Chapter 4

After the trip to the airport and a private goodbye with her father, Tina returned to the van. She got into the passenger seat and looked at Carla and then the other girls. Family. The thought just occurred to her; did she just say goodbye to her family?

“So what do we do now?”

“We need to look over the dorms and the union. Then we have practice this afternoon. After that we need to have a heart to heart about where you want to go to school and then we need to talk about other things.”

“OK, let’s see the dorms.”

The girls took Tina to the dorms and showed her the setup for each. They explained that after her freshman year she could move into the house with the rest of the team. They took her to the library and were walking through the quad when Tina stopped them.

“That way! What is that way?”

“That is the old campus, the part that was built just after the Civil War. That is where the admin offices, the financial offices and the physical plants are.”

“And beyond that?”

“That is fraternity row ... NO!”

“Let’s go over there. Maybe I can remember what building I went to.”

“No! Coach will kill me. Your father will kill me.”

“But Carla, you guys, if I remember the building that will narrow down the search.”

“And if the guys who attacked you...”

“I was not attacked! I was raped. I was drugged and some guy stuck his dick in my ass. I want to help find him. My dad says that everything is at a standstill and that they will never find the guy. I need to do this.”

“Girls?”

“I agree with her,” Jackie spoke firmly.

One of the other team members looked at Carla and spoke quietly. Her name was Deena.

“Cap, you know she is right. I would want to do everything I could do if it was me.”

The other girls looked at Deena and then at Carla.

“OK. Let’s go.”

The group headed off to the far side of the campus. As they covered the ground Carla pointed out the spots of interest and the history of that part of the campus. As they walked around the maintenance facility, they saw the row of fraternity and sorority houses.

They walked down the row, sometimes pausing as Tina stopped to examine a building. After they finished walking the row, Tina looked disappointed.

“Nothing rings a bell. I thought that one was it, but I don’t think so, everything looks different in the daytime. Let’s go back to the van.”

When they got back to the van and pulled out onto the street, the girls started asking Tina whether she would still want to come to State.

“I do. In spite of the shit storm that I walked into, I really love it here. I love you guys too. You are a family.”

“Really? Are you truly sure?”

Carla suddenly has a very serious look on her face. It was more serious than any expression she had seen during her trip or during her ordeal.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Tina replied confidently. “Why the death mask all of a sudden?”

“Tina, we want to you come here. We get to look at all of the applications and we get a veto if the applicant doesn’t seem to “fit” our psyche. You fit so well, that we all voted for you. Not many get to be unanimous choices.”

“Tina, if you are serious, then we all need to have a talk with everyone when we get back to the swimmer house. And I do mean everyone.”

“OK. That seems a little ominous.”

No one in the van laughed.

Back at the swimmer house, Carla parked the van and the kids all got out and headed inside. Everyone went their rooms except Carla, who took Tina to the common room and asked her to sit in a huge comfy chair in the center of the room.

“In a few minutes everyone who lives in the building will be here, as well as the first years. We want to be sure that you really want to be here and if so, then we want to tell you the whole truth about our family.”

“Carla, this is really starting to sound scary. What the hell is going on?”

“Tina, the issues we will talk about are serious to our family, but don’t be scared. Nothing is going to happen to you. No one is going to touch you; well someone might hug you, but no sort of hazing or anything like that.”

Tina Workowski sat in the big chair and wondered what was going on as the girls and guys all started to filter into the room. The last girls rolled in a cart full of glasses filled with a brown liquid and large bucket of ice and a cooler like the team used for their sports drink at the pool.

“Iced tea, Tina?”

“OK ... uummm ... yes please.”

“Sweet or unsweet? Lemon?”

“Unsweet and a big lemon slice, please.”

She smiled at the girl serving her.

“OK, everyone, get settled.”

Carla ordered, Paul standing at her side.

“Tina, I want to ask you, officially, do you want to accept the sport scholarship offer to swim here at State?”

Tina paused and sipped on her tea. She slowly looked into the eyes of each swimmer in the room. She looked at the males and females equally. No one looked away. Not one even seemed to blink as she set her stare on them. She had the feeling that she was being asked to make a life changing choice.

“After all that has happened to me this weekend and after all that you have done for me, yes. After talking heart to heart for the first time with my dad, yes. After looking at each of you right here and right now, the answer is, absolutely yes.”

No one made a sound. There was no applause or cheering, but everyone started to smile.

“Carla spoke to you in the hospital about our family. You have been told repeatedly that we consider ourselves to be a family and since every family has a secret or two, we realize that in order for you to give an honest and true answer, you need to know those secrets; so if you are ready, we are going to tell you our secrets and then we are going to ask you about joining us again for your final answer.”

“OK. I’m ready.”

Tina took a deep breath and prepared herself for the worst thing she could think of.

Carla looked around the room and asked a quiet question.

“OK, who wants to go first?”

One by one each swimmer in the room stood before her and told her personal details about themselves. Several of the girls and boys had been raped in high school. One boy had killed a family in a DUI car accident. One had a conviction for theft of a car.

After each story, all explained how the swim team family had come to their aid and helped them to fix their lives and repair much of the damage they had done to others.

Finally, two girls that she had come to know stood together.

“We are lovers. Does that bother you?”

Deena spoke clearly as she held Terri’s hand.

“What? That you are gay? No. I have gay girlfriends and I’ve had a few encounters with them. I’m not gay and I don’t think I am too bi. I really prefer guys.”

“But that is not all. We have a third lover.”

“A threesome. OK, still no big deal,” Tina said, trying to sound like she ran into this sort of thing every day.

“Meet our third.”

They looked to the side of the room and a guy stood. He walked over and the three of them held hands.

“Hi. My name is Simon and I am gay.”

“Gay? But two women?”

Deena looked around the room and then focused on Carla, who nodded her head and smiled. Deena unzipped her sweat top and took it off exposing her small, bare breasts. She then undid the knot of the string in the waistband of her sweatpants. She put her fingers in the top of the pants and pulled them down. She stood after bending down and stepped out of the sweats.

Deena stood there before Tina, completely nude. She had lovely breasts and broad swimmers’ shoulders. Her lats tapered down to a small firm waist and then flared out again to wider hips. Her flat stomach began at the base of her ribs and showed slight signs of a six pack. Her navel was a slight outie that was the only flaw in her smooth flat abs. Her abs tapered down and ended between her legs at the base of her penis.

“Oh my!”

Deena looked at Tina and followed her gaze to her male organ. Simon felt a little turned on and his penis began to bob. Deena used her hand to lift the organ as it grew and thickened. The other girl, Terri, reached to the bottom of the erection and used her fingers to open the hairless vagina underneath the growing penis.

“Tina. I am intersexed. Some people still refer to me as a hermaphrodite. I am bi-sexual. We are a trio and share the same room and bed.”

At the end of that revelation, Deena dressed and the three of them stood off to the side and waited for Carla to move to the center of the room.

“Tina, this is our team and this is our family. Now you know all of the stuff that people might use to convince you to not go to school here or to be on the team. We all have baggage of some sort and as you can see some of it is serious and some of it is fairly calm. So now you have to make a choice. Do you still wish to be a part of our team and family?”

Tina sat back in the big chair and let the wheels turn. When you were born into a family, you did not get to choose your relatives. What you were born into is what you got. This group, this family, clearly wanted her to be a member. No one did anything that was rude or improper. No one gave hints that anything was required of her in order to join other than be a member of the family in good standing.

“I want to be here. I really do. Give me my phone, I want to call my dad and let him know that I am going to be home tomorrow and that I WILL go to school and swim here with you all.”

Now the room erupted in applause, whistles and cheers. Carla pulled her out of the chair and hugged her. Everyone came and gave her hugs. All of the guys and girls congratulated and thanked her. The last team member to hug her was Deena. She was in tears when she hugged Tina and kissed her on the cheek and saying, “Thank you.”

When all was over and done, Tina dialed her phone.

“Hi baby. Are you OK?”

“Yeah daddy, I am really good. We just had a meeting with all of the swimmers and they shared some stories. Dad, these kids want me in their family and I want to be a part of it.”

“But baby, are you sure, even after the rape?”

“You know what? I haven’t thought about the rape all day, dad. I am on the plane at 6:30 in the morning. It’s a direct flight and I’ll land between 12:30 and 1:00PM. I love you dad. I’m going to hit the sack and get a good night’s sleep. You and I and mom will talk when I get home. I love you.”

“I love you baby. Your mom and I are really proud of your toughness and your pride in being the best you can be. Your mom and I will be at the airport to pick you up at 12:30. Bye baby.”

“Bye daddy.”

Theo was sitting in the doctor’s office on Monday morning. After the ER doctors had put his hands in temporary casts and checked out his head injuries. He also had two ruptured ear drums. The nurse called his name and took him back to an empty exam room.

“The doctor will be with you in a few minutes. I need to take your blood pressure and your pulse. Just sit on the table and relax.”

“Yeah, OK.”

She put an electronic thermometer in his mouth, a clip onto his right index finger, and then wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his left bicep. She pushed a button that activated the blood pressure cuff and it inflated the cuff. The nurse placed the stethoscope under the cuff and on top of the vein and when the pressure on the cuff began to reduce, she listened for the blood flow and recorded the numbers on her chart and left the room.

The doctor came in and removed the temporary casts and was about to examine the hands when suddenly the phone on the wall beeped. The doctor looked quizzical and picked up the phone.

“Yes?”

“Right now?”

“OK.”

“I have to go to the front desk for a few minutes. Please remain on the table and I will be right back.”

He left in a bit of a hurry, closing the door behind him. Theo sat there in silence for a few seconds when the door opened again.

“That was quick.”

“It will be quick enough.”

The voice was deep and familiar. Entering the room was a tall man dressing in black from head to foot. He had a full-face mask and black gloves and carried a metal baton of the type that riot police used to strike assailants.

“You will speak only when spoken to. You will answer any questions directly and immediately or you will be punished. Do you understand?”

Theo froze in place. He had an overwhelming urge to empty his bladder.

“Do you remember me?”

“Yes.”

“Did you lie to me when you gave me the names of the other rapists?”

“No I did...”

Pain! The man came down on his left hand with the metal baton.

“Aaaaaahhhhh!” he screamed out.

The scream was immediately followed with a slap on the side of his head causing more pain in his ear.

“You will speak only when you are spoken to. You will answer any questions directly and immediately or you will be punished. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

He was crying and sobbing.

“Did you lie to me when you gave me the names of the other rapists?”

“Yes.”

He whimpered. The man hit his other hand with the baton causing a stifled scream.

“That is for lying to me previously. You have one chance to save yourself. When I leave, I will call 9-1-1 and report this attack. You will confess to the police and tell them what you did. You will give the police the names of the other rapists. You have until Friday to fully comply. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

The man turned and calmly walked out the door. Theo was bleeding again from his ear and both of his hands were throbbing with pain and the fingers were again pointing in various directions. The door opened and Theo jumped up and stood behind the exam table, looking for something to defend himself with.

“Mr. Konstantopoulos! Are you alright?”

“Where is he?”

“Who?”

“The man that was just in here. He attacked me.”

“What!!”

He saw the blood coming from the man’s ear and rushed to the door and hit the panic button next to it and all hell broke loose. A high-pitched wail called out and several people ran into the room including another doctor.

“Kara, what is going on?”

“He says that while I was out of the room a man came in and attacked him. His ear is bleeding and it looks like his hands are injured.”

The doctor called down the hall and the siren stopped. He then stood in front of Theo and helped him to sit on the exam table. As he moved Theo, he touched Theo’s right hand and Theo let out a yelp. The doctor looked at the nurse and walked her to the door.

“Call 9-1-1 now!”

“Too late,” Theo whined.

The nurse was off like a shot. The doctor then proceeded to look into Theo’s bleeding ear seeing the internal damage. He then turned his attention to Theo’s hands. The slightest touch caused extreme pain as Theo jerked his hands away from the doctor’s care.

“Mr. Konstantopoulos, how did these injuries happen? The first time, I mean.”

“I was attacked Saturday night.”

“Have you reported this to the police?”

“NO! No police.”

“Well I am afraid that since you were attacked here in my office, I have already called the police.”

Theo tried to jump up with the intention of leaving as quickly as possible and immediately fell towards the wall. He was dizzy and disoriented. The doctor caught Theo in his arms and helped him back onto the table and had him lay down.

The doctor retrieved a pair of scissors from one of the drawers and began to cut off the last of tape that held Theo’s hands in the cups that supported them. Both hands were badly discolored and several of the fingers were misshapen.

“Did the man you claim was here do this?”

“Yes, both times and he WAS here.”

The doctor turned to the new nurse that had come in and asked for x-rays of both hands, then he returned to Theo and began to clean and pack his ears to stop the bleeding.

When the doctor was done, the nurse led Theo to the x-ray room. The tech draped a lead mat over his arms and chest, placed both hands on the flat table. He moved the x-ray unit so that the targeting light was on the center of Theo’s right hand. The tech stepped behind a shield and the machine wound up with a whine and Theo heard a relay clap on and off.

The tech returned and aimed the targeting cursor onto the center of the left hand. He reset the lead mat and then took his place behind the shield and took the next picture. When all of the x-rays were done, Theo was led back to a different examination room, because the police had arrived and had blocked off the room he had been attacked in.