Chapter 84

Eli knew he had a battle on his hands convincing the mommas of his sons and daughters that his plan was the best way to keep the Bucks, the Crow girls and the rest of them from having babies and still let them spend time with their friends. He figured the best way to handle this was to get them all at once and get it over with.

Miranda, Clarissa, Tin Yu, Catt, Eva, Rose, Sissy, Suh, Juni, and Grandma were gathered together out away from the others. Eli wanted all of them to listen to what he had planned, especially his girls’ mommas and the Bucks’ mommas.

“Eli, what is this all about?” Rose asked as the women sat near a big pecan tree in the warm sun. The women already knew about him meeting with all the Bucks, his girls, and the the other boys and girls who were here for the Land Run. They had suspected what he was up to and had already noticed the boys and girls sleeping together in the same bedrolls. They kept quiet about it, knowing that Eli had given them his approval or they wouldn’t have dared been caught together.

“Rose, I wanted all of you to come out here with me so I could tell you what I’ve worked out for all the girls and their beaus. I talked to Doc and Lettie a lot about this and with their help, we’ve worked out a way to keep them from having babies until they’re married,” he told them, looking around at each of them quickly to see their faces.

“Eli, we’ve taught all our girls about the things a woman can do to prevent pregnancy. We knew they would meet boys one day and need to know these things,” Clarissa told him.

“Clarissa, I know you did. The girls have told me they already knew about that. What I was afraid of was, that when they get time alone, would they remember those things when it mattered. I want our boys and girls to have fun at this time in their lives.

“None of us ever got a chance to court and be with others. We had to make a life for ourselves and be grownups before our time.” He explained as best he could.

“Eli, we’ve seen them sleeping together in their bedrolls in front of us and the other parents. We knew you’d given them permission or they wouldn’t be that brave,” Miranda told him.

“We’ve all agreed that we wanted our boys and girls to meet someone they liked. Little Eli and Isaac have been very responsible with Kit and Ruby with all of you helping them. I’m proud of those four for showing they could love each other and still respect each other too,” Eli continued.

“Now we have the other four Bucks who’ve met and fallen in love with girls from Texas. They’ve spent the past six or seven months writing letters and sending telegraph messages back and forth. They used their own money to send messages and post letters too.

“Now they’ve met again and each of them has told me they love those girls from Texas.

“I got to tell you now, those Texas girls are even wilder than my girls and I knew we had to do something to help them be together, yet keep them from having babies.”

“Eli, what are you trying to say?” Eva asked.

“Eli are you telling us you have agreed to let them be together like grownups?” Grandmother asked.

“Well, yes. Sort of anyway.”

“They can’t sort of sleep together like grownups, Eli. Either they do or they don’t,” Clarissa told him.

“Each of them have promised me that they would wait to have babies. I’ve talked to Doc and Lettie and they told me how to help them keep their promises.”

“Eli, have you agreed to let our girls and boys have sex out of wedlock?” Miranda asked.

“Yes, but with the understanding that if one girls gets with a baby, they’ll all have to wait until they’re eighteen to see each other again.”

“And they agreed to that? All of them?” Rose asked.

“Yes. They are ready to be grownups, but they want to prove they can be trusted too.”

“What did Doc and Lettie suggest that made you see things different, Eli?” Tin Yu asked.

“They suggested we buy them condoms,” he said, quickly looking at each of them.

“Eli, are you sure about this?” Clarissa asked, looking around at the other women too.

“Doc and Lettie told me they used them when they stayed together up in St. Louis and even used them after they came to Tulsa to keep from having babies.”

“I read where they were banned, Eli,” Miranda told him.

“Doc said they are still banned from being sent through the postal service. But he knows how to get them.”

“Eli, I’m not a momma to these girls, but I have to wonder if this will work,” Grandmother said.

“Grandmother, I can see what Eli is trying to do. We all know those boys and girls will never be able to see each other off and on for the next three years and not want to love each other. I would rather know they are aware of what they’re doing and are willing to take responsibility for what they do, than one of them come tell us they are with child,” Miranda said.

“I agree with Miranda. I would rather them agree to Eli’s rules and help keep each other from breaking them, than to have one slip up,” Catt agreed.

“Then I agree too,” Tin Yu added.

“Do we all agree to at least let them try? Think of the trust we will put on them and that they’ll have to live up to,” Eli said.

“What do you want us to do, Eli?” Clarissa asked.

“Nothing for now. I just wanted your approval before I did this. They are young men and women now and this is our last chance to make sure they know what is expected of them before they start spending time alone with each other.

“I’ve already had a private talk with all the couples. They were honest with me and I was honest with them. They want to be trusted and all of them want to wait to have babies.

“I told Michi and Kia that they could marry in a year and a half if they still loved their young men. I’m sure they’ll come to you and tell you all about it. Those girls are women now. Talk to them like women and you’ll see,” Eli said as he looked around at the women.

“Eli, Tin Yu proud of you,” Tin Yu told him.

“We are all proud of you, Eli. We’ve wondered many times how you would handle it when your girls became old enough to have a beau courting them. I’ll be the first to tell you, you did the right thing,” Clarissa said, then added...

“I know Lilly Beth and even Lee Yu needed this, they are far too wild and free not to love those boys without any restrictions,” Clarissa said and the others laughed as they agreed with her.

“So, we’re just supposed to accept this and not fuss at them if we see them behaving as grownups?” Suh asked.

“Suh, I want you and Moses to sit down and have a talk with Pike and Cecily. Just like we’re having now. Don’t ask personal questions of them, talk to them as grownups and let them tell you how they feel, they will surprise you.

“Pike is a man now. He’s as mature as any of the other Bucks. You and Moses can be proud of the way you’ve raised that boy.”

“Eli, I’ll have to tie Moses down, but we’ll do just that. I am so proud of Pike and I just love that pretty little Cecily Blasingame. She hangs onto him and it makes me so proud to see both of them in love,” Suh told them.

“I want to talk with Micah and Belinda too. They are so much in love and it makes me so proud for them,” Catt told him.

“I want all you mommas to talk with your sons and their girls, in private. Don’t be talking about the things we’ve talked about here either. Let them have that part to themselves, they’re all grownup enough to handle it and you’ll see when you talk to them. Just get them to talk about each other and let them tell their feelings and their plans for the future. Don’t be telling them how to think or live their lives,” Eli told them.

“I’ve been putting off having a personal talk with Lilly Beth and Ladd. I swear, Eli, that boy has our daughter smiling and following him around like Pepper follows Maryanne.

“I’ll tell them I want to sit down with them, but I’ll do it like you said and I won’t treat them as kids either. I’m proud of that girl and I hope Ladd can tame her little wild-ass down some too,” Clarissa said. She was smiling and her eyes were filled with tears as she talked with pride about Lilly Beth and her young man.

“I have already had a talk with Lee Yu and her young man, Lane. At times, I felt like maybe I was the girl and they were already the grownups. They were telling me all they have planned and what they want to name their babies. They are so happy, Eli. You have done a big thing, letting them show how us they can be grownup,” Tin Yu said as she and Clarissa looked at each other, nodding as they smiled.

“Miranda, I know you’re not Kia and Michi’s birth momma, but they call you momma and they’ve told Jere Jo and Jonny Bill about they’re real momma and daddy and how they were killed. They told the story about being adopted, then their new momma dying. Now they tell them you are their momma. I want you to sit down with them and let them tell you how they feel. If you don’t bring up the sex part, they won’t either. I’ll tell you now, you’re in for a surprise; those girls are already mature women.”

“Eli Crow, when did you start saying that word? I’ve never heard you say sex before in your life, like if you didn’t say it, none of the girls would even know about it,” Rose said and the women laughed.

“When I first started talking to my boys and girls privately, I found out real quick that they already knew more than I did and they even told me I needed to catch up with the times. I knew I had to catch up or be left behind by my own kids growing up so fast.

“Little Eli even told me back when they were leaving to come down here, that things were different than when I was young and that times have changed. That’s when I started talking to Doc and Lettie. They told me that if I didn’t change my way of thinking, I was going to have a houseful of grand babies before my Bucks and girls were even married.”

Before Eli left the women to their own discussions, he asked them to prepare a picnic lunch for each of the young men and women to have tomorrow.

He, Doc, and Lettie were taking the young men and women on a private picnic.

Doc borrowed Don’s horse and buggy for their short trip over to the lake on the backside of the property. He and Lettie had their leather medical bags, and a few small unmarked, wooden shipping crates tied behind the seat of the buggy. The girls had placed their baskets of food on the buggy and laced them down with rope. They were ready for the picnic of a lifetime.

Doctor Gerald Harrod had been boyhood friends with the Goodyear family back in St. Louis, Missouri.

He and Raymond Goodyear, a cousin of Charles Goodyear, who had discovered the vulcanization process of rubber, were classmates in school and then on into medical school. Later they became interns at the same hospital. Through Doc Harrod’s earlier association with Ray Goodyear, he learned of a new latex condom patented by Ray’s cousin, Charles.

Charles Goodyear’s first patent came in 1844, and later more than sixty patents were granted to Goodyear for his original processing of numerous rubber products. Among which were feminine rubber condoms, intrauterine devices, douching syringes, and womb veils.

Condoms and other contraceptive devices were deemed obscene by Federal and many State Laws and were banned from distribution through the mail in America by the Comstock Laws. They could no longer be sent through the United States Postal Service.

However this didn’t stop the production and sale of latex condoms.

In 1861, there were ads for condoms appearing in The New York Times as, Dr. Powers’ French Preventatives. These were made by Charles Goodyear’s Company.

Though Charles Goodyear died penniless in July of 1860, his legacy lived on and in 1898, The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was named in his honor by the man who owned it, Frank Seiberling.

Ray Goodyear still maintains his close connections in the latex rubber industry to this day, and supplies his closest medical associates with latex condoms not only as contraceptives, but as a means to prevent the spread of venereal disease.

“Eli to eliminate any embarrassment, Lettie will conduct her demonstration of the condom with the girls over here. If you will go with me, I will demonstrate the proper procedure for applying the condom to the boys of the group. This will be strictly clinical, yet Lettie and I both will answer all questions, and I am sure there will be plenty.”

“Doc, are you sure you want me there when you show the young men how to use these things? I mean, well, you got to remember, my girls are over there and all of us know who these will be used on...” Eli said, his face turning red when Doc grinned at him.

“Eli, you need to get over this. Men and women have been making love for centuries and fathers always have the same feelings when they give up their daughters in marriage. You are doing this for them. Don’t let it look like this is embarrassing you, and it will come natural for the young folks to use these devices.”

“Doc, I’ll try like hell, but this is NOT going to be easy on me. Lettie will have the girls far enough away that they won’t hear us, won’t she?”

“Eli, relax. She will do this in a professional way. I will also, but there will be questions and if you have any, please ask. You may want to take a few of these condoms with you when we leave.”

“Doc, lets just get on with this. I see the girls looking over this way. We need to walk on around the lake bank a little ways!”

“Eli, you are about to go through the second part of catching up with the times. This isn’t obscene or indecent. This is for the prevention of babies and in certain cases, disease. You’ve met with the young men and women and explained what is expected of them. They have agreed to do this your way. Now, we need to explain the clinical part or you will have done this for naught.

“Then lets get on with it, Doc. I’m still nervous just standing here,” Eli said and he and Doc turned to the young men, motioning for them to follow.

“You young men follow Eli and me. We’ll walk around this bend in the lake shore and I’ll demonstrate to you how contraception works. I know you are all old enough to have some knowledge of condoms, though I doubt any of you have ever used one or doubtfully ever seen one.

“Now that we’re out of sight and out of hearing of the others, I want to take time to show all of you this latex rubber condom while I tell you a little about it.