Chapter 1: Home Again

Dave was asked by Chef Bobbie Wyatt to give the blessing at the Thanksgiving dinner for the section of the Circle that he’d been assigned. The Circle for the most part wasn’t religious, but they were spiritual and thought of themselves as connected and bound to each other and to a greater universe, much of which remained unknown but which provided for them in surprising ways.

As had quickly become custom, she’d had to divide the Circle into three groups to facilitate feeding between three- and four-hundred Circle members, pledges, and their guests. Thus, there were the noon, two o’clock, and four o’clock dinners, complete with every possible side dish, appetizer, and what not anybody could think about to eat. As Bobbie had done in the past, she even rented some portable ovens to help cook the many turkeys and dishes needed for each sitting.

Dave and the rest of those in his sitting stood and held hands as he spoke. “We gather in the name of love, friendship, and relationship to give thanks for the exceptional blessings the Universe has provided to us. Speaking for myself, especially after having been away from the Circle for six months, I feel blessed to be home again with the men and women whom I love and who love me. I hope each of you feels the love we share, right here, right now, and for all time. Bless each other and thank you Universe for the many privileges, gifts, and graces you have provided. Go in peace; go in kindness; go in love. Namasté.”

Everyone in the group raised their hands in the air as a gesture of gratitude, and then they sat. The servers immediately appeared with over a dozen large turkeys and followed that up with tray after tray of side dishes. Bobbie had lined up men and women to carve the birds and strategically placed them around the table. They had been taught by her and her sous chefs how to best and most rapidly slice and dice up each bird, and did so with alacrity. The meal was pure perfection.

The conversations at the table were positively vibrant, even for guests visiting for the first time, some in the initial stages of realization about what the Circle was and what it represented. In many cases, families had been intentionally been split apart to different tables or even different sittings.

Dave had Gabbie Carson’s father opposite him, flanked by Kat Marbury and Cricket. Sue Gaylord’s mother sat next to Dave on one side, and Tracy Swanson’s mother on his other side. He’d met Gabbie, Sue, and Tracy during his six-month trip of the eastern states, and they’d each opted to come and pledge the Circle.

As he precisely and rapidly sawed thin slice after thin slice of white meat from the bird he’d been assigned, Dave responded to questions from the group around him. Each parent had been provided one of Cricket’s book about the Circle as well as the complete set of DVDs from the TV series at least a month earlier. There should have been no excuse for any parent to be surprised by the Circle, their mores, or the membership.

Erin had also made access to the Circle’s website available to all of the parents and guests. On that site, they could review the biographies of each person in the Circle and see their picture. There were also over a thousand candid photographs taken at various Circle events such as some of the theme parties, most recently Halloween, which Dave had missed since he was traveling. Those snapshots taken around the patio during the day made it clear that semi-nudity was the usual dress code, at least when there were no visitors and when the weather cooperated.

Some of the celebrity guests in the Circle were also present at various sittings: Scarlett was down the table from Dave, and Felicity Jones had been at the first sitting Owen Bennett. Ashley Steerman was assigned to the third sitting.

Ashley and Dave had agreed to do a short concert on the patio after the dinner from the last sitting had been cleared away. Ashley had new recordings for many of the duets they sang together that consisted of only the band for the two of them to use karaoke style.

Kim Swanson, Tracy’s mother, taught middle-school in Pennsylvania. She asked many questions about the home schooling that the Circle did for the younger children. The oldest children in that group were approaching ten, yet they were taking some English and math courses usually taught in junior or senior high school. Kim wanted to know how they could accelerate the students so rapidly. The discussion interested some of the other parents.

John Carson, Gabbie’s father, had gotten a tour of the Circle Airport from his daughter earlier. He was an aviation enthusiast and fascinated that Dave had been able to buy his own jet, and had access to all the other planes hangered at their nearby facility. Gabbie was well into her flying lessons and had soloed two weeks earlier with Doug as her flying instructor. John got into the details of the Circle Flying Club with Dave, as well as the steps he went through to get his various ratings.

Sue Gaylord’s mother, Ruth, wanted more information about what it was like to be one of Dave’s wives. Neither Dave nor Sue nor any of Dave’s other wives had kept a secret that Sue was special and was on the ‘wife track’. Cricket was able to join into that discussion since she’d been one of Dave’s wives for almost ten years. Ruth was not convinced that Sue’s decision was a wise one, but didn’t dramatize her disagreement over the meal. Dave expected he’d hear more from Sue later.

Dave had to laugh, because at one point there was a discussion with Kat about the video editing that she did. Kat kept the discussion about the technology and the special effects that could be added, but the subject matter for most of her work remained unmentioned – pornography. Kat’s mother knew specifically what her daughter did, and had even done a video with Mike Holiday’s Circle-X Productions. Careful readers of Cricket’s book or the biographies on the Circle website, also ended up knowing about the operations and subject matter. Alice and Emily’s bios even mentioned the AVN awards they’d won for being the best MILF and mature woman in videos a few years earlier. In this discussion, however, Kat talked about editing a film dealing with the red tide that often plagued the Gulf of Mexico.

After the last meal sitting, a group of the younger men swept through the patio arranging chairs, benches, and chaises in large semi-circle arches around a make-shift stage. At seven o’clock, Ty Winter came out and introduced the following hour: “Ladies and Gentlemen, Ashley and Dave.”

The pair started with a new song that Dave had just learned, Canyon Sweetheart. They did a few of the standards as did Ashley: Texas Dawn, Burning Angel, and Two Loves. Dave did a solo and then he and Ashley did a few more songs before they ended for the evening to great applause.

For Dave, the Circle was the most important audience he’d ever sung before. This was family, and he didn’t want to disappoint by hitting a sour note or muffing some lyrics because he’d forgotten the words. As it ended, he realized that he’d done pretty well.

Ashley and Dave kissed and then she bumped him with her baby bump. She had a couple more months to go, but she had that ‘I’ve swallowed a beach ball’ look to her, plus her waddle had started when she walked.

After returning to the Circle from the concert in Dallas, and leaving his 1988 Harley Davidson Heritage Softail locked up in a storage locker in a hangar at Love Field, he’d never lacked for female companionship. He was still loved by all the women in the Circle, and each hoped for some intimate time with him.

With the passage of each day, Dave had been able to please five or six women, but he carefully dispensed his favors to ensure he was always able to respond in a way to pleasure his partners, and to be ready for the next woman in line. Their pleasure was paramount in his mind.

Thus, in just over two weeks since his return, he’d been able to reaffirm his love for about a hundred women in the Circle, and also to reconnect with some of the women who’d come to the Circle hoping to pledge and become members.

Throughout his time at home, he’d been regular in his exercise regime, his meals, and been religiously taking his supplements, hormones, and prescription drugs to aid in his sexual performance. The combination seemed to be working, at least he hoped he hadn’t left anyone disappointed.

After many in the Circle came to congratulate and thank Dave and Ashley for singing, Ashley grinned at Dave and said, “I have a little surprise for you at the house, if you can come down to Perimeter Road.”

Dave told the gorgeous country singer, “I left the rest of tonight open for you or whatever you want to do.”

Ashley laughed, “I had you several times in Dallas, so I feel we’re good, but as you’ll see, there’s someone else that misses you. Two of them, actually, but you only get one tonight. I’m feeling bloated after the dinner and then performing so I’m going to bed early. You and your surprise can stay up all night fucking or loving or whatever.”

Dave drove Ashley down to her home on Perimeter Road in one of the golf carts. Kyle and Marina had been at the dinner and driven home earlier, so there was another cart there already. The Circle now had about two dozen golf carts and they prowled around all over the property. One of Millie’s jobs as the Circle Concierge and Handy Person was to ensure that each was in running order and gassed up or charged up; most ran on EneRG cells, but a few used gasoline.

As they went into the house, and small blonde bombshell of a girl hurled herself in Dave’s arms, kissed him passionately, and nearly hugged all the air out of him.

“Coral! What a nice surprise.”

“I’ve missed you, Dave. I hoped we’d connect this weekend.”

“You didn’t go home for Thanksgiving?”