What Were They Thinking?
32 Defense of the Clan
I READ THE CHARTER for their ‘club’. All the parents did and several of us met together.
“I’m not happy,” Ken Harris said. “I wanted my daughter to have the same kind of happy marriage Claudia and I have. Husband, wife, children.”
“This isn’t a marriage charter,” Rex said.
“A sex club,” Ken continued. “I should have put my foot down when they were freshmen. I thought we were making them safe.”
“So instead of having the same kind of happy marriage we have, she can have a different kind of happy marriage,” Claudia responded. “We knew they’d become sexually active before the year was over. It’s the way of the world.”
“Our daughters aren’t obligated in any way,” Lily said. I looked at her. I’d never heard her speak positively about this. “Neither are your sons.”
“I’m worried,” Tina Kelly said. “Your daughters are two years older. Theresa just turned sixteen and I’m afraid she’s already gone a little wild.”
“Believe me, I had the same worries about Samantha. And Lexi, who will be sixteen next week. But I truly believe the agreement reined them in and helped them control their hormones. I had a very low opinion of my eldest because I was still carrying around judgmentalism from my upbringing. The slightest sign of sexuality meant she was a whore. But I got a real wake-up call last month.”
“Did she really marry that Frost boy?” Ruth McCall asked.
“They call it a handfasting. It has no legally binding meaning. But… Oh, Ruth! When I saw my little girl put her hand in Brian’s and have Rose wrap a thread around it… It was just so beautiful. I could see the love they had. And not just between the two. The others in red—and even to some extent the ones in white with red belts they call their casa—I could see the love and commitment they all had to each other. I wish… It was a different age and we were married in the church, but I wish Sly and I had been surrounded by such love and support when we got married. I guess that I’d have preferred she wait a little longer before she launched into her lifelong relationship, but I was only nineteen when Sly and I were married. What difference did eighteen months really make?”
“We need to talk some more,” Tina said.
“I think we need to be more involved with the younger kids,” I blurted out. I don’t know where that came from, but Sam’s handfasting had affected me, too. “I mean… what do we call them, the first generation clan and the second generation clan? I know that for most of them it’s only a year or two difference, but I’m seeing a big difference between the maturity levels of the two generations. I don’t know if it’s something we were feeding them or if it’s just the kind of kids that were attracted to the second agreement. In some ways Lexi is far more social and advanced than Samantha was at that age, but she seems less driven by her hormones. She just enjoys the company of her friends. They’ve kind of adopted our house as a central gathering point the same way the first generation adopted the Frosts. So, I get to see a lot of their interactions from my open office door.”
“Are you saying they aren’t as sexual?” Bonnie Owens asked. “Your daughters are almost a year older than Pam. She is in a constant state of self-discovery, if you know what I mean. She is not anywhere at all ready for the kind of exploration I hear about the older kids.”
“That’s kind of what I mean,” I said. “I won’t say no one gets a kiss or a hug, but I don’t find any of the kids making out when they think they can’t be seen. And according to my sister in Chicago that can be dangerous. When they get hit with the first flood, they just lose control. The first agreement caught us all by surprise. I think we all had misgivings, Ken. But our older kids were more advanced in their thinking. I don’t think the younger kids would have created a group without the example of their siblings. And they are the ones who put more severe restrictions on their behavior from the outset because that sex stuff was all yucky, as I heard Pam say once.”
Ultimately, we all agreed that there was nothing wrong with our kids ‘joining the club’ that was being formed. But I also agreed to look at ways I could help the younger kids along in their thinking so they didn’t suddenly get faced with situations they hadn’t prepared for. It was almost like training in the army again.
The very night the kids gathered to sign their charter, they got a dose of what reality could be like. If I had known Brian was jumping in his red Suburban and driving to Evansville that night, I’d have been right behind him. I had a kind of experience he lacked. When I heard Sam sobbing on the phone the next day, I knew that Hannah had been injured by a bastard who was a predator. I knew how to track predators like that and went to see Hayden.
“I think we have it under control,” he said. “Rex has been drawing up papers and had them faxed to Saul. Saul has finally agreed that Hannah needs to be here with us. The poor guy is brokenhearted. You just can’t imagine what these two years have done to him. It’s not just Hannah. The whole environment down there has crushed him.”
“Hayden, I want you to keep my number handy. Even with her up here, the kind of guy who beat her up will come looking for her. Don’t let our kids get hurt trying to handle it alone. Maybe we could get an alarm system put on your house, as well. I’ve got contacts that could handle it.”
“With the number of kids who would have to have the codes and the traffic that uses that kitchen door, I can’t imagine an alarm system that would be effective. But you are right. We need to protect our kids first and foremost. Let’s plan to discuss what’s necessary.”
As it turned out, the discussion was too late.
And I’d underestimated Brian’s ability.
After Brian returned to the Frosts’ with Hannah, Samantha nearly took up residence there. Both kids were badly injured in the assault and Sam wanted to be there as much as possible to help ‘her girlfriend’. With the creep in jail five hundred miles away, I relaxed my vigilance a little on the older crew, understanding that my daughter truly had a protector for her cónyuge.
That left me free to focus my attention on my younger daughter and her friends. It seemed they were always around Papa Sly and Mama Lil. Lil was the happiest I’d ever seen her. She cooked up meals for the whole group and invited big brothers and sisters in as well. Lexi, Judy, Ross, and Monte had been ‘adopted’ by Carl, Brenda, and Louise. I could understand that. Lexi idolized Brenda and Carl was a leader who played varsity basketball and thought of all the kids as his little brothers and sisters. Louise was an exotic beauty who’d had a bad reputation in junior high and early senior high through no fault of her own. Kids could trash each other’s reputations with such ease.
The younger four were a puzzle to me.
“Oh, I’ve heard they are called ‘mix and match’. Any combination works. Sly, we are going to have such an interesting family!” Lily said as she cuddled up to me one night. I had to say that having all that youthful energy around us so frequently had put a charge in our own sex life that had been missing for some time. I had a new understanding of Hayden with his two women, though Lil made sure I didn’t need to look elsewhere.
“Mix and match? Any combination? You mean Lexi and Judy both go with Monte and Ross?”
“Sly, my love, the world has turned and left us on the dark side. Not just Lexi with either Ross or Monte, nor Judy with either Ross or Monte. Also, Lexi with Judy, just like Samantha feels about Hannah. And before you react too severely, I think Monte and Ross are affectionate with each other.”
“With each other. I thought I was the liberal one in our relationship, Liliana. It appears I need to broaden my thinking.”
“Well, you know that Leonard has openly declared himself as homosexual since grade school. Hanging around seven beautiful girls has helped protect him from bullies the same way it helped Judy. And I suspect one or two of those beautiful girls have no interest in boys at all. Being in a dating group, though, has kept them protected.”
“I think I’ll take all four of them to Chicago soon.”
With basketball season in full swing, ‘soon’ ended up not being until April, after the boys had won a State Championship. But the field trip into the City ended up being all twelve of the second generation and a few of the older kids. My car, of course, couldn’t hold them all but Joe sent a small bus to transport us around. We spent the morning at the Museum of Science and Industry. It wasn’t long enough but I’d reserved the afternoon for a special event. Joe had revamped a large warehouse and opened a new game center. He’d been introduced to paintball by one of our employees and fell in love with the sport.
I was a little less excited about it but felt the experience of drawing a bead and actually shooting someone would be good for the kids. It would be an opening for me to talk to them about defense and security. The kids loved it and wanted to start a game center in Mishawaka. I’d have considered it if not for what happened at the school prom. Our kids, of course, were too young for the prom, but all the older generation went. We had a big party before the prom that Rex set up at the Studebaker Center. The older kids went off to have their dance and we kept all the younger generation at the center and let them have a little dance, too. I even danced with Lily for a while.
We were all aware of what had happened after last year’s prom. One of the group had been murdered after the prom. I’d talked to Ken, Hayden, Rex, and Jean. We’d all agreed that we’d keep an eye out tonight, just to see that everyone got home safely. I was a little worried about the number of girls going to the prom either stag or as couples. That, of course, included Samantha, who was even dressed in a tux with Hannah as her date. They came home together after the prom and we heard giggling most of the rest of the night.
Lily and I fucked.
It wasn’t until a couple of days later that we found out there had been an incident at the prom and Coach Hancock was asking for Whitney and Brian to do a self-defense demonstration on Friday. After his experience in Evansville, I understood Brian had developed some serious martial arts skills but it never occurred to me what level he had attained.
We had jokes back in Vietnam and some of them were about the elite services. Of course, everyone had their opinion of who was elite. We discounted the Green Berets and Rangers. We said, “The Navy has the Seals. The Air Force has the fighter pilots. The Army has us snipers. And the Marines have… the Marines.”
Coach Hancock and Coach Phillips were the epitome of Marines. They were trained in hand-to-hand combat as well as more weapons than I’d ever seen. To see Coach Phillips put on his butt by the little old Chinese man was a shock to everyone.
The parents gathered around the mats behind our children knew the various colors of gis and belts had nothing to do with martial arts, but were the house colors of the different casas. I’m sure no one else in the auditorium had any idea that Samantha’s red gi didn’t mean the same level of martial arts as Brian’s. But when he and Whitney took to the mat to face off, the only thing that could be heard in the gym was the combatants’ grunts as they hit each other. These were no Marines or ancient Chinese masters. These were their classmates and an aura of majesty surrounded them as if they were two young gods testing their strength.
When we filed out of the gym, that aura had extended to cover all the clan.
I’d been trained in hand-to-hand combat as part of my infantry training years ago, but we didn’t expect to ever use it. I tried to never get closer than half a mile from my targets. As a result, I’d focused my talks and introductions to security with the group on perimeter alarms and responding to a threat that was some distance away. These kids needed something else. They needed the kind of protection I’d seen Brian and Whitney demonstrate.
As it happened, nearly all the first generation clan was moving to Bloomington in the spring to attend Indiana University. I’d half expected Samantha to announce that she was pregnant and going to present us with babies as quickly as she could turn them out. I was pleasantly surprised when she announced she’d be studying business at IU and was shocked as hell that she was going to become the assistant producer at their new production company.
Rex had been busy filing more formal organization papers, creating a production company, and getting them a partnership through which they could rent Anna’s farm. He and Jean Duval had been busy. I understood Jennifer’s father and stepmother were also involved in reviewing the documents.
“Will you extend your training to include the rest of your clan, Whitney?” I asked at the end of the pre-graduation celebration slash production meeting. Hannah had done an effective job of presenting the production company and I’d signed on to commit my five thousand dollars of capital. But what was weighing on my mind was the security of the second generation at school now that their more mature big brothers and sisters were moving away.
“We work on forms every morning,” she said. “Whoever can get over to Brian’s early works with us. Since the demonstration, we’ve had fifteen or so who are participating. I’ve been working longer with Hannah, Samantha, Jennifer, and Courtney. It was part of Hannah’s and Jennifer’s physical therapy and rehab.”
“And you will be moving to Bloomington soon. What then?”
“We’ve already talked to the other casas and they grudgingly agreed to participate in forms every morning. Either Brian or I will lead them. I think that’s sixteen of us.”
“What happens to the younger clan that you are leaving here? Who will train them?”
“Um… well, it’s a little up in the air. Coach Hancock is getting a little push-back about introducing a violent sport at the high school. Apparently, some parents got spooked after our demonstration. Master Cho teaches tai chi at the YMCA. But we don’t really have a program for the kids. We’re hoping that the umbrella of competence Brian and I created will extend over them for a while.”
“Hmm. I’ve been thinking ever since I heard about this ranch of yours that it would be a good training ground. What would you say to having some of the younger kids camped out and working with them this summer? I know you couldn’t train them full time, but there must be some work on the farm they could do when they aren’t training. Maybe a couple of weeks to get them started on a routine. I could assist with some fun exercises in the woods doing things like tracking and camouflage.”
“Oh. Wow! Uh… We need to talk to Brian and Rose. You know, they’re…”
“…Patrón and Matrón,” I finished. “You know, you took two perfectly good words and butchered them when you named your bosses.”
“Well, it was Dr. McCall who started it. By the time we looked up what the actual word was, it was already set.”
I did talk to Brian and Rose and they agreed it would be fun to have the younger generation at the ranch on a summer campout. Even my daughters started jumping around.
That was before the fire.
It looked like all their dreams were up in smoke, but this was one determined bunch of kids. Why should I be surprised? Most of them were eighteen. When I was eighteen, I was in basic training learning to kill gooks in the jungle. I needed to discipline myself not to use that term. While it was common in Vietnam, it was considered racist now. I was reminded of that every time I looked at the gymnast and former cheerleader, Sora. An American father and Vietnamese mother left behind in Southeast Asia and eventually claimed by an adoption agency and brought to the US. I had no illusions about what we did in Vietnam having been noble. We went there to kill. And some to die.
But even though they had no house the bulk of the clan still planned to stay at the ranch for the summer while they tried to figure out what to do. We organized a field trip for the younger clan the weekend after Independence Day. Whitney had them up and working out at dawn on Sunday. I missed that because Lily and I had chosen to stay at a motel. The new bunkhouse duplex on the ranch was already full. Most people were camped in tents or in the one travel trailer that had been brought down.
Brian came up with a plan to renovate the barn into a space where they could both live and continue to produce the television show. Initially, my idea of a campout for a couple of weeks was greeted ambivalently. It sounded like going to camp as grade-schoolers. But when Brian announced their plans to renovate the barn, the second generation came to life. They asked if they could stay the summer and help. The older clan welcomed them.
That was my cue to go to work. As soon as I got home I started calling the parents of the second generation. There were twelve in Lexi’s group. Those who had older siblings in Bloomington were an easy sell. Lexi, Ross, Monte, and Rich were a shoo-in. It took nearly three minutes to convince June Larson that her daughter would be safe and with my daughter. She was almost gleeful to have her daughter out of the house for the summer.
Mary and George were a year older than the rest of the second generation, half way between the two groups. George’s mother and father were among the most enthusiastic supporters of the clan. I gathered they were compiling information for a book on the development of the new clan. Mary’s parents were unpredictable. Whatever one said, the other said the opposite. Finally, Mrs. Williams snatched the permission slip from my hands and signed it, glaring at her husband and daring him to contradict her. I didn’t give that pair much longer together.
Lily had done such a good job selling Theresa’s mother on the benefits of the agreement that when I presented the summer camp idea to Tina, she signed the papers immediately and volunteered to take a week of parent duty at the ranch. Lily handled the parent volunteers. Two moms would be on duty each week all summer long.
Nancy and Susan’s parents weren’t difficult to convince once they saw that the rest of us were in. The surprise holdouts were Doris Hamm and Bonnie Owens. Bonnie reluctantly agreed to let Pam join the crew for two weeks after she turned sixteen in mid-August. Doris rightly earned the moniker ‘Mama Bear’ when it came to dealing with Leonard. For some reason, she blamed the other boys in the group for ‘turning Leonard gay’ even though he’d made that declaration long before he joined the group. Eventually, though, even she was convinced. The kids were going to renovate the barn, two moms would be on duty every week, and several dads would spend weekends or vacations helping.
I’m sure the kids all thought this had come together of their own initiative.
My interest was that the kids get some serious self-defense training, especially after I discovered the whole prom fiasco had originated with the discovery of one of the boys being a cross-dresser and his date being gay.
Whitney and Brian were true to their word and had the kids working on forms every morning. I did go out to the ranch a couple of weekends and taught them trail-craft. Monte and Judy seemed to be very interested in security aspects and we walked the perimeter of the ranch to spot vulnerabilities and talk about strategies. Of course, it was just a farm in the country and the only real security they had by the end of the summer was a floodlight and locks on their doors. I was more concerned by then with getting the school’s approval of an afterschool program of tai chi, taught by Master Cho. It was open to all the students, but with the discipline our kids gained during that summer, they advanced far more quickly. We didn’t have a report of abuse or harassment all year.
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