Chapter 8: Break-Up

April 2, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

We had just sat down for the Rap Session on Sunday when the doorbell rang. Kara got up and went to answer it, and as soon as the door opened I heard a commotion. I excused myself and went to the foyer to see Carol and Kara facing off.

“Your son abused my daughter!” she screeched.

“Carol, keep your voice down,” I requested.

“I will not!” she declared.

Stan came into view, huffing and puffing. He was out of shape, but I also suspected Carol had some kind of head start on him.

“Carol,” he said between breaths, “come home.”

“No!” she spat. “I won’t stand by and have my daughter raped!”

I’d been calm until she said that, but now it was time to push back.

“You have it completely wrong,” I said firmly. “Your daughter invited Jesse to your house to have sex, Carol. SHE initiated it. They love each other and want to be together.”

“You knew! How dare you?!” she turned to her husband, “Now I’m calling the cops!”

“No, you are not!” Stan said firmly. “Two fourteen-year-olds engaging in consensual sex is NOT a crime!”

So Stan WAS onside, and now was willing to state it out loud. I wondered how Carol had found out, but I had my suspicions.

Carol’s face turned even redder, “I can’t believe you’re saying that! We’re through! I’m taking Francesca and we’re leaving!”

She turned and stormed away.

“Stan,” I called as he turned to leave, “what happened?”

He stopped and came closer and spoke in a low voice.

“Carol and Francesca had another argument about Jesse and Frannie told Carol that she and Jesse had slept together a bunch of times, and was pretty explicit about it. Carol was going to call the police but I stopped her, so she came here. I guess I should go home and see if she’s serious.”

I was sure she was, because Carol was completely intractable on the issue.

“Let us know if we can do anything to help,” I said. “I doubt it, but just ask.”

“Thanks. I do think Jesse and Francesca are too young to do what they’re doing, but given they’ve basically been a couple since before they turned one, I suppose it’s not surprising. And I believe Frannie was the instigator and I’m positive that there was no coercion.”

“Thanks, Stan. Let me know. I’ll talk to Jennifer and Josie - they’re visiting some friends because Jesse has a rare Sunday off from hockey.”

“You’re welcome. Sorry.”

“Not your fault,” I replied. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

He turned and went down the steps to the sidewalk, turned left, and began walking south towards his house.

“I suppose we should have seen that coming,” I said.

“She’s going to divorce Stan over this?”

“That seems to me to be what she said. Maybe she’ll calm down, but one thing I’m sure of - Francesca will be in a different school a week from tomorrow if Carol can arrange it. With Spring Break and the fourth quarter starting, she might be able to pull it off.”

“That’s just sick,” Kara said, shaking her head. “Think she’ll call the cops?”

“I think she knows Stan is right, but that doesn’t mean she won’t. Not to mention I suspect Francesca actually told Carol she wanted to do it. I believe that’s the case because Stan said it was consensual, and he said Francesca was explicit.”

“So now what?”

“I’ll talk to Jen, Josie, and Jesse,” I replied. “But I’d say that’s the end of Jesse and Francesca.”

“I agree,” Kara said. “Shall we go back to the Rap Session?”

I nodded and we went back inside and sat down.

“Sorry about that,” I said.

“Carol?” Winter asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “But I can’t say anything more about it. Anyway, I’d like to welcome our new participants today. I hope you’ve had a good introduction to what these sessions are like, but I’ll cover that as soon as we complete a short survey. It’s VERY important you answer truthfully. Don’t put your name on the paper, please.”

Kara handed the eight new students their survey forms. It only took a couple of minutes to for them to fill them out and turn them in. Eight seventeen-year-olds, and not one of them had ever had a steady boyfriend or girlfriend, let alone had sex. Five who said they were Democrats and three who had simply put question mark on the ‘political party preference’ line. Only one had been outside the US and none of them spoke a foreign language, except for one who was bilingual in Spanish and English, which I assumed to be the cute Hispanic girl, who was also the traveler. With regard to religion, four were Catholic, one was AME, which had to be the black girl, two listed ‘none’, and one was Jewish. All were good students, according to the forms, and all of them, sadly, thought ‘participation trophies’ were a good idea.

I handed the forms to Elizabeth who scanned them and returned them to me with a slight, surreptitious eye roll. I handed them to Kara, who did the same thing.

“OK,” I said. “Let’s start with the ground rules. In this room, we engage in completely uninhibited conversation, exercising our right to ‘Free Speech’ to its fullest. That means you are likely going to hear things which upset or offend you. My response to that is - ‘too bad’. Life is like that. You will hear lots of things which have the potential to offend you. Your only possible legitimate responses are to reply with your own position, to be quiet, or to leave. It is NOT an option to tell the other person not to express their opinion.

“Second, many of the topics we cover here will be adult in nature, and I’m not just talking about sex, but just about every aspect of adult life. I’ll expect you to all behave as adults because, at seventeen, you ARE adults, no matter what your parents or teachers or pastors or priests or rabbis might have said. Your friends who nominated you said you could handle it, but if that’s not the case, it’s probably best if you leave. Any questions before we begin? And please remind me of your name if you speak.”

“I’m Joy,” the black girl said. “Why did you ask those questions?”

“To get an idea of who you are,” I said. “That same set of forms, filled out at our first Rap Session when I was around nineteen, would have shown something very different. There were about ten of us, all of whom had at least one serious relationship, all of whom had traveled at least to Canada, half of whom spoke a foreign language, and none of whom were virgins. In fact, the average age of losing our virginities was around sixteen, including two who were fourteen.”

“No way!” she gasped.

“Times have changed,” Elizabeth said. “Which is part of why we’re here. We think they’ve changed in a bad way, and want to do something about that. And please don’t think the virginity question is the reason. All of us older folks, if I can use that term for people in their thirties, are FAR more bothered by the fact that all eight of you think ‘participation trophies’ are a good idea than we are by the fact that none of you has even had a serious boyfriend or girlfriend!”

“I’m Luisa,” the Hispanic girl said. “What’s wrong with those? They help kids feel good about themselves.”

“My boss doesn’t give a shit if I feel good about myself,” Ben said. “He does, on the other hand, care if I do my work! There are no rewards for showing up in life. And the sooner you learn that, the better you’ll do.”

“We’re not blaming you,” Henry said. “We’re blaming your parents and teachers for not understanding that the best way to learn is to fail, and that if you don’t learn to lose when you’re younger, you’ll be upset and depressed for your entire life because things will go against you and you won’t have the intestinal fortitude to deal with them.”

“I’ll make a point,” Patricia said. “I’m a civil rights attorney and I lose more than I win, by a long shot, because the courts are stuck in antiquated thinking about gays and lesbians, as well as suffering from institutional racism. If I came to court expecting to win just because I showed up, I’d NEVER win. And when I lose, I evaluate why, look for a solution, and then try again.”

“Please don’t think we’re beating up on you guys,” Becka said. “We want you to understand what we’re thinking and why. To open your mind, if you will.”

“And your legs,” Kara whispered into my ear.

“Stop it!“ I whispered back.

“When I first started coming here,” Becka continued, “I had NO idea what the real world was like, but I was in the minority. I think I know how you might be feeling and I want to encourage you to come to these, even if they make you very uncomfortable.”

“I’m Larry,” one of the guys said. “Is it true that you all used the sauna together naked?”

“We did,” Kara said. “Nobody was required to participate, but everyone did. Based on your birthdays, we’ll probably have a session like that next March, after everyone turns eighteen. Don’t pre-judge how you’ll feel about that. Have an open mind.”

“That last statement is the key to everything in life,” I said. “If you have an open mind, you’ll discover that the world is a much more interesting place. Let’s start with a discussion about ‘truth’.”

The Rap Session went as so many of them in the past had, and by the time we had refreshments, I was reasonably certain the eight new kids would return, though I had one final caution for them, which I said while we were standing around drinking and eating snacks.

“Your parents are going to think this group is subversive,” I said, “because it is. What you tell them is up to you, but be warned that they may be upset by many of the topics we discuss. And I want to point out that THEY are the problem, not us. We’re open and frank and anything can be discussed here. So be circumspect, unless you’re sure your parents can handle the topics.”

“Wait!” Art exclaimed. “Did you just say our parents are immature?”

I smiled, “If the shoe fits...”

Everyone laughed, which I considered a good sign. As everyone was leaving, Natalie asked if she could speak to me, and we went to my study.

“Are you EVER going to talk during one of these sessions?” I asked with a smile.

“I like listening, and besides, you gave me the graduate-level course in Moscow and St. Petersburg! Both philosophy AND sex!”

I chuckled, “True.”

“And it’s not true that everyone participated in the naked sauna - I wasn’t there because Jack just wouldn’t understand.”

“True, but you’ve participated in naked saunas with the family while I’ve been mentoring you. Have you considered asking Jack?”

“He’d lose his mind if he knew anyone else saw me naked besides him. You know him - he’s a super-nice guy, just very, very conservative.”

“Also true. What’s up?”

“I’m relaying a request,” she smirked. “I take it you remember my sister covering for me in St. Petersburg?”

“Yes, of course,” I replied, knowing EXACTLY where this was going.

Natalie smirked, “She presented the bill! I told her I couldn’t promise anything except to let you know she’d like to spend some time with you. And she’d like to get the same kind of lessons, both in life and sex.”

“Your mom just barely came to terms with you and me in St. Petersburg,” I replied.

“Nicole is not going to tell her, and she knows how to keep a secret. You know that.”

“She does, obviously, given she kept our secret. Let me think about it. Timing would be difficult because of hockey.”

“Spring hockey season ends the week before Easter and my parents are going to Kohler for a long weekend the week after Easter, and Nicole and I are staying home.”

“One question. Was this her idea or yours?”

“Totally hers. I hadn’t even talked to her about it since Russia until she asked me before I came here today. And all I said today was that I would let you know.”

If that were the case, and I had no reason at all to doubt Natalie, that made Nicole a real possibility, despite being underage. I knew I could count on her to keep quiet, and I also knew that by sending her sister, she understood what she was asking for. But there was one other thing to check.

“She’ll need an STD test,” I said.

Natalie laughed, “She got one before she had me ask you.”

“You told her that three years ago?”

“Yes. And she knows you had a vasectomy, too, because I had to explain that to her with a sex ed book to show what I was talking about.”

“OK. Are you all set for college in the fall?”

“Yes.”

“No change in your degree?”

“Russian history? No chance! I was hooked when we were there. And you know I’ve talked to your friends Tanya and Dima a lot. Your friend Mary said I should ask you about playing chess.”

I laughed, “Of course she did. She’s a troublemaker!”

“Why?”

“When we were in High School, Mary, Jennifer, and I were on the chess team. Jennifer invented a game called ‘strip chess’.”

Natalie laughed, “You and Mary?”

“Among many others,” I chuckled.

“She thought if I asked you to play, we’d have sex!”

I nodded, “Of course she did.”

“Three years too late!” Natalie declared.

“Have you decided if you want to teach or go into government service?”

“I’m not sure. Both Dima and Mary make good cases for their respective fields.”

“You have a lot of time, anyway, because you’ll need at least a Master’s.”

“Well, UofC offers all sorts of programs, and I’m minoring in foreign relations, so that leaves the doors wide open.”

“Excellent. Jack’s just finishing his Freshman year at Loyola, right?”

“Yes. Political Science because he wants to be a lawyer.”

“When he’s ready, I’ll connect him with as many lawyers as he needs to figure out where to go to school and to get internships and clerking opportunities.”

“Cool.”

“Anything else I can do for you today?”

“No! See you next week for our one-on-one?”

“I’ll be here.”

We left my study and Natalie left the house. I went to find Kara, who was in the ‘Indian’ room relaxing.

“What did your young mentee want?”

“To let me know her sister was interested in a random deflowering,” I chuckled. “And before you ask, Natalie hasn’t even talked to her about it since Russia.”

“Another patient woman!” Kara laughed. “Kind of like Misty. I take it you won’t insist Nicole wait to turn seventeen?”

“Given that she kept Natalie’s secrets all these years, and her mom has no idea she knows, no, I won’t make her wait. But I do need to think about it before I commit to doing it for exactly that reason.”

“Because you can’t go to Elaine and talk to her the way you could Carla.”

“Bingo.”

“When will Jennie, Kent, and the kids be here?”

“It should be anytime now,” I replied. “They were coming straight from Cincinnati here. They’ll drive out to the burbs to their hotel tonight. Shall we go start dinner?”

“Yes!”

“Hi, Dad!” I called out when I walked into the kitchen of his house.

“Hi, Matthew,” Dad replied. “They aren’t here yet.”

“Bummer!”

“How are things with Chelsea?” he asked.

“Better if she wasn’t in Ohio! But her mom said she could visit this summer, and I’m invited to visit her in Ohio. Just like last summer.”

“Cool. Do you need anything from me?”

I knew he meant birth control, but Chelsea and I weren’t even CLOSE to doing that.

I laughed, “Not yet, Dad. Jennie said Chelsea isn’t allowed to kiss me until I turn fourteen, and I’m not really interested in ‘kissing’ ... yet.”

I heard the doorbell and knew it had to be Chelsea and her family because everyone else just walked into my dad’s house. I ran to the front hallway and yanked open the door.

“Hi, Matt!” Chelsea exclaimed.

“Hi!”

We hugged and then I said ‘hi’ to Jennie, Kent, and Colin, and invited them into the house. Everyone said ‘hi’ to my dad in the kitchen, and then Chelsea and I went to my dad’s study. We sat side by side in two of the nice leather chairs.

“My dad wanted to know if I needed birth control,” I said.

Chelsea laughed, “Not until June 2nd of NEXT year! I want to give you the best birthday present ever!”

Maybe we WERE closer to doing it than I thought!

“I told my dad your mom said we aren’t allowed to kiss until then.”

“We’ll do lots more than kiss! What are we doing this week?”

“Maggie invited us over tomorrow, and Josh and Nick are coming over on Wednesday to play pool. Otherwise, just hanging out. You’ll like our new house. It’s not as big as my dad’s, but it’s close, and it has a bigger yard. Mom also said it would be OK if we took the train into the city to go to the museums and the Sears Tower.”

“That sounds fun. When is your play?”

“Not until next month. I wish you could see one of the plays I’m in.

There was a knock at the door and I called out for whoever it was to come in.

“Hi, Jesse,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Do you guys want to play video games?”

“Chelsea?”

“Sure!”

We got up and followed Jesse to the coach house where Michael and Albert were waiting.

“Hey, Jen,” I said when she came into the kitchen. “Got a sec?”

“Sure.”

“Josie, too,” I added.

“Shit,” she sighed. “Carol?”

I nodded and she went to get Josie and then the three of us went to my study, as Matthew, Jesse, and Chelsea walked out the back door heading to the coach house.

“Video games?” I asked.

“What else!” Josie said, shaking her head. “What happened?”

“Carol was here today. Francesca decided to escalate.”

Jennifer groaned, “Let me guess, she said that she and Jesse are fucking and that she wants to fuck and likes to fuck and is going to keep fucking!”

“I don’t know for sure, but Stan said that Francesca told Carol what she and Jesse were doing and was explicit about it.”

Josie smirked, “I have twenty bucks that say Francesca told Carol she swallowed!”