Chapter 40

"What's the matter, Betsy?"

Betsy looked over at her brother and said, "It is just not as much fun swimming without the sharks near me."

Smiling at the fact that even when she was depressed Betsy couldn't slow down, William said, "I'm sure."

"I felt really complete swimming with them," Betsy said with a sigh. She eased into a simple backstroke straight from treading water and swam away at what was a leisurely pace for her.

William watched her swim and thought about her swim with the sharks. She had been totally at ease with the animals. He knew that she'd be back in almost no time. At most, he'd have to wait a whole ten seconds to give her a reply. When she swam past, he said, "You know that they won't buy you any sharks."

"It's so unfair," Betsy said going back to treading water. Her mothers had really gone ballistic over her swimming with the sharks. She sighed and, in a tone of voice that suggested a complete lack of understanding by her parents, said, "You'd think they were afraid of them or something."

"I'll talk to them and see what we can figure out," William said chuckling to himself. He wondered what he could say or do to convince them of a way to help Betsy satisfy her need to swim with sharks. He could just imagine asking Ling or Claire if Betsy could get a pet shark. That would go over about as well as passing gas in an elevator.

Betsy nearly lifted out of the water in her excitement and hugged her big brother. She said, "I knew you would help me."

"I'll do what I can," William said. Betsy barely heard since she had burst into a strong breast stroke that carried her across the pool like a flash.

Turning to Lucy, William said, "I guess I have a problem to solve."

"You'll solve it," she said with calm assurance. She turned to watch the new hires moving around the pool. Noticing that Amanda looked a little uncomfortable, she swam off in the direction of their new receptionist.

William watched his wife swim off. Despite the fact that they were now married, he still considered her to be the most beautiful woman in the room. He slipped over to his back and started a slow easy back stroke. After swimming most of the time in the pond back home, the full size pool was a treat. Shutting everyone out of his mind, he moved lazily across the pool enjoying the sensations of the water flowing over his body.

Lucy swam up to Amanda who was standing in the shallow end of the pool. The blind woman had turned to face the approaching swimmer and covered her body with her hands. Seeing the reaction, Lucy asked, "What's the matter, Amanda?"

Feeling uncomfortable in what felt like a very small bikini, Amanda answered, "I don't know if people are staring at me."

"Why would they be staring at you?" Lucy asked. There was enough naked female flesh in the room to distract anyone's attention away from Amanda.

"This bikini doesn't cover much," Amanda said. She had borrowed the swimsuit and had been shocked when she had been handed a suit that was little more than a string.

"Don't worry about that. My swimsuit isn't covering anything at the moment. It's back in Pennsylvania," Lucy said trying to help the woman feel a little more comfortable. She added, "You and Donna are the only ones wearing swimsuits."

"You're kidding," Amanda said. She had believed that the whole swim naked thing was some sort of practical joke being played on the blind girl.

"Feel me," Lucy said.

Amanda was shocked when her hand touched bare skin. She ran a hand over all the bits that would have been covered by even the skimpiest bikini and still felt naked skin. Confused, she asked, "Donna is the only other person wearing a swimsuit?"

"That's right. You can call anyone over and confirm it for yourself," Lucy answered.

"I thought you were playing a joke on me," Amanda admitted. She wondered if she could ever work up enough nerve to swim naked with other people in the room.

Lucy hadn't thought how it would be to be blind in that situation. Shaking her head, she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that without being able to see us that you'd think that. Would you like to talk to Donna? She seems just as uneasy about the situation as you."

"Maybe," Amanda said. She wondered what William was doing with all of these naked women in the pool. She was sure that he was probably swimming around with an erection and was glad that she couldn't see it.

"Donna! Could you come over here for a minute?" Lucy shouted in the direction of the Native American woman. The woman was wearing a one piece bathing suit that she had brought with her. It was clearly purchased without the intention of looking sexy.

Donna swam over in the direction of Lucy and Amanda. She was totally unnerved by the sight of so many naked people. This was not something she had been expecting when she had made the trip from Seattle. Talks with Animals and Walks with Wisdom were supposed to be people of the highest honor. She wondered what others would think if they were to learn that they swam naked with other people. She kept her eyes on Amanda and asked, "What do you need?"

Amanda asked, "Is everyone else naked?"

"Everyone except you and me," Donna answered. She looked around in time to see the rest of the Carter Clan enter the pool. She swore when everyone dropped their clothes. Shocked, she said, "There are more people coming and they are getting naked."

"Really?" Amanda asked unable to believe what Donna said or the sounds that she was hearing. It sounded like another six people had entered the pool room. A number of the voices sounded masculine. Wanting confirmation of what her ears were telling her, she asked, "Are there men?"

"Yes."

"Are they... um... excited?" Amanda asked curious and a little concerned about what would happen next.

Unable to prevent her eyes from moving the area under question, Donna looked at the cocks of the naked men. Surprised at the flaccid state of the men, she answered, "No."

Lucy grinned at the exchange and said, "I'll leave you two to talk a bit."

Donna watched her swim away. She was surprised when she turned back to find a teenage boy standing next to them in the pool. Her eyes flicked down and she observed that he wasn't excited by the naked women in the pool. Clearing her throat, she asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Eddie. I take it you are working for William and Lucy now," Eddie answered looking her in the eye.

His intense attention on her eyes surprised her. Unable to hold her gaze on him, she said, "Yes."

Amanda held out a hand and said, "I'm Amanda."

Shaking her hand, Eddie looked at her for a moment taking in the sunglasses on her face. She didn't seem to be looking at anything and then an explanation dawned on him. He asked, "Are you blind?"

"Yes," Amanda answered expecting the normal sympathy statements.

"Would you like us to set up a separate swim lane for you? We have ropes and buzzers that we can set at each end of the pool," Eddie offered.

Surprised at the offer, Amanda said, "No that's okay. I don't really know how to swim that well."

"I'll be glad to teach you," Eddie said.

Shocked that he was wasting his time with two women who were suited when surrounded by attractive naked women, Donna asked, "Why aren't you staring at all of the beautiful women who are swimming naked?"

Eddie looked around the pool taking note of the three new women swimming naked. Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "It's nothing I haven't seen before."

Amanda was still processing the offer to teach her how to swim. She finally answered, "Some other time, perhaps."

"When ever you want, just let me know," Eddie said. Betsy bumped him on her circuit across the pool. He said, "Whatever you do, don't let Betsy teach you. She'll run you ragged. She forgets that people don't have the same energy as her."

"Okay," Amanda answered.

"I think they are starting some chicken wars. Let me go over there and join them," Eddie said.

After telling him to go ahead, Donna stared at him while he swam away. She turned back to find Amanda staring off into space. Shaking her head, Amanda asked, "Was he excited?"

"No, he wasn't," Donna answered puzzled at a teenage boy who didn't react to the sight of naked women.

"I thought guys got erections whenever they are around a naked woman," Amanda said. Puzzled, she said, "I'm not very experienced when it comes to men."

"I'm a virgin," Donna said.

Betsy popped up between the two women and said, "Me too. By the way, I'm Betsy."

Looking at the young woman, Donna didn't know what to say. She associated nudity with immorality. She and Amanda introduced themselves to the young woman. Amanda had a hard time keeping track of where Betsy was at any given time.

Deciding that she didn't want to participate in the chicken wars, Sandra swam over to meet with the two coworkers she hadn't had a chance to talk with. When the pool was shallow enough to stand, she walked over the small group of women. She announced her arrival, "Hello. What are you gals talking about?"

Treating the subject matter as if it were nothing more significant than discussing the weather, Betsy turned to Sandra and said, "We were talking about being virgins. Are you a virgin too?"

"Uh..."

"All of us are virgins. My brother, Eddie, is a virgin, too. Of course, I think half the girls in town would like to be the one who gets his virginity, but he's waiting for the right girl. Did you know that William was a virgin until he met Lucy?" Betsy volunteered dancing around in place. She fired the sentences out like bullets from a machine gun.

She looked around for a fraction of a second. When no one answered right away, she said, "I don't know what the big deal about sex is. My moms say that you have to be mature in body, mind, emotion, and spirit before you have sex. If you don't wait until you are mature enough, then you get hurt. I'm probably grown up in mind, but my body has a bit to go. Don't you think? I mean, I hardly have breasts although that could be because I'm always moving around and don't have much fat. Did you know that breasts are fat?"