Chapter 20: New Friends

Fifteen people sat around in an approximate circle in the new core living room. Thanks to the work of Alice Grace, one of Mark Worthington’s ‘wives’, the huge space did not feel cold and uninteresting; quite the contrary, there was fascinating eye candy in every direction as well as the tall windows looking out over the new pool and the larger patio.

Phil asked, “Can we keep having this Circle 101 discussion group. This is the best!”

All the other heads in the group nodded.

Dave said, “Well, it’s fine with me, however, I also have a business to run and I’d need someone like you to run the group. I can help you with suggestions and attend if I’m free, but you’ll have to be the emcee and host some of the time. Want the job?”

Phil looked uncertain.

Cord Jenkins sat up. “I’ll help you. All of us will. We all like getting together like this and talking about the Circle and the principles to live by. I had a philosophy class last year, and this is far deeper and richer in terms of self-development than anything at the university except maybe Ross’ class.”

Cookie waved her hand, “Count me in. I’ll help, too.”

Dave said, “Well, this is a beautiful example of the Service Principle that the Circle embraces. We all give of ourselves to support the greater whole of the Circle or even just one other partner.”

Phil teased, “Unless you have a hot business to run.”

Before Dave could even respond to the taunt, Nikky screamed across the room at him. “PHIL, THAT’S TERRIBLE! Take that back!” She started to rant, protecting ‘her man’: “Dave has done more for the Circle than the rest of us put together. He’s the backbone of this place and has put in hundreds and thousands of hours of work. He does bar duty, cooks our breakfasts on the weekends, serves on the board, oversees the construction committee, keeps us legal and private, talks to the press in just the right way, and most of us are here because he sought us out as friends and helped us become members.”

Phil back-pedaled rapidly, “I was teasing. I was teasing. I know all that. It’s all so obvious, I thought my comment would be taken as sarcasm and not a malicious slur. I love Dave. I wouldn’t be here, but for him either.” He turned to Dave, “My apologies, Sir. I meant no ill intent.”

Dave smiled, “You’re forgiven. I took your remark as you intended.” He waved to dismiss the unintentional slight and then paused, “Back to the subject of Service. Any comments?”

Cindy raised her hand, “Let me share something that happens in the large intentional Worthington family. Most of us see service as something you DO in some way. You concentrate on some problem or place where ACTION is needed and provide the action, generate ideas to make it effective and efficient, or you make whatever is needed happen in some way – say by managing a contractor or something. Sometimes you have to work in a team to be successful.

“My husband Mark, as you all know, is loaded with billions of dollars. His solution to many problems is to throw money at them until they go away or get resolved. Now, if the problem is like a leaky roof at the Meadows or an air conditioner duct that doesn’t work, that’s a good approach. BUT, if your problem involves other people or building a sense of family or needing a visible adult male as a daddy figure, that approach is not a good one. We have to remind Mark of that often – almost daily. We could buy lots of nannies, but our children need their father; his wives need his love and quality time with him and not just the other men in our group. We don’t want to be bought off.

“So, as you think of service in the Circle, don’t let things get ‘bought off’ by your colleagues when they should be getting personal effort, especially if it involves working with others.”

Gary DeVille asked, “But don’t a lot of things that need doing in the Circle require money? How’s that work?”

Dave responded, “In a way there is no formal process for what I’m about to describe, but it works something like this. Bobbie Wyatt is responsible for the core buildings and kitchen, at least up to a point. If something breaks, she makes sure it gets fixed. She has authority from the board to spend up to $2,000 per item in that regard; above that and up to $5,000 she needs the treasurer involved, and that’s Julie. Julie also has a finance committee that may screen the problem, from there on up in cost. Above that amount the entire board votes on the repair, replacement, or whatever.

“The board may also vote money for a project, assign a project manager, and they’ll make it happen. Getting the new furniture for the new patio area was an example.

“Tan created an app for her iPhone to manage all of us as volunteers. She tries to make sure no one gets overloaded or inadvertently stuck in some sucky job, but one person’s sucky job is another’s coveted contribution to the service of their friends. For instance, I don’t care to lug all the garbage cans out to the curb for trash pickup, but Alice and Julie don’t mind that; they love walking around on Monday nights and making sure everything is curbside that should be.”

Gary said, “But you farm out the landscaping, right?”

“Yes. We contract for that so that no one has to mow, trim bushes, pickup brush, and all that unpleasant part of having yards and shrubbery. It’s time-consuming and to do it well needs a plethora of time and special tools. They come each Thursday morning for about two or three hours with a whole crew that sweeps through the Circle and keeps the exteriors neat. We have a volunteer team that canvasses the area for stuff that has blown in from someplace or come down off some of the trees and there is a landscape committee.”

“What if there was some odd ball problem where a work detail was needed?”

Dave shrugged, “Mention it to Tan or me or one of the other board members. We’ll make sure it gets suitable attention in some way. It may become a volunteer job or maybe we hire a contractor. Tan, Julie, and-or the finance committee will make a first determination.”

Nora asked, “How do you all handle child care?”

Dave pointed to Alice who was attending this session. She stood up, “The moms and dads have created a separate cash pool for child care that a couple of us manage in concert with Julie, the board treasurer. We pay Maddy and Taylor out of that fund, and have money for toys and such for the kids. I’m sure you’ve all seen the new jungle gym that we bought in the new core area. That whole arena is going to change soon as we start to think about home schooling now that the younger cohort is nearly ready for traditional school. If you’re interested come and see me after we break up.

“In the spirit of service, each of us, moms or dads, also shows up on a schedule that Maddy keeps to help out with kids and babies. She does this so that all of us don’t show up one day and no one the next. So far, it’s worked out great. We swap around all the time depending on our other needs. Since we added Taylor, we have seven days a week covered if we need it.”

Samantha asked, “You kind of indicated that some of the people in the Circle get paid and others don’t. How’s that work?”

Dave nodded. “Good question. One answer is that if we had to pay everyone at market rates to do all the service jobs the Circle would go broke in about a month.

“The second answer is that we chose some of the jobs that needed more significant care, time, skills, and attention and made those paid. Thus, Bobbie Wyatt became our chef. Not only does she prepare fabulous meals for us five nights a week, she’s also our chief nutritionist and we are her guinea pigs for new recipes she wants to try. Normally, she cooks for about a hundred of us at a time, and remember if you have guests coming to let her know. Also, after you are a member you can expect to meet with her about your individual nutrition plan. She takes your health very seriously. About half the meals she serves are ‘custom’ in some way to the person getting each meal.

“Maddy and Taylor are the others we hired, but they really work for the moms and dads at this point, but the Circle handles their pay and such as though they were Circle employees. It’s easier from a financial point of view.

“The Board has some other jobs we’ve been contemplating as becoming paid positions. One is a general handyman for the whole place, especially for the common areas. We’d relieve Bobbie of her oversight responsibility for the core. Since we just tripled our core space there’s a lot more to worry about now. That person might also become a type of concierge to all of us.”

Gabe raised his hand and Dave gestured to him. “This is obviously the new living room, but what will happen to all the other space behind the moveable wall?”

Dave smiled. “First off, there is a large plan posted beside the message board that shows the plan for this wing. Various parts of it will open as soon as the contractors finish with it. This area and some of what’s behind the wall can be interior dining space but it can be configured in many ways. There’s a greatly enlarged kitchen that will need more staff to run, there are a couple of classrooms for our home schooling initiatives, a second gym and Pilates room, two conference rooms, a room for the board to use exclusively, two guest suites, and some space that’ll be left unfinished for now.”

“Thank you. Sorry I missed seeing the plan. I’ll take a look.”

Nora asked, “What is the message board you spoke of?”

Dave responded, “It’s in the hallway right behind the old kitchen. It’s now six large white boards and several large bulletin boards. There are different sections on the boards, everything from for sale items to letting others know your travels plans and so on. The pilots in the group have a section called the Circle Flying Club that’s used to reserve various planes for flights or lessons. Pete and Doug ride heard on that section of it. Part of it is for childcare. Some of it relates to upcoming meal menus, special meal requests, and so on. Take a look, and any of the regular members can help explain it to you, but it is best done standing right in front of it.”

Ross Buchman raised his hand and brought things back to the discussion of service. “We’ve painted the service you mention as jobs to support the day-to-day operation of the Circle. I’d like to expand people’s thinking about the spirit of service – in a spiritual sense. By this I mean that you open your heart and mind, your resources, and give of your time to the needs of others, including their physical, mental, and emotional needs. One question comes to mind, do we limit ‘others’ to our friends and lovers in the Circle or do we extend the concept outside our gates.” He smiled knowing that he was provoking an interesting discussion for part of the evening.

The early February evening was warm, so Dave and Tatiana had gone outside after the Circle 101 Rap Session had adjourned.

Tatiana removed her clothing and pulled at Dave’s shorts and sport shirt until he was as naked as she and their clothing was piled in a chair beside them. She led him to the steps of the pool and they walked into the heated water, which felt great juxtaposed with the cool evening air.

Tatiana laughed, “I can’t believe I’m swimming outside in February. At home this whole pool would be a large block of ice until at least May.”

After swimming several laps, the two got out and without drying themselves lay on one of the doublewide chaises. She inhaled his cock for several minutes bringing him to a high state of readiness to make love and then mounted him as he lay back and fondled her pert breasts.

Tatiana said, “I need to say some things to you about you, your friends, and your Circle, and I guess me.”

Dave moved and kissed her, and her plan to speak got parked for several minutes. As they kissed their bodies ground together mostly due to Tatiana’s sexy twerking and grinding into Dave’s body. After a short while, she paused.

“Let me get these things said and then we will consummate our lovemaking again.” She sighed and pulsed her vaginal muscles around his engorged cock deep inside her with a small laugh.