Chapter 31: EneRG Celebration and Insights

Over three hundred people gathered on the new patio at the Circle for the giant cookout and congratulatory party that EneRG and Dave were hosting one Saturday afternoon in the spring. A large banner hung from the roof of a cabana that said, somewhat tongue in cheek, ‘MISSION ACCOMPLISHED’. This provoked a lot of laugher. Dave didn’t know who put it there, but it poked fun at George W. Bush standing on the deck of the USS Lincoln basically claiming a victory of sorts in Iraq. The nearly unending war that followed made the photos somewhat of a joke and led to many people thinking the president was out of touch with reality. Duh!

When most of the EneRG staff and partners were there Dave and JR stood atop one of the picnic tables and gave a short pep-talk and congratulations to everyone.

Dave pointed to the banner, “WELCOME! Our first significant contract with Apple required us to deliver twenty million thin pack batteries for the new iPhones by the end of last month. WE DID IT!” [Cheers]

JR yelled into the makeshift microphone, “When we made that commitment, we had no manufacturing plants and weren’t entirely sure how to meet that commitment, but thanks to all of you, WE DID IT.” [Louder cheers]

Mark Worthington jumped up on the same table and came between Dave and JR with his arms around them. “Just so you know we appreciate all the extra hours and time you put in to make this happen, you are each going to find in your paychecks a special one-time bonus to say thank you.” [Very loud cheers and applause]

Dave yelled, “And keep up the good work. We have lots of new contracts and commitments to honor. We are transforming the world. Next January in Las Vegas, we will again have a showing at the Consumer Electronics Show, and we will be displaying lots of new products that use our batteries, and some of those were never portable until they met our batteries. One of those items on display will be the new Tesla F9 sports car that can drive over TWO THOUSAND MILES on one overnight battery charge! Nikky and Connie are going to drive from Sarasota to Vegas in that car without needing to make dozens of stops at special charging stations or to do battery swaps.” [Cheers. Applause.]

“Enjoy the party.”

The three dismounted from the table and mixed in with the others at the large gathering. The gathering was a lot more conservative in terms of dress than usually graced the patio on a warm afternoon. The most audacious outfit was a shapely bikini on one of the technician’s wives. After all, the invitation had said to wear your bikini and hers fit in a spectacular way.

This was the first time the management team of EneRG had met most of the spouses or partners of their workforce. Dave had even flown in the management teams from Phoenix, Oregon, West Virginia, and St. Paul, so they could also participate in the satisfaction of the company’s first large contract. Several managers from China and Korea had also flown in, along with executives from Germany and Ireland. This was a milestone.

Many of the Circle members had volunteered to help out with the party, playing various roles from bartending to serving, to playing lifeguard for the few children that came with their parents and wanted to swim. Separate from her duties as the Circle’s chef, Dave had engaged Bobbie Wyatt to oversee the catered food service. As usual, she’d done a superb job.

For many of the attendees, it was the first time they had a chance to meet a genuine billionaire. Mark and Owen were both circulating through the throng. Wendy Hayden had come, too. Even more exciting to many, Scarlett was also there with her Hollywood friends Megan Fox and Miley Cyrus. In the same manner, Owen had brought Joe Jonas to the party; he was relatively nearby in Nashville recording an album and Owen put the arm on him, since he was partly funding the endeavor. They were all huge hits with the crowd. Ashley Steerman was there and sang a few songs with her live band, even doing a duet with Joe Jonas.

Everyone wore nametags identifying them as EneRG employees, spouse or partner, or Circle members. In some cases the tags identified them as belonging to two of the three categories; specifically, Nikky, JR, Deborah, and Larry had flags of EneRG and the Circle. Dave and Alice belonged to all three categories. Dave also suggested that Jenny and Deborah admit to all three categories because of how close they were to him and his family.

Dave rapidly achieved some degree of notoriety, especially among the women when the buzz went through the crowd that he had six wives, one of whom was Scarlett Johansson. Going with that viral rumor also went the ‘polyamory’ and ‘open marriage’ monikers. A Martian would have received less attention.

Pam was there with the new baby she’d had with Dave. Julie waddled around about to hatch at any moment. Matthew had been put in charge of the younger children (under adult supervision), and he was doing a great job of getting games organized that kept the children that came with a parent interested and busy as their elders socialized not too far away.

Mid-afternoon Dave started to walk across the patio to the bar when four women he didn’t recognize stopped him. One said, “Mr. Prentiss, thank you for talking with us for a moment.”

He bowed graciously to them. He had a feeling he knew what was coming next.

“We were talking about your ... well ... your personal life. Is it true that you’re married to six women and you are all in an open marriage?”

Dave chuckled, “He could have just said, “Yes” and moved on. Instead, he felt playful. His response became, “Yes, but I’m always open to new relationships. Are any of you interested; we’re accepting applications right now and the four of you appear to be likely candidates?”

The four women froze with their mouths hanging open.

Dave laughed, “I’m kidding. I’m kidding. Yes, I lead an unconventional life style, as do my wives. Our relationships are based on love. Understand that one is my legal wife, and the others have similar commitments made to them without the sanctions from the government. We do not proselytize or recruit, and as far as the government is concerned, we are legal.”

“But someone said that everybody in the Circle has sex with everybody else,” one woman said; her nametag only had her first name: Elin. She was mid-forties and quite good-looking.

Dave chuckled, “It’s not that simple, and I will only tell you what I said in a press conference when asked that question a couple of years ago. The Circle is a loving community of like-minded individuals, both men and women. We stress equality, fluid relationships, achieving your potential, non-possessiveness, harmony, and compersion. There is no jealousy here; that’s a very destructive emotion. There’s also no exclusivity.” He smiled at each of the women.

Another woman said to the others, “I think that means ‘Yes’. You mentioned a press conference. Was something published about the Circle?” Her nametag said ‘Lucy’. She, too, was pretty with a ‘girl next door’ kind of look on her face that displayed tremendous curiosity.

Dave nodded, “Yes, quite a bit. There were a few other pieces of public drama that occurred at the same time that resulted in this place and all of us coming under scrutiny of the media for a short period of time. If you look in the library section of the core living room, you’ll see several identical scrapbooks of the articles from that time period, as well as other articles about some of our members.”

Lucy asked cautiously, “Are you happy?”

Dave smiled, “I am probably the happiest man on the planet, especially today with all of you here to celebrate our first real business achievement. Insofar as my nuclear and extended family, I am also ecstatic. My six wives and about fifty other women love me, and I love all of them dearly. I have fourteen healthy and very normal children, and a couple more on the way. Yes, I’m very happy.”

Dave had read all their nametags, but was only able to associate one of the names with an engineer in the R&D department. He made note of the two tags with last names on them and intended to look up their relationship to EneRG when things quieted down.

“What does someone have to do to join your Circle?”

Dave smirked, “Well, first it’s not MY Circle. The Circle belongs to all of us – about a hundred people and some close friends. There are no fixed criteria, but developing a close relationship with each of us would be the number one factor. Also, you’d want to feel very aligned with the culture of the Circle and the way we live.”

“What is your culture like?” Angie asked. A brunette that appeared younger than the other three women.

Dave felt devilish again. “Well, there is the sex. We tend to exhibitionism, and nudity. Sometimes you’re just never sure in whose bed you’ll sleep at night ... or whether you’ll get any sleep at all. Sometimes, your partners can be pretty demanding and you also can get really worked up.”

All four women backed away slightly, then the one whose nametag read ‘Olive’ said, “There’s got to be more to this place than that?” She sounded insistent but entertained by the conversation.

Dave nodded and then repeated many of the characteristics of the Circle’s culture that Ginny Fuller had called out only a week or so earlier.

Olive asked, “What do you mean by non-possessive?”

“Let me answer you with a little test that overlaps a couple of other elements of our Circle. If you wanted to make love with someone here tonight, what would you do and why?”

Olive slowly answered, “I’d ask my husband for permission, otherwise he’d go ballistic – maybe he would anyway even if I just asked. As for why, I guess because I’m his wife and we’re married.”

“So, he owns and controls you so you need his permission for certain activities?”

“I ... I guess so.” She paused and added, “I see your point. He can be very possessive, especially of me. What would one of your wives do?”

“Follow her bliss. The only rule that would disappoint me if she didn’t follow was to make sure that the person that she was engaging with had a recent STD test.”

“So, you wouldn’t care whether she had sex with someone else or not?”

“Oh, I’d care but not how you think. I’d want her to find a partner who would love her like no one else on the planet, who’d give her an unending series of mind-blowing orgasms that left her breathless, please her in a thousand ways, and who’d leave her wanting more. I’d want her to feel good about herself, and about her lover. I’d want them to be building a relationship and not just having a one-off.”

“But what if you lose her to that man?”

Dave chuckled, “Or woman? Well, I would affirm my own love for her, and help her forge her new relationship because I love her. I don’t conditionally love her if she’ll only love me and follow my rules; I love her unconditionally.”