Chapter 17: Incremental Expansion or Overload

Dave and Alice sat on the patio with the twelve outsiders who’d asked for help in setting up their own group in some nearby locale. Colin and Beth had been their initial contact spokespeople, but more and more of the group got revealed with each passing day. The group had commanded two picnic tables. Everyone was there, and it wasn’t the first time for anybody. Dave noted that the women were all wearing the weekend uniform of a monokini.

Dave rapped on one table to get everyone’s attention. “Thank you for gathering here to talk. I think everyone has seen the Circle before today and met at least a few of the other people besides me. Alice decided to join me for this in case there are questions or things that you want to raise with a female. I’ll give anybody that wishes a tour right after this meeting, if you wish.

“The reason we wanted to talk to all of you concerns the formation of your group. As most of you have circulated around the Circle and met more and more of us, we find that we like you – a lot.

“You are an existing group of twelve people that seem to have your head on straight about what you’re doing, and the long-term ramifications of it. We think we’re very compatible – the Circle and your group.

“Thus, I want to pose a question to you that you can discuss among yourselves and you are welcome to seek out more information from any of us. My question is, ‘Why don’t you all join the Circle?’ Become pledges like many of the others around us, meet more people, and if you like us as much as we think we like you, then become full members after a few months of getting to know everyone.”

There was an eerie silence that took over the two tables. For a few seconds, Dave thought his idea had totally bombed. Then he saw Colin and Beth break into wide smiles.

Colin said, “I speak for myself, but I think that’s a super idea. I love it.”

Beth said, “Me, too. I’ve met so many nice people here – people that I know I want to know better. I’ve been thinking about how to do that AND continue developing the relationships we like with each other. This idea would allow me to do both with much less stress and strain.”

Seth said in a confessional tone, “I’m already in love with most of Dave’s wives. I’m into this idea with no reservations. That said, I’ll abide by the group’s decision.”

Dave and Alice stood. He said, “We’re going to be at the far end of the pool. You all can stay here and talk, or you can go off on your own somewhere else. Somebody eventually let us know what you decide. Your decision need not be today. There’s no rush.”

Kwan held her hand up. “I know you talked with some of my friends here about diversity. You can see that I am mostly Indonesian and Mongolian, and brown-skinned. Honestly, will that make a difference to how I am accepted in your small society?”

Dave shook his head. “I will give a one-word answer, that I stand behind. No. You will be as accepted here as anybody is. I’m sure we will all come to love you.”

There were no more immediate questions, so Alice and Dave strolled off. They sat together. Alice pulled out her iPad. She said, “Review questions for your check ride in the Cessna Citation next week.”

“Good idea. Fire away. I’ve been re-reading all the manuals and such.”

“In a sudden cabin depressurization at forty-thousand feet, how many minutes do you have before you need to don your oxygen mask before you might lose consciousness?”

Dave laughed. “You have no minutes. You need to don oxygen within eighteen seconds, the time limit of what is called useful consciousness. After that, you may pass out or even die. By the way, this is probably the time limit exceeded when the Lear Jet carrying golfer Payne Stewart and others depressurized at altitude, only to crash hours later in the Dakotas after the auto pilot flew the plane until it ran out of fuel.”

“What is the shortest length field you can land in and still be able to take off?”

“The question doesn’t give enough information for an accurate answer. The plane can land in as little as twenty-seven-hundred feet. At sea level with a full fuel load, about fifty-two-hundred feet of runway is needed for a safe take off. That distance can decrease dramatically with a reduced volume or weight of fuel on board and no passengers. The handbook for the plane contains tables and formulae for calculating the exact distances in either case.”

Alice searched around on her iPad and then posed another question, “What is the maximum speed at which you may penetrate turbulent air conditions?”

Dave nodded and thought, “Mach .90 or thee-hundred-knots indicated air speed. Since normal cruise is usually around Mach .82 around thirty-five-thousand feet, there’s a slight safety buffer regarding encountering clear air turbulence at altitude. Top speed is rated at 608 knots or 700 mph, in any case.”

Alice teased, “Maximum operating altitude?”

“Fifty-one-thousand feet.”

Alice said, “Follow up question. Maximum maneuvering speed at that altitude?”

Dave was just going to answer when Beth appeared at his side. She said, “Sorry to interrupt, but we want you both to come back and join us.”

Dave and Alice rose and followed Beth. Dave said over his shoulder, “Two-hundred-eighteen knots indicated airspeed.”

Upon reaching the group, Dave and Alice sat back in the seats they’d had before. They looked out at a dozen smiling faces.

Colin proudly said, “You have twelve new pledges to the Circle, if you’ll have us.”

“Oh, we will,” Dave said with a lilt to his voice.

Alice clapped her hands. She said, “I’m so glad. This place needs to become your home away from home and work. You know we’re social. Thus, the cocktail hour and dinner are always important for us to reestablish contact with each other. We constantly mix it up with who we’re with, too. No little cliques within our own big clique.”

Dave said, “I suggest you talk to Tan and Julie about service jobs, and the financial side to being a pledge and member. They’re far better equipped to answer questions in those areas than I am.

“Also, know that you will hear around the edges of this place that we’re worried about the security of this place and are taking steps to improve that in many ways. We’re worried about a distant threat that is possible but improbable. We’ve chosen to prepare. I’ll ask right now, do any of you have military experience?”

Seth and Noah both raised their hands. Dave said, “See me later. I just want to see whether we can fold you into our preparedness in some way.”

Later, Dave discovered he had two men skilled with weaponry and who’d gone through training to be in the Middle East. Neither had ended with assignments there, but they were trained.

Dave asked, “Would either of you be interested in being on our security committee?”

Both men nodded.

Dave said, “When you talk to Tan, tell her that. I’ll close the loop from this side with her. You’ll be more than welcome to talk to us about any ideas you have. I’d rather be overly safe than miss something that gets us in trouble.”

Monday night, as usual, dinner was an abbreviated and simple affair. One reason was that whoever was leading the Circle 101 class tried to start promptly at seven o’clock. Dave was teaching that night and decided to hold the class in the core room that had been used for college classes by the various instructors who were Circle members. It was temporarily vacant due to security concerns. As he went in, he realized how crowded the room was. He saw Matt and Toby carrying in some of the extra folding chairs as a few people stood around.

Dave started the class with a quick once around the room for people to introduce themselves and tell where they spent most of their daytime hours. The list became surprisingly long again, reflecting the large number of pledges the Circle had attracted in the past few months.

Dave Prentiss – Circle board; EneRG (member)

Bridget Prentiss – Magma Software (member)

Beth Parsons – Retail SW

Colin Ruiz – Ace Hardware

Amy Beckler – Accountant for A-One HVAC

Noah Beckler – Foreman, Perone Construction

Kaylee King – Paralegal, Lewis & Lewis

Oliver King – Radiation Tech. Sarasota Memorial Hospital

Ariana Davis – AA, Tricounty Electric and Plumbing

Seth Winston – Coach, Booker High

Kwan Skye – Hostess and Asst Mgr., Roy’s Restaurant

Dane Decker – Freelance Writer

Angie Rae – Teacher, Southside Elem.

Trent Rae – Tech. Best Buy Geek Squad

Frank Paul – Student, ME

Patty Bartsch – Student, Drama

Eliot McIntyre – Student, EE; Marine

Felicity Jones – Actor, projects pending

Hillary Montrose – Student, English

Wyatt Stevens – Student, Comp. Sci.

Tori Arnold – Student, Comp Sci.

Caleb Hart – Student, EE

Austin Dunn – Student, Educ.

Mika Waters – Student, Math

Carter Ford – Student, Biology

Ava Brown – Student, Chem.

Hank Butler – Student, Eng’g Tech.

Harper Anderson – Student, Elem. Educ.

Neo Reeves – Student, Eng’g. Proj. Mgmt.

Eve Williams – Student, Sociology

Jon Lopez – Student, Spanish

Bunny Johnson – Student, Graphic Arts

Logan Olson – Student, Comp. Graphics

Piper Perry – Student, Graphic Arts

Mace Glothing – Student, Print Sciences

Tanya Peterson – Student, English/Math

Rose Prentiss – Student, High School

Matt Prentiss – Student, High School

Danica – Student, High School

Toby – Student, High School

Dave was on his fourth flipchart as he got the last name up. Already, a half-hour of class time had passed. He’d checked frequently to see whether people were fading with disinterest, but everybody seemed eager to learn the other’s names and some fact or two about them.

Dave said, “I think I counted thirty-eight pledges as I wrote. Let me ask you, what impact do you think this pledge class will have on the Circle? We currently have about 160 members.

There was silence and everybody looked around the room at each other. They were as stunned as Dave and Bridget appeared to be.

Piper spoke, “A lot, huh? I guess this group could change a lot of things just by showing up.”

Amy said in a sincere tone, “How do we keep it from changing or changing in a bad way?”

Dave said, “Always remember this quote, ‘There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.’ The Circle before your arrival had a certain ethos or group culture. Cricket captured the elements of that in her book. Ginny Fuller, a member that lives just outside our gates, works with corporations to study and change their cultures. She studied ours and does a health check every now and then. I think I’ll ask her to come in a talk to you about what she sees and what she thinks.”

Trent said, “I have met most of the people in the Circle and am still forging relationships with others. This group will take a little longer to ‘gel’ in terms of fitting into the past culture. I think when I came along there were about a hundred-forty people. Including this group, there’ll be closer to two-hundred. I have a lot more homework to do.”

Many heads nodded.

Dave said, “Let me tell you about Dunbar’s Numbers. Dunbar looked at various size groups and how they interacted. He concluded that many people tend to have about five intimate friends, fifteen best friends, fifty good friends, and a hundred-fifty friends. Going beyond that he estimated five-hundred acquaintances, fifteen-hundred people you know on sight, and beyond that everybody else in the world.”

“The last time we taught this, someone speculated that we were trying to violate these numbers – which, by the way, are not hard and fast. The point here is that there’s a chart like this for each of us, and they’re not identical.

“I feel I am deeply intimate with my ten wives and intimate with at least a hundred-fifty or more people ... at any one time. To one extent or another, I love all of them and more – all the members and pledges of the Circle. Some come and go in my list because of our closeness to a couple of other groups, and I do not keep track. I love those people.