know the areas I should be concerned about, so I need help about this.”

Dori bore right in, “Are the twelve of you sexual together?”

Colin firmly answered, “Yes. There’s a great deal of affection between all of us.”

“Do the men and women interact with each other of the same sex?”

“The guys not so much, but the women, yes. We try to get together often. Two of the six couples have spacious homes, so often some of us end up sleeping there – camped out, so to speak. I guess to an outside observer it would sure look like a small orgy.”

Kat asked, “How long have you been the way you are now? How’d you start?”

“We’ve kind of known each other for years. Some of us were in college together. Some of us dated some of the others, but everyone didn’t connect at that point. At one point, we all lived in the same down-market apartment complex down on Fourth Street. A few of us were still students. We all aspired to move out of that place.” Beth laughed at the memory. She added, “Three of the couples are married and the other three are ‘together’.” She made air quotes around the word together.

Colin said, “We stayed in touch and got friendlier and friendlier on a couple basis. About four months ago we got really inspired by the Circle – you might say you helped us gel. One night all twelve of us were watching the TV show at Amy and Brad’s house. The show was the episode where Dave started to have sex with Tanya – errr, I mean make love.”

Beth said, “None of us were cuddled up with our regular partners. We’d done this before, but this time there was a different tension and dynamic in the group. As the sex got increasingly explicit and hot, Ellie in our group said, ‘We ought to be doing that, too. I think they have a lot more fun as a group than we do. We looked at each other and one by one each of us agreed. Russ tested right then with the group that there wasn’t too much peer pressure; that is each person really did want to have a sexual relationship with the others.

“Ten minutes later, I had Russ’ cock buried in my pussy and we were making love. I can still remember that Colin was doing Peggy, and how hot they looked together. Just like the Circle we were getting aroused by watching each other. Since then, we’ve kept at it. We test how each of us are feeling all the time, too. We don’t want to keep going in the direction we’re heading if someone starts to get uncertain about what we’re doing – the sex, the intimacy, our ‘group think’.”

Beth pulled her cellphone from her back pocket and in ten seconds, turned it so that Kat, Roy, and Dori could see the screen. The snapshot showed six couples sitting at a long restaurant table during a dinner that looked like a holiday celebration. Everyone was looking at the camera with broad smiles, no doubt as someone taking the picture coached them to say, “Cheeeeeese.”

Colin said, “Our friend, Russ also talked to each of us one-on-one. He reported that everyone of us was actually enthusiastic about continuing – especially with the sex we started to enjoy with each other. We all wanted to build something more substantial in terms of a sustainable lifestyle together, deeper relationships with each other, and even selectively adding people at a slow rate just the way the Circle does.”

Roy said, “Well, it sounds like you’ve already got things going. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“We’re cautious,” Colin said. “Our concern is that something will bite us that we haven’t thought about or discussed. Beth and I volunteered to come and try to talk to someone from the real Circle about their experiences that weren’t chronicled in the book, especially any dark spots.”

Kat said to Beth, “Turn on the recorder on your phone and I’ll give you a list off the top of my head. This won’t be a definitive list, but it may help you.” Beth took her phone, called up one of the apps, and set the phone on the table in front of Kat and Dori.

Kat said, “Here’s a short list of things that have produced some drama around here or things we thought might, and that might for any group: jealousy, explaining yourselves to your parents or siblings, what to do when a parent or sib wants to join up with all of you, what to do when one of your children wants to join in, what steps does someone or some couple have to go through before joining your group, how to handle situations when one or two of you are missing – say traveling during the week, realizing fantasies that go beyond someone’s boundaries – for instance, a gangbang. Want me to go on?”

Colin and Beth both said, “Yes, keep going. We are so going to discuss every one of these points.”

Dori held her hand up and said, “Let me add something to immigration issues you might face. We all like to think of ourselves as modern and forgiving, but how willing are you to take a black or Hispanic into your group? What if they come from Ethiopia or Zimbabwe? What about an Arab or Muslim? Would you welcome an Oriental? What role will age, race, creed, color, and anything else you can think of, play in considering someone for membership. If you look around here long enough, you’ll see some diversity, but not what it could be. Think about that.”

Kat went on, “Here are some more issues on my list: having someone get silent and moody for no apparent reason, handling some couple in your midst getting divorced, disparity in incomes of people in the group, mixed views on bringing in new people or even one particular person – does one person have veto power, formation of subgroups that specialize in each other, how to handle pregnancies and paternity, how to handle raising children in the group environment, how to handle STDs and other rules of behavior, how to handle someone having an affair outside the group, what if two couples decide to move in together, what to do when one or all of you are discovered or outed, how to respond to friend’s curiosity about your lifestyle – how much do you reveal? There’s more and more. Dori?”

Dori had been thinking, “Well, I think you need to address the issue of how much loosening up you want to tolerate. In the Circle, as you know from the book and TV series, we stress relationship over sex. But, what if some of you find yourselves in a situation where some swinging sex is on offer with some casual acquaintances? Do you join in? Are there limits or requirements ahead of time, such as recent STD tests? Do you quarantine someone after such an event until they get a clean test? Does that change the rules about relationships over sex – all the time, some of the time, on rare occasions?”

Colin asked, “How does the Circle handle that?”

Dori laughed, “On rare occasions we let our hair down and have a swinging good time just fucking a weekend away with fun friends even though we don’t know our partners that well. Everyone arrived fully and recently tested so we know we can play together. Maybe over time we remedy the depth of the initial relationships by building something deeper, but maybe not.”

Colin nodded. “So, you all kind of have open marriages with each other?”

“Precisely. We are, however, strict about STD tests. Our group is large. A bad bug getting into this group would transmit to everyone in seconds the way we carry on.” She laughed.

Roy said, “It hasn’t been shown in the TV episode yet, but we have a small part-time health clinic staffed by some of our members who are doctors and nurses. We each get STD tested at least once a quarter or more frequently. That covers those just-in-case situations with someone outside the Circle that we might want to enjoy.”

Beth asked, “Do you do that? Have your core Circle, but some of you have outside interests?”