Howdy Doody

The Geppetto Project

Chapters 19-20

Chapter Nineteen

Return of Spring

Easter fell the day after David's horse gave birth to her colt, Baron. While Sid had cordoned off Maria's stall to give her maximum privacy, there was still no doubt that the horse lived in a school containing many hundred's of curious peepers as they watched the mare tend to her colt from sun-up to sometimes 11:00 at night.

For the boys at Green Tree, watching the mare tend to her newborn and simultaneously watching the raising of both Sidney and Joshua by Johanna and Beth was making a profound impression upon them. Most of the boys had never really experienced a personal relationship with females, and now, with the merging of the girls from Montana and the birth of the babies, they were watching first-hand how babies were nurtured and how it should have been for them. Even with the senior boys, girls were becoming something a great deal more than just a beaver shot on a poster.

For Kevin and many of the staff at Green Tree this was also going to be a very special Easter in addition to the birth of the horse because, in all likelihood, it would be the last Easter Spencer would be singing solo as lead soprano. At 12, his voice could "Crack" at any time and reaching and holding the high notes would be out of the question for him. Spencer sang the "Ava Maria" like an Angel, and despite the fact that the staff was about as agnostic a group as you could possibly get, beautiful music to them transcended religion. They had heard Spencer sing the song now twice and this was fairly certain to be the last.

As the Music and Drama Director at Green Tree, Kevin had gone so far as to ask for guidance concerning Spencer from the Choirmaster of the Vienna Boys Choir in Austria.

Luckily, Spencer was not raised for years cultivating his talent, he had been accidentally discovered by Kevin when Spencer tried out for a singing part in the school's production of "Oliver" and ended up the lead because of the quality of his voice. To Spencer, it was a "Game". To those who listened to him sing, it was anything but! Apparently, the Austrian's receive many such requests, the answer came back in a form letter, but it was helpful, at least to ease Kevin's immense sense of loss and bereavement when it finally did occur.

For the children of Green Tree, Easter simply meant the Easter Bunny, coloring hard boiled eggs, a Sunday that had more people going to Vesper's than usual, and an Easter basket with some highly prized candy in it. When it came to candy, most boys felt Bert was rather "Stingy" about handing it out, and it wasn't that easy to come by. Now, on Easter Sunday morning, the Easter Bunny dropped off baskets, and like Santa Claus, the Great Pumpkin and the Tooth Fairy, he was quite real, but some of the older Intermediate boys were beginning to wonder. For Sammy and most of the mafia, they really didn't care one way or the other, a chocolate bunny is a chocolate bunny and if the adults want to tell them that a rabbit gave it to them, so be it!

Easter morning breakfast was scheduled in the Dining Hall as was the Easter meal, which was scheduled for 2:00. Supper would be eaten in the cabins. Sammy's day began as it usually did, having private time with Adam while the morning sun decided if it was going to show or not. Increasingly, it did now that Spring was in full bloom and the Maple, Birch, Oak and Poplar trees all started to show signs of life.

Adam's respite from mayhem was brief, it lasted until Joey and Matty came running into the bedroom announcing to Sammy that the Easter Bunny had dropped a huge basket off for him downstairs on the kitchen table.

"No candy until after breakfast!" Adam shouted over the bannister as a dozen pair of little buns circled the table distributing baskets to their owners. Going into the bathroom, he knew damned well that the first chocolate covered marshmallow eggs had already made their way into the food chain.

Anthony brought up a cup of coffee for Adam and Sid as he sat down on the toilet bowl seat cover.

"Are you going to Vesper's?" he asked Adam.

"If Spencer's singing, I'm going to Vesper's," Adam said as he washed his hair.

"Uncle Bert said it couldn't be held in the Rec. Hall, it has to be held in the Dining Hall because so many people will be going." Anthony told Adam as Sid now walked in with Carla who was one very unhappy looking little girl with her head laying on Sid's shoulder.

"What, no Easter Basket?" Adam asked Sid.

"Little Miss Muffet here has an upset tummy," Sid replied as he scooted Anthony off the toilet and sat down with the girl.

Maybe a few weeks earlier, the remark would have gone unnoticed or without much fanfare, but after Joey's appendectomy which started with an upset stomach, Adam immediately rinsed the soap off and went over to the girl.

"Does this hurt?" Adam asked pressing her appendix. Carla shook her head.

"No. Over here Uncle Adam." Carla said as she covered her stomach and lower abdomen.

"Do you feel sick? Do you feel like throwing up?" Adam asked the girl. Carla shook her head.

"It just hurts me," she told the the counselor. Adam now felt her forehead which felt normal as far as he was concerned.

If it had been a school morning, Adam just might have fluffed it off, but since there was a basket of candy downstairs waiting for her, and she was sitting in Sid's lap making no move for it, Adam decided it was time to call in Thomas.

Thomas and David's arrival, along with Helen and Sarah came about 10 minutes later.

A very definite damper on the rest of the cabins demeanor followed while Thomas examined the girl. It was a fairly brief examination.

"You probably want to make sure you have a good supply of panty liners available for her in the very near future." Thomas told Adam as Helen and Sarah took both Carla and Jeannie to the infirmary which contained the closest bath tub for a warm soaking.

"She's having a period?" Adam asked.

"No, just morning cramps, but the fun's not all that far away," Thomas replied as he put away his stethoscope.

"She'll probably start menstruating within days, a week at best," the Doctor said.

"Look for a slightly bloated tummy area and complaints of a tummy ache along with tender breast's if she tells you about them," Thomas replied.

Adam listened to Thomas in all seriousness. As a man, he knew all there was to know about boys, but these were girls. He had been cut off from his sisters at age seven or eight and knew absolutely nothing about them and their "Problems" until he went to college.

"So what should I do?" Adam asked getting a little panicky.

"Well for starters, I'd have her getting into the habit of wearing underpants with liners in them. Helen and Sarah are going to go over the ground rules with both girls, but we don't really know when her menstruation is going to begin until we actually see it," Thomas said.

"And what about her sleeping arrangements?" Adam asked.

"Well, she's been sleeping with the boys now for better than six months and her hymen is still intact, so I wouldn't worry about it all that much," Thomas replied.

"I hope you realize that's a fucking miracle!" Sid now said.

"It probably has more to do with her sleeping on her stomach than any miracle," Thomas responded as he prepared to leave.

"So what should I tell the boys?" Adam asked.

"I'd begin with the facts of life. If you want, I can send you a video," Thomas replied.

"Shit Doc, these boys probably made that silly ass video!" Sid replied.

Once the boys were made aware that Carla wasn't going under the knife anytime soon, the mood improved quickly.

"Keep in mind, the restriction on having intercourse with both girls is still in place," Adam counseled the boys.

"That's OK Uncle Adam, we just use the back pussy anyway." Chris volunteered. Adam looked to Sid.

"Well, you're the one with the big mouth stupid!" Sid told his friend without being asked.

Because of Spencer's success at singing, and because of the obvious adulation it evoked from the adults around him, getting the kids to join the choir was an easy task for Kevin.

Most boys between eight and 16 want little to do with singing, but the combination of Spencer's success, their own success at singing for school productions, and the teaching style of Kevin made the job of filling positions very easy for Kevin. In fact, he had to split the choir into smaller groups because the numbers in a single choir had become unmanageable. The boys were not commercially viable as a choir, but they made themselves and the staff very happy. To make them commercially viable, they would need intensive training, practice and dedication. These boys were into playing, not working. They wanted to have fun, not impress someone and that's exactly the way they did it!

Carla and Jeannie returned to the cabin somewhat hero's as far as they were concerned, and somewhat "Different" as far as the boys were concerned. They had reached a milestone that both groups knew was coming, but most wished things would stay the same. The girls as far as the boys were concerned were just "Two more guys". Now, they simply had to be considered something different. For both girls, neither one of them was ready to give up the "Old ways" and really didn't want to discuss silly nonsense like "Periods". It was not as serious for Jeannie as it was for Carla, but then again, Carla was "Changing" a hell of a lot faster than she wanted to, and was ahead of Jeannie in the batting order. Carla came back to the cabin in fairly good spirits, but she was going to be having Talk Time with Adam as soon as possible. Carla was a girl, but she very desperately wanted to "Fit in" with the boys, and nobody but Uncle Adam or Uncle Sid had more "Juice" with the boys than these two men. If she was going to get her way, she'd need their help.

Easter Vesper services commenced at 10:00, and Kevin had several selections by Heyden, Strauss, Listz, and Mozart performed by the choir before Spencer took center stage with his performance of the Ava Maria which he sang once again in Italian.

Most people there knew they would never hear him sing it again, at least not as lead Soprano. With Sammy on one side of him and Carla on the other (Which was unusual),

Adam listened as most of the staff did through very bleary eye's.

For his part, Spencer's was embarrassed by all the attention at the conclusion as he usually was after every performance. He personally cared very little for his voice, but it was the difference between tapping a beer mug and a Crystal wine glass, a piece of bologna, and filet mignon. Ripple, and Chateau Lafitte Rothschild.

In all probability, Spencer will not know what was lost for year's to come, but Sid has his voice on tape, and he most certainly will at some point in the future. Spencer's voice "Cracked" in July, 2006. He hit 110 "Homer's" last year, so he really didn't care. All it meant to him was that he spent more time playing baseball and less time practicing singing. Spencer is after all, just a boy.

With temperature's in the low 60s [15-18°C], the mid day was spent largely on the lower campus with the lake now the center of attraction. Nobody was dumb enough to go swimming, but the boats were now all back out and the lake filled with them. Christopher had both 15 year olds Jill and Claire keeping him out of the water The girls had now become his other shadow when they weren't in school themselves. When Christopher originally broke through the ice, these girls were "watching" him, and Christopher wasn't about to slip past their guard since. If he wasn't with Helen or Bert, he was with these girls morning noon and night, and when he slept, he slept between the two of them. The arrangement was ideal for all three except for the occasional accident when Christopher took off his diaper prematurely and ended up soaking the girls. For the girl's part, they forgave Christopher for the indiscretion, especially since it wasn't always Christopher who had taken off his diaper.

Despite the fact that he was a twelve year old boy, he was mentally much younger and asexual to boot. For all practical purposes, Christopher was their "Baby" that they could practice their "Motherhood" skills on. Christopher relished the attention, and the girls had a real live doll to play with. To a point, all the plumbing worked, so boys anatomy 101 was also learned, but in a very safe environment for all three. To Christopher it was all fun and games, just one more way to cruise through life.

While the lake wasn't yet warm enough to swim in, it was perfect weather to spread out blankets and appreciate the sun which in Florida had been scrupulously avoided. Both Johanna and Beth joined the scene and pretty much the center of attention were the two babies, Sidney and Joshua who at six and seven months were still not mobile, but not all that very far from it. Like a couple of fiddler crabs, they were retrieved time and time again headed towards the lake.

The previous half year brought many changes, not only to the babies, but to both Johanna and Beth as well. Unlike the girls like Gloria and Jeanette who were also raising Green Tree boys, these two girls were raising babies from day one as their own. Neither Timmy nor Kenny were considered the children of their caregivers, however Sidney and Joshua were considered Johanna's and Beth's adopted children. That put the babies, the Mother's and the entire school in a very different place. Green Tree was expanding from a school to an autonomous society.

With Sammy and the mafia now mostly out on the lake, Adam laid down a blanket next to Johanna and Beth as a diapered Sidney and a naked Joshua crawled over and plunked themselves down in the center.

"What, no tan for Sidney?" Adam asked as he brought over a cooler full of soda and water and sat down. Johanna looked over to Sidney and smiled.

"First he delivers the goods, then we think about letting him run around in his Birthday suit," the girl replied.

"Unless of course you want to clean up after him?" she asked.

"Pass," Adam replied as he took a bottle of water and offered it to the girls.

"What about Joshua?" he asked.

"Joshua contemplates the nature of the Universe between seven and eight a.m." Beth replied.

"He might tinkle, but we won't be looking at a log alert," she said giggling. Adam looked at the boy as he sat next to Sidney gumming a soft rubber toy.

There wasn't much of a difference in size between the two boys, but Sidney, who was a month older was certainly more mobile than Joshua. Physically, there was very little doubt that the two were related, the same nose, ears and facial structure were evident, as well as the thin silky blond curly hair that hung in ringlet's down both boys forehead's. Both boys were robustly healthy and with a regular stream of visitor's to the blanket, neither showed the slightest hint of stranger anxiety. Outwardly, the only major difference was the Joshua was circumcised.

With a plop, a dozen towels landed by both boys as both Sid and Kevin now sat down. With new toys to climb all over, the babies headed for the pile as Sid rooted around in the cooler.

"Coke, Sprite, water. Shit buddy, you forgot the Bud.!" Sid exclaimed as he closed the lid.

"Jesus Sid, it's barely 12:00!" Adam replied.

"Forget that shit Adam, noon is for week days. This is the weekend," Sid replied as he looked around. Spotting Charlie sitting with his girl he whistled to the boy "Hit me!" he yelled as Charlie looked over to the group. Sid now looked over to the girls.

"You let this guy sit with you without bringing any beer with him? Don't you know beer is great for nursing Mother's?" he asked. Johanna chuckled a little.

"Isn't that supposed to be wine?" she asked.

"Well, that too. Why, you got any?" he asked. Johanna shook her head.

Charlie brought over four bottles of Bud to Sid.

"Thanks Charlie, in your travels, see if you can find me a bottle wine. These babies are parched!" Sid told the Senior boy who looked at the babies and back to Sid.

"You're going to feed them wine?" the boy asked.

"Yeah, but we'll filter it first," Sid replied as he pointed to both girls. Charlie shook his head as he left for the kitchen. With Sidney now headed for Sid, the man reached over and pulled Sidney to his feet.

"Don't grovel boy, the wine's coming," he said as he brought the boy upright and kissed him on his chest which had the boy now squealing.

"How come he's all wrapped up. You ain't afraid he'll scare the girls off are you?" Sid asked as he looked towards Joshua who was now laying on his back with a towel being held up by the boys hands and feet over him.

"We're due for a package, but if you are into it, you're welcome to take the diaper off." Johanna replied.

"Due my ass, it's been delivered," Sid replied as he laid the baby down and tickled Sidney's stomach. With a pull, Sid had the diaper open as he wiped the baby and lifted his legs up.

"OK stinky, time to put some air on this hiney," Sid said as he reached for some diaper wipes that Johanna had passed to him. As deftly as any Mother, Sid cleaned up the baby as Sidney lay there watching Sid's face as the man worked.

"OK scooter, now go out there and show those girls what a real man looks like," Sid said as he patted the baby on the bottom.

Johanna shook her head once again.

"Uncle Sid, what do you want to be when you get to be a big boy," she asked.

As the beach crowd grew, the arrival of the boys and girls from the boats increased. The water temperature was about 55 degrees [13°C] which to the boys was well below freezing. Nevertheless, overturned canoe's and sailboats had found more than a few soaking wet and now very cold and shivering despite prior warnings to remain dry. Most of the mafia was wet, and Adam spent a good part of the next hour getting Sammy, Carla and Jeannie out of wet clothing and dried while Kevin and Sid made runs back to the cabins with very cold children in search of drier togs. With Sammy and Jeannie huddled with Johanna and Beth for warmth, it was Carla's time to get warmed as Adam peeled off a wet sun suit and blouse. Once she was dried Adam wrapped her in a towel as the girl snuggled into his lap waiting for some dry clothing.

While it may have escaped Adam's attention, Carla's demeanor with Adam didn't escape either Johanna nor Beth's scrutiny. It was very doubtful that another boy could have gotten as close to Adam as Carla was getting without Sammy's wrath descending upon them. Sammy however saw both Carla as well as Jeannie as no threat to his own position with Adam, and both girls could snuggle all they wanted to but Sammy was the one waking up with Adam.

With a honk on Bert's horn from his golf cart, the Director pulled up in front of the group with Christopher steering and Helen praying. By a small miracle, Christopher was one of the driest children on campus, and dismounted and headed for Joshua and Sidney just before the cart stopped moving. With both Johanna and Beth now going into high alert, Bert sat down looking at bundled up children all around him.

"Did Uncle Dan open up the lake for swimming without letting me know about it?" he asked. A few nervous giggles were heard, but little else.

"Well, don't worry about it guys. Uncle Thomas has some very big needles in stock that will cure anybody's cold if need be," he told them.

Now looking over to Adam, Bert asked the counselor if the Doctor had seen the kids yet.

"No, he and David went up to the stable's to see the colt but I'm sure he's going to be thrilled when he does," Adam replied. Bert nodded his head as Christopher came over to him and gave the "Swim" sign.

"You want to go to the pool?" Bert asked the boy. Christopher immediately shook his head no and pointed to the lake.

"Nobody's swimming in the lake Christopher. The other boys and girls got wet in boats," Adam told the boy.

"Boat?" Christopher asked in his usual way of beginning a word on a lower note than ending it.

"Would you like to go out in a boat Christopher?" Bert now asked the boy.

"Hey!" Christopher immediately shouted with a big grin coming over him.

"You know of course the probability of your coming back dry is slim to none, right Bert?" Johanna now asked her boss.

"Oh, I think I can handle the situation," Bert replied as he got up.

"Want to join us?" Bert asked Helen. The woman shook her head.

"I prefer staying nice and dry and warm thank you," she told her boy friend. Once Bert and Christopher got into a rowboat and Bert pushed off, Johanna addressed the group.

"The pool is $5.00 per person. I say Christopher's in the drink in five minutes," she said. The pool reached $50.00

and Sid won it with a guess of seven minutes as Christopher lost his balance going over a seat in the row boat and falling in.

Easter Dinner was held inside the Dining Hall and John and the kitchen crew once again outdid themselves, even down to the decorating of the Hall and table's. As a graduate of the Culinary Arts Institute, John was not only the school's chef, but he headed the internship of the senior boys who were going to be attending the Institute themselves in some cases. Not all the boys would become chef's in their own right, but they would be taught all aspects of running a kitchen, and upon graduation obtain a job in the restaurant,

ship, resort or hotel of their choice.

To John, the food not only had to taste good, it had to look good and be presented well.

As the children entered, ice carvings adorned the table's along with baskets of Easter eggs, Easter lilies, and Lilacs. Traditionally, Sunday Dinner was Roast Stuffed Turkey.

Since the boys ate that particular meal 52 times a year, it wasn't considered a "Special" meal. Instead, John prepared Beef Wellington or Broiled Swordfish for this Dinner.

The only comparison Thomas had to the meal that Sunday was a Trans Atlantic ships crossing he had taken with his brother's and his Uncle Marty to Italy when he was a boy of 16. To be sure, John could be a fiery prima donna in the kitchen, but his skills far outweighed ducking an occasional pot or pan when a kitchen boy burned the pudding. Thomas was use to good home cooked meals whenever he was on the Vineyards, but Green Tree food was always a step above. As a Pediatrician, he took early notice of the children's good health and solid bodies. Despite the fact that these children ate probably twice the intake of a "Normal" child, none were obese. That puzzled Thomas until he had a chance to discuss it with Bert and Sid early on.

"They don't blow up like balloons for a couple of reasons," Bert said.

"First, we don't feed them huge amounts of starches and carbohydrate's, and they're not loaded down with sugar and empty calories. They're kept extremely active physically, and don't sit around all day like couch potato's. Lastly, they burn four times the caloric intact of a "Normal" child during playtime, so if they weren't fed as much as they are, we'd have skeleton's on our hands," Bert concluded.

"You'll be able to see it for yourself if we take in a boy of eight to 12. Generally, they're pretty emaciated when we first get them," Sid now told the Physician.

"When David first came, he was 15 pounds [7 kg] underweight for a boy his size and age," Sid said. Thomas found that hard to believe.

"You're saying David was abused?" he asked the two men. Bert shook his head.

"Many of the boys are, but David wasn't one of them. He was below weight because his parents fed him regular meals. These boys can't survive on regular diets, their metabolism would never allow it. Whether it's here in Green Tree, or in New Hampshire or any other school, you'll never see a fat Geppetto boy unless something's seriously medically or psychologically wrong," he said. Thomas recalled the conversation as he watched close to 400 boys eat an eight course meal like it was a Happy Meal snack.

With the warmer weather now quickly transforming the Camp back into an outdoor playground for the boys, it was getting more and more difficult to keep them focused on school. Smack in the middle of reciting multiplication tables, Adam would lose an entire class when it was discovered a family of deer where seen on the ball fields, or a nest of owls was discovered in the hollow of a tree somewhere.

In Florida, nothing changed 12 months out of the year. Now, things changed around the boys almost by the day. They had never seen Spring before, and there was nothing cuddly about gators or pelican's. Many meetings were held to discuss the boys inattention and how to deal with it, and finally, Bert threw the towel in. School would be conducted for three hours every morning, but would continue through the summer months. In the afternoon's, it was pure playtime. The boys weren't overjoyed to learn they would no longer get a summer recess, but accepted the compromise.

In early May, after almost constant badgering by the boys, Dave agreed to erect the high trapeze using the lake as a safety net and lowering the height to a safe distance of 15 feet [4½ m] over the water. Unless a camper was dumb enough to do a flat entrance into the water, it was a safe and popular addition to the lakefront. Once the lake hit a temperature of 65 [18°C], Dan opened the lake for swimming for the bravest of the brave. There was an immediate run on wet suits once the boys learned that if you took a piss in the wet suit, you stayed pretty warm!

May also brought two new changes to the routine, for one, Sarah was now being tutored by Thomas as a Physician's Assistant, and Boston wanted to schedule a brain scan for Christopher. Sarah's new role would solve many problem's, not the least of which was her personal insecurity at having Caleb's Mother Stephanie so close to the boy. While the girl had never verbalized her thoughts to other staff, she felt threatened by her presence in regards to her relationship with Caleb. Her insecurity might have escaped a few, but it wasn't about to be missed by either Bert or Sid, and most certainly not by either Gloria or Jeanette.

Following a routine staff meeting, those four, along with Adam and Dan stayed behind for last call. Jeanette looked around at the group and decided it was "Talk time".

"Gloria and I wondered if you noticed the interaction between Stephanie and Sarah?" She asked.

"Professionally or concerning Caleb?" Sid asked.

"Strictly Caleb. Professionally, they seem to work very well together." Gloria replied.

"Has something been seen or over heard?" Bert asked.

"No, not really, but there has to be some insecurities on Sarah's part, there would most certainly be if Kenny's Mother showed up on my doorstep," Jeanette said. Both Sid and Bert nodded.

"Let that be a lesson to you Adam. If you want to hide something, lock those two mind readers out of your house," Bert told Adam.

"So, we're all in agreement. Now, does one of us have a pow-wow with Sarah and pick her brain, or do we just bring her back onto thick ice without anybody knowing about it?" Bert asked once the chuckles died down.

"Well, personally, I think it's only fair if we load her ass down with work like I got my ass dumped on a few months back!" Sid now replied.

"Dumped on?" Bert asked.

"That's another thing good buddy, when this turkey bat's his baby blue's at you, you know you're about to get fucked!" Sid said to Adam.

The ruckus on the back porch had Helen up to find out what was so funny as the six settled back down to the task at hand.

"Stephanie is an L.P.N., while Sarah is an R.N.

If we offer to make Stephanie an R.N., and have Sarah trained as a Physician's Assistant, it will keep both girls busy and more clearly delineate each one's responsibility and place in Green Trees society," Jeanette suggested. Adam shook his head.

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

"If I get any promotions or additional jobs in the next few years, you better know I'm going to start wondering what's the matter with me!" he said as he got up. As the meeting broke up as they usually did with laughter, Bert reminded the people gathered that Boston had asked for a brain scan on Christopher.

"I'll discuss it with Thomas in the morning, but it's next on the agenda," Bert told the group.

Every morning after breakfast, Bert met with all his Department heads, and that included Thomas and the infirmary staff. After discussing the plan for Stephanie and Sarah, the scan for Christopher came next.

"We could do it at Duke, but I don't think it's going to be very successful." Thomas told Bert.

"An MRI requires the patient to hold absolutely still for long periods of time. You'll never get Christopher to comply without heavily sedating him. Maybe even having to put him under General Anesthesia. If they want him awake during the procedure, we'd have to restrain him severely, and even then, the results would probably be unsatisfactory," the Doctor told Bert. Bert shook his head.

"He cannot be restrained like that," he said.

"Let's find out exactly what Brookline wants. We may have to bring Christopher to them rather than Duke," Thomas replied.

"OK, but make it perfectly clear that I will not tolerate anybody physically restraining him under any circumstances," Bert replied.

Two weeks to the day that Carla had her cramps, she was in class when she felt wet and discovered a soiled panty liner. Helen, Gloria, Jeanette and Sarah had numerous talks with Carla since her bout with the cramps and she instantly knew not only what was occurring to her, but why.

For his part, and most certainly for the boys, this was something brand new and totally unknown. Despite the fact that Adam had a Mother and two younger sisters, not once had he ever seen, or even heard about menstruation. The word was never spoken, and the occurrences were never mentioned by anyone in his family. This was something that was kept in the closet as closely as masturbating, or his parents engaging in sex. It simply did not exist!

As with every other aspect of the merger of Green Tree boys and the Pine Ridge girls, a policy had already been formulated regarding the subject of the girls reaching puberty, and how it would be presented to the boys. Given the nature of the topic, Bert allowed the women to formulate the policy and by most people's standards today, it's fairly liberal.

Carla was not the first Pine Ridge girl who had reached puberty at Green Tree, but she was the first girl who had any real connection to the mafia. The boys were well aware that the women of Camp Kenny had periods, but they were adults, not the same people you played with in bed with. Carla was one of their own!

Adam was teaching a class when three carts pulled up to the cabin. Carla was with Helen, Gloria and Sarah. Jeannie accompanied her friend into the cabin as the two little girls went immediately into the bedroom with Helen and Sarah.

"We have a new young lady today, Carla has attained puberty" Gloria told Adam and the boys.

"It's a very significant event in a young girls life, and I know you will behave accordingly," the Director of the Pine Ridge girls told the boys who basically looked at each other.

"Like what?" one of the boys asked.

"Well, for starters, the changes she's going through can sometimes cause some confusion and she may act or behave a little differently," she told the boys.

"My sister use to get real bitchy!" one of the boys told the group. Adam had to chuckle, and Gloria wasn't all that far behind him, but she maintained a straight face.

"Different girls behave in different ways, but even you guys can get a little moody now and then so we'll let it slide. Right?" she asked the boys. To a chorus of "Yes Aunt Gloria!" she went into the bedroom as Adam sat down.

By the time school broke for lunch, probably the only people at Green Tree who didn't know of Carla's new found status was Timmy, Kenny, Sidney and Joshua because of their age. Policy was that the girl herself decided how the matter was to be handled, either strictly private or openly. Adam felt it would be nice if this new fact of life was just acknowledged and let it go at that. Silly boy!

After a warm bath and her very first real live Kotex was in place, Carla and Jeannie were back in class with Carla modeling the small bulge in her underpants to all interested parties. Sammy and the boys were interested, but mainly they were relieved that Carla's new position in life would have no effect on her back pussy. Since they weren't using her front pussy anyway, it really didn't matter that it was covered up by a pillow.

Like Birthday's and when the tooth fairy was going to be showing up, the choice of desert was the student's, and Carla put in a request for strawberry shortcake for dinner that night. Lunch was a hectic affair for Adam as a never ending line of girls came by to hug and congratulate her. Jeannie watched the procession very carefully, and Adam knew that this wasn't going to be his last "Coming out" party.

There was no instant change in Carla's behavior, but ever since her first cramps, the girl was staying a lot closer to Adam than she had done previously, primarily so that Adam could comb her hair out, or put it into braids for her. She was also spending more time at Helen's or Sarah's to have her nails painted. Six months earlier, Adam couldn't put a ribbon or bow in her hair unless he tied her down. Now, she had a small basket full and very carefully chose which one's she would wear that day. Six months earlier, she would have gone for weeks in the boys shorts without putting on one of her own shorts or blouses. Now, soft yellow, pink or blue girls shorts were usually found on her, and if outside, a frilly blouse was seen now and then. The good news for Sammy and the boys was that inside, she was still as naked as they were, so they overlooked the frills. All staff recognized that Carla was becoming a lady.

Dinner that night was a step above the normal for the crew in Beachview that normally numbered a dozen or two. Like a Birthday, a girls coming out party was celebrated to the degree the girl wanted it to be. Carla wanted a blow-out.

The base guest list started with all three cabins of the mafia. By the time invited Dinner guests made the scene, a sit down Dinner had to become a Buffet. After Dinner, a never ending line of friends came by with small gifts for Carla, and by 10:00 a fair pile of little girls jewelry, make-up, perfume, lotions and clothing sat on the table. As far as Adam could tell, Jeannie looked more determined than ever.

For Adam, buying gifts for Sammy was an extremely difficult affair. Like most Green Tree boys, he wanted for nothing. What do you buy for someone who basically has all he wants? For Carla, the choice was much easier. She had spent the first 11 years of her life avoiding things female as often as possible. Now, she was budding and opening herself up to her coming womanhood, so the list of things she would now accept and appreciate was almost unlimited. Her birthday is in July and Adam chose to present her with a heart shaped Ruby surrounded by 12 small diamonds. The necklace was on a gold chain and Adam took great pains to avoid showing it to Sid until the last possible moment.

Neither Carla nor the boys really paid that much attention to the value of the gift, they all thought it was nice looking, and Carla put it on after Adam gave it to her, but naturally Sid saw it differently.

"Jesus good buddy, you know that my Birthday is coming up in a few weeks right?" Sid asked. Adam thought about it as the adults present all chuckled.

"A few weeks? I just bought you a Birthday present in February didn't I?" Adam replied.

"Adam, for a math teacher, you have a sucky memory. In the past year, Sid's had three Birthday's and has conned you out of gifts every time," Bert now told the teacher. Adam now looked at Sid.

"Hey! Accelerated aging. What can I say?" Sid said as he shrugged his shoulders. Bathrooms full of kids brushing teeth and preparing for bed didn't know what all the commotion was about as the cabin emptied of guests.

With Jesse now gone to live in the senior boys compound with Charlie and his boys, Chris and Matty had taken over Jesse's spot in Sid's bed when Patty wasn't visiting overnight, and as both boys bounced into bed and slipped under the covers, Sid gave each one a kiss and turned out the light. For Sid and Adam, their routine was now to retreat onto the porch for what would probably be the quietest time of the day. 15 to 30 minutes of prime time to relax and unwind from the day.

Since the arrival of the girls at Beachview, Adam and Sid's last act with the kids was to brush out the girls hair just before bed. What began as a routine grooming occasion had mushroomed into "Prime time" for the girls as each one climbed into Adam and Sid's lap and handed them a brush. Idle chit-chat had long been replaced by probing questions, or little problems or concerns to be addressed the next day. Sid had presented Carla with a set of pierced earrings, and along with the ruby necklace Adam had given the girl, the red heart shaped stones twinkled from the reflection of the moon on the water.

"Uncle Sid's present looks very nice on you," Adam said as he brushed out the girls waist length hair.

"And your present too Uncle Adam." Carla said as she fingered the necklace.

"They go together perfectly!" she said.

"Well, how do you want your hair put up? Or do you want it left down.?" Adam asked.

"When you sleep with girls, how do they wear their hair?" the little girl asked.

"Usually loose," Adam replied as he looked at Sid.

"Uncle Adam, are you ever going to get married?" the girl now asked. Once again, a quick glance to Sid proceeded Adam's reply.

"I imagine that some day I will," he said.

"When?" Carla asked.

"Well, I guess when I find the right girl," Adam replied.

"How will you know?" she asked.

"Oh, when two people love each other they generally know it," he told her.

"And then you'll sleep with her with her hair down?" she asked.

"If that's how she comes to bed, I guess so," Adam said.

"Thanks Uncle Adam." Carla said as she slid forward and off his lap.

"What about your hair?" Adam asked.

"I"ll leave it down," she replied as she gave him a goodnight kiss and retreated with Jeannie.

For Adam, besides the children of Green Tree, Sid had become his best friend despite the difference in their ages. Sid was very nearly twice Adam's age, but still, Sid was like a teenage buddy to Adam; sometimes like a toddler buddy. Adam's respect and admiration for Sid was equal to the respect and admiration Adam had for Bert, but when it came to palling around, Sid was always there, and usually had you laughing. For Adam there was no way around it, Sid was a very valued friend and one he felt most protective towards.

With the moon now climbing over the tops of the pine trees across the lake, the reflection glimmered on the glass smooth water as lightening bugs twinkled all around the cabin as an occasional bat zig-zagged it's way over the water and up into the trees. The bull frogs and crickets were the only sound except for an occasional bathroom door slamming shut in a nearby cabin, and it was the time of day Adam liked best as he sat back on the porch rocker.

"Off hand, I'd say she looked mighty proud of herself today," Sid said as he sipped his beer. Adam nodded in agreement.

"Did you get the opportunity to observe Jeannie taking the whole thing in?" Adam replied. Sid smiled a bit.

"I think it's a fair assumption that her coming out party will be as lucrative and as public as Carla's" he told his friend.

"Helen told me that more than a few of the girls from Pine Tree were a little miffed at their not receiving such a warm send-off. You can bet your bippy we're going to see more girls coming out swinging in the future," Sid said.

"Well shit Sid, here's your opportunity. Announce to the school you've begun menstruating and they'll give you a party too!" Adam suggested.

"Think they'll go for it?" Sid asked with a very straight face. Adam sat back and had to laugh one more time for the day. There was a long silence before either spoke again, speech was unnecessary in the setting they were in, the level of comfort they both had with each other needed no verbal communication.

Bedtime for Adam that night was a rarity. The cabin didn't really fall to sleep until almost 11:00 and by any standards, it was a very full day. Adam slipped under the covers all alone and stretched out his arms and legs to the four corners of the bed not feeling another little body. He fell to sleep knowing it wasn't going to last, but as long as it did, he was going to soak up the solitude and maybe even a dry bed throughout the night.

Thomas placed a call to Brookline the following morning concerning Christopher. It wasn't long before the Doctor knew that the scans that were being requested would require a level of cooperation from Christopher they would never receive in a million years. Christopher did not know what "Sit still" meant, and wouldn't do it if he did!

"The people at Duke aren't going to go along with this thing, we have to take him to Boston and it's still going to take day's," Thomas reported back to Bert.

"He's still going to have to be medicated for at least a portion of the scans, but a bunch of them can be done while he's asleep and/or under General Anesthesia."

Bert sat back in his chair and didn't like anything he heard.

"What the hell is it all for? What information do they expect to get from it, and how does it help anybody?" he asked.

"They know he's not a Down's, they have his blood sample and dna, what are the scans necessary for?" Bert asked.

"They don't really know what they're looking for. They hope to find either an impulse or neuron that is working, or one that is not not working that can help explain why he's asexual. By all rights he should be fully active retardation or not, and being sterile or not. The mental institutions are full of people who are sexually active, with or without the ability to re-produce. Why isn't this Geppetto boy sexually active while every single other one is? The answer just might lie in his brain."

"I would have thought Bert would have jumped at the chance to possibly find and identify the cause that triggers these boys," Thomas said to Sid and Adam as the Doctor walked with the men up to the stables after the meeting with Bert.

"Instead, he want's to think about it."

"Well Doc, first, you're telling him that Christopher's going under General Anesthesia. Folks in the Dentist's office and on routine surgery's die from that stuff, and that's something that Bert isn't going to approve lightly. If you haven't noticed, he's kind of attached to the little midget, and loosing Christopher isn't something he'd tolerate all that well," Sid counseled.

"Secondly, some fucking assholes have terrorized the shit out of that kid from being restrained, and Bert's not about to allow him to be strapped down to any gurney anytime soon no matter the noble intentions. I've got as much at stake in finding out what's in Christopher's head than anybody, but if it takes destroying him to come up with the key, fuck it, I ain't interested," Sid told the Doctor.

Bert spent a very long night tossing in bed. Eventually, he ended up on the couch in the living room watching the fire die down in the fireplace. Normally he was awake by 5:00

but his day started two hours earlier with his first pot of coffee. By 4:00, he was climbing the hill in his golf cart headed to Gloria's cabin. Like Sid and Adam, Bert and Gloria needed very little communication between each other. The smell of coffee awoke Gloria as she saw the kitchen light on and in pitch darkness, it could only be one person daring to wake her up so ungodly early unless the place was burning down.

"They're talking about heavily sedating him and even putting him down," Bert began as Gloria poured herself a cup and added her cream and sugar.

"Where?" Gloria asked.

"Boston I guess, Thomas say's Duke isn't an option."

"So we would have our own people doing the testing."Gloria said.

"Wouldn't we have the same anesthetist that we had for the babies and Joey's appendix?" she asked. Bert nodded.

"So that's good right?" she asked as she rubbed Bert's back. Bert was silent for awhile and Gloria was wise enough to remain silent herself.

"I'm playing god with him. He doesn't need any of this stuff and it won't help him one bit. He's being used as a guinea pig," Bert finally said. Answering Bert item by item was senseless, Gloria recognized guilt when she heard it. She also recognized fear of loss which was far from uncommon at Green Tree, most people there had suffered loss way above and beyond the norm.

"If he's going to Boston and he's with our people, he's as safe as he could possibly be. If it were Timmy, I would feel he was in capable hand's" Gloria told her Director.

The mornings meeting of Department Heads with Bert was brief, and concentrated mainly on the Chain of Command while Bert took Christopher to Boston. The list of traveler's began small, but had grown by meetings end. Eventually, it would grow a little larger. Christopher would travel with Bert and Helen and the two older girls, Claire and Jill to keep an eye on Christopher when he wasn't in testing. Thomas would travel with Christopher as his Physician. Where Thomas went, David went. The "Official group going was now 7.

"Sid will be in charge in my absence, and Adam has been designated as Sid's Assistant while I'm gone," Bert told the campus at lunch.

Following lunch, a meeting was held between Gloria, Jeanette and Johanna. Gloria had called the unofficial meeting due to Bert's obvious concerns. It took about an hour, but eventually the decision was made to send Jeanette with the group. If the worst case scenario occurred, one of these three girls would have to be at Bert's side with Sid hopping on the next plane to Boston to join them. Bert had seen both his wife and own child die, and it was obvious to anyone anywhere near Bert and Christopher that the man took a very special interest in this boy.

"Anesthesiology is a lot better science than it use to be girls," Sid told the group when they advised him of their decision.

"If there's a chance something bad would happen, he has to have one of the four of us there." Gloria told Sid.

"So how do we explain it to Bert?" Sid asked.

"Protection for David," Jeanette replied.

"You think he'll buy that?" Sid asked.

"I'm David's Primary Aunt. Bert won't say no to my going even if he does smell a rat," Jeanette told Sid.

"True, but he could turn around and have David remain here if you tell him David might be negatively effected by the trip and need you with him," Sid responded. Jeanette thought about that scenario for a few seconds, but before she got the opportunity to answer, Johanna intervened.

"Bert might consider that, but he won't split David and Thomas. On balance, he'll opt to cover David in Boston before he separates them. Sid sat back and shook his head as he looked at all three girls.

"Why do I get the feeling Bert and I aren't really the one's running this place!" he quipped. The group was now 9 and leaving in two days.

The designation of Adam as Sid's Assistant was a complete surprise to him. Essentially, it meant he would be in charge of the Intermediate Boys campus until Bert returned and Sid returned to his old duties.

"Wouldn't someone with a lot more experience than I be better off filling Sid's shoe's?" Adam asked Bert that afternoon.

"Somebody like Dan, or even Kevin?" Bert shook his head.

"Dan has his plate completely full between the pool and the lakefront. The water is the most dangerous area in school except for the stables.

As far as Kevin is concerned, he most certainly has the expertise, but he doesn't have the same rapport with all the children that you have. Those kids that have contact with him like him very well, but it doesn't transcend to the entire student body like it does with you," Bert explained.

"I need someone in that position that every single kid would feel comfortable approaching with a problem, not just the kids who specifically deals with you on a day to day basis." he explained.

"Besides, Sid thought you might need a bigger work load." he added.

"Yeah, I was beginning to get a little bored between 11:53 and 11:54!" Adam replied.

The half day school rule was now in effect, and after lunch had been designated as team organization day for baseball. As the Green Tree Commissioner of Baseball, Adam would organize both practice and game schedules. Dave had the senior boys deliver each cabins baseball gear to them and with balls, bats, gloves, helmets and jock straps flying in every direction in the middle of the living room, Adam sat back out of the way. The laundry had delivered the boys uniforms, and it now became very apparent that more than a few had grown a bit since last year.

"I can't wear this Uncle Adam, it shrunk!" Sammy said as he came over with his shirt barely covering his belly button. Adam smiled as he reached out and pulled the shirt back over Sammy's head.

"Tonight, we'll have someone from the laundry come and take down your sizes, just wear regular clothes until they're ready," Adam replied.

The summer earlier, the Beachview Red Sox had pretty much dominated the baseball fields. Then again, they had the hitting combination of Jesse, David, Brian and Spencer. Jesse and David were now gone. Adam knew very well that duplicating last year's success was going to be a strong challenge for the boys with two of their power hitters gone. Until now, the boys never gave it a thought.

"We're gonna get creamed if we don't got Jesse and David on our side." Joey now told the group.

"All we got is Spencer and Brian," Adam watched as a dejected group all said "Yeah".

"Well, there's eight members on a team, not just two. You have two very good hitters, and now, you train the remaining six to do their specific job at fielding the ball and you should do just fine," Adam told the group.

"The first thing you need to do is to find out who your best pitcher's are. Last year it was David. Now, you have to find his replacement. Personally, I think one of the most valuable members of the team is the catcher. If you guys develop a good catcher, he can be more valuable than a power hitter.

"Or she!" Jeannie added.

"Naturally, "Guys" is a generic term Jeannie," Adam replied.

"What does that mean Uncle Adam?" the girl asked.

"It means it's not specific to gender, it could be a boy or a girl," Adam replied.

"So is "She" generic too?" Joey now asked.

More than a few boys, including Sammy giggled.

"No Joey, it's as grammatically incorrect as "Don't got" but I'm your math teacher, not your English teacher," Adam told the group.

"When we're discussing cabin activities and discussing cabin residents, it's not gender specific to either boys or girls. We have both, and both are always included."

"Except for periods." Matty now interjected into the conversation. Amidst many more giggles, Adam shook his head and picked up his baseball glove.

"Let's play ball kiddies."

Jeannie was happy with the conversation but Carla was fairly silent. Walking off the porch stairs, she took Adam's hand in hers.

"Is Sammy not going to like me anymore because I'm getting to be a girl?" she asked. Adam smiled a bit and bent down and picked her up. Walking towards the field, Carla wrapped her arms around Adam's neck and laid her head down on his shoulder.

"Not only Sammy, but every single boy in the cabin has always known you and Jeannie are girls. It's never been a problem before, and I know it won't be a problem in the future Carla. Nothing's changed except for the fact that you're going into puberty, and sooner or later, so will they," Adam said.

"The process your body is going through is going to take years before it's all finished. You'll be climbing trees and playing baseball and running around with all your friends for a very long time to come," Adam counseled the girl.

"Really?" Carla asked.

"Beginning right now, let's see how you do in the batting cage," Adam told the girl as he patted her ass and slipped her to the ground. He watched as the girl bounded off towards the batting cages chasing after her friend Jeannie. The time would come when she gave up a baseball bat for an opportunity to be paddled around the lake, but that time was two or three years down the road, and until then, she was just one more of Adam's "Guys".

Standing on the fringe of the baseball fields watching the teams practice in balmy 65 degree Spring weather, Adam smiled as first shirt's and eventually even some shorts hit the grass as Green Tree swung into action for another year of bare assed boys and a growing list of adventurous girls.

Christopher Invades Boston

The original flight plan to Boston had been scheduled for 10:00 a.m. The plane was held up on the West Coast, and didn't arrive in Winston-Salem until 6:00 p.m. With Kenny and Christopher now not getting to the hotel until probably close to 11:00, Bert was not a happy camper before he stepped foot on the plane. Once he did, things went downhill for him fast. Fully realizing he didn't want to go in the first place, Thomas played interference while Jeanette kept Bert under control.

If the original Stewardess was on board, everybody later agreed that things would have gone much smoother, but there was a new one on board along with the entire flight crew.

The new stewardess was very good, except for the fact that she went by the FAA book.

"This air craft cannot take off until the child is buckled into his seat," she told Thomas as she watched Christopher climb over the top of a seat.

"He's flown on this air craft several times and there's never been a problem. He cannot be restrained, but we will be keeping him at the window hemmed in at least until we take off and land." Thomas told the woman. The stewardess never stopped watching Christopher who was now on his way over the next seat back.

"FAA regulations do not permit that. Federal Law requires all passengers to be sitting down with seat belts securely fastened," she coldly told Thomas.

"Miss, I'm his Physician, he has a Doctor's Medical Order not to be seat belted."

Thomas told her.

"That might work in cars Sir, but this is an aircraft and flies under FAA Rules and Regulations." Thomas now closed his eye's.

"I'd like to speak with the Captain stewardess," he told the girl.

The Captain was a young man who very recently acquired his position with the company who built the plane. While he was eager to please the passengers, Thomas felt he was a bit intimidated by the stewardess. He was willing to bend, she was not.

"OK, but I don't think anybody's going to be happy." Thomas began. Pointing to Bert, "That man is the Director of the School these children come from. If need be, I'll get him involved and have him straighten this thing out, but I guarantee you that he won't be happy and neither will anybody else. He'll call Alexandria, and they'll call you and order this plane to either take off or have another crew on board who will take off." Thomas told the Captain.

"The easiest way to resolve this problem is for you to call Alexandria and explain the situation without getting him involved. This plane is flying, and it's flying without the child being strapped down." Thomas concluded. Five minutes later, the pilot announced push back.

The balance of the flight was very smooth except for an extremely pissed off stewardess who remained in the galley while her assistant dealt with the passengers.

Bert did not get personally involved, in fact he didn't know there was even a problem until almost a month later when Alexandria told him about it. What Bert was involved in was Christopher who was now on his third plane ride and getting to like it a whole lot.

With Helen in tow, Bert relaxed as well as he could, despite the fact that they wouldn't get to put the little one's down for at least four more hours. Kenny took the take off in stride, he had already been fed dinner and was napping most of the way with Christopher poking him every five minutes or so with the eternal question "Baby? Baby?" to Jeanette.

20 minutes before the plane landed, Christopher was sound asleep on the isle floor.

"Should we pick him up and put him in our lap?" Helen asked.

"What for, if the plane crashes on landing, we're all dead anyway," Bert told her. The junior stewardess smiled and put a blanket over Christopher.

Traversing the mess of the "Big dig" the group arrived in Brookline at the hotel just before 11:00 and took up three adjoining suite's on the top floor. With the elevator's locked out of traveling to that floor, and with the stairway doors locked from the outside stairwells to the general public, Bert felt reasonably secure in his new environment. He wasn't that worried about David or Kenny, but Christopher was usually naked if he had anything to say about it, and once Bert satisfied himself that the windows didn't open and the elevator buttons were too high for him to reach, he could streak away at will.

Upon arrival, Thomas had a message waiting for him. The message was from Thomas's oldest Brother, Stuart. Since the funeral of Thomas's Uncle Joel, Stuart had limited knowledge concerning Geppetto, and as a Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Alexandria had allowed the Administrator's of The Project to contact him and include him in on the testing that Christopher would now undergo. Another Brother, Charles, would also be involved in the testing, and Thomas was deeply surprised to find out his entire family now knew of his presence in Boston. It was clear from the message that Thomas would be expected to visit the Family on Martha's Vineyard where five of his seven Brother's had gathered in anticipation of his arrival.

"Did you know about this?" Thomas asked Bert when he showed him the message.

"I knew your Brother Stuart was going to be attending, but Charles is a surprise. I didn't think Alexandria brought in any other Brother but Stuart," Bert told Thomas.

"What doe's your Brother do?" he asked.

"He teaches Anesthesiology," Thomas replied.

"Well that explains that, it sounds like they're bringing in the big guns," Bert replied.

"Do you think they told Charles about Geppetto?" Thomas now asked his Director.

"They may have, but I doubt it. There would be no reason to bring up Geppetto with him, Christopher's certainly not going to be raising any questions in his mind," Bert replied.

"I'll call Alexandria in the morning and find out, but until we know for sure, it's best if you assumed he knows nothing. As far as Stuart is concerned, he has limited knowledge, but it's best if the subject stays closed," Bert suggested.

Upon hearing the news, David was excited at the prospect of once again seeing Thomas's youngest Brother Paulie, and of returning to the Vineyard's.

"It's going to be a very short visit, I need to be at the hospital whenever Christopher is going to be medicated," Thomas reminded the boy. David knew there was no way he was going to be allowed to stay with Christopher during the procedures at Boston Children's Hospital, and just maybe he could spend the night on the Vineyard's, or at least have Paulie stay overnight with him at the hotel.

"We can figure that all out in the morning." Thomas told him as he turned out the light and slipped in next to David.

Morning broke for the children at Green Tree probably 15 degrees warmer than Boston. It was going to be an overcast day, maybe even rain some Adam thought to himself as the cabin began to come alive with activity. It was one of the extremely rare times when the man woke up with a dry bed, and the feeling was kind of pleasant. With anywhere from 1 to five kids in bed with him on a usual night, he could usually bank on swimming. Being Saturday, there was no bugle blowing reveille, and the sun was still hidden among the trees as the tell-tale sound of bare feet on the hallway floor told Adam that his solitude was about to end, Sammy was on his way.

Adam watched as the boy walked into the room and headed directly for the toilet with a very proudly standing bladder erection clutched in his fist. Sammy almost made it to the toilet before the flow began, and Adam for one was happy the bathroom was not carpeted. It took a second or two before Sammy finally got control of his penis and tilted it down into the bowl, but the top of the toilet seat served as a fair backstop until then. Once again, Adam was grateful that the housekeeping crew existed and would deal with a dozen or so boys with very poor aiming capabilities.

"Maybe I should paint a bullseye on the bottom of the bowl," Adam quipped as Sammy climbed into the bed and climbed on top of Adam. With a giggle, Sammy snuggled into his counselor's chest and slipped down between his legs. Adam pulled a sheet over Sammy as one hand massage the boys back while the other caressed his very soft, back slightly clammy bottom.

"You always say that Uncle Adam!" Sammy said as he laid his head sideways on Adam's chest knowing he now had his teachers full and undivided attention.

It was an unwritten rule that Sammy had the first 15 minutes of so in the mornings with Adam, and never was the time wasted between the two. It didn't always end in love making, but the times when it didn't were extremely rare. On those rare occasions it wasn't necessary to make physical love with his teacher, just being held tightly, hugged and cuddled was almost as good. This particular morning wasn't one of them, but every now and then, it did happen. Sammy was well aware that his day would find him with his friends every few hours, but those were fun and games time with his friends, and not time for serious lovemaking which Sammy was quite formidable at.

With a slightly moist forehead, Sammy looked out past the open sliding glass doors as a gray squirrel and his buddy chased each other along a branch on a big maple tree that was now blooming with brand new bright green Spring leaves. Once his breathing and heart rate went back down to normal levels, Sammy's mind began working once again as he contemplated the day ahead of him.

"We're going horseback riding today Uncle Adam . Can you come with us?" Sammy asked as he turned himself back around and clung to Adam's side.

"I may be able to take a ride out to the overlook a little later in my cart Sammy, but I can't leave the campus for hours," Adam told Sammy as he put his arm around the little boy and rubbed his back. Sammy understood, but was disappointed never the less.

Once conversation was heard coming from Adam's room, the signal had been given. With the sound of showers beginning throughout the cabin, Carla, Jeannie, Chris and Matty now entered the room. Jeannie and Matty headed for the bed and crawled in under the sheets as Carla and Chris headed for the bathroom. Unfortunately for her, Carla reached the toilet first and sat down staring at Chris's bladder erection which was in a choke hold getting redder by the second.

"The seats all wet!" Carla exclaimed as she sat down and settled herself in. With Chris doing a small dance, he finally gave up and went to the showers and let the flood gates open.

Once bladders were emptied, both Carla and Chris opted to return to Adam's bed instead of showering. Chris climbed in alongside Matty, while Carla saw a wide open chest on Adam and climbed on board.

"Maybe instead of going horseback riding this morning, we should all stay here and I can teach the boys how to aim the fire hoses, and teach the girls what toilet paper is used for," Adam said as Carla slid under the sheet and planted herself somewhere on top of Adam's umbilical cord.

"That's silly Uncle Adam, we're just going to take a shower in five minutes anyway." Carla said. Adam patted the girls ass.

"Still, my stomach's a poor substitute for toilet paper." Carla giggled, and was unrepentant.

"The boys piss all over the toilet seat," she told her counselor.

"Oh, well in that case, I guess I deserve to have wet pussy sitting on my tummy," he replied. Another day began at Green Tree as it usually does; with laughter, with togetherness, and with love.

With Bert gone, Sid had temporarily moved into his cabin. In an emergency, and for communications, Bert's cabin was the focal point of the school, and Sid was now in charge. While nothing would change in Bert's absence, Sid wasn't about to tell the children that. In fact the opposite was true. His usual line for the next few days was;

"Now that I'm in charge, next week we start banning school. You guys can stay up until midnight, and eat candy for breakfast.!" By the time Bert returned, he would be explaining for weeks that Uncle Sid was only kidding. Camp humor was rearing it's ugly head once again!

On the serious side, Sid had responsibility for very close to 600 lives. He did not take that responsibility lightly.

"Bert's settled in up in Boston, and you'll all be happy to hear that Christopher didn't hijack the plane to Havana," Sid began at the morning meeting of Department heads.

"Monday morning will be the serious scans when they'll put Christopher under, so we should be seeing them back here by Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. The best thing we can do is to maintain the routine as much as possible in their absence and keep the children as busy as we can. I've been briefed by Bert about any on-going problems he's been dealing with, and unless we find ourselves in a crisis situation, I prefer that they be handled by Bert once he returns," Sid told the group.

"Unless the weather doesn't cooperate, we'll have the first Bivouac tonight. I want the kids focused on something other than the clock and Bert's return so let's schedule an Activity Day for Wednesday," Sid advised.

"Dan, what's the temperature of the lake?"

"62 [17°C]" Dan replied. Sid sat back and thought about it for a few seconds.

"Still too cold for the little one's and if they see the older kids swimming, they'll want to join in. Run the boats and schedule races, but the beach stays closed unless it warms to 65 [18°C]," Sid said.

"Let's keep in mind we have construction all around these kids, any construction area is off limits to Camp Kenny, the Intermediate boys and Pine Ridge girls. There's no "Good time" for an accident, but we don't have the Doc and we don't have Bert or Jeanette. We're running on seven cylinders until Bert gets back so let's stay extra vigilant," Sid concluded.

In Boston, morning came with a steady Spring rain. Christopher's normal routine was to wake up between seven and 7:30 and he did not disappoint. He had fallen to sleep very close to 9:00 the evening before on the floor of the plane, and through the landing, the van ride to the hotel and check in, he never twitched an eyebrow. Once Christopher was asleep, he was gone to the world even if a party was swirling around him. Even as the girls and Helen undressed him and put him into a diaper and pajama's, Christopher stayed sound asleep. Now, he had a good ten hours sleep, and it was time for him to boogie.

Climbing over the girls who had him sandwiched in bed, Christopher waddled over to Bert and Helen and climbed up the bed. Laying down between the two, he grabbed for Bert's eyelid as he opened them.

"Pee Pee Burd? Pee Pee?" he asked as he clawed at his one piece pajama's with his other hand. Bert smiled a little as Christopher took his fingers away from Bert's eye as the man looked into Christopher's face less than two inches [5 cm] away from his. Normally, Christopher was naked, or at least had no pajama's on, and if the diaper was still on, the little boy could take it off with one hand and hopefully go and find a toilet. Now, with the pajama's on, the diaper had taken a severe beating during the night, and was a five pound [2¼ kg] weight hanging off Christopher's waist which the boy couldn't reach. As Helen unzipped the back of the pajama's Bert pulled the boys arms out of the suit as Christopher slid the suit down and off his feet.

"Make Pee Pee in the toilet Christopher." Helen told the boy as a rip told Helen the boy was now free from the diaper.

"Hey!" Christopher exclaimed as he now crawled on all fours towards the bottom of the bed with a wet, pink ass. Christopher did a great job of reaching the toilet, and even managed to point his penis in the right direction as he let go of his bladder. Unfortunately, the toilet seat cover was down at the time, but Helen did manage to get half the load into the toilet by the time she realized the minor error.

Christopher's normal routine by now was to shower with the girls. For those around him, shower time was a time to get clean. For Christopher, it was a time to play. While one of the girls washed him and shampooed his hair, the other kept him busy and occupied by playing with him and his basket full of toys that were always present. With Christopher and the girls playing on the shower floor, Bert made phone calls back to Alexandria and School. Helen went next door to Jeanette's suite and showered as Kenny drank his second snack of the day while Jeanette brushed his hair.

Jeanette smiled as Helen informed the girl about the toilet mishap.

"What's the schedule for him today?" she asked as Kenny moved to her other breast.

"We're bringing him into the hospital at 3:00 so they can do some testing and get him settled in. Tonight, they'll do scans while he's sleeping, and tomorrow they'll begin sedating him to see if they can get him quiet enough to scan while he's awake. Tomorrow night, he'll be scanned again while asleep, and on Monday morning, he'll be put down and finish the scans under general anesthesia. Unless they run into a huge glitch, we should be able to go home Tuesday."

Helen told Jeanette.

"Bert thinks he's going to cooperate with all of that?" she asked.

"The sticky part is going to be tomorrow when they sedate him. Nobody knows how he's going to react, he has no history with depressant's as far as we know." Helen replied.

"And getting him to fall asleep?" Jeanette asked.

"We're going to put him down with both girls. Once he's asleep, he's dead to the world and the girls can get out of the bed while he's being scanned. Bert thinks it will work if we keep things as normal as possible for Christopher."

Thomas and David's day began with a phone call. Thomas's youngest Brother had been up since 5:30 waiting to call, and at 7:00 sharp, he picked up the receiver. Paulie had not seen Thomas or David since the funeral some eight months earlier, and the 14 year old was ready to hitchhike to Boston from the Vineyards if necessary. Paulie's very first question was to ask when David and his Brother was coming to join him.

As Christopher's Pediatrician, whenever a procedure was going to occur, he would be in attendance, but basically, Thomas would have little, if anything to do with the actual procedures. His two Brother's would be more involved than he was.

"Stuart and Charles are going to be flying back and forth in a chopper." Paulie explained to Thomas.

"You and David can come out here with them."

"A chopper?" Thomas asked.

"A helicopter silly!" Paulie said somewhat exasperated.

"It's a big blue and white thing that's been sitting in the back yard now for two days." Paulie said.

"Where did Stuart get that?" Thomas asked.

"I don't know, he just said he's borrowing it." Paulie replied.

"Charles picked me and Steven up from school in it. It's really neat!" the boy replied.

"When the other kids at school saw it, their eyes bugged out!"

As Thomas handed the phone to David, his first question to Paulie was "How's Dora?". As David talked with Paulie, Thomas went next door to talk with Bert.

"Do you know anything about a helicopter?" Thomas asked. Bert didn't know what Thomas was talking about. Once it was explained, Bert picked up the phone.

"It's on loan from Alexandria. They don't want any travel glitches between Boston and the Vineyard's, so it's at Stuart's disposal," Bert told Thomas.

"Alexandria assumes you and David will want to visit. They have no objections, but David cannot remain on the Vineyard's alone, he must be with one of us at all times. They're aware of Paulie and David, and if Paulie wants to visit David at the hotel, it's OK, but Paulie will be told nothing about Geppetto," Bert said.

Both men now looked at the schedule for Christopher. With a helicopter available to him,

Thomas could be at the hospital within 30 minutes of a call. With the goal of keeping Christopher's day as "Normal" as possible, it wasn't necessary for Thomas or David to be there at night, and as long as Thomas was available and on-call, Bert gave him clearance to leave with David in the evenings as long as he returned by 8:00 in the morning when Christopher's new day began. Paulie was ecstatic.

Chiefly because of Christopher, Bert decided he would eat his meals in the room rather than go down to the hotel's restaurant. There was also the high probability that Kenny would decide he was thirsty during his meal, and even if he were a week old baby, having the restaurant's patron's see and be outraged and disgusted by the sight of a nursing child was something Bert preferred to avoid if at all possible. He knew fucking a well it would result in one hell of a public scene, and he would be the main antagonist to anybody that batted an eyelash.

"Christopher and I will eat up here, but there's no reason the rest of you can't go down to the Dining Room if you want," Bert suggested to the group.

"We live together, we eat together" Jeanette instantly replied. Since nobody disagreed, breakfast was served on the patio to warm conversation, and a slow drizzle.

Christopher would not be entering the hospital until mid afternoon, and keeping him happy and contained, even within three suites was going to be impossible. Christopher moved from sunrise to sunset, and would be climbing walls within hours. As a Harvard Graduate, Bert was very familiar with Boston. Finding activities to keep Christopher happy was no challenge. Immediately after breakfast, a visit to the Aquarium, followed by lunch, and then a visit to the Children's Museum kept Christopher happy, and everybody else happy to be entering the hospital for a well deserved rest just before 3:00.

Receiving cooperation from Christopher took forethought and planning unless it was something he wanted to do and it was his original idea. What now needed to be done was to get him into a hospital gown without balking. Being no one's fool, Bert had David, the girls and even Kenny put into gowns as Christopher stood by and watched. By the time it was his turn, Helen held out a gown towards him, and he promptly sat down and began taking off his shoe's and socks. In one minute he stood before Helen bare ass naked with his arms held out and no questions on his mind. While the girls held on tightly to the backs of their gowns, Christopher was streaking down the hall to the playroom before Helen had the opportunity to tie the gown on.

Certain rules had to be bent to get Christopher's cooperation, and among them was obtaining urine and blood sample's on the fly so to speak. Normally secured in a very private setting, Christopher's nurse soon discovered that you needed to be very careful when you asked Christopher for a urine sample. Coming into the playroom with a cup, she asked Bert if the child would cooperate in providing it.

"Sure, just ask him to go Pee Pee," Bert told the nurse. Walking over to Christopher it was the nurses intention to take him into the bathroom.

"Christopher, can you go Pee Pee for me?" she asked with a very sweet smile. Christopher promptly lifted his gown and opened the gates. As the nurse scurried to get the offering in the cup, the other boys and girls in the room looked at each other. The next time she asked, she had the cup in place!

Next on her list of things to do was to obtain a blood sample. Under normal conditions, this could take a little bit of doing with a "Normal" child. The nurse expected fireworks.

"Would he be more comfortable sitting on someone's lap?" the Nurse asked.

"That's OK, just take it with him sitting on the floor," Thomas replied.

"You don't want to comfort him?" she asked.

"It's not necessary." Thomas told her. The Nurses opinion of Thomas sunk to the basement. Walking over to him she knelt down and wrapped a tie around his upper arm. Christopher looked at the tie and then to Bert.

"I-ee?" he asked.

"Medicine Christopher," Bert told the boy. Christopher was silent as the Nurse tightened the tie and palpated for a vein. Without flinching the boy watched as the Nurse inserted the needle and released the tie. three vials later, Christopher was still watching as the needle came out and a small cotton ball was attached with a band aid.

"Boo Boo?" Christopher asked the Nurse. The Nurse smiled at Christopher "You're a very brave little boy!" she said to him. Christopher smiled "Hey!" he replied as he went back to playing.

"That's never happened before," she said as she passed the adults.

"If you did it any other way, he would have balked," Thomas replied. The nurse said nothing but smiled at Thomas. His time in the basement was very brief.

Just after 4:00, Bert watched as four men entered the playroom. He had never seen three of them before, but he did recognize the Anesthetist sent by the New Hampshire School for Joey's appendectomy. He assumed the remaining three were Doctor's also, and from David's reaction to two of them, assumed these were Thomas's Brother's. After introductions, the time was at hand for the men to meet their patient, who up until that point in time was more interested in the Tonka trucks.

While Christopher was far more impressed with the toys, the hospital's Administrator's were now also joining the group as the Chief of Administration and the Chief Financial Officer joined them. Normally, the men most probably wouldn't even have known the Doctor's were there, but not every Doctor arrived by Private helicopter and a very big blue and white one was now parked on the hospital's landing pad. Both Stuart and Charles had extremely impressive credentials, and the hospital knew an opportunity when it saw it. They also now realized that their new pediatric patient wasn't exactly just another child from Chicopee in for some testing.

Christopher's introduction to his Medical Team went well, he basically ignored them while playing. He was not being impolite, he was being Christopher. Halfway through the conversation between the adults, Christopher got up and walked over to Bert.

"Rink. rink Burd?" Christopher asked as he signed with his hand in a fist with his thumb pointing towards his mouth. As Helen reached into her bag to get Christopher a bottle of apple juice, the Physicians watched.

"Is the child hearing impaired?" The Administrator now asked.

"No, his hearing is fine, he just has some basic communications skills problems that we're working on," Bert told the group.

"He can communicate his needs and wants readily, you just need to be around him for awhile to understand exactly what he's trying to convey.

"Rink" means drink to him, and he'll often sign in conjunction with his requests," Bert told the group as they watched Christopher down the bottle of juice.

"How much cooperation can we expect during testing?" Stuart now asked.

"If it requires him to be laying perfectly still while the scans are taken, I'd say 0 to none. He'll lay where you tell him to lay and he'll go where you tell him to go, but you'll never get him to stop moving," Bert told the group. Thinking positively, the Financial Officer felt he was on solid ground.

"We've had hyperactive patients before, our staff can deal with the problem," he said. Bert looked at the man and smiled.

"That's very good to hear, but we need to keep in mind that this boy is not to be put under physical restraint while he's conscious for any reason whatsoever," Bert told the man. The hospital's Administrator left the meeting with a clearer understanding of exactly who was in charge.

Stuart and Charles spent the better part of the next hour with Bert and Thomas discussing how Christopher would react, and what to expect from him as they observed the boy interacting with those around him. Since the night's activity would not include anything more than the necessity for Christopher to be asleep, it was not necessary for them to be there. It was also not necessary for Thomas or David to be there, since the goal was to keep Christopher's routine as normal as possible until he fell asleep.

Leaving the playroom, Christopher immediately climbed into Bert's arms and wrapped his arms around the man's neck. If either of Thomas's Brother's had any questions concerning Bert, they melted away as they followed the group and looked at Christopher's face. Neither had a clue what the relationship was between the two, but neither doubted the connection both had.

As the helicopter lifted off, David looked down at the hospital's roof and the traffic flowing around the hospital. Passing over the harbor, he looked down on the Constitution as Thomas explained what he was looking at. David remembered his history, and he remembered the ship from his Uncle Sid's talking about it.

"It's so small, I thought it was huge," David said as they headed South.

"Well, in it's day, it was huge," Thomas replied.

"Just remember, the Mayflower was only about 100 feet [30 m] long when it brought all the Pilgrims to America." For David, the concept was lost.

What was not lost was the appearance of the house as the helicopter circled the grounds. David had never seen the house before from the air, but as the chopper maneuvered into the wind and he saw the South facing portico of the house with the lawn flowing down to the cliff's, he recognized the grounds he had played on less than a year before. Once the huge craft drifted closer to the house, David caught the unmistakable sight of Dora in her stone white dress and multi colored flowing headdress standing next to Paulie on the back porch. David rarely shed tears, he shed tears now.

Getting in between Dora and the children of the house was a very stupid move since any of the Brother's could remember, and that included Stuart and Charles, some of the oldest.

As the helicopter unloaded, Stuart and Charles gave Dora a kiss as Thomas mounted the stairs to what he knew was going to be an extremely emotional greeting. If Thomas was gone for a month, it was a one towel affair. Then again, he considered himself lucky. At 26, he was an adult. As David exited the aircraft, the tears hit the fan. For David, it was doubly emotional. He fully realized for the first time that not only did he love them, they regarded him as family.

Following the funeral, the House was relatively quiet except for Christmas when the entire Family except for Thomas had gathered. On the weekends, both Paulie and Thomas were there, chiefly to keep Dora both very busy and happy. By Vineyards standards, the house was large, and sat on a piece of land that developers drooled over. But like most properties on the Island, it was for sale at no price. Thomas sat down on the back porch overlooking the water he had spent his entire youth looking at like it was yesterday.

"Are we going to get any static about that helicopter?" he asked as he took a sip of the drink his Brother Michael now poured him.

"Nowhere near the shit created by the last boat you rode in on," Michael said regarding the jet sitting at Logan. Thomas smiled as did his older Brother Stuart.

"Helicopters are petty common out here. I guess the neighbors will just assume we're middle class," he said.

"I've searched my mail box Thomas, and I can't find a request for David's education.

Have you misplaced it?" Stuart now asked his younger Brother. Thomas smiled.

"No, it hasn't been misplaced, but David's only 13 and he hasn't made any commitments yet," Thomas said.

"I was 10 when i knew I wanted to be a Doctor. Michael was 11, Cory was 9, Steven was 12, Paulie was 10. How old were you when you knew what you wanted to be Thomas?" Stuart asked. Thomas thought back to his youth.

"I was 11, but we had Marty and Uncle Joel guiding us," Thomas said.

"Yes, and David has Thomas." Stuart replied.

"Are you afraid he doesn't have the mental capacity to become a Physician?" he asked.

Thomas smiled.

"He picks up technique and intuition a hell of a lot faster than I ever did!" Thomas replied.

"So you are introducing him to medicine," Michael said.

"Yes, but it's not like us. We all went into medicine because it was the only thing Marty and Uncle Joel knew. David's horizon's expand far beyond that. I just don't want to pigeon hole him into a career he'll later regret or reject," Thomas said reflectively.

"Marty and Uncle Joel will roll over in their grave, but we'll stand by your decision if David ends up wanting to be a Lawyer. Just remember, it was your idea and not ours and when Marty and Uncle Joel meet your ass, you're all alone!" Michael told his Brother with a chuckle.

Chapter Twenty

David's welcome back to the Vineyards by Thomas's family took the 13 year old by complete surprise. For his part, he had made some very special friends during a very sad and difficult time for the children, but he thought he was alone in his feelings towards the people in that house. He was only there a few days for the Funeral of their Uncle Joel,

and they did have fun on the last night, but David didn't think they thought all that much about him after he returned to Green Tree. He did think of them, but correspondence was not an option, and it had been over half a year since they were together. From the youngest child, to the almost 70 year old Housekeeper/Cook Dora, his welcome back overwhelmed him in it's sincerity.

Walking off the helicopter that brought him from Boston, he was swept completely off his feet by the family's Haitian Housekeeper as if she were greeting a long lost relative.

He had seen the woman cry at the funeral, and here she was at it again. However, these tears were tears of joy as David smelled the now familiar scent of jasmine that the robust woman wore routinely. As she whirled David around on the lawn, the boy caught a glimpse of the back kitchen screen door opening as another half dozen or so children came sprinting out of the house to greet him with the screen door slamming against the side of the house. Once back on his feet, Thomas's youngest brother Paulie was the first of the children to greet him, and the greeting was only a little less intense. Paulie wasn't crying, but he was holding David in a bear hug tighter than he had when the two boys slept together back in the Fall.

At 15, Paulie was a good eight inches [20 cm] taller than David, and while David wasn't swung around with the ease accomplished by Dora, his feet still left the ground in an embrace which needed little explanation.

"We really missed you! When Stuart phoned me and told me you were coming back home, I couldn't wait to get back here." Paulie said as David once more touched the ground.

"We all got to get out of school early!" A 10 year old girl told David as the other children all circled to welcome David back.

"Uncle Paulie even got to get picked up at his school in your helicopter!" An eight year old told him. David now looked back at the huge Sikorsky S-92 sitting on the lawn with the aircrafts crew headed for a van for the ride to the motel for the night.

"It's not mine!" David told the group.

"Uncle Stuart say's that it came from your school. You must go to an awful rich school!" the little boy exclaimed. David shrugged his shoulders.

"Did you bring your big jet back too?" the little boy asked. David smiled as he picked him up and gave him a hug.

"Yes, it's in Boston Richard," he said as he gave the boy a kiss.

Mounting the stairs and going into the house through the side portico, the kitchen was awash in the smell of baking. The huge kitchen reminded David of the school's kitchen, not nearly as big, but yet still bustling with people and food being cooked and racks of pie's cooling down. As the houses cook, David knew very well Dora's abilities at food preparation, but in the Fall, she was in mourning for the houses owner, and did only the essentials. Now, eight months later, she had a large part of the Family back together for a long weekend, and she was back in her full stride.

Her passion was baking, and no stove stood cold. For the children, a trip through the kitchen was wasted unless a piece of cake or pastry went along with them, and eight apple, blueberry and cherry turnovers disappeared before Dora could scold them for "Spoiling" their Dinner. A strange twinge inside David overtook him as he followed Paulie through the swinging doors into the main house. He shuddered a bit as he said to himself that he was "Home" once again. To be sure, it was a strange feeling; the only place he had ever considered home before was Green Tree.

"So you got picked up from school in the helicopter?" David asked Paulie as he juggled a very hot turnover from one hand to the other.

"Yeah. Stuart picked up Steven at his school, and then they came to my school and picked me up. You should have seen the other kids and teachers eyes bug out!" Paulie exclaimed with a grin."

"How long are you going to be staying?" little Richard now asked as the group headed for the family room.

Passing by the now locked playroom that had been Uncle Joel's when he was a child, David stopped and looked at the curtained glass panel doors. He paused reflectively thinking about what was inside. The room was now hallowed ground to David, as well as to all the inhabitants of the house, never to be entered again.

"I don't know yet, at least until Tuesday Uncle Thomas told me." David replied once he resumed walking. The answer now had the little boy wondering.

"Uncle Paulie, how come he call's Uncle Tom-Tom his Uncle? Ain't you and David brothers?" he asked.

"Good question Ritchie, we need to ask Tom-Tom or your Dad," he told the boy.

The boy's question was not a random one. The smaller children regarded David as an Uncle in the Fall. Now, it was unclear to them. Was David considered a cousin to them or an Uncle? Richard's Father was Stuart who as the head of the Family now always had the last word. When his Son asked him the question as the man sat and read the paper, Stuart pondered the answer.

"It's a good question Richard, let's try to figure it out with your Uncle Thomas," he told his Son as he called Thomas over. Fully well realizing the answer had far ranging consequences, both for the children and for the adults in his Family, Thomas had asked himself the exact same question.

"The system used at school makes me David's uncle which is why he refers to me as his uncle" Thomas began as the entire room listened.

"Your Uncle Marty had nine Brother's before he passed away including Uncle Joel and there cannot be more than that in our Family now that he's passed away. David is like my adopted Son, and you are all cousins to him like you are to each other."

"Neat!" Richard said as he took a bite of his turnover.

"Does Dora know you took that piece of pastry?" the little boy's Mother now asked.

"If she did, she would'a paddled his little fat behind but good!" Dora said as she entered the room wiping her hands on her apron. With unconcerned giggles, the children now headed upstairs as Dora instructed them to wash for Dinner.

"You just make sure you eat every crumb on your plate's tonight!" the woman scolded the group as they filed past her with blue, red and yellow faces.

The adult's chuckled as Dora left the Family Room mumbling to herself about ruined appetite's and naughty children. At the same time, the adults knew if the kids hadn't grabbed something to eat on the passage, she would have had another reason to mumble.

To Dora, a happy child was a child who was eating, and if she could contribute to their happiness, all the better! The woman had worked in that house since she was 13 year's old and had raised and fed everyone of the offspring of the brother's and not one could be considered skinny!

With Thomas and David gone for the evening, Bert set about making the evenings routine for Christopher as normal as possible even given the fact they were in the hospital and not back at the hotel. With Kenny and the girls still in hospital gowns, Christopher could care less, but then again, Christopher could care less if he was buck naked.

That night's testing simply required him to be sleeping, and to keep things routine would facilitate his cooperation at going to sleep reasonably early. Two rooms were now set up, one for Christopher to go to sleep with the girls, and the other for Bert, Helen, Jeanette and little Kenny who by now, was getting more than a little antsy as most two ½ year olds can get.

Boston Children's is a wonderful facility and does great works. However, as the adults soon realized, the food sucked. Most of it was picked through and by the end of Dinner, just about everybody but Christopher was still hungry. Christopher ate the food that was put on his plate, and the difference between a piece of bologna and filet mignon to him was the length of time it took to chew and swallow. Unlike most other people at Green Tree, Christopher was not fussy about food. While nothing was said, Jeanette knew she had to get Kenny back to the hotel and properly fed. The plans now were beginning to change. Not being familiar with Boston, Jeanette picked up a phone and called the hotel which was a mile or so away. After speaking to room service, she was put on the line with the hotel's Manager. Room Service had balked at delivering food to the hospital, it was a request never made before. Jeanette saw it differently once she found out what the suite's were costing Uncle Sam and suggested to the Manager that he "Bend" the rules a bit. Possibly under normal conditions, the Manager would have put Jeanette in touch with a local restaurant to order in food, but given the fact that these guests were arriving by private jet which the hotel's van driver had described to the hotel staff in great detail, coupled with the fact that the open-ended tab was being billed directly back to Harvard, he "Bent". Jeanette also wanted the hotel to send a car to pick her and Kenny up. Staying that night was unnecessary, Christopher was merely going to go to sleep and not having a crowd around, would have been more "Normal" for the boy. By 8:00 the real food was eaten, and Jeanette departed for the hotel with Kenny.

Her trip back to the hotel was a short one with the hotel's Manager waiting for her return. She thanked the Manager, and also told him that they would need breakfast, lunch and dinner served at the hospital for as long as they were there. Staff was quite happy at the news, they had seen the size of the gratuity that was added to the Dinner tab!

Back in her Suite, Jeanette's first move was to call Bert and let him know she was back in her room and then a long soaking bath with a very groggy Kenny half sleeping and half nursing laying on Jeanette's stomach. To the boy, it was old familiar territory as the toddler drifted off to sleep being massaged from his neck to his thigh's as Jeanette hummed softly and kissed his temple. It had been a long tough day for the boy, and it was about time the routine returned to normal.

The end to Christopher's day came closer to 10:00 as the girls played with him in the hospital's play room. Back in school, one of Christopher's favorite activities was body painting. With none of the hospitals other children in attendance, Bert agreed to let the girls paint away. After a shower with both girls to get the tempora off all of them, it was bedtime with Christopher not even blinking about sleeping in a new environment. He had the girls to lay down with, and he had a bed. What else did he need?

Sandwiched between both girls, Christopher was sound asleep within five minute's as the girls got up and Christopher was wheeled down darkened halls to the scanning room as he slept the sleep of the dead as he always did. Bert thanked his Father for this little feat. As children, Christopher and his brother could, and often did, sleep during parties his Father gave with a few dozen close friends. Sleeping through Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa and Jefferson Airplane blaring through the stereo was common for him, sleeping through a quietly humming open MRI was a piece of cake! As both girls now slept in with Helen, Bert stood by as the machine did it's job. By 1:00 the scanning was completed, and Bert returned to bed with Helen as Christopher snuggled in between the two. He never stirred once.

Dinner on the Vineyard for David was a new culinary experience. Uncle Joel had only rarely told the housekeeper what to cook, it was almost always left for Dora to decide. Special occasions like Thanksgiving, Hanukkah/Christmas and Easter/Passover were the exceptions, and every now and then, a special request was made, but for the most part, the Family sat down not knowing what to expect unless they recognized the smell of the cooking food. Now that Joel had passed away, the tradition was being carried on; Dora ran the kitchen. With a staff of six for the house, all of which were relatives of the woman from Haiti, both continuity and security was assured.

"What is it?" David asked as he was served a bowl.

"It's New England clam chowder."

Paulie told David.

"Have you ever had it before?" he asked. David shook his head.

"Try it, you'll like it." 9 year old Jaime said.

"Uncle Joel's Mother taught Dora to make it when she was a little girl." Richard now said as he dropped in a handful of oyster crackers into the chowder and passed the basket to David.

"let them soaked up the juice, it's real good!" he said. David's conception of something good or bad was whether he would eat it again. The chowder passed the test. It was hot, slightly spicy and small little pieces of ground up clams gave it a salty taste, but very good. He also soon realized that the trick was to keep it full of crackers, which sometimes could be tricky because the basket was rarely sitting still at the table. David went through a six course meal, the greater majority of it fish or seafood of one kind or another. He liked the Shrimp Cocktail, and now also learn a new trick, how to get the sauce as hot as you can by adding horseradish, but not so much it burned your nose when you breathed out. David had eaten lobster and steak before, but the crab, salmon and filet of flounder was a new taste treat for him as he tried a piece of each dish. Desert of lemon meringue pie topped off a meal that was unlike anything he had ever eaten before, but something he would remember for months and undoubtedly years to come.

After Dinner, tradition in the Big House on Gay Head was always a gathering in the Family Room to showcase the children of the house's learning of the day, or their talent.

Originally it was implemented for Uncle Joel as a small boy and included his next door neighbor and best friend, Marty. Eventually, it included Stuart and all seven of his "Brother's"

along with the children who soon followed. In lieu of television, the evening was devoted to the progress of the children who now took the center of the adults attention and as David learned, he was now a part of that progress.

From the very youngest to the oldest, they took their turn. If a child learned to tie his shoe's or recite the alphabet they demonstrated it. If a child learned to draw or write, they showed it. If a child played an instrument, they played. If a child learned to read or wrote a poem, they recited. As David watched he realized that his turn was coming, and he would be expected to perform as well. He also knew that as the age of the children progressed, so did the degree of difficulty in coming up with something. In desperation, David turned to Paulie.

"I don't have anything to share. I can't think of anything I learned today except maybe that the Constitution was a lot smaller than I thought it was!" he told his friend.

"That would sound stupid if I said it."

Paulie who had just turned 15, was a street smart kid from Springfield when Marty first met him at a C.Y.O. Camp when he was 10 years old. Coming from a fatherless, impoverished home life and an abusive mother, it took Paulie hours to figure out that if he stayed with his family, he was doomed to a lifetime of poverty, neglect and abuse.

Marty and Uncle Joel fed, clothed and housed him when nobody else came forward. Paulie's Mother was only too happy to be rid of the boy, he was a pain in her ass and always got in the way. Paulie walked out of his Mother's life with the clothes on his back.

He never looked back, and he never regretted his decision for an instant.

"Ya don't have to come up with the solution to global warming David, all ya need to say is something you learned recently. Like the food you ate, or the ship you saw, or the ride on the helicopter you've never been on before! This shit ain't brain surgery, it's just basic stuff.!" Paulie counseled his friend. David's turn eventually did come.

"I learned I like Calm Chowder and I like Baked Salmon. I also learned how much I missed you all," David said as he stood up.

Thomas sat back as he heard David speak. Glancing at the fire in the hearth, the blue, red, orange and green flames from the logs melded as his eyes blurred. David did not need rescuing as a child like Thomas and so very many of his brothers did, but yet, David was now most certainly a part of the Family that Marty had started almost 60 years earlier with Joel.

Paulie was the last to speak and usually he related something very light-hearted if not comical to the assembled. While Paulie was technically considered an "Uncle" by the children, to the adults, and as the "Baby" of the Family, he was still a child, and therefore took his turn at "Show and tell" along with his Nieces and Nephews.

As he rose to speak he looked down at David.

"Uncle Joel did not know, and never met David, but he asked me about him in the hospital before he died. I only met David that same day on the plane, but I told Uncle Joel what he looked like, what I thought of him, and how I felt about Tom-Tom's choice." Paulie said.

"Uncle Joel smiled when I told him what I thought, and then he closed his eyes and went to sleep. Uncle Joel was very happy about David becoming a part of our Family and so am I!" David's eyes were not the wettest in the room.

Thomas suspected, and quite rightly so, that David would be sleeping in the attic of the house with the other children. Unlike the children at Green Tree, these were not Geppetto boys and girls, they were completely "normal" with sexual libido's like any other child. As David had learned in the Fall, that didn't mean these children didn't play, they just didn't play as often as David and his school mates did. While for David that wasn't great news, what was great news was the fact that the children's parents were extremely liberal when it came to their romping. Nothing was ever verbally said by any adult in the house, but like Green Tree boys, they were raised in complete sexual freedom, and the attic was their sanctuary that was off-limits to any adult. It was a very distant memory for him, but David did remember as a very small child having to hide his activities from the adults around him. At Green Tree and now here on the Vineyard there was no sneaking and hiding; they were simply doing what all human beings do.

With showers history, a small stampede to the attic by very bare assed children over five years old found themselves surrounded by the toys and memorabilia of both their Uncle Joel and of Marty. As boys, both Marty and Joel had played in the attic, and often even slept up there together. Now, amongst stacks of camp trunks piled four and five feet [1.2-1.5 m] high, the toys they played with were packed away. Trunks full of puzzle's, games, comic books, coloring books, Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey hats and pistols. Davy Crockett coonskin caps, Bozo the Clown records and record players and Shirley Temple books and records. David didn't recognize most of the things he saw, but he did know they were very old and very well preserved. He watched as the other children took them out and looked at them, and then very carefully put them back away.

In addition to the trunks of Marty and Joel, there were trunks of each brother. In them, were the treasure's of their childhood's with the two men, from some of their first toys, to pictures of them camping, or sailing, or just being together on a beach or in the house on Gay Head. David opened Thomas's trunk which was full of some of the same pictures that were enlarged and adorned the walls of the house.

"That's Uncle Tom-Tom on a camping trip with Uncle Marty and Uncle Joel in Vermont." 13 year old Valerie told her cousin. David had seen this picture before, it was of Thomas sitting on the ground Indian style with his 11 year old face, arms and chest painted like an Indian. A headdress with two feathers completed the uniform as the boy watch the campfire with the fire's reflection glowing in his eyes.

As a boy, playing Indian and running or horseback riding in the woods hunting for deer and rabbits was Thomas's favorite pastime, one which gave rise to his nickname of "Tom-Tom". It was a name only invoked by these Family members. David carefully replaced the picture and closed the lid. He was sure he's go back into the trunk, but that was left for another time.

There where no beds in the attic, the children had long ago made tents out of bed sheets that were slung over the roof rafters and pinned to the floor. Sleeping bags and comforters served as mattresses, and even in the dead of winter, once the floor grates were opened, the place was toasty warm. There were three light bulbs in the attic, but the children preferred to turn out the light's and use flashlight's and battery powered lantern's instead. The attic was for camp-outs and who ever heard of electric lights in the woods?

At Green Tree, formalities are an unknown and unnecessary practice. As David had learned in the Fall during his first visit, not only had these children been raised in sexual freedom, they grew up without inhibition once they were in private. For self preservation they were taught extreme caution when dealing with "outsiders" but when in each others company, the green light was on and their pants were off. To be sure, David had seen thousands of proud penises in his 13 years, and now got to review five more. Since the girls arrival at Green Tree, and especially with Carla and Jeannie moving into the Cabin with the rest of the mafia, David was also quite familiar with what a girl looked like. However, Valerie at 13 was a tad different than the two 11 year olds at School, and David already knew how well they girl could make a little boy very happy as his penis clearly demonstrated. Unlike school dances where things start off quite slowly, very little time was wasted; it was time to romp.

Retreating into tents and sleeping bags in pairs, David wasn't at all surprised when Richard came over with a very healthy erection for an eight year old almost an hour later.

"Can I sleep with you and David tonight Uncle Paulie?" he asked.

"Only if you promise not to snore." Paulie replied. Richard giggled.

"I don't snore Uncle Paulie!" he exclaimed.

"That's what you think!" Paulie replied as the others now joined in the giggles. Sleep for David was still an hour away, he had a great deal of catching up to do and fortunately for him he had the stamina of a stud bull at breeding time. The children in the attic knew nothing about Geppetto but they did know their new cousin never got tired of making them extremely happy and every single one of them slept very well that night.

As calm as it was up north, down south was another matter. Sid had spoken to Bert upon the Director's arrival Friday evening but by Saturday evening Sid was more than a bit miffed that neither Bert nor Jeanette had called him all day long with an update as to how things were going. Sid was "In the dark" and he didn't like it one single bit!

Saturday night Dinner was a Bivouac by the lake, and it was the very first of the coming summer. The lake was still "off limits" for General Swim, but that didn't prevent "accident's" in canoe's, sailboats and even the row boats occasionally. The little one's including three year old Kenny weren't quite as adventurous, but they did manage to get fairly wet running up and down the beach splashing in ankle high water. The water temperature was almost 65 [18°C], but these Florida bred boys didn't consider swimming until the gulf reached at least 75 [24°C], if not 80 [27°C]. As it always did, Bivouac ended with a bonfire and the kids singing camp songs, and close to 9:30, the Intermediate boys heard "Tatoo" being blown for the first time that year. The sound of the bugle call to return to quarters and prepare for bed had goosebumps growing on a lot of the children's arms, it was one more very clear sign that Summer wasn't all that far away. Sid watched as a crowd of children, both boys and girls, wound their way up the path from the lake with flashlight illuminating the trees and path along the way or moving in both directions around the lake as they reached their individual cabins.

Making his first rounds of the night, Sid mounted his golf cart which already had a half dozen girls waiting for a ride up the hill as Sid headed to the Camp Kenny compound to check on the little one's, most of which were already sound asleep. Moving onto the girls in the Pine Ridge compound, the customary jingle of the bells on his cart announcing his arrival brought screeches of panic and the telltale patter of bare feet as they scurried to get "Descent" before the male arrived at their cabin door. It was a fairly open secret that most of the girls were already dressed in pajama's or night clothes when either Bert or Sid arrived, but somehow, they were quickly shed and replaced by a towel, a sheet, or a blanket for the occasion. It was a ritual that had grown in time, as did the "Accidental" dropping of covers as a girl scurried for a bed or the bathroom to "hide". Naturally, either Bert or Sid were always "Horrified" to see the sight of a little girls bum go racing from one room to another as they shielded their eyes in mock shock at the sight.

His last stops of the evening were in the Intermediate's compound as he visited each cabin for "goodnight's" but there was no screeching and children running for cover. Depending upon how soon he arrived after taps, goodnight hugs and kisses came readily with or without clothes on, and this group were rarely found in underpants or pajama's at bedtime. It was "Silly" for them to get back into clothes after showers when they were just going to get naked again anyway once the sheets were pulled up. To this group, the difference between wearing clothes and running around naked was the temperature on your skin, nothing more. As Sid walked into the Cabin, Sammy was the first to take a flying leap into his arms.

"A soggy kiss and a soggy bottom, did dumb old Uncle Adam forget to get towels from the laundry again?" Sid said as he felt his shirt getting soaked from the still dripping boy in his arms. Sammy giggled, but really didn't answer the question. He had one of his own and he knew the Sid and Adam were best friend's.

"When can we start sleep-over trail rides to Indiantown Uncle Sid?" Sammy asked.

"It still gets a little chilly at night in the woods, probably in two or three weeks," Sid told the boy.

Sammy smiled broadly.

"And we get to go first?" he asked.

"You do if you're name is one of the first 24 on it. The list is posted at the stable, did you put your name on it?" Sid asked.

"It's three pages long!" Sammy responded. Sid nodded his head.

"And what page is your name on?" he asked the boy as he sat down on a couch and started drying the boys hair.

"We got there right after lunch, but there was a line a mile long. We're on page 3.

Most of the boys on page 1 and two are Senior boys Uncle Sid. That's no fair, they cheated and knew the list was going up ahead of time!" Sammy declared.

"Well, that's possible.

The senior stable boys may have alerted their friends, but that's just one of the perks to becoming a senior boy," Sid told the now very disgruntled group of Intermediate boys listening to him.

"We all have to remember, the senior boys do most of the work around school, and so sometimes they get very special favors in return. You boys don't want to slave around all day doing dishes, or doing laundry, or doing yard work do you?" Sid asked the group. As Sid quickly learned, the question wasn't well thought out. Senior boys also got to ride their own golf carts in the summer and ATV's in the winter. They also got to spend hours in the Rec Hall and Canteen at night. Facing about 16 boys and two girls who were volunteering their services, Sid withdrew the question.

Getting the boys in the Cabin to sit down and have their hair brushed out at night before bed was a long abandoned fantasy. They would tolerate that nonsense sometimes in the mornings, especially on week ends, but at night just before bed it was silliness to them. On the other hand, for Carla and Jeannie, it was mandatory. Both girls had long before considered this their "Private time" with the men when they became the center of attention and had exclusive rights to their laps. Now and then the girls would switch partners, but usually, Carla handed Adam her brush while Jeannie stood in front of Sid with a brush in her hand. Sid picked up the girl and turned her around as the girls head now lay on his sternum as she lay back. Brushing out hair could be done in 1 or two minutes. This exercise took at least 10 or 15 minutes, and just might even end with one or both girls sound asleep having to be carried to bed. Sid parted the girls hair and moved it over her shoulders as it draped down her chest stopping very close to her umbilical cord. Neither girl had cut her hair since arriving at Green Tree almost a year earlier, and neither had any intentions to do so for the foreseeable future. As Sid brushed, Jeannie looked down at her chest.

"Look Carla. Do you think my tits are getting big yet?" she asked her friend. Carla looked over to her friend and then looked down at her own chest. In the race towards womanhood, Carla was in the lead, but she wasn't exactly ready for a bra anytime soon.

"Do they hurt when you touch them?" Carla asked her friend. Jeannie now move her hand to her breast and pressed.

"Maybe a little," she lied.

"Then they probably are. That's how I knew my tits were growing." Carla told her friend.

"Do you think so Uncle Sid?" Jeannie now asked the man. Sid parted her hair and looked at her breast's and let the hair fall back down covering them back up.

"Looks to me like Aunt Helen is going to have to fit the both of you with bra's any day now," Sid told the girl as Adam now looked over to Sid.

"Before we know it, the both of you will start nursing Sidney and Joshua if they keep growing at this rate." Carla knew Sid was playing with the girls, but for Jeannie's part, she looked back down at her chest and at two very small nipples. With her friend already menstruating, Jeannie wanted to join the race as soon as possible as she cupped a breast in her hand and stroked her nipple with her thumb. She wondered if the babies nursing on Johanna and Beth felt the same way that she felt when she allowed the boys to suck on her breast's? It was a question for Aunt Helen or even Beth herself and she would be asking it.

As it always did, hair brushing ended with a kiss on the top of her head as the girls turned around and gave Adam and Sid a goodnight kiss. Adam watched as both girls waddled naked back to the bedroom with hair flowing down their backs.

"If she goes to be fitted for a bra tomorrow, Gloria's going to cut your balls off!" Adam told his friend. Sid chuckled a bit.

"Hey, what was I going to tell her? Sorry dear, you're flatter than a pancake?"

"No, but you could have left the breast feeding part out of the conversation," Adam replied as he got up.

"That just gives them something to look forward to besides the boys all groping them when the melons arrive," Sid said.

Have you heard anything from Boston?" Adam asked as he handed Sid a beer and sat down.

"Boston? What's in Boston?" Sid asked his friend somewhat sarcastically. Adam looked down knowing now the answer was "No".

"Well, nobody stops you from picking up a phone. Maybe they've been trying to call since you went on Night Rounds," Adam suggested. Sid shook his head.

"Martha is monitoring the phone. If Bert called, she would have told me," he said.

"Well then it has to be a case of "No news is good news." We know that Christopher was going into the hospital this afternoon and will be scanned while he's asleep tonight. It's only about 9:30 or so, Christopher's probably still wide awake," Adam suggested. Sid nodded his head.

"I'm going back to the office, if I hear anything, I'll let you know," Sid told his friend.

While Sid agreed completely with Adam's assessment of the situation in Boston, he was nevertheless perturbed at not receiving a call. When he got back to the office, he picked up the phone. There had been one main contact liaison between the School and the powers that be in Washington, and he sat in an office in Alexandria, Virginia or was On-Call 24 hours a day. His job was to see that things ran smoothly at the Geppetto School's around the Country, and his chief responsibility was security. As far as Washington was concerned, there are no Geppetto School's, there are no Geppetto boys, and there never was a Geppetto Program. If he expected to keep the Bars on his shoulders, things would remain that way.

"Harry, I'm sitting here with my thumb stuck up my ass waiting for some information," Sid began the conversation as he woke the man up.

"Hello Sid, good to hear your voice again," he replied as he sat up and put on his glasses while reaching for a report of the phone log to school.

"From what I know, the child is right now being scanned, and Bert's probably with him. That's probably why he hasn't called you," he said as he reviewed the notes.

"The last time we talked was last night when he got in. Nobody's done any calling all fucking day?" Sid asked.

"The log shows call's between the hotel and Martha's Vineyard, but nothing to North Carolina." he reported.

"I spoke to Thomas's Brother's, but it was all about Christopher who was doing very well. Nothing's really going to happen until tomorrow," he told Sid.

"Well, OK, but you tell Bert when you speak to him that the damage to the kitchen from the fire wasn't all that bad, we might be able to feed the kids in about a week. As far as Jessica is concerned, we think the test was flawed and she's not really pregnant!" Sid replied as he hung up the phone. Harry shook his head as he put the report back in his briefcase and laid his glasses down. Dealing with Sid was always a challenge.

For the Big House on Gay Head, the morning began at 5:00 as Dora awoke. The men were going to Boston, and there was a breakfast to prepare. The helicopter was due back in Boston by 8:00 with Thomas, Stuart and Charles attending Christopher's scanning.

"Since I can't be with you, can Paulie go too?" David now asked Stuart at the breakfast table. Stuart looked to his brother Thomas.

"I have no objections, but I think it might be wise to get Bert's approval first." he suggested.

With Christopher still sound asleep, Bert was on his second cup of coffee when the phone rang.

"Unless you're planning on becoming a eunuch when you get back to school, you might want to call Sid." Alexandria told him.

"Oh Shit! Things got so busy around here, I didn't get the chance yesterday," Bert replied.

"Hello Harry, how are you?" Bert asked.

"Very tired. My phone was ringing me awake last night," the Colonel responded.

"Sorry, I'll call him now."

"Good Luck. How did things go last night?" he asked.

"Fine from our end. Christopher slept like a log and the machine just kept humming, but nobody's said a word yet," Bert told him.

"Well it's good to know somebody slept last night!" Harry replied.

"Bert? Bert who?" Sid said as the phone rang and he picked it up. Bert took the next five minutes settling down Sid's ruffled feathers as Christopher came out of the bedroom in a gallop. With a squishy thud his diaper hit the hospitals linoleum floor as a nurse took the boy and his bladder erection to the toilet hoping she could get him there before he decided it was time to pee.

"In the toilet Christopher, in the toilet!" she exclaimed as Christopher put a choke hold on his penis. Christopher sat down about a half second after the beginning of the flood and Bert watched as the nurse tried to get the majority of the urine into the bowl as she took charge of his penis which had no intention of bending down. With Christopher now being washed in the shower by the nurse, Bert promised on bended knee to call Sid that night.

Bert received his second call of the morning as the hotel brought in breakfast. He gave his approval for Paulie to accompany David to the hospital, and then had a discussion with Stuart regarding Christopher's day. The fact that the hospital intended to put Christopher under heavy sedation for the afternoon's scanning concerned Bert, but not nearly as much as Monday's plans to put the boy under completely.

Jeanette's appearance at the table was a welcomed break for Helen. Bert was on edge, Bert was bitchy and he could get very testy with everyone around him except for the children of Green Tree or three woman, and Jeanette was one of those three.

"We fucking blew it last night, nobody ever called Sid!" Bert told the girl as she sat down with Kenny now being handed off to the girls. Jeanette closed her eye's. She had completely forgotten about Sid in her total concentration on Bert.

"Is he on his way up here?" she asked as she was handed a plate of honeydew melon.

"No, but he sure as hell did shake the hell out of the tree in Alexandria!" Bert replied as Christopher shoved a banana in his face wanting Bert to peel it for him.

"So everythings all right down there?" Jeanette asked.

"Search me, I spent a good 10 minutes trying to get Sid to stop cursing me out!" Bert replied.

"I'll call him after breakfast. What's today's schedule?" the girl now asked. As Bert tried his best to get the little strings off the peeled banana, Christopher was having none of it as he grabbed it away and sat down in Bert's lap.

The scene after early breakfast on Gay Head was a little like the departure of Marine One. The helicopter crew arrived from their motel with a Police escort of three cruisers.

Thomas was aghast and Stuart was pissed. As the van with the crew entered the grounds while the cruisers dutifully waited beyond the gates, Stuart and Thomas stood at the top of the portico as the crew mounted the steps. Seeing the look on both men's faces, the Captain of the helicopter spoke first.

"They were at the motel when we woke up and told us they would escort us here. I didn't know how to tell them to forget it, and I assumed you sent them," he told Stuart.

"This is Martha's Vineyard, we don't usually need a Police escort to take us around the Island." Stuart told the pilot very dryly.

"Yes Sir, I understand, but we didn't call them, they just showed up," the Captain replied.

"It's the off-Season and there's not much to do. It would be very politically incorrect if we didn't invite them in and feed them." Stuart said to Thomas.

"Let the household know we've got visitor's on the grounds and tell the kitchen to feed them. Organize the lift off Thomas, I've got to make nice with the locals."

As Stuart went to the front gates and invited the escort's in for coffee and donuts, Thomas alerted the house and had David immediately transferred to the aircraft. Within 15 minute's the cruisers outside the grounds of the estate were inside, and their numbers were growing. David and the children watched from the attic windows as the scene very much reminded them of the funeral.

"Neat! Every time you come to the Vineyard's, it's like Bill Gate's or Senator Kennedy comes." Richard said as the children looked down on the scene. To David, it was just as bewildering because he was nobody.

"It's not me, it's the helicopter!" he told the group.

In the Fall David had to wear a hat and sunglasses outside, and now once again he found himself having a hat put on his head and being handed a pair of sunglasses before he walked out to the helicopter. The rest of the children were given glasses as well.

"It ain't too sunny out Uncle Tom-Tom, how come we gotta wear these?" one of Stuart's children now asked. Having to explain keeping David from a camera's lens would have begged more questions than answers, so Thomas opted for the humorous approach.

"We're expecting an eclipse of the Sun," he told his Nephew as he ushered the group down the stairs.

The lift off from the lawn saw the kids who were remaining behind running and jumping after the aircraft as it lifted off and to the north. Both David and Paulie had their faces pinned to the windows as the craft circled once, and picked up forward speed. The 20 minute flight to Boston Children's was once again a history lesson for David as Paulie pointed out the Old North Church and the grounds of Harvard University where he would be attending school in another four years.

"You're going to Harvard too right?" Paulie asked David as they flew over the campus.

"I don't know. I'm still in 8th Grade." David responded. Paulie shrugged his shoulders.

"It doesn't matter, we all go to Harvard, and you will too," he told his Nephew. For David's part, all he knew was that his Uncle Bert and his Uncle Thomas had gone to Harvard University. His Uncle Sid had told him that Harvard was for sissy's and Georgetown University was better. Then again, David wasn't exactly sure what a University was.

With Stuart and his two brother's now in attendance, the hospital went into high gear. For testing, Christopher had four private Physicians surrounding him; A Pediatric Neurosurgeon, A Chief of Anesthesiology, an attending Anesthesiologist and a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon. The hospital didn't have a clue who Christopher was, but he most certainly had more high powered Doctors around him than that hospital's Administration had ever seen before. The goal was to sedate Christopher to a point whereby the hyperactive boy could be scanned while awake and his brain was active. Exactly how much sedatives that was going to take nobody really knew and it was going to be a very risky procedure if they accidentally overdosed him. Bert was no Medical Doctor, but he knew the risks that were being taken.

Christopher began receiving the first milligrams of medication by 10:00 intravenously and by 11:30, Bert watched as Christopher began disappearing as Bert had known the boy.

By 1:00 in the afternoon, all sparkle, smiles, joy and the twinkle in his eyes were gone as the color left his face, the moisture left his lips and he lay in the bed with the personality of a wet dishrag. For all intent and purposes, Christopher was a zombie and Bert was an extremely unhappy camper as he watched the boy sink deeper into lethargy.

Unlike the previous night when Christopher was asleep and lay perfectly still, as deeply as he was medicated, he still periodically moved which prolonged the tests. By 3:00

the tests were completed and the process of bringing Christopher back to the world began as he was moved back into the room with Bert who would have preferred a few Gin and Tonics, but received a shot of anti-depressants instead at Stuart's direction.

Christopher had not spoken a word since well before noon and his first word which was barely audible was "Rink" as he tried but failed to lift his hand to sign for a drink.

"He's asking for something to drink," Jeanette told the Nurse. Three attempts to get Christopher to sip from a straw failed.

"He'll begin drinking soon, he needs a little more time." Thomas's Brother Charles told the group. Christopher was still not focusing his eyes on anyone in particular, Bert wasn't even sure if he was hearing yet as once again Christopher called for a drink but this time, with a tear rolling down his into his hair.

"Nurse can you leave us alone please?" Jeanette now asked the Nurse. Once the door closed behind her, Jeanette picked up Christopher and sat down in a chair. Unbuttoning her blouse, she presented her breast to the boy.

"Drink Christopher," she instructed as she placed her nipple at the boy's lips. Christopher made no move to do anything as Jeanette squeezed her breast and her milk coated his lips.

"Drink Christopher," Jeanette again told the boy. Christopher's eyes closed as he took in breast milk for probably the first time in his life.

It took a good three hours before Christopher was finally sitting up and responding to verbal prompts. Bert's lap had been substituted for Jeanette's once he would accept a sippy cup and drink it down and between the pineapple juice and sponge bath's, Christopher's color and moist lips returned a lot faster than his smile and sparkling eyes did. He spent a lot of time chest to chest with Bert as the two lay in the chair as Christopher just looked out the window almost in a fog.

Just before dinner, the hospital staff came back with the results from the two days scanning.

"We've got all the images we need to complete our work. Almost 97 percent of yesterday's scans and a little over 80 percent of them today are readable, and it makes tomorrow's scans un-necessary," the radiologist told Stuart. If only Green Tree people were in the room at the time, Bert knew damned well he would have lost it as he recalled once back home.

"Now I need a drink!" Bert told Jeanette as the girl smiled.

While Bert and the dinner guests wanted to celebrate, Christopher was in no mood to party. Despite the fact that he ate very little all day, he was simply too physically exhausted. He ate some chicken soup, mashed potato's and gravy and ice cream that the hospital supplied, but only if he was spoon fed and didn't have to chew. To those who didn't know him, he seemed to be recovering nicely. For those who did know him, they knew he was still running in slow motion and it would take about 12 hours of sleep before he was back to the old Christopher.

David's day with Paulie was spent "Doing Boston" which included a trip to the Constitution, to the Old North Church and to Harvard where Steven took both boys to review their probable future. David had spent years sitting in classes with his Uncle Sid being taught History and besides being in the "Enemies" camp at Harvard instead of Sid's Alma Mater of Georgetown, David would have tons of materials as well as experiences to relate once back at school.

By 6:00, Stuart and Charles were ready to return to the Vineyard. Christopher would remain in the hospital under observation for the night, and Bert would remain with him. Following the promised call to Sid, Jeanette and Bert both decided it would be better for Kenny to return to the hotel. The girls would remain with Jeanette at the hotel, leaving Helen with Bert and Christopher. Now, it was time to decide where David was staying.

"The likelihood of any problems coming up with Christopher are extremely small, but I'm staying here in Boston tonight David. You can either go back to the Island with Paulie and Steven, or remain here." Thomas told his charge.

"Can Paulie stay at the hotel too?" David now asked seeking the best of both worlds. The request took Thomas by surprise.

"That's something you want to do?" he now asked Paulie. Paulie simply shrugged his shoulders.

"We never discussed it before." he responded.

"I can't make that decision for David nor for you Paulie." Thomas told both boys. Bert speaks for you and Steven speaks for you," he said. With two pairs of eyes staring at them Bert spoke first.

"If the hotel has an adjoining suite I have no problems, but the two of you aren't sleeping with the girls," Bert said. With two pink faces and two giggling girls, the situation was resolved. Steven opted to return to the Vineyard with all three men returning to Boston in the morning for Christopher's release from the hospital.

For Bert, the evening was an incredible relief for the man who had grown even more attached to Christopher than anyone around him had realized. There was an emotional attachment between the two, mainly on Bert's part, that paralleled the relationship between a father and his son, and yet, the two were unrelated in any way. In fact, they didn't even know each other existed less than a year before. Now, the fear that something catastrophic might befall the child had Bert in dammed near a panic which automatically brought up within him the pain and memories of his own lost son almost twenty years later.

"It's over Uncle Bert and Christopher's fine. Have a few nightcaps, and go to sleep. In the morning he's going to be back on his feet and you'll need all the rest you can get," Jeanette told her Director as she gave Helen a bag and kissed the man goodnight. Helen smiled as she opened the bag and then spilled the contents out on the table. three small bottle's of Vodka, three small bottle's of Gin, a lime, a bottle of orange juice and a quart of Tonic Water.

"If he leaves for the liqueur store, call Sid in North Carolina," Jeanette instructed Helen.

On most night's, Christopher was bouncing off walls until 10:00 or so. This night, Christopher lounged in either Helen's or Bert's lap not saying very much, and very much "Calm". By 8:30 the boy who had an extremely rough day was sound asleep in Bert's lap as the Director rocked the boy as the Nurse took his hourly blood pressure.

Conversely, David's evening took the opposite turn. Now back at the hotel with Paulie and the girls, the four teenagers were anything but tired and bored silly with the tv. In what would prove to be not the smartest move he ever made, Thomas suggested out of pity that the group go for a snack at The Hard Rock Cafe which was extremely close by. On the one hand, Jeanette really liked the idea, but Kenny wasn't being at all cooperative and she could foresee a scene with the over-tired toddler sitting in the middle of shakes and fries.

"Just bring me back some tee-shirts for the girls," Jeanette asked Thomas.

"How many?" Thomas asked.

"A dozen" Jeanette replied.

"Really?" Thomas asked the girl.

"Do you know what they'll do to me back home if they find out we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and I don't bring them back tee-shirts?" she asked the Doctor.

Disneyworld has an excellent reputation for it's ability to get into parents wallets to keep junior and little missy happy. They learned their trade from the Hard Rock Cafe.

The burgers, fries, shakes, malteds and sundaes cost Thomas $60.00 with the tip.

The clothing, which the Hard Rock Cafe was only too happy to deliver to the hotel free of charge cost his credit card $1,895.89 Thomas figured he had chosen the wrong career.

Once back at the hotel, the girls slept in their brand new extra large Hard Rock Cafe - Boston tee-shirts. David and Paulie had their shirts, but weren't about to climb into bed wearing clothing anytime soon. Once in bed with the lights out, David was much more than ready to make Paulie very happy as he climbed on top of him and clasped his hands in the older boys. Aren't you afraid the girls might come in and catch us fucking?" Paulie asked as David maneuvered his penis alongside his friends.

"They won't come in. The door is closed so they know we're doing it." David told the boy.

"Besides, if they do come in, they'll just sit here and watch us. They know we can't fuck them in the front pussy until we're at least 15," David said as he flexed his penis against Paulie's which instantly responded with a flex all it's own.

"15! I'm already 15 silly." Paulie now replied "Yeah, but they ain't, and they won't give you any front pussy until they are!" David said as he kissed the boy on his nipples.

"Who makes up these rules?" Paulie asked as he concentrated on David's hand that was now heading for his groin.

"The school does." David replied.

"Shit. You guys talk about this stuff with the staff at school?" Paulie asked.

"Sure," David said.

"Man, I want to transfer to your school!" Paulie now said. David giggled as he flipped himself around. At 15, Paulie was still a boy, but fairly well on his way. Fully circumcised, he stood about four inches [10 cm] of classic proportions. David had seen and enjoyed hundred's of boners in his years, and he knew very well that not all were equal. Some were bent up, some down, some even sideways. Then, there were short stubbies, long sticks, wet heads, dry heads, red heads and white heads. While most of the boys at Green Tree were uncircumcised like David himself. However, he didn't hold that against Paulie despite the fact that his research had told him that unsnipped boys could be brought to climax a lot faster than snipped boys once a boy flipped.

David knew what made Paulie happy and Paulie knew what made David happy. If the girls came in now, they'd have to fend for themselves, both boys were much too deeply involved to interrupt their fun now.

Paulie had slept with David before, and knew very well that David would play at the drop of a pair of underpants or at the mere suggestion, let alone actually touching his penis. It came as little surprise to him when he awoke in the morning in the midst of an extremely erotic dream of him romping in the attic with a nephew who was especially proficient at creating an orgasm even if Paulie were watching the World Series and Boston was winning. In the middle of the third or fourth surge of semen, Paulie awoke from the dream and stepped into reality with David doing the honors. Now and then Paulie has the same dream but David is now the nephew in the dream. Morning showers came for the boys with a small audience. Kenny had waddled into the bathroom quickly followed by both girls who were "watching" Kenny while Jeanette showered.

David was by now very use to showering and swimming around both girls naked, but Paulie wasn't a member of that club, and his pink face had both girls giggling as they escorted Kenny back to his own suite. Paulie looked down at David's penis.

"How do you stand there with two girls staring at you and not get a boner?" he asked David. David smiled as he looked at a stiffie standing out like a flagpole on a Fifth Avenue building.

"We see each other naked all the time. If they stayed around long enough, or started talking about sex, we do get boners, but it just make them giggle even more," he replied.

"You get use to it." Paulie shook his head.

"Bullshit. If a piece of pussy comes by me when I'm naked, I'm fucking it even if it was an accident!" he told his friend. David laughed.

"That was no accident silly. They probably steered Kenny into the bathroom so they could get a peek at your dick. Kenny never gets away from them unless they let him." David told his friend.

"Really?" Paulie asked.

"Trust me, they were checking out how big you were. They talk about it all the time with their girlfriend's" David said matter of factly.

"Once we get back to school, every girl there is going to get a full description of what Paulie's peter looks like." Both boys ended their shower with an erections as a small feeling of pride came over Paulie.

Christopher's day began as the Nurse picked the boy up out of bed sound asleep and stood him on a scale to weigh him. Both Bert and Helen awoke as Christopher was being pulled from in between the two adults. Now standing on the scale, the Nurse was sweetly talking to Christopher as she pulled the tabs on his diaper that most probably added five pounds [2¼ kg] to the figure on the scale. Both Helen and Bert immediately looked at each other, but neither warned the Nurse of her foolishness. Maybe she had a spare uniform at the hospital, but Helen doubted it. When Christopher first hit the scale he weighed 68 pounds [31 kg]. Once the diaper came off, 65 [29½ kg]. By the time he emptied his bladder on the Nurse and the floor, the scale tipped out at 63 pounds [28½ kg].

"When Christopher's diaper comes off, it's always a signal for him to urinate," Bert advised the Nurse who was now sitting Christopher on the toilet. A very curt "Thanks" followed from the Nurse as Bert came over and picked Christopher up off the toilet.

"He's done for a good hour. He doesn't have a bowel movement until mid morning usually," Bert advised the Nurse.

"Hey" Christopher chirped in agreement as he kissed Bert. The Nurse was far from amused as she know put a towel on the floor.

"I'll have maintenance clean this up Sir," she said as she moved the scale back into the bathroom.

"Sorry about that, but if you had asked, I would have explained his routine," Bert told the woman who smiled very slightly and took her leave.

"Why the fuck do they have to wake a soundly sleeping child up just to fucking weigh him? Isn't he going to weigh the same thing an hour from now?" Bert asked Helen once they were alone again. Helen shrugged her shoulders and picked up the phone.

"I'm calling Jeanette, you need to call Sid and report in," she told the Director.

As Helen spoke to Jeanette, Bert sat down and looked into Christopher's face. He did not need instruments or a blood test, Christopher was once again back to his old self again, Bert could see it in his eyes.

"Good morning my little munchkin, ready for a shower?" he asked the boy. Christopher smiled and signed, but not for a shower, he wanted food.

Bert smiled.

"First we take a quick shower, then we get you some food, OK?" he asked.

Christopher now spoke and signed.

"Rink!" he said as he signed for something to drink.

With no drinks in the room, Bert carried the boy out to the Nurses station. Bert caught a few muffled curses coming from a back room as he approached the desk with a Charge Nurse that had a peculiar smile on her face once she saw Christopher.

"You're little water boy seems to have blessed another one of my Nurses," she said to Bert. Bert smiled a little.

"Do you have some milk or juice? He's looking for a refill," Bert asked. As a second Nurse giggled, she handed Bert a cup of Pineapple juice which Christopher downed instantly.

"More?" he asked as he held out the cup towards the Nurse. With seconds history, he once again held out the cup.

"First we shower, then you have more," Bert told the boy. Keeping the cup, Christopher now smiled again.

"Hey" he chirped.

Bert kissed him on his nose.

"Thank the ladies Christopher," Bert told the boy. Christopher blew the Nurses a kiss which sometimes substituted for the "Thank you" sign. It could also mean "Good bye" or "I love you". Both Nurses were amused. The third Nurse who now came out of the back room in scrubs was not amused.

Once showers were out of the way, Bert was more than re-assured that Christopher was well on his way to normalcy. Taking the cup the nurse gave him, he stood in the shower filling up glass after glass of some pretty warm water drinking it as fast as the cup filled while Bert washed him. By drying time Christopher looked four months pregnant and Bert made a mental note to himself to keep a toilet real handy. Once dried Christopher was ready for his day and more specifically, his breakfast. Both Jeanette and the hotel staff arrived for breakfast together and half way through, Thomas's brother's re-appeared with some staff from the hospital. As the attending Pediatrician, Thomas had control over Christopher's release, but since he was in a host hospital, decorum prevailed as the hospitals Pediatrician reviewed the Nurses notes and signed off on his release. He was now free to leave as he sat in his Birthday suit eating pancakes and sausage completely ignoring anyone poking or prodding him.

Joining the group for breakfast as the hospital staff left, both Stuart and Charles sat down to coffee.

"You're probably wanting to return to school as soon as possible, but my Family and I would be happy to have your company on the Vineyard. We have a housekeeper who would be devastated if David just up and vanished." Stuart said to Bert.

You're more than welcome to stay over as long as you wish, I know Paulie and all the children would like to see David off properly."

Once Christopher was released, Bert was ready to pack everybody's bags and head immediately to the airport. He wanted to get Christopher back home, and he wanted to be back at school himself. After 15 minutes of "Please Uncle Bert." from David, Paulie and both girls, he agreed to accepting Stuart's offer.

"But we need to get back tomorrow," Bert told David.

"We can go for the day so you can say your goodbye's to everyone properly."

Both boys knew that getting Bert to the island was more than half the battle as they smiled quietly to one another.

With his face pressed solidly at the window of the helicopter, it lifted off with a very full load as Bert explained to the passengers why at least two hospital staff Nurses were probably very happily waving goodbye to Christopher. It was a short hop to the Vineyard, but the aircraft took the scenic route since the girls had not seen the sights yet. Arriving from the sea, Stuart looked down to see two cruisers sitting out in front of the estate.

"They mean well, but sometimes they can be a pain in the ass. I think it would be best if we sent the aircraft back to sit at Logan until you need to go back. It's the aircraft that's raising their testosterone levels, and if they think it's gone, they'll go back to writing seat belt tickets." he explained. Bert had been briefed by Thomas concerning the locals, and readily agreed to Stuart's plan.

Bert and all the girls were immediately impressed with Thomas's home, but the day really belonged in larger measure to David. Once the helicopter had departed and the cruisers left, the children of the estate were allowed back outside and as Bert watched from the verandah, almost a dozen kids frolicked on the back lawn with a huge beachball as tall as Christopher himself. While the older children played what could only be described as a game of catch, dodgeball and football depending on who received the ball, the younger children walked to the beach. Kenny was now a part of that group and he actually had several kids his own age to interact with as Jeanette followed the children along with several mother's.

Thomas had briefed Bert concerning his families policies and practices, but most of his family, except for Stuart and Charles were not brought into the loop concerning Geppetto because there had never been a reason to before. Now that they were in close proximity to each other, that had change. Thomas's family knew about David, assumed he was highly sexually active, but so what? They knew David slept with Thomas both at home and back at school, but so what? They also assumed that Bert, as the Director of the school, knew nothing about that. To be sure, routine conversation between the two factions were going to be like traversing a mine field with blindfolds on. That wasn't a comfortable thought for Bert.

"When did you last speak with Harry?" Bert asked Stuart as the two sat watching the children.

"I called him right after Christopher was released." Stuart replied as glasses of ice tea were poured. Bert nodded his head.

"I called in probably after you,

he didn't mention your call, but I assumed you had spoken to him because he already knew we were through with the testing," Bert told the man as he sat back with his drink.

"I also informed him that we had accepted your invitation to visit." Stuart nodded his head.

"We know he monitors the aircraft's movements anyway, but I wanted him to know straight from me. I also told him it was foolish to keep the rest of your people out of the loop. He agreed, but wants any sharing of information restricted strictly to the adults."

Bert said.

"Is that normal?" Charles now asked. Bert shook his head.

"Not at all. In fact, it's strictly forbidden to bring in other people," Bert replied.

"So why has he given his approval?" Stuart asked.

"Mainly, for two reasons; one is Thomas and the other is David.

He's well aware of their relationship, and of David's future ties to your family. It's impossible for David to have a normal relationship with your children without their knowing something's radically different," Bert replied.

"Radically different?" Thomas's brother Michael now asked.

"Am I missing something here? Who the hell is Harry?" he asked Stuart.

"Before I answer Michael, I have one more question for you." Stuart said to Bert.

"Harry seems to be putting a great deal of trust in us, why is that?" he asked Bert. Bert half smiled.

"Harry trust's absolutely no one. He's a product of Uncle Sam and he's an expert at it. He's well aware of the fact that disclosure to outsider's is in nobody's best interest either in our group, or in your family. Like you, he knows where the bodies are buried." Stuart nodded his head.

"Marty and Uncle Joel?" he asked.

"Everything from day one!" Bert replied. While the children played on the lawn until lunch, the verandah doors were shut and Bert gave Thomas's brother's the Readers Digest condensed version of The Geppetto Project. The two absent brother's would be informed by Stuart privately, which left only Paulie to be discussed.

"Until David begins College, there's no real reason to bring him into the picture. He's too young to understand, and it's better if he and the other children just assume David is a very randy little dude." The mood had been slightly gray for about an hour due in part to the information concerning Geppetto, but mainly because of the awareness that some Top Secret Government bureaucrat knew all about them and their histories. Now a little humor was finally filtering through.

"I guess that means Paulie's request to be transferred to David's school isn't an option?" Steven asked Stuart.

"He actually asked that?" Stuart asked his brother. Steven nodded his head.

"What did you tell him?" Thomas asked.

"I told told him it would be fine if Dora agreed to let him go." As the glass paneled doors on the verandah were re-opened the laughter from the room filled the house.

David and Paulie's Grand Plan was to get Bert to agree to stay over for the night instead of Bert's original plan to return to the hotel that evening and leave for North Carolina in the morning. David's years at school had taught him well, and the boy was well aware that if you wanted to get Uncle Bert to do something he wasn't likely to agree to, you needed allies. The more, the better! Your chance of success was compounded, if one or more of those allies was Uncle Sid, or Aunt's Gloria, Johanna or Jeanette. David chose to woo Jeanette to his side immediately after lunch. With Kenny down for a nap, David requested "Talk time" with Jeanette as the two strolled the largely deserted beach together. "I'm not sure if he'd agree. He really wants to get Christopher back to school, and he himself wants to get back there," Jeanette told David. As we all know, if a boy begs long enough, he's going to get what he wants.

"I will speak to Helen and you talk to Thomas. If they agree to recommend it to Uncle Bert, I'll support your request," the girl told him.

Part Two of the boys Plan was for Paulie to get his brother Stuart to extend the invitation. As the Head of the Family, Stuart could be a tough nut to crack. Paulie, like David, knew how to approach his brother.

"Wouldn't it be really neat if David could stay over for Dinner tonight and leave tomorrow instead of today Dora?" the boy asked the Housekeeper as she cut up some chicken for soup.

"David's Uncle Bert and Aunt Helen never tasted your Dinner before, I betcha they'd like it!" he coo'd.

"It sounds like a fine idea to me, why don't you just ask Stuart?" the woman said as she continued her work.

"If I ask him, he might say "No" and then David will leave. If you ask him, he won't say "No" to you, he never does!" Paulie assured the woman. Fast approaching 70, the old woman was still plenty savvy.

"Why do I get the feeling you're trying to flim-flam me?

Dora asked as she pointed the knife at Paulie's nose.

"Did you already ask your brother and he say "No"? she asked.

"No Dora, honest!" Paulie declared.

"If I find out different, I'm gonna whip your behind!" Dora told the boy.

"So you'll ask him?" Paulie now asked.

"We'll see!" she replied as she went back to the chicken. With a handful of cookies, Paulie came back through the kitchen's swinging doors.

"How did it go?" David asked as Paulie gave him one.

"She'll do it, she always does what I ask her to!" Paulie replied as they walked outside.

Finding Thomas, both boys now double-teamed him.

"Stuart didn't say anything about inviting the group to stay over night." Thomas told the boys.

"Stuart doesn't know yet, Dora hasn't asked him." Paulie told his brother.

"Dora?" Thomas now asked.

"It's a long story. When Stuart asks him, will you tell Uncle Bert it's a swell idea?" David now asked.

"Me and who else?" Thomas asked.

"Aunt Jeanette thinks its really cool, and she's asking Aunt Helen." David replied with the look of a tarnished Angel. Like Dora, Thomas smelled a rat.

"And just how many weeks are you planning on keeping Uncle Bert here?" he asked the boys.

"Weeks? We're not asking for weeks, just tonight!" Paulie replied "And if Uncle Bert agrees, you're going to be skipping your little fanny onto that chopper without hesitation or complaint tomorrow?" he asked David.

"Thanks Uncle Thomas!" David declared as he wrapped his arms around Thomas neck and hugged him. Thomas shook his head as he watched both boys running down towards the cliff's and the ocean beyond.

13 and 15 year old boys are young and tender. They're also devious, tricky and plenty crafty. Neither boy was present when Stuart was manipulated into extending the invitation. They also weren't present when Bert agreed that it would be impolite to "insult" his hosts invitation by declining. He wanted to get back to school very badly, but what was a few extra hours, not to mention the fact that both Christopher and Kenny were thriving in the company of the estates children.

The afternoon progressed smoothly and Dinner went extremely well, especially for Dora who was keenly interested in the companies reaction to her Roast Leg of Lamb. It took 3

roast's to feed the whole group and little but bones remained by the time the bread pudding topped the meal off. Stuart's group was use to the meal, however for the Green Tree participants, while Lamb chops were served back at school, Roast Lamb would have been a tough meal to prepare for 600. Bert genuinely did like the meal very much and he told Dora as much. Paulie's ass was saved!

Following Dinner the adults took their coffee in the Family Room while the kids took to the back lawn as the sun sank into the sea. They had about 30 more minutes of playtime, and were wasting no time before showers and attic time.

With Kenny very firmly attached to Jeanette, two other babies were being topped off as Helen gathered her thoughts concerning the girls she had brought with her. Concerning boys, both groups of people had very compatible methods of raising them. Concerning the raising of girls, there was a small fork in the road, and Helen was now there.

In Thomas's Family, girls were raised no differently than boys. There were no sexual restrictions on either, if a child consented, go to it. At Green Tree, the philosophy was a bit more chauvinistic. Bert preferred to call it "Protective". Sex was fine and dandy, just not vaginal intercourse until the girl reached the age of 15 unless she had special permission. Neither one of Helen's girls had that permission.

The topic of discussion was not your average american family scene, but then again, there were three babies in the room all being nursed in the open with both males and females actually sitting there together. Normally, that could get your average american door kicked in by the morale police in anytown, USA and these people weren't blinking an eyelash towards these "Perverted" babies who had the audacity to eat in public. Given the audacious depravity of these people, Helen wasn't all that concerned about discussing teenager's possibly having sex.

After laying out her concern, Stuart addressed the issue.

"I guess it really depends upon how much of a sheltered life the girls have had up until now. Our children have been raised together since birth and I doubt there's much they haven't seen, or haven't done together." he began. Nobody here has taken any notes or invaded their privacy, but I can't imagine that things don't get a bit hectic up there, so if that's something that would freak the girls out, it's better that they be kept downstairs." Helen smiled a bit.

"Green Tree isn't exactly a monastery and Pine Ridge wasn't exactly a convent. The girls are very well aware of what the boys look like and what they like to do, but at Green Tree we depend on the boys to honor their responsibility to keep the girls intact until they're at least 15 years old," she told the group.

"Why?" one Mother asked.

"For two major reason's and one minor one," Bert now said.

"The girls have normal sexual labido's. If they were exposed to the boys at a very early age, they would be engaged multiple times a day. It would become routine, and eventually, probably even be expected of all males. Out in society, where most of these girls will go, that will at minimum label them, if not end up killing them with a sexually transmitted disease sooner or later, probably sooner. If we keep them intact until age 15, we have more time to educate them and for them to fully understand how to control their own bodies." Bert concluded.

"And the minor reason?" Michael now asked.

Up until that point in time, Jeanette was fairly silent as she rubbed Kenny's back while he fell off to a blissful sleep laying across her lap.

"As near as the girls can figure, it all seems to come down to testosterone. Our men have a very deep inner drive to "Protect" the girls who are all very delicate, soft, pretty and in great need of being protected by our big strong viral men. Sort of like a Me Tarzan, you Jane mentality," she told the group. Bert chuckled as he looked at Thomas.

"As you can tell, we've had many discussions back at school on this very topic," Bert told them.

"Our girls aren't completely off base, but the reality is that the boys have to engage, while the girls do not. In defense of my male staff and myself, we think we're mighty liberal when it comes to giving the girls sexual freedom. Most people out there in society would be aghast that we would even consider giving a girl the green light at age 15, even though the truth is, most girls out there lose their virginity between 10 and 13. If that's considered, we're the conservative one's not mom and pop born again Christian hypocrite's."

"Well said!" Thomas's brother Cory said.

"I think the entire issue is a non-starter. Green Tree girls know what the rules are and they know that the boys are forbidden to have vaginal sex with or without the girl's permission. If we tell our boys the same thing, I'm sure they'd accept the rule and follow our wishes," he told the group.

"Beside's, it's not like it puts the brake's on their activity, I haven't heard one of our girls yet tell me they're being treated like wall flowers at a fifth grade dance by the boys. Jeanette's stomach shaking from her laughing had Kenny awake once again.

As coffee gave way to high balls and a discussion about the Vineyards history concerning the deaf, the setting sun brought the kids back into the house to raid the kitchen for chocolate chip cookies and milk before showers and bed. Bert was extremely interested in the deaf community that once dominated the entire island, and grateful for some island historian's that shared information on what was now an extinct sign language. Christopher's ability at speech was severely limited, but he had a knack for picking up manual signs. Bert was on a fast learning curve concerning manual signing, and so were those who had any proximity to Christopher. For the Green Tree children, it had become almost a game. Stuart smiled.

"At one point, 60 percent of the entire population here was deaf, everybody on the island knew Vineyards Sign Language, even the hearing children. They use to sign to each other behind their teachers and parents backs when they didn't want them involved in their conversations."

"What attracted deaf people to move here?" Helen asked. Stuart shook his head.

"They didn't move here, they were born here. The deafness was imported from England by a single family and was hereditary."

"It sounds like a very cohesive community," Bert offered.

"Small island." Charles replied with a smile.

The stampede up the stairs began with Stuart calling the estates boys into the Library for their evenings marching orders. Nobody knew yet what the girls plans were, and Stuart wanted to be as tactful as possible. Some of the boys were barely of minimal attic age which allowed them to sleep up there and not on the second floor with their parents. Stuart's job was made a lot easier and faster by eight year old Richard, his Son.

"It's OK pop, David already told us the girls from his school don't do it in the front pussy," he told his Father with an innocent smile. Stuart nodded his head.

"And of course that's strictly private family business that is never discussed with outside people." Stuart said.

"Right!" Richard replied.

"You're also aware that your Aunt's and Mother would be a bit upset if you referred to their vagina's as pussy's?" Richard and the rest of the boys now giggled.

"That's what David calls it," he said still holding his smile.

Shower time on the estate when the children all got together was always the signal for a party more than a cleaning, and the adults had long ago abandoned the second floor to the mayhem only six to 12 year olds can produce. The average gang shower lasted 30 minutes and by the time Christopher was getting antsy about not being allowed to join the circus the now sparkling clean children began arriving downstairs for goodnight hugs and kisses. Their first stop was the kitchen and Dora's room. Unlike the scene that would have greeted a visitor at Green Tree, these children were all tucked into either underpants or pajama bottoms. They knew damned well they wouldn't be staying on very long, but the house rules were that downstairs, nudity was frowned upon unless you were under four years old. The exception was if you were swimming or playing on the lawn under a sprinkler.

Once the older children were finished, it was time for the younger set, which now included Christopher and Kenny along with Helen's two girls. As Christopher mounted the stairs followed by most of the women in the house, a piece of his clothing fell to the steps. First his shoe's, then socks and by the time he reached the top of the stairs, he was as naked as the day he was born. Knowing he had been taken to the bathroom a good hour before, Helen suggested they find a toilet in plenty quick time.

"He might give us some warning, but once he's naked he's about to u-r-i-n-a-t-e," she spelled out to the other women. Christopher rarely disappointed, and as the girls ushered him to the bowl, the dam broke just in the nick of time. In addition to Christopher and Kenny, three little one's from the estate joined them along with the girls. The children's shower was an oversized affair and easily held the seven cherubs as the adults waited for wet bodies to do the honors with soap and shampoo. With the youngest child, a baby of 9 months laying on the floor of the shower scooting itself around, Christopher joined the baby as the girls occasionally got hold of an arm or leg and soaped him up. Halfway through showers, the older children drifted in a few at a time, and said goodnight to their mothers as whatever clothing they wore downstairs now floating to the bathroom floor like snowflakes as they headed for the attic.

As David came in with Paulie, both of Helen's girls decided it was time to sit down with Christopher on the floor. Having David in the bathroom with the girls was fairly common and raised no concerns even given the fact that he was budding little stud as far as they were concerned. But Paulie was much closer to their age, and he already had what it took to make a 15 year old girl very happy! After saying goodnight to Helen and Jeanette, David looked over to the girls.

"Are you sleeping upstairs with us? It's really neat up there and you'd like it!" David exclaimed as he bent down and gave Christopher a kiss goodnight. Both girls looked at each other, but neither spoke.

"If they decide to sleep upstairs, they'll be up after they finish showering." Helen now told David.

"OK," David said as he and Paulie left.

There was a good two minutes of silence from the girls who both wished to hell they were alone and could talk to each other. Christopher was unaware of their desires and immediately assumed that since they were sitting on the floor with him and the other children, they were there to play. Back home, one of his favorite activities either in the lake or in the pool was to play "Horsey" with both girls while "Riding" on their back. There wasn't a reason in the world for him to think otherwise, so he climbed on and was fully ready for his pony ride. At age 3, Kenny was a great fan of horsey and whether they liked it or not both girls did a few circles around the shower floor on all fours as Kenny got his second wind and forgot all about sleeping.

After about five minutes and some pretty red knee's, the game was over as Christopher came close enough to Helen and she plucked the boy off his "Horse" to be dried. With Helen now retreating to the bedroom to dry off Christopher and stuff him into a diaper and his Doctor Dentin's, the girls quickly followed to talk with her in private.

"Do you think Uncle Bert will let us go?" Claire asked her counselor as she dried her hair. Helen looked at both girls. She knew each one to still be virgins as far as boys were concerned, but she also knew they were both extremely curious and well past the merely interested stage. She was being asked if the girls had the green light.

Helen had been with both these girls for years. What they knew about sex they had largely been taught by her, and the woman now hoped many of the lesson's took root.

"You would have to ask him directly for permission, but I think if he knew you we're going to the attic for something a little more than just a full blown orgy, it would make him feel a little better," she told the girls.

"I don't get it Aunt Helen." Jill now told the woman.

"That's all the boys do all the time. How come we have to play under different rules?" she asked.

"Well, for starters, the boys at Green Tree really have little choice in the matter and Uncle Bert knows that. He also knows that you and the kids that live here don't have to play by the same rules, sex for you is optional," she said. Claire now shook her head.

"But they play around just like the Green Tree boys do!" Helen nodded her head.

"On a much smaller scale, you're correct, but this house isn't exactly the house on Main St. These children's parents are far more liberal than the average parent in america.

They know what children do with each other and don't interfere. That's not your typical household," she told the girls.

"So?" Clair asked.

"So your Uncle Bert doesn't want you to get the idea that this is something casual and routine, it's not. It's very serious stuff and he wants you growing up taking love very seriously. He's also a male, and as you'll find out, they can get pretty protective concerning girls. Especially one's they love," she told both girls.

"That's pretty crazy that boys can fuck their brains out, but girls can't! Jill now told her counselor. Again, Helen nodded her head.

"It's one of the great mysteries of life girls. These boys all know how babies are made, but ask them if their Mother's conceived them that way and most will deny it. It takes many years before the image of the stork goes away in their minds, and that includes your Uncle Bert!" Both girls now giggled as Bert entered the room.

Christopher was fairly dormant during the conversation while Helen put on some powder and a Huggie and then stuffed him into his pajama's, but once he saw Bert his cooperation was at an end as he struggled to get to the end of the bed as Helen adjusted the back flap chasing after him.

"Hey buddy, you ready for beddie?" Bert asked as Christopher climbed up his chest and locked his legs around the man's hips.

"Hey" Christopher grunted as he gave Bert a greeting kiss. Much to the girls delight, Helen brought up the subject of the attic.

"The girls have been invited to sleep up in the attic with the rest of the children, and they'd like your permission." Helen said to him. Bert now deeply regretted he and Helen didn't speak a common foreign language. With two girls watching him very closely, Bert was searching for some words, specifically, "No".

"That sounds like a good idea to you?" Bert asked Helen. Helen smiled. Bert was good at passing the buck, he was also good at avoiding responsibility when it was uncomfortable.

"We've discussed the potential situation and they know the importance of maintaining their integrity." Helen told the Director as both girls looked at each other trying to figure out what the hell that was all about. Bert was once again quiet for more than a few uncomfortable seconds as Christopher began squirming from a lack off movement.

"So tomorrow morning, I'm going to be seeing the same two little girls?" Bert asked.

"Uncle Bert, for god sakes we're not little girls!" Jill now replied.

"If you want to sleep upstairs you are!" Bert exclaimed leaving no doubt in the girls minds that they'd be having their hymen's checked real soon.

"You're right Aunt Helen, he does believe in the stork" Claire now told her counselor.

"Stork?" Bert asked as he headed for the bed with Christopher. With the girls now climbing into their pajama's and heading upstairs, Helen climbed into bed.

"Later" she told Bert as he turned out the light.

As two heads appeared on the stairway David was happy to both girls appear in the attic carrying two pillows. Paulie was a lot happier. Both girls were in baby doll pajama's that left zero to a little boys imagination. While most of the smaller kids were naked, both David and Paulie were sitting in their underpants, which on Paulie was growing a sizable tent.

"Look, we got movie's!" David exclaimed as an old 1950s projector camera played a reel to reel film of "Steamboat Willie" which was showing on a sheet hung on a rafter. Both girls sat down with a few of the younger children, as each girl took the youngest two into their laps. Paulie had seen the movie hundred's of times, but then again, he wasn't looking at the movie anyway. David hadn't seen the movie before, but he did see both girls naked. He also wasn't blind as Paulie lowered a pillow onto his lap which now covered up a pair of underpants that had the waistband a good inch [2½ cm] off his stomach as his penis strained for the roof. Two movies and a wet stain the size of a half dollar later from pre-com saw the camera equipment being loaded back into a trunk as both girls noticed that Paulie's underpants were now about as sheer as their own now that they were wet. Rarely did the girls see a circumcised head, and they gave it a four Star rating as it continued to strain at the fabric.

At 15, Paulie was a crafty little devil, and after all the toys were put away, it was time to retreat to tents. Paulie had set up a tent for the girls next to his and David's and was hoping against hope that the girls wouldn't elect to move it away, or chose another. It took a little time, but after three or four seconds, Paulie convinced the girls that one big tent was better than two little one's as the adjoining sides were pinned together. What was needed now was an ice breaker, and it came in the form of Stuart's 13 year old daughter, Valerie. While Jill and Claire still had intact hymen's, Valerie had lost hers five or six years previous and wanted to make sure it didn't grow back. At 13, Valerie was well on her way to blossoming, but nowhere near either 15 year old. The one big difference was the fact that both Claire and Jill shaved while Valerie did not. It was now the topic of conversation between the three girls.

"How come?" Valerie asked as she looked at both girls.

"Most of the girls at school shave. Even our counselors do." Claire reported.

"Why?" the girl asked.

"Because the boys prefer it." Jill replied.

"That's what Aunt Helen says, and she shaves for Uncle Bert." Valerie now looked down at herself and then to David.

"You too?" she asked. David shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, I guess so, but we don't do it in the front pussy anyway, we can only do it in the back pussy," he replied somewhat pink. It took some time for the giggling to die down and for Paulie to re-adjust his penis that was trapped under his thigh and screaming for a way up.

"Sitting on a boy is nice, but I'd rather just let him poke me. Don't you think that's a better way?" she now asked the girls.

"The girls are not allowed to do that." Paulie now said.

"We are when we turn 15." Jill quickly responded.

"So how old are you?" Valerie asked. Both girls now looked at each other getting about as pink as David was.

"They're 15 but Uncle Bert likes them to stay virgins until they're out of school, sometimes even College!" David replied.

"You never got fucked?" Valerie asked unabashedly.

"That's their private business." Paulie told his niece.

"Oh, sorry," she said.

"But David's not private business right?" she asked her Uncle.

"Hardly" Paulie replied. A smile now greeted David as the girl got up and dropped her pants to the floor.

"Come on," she said as she held her hand out. With a tent in his underpants slightly smaller than Paulie's, David now got up and followed Valerie into her tent. Paulie sat like a kid in a candy store looking at a rack of candy.

"Pull the flap down." Claire told Paulie.

Boys Anatomy 101 was learned by both girls almost exactly a year earlier when they first came to Green Tree, but the lesson's never got old. While they had never taken them to their limits, there was little else that went unexplored, including just exactly how responsive a boys penis was in the right hands (Or whatever). Then again, to Claire and Jill, those were Green Tree Boys and both girls knew that getting them to play was about as difficult as getting to rabbits to mate. Paulie was no Green Tree boy, but he had the same plumbing, maybe even a bit more than they had seen since they saw more Intermediate Boys than Senior Boys because of their "Protected" status concerning staff.

"Doesn't it hurt you when you don't let it stick up like the rest of the boys always do?" Jill asked Paulie as she looked at Paulie's underpants. Paulie shook his head "No, it doesn't hurt. Do the boys at school just walk around with rods all the time?" he asked. Both girls now nervously giggled.

"No of course not, but they usually go swimming naked, and sometimes they have a boner." Claire replied.

"You swim naked with the boys too?" Paulie asked. Both girls now giggled again.

"Sure. It's fun because the boys don't know what we're thinking about because we don't get boners." Jill said.

"We'll take off our pants if you take off yours." Claire now said very boldly.

"Why, you seen boys naked before right?" Paulie asked.

"Yeah, but not usually that big!" Jill replied as she pointed.

With Paulie's pride very firmly massaged, he stood up and slipped his thumbs under the waistband.

"May I touch it?" was never asked, but it was anyway.

Now and then a small miracle occurs between teenagers in heat, and the girls awoke very tired, very happy and had learned a few new ways to climax while still maintaining a small membrane of skin in their vaginal canals. Paulie learned one new lesson; two girls were better than one especially if they came from Green Tree.

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