Chapter 8: Slow Infusion

Karen and Dale had gone to the middle school to pick up Sean from his new school. They were far from the only people picking up a student after classes ended. Dale sat with binoculars studying the occupants of all of the cars waiting in line. He had an open line by way of his cellphone to Dev who sat doing the same thing at the nearby elementary school waiting to pickup Christiana. Dev was driving his new matte black Range Rover with the windows so heavily tinted no one could see in. The car did look like a SWAT wagon. By contrast, Dale was driving an old Mercedes that had been modified with a 450-horsepower engine in it, about three times what the original model had installed. Either vehicle was capable of near instantaneous speeds of over a hundred miles an hour. Further, both men had been trained in defensive driving.

Dale commented into his headset, “Everything looks cool here. Lots of soccer moms, it seems. Oops, gotta go. The kids are just coming out.”

Sean came out with three other boys of similar height and stature. They all talked for a minute or two and then Sean saw his mother waving and went to the car. As Dale got behind the wheel, he heard Dev over his headset, “I have Christiana. We’re headed back to the Circle.”

Dale said over the two-way link, “Hey, Dev. First day of classes, new school, new classmates, spooky situation keeps you from taking the bus and being normal, and weird stuff all around; how about we meet you at the ice cream shop next door to the movie theater?”

Dev laughed, “Good idea, Bro. See you there in five.”

The Circle did two celebrations at dinner that evening. First, Sean and Christiana were singled out and congratulated on a successful first day at their new schools. Both were mortified and embarrassed by the recognition, but still managed to smile and say thank you. Chef Bobbie gave each of them a special cup cake with a sparkler making it a festive dessert.

The second celebration was Sheri Seaton. She completed all the tests and examination for her private pilot’s certificate from the FAA that afternoon. She was over the moon and joined a group of others in the Circle that flew for pleasure and occasionally for business. She’d become a licensed private pilot.

Owen, of course, had his jet, but he had professional pilots who flew him around the world, usually with Julie. Ken Toomey was sitting left seat in various Boeing planes on a near daily basis flying all over the continent, usually with a couple of hundred passengers along for the ride. Patti was with him on most flights. Pete and Doug were flying daily giving lessons and running charter flights all over the place with the various planes at Sky Ranch Airport. The next most active pilot was Pam Prentiss. She took the Cessna 182 and flew all over the eastern half of the country to various consulting gigs she’d been engaged for. Beyond that, the others were more casual pilots and those included Alice, Dave, Emily, Rachel, Joan, and Amanda.

Karen and Jason also had a long discussion over dinner with others in the Prentiss family listening in silently. The court had issued the restraining order against Myron and Elsie Waldorf after Robyn had presented the petition on Karen’s behalf. The order was valid for six months and could be renewed if the mother of the children – Karen – thought the threat continued.

As far as Jason could tell, no legal action had been instigated in Hamilton County, Ohio where Karen and the children had lived until the previous Saturday. He still recommended vigilance over the children for at least a month or until some action became more obvious by Karen’s parents. He assured Karen that taking children away from their mother, particularly where that mother had moved to another state to protect her children, was a very rare situation. Unless a felony, sexual abuse, or drugs were involved in some way there was no way anything would happen. Karen still worried.

Shortly after dinner, Daryl called and said that all was quiet at their home and that no one from either the police or DCPS had come back. Jason urged him to remain quiet and to only reveal Karen’s exact whereabouts through him talking to whatever agency was inquiring. Despite that, he felt that Karen’s parents would guess her location with some degree of certainty.

Several people in and out of the family volunteered to accompany Karen or Dev to pickup the children for the coming weeks. Owen suggested an around-the-clock security detail and volunteered to pay for it. Karen accepted his offer, and thus near midnight a team of two men showed up for the first shift as a security detail. In the morning they were introduced to the children as trustworthy people.

The social life of the Circle waned slightly with the presence of the children. Instead of the lingering after dinner with clusters of lovers on the patio chaises, people did linger at the bar and then wandered off in pairs and threesomes to someone’s home or townhouse.

Wednesday evening, Jason reported that he’d again checked the legal filings in Hamilton County. The Waldorfs had filed for custody of their grandchildren, but no hearing had been scheduled in the local court to enforce the petition. The filing solidified what Jason, Karen, and the others had expected; that the Waldorfs were prepared to do battle because of their lifestyle. Jason had made arrangements to have the restraining order served on them.

Daryl called about nine p.m. and reported that he had been served with a copy of the petition. He explained to the server and the accompanying sheriff’s deputy that the children no longer lived in the state, and that the petition was a waste of time, energy, and money.

Daryl and Candy few down to Sarasota on Friday night arriving at the Circle at ten o’clock. They were quickly absorbed into the mix with love and attention by everybody. Karen went off with Daryl but brought a very willing Cricket with her, and Candy partnered with Aaron and Megan for the rest of the night.

Saturday morning about eight-thirty Dave hustled between the patio and the kitchen along with several of his helpers delivering the custom breakfasts that had become his hallmark in service for his community.

Nikky Thomas appeared from between Dave and Jack’s homes, looking only a few feet away at the tables full of people gobbling down their meals, talking with great animation, and often laughing. The atmosphere was one of pure happiness and obvious a great connectivity between everyone she could see. She was a stranger and an outsider. She felt embarrassed and her steps were tentative as she wondered how to find Dave.

Nikky suddenly felt a hand grasp her left arm. “Nikky! Welcome. I’m glad you could come and visit with us for a while. Come and let me introduce you to a couple of my wives.” Dave smiled at the pretty and very small eighteen-year-old. He’d thought Cricket was small, but Nikky was tiny for her age.

He held Nikky’s hand and led her to a table where seats had been saved for the two of them. Dave introduced Cricket and Heather to her, got her order for breakfast after explaining the nearly unlimited choices, and then hustled off to get their plates. He was specializing in omelets that morning.

Once back, he found that Nikky had relaxed a little and was engaging in conversation with his two wives about establishing credibility. Both women had different perspectives on the subject based on their own experiences and background.

Heather shocked Nikky with her background. She explained, “I needed credibility and some degree of authority over those around me when I was seventeen. I got myself false ID and then got a job as a stripper and waitress at a strip club. I was pretty hot back then.”

Dave interrupted, “You’re still hot.”

Heather leaned over and planted a long-lasting soul kiss on Dave’s lips as he responded in kind. She whispered, “Thank you. I think you’re hot, too.” They parted and both looked back at Nikky. Her mouth was hanging open and she was blushing.

Heather continued, “If you don’t exhibit some authority and presence about yourself, the audience in a strip club will eat you alive. The sniff out your weaknesses and you’re suddenly raw meat. They’ll tear you to pieces, and I have had audiences try. It’s ugly. I even turned tricks for a while to make more money after I became a mother. If you didn’t want to end up beaten to a pulp by some asshole you had to command authority over your johns before they did it to you. I learned fast. It was a raw life for a while.”

Nikky stammered, “You ... you ... you were a ... prostitute?”

Heather nodded firmly, “Yep, a four-hundred-dollar whore. I could double what I made in a week at the strip club in one night by being willing to fuck. I knew it was wrong, immoral, illegal, and all of that, but I still did it. Some of it was fun, but most of that era in my life wasn’t. I kept myself afloat financially until I was able to finally get a scholarship to go to college. That scholarship was only because I threw in with this group of sex maniacs.” She laughed and gestured to Dave and everyone else sitting around at the tables talking together.

Even Cricket sat mesmerized by Heather’s story. By comparison, she’d led a pretty sterile life. She said a few words about self-image and outside image and how they needed to be aligned. She also talked about being genuine, truthful, reliable, developing a reputation, and doing something about her status.

There was some discussion about Nikky’s current ‘status’ and after listening to Nikky both of my girls decided she had zilch. Graduating three or four years early from college, while impressive, just wouldn’t cut it in the trenches in the business world, particularly as time passed and she got older.

Cricket laughed, “I know what you need! Wait here. She disappeared and came back a few minutes later with Dev and Scarlett, both wondering what was happening. Cricket gave a sixty-second explanation, and then posed Scarlett and Nikky at the table with their drinks and took some pictures. Nikky was speechless as the movie star sat and talked with her about helping with her status, and how from that instant on she could call her a friend. Scarlett even took Nikky’s phone and entered her home address and phone numbers on it and then sent her a text asking her how her new job was going. She dictated the reply she wanted from Nikky. The pair kissed, mostly at Scarlett’s instigation, and then she wandered back down the patio to where she’d been reading and watching her daughter Rose swim with the Simon kids.

Dev was the next photographic subject, but only after he removed his shirt so everybody could see his six pack abs and how sexy he was, and then Nikky got a public change of blouse, sat in his lap as they laughed, and more photos were taken. Cricket explained that one or two pictures from each group needed to be on Nikky’s office wall or desk, one with Scarlett because she was one of her favorite friends, and the ones with Dev because he was kind of a ‘boyfriend’ – one that was muscle-bound, hunky, older, and because he looked dangerous, especially with that dragon tattoo.

Heather added a longer discussion about having some kind of self-defense skills as a helpful addition to one’s credibility, at least in some sectors. Nikky had been taking yoga, but thought that maybe a karate class might help get her started on something along those lines. Dev made a few recommendations as well.

After we’d all talked and mentored Nikky for an hour, Cricket and Heather took her on a tour of the Circle, even driving her down to the airport and showing around inside of Owen’s Gulfstream 650 corporate jet. Nikky hadn’t taken in before that Owen – the billionaire – lived with all of us and was a personal friend. A few pictures were taken on the steps leading into the Gulfstream jet.

Cricket and Heather explained about how Alice and Julie, two of MY DAVE’s wives, had recently become engaged to also marry Owen, emphasizing that Julie would become his legal wife in the process, but that there was little distinction.

About half of Nikky’s brain cells had melted by the time they brought her back to the patio for a third cup of coffee. She was sputtering about putting together a cogent sentence. Things got worse after they brought Owen over to meet Nikky and have his picture taken with her for a fourth set of photographs for her office desk with another ‘close friend’ – this one a well-known billionaire.

When she got over that bit of trauma, Dave took her over and introduced her to Derek Wilson, the CEO of the utility where she worked. More pictures! Dave also insisted that she have lunch with him and possibly Donna, his EA, in the cafeteria the following Monday. Since he was a vice president that might also give her external image a bit of a kick.

Alice came by and teased about whether a picture with Alice Angel might also be appropriate. Dave frowned but then laughed at the suggestion. Nikky didn’t know who Alice Angel was but figured out that it was not something that would help her immediate problems.

After sitting for a while, Nikky said, “Heather and Cricket showed me your home. It’s beautiful. The bed is...” She was at a loss for words.

Dave finished the sentence for her, “Spectacular! We know. It can sleep all of us, and usually does, or some of the others that stop by.”

“Others?” Nikky asked naïvely.

Dave shook his head, sorry that he’d taken the conversation there. With others that visited they often knew about the Circle’s ethos, so kidding around about the sexual implications of his large bed was quite acceptable. This didn’t seem one of those times with the naïve eighteen-year-old.

Cricket leaned over and whispered in Nikky’s ear for over a minute as Nikky’s eyes looked at Dave and got about as large as saucers. Dave was sure that another billion brain cells had vaporized by the time the aside was over.

Bobbie came out of the kitchen and over to Dave’s table. She gave him a luscious kiss and told him about her love for him. She finally said, “Lunch is ready. Can I do anything special for you ... even something REALLY special?”

Dave kissed her nose, “Everything you do is already special, and we’re all set with the standard fare. Bobbie meet Nikky Thomas who works at the utility with me.”