Chapter 14

Beth had taken to wearing overalls, deciding that she liked to have all of the pockets they normally had. Little John, rejecting the blue jeans all of the other men in the family wore when relaxing, enjoyed shorts and button shirts. Neither of them liked to wear shoes and would go without whenever they had the opportunity. Ed watched them heading over to his table in the first year dorm. It was strange, but they always came to the first year dining room despite repeated attempts to get them to go to the second year dorm with Ling.

Beth climbed up on the chair beside Ed while Little John sat down on a chair on the other side. Seeing that he was surrounded, Ed asked, “So what do you want?”

Little John frowned and asked, “Why do you think we want something?”

“If you just wanted to chat, you’d sit across the table from me. When one of you wants something, you sit together to the side. When both of you want something, you sit on each side of me,” replied Ed as he watched the expressions on their faces change.

Beth said, “We want to know why we wear clothes all of the time.”

“Did you ask your mothers?”

Little John shrugged noncommittally. Beth looked away at the first year students walking around the dining room. Smiling, Ed said, “I take by your lack of answer that you did.”

“Okay, we did. Beth asked Kelly and I asked Ling.”

“What did they say?”

“That it was for our own protection.”

“Protection from what?”

“Adults that would want to take ‘vantage of us.”

Nodding his head, Ed listened carefully to them trying to determine if that was the sole reason for it. He asked, “You don’t think that is a fair concern.”

“Right.”

There had to be a way to handle this question in a manner that would convince the children that walking naked around others might not be a safe activity. Sure it was safe to do it here, but this was a special environment. That phrase repeated itself in his mind and he saw his solution. He said, “Why don’t each of you go and find four first year students each, and bring them here for a discussion?”

The two kids looked at each other in surprise by the suggestion. After staring at Ed for a minute in puzzlement, they split up and went to find first year students. It took them several minutes. In the mean time, Ed had moved to a larger table that would easily hold a dozen people. The two kids returned with four students each. Pointing to the chairs around the table, Ed said, “Please have a seat.”

The students sat down at the table. Most of them were nervous being around Ed, knowing his reputation as a human lie detector. Pointing to the kids, Ed said, “Please ask about the fairness of your mother’s concerns.”

Little John and Beth looked at each other for a moment. Finally, it was the little girl that said, “Our mother’s believe that it’s unwise for us to go naked.”

Noticing the look that Ed was giving them, Little John said, “They think that some adults will try to take advantage of us.”

The students looked to Ed for guidance, but he just answered, “Tell them your honest feelings about this issue.”

There was a long period of silence. Finally, one of the male students spoke, “We are to live by two rules. If it harms none, then do it. Protect the weak from the strong. For you to walk around naked is consistent with the first rule. However, I have to obey the second rule and I wouldn’t let you do it.”

One of the other students objected, “It violates the first rule. It may not hurt others, but it could lead to harm for themselves.”

One of the female students said, “That’s true. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that the first rule includes harm to yourself as well as harm to others.”

Little John and Beth looked at each other suspicious about the nature of the argument. Finally, Beth asked, “How could we be harmed?”

The question was met with silence. Finally, one of women that had a very difficult time dealing with nudity at the beginning of the year answered, “There are some men and women in this world that will hurt you beyond your ability to imagine. Your body is not big enough to handle some things that they would do to you.”

One of the male students examined the woman that had just spoken with an understanding eye. Her comment had explained many of the problems that she’d had at the beginning of the semester. Even now she would occasionally have problems when people touched her without warning. He said, “Beth. Little John. Listen to her. She has been harmed in the past by the same people that we are attempting to protect you from.”

Little John asked, “Exactly what kind of harm are we talking about?”

Ed leaned forward at this point. His eyes flashed with an unnatural light as he said, “We are talking about evil, pure evil. There is an evil so ugly that most adults can not look upon it. Daddy John fights it as hard as he can. I fight it as hard as I can. The students here are learning how to fight it. You are too young to face that evil, yet. Even I have bad dreams about the things I’ve seen.”

The idea that their parents might be afraid of something so much that it gave them bad dreams at night convinced the two that it was better to follow their advice. Little John said, “I’m convinced that harm could come to us.”

Shaking her head, Beth said, “When will we be safe?”

“You will never be totally safe, but there are places where you are safer.”

Frowning, Little John asked, “Where?”

“Here is one place. Another is our home back in Arizona. There is where your Grandfather Leroy lives. There is the Native American College that is run by your Great Grandfather William Redman.”

The information provided to the children required a little time for them to comprehend. They knew they could go without clothes at home. If that was one of the safer places, then wasn’t it possible for them to do it at another of the safer places? It was an interesting question. Little John asked, “So if this is safer, then could we go without clothes here?”

Ed sat back and asked the other students, “What do you think?”

Three of them shook their heads no and four nodded their heads. Ed asked, “Would one who thinks it would be okay like to state their reasons?”

“It’s safe here.”

“Would someone who think not, please state your reason?”

“We don’t know how safe it is.”

Smiling, Ed said, “Can anyone think of a compromise?”

“Only if chaperoned.”

Ed turned to the two children and asked, “What do you think of that?”

“What is shaperoned?”

“Chaperoned. It means that you are watched over by another for the sake of protecting you,” replied Ed.

Beth thought about it for a long time without answering. Little John was bored and said, “Fine with me.”

“Okay,” replied Beth.

Nodding, Ed asked, “So are you ready to get out of your clothes now?”

“No. We just wondered, that’s all,” replied Little John. He stood up and said, “Let’s go see Sarah.”

As the two children walked off, one of the students asked, “All that just to walk away?”

Nodding, Ed said, “I didn’t think for a minute that they actually wanted to go naked.”

“So why involve us?” asked one of the students.

“Three reasons. First, it was necessary for them to understand that our rules are not arbitrary. Second, you needed to work through the question as well,” replied Ed. He stood up to leave.

“What’s the third reason?”

“I didn’t know how to answer them,” answered Ed with a wink and a smile.

His departing comment was a topic of conversation that lasted through an entire class. Mostly, it was his admission of not knowing how to answer the question that was the central topic of conversation. The interaction with the children was also the subject of great debate. It was hard for them to relate to such young children acting in such an adult fashion.

Linda lay in bed, weak and tired from her pregnancy. Her ordeal was almost over according to the doctors. Only a week or so more to go before she could expect to enter labor. Between the kicking of the child and the muscle spasms in her stomach, she was ready for the pregnancy to end. When Ed entered the room, she smiled up at him and said, “I’m sorry that you couldn’t attend Leroy’s graduation party.”

“Don’t be sorry. He knows why I’m here. He wanted to have the party here, but that wasn’t reasonable,” replied Ed.

“Still, I know how much you love him,” replied Linda as he took her hand and kissed it. The gesture touched her deeply, as he knew it would. She added, “I know how much you love all of us.”

“Yes, I do. You are in pain and if my being here provides the least little comfort, I won’t leave your side,” replied Ed. This had been a very rough pregnancy and he didn’t understand why. Her stomach spasms and the fact that her morning sickness lasted until the last month of her pregnancy puzzled the doctors.

Laura Brockmire came over to where Ed stood and watched as he talked to his wife. The past few months had been very hard on Ed and she understood his dedication to her well being. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she said, “Ed, I have to ask you to leave now.”

Looking over at Laura, Ed asked, “Why?”

“The Goddess only knows.”

Looking over at Laura, Ed decided that it was her calling and not his place to interfere. He stepped out of the room and waited in the hall. As he waited more green robed Druids entered the infirmary walking with their characteristic calm. Watching them enter, he couldn’t help but worry about Linda. Turning, he found Sarah, Little John, and Beth watching him. Attempting to let them know that he wasn’t worried, he winked and said, “They threw me out.”

In her most comforting voice, Beth said, “Don’t worry Daddy Ed.”

Laura came out of the infirmary and said, “Sarah, your cousin is asking for you.”

Sarah nodded and followed Laura into the infirmary leaving Ed and the kids outside. Looking down at the kids, Ed asked, “Who’s up for some ice cream?”

He had to run in order to keep up with them as they headed directly for the dining room. The waitress was at the table shaking her head at their order knowing that if she served the kids ice cream without a parent around that she’d be in big trouble with two angry mothers. Ed joined them at the table and said, “Don’t worry. They can have ice cream.”

“I’ll have a Hot Fudge Sundae with Vanilla ice cream.”

“I’ll have a cup of chocolate ice cream.”

Smiling, Ed said, “I’ll have a banana split.”

The waitress knew that Ed would order that and asked, “Is Kelly or Ling around?”

“No,” replied Ed noticing the look of relief on the face of the waitress. He wondered what kind of threats the wives had used on her to create that kind of reaction. What ever it was, it was most effective and could prove useful in the future.

It was a few minutes later that the waitress showed up with the three deserts on a tray. Setting them out on the table, she walked away. As Ed examined his banana split, he said “Wow.”

“Wow,” echoed Little John with delight in his eyes as he took in the Sundae.

“Wow,” exclaimed Beth as she stared at the scoop of chocolate ice cream.

As one, they all started eating their ice cream treats. Each made noises of appreciation as they tasted it. One of the students started laughing and called over, “I have never seen three people enjoy their food as much as you three.”

The three of them winked at each other. It was clear that Ed was a bad influence on the children, but none of the students would have dared suggest it. One of the things that Ed had made sure of was that the kids understood how to enjoy food and not to use food as a way to escape problems. They were still enjoying their food when Sarah came down to the dining room. Looking at the three of them, she adopted exactly the same pose that Kelly normally gave when she caught them having a between meal snack. The kids took one look at her and pointed at Ed saying simultaneously, “It was his idea!”

“Thanks a lot kids,” muttered Ed as he shoveled another spoonful of food into his mouth.

Sarah asked, “Would you kids like to attend a lecture for a while?”

“I’d rather go to the library,” answered Beth.

Little John didn’t understand his sister’s attraction to the library, but knew that he could probably find a book about animals. Rather than argue with her, he said, “That’s fine with me.”

When each of them had finished about a third of their serving, they pushed the dish away and stood up. Sarah asked, “Aren’t you going to eat the rest?”

“No. It’s not good to over eat,” replied Little John.