Howdy Doody

The Geppetto Project

Chapters 11-12

Chapter Eleven

Carla and Jeannie Become Two of the Boys

Unless they were up really late playing with each other, most of the boys were awake and playing once again by dawn which began close to 6:30 in the morning. By 7:00 most of the upper camp boys were wide awake with or without any bugle. Nevertheless, Reveille blew at 7:00 regardless.

On that first morning, Kevin, Adam, Dan, Dave and Bert all assembled at the newly planted flagpole on the upper campus. The place would be used to assemble the boy's and girl's in the morning for breakfast, and again in the evening for dinner. All three senior boy's who would take turns blowing bugle calls were there and the group gathered at the flagpole and precisely at 7:00, Reveille blew. That first morning, all three buglers blew reveille at the same time with each boy facing the three camps direction, upper, lower and the girls camp. Bert pretty much shook his head as it did, because watching them from their cabin porches was every single boy in camp who were wide awake and watching the show. It was fair to say that on that first morning, reveille woke up nobody except maybe for a baby down in the lower camp.

"So what do we do now?" Christopher asked Anthony.

"I guess it's time to wake up." Anthony replied as he walked back into the cabin. Christopher looked at his friends.

"Grownups sure are weird!" the boy said as he followed Anthony back into the cabin.

The schedule called for bugle calls to blown throughout the day, and it was posted in each cabin. Right on cue, at 7:45 Assembly blew and the smiles on all the boys' faces told Adam that Sid's words for the tune were already well known. It took about a week, but eventually the question "What's that mean?" was no longer heard by staff when a bugle blew.

It took about the same week for the campers to all hang their cabin's flag over the front door and come up with a Camp Flag that everybody could agree upon. For awhile, Bert thought that the United Nations was going to agree on what shape the General Assembly's table was going to be before the campers came to an agreement about their flag.

The flag finally agreed to was a design which had a white background, three tall pine trees representing the three groups of Pine Ridge, Camp Kenny and Green Tree Academy. In the foreground, a horse stood in front with two campers on the horse. The girl was in front, the boy was in the rear. (That decision alone took two days to resolve.) The background was the lake with some sailboats. The design was faxed up to a very well known sailmaker/flagmaker in City Island, NY and now flies very proudly at both camp and school.

The design for a flag and name for Adam's cabin was a little easier to choose amongst the boys, they chose a red flag with a white galleon over blue skull and crossbones. Adam realized it was a holdover from Peter Pan, but he swallowed his pride and accepted it. The name they chose was "Adam's Buccaneer's." Once Sid returned, his only comment to the boys was "Very original." The boys all smiled being very proud of themselves.

Sammy's first year of camp was in 2003. Now, in 2004, Sammy was scheduled to go on his very first horseback overnight sleepover in Indiantown. The 9 year old had heard all about Indiantown from other older campers the year before. He didn't really know what to expect, but he sure did want to go! Now, 12 horses and 24 boys would travel on horseback to the encampment and not only sleep there, but cook their own food in the woods and eat it like the real Indians did when they use to bivouac at Indiantown (Or so the story went).

In Sammy's group, Joey, Trevor, Christopher, Matty, Billy, Ethan, Arthur, Andy, Larry, Mike and Bobby would be going. The overnight would start after lunch on Friday and the boys were packed and ready to line up Thursday morning. At 3:00, General Swim was blown, and Sammy and the mafia all dashed for the pool. By now, the intermediate girls had all discovered the boys favorite play area was the sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi at the pool. Camp rules forbid the boys from playing in the pool or showers, because it was labled as being a "public" area by staff. However, the rest of the complex was "Private" and that automatically turned on the green light. The girls advanced cautiously at first, but by the middle of the second week of camp, it was a foot race who was going to sitting on top of a water jet first. Sammy and his friends really didn't understand why the girl's wanted to sit there: after all, they had no boner to make very happy, so why bother? What they did know was that some little girl's liked to play with THEIR boners almost as much as they liked to! Nobody told them that before. This, quite naturally encouraged sharing.

As Sammy and the boys learned very early in the week, two very savvy little girls named Jeannie and Carla who were both 10, could pretty much keep up with any boy in the group except maybe for Spencer when it came to sports. But Jeannie and Carla went far beyond, sports, athletics, and becoming one of the gang. The girls could play with the very best of them! And as an added attraction, they didn't giggle while doing it. By Thursday, they had become pretty much a part of the mafia in all but their residence.

"We're going on an overnight to Indiantown so we won't be here tomorrow," Mike told the two girls as they sat in the Jacuzzi.

"An overnight?" Carla asked.

"Yeah, we get to take the horses and sleepover on the ground and cook our own dinner and breakfast!" Matty replied.

"Where's Indiantown?" Jeannie asked.

"It's hundreds of miles away in the deep woods," Sammy replied.

"It takes over two hours just to get there!" Both girls looked at each other. The distance issue they were unconcerned about, but the overnight part intrigued them.

"Can we go?" Carla now asked.

"No, it's just for boys," Christopher replied.

"How come?" Carla asked.

"Cuss we sleep on the ground in sleeping bags," Sammy responded.

"So?" Jeannie said.

"So girls don't sleep on the ground!" Billy responded.

Both girls looked at each other.

General swim was two hours long, and none of the boys really noticed exactly when Jeanette and Carla left the pool, but they weren't there when the bugle blew Call to Quarters at 5:00. Both girl's were now on a mission unbeknownst to the boys.

Their initial request to go on the overnight was immediately rejected by their counselor.

"It's a boys' overnight. If you want to go on an overnight, we'll get together with Patty and make arrangements," the counselor told the two girls.

"But we do everything else with the boys, why can't we go?" Carla persisted.

"It's a sleepover Carla, you have to go to bed," the counselor said.

"So?" Jeannie asked. The counselor shook her head.

"Boys don't sleep with girls," the woman said without really thinking it out. Both 10 year olds looked at each other. Both girls giggled. Realizing that statement made no sense, the counselor corrected the statement which only served to make it worse.

"At least not at your age," she told them. As stated, both girls were savvy and both girls had studied the new rules they were now living under.

"We want to ask Aunt Gloria for permission." Jeannie now told the counselor.

"And if Aunt Gloria says no, we want to ask Uncle Bert." Carla intervened. The counselor shook her head.

"You don't need my permission to speak with either one of them, but I don't think it's a good idea."

Gloria's initial reaction, much to the counselor's delight was to deny the request.

"Why Aunt Gloria, we have permission to go into the steam room with them. What's the difference?" Carla replied. Both staff looked at each other. It was obvious these two girls weren't taking no for an answer and they were headed for Bert's cabin.

"If my decision affected only the girls school, I would make it. However, since it affects both the boys and the girls, you may ask Uncle Bert to decide and I will stay neutral."

"You won't tell him you don't like the idea?" Jeannie asked.

"That's what staying neutral means." Gloria responded. Both girls smiled as the bugle blew for evening assembly.

"I will tell him you want Talk Time right after dinner." Gloria told the girls who went scurrying off for some clothes.

"What do you think Bert will say?" the girls counselor asked as the two woman headed for the upper camp.

"I'm not sure, but the girls admitting that they're jumping all over each others bones during the day is going to be an interesting argument to overcome." Gloria told the woman.

"I assume everything's all touchy feely between them." The counselor shook her head.

"That's tough to call with those two. They've been given the party line, but who the hell knows what's going on once they're on their backs."

"I'll have Bert find out." Gloria replied.

"You think they'll talk to a man?" the counselor asked.

"Bert's not any man He can find out if you're a virgin if he wanted to and you'd be very happy to tell him." Gloria replied.

"Well, he is kinda cute!" the counselor replied.

Talk Time after dinner was held on Bert's porch. Like Gloria, his initial reaction was skepticism. The girls were happy that neither their counselor or Gloria voiced opposition to the proposal, but Bert knew that if they had agreed to it, he wouldn't be sitting there. Basically, the girls used logic even though they probably didn't know it. They were girls and wanted to go camping with boys. They played with the boys during the day, so what was the big deal if they played at night? Bert could have reviewed the files, but he chose to go straight to the horses mouths.

"Were you virgins in Montana?" he asked the girls

Both girls looked at each other and then back to Bert.

"Yes," both girls replied.

"Are you virgins right now?" he asked. Again, both girls said, "Yes." Bert sat back and thought for a few very long seconds.

"What's a virgin?" he asked both girls.

"A girl who doesn't let a boy stick his dick in her pussy," Carla replied.

"Her front pussy," Jeannie intervened.

"Oh yeah," Carla nodded. Gloria and their counselor looked at each other. Bert smiled a very little.

"And you both intend on remaining virgins?" he asked.

"Until when?" Carla asked the Director. Bert now smiled much more.

"Well let's see. This is 2004. 2012 would be a really great goal to set for your selves!" Bert replied. Carla did some quick counting on her fingers.

"Eight years!" she exclaimed to her friend. Jeannie didn't say anything but she did shake her head a little.

"Let's just say we'd like to see you stay virgins for the foreseeable future," Bert told the girls.

"Most certainly well passed tomorrow night!"

"You mean we can go?" Carla asked.

"I mean you can convince your counselor you're going to have an intact hymen when you return and hope she approves your going," Bert replied.

"Let's not forget, we have ways of knowing if you've allowed a boy to get a little too frisky!" Both girls grinned and giggled a little.

"But not the back pussy right?" Jeannie asked.

"Go!" Bert told the girl's who scooted out the door.

"Well, look on the bright side Helen. If Bert weren't here, we'd have had the meeting with Sid and he'd be joining them on the overnight!" Gloria said.

The boy's were up on the ball field's playing ball when the girls came skipping up the trail and joined them. The news that they would be going on the overnight at first went over like a lead balloon.

"You can't go, you're girls!" Mike told them.

"Uncle Bert says we can!" Carla replied. Mike looked at the other boys.

"Then I'm not going!" he told the group. At age 9 and 10, the boys now learned the first secret weapon of a girl. Carla sat down and started crying. With Carla now sitting there crying and Jeannie comforting her, the boys shifted sideways a bit away from the two girls.

"How come you don't want to go with them? They're OK," Sammy told Mike.

"We're going on an overnight stupid. What happens when we are asleep at night?" Mike asked his friends. Little lightbulbs now started going off in the mafia's brains.

"They'll come back and blab all over the girl's camp that we piss the bed!" Mike told his friends.

"Who cares?" Sammy asked.

"I fuckin care!" Mike replied indignantly. Carla's crying didn't subside, and now Etienne was coming over from Dan's cabin.

"What's the matter? Why is that girl crying?" he asked the boys.

"They want to go on the overnight with us and we don't want them to!" Joey replied.

"Overnight? They're girls!" Etienne exclaimed.

"We know, Uncle Bert said they could go," Sammy told the counselor.

"He did?" Etienne asked. The boys all nodded their heads.

"If Uncle Bert said it was OK, what's the problem?" he asked.

"It's an overnight Uncle Etienne!" Mike told the man "So?" the counselor responded. Mike pointed to his penis and poked it a few times.

"Oh!" the counselor said.

"You think they don't know already that you wet the bed?" he asked Mike. The boy looked horrified.

"They're girls!" he exclaimed. Etienne nodded.

"Yes, they are girls who have also been in the cabins. What do you think they think when they see bed's stripped bare during the day?" he asked. Mike's eyebrows lowered and he looked at his friends.

"Nobody ever said anything to them!" Matty now interjected.

"I don't think anybody has to say anything. How many times have you gone into a friend's cabin and seen stripped beds? Did anybody have to tell you the boy sleeping there wet?" the counselor asked. The group all considered the scenario.

"They never said anything about knowing!" Arthur now replied.

"Why would they? When you saw your friend's beds, did you say anything?" he asked.

The boys now found themselves in a little bit of a pickle. Not withstanding the fact that were romping their asses off with the girls, for some of them to acknowledge wetting the bed was not going over very well, especially with the old Albemarle boys like Mike.

Sammy didn't really know if he gave a flying fuck, but it wasn't something he'd fly a banner over either. Until the girls came, he never gave it a thought.

Etienne's first task was to get the girl to stop crying with a promise to "Talk" to the boys

In actuality, Etienne had no intention of talking to the boy's, he had already done that. He talked with Gloria. Gloria was amused, but not that surprised. The girl's camp Director opted to speak with the girls along with their counselor just before bedtime.

"Boys are very, very strange creatures, and they believe that girls are very, very strange creature's too," the girl began.

"They have a very deep dark secret, and don't want any girls to find out what it is. If you went on an overnight with them, you would find out their secret, and they don't want that to happen." Gloria said. Both girls were now very deeply intrigued.

"Do you know the secret?" Jeannie asked.

"Yes, and so do you." Gloria told the two. Both girls now looked at each other.

"We do?" they asked.

"Yes. And I will tell you what it is if you promise not to tell anybody else in the world and never say anything to anybody!" she continued.

"Then they'll let us go?" Carla asked.

"I think if they know that their secret is safe and I tell them that their secret is safe, they'll let you go. But you can't even tell them what their secret is. You can't even mention it to them!" she told the girls.

"That's stupid!" Carla replied.

"Like I said, boys are very, very strange," Gloria told the girls.

"OK, so what's the secret?" Jeannie asked.

"Some of the boys wet the bed," Gloria told the girls.

"So what's the secret?" Carla asked.

"That's it. They wet the bed," the woman replied. Both girls sat there waiting for Gloria to continue.

"That's it?" Jeannie finally asked.

"That's it!" Gloria replied.

"What kind of a secret is that?" Carla asked.

"To a boy, it's a very special secret," Gloria told the girls. Both girls looked at each other.

"That's stupid Aunt Gloria, what's the real secret?" Jeannie asked. Gloria sat back and smiled.

"If I let the boys know that you will say nothing to no one about wet sleeping bags in the morning, you won't have a problem with their letting you go with them on an overnight," she told the girls. Both girls looked at each other. Aunt Gloria was right, boys were very strange; they knew the boys pissed their beds on day one!

A very special Talk Time was arranged by Gloria the following morning with Bert and the boys in their cabin after breakfast. The topic was an extremely delicate discussion, and one which the Harvard Graduate would need every bit of his Ph.D. In Child Psychology to surmount.

"I agreed to allow the girls to go with you on the overnight, but if I do, you boys are going to have to agree to keep the girls secret from everybody else in camp."

"What secret?" Christopher asked.

"Well, the girls wet the bed, and they really don't want anybody else in camp knowing about it!" Bert told the assembled.

Deep, dark secrets can be a wonderful thing, and after lunch on Friday, Sammy and his friends including Jeannie and Carla were walking their horses out the gates of the stables to Indiantown, just a few hundred miles down the trail. Two hours later, and just outside of bugle range, Indiantown was reached.

For the senior boys who acted as trail hands for these overnights, it was a fairly routine trip right up until Jeannie and Carla showed up in the corral. Both Adam and Bert were there to see the group off, and although no questions were asked by the senior boys, the looks on their faces told Bert they had a few dozen.

As the crow flies, Indiantown was approximately ¾ of a mile [1200 m] from camp, on the other side of the mountain from the girls camp. Green Tree had dozens of miles of bridle paths and trails honeycombed throughout the 12,000 acres [50 km²]of the Federally Protected land the camp sat on, and very few of the boys realized that they were walking on just about every single one of them for two hours. 22 boys and two girls were convinced they might not even be in North Carolina anymore, maybe Virginia or Tennessee.

The encampment itself was made by Dave's senior boys' crew and was basically a small lean-to village with a few dozen shelters. A large fire pit, and a small stream with a pool hand dug by the senior boys year before. The camp was basic and rustic, but it did have an ice chest that was stocked with ice to keep the food cold, and an outhouse. It also had a store house that held food, sleeping bags and supplies that were essential when you were 'Roughing it' out in the woods like the Indians use to do when they used the camp. (According to the official version).

On arrival, the boys (Both Jeannie and Carla considered themselves one of the boys) chose a lean-to and set up their sleeping bags. Each lean-to could hold four boys across with ease and it wasn't unheard of for the senior boys to find six and eight bodies to a lean-to by mornings light. Carla and Jeannie set-up a lean-to of their own and it was a very nice spot for the first five minutes after they went to bed.

After the camp was set-up the group was taken on a small trial up the hill to an overlook by the senior boys. The vista was not one seen from the camp, and one boy suggested they might be looking at the mountains of Tennessee or maybe even Kentucky. The senior boys looked out at Low Gap off in the distance and agreed with the boys.

Following a dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs cooked by the boys, they decided a swim was in order and for the most part, that was the end of the sleepover in clothes. The boys were now use to the girls being naked, and as Carla and Jeannie dropped their shorts to the ground and yanked off their shirts, the boys pants fell as fast as their dicks rose in appreciation. A week earlier, pink cheeks abounded everywhere. Now, it was a contest to see who could keep it hard the longest or who Carla or Jeannie would chose as a partner to sit on their shoulders for a game of 'Chicken' in the water.

At 10 years of age both girls were fairly well endowed with things female. They were very cute, they both had long shoulder length hair, they were both in the process of budding and had a small handful for any 9 or 10 year old boy to test out, they had full bodies, fuller bottoms, and a pussy that had a very real resemblance to their asses, but in a miniature version. But then, and most importantly, they could play ball, climb trees, ride bikes, ride horses, ride go carts and play without giggling their fool heads off every time you touched their pussy or they jerked you off. They were girls, but they were the 'good' kind.

After dinner, they returned to the overlook to watch the setting sun and by the time they reached camp, it was now dark and time for flashlights, marshmallows and Anatomy 101.

Both the boys and the girls had been told that nothing was off the table except for vaginal intercourse. Neither knew the term, the just knew they couldn't stick their dicks in a girls front pussy because they were still intermediate campers. One more reason for both groups to want to get to be senior boys and girls real fast!

Bedtime came sometime past 9:30 and Sammy, Joey, Christopher and Matty were settling in when Carla and Jeannie came over. The boys had already zipped their sleeping bags together to make a double, and it was now time to chose. Carla elected to slip in with Sammy and Joey while Jeannie went with Christopher and Matty. Neither girl stood on formalities but Carla was very definitely the more adventurous of the two. Laying on their backs watching the stars Carla took both Sammy and Joey in her hands.

"You have a longer dick Sammy, but Joey's is fatter," the girl said as she rolled both boys' penises in her fingers. Sammy reached over and began rubbing Carla's breast as he slipped the sleeping bag off her chest and down to her stomach.

"Do you feel your tits filling up with milk?" Sammy asked the girl as he moved his hand back and forth like the girl had showed him to do in the steam room.

"No silly, I don't have any milk in them yet," she replied as Joey now turned his body sideways and began to rub the other.

"Then how come they're growing?" Sammy asked the girl.

"Because they have to get big before the milk comes," Carla replied.

"Big with what?" Joey asked. Carla shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know, I guess its just fat," she replied.

Next door, Christopher now entered the conversation as he studied Jeannie.

"Whose got bigger tits? You or Carla?" he asked the girl.

"I don't know I guess we're both the same size," Jeannie replied.

"I know who has the bigger pussy!" Matty now said as he unzipped the sleeping bag and opened Jeannie's legs so he could get a better angle. Sammy giggled as his hand dropped down the girl's stomach and his middle finger buried itself alongside the girl's clitoris and he massaged it exactly like she had taught him to do.

"I don't think its any bigger than Carla's pussy," Sammy replied. Carla opened her legs and brought her foot up a few inches. Sammy didn't quite understand it, but Carla liked him to circle around with his finger when he touched her inside.

"How come if I can stick my finger up your pussy I can't stick my dick in it? My finger is just as long as my boner is!" Sammy now asked the girl. Carla shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know, it's just a stupid rule that the grownups have that I gotta stay a virgin," the girl replied as she reached over and adjusted his hand to just the right spot.

"How come you ain't a virgin in your back pussy then?" Sammy asked again. Again Carla shrugged her shoulders.

"If I let you fuck me, you'll bust my cherry and then the grownups could find out!" the girl replied as she came ever closer to orgasm.

"How?" Joey asked.

"They can look inside my pussy and tell if I've been fucked or not," she replied.

"Look for what?" the little boy asked.

"My cherry stupid!" she said.

Both boys looked at each other and Sammy shrugged.

"When a boy puts his dick up a girl's pussy for the first time he breaks her cherry and then she's not a virgin anymore." Jeannie now advised the boys.

"Who puts the cherry there?" Matty now asked.

"I guess our mother's do when we're born," Jeannie replied.

All four boys now tried to picture that scenario in their minds. To Sammy, it seemed a little silly for some mother to be sticking little red cherry's inside little girl babies. He was happy he was a boy.

Joey now felt a little left out of the action and decided it was time for him to get back into it. Carla was as good as Sammy when it came to lollipops, and Joey flipped himself down and put his boner within Carla's reached. Even with Sammy's finger inside her pussy Joey could still make Carla happy as she swallowed him to his groin and began sucking. Carla liked pussy, but she liked to have her front pussy kissed even more, and as the little girl brought Joey to a happy ending, he was buried as deep as his tongue could travel. For Christopher and Matty, their night ended after giving Jeannie back pussy while finger fucking her just the way she taught them to. For the girls, playing with the upper camp boys was fun, but these four were a cut above the rest. They followed directions to the max and both girls knew that when these boys climaxed, so did they!

Morning came with the usual mess. Thanks to Bert, the boys awoke thinking the girls had pee'd. The girls awoke knowing the boys had. While the girls usually woke up dry, they didn't freak out at the dampness, they were going to keep the boys "secret" like they promised. In reality, Sammy, Joey, Christopher and Matty couldn't give a flying fuck less, but, they had also agreed to keep the girls 'Secret', so six 9 and 10 year olds, didn't mention each others "Transgressions". Mike and the boys who did care were happy; they didn't sleep with the girls and their wet sleeping bags went undetected by the girls as they were brought to the store house for return to camp to be washed.

A morning dip in the stream took care of any fragrance problems for the boys still in the enuresis closet, and as far as they were concerned, Carla and Jeannie's dip did the same thing for them. After breakfast, a 'hunt' with BB Guns followed with 22 boys and two girls, all dressed in their finest birthday suits succeeded in scaring the shit out of a blue jay and several chipmunks. The group did manage to shoot a few trees that looked like a bear, but with no fatalities or deer to bring home for dinner, the group mounted their horses for the long ride back to North Carolina and civilization. There would be another trip to Indiantown for them in a few weeks, and they couldn't wait!

The groups arrival back in camp just before lunch was a bit anti-climactic for the campers involved because the entire camp was consumed by the news and the faxed photo's of the new baby in New Hampshire.

"Boy! He sure does have big balls!" was the most common phrase heard throughout lunch by both the girls AND boys of intermediate age.

As the staff had expected, the overnight group retreated after lunch to their cabins for showers. As they also knew, it was highly unlikely that they would continue on their day without a nap. A sleepover at Indiantown left very little time to actually sleep, and by 2:00 none were still awake. Bert, Gloria and the girl's counselor Helen had more than a few questions, but they would have to wait until after dinner.

At 23, Helen was no prude, but she was learning that she had an awful lot of 'Catching up' to do once Carla and Jeannie awoke as the other girls returned to their cabin to prepare for dinner. Helen knew the two 10 year old girls to be very open, free and uninhibited concerning things sexual. Many, many blushes and deeply drawn breaths had been taken, but unfortunately for Helen, she was the one doing the blushing and deep breathing. Carla and Jeannie could talk about fucking a moose without wrinkling their noses! Helen considered her best tact was to listen to the girls rather than ask questions, as they awoke and for a good 15 minutes, she listened as the two described their adventure to the other girls. Some were interested, some were not. (Yet).

As the girls talked Helen did notice two large bruises on Carla's groin. She guessed the girl had perhaps climbed a tree and hit a limb too hard. Or was hit by a ball during a game of baseball.

"No Aunt Helen, that's a hickey!" she told the counselor as the woman dried the girl. Carla pointed to the two bruises, one on each side of her vagina.

"This one is from Sammy, and this one is from Joey," she said.

"Jeannie's got one on her boob from Christopher," Carla told the counselor proudly. The counselor looked over to Jeannie who pointed out a much fainter bruise on the side of her breast.

"How did you get them?" Helen asked trying to figure out if her version of a hickey and the girls were in sync.

"They gave them to us!" Carla replied.

"How?" Helen asked.

"Aunt Helen, didn't a boy ever give you a hickey? They suck on you!" Jeannie told the counselor. Helen closed her eyes for awhile and then looked down again at Carla's groin.

"Do you remember your promise to Uncle Bert about staying a virgin?" she asked the girls.

"Both girls looked at each other.

"Sure, they didn't fuck us, they sucked us," Carla replied.

"We're still got our cherries!" Jeanette said with a grin. Helen was happy it was dinner time; she needed a stiff drink.

Saturday night bivouac at the lake was a different scene than it was a week earlier, and most certainly a lot different than the first lake dinner two weeks earlier. Other than the youngest of the campers very little skin showed that first week. Now, campers two to 12 were naked and headed for the water as soon as their plates were pushed aside. Gloria and Helen sat together as Bert appeared for a mini meeting.

"So, am I still the Director of a small group of virgins?" Bert asked. Gloria smiled.

"Well, we haven't conducted any gynecological inspections, but according to the girls, they're still intact," she reported.

"Barely!" Helen added. Bert looked at the girl.

"They've got hickeys on places I would never even have dreamed about in my wildest fantasies!" she told her Director.

"They're having more sex than Monica Lewinsky," Bert chuckled a little.

"Is that concern or envy I'm hearing?" he asked the girl. Helen blushed a little.

"Boss, are we having a meeting or are you cruising?" Gloria asked. Bert again chuckled.

"Well, if they're still virgin's, at least they know how to follow directions," he told the two.

"What about the golden showers?" he asked.

"The girl's woke up swimming, but neither one thought that the boys really cared about it one way or the other." Helen told the man. Bert nodded his head.

"Who did they sleep with," Bert now asked. When told, he again nodded his head.

"Those are all long standing Green Tree boys. None of them will give a dam about wetting. It also explains the hickeys!" he told the girl.

"Green Tree boys know how to make very happy campers," he said. Gloria now smiled.

"That's because they have very experienced teachers!" she said looking at Bert.

"You need to watch Sid very closely Helen. It wouldn't be a bad idea to keep your eye on this one too!" she said with a small smile.

"Sid can have your underpants off before you realize he's there. This one can unsnap your bra with one hand." Helen giggled a little as Bert protested, but not very much.

"Ridiculous. Nobody can unsnap those handcuffs with one hand. Besides, you haven't worn a bra since you were 16," Bert told Gloria as he kissed her on the forehead and took his leave. Helen watched as Bert went to another table and was immediately surrounded by boys wanting to be picked up.

"Is he any good?" Helen asked. Gloria smiled.

"You'll sleep extremely well!" she told the counselor.

"The key to his bed is a canoe ride. If you let him know you would like to go canoeing one day, you'll be sleeping like a baby that night." Gloria told the girl. Helen was happy she knew how to swim.

Summer 8

Daily camp life for the entire camp began drifting into a routine for campers and staff alike. The Mess Hall had been expanded to accommodate the entire camp in one sitting and the chef was no longer threatening to circumcise half his staff. Feeding close to 600 people at least three times a day meant 16 hour days, seven days a week, and in 100 to 120 degree kitchen heat, tempers could flair at times until they got more room and larger exhaust fans.

Once the kitchen was finished and the new intercom/emergency system was in place, even Dave's maintenance crews had time for recreation and relaxation. All day long, the younger campers took control of the camps facilities. After dinner, it was the senior boys and girls time to play, and the recreation hall, canteen, stable's, pool and lake complex was given over to them. From a distance, Sammy and the mafia watched the seniors, this was what they all aspired to become some day!

Spencer's nineth birthday came on July 5th. School tradition was that a birthday boy or girl got to chose his or her Dinner meal that would be prepared just for them. Spencer chose his personal favorite, lasagna with garlic bread and spumoni which the kitchen delivered to the cabin. The boys had elected, as they usually did during camp, to have a cook-out at the cabin for birthday dinner and by the time the invites were over, Spencer had close to 40 of his closest friends and favorite staff in attendance. The boys had made Spencer some gifts in Art & Crafts, and as soon as he learned how to smoke, he had three or four very nice ash trays to use. Spencer had expressed an interest in playing the guitar, and the school brought him one which was presented to him by Johanna, Gloria and Jeanette.

Anthony's gift was one that sparked a miniature revolution, and Bert had to change the school rules and be advised in the future what gift was being proposed. Spencer received a miniature motorized motorcycle and the boys went bullshit! The Camp Kenny boys had electric riding toys, but other than the camps go carts and the golf carts, the boys only had their bikes. Now the rules had changed and the floodgates were going to be opened. Bert could envision 300 motorbikes all over the camp. With Spencer now zipping across the ball fields and 15 boys chasing after him, Bert told Anthony that the bike would have to be kept at the go cart track, and it had to be used only there by Spencer or someone Spencer allowed to ride it. Spencer became a very popular camper that year! Bert watched as Spencer zipped across the fields: "Just how fast do you think he's going?" the director asked Dave. I'd say 35 or 40 [55-65 km/h]," the man replied. Bert's frown deepened.

"Can you fix it so he can't go faster than 15 or 20 [25-30 km/h]?" Bert asked his maintenance chief.

"Yes," Dave replied.

"Do it!" Bert instructed as he shook his head.

Once Sid returned from New Hampshire, his most pressing problem was how to get even with Bert for the egg on his head prank with John. He had to retaliate, the only question was how. Upon his return he noticed a boom truck in the maintenance yard that was still there because of the delivery of trailers for the addition to the mess hall. Sid learned from Dave that the truck could lift 20,000 pounds [9,000 kg] without dropping it's outriggers. If it dropped its feet, it could lift a 40,000 pound [18,000 kg] load.

"Why?" asked Dave.

"Well, you know Bert's a light sleeper," Sid began.

"If we picked up his cart and dropped it on his porch roof, could the roof hold the load?" he asked.

"Sure, the cart probably weighs less than 800 pounds [350 kg]." Dave told the man.

Sid smiled. "So you wouldn't be making a lot of noise setting the truck up?" Sid asked.

Dave shook his head. "That machine can lift that cart and walked around with it," Dave replied.

Sid smiled.

Bert awoke the next morning and by about 6:00 was ready to go up to the girls camp. His cart was missing, and he thought little of it, someone from maintenance had probably come to service it he thought, or, maybe he didn't park it where he thought he had. Unconcerned, Bert walked up the trial with two coffee's in his hand to meet with Gloria as he usually did first thing in the morning.

Bert's arrival in the girl's camp came just before sunrise. The older girl's were still asleep

but the little one's had by now gotten into the routine of awakening by dawn. They had also become accustomed to Bert riding up the trail to Gloria's cabin. Initially they just watched the man, but after three weeks, those that were awake were usually out on their porches yelling "Hi Bert!" as the man waved back, or, more recently, "Shocking" the man by streaking from cabin to cabin as he passed. It began with a few more adventurous girl's in the very beginning of camp, but now, bare little six to eight year old bums started flying across campus as soon as his cart crested the hill.

Naturally, Bert played the game and was 'horrified' to see those naked bodies as he hid his eyes behind his hand while he passed.

"You realize they're going to be scarred for life by this indecent behavior," Gloria said to Bert as he walked up to the cabin with small groups of girls skipping from cabin to cabin along his route. Bert smiled.

"I was concerned about them seeing nudity a few months ago," Bert said as he sat down on the side porch.

"But I haven't seen Amanda in a pair of underpants now in over a week. Have you?" he asked as he gave the woman a kiss on the forehead and her coffee. Gloria smiled. Amanda was a seven year old with a cherubic round face and dark short curly hair who looked a lot like Shirley Temple. In the beginning, she showered in her under pants and undershirt. Now, nobody could convince her to put them on. Even at meals the girl wore a sunsuit that was lucky if it made it through the meal on it's owners bottom.

Timmy was of course wide awake and the boy waddled onto the porch headed for Gloria. Normally, the boy would go to Bert and give him a hug and kiss, and then retreat for breakfast. Bert held out his hands as he usually did and Timmy stared at him as he walked past and began climbing up Gloria's legs and onto her lap.

"My little wonderful boy woke up not so wonderful this morning." Gloria said as the boy opened her robe and went for breakfast. As Gloria shifted the boys body sideways and adjusted herself, Timmy grabbed for Gloria's robe and pulled it across his face and was now hidden from the world's view.

"Was it something I said?" Bert asked. Gloria smiled as she took the other side of her robe and covered the boys legs which Timmy promptly kicked back off.

"Sometimes he wakes up a very nice, sweet and cuddly little boy, and sometimes he wakes up very angry at the universe." Gloria responded "Let's not forget; Timmy is two and a half Uncle Bert," Bert nodded his head knowingly.

"Which reminds me," Gloria said. "There's a certain young lady here who thinks you're kind of cute!" she told her boss.

"Well Thank You Gloria, I like you too. But what's that got to do with a two and a half year old?" Bert asked. Gloria giggled a bit which Timmy didn't enjoy.

"I love you very much, but if you bite me again you're going to get another spank young man!" Gloria told the boy as she spoke into his ear and rested her hand on his buttocks. As Timmy settled back down, Gloria's attention returned to the conversation.

"It reminded me of a girl who wasn't yet born when you graduated College." Gloria replied.

"And I'm not talking about me dummy," Bert smiled.

"Well that narrows it down. Not one girl here was born before I graduated College," Bert replied.

"See, that's what I mean, you're a baby snatcher!" Gloria said as she giggled again. Timmy was still pissed, but with Gloria's hand on his bottom, he wasn't about to clamp down, but he did let go. Both Gloria and Bert watched as an arch sailed across the porch barely missing the coffee table. As Bert threw the girl a towel and she stuffed it into the boys groin, Bert once again smiled.

"I guess there's more than one way to exhibit displeasure," he told the girl. Gloria nodded her head.

"And he did that on purpose too," she replied.

"So, who is this secret admirer? Don't tell me you're hooking me up with Amanda."

Bert now asked. Gloria smiled not daring to giggle. Lifting the now soaked towel, she threw it into Bert's lap.

"You've been hanging around with Sid too long!" Gloria told her boss.

"I was talking about Helen. I'd bet if you asked her to go on a canoe ride, she'd accept." Gloria replied. It was now time for Bert to do the giggling.

"There you girl's go again with this canoe stuff. Every time you start conniving about setting me up with a date, you go straight to the canoe's," Bert told the girl. Gloria smiled once again.

"Bert, how many girl's have you taken out in those canoe's and haven't ended up sleeping with?" she asked, "and don't forget, I've had many rides!"

Bert smiled and nodded his head. "So if I take a canoe out, I'm automatically on the prowl as far as the girl's are concerned?" he asked.

"You may not be on the prowl as far as we're concerned, but we sure as hell know we're about to get laid." Gloria told the man.

Reveille now blew, and Timmy was ready for the second course. Bert picked up the towel off his lap and stood up.

"Now you have me paranoid about asking anybody to go boating," Bert told the girl. Gloria once again smiled.

"Don't get paranoid, nobody ever said "No" to you yet and I'll bet that Helen wouldn't either."

"And all the time they're thinking I'm going to screw them?" Bert asked.

"Not at all boss, we damned well know we're about to get fucked, that's why nobody says no." Gloria replied with a giggle. Bert shook his head on his way out the door.

"You girls sure are devious," he said as he gave Gloria a kiss goodbye.

"I think Timmy will be in a much better mood if he spends some quality time in the Jacuzzi this morning," Bert suggested as he left. Gloria nodded her head looking down on the boy who still had a frown line on his forehead.

"Uncle Bert thinks you need to have LaLa Timmy. We go swimming after breakfast," she said to the boy as she kissed him on the cheek.

Bert's trip back to the upper camp for assembly came surrounded with a couple of dozen of the youngest girls who by now were showered and had at least a pair of shorts on. More than a few giggles from the girls ensued for the next few minute's as Bert counseled the girl's.

"Ya gotta be careful around here girls. There have been times real early in the morning when some of the local hillbilly girls run around these woods naked!" the man told the girls as they walked.

"I've even seen a few of them as bare as the day they was born, but I didn't get a good look at their faces. Seen plenty of shiny little asses, but no faces!" Bert continued as the girls continued to giggle.

"Don't you think they'd get a little scared of catching colds or something?" he asked in mock seriousness.

He joined the group at the flag pole as the bugle blew and the camp flag was raised. Morning assignments for the stable's, go carts and swimming lesson's were announced and just before mess call was blown, Sammy and Carla appeared out of the crowd.

"Hi Uncle Bert, can we have Talk Time after breakfast?" Sammy asked the Director.

"Sure, we can meet at my cabin. Are you both requesting Talk Time together?" he asked them. Both Sammy and Carla nodded their heads.

"Can you give me a hint about what we're going to talk about or should it wait until we get there?" the man asked. "Sleepover's!" both children said simultaneously. The jingle of Sid's bell's on his cart broke the conversation between the three, and Bert decided he needed to talk with both Helen and Adam as soon as possible, preferably before Talk Time.

"Come on boss, hop in and I'll take you down the hill," Sid told the man as more and more kids piled into the staff's golf carts for the trip off the hill.

Those campers who didn't get a lift now took off straight down the hill to the lower campus to "Beat" the cart's which had to wind their way off the hill. ¾ of the way down the hill, the campers noticed a growing gathering of campers in front of Bert's cabin. As Sid rounded the bend coming off the trail, there were now close to 100 people milling around in front of Bert's cabin.

"Gee boss, maybe there was a fire!" Sid told Bert as the group neared the cabin.

"What the hell is that!" Bert exclaimed as they drew closer.

"Holy shit, how do you suppose he drove up there?" Sid asked as they came to a stop in front of Bert's cabin. Sitting on top of Bert's porch roof was his golf cart with a blow-up doll of Foghorn Leghorn at the wheel. Breakfast was 15 minutes late and Sid was served a plate of frozen Eggo waffles by John the chef. (Which he ate) "So after you get my cart back off that roof, I suppose you'll spend the rest of the day at the stable's?" Bert asked his Assistant as they ate.

"Hey, I had nothing to do with it. It's your job to get that cart back down if you allow unauthorized personnel to tool around campus in it!" Sid replied with a small grin.

Timmy's morning went much better than Bert's as the man tried to figure out how the cart was lifted onto the roof. Dave had made himself scarce at Sid's request, and nobody mentioned the boom lift truck to Bert all morning. As they usually did, the smallest of the campers were in the pool first thing in the morning along with the girl's who were receiving swimming lesson's from Dan and the Senior Life Guards.

As was their custom, Gloria and Jeanette stripped once at the pool and entered the Jacuzzi with both Kenny and Timmy riding hips.

"He woke up with a very bad attitude. It's time to put a smile back on his face," Gloria told her friend as she sat down just in back of a water jet and lowered Timmy between her legs.

"It's LaLa time Timmy," she told the boy. His uncooperativeness hadn't abated all morning long, and it continued right up until Gloria sat her legs on top of the boys as she opened his legs and held him into position. The Jacuzzi began doing it's job and Timmy's hand's clutched at Gloria's waist as he buried his face in her stomach. Within 20 seconds the Jacuzzi was draining his reluctance as the water massaged away the mornings tension that went beyond his ability to cope with. The girl no longer had to hold the boy down and released his legs as she massaged the boy's upper torso and neck while the Jacuzzi hummed peacefully on.

Timmy's body had been stiff and rigid all morning. Now, Gloria could feel the muscles relaxing by the second as the boys body reacted. Kenny wasn't in a feisty mood and gurgled as he laid between Jeanette's legs and moved his lower body back and forth while Jeanette stroked the boys temple and ear. Both women knew the boys were well on their way to a much brighter day as they continued to talk. Both boys would fall to sleep immediately after their morning exercise, and hopefully, Timmy would awaken with a very big smile on his face.

Bert had wanted to talk to Adam and Helen, but the mornings antics with Sid prevented that, and even the problem of getting the cart back off the roof was on hold as the two campers climbed the stairs to the Director's cabin.

"So, I hear everybody had a wonderful time at Indiantown," Bert began the conversation as the three sat down. Both children grinned from ear to ear.

"We even went hunting with guns Uncle Bert," Sammy now exclaimed. Bert nodded. The Director had heard about that, he also heard about the girl's hickey's.

"Is that what we're here to talk about?" he asked with a small amount of hope.

"No Uncle Bert. We want to have cabin sleepover's." Carla replied. All Bert's hope's were now completely smashed. The man sat back.

"Cabin Sleepover's?" he asked. Both children nodded their heads and waited for Bert to speak. Personally, Bert didn't have a problem, but he knew damned well that Alexandria would have a stroke if they found out he was allowing eight to 12 year olds to sleep together in mixed company.

"Why did your counselor's say it was a bad idea?" Bert said grasping at straws. Both Sammy and Carla looked at each other.

"We didn't ask them Uncle Bert. We knew that you were going to be making the rule anyway, so we just came to you instead."

Bert was looking for a way to avoid looking like a hypocrite to the children. It wasn't even an open secret that the boys were screwing each others brains out and the girl's were immediately behind them; it was an out in the open fact! Now, they were even out on co-ed overnight's in the sack with each other. Bert needed some time to kick start his brain and bring in more troops for the looming battle.

"You are correct Sammy, I will eventually make the rule, but Green Tree does have a chain of command, and to be fair to your counselor's, we need to make sure they know about the request and let me know what they think about it!," Bert said to the two.

"Why Uncle Bert? You can overrule them anytime you want to!" Sammy told the Director.

"And I may very well do that, but I can't over rule them until I know what I'm over ruling! How can you know what Uncle Adam and Aunt Helen have to say about it if you haven't asked them?" Bert asked the children. Sammy was a little befuddled, but Carla was as sharp as a tack.

"He's right Sammy, Aunt Helen knows we were all fuckin and she didn't freak out!" the girl replied.

Bert closed his eyes and wished he had a knob for his ears as well. Reaching out, he brought the girl over to him and sat her on his lap.

"Here in Green Tree Carla words mean very little to us and nobody cares. But if you got into the habit of saying 'fuck' you might say it in front of the wrong people and really freak them out. There's a whole lot of words like 'doing it' or 'playing' or even 'fooling around' that you could replace with the word fuck. Can you do that?" he asked the girl. Carla shrugged her shoulders.

"Sure Uncle Bert, but when we do that and ask some of the other kids to come out and play, they all think we just wanna fuck with them!" she told the man. Bert smiled as he shook his head. Helen was right, the little girl was extremely blunt! "Well, what you have to do is to make your intentions a little clearer to your friends. Like, come on out and play ball. Or, do you want to play hide and seek with me? On the other hand, let's go to bed and play leaves little room for confusion right?" Bert said to the little girl.

"Guess so," Carla replied.

Bert kissed the little girl on the cheek. "Try," he said.

"Concerning our talk, let's have the two of you speak to both your counselor's and if I need to get involved, at least we've followed the chain of command," Bert suggested.

As Sammy and Carla headed back up the trail to their camps, the two discussed the meeting. Basically, they were happy with it, but didn't fully understand the ground rules.

"What's a chain of command?" Carla asked Sammy.

"I don't know. I guess it's something you hit people with to make them do what you want them to," Sammy replied.

Sid knew damned good and well that Bert would be looking for him after his meeting.

"What was all the commotion about at the mess hall this morning?" Johanna asked the man as Sid arrived at her cabin.

"Oh you know, just camp tricks," Sid responded as he went over to the baby who was laying on a sheepskin rug out on the back porch. Sid got down on the floor and looked at the baby "His ball's don't look much smaller to me!" Sid said as he lifted a leg of the sleeping boy.

"Don't you guys pay any attention to anything else?" Johanna asked.

"No," Sid responded.

"He looks like he's peeling like a grape!" Sid now said.

"That's normal Uncle Sid. He's been surrounded in fluid for the past 9 months, his skin is drying out," she told the man.

"What happened to all the fat little pictures of baby's grinning from ear to ear?" Sid asked.

"Uncle Sid those babies are four to six months old. He isn't even a week old yet!" she told the man.

"He don't look like he's breathing too much!" Sid said.

"No, he hasn't started snoring yet, that will come next week." Johanna said as she brought in two ice tea's and sat down.

"Come away from him before you scare him to death," Sid smiled as he got up and gave the girl a kiss on her forehead.

"How have you been doing?" he asked her as a he took a gulp of his tea.

"Fine. He's up every three or four hours, but that's normal," she replied.

"Have you had much company?" he asked. Johanna shook her head.

"A revolving door!" she replied as her two girls now came onto the porch.

"Girl's, you know Uncle Sid. Uncle Sid, this is Darlene, and this is Meagan," she said as she introduced the two Senior girls.

"The girls have been extremely helpful Uncle Sid, they're going to be living here for the summer with me and Sidney," she told the man.

Sid spent close to an hour at Johanna's until his luck ran out.

"It figures you'd be hiding behind a bunch of skirts!" Bert said as he came into Johanna's carrying a very small three year old in his arms.

"Look who's talking!" Sid replied as he pointed to the little girl.

"This isn't a skirt. She's my little pal named Caroline," Bert replied as he kissed the little girl on her cheek as he passed the girl over to the Senior girls.

"Did this worm tell you what he did to me!" Bert said as he bent over and gave Johanna a kiss. Johanna looked over to Sid.

"Man's delirious!" Sid said as finished his second ice tea.

"Delirious my ass, I gotta golf cart up on my roof!" Bert told the girl.

"Camp tricks?" Johanna asked Sid. Sid shrugged his shoulders.

Just before lunch, Sid finally relented and told Dave to haul it off. Bert and a crowd of probably close to 150 campers watched as Foghorn was lowered to the ground with all 150 wanting to take the oversized balloon back to their own cabin.

"I,ll tell you what."

Sid told the campers that had gathered around him.

"The cabin that has the highest morning inspection score for the next seven days, gets Foghorn," he told the assembled.

"But first, you all have to tell Uncle Bert how very, very wrong he was to allow Foghorn to drive the cart up there on the roof in the first place by leaving the keys in the ignition!"

Bert looked a little startled.

"I did not!" he declared. Sid looked at the crowd of boys.

"Jeffrey, who's keys are those in the ignition?" he asked the boy. Jeffrey came back with Bert's key's in his hand's "They're Uncle Bert's!" the boy declared. Sid smiled.

"Bad man!" he said to his boss and turned to go to the mess hall as the bugle blew.

By the end of the week, there was a tie between a girls cabin and Kevin's. Sid bought another Foghorn balloon and the girls took theirs inside. The boys elected to have theirs filled with helium, and it flew over the cabin until a storm tore it loose and it disappeared one stormy August night.

"We're did you get them fucking keys from?" Bert asked Sid quietly at lunch.

"I stole them from your pants pocket," Sid replied as he ate his salad.

"It ain't over!" Bert said.

"It never is," Sid responded.

" I had Talk Time this morning and we need to meet with the group leaders this afternoon during General Swim at my place. Have Adam and Helen attend," Bert told his assistant. Sid nodded his head.

"What's up?" he asked.

"The intermediates want to switch to a higher gear," Bert responded.

Sid smiled. "No shit?" he asked.

Bert shook his head. "Somehow I knew that wouldn't depress the shit out of you!" he responded as he moved on to another table.

The meeting took place in Bert's cabin and every single senior staff member attended along with Adam and Helen. Bert explained the request from the the two children and was praying for some kind of guidance.

"Jeez boss, it was a fucking bonehead decision to allow the girls and boys sleeping together in the first place, but we'll pull your ball's out of the fire!" Sid opened the meeting. It took more than a few minutes for Bert to bring the meeting back under his control, but he did.

Adam watched and listened as the next few minutes turned into a debate that very often went far over his head. References made by all concerned were completely unknown to him.

"Alexandria isn't going to go along with this, it's taken almost two year's to get these girls here in the first place!" Bert told the group.

"So we go to plan B.

"Don't ask, don't tell," Sid replied. Bert smiled.

"Sid, you know as well as I do that they know exactly what's going on, with or without our telling them," Bert responded.

"I agree Bert, so what's there to hide?" he asked.

"They'll never agree to allowing the boys to mix freely with the girls, they know that allowed the Pandora's box to open in the first place!" Bert told his assistant.

"It opened the box because those women could conceive. We're talking about kids who are still shooting blanks. Shit Bert, nobody here on campus can start a baby boom even if they wanted too!" Sid responded. Bert nodded his head.

"Sid, you know as well as I do that they're hung up on the image of kids getting laid."

"Oh yeah, the Davidito Effect!" Sid replied. While everybody else around him nodded knowingly, Adam was somewhere in the twilight zone.

"What's the Davidito Effect?" Adam now asked.

"Davidito was a boy who was born in 1975 and raised by some hippy's who cloaked themselves in Jesus and basically had a party in his pants until he sliced one of his nanny's throats and blew his fucking brains out about 25 years later. Every fucking sociologist and nutball psychologist from that time forward has pointed to Davidito as proof positive that any kid who has sex before age 18 is going to cut your throat and then commit suicide. Personally, I think we all need to immediately invest in the Funeral Business, because if they're right, 60 million people will be dead next year and we need to get in on the gravy train," Sid told his friend.

"And that's only if 1 on 10 children in America were sexually abused as presented by our our good friends in Washington."

"Sid, I can always count on you to keep the meeting lively," Bert said.

"No problem boss," Sid responded.

"You all know me well enough to know that I was never a subscriber to the Davidito Effect. My problem is that we have goals for the boys and goals for the girls, and those goals differ," Bert began.

"Our boys are going to have to be extremely well educated in keeping themselves under control out in society or they're going to end up in prison. The girls don't have that problem. As long as they have tubal ligations, they could assimilate overnight," Bert told the group.

"If the girls spend the next few years romping their asses off, they're not just going to "hit the switch" and turn that behavior off. I just don't think we're going to be doing them any favor's by allowing them to grow up thinking that every boy they meet is going to ball their brains out ten times a day."

"Well said boss!" Sid said with more than a few chuckles from the group.

The difference between Bert and Sid educationally was that Bert had a Harvard education and a Ph.D. In Early Childhood Education and Human Sexuality. Sid was not a Ph.D. because he left Georgetown University just before Graduation due to a crises back at Green Tree with a boy who was very special to the man. He lacked his Diploma because he never submitted his Doctoral Thesis. But for a piece of paper, the two men were equals when it came to academics and in knowing children.

"I understand where you're coming from, but I don't share your concern about them romping their asses off for the next few years. I think we'll have some initial heat under the sheets, but it'll lose it's luster once the uniqueness wears off," Sid replied.

"I expect to see the Kibbutz syndrome fall into place," Bert now sat back and his blood pressure began to recede. Adam was once again out somewhere on Mar's "In English please!" Adam said.

"Sid's referring to the reported behavior of Israeli children who are raised on Kibbutzim. They live on collective farms in Israel, and are raised as very small children living together, both boys and girls. They live, eat, sleep, shower and play together almost from birth. It drive's our sociologists absolutely fucking crazy, but the children rarely have sexual contact with each other past age 12 and almost never marry within the same Kibbutz. The data goes against everything our people believe would happen if we put a little boy and a little girl in the same bathtub together," Bert explained.

"We can do all the 'Educating' we want to in the classrooms, but it's like describing the taste of cotton candy but never giving them some. I agree we can't allow the boys out into society ready to fuck everybody's brains out, but the best teacher is going to come from being in that situation while there are still control's around them and by guiding them along instead of sending them out. "Cold turkey," Sid said.

"How long before you think the Kibbutz syndrome would start kicking in.?" Gloria asked.

"I think it's already started. When Johanna and I left here last week, we didn't see a limp biscuit at the lake or pool if a girl was around. Now, it's rare unless they're actively playing with each other in the boats or in the steam room," Sid told the girl.

"You think they'll stop having sex together?" Helen asked. Sid smiled.

"Not unless they're dead!"

"I think what Sid means Helen is that the activity won't be all consuming in the future and the boys will exhibit more control over themselves," the Director told the girl.

"There he goes again waving that damned sheepskin!" Sid replied.

For the next hour the meeting evolved into a 'What if' session from the staff and the finer details of implementing the policy were hammered out.

"Let's consider this; we allow overnights by invitation with the understanding that their behavior will determine if it continues as a practice next year. Vaginal intercourse is off the table until a girl becomes a senior girl, and just because someone accepts an overnight invitation, it isn't automatically an agreement to play," Bert said.

"And if it doesn't work out by October, we roast Sid's balls off at the close of camp."

Sid agreed with most of the proposals.

On the way back up the hill, Adam sat next to Sid in his cart shaking his head.

"What's the problem good buddy?" Sid asked his friend.

"I don't understand how Bert closes his eyes at night carrying the weight he does," Adam said.

"I'm a little amazed all of us don't sleep with a gun under our pillow!" Sid chuckled.

"Oh. We know that as the "They're coming to get us!" scenario. Sid told his friend.

"There's an extremely remote possibility that might happen, but it would take a major overthrow of the boys in Washington. I,m talking about tanks firing at the Capital and White House kind of shit," Sid said.

"You gotta remember good buddy, we don't HAVE a dirty little secret, we ARE the dirty little secret!" Sid punctuated the message, and Adam was deep in thought.

"Believe me, if I thought an Uzi could protect me better than those assault rifle's and dogs sitting right outside the front gate, I'd be polishing the prick up nightly!" Sid said deadly seriously.

Adam shook his head.

"You do have a magic way with words!" he told his friend.

"The one's that are loosing sleep are the one's in Alexandria, Langley and Georgetown. If Matt Lauer starts mentioning your name, they're on their way to a South American rain forest to live with the Anaconda's," Sid concluded.

Johanna's day once the men left for lunch was spent in an endless round of visit's, both by the lower camp staff and the Pine Ridge girls staff who were relatively new to Green Tree. As Bert well knew, the baby would bring out the motherhood instinct in the women, and he was still looking for a suitable girl to take charge of the second baby who would arrive in September, now just a little less than two months away. It was the women's responsibility to find a suitable surrogate mother for the baby, and it was simply understood that whoever that girl was would nurse the child. Green Tree had six women who were lactating, and each one was already committed to a boy, so the pool of possibilities would have to be made from the remaining 30 girls. The search was headed by Gloria, along with the other five lactating girl's.

Sidney would not be leaving the cabin for close to his first two weeks of life and Johanna would rarely leave herself.

"The girls all know about the next baby. We need to make sure they know we're actively looking for a mother for it." Gloria told her search team after lunch at Johanna's.

"We already know it's a boy. Whoever decides to take him on needs to be told up front that we're not looking for a short term commitment. Bert doesn't want a baby-sitter, he wants a mother found and that's what she has to be able to commit to." Gloria reminded the girl's.

"We've got about two weeks to submit a candidate to Bert if we're going to be able to induce lactation by the delivery date."

Johanna finished cleaning Sidney and laid the baby back down on his blanket.

"What's his age range?" she asked.

"Bert knows there are 16 to 18 year olds who would volunteer, but he wants a girl 20 plus. She can be college bound, but he wants a mature girl," Jeanette now looked at Johanna.

"Almost all of us were 16 to 18 when we first began nursing. Johanna was still 15. Why is Bert raising the bar now?" she asked.

"I asked him the exact same question." Gloria replied.

"When we were induced it was simply to nurse the boys. Now, we're dealing with adoptions. Johanna is most probably the only Mother Sidney will ever know," she told the group. Johanna looked down on her sleeping baby.

"Bert also want's us to make sure we remind each girl that she is capable of giving birth to her own child. Adopting a baby isn't the only way they can become Mother's, they can be implanted with a fertilized egg and she could bring the baby through full term. She just can't use her own egg or have the egg fertilized by a Geppetto boy. He doesn't want anybody to think that it's this way, or no way, for us to have our own baby." Gloria said.

After the meeting broke up, Johanna and Jeanette opted for a swim in the lake as Darlene and Meagan looked after the napping Sidney and Kenny on the back porch.

Climbing onto the swimming raft moored just offshore, both girls laid down and sunned themselves.

"I forgot about being 15 when I first began nursing." Johanna told her friend.

"God, I look at a 15 year old today. I couldn't have been that young and fragile looking could I?" she asked. Jeanette smiled "Did you see Bert carrying Caroline around this morning?" she asked. Johanna nodded her head.

"Well, after your first two days at Camp Kenny were spent crying on your bed, you spent the next week being carried around by Uncle Bert!" Johanna thought back.

"Oh yeah!" she replied as she laid her head back down and smiled to herself.

"Things have certainly changed!" she told Jeanette.

Sammy and Carla's request to have co-ed sleepover's wasn't a huge hit with some of the boys in camp. Some of the boys were particularly leery about sharing the fact that they wet the bed, most especially with a girl! Some weren't overjoyed at letting girls see them play with their friends, especially if a raging boner was involved. The younger boys seemed to have the most liberal attitude, while the 11 and 12 year olds seemed a tad more conservative in their approach to life; they hid it.

For Sammy's part, he just liked Carla and Jeannie as playmates, and the fact that the girl's had no penises was a small matter to him, they still knew how to fuck anyway so what was the difference? Luckily for Sammy and all the boys in his cabin, they fell to the liberal side of life and that night, Sammy and the eight other boys in his cabin played host to Carla and Jeannie, two of the spunkiest little 10 year old girls Green Tree had seen to date.

At 8:30 retreat blew and the impromptu baseball game ended in front of the cabin. Adam, Sid and Anthony sat down on the front porch as the boys walked past gripeing that it was still a little light out, and they could have played another inning. Adam watched as a golf cart came up the trail and stopped in front of the cabin.

"These are some clothes for the girls in the morning." their counselor Helen told Adam as she handed him the bag. "I also included some underpants and their pajamas, but I haven't seen either on the girls in weeks so good luck!" she told him. Adam and the men all smiled.

The front screen door to the cabin blew open and slammed against the side of the cabin as the two girls now came flying out.

"Hi Aunt Helen. Did you bring our flashlights and canteens?" both girls asked as they grabbed for the bag and rooted through it.

"Yes, but why do you want those? You're not camping out are you?" she asked the girls.

"We're all sleeping on the back porch tonight!" Carla told the woman as her baby doll pajamas hit the porch floor. Helen shook her head.

"I put some underpants in there if you want to wear them to bed," she told the girl. Both girls now looked down at themselves.

"What for? We'd just have to take them back off!" Jeannie asked her counselor.

"Silly me." Helen told the naked girls. Sid giggled as he sipped his beer.

"Want something to drink?" he now asked Helen.

"I'd love to but I have to get back to the cabin and get the rest of the girls settled down," she said. As she gave each girl a hug, she patted each one on the bottom.

"Remember what the rules are and remember to listen to your Uncle's," she told the two girls.

"Yes Aunt Helen!" both girls replied as they now ran back into the cabin.

"Good luck!" she said as she got back into her cart and rode back to the girls campus.

Adam picked up the girls pajamas and sat back down.

"Well, at least they held them in their hands," he said as he put them down on the chair next to him. Spencer now came out on the porch and sat on Anthony's lap after he brushed his teeth and put on a pair of underpants.

"Are you sleeping out on the porch too?" Anthony asked the boy as he wrapped his arms around the boys waist. Spencer shook his head.

"They won't go to sleep for hours," the boy replied.

"They're building tents out of sheets and blankets out there."

"Well, that sounds like it could be fun!" Sid said to the boy. Tattoo now blew from the flagpole and Adam started to get up.

"I''ll cooked some popcorn for them," he told the group on the porch.

"I ordered four pizza's from the kitchen Adam. They should be here right around Taps," Sid told the man.

"I also told them to send up some bug juice."

"Great, I hope the girls are waterproofed!" Adam replied.

The last of the boys and Carla were now finishing brushing their teeth and going to the bathroom.

"Uncle Sid has sent for pizza and bug juice," Adam told them as he went into the kitchenette. As Adam cooked the first bag of popcorn, Carla came to him with a brush and some hair ties. Handing them to Adam she turned herself around.

"Pig tails, pony tail or braids?" Adam asked the girl as he sat down and backed the girl into himself.

"Braids." Carla replied. As Adam brushed the girls hair out, Jeannie now came into the kitchen awaiting her turn.

"How do you know how to braid a girls hair Uncle Adam?" she now asked.

"Well, because I have two sisters at home and I braided their hair when they were younger," Adam replied.

"Sammy said you aren't a Geppetto boy. Are you?" the girl now asked.

"No sweetheart, I'm an Outside Uncle," he told the girl.

"The boys told us what that is. We never had one of them before." Carla now said.

"Sammy said it didn't matter, you still loved him. Do you?" Jeannie asked.

"Yes, I most certainly do," he replied.

"How come if you're not a Geppetto boy?" Carla asked.

"Well, simply because Sammy is a very special boy to me and I love him," Adam said as he began to braid the girls hair.

"Sammy says you play with him." Jeannie now said.

"Adam shook his head as he put the hair band on the tip of the girls braid.

"Yes, and I play with all the rest of the boys in the cabin too," he replied as he patted Carla on the ass and moved Jeannie into position.

"We don't mean play baseball or play Nintendo." Carla interjected.

"Yes, I know exactly what you mean," Adam said as he began brushing the girls hair.

"How come if you're not a Geppetto boy?" Jeannie asked.

"Do you think you have to be a Geppetto boy to play?" Adam asked the girls. Both girls now giggled.

"If you want to do it real good!" Carla replied.

"And for a real long time!" Jeannie added. Adam now chuckled.

"I guess the answer goes back to love. I play with them because I love them," Adam said. Adam hadn't asked, but he decided to put the girls hair into pig tails and began brushing Jeannie's hair into place.

"Do you love us too?" Carla asked.

"Yes, but I also have rules from Uncle Bert just like you two do."

"Like putting your boner in our front pussy?" Carla asked.

"That, and a whole lot more," Adam replied.

"Like what?" Jeannie asked.

"Like anything but giving you a nice little girl kiss," he told them.

"That's it?" Carla asked.

"Even if we say you can kiss our front pussy like the boys do?" Adam shook his head.

"Am I an intermediate boy?" Adam asked the girls.

"No." came the reply from both girls.

"Well, then I guess I'll have to wait to kiss your front pussy until you're a whole bunch older," he replied. Both girls giggled as Sid now came into the kitchenette.

"If you three are through discussing the birds and the bee's, it's pizza time," he told the group as four pizza's landed on the table.

"You're a Geppetto boy aren't you Uncle Sid?" Carla asked the man.

"Yes, and you still aren't getting your front pussy kissed!" he said as he took some plates out of the cupboard. As Adam finished the second pig tail and gave Jeannie a pat on the ass both girls took off giggling out to the back porch.

"Me thinks the boys are going to have their hands full tonight," Sid said as he reached for the glasses.

"Bull shit. They know it's open season on the back pussy!" Adam replied as he reached for two bottles of beer.

"It's going to be a very interesting summer."

"For sure!" Sid replied as Taps blew.

Taps signaled the end of the day for the intermediate aged boys and girls, but it also signaled the beginning of the evening for the seniors who had generally worked from breakfast to dinner. Now it was social time, and the 'sparking' would begin in earnest. For the staff, this was the most important part of the day because if the boys were ever going to be functioning in 'Society' without landing their asses in jail, this was the learning time. For the younger seniors, those 13 to 15, it wasn't a pressing issue because many of them still had each other to keep themselves occupied. For the 16 to 18 year olds, it was a time to "move up" the heterosexual ladder, and cases of deodorant, hair gel, acne cream and mouthwash now suddenly coming into fashion at Green Tree told the staff there was an interest. With a three to one ratio in the girls favor, they were now very clearly in the drivers seat and they knew it!

To not one single staff members surprise, 16 year old Charley was one of the very first boys who offered to take a girl out on the lake to go rowing on night 1 of camp. Charley lived in the senior boys compound, and as the girls very quickly found out, Charley did not live in a bunk with other senior boys, he had his own cabin where he supervised two 13 year old boys, Jerry and Marty. Both boys were previously involved with an old Albemarle staff member in S&M and Charlie's 'Job' was to keep the boys occupied in healthier forms of play. Charley was exceptionally good at his task as Bert well knew.

Charley was hung like a horse and just about as horny as a breeding stud since birth. Charley would fuck a duck and not worry about the feathers! Like most people, Geppetto boys do not all have the same recovery time after sexual climax. While their recovery is four to six times faster than a non Geppetto boy, the average was two hours, some can hold off for three. Charley was on the low end of the spectrum; he was searching for a duck on the hour since age two. Charley kept Jerry and Marty so busy they didn't have the time or the energy to even think about whips and chains!

In Green Tree Charley was nicknamed The Energizer Bunny by the staff and he was quite proud of the title! At age four, he was dressed in a large fluffy pink Bunny suit for Halloween and the poster sized picture hung on the living room wall of his cabin. While none of the girls knew anything about either Jerry or Marty, they had seen Charley swimming and his credentials fairly impressed them to orgasm just before sleep time.

As far as the staff was concerned, they assumed Charley would try out every flavor and then come back for a second scoop. He surprised them all when he asked a very petite 14 year old that caught his fancy named Samantha to go for a boat ride and almost a month later, he was still rowing or sailing only her around the lake. Bert and more than a few female staff looked at the couple and cringed figuring Charley would split her in two, but the extremely shy and quiet girl blossomed before their eyes and if she was having difficulty keeping Charley happy, she didn't show it. Jerry and Marty however did look quite a bit more rested than normal.

Seniors could stay out until 11:00 if they chose to and once the girls appeared, very few boys remained on their campus preferring instead the lake, ball fields, canteen and recreation hall. For them, the summer of 2004 signaled the beginning of a new way of life. Sammy and his friends could wait, they were having too much fun with each other.

Sammy's overnight sleepover with the girls went into high gear after the popcorn, pizza and bug juice was polished off by all nine boys and the two girls. When the food disappeared, Spencer elected to sleep as he usually did with Anthony, and Jesse and Brian went with Sid, which made Adam as well as Sid a whole lot happier. Jesse was fast approaching his 13th birthday, and as soon as he returned to school in the fall, he would be transferred to the senior boys campus. While he was still shooting blanks, he would have been a formidable hurdle for the 10 year old girls to overcome. Their counselor was sure they'd give it the old college try, but all involved were happy when Jesse chose to play with the big boys. Brian on the other hand was a totally different story. Even though he had just turned 12, he had the apparatus of a full grown man and all the plumbing was working since he was two years old. As a boy with precocious puberty, Brian was way over the top when it came to the two 10 year old girl's and everyone knew it, even the girls. When Brian left the porch with Jesse, both girls looked at each other with a very relieved look in their eyes. Both girls now turned their attention to the remaining six boys; Sammy and Joey who were 9, Trevor, Christopher and Matty who were their age, and 11 year old David. They considered themselves very definitely in the ball park!

The group had decided to strip just about every bed in the cabin of sheets, pillows, blankets and comforters, and had built themselves a 'tent' on the back porch. Once the pizza was gone and the rest of the cabin went down for the night, the group spent the better part of half an hour searching the woods behind the cabin for raccoons, skunks and maybe even one of the barn cats if they got lucky. Once the batteries began to fail, it was close to 10:00 and time to party as the cicada hummed on ever louder in the stillness of the night.

Neither Carla nor Jeannie were shy and retiring to begin with when it came to romping, and both girls had already spent the night with these boys sleeping on the overnight horseback trip to Indiantown. Standing on ceremony was unnecessary, and for these girls, unknown. As Sammy laid down next to Joey, Jeannie slid in between both boys.

"I'll give you a back rub first and then you can do me. OK?" she asked Sammy. Sammy said nothing, he rolled over on his stomach as Jeannie sat herself on Sammy's ass and began rubbing the boy's back. David now saw the two of them and decided it looked like fun as he told Carla to roll over and got on top of her. Matty almost always fell asleep first, and as Christopher looked down, Matty was gone for the night. It didn't greatly depress him, this was the usual end of his day and as he flipped over and came head to toes with his best friend it was time to make him a very happy camper as Mattys penis rose to the occasion unaware that his master was sound asleep.

"Suppose he starts peeing?" Carla asked as she looked over at Christopher.

"He usually does!" Trevor replied as he giggled and climbed over to Joey and laid on top of him.

"That's gross!" Jeannie said.

"Why?" Joey asked.

"Because you don't pee in somebody's mouth," she replied.

"Maybe you don't, but we all do!" Trevor replied.

"Really?" Carla asked.

"Sure. Wanna see?" Trevor told the girl.

"OK" the girls both replied.

"You gotta pee?" Trevor asked Joey. The boy said nothing, but he took a breath and pushed on his bladder. With a slightly pink face a few seconds latter he shook his head "No".

Trevor slid his body up and presented his penis to Joey who took it in his hand.

"Not too fast!" Joey said as he brought Trevor's penis to his lips and sucked it in up to his friends groin.

"Don't suck or I won't be able to pee no more." Trevor told Joey as he began to concentrate and push. It took probably 10 or 15 seconds, but both girls knew by Joey's throat movements that Trevor was successful in delivering his urine as Joey swallowed.

"See?" Joey asked as Trevor slid himself back down.

"Doesn't it taste yucky?" Carla asked as she reached over and put Trevor's still limp penis in her hand.

"It taste like hot lemon and lime bug juice." Joey replied. Trevor, Sammy and now Christopher all giggled.

"You drink pee too?" Jeannie asked Sammy.

"Sure, we all do, it's how we know

we're really good friends," Sammy replied. Jeanne now became very curious.

"You ever drink girls pee?" she asked Sammy as she looked over to Carla.

"No, we never been around girls before," Sammy replied.

"Would you?" Carla asked as Trevor's penis took notice and was very quickly rising to full staff as she circled his head with her pinky finger tucked well inside his foreskin.

"If she was our friend, sure!" Sammy replied. Both girls now looked once more at each other.

"Want to?" Carla asked Jeannie.

"Jeannie shrugged. I'll let them if you let them first!" she told her friend. Sammy now turned his head towards Carla.

"Let them what?" he asked.

"You said if a girl was your friend you would drink her pee. We're your friends right?" Carla asked. Sammy now frowned a bit.

"We drink each others pee. If I drink my friends pee, he drinks mine. If we drink your pee, you have to drink ours too!" Sammy replied. Both girls now looked back at each other.

"And you have to drink ours first just so's you won't chicken out!" Joey replied.

"How do we know you won't chicken out?" Jeannie said.

"Did it look like Joey just chickened out?" Trevor responded.

"Want to?" Carla asked.

"You first." Jeannie repeated. Carla looked over to Trevor's penis.

"You can't drink my pee, I ain't got no more!" Trevor told the girl.

"Besides, we can't pee if we got boners, the pee won't come out."

Carla looked over to Joey who had a very impressive stiffy now going for himself. David stood up.

"Here," he said as he walked over to Carla. The girl took his penis in her hand.

"Feel that little tunnel on the bottom of my dick?" David told the girl.

"If I'm peeing too fast, squeeze that and the pee will slow down," he told her. Carla peeled back David's foreskin and wiped his head clean with her hand.

"Bring it all the way in to the back of your tongue or you'll spill it all over the place," the boy instructed the girl as she took him into her mouth. David pee'd as slowly as he could, and Carla drank most of it before she had had enough and David had to retreat to the screen on the porch and pee'd out onto the lawn.

"Well, does it taste like hot bug juice?" Jeannie asked her friend.

"I don't know. I never tasted hot bug juice before." Carla said.

"It's really hot and it's salty," she said as she kept swallowing.

"Would ya do it again?" Jeannie asked. Carla shrugged her shoulders.

"Sure, I guess so," she replied. Jeannie now looked down at Sammy who was still laying on his stomach.

"Now you." Jeannie said to the boy as she lifted herself off him and Sammy turned himself around.

"Lay down and flip," Sammy told the girl.

"Don't you want me to drink your pee first?" she asked.

"No, that's OK, you ain't gonna chicken out," Sammy said as he scooted his body down into position. With David directing Carla to lay down, both girls officially joined the circle of friends as Sammy and David learned that girls pee tasted exactly like boys pee, except they had no control over the rate of flow. It wasn't the girls first choice for playing in the future, but at least it would come as no surprise in the middle of the night if they were sucking on a boy and he had a dream about going to the bathroom.

"Well, what did you think?" David asked the girls once everyone's tank was empty.

"It was OK." Jeannie replied.

"Now, you're one of us!" Sammy exclaimed beaming.

"This is our secret right?" Carla asked as the group sat around indian style.

"Secret? From who?"

Sammy asked. From the other kids and our counselors." Carla replied.

"Why? They all know we do that. They do it too." David said.

"OK, the other kids know, but not the counselor's." Jeannie said. Sammy looked at David and Joey and Trevor.

"I don't know about your counselor, but ours sure know about it, they do it too," Sammy told the girls.

"Uncle Adam? Uncle Sid?" Carla asked.

"All the counselors at Green Tree drink our pee, it's how we know they love us." Trevor said matter of factly.

"Doe's Aunt Helen know that?" Jeannie asked the boys. They all shrugged their shoulders.

"I don't think so!" Carla said to Jeannie.

"Ask Uncle Bert. He'll know if she does." Joey suggested.

Once the girls went to the bathroom, it was time to get onto more serious subjects and without worrying anymore about the bladder interfering, the group made each other very happy for the better part of an hour. When the bugle blew in the morning, more than a few campers would already be awake, but Carla, Jeannie, Sammy, Joey, Trevor and David were not among them. The late night bathroom call also did nothing to keep the sheets and blankets drier, the girls were as wet as the boys as they trotted to the showers with a very eager Christopher and Matty now ready to resume the party.

For Sammy, the morning time was his special time with Adam, and as the bugle blew reveille, Sammy scooted himself out from underneath 25 pound [12 kg] blankets and headed for Adam. Sammy got into a nice dry, warm bed and climbed on top of his counselor wrapping his arms around the man's chest. Adam smelled him before he felt him, but very quickly disregarded that fact as he warmed the boys soggy bottom back to room temperature as he kissed the top of Sammy's head.

"How was the sleepover?" Adam asked as Sammy snuggled himself into the man's torso.

"Lot's of fun Uncle Adam. When can we do it again?" the boy asked as he adjusted Adam's penis between his legs until he felt it and closed his legs trapping it between his buttocks.

"Let's talk to Aunt Helen and Uncle Bert and maybe in a few days, we can arrange another one," Adam told the boy. Sammy nodded his head.

"Carla and Jeannie are really neat. We became blood brothers last night," the boy told his counselor. Adam knew very well the meaning of the term.

"And who's idea was that?" he asked the boy as Sammy lifted his leg for Adam.

"Both of ours I guess," the boy said after thinking for awhile.

"But I didn't become a blood brother with Carla. Just with Jeannie," he said.

"Why is that?" Adam asked.

"Carla was done by David," he told the man.

"Carla and Jeannie wondered if Aunt Helen knows about drinking pee," Sammy now said.

"They're going to ask Uncle Bert. Do you think she does?"

"I,m not sure. Do they wonder if I know?" he asked.

"No, we told them you know all about it and drink our pee too," Sammy replied. Adam sighed very heavily as he shook his head. Regarding things sexual, Green Tree boys were raised very liberally and openly. Sometimes for Adam, a little too liberally and a little too openly. Adam lay there with his little charge knowing that in a few minutes he'd be facing two little girls. Adam wasn't ashamed of his behavior, but neither did he want it printed on the front pages of the New York Times! Adam's problem was that he had a little boy laying on his chest who knew absolutely nothing about modesty.

Adam knew he had to take the bull by the horn's, and he also knew it would most probably come up during morning showers. So that Sid wouldn't be caught off-guard, he told his friend about the nights activities and how he intended to deal with it.

"This is really bad good buddy. You're going to completely destroy these poor innocent little girls when they find out you're into golden showers," Sid counseled his friend.

"Sid, shut the fuck up and don't you dare bring up the "Dirty Sanchez." to them!" Adam said to his friend.

"Dam, now you've blown my whole plan!" Sid replied as the two walked into the bathroom.

Christopher and Matty were sound asleep the night before as a party swirled around them, but now, the two were extremely wide awake as Adam and Sid entered. As Adam began washing Sammy's hair Sid washed Jeannie's.

"So, what do you guys have planned for the day?" Sid asked as he shampooed the girls hair.

"We have boating this morning after breakfast and riding at 10:00," Sammy said as the shampoo rolled down his back.

"Can we go out to the Ridge?" he asked.

"I guess so if all the horses are back in time from the mornings ride," Sid replied.

"Are you girls taking one of your horses?" he asked.

"No Uncle Sid, we're going with the boys. We're part of them now." Carla replied. Sid nodded his head.

"You girls figuring to join the boys' compound?" he asked.

"Can we?" Jeannie now asked. Sid shook his head.

"No, boys is boys and girls is girls. You don't want to live with a bunch of smelly old slobs, and they don't want to live with a bunch of silly girls who giggle all day!" he exclaimed.

"We don't giggle all day Uncle Sid ask them!" Carla pleaded.

"Girls, I have no problems living with you, you gotta convince Uncle Bert and Aunt Helen to let you stay here forever," Sid told the girls.

"Really?" Jeannie asked.

"No, but it gets your hair washed doesn't it?" Sid told the girl.

Adam kept a fairly straight face, but he didn't know how.

"Uncle Adam, You could talk to Uncle Bert and Aunt Helen for us." Carla now implored. As Adam sent Sammy under the shower head and now brought the girl before him he put a bunch of shampoo on her hair and began washing.

"Your Uncle Sid and I would openly welcome the both of you into the cabin just like we did last night and will again many times before the summers through, but the intermediate boys live in this camp, and you girls live in yours. It's not like the lower camp where the younger boys and girls all live together. Remember; in October, we're going back to Florida, and you girls will be staying here. If you moved in with us now, how easy is it going to be for you to separate from your friends in October?"

While the rational made perfect sense to both Adam and Sid, the campers saw it in a different light. Instant gratification was very much preferred, and they would deal with the aftermath at a later date. There was only 45 minutes between Reveille and Assembly,

and as Assembly blew, the cabin emptied out as if it was on fire with the campers all headed for the flagpole. Adam, Sid and Anthony left last along with Spencer, and as they walked to their cart's Adam looked over to Sid.

"You realize your little speech is going to be sending them to Bert don't you?" he asked his friend.

"Yeah, but Bert won't go along with the girls moving in on a permanent basis. The separation for them at the end of camp wouldn't be worth it," Sid replied.

"I hope you're right!" Adam said as he headed out.

Once the uniqueness of the baby's presence faded, Johanna's days began to return to normal. As with all Green Tree girl's, she had read the books which all told her to NEVER allow the baby to sleep in her bed. It was the very first rule that was thrown out the window. Sidney was fed every three to four hours around the clock, and most probably, he would stay on that schedule for at least the first four to six weeks until he began to set his own schedule. Johanna was much luckier than most Mother's, she had both the time and the help available to her to devote 100% of her energy to raising Sidney. When the baby slept during the day, she worked with Gloria and Jeanette to find another girl for the next baby in line.

Johanna awoke to the bugle blowing Reveille and looked over to the baby who was on his back completely ignoring the noise as his arms or legs twitched every now and then. Johanna's helpers, Darlene and Meagan came into the room. Darlene came with some pills in her hand, and Meagan with a tall glass of milk and a taller glass of orange juice. Johanna shook her head. She would have much preferred a huge mug of hot coffee, but those days were over for at least the next four months. Johanna no longer even bothered to ask what the pills were. Drinking half the glass of milk, she then downed the pills and finished the milk. The orange juice she could drink while feeding the baby, but she also knew there would be another one for breakfast waiting.

"It kind of makes you wonder how women ever successfully raised children before nutritionists came along." Johanna said as she handed back the empty milk glass.

"When is he going to wake up?" Meagan now asked.

"He went back down just after 4:00, so he should be ready for a refill in a half hour or so." Johanna told the girl.

"I'll sneak into the shower if you two want to keep an eye on him," she told the girls.

Almost halfway through her shower, Johanna heard the familiar honking of Bert's antique Duesenberg horn on his golf cart outside. The girl smiled. She knew he would bring coffee, and she could 'sneak' a sip or two. With the front screen door slamming and the pitter patter of little feet, Johanna knew Bert had brought along some company.

"Hi Aunt Johanna!" Caleb said as the boy came into the bathroom very quickly followed by Caroline. Johanna smiled as she crouched down and gave both a hug and kiss.

"Good morning. You brought Uncle Bert with you for a visit?" she asked the two.

"Yeah. Uncle Bert's going to take us out in a rowboat after breakfast! Wanna come?" Caleb said to the girl. Johanna smiled.

"Can't do that today, Sidney needs to learn how to swim first," she replied.

"Is Sidney awake?" The three year old girl asked.

"Maybe. Why don't you go see?" she told the two little one's.

As both children sped out of the bathroom headed for the bedroom, Bert appeared at the door.

"Ya decent?" he asked as he entered.

"Sure Uncle Bert, I always shower in a dress." Johanna replied as she put shampoo on her hair and began washing. Bert smiled as he sat down on the toilet seat.

"How's the baby," he asked.

"No problem. He's taking his sweet time nursing, but he's sleeping well and keeps the laundry busy so I've no concerns. His color is good and he has a strong suck, so the Doctor should be happy," Bert nodded his head.

"He'll be here this afternoon. He's been brought up to speed concerning the baby from Dr. Jacoby in New Hampshire, but he's not in the loop as far as Geppetto is concerned. As far as he's concerned, you're his biological Mother and you're in the Witness Protection Program." Johanna nodded her head.

"You don't think he's going to know I didn't just give birth?" Bert shook his head.

"First of all, he's a Pediatrician not an Obstetrician. He's here for the baby and unless he examined you, which you would refuse, he couldn't know that. Secondly, he's got friends at Harvard who requested he take Sidney on as a patient and forego any questions," Bert told the girl.

"Where's he from?" Johanna asked.

"Duke," Bert replied.

"He's going to be taking care of the next one too, and he already knows that."

"Suppose he asks me something about the pregnancy I can't answer?" the girl asked. Bert shook his head.

"He's been told that you were raped and that you are very sensitive about it. He'll jump over hoops to steer clear of any reference to the pregnancy," Bert said. Johanna smiled and shook her head as she washed the shampoo out of her hair and reached for a towel.

"Who dreamed that one up, Washington or Harvard?" Johanna asked.

"Sid," Bert replied.

Sidney awoke to an audience of six which he didn't fully appreciate. He had a cold and clammy rag wrapped around his lower body and he was hungry. The cold and clammy thing came off and an even colder thing was rubbed all over his body very quickly followed by a warm thing. Then some more cold stuff was rubbed on and then he was back in a dry something or other that heated up pretty quickly as breakfast was served and he once again began ignoring those faces that kept popping up in front of him.

"Boy, he sure can scream! How come his tongue keeps wiggling like that?" Caleb asked as Sidney took in his first course.

"Well, from the looks of things, that's how babies tell you they're hungry!" Bert replied. Caleb giggled as Caroline stuck her thumb in her mouth and just watched.

"Did you put together a wish list?" Bert now asked the girl as she took a large sip of Bert's coffee before the girls came back out to the back porch.

"Yes, it's right there," Johanna said as she pointed to a pad of paper. Bert read the list of things Johanna wanted as Darlene brought in a small bowl of fruit for Caleb and Caroline and a bottle of water for Johanna.

"Isn't it going to get a little stuffy out here if you put up Plexiglas?" Bert asked the girl.

"Yes, but the baby needs a temperature close to 90 for the first few weeks, I've got the heat on in the bedroom already," she told the Director. Bert nodded and initialed the list.

"Why not use Pampers instead of cloth diapers?" he now asked. Johanna shook her head.

"He's getting a rash from the disposable's. Cloth diapers don't have any chemicals in them and they can be sterilized," she told him.

"Why the portable whirlpool? Wouldn,t the pool be easier?"

"It would be too noisy for him right now Uncle Bert. The echo up there would scare the hell out of him," Bert again nodded.

"I hadn't thought of that," he replied. At that point, Jeanette drove up with Kenny.

"Good morning," she said as she bent over Johanna and gave her a kiss.

"How's things?" she asked as she sat down with Kenny climbing off her lap headed for the bowl of fruit. Bert handed Jeanette the list.

"He's getting into a routine. He's not going to be a fast baby." Johanna told her.

"How long's he taking?" Jeanette asked.

"Probably about 15 minutes a side, but he prefers to stick around long after I'm empty," she said as she smiled down on him. Jeanette nodded.

"Maybe you should have Dave bring in a small washer and dryer," she said as she looked at the list.

"What's the matter with the laundry?" Bert asked.

"Nothing if they use the right soaps, but if they don't, we're back to square one," she told her boss.

"Add it," Bert said as he stood up and gave Johanna a kiss.

"I'm going up to assembly. I'll stop by mid morning," he told the girl as he picked up Caroline. Giving Jeanette a kiss, he headed for the door with Caleb already halfway to the golf cart.

Dave received Johanna's wish list from Jeanette at breakfast and he studied it as he ate.

"It shouldn't be a big deal right?" Jeanette asked as she sat with Dave and watched him shake his head. Dave smiled.

"A whirlpool bath filled with water weighs upwards of 2,000 pounds [900 kg]. We can't just plunk one down on a back porch and not expect it to come crashing to the ground. The porch will probably have to receive additional supports," he told the girl.

"Then there's the washer. The hot water heater isn't big enough to handle the load, I'm going to have to put in a 60 gallon [225 l] tank. The septic isn't going to hold the load either. It's a leech field and if it gets overtaxed, it's going to spill out into the lake. I can't put in a cesspool next to the cabin, it's too close to the lake, so I'll have to put one in across the path at least 500 feet [150 m] away from the lake. Since that's higher, we're going to need a pumping station!" he said.

"Now, between the bigger hot water heater, the whirlpool, the washer dryer, and the pumping station, the cabin doesn't have the electric it will take to handle the load. The box needs to be upgraded from 60 amps to 200 amps."

"Well, maybe we should just forget the washer and dryer and read the riot act to the laundry room," Jeanette suggested. Dave shook his head.

"If that baby gets a red ass, Bert's going to be coming for mine. Besides, we have another one coming in a few weeks from now, so we might as well just get it done and say fuck it," Jeanette smiled.

"I knew you could do it!" she said.

Dave chuckled as Johanna left for her table. He had no degree's, but he was a self taught mechanic that could give an M.I.T. Engineer a run for his money. To staff, he could be a bit of a pain in the ass, because like most engineer's, nothing was easy, simple and quick .

If you asked Dave to do something it took him an hour, and 59 of those minutes he spent studying the situation. On the other hand, if he built it, it worked! As he took out a pencil and began writing, his crew of Senior boys began looking over his shoulders. They knew the new project would keep them busy for at least the next 48 hours.

By nightfall, the new support was in along with the hot water heater and the Plexiglas.

The following day the new septic was in operation by noon and Johanna was bathing with Sidney in her new whirlpool that night. It all seemed so simple, and all it took was a crew of twelve, three Bucket loaders, a Crane, four plumbers, two electricians and two carpenters. Piece of cake!

Chapter Twelve

The New Doctor

Bert's trip up the hill was always an exciting one since Caleb usually did the steering.

The path up the hill was wide enough for trucks to traverse, and Caleb usually used both sides of the trail. Bert had picked up Eddie on the way who was going to be the morning bugler. As Bert crested the hill onto the upper camp, three deer grazing on the grass of the ball field bounded off into the woods. A doe with two baby deer hopped into the woods with tails showing white as Caleb damned near crashed into a tree once he spotted the deer. No boys were outside yet, but Bert could hear the slamming of screen doors and the shrill yelling of boys in the showers as Eddie blew Assembly and the cabins began emptying as if a fire drill was occurring.

After Eddie blew To the Colors and the flag was raised, the mornings activity schedules were announced and then it was Bert's turn as the boys and girls stood in lines by cabin in wet heads and shoeless.

"This afternoon after lunch we're going to have an outside visitor in Camp. He is a Doctor, and he's here to see Sidney Bertram," Bert began.

"He is a stranger and he is neither a Geppetto boy nor an Uncle. If you come into contact with him, I know you will be polite, and hopefully have at least a pair of shorts on," Bert waited for the giggling to subside before he continued.

"You will not see him up on the hill, but if you're on the lower camp anywhere near Sidney's cabin, you may very well come into contact with him. If any of you don't know what a stranger is and how we behave in their presence, please speak to any staff member and they'll explain," Bert said.

"Any questions?"

"Is Sidney sick?" Spencer now asked.

"No, the Doctor is here on a routine baby visit and he'll be back regularly," Bert told the group. Spencer's gaze told Bert that the boy was studying his words, and even his demeanor very carefully. Spencer trusted very few people and was always on guard.

"If we didn't trust the Doctor, we would never bring him here," Bert told the group as he spoke directly to Spencer.

Bert nodded to Eddie as the boy blew Mess Call. The charge past Bert and down the hill was an immediate own.

"Want a ride?" Bert asked Spencer as the boy passed with Anthony. Spencer got in as Bert's cart filled to capacity along with all the other staff carts that were now headed down the trail.

"Is he really OK?" Spencer asked the Director as they rolled down the hill.

"Do I lie to you?" Bert asked the boy. Spencer didn't reply, he just smiled.

Bert kind of suspected something was once again afoot when half of Adam's boys and two little girls approached him after breakfast. Rather than go to his cabin and lose his entire supply of Oreo's, he convinced the group to meet with him on a picnic table by the lake shore.

"Uncle Sid said we should just ask you for permission Uncle Bert." Carla began the conversation. Bert nodded.

"Your Uncle Sid is getting to be a master at ducking responsibility," Bert replied.

"Permission to do what?" he asked.

"We want to move to the upper camp like the other girls did in the lower camp." Jeannie replied.

"Move? Move where?" Bert asked.

"They want to move in with us Uncle Bert," Sammy told the Director. With both girls now nodding their heads, Bert took a very deep breath.

"The reason the girls were moved to the lower camp was because they're the same age as the boys down there, and they're a lot younger," Bert responded.

"So what?" Carla asked the Director.

"So they're babies. You guys aren't babies, you're intermediates." he responded.

"You don't see me allowing the senior girls to move in with the senior boys do you?" he asked.

"You have been given permission to go on overnights together, and you can even have sleepover visit's occasionally. That's as far as I can go guys," he told the group. Bert knew they weren't happy as they walked up the hill, but they'd just have to get over it. It was great they were coming together as well as they were, but this was taking things a bit too far!

Sid's meeting with Bert that morning went a little more formal than usual.

"They looked at me like I was the enemy," Bert told his Assistant.

"You should have at least taken some of the wind out their sails," Bert told him.

"Boss, they made it perfectly clear they were going to appeal anything we said to them," Sid said.

"Still, all three of you could have told them they were asking for something impossible. At least they wouldn't have been so disappointed," Bert replied.

"You knew damned well I wouldn't allow that," Sid knew that Bert's chief problem was that he didn't like to deny the children anything. The two could have gone on for an hour, but Sid decided to end it.

"Sorry," he said.

"From what I'm told, this Doctor just got out of school two years ago. I'm told he's a cracker jack that Graduated Harvard Medical in the top 10 of his class," Bert told Sid.

"But he's a stranger," Sid replied. Bert nodded.

"He knows nothing about Geppetto and he's coming here thinking Johanna was raped and this is a camp of Witness Protection kids," Sid nodded.

"We shouldn't have any problems. Just have him escorted to Johanna's cabin and back out the front gate," Sid suggested.

"Still, let's keep as many of the upper camp kids on the hill and I'll let Jeanette know to try to keep drawers on the little one's" Bert told his Assistant.

"Good luck!" Sid said as he got up.

The Doctor was due at 1:30 and just a half hour late, he arrived at the front gate. Bert had decided to escort the man himself around the campus, and as he usually did with strangers, Bert put on his hillbilly act.

"Howdy Doc I'm happy to meet you. You here to see the baby?" he asked the man.

"Yes, I'm Doctor ****," he told the man.

"Well, that's mighty nice of you," Bert said as he pointed the man to his golf cart.

"My niece is over to her cabin, she don't go out much since the accident," Bert said as he spun the cart around.

"Yes, I understand," the Doctor replied. He had been told Johanna had been raped, but he wasn't told by whom. He assumed it could very well be her uncle. He had taken a position at Duke since graduating, and nothing would have surprised him anymore.

Bert pulled up to Johanna's and as the two mounted the stairs, Meagan opened the screen door.

"Hi Uncle Bert." The girl said.

"Hi darlin," Bert responded as he kissed the girl on the forehead.

"This be my niece Meagan," Bert said to the man. The Doctor smiled at the girl.

"Hello, my name is Doctor Thomas," he said to the girl.

"I thought you said your name was Doctor ****!" Bert now said.

"That's my last name, my patients usually call me Doctor Thomas. That's my first name," he replied.

"Oh, I git it! But she ain't your patient Doc, she ain't a baby," Bert told the man. Meagan giggled as the man smiled a little.

"The baby's in here Doc," Bert said.

"Hi Uncle Bert." Darlene now said as she came out of the bathroom.

"Hi darlin," Bert said as he kissed the girl.

"This be my niece Darlene Doc, but she ain't a baby neither," Bert said.

"This be Doc Thomas, Darlene," he said as they passed.

"Hi Uncle Bert." Johanna said as the group now came out onto the back porch. Doc Thomas would now have made a bet that the baby was related to Bert very closely.

"Sweetheart, this here be Doc Thomas. That be his first name. He's here to check on the baby," Bert told the girl as Johanna smiled.

Sidney's first examination by the Doctor wasn't a smash hit with the boy, he was tired and the damned fool woke him up and laid him down on a cold changing table. Then the damned pervert stripped him bare and poked and prodded where he had no business being. Sidney wasn't very happy until he was picked up by his Mother and his nose smashed against his snack.

The good Doctor took notes as he asked Johanna questions about the baby's eating and sleeping habits and probably 20 minutes later, he was ready for the return trip to the front gate with the baby's 'daddy' as far as he was concerned.

"I'll see him once a week for the first four weeks," he told Bert as he opened his car door.

"That gonna be expensive Doc?" Bert asked the man.

"No charge. The baby is covered by medical insurance." Thomas told him.

"Yeah, I keep all my nieces covered," Bert said. Bert chuckled to himself most of the way back to Johanna's.

For at least the first week or so, Johanna wanted the baby kept at the cabin. The kitchen brought in her meals, and she saw to it that he stabilized and became comfortable with his surroundings. For the baby, the whirlpool was a complete success as he nursed while bobbing around on top of Johanna's abdomen while she massaged him from head to toes.

For Thomas, the trip back to Durham was a two hour ride and the greater majority of it was spent thinking about Bert and his 'nieces.' For one, not one of them looked alike and Thomas would have bet his last dollar that Bert was screwing each one. By the time he got back to his apartment, he wanted to know a little more about the situation and why the Witness Protection Program was harboring and supporting a rapist. His calls back to Brookline reached Bert's ears the next morning. Harvard is a very close Society. Medical Harvard is even closer.

"He thinks you're a rapist and maybe even incestuous," Bert was told.

"Keep it that way. What's he been told about the Witness Protection Program?" Bert asked.

"The truth. He was a little surprised that they'll supply heroin addicts with heroin, rapists with girls and look the other way if somebody murders someone, but he's on a learning curve."

"What's he saying about the baby and Johanna?" Bert asked.

"He say's the baby's extremely healthy and the Mother's quite cute."

"How come he's not married?" Bert now asked.

"He's good looking, he's a Doctor, he's out of school. Is he gay?"

"I don't think so but I didn't have him as a professor. I'll ask some of his classmate's if you'd like. What's on your mind Bert?" the man asked.

"Talk to our friends in the Psychology Department. I think he might be a good candidate for us if Geppetto wouldn't freak him out," Bert responded.

"It'll take a few days, they have to review his file unless they had him as a student."

"That's OK. He won't be back for a week," Bert said.

"In the meantime, send me his complete file. From the day he was born until tomorrow."

Most people judge people by what they hear, see and smell. Bert wasn't one of those people. He had a sixth sense when it came to people, and the younger they were, the more in tuned he was to them regardless of their behavior or outward appearance. Bert could 'read' a person better than a blind man can 'see' someone's features by touching them.

In Doc Thomas, Bert sensed another Adam.

"If that's the case, the best way to draw him out is to set him up in Cabin 3," Sid suggested to his boss.

"Did you read his file?" Bert asked. Sid nodded his head.

"His history tells me he's probably not gay, but there's a damned good likelihood that he's had an 'Uncle' or two. The only question is was it a positive or negative event," Bert said.

"Well, we know that his schooling came with an anonymous blank alum's check.

His waitress Mother certainly didn't foot the bill," Sid replied.

"Can we find out who paid the bill and see if he's still alive?" Bert shook his head.

"That information disappeared two seconds after the check was cashed. I doubt that he's still alive, the boy wouldn't be in Durham," Bert said.

"He would if his Uncle moved from Harvard to Duke!" Sid replied. Bert nodded.

"I'll speak to the boys in Brookline, but they're generally not at all cooperative if someone starts poking around one of their own."

Bert's protectiveness of the people at Green Tree made him extremely wary of anybody from the outside. He was not so concerned about security as he was being infiltrated for the purpose of gathering information by the folks in Washington. They had every right to come in the front door and look around anytime they wanted to, but Bert knew that that wasn't the way they ever worked. They had an incurable penchant for sneaking around corners.

"I could put together a resume tomorrow that showed Donald Duck graduated Oxford. These documents could mean absolutely nothing. I want to see receipts for his books from every term. I want to see parking tickets from the campus police. According to these records, he had a car and lived on campus. Nobody makes it through school without parking tickets." By the end of the week, Bert knew the entire story.

Thomas was due to arrive after lunch as he had the week before, but Bert received a note from the front gate that he had arrived at 11:00. After letting Johanna know, he met the man at the front gate.

"I guess we mixed up our signals. I thought you were coming at 1:30," Bert asked as he pulled up.

"Yes, I apologize. I have an appointment this afternoon so I had to move up my schedule," Thomas replied. Bert nodded his head.

"We got phones," he said.

"Sorry," Thomas replied as he got into Bert's cart.

His examination of Sidney went smoothly, the Doctor's demeanor improved once he was in Johanna's cabin, but he was noticeably cool to Bert. Curt, but not insulting. Johanna wasn't overjoyed because Sidney was due for several shots, and his wailing, although necessary, was not a welcome sound to her. By just about noon, Thomas was finished as Bert prepared to take him back. It was his every intention to wait one more week, but circumstances beyond Bert's control now intervened.

"Uncle Bert!" Caleb yelled out as he walked with a group of campers heading towards the Mess Hall as the bugle blew. If Bert were ten seconds faster he might have been able to wave and keep going, but that didn't happen as his cart was now surrounded by about six children, all three to six years old, all climbing all over his cart, and all very naked. All six wanted hugs and kisses, and all six wanted a ride to the Mess Hall.

"You're not planning on eating nakey are you?" Bert asked the group as he tooled to the Mess Hall. After giggles, Caroline, who was sitting on his lap spoke."

"No Uncle Bert, Aunt Lydia is bringing some shorts for us to the Mess Hall. We were boating," she told the man.

"Good idea," Bert replied as he pulled up in front of the Mess Hall. Turning around after another round of hugs and kisses, he escaped as quickly as he could before he was enveloped by the mob that was already on its way down the hill.

"Sorry about that," Bert told the Doctor as he drove.

"Just exactly how many brothers and sisters do you have?" Thomas asked the Director.

"Actually, I'm an only child Thomas," Bert told him.

The Doctor looked at Bert curiously.

"I'm also not Sidney's Father," Bert said as he stopped the cart.

"Let's me and you go for a ride and I'll tell you a little story."

Thomas looked at his watch. "I have an appointment in Raleigh at 4:00," he told Bert.

"It won't take long," Bert replied as he drove down the path and around the lake.

The trip around the lake in the cart took about 20 minutes as Bert explained to the Doctor what he was seeing. Carts with staff and campers passed with horns, bells and whistles signaling each other and waving and yelling at Bert as he passed. Halfway around the lake Thomas realized that Bert was something a little more than just another resident of the camp. He also realized the 'country bumpkin' was no more.

"This here is our infirmary," Bert said as they stopped in front of the building. Going inside, Thomas looked around. There was no staff or patients there, and Bert moved on. Passing between the lake and the Mess Hall, Thomas heard the chatter inside.

"We've got roughly 400 children and another 200 staff," Bert told the man. Thomas nodded but really didn't respond as he continued to look around and look at his watch every five minutes. Going up the hill, Bert showed the Doctor the upper campus and headed towards the Girl's campus.

"It's all very nice, but I really need to get on the road," he told Bert.

"We're just about done," Bert replied. After seeing the girls campus Bert now headed down the trail to Look-Out Ridge and stopped the cart.

"I have a letter here for you from Brookline, but before I give it to you, I want to tell you a story and I don't want you to ask any questions until I finish. OK?" he asked.

"Brookline?" Thomas said.

"That's a question," Bert replied.

"Go ahead," Thomas said as he once again looked at his watch.

"There was once a little boy who met a man. The man was very nice to him and the two became very close friends. Eventually, the man sent the boy to a very nice boarding school, and eventually to College. The boy became a doctor, and the man recently died."

Bert told Thomas as he handed him an envelope.

"This wasn't going to be given to you until next week."

Thomas took the letter and turned it over. He looked at the wax seal on the back which was unbroken.

"I don't know who the letter is from and I have no need to know," Bert said. Breaking the seal, Thomas sat down on the seat as he read the letter while Bert walked over to the Ridge leaving the Doctor to his letter.

It was a good five minutes before Thomas spoke.

"Do you know what the letter says?"

"No," Bert replied.

"How did you get it?" he asked.

"From a friend of a friend," Bert said.

"The author of the letter was a friend to the little boy and the man, and one of his friends at school contacted him."

"Do you know who my friend was?" Thomas asked.

"No. It's none of my business," Bert now turned around and it was very obvious that Thomas had been crying.

"The letter say's you're a Doctor," Thomas said.

"So they tell me," Bert replied.

"Harvard, '87."

"And you don't know my brother?" Thomas asked.

"Your brother?" Bert asked him.

"We called each other brothers beginning when I was 10," he replied.

"I don't know whether I knew him or not. I may have known him as a professor, but not as your brother," Bert said.

Thomas nodded. "How did you find out about me?" he asked.

"You came as Sidney's Pediatrician. How did you come to Green Tree?" Bert asked.

"My Professor at Harvard suggested I take Sidney on as a private patient. He said he was asked for a recommendation by a friend of his in New Hampshire." Thomas told Bert.

"Well that explains the link, Sidney was born in New Hampshire," Bert told him.

"Why did you tell me you were not Sidney's Father?" Thomas now asked. Bert smiled.

"Harvard runs in very small circles," he replied.

"Uncle Joel says you want me to be your Doctor. He said my brother would have liked me to do that if he were still alive." Thomas now said.

"The Government has tons of Doctors why not just have them send one?"

"Well, because we're not exactly what you think we are and what we need is going to take a very special kind of Doctor," Bert replied, "but I can explain that in greater detail in my office. This place is going to be overrun in a few minutes with horses and campers. This is one of their favorite spots and they'll be out of lunch soon, if not already."

The trip off the hill was met halfway through by horses and riders. Thomas took note of the riders.

"I'll explain it when we get to the office. It's part of the reason we need a very special Doctor," Bert said as the Doctor looked back at the boys riding down the trail with shiny bare asses.

"Uncle Joel said I didn't need to hide my relationship with my brother or him to you," Thomas said as they moved down the trail.

"Do you know all about us?" he asked.

"I know nothing specifically concerning you and your relationships with them, but I'm well aware concerning what transpires between men and boys who love and care for each other which bothers no one at Green Tree in the slightest."

The rest of the trip down the hill filled in Bert concerning Thomas with no specifics given or asked for. Thomas was 10 years old when he met his 'brother' at a CYO camp in Massachusetts's. The boy came from Brockton, and lived with his Mother who was a waitress. The man was the camps Physician and the two struck up a friendship almost immediately.

At 10, Thomas was heavily into Cowboys and Indians, and spent many weekends running through the woods in Vermont at the man's vacation home dressed as an Indian. His friend preferred brother to uncle, and at 10, they became blood brothers in the boys eyes. The man deeply loved the boy, and at 14, enrolled and paid for his tuition at an extremely prestigious boarding school in Connecticut. Thomas was poor, but he was a brilliant student. Thomas graduated boarding school at the top of class, and was admitted to Harvard Medical which, once again, his brother paid for.

At age 21 his Mother died of complications from drinking. In 2000, his brother became legally entangled along with the church and resigned from the faculty of a Boston hospital and moved to Durham where he now taught at Duke University. In 2001 he died of a heart attack. Thomas's original plan was to join his brother in Durham, and upon graduation in 2002, he followed through with his plan even though his brother was gone.

Bert listened to the man as he drove. By the time he arrived at the Mess Hall, he knew he had a new Doctor.

Lunch was over, but Chef John, much to Bert's relief, didn't throw them out and even cooked up two steaks on the grill. The appearance of Bert's cart in front of the Mess Hall naturally caught the eyes of more than a few lake rats, and most of the meal was spent with Thomas watching camper after camper appear in the Mess Hall soaking wet, full of sand, naked, and crawling all over Bert's lap. Bert hadn't seen the man look at his watch since they first arrived at the Ridge.

"I didn't know the Witness Protection Program ran nudist camps for children," Thomas said.

"I don't think they do, but you never really know," Bert responded with a smile.

Once lunch was out of the way, the two returned to Bert's office and like Adam the year before him, Thomas's first thought was that what he'd find was a hayseed's cabin. That went out the window. The Remington statues, Ansul Adam's and Wellington Ward prints on the wall's along with the man's Library told Thomas that whatever Bert was, he was no hayseed.

"Did you know my Uncle Joel?" Thomas now asked as he looked at a print of Half Dome.

"I knew a Professor named Joel at school, but I'm not sure if there's more than one. I don't know if it's the same man and I have no interest in finding out," Bert replied. Thomas looked at Bert.

"You're not curious?" he asked.

"No, we don't dig here any deeper than we have to," Bert responded as he sat down.

"Are you curious to know what we really are?" Bert now asked the Doctor as he sat down in front of Bert. Thomas nodded his head.

Bert placed a manila folder in front of the Doctor.

"We would like you to join us, but you're under no obligation to do so. If you chose not to join us, this meeting never took place and you'll never mention it again in your life. If you open the folder, that's what you agree to and The Society will be aware of your commitment and expect you to honor it. You know the ramifications for breaking the Code of Honor" Bert told the man. Thomas nodded his head. The man knew that whatever he was about to hear and read couldn't ever be disclosed to an outside source without permission. If it was, he could bank on being deluged with a series of inexplicable malpractice suits that would tie him up in legal litigation and bankruptcy proceedings for the next 40 years. He wouldn't be able to practice medicine in Ethiopia for free.

In three pages, Thomas learned the basics of The Geppetto Project. In the next two, he learned of the history of Green Tree.

"Did my brother or Uncle Joel know anything about this?" Thomas said after reading.

"I have no knowledge that either one did. I'd have to guess that if they did, you would have known about it directly from them. So I'd have to say no," Bert replied.

"There's no 'Joel' I know about at Harvard who is involved with the Project and I don't know who your brother was, so I couldn't say that either with any certainty. It's highly unlikely or I wouldn't have had to jump through hoops to get that letter to you," Bert told him. Thomas now looked at his watch.

"They wouldn't let me take in my cell phone at the front gate. I had an appointment at 4:00 that I can't make anymore. It's for my little brother at his school. Can I use the phone to call them?" he asked.

"Little brother?" Bert asked. Thomas smiled.

"You don't know about Paulie?"

"No, should we?" Bert asked. The Doctor sat back thinking.

"No, I guess he would have fallen under the radar," Thomas said.

"Especially if you weren't digging."

"I have eight brothers that I know about. There are probably more. Paulie was the last and youngest of us that was adopted. He was 12 when my brother **** died in Durham and now he's in boarding school in Raleigh. We all put him through school just as **** put us through school. It's the way he wanted us to continue," Thomas said. Bert gave the Doctor the phone and went to the kitchen for some ice tea.

"He's going into 9th Grade in the Fall, but there's a good chance he'll be transferred to a school in Indiana. My brother Steven want's him up there with him, and Paulie knows Steven much better than he knows me," Thomas said as Bert sat down with two glasses.

"What was the meeting for?" Bert asked.

"Paulie got into a fight in a baseball game with another boy. I told them I'd have a good stern talk with him tonight on the phone," Thomas replied.

"Once my brother died, I really didn't want to come to Durham, but because of Paulie, I knew I had to. After Paulie moves to Indiana, I figured I'd move back to Boston, or maybe someplace in rural Massachusetts's. Now, I don't know. Uncle Joel thinks I should accept your offer. I need to talk to my brothers," Thomas said.

Bert nodded. "I understand your need to talk to your brothers, but we do need to keep in mind that what's been learned today goes no further than these four walls," Bert said.

"I understand the commitment that's already been made." Thomas told the director.

As long as he had access to a phone, Thomas no longer needed to get back to Durham and agreed to stay over for the night. Bert saw no need to use cabin 3, he knew very well that Thomas was compatible with Green Tree standards. What he did want was for the man to be comfortable in his surroundings, and he knew that the only person the Doctor knew was Johanna.

"Since you're a Physician, I automatically assume you know how to drive a golf cart!" Bert announced as he brought the Doctor to the maintenance area. Thomas smiled.

"Let's put it this way, I can drive a cart better than I can drive a ball," he told the Director.

"Good. Because we ain't got no golf courses here!" he told the man.

"You follow me, we'll go back to Johanna's and you can take Sidney out for his first social spin," Bert replied.

Sidney was fairly rudely awakened as he slept very comfortably in Johanna's bed and put into a sock that went from his toes to his neck. Then a cap was put on top of his head and he was wrapped in a blanket. Sidney watched the top of trees go by as he was bumped along with occasional whistles, bells and horns going off. Sidney would much rather have been back in that deep, dark, cave he knew well where it was forever warm, and he was never hungry!

With Johanna sitting alongside him holding Sidney, Thomas drove feeling a bit uncomfortable as two 16 year old girls sat in back like two chaperones escorting a couple on a date as they drove up the hill to the pool.

"This is a very beautiful place. Have you lived here long?" Thomas asked Johanna searching for a conversational opening.

"No, just since the beginning of summer," she replied.

"That's right, you live in Florida don't you?" he asked.

"Yes, in the steam bath," Johanna replied.

"You don't like Florida?" he asked.

"In the summer? No!" Johanna replied.

"It's great in the dead of winter when the snow is flying, but other than that, you can have it!" she told the Doctor.

"That's crazy Aunt Johanna. Florida is surfing, and crystal clear beaches, and romantic pool parties." Meagan now said from the back seat. Johanna smiled.

"You've been watching travel video's," she told the girl.

"Florida is sand fleas, no see ums, burnt skin, red tide, jelly fish, sting rays and sand up your bathing suit." Thomas laughed.

"It doesn't sound like your Aunt is working for the Tourism Board girls," he told the two. Johanna smiled.

"I'd take this place any day, winter or summer."

"We'll trade places!" Darlene now said.

"You convince Uncle Bert, and I'll give you my seat tomorrow," Johanna replied.

Pulling up to the pool house the group outside instantly recognized Johanna, but once they saw the driver, the reaction was a little subdued. Johanna figured that the good Doctor really didn't notice, but it was very obvious to her.

"Uncle Bert wanted to show Doctor Thomas the campus, so he's taking the tour with us." Johanna told the campers gathering around the cart in larger and larger numbers. Thomas now began to see very up close the truer picture of camp life. He had seen sporadic groups of children, like Caleb and the boys on horseback naked, but now, coming fresh out of the pool, there were very few underpants to be seen, and no bathing suits on either boys or girls except for the adults. The most striking thing to Thomas, was that he seemed to be the only person who recognized it, or cared. His first reaction was to wonder how the boys were doing it, and his second was how completely and utterly beautiful the scene was in its purity. It was beyond his comprehension to imagine himself sitting there in that situation without sticking out like a sore thumb. (Or something relatively similar in appearance).

The group stayed for a few minutes until Sidney got fidgety with all the poking and kissing, and Johanna decided that the pool complex itself was going to be too noisy and stressful for him during General Swim.

"Let's take a little tour and I'll introduce you to Uncle Sid. I don't think you've met him yet have you?" she asked the Doctor.

"No, I don't think so," Thomas replied.

"If you had met Uncle Sid, you'd have remembered it!" Johanna said as they said goodbye to the campers who stampeded back into the pool area.

"Uncle Sid, this is Doctor Thomas. Don't be saying anything to him that will be getting you into trouble with Uncle Bert for!" Johanna chided the man as he approached with his Assistant.

"See that Patty, you raise these little squirts from diapers and you love them and hug them and squeeze them for years, and they turn on you like a rattlesnake and bite your ass off!" Sid said as he held his hand out to Thomas. Johanna giggled as Sid went over to her and gave her a kiss on her lips that took Thomas a little by surprise. Now picking up the baby from her, Thomas watched as the man obviously had held babies before.

"How's my little namesake Doc, she starving him to death with them little pimples of hers?" Johanna again giggled and shook her head.

"Uncle Bert isn't going to like that!" she said. Thomas smiled to the obvious ribbing, but at the same time he did take a mental note of the reference to the baby as Sid's namesake. Was it beyond the realm of possibilities that this older man really was the Father? "The baby is in excellent health," the Doctor replied. Sid now turned towards Patty.

"That's only because I raise him most of the time you understand." Patty rolled her eyes up and shook her head.

"Don't mind him Johanna, he fell off a horse today onto his head. He'll be fine by dinner," she told the girl. Sid looked over to a boy who was helping wash down horses.

"See what I mean Jeremy, all girls is trouble, we just gotta stick together and keep a close eye on them!"

As Johanna cruised away from the stables several minutes later Thomas remarked on Sid's friendliness and good humor. His initial impression was favorable, but he still wanted to know who had fathered Johanna's child. Johanna again smiled at his remarks concerning Sid, and unknowingly even deepened the question the Doctor had on his mind.

"There are many very good men here at Green Tree, But Uncle Bert and Uncle Sid are at the very top of the list," she told Thomas as she pointed out the various activity areas.

By General Swim, the upper camp was pretty much a ghost town except for the stable area where the horses were being washed and fed. A dozen or so would go out that night after dinner with the senior's to Look-Out Ridge or Indiantown, but for the most part, camp activity was done until after Dinner and it was Saturday Bivouac.

Thomas had agreed to stay overnight and made some calls to his brothers just before dinner. The balance he would make after dinner, and the following afternoon he would be visiting his little brother at his school. But for now, Thomas was put up in Cabin 3 which was the original cabin Adam had been assigned to. The only difference was that the camera's would not be rolling next door in cabin 4, there was no longer the need to ascertain Thomas's suitability to the Green Tree way of life. He fit like a glove. Bert had made no bones about his wanted the Doctor to join the Green Tree staff as it's Pediatrician, and wanted every body on their best behavior at dinner.

Saturday dinner was more of a picnic than a meal, the kitchen crew cooked the majority of the food on the outdoor grills. The usual fare, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, steaks and ribs were cooked to order, and Thomas watched the gathering that reminded him of a fireman's fair or a community barbecue. Thomas was picked up at his cabin by Johanna along with Sidney and her girls, and he sat down with a plate piled high as the smaller campers raced back and forth between the tables. Sidney was placed on the table in between Meagan and Darlene as he slept soundly in his car seat with both girls watching over him very protectively as he was displayed. This was Sidney's first Bivouac, and he really wasn't all that impressed, he slept through the entire thing.

The lower camp was pretty much seated and had food along with probably half the girls camp when a very unmistakable clamor caught the Doctor's ears coming off the hill. Nobody was yet seen through the trees, but it was obvious the herd was on the move.

"The peace and serenity is about to be broken." Johanna said to the Doctor as she looked up from her plate.

"Uncle Sid's on his way." A few seconds later, boys appeared through the trees running off the hill, as golf carts began appearing on the trail. Thomas watched as the cooks now began loaded the grills with more meat.

"Brace yourself Doctor," Jeanette said as she sat down next to him and turned Kenny around sitting on her lap with a chicken leg in one hand and a pickle in the other.

"Where's Uncle Bert?" Jeanette asked Johanna.

"I haven't seen him yet, he's probably on the phone in meetings," Johanna replied.

"Well, he'll be here soon, he knows trouble is on the way," Jeanette told her friend. Johanna giggled.

"Don't be surprised if some kind of a battle erupts between Uncle Bert and Uncle Sid. It usually happens at least once a day, and the boys have come to depend upon it," she told the Doctor. Sid pulled up between the tables and the lake and Thomas watched as Sid got out of his cart and handed a senior boy two bottles of wine. Two intermediate boys followed the senior boy with four more bottles as they put them into a cooler full of ice water.

"Don't forget, I count the corks!" Sid yelled to the senior boy as he walked up to the picnic area surrounded by probably six to eight boys.

"How's my little boy doing?" Sid said as he bent over and kissed Johanna.

"Fine Uncle Sid, just don't go near him, he's sound asleep." Johanna said as she kissed him back.

"A chip off the old block!" Sid replied as he now gave Jeanette a kiss.

With two hands full of food, Kenny lifted his arms to Sid as the man reached under the boys arms and lifted him off Jeanette.

"Hey buckey, how's my little boy?" Sid said to Kenny as he kissed the boy on a sauce covered cheek. Kenny giggled as he put the chicken leg to Sid's mouth. Sid took a small bite out of it.

"Thanks pal," he said to the little boy as he rested him on his hip.

"How's things going Doc?" Sid asked as he wiped the sauce off his face.

"Very well," Thomas said.

"Where's Bert?" Sid asked the group. Both Johanna and Jeanette shrugged their shoulders.

"Come on buddy, I got some wine on ice and it's time to party," Sid said to Kenny as a pickle was now on its way to Sid's face. Jeanette shook her head as Sid headed for the mafia who were gathering two tables away.

"If Uncle Sid has his way, Kenny's going to grow up sideways." Johanna said. Jeanette giggled as Thomas's curiosity grew. Was it possible Sid fathered both children?

Close to five minutes later, Bert arrived with the honking of his horn as his cart was now surrounded and overtaken by the lower camp children. Bert had Caroline in his arms before he dismounted.

"It appears he's found himself an admirer," Jeanette said as she watched Bert approach with the crowd surrounding him with Caroline wrapped around his neck as her hair flowed in the man's face.

"Sarah say's that between her and Caleb, one of them is always racing to be there first." Johanna replied as she looked up at the approaching pack.

"How's it going Thomas?" Bert now asked as he bent down and kissed each girl and then took a quick look at Sidney.

"Everything's fine thanks. The food is wonderful," the Doctor replied.

"Yeah, John's a great chef when he ain't throwing hissy fits. What did you eat?" Bert asked as he bent over and kissed both Meagan and Darlene.

"I had the steak," Thomas replied.

"Good idea," Bert said as he looked around.

"David, can you get your poor old Uncle Bert a steak?" he asked David who was passing with a bottle of wine.

"And I'll take a glass of that wine too! Matter of fact, leave the bottle and tell your Uncle Sid to put it on my tab." David smiled.

"OK Uncle Bert," he replied as the bottle was placed in front of Jeanette.

"You drink Doc?" Bert now asked as he reached over and placed a cup by Jeanette.

"I've been known to," Thomas replied.

"Good! See that girl's; he's going to fit right in with the rest of all of us drunks," Bert said. Jeanette shook her head as she opened the wine and poured some in a cup for Bert.

"Speak for yourself," she replied as she reached for another cup and poured some for the Doctor.

"Here Uncle Bert. Where are you going to sit?" David said as he brought back a plate with a steak, baked potato and salad. Bert pointed and David put down the plate. Then he put a small glass of wine in front of Johanna.

"Uncle Sid says a little wine is good for Sidney. He said it would mellow him out." Johanna giggled a bit as she looked over to the baby.

"You tell your Uncle that if Sidney gets any mellower, he'll be unconscious." David looked at the baby and smiled.

"OK," he said as he returned to the mafia. Johanna looked at the wine.

"At least it's not chopped chicken liver," she said as she took a sip.

"A little wine won't hurt her right Doc?" Bert now asked. Thomas shook his head.

"Nothing in moderation will hurt the baby, but they say that some foods, might not agree with him." "How can we tell if liver doesn't agree with him?" Johanna now asked.

"That's easy! If he starts laying eggs, you'll stop eating it," Bert responded.

"You need to stop hanging around with Uncle Sid; he's wearing off on you!" Jeanette said as she shook her head.

"Have you decided to stay with us?" Jeanette now asked the Doctor.

"Well, I still have to speak to some of my brothers, but if I can work out the details concerning my little brother, I'm strongly considering it. Paulie is having some difficulties at school, and my brothers and I are considering transferring him to Culver in the Fall," he said.

"Well, we hope it works out, the boys are really great to be with, and you'd be an asset to them," she replied. Thomas smiled at the girl and nodded his head.

As Bert sat with Caroline feeding her pieces of his steak, Gloria came over to the table with Timmy squirming in her arms. Bert lifted his arms up to the boy as she approached, but Timmy wanted nothing to do with anyone.

"I see we're having fun again huh?" Bert said as he returned to his steak. Gloria smiled as she sat down and Timmy dug into her shirt grasping for her breast.

"If I spend anymore time in the Jacuzzi, I'm going to get waterlogged." Gloria replied as Timmy latched on.

"He's going to be giving Charlie a run for his money if this keeps up," Bert smiled a little.

"You need to set up a meeting with Beth as soon as possible. She's interested in taking the new baby." Gloria now told Bert as she poured herself some wine. Bert nodded.

"We should be able to have her lactating a week or two before the baby is born if she's approved." Gloria said.

"Someone's having a baby?" Thomas now asked.

"Yes, the baby will be born in mid September sometime, and will be adopted like Sidney was," Bert replied as he fed Caroline. The Doctor now looked over to Johanna.

"He's adopted?" he asked the girl.

"Oh that's right; you're still working on old information Doc," Bert replied.

"All our girls are not the biological mothers. That was information that wasn't necessary to tell you prior to your being invited to stay with us," Bert said.

Jeanette smiled. "If you thought Johanna was the Mother, who did you think was the Father?" she asked the man.

"Me," Bert replied. The girls now laughed.

"Until I told him I wasn't," Bert now added.

"So what did you think then?" Johanna asked. Thomas grew a little pink in the face.

"I thought that possibly Sid was the Father," he replied somewhat embarrassed. The laughter that now followed was enough to bring Sid back over to the table.

"Nobody laugh's that much unless I'm somehow involved," Sid said as he came over holding Kenny with Jesse and David following him.

"Come on over here and sit down with your Son Daddy." Johanna told the man.

"Jesus Christ, I thought we were going to keep that part a secret!" Sid replied without missing a beat. The Doctor's face color deepened as Sid learned what the levity was all about.

"Hey wait a minute, what's so funny about me being the Daddy. I know how to make babies!" Sid said acting miffed.

"That would be a nice trick Houdini, we shoot blanks remember?" Jeanette replied.

"Oh yeah!" Sid said as he sat down next to Gloria.

"If you decide to join us, we'll all have to figure out what you've been told up to this point. We don't want you working under the wrong assumptions," Bert told the Doctor. "Yeah. Like the one about this one being sane." Gloria replied pointing to Sid.

"That's not what you said out in the canoe last week!" Sid replied instantly. Gloria shook her head as Timmy pulled her shirt over his face covering himself up.

"In your dreams!" she responded.

"See that boys, you treat them like gold and this is your reward!" Sid said as he stood up and tickled the bottom of Timmy's foot.

"If he bites me, he's not the only one who's going to get a paddling!" Gloria said as she spoke into Timmy's ear.

Gloria's comment caught Bert's attention.

"He's still off?" he asked. Gloria nodded her head.

"It would probably be wise to give him more time in Romper Room with the 3s and 4s. Let him find his own level, he might well be a 1 or a 1.5," Bert told the girl. Gloria did not look very happy to either Bert or the Doctor as she looked down on Timmy.

"A lot of times, they start off fast and slow down in time," Bert added. Gloria nodded.

"I hope so," she replied as she kissed the little boy on the cheek.

Bert saw the confused look on the Doctor's face.

"The boy's sexual drive is measured in terms of hours between activity Thomas. A boy listed as a two usually engages every other hour when awake," Bert told him.

"What's the full range?" Thomas asked.

"Between 1 and 4," Bert replied.

"So you think this boy needs to engage every hour to hour and a half?" he asked.

"He'll decide that with his friends in Romper Room. All we know is that every two hours isn't bringing too many smiles to his face right now," Bert replied.

"If he was happy and content, we'd see it in his demeanor." Thomas looked at the boy. He had a lot to learn he thought to himself.

The Director wasn't nearly as concerned about Timmy's situation as he was concerning Gloria. Timmy's problem would be resolved quite easily once he was given more access to his peers. The girl on the other hand would have to deal with her emotional concerns over the little boy she loved as completely as any Mother could. A Geppetto boy with a rating of three to four was much more easily assimilated into society than a boy of 1 to 2½. Gloria knew that if that rating held, the boy would most likely never be able to leave a structured environment like Green Tree without a very high risk of developing problems, both legal and emotional. That knowledge was bound to depress Gloria and Bert was determined to intervene.

"I will stop by tonight. Have Judy and Caroline be prepared to watch him, we'll discuss how to proceed," Bert told Gloria as he gave the girl a kiss on the forehead. Gloria nodded her head.

The balance of the meal was spent on small talk and ended with a bonfire on the beach that always kept the boys in a festive mood searching for twigs and leaves to add to the fire that was already almost 10 feet [3 m] high illuminating the entire scene as Thomas listened to the boys spontaneously sing camp songs as their eyes glistened in the reflective glow of the fire and embers that swirled up from the pile every time a large piece of wood was added. The scene was somewhat familiar to the Doctor; he had spent many a night both at CYO camp and up in Vermont at his big brothers ski lodge in front of camp fires, and the mood was very similar. There was no wind, so the sailboats were beached, but the canoe's and rowboats were now filling up with senior boys and girls and drifting off out onto the lake. Probably half the smaller campers were asleep, or well on their way, and the intermediate campers were stretching themselves out on the lawn or in whosever lap they could find as they watched the fire. Thomas observed even Sid sitting on the lawn behaving very mellow as a boy laid between his legs using the man for his pillow as he sang. This, Thomas said to himself was a place he could very easily call home.

Bivouac broke up for the intermediate campers in pitch blackness just after 9:30. The greater majority of the lower camp had already retreated back to their cabins, and a ring of lights from the cabins surrounding the lake now sparkled across the water as a steady stream of light wound its way up the trail to the upper campus. Flashlights and headlights from the staff's golf cart's illuminated the trees as the boys made their way up the trail and their never ending chattering slowly gave way to the sound of cicada once again as Bert and senior staff along with the Doctor were eventually left the only one's remaining.

"Hop in and I'll give you ride to my cabin," Bert told the Doctor.

"I'm on my way up to the girl's camp, and it's pretty much on the way," Bert told the man.

The only secure phone line was located in Bert's cabin and Thomas's calls to his remaining brothers had to be made there unless the Doctor left the camp and used his cell phone.

"I won't be spending the night here so you may stay if you wish," Bert told the man as they entered.

"If you want to go back to your cabin, there are flashlights here. Just take one," Bert said as he pointed to the flashlights.

"I'll be leaving right after breakfast for Raleigh." Thomas told the Director.

"I really like this place. You've made something really special here," he told Bert.

"Well, I think you'd like it, and I know that the kids would benefit from your staying on," Bert told him. Thomas smiled and nodded his head.

As Adam had done before him, Thomas told each of his step brothers that he was thinking about taking a position in a special school operated by the Federal Government for the Witness Protection Program. That cover gave credence to the necessity of not discussing any specifics concerning the school or its students. Like Adam's parents, his brothers would be able to call a central number and get in touch with him in emergencies, but visits to the school were out except for specified visiting days. Thomas's main concern was his youngest step brother, Paulie. While he wasn't the closest brother to the 14 year old boy, he was the primary caretaker for him since their big brother died two years earlier and Paulie remained at Duke with him. A conference call was set up, and the youngest brother was the main point of discussion.

"I don't understand how Uncle Joel has become involved in this," Thomas's oldest step brother said.

"If the Feds learn about our relationship with Uncle Joel and Marty, they'll take Paulie away and we'll all be ruined!" he said to the conference caller's.

"The Feds know nothing about Uncle Joel or us. His only involvement is through Brookline," Thomas replied.

"That makes no sense Tommy. If you received a letter from Uncle Joel from the Director of the school, of course the Feds know about him," the eldest brother responded.

"No, the Feds don't operate the school, a project from Harvard does. The Feds just pay the bills," Thomas replied.

"Uncle Joel became involved because he recommended me to Harvard from a request by another teacher at Dartmouth."

There was a long pause on the other end.

"Who does the Director think Uncle Joel is?" another brother asked.

"My mentor," Thomas replied.

"How would he have learned that?" another brother asked.

"Bert, the Director here is a Harvard grad. He knew I came from Harvard and looked it up in the society."

"Why?" Thomas's brother Steven asked.

"Because he wanted to recruit me. I think the bottom line is that Uncle Joel did write the letter, and that tell's me he's confident in the source," Thomas said.

"Nobody's more diligent about our confidentiality than Uncle Joel is and I think that say's it all."

"OK. So what about Paulie?" The oldest brother asked.

"Steven is closest to Paulie and we were planning on moving him to Indiana in a few weeks anyway," Thomas replied.

"So we move him now?" Steven asked.

"Unless he wants to remain here with me, yes," Thomas replied.

"What if he does?" the oldest brother asked.

"Then I stay at Duke," Thomas replied.

"You would do that?" another brother asked.

"Marty would expect any one of us to!" Thomas replied. The decision was made; the 14 year old would decide the issue. Whatever he chose would be agreed to and each brother would continue to financially support him until he graduated Medical School in 2017. Steven would fly to Raleigh the next day and meet with both Thomas and Paulie at the boy's school.

It was close to 11:00 by the time Thomas sat down on the front porch of his cabin, the walk from Bert's to Cabin 3 took about 10 minutes and the Doctor was a little sorry it wasn't twice as long. There was enough moonlight coming through the trees to see without the flashlight, and except for an occasional bathroom nightlight in a cabin being passed, it was black and quiet with even the cicada's now seeming to sleep a bit. A frog or an occasional owl sounded somewhere off in the distance, and from a really great distance, a dogs bark could be heard if Thomas stopped rocking and listened really carefully. The night reminded him of laying on his brother Marty's lap in Vermont being rocked in a chair and cuddled by the warmest, nicest, most kindly man the boy had ever known. His brother Marty was gone, but his responsibility to the man was now a little boy named Paulie. Thomas very much wanted to stay at Green Tree, but that wasn't his decision to make. As his brothers needs before him, and then his were met, so would Paulie's to honor Marty's name.

As intuitive as Bert was, he wanted to speak with Gloria without coming on like he was looking for a roll in the hay. It had occurred in the past, and most probably would again in the future, but his immediate goal was to comfort and council the girl, not get laid.

"Let's go for a ride!" Bert said as he pulled up in front of Gloria's cabin on a horse while leading a second.

"In pitch blackness?" Gloria asked from the porch.

"Sid's got these beasts all trained. They know the trails like the back of their hands," Bert said as he handed Gloria the reigns.

"Timmy will be fine with the girls."

Gloria shook her head as she looked at the horse.

"I've only been on them half a dozen times this summer," she replied as she took the reigns and mounted.

"Well then, that makes you a pro," Bert replied. True to his promise to Bert, Sid told the man to drop the reigns to the horses neck once he got on the trail and the horse would walk until he was turned around and then walk back to the stables. Sid also told Bert that the horses wouldn't walk side by side down the trail, one would lead and one would follow. Bert would much rather have preferred to talk to Gloria face to face alongside him, but the horses had other ideas.

"So what's the occasion?" Gloria asked as the two rode into the deep woods.

"Well, everybody else gets a chance; I figured this was a good time to have 'Talk Time'," Bert replied.

"Oh, am I having Talk Time with you, or are you having Talk Time with me?" Gloria asked with a small smile as she turned around.

"How about both?" Bert replied.

"I'm OK Uncle Bert," she responded turning back to the front.

"If that were true Gloria, I'd be a bit disappointed in you," Bert told the girl.

"I'm not nearly as involved with Timmy as you are, and I have problems coming to grips with his scoring." Gloria shook her head.

"He hasn't been scored yet. We don't know where he's at," she replied with her voice cracking.

"No, you are absolutely right. But we also know we have to lower our expectations at least for the short term." he counseled the girl.

"We both know this could be just temporary 50% of the time."

"It's not fucking fair!" Gloria said as her head lowered. As very smart as Bert was, there was no quick and easy solution to Gloria's pain and hurt concerning Timmy. There was no way around reality; Timmy could very easily be seriously handicapped by the Geppetto Syndrome.

A good fifteen minutes lapsed before Bert spoke again.

"What we all need to keep in mind is Charlie." he finally said to the girl.

"If Timmy is raised half as well as Charlie was, then we've done our job haven't we?" Bert asked the girl.

"And it seems to me that you had one hell of a lot to do with his upbringing!" Gloria now wiped away some tears and smiled a little.

"You're trying to cheer me up because Charlie would fuck a Moose on Main St.?" she asked the Director.

"Well maybe so, but he'd do it with a smile on his face!" Bert replied.

"The point is that a boy like Craig is a 4 and Charlie is a 1. When it comes to the quality of their lives, they're both equal. Isn't that all we can hope for?" Bert replied.

"Charlie would never be able to function outside," Gloria responded.

"Probably not, but then again, being outside ain't all it's cracked up to be. To tell you the gods honest truth, if I was a Geppetto boy I would rather be here than in Miami or Detroit. Hell, I ain't a Geppetto boy and I'd still rather be here! You can leave anytime you want to, are you thinking about packing your bags?" he asked.

"No, but we have a choice," Gloria said.

"Sweetheart, take my word for it; nobody's breaking down my door to leave, choice or no choice," Bert told the girl.

The horses now approached Look-Out Point and the smell of a campfire told both Bert and Gloria that a group of senior boys were camping out. Turning the horses around, the two now headed back towards the girls campus with Bert leading the way.

"What's your impression of the Doc?" Bert now asked the girl.

"Seems nice, but isn't he a little young to be a Doctor?" Gloria asked.

"26? That's fairly typical," Bert replied. Gloria shrugged her shoulders.

"If he stays, he's going back to Florida?" she asked.

"Yes, if he's needed up here we can fly him up," Bert responded.

"Timmy's staying here, right?" she asked.

"You'll decide when he's ready for transfer," Bert told the girl.

"Once you go back to Florida, there won't be any boys here for him to play with will there?" Gloria now asked.

"As of now, no. Maybe that's something we need to discuss in the very near future," Bert said.

Gloria's cabin was dark and quiet when the two returned. Dismounting, Gloria looked up at Bert.

"Tell me you've got more meetings to attend to!" she said. Bert smiled.

"No, I've been off duty since dinner," he replied.

"Stop lying. Get off the silly horse and come to bed," she said as she climbed the stairs to the porch and went inside. Timmy awoke as he usually did right around dawn. Climbing on top of Gloria, the little boy looked over at Bert who was lying next to his mother. The little boy liked the man who sometimes tickled him and carried him around, but now, he had his hand on his mom's arm as she laid there sleeping. Timmy moved his leg up and put his foot on Bert's hand and pushed it off his mothers arm. He could touch his mother, but nobody else could as he laid his head down on her chest and watched the man as he began his morning's breakfast.

For Sammy and the mafia, Sunday night's ending came as the boys climbed the trail to the upper camp. Cart after cart rolled by as Sammy, Christopher, Matty, Joey, Trevor, Carla and Jeannie all opted to walk back to campus with their Maglight's shining off into the woods searching for anything that moved. Bert did not agree to allow Carla and Jeannie to move into the boy's campus, but through creative scheduling of overnight 'visits' both girls had done exactly that. The mafia consisted of three cabins, and when the two girls weren't 'visiting' one of them during the week, the boys were 'visiting' with them in their cabin on the girl's campus. For all intent and purposes, the two girls were members of the mafia, because when you saw them, you saw Carla and Jeannie.

Adam very much liked the girls, but at the same time, he was uncomfortable. Sammy and the boy's had no problems whatsoever concerning the two girls; they were fun to be with, could play with the best of them, and they were just 'One of the guys' as far as the boys were concerned. Try as he might, Adam couldn't get past the dual fact that they were in fact 10 year old girls with normal sexual libido's and it was 'different' when one of the boy's observed him and Sammy together.

"Gee Uncle Adam, you seen all of us playing lot's of times before!" Sammy told his teacher as he prepared for bed.

"That's true Sammy," Adam replied after a long pause so he could rationally explain the unexplainable.

"But that was when boys were doing it with other boys. You know that your Uncles some times play with the girls from Camp Kenny, but did they ever do it in front of you?" he asked the boy. Sammy shook his head.

"That's not because they were ashamed of what they were doing, or trying to keep it secret from you, it's because some kinds of play are private matters, especially between a boy and a girl," Adam tried to explain.

"But we fuck with Carla and Jeanette all the time together," Sammy responded.

"Today, that's probably true. But when you get a little older, you'll want to keep it more private," Adam said.

"How come?" the little boy asked.

"Well, because that's just something that older boys and girls do," Adam replied.

"Why?" Sammy pressed.

"What's the difference.?" he asked.

"I guess it's something we'll have to discuss with Uncle Bert, because he's a lot smarter than I am," Adam replied throwing in the towel.

As taps blew, lights began going out from one end of the upper camp to another. Night lights never went out in the bathrooms, and Adam watched as the boys now settled themselves down and picked up pillows and blankets and headed for the back porch. Adam shook his head wondering why the camp had beds, the boys generally slept on the porches lined up alongside each other like logs on a hard flat floor. Adam sat down on a chair on the porch as Carla presented the man with her hair brush and slid onto his lap while Jeanette did the same thing with Sid sitting alongside Adam.

"Didn't we do this last night?" Sid asked Jeanette. The little girl giggled.

"No Uncle Sid, we slept in Uncle Dan's cabin last night. Don't you remember?" she told the man.

"Oh, maybe so. Tell me girls, when was the last time you slept in your cabin?" Sid now asked. Carla giggled.

"Not too long ago Uncle Sid," she replied.

"You girls gotta be careful. You hang around with the boys too much, I hear you start to grow a bat and balls!" Sid said as he brushed. Adam looked over to Sid as the two girls now turned to look at each other wide-eyed. Both girls then looked down at their vagina's."Really Uncle Sid?" Carla asked.

"That's what I hear!" Sid responded. Adam shook his head.

"Girls, your Uncle Sid will be growing breasts before that happens. Time for bed," he said as he put the brush down and kissed Carla on the neck.

With the cabin now settled down to bed on the back porch, Sid and Adam retreated to the front porch.

"Bat's and balls!" Adam said as Sid sat down next to him and handed his friend a beer.

"If they go back to Helen with that story, you won't have a couple!" Adam told his friend. Sid chuckled.

"I do think I had them going for a few seconds though huh?" Sid asked. Adam shook his head and laid back reviewing the scene laid out before him. An occasional bathroom door still slammed shut, but the campus now was fairly dark, relatively quiet, and only a faint shadow of a couple moving to the baseball fields could be seen now and then as the senior boys and girls took over second base and the outfield on blankets. Every few years the cicada came out, and 2004 was one of those years as the tempo from males looking for a place in history took up the call. You couldn't really tell where the sounds were coming from; they seemed to surround you on all sides.

"It's a sound you don't really forget. It's funny, but I don't really remember paying any attention to them as an adult, but when we were kids, I use to lie in my bunk at camp and they'd lull me to sleep," Adam mused. Sid nodded his head.

"Same here. I'm sure a few dozen years from now these kids will remember the same exact thing," he replied.

"Yeah, while watching to see if a couple of them are growing penises!" Adam chided his friend. Sid smiled deeply as he chuckled to himself once again.

"What do you remember most about camp as a boy?" Sid now asked his friend. Adam sat back and thought back.

"I guess the most I remember was the feeling that I was away from my family and on my own. Not in a negative sense, but I was running my own life and on an adventure that I was controlling, instead of having it controlled by my parents or teachers.' he replied.

"Not one of the boys in my cabin knew each other, and we literally had to begin from scratch on day one learning how to live with, play with, work with and sometimes even fight with each other to work things out."

"You all got along?" Sid asked.

"Shit no! I couldn't stand a couple of them, and they probably couldn't stand me either. But we all knew when we had to pull together, even if it was just to get away from each other!" Adam replied.

What about you?" Adam now asked his friend.

"Well to begin with, Timberwolf was a camp run by our school of Geppetto boys so we didn't have any communications problems," Sid began.

"What I liked most about camp was getting on an animal that was 50 times stronger than me and about 25 times bigger and making it do exactly what I wanted it to do and go exactly where I wanted it to go," Sid replied.

"To me, camp began and ended at the stables. Everything else was nice, but not unlike school," he said.

Adam nodded as he listened to Sid. The front screen door now opened with the spring loaded hinges creaking as they always did. Both men turned around as Jesse came out on the porch and quietly closed the door behind him. Saying nothing, Jesse climbed on top of Sid and laid his face on top of the man's chest with the top of his head just below Sid's chin. Sid wrapped his arms around the boy and adjusted Jesse's body between his legs as he began stroking the boys back and spine as he gently kissed the top of the boys head.

"Too much activity back there?" Sid asked the boy. Jesse shook his head a little.

"No, I just wanted to come out with you. Everybody's starting to fall asleep," he replied. Sid once again kissed the boy on his head and laid back. Adam watched as Sid caressed the boy laying on top of him. At 13, Jesse was developing at a fast pace, but he still had the body of a child despite his athletic abilities. While much of his baby stomach was gone, his arms and legs still did not define the muscle's that were quickly going to interrupt the smooth lines and full buttocks that gleamed in the moonlight. Jesse was still pure boy and was clearly headed for stud status once the girls decided to pay him some attention. That fact, Jesse couldn't care less about as yet.

"Uncle Sid, when we get back to school I don't want to move to the senior boys," the boy now said. Sid slowly nodded his head. Gone was the fooling around and kidding in his voice, Sid was now in serious mode.

"I can remember just a few short months back at school when a little boy I knew couldn't wait to get to the senior boys compound," he replied as he buried his face in Jesse's hair.

"What's changed?" he asked.

"You don't ever sleep in the senior boys bunks," Jesse replied.

"And Uncle Bert doesn't allow senior boys to sleep in the intermediates boys compound," Jesse said. Again Sid nodded his head.

"That's true, but that's been the rules all along Jesse. You knew that months ago," he said. Jesse was quiet for a long pause.

"I don't want to move," he told the counselor.

"Well, you know that you will never be forced to do anything you don't want to do, but it's not like I'm leaving Green Tree and moving out of your life forever," he said.

"But you always did look forward to driving your own cart and staying up later and going to the Feed Bag at night with the other senior boys when all the little kids have to go to bed," Jesse was again quiet for a protracted time.

"I don't want to move." he finally repeated.

"We'll have Talk Time with Uncle Bert tomorrow. You know he won't force you to move if you don't feel you're ready to do it," Sid said as he once again kissed the top of Jesse's head and hugged him.

"Close your eyes Jesse," Sid said as he moved a comforter on top of the boy and wrapped him up.

"Sometimes the boys don't feel they're ready to move up. When that happens, they're held in place until they feel comfortable about it. If Jesse remains with us in the Fall, he'll attend school with the senior boys, but live in the intermediates compound," Sid told Adam as he continued to stroke Jesse's back and massaged his neck.

"Sometimes it's a little tough letting go," he said as he once again kissed the boys head. Jesse didn't hear a word Sid said, he was fast asleep.

By 7:00 pretty much the entire camp except for the kitchen was still sound asleep. It began raining around 5:00 and steadily increased in volume. By reveille, it was still dark and gloomy and the rain was constantly pouring off the roofs and down the shutters. Unlike most mornings, the younger one's were still asleep and so was Bert who didn't get to sleep until well after 2:00 with Gloria. Timmy had already had his first course, and was back to sleep with Gloria's nipple in his mouth for a pacifier as he remained latched, but ceased to draw her milk. A few minutes after reveille blew Caroline and Judy entered Gloria's bedroom and pretty much froze in their tracks at the door as the observed Bert in their counselor's bed.

"It's OK, you can come and get Timmy for a change." Gloria said as she sat up with Timmy now waking. Neither girl said anything, but Gloria knew a conversation wasn't all that far away. The girl's now picked up Timmy who had a five pound diaper strapped around his waist and a sag that went almost to his knees. Timmy temporarily forgot about the man in his Mother's bed, and smiled as he wrapped his arms around Caroline's neck knowing he was headed for the showers and a warm bath along with a damned nice massage.

"We'll take him into our shower," Judy said to Gloria as the three left the room. Bert was now stirring and pretty much thinking it was something near six o:clock.

"I heard reveille, so it has to be 7:00." Gloria told him.

"Oh shit!" Bert exclaimed as he got up and rooted around for his underwear.

"I didn't tell anybody where I was staying last night!" Bert told the girl.

"Sid knows where you were going doesn't he? If someone's looking for you and can't find you, they'll just get a hold of Sid." Gloria said as she got up and put on a bathrobe.

"The girl's have Timmy in their shower. You can shower in mine if you want to." Gloria said as she left for the bathroom.

Once Bert called both the kitchen and then Sid, he relaxed a bit. No one was looking for him, and all was well. His morning shower was usually a quick one, but with Timmy now very happy at the hands of his two sitters, and Gloria quite receptive to his presence in the shower, it was longer than usual. There was no formal agreements between the two and both had made no exclusive commitments to each other, but they were highly compatible and neither needed Viagra anytime soon.

"I will need to have a chat with Caroline and Judy." Gloria told Bert as the man dried her hair with a towel.

"I'm sure the campus will know about our sleeping together by breakfast. Do you want me to tell them to keep it private?" she asked.

"That's your decision, I'm, not ashamed of making love to you. Just make sure your staff doesn't think they need to sleep with me to meet their responsibilities to their Director." Gloria giggled a little.

"Helen still thinks you're cute. Are you planning on taking her for a canoe ride?" she asked teasingly. Bert shook his head as he picked up a hair brush and began brushing out her hair.

"Do you girl's ever stop conniving with one another?" he asked.

"No, we always want to know who knows what they're doing and who's going to fall asleep on us two minutes after the bell rings," she replied.

"Besides, she knows that you always stay for the night and brush out our hair in the morning and that's never happened with her before. You intrigue her!" Gloria told Bert. Bert again shook his head.

"You missed your calling. You need to become a matchmaker."

Gloria again giggled as Caroline and Judy came into the room with Timmy sparkling clean and a very big smile on his face right up until he saw Bert.

"Oh, excuse us!" Caroline said as she stopped at the door.

"Come in girl's. I'm sure you've seen a boy in his underpants before." Gloria said as she reached her arms out for Timmy. Both girls giggled nervously as they approached.

"Uncle Bert spent the night as you both well know. We'll discuss it later together." Gloria said matter of factly as Timmy now slid into her lap and wrapped his arms around her neck keeping a very close eye on the man brushing his Mother's hair.

"Good morning Tim-Tim," Bert said as he reached down and kissed the little boy on his forehead. Timmy smiled very slightly as his recollection of the man returned. This big guy sometimes fed him stuff and carried him around. Maybe he was OK, but he sure was awful close to his Mother!

The scene all around camp was fairly tranquil, but the scene in the kitchen was anything but. As the morning progressed, the rain came down harder, and as John the Chef knew, if it got to a certain point, and if lightening developed, the campers would be restricted to the cabins. That meant he would have to very quickly arrange to feed close to 600 people in individual cabins. Hot food would become cold and the morning's breakfast of french toast, pancakes and scrambled eggs would largely go in the garbage. He needed a decision by 7:30 either way.

"Is there lightening in the area?" Bert asked his Chef.

"Bert, how the fuck do I know? I'm a Chef not the fucking weather man!" John replied. Bert breathed deeply but said nothing. He knew the pressure felt by his Chef.

"I'll call back in one minute," Bert told him as he hung up and turned on the TV. Picking the phone back up, he again called Sid.

"John's asking for a decision, is this rain coming with lightening?" Bert asked his assistant.

"Local radar doesn't show any," Sid replied.

"They all have ponchos?" Bert now asked.

"They should, it was distributed," Sid told his boss.

"OK, we blow Mess Call, but make sure the kids all have ponchos on," Bert said.

"Call John and let him know."

"Done," Sid responded.

Call to Colors wasn't blown, but Mess Call was and at 8:00 the trek to the mess hall was now an adventure for the campers and a slog for the adults. Rain was teaming down, and Bert expected the golf carts to be over flowing with kids clamoring to stay dry. Such was not the case, especially for the boys aged six to 12. While every camper had on a rain poncho, they did very little good as each boy jumped up and down bare footed in every puddle they passed. The outside of the hooded poncho's were soaking wet and so were the insides by the time they reached the mess hall. A small mountain of poncho's were left outside on the ground as the campers trooped into the mess hall soaking wet from head to feet and mud covering most legs to the knee's. John hastily ordered hot cocoa and tea made.

The Doctor arrived at the mess hall just as the younger campers from the lower campus arrived, and unlike the boys making their way off the mountain from upper camp, they were relatively dry. Thomas sat down to breakfast with Johanna and Jeanette as the upper camp boys began filing in. She didn't immediately react, but by about the second cabin of boys she rose out of her seat with an "Oh fuck!" as she handed Kenny to Judy who was sitting beside her.

"Johanna, tell all the girls to get these kids out of these clothes and dry before they get hypothermic," she ordered as she headed for the boys who were now sitting down to eat.

Jeanette immediately sent a group of senior boys to the laundry building next door for towels and dry clothing. Initially Thomas saw nothing wrong, but goose bumps, shivering boys and white lips made him quickly realize why Jeanette and all the women were now ordering boys out of wet clothing and drying them off as fast as they could.

"I don't understand, it's not so cold out," Thomas said to Jeanette as the kitchen staff handed the girl a pile of clean kitchen aprons to use as towels.

"For normal boys maybe not. But our boys are Florida raised and they're use to temperatures in the mid 80s to the high 90s [30-36°C]," Jeanette replied as she dried the youngest boys first.

"These boys don't tolerate weather below 65 [18°C] very well and it's probably 55 [13°C] out there and they're wet to boot!" she told the Doctor.

"This little stunt will probably see more than a few come down with colds."

The lower camp Director looked around and called a senior boy over to her as she wrapped a little boy in a kitchen apron and reached for another one.

"Tell Uncle John I want to see him. Where is Uncle Bert?" she asked the boy. The senior boy shrugged his shoulders, "Get Uncle John for me and then tell the laundry people we want every piece of dry clothing over here right now!" she told the boy. The boy left as Jeanette continued to dry.

"Get any wet clothing off the boys Doc," she ordered. The Chef now came over to Jeanette.

"John, have the windows shut in the mess hall and turn off the fans in the kitchen. Get as much heat in here as you can," she ordered the man. Thomas watched as the man nodded his head and followed the girls orders without comment.

As the boys were dried and wrapped in towels or aprons, they sat down to eat while soaking wet boys continued to flow into the mess hall and were greeted by wet clothes all over the floor and naked campers either standing around being dried or eating.

"Get the wet clothes off before you sit down and get a towel to dry off as soon as you can," Jeanette ordered the growing group. Laundry carts full of clothing now appeared in the mess hall along with piles of towels.

"Get out of the wet clothes as soon as possible. Get dry and put on dry clothing. I don't care if it fits or not!" Jeanette instructed the group as she looked around her. Bert now arrived in the mess hall to a pretty good mess. With Jeanette picking out tee shirts and putting them on every bare chest she came across the two came close enough to speak.

"It's 55 degrees [13°C] out there Bert. What the hell are we doing here?" she asked her boss.

"These kids can't take this kind of shit!" Bert looked around and found Sid.

"Didn't they wear the poncho's?" he asked.

"Sure, and then they jumped in every puddle between here and Roanoke!" Jeanette replied.

"What did you do when you were 10 years old?" she asked.

Breakfast took a little longer than usual even for a Sunday morning. Bert ordered the boys to return to their cabins after the meal for hot showers and dry clothing. Vespers were canceled and the TVs were turned on to amuse the boys and keep them dry. Out of about 200 boys, 50 caught pretty good colds, and Jeanette made it her duty to make sure each and everyone of them thanked Bert with a great big kiss. For the Doctor, it was a valuable education. When the girls were pissed, they generally ran the show without interference, comment or complaint.

That Sunday also taught the boys a very good lesson. While it was fun stomping around the puddles and even chattering your teeth to one another while your body shivered, it was no fun when the colds came. When it was chilly out, stay dry and stay warm!

It was Bert's intention all along to bring in warmer clothing for the Fall, but that Sunday's debacle had him on the phone that morning to the New Hampshire school. three days later, a tractor trailer pulled in from Laconia with enough warm clothing to keep LL Bean happy restocking their shelves with children's sweat suits, sweaters, pullovers, jackets, cotton flannel shirts and lined long pants. The next time the thermometer dropped below 70 [21°C], Bert was ready!

For Sammy and the boy's on the hill, it was much to do about nothing. However, the TV being on was well worth the inconvenience of the girls all gushing around them when they were trying to eat and drink the hot chocolate. The boys spent all morning in their cabins and watched several videos they hadn't seen more than a few dozen times before and by lunch, the rain had slowed to a drizzle and a new poncho was put on with strict orders to avoid the much loved puddles on their way to the mess hall.

Thomas's trip back to Raleigh was spent with the Doctor deep in thought. He was going to meet his brother Steven who was flying in from medical school in Indiana, and the two would meet with their youngest brother, Paulie. As a staff Pediatrician at the Hospital in Durham, he wasn't in love with his job, but he was committed to watching over the 14 year old who was now at boarding school. Paulie was being prepared for his life as a Doctor just as Thomas and his five brothers before him had been.

As had his brother's been before him, Thomas was 'adopted' by his friend, a Doctor, who became his 'big brother' when Thomas was 10 years old. At 14, Thomas was sent to boarding school in Connecticut and eventually became a Doctor as had his five brothers before him. Now, it was Paulie's turn, and along with Steven, they were the last two boys in school since their big brother died two years earlier. Educating and raising the two youngest brothers was now the responsibility of the surviving boys.

The reception between the two brothers was always an emotional one; they were as close to each other as they had been with their Patron. He was all but their Fathers in their lives, and he brought each and every one of them out of poverty and a very bleak future without radical intervention. Most of Thomas's brothers were either street urchins or fatherless. If the boys had mothers, they could offer the boys nothing in life but maybe drug addiction, prostitution, or prison. Their big brother changed all of that for them in return for their love which they very freely gave to him.

"How was the flight?" Thomas asked after the embraces were over.

"I hate flying. I feel like I somehow became Public Enemy Number One when they look at me!" Steven replied.

"It's like they actually hate you!" he went on. Thomas nodded his head. He hadn't been on a plane since his big brother died in 2002, and vowed never to go on another plane. He would rather sit on a Greyhound bus with 15 drunks and 20 screaming babies before passing through "The gauntlet" at the airport again.

The drive to Paulie's school was spent filling in stories concerning their other brothers. They were scattered all over the Country, with most either in New England or the Northwest. three were now married with families, and another was engaged. Finally, the talk got down to Paulie.

"It sounds like your new position will keep you pretty busy." Steven said. Thomas nodded his head.

"There are 400 children at the school so I would expect so," Thomas replied.

"All this Government stuff sounds a bit spooky to me. Are you sure you want to get involved with them?" Steven asked. Again Thomas nodded.

"The school itself is run by Harvard people. I haven't seen any Government types except for the guards who protect the children," Thomas replied.

"I didn't know the Government operated schools," Steven said.

"They have to. The Witness Protection Program has people in it that have children, and they have to be educated," Thomas replied feeling very guilty.

"Yeah, I guess so. I never really thought about it before."

"Have you said anything to Paulie yet? Thomas asked his brother.

Steven shook his head. "No, I talked to him on the phone last night and told him we were coming for a visit, but he thinks it's just a social call along with the baseball shit." Steven said.

"Why is the school freaking out so much?"

"Chiefly because after Paulie was called out, he cursed out the umpire when he wouldn't change the ruling," Thomas replied.

"Paulie's convinced he was safe and the other kid never touched him with the ball and just went off." Thomas told his brother.

"For that they call you in for a meeting?" Steven replied.

"Yes, his student advisor said he wanted to 'nip' any bad behavior in the bud since Paulie is brand new to the school." he responded. Steven shook his head once again

"I think they could have handled it internally."

Reaching the school, both men were shown to the Administration building and met with Paulie's student advisor. Both sat quietly as they were lectured concerning their brother's atrocious behavior for probably 10 minutes. Once the advisor was through dressing down Paulie's brothers, they were escorted to the soccer field where the boys were engaged in a game. Paulie, upon seeing his two brother's approach, bolted from the game and leaped into Steven's arms. His student advisor said nothing, but his eyebrow did raise as Paulie planted a kiss on Steven that told anyone around that this was a very tightly knit, and loving family who were openly affectionate towards each other as Paulie reached over and gave Thomas a kiss with very wet cheeks. The student advisor took his leave wondering if he wasn't just a bit too hard in describing their brother to the two men shortly before.

The three left the field and returned to Paulie's dorm which was about as neat and tidy as any dormitory filled with 13 and 14 year old boys. The bathroom had the very clear odor of urine, the beds were unmade with half of them stained in puddles of pee, there was laundry from one end of the room to the other, and empty soda cans, potato chip bags, pizza boxes and bread sticks all over the place. It wasn't all that different looking than either Steven's or Thomas's dorm at school as the three dug their way to Paulie's bed. After the amenities were over, the real talk began.

"The school isn't very happy about the baseball thing." Thomas began.

"But that's not why we're here, and what we have to say now has absolutely nothing to do with it. Neither one of us thinks you did the right thing by yelling at the umpire, but we also don't think it's the end of the world." Thomas told Paulie as the boy sat with Steven on the bed.

"I was fucking safe!" Paulie replied getting agitated.

"Probably so, but Steven didn't come here from Indiana to discuss a silly ass baseball game," Thomas replied.

"Forget the game Paulie, its over. We came here to discuss your future."

"What about it?" Paulie asked.

"As you know, all seven of your brothers went to boarding school in New England when Poppe was alive. The only reason you're here, is because Poppe wanted you near him, and thought he'd be here when you did." Paulie now bowed his head.

"Why are you saying this?" he asked his brother.

"Because now that Poppe is gone, you don't have to stay here if you don't want to. You have seven brothers and you can go with any of them you want to.

"I could go with Steven?" he asked.

"Yes, Steven is in Medical School about an hour away from a boarding school in Indiana and the two of you are closest to one another than you are to the rest of us," Thomas replied.

"What about you?" the boy asked.

"I want you to be happy, and I want you to know that any one of your brother's would accept you as much as Steven does and that includes me."

"Would you move to Indiana too?" he asked.

"No, I have commitments in North Carolina, and I'll be staying here."

"Have they kicked me out of school?" Paulie now asked Steven.

"No, absolutely not. They don't even know we're having this conversation. It has nothing to do with them." Steven assured his little brother.

"Good, if they did, I wouldn't leave!" the boy replied. Both brothers laughed as Steven put his arms around Paulie.

While Steven and Paulie gathered the boy's possessions together, Thomas went back to the Administration building and withdrew his brother from school. The Headmaster informed him that the remainder of the summer's camp tuition would be forfeited along with 10% of the 2004-2005 school years tuition that was pre-paid.

"My brother and I really don't think we can guarantee our brother's best behavior, so I fully understand your position." Thomas told the man.

"You may send the balance of the tuition back to our brother in Kennybunkport, he's the Executor of our Father's Estate and will try to arrange schooling for Paulie somewhere closer to home so we can try to control him better." Thomas told the man with an apologetic tone in his voice. Having just lost in excess of 125 grand for the next four years schooling, the Headmaster was polite but very quiet as Thomas left his office and he called for the student advisor to come to his office.

By 5:00 Paulie and Steven were flying back to Indiana, but not before a very tearful departure scene with Thomas. Steven had followed Thomas in the line of succession with their mentor and benefactor, and finally, Paulie had followed Steven and was the 'baby' of the family. Upon Poppe's death (As Paulie had called him), Thomas took over Paulie's care and up bringing, and the two were together for two years. The bond was strong, but the bond between Steven and Paulie was stronger due mainly to the age difference. There were 12 years between Thomas and Paulie, only six between Steven and Paulie. Paulie had known Steven and had been in very close proximity to him since he was 10 years old. His preference of Steven was fully expected.

"I'm a phone call away from you." Thomas told the boy as both of their eyes glazed over and overflowed.

Thomas was one of four Pediatrician's on staff at the hospital, and the man drafted a letter of immediate resignation due to a 'family emergency.' Leaving Durham wasn't difficult for the man. The city was basically a slum with its only saving grace being the University. The City folk hated the school no matter how many knee pads the University wore for the locals who always had the attitude that Duke 'owed them.' If Thomas had his way, he'd close the school and leave the 'community' of ingrates far behind to fend for themselves.

Thomas fell to sleep sometime after midnight. He called his last remaining brother in Seattle to let him know of the days events, and let them all know how to reach him. Then, he called his Uncle Joel who at 84 was the boy's last link to their big brother.

"I think all of you have made the right decisions, and I know that Marty is very proud of you." The old man said.

"Uncle Joel, I know you wrote the letter and suggested I accept the offer, but did you or Poppe know anything about Geppetto years ago?" There was a long pause before the old man spoke.

"I had heard things three or four year's ago, but Marty had already left for North Carolina, so I don't think he did. I said nothing to him because he was still heavily involved with Steven and Paulie and of course you," he replied finally.

"I suppose if I had heard about it 20 or 30 years ago, I would have taken much more of an active interest and become personally involved, but at 80, I was much too old to start all over again," he said.

"What happens if the whole thing unravels?" Thomas now asked.

"I asked my friends at the Harvard Society the same exact thing." Joel replied.

"The Government would have to completely collapse before that happened and nobody knows how to protect themselves better than Washington." The old man said.

The morning would bring a new world and a new life for the Doctor and he fell asleep as he usually did remembering his own childhood of running through the Vermont woods dressed in an Indian outfit that made him look more like 'boy' in the old Tarzan movies.

The happiest years of his youth was spent with Marty and Joel and maybe somehow, he could now continue both men's legacy to him and his brothers though the boys of Green Tree.

'Society' would have seen the two men as perverts in their eyes had they known about them, but to Thomas and his brothers, they were Saints who fed, clothed, housed and educated them when the best they could expect from 'society' was a kick in the ass and maybe far worse; foster care.

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