Chapter 19

Don's body was reacting to the situation. Dan's mind was reacting to the same. Or, more precisely — vice versa. He had to get his reeling teenaged hormones and emotions under control.

Dammit! I'm fifty years old! I should be able to handle this!

He was standing naked in a locker room filled with partially dressed, undressed, near-naked, and naked girls. He was there, just inside the door. Janet had him by the arm and was trying to push / pull him out into the room. No matter that his mind had fifty years of experience — nothing had prepared him for this kind of novel experience.

The hubbub of talk and laughter among the girls in the locker room suddenly died down as they became aware of the naked 15 year old Don standing before them.

He stood there and looked around at 40 to 50 girls staring at him. He knew exactly three of them in the room. Don's stepsister's best friend Janet was standing there beside him. And his two study / research partners were over in a corner and giving him a pair of warm smiles.

Oh well, at least there's someone here who's not likely to make a move on me. Crystal and Janine aren't gonna be interested in me.

In the past week Dan had figured out that the two Freshman girls were lesbian lovers.

Two down and forty-odd to go. Maybe a few'll be afraid to do anything. Anything to avoid being manhandled to death!

Fifty years of prior life experience were proving to be of limited usefulness.

Janet spoke up at this point. "Hey everybody — listen up! A bunch of you know Don Nichols. He's the stepbrother of my best friend. And I've got to tell you some things about him.

First. He's got amnesia from an accident he had back at the beginning of this Summer. If you know Don and if he knew you, just don't expect him to know you — not now."

Janet looked around. "Any questions about his amnesia?"

She waited for a question and when none came forth she continued. "Second, there's something else you need to know. Don's on medication because of the injuries he suffered. The stuff keeps his blood pressure from getting too high. And... it keeps him from enjoying some sorts of activities. Basically, Don's slightly disabled. Any questions about that?"

A girl that Dan thought he might have seen before spoke up. "Yeah, I saw what he did to that creep who was hurting Jan. How can Don be disabled if he can do something like that?"

Janet looked to Don for an answer.

The Colonel found his place. This was just a briefing of troops. So to speak...

"Uh, as long things are quick and fast — I can react. Or, if it's something like running or biking — those are things that I can do. But intense reactions cause me problems. When I pulled those three rapists off of Julie Anderson this Summer I was wiped out by the time we walked her home and called the police. I actually slumped down onto the floor at the Andersons' home. That's how my friend Cindy Richards and Crystal's father found me." He pointed to the girl. "Uh, he's a police officer. Anyhow, that's part of my problem. No staying power if I have to do anything that's really intense." He shrugged.

"Oh, OK. Were you tired after you saved Jan?"

"Yeah, a little. Not as bad as what happened after I took on those creeps who were trying to rape Julie. It's kinda funny, because I can run or bike for miles. But adrenaline-pumping actions wipe me out." He repeated his shrug.

Janet continued. "Don's sister Jan told me about something else that's effected by Don's medication. And that has to do with his participation in the program. He's naked. He's supposed to respond favorably to reasonable responses. But, he can't really respond. The blood pressure medication keeps him from responding. He's disabled in the department where he's supposed to be responsive. Girls, he can't get it up while he's on his medication. Please keep that in mind. You can ask to examine him, but don't be disappointed if he doesn't respond. He can't — he's outah circulation." There might have been a miniscule, ever-so-slight hint of a smile on Janet's face as she delivered that last line.

That was terrible. She actually made a pun outah that comment.

Dan had felt the blush begin on Don's face as Janet described his situation. Don's body was chemically disabled and now this entire room full of girls knew about it.

This is hellishly embarrassing!

Some of the girls looked aghast. One just let it out. "Really!? It doesn't work?"

He got a grip and the Colonel exerted himself, again — he overcame his embarrassment. Dan nodded Don's head. "Yeah. I've already had two reasonable requests so far today and nothing's happened. Basically, as long as I'm taking these meds then I'm not going to respond to you or anything that any of you do. This has been going on for over two months — since I got out of the hospital. I've got four sisters at home and I've seen lots of female flesh in that time. My two stepsisters are very attractive. I can't miss how attractive they are. I've repeatedly seen them in their underwear. But, nothing has happened — not once. No typical reaction. It's a weird condition to be in." What could he do? He shrugged yet again and smirked.

One girl said it all. "Wow! You haven't reacted to Jan!?" Obviously, some girls shared his evaluation of his stepsister Janice Thomas' inherent, goddess-like beauty.

He was able to respond honestly, mostly. "Yeah, I've felt nothing towards Jan since I got out of the hospital."

What a liar I've become.

Janet said nothing. Which was a good thing. She had a differing opinion in regards to that particular topic about how Don might be feeling about his older stepsister. Janet had noticed some interesting glances between the two stepsiblings. She'd interpreted them in light of her own attraction to Don. Dan might have become very worried and upset if he'd understood what Janet suspected. While Janet Mullins didn't know about Dan, Janice Thomas did know of his existence and presence. And while Janet might have been misinterpreting things — between Janice and Don — she really wasn't too far off the mark regarding how Jan felt about Dan.

And Dan wasn't altogether clued into that fact — yet...

He got through the process of changing his shoes and socks. That's all he had to do. He was already naked and he basically had to remain naked. Dan did admire the views that surrounded him. Around him were young girls aged 13 and up to young women aged 18 — all variously nearly naked and semi-clothed. He pondered yet again upon the nature of his condition. Here he was surrounded by over 40 teen-aged girls in various stages of undress and while he was certainly excited by their presence, he wasn't enjoying the usual male reaction.

This is strange as anything I've ever encountered. Nothing compares to this, bar none!

He headed out with his limp member gently swinging along in conjunction with his gait. Multiple sets of eyes followed his exiting form. Several girls sighed or shook their hands in dismay at the thought of how such a hunk of a guy was so disabled. It was just so awful that he'd been injured in that horrible hit and run accident!

And some of them had known his ex-girlfriend Cheryl. Others had heard rumors of what Cheryl had purportedly said about him. Some of the details seemed unbelievable — but for the evidence hanging down between his legs.

Many of those girls knew about how he'd proven himself in defending several girls. Some of them knew about what had happened before his accident, when he'd defended his step-sisters. Almost all of them had heard about the incidents he'd been involved in since his departure from the hospital. Especially well known was the prevention of a rape attempt against a 12 year old girl. His having taken on three guys at once was quite a notable thing amongst all of those girls.

Also, about half of them had been in the lunchroom earlier that day. Enough was known and had been seen to understand what had happened. He was being admired on several different levels. Whispered discussions between various girls spread the word about how Don had aided a younger girl in the program and caused a lowlife guy to be hauled off by the wrestling coach.

Nice guy... White knight... Ain't it just awful about his injuries and those awful medications and what they've done to him. Those were some of the thoughts considered and expressed by many of those girls. They had grown up in a far more liberal society than the one Dan came from.

Dan walked out of the girls' locker room and found Coach Hill. He asked if would be OK if he just jogged that period. The coach had agreed to that. The older man figured that this promising young athlete was needing some time to himself. Being thrust into the program was probably causing him some immediate problems. Better to let him run and get any problems out of his system.

As he settled into his pace Dan returned to an earlier manner of running and thought. His former youth as a Ranger, Airborne, and then Special Forces trooper had engendered an appreciation of what might be achieved via long runs. It had freed his earlier life's mind from its typical restraints. And now he found himself settling into that earlier mental framework.

Think.

Evaluate.

Recognize patterns.

Re-evaluate those patterns so recognized.

His mind worked on several levels. Naked In School. Threats. That unknown guy who seemed to be watching him.

Cindy. Donna. Tasha. Susie. Janet? Janice??? No, not the last — with what she knew, that wasn't possible...

The Program. Being Naked In School. What was it really and actually about?

The broader society. How had it gotten to where it's presently at?

Fifty minutes passed by quickly. Dan slowed down towards the end of the period and walked out his last few minutes. He then noticed how some girls were watching him.

Well, he had just spent most of an hour running at a steady pace — circling and circling the gymnasium. The girls playing volleyball on one-half of the court had tracked him as he went by. The two sets of girls playing quarter-court basketball on the other half of the gymnasium had done the same. Those girls practicing gymnastics had missed out on the show as a singular nude male had run and run around their classmates. The girls viewing Don's running had thought that it was quite a show! No doubt about it — Don was fit and in perfectly healthy shape. It was just too bad about his injuries and those medications. Several girls sighed - again.

Dan wasn't used to being considered handsome. Nor was he used to being viewed as well endowed — especially not in such a public manner.

As little as he was used to such observation and appraisal — Dan as Don was handsome, muscular, well endowed, and those other things that caused girls to pay attention to both his body and his presence. More than one girl in the gymnasium was a bit excited and wet while they watched Don Nichols circle and circle the gymnasium, passing by them repeatedly.

Dan Roderick had other things on his mind. He had hardly even noticed the looks of all those teenaged girls while he had been running. It was only as he slowed down and got an opportunity to carefully look around that he noticed how he was being tracked. He realized that he had underestimated the effect of his presence in this damned program thing. He had to make some sort of adjustment to this strange situation he was now finding himself thrust into. If he didn't adjust, then he'd be sure to go crazy.

Coach Hill blew a whistle as the period was approaching its end. The girls in the gym started streaming towards their locker room. At the same time the boys had begun to re-enter the gym from where they'd been exercising outdoors. Dan sighed as he continued a last lap of walking about the gym. He'd have to join the girls in their locker room. He went ahead and walked to the door and entered that area for the second time.

He simply walked to his locker. He couldn't actually ignore the variously clad young women and girls in the room — as much as that would have been useful in the situation. He could feel his appreciation of them. Their lovely young bodies did have him feeling excited. However, he couldn't experience anything enjoyable due to his medications. Life was just too weird for a fifty year old man inhabiting the body of a fifteen year old boy. Especially so when that body was partly disabled.

He discarded his sweaty socks and running shoes and pulled out his towel, soap, and shampoo. Even though he had been the last person to re-enter the locker room, he managed to be only the third to enter the showers. Well, he had been naked but for his footwear — after all. He realized that the first two girls to have entered the showers were his study & research partners Crystal and Janine. He managed to smile and relax a bit as he walked over to a showerhead by the two girls. They smiled back at him as he simply took up his place next to them.

Crystal spoke up. "How's your day been so far, Don?"

He managed a slight smile. "Well, it started out really weird. Your father was there in the room when we had to strip. The whole day since then has been strange. I never expected anything like this to happen." He shrugged. He'd had time to think while running and was now trying to relax into the situation that he now found himself existing within.